Disclaimer: I wish I owned Danny Phantom! Desiree: -turns me into Butch Hartman- AHHHHHHHHH! CHANGE ME BACK CHANGE ME BACK! -is changed back-
"You sure you know how to get there?" Tucker asked. Olivia rolled her dark purple eyes. Tucker was carrying two lunchboxes in one of his hands, a pink Barbie-themed and a plain dark green one, the other holding his cell phone as he texted his friends.
"I'll be fine! I'm only going one block by myself before I meet up with Amanda," she insisted. She kicked a small rock with her shoe. "I'm twelve now. I'm not a baby anymore."
"Come on, you don't like your big bro walking you to school?" Tucker teased.
Olivia stuck her tongue out at him as they approached a corner. Sam and Danny were waiting for them, idly chatting. Tucker shoved his phone in his pocket as he handed Olivia the pink lunchbox.
"Thank you!" she replied cheerfully.
"You got your phone?" Tucker asked.
"Yeah!" Olivia produced an iPhone with a light pink case. Danny frowned.
"An iPhone? Really? You know those are made in swe-."
"Danny, it's too early for your human workshop stuff," Sam replied tiredly. She took a sip from her travel mug of coffee. Danny made a face at her.
"You sure you know the way?" Tucker ignored his friends for now. Olivia rolled her eyes.
"Duh!" she replied. She put her phone in her pocket, moving to go down the block. Tucker reached out to put a hand on her shoulder.
"Maybe I should go with you," he began, "make sure you get there."
"Tucker, she'll be fine," Danny told him.
"I can call if I have trouble," Olivia agreed, shrugging his shoulder and eagerly walking off.
"You got my number, right?" Tucker yelled at her.
"Ye-es!"
"Tuck, she's twelve. We were walking to school on our own since we were like, nine," Sam pointed out.
"Yeah she'll be fine," Danny agreed. He offered his mug to Tucker, who accepted it and took a drink. "She's a smart kid. Smarter than you," he joked.
"She only seems smarter because she's good at arguing!" Tucker scowled before his annoyance dropped. Olivia skipped around the corner and down the street to her friend's house, oblivious to the conversation. "I dunno. Maybe I should follow her, make sure," Tucker mused, letting Danny take his cup back and take a drink.
"We have more pressing matters," Sam reminded her friends. "The ghost? Sidney? He's still on the loose. We gotta do something." Danny nodded as he pushed the button for the crosswalk.
"Yeah, agreed. Which is why I found and tinkered around with this bad boy," Danny grinned. He handed his cup to Sam, who accepted it as he dug through his backpack. He pulled out a thermos. Sam squinted.
"Is that more coffee?" she questioned. Danny shook his head no.
"It's the Fenton Thermos," he explained, rezipping his backpack and holding it up. "My dad said it can trap ghosts. And I can empty it in the Ghost Zone. We can test it out, and I can probably make adjustment as needed. The structure is solid, and I know the program they made for it. So, Tuck, you should have it." Sam gave a long sigh. "...He followed Olivia, didn't he?"
"Mhm."
Tucker floated behind his sister in his ghost mode, invisible. She was with her friend, the two chatting idly about typical twelve-year-old-girl stuff. The school was, quite literally, less than three blocks from where Tucker and Olivia met up with his friends.
"Good morning, girls!" Tucker felt the cold tingling sensation again. Spidey-Ghost sense! Ha, he knew it was a good idea to tag along.
"Morning, Dr. Spectra!" the two pre-teens echoed together in unison. Tucker stuck close by, but hovered overhead, remaining invisible. A red haired woman in a red suit and skirt attire smiled warmly at the girls behind her sunglasses. She was holding a bunch of binders to her chest, along with a briefcase bag on her shoulder. A short man was carrying four cups of coffee in a drink holder from a shop, but he remained silent.
"Oh honey," the woman, Dr. Spectra, frowned as she glanced over her glasses. "How old are you?"
Olivia paused. "I'm twelve. Thirteen in January."
"Aren't you a bit old to have a Barbie lunchbox?" Dr. Spectra questioned. She glanced critically at the preteen's outfit, knee-length jean shorts, white shoes and a light pink and purple shirt. "And to be wearing such...elementary attire? Maybe try changing your hair?" Olivia's hand hesitantly moved to touch her hair, which had been pulled back into twin buns. "Oh, I don't wanna make you run late for class though. My office will be open if you want to come discuss it or anything else during lunch or after school, alright sweetie?" Olivia smiled.
