Chapter Text
Danny doesn't want to go, but Vlad can't leave him, so Danny isn't given a choice. He's going to the Christmas Gala in Gotham.
"Come now, Little Badger. Christmas is a time of peace. Can't we have our own truce?"
Danny's eyes don't flick to the watch on Vlad's wrist. One of the most expensive on the market, he tells people, powered by ice. People think he means diamonds. He doesn't.
"We already have a truce," Danny grumbles, but doesn't protest again. Protesting is a luxury, and he's already learned how much he can grumble before Vlad's eyes flash. Danny is allowed to be an ornery teenager, he is not allowed to be rebellious.
So that's all he does, grumble and drag his feet and complain. He says he doesn't want to go to a suit fitting, but still follows Vlad out the door. He will always follow Vlad out the door.
At least they don't fight fight anymore. It's been ages since Danny has powered up, ectorays pooling in his hands. There's been no ghostly rogues (friends) to spar with. There's been no aggressive spooks attacking town. Vlad has no reason to scheme and attack Danny like he used to - he's gotten what he wanted and no one is left to complain.
From the airplane window, Danny catches the remains of Fentonworks. The neon sign is dark, the ops center on top tilted, antennae gone. It's hard to tell from the air, but Danny can remember the boarded-up windows, the ruined lawn. It's been nearly two months. He thought Amity Park would have torn down the ops center at least as soon as they could; there must be some reason they haven't.
Danny pries his attention away from where he grew up to try to make out Sam or Tucker's house. Vlad's private jet is small and flies low. Danny suspects this is the last time he'll get a glimpse of Amity Park, the last chance to see his friends, to gaze on his haunt. The paperwork has gone through - Vlad is legally Danny's guardian. Vlad can take Danny out of state.
They'll spend Christmas in Gotham, and the rest of his life in Madison.
His chest aches. Danny puts a hand on it and rubs. Across from him, Vlad rustles his newspaper.
It's hard to say what hurts more - leaving his haunt or his broken core. If Danny had to guess, it's his core. That ache is a constant throb, a hitch in his heartbeat and a fogginess to his thoughts. This new ache is more in his sinus, a pressure that won't pop. Maybe if he cries, but Danny will never do that in front of Vlad.
A crying child is not what he wants.
"Good?" Vlad asks, as if he could know the pain of leaving your haunt behind. He doesn't have one, not like Danny who had built his identity and carried out his obsession in relation to a place. Vlad's obsession has been tied to a person and in the absence of Maddie it has switched, unfortunately, to Danny.
Vlad doesn't want to hear Danny's real thoughts. So he nods, he's good, and Vlad settles in to read the news.
Danny doesn't like Gotham. He's not sure if he's still salty about losing Amity Park and he won't like any city, or if there's something actually unpleasant about Gotham. He feels watched, not just by Vlad, and there's a taint to the air.
"Exhaust," Vlad tells him. "Amity Park is small, and it's not far until you hit farmland. The air isn't as filled with fumes from cars and factories." He pauses, hand on the hotel door, "The ecto is also thinner."
Once upon a time, thin ecto wouldn't have made a difference for Danny. But he bleeds it all the time now, a slow trickle of energy that keeps his powers low and his body tired. Somewhere in Vlad's suitcase is consumable ectoplasm, just in case. Vlad knows Danny is an open system.
The hotel suite is decent, a kitchen and living area separate from the bedroom. There's two beds, and the pillows look inviting.
"We have suit fittings in an hour," Vlad interrupts Danny's plan for a nap. "Shower and then we'll go. Change into something nice. We won't be back before dinner, and we have reservations with a colleague of mine."
There's a steel to his voice that makes Danny nod. It's not a time when Vlad will allow him to pretend to be a normal teen. He wants Danny to be his son.
Being Vlad's son is not what Vlad's original plan for their relationship was. Back when Danny was a Fenton, flying around as Phantom and protecting Amity, he's pretty sure Vlad imagined fatherhood as mentorhood - sharing tips and tricks that made Danny's eyes sparkle as he looked up to Vlad, Maddie watching them in ghost form with a fond smile on her face. Vlad's obsession with family had been a loving wife and child he could mold. But Maddie is dead, Danny is broken, Vlad keeps him broken, and all there is for Danny to learn now is business.
Danny is to learn how to research a man, Internet stalk him, and perform a warm read on business associates over meals, desks, or galas. Vlad can still spy on competitors, and Danny probably could too, but Danny is now essentially Vlad's mortal son with a medical condition. It's not worth being Phantom, as much as Danny misses it.
He could transform if he wanted. Fire an ectoray to Vlad's face. But he's tried the latter with disastrous results, and he can only get so far from Vlad's watch.
The fitting is more elaborate than Danny expected, which is the only thing that keeps him interested. Danny aches, his head and his chest. His ears have not popped so sound is weird and it feels like he has a headache from crying but his face is dry. It's the distance from Amity, he's sure, the scream of his body for his haunt and the mourning of his core for his home. Everything is in Amity, but he is not. He will never be again.
