Chapter Text
Ninja Brian let out a soft groan.
His head was pounding. He blinked his bleary eyes, staring up at the ceiling. He must have passed out after his training session.
Nothing unusual. He tended to push himself hard on a regular basis. Sometimes, though he’d go too far, especially if Danny had done something stupid to get them in unnecessary trouble or just his bout of sexual frustration with his oblivious partner. Either way he had overdone it.
Ninja Brian pushed himself up. He was laying down the length of the couch and covered in a whitish beige blanket.
Wait.
A couch?
Why was he on a couch?
Ninja Brian could’ve sworn he had fallen asleep in his bed, the previous night.
He took a look around. He was currently on a black L-shaped couch that had several large pillows on it. Some of which he recognized as characters from, what was the word? Anime? One of them looked like the yellow suit, Danny had him wear for one of their videos. Pika-something.
In front of the couch was a coffee table. A laptop and orange headphones and several other random things on it. Against the wall was a large LCD on top of a tv stand, that had several more electronics in it.
To his right were, what looked like arcade cabinets lined against the brick wall. To his left was a large open space with several desks with computer monitors on them, shelves filled with video games and figures and books.
It was obvious he was not in his and Danny’s shared home. Where the hell was he?
Ninja Brian raised his hand to scratch at his head. He looked at his arm in surprise. It was bare. He looked down at himself, pulling the blanket off. He was wearing a button down blue and white shirt and a pair of worn jeans. His hands shot up to his face. His mask was missing.
The fuck?
What was going on? Ninja Brian always had his ninja gi on, even when Danny made him dress up. Why was he wearing these clothes? Why was he in this unfamiliar place?
Ninja Brian was so confused. And though he would be hard pressed to admit it, he was feeling nervous, scared even. He was alone and out of his element.
Where was Danny?
As if on cue, a tall lanky man, with a head full of curls walked around the corner. He was drinking from a coffee mug. He paused when he noticed Ninja Brian staring at him. Lowering his mug, he smiled.
“Hey, Bri. Have a nice nap?”
Ninja Brian stood up, intending to flash step to Danny’s side. He looked down in confusion, seeing he was still in the same place. He tried again. Nothing. Had he lost his ninja abilities?
Dan cocked his head to the side, seeing Brian looking at himself in confusion. He walked over to his partner, placing his mug down on the table.
“Is something wrong, Brian?” He asked.
Ninja Brian looked up at him and nodded. His hands flying as he signed his confusion.
“Where the fuck are we?”
“Where’s my mask?”
“What’s going on?”
Dan held up his hands.
“Whoa whoa whoa! Brian. What the fuck, man! What’s with the sign language? Just tell me what’s wrong.”
Ninja Brian looked at him, confused. What did he mean tell him? Sign language was how he communicated. Danny knew Ninja Brian couldn’t talk. Not since…that day.
Ninja Brian then raised a hand to his throat. His hand touching the smooth skin there. A small gasp escaped him. He ran his hand along his throat. It was all smooth. Not the usual raised jagged texture. Where was his scar? It was gone.
How?
Did that mean?
Could he?
Ninja Brian cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
“D-Danny?”
His eyes widened. He spoke. That was his voice. It had been a long time since he heard it but that was definitely his voice. Dan smiled, crossing his arms.
“You’re being really weird, man.”
Ninja Brian just stood there with his hand around his throat. He was in complete awe.
“I can talk.” He said, disbelief clear in his voice.
Dan shook his head, chuckling. “Oookay. Ninja Brian. You, uh, you have fun. I gotta go record.”
Dan grabbed his mug and began to turn away. It seemed Brian was in one of his weird ‘I’m going to pretend I’m someone else’ moods.
Before he could take a step, his arm was grabbed. He looked back to see Brian looking at him with, was that fear, in his eyes.
“C-can I come with you?” Ninja Brian asked, forcing himself not to wince at how pathetic he sounded. He still had no idea what was going on and Danny seemed to not be affected by whatever was happening.
Dan’s eyebrows furrowed. Brian was really acting weird. He’d never taken his games this far. Something really must be wrong. He turned back, facing his partner and reached up a hand, cupping his cheek.
“Brian, are you alright?”
Ninja Brian gasped at the contact. Danny had never touched him that way before, unless you counted that one brief moment when they were filming a video. Ninja Brian couldn’t suppress his disbelief then either.
Ninja Brian leaned into the touch, covering Dan’s hand with his own. “I don’t know what’s going on. I’m so confused.” He said, his voice trembling with emotion. His breathing coming out quicker.
Dammit!
He wished he had his mask. He used to have no problem with his emotions but living with Danny for so long, they found a way to seep through, mainly when he figured out his feelings for Danny.
At least he had his mask to hide them but now he was completely exposed. His skills were apparently gone and he was in an unfamiliar place and Danny was acting different than usual. Ninja Brian had never felt so vulnerable in his life.
Dan watched silently as several different emotions crossed Brian’s face. Dan recognized each one. Something was really wrong. It was rare that he could read Brian so easily.
This wasn’t some joke he was playing. Brian was legitimately upset. Why? Dan didn’t know. He then shifted, pulling his distressed partner into a hug.
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m here.”
Ninja Brian buried his head into Dan’s chest, willing himself to not cry. The open affection Danny was showing him, breaking down the few barriers he had left. He just wanted to understand, why this was happening.
They stayed that way a few more minutes, Ninja Brian eventually calming down. Suddenly, they heard a door open.
“Dan, you ready to record?” A voice asked.
Dan pulled back from the hug, not quite releasing Ninja Brian. He looked over his shoulder to see Arin with his head poked out of the engineer room.
Arin raised an eyebrow, at the scene before him. Dan holding Brian against him. Dan noticed the look and subtly shook his head. Silently asking him to not address it. Arin nodded, understanding the message.
“I’ll be there in a minute.” He said.
Arin then disappeared back into the room.
Dan looked down at Ninja Brian and gently raised his chin.
“Hey, how about you come sit in on our recording session? We can talk later. Okay?”
Ninja Brian didn’t really understand what Danny meant by recording session. Maybe it was a new Starbomb song and they were doing vocals. He had recognized Egoraptor’s voice. Ninja Brian was surprised he was here too. At least, he was another familiar face.
Ninja Brian briefly wondered if Ego was different like Danny too. It honestly didn’t matter. With this strange new setting, he didn’t care, as long as he was with Danny. Ninja Brian nodded.
Dan smiled hugging him close again. Ninja Brian could feel his cheeks heating up. Dammit! He wasn’t used to this.
Dan then pulled back and grabbed Brian’s hand and led the both of them to the room Arin had disappeared into.
Ninja Brian looked down at his and Danny’s joined hands.
Maybe this place wasn’t so bad afterall.