Hello and welcome to the 2024 EctoImplosion! I got paired with the lovely @vexglitch for this one, and while it's gonna take a bit to get to their beautiful art the whole ride will be :)) very fun :))). The Fic can also be found on Ao3 HERE, but as is my personal Thing I'll post the first chapter under the cut!
Warnings for the whole fic: Mild Gore, Violence, Getting Turned Away, Threat of Dissection, Angst
And now, the fic;
~
"Honestly, what was he even planning?" Sam chuckled, walking with Danny.
"What would he even need with a game shop?" Tucker added, smiling.
"Maybe he was finding himself a plus one sword of-" Danny started. The thermos hissed as Skulker likely banged around the sides, voicing a warning he couldn't follow up on.
"Quiet, you." Danny hummed, lacking venom as he clipped the thermos to his belt.
Tucker rolled his eyes at the display.
"You lost, man! Give it a rest."
The melodramatic tone paired with an over the top flourish prompted a lopsided grin from his invisible spot, though he was sure Tucker knew even as he weaved around the streetlamp blocking his flight path.
Sam tilted her head to where she assumed he was, carefully eyeing empty air slightly behind him.
"Careful though, you never know if he's one day going to find a flaw in that thing." She said softly, too low for the noise to get to Skulker.
Popping back into view, Danny gave a grimace.
He was met with a shrug for the effort, a conversation never had yet already over.
They were all quiet for a few more paces, Danny fading back out before any unseen observers could get a camera as he toyed with the thermos chain.
"Welp." Tucker started, Sam already sighing.
"Don't give me that, I've gotta go home and do homework. Lancer had no mercy today, I swear!"
"Have you considered working during class? We had time." Sam snipped, good humored.
"Hey, I was trying to get my PDA-"
"Nerd shit, got it." Sam cut off, slightly less well humored.
Danny was inclined to agree, the PDA having been a frequent topic the past four days.
"Nerd shit you say! Not so nerdy when I'm the one keeping us on track with my nerd shit, I've noticed! Always-"
"Tuck. Please" Danny huffed.
"Don't think you're off the hook either!" Tucker said, turning to point at the general location of Danny's voice.
"Weren't you going home?" Sam asked, Tucker deflating a little as he remembered that he very much was.
Danny was just glad he didn't have to apologize for, or possibly to, the PDA. Again.
"Yeah, yeah. Homework. Joy. Hopefully tonight’s quiet. You?" He asked, largely talking to Sam.
"Well, while trying to slip under the Fenton's radar sounds fun, I think I'd get busted if I'm not home by eleven. Sooo maybe hiding under your bed for an impromptu sleepover isn't a great idea." Sam said, turned towards Danny.
He flickered into existence exclusively to shrug.
"Suit yourself. You and the dust bunnies would get along great, just saying."
"Ha. No thanks, yours have an alarming tendency to develop free will."
"ONE time Sam-"
"Besides, I don't need to give my parents more reasons to keep an eye on where I'm at."
"Okay, well, you two finish this on your own time." Tucker dismissed, turning at the street corner. Sam passively stared as Danny faded again, prompting Tucker to find the dumbest way he could manage to walk. It quite easily topped the last time this happened.
"How are you doing that with your hips!?" Sam shouted after him. All Tucker did in response was mime tipping a top hat, trying to not look pleased with himself.
"Yyyeah, so, if this is the end then I just need to get him through the portal." Danny sighed, ripping his focus away from Tucker's shenanigans as he rattled the thermos chain for punctuation.
"And leave a poor girl all alone in the dark?" Sam asked flatly, still watching Tucker, who was now trying to moonwalk. Badly
"Yeah. Let me know if you get murdered."Danny grinned, starting to float away at a casual pace.
"Can do, you'll get the message right after I make you find out what death squared is."
The threat had no true venom behind it; Sam could take care of herself against ghosts, whatever human had funny ideas wasn't a real threat. But still...
"Killing me a third time? For shame. Y'know, most people don't even commit one murder!" Danny chidded, flying away the beat afterwards as Sam started shouting to thin air.
She walked into that one! It was such low hanging fruit!
