I'd suggest paying attention to the warning. Self-harm is the main spiel of this fic and there are mentions of suicide and suicidal thoughts.

Enjoy.

Sometimes Tucker would look at Danny and think about how much has changed. Freshman year, his best friend shared all his secrets with him, skinny but still nourished with a face of baby fat, and baby blue eyes that beamed with curiosity with a hint of apprehension as well as the occasional sheer wonder when he thought about being an astronaut. Nowadays, his friend (were they even best friends anymore?) was secretive, almost gaunt with a lack of food and his eyes were dull, tired, and wary. The dreams of being an astronaut were gone, replaced with a solemn resigned attitude on being a ghost hero for Amity Park. He felt like he was thinking of two different people when he would think about it. Sam seemed not to particularly care, to enamored with the idea of knowing a ghost superhero that she was head over heels over. At first, Tucker wanted the two to get together already, but as Danny had drifted away and he and Sam were forced to spend more time together, he'd feel a twinge of fear for Danny if the two were to start dating. Sam often talked about Danny in the form of Phantom and as an object she could control, something that was hers since she "created" him. Tucker would look on as Sam and Danny talked and she'd joke about how he was so stupid and clumsy, and how Danny's brows furrowed in hurt for a split second before the ghost boy would cover it up with a smile and a hollow laugh. It was painful to listen to.

Still, Tucker convinced himself that he was exaggerating things in his own mind; Danny was fine. When he asked Sam, she seemed apathetic to her friend's possible condition. He'd tried asking Jazz, but she was too busy studying to really listen to him and insisted Danny would come to her if something were truly wrong. Asking the Fenton parents was out of the question: even without the ghost hunter thing they were neglectful. Mr. Lancer was an option, but maybe he teacher would think he was "covering" for Danny, or it would go nowhere and end with nothing but Danny feeling betrayed and Tucker feeling even more hopeless.

If the problem was overexertion from ghost hunting, there was nothing he could do to help outside of technological help. As time went on Danny had made it clear that Sam, Jazz, and Tucker should be taking care and not getting caught up in the crossfire of ghost fights. Tucker would find himself almost obsessively rewinding footage of the ghost fights, trying to see if there was a particular ghost causing trouble, but outside of Vlad and his mind games, no ghost was being more rough than usual. If the problem was lost hours of sleep, the most he could do was give Danny his notes so that Danny could sleep in class. The teachers had stopped trying to wake him up. It was a windy day when Tucker was taking a walk and convinced himself he was worrying over nothing. Danny was fine, and if he wasn't, he'd talk about it to him or Jazz. Danny had to know he was supported.

Tucker snapped himself of his illusion when Danny's long sleeves began taking center stage and Danny's eyes would glaze over mid conversation, only offering a dazed nod when asked if he was paying attention. Tucker would squint as Danny push around his lunch on the tray without taking a bite and threw it away, forcing out a smile as Sam poked fun at his failing grades.

Tucker and Danny were playing video games at Danny's house when Tucker saw it. Playing games was Tucker's idea to get Danny to smile a genuine smile and let that glazed over look melt away. Tucker's stomach dropped and the chips turned stale in his mouth as the edge of Danny's sleeve rode up when his friend moved the controller to grip it better. Danny frowned as he pressed the wrong button before smiling to himself and turning to Tucker.

"Did you know Jazz jumped off a cliff like, five times when I finally got her play co-op with me because she kept mixing up our…" Danny's face twisted into one of worry. "Tuck, are you okay?" Danny's previously easy smile came back with a plastered fake quality to it. "You look like you've seen a ghost—"

"Give me your arm," Tucker said with a serious voice, and they were both on edge now. Danny's hands gripped the controller tightly and he forced a laugh.

"W-What?" Danny chuckled. "What's gotten into you?" Tucker locked eyes with Danny, and Tucker was serious. Danny gulped. "Why?" An impatient look crossed over Tucker's eyes.

"Because I need to. Now, Danny." Danny sighed and handed Tucker his arm, the latter of which pulled up the sleeve to Danny's now exposed arm. A hurt look flashed over Tucker's face as he whispered a curse under his breath. Danny's forearm was covered his pink marks to reddish brown scabs, all too repetitive and smushed together and too many to be accidents or the remainders of a ghost fight. Tucker traced some of the older marks, slowly making his way to a newer one, deeper than the rest. Danny hissed, and Tucker worried that he hurt Danny before realizing it was a hiss of fear. Tucker took a steadying breath and looked up to Danny, who was looking away from him. "When did you start?" Tucker asked, not daring to take his eyes off of Danny. Danny shrugged. The silence was suffocating, and Tucker was ready to ask again when Danny's shaking voice cut through the air quietly.

