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Danny was stressed.
Between the ghost fighting and school and his parents, Danny was constantly exhausted, trying to juggle everything, knowing he couldn’t press pause on fighting ghosts, not when someone could get hurt or killed if he wasn’t there to deal with the ghost. That was something Danny couldn’t risk, even if it came at the cost of his sanity.
So, he was stressed. And that was something his friends had noticed.
As they headed to their next class, Tucker brought it up as he asked, “Dude, when was the last time you slept?”
“Uh… last night? For about thirty minutes?” Danny answered, blinking rapidly to try and stay awake. “The ghosts kept me awake all night and I barely had time to study for that test and complete that book report…”
Sam and Tucker looked at each other before Sam turned to him and said, “Danny, I think you might need to take a break.”
Danny glared at his friends. “I’m fine, guys.”
“Danny—“ Tucker started as Danny cut in, “I’m fine. I’m the only one who can stop the ghosts, that if I don’t do it, then people get hurt. What’s a little lost sleep and stress over that?”
He cracked a self-deprecating smile. “Besides, I’m already half-dead. It’s not like the stress and lack of sleep is gonna kill me again.”
His friends were frowning, but before they could say anything, Danny’s ghost sense went off and he bit back a groan.
“Cover for me?” Danny asked, his friends nodding as he raced to find a place to transform and deal with the ghost, ideally before his next class.
Not catching the plotting looks on Sam and Tucker’s faces as he did.
***
The next morning at school, Danny met up with his friends and was instantly suspicious.
“What did you guys do?” Danny asked, suspicions still high. He hadn’t seen anything like the warring protests from freshman year when they were still dealing with just the Lunch Lady… yet.
His friends exchanged looks before Tucker said, “So Sam and I were talking last night, and we came to a decision.”
“And what decision is that?” Danny questioned, suspicions rising.
“You need a break! From school, the ghosts, your parents… everything,” Tucker announced.
Danny stared at his friends, then glared at them.
“I don’t need a break, guys. I’m handling things,” Danny denied.
“Danny, when was the last time you slept for more than a few minutes? Or had any time to relax and focus on yourself without worrying about school or going off to fight a ghost?” Sam asked, leaning on the locker wall as she crossed her arms.
Danny didn’t deign to answer that, only saying, “I’m fine, guys.”
“Oh really? Then look both me and Tucker in the eyes and tell us that again,” Sam said, giving him a challenging look as both she and Tucker stared him down.
Danny glared at them, but didn’t say anything again. His friends glared at him before their faces softened in concern.
“Danny, you’re exhausted. We just want you to take a small break so you don’t kill yourself again,” Sam murmured, violet eyes full of concern.
Danny wanted to argue, but under the weight of his friends’ concern, he couldn’t. And he was feeling a little stressed lately…
He sighed, conceding this battle. “What are you thinking of for having me take a break?”
His friends exchanged another look before Tucker revealed, “We’re going camping for the weekend!”
Danny’s eyes widened, his bag nearly slipping through his fingers in shock. “What?!”
“Well, it was more Sam’s idea, but I agreed! It will just be us in nature, with no distractions, no ghosts… no technology,” Tucker listed off, but trailed off as he frowned like he was considering why he agreed to camping as Sam jumped in.
“And you won’t need to worry about ghosts or being attacked. It’ll just be us in the woods for the weekend, relaxing,” Sam said.
Danny was still staring at his friends in shock as he argued, “Guys, that’s a bad idea! I mean, it sounds great, but what about the ghosts? What if they attack and I’m not there? What if someone gets hurt?”
“Jazz and Val promised to handle the ghosts, and we already called Dani last night to help fill in for you for the weekend,” Tucker explained.
“And the campsite we’re going to isn’t too far from Amity by flight, so if they need it you’ll be able to get to Amity Park in time,” Sam added on as Tucker nodded in agreement.
“Sam and I spent a lot of time checking that—and that you’ll still be able to see the stars and still be relatively close to town,” Tucker revealed.
“And it’s not like we’re defenceless ourselves—we’ll be taking our weapons and Thermoses if ghosts attack us,” Sam informed.
“But hopefully they won’t, so we can have a ghost-free weekend!” Tucker said.
“Don’t jinx it, Tuck,” Sam grumbled.
Tucker gave her a sheepish look before he turned to Danny, his jovial grin falling into something serious.
