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One upon a time a broken arm was a big deal. It took up his whole week, trying to pretend he wasn’t in agony. Getting injured with increasing frequency, to the point it felt near constant, meant broken bones were no longer all they were cracked up to be. They still hurt, but in a way he could mostly ignore. Much like he thought people with chronic pain must cope. Very little else, from lacerations to deep bruising, was left to heal even by the next day. His friends would chuck him pain pills here and there as a kind of support. Sometimes Sam would get him something stronger, and generally disincentivised him from asking how. They didn’t do anything, but it was the thought that counted. He took it as a ‘get well soon’, which was nice. It was mostly tough love from his friends. A ‘You moron. Did you forget you’re a ghost?’ while Sam helped stitch him up. Or a ‘Dude, you’re gonna need that arm considering your luck with the ladies.’ From Tucker on the sidelines, presumably in concern. That’s not to say he didn’t know his friends cared for him. Just that he appreciated the soft and comfortable the more he had to face a world that’s sharp and cruel. Though what he most wanted, right at that moment, was to set his own stupid shoulder back into place and log back into his violent video game.
A ghost had attacked five minutes ago, and that’s something he could say nearly every five minutes. Or it felt that way. It’s like they’d somehow heard about the new Doomed game and determined that it was something Danny would like, and of course he shouldn’t have nice things. This one was actually his third copy and considering the state of his bank account it would be his last. The first was blasted out of his hands by Skulker almost immediately, who spouted some nonsense about Danny ‘letting his guard down’. It was only fair that Danny destroyed his toys in return before shoving the self-aggrandised blob back in the zone.
He was much more careful with the second copy, and actually managed to get it home. Unfortunately his dad had been searching for a part for some invention and took to his usual habit of gutting home appliances. He’d assured Danny that he put it back together just fine and that it worked ‘better than new’. There was little opportunity to test that, as when he inserted the disk his game station did what most of their appliances did at some point and tried to kill him. He was as careful as could be wrangling wires and defending the monitor, all for the horrid thing to spit the disk with force enough to break it, and his nose. Tucker always had a mountain of spare parts on him and helped him put it back together.
At that point the game had been out for a week and he had to listen to Sam and Tucker gush over it as he went to the store for the third time. Danny wasn’t taking any chances this time. At the smallest hint of a ghost nearby he shot off and dealt with them before they got close, leaving his friends in his room to play without him. He got a bit reckless, if Tucker chucking increasing amounts of aspirin at him whenever he came back was any indication. Whenever he was either halfway through sitting or had his hands inches from a controller was when his ghost sense would go off again. It was someone different every time and if he didn’t currently have such a one-track mind he would have checked if his parents left the portal open again.
Eventually his friends had to go home. By then Danny was swollen and stiff all over, possibly not even able to hold a controller. As far as he was concerned all that really impeded him was the shoulder. He grabbed his pillow and bit into it, before aiming just right and slamming himself into the floor. The pillow ripped and there were some new grooves in his floor from scraping fingernails, but he had a functioning arm. He was forced to drag himself over to the bright, flashing screen as adrenalin from the last fight left him.
Danny was woken by birdsong and sun rays on his face. He blinked tiredly at the menu screen. It was a school day. There was no way he’d accept that. No way he’d walk into school only to hear Tucker brag about how far ahead he was and then have Sam bring up something even he didn’t know about yet. There was also the likelihood that his game would somehow get destroyed yet again. It was an easy decision to pretend to be sick, particularly since he did in fact feel like garbage. He’d gotten more hurt yesterday that he’d realised, having not paid any mind to the number of times he’d torn already sprained limbs or phased blood and ectoplasm away. He crawled into bed and under the covers and wondered if he’d need to put on a show or simply drop his usual façade. Just as he’d gotten settled his bedroom door was kicked open, and in walked his jumpsuit-clad parents.
“Rise and shine, Danno! Today’s the day.” Said Jack.
Danny blinked tiredly.
“What’s today?”
“It’s our demonstration for Casper High’s science class. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten? You’re our little lab tech today.” Said Maddie.
“Uh…I’m sick.” He said, coughing for effect, which sent painful tremors through him.
Him mum quickly rushed to his bedside and placed her hand on his forehead.
“Oh baby, you look terrible. Did you sleep at all last night?” She asked.
“Aww, is it really that bad? We’ve been waiting ages to finally get approval. Don’t you wanna see your folks at work?” Said Jack.
“I mean, I see you guys work all the time at home.” Said Danny.
