Cacoethes: an urge to do something inadvisable

Entry for the Phic Phight 2019. The prompt by heartbeatslows was: Danny born human; Tucker and Sam born ghosts.

Danny's parents were ghost hunters. They had been since before he was born. Before Jazz was born, even. He knew quite a bit about ghosts. He definitely knew the rules his parents had made regarding them.

Ghosts were dangerous. They were threatening. You shouldn't interact with them.

Definitely don't speak with them.

He shouldn't speak with them.

"Hi," he said to the ghost in front of him, instead.

The ghost's teal eyes opened further, and he stared back at Danny. After a long moment of silence, he replied, "Hi?"

Then, seeing that Danny wasn't running away or anything like that, the boy quirked an eyebrow at him. "Are you not… scared of me?"

"What, because you're a ghost? Nah." Danny shrugged. He had seen all kinds of ghosts. Monstrous ones that kept hiding under his bed or inside his closet, mostly. Some formless ones his parents captured and studied. But none as human as the one in front of him.

The boy was dark skinned, with vibrant teal eyes. One could mistake him for human, if it wasn't for the fact that his eyes were lit from inside or that he emitted a white glow.

Or the fact that he was floating.

"Oh," the dark skinned ghost responded. Then he landed on the ground, his brown boots touching down soundlessly. He seemed genuinely baffled by the fact that Danny wasn't scared of him. Was that so uncommon?

Deciding that the boy seemed lonely and in need of friend, Danny decided to volunteer himself. After all, he was new to the town and also needed friends. He offered his hand with a grin, finally remembering to introduce himself. "I'm Danny Fenton, by the way."

The specter hesitated for a moment. Then he took Danny's hand; his' was cold and strangely squishy – but Danny remembered that ghosts didn't have bones, which explained that. It was pretty normal otherwise. "Tucker Foley," the ghost – Tucker – said.

He still seemed hesitant. Probably didn't trust Danny to mean what he said, about not being afraid. Guess that he had to prove it.

"So Tucker, anything you like to do?"

Big teal eyes blinked again. "Uh." The boy paused, apparently thrown off. "I like… video games? And, uh. Superhero movies?"

"Me too!" Danny smiled brightly, swinging an arm around Tucker's shoulders. "Aren't your ghost powers basically superpowers?"

The ghost paused, and Danny's arm passed through him when he continued walking. "I… never thought about it like that."

"Really?" It had been one of the first comparisons Danny's parents had made. Ghosts were basically supervillains, or so they had said. Superpowered beings that caused pain and destruction.

"I- Yeah." Now he frowned, the glow around his body flickering as he thought. "That's… a nice way to think about them."

"What kind of powers do you have?" Danny asked, interested. According to his parents, ghosts had all kinds of powers. They were usually somewhat linked to the theme the ghost chose, but Tucker looked like an ordinary kid. Besides the standard powers, would he have anything else? "Besides flight and intangibility, that is?"

Tucker frowned a little, catching up to where Danny was standing. "I'm working on telekinesis," he admitted, straightening the red beret on his head. "And there's invisibility too, of course."

"Right." Danny nodded. The two of them continued walking, heading through the gates of the park. "Hey Tucker, d'you wanna play a game?"

"Like what?" In the bright sun it was almost impossible to tell that Tucker was glowing. He really did look like a normal kid. Danny wondered what his parents would think of his new friend.

"What about hide and seek?"

Tucker grinned, his entire face brightening. And the rest of his body too, since his glow increased quite considerably in response to the emotion. "You sure about that?"

Danny, remembering Tucker's invisibility, hesitated. But the boy seemed so genuinely pleased… "Only if you don't use your invisibility. Gotta stay fair!"

"Right," Tucker said, still smiling. "Of course."

"Mom?"

Maddie looked up from the box she was unpacking in the living room. Her son was standing in the front door, pushing it closed behind him. There were leaves and sticks stuck to his clothes and hair – he had been to the park, she remembered.

"Yes sweetie?"

"Can I borrow your goggles?" His eyes were big and hopefully. Regardless, she had to disappoint him.

"Danny… Our inventions aren't toys." She shook her head. "If you want to dress up, you can use your own goggles – they should be in your room."

"It's not for dressing up!" Danny protested, moving closer to her. "I was playing hide-and-seek with Tucker, but he keeps cheating by going invisible!"

Maddie froze, fingers digging into the pillow she was holding. Surely she had misheard…?

"Honey, what did you say?"

"I made a new friend," Danny started explaining. "His name is Tucker. And he promised that he wouldn't use his invisibility while we were playing hide-and-seek, but he totally was!"