The thermos made an odd noise as he went, and he ignored Skulker's ongoing aneurysm at new information. This wasn't a usable tidbit, just a fact everyone had moved past.
Still, as the rattling went on he elected to shake the thermos and hiss at it, which didn't help.
His hands were tied about the noise; it's not like he could stick his hand into it and squish Skulker for misbehavior.
His house was in view shortly, the Fenton shielding shining in the late evening light as the volts arced in their regular pattern.
Which meant his parents had been doing repairs since he was gone. Goody.
None of this was new though, the whole thing routine now. Pulling his phone from a pocket he quickly texted Jazz, circling to the backdoor entrance as he went.
He could almost hear the promises they'd get the shield to exclude him soon, son, soon from his parents as he considered detransforming already, but wiping the external cameras again would be too suspicious. He was already too close to the house, and invisibility was nice and comfy.
Within a couple of minutes the back door popped open, Jazz already prepared to stick her tongue out at thin air and rip the shield's plug out of the electrical socket.
Lucky them that the cameras weren't pointed to it.
"Real mature." He whispered as he flew through the now inert danger zone, shaking the thermos like a maraca as Skulker made very interesting noises.
"Mature-er than... whatever you're doing to who's in the thermos." She huffed, plugging the shield back in.
Danny didn't grace that with a response, instead phasing through her and giggling as he darted in.
The whole body equivalent of a wet finger in an ear, just for her!
The shouting behind him was minimal, so clearly he hadn't achieved an element of surprise. He would have to do better next time.
He paused just inside, holding the thermos close to his mouth and whispering "You know the drill, can it properly this time."
Skulker was obedient, quiet except for a last huffy shove. This part of the game was not up for debate; to be caught was to become the prey, hand in hand with Danny.
Jazz stormed through like she'd shove him if he was solid and she knew where he was, stopping just inside like he had. The silence hung as she scanned the hall for the invisible.
"Ugh, whatever. They're in the kitchen, and I'm going back upstairs to finish my essay."
"The one due two weeks from now?" He snipped, soliciting her spinning on her heel towards his voice.
"Mock all you want, I'm passing my classes with flying colors! And I don't have to worry about if my schedule explodes, 'cuz it's already done."
Her hand pointed theatrically along with her words, oddly very accurate to his position. This time.
"Neerrrrrrd." He drawled.
All he got back was a disapproving head shake and Jazz continuing to walk down the hall in an attempt to ignore him.
Now with silence in hand, Danny wormed his way through the hall and past the kitchen, where his parents had what was probably the old shield generator disassembled on the table.
Jazz must have lost the argument this time.
The bangs and clanks of metal sheets getting shoved around covered any noise he could've or would've made himself, affording him an easy slip past them and just into the basement door.
"Alrighty, just gotta-" He started, holding his captive audience up to hear.
Skulker gave a screech, unpleasantly shrill if very muffled, and Danny reflexively turned his ankle and slammed the thermos into the heel of his boot.
Skulker knew this part of the game too, going silent again.
"Christ alive, do you just never remember? Or do you secretly like being stuck in this thing for days?" He hissed, moving down the steps.
Skulker didn't give a response as Danny bridged the space to the portal, sliding the port's door open and roughly shoving the thermos in.
With an unceremonious button press, Skulker was released to the zone with an absurd amount of blob ghosts and an ectopuss in tow.
Thankfully, his parents had the portal locked for now, so there would be no immediate return from Skulker.
The upstairs had gone a bit quiet, a lull in wrench noises and poorly disguised swears barely processing in Danny's mind as he put his feet against the wall. His parents weren't subtle people; his dad alone could wake the dead. Certainly did enough of that for Danny every six am.
Tucker hadn't been wrong about Lancer being ruthless today, though he was with Sam that they'd had class time. It's just that he wasn't a fast worker like either of them, even when the day was peaceful.
Still, A couple hours in his room with his computer unplugged for temptation restrictions and to keep Technus out (sort of) and it'd be done, provided his night remained peaceful.
But how damning of him, to say that maybe he'd have it easy.
There was suddenly a cold metal barrel against his temple, and all he could discern was his mom looking smug.
Then there was the floor. Lovely floor, wonder why he didn't come down here all that often...