"I'll come by at lunch!" she told her. Spectra beamed.
"Atta girl," she cooed, and she walked off into the building, the silent short man following her. Tucker frowned. He'd have to confront Olivia about the encounter another time.
The bell rang, and Tucker's eyes grew wide. Fuck, he was going to be late for his own class.
Tucker blinked as a thermos was put in front of him the second he sat down in his seat. He stared at it, picking it up. It was green and silver, with buttons and a display screen. The halfa examined it in his hands, glancing up to notice that Sam's backpack was in her chair in place of her. She must have run to the bathroom real quick.
"Did you get me coffee?" he asked, confused. Danny scowled.
"It's not coffee!" he replied. "If you had stayed instead of running off to stalk Olivia, you'd have heard me explain it. It's the Fenton Thermos. It-"
"I wasn't stalking Olivia, I'm her brother. I'm supposed to make sure she's okay," Tucker interrupted. "She's never walked to school alone before."
"I have a sister too, but I don't follow her around," Danny frowned. "I have a life." Tucker narrowed his eyes, and Danny flinched at his own unintentional jab at the whole ghost thing. "Whatever. But the thermos will help you trap ghosts."
Tucker stared at him.
"By offering them coffee?" he asked, his voice a bit dry and sarcastic. Danny scowled again, snatching it back.
"No! You open it up, and you're supposed to press this button on the side, and from there, it should suck the ghost into the thermos and contain it. Then I can put it back into the Ghost Zone," Danny explained. He demonstrated as he talked, but kept the thermos point from Tucker. Just in case. He recapped it. "It's untested, but we can try it out."
"Sidney?" Tucker guessed, accepting the thermos again. He looked over it carefully. Danny was quiet for a moment.
"I dunno, man," he sighed. "I mean, Sidney was...chill. He didn't hurt me, and he didn't really try to hurt anybody. Other than Dash, I mean, but like...he only did it because Dash threw the first punch at you." Danny looked at his hands, drumming his fingers on his desk. He glanced up at Tucker, who tensed up a bit as the cold, tingling feeling began to creep up on him. "He was standing up for us. He wanted to protect us."
"Well, I think he's on his way," Tucker replied seriously, giving a light frown. Danny looked concerned.
"Spidey sense?" he questioned. Tucker nodded, and he rubbed the back of his neck to try and relieve himself of the feeling.
"I'll be back," he said, and he slipped out of his seat to dart out the door, thermos clutched in hand.
The hallway was mostly empty of students, as the bell was due to ring any second now. He turned a corner to look down a long, empty hallway. Tucker was left walking to the bathroom alone. He felt a bit of anxiety wash over him as the tingling grew colder and stronger.
The door to the restroom swung open as Tucker approached it, and he stopped in his tracks as he came face to face with Sidney. The ghost looked apologetic, flashing him a nervous smile.
"S-sorry," he stuttered, and Tucker was taken aback by how calm and collected he was. He took a step back, eyes wide. Sidney's anxiety seemed to skyrocket, the boy clasping his hands together. "I was just on my way out, I don't want any trouble."
"Y-you're the ghost that destroyed the cafeteria!" Tucker exclaimed accusingly, and his eyes narrowed. He scanned around them, and, seeing nobody, turned ghost. Sidney's eyes widened before his expression darkened. He scowled, and his eyes grew fully red.
"You're that bully who wanted to make me leave!" he replied accusingly. Tucker's grip on the thermos tightened, and he pulled the cap off, pointing it at Sidney.
"Well, now you're gone!" he declared boldly, and he pushed the button on the side. Sidney stared, watching the thermos exhaled a bit of smoke.
"...Are you trying to offer me some coffee?" Tucker scowled, hitting the side of the thermos as he pulled it closer to him.
"Hunk of junk," he muttered to himself. When he glanced up, he saw that Sidney had vanished. He began to float, prepared to chase, but paused as the bell rang. Tucker sighed, and he returned to the ground and changed back. He went to open the bathroom door when it opened again, and he paled.
"Oh, Mr. Foley." Mr. Lancer looked surprised, pleased and yet angry all at the same time. Tucker winced. "Perfect. I'd like to see you in my office. Miss Manson's already waiting for you."
