Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Danny had never felt so annoyed before for being interrupted. He could blame the lack of patience on his upcoming finals, or the stress of pending school projects, or the way he had to constantly look over his shoulder for whatever Vlad was planning. Heck, even the lower-than-usual caffeine intake could be the cause (Alfred had been adamant of indulging his industrial needs for the beverage, which the others thought put Tim’s addiction to shame).

No. His lack of patience had all to do with how weird his ectoplasm felt under his skin whenever Jason Todd was around. Like a hornet’s nest buzzing threateningly if the other’s emotions were all over the place.

And with how demanding and exasperated Jason looked, he was definitely in a mood the half-ghost wanted to steer clear from as soon as possible.

“No,” Danny repeated coldly, pushing as much of his threatening ghostly aura as he was willing to show the other ecto-adjacent man.

Jason was not unaffected by the unearthly response, but he was certainly undeterred. “C’mon! It’ll take you a second to pull it off and no one would notice.”

Danny scowled. “It wouldn’t take a second and it’s still no. Can’t you see I’m busy anyway?”

The vigilante turned a deadpan look at the books scattered across the desk. “Studying? Really? As if you hadn’t aced all your other tests this year.”

Pushing aside his concern about how well Jason had been following his academic achievements, Danny sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You do know we all have different priorities, right? Not everyone wants to follow your cult.”

“You kinda did when you decided to come live with us, kid.”

“It doesn’t count when I’m not actually adopted,” Danny defied smugly. “I’m like… an overstaying vacationist, remember?” An arrangement that had been made between two sketchy billionaires, who unknowingly shared a love for hidden lairs under their expensive homes and looking for black-haired teens to mentor.

“And you do realize Bruce has been itching to show you the cave and all the family secrets for a while now, right? That’s a technical adoption right there. You can’t nope your way out of it forever.”

Danny shrugged. “I’ve dodged that bullet enough times that I’m sure I’m wearing him down now.”

Jason grinned mischievously. “You know, I could drop a few hints to keep him interested in trying. ‘Hey, Alfred, don’t you think it’s weird Danny hasn’t gotten sick since he’s been here? Or how cold he is? Or that he looks the other way when there’s any hint of our nighttime activities?‘ They’ve all noticed that part, by the way.”

In other circumstances, Danny would’ve been paralyzed with anxiety. Not only from the blatant blackmail but also from the idea of others figuring out his secret. In a different life, once upon a time in Amity Park, he would’ve been too nervous and unable to keep his ghostliness at bay, manifesting through his angry green eyes, a sudden temperature drop, or some loss of tangibility.

Now? What he couldn’t hide was his amusement as he leaned back against his chair. “You can also tell them you’ve known for almost three months. That should keep Bruce interested enough.”

The two stared at each other in a silent battle to see who would budge first. Danny smiled with a tinge of bitterness. Who would Batman tell, anyway? His dead parents? The disbanded GIW? The Justice League who couldn’t be bothered to look into Amity Park when things were worse? Vlad?

To be fair, Danny had half-expected the Waynes to end this exhausting song and dance ages ago. They had many opportunities, like when he caught them sharing snacks in the kitchen after midnight, or when he openly stared at the obvious cuts and bruises that hadn’t been there the night before, or when he asked them why there were no bodyguards despite being so wealthy in such a dangerous city.

He also knew they were paranoid enough to go through his laptop files, past school records, social media, personal messages, his room, and even had one of the younger vigilantes stalking him now and then. Danny realized if they hadn’t found anything by now, they probably wouldn’t find anything at all.

Unless Todd talked.

“Fine,” the man huffed with crossed arms but didn’t move to leave the room yet. An uncomfortable silence fell between the two.

Danny couldn’t be sure what had led Jason to keep his secret for so long, but he had a hunch it was not just Red Hood’s need for leverage against Bruce (nor to buy Danny’s silence from that accidental meeting when he caught the man stealing from The Bat Cave™).

Maybe Jason kept quiet out of the goodness of his heart. Maybe the “bat clan” hadn’t said a thing because they still don’t know how to deal with an unknown like him. Maybe poor communication skills were not exclusive to the Fentons.

Or maybe Danny’s luck was just compensating for everything he had already endured with the explosion at the Nasty Burger.

“Why haven’t you told them, anyway?“ Danny mused out loud after a beat. As much as he didn’t want to give space to more conversation, Jason’s mood had cooled enough to make him tolerable at least.

“I’ve been giving you time to come out to say it on your own terms,” Jason admitted. It sounded so much like something Jazz would’ve said, making Danny’s heart sink at the reminder that his sister had known he was Phantom and hadn’t said a word until it was too late.

“They’re not stupid either,” Jason’s voice brought him out of the dark spiral he started to descend to. “They all have their theories, but they know you’re a good kid who wants to escape a bad situation. We also know what it’s like to lose someone and feel you could’ve done more to save them.” Danny turned his gaze elsewhere, making the temperature drop as much as his renewed desire to end this conversation. Despite the visible shiver, Jason plowed on. “We. Get. It. How else do you think we joined this ‘cult’, as you like to call it?”

The half-ghost offered a sad smile. “You mean it wasn’t the Bat Burger discounts or the ride in the Batmobile?”

The vigilante rolled his eyes and sat on an armchair close to Danny’s desk. “Ok, so you’re not interested in the shared trauma or the perks. What about the training? Aren’t you even a little curious about how you could improve if they all knew? The skills you can learn?”

“Oh, I’m all down for learning.” Danny gestured at his desk like a model showing off a brand-new car. “See? These books are enlightening when I actually have a chance to read them and do my high school projects like any ordinary teen, instead of fighting off the freak of the week.”

“Kid, you’re far from ordinary,” Jason insisted, the exasperated mood returning. “That’s the whole point! We all got skills and tools and maybe even the chance to break the mold, and that allows us to face our problems and help in ways no one can.”

“Sure, because dying on command is an awesome way to solve things.”

“As if you hadn’t gone flying above Gotham a couple of times last week.”

Danny snorted. “Chilling outside and taking the burden of a mask and a cape are totally different things.”

“See? I’m not even talking about wearing a mask.”

“You sure? I thought going down to the cave meant picking up a costume from that lovely display.”

“Bruce wouldn’t drag you into this unless you asked. Or stalked him. Or stole his tires. Don’t know what his standards for recruiting are nowadays.”

“I’m not interested. End of story,” Danny ground out and turned to his schoolwork to get his point across. “Now please go away before I decide to haunt you for eternity.”

He couldn’t see Jason’s face from his peripheral vision but he could feel the heavy stare. He was probably reigning his anger or something, but Danny couldn’t care less. After a few seconds of blatantly ignoring the older man, Jason tapped his fingers rhythmically against the desk and stood up. “You know what?” he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. “Forget about Bruce. I’ll be the one to wear you down.”

Danny raised an eyebrow and slowly turned to face his visitor. “Is that a challenge?”

Jason turned with a mischievous glint in his eye. “Oh, it’s a bet.”

The young half-ghost resisted the shiver that traveled down his spine. He knew how seriously the batkids took their bets. He wouldn’t be surprised if they were already running clandestine gambling circles led by some crime lord like, well, Red Hood. Or was that a stereotype? It felt like a stereotype.

In other words, there was no way he was getting out of the bet with his sanity intact. And he valued whatever sanity he had left.

“Fine,” Danny sighed in defeat. “If you don’t get me to join your clan,— and trust me, you won’t,— I get to choose your new vigilante name.”

Jason didn’t even blink. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll pick your new code name once you do, Casper.”

“Nuh-huh, hold on,” Danny replied before the other could get carried away calling him names. “You’re not leaving without some ground rules: you can’t force or trick me to join. It has to be genuine. So no asking me to help in anything you can get someone else to do.”

There was at least one member of the Justice League or the Teen Titans to cover each of his powers. And wasn’t there a Justice League Dark for the ghostly and occult as well?

“In that case, you’re allowed a free trial if it means it’ll help convince you,” Jason said with the same satisfied smile.

“Wasting your time on that one, but sure, whatever.”

“Also,” the man said with a more serious expression, ”You don’t have to be a vigilante. You just have to be officially introduced to the family business and train in whatever skill you want. That’s all.”

“Fine, honorary part of the clan, then,” Danny amended.

Jason nodded. “Anything else you wanna add, Inviso-bill?”

Danny’s cheeks turned red in an instant as he sputtered. “How did you even find out about that?” Hadn’t Vlad tried cleaning up all traces of Amity’s ghost situation? He was sure he had gone out of his way to even convince the locals that it was all a hoax.

But of course, this was one of the world’s greatest detectives. “I could teach you how, y’know?” Jason offered.

“It’s like you secretly want me to change your vigilante name, Wonder Hood.”

That wiped Jason’s shit-eating grin. “Ugh, now you won’t know what else I found until the bet’s over.”

“Fine. The bet’s on, I guess” Danny grumbled.

Jason shook his hand before leaving the room with a small salute.

Once he was gone, so was any chance of concentrating. Danny tried to keep reading even as the words stopped making sense. He wondered how much it would actually hurt to go back to being Phantom. To help others after learning how to make better use of his abilities. Maybe even have a more balanced life now that he knew there were vigilantes perched in every gargoyle in Gotham.

The slithering memory of a sinister laugh and the promise of an inevitable future brought him back to reality.

Everyone was better off without Phantom. Even Vlad, who at least wasn’t planning on ripping out his humanity now.

He had promised his family he’d never turn into him.

He still needed to finish that homework, anyway.

Jason couldn’t help the devious grin setting on his lips as he reached Wayne Manor’s living room. Two weeks of effort brought a significant change from “weary and respectful distance” to “somewhat tolerable company” among his siblings and one self-isolated Danny Fenton.

All it took was an innocent “I thought you had added Danny already” in the group chat and an offhand comment between patrols about how “maybe the kid feels he doesn’t belong” to push the batkids in the right direction.

Sure, the others had already tried being friendly with Danny after he passed their scrutiny and background checks, but the kid had pushed everyone away with his hyper-focus on schoolwork and the constant brooding in his room. Not to mention the way he avoided anything that even hinted at their life as vigilantes.

But today, there was significant progress. Instead of hiding behind a closed door, Danny was comfortably working on the living room floor, close to Tim and Steph who were in different seats around the room and focused on their own projects. It was definitely a rare view after so many months of trying to convince Danny to join movie nights, Batburger outings, and even gaming challenges. Good to see at least homework sessions were more successful to draw him closer.

Jason didn’t always visit the Manor but he had at least promised his siblings he’d do it more often, at least to see if he could help in getting Danny to loosen up a bit. Now he wouldn’t have to worry about sneaking in to keep an eye on him, like he used to during his constant pestering.

He sat on the couch closest to the half-ghost and opened the book he brought, with no real intention of reading today.

“Glad to see you joining us, kid,” Jason said. “What are you working on?”

Danny eyed him with suspicion, one of the things that had remained the same after the bet. “Just a physics project,”

“What kind of project?”

A deep sigh. “A presentation for my finals.”

Jason hummed. “Well, glad to see you‘re getting back into science, then.”

The other teens perked up at the interaction and exchanged looks. Bait taken. “I didn’t know you were into science. What fields are you interested in?” Tim asked as Steph wrote something furiously in the group chat.

> Steph: new interest detected: Danny likes science

Danny hadn’t mentioned his love for space or any hint at his parents’ work? Huh. Makes sense in a way. Most of the things Jason had learned about him were only possible once he found out about the ghostly business surrounding him. That gave Jason a VIP pass to witness his rants and slips whenever he questioned the kid about using his powers. Stargazing, looking out for natural portals, sensing a shade nearby… At least the excuses were original.

Jason definitely needed to use this in his favor. “You should’ve heard him the other day. Gave me a full rant on, what was it? Interdimensional travel?” He spared a glance in Danny’s direction, who looked so much like the demon brat for a moment. “He’s smarter than he likes to admit. I bet he’s got really useful skills to land him a spot in NASA if he worked with you, Timbers.”

As much as Jason disliked his replacement, he had to admit Drake was crazy smart, if only a bit distracted at times. The lack of sleep probably didn’t do him any favors.

Tim hummed thoughtfully at the suggestion, ignoring completely the threatening flash in Danny’s eyes towards the older brother. “I mean, we do have internships at Wayne Enterprises—”

“An internship? Pfft!” Jason interrupted. “He’s practically your newest brother! I’m sure you can teach him a few things personally if you visited more often.”

Steph chuckled. “We better warn Dick you’re after his role of caring older bro, Jay.”

“He’s got a good point, Steph,” Tim replied with a heavy look. Their let’s-get-Danny-to-the-batcave plan in plain view almost made Jason roll his eyes. “I mean, if you’re interested of course, Danny. I’m sure Bruce already told you we have some side projects—“

Danny blanched. Even if the kid didn’t go through with the offer, the look on his face was already worth today’s effort. “That’s okay, really! I wouldn’t want to mess up whatever family projects you already have and I usually learn better on my own.”

“I’m sure it wouldn’t kill you to give it a chance, Danny,” Jason chided.

“Oh, I’m dead set on figuring it out on my own, Jay,” Danny shot back.

“I sense we’re missing relevant character development here,” Steph stage-whispered at Tim.

Danny sobered up at the comment and closed his laptop and books. For a moment, it looked like he would excuse himself and leave to hole up in his room, as usual. But there was a hint of something in his eyes. Like a challenge being accepted. It was gone the moment he smiled at Steph.

“Ok. How’s this for development? I wasn’t going to focus on science at first. In fact… Uh… Nah, too embarrassing to share.”

That little shit…

“Aww, c’mon, you can tell us,” Steph prompted.

“It’s silly, you’ll probably laugh at me,” Danny replied, going as far as rubbing the back of his neck to really sell it.

“Try us, Danny,” Tim encouraged.

Steph smiled warmly in agreement. “Yeah, we really want to get to know you better.”

“I think this is the most you’ve spoken since we’ve met you.”

“Shh, you’ll scare him away, Tim.”

Jason couldn’t get a good read of what game Danny was playing, but he was definitely up to something. The brat even took a long pause and cleared his throat to buy time.

“Fine,” Danny finally said. “Thing is… I wanted to be a teen hero.”

“What!?” “No way!” Tim and Steph exclaimed at the same time.

“You gotta be shitting me…” Jason mumbled. This felt like an illegal move. Maybe he should’ve put more rules to this bet.

Danny shrugged. “I know, stupid, huh? But then I started to explore other interests. Something more grounded. Like… astrophysics.”

Steph scoffed. “Danny, you can’t just dump something like that on us and not elaborate.”

“Oh, well, since I wanted to be an astronaut before, and Gotham Academy has a great program for—”

“No, no, the hero part.”