“Danny, this is a break you need, that we all need. I think it would be a great idea, and if I’m saying that… then please, take it,” his best friend urged.
Danny wanted to argue, wanted to press the issue that he was needed in Amity Park, that he couldn’t leave. But… Valerie, Jazz and even Dani would be here to cover the ghosts, and Jazz herself had been getting better at ghost fighting recently. If there was anyone Danny would trust to take care of Amity Park outside of the two people in front of him if he wasn’t around, then it was those three.
And a weekend camping trip, away from Amity Park, where he could relax and not worry about the ghosts or anything, where he could stargaze… that sounded really nice.
“Okay. But if it’s a heavy hitter, I’m flying back,” Danny declared. “But a camping trip… that does sound nice.”
Tucker and Sam grinned, looking both happy and relieved Danny was deciding to take care of himself and do this instead of keep arguing. It was especially telling how worried they’d been when Danny didn’t see them exchange money based on how stubborn he would be in agreeing or if Jazz was right or not about him agreeing when they told her their plan.
… Maybe he really was that exhausted for his best friends to react that way.
Deciding to ignore it, Danny hefted his bag higher on his shoulder as the bell rang and he asked, “So. When do we leave?”
***
Apparently first thing in the morning.
The next day had Danny up and packing last minute things into his duffle bag—some spare underwear, an extra can of bug spray, another Fenton Thermos and ecto-gun in the unlikely event his powers got shorted out—before a honking came and his dad’s voice bellowed, “DANNY! YOUR FRIENDS ARE HERE FOR YOUR CAMPING TRIP!”
“I’m on my way, Dad!” Danny shouted back as he lugged the duffle bag over his shoulder, ghostly strength and two years of ghost fights helping him out with the weight, as he phased through his door and headed down the stairs, where his parents and Jazz were waiting for him.
“Oh, my little boy! Off on his first camping trip with his friends!” his mom exclaimed, a proud look on her face as she hugged him. “My baby’s so grown up now!”
“Mom,” Danny groaned in embarrassment, but he had a smile on his face.
His mom pulled away, still smiling, before she questioned, “Now, do you have your phone if you need to call for emergency services or us if a ghost attacks?”
“Yeah, Mom. I have it packed in here,” Danny assured.
“Just checking,” his mom said.
His dad gave him a beaming grin. “Have fun, Danno! I remember the first time I went camping on my own! It was an excellent experience! And hunted down some ghosts as well! Hope you’ll find some ghosts of your own to hunt!”
“Hopefully,” Danny muttered, gripping the duffle strap tighter. He’d be lucky if he got through this camping trip without any ghosts attacking.
His dad chuckled heartily. “Well, when you get back, we can swap stories of ghost hunts while camping, Danno! But for now, enjoy!”
He hugged Danny as he hugged his dad back, before he let go and Jazz hugged him, saying in a low voice that he could only pick up with his enhanced hearing, “Enjoy this, Danny. You deserve a break. Valerie and Dani and I will handle the ghosts. Just focus on yourself and relax.”
“I’ll try, Jazz,” Danny muttered. “If anyone like Spectra or worse shows up—“
“We’ll call you,” Jazz finished. “But don’t worry and just relax, little brother. If we need some backup, we’ll call, I promise.”
Danny frowned, but he accepted it—he already went over this with Jazz, Valerie and Dani via phone call last night, and he trusted them to handle the ghosts for the weekend.
So Danny let Jazz go and walked out of his house and to the electric hybrid car Sam had bought after receiving her driver’s license earlier this year. He waved to his family for the last time as he tossed his duffle bag in, joining Sam’s and Tucker’s, as he crawled into the backseat, since Tucker had shotgun as he fixed them up with music.
“Ready?” Sam asked from the driver’s seat.
“Yeah. Just reaffirmed with Jazz about everything with the ghosts, and have an extra Thermos and weapons just in case,” Danny answered as he put his seatbelt in. “I’m ready for this.”
“Okay. Tucker, music?” Sam questioned as she started up her car.
“Let your ears rejoice, for DJ Foley has delivered the most epic camping playlist known to both the living and the dead and somewhere in-between!” Tucker announced dramatically as he pressed play on the playlist.