"I mean, we're lucky we only got two weeks of detention. It's still fucking bullshit," Sam grumbled, slamming her lunch tray on the table before she slipped into a seat across from her friends. Tucker shrugged half-heartedly, poking his fork at the spaghetti.
"It's not just that," he confessed, sighing. "Sidney got away cause the thermos didn't work, Dad got the job, and-."
"The thermos didn't work?" Danny sounded heartbroken, speaking at the same time as Sam questioned "Your dad got the job?" Tucker silently handed Danny the thermos. The goth immediately took the cap off to peer inside before digging through his backpack.
"Yeah, we found out yesterday. He starts on Monday." Tucker suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore, and he pushed the tray away from him and leaned his arms on the table, crossing them. "How am I supposed to just lie to my family like that? It's hard enough to lie two people whose jobs are literally to figure out if people are lying and to uncover the truth, plus one that's trying to do the same. Now my dad's going to be working specifically to try and find out the truth about ghosts? As in, what I've become?" Tucker shifted to put his hands to his temples, hands clenched in anxious fists. "I'm amazed they don't already know. I give Mom or Dad like, three weeks tops, to figure it out."
"Look, Tuck, you'll be fine. Your mom may be a lawyer, but she mainly works with medical malpractice and insurance fraud, right?" Sam tried to point out. Tucker looked skeptical.
"Yeah, but if I'm fighting ghosts, I'm going to have to lie about where all of my injuries come from," he replied bitterly. Sam frowned. She didn't think about that.
"Well, with your accelerated healing, is that even going to be a problem?" she questioned. "I mean, at the rate your face healed, I'd guess it'd barely take you any time for something like, a broken bone or something to heal up."
"Yeah, but his dad's going to be the real deal," Danny spoke up. The goth had found what he was looking for, a Fenton Pencil Case (a regular pencil case with the word FENTONWORKS on it) that was full of small tools. He pried open the side of the thermos. Tucker leaned in.
"That doesn't look right," Tucker spoke up, pointing out part of the wiring. Danny nodded in agreement, and he began to get to work on it.
"But his dad's the real deal," Danny continued. "Coming from a kid with ghost hunting parents. My family is...well they're kind of a joke and mostly do research, but the Guys in White are a huge fucking deal. They catch and interrogate and collect samples from ghosts all the time. They're scary, and they're dangerous. And Tucker's dad was already the top police officer in Amity Park, they didn't ask him to be the new lead agent of the new base here because he's okay at what he does. Tucker's going to have to really be careful." Sam nodded in agreement.
"Well, we'll have to cross that bridge as we come to it."
"Yeah, especially since my spidey-ghost sense went off at Olivia's school too. I don't know if Sidney's there too." Tucker was beginning to look more and more distraught. He tried to focus on Danny's work on the thermos, occasionally pointing out things he noticed.
"Did you see him?" Danny asked, glancing up. Tucker shook his head.
"No, Olivia and her one friend talked to some lady, Dr. Spectra, and my spidey-ghost sense went off. I didn't see him though."
"Dr. Spectra?" Danny echoed, and he completely paused his work as he looked up. "That's the new school psychologist here. She's only here on Mondays and Wednesdays though."
"She must work at Olivia's school the other three days then," Tucker figured with a shrug. "You know her?" Danny nodded.
"Jazz's her student aid this semester," he explained. "I helped her carry a bunch of file boxes into Dr. Spectra's new office a while back." He glanced down at the thermos, snapping the lid back on. "I actually have an appointment with her tomorrow." Sam's eyes lit up.
"So...you're going to talk to her?" she asked, trying to keep her excitement down. "About...you know?" Danny didn't look at her, but gave a nod. Tucker didn't know what to say, and he stared at his food. He really, really didn't feel hungry anymore. Sam reached across the table to put her hand on top of his. "Do you want us to come with you? We won't go inside if you don't want to, but we wanna be there for you."
"Y-yeah," Tucker immediately spoke up. His throat felt unusually dry, and he cleared it before he continued. "We're with you no matter what." Danny glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, and he gave a smile.
"Actually, I'd love to not go alone," he confessed. "Jazz offered, but I...I don't really want to talk to her about it. She over psychoanalyzes everything." Tucker forced a smile.
"We're with you. Every step of the way," he said. Danny seemed to visibly relax a bit before sliding the thermos to Tucker.
