Danny Fenton hadn't expected to make a friend that day. He wasn't having the best of days- he had spent the early hours of the morning taking down any straying ghosts, trying to make sure that less ghosts would interrupt him during school. The less he missed school, the better his grades would be, and the more people would get off of his back.

That's how it's been since Sam and Tucker moved away. He didn't have his friends helping keep his secret just that. He remembered when it had happened; Sam was the first one to go. It was after a particular brutal battle between Technus, Skulker, and him. The Manson's couldn't take it anymore. They were tired of the damages and danger, so they packed up their belongings and their daughter and moved. Sam was the first domino to fall, and just like that more families had moved away. Tucker had moved after the house next to their's collapsed after Danny had been thrown into it. Luckily the house wasn't occupied by it scared the Foley's enough past the tipping point.

Casper High School was still the bustling school it was to start, but now so many familiar faces had been replaced by strangers, those whose families either didn't care about the danger or were interested in the town's so called ghosts. However Amity Park wasn't as lively as it once was. The town had an unspoken curfew, and not many were out after ten at night, the town's park the first to be deserted at night.

The constant ghosts attacks had not only taken a toll on Danny, but on the town as well. Danny's body oftentimes mirrored his town nowadays.

Danny was happy to just make a friend who didn't think he was a freak, or know of his parent's reputation. The day was nice, even if all he and Sam did was stay in the motel room and just hang out after school. Danny and Sam had spent hours just talking about anything and everything, Danny even helping Sam catch up on the few lessons he showed up in the middle of. Dean popped in two hours later with Nasty Burger, which had led to a long discussion between all of them about the merits of such a name correlating to food.

It was safe to say that Danny had the best day of his life since his friends left. He wasn't used to sitting and talking for hours in person with people who he barely knew about topics so diverse. It was nice to unwind for a few hours and just let himself be. He didn't have to worry about what the others were thinking or having to broach topics that needed to be covered. It was nice and Danny could get used to it- that's why going home was like a slam of reality to him.

"Hold up. This, this is where you live?" Sam's stuttered out response came out once the impala pulled to a stop in front of the monstrosity that was Fenton Works. Danny gave a sheepish smile before rubbing the back of his neck.

"Uh yea. Weird, I know." Danny slipped out of the car, only for Dean to speak before he could walk up his steps.

"It's fucking cool." Dean grinned, looking up at the odd UFO sitting on the roof. "You've got to give us a tour one of these days."

"Really?" Danny looked up shock, blinking rapidly, surprised that the older man actually seemed to like his house. Dean nodded enthusiastically in response to the question. Glancing back, Danny noted the glowing neon sign was on signaling his parents were home. "Yea, maybe we can do that sometime soon if you want."

"That'll be fun." Sam smiled from the other side of the car, leaning closer to the driver-side window. "Maybe you could show us some of the stuff you've built." It wasn't much if Danny was being honest, just some small functioning robots and edits to his parents weapons to protect himself, but Sam's interest created a warm feeling in him.

"Sure. Anyways, I hope you guys have a good night, drive safe." Danny traded goodbyes with the duo, waiting until Dean drove off in the Impala before jogging up to his door. The moment the front door opened, Danny knew where his parents were based on the dim lighting and the noises coming from the basement. With a sigh, the teen made his way into the kitchen and glanced around. Surprised to see it clean, Danny concluded that his parents probably forgot to eat anything. Pulling out four slices of leftover pizza, ignoring the soft growls and glow emitting from the bottom drawer, and shoved the food into the microwave.

When he entered the lab, he found both his parents bent over a table. A trembling ectopus sat in a small cage, his mother extracting samples from him. Danny bit his lip and the uncomfortable feeling that swelled through him at the thought of the experiments, his chipper mood dampening a bit.

"Mom, dad." Danny called over the sound of his dad soldering away, pulling his parents away from their work. "I brought you some pizza."

"Oh Danny, when did you get home?" Maddie asked, pulling her hood down to expose short auburn hair. "That's sweet of you, thank you baby." Maddie smiled politely, hugging her son softly as she took the plate and placed it nearby. Her husband was the exact opposite of his mother's gentle approach.

"Danny boy!" Jack greeted loudly, pulling his son into his infamous 'Jack Fenton Bear Hugs' once the food was safely out of the way. "You should see what we're working on! Your mother and I were about to figure out a way to cause ghost energy to-"

"I just got in." Danny cut his dad off as nice as he could- he didn't really want to hear this. "I would love to sit and chat, but I really should look over an essay due tomorrow." Danny explained, dislodging himself from his dad.

"Education is important." Maddie smiled, waving him off before turning to her husband and joining him in the conversation about their new device. Danny almost turned away when he caught eyes with the ectopus and guilt filled him. Quietly, he reached a hand out and pressed the release button before turning and speed walking out of the lab. Luckily Danny always seemed to be invisible, even before his powers came to be. Even in his own house Danny was often overlooked; Danny just learned to use this to his advantage. Releasing ghosts was just one way he could use his inherent constant invisibility to his own benefit.

