Chapter Text
Jack sighed as slick green ectoplasm coated his hands.
“Again, Danny?” He grumbled, deftly running the needle and thread through the injury on his son’s upper right bicep.
“Blame Skulker!” Danny whined, an ice pack of his own creation in his other hand, pressed to the bruise growing on his face.
Jack wanted to scream internally, to beg his son to stop doing all of these stupid fights, to let Jack handle it, Jack was the professional ghost hunter here. But he knew it wouldn’t do anything except encourage Danny to start hiding injuries again and stop coming to his father for help. As noble as it was that one of Danny’s Obsessions was protection, Jack often wished it wasn’t, especially in the past two weeks since the night in the clearing.
Danny had stopped hiding his injuries, hiding how often he left the house in the middle of the night and Jack had been relieved at first. Now, however, stitching up a wound on his son for the tenth time in fourteen days, Jack wanted nothing more than for his son to live a normal life.
But Danny never would lead a normal life. Jack’s own invention had stolen away that ability, embedded the need to protect into Danny’s very DNA as it took his life and gave it back. The only thing that could stop the drive to save people was if Danny got sufficiently distracted by the stars or astronomy, Jack had realized. But that was easier said than done.
So all Jack could do was try to help his son however he could, give him the medical attention he couldn’t get anywhere else.
It had been a month since Jack had watched Danny’s goodbye video and learned his secret, and his whole world had been turned entirely upside down since then. He wouldn’t trade it for anything, though. Danny was talking to him, enjoying spending time with him. And while he still left a lot at night, he woke Jack up before he left. Someone in this world knew what he was doing and where he was.
He decided to change topics. “So are you going to tell them this weekend?” Jack asked.
“Daaad… you know why I haven’t told them.”
“You need to, son. I still don’t understand why you don’t want to.”
“Because! This secret is hard to keep. It’s a burden. I don’t want to bother them.”
“It isn’t a burden for the people who love you to help you, Danny.” Jack said, snipping off the thread after the final stitch.
“It’s different. You’re my dad. You’re like, contractually obligated to love me. Sam and Tuck… we’re just friends.” Danny said, shifting back to human now that the wound was tended to, forming a mirror of ice to check his face, the bruise already rapidly disappearing.
Sometimes Jack wondered if it made him a bad father that he didn’t stop Danny from doing these things, that he was personally tending major injuries at home. Then Jack remembered that denial of an Obsession could shatter Danny’s core and kill him, remembered that the Guys in White would be called if the hospital so much as looked at Danny’s blood samples. He felt a little better as a father then. So long as he didn’t think about why his son was like this.
That portal was a source of a lot of self-doubt, now that he knew.
“You say that, yet you didn’t tell me until much later.” Jack pointed out, pulling the stained gloves off and flexing his bare hands.
“You were shooting me, in my defense.” Danny replied, though his tone was playful. Jack’s stomach twisted. He didn’t say it with anger or blame but Jack didn’t think he’d ever stop feeling bad for shooting Danny so often, even if Danny didn’t seem to hold it against his father.
“And how have Sam and Tucker reacted to Phantom?”
Danny fidgeted, refusing to look Jack in the eye. “They were some of the first in the school to support Inviso-bill.” He admitted.
“Danny… you three have been friends practically since diapers. You thought the worst of me with valid reason. You’re thinking the worst of them despite not having one. What could they do to earn your trust, like I did, if they’re already supportive?”
“It’s just… I’m scared, okay? I’m worried about burdening them or them finding out and being fine and then getting upset and outing me or them thinking I’m a freak or -“
“Stop.” Jack said, grabbing at Danny’s shoulders, careful to avoid jostling the wound on his right arm.
Danny just looked down at the floor, fidgeting with his hands, the bruise almost entirely faded from his face.
“Please, son. What do you do for fun?”
“I play video games!” He protested.
“When was the last time you played one?”
He remained silent.
“When was the last time you didn’t patrol?”
Silence.
“You need to have fun, Danny. I know it’s scary to tell them such a big secret, I know. But please, will you try to talk to them? For me?”
Danny just continued messing with his hands, twisting and pulling anxiously. “How do I even start that conversation? ‘Hey guys sorry I lied but I’m a dead superhero and didn’t trust you enough to tell you’? If I get this wrong…”
Jack tactfully elected to ignore the ‘I’m dead’ part of that comment. “Danny, I can promise you without a doubt, even if you get this wrong, they won’t shout your secret identity from the rooftops, okay? But you can’t just live life doing nothing but homework and saving people.”
“I…I’ll consider it, okay?” Danny finally yielded, still looking at the ground, worry in his tone.
“That’s all I ask, Danno. You deserve to not be alone.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“I love you, son.” Jack said, ruffling Danny’s black hair with a grin. The action finally pulled a partial smile to Danny’s face as he whacked at Jack’s hands.