Dropping the pillow back into the box, Maddie turned to her son. She crouched next to him, gently putting her hands on his shoulder. Crystalline blue eyes blinked back at her. Not overshadowed, then. But surely Danny knew better than to associate with a ghost? He had called them into his room to chase off ghosts, real and imagined, plenty often.

"Danny. What do we say about ghosts?"

The boy fidgeted under her hands, looking away from her. "That they're bad."

"And?"

"And… we shouldn't spend time with them. If we see one, we should call you and Dad."

"Good boy," Maddie complimented, patting him on the shoulder. "Now, since you clearly know the rules and willfully ignored them, you're grounded."

"What! No!" Danny pushed her hands off of his shoulders, moving back towards the door. "I promised-"

Maddie frowned at him, and Danny fell quiet. "No talking with ghosts means no making promises to them either, sweetie."

"But he looked so lonely," Danny protested, voice feeble and wavering. He wilted under her glare. "He just needed a friend…"

She sighed. Danny was simply too kind, too naive. "Sweetheart, he was just pretending. You fell for his trick."

"But-"

She laid a hand on his shoulder again, comfortingly. "Ghosts don't feel emotion, Danny. They don't get lonely."

Then she started steering him towards the stairs. "Now get to your room. You'll stay inside the house until Monday, okay?"

"Yes Mom," he sighed, swiping the butt of his hand past his eyes.

She waited another few moments until Danny had reached the top of the stairs and turned left towards his room. Satisfied that he couldn't sneak past her, she nodded to herself.

All she had to do was keep Danny away from that ghost for the next few days. The boy would come to his senses soon enough. And if not…

Well, maybe she and Jack should start working on a ghost scanner sooner rather than later.

The last few days had been unbearably long. At least his mom hadn't taken away his entertainment, but still. Knowing that he had abandoned Tucker after promising he would be right back was haunting him.

It wasn't his fault, of course, but that didn't matter. The ghost was clearly lonely, and Danny had insisted on being the one person who wouldn't abandon him. And then he did!

And he knew exactly how it felt. Because, in his old town, people had done it all the time to him. They would get along just fine, but then the moment they learned who his parents were, they gave some lame excuse and disappeared. And yes, sometimes it was the fault of the parents who kept the kids away, but still! He wasn't going to let his parents stop him from making friends with Tucker.

School was even more of a drag than usual. Somehow, rumors about his parents had already spread before they had even gotten there. No one wanted to associate with him, the weird kid with the ghost-hunting parents.

And he had so hoped to leave behind that reputation.

The only good thing about the day was that his grounding was over. After the lessons ended he would be free to roam Amity Park. Then he could finally go back to Tucker and apologize.

Well, assuming that he could find the ghost. After all, if he didn't want to be found, Danny had no way of tracking him down. And Tucker didn't seem to have a permanent haunt anyway.

Danny had considered asking some of his classmates about the ghost, but with how bad the rumors were, decided against it. Even if ghosts were more common around here (the reason why his parents had moved here in the first place), they apparently weren't well-received.

He understood Tucker's surprise even more, now. How could they live in a city were ghosts were commonly spotted and still not believe in them?

After what felt like several centuries, the school bell finally rang. Danny launched himself out of his seat with reckless abandon, his backpack barely staying on his shoulders. He dodged around one of his new bullies – a blonde guy who growled out an insult as Danny passed him – and was out of the building before anyone could stop him.

He made it to the park in no time at all. And several days too late. But he wouldn't think about it like that.

Wouldn't think about the fact that Tucker might not even be here. That he might not want to talk with Danny, or listen to his excuses. His promise that he would do better now.

After all, what would a promise mean if he didn't keep his last one either?

"Tucker?" he called out when he entered the park. It was quiet still – too early for older children and too late for the younger ones.

Danny started circling around the park, looking for any traces of the ghost. When he finally reached the spot where they had played a few days earlier, he yelled again, "Tucker?"

A soft rustle, like a breeze passing through the grass. But Danny felt no wind.

Assuming that Tucker was here and listening, he continued on, steadfast. "Tucker, I'm so sorry about Thursday. I know I promised to come back quickly, but Mom grounded me. I came as soon as I could, I promise!"

A scoff, faintly echoing. "Another promise you won't keep?"

Tucker flickered back into visibility, his arms crossed and his brow creased. He looked angry, and Danny couldn't blame him. He was all too familiar with people backing out of promises.

"I'm sorry," he said again, throwing his hands out in front of him. "I just wanted to go fetch one of my parent's inventions, but then Mom got angry and grounded me-"

"Wow, wait, hold on." Tucker raised a hand, dropping the other by his side. "What do you mean, 'inventions'?"