Danny sucks in a lungful of air in the dressing room, away from Vlad's gaze and that of the tailor. He wants to cry, but Vlad will not like it. He wants to sleep until he's done grieving his life, but Vlad hadn't even let him grieve his parents.
Danny wants to be whole and alone, floating in the Zone, but he won't get it.
As he slowly undoes his buttons, Danny wonders if this will force his obsession to change. Vlad's had morphed from happy nuclear family to a competent heir. Would Danny's change from protecting his home to protecting Vlad's house? Maybe himself, after Jazz's pleas to not put his needs aside? Maybe his obsession will cling to Vlad in turn, protecting the only thing resembling a family he has access to.
Or maybe his core will start to erode and Danny fade, too far from Amity, from Sam and Tucker. When family is gone, and friends inaccessible, would Danny go mad from not being able to complete his obsession?
Vlad was harried for a while until he focused on Danny. There was no one else to focus on, but still.
Danny hates the feeling of being in a cage - Vlad's control, his obsession's control, this new suit. But maybe it's best to curl on the bottom and refuse to engage with the enrichment Vlad provides him. Danny will always have protection at his core, and he can protect no one like this. Not even himself, long term.
He will always need Vlad, and sometimes fading sounds so, so much better.
"Let me see you in the blue shirt," Vlad calls through the fitting room walls.
Danny reaches for it.
The day drags and turns to fog. Danny starts to lose awareness of himself, and Vlad must notice because Danny's limbs start to ache. Sometimes, if Danny doesn't put up a fight, Vlad can control him. Simple things like walking and sitting and going through the motions of entering a restaurant. Small suggestions of what to say, like greeting and non-committal noises. It brings muscle aches, from none natural movements and a slight resistance, but Danny doesn't care tonight. He aches, and letting Vlad pose him during dinner saves Danny later pain.
If Danny puts up a fight and prevents Vlad from controlling his body, Vlad hurts him instead. A button on the watch can electrocute his core fragment. A twist grinds it against ectoraniam. Vlad doesn't have to land a punch to hurt Danny, not with his core on his wrist. Danny's early rebellions had been put down early.
As had Sam and Tucker's. They couldn’t stand to see Danny hurt.
What Danny eats for dinner, he doesn't know. Doesn't know who they ate with, or why or where. The only thing he remembers, and then that barely, is catching sight of the back of someone across the room that made his core pulse and hand twitch as they leaned away from someone else at the table. Evenly combed black hair, an archer's build with developed shoulders and a thin waist. Nothing special about them, aside from how Danny’s core jumped when seeing them.
Obsession pains, he figured, demands to help a bothered person, even as he couldn't. Even as Danny was too out of it to eat on his own.
If being away from Amity Park and the results of that get in the way of being Vlad's heir, Danny isn't sure what the other halfa will do. He doesn't want to know.
Danny wakes up to the smell of breakfast. Vlad's ordered room service, but more noticeable is the ectoplasm on the end table. Vlad's noticed his problems and wants them gone. At least temporarily.
Vlad's not in the bedroom, but Danny can feel the pull of his core. It's close, and the soft sound of tapping keys clues him in that Vlad's in the living area of the suite, no doubt last minute researching the attendees of the Wayne's Christmas Gala.
Danny reaches for the ecto and drinks it slowly, feeling the energy flow through his veins. Instantly his head clears and his muscle ache recedes. Even his sinus pressure fades, just a bit, but the distance from home still makes him feel like crying. The post-ecto boost also brings some clarity to the previous night - they'd gone to a rather fancy Indian restaurant, and the man who pinged Danny's core had been younger than he thought and familiar in the way a rediscovered baby blanket is. Danny doesn't understand and puts it down as an irrational reaction of his splintered self. Maybe he looked like a photo of a young Jack Fenton Danny recalled.
Vlad watches him like a hawk when Danny crosses the room. "Feeling better?"
"Yeah." Vlad has him trapped and regularly tortures him, but Danny knows at the end of the day Vlad wants this to be a willing, mutual shift in their lives. Danny is still a Fenton, but Vlad will wait for him to change his name, will do what he can to keep Danny safe and healthy - as long as Danny doesn't get in the way of Vlad’s obsession.
Ghosts don't care who they hurt when trying to fill it. Danny had attacked his own parents, after all.
"Is being away from Amity that much of an issue?"
Danny pauses, staring at the still-warm pancakes. "Yes."
"You find a new haunt eventually."
"It was an obsession too," Danny admits.
Vlad looks him over. "If you put them on speaker, I'll allow you to call your friends."
Danny eagerly nods. He doesn't have a phone or laptop to stay in touch, and he's pretty sure Vald has been disrupting their letters.
"Eat breakfast, then I'll give you my phone."
Danny is tempted to toss his whole plate in a charade of eating but forces himself to eat. Sam will ask.