"Try it next time you see Sidney. It should work," he said. Tucker nodded.
"What do you think Sidney wants?" Sam blurted out. The boys stared at her. She shifted a bit in her seat. "I mean, what's his motivation for being here? Why doesn't he just...I dunno, destroy everything in the school to get rid of the bullies or whatever?"
"I mean, based on the portal, the Ghost Zone looks rough," Danny shrugged. "I wouldn't wanna live there either." Sam's eyes sparkled, and Danny immediately shook his head no. "Oh fuck no, we are not going into the goddamn Ghost Zone, Sam!" She immediately stuck her lower lip out to pout.
"But think of everything we could learn!" she argued. "We could learn so much more about ghosts and their ectobiology and their culture and society! It could all really benefit us! The more we know about the things we're fighting, the better, right? We just gotta!"
"No!" Danny scowled. "That's so dangerous, I don't even know where to begin to argue that!"
"I think Danny's right," Tucker broke in. "You're gonna have to save your curiosity for when we're a bit more prepared to go into the Ghost Zone." Danny looked baffled, and Sam looked thrilled.
"You want to go...into the Ghost Zone?" Danny asked. Tucker shrugged.
"I mean...we should sometime, right?" he replied. "Besides...what if...like...I dunno it sounds...it sounds so dumb and it's crazy and shit but it happened-"
"You're wondering if there's somebody else out there like you," Sam finished his thought. Tucker just stared at her for a minute. He bit his lip and nodded.
"I mean, the ghosts would know, right?"
"Do you really think that's even possible?" Danny questioned, and he immediately winced. Sam shrugged.
"I mean, like, it happened to Tucker. There's so many people out there actively practicing ectobiology, there's an entire government sector dedicated to ghosts. It probably happened at some point," Sam pointed out. Danny gave a light shrug, and he, too, pushed his tray away from him a bit. Sam watched him closely. "You okay?" Danny gave a brief nod. "What time is your appointment tomorrow?"
"Before school," he admitted. "I was going to ask Jazz to just drive, since she always comes early anyway, but…"
"We'll walk with you," Tucker immediately offered.
"Oh no, how ever will Olivia get to school without you following her?" Sam teased. Tucker made a face.
"Hey, it's my job to make sure she's okay!"
"She'll be fine!" Danny rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Tuck. She's gotta grow up sometime."
"If both of you are done eating," Sam interrupted Tucker before he could even speak, "why don't we go and look for Sidney? I'll carry the thermos for now."
Tucker and Danny glanced down at their lunch trays. Both had barely eaten anything. Danny quickly shoveled two bites of spaghetti into his mouth before picking up the garlic bread, shoving it inside before replying with a muffled "sure". Tucker followed suit with his garlic bread as he picked up his tray. Sam picked up the thermos, tucking it under her arm for now. He turned to get out of his seat, and a flash of panic rushed through him as he felt his foot turn intangible and go through the floor briefly. It caused him to fumble and knock into somebody, but he felt Sam's hand reach out to grab the back of his shirt. It helped him keep his balance and prevent a complete collision, and he quickly gathered himself.
"Oh! Mikey!" Tucker exclaimed, recognizing the redheaded nerd. The nerd scowled at him. He had his own tray of lunch balanced on top of some books, his fellow nerd friends following him. Thankfully they didn't seem to notice anything."Sorry! It's, uh, packed in here."
"Be careful, man!" he half-scolded, but he didn't seem too upset, and it seemed to quickly melt away. "Hey, you and Danny still coming to First Robotics after school tomorrow?"
"Course!" Danny piped up. Tucker nodded in agreement.
"Wouldn't miss it, dude!" he told him. Mikey grinned, giving a nod as he slipped past him and to a table.
"Ugh, it's getting really crowded in here," Sam complained, making a face. Danny nodded.
"Yeah, next time let's just go outside," he agreed, picking up his tray. The trio put their trays away and slipped out of the cafeteria. The halls were unusually full, students having opted to eat lunch in a classroom as opposed to outside when the cafeteria got too crowded.
"So, where do you think Sidney would go?" Tucker questioned. He looked around the hallway. Several students were gathering items from their lockers, some even camped out sitting against lockers with their lunches.
"Well, what do we know about Sidney?" Sam questioned in return. She pulled out a small notepad from her pocket and a pen. She flipped it open, and she began to write. "He's a ghost. That much is obvious."