Danny blinked. He had forgotten that Tucker didn't know about him or his family. It was so normal for people to just know.

"My… parents are inventors?" he tried, hesitantly. Then, "I wanted to grab a pair of Mom's goggles so I could see you even when you were invisible, so you couldn't cheat."

"Hey!" Tucker cried out in offense, "I didn't cheat!" Then he processed rest of the sentence and his eyes grew wide again. "Your parents invented something that could do that?" he asked. "That's incredible!"

For once, Danny felt pride over his parents instead of shame. Most of their inventions were super cool, but… people were always so stupid about them. For some reason, no one believed that ghosts existed.

"They make all kinds of cool stuff!" Danny swung an arm around Tucker's shoulders, throwing the other out in front of them as if he was showing off some incredible sight. "Goggles that can see invisible ghosts, shields that ghosts can't phase through, and even ecto-guns!"

Tucker stiffened, and Danny let go of him again, turning to face the boy. "What's wrong?"

The boy wrung his hands, avoiding Danny's eyes. "Why are all their inventions designed to hurt ghosts?"

"Oh." Danny rubbed the back of his neck, shuffling his feet. "They're kind of… ghost hunters? That's sort of why Mom grounded me, actually. She didn't want me hanging out with a ghost."

Tucker's head snapped up, his wide eyes settling on Danny. "But-"

"But what?" Danny asked with a shrug. "Just because they say all ghosts are bad doesn't mean that they're right."

But this apparently didn't convince Tucker. He took off his beret, using his other hand to comb through his short black hair. "So you… you're not trying to prove anything, or something? Your parents didn't put you up to this?"

Danny scoffed. "Nah. Like I said, they want us to stay away from the ghosts, not befriend them."

"So then why didn't you?" Tucker skeptically asked. He put his hat back on, carefully straightening it.

"Because I could tell you needed a friend." Danny lowered his eyes to the ground, kicking the dirt with his shoe. "I know the feeling."

This seemed to surprise the ghost. "How so?"

Tucker's brown boots appeared in Danny's sight, and he looked up to meet Tucker's eyes.

"Because no one wants to be friends with the kid who has ghost hunters for parents." Danny rolled his eyes and scowled. "Even here, no one believes that ghosts are real!"

"Yeah, no kidding." Tucker laughed humorlessly.

"And…" Danny rubbed the back of his neck, hesitant to admit what he was about to say. "And I guess that I know the feeling of people promising that they would be right back, and then never doing so. People… People did it to me all the time."

Then he grabbed Tucker's hand, surprising the ghost – and himself, a little. "And even though it wasn't my fault, I felt so bad about it! And I'm so sorry Tucker. I really really am!" Then he let go of the ghost again, shoulders slumping down. "And I… understand if you don't want to risk it again."

A cold hand landed on his shoulder, and Danny glanced up at Tucker. "It's fine, man. I…" He sniffled. "I really appreciate you coming back to apologize anyway. And coming to talk to me, even though your parents warned you against it."

"Yeah, well." Danny shrugged, grinning a little. "They grounded me for it already, so. What's the worst they could do? Ground me again?"

"What do you mean I'm grounded?!"

His mom crossed her arms, staring him down impassively. "I said no interacting with ghosts, Danny."

"But I didn't! I haven't seen Tucker since that time in the park!"

She tilted her head to indicate the TV she was standing next to. On its screen was a paused video game – the two-player split screen was still visible.

"I… was playing with Jazz?" Danny tried. Seeing his mom's eyes narrow, he gave up on the attempt. "Alright, okay, fine. I was playing with Tucker. So what?"

Her stern exterior melted a little, her shoulders slumping with some emotion he couldn't quite read. "Danny. That ghost is not your friend."

"Of course he is!" Danny cried. "The only reason why he wouldn't be is because you keep getting in the way!"

"Ghosts can't have friends." Her voice trembled a little, straining as she attempted to cover up her emotions. She was clearly trying to come across as factual – like Danny didn't realize that her research didn't hold up. "They don't have emotions. They can only plot, and be manipulative. That is all Tucker," she bit out the name like an insult, "is doing. He's just playing pretend! He doesn't – can't – care, Danny!"

Danny's eyes started tearing up. Then suddenly he shoved his mom away from him. "Shut up!" he yelled, pushing her again. "Shut up! Tucker is my friend! You're wrong about ghosts, and about him!"

Maddie suddenly lurched forwards, gripping Danny by both his shoulders. He tried wrestling her away, but it was hopeless. Instead he glared at her, defiantly.

"Not overshadowed..." she muttered quietly. And suddenly Danny understood – and felt even angrier.