Jason’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he noticed Drake was typing in the chat. This would be a wild day in the messages, no doubt, especially with how many were missing the interaction and would probably want all the details. He’d bet Babs was already watching the living room’s video feed, but maybe he should lay off on the bets for a while.

“Yeah, you know,” Danny replied with a shrug. “I used to think it would be cool to parkour into the night, fight the bad guys, and stand up for the helpless. Or was it the hopeless? Both?”

Tim’s big brain caught up with him after he got the ball rolling in the chat. “Wait, you said it in past tense, so you know it’s dangerous and not something serious to try to do, right?”

“Unless you were trained by, like, assassins or some other vigilante,” Steph pointed out.

Or had superpowers, Jason wanted to add, but he didn’t want to blow the kid’s cover like that. If this conversation had proved anything, it was how serious Danny was about leaving that life behind. Even if it meant pulling risky shit like this.

“Oh, trust me. I know,” the kid replied, giving Jason a brief glare. “And it’s not like there’s a school for new heroes or a manual, right? And can you imagine how much it would cost to keep up with the latest gear or just getting a suit clean? No wonder guys like Red Hood had to become crime lords.”

“Why am I not recording this?” Steph whispered as she gawked along with Tim.

“Because you value your life,” Jason huffed.

But Danny wasn’t done.

It was almost as if Jason’s annoyance fueled his little trolling act further. “And that’s another thing: who in their right mind would want to risk dying or harming their loved ones, right? Unless, you know, they’re the reason to pick up a mask. Though wouldn’t therapy be cheaper?”

Tim furrowed his brow. “Well, yeah, but that’s why they keep their identities secret and train to do their best.”

“If you can call a fight against the Condiment King training. On second thought, he’d be terrifying if he used the Nasty Burger’s sauce.” Danny shuddered.

Jason rolled his eyes. The last thing he needed was this to open up a different can of worms. “You sure have given this hero gig a lot of thought, huh?”

“Yeah, Danny, you’ve been here, what? Four months?” Steph turned to look at Tim for confirmation. “You’ve got a pretty strong opinion for someone who’s never met our city’s heroes.”

“At least not that you’ve told us,” Tim added with a hint of suspicion. Maybe this was dangerous territory or maybe they could get this bet back on track…

“Yeah, sounds like you should get to meet one of the Robins before you make any judgments, kid.”

“Or one of the Batgirls,” Steph reminded them.

“Nah, pass. I’m over that whole phase. Been there, done that.”

Was Danny doing this on purpose? He was giving them way more information than necessary, risking his secret in the process.

“Exactly how much ‘done that’ are we talking about?”

“I’ve never been a batkid, if that’s what you’re asking, Tim,” Danny said with a nonchalant shrug. “But it’s obvious anyone choosing to live a double life would have a lot of trouble keeping things balanced, right? Like, what if instead of studying for my finals I ended up, I don’t know, researching a case I had open or something.” Drake quietly closed his laptop. “It would probably take half of my sleep schedule, half my meals, half my spare time... That’s like being half alive! So, yeah. Great character development: I decided to leave the heroics to those who can pull it off and go to space instead.”

Jason knew the others had more questions than answers now, and Danny had managed to crush any intention the others had of showing him the Bat Cave, if the messages he scrolled through were any indication.

> Steph: he’ll either make fun of us or run with the wind

> Cass: (broken heart emojis)

> Dickie: idk we shouldn’t scare him away then… don’t wanna be the one telling B if we do

Someone cleared their throat at the entrance of the living room, making everyone turn to look at Alfred. “As exciting as it is to see you all having a pleasant conversation, perhaps you’d rather continue in the dining room. I’m sure Master Bruce would be delighted to participate as well.”

That did the trick and erased Danny’s triumphant look faster than he could say ‘fuck’.

> Duke: can’t believe this is the one time I miss dinner

> Dickie: i feel you bro

> Cass: (sad emojis)

> Babs: I’ll send you the video later

> Dickie: where’s Jay anyway?

> Steph: here, channeling your big bro energy

> Damian: What are you hiding, Todd?

> Jason: I’m just enjoying a front-row seat

> Steph: you’re just scared he’ll keep roasting red hood

[Several users are typing]

Steph had the good grace to smile sheepishly when Jason glared from the other side of the dining table.

Alfred’s cooking was always a great reason to stay in the Manor. Saving his vigilante name for the next month was a solid second reason even if the others didn’t know it. Everyone would chalk it up to his curiosity about the upcoming train wreck during dinner.

Because there was no way Danny Fenton would be able to keep that sass in front of Bruce.

The old man and Damian had joined them as expected, chatting about some rescue project the demon brat was working on. Once everyone was well into their meals, Tim gave Bruce an obvious look motioning toward Danny, who was too distracted to notice since he sat as far away from Bruce as physically possible.

“So, Danny,” Bruce addressed the kid with a friendly tone. “Tim told me about your love for space. We’d be delighted to set up a telescope on the roof for you.”

Danny looked confused for a moment before he gave the man an awkward smile. “Thanks, Bruce. That would be nice.”

Damian raised an eyebrow. “It’s a relief to know you’re not looking to be the next Robin.”

The silence in the dining room felt abrupt. Drake almost choked on his food while Bruce shot Damian a scolding look.

“We’re still teaching him some people skills,” Jason told Danny to break the tension. Sure, he wanted to get the kid to open up with the family more, but he never meant to corner him like that.

Danny sighed and shook his head. “Word sure spreads fast, I guess.”

Bruce apparently hadn’t heard that part of the conversation from Tim before they sat for dinner, if the look of utter confusion was any indication. “Did something happen?”

“Fenton revealed he used to be interested in heroics,” Damian grumbled.

“Used to. Big key words there,” Danny added sheepishly.

Steph chuckled, trying to bring back a lighthearted mood. “And he sure went full debate-team-mode on us.”

Her effort might have made it worse. Bruce was pensive, assessing his newest ward. If Jason had to guess, he was probably reexamining their past interactions in a new light. The last thing Danny needed was to be seen as a threat, but the kid dug his own grave with his risky game.

Bruce hummed and stared at Fenton right in the eye. “Is that why you came to Gotham?”

Danny shrugged but didn’t look as tense. Maybe he expected a harder question. “Not really? According to Vlad, it was either coming here or going to Metropolis with Lex Luthor. And only one of you had experience with kids in tough situations.”

“And only one had a city with teen vigilantes everywhere, isn’t that right?” Damian questioned.

Danny gave him a warm smile. “In any case, that’s not a good sales pitch for a wannabe hero. At least it’s not that crowded in the astrophysics field.”

Tim leaned closer to the table to look Danny in the eye. “Was it crowded back in Amity Park?”

“Nah, and it was exhausting to cover that much ground alone, despite living in a small town,” Danny replied nonchalantly. “Jay, can you pass the salt, please?”

Of all the places to drop that kind of information…

But then again, this was definitely working in keeping Bruce from revealing everything now. Instead of telling the kid so he understands the importance of being discreet and avoiding misunderstandings that could unknowingly reveal their secrets, Bruce would be weary of encouraging a new vigilante and putting an untrained kid at risk.

In the dumbest way possible, he was trying to win this bet no matter what.

“Danny,” Bruce asked slowly, cutting through the thick silence, “were you a hero in Amity?”

There was a downcast look in his eyes and a hint of bitterness in the half-smile that followed. “No, I would’ve saved everyone if I was, right?”

The way the temperature dropped with Danny’s emotions went unnoticed by the others at the table. But Jason knew this wasn’t the evening breeze. The small oppression in their chests was not the result of their heartbreak after hearing the implications behind the kid’s words.

Jason understood the cry for help.

“So, anyway,” Danny broke the tense atmosphere with a more relaxed tone. “For the record, I did say I'd rather not be a hero. That’s why I picked you. Because you seemed like a normal and happy family despite all the pain in the past.”

Bruce looked like he’d been punched in the gut. And it reverberated in everyone else in the room.

Danny smiled sadly at the group surrounding him. “I’m so grateful for everything, really. You’ve given me enough space to improve my grades, to allow me to get back on my feet without stressing over Vlad’s plans for me or someone else’s shady agenda. I might actually have a shot at NASA now and hopefully change my future. So, thanks. It really means a lot.”

No one knew what to say. Jason felt like shit knowing he had been insisting the kid to take a chance and work with his abilities instead of running away from who he was. But the hint of fear behind his words… this had nothing to do with teaming up with other heroes to hone his skills. This was not about losing a stupid bet.

It was about being at peace with himself again.

Danny got up from his seat at the table, silent as a ghost. “Yeah, sorry for killing the mood. So, if I may be excused, I’ll go finish my physics project, ‘kay?”

Everyone watched in confusion as Danny left the room. There was still a cold sensation nearby, so he could very well be close enough to eavesdrop. Or maybe the air was just that heavy after the expected train wreck was replaced by an emotional roller coaster.

“Uh, Jay?” Steph’s subdued voice spoke after a beat. “What just happened?”

Jason snorted. “Nope. I’m not touching that with a ten-foot pole.”

“You were suspiciously silent during this improvised questioning,” Damian accused.

Drake squinted at him. “And you stayed for dinner. You never stay.”

“You knew more about Danny than any of us could get out of him in four months,” Steph added.

“You definitely know something.”

“Is this true, son?”

Everyone stared at him expectingly. Good thing he worked well under pressure. He was surprised to learn Danny did as well, even if his technique could be polished.

“Still not my story to tell,” Jason replied, leaning back on his chair with crossed arms. “Anyway, unrelated note, but I might be changing my hero name soon. Just a heads up.”

Hopefully, it wouldn’t be as bad as Wonder Hood.

Chapter Text

Jason was already regretting many things once he stared at his civilian phone’s screen after patrol.

Eldritch Horror: (27 unread messages)

Danny never messaged him. If this were an emergency, he would’ve called. So, this had to be some follow-up to last night’s dinner. He opened the string of messages and confirmed his suspicions after reading the top fifteen names the kid had compiled in his shortlist, each worse than the previous one.

Dead Hood? Crimson Chin? Murder King? Friendly Neighbor Hood? Punisher? Pariah didn’t sound that bad, actually…

Jason considered what would happen if he didn’t follow through with the bet when new messages appeared in the open chat. Did this kid ever sleep?

Eldritch Horror: might have the batfam asking why u picked the name tho

Eldritch Horror: but yay for the family therapy session!

Eldritch Horror: pro tip: dinner is not a good place to talk about it

This was fine. He had changed his vigilante name before. At the end of the day, people would stick to calling him Red Hood, even if he introduced himself with a new title, which was not a restriction stipulated in the bet’s fine print. It’s not like a name was the only thing that could intimidate people (Bruce’s career would’ve been much shorter if that had been the case…)

No, his only concern really was how to deal with the other bats grilling him about the name change and using it to take jabs at him whenever possible, like the gremlins they all were.

Jason: If it’s not believable, they’ll track it back to you, you know?

Eldritch Horror:   (:

The vigilante swore under his breath and made the solemn promise to never, ever bet against a little troll like Danny.

Maybe he should suggest a name like Repentant…

The arrival of summer vacation finally gave Danny a break from his usual duties, but it also meant he had no excuses to stay all day in his room anymore. By now he should’ve gone back to Vlad, as part of the agreement with Bruce to only host the Fenton kid while he attended his elected school.

But Danny didn’t want to go and risk being stuck with the fruit loop. So, he came up with a very fake but very convincing summer class to extend his stay in Gotham.

That’s how he found himself walking into the TV room one evening, where he found Duke and Tim playing video games. The teens exchanged brief greetings before the look of concentration on the two players took their attention away from the newcomer. Danny sat on the couch and stared at the screen as they started a new boss fight. It looked like a level of Mughead he hadn’t seen before.

The boss fight was intense and the practiced precision with which Duke and Tim battled indicated they had been playing this level for a while. They were up against a huge cartoon clock that warned the two players their time was up and he would claim their souls, followed by a continuous attack of exploding pocket watches and a giant hourglass.

“Damn,” Duke swore after a few minutes. “He’s preparing the time freeze again!”

“We’re so done, I’m running out of energy,” Tim replied.

As the villain on the screen cackled maniacally and turned one of the players into a ghost, Danny couldn’t help but wonder if he could just jump into the game and use a thermos to trap him as a cool Phantom power-up.

Right. He wasn’t trying to be Phantom.

And he didn’t have a thermos anymore.

The last thermos he used, had trapped his future evil self after he defeated him at the Nasty Burger. A thermos that was now buried deep beneath the safest place he could ever think of.

Tim and Duke cursed at the same time when a variety of clocks decked them and killed them again. As they groaned in frustration, the clock boss appeared to jump in front of the ‘game over’ card, growing in size as his face took the whole screen. His devilish eyes looked directly in Danny’s direction.

“You are next!” the cartoon villain declared.

Danny’s stomach dropped suddenly, filled with a sense of dread he hadn’t felt in a long time. A sharp coldness in his chest made him gasp a misty breath he had almost forgotten.

A ghost? Here!?

Danny shot up from his seat unsure of what to do. Duke and Tim turned to look at each other and then at the other boy.

“Hey, Danny, are you alright?” Tim asked.

“Yeah, man, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Duke added with a mixture of concern and amusement.

Before Danny could reply, the ground shook, making the floorboards crack and groan with the movement. Sudden darkness engulfed the living room, interrupted only when a bright, green flash shattered part of the wooden floor. Pictures fell from the wall, breaking glass and fancy decor. The loud thud of one of the family portraits was the last thing Danny heard as the three felt the floor devour them directly into the Bat Cave.

This was definitely not how he thought the Bat clan would get him into their sacred vigilante hideout.

Right. Priorities.

“Are you hurt?” he managed to ask the other two teens as they tried to get back on their feet.

Falling debris cut short whatever answer they wanted to give him. Other members of the family arrived at the scene, with some already wearing suits. Well, Bruce had a business suit, which still counted. Jason, Nightwing, Cass, Robin, and Spoiler gathered around Danny.

Jason, out of his gear, stared at the ectoplasmic lights behind the fractures on the wall. After a moment of realization, he turned with a glowing glare in Danny’s direction. “What did you do?” he spat.

Danny’s breath hitched. “Me? I didn’t do anything!”

The furious man grabbed him by the front of his shirt. “Bullshit! I trusted you!”

A sickening wail resonated from below and brought everything and everyone still standing to the ground. The familiar cackle that followed intensified the oppressing coldness in Danny’s chest. Everything felt heavy, dark, and far away, like drowning in the pitch black of the night.

“Well, well, well… What do we have here?” the deep voice said. Red eyes appeared among the shadows, mirth taking over the menacing glare when they turned to assess the vigilantes in the collapsed cave. “You got yourself new friends. How adorable.”

This couldn’t be happening.

This had to be some trick.

Danny felt his feet frozen in place. Literally, if the icy tendrils going up his legs were any indication.