The moment he stepped out the door, he could hear the chaos ensue- his father's yelling and his mother's quick orders bounced of metal walls, echoing up the stairs and up into the normal house. A soft smile took over his features, his parents were really were something else. Humming softly as he made his way to his room, passing by the empty room that once occupied his sister, who was currently off to college. He sent a quick text message to his best friends to be online in two minutes.

"Hey guys." Danny greeted when the two faces appeared on his screen.

"Danny!" Sam called, her black headboard behind her.

"Dude!"

Danny laughed at the different greetings he got, before taking in the appearances before him. Tucker hadn't changed all that much from when he was in Amity Park, aside from his hair now being grown out and his attraction to hoodies. Sam had actually cut her hair, shaving one side in protest of the move. The buzz cut had actually grown on her, the teen keeping it, determined to not grow it back out. Sam's style was still gothic, not changing one bit as the years passed since she has made the decision to delve into this genre.

"How was your day?" Sam's voice crackled through the headset, "Mine was boring, I spent all day with my mom going over everything for the gala." Danny smiled at the reminder of that, he knew Sam was going to pull a fast one on her parents and wear a dark red and black lace dress to the event over the shy blue one her parents picked out.

"I spent my day with the robotics team. Perry almost has all the programming done for the medic bot, while Becca and I are almost done with the framing. Now all we need is to figure out the best tracks to use and it'll be fully functional." Tucker beamed from his screen, a grin on his face before his expression soured a tad. "Chris was being a douche and almost broke an arm off because we refuse to let him work on it."

"Smart choice." Sam and Danny both responded at the same time, pulling a laugh from all teens present.

"My day was actually pretty good." Danny smiled at his friends who seemed glad to hear that. Danny hadn't been the same since they left. While Danny was probably the kindest of the three of them, after the accident, Danny was reluctant to make new relationships with others. That and Danny was the nerd of the school, on the lowest rung, and he was invisible. The only time anyone paid attention to him was to either bully him or to call him out for not doing something. "A new kid, Sam, he invited me over and I had a great time talking with him and his older brother."

"A great time." Tucker mused, wiggling his eyebrows. Sam laughed while Danny shook his head and sighed.

"Not like that you perv." Danny chuckled. "I helped him catch up on lessons and we talked. He let me out of the locker Dash stuck me in after he got lost on his way to class seeing as he witnessed it. We had the same class so I led him to the right class."

"That's great Danny, it's great to see you making new friends." Sam smiled. "I'm surprised Amity Park has a new Sam in town."

"Yea, he's only in town for a few days. Today was his first day." Danny nodded, letting his smile slip a little.

"Hey if you become a loner again, I'm sure Poindexter won't mind eating lunch with you." The trio laughed at Tucker's joke, lightening the mood once again.

"Okay, enough about me." Danny shook his head, gesturing a hand to Tucker's side of the screen. "Tell us more about this feud between your Robotic club and Chris, and why you guys don't just kick him." A groan left the techno-geek before he launched into a long and passionate speech about Chris and just how much he's out to ruin competition for everyone else.

As always, Danny was content when he finished the video call. For once the looming sadness didn't come, armed with the knowledge that he had another friend he'll be meeting up with tomorrow. A sigh did leave him though when his eyes landed upon the stack of papers and textbooks sitting on his bed. 12:03 am the blinking red numbers of his alarm clock read, giving him about four and a half hours before he had to go on patrol before school.

Once he finished his numerous math worksheets, Danny knew that finishing his homework wasn't going to happen. Sure, he really wanted to not have to hear a lecture tomorrow from basically all his teachers but he needed to go to bed. If he didn't, he wouldn't be able to go on patrol and if he isn't able to go on patrol he'll have to skip classes. And that is just another lecture waiting to happen. It's quite the vicious cycle and it's not like he can be in two places at once...

Wow, sometimes he was just downright stupid.

Danny focused on his ghost core, grinning when three copies came out full and corporeal. Danny silently ordered the clones to get to work. One taking on each subject- English, Math, and History. With a loud yawn, the teen fell face first into his pillows before he was out like a light, comforted with the knowledge of where his clones were and that once he woke up, all of their memories would flood back into his mind.

He was able to sleep three hours and fifteen minutes before his ghost sense woke him up, at least he stocked his room with monster, red bull, five hour energy, and espresso shots. He'll make it through, just like any other day.

AN: Another big thanks to RangerHorseTug for beta'ing this story and helping get this chapter to 2,000+ words.

I hope this chapter helped answer a few questions you might have had after the last chapter, and that you all enjoyed today's update.

I know I won't be able to update very often but I'll to not let more than a week and some days pass between updates and try to stay in somewhat of a pattern.

Anyways, let me know what you guys thought the reviews below :) Hasta Luego!