Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Well then, the perfect and heartless officer who seemed to be a good father was his neighbor (Danny was sure he had a dark secret, no one was that perfect). It's alright, it was nothing to worry about.

Obviously he could handle it, it was a minor problem and the halfa had faced ghosts that were basically Gods, what was a police officer next to them?

"Oh look Daddy, it's Officer Grayson, shouldn't we say hi?" Ellie exclaimed happily next to him, cheering up at the idea of meeting her new neighbors; Danny almost fell from shock, at what moment had his daughter woke up?

"You're just imagining things honey, there's nothing to see there” Danny pushed the girl away from the window and closed the curtains. What if Ellie just decides the officer is a better parent and goes with him? it couldn't happen! never!

Of course, Danny was ignoring the fact that Ellie would never do anything like that and that the two of them had already bonded as a ghostly family, something that couldn't be done with someone else.

Ellie looked at her father annoyed, what was wrong with him? He had the same look he had when Peepaw Clockwork sent him on a nasty mission through time. Or when he had to clean the portal filter.

Danny kept thinking about his baby running off with Officer Grayson; After all, he had black hair and blue eyes just like her so he surely could pass off as Ellie's father if he wanted to, but he wouldn't allow it.

He frowned as he thought about what to do, it was at that moment that he noticed a blank sign and some of Fenton's inventions peeking from one of the boxes. He smiled widely as an idea entered his head.

It was perfect

Ellie had a bad feeling about the fanged smile on her father's face.

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"Have you met the new neighbors yet?" Kori asked curiously as she noticed that the "for sale" sign on the house next door had disappeared.

"I think I saw them, but they seem to be shy," Dick shrugged. Although he had seen the moving truck with furniture, he had to leave for work at that time so he did not pay attention to the moment they arrived.

"Are you sure it's shyness?" Kori raised an eyebrow while looking at the house. It didn't seem like his new neighbors were exactly shy.

"Yes, why?" Dick looked at her confused. What else would it be?

"There's a sign that says ACAB in their window" Kori pointed out. She could see it perfectly from where she was.

"There is a what now-?" Dick moved quickly from where he was to look out the window. Precisely, there was a sign on his neighbor's window that had "ACAB" written in neon green with little cops painted with a red x on them.

If he wasn't so offended he would have complimented the art, it was pretty good in hindsight. But for some reason he had a feeling that the little cops painted on the sign looked just like him. He wondered if he was imagining it, after all, his neighbors didn't know him yet.

No, surely he was imagining it since all cops look alike, right? And the suits made it worse so it was impossible for his neighbor to paint him there.

Also, it was unlikely that his new neighbors would know that he was a cop, maybe they just had bad experiences with one and that's why they had put up the sign. He could understand it. Since Gotham's only non-corrupt cop was Jim Gordon, he was prepared for misunderstandings or initial scorn while on duty when he signed up for the Bludhaven police force, it was normal.

However, he raised an eyebrow when the same boy he had ticketed for speeding the day before for nearly killing himself in a one person race came out of the house. Who the hell would go that fast in Bludhaven? It wasn't even as big as Gotham to require something like that! And he couldn't make the excuse that he was new, it was common sense.

He was about to greet him and perhaps clear up the misunderstanding but he noticed that the boy was throwing daggers at his house with his eyes, he even seemed to tell his daughter to stop staring as if it were offensive to look at. What the hell?

"Well, even if you don't know them, it seems that the neighbors know you" Kori scoffed while she helped Mar'i to do her hair for school. She knew that her ex-boyfriend had a problem with someone not liking him, it was likely that he would be bewildered and looking for excuses. She was sure that the situation would blow up in his face eventually if he didn't leave it as it was.

"No, no, it must be a misunderstanding Kori, maybe he took yesterday the wrong way? Or he thought I was making fun of him" Dick frowned thinking of a reason why his new neighbor would be so upset, he even went over their interaction in his head but nothing came to his mind.

"Richard, maybe he just doesn't find you likable, those things happen to anyone" Kori sighed, she really hoped her predictions were wrong.

She watched curiously as her ex's neighbor took something out of his garage and what appeared to be a skateboard turned into…a motorcycle? How did that happen!?

"I'm sure we can work it out with a conversation" Dick brightened up, paying no attention to the vehicle's transformation. He was sure that anything could be resolved with a good conversation. And after that they would be the best of friends, friendly neighbors who helped each other.

Kori tried to get her thoughts out of the strange vehicle and turned her gaze back to Dick, it looked like he was as naive as ever but she supposed it was a quality she couldn't change no matter how hard she tried.

"Sure, but you have to take Mar'i to school, it's the first day, remember?" Kori raised an eyebrow as she lifted Mar'i into her arms, the girl laughed as she was lifted up.

"Okay, first Mar'i and then the neighbors" Dick nodded with a plan in mind as he picked up his daughter and settled her on his shoulders.

"No, first Mar'i, then your work, and finally the neighbors" Kori scolded him. She wondered how he was surviving without her at home.

"Oh right, my job" Dick was discouraged when he remembered, it was disappointing that he had to wait so long to talk to the guy who would win the fast and furious audition if he tried.