Claws reached from behind him and curled around his neck. It was getting hard to breathe as the voice of his future self sneered into his ear. “I warned you, Danny. I’m inevitable.”

Danny gasped desperately for air and blinked to make sense of his surroundings. His heart was racing as a cold grip surrounded it, sending shivers down his spine. His breath fogged in front of him with each exhalation.

Not his ghost sense. Just the lower temperature in the freezing room.

Wait…

This was still his temporary bedroom. Still his bed. Still his PJs.

Still the same vivid nightmares.

He sighed in relief and turned on his phone’s screen.

Oh. 3:30-ish. The witching hour. Someone out there probably thought this was hilarious somehow.

The Bat clan was still out. Maybe. He tried not to keep tabs on them but it was hard not to, with all the tiny noises they brought along. Like the occasional chatter in the kitchen, the distant sound of the groaning water pipes as they took a shower, and even the slight click of someone’s door down the hall. Everything seemed to sound excessively loud when they got home.

He wondered if their patrol chatter was just as noisy or as fun as he remembered the experience with Sam and Tucker. Knowing there were so many bats out there, he could only imagine Dick’s puns or Damian’s threats, while Jason swore to his heart’s content. Tim and Steph’s rapport was impressive off-duty, so he could picture how fun it could be in the field. All while Bruce, in his very intimidating alter ego, scolded everyone and gave heavy “tired dad” sighs.

But the house was still quiet, with likely just Duke already sleeping in his room, Alfred baking something, and Danny still shivering over a traumatic dream.

Why was everything so cold anyway?

Alfred’s cookies sounded like a good distraction. He wouldn’t mind getting something hot to deal with the numbness the frigid temperature brought along.

It was risky. But now that the others believed his lack of interest in their vigilante life, he might be safe going downstairs for once.

Right?

————————-

Tonight’s meeting with the other Bats hadn’t been in Jason’s plans. If anything, he had done everything in his power to avoid the others and preserve his dignity after the mocking became part of their routine after his questionable name change. If only he had used something cooler like Revenant or Outlaw, instead of—

Easy, Jay. It’s not important. Not the time to get worked up. You control the pit, it doesn’t control you.

Yeah, sure…

So, for tonight’s patrol, Bruce had originally considered Damian, Tim, and Steph to keep a watchful eye on Gotham and take their usual separate routes. However, Ivy had other plans and thought the weather was nice enough to turn Gotham into the most environmentally-friendly city in the world. A plan that included more killer vines and mindless drones than what the old man had anticipated when he assessed the threat.

Hence the one-man cavalry that later joined them with guns blazing. Or it would’ve been blazing in the more literal sense, had Bruce allowed Jason to bring the flamethrower he offered from his arsenal…

All that effort, combined with the new name he’d been using for the past three weeks, merited one of Alfred’s late-night treats at least. Which is how Jay found himself following the others into the manor after changing into his civvies (a rule reinforced since the arrival of their newest resident).

Speak of the devil…

Upon entering the kitchen, the family of vigilantes was greeted with the sight of none other than Danny Fenton holding a cup of tea in his hands and a blanket around his shoulders as he sat next to Alfred.

The kid smiled sheepishly after a slight shiver. “Uh, h-hi?”

Jason furrowed his brow. “What are you doing here?” he asked and belatedly realized his concern sounded more like annoyance.

Danny looked confused. “I… live here? What are you doing here?”

Something was up. Ever since the kid figured out the baked goods Alfred made at this hour were a post-patrol treat, he had avoided the kitchen after midnight no matter what, even during late studying sessions or whatever kept him up at this hour. Looking at Danny’s mug revealed the beverage in it was most likely cold and halfway gone. It smelled like honey-infused tea, Alfie’s specialty to provide comfort and warmth. The kid had probably been there for a while talking with the older man.

Bruce’s rare gentle tone broke Jason’s musings. “Is everything all right, Danny?”

The kid looked at his mug and the empty plate beside him. “I…wanted to see what was all the hype about Alfred’s late-night cookies,” he said with a more enthusiastic tone.

Stephanie walked closer to the kid with an accusatory finger. “Isn’t it like cheating if you didn’t work your ass—”

“Language,” Bruce interjected.

“—tounding skills with us to get those cookies?”

Jason didn’t miss Danny’s small flinch before it turned into feigned confusion. “Uh, what skills are you talking about?”

Steph narrowed her eyes and smiled triumphantly. “Exactly. No skills, no work, no cookies.”

Danny looked at something on Jason’s arm and snorted. “What, did you use whatever awesome skills you have at a greenhouse or something?”

“Ah, shit,” Jay muttered when he noticed the mixture of chlorophyll and mud staining his favorite jacket’s left sleeve.

“Or something,” Tim replied to Danny’s question, pouring himself some coffee.

“It doesn’t concern you, in any case,” Damian added with a slight glare.

Bruce settled on a chair close to Danny. “What Damian means is we don’t want to stress you with our projects,” he said in the same kind tone.

Danny shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind talking about your projects. Even if I don’t get involved in them.”

One of Jason’s eyes twitched.

So, if he had only waited for Danny to start his summer break with nothing else to keep him busy, the bet would’ve been much easier to win? Holy fucking lack of hindsight, Batman.

From the chaotic vibes Stephanie gave off in her curling lips, she probably had similar thoughts about their attempts to let Danny in on the secret.

“Oh, by the way,” she said in an innocent tone, “I know you don’t like to keep up with heroes anymore, but did you hear about Red Hood’s name change?”

Maybe crawling back to his grave wouldn’t be so terrible, instead of putting up with this shit when it wasn’t even part of the bet’s agreements…

Danny grinned in amusement, making some life return to his dull eyes and paler-than-usual skin. “He changed his name? No way!” he said in fake surprise. “G-gotta love when heroes decide to start from scratch building t-their reputations, huh?”

Jason huffed and was about to call it a night when he caught sight of something odd. Danny hadn’t stopped shivering since they got into the kitchen and now there was a thin layer of frost forming around the mug he held in his hands. A light blue hue began to color his fingers and he could’ve sworn his eyes shone brighter.

Steph continued unaware of these changes. “Oh, but that’s the thing. Apparently, he’s now going as—“

“Wait,” Jason interrupted. “Are you feeling alright? You’re shaking,” he asked while looking pointedly at his hand.

Danny stared in confusion until he looked down and paled. He quickly moved his hand and mug inside the safety of his blanket. “J-just a little c-cold.”

“Do you need us to call a doctor?” Bruce asked with concern, the others keeping a safe distance to avoid catching whatever bug Danny had. Could the kid really get sick?

“I’ll just s-sleep it off, don’t worry.”

Alfred stood from his seat and took the empty plate in front of Danny to the sink before he went looking into a cabinet. “I can bring you some medicine to your bedroom, Master Danny.”

“T-t-that’s not necessary. I’ll be f-fine.”

As the others began to express their concerns and convince Danny of seeking medical help, Jason made a show of rolling his eyes and acting like the begrudging older brother. “Fine? Gimme that, Alfie,” Jason gestured at the pills Alfred had already taken out for Danny’s symptoms. “I’ll escort the stubborn brat we haven’t adopted yet and make sure he takes care of himself.”

Danny shot him a look almost begging Jason to not pull this shit right now.

Tough luck. Maybe Jason was just drawing inspiration from his newest vigilante name and what it truly represented to be called—

“Fine,” Danny broke his train of thought as he agreed. Jason didn’t miss the huff of disappointment either. The kid slowly stood up, as if afraid he would break if he moved the wrong way, and gave Alfred a heartfelt smile. “T-Thanks for everything.” He then turned to the others. “You can t-tell me all about your project some other t-time. I’m sure you’ll want to w-weed out some details anyway.”

Tim sighed. “I’m so glad Dick isn’t here to hear this.”

Danny shot him a weak smile. “Oh, he’ll p-probably hear it from the grapevine.”

Jason barely resisted the urge to groan. “Okay, off you go,” he told Danny as he wrapped an arm around his shoulders to lead him out of the room. “C’mon, I’ll even make sure you don’t fall on the way up.”

“Aww, look. Big Brother Jay is going to tuck him in,” Steph cooed, followed by a low but probably hateful comment from Damian.

“I can go by m-myself just fine,” Danny mumbled.

“Don’t mind him, Danny,” Steph called through the open door. “He’s just a little down because of—“

“Let the kid get some rest, for fucks sake,” Jason scolded from the hallway.

He just hoped the lack of comments from Bruce and the two Robins was not a bad sign. For Danny, that is.

The intrusive chill wrapped itself around his heart and it wouldn’t stop despite the hot beverage or the warm blanket surrounding him. Danny had at least hoped this wasn’t something weirder than his usual ghostliness.

Apparently, his bad luck had returned from its short vacation.

When Jason led him into his bedroom and closed the door, he knew he wouldn’t be able to hide the freezing sensation any longer.

“Danny, are you sick?” Jason asked with alarm.

That was not the question he expected to come first.

Danny sat on his bed with his feet pulled close under the blanket. “What? No? I don’t t-think I’m sick.”

The unimpressed look on Jason’s face called it bullshit. “You went downstairs.”

“What, like it’s hard?”

“You froze your mug,” Jason pointed out. Danny just hoped he hadn’t noticed how the ice got the mug stuck between his fingers. He would never live that down.

“I…I don’t know how I did t-that,” Danny sheepishly admitted.

The scrutiny he felt made him shiver. Or maybe it was the new temperature drop, that brought to their attention the icicles forming on the room’s ceiling. The new pieces of ice crackled as they crawled into existence closer to the lights above.

“I’m so not looking forward to explaining that,” he muttered once the ice stopped turning his room into a miniature Iceberg Lounge.

At least the chills got a bit better? He managed to break free from the mug in his hand, in any case.

Jason glared at him. “Seems like you won’t have too much of a choice. This is some Mr. Freeze type of shit, kid. Not something the old man would let slide as easily as the other crap you pull.”

Danny sucked in a breath. “Oh, no, do you think they saw?”

What if they assumed he was a meta? What if they thought he was here to hurt them? What if they forced him to stay with Vlad? What if they found a way to hurt ghosts? The family dabbled in shady occult things from time to time, if the weird vibes he got from a few of their members were any indication.

“I’m not sure,” Jay replied with a hand on his shoulder. “Alfred will definitely notice if you break his mug, though.”

“I think it’s Tim’s.”

“Oh, you’re so screwed.”

Danny had to agree on that one.

Jason picked the still slightly-frozen mug from Danny’s hands and analyzed it as he leaned back against the window, probably preparing to use it as an exit if Danny got out of control. Now that’s a comforting thought…

“So is this a new power?” he asked.

The chill returned as Danny shuddered at the idea. “I don’t know.”

Another unimpressed stare. “You don’t know how your powers work?”

At least that got some heat on his face. “I’m not talking about that with you.”

“You kinda have to, from the looks of it,” Jason replied as his head tilted to contemplate the icicles.

Was this life’s twisted way to keep him back on track to becoming the evil future self he fought months ago? Didn’t the changes in his path prove he could be better, different? How powerful would he grow up to be and what would that mean for the future he saw?

Deep down he knew Jason was right. He can’t just let his powers get out of control and hurt those around him.

Danny sighed wearily and hugged his blanket closer. “I usually tested my limits and trained with my friends, okay? But most of my powers appeared when I needed them the most,” he explained. “Like, say, if I wanted to yell at a bunch of ghosts to get away, the scream would turn into a wail that pushed them away. Or worse.”

“That’s not concerning at all,” Jason said with a hint of horror in his eyes.

“At least you didn’t see me dodging things in the most bizarre ways possible,” he added with a shudder.

“So now what, you needed to chill and decided to make your room a freezer?”

“I don’t know, okay?” Danny couldn’t remember what brought out the cold sensation in the first place.

Jason’s weird ghostly thing was making Danny feel the man’s exasperation. “So, why did you go downstairs tonight? I know it wasn’t to wait for us or to gloat about the name change.”

Danny perked at that. “Oh, you haven’t told me how everyone reacted to—“

“Don’t change the topic.”

That annoyed reaction definitely sparked joy in the half-ghost’s heart. “Sounds like you’re not enjoying the new ID, Jay. Do you want to set up a poll instead, to see which of my fifteen options is more popular?”

Jason’s scowl deepened. “Not a fan of polls. And don’t. Change. The topic.”

Danny sighed tiredly. “I had a nightmare, okay? Hence, Alfred’s magic tea.”

He felt in part embarrassed to share that kind of personal detail, but Jason had become the closest thing he had to a friend after he lost Sam and Tucker, or had no safe access to the Ghost Zone (Johnny and Kitty could be pretty chill at times).

The protective feeling he got from Jason told Danny the guy had grown attached to him in his own way. He was as annoying but comforting as Jazz in her good sister days (not that he could picture Jay with red hair instead of a red hood…)

“Are you having nightmares about whatever really happened that day?” Jason asked softly.

Danny shifted uncomfortably on his bed.

Jay seemed to backtrack and shook his head. “Look, you don’t have to tell me. But I know what it’s like.” He turned to look outside the window, probably to try to hide the haunted look on his face. “Sometimes, I…I still see myself back at that warehouse. It feels so real, you know? The sounds, the taste of blood in my mouth, the pain… It all comes back to haunt me from time to time. I don’t even know if it’s ever going to go away.” Jason turned slightly to see Danny in the eye. “I’m pretty sure you’re dealing with some heavy PTSD shit.”

A pang of pain and a chill on his chest made Danny grimace. “Do you talk to anyone about it? Alfred said you guys knew people who could help.” Jazz would’ve helped or known what to do if they had talked about his secret openly…

Jason snorted. “He probably meant Black Canary. She’s done therapy for the League and the younger teams sometimes. But if we’re talking about the Wayne Family Drama, talking is not something we’re ever good at.”

No shit…

Another thought made him deflate. “So, I guess if Alfred’s suggesting a superhero therapist, he kinda already knows something, doesn’t he?”

The way Jay stared at the floor wasn’t comforting. “Kid, you can take as long as you need. Or you could keep it to yourself forever. I know you don’t want to go back to being a hero or anything, but shit… if you’re going to keep getting new powers like this, I don’t think you’ll be able to keep things under wraps much longer.”

New tension began to build in Danny’s gut. “What would Bruce do? Would he kick me out? Attack me? Send me to super-powered prison?”

His thoughts were spiraling again, painting horrible scenarios, each “what if” worse than the last. Was he catastrophizing or whatever Jazz once called it?

But it stopped to a halt when Jason snorted. “You do know Duke has powers, right? Hell, even I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

Danny raised his brow at that. Everything he had learned about Jay so far came in the same small doses of info.

But there were other things to worry about, not even including the secrets buried deep beneath the Bat Cave.

