Work Text:
When the portal turned on, the only thing stopping Danny from running straight in himself was Sam. The instant he started to surge forward, her arms were wound tightly around him, halting him in his tracks.
The sight of that horrible, swirling green vortex was something he didn’t think he could ever forget. Every time he closed his eyes for days after, all he saw was that neon abyss that almost took his best friend away from him.
But even worse, somehow, was the screaming.
He should never have let them down in the lab. He should have laughed it off and changed the subject the second they showed interest in the portal, should have never brought it up at all. He should have known it would be dangerous. He’d had it drilled into him over and over again by his parents enough times. He should have known better.
And then the screaming, that terrible, agonized wailing finally stopped, and somehow that was worse.
Silence, save for the whir of machinery.
“Tucker!” he shouted in desperation.
"Danny, stay back!" Sam urged, eyes fixed on the portal just as fearfully.
A moment later, something (someone?) was stumbling out of the abyss, an echoing groan ringing through the space of the basement lab.
Danny’s heart sped up, and he instinctively pushed Sam behind him. He felt himself tremble, a million thoughts racing through his head as the reality he thought he knew shattered into pieces.
The portal had worked. There really was something on the other side, something otherworldly. It had worked, and now there was something coming through—something that looked almost human, but was at the same time distinctly not.
Ghost.
There was a ghost in his basement.
He turned his head just slightly to catch a glimpse at the lab table behind them, never taking his eyes off the glowing form that limped its way into their world. They were never tested, there was nothing to prove that they’d even work, but his parents’ abundant collection of specialized ghost weaponry might very well be their best bet. He tried to subtly inch his way towards it, not wanting to draw the ghost’s (?) attention to himself too quickly.
He froze as the ghost opened his eyes, instantly zeroing in on him. His breath caught in his throat, pinned by twin beacons, glowing an eerie neon green. But even as he shook with terror, as his mind raced, rethinking everything he’d done wrong to get them to this point, wondering what the ghost was going to do, how the hell he could possibly hope to fight back, how he could keep Sam safe–
All of it just seemed to melt away as he met those eyes, so familiar despite the change in color.
“Tucker?” he breathed, barely daring to hope. Sam’s head snapped to look at him like he was crazy, alarm in her eyes. He didn’t even glance at her, all of his focus on the entity that he was realizing may not be as otherworldly as he’d thought.
“Danny? Sam?” the ghost asked, and yes, even with the echo, he would know that voice anywhere.
Without a second thought, Danny raced over to his friend, putting an arm around him right as he began to collapse. He finally got a closer look at him, which really didn’t make things any less confusing. Even with stark white hair and glowing eyes, it was undeniably him. He didn’t know how he didn’t see it immediately.
And because of that, he'd almost…
He shook the thought away. Now wasn’t the time for him to wallow in his guilt; right now he had to focus on helping his best friend.
“Tuck, are you okay?” he asked worriedly. Now that the initial shock was over, he was able to look at things more logically. He’d heard of stuff like this before, of people’s hair suddenly going gray after some kind of extreme stress. The eyes were weird, but so was the swirling vortex of the same color that was currently lighting up his basement.
A side effect of the portal, that must be all it was. Not that that was very reassuring; in fact, it was probably pretty bad. But at the very least, his friend wasn’t a ghost. That just wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be.
Instead of giving him an answer, Tucker just groaned in pain, which worked well enough anyway.
“What happened?” he asked, a slight slur to his words. Also probably not good. Danny had no clue how to answer that; glancing at Sam for help, it seemed that she didn’t know either, only shrugging helplessly, worry and trepidation swimming in her eyes.
“Wait,” Tucker rasped, brow furrowing, eyes darting between his friends confusedly. “Did… did it work? Did something come through the portal?”
Danny swallowed, nerves suddenly alight once more. He and Sam shared a look.
“No," she said, reaching into the pocket of her maxi skirt and pulling out a compact mirror. "Just you.”
With shaking hands, she flipped it open and turned it towards Tucker. He looked lost, glancing unsurely at them before daring to look into the mirror. When he did, he froze, eyes going wider than Danny’d ever seen them before as they caught his own reflection.
“Holy shit,” he breathed.
Danny tightened his arms around him, feeling him start to shake. He was breathing too fast, sharp wheezes coming one after another, far too rapidly. His chest barely rose with each inhale.
“Hey,” Danny tried to catch his attention. “Deep breaths, buddy.”
While he managed to keep his voice calm and steady, internally, he wasn’t feeling much better off than Tucker himself. What the hell was he supposed to do? He rubbed slow, steady circles into his back, glancing helplessly over at Sam. She shook her head, eyes wide and dismayed.
It wasn’t Danny’s first time dealing with something like this. He should know what to do. Still, even as he wracked his brain for whatever it was Jazz did for him that always seemed to work, he came up empty.
Before he could try (and probably fail) to soothe Tucker again, a flash of blindingly bright light forced Danny to shut his eyes. He heard Sam yelp in surprise, and a second later, it was over.
He blinked the spots out of his eyes, struggling to get his bearings again. He panicked for a moment when he realized he no longer heard the sound of Tucker’s too-rapid breathing, but a glance at his friend, still in his arms, showed that he was back to normal.
Wait…
Tucker was examining himself in confusion. Danny was just as lost. All of a sudden, Tucker looked exactly like he had right before he’d stepped into the portal. His eyes and hair were the same as ever, and even the suit he sported (which was originally meant to be Danny’s, but with growth spurt after growth spurt, he’d never fit into it even if he wanted it to; coincidentally, it fit Tucker like a glove) was reverted back to its original white.
Tucker slowly looked back up at his friends, gaze full of confusion and hesitation. Danny suddenly got the feeling that they were way out of their depth.
“What was that?”