Chapter Text
It was Friday night, three weeks after she’d started her new college classes. Her roommate was out at a party and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow morning, her assignments were done or at the very least started, and she had no other pressing concerns. She had her comfiest PJs on and her hair tied up out of her face as she pulled open her laptop and started up the video chat.
He didn’t pick up the first call, but Jazz wasn’t worried just yet. It sometimes took two or three tries before he was at his computer to answer, so she wouldn’t start panicking until he’d missed call number five. Ghosts were less of a problem for Amity Park now that Danny was older and stronger, but some of his old regulars still sometimes tried their luck, which could tie him up for a bit while he dealt with them. She’d give it another five minutes and then try again.
Sure enough, the second time she called, he picked up on the third ring. The video call connected, and his face appeared on the screen, his hair damp from the shower.
“Hey!” he greeted her as soon as he saw her, his face brightening. “Sorry I missed you the first time, Cujo came for a visit and literally dragged me through the mud, I needed to get cleaned up a bit.”
“No worries, Danny, I wasn’t waiting long,” she told him, getting more comfortable in her desk chair.
“So how were your classes this week?” he asked as he dropped down into his own seat.
“They were fine,” she replied vaguely, propping her chin up on her fist. “Cujo came for a visit, eh? How long did that take to deal with?”
“It should have taken, like, twenty minutes tops, but then Wulf showed up and spooked Cujo. It's been a long couple of hours,” Danny told her with a laugh. But his humor quickly vanished as his brow furrowed in concern. “Don't think I missed the way you tried to change the subject there, though. Seriously, Jazz, what's wrong?”
“Nothing,” she quickly answered, though from the way he just raised his eyebrow at her, he didn't look convinced. “Seriously, everything is fine.”
“Jazz.” Danny gave her a flat look. “It's been three weeks, and I don't think you've said more than ten words about your classes. I figured you'd be talking my ear off about how much fun you're having, but you've barely told me anything. What's going on?”
Realizing that she'd been caught, her shoulders sagged a little. “Sorry, I'm not trying to be deliberately vague, I just…I'm finding that psychology isn't exactly what I expected.”
“Oh?”
“It's just…I've been studying and reading about this stuff for years, and now that I'm actually learning psych on a college level…it's…it's…it's boring!”
“Boring?” Danny echoed incredulously.
“Yes! I find myself constantly tuning out during class because it's just so dry and basic! We're covering topics I had gone over when I was fifteen. It's agonizing having to sit through it all over again, I hate it!”
“Sounds like you're just too advanced for the material, as usual,” Danny joked. “Shouldn't this be familiar for you?”
“I know, I know, it's high-school all over again,” she grumbled. “But I thought after the first week it might pick up a little bit. Instead it's been a slog just making it through my lectures without falling asleep!”
His humor faded, and he frowned in concern as he began to realize that she wasn't just griping, she was genuinely getting upset. “Geez, Jazz. That sounds pretty rough.”
“It is,” she confessed with a tired groan. “I'm miserable and I hate it. I'm seriously beginning to second-guess my choice.”
“In school?”
“In degree.”
He jerked back like she’d slapped him. “What?! What do you mean you're second guessing it?! Jazz, you've dreamed of being a psychologist since I was twelve!”
“Yeah, well. It turns out that the reality of it is a bit different than I expected,” she said sadly, picking at her nails.
“Jazz, come on,” he groaned. “You've only been there for three weeks, surely it'll get better once you make it through the first little bit!”
“I've already booked an appointment with my academic advisor to discuss potential options.”
He froze, his jaw dropping open. She stared impassively back at him as she folded her arms and rested them on her desk. A clock ticked on her nightstand, the only sound in the room for a good few minutes.
But then Danny snapped his mouth shut, taking a shaky breath in while running his hand through his hair.
“Okay. Clearly this is more serious than I thought,” he muttered to himself, before looking back up at her. “Are you alone right now? Is Marie there?”
“No,” Jazz replied, caught off guard by the question. “She's out at a party tonight, why?”
“Cool, don't move for a sec.”
“Huh?”
She gave him a confused look, but he didn't reply. A second later he disconnected the call, and she was left staring at her blank laptop screen where his face had been only a moment before.
Before she could get offended, however, she heard a noise coming from behind her. She spun around in her chair just in time to see a portal appear in the middle of her dorm room, the edges torn and jagged. A moment later, Danny stepped through in his ghost form, calling out over his shoulder as he entered.
“Thanks, Wulf! Can you come get me in about an hour?”
Jazz didn't hear Wulf's reply, but Danny gave him a thumbs up, and then the portal winked out behind him.
“Danny!” Jazz cried with a mix of exasperation and surprise. “What are you doing here?!”
He flashed his fangs at her in a grin, before making a big show of glancing around her room. “Ooh, those fairy lights turned out great! And I like what you did with the window clings!”
“Danny,” she repeated. “What are you doing?”
“Staging an intervention, apparently,” he told her, hopping up and linking his hands behind his head so he was floating in the air over her head looking like someone relaxing in a pool.
She groaned, burying her head in her hands. “Come on, Danny, quit joking around.”
“I'm not,” he told her plainly, flipping over so he was floating on his stomach. “I'm serious. I'm here to talk you out of doing something ridiculous.”
Oh god, were they really doing this right now?
“I'm miserable in my courses, Danny!” she argued, shooting a glare up in his direction. “I hate it so much!”
“You've also only been here three weeks!” he cried, throwing his arms out wide. “You’re only in the first year, of course it's going to be basic stuff you already know! Most people haven't memorized all of the most popular psych reference textbooks for fun before they've even graduated high-school!”