“Even if Bruce doesn’t freak out and you guys keep quiet, Vlad will catch on and make me go back. After he attacks you, of course.”

“If it’s that asshole who you’re worried about, we can find creative ways to get his hands off of you.”

If only Danny could feel as confident as Jason sounded. But who wouldn’t sound like that when they didn’t know the whole story? When he hadn’t revealed Vlad’s secret despite everything? Even when he made sure Vlad (or Bruce) didn’t plant any bugs, he was still wary about talking openly about some things.

Danny licked his chapped lips. “Yeah, about that? Vlad is… He’s…he’s like me.” There was only silence and a raised eyebrow in response. As if Danny hadn’t shared some life-altering knowledge. Unless… “Wait, you knew?”

Jason rolled his eyes. “We’ve known he’s had some kind of power. The only reason Bruce has been getting closer to him is to figure out why his business deals reek of mind control of some sort.”

“Overshadowing,” Danny supplied without thinking.

Jay looked taken aback. “You mean, like possessing someone?”

“Yeah,” Danny admitted slowly. “I could show you how it works, but I might end up turning someone into a popsicle.” Not to mention he didn’t want to risk a body switch like with Pointdexter. Whatever ghostly thing Jason had going on, wouldn’t be compatible with that trick.

Speaking of which, Jason’s mood felt threatening. “You better not pull that shit here.”

Danny was definitely going to regret this. The fear that spiked in his nerves brought back the icy sensation in his chest. “I…kinda already d-did,” he said softly.

Jason was fuming and Danny felt like approaching a live wire. Or a time bomb he needed to defuse. He recalled his dream and the betrayal in dream-Jason’s face.

Danny sighed. “How do you think I convinced Damian to stop sneaking into my room to attack me?”

That broke some kind of angry spell and made Jason furrow his brows in confusion. “The demon brat tried that shit with you?”

“Yeah, and it’s not like I always use that power, but I kinda had to if I wanted to be left alone.” Danny closed his eyes expecting a punch or something worse, but at least relieved to get that off his chest. “Sorry if that was invasive,” he mumbled.

An unexpected calm settled between the two, instead of the explosion he had dreaded. He had to remind himself that Jason wasn’t some sort of homicidal maniac blinded by rage, despite his questionable choices. Maybe he understood Danny’s reasons. Maybe he knew why some hard decisions were necessary. Or maybe he knew what it was like to have invasive people around.

“Your shivers got better,” Jason said after a beat. What a weird change of topic... “I guess you just need to stop bottling things up.”

Huh… Danny had been too focused on confessing to even notice.

But wasn’t this like calling the kettle black?

Yeah, it’s probably better to not call him out like that..

“I mean it,” Jay continued. “If this started tonight after some nightmare, you might want to start sharing whatever’s bothering you. Not just freeze it up.”

Danny had to smile sadly at that. As if he could just go up to someone and tell them how he let go of his humanity and destroyed everyone’s future, not just his own.

As if he could tell them how it was all his fault, from the CAT’s to the failure to get to everyone on time.

“It’s not that simple,” he replied instead. “I can’t just sit to take therapy with Dr. Todd and make it all go away.”

Would that have been Jazz’s role if she were here now?

Jason sat next to Danny and nudged his shoulder softly. “You don’t have to talk to me, you know? Maybe it’s just… finding a place where you feel you belong. Or turning your pain into something productive and all that shit.”

Did he belong with the Waynes or with the bats? What about Vlad or the Ghost Zone? Was studying even productive if he couldn’t pass NASA’s physicals?

He was too tired just thinking about it.

“I’ll think about it,” Danny managed to answer.

That seemed to be enough for Jason, as he patted his knee twice in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture. “Are you good sleeping it off, then? Or are you going to end up building a castle on the hills?”

Danny chuckled despite himself. “I was thinking more along the lines of not needing my super suit, if you’re going with the icy Disney references.”

“Suit yourself,” Jason replied with a smile and stood up to leave. Wait… Did Jason just make an awful pun? “Just remember you’re not alone in this. You don’t have to handle everything on your own. Some secrets are not that worth it, you know?”

Alfred had said something similar while they were alone earlier. Not about the secrets, although maybe the old man knew more than he let on. He mentioned Danny had more people who cared about him than he realized. That he just needed to be willing to let someone in. About how some of the pain we carry is better if it’s shared.

Danny was just making things harder on himself, wasn’t he?

After Jason left, he figured sleep wouldn’t come unless he got the cold out of his system. If he needed to release all the tension to get rid of it, it couldn’t be something as simple as talking, right? And he couldn’t do anything close to training at Wayne Manor.

He wondered if Jason knew a place vacant enough for this to work. Would that count as training with a Bat? It wasn’t the cave, at least…

…yet.

Maybe telling them about his powers would be much better than sharing his deepest, darkest fears, in any case.

When Jason texted the Batkids how Danny might need some family warmth and to not give him a hard time today, he hadn’t expected it to turn into a full-fledged movie night at the manor.

Even Dick had taken some time to come out of Blüdhaven to make up for some quality not-quite-sibling bonding. Duke had also changed his schedule to turn in early from patrol, while Cass called in sick for her rehearsal.

He hoped the kid understood how much effort the others had put to be there for him, despite not knowing what this was about.

Danny still shivered from time to time but reassured Jason he had better control of it after whatever he had done the night before. Draped in a thicker blanket, he sat surrounded by the rest of the teens to watch one of the kid's favorite movies: Dead Teacher III.

Nothing like undead bros watching undead horror shows…

It was kinda nice to just relax and have some popcorn while watching a b-rated gore movie unfold on the large screen. Not talking about missions or the latest rogue. Just… being.

Danny sure needed it. Whatever he was afraid of, he had barely anyone to talk to. The more he kept to himself, the worse it would be for his health and his powers. But Jason knew better than anyone how hard it was to open up. It took a long time and building trust. Sometimes even a leap of faith.

Bruce walked into the room and smiled at the sight of everyone huddled in a mass of blankets and pillows on the floor and the couch. The soft look was soon replaced by his resting bat face.

“We need to start on tonight’s… project,” he declared.

Steph groaned and gestured at the screen with one hand. “Can we watch the ending at least?”

Damian tutted. “It would be disappointing to not have the full story, Father.”

Jason watched in amusement as the room was soon filled with the noise of overlapping words of agreement, sprinkled with a few more arguments to convince Bruce to give them some more time.

“It’s alright, guys,” Danny interrupted the brief cacophony. Everyone turned to look at him as he shrugged. “We can watch it some other time. I know how important patrol is.”

Jay was sure he wasn’t the only one frozen in place. In the non-literal sense, all things considered.

“What did you just say?” Tim asked slowly, his eyes wide in shock but turning hesitantly in a silent conversation with Bruce.

Danny grabbed his blanket and stood to make his way out of the tangle of teens on the floor. The little troll wouldn’t even acknowledge the bomb he just dropped on everyone. “I’d avoid the docks if I were you. Heard on the news someone out there made a winter wonderland early this morning.”

He had the balls to stand next to Bruce and smile at him, turning a second later to face the rest of the group. Jason recognized the mischievous look in his eyes.

“Go kick some ass, Red Gull. Don’t forget birds of a feather flock together,” he happily said before he headed to the stairs.

That sick little—

“Wait,” Dick said to those still in the room. “it was Gull this whole time? I thought you said Ghoul. So this was a grave misunderstanding?”

“I thought it was closer to my Ghul heritage,” Damian muttered.

Jason groaned. “That explains so many things…” Including why Danny had picked such a confusing name.

“But they sound nothing alike!” Duke chimed in.

“Maybe if the scary, murderous bird here hadn’t grumbled out the name using a voice modulator,” Steph shot back.

Bruce took a decisive step into the room. “Settle down,” he ordered and quieted the room in an instant. “We have more important things to discuss.”

Cass walked down the stairs (when did she even leave the room?) and eased the tension with a simple, “scared, but safe.”

Tim quirked an eyebrow and turned to Bruce. “We’re just compartmentalizing before we talk about why Jason didn’t say anything about Danny.”

Everyone turned to look at Jason with equally inquisitive eyes. “Why do you always look at me for those answers? The fucking gall…”

“Maybe you meant the gull,” Dick teased.

No, Jason. Murder is not going to solve this.

Even if the deal with the name change was off now, he needed to find a way to get back at Danny.

The kid sure knew how to make cold-hearted pranks…

Chapter Text

Tim would need at least two more cups of coffee to have enough energy to get through with tonight’s damage control. Probably more.

Already dressed as Red Robin, he stationed himself alone at the meeting table with his laptop, where he was doing last-minute adjustments to a few slides in his presentation as if he were preparing for any given Wayne Enterprises meeting.

The group of vigilantes, minus Dick and Duke, had already suited up as well for the eventual patrol. Everyone was restless after Danny’s concerning revelation, no doubt revisiting every previous interaction with him and trying to figure out if there was something else they had missed during their initial background checks.

Only Bruce and Jason were still wearing civilian clothing as their verbal confrontation dragged on near the Batcomputer. The other Batkids surrounded them as their captive audience, waiting for some relevant piece of information to drop that they could use either for research or some sibling shenanigans.

Not that they were getting anywhere with this interrogation.

“Oh, for fucks— are you even listening? I already told you what you need to know,” Jason grumbled, a heavy glare focused on the original bat looming over him as he kicked back in his chair.

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. “We need to know if there’s anything else we should worry about or prepare for. You know the case we’re building against Masters is still weak. If you want to help Danny, as we all do, we need to know everything you know.”

Well, at least B was changing tactics and now appealing to Jason’s promise to keep Danny safe. The past five times he had asked the same question in the last hour, Bruce had almost painted their newest unofficial sibling like a liability and not like a victim who needed protection.

Because that had been the whole point from the start of this mission: to keep a vulnerable kid out of a bad situation at the hands of a suspected criminal.

Sure, Danny proved there was more to him than meets the eye, what with the whole interest in advanced astrophysics, hinting he had at least flirted with vigilantism in Amity Park, and figuring out their secrets.

The most surprising part of it all was how he had earned the trust and loyalty of Jason Todd, of all people, who was now smirking at Bruce’s frustration. “I’m not your informant, old man. Get your own sources, like I did.”

Huh. Had Jason found something in his research they had somehow overlooked?

Thinking back at what they learned tonight, Jason had been aware of Danny knowing their identities. He also admitted he didn’t tell anyone because he was giving Danny a chance to come clean about it on his own. It all pointed to Danny figuring out their secret “a while ago”, though that didn’t give them enough of a timeframe to work with.

A wave of nostalgia made Tim smile, trying to imagine Danny in his shoes a few years back, following Batman and Robin around. It was funny to see all the checkboxes filled for a more official addition to the family.

“What were you guys thinking?”

Those who were already set for patrol perked up at the sound of Babs’ voice from their comms.

“What do you mean, O?” Tim asked. Maybe two cups of coffee wouldn’t be enough for the crazy night they still had ahead.

“You left Nightwing alone with Danny,” she replied with a deadpan ‘are you seriously asking?’ kind of tone. At least there wasn’t any real hint of danger in her words, though his looming anxiety would beg to differ.

Tim frowned. “Signal went with them.”

“He left less than a minute into their conversation,” Barbara replied annoyed. “He said, and I quote, that he’s not paid enough to deal with this shit.”

Aside from the fact that he doesn’t really get paid… What the hell?

There were so many possibilities of what could’ve come out of Dick's and Danny’s interaction. Even Tim had trouble deciding which was the most worrying scenario: Had they started a pun war? Did they bond through their painful experiences? Did Danny drag Dick for his decisions as a vigilante?

Cass got up from her position next to Damian and Steph by the Batcomputer, and strode across the room toward the exit. “On it,” she quietly said into the comms as the elevator door closed.

Tim could see Robin’s scowl from across the room, even behind his mask. “If he hurt Richard in any way—“

“Danny’s traumatizing him at this point,” Babs interrupted. “Someone should give him a hug after this. Either of them, to be fair.”

That wasn’t comforting at all and it was not good enough to narrow the possible scenarios.

“Please tell me Danny made fun of his Discowing era,” Steph added.

Despite the movement and giddiness, the conversation between the younger members of the clan still went unnoticed by Bruce and Jason, who were now talking about…trust and boundaries? Nah, that didn’t sound right.

“Worse,” Babs spoke again. “Let’s see… So far, Danny has called Nightwing out for being on babysitter duty, suggested that babysitting was a good retirement plan for someone as old as him, guilt-tripped him because he’s rarely around and shouldn’t be surprised that they haven’t gotten to know each other, bombarded him with puns to emphasize his point, and then layered some heavy existential crisis on top of it all.”

Tim blinked and stared at the next slide on his screen. He probably needed to reconsider a few things written on it from the sounds of it. “How did we miss what an absolute troll Danny is?”

Steph muttered in her comms. “You mean, like when he made jabs at all of us that one time in the living room?”

Shit… Had Danny known then? There was still so much they didn’t know and Jason hadn’t volunteered any helpful information. It would make sense but, three weeks was a long time to keep quiet with something this big.

“On the bright side, we got more intel on Masters that I’m still verifying, so I’ll keep you posted on that soon.”

“Did Fenton reveal how long he has known? Todd is not giving a straight answer,” Damian muttered into his comm, echoing Tim’s concerns.

“Ah, yes. I think he’s set a record at two days after moving in,” Babs replied with a hint of amusement.

Wait, but that meant this had been going on for…

“FIVE MONTHS!?” Tim screeched, his chair hitting the floor when he stood up, effectively breaking the discussion between Bruce and Jason, who stared in confusion at the outburst. He turned to look at Todd with an accusatory glare. “He has known for almost half a year and neither of you thought to tell us!?”

Bruce’s glare was hard to read, but Tim noticed he was hurt. While things with Jason had gotten better, they still weren’t in the most trustworthy zone yet.

Todd had the audacity to look smug in response. “Told you he could be discreet. You got nothing to worry about.”

B’s scowl deepened. “We’ll be the judge of that.” With a tap on his ear, Bruce turned on his communicator. “Oracle, tell Nightwing to bring our guest down to the cave.”

Spoiler approached the fuming bat with a placating gesture. “Whoa, already? Shouldn’t we let Grandpa Wonder handle this for now?”

Bruce sighed tiredly. “We have a case to work on and a new possible rogue in Gotham. If this has been going this long and Jason is adamant about protecting Danny, we’re better off talking to him about the consequences and not about the details,” he exclaimed, before turning with a more stern glare at Todd. “For now.”

“He’s a good kid,” Jason added with an eye-roll. “A huge superhero fanboy like him won’t let our secrets out that easily.”

Tim frowned. “Wait, I thought he didn’t want anything to do with being a hero.” He still cringed at the memory of some of the things Danny had said back then.