“But this time we’ve got something big planned! We’re gonna-oh, who am I kidding? At this rate we’ll just be making sushi.” Jack said with a pout.
Maddie patted her husband’s arm.
“It’s ok, sweetie. We can look one more time. I have an idea, and even if it doesn’t pan out it’ll still be a new and exciting experience for the kids.” She Said.
Jack perked up.
“You’re right, Mads. This is about sharing the noble profession of ghost hunting with the next generation! Now, what was that idea you had?”
Maddie kissed her son’s forehead and ruffled his hair.
“You rest today, Danny. We’ll tell you how everything goes, ok?”
“Sounds good.” Danny said.
And with that his parents left as quickly as they came, already engrossed in ghost talk. Jazz came in a later, ready to nag him about snoozing his alarm before she saw, and commented, on his pale face and worryingly dark eyebags. He assured her that it was no doubt just from the blood loss, which didn’t actually manage to assure her. She left him alone though. Moments after the front door closed for the second time, Danny set about getting himself over to his game station. It was a trial because his bed suddenly felt so comfortable. Passing out on the floor hadn’t made for a good sleep and his injuries had healed enough by this point that he could easily drift off. He fought his steadily drooping eyelids valiantly, but what ultimately ended up rousing him was the icy puff of his ghost sense. Danny groaned.
He transformed and let his ghostly body ooze out of bed before pulling himself into the air. Nothing showed up in his cursory look through the house. Though his parents had indeed left the portal open for who knows what reason. He closed it, then went outside to look around. Nothing was attacking on the calm and sunny day and it too him few laps around the block before he noticed a green glow coming from a side street. He dropped down to hover above the street, in no mood for caution. Instantly he spotted the ghost, an especially small ectopus tangled in Fenton fishing line that was hooked on a dumpster.
“I can’t believe I got out of bed for this.” Said Danny, with a shake of his head.
He reached for the thermos on his belt, only to realise it wasn’t there.
“Ugh. Ok, old fashioned way it is.”
He got close to the ectopus, that oddly enough didn’t snap at him, and went for the hook hoping it would make an easy leash.
The familiar whine of an ecto-weapon weapon had him leaping away, but not fast enough. Whatever he was hit with, it hit hard. Danny was on the ground, his vision darkening just as two pairs of black shoes approached.
Danny came to gradually. He shifted around, instantly noting his arms trapped at the wrist and bicep and his legs at the ankle and thigh. There was also something over his mouth. He let out a sigh, which strangely earned him some oohs and ahhs. Upon opening his eyes he saw the familiar peeling paint of one of his high school classrooms. A look to the left revealed most of his science class, watching him with wrapped attention from their desks. He blinked and they blinked back.
“It looks like our next subject is awake.” Came his mother’s voice.
He looked toward his feet, where she stood hood over her eyes, splattered in ectoplasm and holding one lone ectopus tentacle.
“Haha, yes! Time to get to the main event, huh kids? Man, Danny doesn’t know what he’s missing.” Said Jack, before he slipped in what used to be an ectopus.
Of course it was his parents. They were going to eviscerate him and embarrass him all at same the time. He scanned the students for his friends, but Sam and Tucker weren’t there. Paulina caught his eye however and blew him a kiss. She had a flirty smile on her face. That dropped when Maddie rolled the table of instruments beside the ghost boy. The girl raised her hand.
“Mrs. Fenton? You aren’t actually going to cut into the ghost boy, are you?” Said Paulina.
“We’ll dice him up like ghost kid Takoyaki.” Affirmed Jack.
The girl’s face paled at that, and Danny’s went green. Someone banged on the science room door. Maddie handed Jack a cookie she’d kept somewhere unknown in her jumpsuit.
“It’ll be time for lunch later, dear. Now it’s time for science! Everyone in the splash zone put on your masks.” Said Maddie.
Multiple chairs were pushed out with a screech as the students stood.
“The losers were right!” Said Dash. “Wow, I never thought I’d say that.”
“You can’t dissect our hero!” Said Kwan
“Scars are so not in right now!” Said Star
“Calm down everyone.” Said Maddie, raising her hands to the class with palms forward. "As I said in the beginning, this isn’t some horror movie. We aren’t hurting anyone.”
“You just said you were going to chop up Phantom!”
“Exactly.” She said with a nod. “Phantom isn’t a person. It’s high time everyone realised that.” She sighed and tapped on Danny’s arm. “Things may look a little different, especially from the outside. But inside? A tentacle is the same as an arm is the same as a vine with ghosts. None are people.”