“Exactly! That's exactly my point!” she retorted. “I know all of this stuff already, but it's not like I can just skip it! So I'm stuck being bored and miserable for an entire semester at best!”
“But it's just one semester! Do you really want to throw away your dream job just because you're going to be bored for a couple of months?”
“But what if it isn't my dream job anymore?”
“Well, is it?” he asked pointedly.
“I don't know!” she shouted, rubbing her temples with frustration. “I just — I don't know anymore!”
Danny stared down at her, his lips pressed tightly together as he thought hard for a moment. And then he dropped down out of the air, landing on her rug, and changed back to his human self with a flash of his transformation rings. “Well, what else would you even want to do? Have you thought about that part, at least?”
“...Not really,” she admitted in a small voice, biting her lip.
Danny let out a tired sigh, and then made his way over to drop down on her bed. He barely bounced as he landed, and he was momentarily distracted with staring down at her mattress in horror. “Oh my god, this is like sitting on plywood.”
“It's pretty bad, yeah,” she agreed with a small giggle.
“I've slept on floating islands in the Ghost Zone that are softer than this.”
“Marie recommended I get a mattress pad for some extra cushioning,” Jazz commented absently, her eyes flicking towards her roommate’s bed. “I was thinking I'd go pick one up next time I'm home for the weekend.”
“Don't even think about it, I'll see if Frostbite has got something better,” Danny told her. “Yeti fur will be way softer.”
“Ooh, yes, that does sound nice.”
“But Jazz, you know that no matter what you decide to do, I'm behind you one hundred percent, right?” Danny asked her, giving her a serious look. “Like, if you honestly don't want to do this anymore, then I'll support you.”
She felt a little bit of tension leave her. She had known that, of course, but it was still nice to hear it. “Thank you, Danny.”
“I just also know how you can overthink things sometimes,” he continued, snatching up a stim toy she'd picked up during orientation week off of her nightstand and starting to play with it. “And I'm pretty sure that's what's happening here.”
Her shoulders slumped a bit. “Maybe. I just…don't know what to do. I know it's probably too soon to switch my major, but if I keep trying to just force myself to go on like this, I'm going to lose it.”
“Well, if you do want to make a switch, probably your first step is figuring out what you want to switch to, right? Do you have any ideas?”
“A couple,” she said vaguely, glancing towards the notebook on her desk where she'd jotted down some potential options. “Education, maybe.”
Danny smiled, putting the stim toy back down. “Mr. Lancer would be thrilled to hear that, at least.”
“Imagine if I came back to teach at Casper High.”
“That would be so weird,” Danny laughed, shaking his head. “And I'm still not convinced it's what you'd actually want to do.”
“Maybe not, but as you said, I decided to be a psychologist when I was fourteen, and I never even really considered anything else.”
“Alright.” Danny leaned forward on the bed, a thoughtful look on his face. “Then maybe instead of changing your major, you could just switch up your routine? Join a club, pick up a new hobby! It'll give you a chance to actually work your brain a bit, and who knows, maybe that’ll be enough for you to feel better. Or maybe you’ll find something new that interests you more.”
“I suppose,” she allowed, chewing over the idea. “One of the girls in my sociology lecture has been going on about the knitting club she joined, I've been meaning to check it out.”
“See?” He grinned at her, throwing his arms wide for emphasis. “There's something already!”
“Yeah…” she said slowly, letting the idea percolate. The more she thought about it, the more it grew on her. With more enthusiasm, she said, “Yeah, actually, that sounds like a great idea!”
“I do have those, sometimes,” Danny told her with mock gravity.
“Thank you, Danny,” she told him with a little smile. “Man, I feel like I've been losing my mind lately, I'm so glad you've been here.”
“After everything you've done for me over the years, I more than owe you one,” he pointed out.
“Please.” She waved her hand dismissively. “You're my brother, Danny. You owe me nothing.”
“And you're my sister,” he replied. “I'm just happy I could help.”
Feeling warm and content, Jazz leaned back a bit in her chair, enjoying the soft moment with her brother. But then he abruptly clapped his hands together, startling her, and then declared, “So! How about a tour of your new campus? Want to show off all the cool spots you've found?”
“What?” she squawked, completely caught off guard. “Danny, what are you talking about? It's late!”
“People are still up,” he retorted. “I can hear them in the halls.”
“I'm in my PJs!”
“College students show up to class in their PJs all the time, don't they? Who cares?”
“Danny!” she groaned in disbelief.
“Come on,” he wheedled, holding out a hand towards her. “I never got to come on any of the tours, and I've got, like, thirty minutes to kill before Wulf comes back to pick me up. Show me around a little bit before I have to go! I'll turn us invisible if it really bothers you that much.”
She glared at him and grumbled under her breath for a moment, but she'd already known she would cave from the moment he'd asked. After all, she did like the idea of showing off her new campus to her little brother.
“Oh, alright. But let me get some shoes on first.”
“Yes!” he cheered, pumping his fist in victory.
“But you better be ready to turn us invisible at a moment's notice!”
“Of course, I promise!”
She gave him a firm look, but all too soon she could feel the corners of her lips twitching upward with the force of the smile she was trying to suppress. “I'll admit, there's this café near the library that makes these really good poppyseed lemon loafs. I wouldn't mind grabbing one as a little evening snack.”
“Hell yeah, I loaf that plan!”
Laughing, Jazz shook her head and stood from her chair. “Alright, you dork, help me find my sandals and my wallet. And if you're good, I'll buy you a treat.”