Jason’s snort was not at all reassuring. “And you believed him? He’s just too shy to spill his secrets. He read so many comics that he knew what to look out for when figuring out heroes and whatnot. He’s probably treating this like some undercover mission, for all I fucking care.”

With so many things the rest of the family hadn’t known about Fenton, Tim wasn’t sure he could take Jay’s word for granted. There was something playful about it. Was he messing with them somehow?

Or was he messing with Danny?

Damian almost stomped in front of Jason. “Are you telling us we were recognized by a fantasy enthusiast?”

“You can call him a comic book nerd, Damian,” Steph supplied. A look of horror crossed her uncovered face. “Which means, he probably has it all wrong. I mean, no one magically becomes a superhero like in those stories. Or comes back to life out of nowhere. Or finds clones trying to kill them.”

Before Tim could add time travel or dimension jumping to Steph’s “crazy” list, Bruce spoke first. “We can’t risk it. He needs the talk. Red Robin,” he called out and leveled his no-nonsense stare on his protégé. “Make sure you have your presentation ready.”

“Why does he get to give Fenton the ground rules?” Damian argued with a pout. An added sense of pride filled Tim’s chest.

Bruce placed a patient hand on the brat’s shoulder. “Because he’ll be more receptive to someone his age.” Damian grumbled something inaudible and Bruce looked pointedly at everyone in the room. “Don’t forget: he’s still a possible victim and we still haven’t ruled out Vlad Masters’ involvement in the explosion that killed his family.”

The sour reminder of their original mission, plus why they had given Danny enough room to be left alone, felt like a punch in the gut. Fenton did say he was trying to get back on his feet. He had even thanked them all for helping him get closer to his dreams. And had apparently respected their privacy enough to not spill their secrets for so long while steering away from anything dangerous.

Almost half a year… Tim still couldn’t wrap his head around that single fact.

How had they missed that?

Maybe there was more going on. This felt like just the tip of the iceberg, but he would rather look into it first on his own instead of raising more concerns.

“Nightwing and Danny are on their way now,” Babs said into the comms. “Also, fair warning: Danny’s sure you’ll kick him out.”

The concern on Bruce’s face made him look much older. Tim sometimes imagined every new line on his forehead represented each new kid under his care. “We should quell those fears, then. For better or worse, he’s part of the family now.”

Drake didn’t miss the way Jason’s shoulders relaxed. That’s how he knew Danny had already been a closer part of the family way before any of them had realized.

The sight of the Batcave was much more impressive once you could actually use the official entrance, which made the hideout look way bigger than Danny had explored the first time he got there by accident.

The mystery before reaching this place was what built up the exciting reveal: from the hidden code to open the clock’s secret door, the overwhelming darkness at the start of the journey, the echo of bats (both the chittering and the chattering type), the increasing chill… It all set an eerie mood before they finally reached the main room, full of sophisticated tech and weird trophies that broke any illusion that this was just some ordinary cave.

The cherry on the top was the sight of THE FREAKING BATMAN and some of the heroes he worked with in Gotham. While Danny had known who this cave belonged to a long time ago, it was a different experience now that he was invited to enter their sacred space. It made it real.

Part of the team had already gone out to patrol from the looks of it. He hadn’t seen anyone in uniform up so close before, except for maybe Jason, so it was kinda exciting to see both Robins in uniform. Kinda.

He was too exhausted to show any of his genuine excitement.

After the nice little chat with the oldest Wayne sibling, Danny was honestly ready to crawl into bed for the next 24 hours. Or if he had to stay up late any longer, he would rather sneak out to release some of the ice while he figured out how to control it more efficiently.

He just hoped this was the last part of the endless interrogation.

Jason better appreciate all the effort…

“Welcome to the Batcave,” Dick said and motioned him to sit at the front of the meeting table, which was closest to the huge computer where they probably did all their high-tech research. Tucker would’ve been drooling at the mere thought of this setup.

“Are we calling it a day and finally watching the rest of the movie on this much larger screen?” he asked the group.

Dick frowned and the kicked-puppy face from earlier returned. “Wow, that sure was an underwhelming response to the Batcave.”

Oh, right, they didn’t seem to know Danny had already been there (accidentally) in the past. He should probably thank Jason for not giving too much away.

Danny tried not to cringe and managed to show his most innocent smile. “Trust me, it’s not the weirdest thing I’ve seen in a basement.” Which was totally true if one considered a portal to another dimension or the fruit loop’s evil lab.

“We’ll unpack that later,” Tim replied, taking a couple of steps to stand between Danny and the Batcomputer. “We’re here because we want to avoid having another Robin running around without our knowledge.”

Danny stared in confusion. “Wait, you were eager to bring me here all those months ago to…stop me from coming here in the first place?”

Bruce— no, BATMAN, approached him with a stern look. “We need to make sure you don’t accidentally reveal anything to others and to avoid any repeat from past experiences by setting some ground rules.”

This was overkill. What had Jason told them to make everyone think he couldn’t handle secret identity shit?

Danny pointed his thumb at Red Hood. “I could’ve just asked Jay. Plus, it’s not like I’m going to go out to fight crime and evildoers or whatever. You know this already. We even had a memorable dinner about it. Remember? Where we bonded over angst and Alfred’s special pesto sauce?”

“Jason is not the right person to walk you through the rules,” Tim argued and turned to Hood with a grimace. “No offense.”

 “Fuck your rules. Full offense,” Red Hood replied.

Danny snorted. “Fine, lay them on me, Red. Er… Tim.” Why couldn’t they choose names that weren’t so similar to each other? At least Nightwing understood the assignment.

Red Robin nodded and turned on the giant screen, where they were all shown a very formal presentation cover slide, titled “Do’s and Don’ts” in yellow letters over a black font. The “Batman Inc.” logo looked so professional there, it was hard to think this was happening in the Batcave and not in some fancy meeting room at their Fortune 500 company.

Danny tried to cool his patience before he cooled everything around him in the more literal sense with his new power. He knew he should’ve expected Batman to tell him in detail all the ways he would make his life a living hell if he messed up with their secret. He even prepared for the worst scenarios, like being kicked out of Wayne Manor. But a slideshow?

What kind of weird torture was this?

Taking a deep breath, he focused on just getting this over with. “Okay, so is this the ‘don’t go heroing’ anti-pep talk? Or is it a down talk?”

“In a way,” Red Robin replied. “I’ve compiled a list of guidelines for civilian allies that will help you know how to respond to different circumstances.”

“Hold on, civilian ally? I’ve been promoted to an ally? You’re really not kicking me out?” Danny didn’t get them at all. He knew Dick had reassured him Bruce would rather adopt him than let him go back to Vlad, after hearing how he was trying to keep away from the fruit loop. But it felt too easy. Had Bruce been that lenient with the others when he took them in?

“Red Hood has vouched for you,” Bruce said in his trademark rough voice, the implied ‘you better not mess this up’ clear enough in the tone.

Red Hood, in all his menacing glory, pointed a finger and poked Danny’s chest. “You still have to watch your back, twerp.”

Wait, what? Why was he even mad?

“But I got you off that stupid bet, didn’t I?” Danny’s high-pitched tone sounded almost pleading. “Plus you got what you wanted, anyway,” he muttered.

Hood was probably glaring beneath his helmet if his arms-crossed posture was anything to go by. “Yeah, still not feeling any less vengeful, Bill.”

Danny scoffed. “That was a low blow.”

The other bats looked at each other, probably in confusion (it was so hard to read their expressions with their masks on). “William?” Damian asked and somehow managed to make the three syllables sound like two in an extremely threatening way.

“Wasn’t your middle name ‘James’?” Dick added.

Of all the things Jason used to get back at him… “It’s a dumb nickname, ok?” Danny huffed in annoyance. “One that you don’t want to know about. Ever.”

Dick grinned. “Now I want to know more about it, Billy.” Danny could only groan.

Bruce cleared his throat, shutting everyone effectively. “We’re wasting patrol time. Red Robin, continue.”

“Right, so these are crucial rules to follow, Danny,” Drake said in a serious tone that didn’t match how ridiculous this whole situation was. “If you don’t, it could compromise all of our identities and even our lives.”

The slide changed to a different subtitle: “Rule #1: Do not talk about Bat Club.”

Danny snorted. “You don’t seriously call yourselves the Bat Club, do you?”

“No, that’s just there for the cultural reference,” Tim tiredly replied. Using a pointer laser, he directed everyone’s attention to the ‘#1’ portion of the text, making circles around it. “This rule is the most important one and will probably make some of the others sound repetitive, but safety measures can sometimes be redundant like that.”

“Right, so this means I can’t talk about anything related to this—, “ Danny made a gesture to signal everyone in the room, ”—outside of the cave?” The former ghost hero felt utterly offended by how obvious these rules were.

“Exactly,” Dick chimed in as some of the spark he lost while talking to Danny returned. “We wouldn’t want any leaks, even if we do have a Spoiler out there.”

While the others groaned, Danny ignored the pun and took in a slow breath. “Riiiight, and it’s not like you would, let’s say, talk about a case or a recent patrol situation at the manor, or school, or the library, or…”

Batman frowned when he noticed some of his sons glancing anywhere but at Danny (or him). “You shouldn’t,” he emphasized.

For all the rules they wanted to pull on him, they were the first to break them. Maybe they thought Danny was too clueless to piece anything together from their comments, but he knew there was patrol talk around him all the time.

“Unless you’re a vigilante that sorta, kinda does this without batting an eye. Got it,” Fenton replied with an innocent smile.

Tim seemed to be fuming. Good. Ok, probably not a good idea to piss off the bats, but Danny was too tired and the Waynes had no reason to kick him out according to Bruce and Dick’s reassurances.

They also had no reason to be so…condescending. That’s the word he was looking for! They were totally looking at him like he was some dumb and scrawny kid who was out of his depth.

That only cemented his decision of keeping the Phantom part under wraps for a while longer. If only out of spite.

The rest of the formal induction to the “civilian ally” life only fueled Danny’s annoyance further. He never got a chance to do this kind of ritual with Jazz to welcome her to Team Phantom, but he knew it wouldn’t have been fair to treat his sister like she had no clue what she was doing. She had kept his secret for who knew how long behind his back, after all.

At least Danny didn’t wait for a life-or-death situation to do the same with the Bats.

When they finally got to the last slide, he realized why Tim had said their rules would sound redundant. Because they were. It was all awfully repetitive! And for a family of detectives, they weren’t great listeners. Or maybe they liked overexposing irrelevant things. Hadn’t Danny already stated time and again that he just wanted to mind his own business? That he didn’t want to become a hero, or a vigilante, or a villain, or whatever? And just because the previous Robins had sneaked into Batman’s roster one way or another, it didn’t make every other black-haired boy an instant magnet to kevlar and spirit gum.

Danny tried not to comment more than what was necessary. He reviewed the list later in his room, once they had finished the session and excused themselves to join the others in their nightly patrol. Danny would have asked what case they were working on, out of sheer curiosity, but that was against their rules. Besides, it would imply he wanted to do hero things, something that was surprisingly frowned upon in a family of 8 (EIGHT) vigilantes.

Jason was spot on with his opinion of the Bat Rules…

Fortunately for Danny, he had experience from his unlucky confrontations with rule freaks like Walker, so this opened up a new opportunity for him to have a little bit of fun and maybe even teach a valuable lesson to the Batclan in the process: rules always have exceptions. There’s always a loophole.

And Danny knew he could definitely work with this shiny, new list.

Getting back at Danny had been like watching a slow-burn revenge story unfold.

Jason only needed to give the other Batkids the wrong backstory (comic book nerd was not far from the mark, anyway) and the right nickname (“I call him Billy, the Kid since he’s already like an honorary Outlaw”) to make the little ghost troll squirm.

Despite that petty revenge, Jason wasn’t a total asshole. He kept his watchful eye on Danny, making sure he didn’t feel pressured to go back into being a hero and checking in on his developing powers, which the kid claimed to have now under control.

And he tried to just be there for him. Opening up was not something either undead boy felt comfortable with. But the longer Danny interacted with everyone after the Bat secrets were revealed, the more he started sharing details from his past life with some of them. Especially with Jason.

Having a brother who felt so close was…nice.

As part of the new revelations in the Wayne household, Bruce had insisted on having everyone train Danny in self-defense, which included ways to counteract truth serums and mind control, what to do in case of being kidnapped, how to stay safe online, and how to activate the defense systems in case of an attack at Wayne Manor (which happened more often than they would like to admit to the kid).

Danny had joked to Jason how this felt like being back at home, surrounded by strange new weapons every time he went down to the Batcave, feeling everyone’s out to get him, facing badly named contraptions (“they called everything “Fenton”-this or “Ecto”-that. Pretty much like your “Bat”-everything.”), and even learning to survive the house defenses. Riveting memories from the sounds of it.

So today, after a week of teaching Danny different techniques down in the cave’s training room as a family, Jason decided to give the kid a small respite: a chance to stop holding back and show off more of his energy against someone who was aware of his abilities and wouldn’t call him out.

That’s how Jason ended up offering to spar with him to celebrate his mini-graduation as a civilian ally. It felt like a good closure to their mutual pranks.

Drake, Stephanie, and Cass were already there just to celebrate the occasion. Even Damian, who still didn’t trust the new member of the group, had shown up with the idea of testing Danny himself.

Fenton, wearing a sweatshirt and jogging pants, dragged his feet into the underground room and set his bottle of water and towel next to Jason on the bench, sitting far away from the other teens already stretching and chatting.

“How’s it going, Bill?” Jay teased and received the expected toxic-green glare from the half-ghost.

The kid’s venomous look soon turned into something more playful. “Pretty good, actually,” Danny replied with an unnerving smile. “I got a meme to trend on Zomblr today.”

Jason raised an eyebrow. “I knew you were a damn troll, but never pegged you for being one online.”

Tim, who had given a speech on web safety just the day before, apparently overheard and walked towards Danny with what had to be his best attempt at Bruce’s disappointed glare.

It was not effective.

“You shouldn’t attract attention to yourself like that,” Drake said.

Danny’s amusement didn’t falter. “Dude, relax, it’s just Zomblr. Besides, I’m using Tucker’s old server. It’s self-sustaining and still brilliantly guarded against all kinds of hacks.” Something almost feral crossed Fenton’s face, as if an idea just struck him. “I bet not even you could crack into it.”

Damian approached the group with his arms crossed. “Tt. If you are looking for a real challenge, Drake’s skills are subpar for the task. Test Oracle, instead.”

Jason shook his head and chuckled. “Trust me, you don’t want to make any fucking bet against Fenton.”

Steph and Cass paused their conversation to see what the commotion was about. “Oooh, are we starting a bet?” the blonde asked.

The bait and the jabs made Drake scowl, but he managed to resist the challenge. “We’re not betting because his setup isn’t safe, anyway.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Says who?”