"Are we seriously doing this?" Tucker sighed.
"No, this is good," Danny disagreed, and he put a hand on Sam's shoulder as he peered over it to watch her write. "We should keep a record of what we know. It'll come in handy. I doubt any of these ghosts would just, like, go away permanently. The more we know, the better. So, put down that we know he hates bullies. And when I was…" Danny gave a light shrug as he spoke "let's just say kidnapped, even though it didn't really feel like that, but whatever. During that time, he made a big deal out of how I asked him to sit with him, and he said something along the lines of how nobody's ever done that for him before." Sam nodded, writing as he spoke. "And he keeps attacking people he feels are bullies. So far, we know he considers Dash and Tucker bullies. He claims that he had to do something about them."
"God, what'd I do without you guys," Tucker blurted out. Sam and Danny paused, flashing him smiles. "But Sidney's also protective. Yesterday, he didn't make a dome to protect himself. He made a dome to protect Danny." Sam's eyes lit up.
"That's right. He's not outright malicious, he's trying to protect people he feels are worth protecting, and he's only really attacked people who are bullies!" Sam spouted off excitedly, continuing to write hurriedly. "He hasn't attacked just random students that are like, just mulling about! He's got a purpose in mind!"
"And he's lonely, I think," Danny continued.
"So, where would a lonely ghost who's wanting to protect those he considers weak?" Tucker questioned. They all paused as they pondered.
"I think I know," Danny replied.
Danny and Tucker opened the swinging door to the boy's bathroom on the second floor, rarely patrolled or checked on by the teachers. As expected, they saw two jocks cowering in the corner near the sinks, grabbing onto each other fearfully. Sidney floated before them, his back to the duo. A small freshman with oversized glasses and a stereotypically nerd sweater saw his apparent chance and forced his way in between Danny and Tucker and out the restroom, crying out in fear.
"What's going on!?" Sam's voice called out.
"We found him," Tucker called back, and his eyes narrowed at Sidney, flashing dark yellow. Danny nudged him, and they returned to normal.
"Sidney!" Danny called out. The ghost turned on a dime, staring at him. His eyes were pure red, but they were full of surprise instead of malicious intent. "Sidney, they're not worth it."
The jocks saw this as their chance, and they made a furious dash. They fully knocked over Tucker in their escape, pushing Danny and causing him to fumble back into a trash can. Sidney's eyes narrowed in anger.
"You're protecting them!" he accused Danny. He clenched his fists, and they began to glow.
"Finally," Tucker muttered, and he used his foot to force the bathroom door closed. "I'm going ghost!" Twin rings transformed him, and he jumped to his feet. He began to ran towards Sidney, only to nearly skid to a stop when Danny jumped in front of him.
"Wait!" Danny cried out, putting his hands out in front of him. Tucker stopped just in time to avoid making contact. Danny turned on his heel towards Sidney, who was still fuming. "Sidney! You don't have to do this!"
"Nobody else will do anything!" Sidney shouted, his voice loud and ringing in the enclosed restroom. There was a haunted, wailing echo to it that caused the boys to shiver. With every word, his volume increased. "The teachers! The parents! The principal! The students! None of them will do anything, so I WILL!"
Sidney let out a pained, howling wail. It roared in Tucker's ears, and he put his hands over them. He glanced over and saw Danny doing the same.
"Sidney!" he was yelling over Sidney's endless cries. "We don't have to fight! Just come with us, and we'll take you home!"
"That's not going to work!" Tucker yelled back. He could barely hear anything over the screams, and he brushed past Danny to run at him. He took a hand off his ear to send a punch at Sidney.
The wails instantly stopped, and Sidney flew into the wall.
"Danny! Suck him into the thermos already!" Tucker called out. Danny's eyes widened.
"I don't have the thermos!" he panicked. "I thought you had it!"
Tucker turned just in time to see Sidney charging for him. He managed to catch the ghost by the shirt, using the momentum to throw him into the other side of the room. Sidney crashed upside down into a bathroom stall.
"Then where is it!?" Tucker asked, his tone taking on a pitch of anxious hysteria. They paused.
"Sam!"
The nerd was standing outside the boy's bathroom door. The thermos was tucked in her elbow, pressed against her chest as she scrolled idly on her phone. She could heard the commotion in the bathroom, but she paid little attention to it as she grinned goofily at something funny that came up on a social media account.