"If you're lucky you might find him on the way" Kori shrugged "But it would be an amazing coincidence that the girls study in the same place"

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"I can't believe the girls study in the same place" Danny grumbled as he watched Officer Grayson arrive at school with his daughter. How could he be so unlucky?

"Daddy, what are you looking at?" Ellie raised an eyebrow when she noticed how distracted her father was "besides, if you're so entertained, could you let me go now? You've been hugging me for 10 minutes"

Honestly, if Ellie needed to breathe she would have died from lack of oxygen long ago. Danny looked away from the annoying officer to look at his daughter who was still trapped in his arms.

"Oh come on, aren't you going to miss me? I'm sure you'll be sad if I go" Danny pouted as he hugged her tighter, he had braced himself for Ellie's crying the moment he decided to leave her with her teacher as it said in the parenting advice pages. Ellie frowned at him. She wanted to enter her classroom

"Not at all, I'll be fine" the girl sighed while her father started to tear up. Didn't the halfa remember that she had traveled the world alone? Because she remembered it, more or less "It's time for you to leave me in the classroom"

"But Ellie, we've only had such a short time together, and you're so little, what if something happens to you?" Danny clung to her sadly without noticing how the other parents leaned out to see the situation.

"Dad, let me go, it's your last warning" Ellie warned him in frustration. When she realized that her father wasn't listening anymore she kicked him in the stomach "See you later Daddy!"

With that said, the girl ran off as she left her father rolling on the floor. Ellie was too excited about making new friends to care about the consequences.

"I love you too Ellie" Danny sobbed on the floor. Before the parents could ask him if he was okay, he shot up to look out the window of his daughter's classroom.

Danny clung to the window tearfully as drops of water began to fall on his head. His daughter was growing up so fast.

"I think you got the hose position wrong." Dick told the gardener that he was watering Danny's head instead of the plants. The gardener apologized for being distracted and returned to his normal activities.

"Hey! That was my sad dramatic scene," Danny pouted at the officer. He always screwed up the good things.

"It's always hard when they go through that door the first time, isn't it?" Dick questioned wistfully as he patted his daughter's head.

Danny frowned, determined to ignore him. Although he had felt sad to let his daughter go. Not that he was going to tell him that.

"Uh, good, we can talk later" Dick felt uncomfortable by the silence and went to leave Mar'i at the door of her classroom. Which turned out to be the same as Ellie.

"See you later Papa!" Mar'i kissed Dick on the cheek before running back to her classroom. She peeked out one last time to wave to him before going back inside.

"Okay then, we can talk now-" Dick started the conversation but noticed that the boy had already left. When did that happen!?

He noticed the marks on the ground of the parking lot that were evidence that the boy had left at top speed in his vehicle. Perfect! He could talk to him if he caught him!

And surely he wouldn't be that hard to catch, right?

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His predictions were both correct and wrong, because although the vehicle was very easy to find (extremely eye-catching) it was obvious that the boy was playing with him. He was using some sort of…air bike!? What was that thing!?

"Please, park your vehicle on the side of the road" Dick snapped wearily, even with his Nightcicle he couldn't reach the "Mini-GAV" or "PAV" as the boy called it, until he decided to stop it. It had been a 4 fucking hour chase "Please, we need to talk"

He was fucking tired and seeing his neighbor's smile was frustrating but he had to be the mature person in the situation. They would solve it by talking, they had to solve it by talking damn it, it was the most adult solution possible!

He just had to sit with his neighbor eating some cookies, clear up the misunderstanding and start their relationship again. He was an adult no matter how much his siblings said he wasn't. So he would solve the problem in the most adult way possible.

At the end of the day they would be the best of friends, and their daughters would grow up together while they give each other parenting advice.

Of course, his hopes were crushed as soon as his neighbor opened his mouth to speak.

"Sorry, but I won't," Danny refused with a smirk, he was well aware of what he was doing; after noticing that the officer wanted to talk to him he had been flying over the streets of Bludhaven all day "there are no airspeed law in this place, or Superman would have been arrested long ago"

Of course those laws didn't exist, he had searched for them just to annoy the officer when he finally decided the chase was enough.

"Even if there aren't, you know that flying at that speed shouldn't be allowed" Dick frowned. The boy could not compare a man (a hero) with a vehicle. Also, he was well aware that his neighbor had denied his request for a conversation but he was going to ignore that, he needed patience.

"No law is no law" Danny shrugged "see you at School, Officer Grayson"

With that said, his neighbor flew up again, leaving a trail of dust on his face. One of the officer's eyes twitched as he watched the vehicle drive away.

Adult, you have to be the adult.

Dick inhaled looking to calm down, while he exhaled he noticed that he received a call from his station. He looked at the communicator strangely before answering his superior.

"We need you to take care of cleaning the wall of the station, a vandal just painted ACAB in neon green along with other strange symbols throughout the city, but we can't cover them all" his superior informed him. Well, that was common, although the color was a bit strange.