"What, you don't think that I can have my own opinions!" He grabbed her wrists, now able to wrench them away from himself – his mom was no longer trying to pin him down. "You think that just because I'm defending a ghost – my friend – that he overshadowed me?!"

"Yes, because you should know better!" Then she took a big, fortifying breath and stepped back. "Ghosts are dangerous Danny. I'm not doing this to hurt you, but to protect you."

Danny balled his fists at her attitude. But almost immediately a cold hand brushed past his, curling around his fist. He calmed down a little.

Tucker was still here.

Tucker would know that Danny really meant everything he had said. That they were friends, despite one being a ghost and the other human. Even if his parents were ghost-hating hunters.

"It doesn't feel that way," he growled at his mom, clenching his fists even tighter. He had no plans to use them – his mom was a black belt and also like, an adult – but it made him feel better. "It feels like you're just stopping me from making friends again."

"Again?" his mom repeated, her anger broken by motherly concern. "What do you mean, again? How have we ever stopped you from making friends?"

"Are you really that blind?!" Maybe he was being a little too harsh, but he didn't care. He had, for years upon years, known how his parents' profession impacted his life – and Jazz's, too. How could his parents not have seen it? He thought that they cared too much about their profession to be swayed by such things, but they didn't even know? "How can you not know?! Have you two never seen how people react to you? To your profession?"

A second cold hand landed on his shoulder, but he angrily shrugged it off. The one wrapped around his balled fist stayed.

"I get bullied all the time because of it! Because of you! No one wants to be my friend!" Thick salty tears streamed down his face – when had he gone from tearing up to straight-up crying? "And even if they do, their parents stop them! Just like you made me do to Tucker!"

She shifted, uncomfortable by his outcry and accusations. "But sweetie-" she started to protest, before being cut off by the door to his room swinging open.

"What's happening over here?" Jazz asked, voice a mixture of confusion and concern. "I heard yelling."

Tucker's fingers tightened around Danny's hand. He squeezed back, comfortingly – a silent message that Jazz was okay, that he didn't have to worry about her.

"Your brother has been tricked by a ghost," his mom started explaining, getting it out while he was comforting Tucker. "It has fooled him by acting like a friend, playing into Danny's own… troubles… with making friends."

"Did you just call Tucker an it?" Danny hissed, wondering why it surprised him so much. His parents had always referred to ghosts as just 'it' – he just didn't realize before that his mom had never referred to Tucker as such. "And he's not manipulating me at all, he really is my friend!"

Jazz's eyes shifted from their mother to him, then almost imperceptibly, to his hand. Or, more accurately, to his fingers – which were curled around Tucker's. He wasn't sure what she took from this, but it seemed to fortify her opinion regardless, because she turned back to their mom with a stern expression on her face.

"Mom," she finally said, her voice not as harsh as her expression suggested. Instead it was flat, controlled. "You're not seriously stopping Danny from making friends, are you?"

Now Maddie's gaze swung from Danny to Jazz, eyes widening. "Jazz, surely you're not encouraging this? You, of all people, should know better – ghosts can only be bad."

"You don't know that," Jazz countered, crossing her arms. "Your research suggests it, but a good scientist should look into such things instead of disregarding them instantly. After all, you might've been wrong."

A cold breath swept past Danny's ear. "Dude," Tucker whispered, so quietly that Danny could barely hear him. "Your sister is awesome."

He grinned in response, silently agreeing. Jazz was often annoying – as siblings tend to be – but when she was on his side she was a force to be reckoned with, for sure.

Maddie spluttered in response to Jazz, then straightened herself out – pushing herself to her full grown-up height. "Our research is based on an uncountable number of sources. Just because one ghost appears to behave differently doesn't mean that we're wrong." Then her expression softened a little. "I can't risk that, Jazz." Her eyes shifted back to Danny, pleading. "I can't risk that you're wrong about Tucker. If he hurts you…"

"He won't!" Danny bit back, puffing out his chest to come across as more confident. "Tucker isn't like that!"

"At least let him try." Jazz stepped further into the room, drawing the attention back to her. "Your – and Dad's – reputation is already stopping Danny from making human friends. At least let him try to make a ghostly one."

This seemed to have done the trick. Maddie's shoulders sunk down, her entire posture suggesting defeat. "Is it really so bad? Are our jobs… really making it so hard for you two to make friends that you have to settle for ghosts?"

Danny rolled his eyes at her scorn towards Tucker but… he was willing to play along if it meant that she would let Tucker stay. "Yeah," he said, voice trembling a little. "I don't have anybody but Tucker. Mom, please."