"A few months ago." Danny closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. "Stress, if you were going to ask why." Tucker closed his mouth. Danny removed his arm from Tucker's grasp and pulled his sleeve down. "Everything was just too much, and I felt so sad and numb all the time. It felt like I was waking up and taking things into my hands when I'd do it." Danny pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to keep the sobs in his chest, which resulted in a spasming chest and shaking shoulders. Tucker felt his eyes start to water and blinked the tears away. "Everything just feels so hopeless." Danny glanced over to Tucker. "I was going to talk to Jazz or you sometime next week, but I probably would have given up." Tucker bristled, and Danny's eyes widened. "No, like, I meant given up on trying to talk to you guys. I kept backing out of calling you on the phone or knocking on Jazz's door. I didn't mean it like that." Tucker's entire body relaxed in relief.

"Don't scare me like that," Tucker breathed out. Danny grimaced apologetically. "Why didn't you tell us sooner? We wouldn't have judged." Danny shrugged.

"I didn't want anyone to see me this way. Make things awkward." Danny put his head in his hands. "This was supposed to be a fun day for you, I'm sorry it turned into this." Tucker shook his head.

"Don't apologize. I've been worried for a while. We've all been." Danny snorted.

"Even Sam?" Tucker made a noise at the back of his throat.

"You wanna know my honest answer? I don't know, but she probably cared in her own way." Tucker hugged Danny close and felt Danny tense before relaxing and returning the hug. Danny seemed to dig into him, and Tucker was reminded of his concerns. "Are you eating?" Danny sighed.

"I'm just not hungry. Didn't think anyone noticed."

"I noticed. I'm sure Jazz did too." Danny gave an empty chuckle.

"Probably. If there's one thing Jazz knows, it's how to put the puzzle pieces together and then not mention it." Tucker felt hot tears pour into the shoulders of his shirt, and then tears were streaming down his face too. "She always has faith I'll talk when I'm ready, and then I don't." Tucker could almost hear Danny's thoughts.

"You deserve a sister like her," Tucker said. Danny smiled.

"Thanks." They stayed that way for a while, game over screen still on the screen as they wrapped arms around each other. Tucker's leg was falling asleep and Danny poking into him was hard to ignore, but he refused to let go.

"Remind me to buy you food. It's like I'm hugging pointy rocks." Danny nodded into Tucker's shoulder, too tired to say anything. "Hey, Danny?" Danny hummed from where he was nestled. "Next time you feel like hurting yourself, call me. No matter what time it is." Danny shrugged. "You won't be bothering me, I swear." Tucker tightened his hug, afraid that Danny would fade away. "If anything, it bothers me more to know you're suffering." They went on for awhile, devolving into a conversation made entirely out of shrugs and pats on the back.

When Tucker left to go home after making Danny promise he'd talk to Jazz, Danny looked more alive and hopeful, if only tired. Tucker felt exhausted but reassured that Danny would talk to him.

Danny's first call came in at 11:30 at night on a Thursday over a week from their talk. Tucker instantly sat up and pressed the phone to his ear, staring out into the inky blackness of the night and instinctively reaching for his glasses despite not needing to see to be able to have a phone call. He was beginning to think Danny had hung up when he heard sobbing from the other side of the phone. Tucker's heat rate picked up and he felt his hands start to shake. "Danny?" Tucker asked carefully. The sobbing muffled itself for a few seconds.

"Do you think I deserve to exist?" Danny asked suddenly in one breath and Tucker's blood ran cold.

"Yes." Tucker said without a moment's hesitation. The only sound for a while was the crackling of the phone before Danny let out a quiet 'okay'. "Danny, where are you?" Danny stayed silent. "Danny, can you tell me where you are? Do you need me to come over?"

"No," Danny said. "I'm fine, just in my room."

"Have you injured yourself?" Tucker asked. There was a moment's hesitation before Danny sighed.

"I—"

"Be honest," Tucker warned.

"Just a small cut. It was before I remembered I could call you. I'm sorry." Tucker pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Thank you for being honest. Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's petty." Danny said. "My parents were talking about how Jazz is so much easier to deal with than me and that I wasn't trying, and it just kind of got to me."

"That's not petty," Tucker pointed out.