When he arrived at the police station he noticed that the handwriting on the walls was the same as the sign on his neighbor's house, he was notified that there was a wave of graffiti throughout the city and it was impossible to remove. It looked like they were painted with something other than spray paint. But he couldn't jump to conclusions, his neighbor might have paid someone or something, he was not necessarily the person who had created the graffiti.

As he cleaned up the shiny spray paint (which was damn stubborn), he noticed a drawing of a little Officer Grayson with an x over his head next to "Air laws don't apply in Bludhaven" in a corner of the wall.

Dick sighed as he continued cleaning the walls. That was definitely his neighbor, he needed to clear up the misunderstanding as soon as possible. And maybe warn him that painting the walls of private property was illegal.

"Grayson! Someone just ordered a license plate for their vehicle, go deliver it" His superior called him after he ended and gave him a package.

Dick looked at the package strangely, why did he have to deliver it? Wasn't it more of a post office thing? but when he saw the address he couldn't help but roll his eyes, of course it was his neighbor again.

Mature, you're the adult in this situation.

It was good to know that Kori would be bringing Mar'i home from school that day. She was really his salvation.

He looked at the box again, wondering, maybe he could use it as an excuse to talk to his neighbor?

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"Do you think it's too much?" Danny asked Ellie while settling her into the front seat of the GAV.

"That depends, what did you do?" Ellie raised an eyebrow, she had a good first day of school and she was about to talk about it but whatever her father had provoked seemed more important. Knowing him, he could start a war over a misunderstanding.

"Well" Danny thought about his day "I flew around the city to go sightseeing, but the policeman didn't stop following me"

"I guess that has nothing to do with your speed" Ellie smiled, it was obvious that her father had exceeded the speed regulations again.

"Of course not, but when I noticed that he was following me I obviously accelerated, he followed me for hours, his vehicle is very slow" the halfa muttered. Since he was raised as a Fenton he considered the speed laws to be a suggestion, and for him he had driven at a very slow speed.

It was obvious that he was also ignoring all the modifications that the GAV and the mini-GAV or the PAV (Phantom Attack Vehicle) had, he hadn't changed the name of the first one because of his parents but he liked to name his own inventions.

"And what else?" Ellie yawned, she had had a hectic day. And the anecdotes of her father reminded her of the Tom & Jerry cartoon.

"Oh, I put up some sigils and drawings around Bludhaven" Danny commented, he liked to paint a lot and he had some spray paint to spare, plus it was obvious the city was poorly protected against the supernatural so he had helped with that. It was good to know that ectoplasm was difficult to remove from walls.

"Mm, I guess that's good." Ellie lay back, falling asleep. Danny smiled at the scene, thinking that he could ask about her day later.

However when he was about to get home he noticed the cop waiting for him at his front door, his smile faded. Why was he blocking his way now?

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"What do you want?" Danny glared at him, he got off the GAV and carried his daughter, trying to get into his house unsuccessfully. He heard the policeman's comments in the background but didn't pay much attention and the second the cop seemed distracted he slipped into the house and settled his daughter on the couch.

After that, he returned to the place Officer Grayson was standing. Even if it was troublesome the halfa still wanted to know what he had to say (and more importantly: why was he at his home). It was a good thing Ellie was sound asleep at the moment.

"You have a package" Dick said a little annoyed by his attitude and the fact that he was ignored for a few minutes, it was obvious that his neighbor didn't want to talk "and I would like to clear up the misunderstanding"

"What misunderstanding?" Danny raised an eyebrow while checking through the package, he smiled at the two license plates and pulled one out to examine, ignoring the officer again.

"The misunderstanding of why you hate me, surely there must be a reason, maybe if we go inside, sit down and talk we could work it out" Dick said ignoring his rude attitude again and finally feeling somewhat hopeful of resolving the situation.

"There's no misunderstanding" Danny rolled his eyes, already tired of the conversation "listen Golden Boy, because I'll only say it once, I don't like your attitude, I don't like your job, and in general, I don't like you, got it?"

"But why-?"  Dick tried to ask but was interrupted by Danny showing the thing inside the box. In the license plate was written "ACAB" in bright green. It was obviously personalized. 

"Do you understand now? I don't like you, and this is a war, so leave me alone" Danny frowned as he kicked the box into the house. Of course he wouldn't tell the officer that the ACAB license plate was a joke and the real one was the one underneath. Nor what kind of war it was.

"If you give me a chance we could talk about this and work it out, it doesn't have to be today but-" Dick tried to enter the house but was pushed by the boy. It was amazing how such a small body had so much strength.

Damn, the pretty boy couldn't take a hint!? It seemed that no one had ever said no to him in his life!

"I don't have anything else to talk to you about, please left while I'm being nice" Danny snorted, before Dick could say anything else he closed the door in his face.

Fucking perfect people and their need to be liked by everyone. It was annoying as hell.

From the other side of the door Dick frowned. Fuck maturity, it hadn't done him any good and he didn't want to be the adult in the situation anymore. He had spent hours cleaning the green spray paint off the walls and he was bloody tired! The thing was impossible to remove and the other officers said that the paint in the strange symbols was even worse!

His neighbor was simply annoying, if words and kindness had not worked then there was only one solution: Fight, and beat him at his own game.

He wanted war? He would have his fucking war.