Tim narrowed his eyes in warning. “Don’t make me go through all the digital protocols again with you, Danny.”

“Sorry,” Fenton replied. “I guess I just don’t remember when we covered casual shitposting in your protocols.”

Jason had to hand it to Danny: he knew how to get under people’s skin without overshadowing anyone.

The kid got up from his seat and stretched, popping his back in the process. “Anyway, are we going to talk all day or will I finally graduate from your little summer camp?”

Once they all resumed the warm-up exercises, the conversation switched to mild ribbing about some misstep during last night’s patrol and sharing whatever mundane shit they had done earlier that day. After a few minutes of getting ready, Jason and Danny stood on the mat to start their sparring. In this so-called graduation, they would try to assess how much the kid had learned about physical defense, with and without weapons.

Danny’s smirk was almost electric, taunting, silently letting Jay know he wouldn’t downplay his abilities against him. This filled Jason with enough adrenaline to make him grin back despite himself.

For the first part of the encounter, Danny had to respond to a sneak attack from behind, which the kid effortlessly achieved while making Jason almost trip.

“Oops, watch your step, Jay,” Danny exclaimed not-so-innocently.

Jason swore under his breath. Those had been some really stealthy moves; he suspected a little intangibility was involved. He doubted the others would turn a blind eye to that.

For the next part, they would assess his response to armed threats. Jason took a knife he intended to hold against Danny’s neck in a headlock, but the teen managed to dodge the grabbing arm and kick the weapon swiftly out of Todd’s hand. Jason smirked and tried a low kick of his own at the last minute, only for Danny to push against Jay’s shoulders, flip over his head, and land gracefully on the other side.

“Missed me, Gulliver,” there was that taunt again, but he was not going to call out the pun when the others hadn’t noticed it.

Most of the bats in their small audience clapped. Even Drake, despite his earlier differences with Danny, complimented the kid. “I hate to say this, but you passed. And looks like you’re a natural, too.”

“A natural pain in the ass,” Jason muttered while Danny offered a hand to lift him from the mat.

As the kid’s laughter filled the room, Damian narrowed his eyes. “You did not exhibit those skills all week.”

Danny shook off the comment with a shrug. “Maybe I just wanted to learn from you first. I didn’t think my mom’s training would be useful against experienced fighters like you.”

Cass, who remained seated on the floor, tilted her head. “Wushu?”

Fenton brightened up at the recognition. “Yeah, and other martial arts, I think. Nothing too fancy. She was a black belt and a good shot, that’s all.”

“Why do you keep dropping these breadcrumbs at us?” Steph asked while dropping her head in her hands. “Not all of us are birds you need to feed, you know? Some of us need more substance.”

Jason wiped his face with a towel. “We did find out his mom was a badass, remember?”

When they were about to take Danny in, they had researched what they could about his family and found Maddie Fenton had the skills Danny mentioned, two PhDs, and several published works on alternative energy based on what was likely ectoplasm in layman’s terms. Nothing they could associate with the kid immediately back then.

Drake furrowed his brow as he probably considered all those previous details. “Is that why you wanted to be a hero?”

Danny’s smile was the poster image of innocence. “Oh, I thought you had me all figured out as a, what was it?” He turned to look pointedly at Jason. “Comic book geek?”

Ah, so that was what this was all about. He couldn’t believe that would strike a nerve so effectively.

“Nerd,” Jason replied with a smile of his own. “Comic book nerd. I had to get back at you somehow.”

There was a brief glimmer in Danny’s eyes, the threatening glow of ectoplasm faintly visible. “Oh, trust me,” Danny said in a friendly but borderline mischievous voice. “I know.”

All of a sudden, Duke ran alarmed into the room and everyone turned to face him to figure out what was the issue. “Guys, did you see what’s going on in Zomblr?”

“Tt. Not everyone is interested in some mundane social communication platform, Thomas.”

“It’s okay to say you didn’t pass the under-13 lock, Dami,” Steph said with a smile, making the demon brat glare daggers at her back.

Duke scrolled on his phone slowly, as if searching for something specific. “Someone made memes about us.”

“What!?” Came the collective reply as some got closer to Duke and others pulled out their phones.

Or that was almost the collective response.

Jason noticed Danny’s amusement was left undisturbed by the news. He shot him a questioning glare, but the kid only shrugged innocently.

The other Batkids scrolled frantically through the content and Jason figured he might as well go take a look at what had made them lose their shit. When he saw Duke’s screen and caught sight of a seagull screaming bloody murder with a red filter, he turned to shoot Danny an equally murderous look.

The fucker had the audacity to smile in response.

“They have this whole series of relatable memes. Like, look at this one…” Duke said as he scrolled down to another image, now showing a bunch of copies of Spider-Man pointing at each other. “They’re making fun of your names, Red.”

Tim looked up from his phone to ask. “Red Robin or Hood?”

Steph snorted. “Oh, no, the Robin Hood meme is a whole different category.”

Jason decided he wasn’t as angry as he thought he would be. If this whole thing made the other Batkids suffer in embarrassment, it was a good prank in his book.

Serves them well for giving him so much shit for the Red Gull thing.

“Danny…” Drake suddenly turned to the only teen not staring at a phone, his voice dripping with suspicion. “Did you have anything to do with this?”

The kid gasped in the most obnoxious way possible. “What? I thought we couldn’t talk about ‘the thing’. Rule number one and all that.”

That only fueled Tim’s annoyance further. “You obviously can talk about the whole Bat secret if we’re in the freakingBatcave.”

Danny looked lost for a moment, his hand rubbing his chin. “Oh, but in that case, it goes against your other rule. Because you’re trying to figure out another hero’s ID. Also, that counts as doxing, right?”

Okay, so maybe Danny wasn’t as angry at Jason as he thought. Maybe he didn’t like being treated like a random civilian by the other bats. His fault, honestly. No one had connected the dots yet between the ice at the docks and an obscure ghost-themed superhero from Amity Park who disappeared right when Danny lost his family and friends.

Tim pinched the bridge of his nose and huffed in exasperation. “I just asked if you had anything to do with these stupid memes, not about some superhero or whatever.”

“Well, you see, there’s this username attached to it,” Danny said as he pointed it out on Tim’s phone. “That is a secret ID. And it looks like some sort of hero. It could be a real one, you know? With a kick-ass name like Meme Titan?”

Damian tutted next to the boys. “That is not a secret identity.”

“It looks like one to me,” Danny argued.

“Danny, you confessed to having a meme trend and also using your friend’s old server,” Tim pointed out.

Jason snorted. “Busted.”

“Oh, I did?” Danny asked with fake innocence. “Because if I was the Meme Titan, then you’re using a vigilante name while I’m dressed like a civilian, right? That’s against your rules, Mr. Timothy Drake-Wayne.”

The others stopped staring at the memes and turned to stare at the confrontation at the right moment Drake’s brain stopped working. “Why?” he asked in a broken tone.

Danny smiled. “Why are your rules so complicated for a lowly civilian like myself?”

“No, why are you trolling us like this?” Tim desperately asked.

The kid patted the other exasperated boy on the shoulder. “There, there. It’s not your fault that your rules are so hard to follow, you know?” He stopped to consider this for a moment. “Well, maybe it is. I mean, on the one hand, you tell me to not use official channels for chatter, but then you ask me to keep my personal chats clean. So where am I supposed to upload the memes I come up with?”

Jason shot him an unimpressed look. “So you used your friend’s supposedly secure server just to shitpost?”

Talk about wasting his backup resources on stupid shit…

“Hey, two birds, one stone,” Danny joked but soon scrunched up his nose. “Uh, pun not intended. See, if I get any suspicious messages, I’ll be doing my job of keeping an eye open for anything weird, right? That’s on your rules, too.”

“Please take them down, man,” Duke pleaded with a tired tone. “Some of us are having enough trouble making our names known, okay?”

Danny grimaced and sucked the air between his teeth. “Sorry, I can’t do that. I’m following the ‘don’t be a hero’ rule by heart. Trying to take down something from that server would involve hacking it and sneaking into Tucker’s house to pull the plug or something, and I think that’s engaging in vigilantism.”

Damian pulled one of his swords and pointed it at Danny’s face once he was close enough in his personal space. “Father will know about this.”

“Calm your katanas, Malfoy,” Danny replied, not at all bothered by the threat. “Your rules also said we can’t talk about this outside the cave, so the dinner table is a no-go. Also, if you tell him about it here and the account is of an undercover superhero, I’m guessing that implies you can’t use my name to address the situation. Hero ID and all that, remember?”

Steph stared at the kid in awe and amusement. “Jason was right. You really are a little shit.”

Danny’s friendly smile shifted to something almost triumphant. He turned his back on Damian’s sword and walked towards his belongings on the bench. “Me? I’m just some dumb kid obsessed with superheroes, right?”

He finally turned to look at the others on his way out of the training room. “What would I know about keeping secrets?” With one last wink, their so-called civilian ally left the group in stunned silence.

After a beat, Jason picked up his duffle bag over his shoulder to follow the kid who had a death wish. Tim opened his mouth but didn’t get a chance to get a word out. “No,” Jason snapped. “Don’t look at me. I did tell you where to shove your rules.”

Chapter Text

In all the training the younger members of the Bat clan had done, there were a few crucial parts of becoming a better team that sometimes flew over their heads. Dick should know, after all of his experience being the first Robin and taking other groups of teens and young adults under his wing.

The missing ingredient in their training was something simple: fun.

It was the best way to connect and release tension. A touch of laughter could be cathartic, a breath of fresh air. A good pun kept the wit sharp and left an opponent birdbrained. An inside joke nested a tight-knit bond. Put simply, having fun could make a heart soar and a flock of teens grow closer.

Sure, Damian scoffed at the mere suggestion and Jason had his own definition of the ‘fowl’ things he found fun, but Dick had managed to find an idea everyone agreed with to pass a good time: a nice day out playing laser tag.

The plan was simple: to get his siblings and not-quite-sibling to relax and enjoy themselves. That was it. After Danny ruffled everyone’s feathers, most of the Batkids were looking for different ways to get tit for tat. They definitely needed a way to cease fire before it ended in murder.

And, boy, had they tried everything they could think of…

The teens egged each other on to go for meticulously-planned jump scares, or impractical jokes involving Danny’s hair or clothes, and even stalking him to get his most embarrassing secrets. But maybe they shouldn’t have pigeonholed Danny as a simple civilian, since he dodged it all with ease. So much ease, in fact, that it made everyone more suspicious about the new kid and more determined to figure out what his deal was.

Dick wasn’t concerned about that. He knew Jason would’ve told them if the kid was dangerous. He needed to drill that into everyone else, though.

The others also needed to stop worrying about whatever Bat-memes and tweets Danny had managed to make trend a couple of weeks ago; they also deserved to forget for a moment about evil godfathers, changes in living arrangements, and potential new rogues in town.

And if his mother-henning allowed Dick to get closer to Danny and make it up to him for not being there sooner? Two birds, one stone, right?

“Okay, listen up,” the eldest brother called as he took a gander at the clutch of teens already geared up by the arena’s entrance. “We’ll split into pairs and count the points accordingly. BUT you can’t go with your most frequent partners. So switch it up a bit at least.”

Before anyone could call dibs or even say a pip, Dick’s eyes landed on Danny, giving him his most dazzling smile. “How about I pick up babysitter duty again?”

The kid rolled his eyes and went to stand closer to his new partner. “And here I thought you were the only one in the family without grudges, Big Bird.”

Dick had to laugh at that. “Of course it’s not a grudge, you little loon,” he replied with a pat on his shoulder. “Maybe we just need to get to know each other better.”

Even when they hadn’t become the closest friends (yet), Dick really liked Danny. The newest addition to the family could be a real hoot. It was a shame they never got to lark about, considering their unique humor. But now, he could try to reach out and build some trust.

After discussing and matching the rest of the teams (Tim with Cass, Damian with Steph, Jason with Duke), they all went into different passageways inside the dark, two-level arena, looking for the best vantage point to perch on and go against the other teams.

The eldest sibling knew Danny would be the main prey in the game, with the others waiting like vultures to dig their talons deep. So he figured they should pick a higher area at the opposite wall of the entrance of the large arena, where he took a spot with a window to keep a bird’s-eye view, while Danny took a position behind him to watch his back for anyone approaching their hideout.

Dick was looking below where someone dove for cover behind a column. It probably was a distraction. It couldn’t be any of the stealthiest members of their family, anyway, who took to the shadows like ducks to water.

Without looking away, he started whispering to Danny to give him the overview of their action plan. “Once we’re detected, move. Stay close to the walls. Watch my signals. Try not to wing it.”

There was no reply.

“Danny?” he whispered after a beat.

No reply again.

Dick turned around for a moment and noticed his teammate was nowhere to be seen. Talk about flying solo… Had the kid totally ditched him or did he just chicken out?

Before he could dwell on it much longer, Dick heard protests from across the room and other spots below. The lights on some vests were lightened up but he couldn’t quite see where the attacker was cooped up. It’s almost like they got them all in one fell swoop.

In his distraction, Dick didn’t realize he was left like a sitting duck until his vest lit up.

Dick turned around to see Jason smirking. “Are you two going as ‘Team Sloppy’, now?”

“Or slippery,” Dick mumbled as he shot Jason’s vest. Better a gull at hand, than two Robins in the playfield. He could try to slip away, brood about Danny’s absence later, but there was something off in the chaotic arena. “Who got to them anyway?” he asked.

Jason’s face was barely visible, but Dick could make out the unimpressed look. “You really don’t know where your teammate is, do you?”

Danny, “skinny as a rail”, Fenton was doing that? How did he get around the stealth of the other Batkids? Cass was nearly impossible to beat in this game, with her steps being as light as a feather, but he heard from the commotion she had been struck as well.

Something else was off. “I don’t see his vest,” Dick whispered, getting goosebumps as he felt a slight temperature drop.

As if on cue, Dick saw Jason’s vest flash from his peripheral vision, followed by an indignant “hey” from his brother, and a familiar laugh. Danny was suddenly standing in front of Jay, both hands holding his laser gun over his stomach as he cackled madly. “Weren’t you just saying I would be easy to track, Raging Gull?”

“You would be if you didn’t cheat,” Jason muttered and shot Danny’s vest out of spite as he flipped him the bird.

Danny’s amusement died abruptly, replaced by a hurt expression. He stared at Jason with something cold and heavy lingering in the air. Dick wasn’t sure if it was a result of the blacklight or the neon displays, but he noticed Danny’s eyes looked bright green and toxic.

What the hell?

“I’m not a cheater,” the raven-haired kid mumbled and he looked away, crestfallen, staring at his laser gun. He took a deep breath and turned to Dick without the glow. Maybe he just imagined it? “I’m gonna go make another sweep. But it’s not cheating. It’s…leveling the field,” he told Jason pointedly before disappearing into the shadows.

