"Here?"
"Ow. No, I mean, that hurt, but that's not it."
"What if I move…"
"God, yes. Okay. Okay! That's it. Stop. Stop!"
"It's… it's crackly."
"Oh my god, stop touching it. It's what?"
"I think your rib is broken."
Although she had moved away immediately after his request, Danny reeled away from Sam with a hiss of pain, leaning back into the park bench. She looked away from his ribcage and up at his eyes with a carefully neutral expression, slowly withdrawing her hand more, resting it in her lap. He looked back silently for a moment. Unsaid questions hung between them. He had a feeling they had the same ones.
"Sam… I…." Danny sighed. They should be in their own homes, getting ready for bed. It had to be late by now — it felt like he'd been out for hours. And now he had broken ribs. Fantastic. He returned Sam's gaze. "Why?"
Sam looked away suddenly, wringing her hands. Some of the dried blood that stuck to them from her arm injuries flaked into her lap. Danny's question was simple, but she understood the weight it carried. "I could've handled myself," she muttered.
Danny scoffed. She was seriously going to dodge the question? Now? "Yeah? Your plan was working out pretty well when I showed up," he deadpanned. "The old 'faint and play dead' move. Clever."
"Don't be a jerk."
Danny groaned, frustrated. He wasn't sure if it was the exhaustion, the injuries, or what, but he knew if they continued like this he would cry. He had no idea why she was being so impulsive, why she thought she could fight a ghost all on her own. "Sam, I can turn intangible and I just almost died." He hesitated for a section before adding: "Again."
Sam stiffened next to him, still looking the other direction, hiding her face. "You think I don't know that?" Her voice sounded rough. "This is my problem, okay? Don't come after me next time."
His bottled emotions burst.
"And let you DIE?" Danny shouted. "You think I wanted to come here, Sam?" His insides churned. Sharp tingling washed over him. Suddenly intangible, he fell through the bench, landing on the ground below on his back with a thud. He hissed with pain for a moment but continued anyways, shouting at the stars. "I was terrified! I hate ghosts! I hate having to use my powers! All of this, I'm so SICK OF IT!" he howled, voice cracking. The shouting sent waves of pain through his ribcage. Tears flowed freely now. The shine of the stars blurred. "But I came because you're my friend, Sam! How could I live with myself if I just stood around while you DIED?"
"You mean like I did?"
"You stabbed the thing, what are you-"
"The portal. The portal, you walked in, and because of… you died, I…" Sam stopped talking for a moment and simply sobbed. Danny couldn't see her, but the bench shook with her shoulders. "I was the one that said I was gonna go in there, and then… god, I wasn't even serious, and when you wanted to instead I just let you. I thought it'd be FUN. How could I… how could I…"
The bench shook more, letting out a rusty moan. Sobs stuck in Danny's throat as he tried to keep from crying too loudly. It ached, begging to be released. The stars swirled, wet in his vision.
Sam sniffed, loud and wet. "And then… and then you say you're fine. All you do is say you're fine, Danny. I can see you falling apart. You look so…" Sam coughed roughly,
followed by a shaky inhale. "…so tired, so scared, and I know you said you're handling it and it's not scary but Tucker told me about what happened in class, when you were yelling and freaking out, and I know this can never be fixed but I… I just… UGH!" Danny flinched at the bench banging above him. "These books don't do shit! And it means I just have to stand around watching you try to figure out with the mess I MADE!" The scream ripped out of Sam's throat, raw and desperate. "And so yeah. Yeah. I… I came out here, I wanted to… wanted to talk to a ghost. So they could help you. Mentor you or something, I don't… I don't know. I thought maybe they..." Sam sighed, deep and heavy, followed by wet sniffs.
Danny noticed his tears had dried up, although the weight of their conversation still stood heavy on his chest. Sam opening up — he'd forgotten about that day on the playground equipment. That first night. She'd said all the same things, when she thought he wasn't listening. She pretended like she was fine when he'd tried to tell her it wasn't her fault — and it really wasn't. It still wasn't. That night he'd given up on trying to make her feel better, he'd cursed himself for being so bad at words.
Maybe he was still bad at words.
But if Sam was finally opening up, he had to try, too.