Each of her words were a physical blow, and even though he was braced for more he wasn’t expecting her to swiftly pick up a scalpel with her other hand and slice through him wrist to elbow. The blade hit something that gushed, causing all the students in the front row to jump back. There were screams, and suddenly a lot more banging on the classroom door.
Maddie was unphased, ready to continue her lecture, but froze when she looked down at her work. Her face showed complete fascination as she dug her fingers into the wound and pulled out something stringy. Danny’s head was already spinning with the loss of ectoplasm, but the sight of his mother pulling something out of him made it exponentially worse. He couldn’t even flinch away. He couldn’t even scream.
“Huh, that’s interesting.” Said Jack.
The door was kicked open with a bang, shattering the glass. In rushed Sam and Tucker, followed by the head and vice principals. His friends came to a halt as they spotted him, all tied up and bleeding with his mother still holding onto his exposed muscle tissue.
“In Cold Blood!” Exclaimed Mr. Lancer.
“Mr and Mrs. Fenton what do you think you’re doing?!” Yelled principle Ishiyama.
She pushed her way to the front of the class, eyes fiery.
Maddie dropped the piece of viscera on the table with her tools and gave the principle a puzzled look.
“We’ve got permission for an in-class ghost dissection today.”
“For an animal! Not Amity Park’s hero.”
Sam and Tucker rushed to Danny and started untying him.
“Oh, you can’t be serious.” Said Maddie. “I understand why teens might be confused and ready to jump on trends but I thought you had some sense of the truth.”
“We do.” Mr. Lancer said grimly.
Danny fell against his friends as soon as he was freed, oozing green onto them. Sam slapped his face a few times to keep him conscious, which he honestly needed.
“We’re the experts. We’ve been studying ghosts before they’d ever showed up in Amity Park.” Said Jack.
His friends dragged him into the crowd. His parents made to stop them, but were blocked by the adults and several stubborn teens.
“Take care of my future boyfriend, loser-geeks.” Paulina said as the trio made it out of the classroom.
Sam didn’t have it in her to roll her eyes. She and Tucker got Danny out of the school, but when they asked who’s house he wanted to crash at, he surprisingly said his own.
“Sure man. If that’s where you’re most comfortable.” Said Tucker with a furrowed brow.
They carried him to Tucker’s truck and got him back to Fentonworks in minutes. By then Danny could manage on his own and he headed to his room.
His friends were bustling about, pulling out First-Aid supplies from the jumbo kit in his closet. Danny sat himself in front of his monitor once again, that stupid menu screen taunting him. He reached his hand out shakily. Several times he tried to grasp the plastic and it got slipperier each time. He couldn’t hold the controller. Pain in his arm was making even his fingertips spasm and it might have been a tendon his mother pulled out earlier.
“Danny, what are you doing?! Let us fix you up first.” Sam said, running over to him with a wad of gauze in one hand and pills in the other.
Danny gazed down at his sluggishly bleeding arm.
“I don’t think an asprin’ll fix this one.” He said with a laugh.
Sam pressed the gauze over the wound, a determined glint in her eye.
“I’ll get you something stronger. Tucker, take over.”
He slapped his hand over hers.
“Don’t. Don’t leave. Please. There’s no point.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I’d rather have my friends here right now than have you out doing who knows what to get some placebo.”
“What are you saying? That none of it works on you?” She asked, puzzled.
Danny nodded.
“…Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” Said Tucker.
“I mean, it’s the thought that counts right?”
“Oh my gosh.” Said Sam, distraught.
She was thinking of all the times they patched and doped him up and sent him on his way. All the times he seemed loopy and tired on meds but it was actually just the pain. All the times he put on a smile and let them think they were actually helping.
“That’s why I didn’t want you trying to get me the powerful stuff. It’s wasted and I don’t even know what you’re risking.” Said Danny.
“Grandma Eda gets it for me.” She said, numbly.
“Does she know about me, or?” Danny asked with concern.
“I think she knows something but I never really tried to clarify.”
Danny brushed away Sam’s hand, the wound nearly gone, even if whatever was missing inside kept the arm from working right. They spent the next few minutes in silence, none of them quite sure what to do.
“…Well, uh, do you want a water?” Tucker eventually asked.
Danny sighed. He was completely exhausted but he didn’t want to sleep; didn’t think he could. There was one thing he wanted.
“Look, I just want to play this fucking video game right now.”
His friends shared a look before obliging him. It was awkward, but they managed to share a controller. He did the movement and Sam took the shots and the specials. Tucker was their player two. They breezed through the online matches and for a little while he could forget everything else, because Doomed; Everlasting was just as awesome as he thought it would be.