“Huh,” Jason said after a beat, his furrowed brow barely visible in the darkness.

“What is it?”

“I think he’s finally loosening up a bit with you guys,” he said with a small smile.

Dick turned to look at his brother. “So I wasn’t imagining that, huh?”

Jay seemed to consider this. “What do you think you saw?”

“Nothing. That’s the problem.” The distant sounds of Danny laughing and crowing, and the curses thrown against him by the Batkids filled the silence. Dick turned to look his younger bro in the eye. “Did he tell you whatever this is or did you figure it out?”

Jason sighed and turned to the window to shoot from afar at those who were left out in the open after one of Danny’s stealth attacks. “I saw, but getting him to tell me the whole story? It’s been like pulling teeth.” Jason tagged Damian’s vest, making the youngest Wayne parrot some of the threats thrown by the others. “Ha! Gotcha, brat.”

Dick knew he should get his head back in the game, but it seemed his partner had raked up enough points for the team. And if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck…

“So…a meta?”

“Not exactly,” Jason said, with his eyes still on the field.

When Jay didn’t add anything else, Dick understood this was not some information he could just ask a little bird to tell him. He would have to either win Danny’s trust or solve the mystery through his own methods. After so much time living with the Waynes, the kid had earned his place in the family one way or another. If he had survived with whatever secrets he still has intact for that long, he wouldn’t give them away that easily, right? That was still a bitter pill to swallow…

“Well, guess I’ll have to look into it, then,” Dick replied with a smile and pat on the back of his brother.

Jason shrugged and shot his vest again. “Sure. It’s your funeral.”

“Hey! No fair, Little Wing!” he yelled as the other swiftly escaped from their hiding spot, toward the mayhem Danny had created.

Right, Dick maybe needed to catch up with the others, too. It saddened him how the kid was used to doing everything on his own, probably on a wing and a prayer. No wonder he struggled with his problems if even Jay was having trouble getting him to open up after all this time.

Dick could try teaching Danny a bit of teamwork in the process, especially if the others were all now going to join forces against a kid who loved to play chicken. Maybe they would find that an acrobat who could make plans on the fly, combined with a stealthy troll, would definitely make them a killer duo. Birds of a feather, in a way.

Danny just needed to realize that letting someone in wouldn’t clip his wings.

Something was missing in this picture. Something in plain sight, almost palpable, close to his grasp. An echo lingering at the back of his mind but not quite allowing him to clear his thoughts enough to form a conclusion.

A part of him knew the answer. Why did the other, more conscious part of his mind hide it from him?

Bruce glanced again at the map, the list of locations, the dates, and the names of the landowners of each one. If there were repeated instances of this type of attack, there had to be a pattern hidden somewhere. So what did these hits have in common?

Ever since the group had encountered the first sign of ice at the docks, it was evident it was not at all related to Freeze or any of his entourage. He even asked Clark and other members of the Justice League, but none had been able to identify anything familiar in these scenes.

Whoever this ice-powered rogue was, they left no other trace behind. No footage, no witnesses, no other signature, and no clues, which resulted in no leads.

The timing was something to take note of. Danny, his newest ward, had been aware of the attack even before any of them had a chance to debrief the situation. But every time he tried to find a connection, none came to mind. Unless this was related to Masters in some way. Maybe some loose end before his fall.

It wouldn’t be possible for the Wisconsin billionaire to make any new move now that he was in custody, something he still hadn’t alerted Danny about until they had more information. It was a delicate operation, one which the Justice League Dark had brought to light and led to the man’s capture. Had any of the mystical artifacts he had collected been activated before they got to him? Had he unleashed an otherworldly creature upon Gotham to reach Danny in some way?

“Bruce,” Oracle’s voice broke him from his thoughts. “I think I found something.”

“I’m listening,” he replied shortly.

“I was checking the city plans for any other layer we haven’t explored yet, but there’s something we might have missed in the bigger picture.”

“And?”

There was a small chuckle from Oracle’s end. “I traced the order in which these locations appeared and there’s a pattern. I’m pulling up the image on the Batcomputer now.”

Bruce frowned at the emerging image, his blue eyes following the over-imposed red lines.

“Is this some joke?”

“If I were you, I’d start looking for your closest exorcists,” Bruce could hear Oracle’s smile in her tone.

Was this a confirmation about how Masters could be involved?

The echo at the back of his mind came closer, like recovering something he had already known. He hummed half in response and half in contemplation as he mentally tried to confirm the order of the red lines.

The way they connected showed one word:

BOO

The debriefing had gone too long for his liking. If Jason had known they would be talking about the “potential new rogue” filling empty warehouses and rooftops with ice, he would’ve skipped it altogether.

At least there was a chance the others would be closer to figuring out Danny was behind it, once Bruce dropped the theory that this could be a paranormal case. At first, Jason thought the kid had gotten sloppy with his powers, but Danny did say he was ‘leveling the field’, so he was probably extending a nice olive branch to a group of paranoid detectives eager for a mystery to solve.

The only problem? Danny hadn’t accounted for their lack of communication in their cases.

Since Danny was never involved in debriefing with them (due to the protocols the kid had come to loathe so much) and Jason never offered any details of his own work, why would he know they rarely shared intel?

Case in point…

Yes, Bruce had called everyone in because this case touched all their patrol areas.

Yes, the old man had provided information about the zones to keep on their radar for any supernatural activity or sightings of the “new rogue”.

No, this didn’t happen in a timely fashion. In fact, this happened only after B had reached a dead end a month after their initial findings. Good thing it wasn’t a cold case yet.

Ergo, birds of a feather flocking together was not a distinct Bat behavior.

The meeting was interrupted by Bruce leaving to take a private call (from the sound of his tired sigh, it was probably with the Justice League Dark) and saying he would take several minutes in case they want to discuss any other cases in the meantime. That didn’t dismiss the team, which meant he was going to drag this debriefing as long as he wanted before they were all free to go out on patrol.

Tough fucking luck. It wasn’t like Jason had to stay in line with the others.

As he reached to pick up his helmet from the table, he felt Dick’s hand on his forearm, who smiled with a silent request to stay. Jay gave him an equally silent what-the-fuck-do-you-want-now frown in response.

Nightwing cleared his throat. “So, I wanted to bring something else to your attention before we discuss it with Bruce,” he told all the teens gathered in the cave.

Demon brat scowled and folded his arms. “If this is about adopting Fenton again—“

“You’re only half right,” Dickie interrupted. “It’s not about adopting anyone, but this is about Danny.” Everyone’s interest seemed piqued as they sat straighter or leaned closer to the table. Dick licked his lips and hesitated before spilling out whatever he wanted to share. “Danny has powers.”

Tim perked up at that. “You saw it too?”

Jason kept a poker face but was glad they were finally starting to piece things together, even if it took Dick a week after the laser tag game to tell the others. From the looks on everyone’s faces, it seemed they had all reached a similar conclusion or had noticed something as well.

“Just so we’re on the same page, which powers did you see?” Steph asked with caution.

“You mean, there’s other shit besides the eerie, green eyes?” Duke shuddered beside her.

Dick raised an eyebrow. “Oh, good. It’s nice to have confirmation on the glowing eye thing.”

“What’s this about the eyes? I only saw him walk through things. Plus what Cass saw,” Steph added and turned to the girl next to her.

“He disappeared and left a cold trail,” Cass said but didn’t volunteer any more details.

“And then there’s the laser tag game massacre,” Duke said, earning a collective groan from the others.

Jason cackled at the response. “Didn’t know you were still sore about that,” he teased, earning a batarang from Damian that hit the headrest on his chair.

While the two of them glared at each other, Tim leaned closer to the batgirls, his forehead full of worry lines that were not normal for a teen to have. “What about his— I don’t know what to call it, teleportation? Astral projection maybe?” He shook his head. “Long story short, I was in the kitchen one time and he showed up out of nowhere and then he left without a sound, no signs of even opening the door. When I went to look for him, he was already settled in his room. It hadn’t even been 2 seconds later!”

Timbers looked so perturbed, had he been keeping this to himself? For how long? If no evidence helped him crack this mystery, he probably felt he was going out of his mind.

Damn… Danny was going to mess with them like that now, too? Sure, Jason still didn’t know the full extent of Danny’s powers, but these displays were consistent enough to hopefully lead them to think about ghosts. A conclusion that could now be fueled further by the paranormal implications in their current case.

“Geez, Tim. That sounds terrifying,” Dick said with a reassuring pat on the back. “What about you, kiddo? Did you see anything off?”

Damian sniffed and crossed his arms in front of him. “I told you everything about him was off and you didn’t believe me,” he said with a scowl. “But yes, I was able to see some strange behavior after he met with Valerie Grey. He can make objects intangible. He also has enhanced reflexes.”

“What happened?” Tim asked in alarm. “How did you see this?”

The brat shrugged dismissively. “He was attacked by some criminals in an alley after his meeting. His self-defense training needs reinforcement. He’s undisciplined at best.”

“But he beat them,” Jason pointed out. He would’ve known if Danny had gotten seriously hurt, or if the other Red-named vigilante from Amity Park had intervened.

Damian tutted and looked away. “I guess.”

“Hold on,” Steph spoke up. “When did you find out about all of this? Danny said he met with Valerie a few weeks ago.”

Tim looked down and mumbled. “Three weeks in my case. Give or take a few days.”

The group began to compare dates and triggers, making a quick list of abilities in the process. Jason didn’t want to participate and he didn’t feel like nudging them in the right direction either. Still, he was too amused to leave now.

“Wanna share any thoughts on this, Little Wing?” Dick interrupted his silent observation, making everyone quiet down.

Jason grinned and shook his head. “If you dipshits waited that long to speak up, you can stand a few more weeks trying to piece all of this together on your own. Sort of like I did,” he mumbled.

“What? You’re siding with Danny?” Tim asked indignantly.

Steph shot him a deadpan look. “Are you really surprised?”

Jason shrugged. “I mean, he doesn’t have anyone in his corner. Also, I didn’t say anything about not using this to your advantage to prank him, now, did I?”

“I don’t know. A part of me thinks you’re both messing with us,” Tim accused with a glare.

“You have all the pieces,” Jay replied. “Where are the world’s greatest detectives now?”

Dick sat back in his chair and began to toss and catch an escrima stick in the air. “Okay, maybe we should start with the obvious: how can we relate Danny’s powers to a single source or theme?”

Steph’s grin looked almost feral. “Even better: how can we use that knowledge to get back at him?”

Damian glared. “If humiliation is the only way to hurt him, I’ll be willing to participate in your inane methods.”

Oracle’s voice suddenly called them from their comm units. “As fun as it’s been to hear your new intel and theories, you’re missing a key detail here.” Everyone waited in complete silence. “If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?”

It was easy to point out the exact moment it all clicked into place for the other bats. Probably a second after Tim stared in disbelief at the map shown on the Batcomputer and the ‘spooky’ message it displayed. Everyone turned with an inquisitive stare to Red Hood, looking for either denial or confirmation.

As the only undead bro in the know, Jason smirked at the stupid look on their faces. “Took you all long enough.”

His days in Wayne Manor were almost over. As the summer vacation neared its end, so did Danny’s excuse of a fake summer class to avoid staying with Vlad. Maybe he could find other ways to extend his stay. Maybe Bruce could beat Vlad to the adoption paperwork, considering social services probably had a revolving door for him by now.

Though now that he thought about it, the fruit loop hadn’t been on his case lately. No calls, no messages, no voicemail, no emails. Nothing. Only sweet silence for the past two weeks or so.

Maybe he should be worried…

What if Vlad was up to something? What if he came up with some awful scheme filled with chess references to hurt the Waynes? Or what if he was looking for some way to mess with Danny when he went back to Wisconsin?

Whatever he was planning (or not), something was off. He should probably ask Bruce if he heard anything in the rich people’s grapevine.

Danny pushed those thoughts away as he focused on the game in his hands. He figured everyone was getting ready for patrol by now, so he flopped on his bed to play with the portable console he begrudgingly got last Christmas from Vlad. His progress was interrupted by the smell of incense suddenly filling his nostrils.

He arched an eyebrow in confusion when he turned to find its source, noticing a visible trail of smoke entering through the door he left ajar. After a little while, a hand holding some herbs (was that…cilantro?) slowly touched the door frame as if cleansing it or something.

What kind of weird prank did the Bats have up their sleeves now?

“Careful, remember we need to ask for permission,” he heard Steph say just outside his bedroom.

Curiosity killed the cat (maybe not Schrodinger’s). Danny was already halfway there anyway, so his sense of wonder decided to make him check who else was outside.

When he reached his door, he opened it wider to appraise the scene. The younger side of the Bat clan, of course. Most of his visitors were holding either candles, headlamps, cameras, voice recorders, or…a Ouija board?

Danny noticed Jason hanging at the back of the group, giving him a small salute while he held up an old camcorder with his other hand.

“What’s with all the gadgets? Aren’t your phones already equipped with all that?” Danny asked with an amused expression as he leaned against the doorframe.

Dick put an arm around Danny’s shoulder and hunched almost conspiratorially. “A Justice League colleague told us this works better to catch the voices from beyond,” he whispered.

“Why are we whispering?” Danny asked in the same manner.

“The mansion’s haunted,” Cass said softly, showing Fenton the Ouija board in her hands.

The sole surviving member of a family of ghost hunters blinked once, twice, thrice… “What?”

Tim walked to the front of the group and crossed his arms over his analog camera. “I can give you a rundown of the basics of ghost hunting if you want. I even prepared a slideshow,” he said with a wide grin.

This had to be some weird nightmare. Maybe there was some dream ghost out there or some gas to make him hallucinate and suffer with these Buzzfeed Unsolved wannabes.

Steph moved the patchouli incense and what definitely smelled like cilantro around Danny and smiled. “Don’t worry, I know ghosts were just a hoax in Amity Park, but we got the real dealio from Constantine.”

On second thought, maybe it was the Justice League Dark who decided to mess with the Batkids, giving them the most ridiculous advice imaginable to squash any potential Scooby Gang from being created.

Danny shook his head with an amused smile. “Actually—”

“Shhh,” Damian hushed as he covered Danny’s mouth with his hand, while the weird red duck candle in his other hand almost burned the older teen’s hair. “We followed the trail here.” He then nodded to his siblings. “Proceed.”

Duke, who had been wearing a headlamp, approached the center of the room and somehow made everything darker. Danny still had no idea how Duke’s powers worked and could almost bet the other teen didn’t either. (Source: trust me, I was a clueless ghost hero). Once everyone joined him, he cleared his throat and pointed another lamp below his face. “Oh, spirits that crossed the veil into our world. We mean no harm, we’re just trying to chill and figure out if the house is haunted. Also, can we take some pics? We’ll be out of your ghostly hair in no time.”