Her purple eyes softened even further at his pleading, and she heaved a heavy sigh. "Alright. But if Tucker does anything to suggest that he means ill…" she trailed off, letting the threat linger.

"If he hurts Danny, he'll have to fear an entire family of ghost hunters." Jazz quirked an eyebrow at Maddie. "But you're not gonna act unless he does anything real. Danny's a kid, mom. Kids his age should get scuffed up while playing with friends."

Their mom shifted a little, uncertain. Then she nodded. "Fine, alright." She turned to face Danny, face once again stern. "But you better tell Tucker that if he dares to hurt you-"

"Yes Mom," he interrupted her, knowing that Tucker could figure out the rest on his own. Besides, she had made the same threat barely a moment ago. "I'll make sure he knows." Jazz's eyes shifted to his hand, and her lips quirked up a little as she noticed that he was still holding Tucker's hand.

Maddie nodded again, then moved to the door. She stopped in the opening, looking back at him and Jazz. "I'll tell your father too. But I'm serious, Danny. Don't just trust him – and please tell us if he ever hurts you."

"Yes Mom," he droned, and finally she left.

Jazz chuckled a little, softly. "Did she really not know that he was here the entire time?"

"Do you think she would've acted like that if she knew?" He finally let go of Tucker's hand, turning to face the direction where the boy presumably was. "You want to introduce yourself, Tuck?"

Tucker faded into visibility, looking like he always did. Yellow sweater, green cargo pants, brown boots. And, of course, the red beret. He floated an inch or two above the floor – barely high enough to be at Jazz's eye level.

He raised a hand, grinned at her, and said, "Hi."

Her eyes widened a little – apparently she hadn't expected him to actually show himself. Or maybe she was just surprised by how human Tucker looked.

Or maybe she was still doing that thing where she didn't believe that ghosts existed. But if that was the case, Danny really didn't know why she had helped him against their mom.

"Hi," she answered, feebly. Then, jarringly, she stuck out her hand. "I'm Jazz. Jazz Fenton."

"I figured," Tucker answered, accepting her hand. She squirmed a little, apparently more put-off by the feeling than Danny had been, and he let go fairly quickly. "Tucker Foley."

Jazz's brow creased a little, as her gaze swept from Tucker's hand to his face. "Is that… the last name you had when you were alive?" Then she tensed up a little, grimacing. "Or is that a bad thing to ask a ghost?"

Tucker laughed, waving off her concern. "Depends on the ghost, really. But uh, I was never alive. Foley is the name my parents gave me, and I think it was theirs when they were alive, but I was born a ghost."

"That's possible?" Jazz spluttered. "But that doesn't make sense! How can you be born already dead?"

Tucker shrugged. "Do I look like a scientist to you? I just know it's possible, not how."

"Besides," Danny leaned on Tucker's shoulder, smiling at his sister's discomfort, "He doesn't behave like he's dead, does he?"

Jazz's eyes swept over Tucker once more. Then she sighed. "No. No, I suppose he doesn't."

Then she yawned, rubbing in her eyes. "Anyway, as fun as this was, I need to go to bed. And so do you, Danny." She glared at him, warning. "If you don't want Mom and Dad to go back on this, you need to be on your best behavior. Anything less, they'll blame Tucker for."

"Really?" Tucker scowled. "That's stupid."

"Yeah," Danny agreed. "Welcome to my world."

The door creaked open, and immediately all eyes in the room settled on Danny.

Or, more likely, they settled on the boy next to Danny.

Danny bumped him comfortingly, then smiled at his parents – bright and definitely not faked. "Hey Mom, hey Dad. Tucker and I will be in my room, okay?"

Jazz smiled at them, but his parents didn't share the joy. Instead their eyes narrowed, taking in the ghost behind him.

He decided to ignore them and their suspicions – they had already promised to leave Tucker be, and he doubted that they would try anything. Instead he started walking towards the stairs, Tucker following him. The ghost kept his eyes on the adult Fentons – not Danny could blame him.

Then Tucker paused, looking in the direction of Jack, but not at the man himself. Instead his gaze was set on something Jack was holding.

For a moment, Danny worried that it was a weapon. Then Tucker's eyes widened, his face broke into something of a grin, and his aura visibly brightened. "Is that a ghost tracker?" he asked, surprisingly excited about the prospect.

"Uh." Danny's dad was apparently caught off-guard by the fact that he was addressed by the ghost. But then his usual exuberance over his inventions won out, and he grinned back. "It is!"

Tucker phased through the railing of the stairs, floating closer to Jack. The man jerked at the show of Tucker's abilities, but lifted the invention for Tucker to see regardless. "It tracks ectoplasmic ab- beings," he corrected himself forcibly, and more than a little awkwardly.