Instantly a Dumpty Humpty song came through and the three of them bopped their heads to the song as Sam drove towards the camping site. As they drove, the playlist cycled through Dumpty Humpty songs and the songs from all their music tastes—Goth and heavy metal for Sam, pop for Tucker and indie and classic rock for Danny, and some songs Tucker claimed were classics for camping—and the three of them chatted about the latest Doom updates and the current news from tech, space and newest books in the bookstore and environmental updates, debates on who’s music taste was better, instigating a heated debate between Tucker and Sam on whether heavy metal or pop was better with Danny cutting in that they could all agree rock music was awesome, quoting classic vines, talking about all the camping activities they could do—Tucker betted he could fit more marshmallows into his mouth against Danny and the halfa, who was confident between his ice core and his jaw’s ability to unhinge he would win, took him up on the bet as Sam rolled her eyes—sang along to the songs loudly and badly and overall spent the trip acting like regular teenagers, like they had normal things to talk and be worried about instead of ghosts.
It… was nice. Danny forgot how good it felt acting like a regular teenager.
When they arrived at the campsite, it didn’t take much time to set everything up, as the trio working together and ghost powers helped things out a lot—though there was one time Tucker struggled with setting up his tent and was getting more and more frustrated while Danny and Sam were dying with laughter before they helped Tucker out with finally wrangling the tent.
Now, the three of them were around the campfire as night fell and their camping playlist played from a speaker, roasting marshmallows—regular for Danny and Tucker, vegan for Sam—as the promised marshmallow bet commenced.
“I can stick one more in!” Tucker claimed, though with the numerous marshmallows stuffed in his mouth, it came out as gibberish instead. Danny, mouth equally full, didn’t bother to respond as he wagged his stick with three marshmallows stabbed on the end tauntingly and stuck them in, raising his count, jaw clicking as it unhinged further to accommodate.
Across from them, Sam let out an exasperated sigh, roasting her third marshmallow. “Boys.”
Not one to lose easily or be intimidated, Tucker shoved three marshmallows in, only to end up choking and sputtering as he swallowed some down, managing to choke out, “I yield! I yield!”
Danny thrusted his fist into the air triumphantly, swallowing his marshmallows as he smirked, jaw clicking back into place. “I win.”
“That unhinging jaw trick is so unfair, man,” Tucker complained after swallowing the marshmallows down with a bottle of water Sam tossed to Tucker.
Danny shrugged. “You bet against me, Tuck. You should have expected it.”
Tucker pouted, but he conceded his defeat as they roasted more marshmallows before transitioning to sausages—again, normal for the boys and vegan for Sam—and eating their weight in them, finishing it up by making s’mores, enjoying the sticky mess of chocolate and marshmallows with the graham crackers and the gooey deliciousness, laughing over the s’mores as Danny used his ice core to his advantage to hold and eat the hot s’mores without burning his fingertips or mouth.
As they digested their camp food, sitting around the campfire as it crackled merrily, Tucker leaned back as he said, “So… who wants to share some ghost stories?”
Sam glowered at Tucker, looking ready to whack him in the arm with her roasting stick. “Tucker!”
“Hey, they’re a classic!” Tucker defended.
“Yeah, as if we don’t deal with actual ghosts daily,” Sam said with an eye-roll.
“Danny will agree with me, and he’s a ghost!” Tucker claimed as he turned to Danny. “Right, Danny?”
The half-ghost in question had a thoughtful look on his face, before he grinned.
“Actually, there’s this story Dad always told me and Jazz when we were kids,” Danny revealed.
Tucker smirked at Sam who ignored him as Danny scooted closer to the fire, grinning wickedly, the points of his fangs poking out.
“Okay, so it starts like this,” Danny said, eyes flashing as they reflected the firelight. “Once, there was a man who went camping alone in the woods. With him, he brought his latest batch of fudge. The fudge was his greatest batch, and he intended to enjoy it while he was camping. However, he noticed for the past two nights, some of his fudge was being stolen and he had no idea who it was, but he suspected who the culprit was. So he waited on the third night, wide awake to catch the fudge-stealer. Hours passed… then he felt a chill in the air and saw a glow as he burst out of his tent… and saw that the culprit was a ghost!”
Danny threw his hands up, grin stretching wider. “The ghost was a fudge ghost, and it had been stealing his fudge every night, just like the man suspected! The man chased off the ghost and ate his fudge, but ever since he kept an eye out, sure the fudge ghost would make its return and steal every last piece of fudge from the man, that it was always watching, waiting for the moment his guard were to slip…”
Danny purposefully trailed off, the crackle of flames filling the silence as his friends stared at him before they all laughed.
