So I got bored and decided to write a twoshot. So this is part one of the twoshot. Yeah...ENJOY!
Disclaimer: I don't own DP. (Just wondering, do we HAVE to put these before fanfiction? Cuz I'm a little confused about that. Personally, I'd prefer not to but if it's a necessity then I'll do it.)
When Danny got home from school that day, the house was silent. That was the first warning sign.
The second was their positioning. His father, always a boisterous, happy man, slouched on a seat in the kitchen table with his mother hovering over him. They both had somber expressions on their faces, and they observed Danny as if he would explode at any second as he glided over to him.
"Mom? Dad?" He asked, his voice full of worry. "Is something wrong?"
"Danny," his mom tried to smile and great him with the same warm expression she always did, but failed miserably. Danny noticed her red-rimmed eyes and blotched cheeks, which only sent a tremor of panic through him. His mom never cried, ever.
His father just sighed, slouching further down, and said monotone, "Yes, son, there's something we need to talk to you about."
His eyes widened. "Is my aunt okay?"
Danny remembered how his mom's sister was rock climbing when she slipped and fell. As far as Danny knew, she had started out in critical condition but was now expected to make a full recovery. Even so, things can change quickly.
Danny's father's eyes broke eye contact with him. Suddenly, Danny's father looked more downcast than Danny had ever seen him. "No, son, it's about you."
"Me?" Danny gasped. "What did I do?"
"It's not what you're doing exactly," Maddie said, her eyes suddenly getting shiny. "It's what you're not doing. You're never home, you're not studying or doing homework, and you're just never...happy anymore."
"I'm plenty happy!" Danny countered. "So what if I'm stressed, isn't every high schooler?"
"Danny," Maddie whispered. "Stop trying to hide it." And with that, she held up a razor. It was small with bits of dried blood on it. "It fell out of your pocket this morning."
"M-mom," Danny's backpack dropped to the floor with a thud. "It's not what you think!"
"Then what is it?" Maddie shouted, tears streaming down her face. "Explain it, Danny!"
He ran his fingers through his hair, pulling at his raven hair with the tips of his fingers. His eyebrows scrunched as he chewed the bottom of his lip. "I...I..." He shook his head in defeat and muttered, "I'm sorry."
Maddie broke down into fits of sobs, setting the razor on the table next to her. Jack spoke up in place of her, "Son, we're doing this because we love you."
Danny crossed his arms and stared at the ground. He couldn't believe his rotten luck. "So what now?"
Maddie composed herself enough to let out a shaky response. "We're sending you to a psychologist."
"No," Danny glared up at them. "No way am I going to a shrink!"
"Danny, please!" Maddie yelled despairingly, "Don't make this any harder for us than it has to be!"
"Then don't send me to a goddamn shrink!" Danny retorted crossly.
"Enough!" Jack roared. Maddie and Danny fell into a submissive silence at his words.
"Danny," he gazed cautiously at his son. "We love you and when you hurt, we hurt. It's part of being your parents."
Tears sprung to Danny's eyes he nonchalantly wiped them away with his hand. "I'm sorry."
"Danny, please. Just please do this for us," Maddie pleaded. At Danny's silence, she tried again, her voice cracking, "Please?"
This time when the tears sprung to his eyes, he didn't wipe them away in time. "Okay."
LINEBREAK
"Hi Danny," a soft voice called. Danny was sitting in a squishy chair in a small office. "I'm Katie."
The office was bright but cozy at the same time. It had a off-white carpeting, red walls, and a white ceiling with a small, white window that overlooked Amity Park. Danny occupied the big brown armchair in the corner of the room, refusing to lie down in the cream colored couch next to him like a stereotypical patient. Katie sat in a black swivel chair holding a clipboard.
"Hi," Danny muttered glumly, refusing to meet her eyes. She had auburn curly hair and big, green eyes. One side of her hair was tucked neatly behind a small, pale ear, so one of her white, pearl earrings came to view. Her red lipstick highlighted the bright, warm features in her lightly freckled face. She was wearing a silky yellow and orange-flowered shirt with a green skirt. Danny liked her, but she was a psychologist and he was her patient. He was forced to be here, and he couldn't accept that.
"So tell me, how's your day going?" she asked, in an attempt to ease his transition.
He shrugged, not breaking eye contact with the floorboards. "Okay I guess."
"Yeah? That's good."
Danny fidgeted, tugging at a loose thread in his black long sleeved shirt. It wasn't that Sam was rubbing off on him or anything, he just couldn't find it in him to wear bright colors anymore, other than his blue jeans. He thought it looked weird on him. And it's not like he could wear his regular short sleeved shirt. Ghost fighting left him with scars littered all over his body, arms included, and his own anxiety only served to amplify the amount of those scars.
Thankfully, Katie broke the silence. "So your mom told me you're having some trouble lately at home and in school."
Danny smirked sadly, "I bet she did."
"You wanna talk about it?" She asked. Her voice was soft like velvet. Danny imagined she had the ability to get even the worst kid out of a violent tantrum. Unfortunately, Danny wasn't four. He knew exactly what she was and why he was here.
"No."
She cocked her head curiously. "Why not?"
"Because this is stupid," Danny leaned back in the plush chair and stared up at the textured ceiling.
"How?"
He huffed. "I'm fine. My parents want me to be here but I know I don't need to be here. This is just a waste of all of our time."