Danny’s hair felt so different as Fenton than as Phantom, much more like human hair but still just a little… off. Most of his son felt a little off, now. Jack wondered if Vlad was just as off as Danny was. Jack still hadn’t mentioned to Danny that he’d accidentally outed Vlad as well, still hadn’t confronted his long time friend. Jack would be lying if he said Vlad wasn’t a major reason he was trying to encourage Danny back to his friends. Vlad had suffered for two decades by himself and Jack would not let Danny be lonely like that.
As they separated and Danny headed back to bed - it was one in the morning after all - Jack sighed again as he went upstairs. He hoped Danny would talk to his friends. As much as he was thrilled he could help Danny now, there were things he couldn’t do, and providing an adequate social life was among those things. He needed friends his age, he needed to spend time doing fun things. Things other than patrolling for ghosts and getting stabbed and blown up and…
Jack collapsed to the bed, holding his head in his hands. They had just over two weeks until Maddie returned from the conference and Jack was ashamed to admit he was worried. He loved his wife and had the utmost faith in her… but he also knew how adamantly she pursued ghosts. How she pursued Phantom specifically.
Would she accept Danny? Would she only pretend to? Would Danny end up back on a steel table, under his mother’s scalpel this time? Would she even pretend, if she didn’t accept him, or would she go straight to shooting?
As much as he loved Maddie, he loved his children more. What would they do if she didn’t accept him, didn’t accept that ghosts were so much more than they thought?
Sleep fought him and when he did finally find rest, his wife was the center of his nightmares.
~~~~~~
Tucker quietly picked up his backpack, giving Sam a friendly wave and smile as they split off, headed towards their first classes of the day. He slid into his seat, pulling out a notebook and pen from his backpack as the bell rang.
It was several minutes later when the door opened again and Danny slipped into the room.
“Again, Mr. Fenton?” Mr. Falluca said.
“I have a note from my dad.” Danny said, holding up the crumpled paper.
“Bring it to me.” The teacher said, sighing in irritation. Danny had been running late all year - a trend he’d started at the beginning of the previous school year. Tucker didn’t know why, Danny had never told him or Sam what his deal was, why he disappeared and blew them off constantly. The notes were new, though.
“How often does your family have car troubles?” Mr. Falluca asked, handing the note back to Danny. “This is the third time this week.”
Danny shrugged. “Have you seen the modified RV my family drives?”
Tucker had to bury a snicker, because, yes, he was fully acquainted with the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle, even before the ghosts had come. As wild as the thing was, he did still have fond memories of going camping in it with Danny and his family, back when life was normal and ghosts were something his best friend’s crazy parents looked for.
Tucker watched as Danny settled into his seat, near the door.
But those memories were from before his best friend had lied to him and cut him off.
Tucker knew Danny had lied last year when he pushed Tucker and Sam away, after months of being inconsistent and lying. Tucker wasn’t oblivious, he saw the longing way Danny looked at the two of them when he thought they couldn’t see him. And, honestly, Tucker missed him too. He knew Sam did as well. The three of them… well, it needed to be the three of them. Danny was a glue that held his and Sam’s opposite personalities together and smoothed their rough edges. It was still just him and Sam, but they didn’t hang out like the three of them used to.
There was a hollow ache in his chest when he thought about Danny, sometimes. It felt like grief, but that couldn’t be right. Danny was still alive, even if he wasn’t as close to Tucker anymore and it wasn’t like he was in love with Danny. So why did his heart hurt if he thought of Danny for too long?
Tucker made himself focus on class, even as he felt Danny’s eyes boring into his back. It had been over a year now, and Danny’s presence still hurt.
He was thoroughly surprised, then, when Danny stopped him as soon as Tucker left the room at the end of class.
“Uh, hey, Tuck.” Danny said, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Hey, Danny. What’s up?” Tucker said, though it did hurt a little bit that Danny felt awkward around him, awkward enough for his nervous habits to kick in.
“Uh. Um. I… can we meet up after school? The three of us?”
“You wanting to talk to us again?” Tucker asked, more anger in his voice than he meant.
Danny flinched and looked down, shuffling his shoes. “I owe you guys an explanation.”
“Yeah. You do.” Sam said, joining the conversation, probably having come for him when he wasn’t at his locker.
Danny took a step back away from them, still not looking at them. “After school, the park down the street? I… I can explain.” The next bit was spoken so softly Tucker barely heard it. “And hope you don’t hate me at the end of it.”
“Fine. Maybe you’ll actually show up.” Sam said, grabbing Tucker and pulling him away, leaving Danny alone in the hallway.
“Do you think he’ll actually be there?” Tucker asked, letting Sam drag him.
“I’d have more faith that the next time the Box Ghost shows up, he has suddenly stopped shouting ‘beware,’” Sam answered, though she released her grip on his arm as they turned the corner and Danny fell out of sight.
