Kindred

Haunting Realization

And Tucker felt left behind by both.

He sighed as he dragged his feet to class, "Team Phantom...are we even a team anymore?"

With Danny taking up patrols alone since the ghost invasions trickled to a slow after his sudden puberty, he hardly need their help with the small fries. He only let them help when they insisted on coming. Even so, he hardly let them join the fight as each fight lasted shorter than the night before. He was certainly growing stronger than when he first started. Even Plasmius looked leery of clashing head on with Phantom.

Danny had also stopped coming to his house. Then again, his father wanted his grandma to have peaceful last days. She had grown weaker and weaker and Tucker just knew that she won't have long. She was hoping to at least to see him graduate, that was all. Because of this, Danny refused to visit. In his own words, his presence would hasten her death due to the aura he carried with him. It was something that they noticed as he grew stronger. If he was around places with life for too long, signs of things withering will appear. It used to be a joke. But now, not so much. So Tucker accepted that Danny will not be coming to his house until his grandma pass.

He knew that Danny stopped visiting Sam at hers weeks before the break up. As he grew stronger, he showed signs of discomfort whenever Sam touched him. But he used to brush it off as static. Then he broke out in sweats with prolonged contact. But he used to still try to be affectionate with her. When did the light in their friend's eyes completely die? When did Danny became truly cold with them and not just physically?

Maybe it was inevitable.

Tucker knew what they had done. When Danny told him the reason why he must break things off with Sam, Tucker tried to stand up for her. But the longer he thought about it, the longer he saw things from Danny's point of view. Even Tucker had nightmares from the few times when he really thought he was done for during the many different fights with ghosts. But he didn't die. If anything, he avoided the hospitals even more after the fiasco with Spectra and other ghosts that dragged him to the building. He didn't even die there.

Worse of all, there was no gentle way of telling Sam. He knew that not telling Sam the reason why they must part was Danny's final act of love to her. It was his way of protecting what was left. Even so, watching him move on must not have been easy for Sam.

Yeah. Tucker's not blind. Danny had that same look of denial on his face whenever they 'teased' him about his friendship with Elsa. A look that Sam caught on. She had cried on Tucker's shoulder after they realized. But she refused to give up. An admirable trait...but annoying to someone who did not want it.

He smiled as he greeted Danny and Elsa, sitting together at that picnic bench that she had been using since she started attending Casper High, "Hey guys! Can I join?"

He watched as Danny looked at Elsa and how he only agreed when she gave him a tiny nod. Danny smiled at him, "Come sit," He looked around, "Where's Sam?"

Tucker grimaced, "We...uh...had a fight,"

Danny sighed, "About what?"

Tucker shrugged, "About nothing," He then grinned at Elsa, "So...pretty lady, how about it? Want to go to the costume party with this Too Fine stud?" He wiggle his brows to further emphasize his joke.

Elsa blinked, clearly taken aback by his forceful flirting. Danny grimaced and glared at him, eyes flashing green in warning, "Tucker..."

Elsa raised a hand, "My apology. However, I have already accepted Danny's invitation,"

Tucker hummed, "You're very formal,"

She tilted her head, "Is that...disconcerting to you?"

Danny quickly shook his head, "What?! Pft! No! It's kind of cute!"