"It happens all the time," Danny said with a tone of defeat. "And I can't talk about it to Jazz because it kind of involves her." Danny said a few more empty sentences before Tucker interrupted.

"Just because someone does something a lot doesn't mean it's okay. Dash wails on people all the time. Doesn't make it okay; just means he's a jerk." Danny snorted softly.

"I think 'a-hole' fits him more but yeah, he's a jerk." The topic switched over to Dash and school for a few minutes before Danny seemed to quiet down. "Ah crap, it's kind of late, huh? We should go to sleep. I've been keeping you up." Tucker yawned.

"Yeah, you need sleep. Make sure to clean that cut, okay?" Danny made a small 'okay' before he hung up and Tucker looked at the dark outline of his phone. At the same time, Danny was staring at his arm. There were over seven cuts, but he hadn't wanted to disappoint Tucker. He traced a scar on his thigh that read "freak" in all caps and sighed, thinking of the faded out "burden" underneath it. He cleaned his wounds and went to sleep.

The next day, Tucker kept a close eye on Danny and Danny seemed to keep a close eye on Tucker, trying to gauge if he was upset about the phone call. Tucker, on the other hand, was trying to keep himself from wrapping Danny into a tight hug.

"Let's go watch movies at my house," Sam offered randomly, breaking the strange tension between Tucker and Danny. "A cheesy romance to make fun of." Danny gave Sam a tired smile.

"Sounds fun."

The movie did not go as expected. As Sam went to get more popcorn, Danny covered his mouth and nose as Tucker looked on in discomfort. The main character's best friend self harmed and the scene was mostly making fun of the problem. Danny covered his view of the screen with one hand as he took a shaky sip of soda.

"I could tell her to change the movie," Tucker offered, and Danny shook his head.

"I don't want to ruin the fun. She's enjoying this." Before Tucker could argue, Sam came back with more popcorn and pressed 'play'. She held back a snort as the two friends hugged on-screen.

"That tension came out of nowhere," Sam pointed out. "Resolved in like, what, three minutes?" Danny shoved popcorn in his face and continued refusing to face the screen. Tucker took a gulp of soda to refuse answering. Sam hummed to herself before looking at Danny. "You look terrible. The romance killing you that much?" Danny shook his head and smiled.

"The… humor isn't tickling my funny bone," Danny answered vaguely. Sam nodded.

"Yeah. We could watch a horror movie instead?" Sam offered, and Danny practically leaped at the opportunity.

The night ended with Danny and Tucker heading off early, Sam offering dinner before they left but Danny feigning having stuffed himself with popcorn and Tucker joking the gore ruined his appetite. Instead, it was concern knotting his stomach. The movie had ended with a double-suicide and that had affected both Tucker and Danny.

"You gonna be okay?" Tucker asked when they reached Fenton Works. Danny gave a tired nod. "If anything, call me." Danny barely gave a thumbs-up before running into the house and closing the door behind him. Danny assured him via text the next day that he had been fine.

Three weeks without a call, things felt hopeful for Tucker. Maybe Danny's situation was getting better and those eyes would regain their spark. Danny was eating more, even if he wasn't gaining any weight back. And then the call happened. Tucker had answered the phone casually, expecting that Danny was going to ramble about a game or ask him if he wanted to hang out sometime, only for reality to slap him.

"I'm having thoughts. Can we talk about something, anything?" Tucker nodded dumbly before remembering that Danny wouldn't be able to see that.

"Uh, sure. What do you want to talk about?" Danny came up with no ideas, and Tucker asked him to list in alphabetical order his favorite horror movies. Danny fumbled with the alphabet and gave answers out of order. Neither of them minded as long as it was a distraction. Eventually, Danny calmed down and thanked Tucker. Tucker's heart was still pounding after the call was over, a bad feeling in his gut leading him to texting Jazz and telling her to keep an eye on Danny for him, saying that Danny wasn't feeling well. Jazz texted back saying she'd take care of Danny. Tucker sighed out slowly and looked his phone, typing without thinking. It was only after erasing and typing repeatedly that Tucker noticed he was trying to explain Danny's problem. Tucker shook his head and put his phone down. He'd tell Jazz tomorrow.

A feeling in Tucker's heart hoped that tomorrow wouldn't be too late, before he calmed himself down. Danny would be fine.

He had to be.

Vent fic lol. But seriously, if you feel hopeless or like harming, get help. You deserve to feel okay.

Love y'all and see y'all around.