Instead of being even slightly offended, she put another warm smile on her face and said soothingly, "I don't think this is a waste of our time. Danny, it's okay to be nervous and anxious the first time in here, but just know that you can trust me. I'm here for you, and I'm not going to tell your mother anything you don't want me to. What you say in this room stays in this room."
Danny put his head in his cupped hands. Since the start of his ghost fighting two years ago, there was a lot he would like to get off his mind. His fear of his parents, his lack of sleep, his anxiety, his grades, the GiW, the bullying, and more. There were things, like the razor, he never told anyone, not even Sam and Tucker. He was sure his sister saw at least some change in him, but probably assumed it was related to the amount of stress he carried around with him.
But, as inviting as Katie sounded, he couldn't just give away all of his secrets. Maybe if I make it seem like we're making progress, my parents will let me quit coming here, he thought as he blueprinted his brilliant plan in his mind.
"I don't know, I guess school's just been kind of stressful," he shrugged again, pretending to open up to her. "Like, classes and stuff. You know, the normal high school thing."
"Yeah? And how are you managing your classes?"
He didn't skip a beat, "Fine I guess. Sure, I miss an assignment here and there, but I'm pretty sure everyone does that."
She jotted something down on her brown clipboard before continuing on. "How are things socially?"
"Perfectly fine."
"I hear you're pretty close with a couple people."
"Yeah," Danny confirmed, nodding. "They're my closest friends. We do everything together."
"Do they know you've been hurting yourself?" She asked.
That was it. She just dropped the hydrogen bomb of Danny's emotions in one sentence. He jumped up and defensively and shouted, "No! Of course not! Where did you even hear about that?"
Ignoring his sudden change of attitude, Katie answered, "Your mother told me. She's very worried about you. Danny. We all are."
Danny spluttered, "She has no right! Not after everything...no! None! She-they are...I just..." he sat plopped back down, defeated, in his armchair. "I said I was sorry. It was an accident."
"What was?"
Danny rubbed the back of his neck, not sure how to respond. He didn't want to let Katie in. Those were his emotions and she wasn't a part of them. But, then again, it was only a matter of time before he exploded. "When I started."
He took a shuddering breath, blinking away tears that threatened to roll down his cheek. She didn't say anything as she calmly handed him a box of tissues and resumed her position on the chair. She just waited patiently for him to continue on. And the lack of pressure, the lack of demand for him to talk, was what ultimately allowed him to convince himself that she could be trusted. "I...do this thing after school. It's, well, it's kinda secret. I mean, like, my friends, Sam and Tucker, know about it. But no one else. I mean, they usually help me with it. It's kinda complicated I guess. But anyways, I sometimes have to do it alone and there was this woman who likes to mess with people. That's literally her favorite thing to do. And she got to me. I was a mess and the next thing I know, I can hardly remember it now, I was holding a paper clip and there were scratches all over my arms. I just...didn't know what to do. I was too scared to tell anyone. I guess that's why I kept it secret."
When she was done scribbling words down on her clipboard, she pressed on, "Why did you continue hurting yourself?"
"I..." Danny searched his mind, trying to come up with an answer when it dawned on him that he didn't have an answer. It just felt right. Of course, he couldn't say that. "I guess the anxiety never stopped like I thought I did and that was the only way to snap out of it."
She nodded slightly and asked, almost hesitantly, "Do you mind telling me what this activity it you do after school?"
Danny stiffened. Yes, yes he did mind very much. "I c-can't tell you," he shuddered, thinking about what would happen if he did. Was she a supporter? Would she dial up the GiW or worse, his parents?
"Why not?" she asked without raising a single tone in her voice.
Danny ran his hands through his hair again as he thought of how to respond without giving anything away. "It's too dangerous. People get hurt."
"Danny, if you're in trouble then all I want to do is help."
Danny jumped out of his chair and started pacing the floor. "I...I'm sorry, but you can't help me. It's not that I don't love doing what I do, because I do like it very much. I like helping people. But...this? This is bigger than what you'd think. If I told you then others would find out about it and they'd...they'd kill me."
"Danny, please calm down. Remember how I said I'd promise I could be trusted?"
Danny nodded numbly, suddenly nauseous after thinking about the GiW or his parents experimenting on him.
She offered a small, hopeful smile, "I still can be trusted. Please, Danny, I'm just here to help. You can tell me."
He wanted to, oh he wanted to tell her so badly. But the complications in doing so were tremendous. If Vlad found out...No, he'd never find out. She promised Danny she could be trusted. She's a psychologist, right? She wouldn't turn on him or be judgmental just because he wasn't entirely human anymore, right? She could be trusted. But did Danny really want to take those chances? Was the risk too much?
He was vaguely aware he'd stopped pacing the floor. He was also slightly aware of the sudden decrease in temperature of the room. He raised it a little, hoping she didn't notice, as he made up his mind on what he would say.
Oh, yes, I'm so mean. I know.
My mom actually told me that she's worried for when I go to college next year because, according to her...
Mom: "You're roommate's going to hate you. She's going to come in one night with a knife in her and you're just going to shrug and tell her not to get any blood on the floor."
Me: "What's that supposed to mean?"
Mom: "Honey, you're the least sympathetic person I've ever met."
Me: *pauses* *shrugs* "Yeah...c'est juste."