"That's so cool!" Tucker grabbed the device from Jack's hand, startling the man. He started looking it all over, eyes wide and shining with barely hidden enthusiasm. "I mean, Technus tried making something similar, but he never even succeeded. And he's a ghost!"

Maddie scoffed. "Are you implying that ghosts are better than us?"

"Well, no." Tucker took his eyes off of the invention for a moment to look at her. "But he's got unlimited access to ghosts, ectoplasm, and research into those things. Just like you guys would be better at making things to track humans. You've got easier access to the knowledge necessary to make it."

This seemed to satisfy Danny's mom, as her glare softened a little. Jack made use of the distraction she had provided to scoop his invention out of Tucker's hands. "Of course, it doesn't quite work yet, but it'll get there!"

Danny had crept closer, and could see that although there was only a single green dot displayed on its screen, it wasn't located where Tucker was. He frowned. "What is it picking up on?"

Tucker, who had shifted closer to Danny now, looked out the windows. His brow creased in concentration. After a moment of silence, he shrugged. "Another ghost, I think. A more powerful one, with a stronger signature to read."

"Huh." Jack looked down at the invention, considering this. Then he looked back up, grinning at Tucker. "That's a good suggestion, kid. Hadn't considered that possibility."

"Glad I could help." Tucker shrugged, but his aura remained bright – a clear sign of his lingering happiness. "Danny mentioned your cool inventions before, so I'm glad I got an opportunity to see one of em."

And this, all Fentons could tell you, was the way into Jack Fenton's heart. Well, this, and asking about ghosts.

Jack's smile widened even further, and he pushed himself off of the couch – to do what, no one knew. "Did he, now? Well, I'd be more than happy to show you some!"

But Maddie grabbed his arm before the man had a chance to storm off. "No you won't. No unauthorized personnel in the lab, honey."

She turned to face Tucker, looking a little apologetic. "Standard lab rules. Besides, there are sensitive experiments down there – and we don't know how they would react to an increase in nearby ectoplasm."

"Oh." Tucker nodded, but looked a little saddened. "I get it. Wouldn't want to break anything."

Danny bumped the boy – he would've swung an arm around Tucker's shoulders, but he was floating too high – and smiled warmly. "You can see them another time, okay? Why don't we go and play some video games in my room, like we were going to do?"

"Yeah. Yeah, alright." Tucker's glow had dampened a little, flickering like a flame as he tried to get a grip on his emotions. He landed on the floor, nodding towards the stairs. "Guide me to your room then, dude."

Tucker shoved him. The grin on his face told him it was as playful as the strength behind it suggested, so he smiled back.

"Dude, no," the ghost said, a complaintive hint to his voice. "What am I even supposed to do with my life if you're away for a week? I don't have any other friends!"

Danny laughed. "Welcome to the club! Besides, you've managed before you met me, right? It's only been a few weeks since then, so I'm sure you'll survive another week."

"No I won't." Tucker pressed a hand against his chest, dramatically. "I've never been alive but I'll die if you leave me, Fenton."

"Can't lose what you don't have," Danny replied, still grinning. Then something in the alley on the other side of the street caught his eye, and he stopped.

Tucker continued for a few steps more before noticing. He glanced around, saw that the street was empty, and floated back. "Dude, why'd you stop?"

"Look at that ghost," he replied, pointing at the alley. "Do you know who she is?"

Tucker scoffed, before grumpily answering him. "Danny, I don't know every ghost. C'mon, I thought you knew better than that."

But Danny ignored him, instead crossing the street. At the start of the alley he paused, observing the ghost for a moment.

She was humanoid, like Tucker. Black hair, which hung loose except for a small ponytail on the back of her head. Pale skin. A black shirt of some sort, and a skirt in the same color. The spectral tail that emerged from it was purple, however, breaking the theme.

She had her back turned to the street, but from this close Danny could tell that she was upset. Her shoulders were tense and her fists balled.

"Hey, do you need any help?"

The ghost started at his sudden question, and she whirled around to face him. Her eyes were big – and just as purple as her tail. She appeared to be similar in age to him and Tucker. When she saw who spoke, her expression darkened. "Why do you ask?"

Danny, thrown off by her sudden hostility, shrugged. "I just… wanted to know if I could help?"

A cold hand landed on his shoulder, and he glanced up at Tucker. "Dude," he said, "What's it with you and ghosts?"

"I just like to help people!" Danny protested, throwing out his hands. "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing's wrong with that," the female ghost interjected, apparently soothed by the sight of another ghost. She offered her hand. "I'm Sam. Sam Manson."