"Aw, I love cats," she cooed to herself as she continued to scroll. Her name being yelled snapped her out of her trance, and she became alert. She shoved her phone into her pocket just in time to see Tucker being flung out of the bathroom and into the lockers. She gasped. "Tucker!"
Tucker groaned as he fell to the floor. The lockers had a decent dent to them, and he winced, rolling onto his stomach to pull himself to his knees.
"Sam! The thermos!" Tucker gasped, trying to catch his breath. Sam immediately began to fumble with the thermos, shaking a bit as she uncapped it.
She gave a scream of fright as the thermos was knocked from her hands by angry, glowing hands.
"NO!" Sidney shouted, and he grabbed her by her upper arms. Sam screamed again, eyes wide.
"Leave her alone!" Tucker yelled, and he scrambled to his feet, running at Sidney. He tackled him to the ground, Sam jerking with them and fumbling onto her back as well. The two ghosts began to roll down the hallway. Tucker landed a kick that sent Sidney into the ceiling. He phased through it, and Tucker snapped to his feet.
"Tucker!" Danny yelled. Tucker turned to his friend. He had picked up the thermos, and he threw it. Tucker managed to catch it, and he gave a nod. "Go get him!" Danny moved to help Sam up as Tucker flew after Sidney.
He landed in the empty hallway of the third story, looking around. He saw Sidney fly around a corner. His legs turning into a tail, he zoomed after him. The second he rounded the corner, a fist made contact with his jaw. Tucker cried out as he was sent back into a window. Thankfully, the glass didn't break, but he winced as he heard the glass still crack.
"You're a bully." Tucker moved to stand, his legs shaking from exhaustion beginning to set in. He gripped the thermos tightly. Sidney stood ominously before him, fists by his side and glowing as red eyes stared coldly at him. "And since nobody else will do anything, I will."
"No," Tucker spat out. He held up the thermos, uncapping it and pointing it at the ghost. "You've become a bully. It's over." Please work.
He jerked back a bit as a bright blue beam of energy shot from the thermos. It hit Sidney dead on. He screamed, and Tucker's eyes widened as he watched the ghost being sucked into the container. He gripped it tighter, to avoid dropping it. Soon, the ghost was inside, and he recapped it.
It was really that easy? Tucker couldn't believe it. He turned intangible, and he went back down a floor. His friends were standing together by the bathroom, talking in hushed tones.
"I got him," Tucker announced. His friends jumped a mile into the air before turning to face him. Tucker glanced around before he turned back into a human.
"You got him?" Sam's voice was barely a whisper, but it was brimming with excitement.
"Yeah," he grinned. "I did it."
Sam beamed, and she immediately rushed into Tucker. She threw her arms around his neck, giving him a tight hug. He flushed, returning it. Soon as she let go, Danny was there, grinning as he playfully punched his shoulder.
"Our first real ghost hunt!" he said breathlessly, as if he couldn't believe it. "My folks would be pissed knowing it wasn't with them." Tucker laughed.
"Come on. Class is going to begin soon."
Sam happily clasped her hands together, bouncing a bit.
"Guys, our first real ghost!" she squealed. "And not an ectopuss, or a little ghost bug! A real ghost! Tucker stopped him! We stopped him!"
Tucker chuckled, turning the thermos over in his hands.
"I know. It's unreal. Let's talk about it after school," he replied, and his friends nodded in agreement. "Now. Onward to World History!"
That next morning, Danny noticeably shook as he stood in the hallway near the door. The sign above it announced that it was the nurse's station, where the school psychologist and college counselor's offices were hosted. Tucker put a hand on his right shoulder.
"Dude, it's gonna be chill," he tried to sound cheerful and encouraging. Danny forced a weak smile. "We'll be out here waiting for you."
"Yeah, we'll be right here," Sam agreed, and she wrapped her arm around his waist in a sidehug from his other side. Danny relaxed a bit, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and hugging her back. "You got this." Danny took a deep breath.
"I got this," he lightly sighed, mostly speaking to himself. Tucker wrapped his arm around Danny's shoulder.
"You got this," Tucker repeated. Danny nodded. His friends let go of him, and Tucker opened the door to a small waiting room styled area. Danny walked in first, going straight to the desk. Tucker and Sam took free seats, leaving one open in between.