It took all of Danny’s self-control to stop from laughing at them. “What was that supposed to do?” he asked politely instead.

Steph walked closer, almost flooding his nose with smoke. “Show some respect, Danny,” she scolded. “We’re asking for their permission. They were once people too, you know?”

Danny wanted to argue but he stared dumbfounded at the way they all walked around the room to what looked like an amateur attempt at ghost hunting. He gave Jason a questioning look when Danny saw the camcorder pointed at him, but the older guy responded with a noncommittal shrug.

Tim took pictures of different corners by the desk and the window, while Cass sat on the floor with the Ouija board open. Damian left the weird candle on Danny’s desk and went to light up more (though it looked like he wanted to burn Danny’s room down).

Steph continued filling the room with incense, claiming to cleanse the space from evil energies, while Duke shifted the shadows around the room to have a “clearer view of the spirit's aura”.

Yeah, he called bullshit.

With nothing to do but stare, Danny plopped back down on his bed, thinking about everything they were doing wrong, wondering if Constantine had somehow traced his ghostly tail back to Wayne Manor. Wouldn’t Bruce be here, though? Or maybe they just wanted to mess with him, after learning Amity Park was famous for being a tourist trap for ghost hunters (or so everyone thought).

Because it couldn’t be that they figured the ghost part out. They might think of him as a meta or whatever, but “half-ghost” wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card.

Dick, who had started picking up sounds with a microphone and an old cassette recorder, cursed under his breath. “Guys, I’m not getting anything. I think we forgot to tell them we’re open for conversation.”

“Oh, shit, you’re right,” Duke exclaimed as he closed his eyes to concentrate on how he made the light and the shadows move. Seriously, Danny ought to ask him how the hell he did that with no ghostly business going on. “Spirits residing in this house, we’re ready to talk whenever you are. I know there’s a lot of us and it’s sometimes batshit crazy around here, but we want to find a way to help you stop your suffering. You can even use the Ouija board to spell it out.” He then opened his eyes and gave Danny a meaningful look.

Duke’s smile was warm but weird. It didn’t sit well with Danny how it seemed directed to him, unless—

“Wait…” he said out loud, staring at them in disbelief.

“Nooo,” Steph groaned. “We haven’t even gotten to the exorcism part.”

Tim took some pictures of the group, including Danny’s shock. “We could still do it, you know? Danny still looks like he’s plagued by some demons.”

Jason snorted. “Yeah, us.”

“I can’t believe this,” Danny said in awe as he looked at the ridiculous group and the mischievous glint in their eyes. Danny knew Jason didn’t orchestrate this, or the whole charade would’ve ended months ago.

“Finally! We broke him!” Steph cheered.

Danny’s expression changed to a large grin. “You finally figured it out!!” he exclaimed in a mixture of relief and happiness.

Everyone gathered in his room stared at him as if he had grown a second head.

“Wait, what?” Duke was the first to react.

“You’re not pissed?” Steph questioned.

“Or humiliated?” Damian added with a scowl.

“Not even slightly annoyed?” Tim said next.

Danny crossed his arms and huffed playfully. “Actually, yeah, I’m totally pissed you didn’t figure it out sooner! Now I’ll have to feed the bats in the cave all month just because you guys don’t know how to communicate at all.”

Dick chuckled and gave him a knowing look. “Who did you bet against?”

“I bet Alfred you guys would figure it out in a week. He said you would take a month,” he replied to the shock of his visitors. “I guess he does know you a little too well.”

“Pennyworth knew?” Damian asked in annoyance.

“He said he figured it out a long time ago. I’m not even going to question it at this point.”

Jason got closer and ruffled Danny’s hair against his protests. “You had a good run, Inviso-Bill. Guess it’s time to let it go, huh?” Danny grinned wider as he froze Jason’s feet to the floor. “You little shit,” he muttered.

“Oh, crap,” he heard Duke say under their breath.

The half-ghost turned to look at the rest of the Batkids: Damian and Tim looked ready to retaliate; Cass and Steph seemed amused at the sight of Jason’s icy situation; and Dick just stared at him with surprise.

Right, they probably didn’t expect him to show his powers like that.

“I hope you’re not getting cold feet about the whole reveal?” Danny addressed the others sheepishly as he dissolved the ice from Jason. “So, what do you already know and what do I still need to explain?”

Dick approached him and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you just start with why Jay called you Inviso-bill?” he asked with a smirk.

Danny scowled at the jab from the bird he least expected it from. “I’m so going to regret this, aren’t I?”

Had he ever told anyone before about the whole Phantom thing? No.

Did he know where to start? Also no. Not even Jason got the whole story, but he had learned enough somehow through his own sources, whatever those were.

He guessed anywhere would be a good place to start. At least whatever he told them, he wasn’t spilling his secret to dangerous and competent ghost hunters.

By the time everyone left for patrol, Danny was ready to finish dying of exhaustion. He still had to let Alfred know he would be feeding the bats now, and also come clean with Bruce and hope he didn’t chew him out for wasting their time looking for a “new rogue” or whatever.

He definitely didn’t look forward to either of those things.

While part of him was glad to finally have everything out in the open, he had to admit it was sort of sad to not just be Danny anymore. He kinda liked not having to worry about his secret identity when he didn’t even need to be Phantom at all.

Would he have kept his ghost side hidden if the ice powers hadn’t shown up? Or if Jason hadn’t seen him?

Who would’ve thought he’d become close friends with an undead crime lord working with Batman, anyway? It was weird since Red Hood wasn’t exactly the Saint Patron of good behavior, and Danny had been desperately trying to avoid his evil future.

But that was totally unfair and Danny regretted even thinking like that after everything Jason helped him cope with. If he were completely honest, he was going to miss a part of their secret brotherhood. The inside jokes, having someone so protective of him, the challenges…

A soft knock cut through his thoughts. He expected Alfred when he stood up to open the door, but the sight of an unmasked Red Hood greeted him instead.

Danny tilted his head to the side. “Don’t you have an Alley or a Row to patrol?”

“Hey, to you too, Casper,” Jason joked.

The reminder of the nickname made him groan. “Oh no, they’re going to use that one now, aren’t they?”

Jason walked into the room and leaned against Danny’s desk. “Don’t worry, they get creative enough to give you other ways to suffer.”

Danny nodded in understanding and went to sit on his bed. “So what brings you here? Came to tell me how glad you are that I told them? I mean, FYI, I’m still not on the Bat roster. I don’t know where that leaves our original bet.”

Red Hood shook his head. “Didn’t we call that bet off?”

“You’re still calling me Bill in front of the others,” Danny deadpanned, the clear memory of all the Inviso-Bill variations from the last month coming to mind.

Wait… “bill” was also a bird-related pun, wasn’t it? And they had all been birds at one point or another.

Nope. Better not remind them of that tiny little fact.

Unaware of Danny’s inner distress, Jason pulled out a card. “Alright, here,” he said as he handed it over.

“What’s this?” Danny frowned at the business card. He was going to make an American Psycho joke about the card’s quality, but he doubted Jason would appreciate it once he noticed the words “therapist” beneath an unknown name.

There was so much to unpack from the tiny little piece of paper.

“A truce,” Jason replied and Danny could only stare openly at him. “I’m willing to listen to whatever story you want to share with me, but I know it’s not always easy. If you want more options, Dr. Rosemont’s been helping me for a few months now.”

Danny didn’t know what to say to Jason’s blunt honesty for something so delicate. It was like being handed a very private part of someone’s life and struggles.

Danny had been given time, space, shoulders, ears, and arms to find the comfort he needed. He even found a family, with an unexpected older brother that didn’t try to force his way into Jazz’s role (maybe she would have liked Jason in a different life).

“Thanks,” Danny managed out, his throat dry and unable to say anything else.

“I mean it, kid,” Jason said more sternly. “You can’t keep this eating you up.”

A twist in his gut almost kept him quiet, but the fire in his lungs told him to shut this down before it went any farther. “I am opening up already. I spilled my secrets, didn’t I?”

There it was. The weird sensation Jason brought under his skin when whatever he had going on reacted to his emotions. It wasn’t annoyance, anger, or confusion; what Jason projected this time was much worse.

It tasted like sympathy.

“I’ve seen the signs,” Jason explained, as he held his helmet with both hands. “Back at the laser tag, at dinner, when you got your ice powers, when you told the others your adventures but not how it all went down before you came here…”

Danny looked away, the heavy pause hanging between them. Almost as if Jay wanted him to bridge the gap.

When no answer came from Danny, Jason sighed. “I know you don’t want to bring up the Nasty Burger incident, but you owe it to yourself to find some peace, you know?”

Anger began to fuel Danny’s movements and words, his eyes turning bright green to match. “I’m not hiding anymore. Didn’t we agree to that? So you don’t have to deal with whatever new powers I get without warning? How’s that not finding peace?”

Jason stared at him unperturbed. Danny hated that, the arrogance, the lack of awareness of how dangerous a ghost could really be…

“Lemme ask you something,” Jason continued as calmly as before. “Do you feel like you cheated death?”

The ghost kid scoffed. “What?”

“You said you’re not a cheater And I believe you. You’re a good kid.” Jason paused, his eyes searching for a moment, making Danny shift uncomfortably. “But this isn’t just some stubborn response. That came from something deeper. You can’t just ignore it and hope it gets better.”

“I’m not—“

Jason leveled a stare, as if calling out his lie before the words could even come out of his lips.

“I’m not…ready,” Danny looked down as he admitted it softly. He knew the temperature leaned more toward the chilly side, but he didn’t care to repress it. “I know I’ve changed enough of the future because of you guys. But some things need to stay buried for that to actually happen, you know?”

There was a short hum from the vigilante. “Buried,” he repeated and left the pause to settle for a moment that felt too long. “You’ve said that before. Is that why you went below the cave?”

Danny’s head snapped like a whip to stare with wide eyes. “How did you--?”

“You rose from the ground,” Jason explained and stared more sternly at him, making his hand move upwards as if to demonstrate. “You didn’t fly down from the ceiling, kid.”

It seemed like no matter what Danny did, Jason always saw through him. As if he were omniscient, or at least particularly nosy to everything Fenton did. There was no escape from the Red Hood.

He closed his eyes in defeat. There was no lying his way out of this. “How long have you known?”

“I still don’t know what you’re trying to bury,” he heard Jason say. “But I’ve known for a while you think that’s enough to keep it out of your life. Some things have a nasty way of coming back to bite you in the ass, you know?”

Danny froze and a part of him wondered if it had been literal. His heart slowed until the beat felt almost non-existent, his lungs not grasping enough air to function, breathing in the dread instead. A more ghostly part of him felt like taking over, imposing his growing terror onto his surroundings. Crawling under his skin, toward the walls, engulfing everything in shadows—

“Cut the eldritch nightmare shit and talk to me, for fuck’s sake.”

The annoyed look on Jason made Danny stop short of a panic attack. He couldn’t help but just stare.

Was this guy for real?

Danny wanted to yell at him, break something just out of anger, but then he saw the helmet still in Jason’s hand and he started to chuckle at how ridiculous this whole thing was.

Here he was, scared little Danny Fenton, with ghostly instincts that were trying to make the merciless Red Hood cower in fear, only for the other undead jerk to sass him into talking instead.

Danny and Red Hood bonding over death and trauma.

It was so fucking hilarious.

“Fuck, I think I lost him…” he heard Jason mutter.

His stomach hurt from laughing. “You basically just told a ghost to fuck off and quit being scary.”

Jay sat next to him and punched his arm. “It worked, didn’t it? We still have that Ouija board around if you prefer to use that to communicate.”

Hey, that didn’t sound like a bad idea. Maybe he could prank them using the planchette some other time. As if he were sending an SMS. Or like some afterlife shitposting experience. Or—

“I know that look,” Hood interrupted. “Are you seriously plotting a prank instead of talking about this?”

That made Danny sigh and get his feet back on the ground, with no humor or horror to escape from his problems when Jason Todd would call him out on it.

“Jay, honestly,” he began softly, not daring to look him in the eye. “Thanks for the therapist info, but it’s not like I can go in there as Phantom. And if I talk with you or Alfred or any of the other people in the know…” C’mon, Danny, just spit it out. “You might not see me the same way.”

They might not see past the dangerous powers he had inside. The threat of world destruction at the touch of his fingertips, something that was even worse when he didn’t know how much more powerful he could get even without fighting ghosts every day.

What if they thought he wouldn’t be able to control it? What if they were scared of him and kept him at arm’s length? What if they started to think like his parents and saw him like a monster? What if they couldn’t get past how the death of everyone he loved was directly a result of his own bad decisions?

What if they got too close and found the thermos?

“Danny,” Jason called him back to reality. ”Have I told you what happened when I came back?”

He shook his head and began to dread where this was going. “Not really? I just know you give me this weird feeling that almost makes me sick, so I’m guessing you didn’t just ask for a ride back to the world of the living.”

Jason smiled and sighed deeply. “Yeah, no luck there. I— I wasn’t in the right mindset, you know? I forgot who I was, I lost control, and there was this anger, the pit madness... It wasn’t a pretty picture, trust me.”

For some reason, Danny did trust him, so he hung on to Jason’s words like a lifeline, hoping to find some answers he didn’t know he needed.

“I don’t know how much about the crime lord part you know, but that’s hardly the worst I’ve done. The media didn’t know the full extent of it.” He stared into the eyes of his helmet and Danny found himself parroting the gesture. “Despite all that, despite Bruce’s strict no-killing code, despite all the pain I caused my brothers, I’m still here.”

I’m still here. I still exist.

Danny felt a shiver at the reminder of those damning words. But to hear them in such a different context? From a different perspective? From the voice of someone who fought his demons, someone who went to hell and brought back a t-shirt?

Now he understood the feeling under his skin. It wasn’t sympathy. It was understanding. The echo of a kindred spirit.

“I do get it, you know?” Jason finished with a small smile.

Danny smiled back. A soft and painful smile. He stood up and walked to the window. He recalled how he imagined Jason looking for an escape route. Maybe he was looking for the same thing.

The window fogged as he breathed in and out to calm his nerves.

He closed his eyes and ripped the band-aid.

“I saw the future,” Danny began to explain. No going back now. “I destroyed everything. Everyone.”

Silence filled the room. And dread. He didn’t dare to turn around to see the look of horror on Jason’s face.

He was almost startled when a gloved hand squeezed his shoulder. Danny turned around to see a solemn expression on the vigilante instead. The ghostly vibes remained unchanged.

“Why don’t you tell me more about it?”

Way down below, beneath the lowest layers of the Batcave, there was a distant, muted clang. Hollow, angry, venomous. Persistent.

A secret buried deep into the ground.

Then, like a broken watch, it stopped.

THE END