“I hope he shows up.” Tucker said, sighing. He missed Danny so much.
“So do I.” Sam whispered, a meaningful glance passing between the two of them. She missed him, too. She missed what their lives used to be. They were outcasts, yes, but they’d had each other, at least. The three of them against the world.
The day passed far too slowly for Tucker’s liking. He couldn’t help but think about the last thing Danny had said. What could he possibly have to tell them that he would worry they’d hate him for it? Had he done something bad? Was that what had happened, Danny had done something, like, illegal or whatever, and that was why he’d pulled away?
Possibilities and theories swirled in Tucker’s head all day, even as he slid next to Sam at lunch. He wasn’t entirely sure where Danny went during lunch, but Tucker almost never saw him in the cafeteria anymore. Then again, even Tucker had noticed how afraid Danny was of ghosts, and they seemed to attack pretty often during lunch, for some inexplicable reason. Danny had probably just started preemptively hiding during lunch.
“You been having trouble paying attention in class today?” Sam asked as he settled beside her.
“You too, huh?” Tucker asked jokingly as he shoveled food into his mouth. He had no idea what, exactly, was in the Lunch Special Surprise, even with his super scent ability when it came to meat. There definitely was meat in the dish, Tucker just didn’t know what animal it was.
Sam poked forlornly at her food. “I want to believe him. I want him to show up.”
Tucker sobered slightly at the wistful desperation in her voice. “I do too. Did you hear what he said, at the end?”
“What do you mean? About meeting us at the park?”
“He kinda muttered it as we were leaving. Something about hoping we wouldn’t hate him once we knew?”
Sam frowned, stabbing far too violently at the leaves(?) on her plate. “Hate him?”
“Yeah. It hasn’t exactly helped the whole ‘paying attention in class’ thing, to be sure.” Tucker said, trying to inflect humor into his voice to lighten the mood. He knew he failed. The conversation hurt him too much to not show, after all.
“We’d never hate him. Surely he knows that. We’ve been friends forever!” Sam said, throwing her hands up in agitation, the singular leaf stuck on her fork sent flying as she did so.
“We did let him end the friendship pretty easily.” Tucker admitted, frowning at the memory from a few weeks after Christmas break their freshman year, over a year ago.
“Look, guys, can we talk?” Danny asked, refusing to look either of them in the eyes as he stood beside them at lunch, not taking a seat at their normal table.
“If it’s another excuse, I don’t want to hear it!” Sam snapped. “You blew us off. Again!”
“No, no more excuses.” Danny said, scowling. “Just the truth.”
Tucker’s heart skipped a beat, hope a growing warmth in his veins. Could he finally get his best friend back?
“Then hurry up and talk.” Sam said.
Danny continued to stare at a random spot on the table, not looking directly at either of them. There was steeliness, regret, sadness, pain all swirling in his eyes, and Tucker suddenly felt like he was about to fall from a cliff’s edge. This couldn’t be good.
“The truth is I just can’t keep pretending like this, that I want to be your friend,” Danny began and each word was a piercing wound to Tucker’s chest. “I’m tired of coming up with excuses when I just don’t want to be around you.” He shrugged.
“What?” Sam asked, all the anger gone from her voice and thinly veiled pain all that was left.
“Come on, it’s not that surprising, is it? If I wanted to hang out with you, I would.” Danny continued, rolling his eyes, though he held his shoulders taut.
Tucker and Sam shared a look, tears beginning to form in her purple eyes before hard determination filled them instead.
“Fine.” Sam said. “Leave.”
Danny finally looked at both of them, hurt and sadness etched into every line of his face, though he quickly schooled it away. “Good. Glad you didn’t make this harder than it needed to be.” He said, turning and walking away as soon as he was done speaking.
Sam’s face crumpled in pain.
“Did… did that really just happen?” Tucker croaked out, his throat suddenly feeling like sandpaper.
“I think… I think it did…” Sam answered, hiccuping slightly as she tried to hide a sob.
Tucker hadn’t even bothered to hide the tears slipping down his face from behind his glasses.
The memory brought a familiar surge of pain to Tucker’s chest.
“He wanted to end it! Did he expect us to fight for it?” Sam asked, though the anger in her voice was laughably fake.
“Maybe we should have.” Tucker said with a sigh.
Sam didn’t say anything, instead just pushing around the green stuff (which Tucker refused to acknowledge as food) on her tray.
Silence floated between the two for several minutes. Not uncomfortable, but still a deep silence as each mulled their own thoughts.
“I’m not letting him go that easily this time.” Tucker decided, hands clenching into fists. “I’m not losing him again.”
“Agreed.” Sam said, looking up at Tucker with a small, determined smile. “He’s our friend, and we will drag him kicking and screaming back into our lives if we have to.”
Tucker nodded and they allowed the conversation back to easier topics - like the classes neither had paid attention to today and how much that was going to bite them in the ass come test time.