After a moment of Danny talking quietly to the woman at the desk, he returned to take the seat. He sighed heavily, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. Sam began to lightly rub his back comfortingly, but both flinched as she accidentally shocked him. Tucker patted his shoulder, jumping as he did the same.
The door opened, and the familiar redhaired woman stepped out.
"Danny Fenton?" she called out, tone a bit soft. Danny snapped to his feet, and Dr. Spectra smiled. She strolled up to him, putting her hand out to shake his. Danny did so, and she jumped. She smiled apologetically. "Sorry, this carpet is so bad at creating static electricity. My office is sadly worse." She gave a light laugh. "It's the price I'm willing to pay though to keep my rug. It's just too beautiful." Danny forced out a chuckle.
"That's okay," he replied, nervously taking his hands back and shoving them into his pockets. Dr. Spectra looked curiously behind him.
"And who's this?" she questioned. Danny half-turned to his friends.
"These are my best friends. Sam and Tucker," he replied. Tucker felt a bit uneasy at how deeply Dr. Spectra seemed to look at him. It was like she knew he was the cause behind it all, that he was the reason they were all standing here before her. She stared, unblinking, at him, for an uncomfortably long time. Sam didn't seem to notice though, as she smiled and stood up to shake Dr. Spectra's hand. She noticeably flinched at the shock.
"We're always here to support Danny," she spoke up. Dr. Spectra nodded at her before staring once more at Tucker.
"You too?" she questioned. The question felt odd to him, cementing that gnawing feeling that she knew, but he pushed the feeling away and nodded. She held her hand out for him to shake, which he did. He jumped at how strong the shock was, and he could feel the familiar, cold tingling coming on strongly.
"Of course. Danny's like a brother," Tucker replied. Dr. Spectra simply nodded, and she motioned for Danny to go into her office.
"Well, let's talk for a bit, sweetie," she spoke lightly and kind to Danny. He smiled weakly as he went inside.
Tucker scooted a bit closer to Sam as Danny disappeared into the office, Dr. Spectra behind him. She gave the couple a final stare, one of intense interest. It went on for seemingly forever before she closed the door behind her. They moved to sit again, this time next to each other. Sam immediately pulled her phone out, but Tucker instead focused his attention on the door reading "DR. PENELOPE SPECTRA" as he waited for his friend to emerge.
The door flung open. Sam and Tucker jumped, their attention snapping to their friend. He looked terrible. His face was red, eyes puffy and active tears that he was wiping away. They immediately stood to move towards him, but he put his head down and began to hurriedly walk away.
"I don't wanna talk," was all they managed to catch from him as he exited the door into the school's hallway and out of sight. Tucker felt his stomach knot up in guilt, and Sam looked worried.
"You always feel worse after the first session. But that's because you're breaking down all the problems so that you can rebuild into something new." Tucker snapped his head towards the origin of the voice, the tingling feeling strong. Dr. Spectra was standing in her doorway, looking sympathetic towards them. He felt a wave of anger that was quickly washed over by guilt. He just nodded. "Tucker, right?"
"Y-yeah." Tucker felt anxiety rising. "I-we need to go. We gotta check on Danny, and we have homeroom soon."
He turned to walk with Sam, who was already at the door Danny left through, it open as she peered over her shoulder at Tucker expectantly. He jumped at the shock of Dr. Spectra's hand on his shoulder.
"Danny told me a lot of things about what happened. You came up a lot, actually," she said, her voice a bit low to keep privacy. "This was a significant trauma. Are you sure you don't want to step into my office to talk about it a bit before you speak with Danny? I'll write you a pass for homeroom, and first period if need be."
"Danny talked about me?" Tucker didn't know how to even process that. Well, of course Danny talked about him, and partly of what happened. While he was sure he didn't reveal the half-ghost thing, the fact that Danny talked to Dr. Spectra about him, and that he apparently spoke a lot about him...Tucker never felt worse. "I..."
"Tucker?" Sam snapped him out of it. She was staring at him, hand still on the open door, confused. Tucker swallowed a lump in his throat.
"I...I think I'm going to talk to Dr. Spectra myself for a bit." Sam nodded understandingly, and she gave him a reassuring smile before she slipped out of the door. Dr. Spectra smiled widely.
"Step into my office, hon," she encouraged him. Her hand on his shoulder moved to his upper back, and she lightly pushed him inside. The tingling felt worse, and his chest hurt, but he nodded and reluctantly went inside with her.