"I… I really thought acting like everything was fine would help, Sam. I did. That night you dragged me to that playground, the night everything went down, you… Sam, you were so sad. And I didn't know what to do. I guess I felt like if I complained too much or… I don't know, I didn't want you to worry about me."
Sam laughed, a rough bark devoid of any humor. "Danny, you remember when you went to go shower at Tucker's place?"
Danny grunted an affirmation.
"I told you, I can tell when you're lying." Sam laughed again, more genuine this time. She still sounded so sad. "You suck at it."
Danny laughed too, immediately sucking in air as his rib gave a stabbing pain in protest.
Sam continued. "How could I not worry about you when I can see how upset you are all the time? What kind of friend would that make me if I just stood around and acted like I didn't care?"
"Kind of like how I couldn't leave you here alone tonight?"
Sam sniffed. "…Point taken," she mumbled. "Yeah. Kind of like that. I'm… I'm sorry, Danny. This was stupid."
Danny swallowed, uncomfortable with the sudden apology. "You should be! I mean, calling me a bad liar? You should've seen me with Jazz tonight," he joked, trying to dispel the overwhelming tension he felt. "She thinks we totally solved all our 'issues.'"
A beat of silence from Sam. "…Did we?"
Danny took a breath, taking a moment to come to terms with the fact that Sam wouldn't let this go. He let her question wash over him. Did they?
He guessed not.
He sat up with a grunt, putting pressure on his side as he slowly got to his feet, trying to not put too much weight on his injured leg. He hobbled back around to the front of the bench and sat down next to Sam. Tears shone on her face, but she seemed to be done crying, too.
Danny faced her, determined not to muffle his emotions with any sarcasm this time around. They needed to solve this. "The only way we solve this is to… we have to be honest with each other." Danny hesitated. "…Right?"
God, he sucked at this.
Sam looked away in thought for a moment before turning back to him, facing him directly as well. "Yeah. I mean, we only got out of that because we were together, right?" Sam turned back toward the grassy area of the park. Danny followed her gaze to the neon green patches of ectoplasm on that ground that were still dimly glowing. "Why would other ghost issues be any different?"
"We're in this together. You, me, Tucker. I don't… want you feeling like you have to do this stuff alone. You don't. You shouldn't."
"You talked with Tucker about all of this?"
Danny laughed weakly, air blowing out of his nose. "Kinda. He should still be on his way here now, actually."
Sam looked down and smiled for just a moment. "The same goes for you, Danny. You shouldn't be doing this alone. We worry about you."
Danny sighed. His eyes fell over Sam's dark hair, the black eye makeup that ran down her cheeks with her tears now drying in flakes. He reflected briefly on their reunion at the beginning of this year. Sam looked so different from how he'd always known her — stuffed into lame dresses of her parents' choosing, the same orange-blonde hair of her mom.
At the time, he'd really thought that was a life-changing event. He couldn't imagine a more momentous change of identity than dyeing your hair and changing your clothes. He laughed weakly to himself at his naïveté. "This is really how it's gonna be from now on, isn't it?"
"Hm?"
"The… the accident. This is just how I am now, huh? A ghost."
"Half-ghost," Sam said gently.
Danny smiled weakly. "Yeah, right. Half-ghost." He let his smile fall. "And the portal's open. Who knows how many other ghosts are loose in the town."
"You parents aren't taking care of them, are they?" Sam asked pointedly.
"Uh, well," Danny stammered, shocked to be caught in his lie from earlier.
Sam gave him a forgiving smile and shook her head, dismissing the issue. "Save it. I figured."
Danny hesitated for a moment before returning her smile.
"You're right, though," she said, looking back out at the ectoplasm stained lawn. "Things won't go back to how they were before."
Danny's eyes fell to her blood soaked coat sleeves. "I have a bad feeling that it's gonna be up to us to deal with it."
Sam glanced back at him, following his gaze. "If we don't, who will?" She shrugged, giving a small wince at the movement. "We absolutely need a new game plan, though."
Danny chuckled. "We make awful ghost hunters."
They laughed together, a weak and broken sound due to their injuries.
Yet despite how battered they were, they knew this was the first step to finally understanding each other, a new strength formed in their friendship.
The first step to being really, truly okay.