Danny took her hand, shaking it with a smile. "I'm Danny Fenton, and that is Tucker Foley." He leaned closer to Sam, whispering conspiringly, "Don't ask him what the TF stands for."

She frowned, glancing from Danny to Tucker. "Why…"

But Tucker grabbed her hand, shaking it enthusiastically. "Tucker Foley, TF as in Too-"

"Alright, I get it!" Sam snapped before he finished his sentence, pulling her hand free from his'.

"Told you." Danny grinned, smile widening when she shot him a brief glare. Then he sobered a little. "But seriously, Sam. Is there anything we could help you with?"

"We?" Tucker questioned, turning intangible to avoid Danny's swiping hand. "I didn't offer to help anyone, dude. Keep your hero complex to yourself."

Sam rolled her eyes, then huffed out a breath. "I'm fine. It's just… No one here seems to know about ghosts."

"Oh yeah, no kidding," Tucker agreed, dropping his intangibility again. "I was hanging out alone for, like, years. Kept startling the life out of anybody I tried to talk to."

She cocked a brow at this, eyes shifting to Danny. The wordless question was more than clear.

"My parents are ghost hunters," Danny said like it explained everything. Which it did, really.

"Yet you're friends with a ghost?" Sam looked at the two of them with a rather unreadable expression, but she sounded almost impressed. "Dang, now that's defying your parents."

"They're alright with it." Danny shrugged.

"Dude, your mom grounded you twice." Tucker crossed his arms. "And you got into a crazy shouting match because she thought I overshadowed you."

"They're alright with it now," Danny corrected.

Sam smiled, wide and a little too toothy. "How would you feel about adding another ghost to your group of friends?"

The door creaked open, and Maddie immediately looked up from her work. Standing in the door opening was her son. And as usual, he was tailed by a ghost – Tucker.

Less usual was the female ghost on Danny's other side. She looked… dark. Pale skin, but black hair and black clothes and heavy black boots. Definitely a less cheery companion than Tucker – and one Danny hadn't mentioned before.

She sighed, exasperated. Of course her son wouldn't settle for just one ghostly friend. Like Tucker hadn't been enough. She and Jack had barely gotten used to that ghost. His enthusiasm for their inventions had, admittedly, helped.

"Danny, sweetie," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. She gestured towards the new ghost. "Who is this?"

The ghost narrowed her purple eyes, glaring at Maddie. "I am right here," she bit. "You could've just asked me."

Tucker raised his eyes upwards, looking like he was praying for strength. Were there religious ghosts? Did they have the same religions, or other ones?

"Sam, chill." Her son laid a hand on the shoulder of the female specter. Then he turned back to face her. "Mom, this is Sam. Sam, this is my mom."

'Sam' inclined her head in greeting. Maddie nodded in return. "Nice to meet you… Sam."

Before they could get any further into the stilted conversation, however, her husband burst through the kitchen door. In his hand was a small invention – the Fenton Finder they had been working on.

"Danny-boy!" he boomed, swinging the machine into the direction of their son – and his two ghostly companions. "The Fenton Finder says that there are two ghosts! So where is the-"

He fell silent suddenly, apparently having noticed Sam's presence. The girl in question blinked, surprised.

Then she scoffed. "Well, your parents sure are characters. The jumpsuits are pretty cool, though. A little bright for me, but definitely better than what my parents like to wear."

Maddie perked up at the compliment – and the hint of information it came with. A ghost shouldn't remember enough from their life to remember such details about their parents. Unless it was born a ghost, but they didn't know enough about ghostly anatomy to know if such a thing was even possible.

She was still considering a careful way to broach the subject when Jack spoke. "Your parents? What are they like?"

"Eh." Sam shrugged. "They're real annoying, honestly. They care too much about what others think of them, and they're all bright colors and cheery patterning and stuff. Disgusting."

"How did you get into the human world anyway?" Tucker asked as he floated further into the room. No one paid attention to the fact that he phased through a wall to do so. "I know I stumbled through a natural portal, but that was years ago."

"I did the same, honestly. Was just flying through the Zone, hoping to get a break from my parents, and then BAM! Right into a wall." She grinned, surprisingly genuine. "And you and Danny stumbled into me not long after."

"Won't your parents be worried?" The voice was a new one, and everyone glanced up at the stairs, surprised. Jazz blushed under the sudden watchful eyes of three humans and two ghosts.

Sam shrugged again, seemingly unconcerned. "Not really? Time and age are weird for ghosts, so having me leave for several months or years isn't that weird. Besides, we're sturdy. Not much can happen to us."