“Wow. That’s a good ghost story,” Sam said with a grin and some fading laughter.
Danny shrugged. “Hey, it might be real. Who knows, maybe the fudge ghost is friends with the Box Ghost?”
“Weirder things have happened,” Tucker admitted.
“I have a story myself,” Sam declared, smile sharp on her face. “I heard this from my grandma, when she went to a summer camp around here…”
Sam told her story to Danny and Tucker, the firelight casting sharp shadows on her face, grin demonic as the boys moved closer and closer to each other, not willing to admit Sam’s story was scaring them—even Danny, and he was half-ghost! He faced scarier things than what Sam was talking about!—as the Goth continued telling her ghost story, grin creeping close to a slasher’s smile as she reached her conclusion.
“… and when the dawn arrived, all they could find was the dismembered bodies and blood-spattered cabins, guts and limbs strewn all across the camp and one survivor, bloody and terrified, whispering only of the Scar-Faced Slasher, who disappeared after his night of terror. That some say he still lingers around the now demolished summer camp, waiting for the next foolish teenagers for him to gut like a fish, that his old hunting grounds are somewhere around this very campsite, where we are right now,” Sam finished, voice dramatic and deep before she leaned back and said in her normal voice, “At least, that’s the story my grandma told me. It’s not real… maybe.”
Looking at her friends, who were clutching each other, terrified looks on their faces, Sam smirked. “Spooked, guys?”
Danny and Tucker looked at each other before letting go and scooting away, masking their fear as Tucker said, “Scared? Nah, I wasn’t scared. That’s a story kids hear at summer camp all the time, and I’m not a kid.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t that scary. An axe-wielding maniac with a scar on his face? I’ve faced worse from the Ghost Zone—Ancients, I’m a ghost! It wasn’t that scary,” Danny lied, him and Tucker giving grins that were more confident than they felt. That were almost real.
Until something snapped nearby and they both screamed, an ecto-blast charging up in Danny’s hands, ready to fire at the slasher coming for him and his friends.
When nothing came charging out of the brush, the ecto-energy died away as Tucker and Danny winced while Sam smirked.
“Uh-huh. Not scared at all,” she remarked dryly.
The boys glared but didn’t bother to defend themselves this time as the fire snapped and popped out embers. Glancing up, Danny’s eyes locked onto the stars.
“Wow. You were right, Tucker. They’re so clear out here,” Danny breathed, attention captured by the night sky.
He forced himself to look away, but he knew as well as his friends knew what they would be doing next before they turned in for the night.
So the trio packed up their food and got a blanket out to lie on before they sat back against a log and stared up at the stars.
Without any light pollution nearby, the stars were bright and clear and so numerous, that Danny could see even more—perks of having both night vision and enhanced eyesight. His core hummed with happiness at indulging this other part of his Obsession as he gestured to the constellations and brightest stars and rambled about them while his friends listened and pointed out constellations they could find, Tucker making up ridiculous stories for them as Danny and Sam laughed and joined in with their own made-up stories, him, Tucker and Sam stargazing together as the woods sung with nocturnal music, mixing with the music still playing from the playlist, peaceful without any ghosts.
Until Danny’s ghost sense went off.
He bit back an annoyed groan—for the first time in months, he was finally relaxing!—as Sam and Tucker went on the alert and Danny got ready to fight… before a light bobbed in his vision, blinking at him with pinpricks of light, a blue glow burning in front of his eyes.
Danny stared at the will o’ the wisp as it stared back at him before it darted away with a chirp, flitting between the trees as blue dots glowed among the shadows, zooming through the woods and across the sky, a ghostly echo of the stars above.
Danny’s instincts lowered and he relaxed as Tucker and Sam were the same, knowing the will o’ the wisps were harmless right now, that they were just having fun—and not in the way that a human would get hurt or lost—as he looked up at the stars, smiling.
That while Danny had been reluctant to go on this camping trip, he was now glad he was, that Tucker and Sam had convinced him to do this.
That watching the stars as the will o’ the wisps danced around them, with his best friends and no ghosts other than the will o’ the wisps, Danny enjoyed the break he really had needed.