Chapter Text
Danny's never believed in ghosts. Living with self-styled "ghost hunter" parents who endlessly chattered about ghosts to anyone who would listen wore down the novelty pretty quickly. For a few years, he tried to pretend he didn't know them, but that was nearly impossible. Eventually, he accepted his status as the son of the town nutcases. When they moved to Amity Park, he thought it'd be a fresh start. New friends, a new school, a new reputation… He even made some new friends. His life was finally looking normal by the end of 8th grade.
Until the day he died, Danny's never believed in ghosts.
--
When his parents built a new hot tub in the basement, Danny assumed they were building a hot tub. Not a ghost portal . Unfortunately, they'd neglected to tell Danny that, which is how he and his friends found themselves clad in spare hazmat suits and forced to listen to his dad chatter excitedly about how the portal was going to work. Danny chanced a glance over at Sam Manson, a girl he'd met during the last half of middle school. She was looking a dangerous mixture of bored and annoyed, arms crossed and foot tapping aggressively against the concrete. He bit his lip nervously, looking over to his other side where Tucker Foley stood. He'd known Tucker for a little longer than Sam, having met him in 6th grade after he moved. Unfortunately for Danny's nerves, Tucker was looking just as annoyed as Sam.
He couldn't help but think this was a bad idea. When his mom brushed past their grumpy little group, he felt his stomach tie up into knots. This was it, the moment that could either cement him as a freak or prove his parents were somehow sane. Maddie joined her husband at the switch on the wall, grasping the lever firmly. Jack pulled up his hood and started a muffled countdown, mounting the tension higher with each second passed. On "zero", they flipped the switch together and…
Nothing. Not a spark, not a light, not even a noise. Just anticlimactic silence. Danny saw their shoulders slump, disappointment hitting them for a second before Maddie straightened up again. Danny knew from past failures that his dad would mope for a few days while his mom tried to figure out what went wrong. He just wondered when they'd realize that "what went wrong" was the fact that ghosts don't exist. Lost in thought, he hardly noticed the now-familiar whispered arguing, at least until Maddie's voice broke through his musings about lunch.
"Well, this is a bit awkward… We seem to have miscalculated some parameters, so… the portal won't be ready today. We need to run the numbers again, see what went wrong. Feel free to make yourselves at home, there's some leftovers in the fridge"—Danny made a face at that. There was no way he was eating that weird glowing ham leftover from last week's roast—"if you need us, we'll be upstairs," Maddie said awkwardly, starting to drag a pouting Jack back towards the basement door.
Once they were gone, Danny turned to his friends. "Look guys, I'm really sorry about that…" he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. The thick rubber glove caught his hair painfully, making him wince and put his hand down. Sam scowled, having slipped out of her suit in record time. She kicked the light blue bundle away with a disgusted glare, turning on Danny as Tucker's white suit joined the pile.
"Save it, Fenton. You didn't tell me your parents were crazy when you invited me over. You don't even have the hot tub you promised!" she snapped, crossing her arms. Her face was twisted in anger and contempt, the kind of scowl only a 14-year-old girl could manage properly.
Behind her, Tucker was gripping his T-shirt in both sweaty fists. "Yeah, man. I mean, I already knew about your parents and stuff, but I really was looking forward to the hot tub," he said, ever the peacemaker. Danny bit his lip, shifting his weight uncomfortably.
"I really am sorry, guys. I really thought they gave up on that stuff… Is there any way I can make it up to you?" he asked, saying a mental goodbye to his saved allowance. Knowing Tucker, he'd probably make Danny buy him the latest gadget, and Sam was an unknown. She looked like she was thinking, long enough to make Danny start to sweat. Her face twisted into a wicked smirk, a sadistic light in her eyes. She steamrollered over Tucker's suggestion, her tone allowing no room for argument.
"Dare you to go in it."