Tucker nodded along. "Yeah, what she said. My parents went into the thing a little more, since they were former humans, so they were still pretty familiar with how things go for the living. But they were alright with me leaving for days or weeks, or even months at a time."

"But haven't you been away for years?" Jazz asked, coming down the stairs to talk more easily. "Don't you think they would be worried by now?"

"Maybe." He huffed out a breath. "But it's not like it makes a difference. Natural portals are too unpredictable – I've been looking for one back since I got here, and I didn't even know that there had been another until Sam just mentioned it."

Then he snaked an arm around Danny's shoulders, pulling the boy closer to him. "Besides, I got a friend here. I… don't want to lose him. If I run into a portal back home, there's no way to guarantee that I can come back."

"So you would have to chose between your friends and your parents?" Jazz gasped. "That's horrible!"

Jack, who had apparently crept towards her while the kids had been talking, nudged her shoulder. Quietly, he whispered to her, "Do you remember our attempt at building a hand-made portal back in college?"

She nodded. How could she have forgotten? It had done horrible things to Vlad – to their former best friend. The man had never spoken with them again, and it had been more than a decade since. "You're not suggesting…"

But it was a good suggestion, she had to admit. A stable, man-made portal would be hugely beneficial for Danny's friends – and their own research. Tucker, and now Sam as well, had proven to be a valuable source of information. The two of them alone had disproven – and proven – a lot of things she and Jack could only speculate about, before.

And while the last one hadn't gone well… They knew better now. They were older, more experienced. And they had more information to go on, provided by actual ghosts. Children, sure, but ghosts nonetheless.

She nodded again, this time in approval. "We should. But we'll have to be careful. We can't risk it going wrong again, not with children around."

Jack grinned, and she smiled back. Then her husband turned to the four children. "Well kids, sounds like Mads and I know our next project."

"You're not seriously considering building a portal-making machine, are you?" Sam scowled, crossing her arms. "That's not possible, not even for the most experienced ghosts."

Smile growing even wider, Jack lifted up a single finger in protest. "But that's where you're wrong! Because we've done it before, in college."

"It didn't last," Maddie admitted, trying to calm the moods again. "And building a stable one – one that won't explode like the last one – might take years."

Tucker and Sam exchanged a look, then shrugged simultaneously. "Can't take much longer than waiting for a natural one," the boy said. "And that way I can always come back, too."

Danny swung his arms around both his friends, pulling them closer to himself. "And I get to keep my friends!"

The metal arch of the Portal stood, looming. The tunnel behind it tapered into darkness, its mechanical guts hidden from view. It was by far the most impressive invention his parents had ever put together, worthy of the years of effort that had gone into it.

Except that it didn't work.

When, with much ado and show, they had finally plugged it in… It hadn't worked. Not a single spark or flare of energy, ectoplasmic or otherwise.

And he just stood here. Still clad in his skintight jumpsuit – which his parents had made mandatory for any human entering the lab – with Sam and Tucker by his side. Looking at the enormous invention which had taken so much time and effort.

"Well, what were we expecting?" Sam said, not expecting an answer. She sounded somber, not that anyone beyond him and Tucker would've been able to tell. "It's not like it really could've worked."

"Yeah." Tucker nodded along. "It was just… just a pipe dream. It was too good to be true."

But Danny frowned, walking closer to the empty frame of the Portal. His hand trailed over the edge of it, his black gloves squeaking from the friction. He turned to look over his shoulder at his friends. "Come on, are we really giving up so easily? You've been waiting on this for years!"

Tucker shuffled his feet, uncertainly. "Yeah, I… Yeah." He looked Danny in the eye, more certain now. "Yeah, you're right. We shouldn't give up so quickly. Maybe there's just a small problem, or something."

Sam, too, seemed to be assured by Danny's confidence. "It would be really cool to get it working…"

The two of them joined Danny at the edge of the Portal. They shared glances. Lingered for a few long, silent moments.

Then Danny asked, "So… Who is going in to check it out?"

I actually had more scenes in mind for the Trio to bond and such, but I ended up cutting them for a variety of reasons. Sam kind of got boned as result, whoops. I also have no idea how old the kids are supposed to be in this fic. I was aiming for like 8-10? maybe? But I have no idea how people that age talk or like... work.

I kept the ending real open on purpose, because I could see the Accident going in one of three ways in this AU: 1) Danny doesn't go into the Portal and thus remains fully human. 2) Danny does go into the Portal, but becomes a full ghost like Sam and Tucker. Or 3) Danny goes into the Portal, becomes half-ghost like in canon.
And I didn't know which one I liked the most so... open ending!