He talks with Sam and Tucker for forty minutes. It's the first time in ten days, and the conversation is stilted because Vlad is listening. But they ask about his health (he's eating) and his status (no core pressure from a twist of the watch for a week, a record) and he asks after school (boring) and themselves (alive.) He misses them dearly, and can't hide his sniffle after the call. If he's good for Vlad, maybe calls can be regular occurrences. Maybe, in six months, he can have a phone.
The call energizes him almost as the morning ecto, and he feels himself as can be when housekeeping delivers their fitted suits. Danny slips his on, a forest green with a grey shirt underneath. Vlad likes him to wear color, it makes him easier to spot in a crowd.
Danny watches as Vlad tugs his sleeves, hiding the watch.
"Ready to go, Little Badger?"
Danny heads toward the door.
The Wayne Christmas Gala is a fundraiser, tis the season after all. Vlad has already paid for tickets, but he and Danny also each bring a wrapped gift labeled with gender and age to place under the tree. They'll be donated later, just like the money for the tickets will be donated to various charities.
Danny reads the display about it on an easel. Each Wayne child has picked a charity, and the proceeds from tonight will be split between them all. The list is smaller than he thought, Danny remembers Vlad saying Bruce Wayne had more than five children.
He pauses on the last name - Damian Wayne. Damian is not a common name, he's never met anyone with it, but it's familiar all the same. He wonders if Vlad has mentioned him a lot, he does seem to be the closest to Danny's age. He's also a rich guy who supports animal shelters - maybe Sam has talked about him in the past. Danny shrugs it off. He doesn’t care that much.
The gala is full of people and Danny feels like hiding. He's never been good with crowds, and in one like this, he's paranoid about projecting the image Vlad wants him to. Vlad can shock him from anywhere in the room. He’s also sure there’s at least one invisible doppelganger roaming. Not to watch Danny per se, but that would be part of it.
Danny forces himself to pay attention to his surroundings, connecting faces with Vlad’s notecards. The goal of the night is to draw connections between Vlad and Danny. An heir is known. An heir is capable.
An heir is obedient. An heir is perfect.
Danny shakes off the sudden, unfamiliar voice in his head. Vlad wants him to obey, but he likes the fact that Danny isn’t perfect at business and ghost stuff. It means Vlad has someone to teach.
“Damian? You good?”
“Fine.” Danny looks up at the man at his elbow.
“Oh, you’re not Damian.”
“Sorry. I could be if you want me to though.” Danny winks at the man, whose nose wrinkles.
“Damian’s my brother, so no thanks.”
Danny’s not sure why he even said that. The guy before him is decent enough looking, slim and athletic, but there’s a gauntness to his face that screams of late nights. Danny recognizes the feeling, but he knows lots of things can keep one up at night. Maybe his poor core is trying to soothe itself by finding a problem he can fix.
There’s a brush of cold at the base of Danny’s spine, Vlad’s doppelganger, and Danny straightens stiffly. He’s here for a reason. Vlad won’t let him forget it.
Danny sticks out his hand to shake. “I’m Danny Fenton. I came with Vlad Masters.”
The man runs a calculating gaze down Danny’s body before extending his own hand. “Tim Drake-Wayne.”
They shake and it takes a moment for Danny’s brain to click. “Like, Wayne Enterprise’s CEO? Sponsor of this gala?”
Tim throws back his head in a laugh. “Most people recognize me on sight at these events. I’m surprised you don’t.”
Danny scoffs, then tilts his head with a smile to soften the sound. “It’s my first time out of my hometown, and I had a lot more things to worry about than the goings on of Gotham.”
Tim eyes him. Something about Danny has caught his attention, and Danny isn’t sure what it is. Not sure he wants to be caught and noticed.
“Why did Masters bring you then? This is a pretty strange thing to do on your first trip away from home.”
“Oh, I’m just tagging along. He couldn’t leave me home.”
He’d never be home again.
His broke core pulses and Danny can’t help it. He curls around it, cupping his hands over his heart and hunching in on himself.
Tim is there in a heartbeat. “You okay?”
“Medical condition. It’s why Vlad couldn’t leave me.”
“Do you need him-“
“No! No, I don’t need Vlad.”
“Let’s find a place for you to sit.”
Danny lets Tim guide him out of the room. The Gala is at Gotham Public Library and has filled its three event halls. The rest of the library is technically closed, lights off and glass doors shut, but Tim somehow shepherds him into a room full of books.
“Replacement, who’s this?”
There’s already someone in the room, book in his hand. Danny pegs him as anti-social, hiding from the Christmas bustle. Danny also pegs him as liminal – stronger than he’d ever expect outside of Amity Park. Stronger than most people in Amity.
Danny doesn’t realize he’s staring until the guy snaps his fingers in Danny’s face. “Hey! Hey!”
“Easy, Jason! I think he’s having a medical emergency.”
Danny is indeed still clutching his chest. He lets Tim guide him into a chair. “I’m fine,” he mutters.
Jason snorts, but Tim pulls out a wrapped napkin from his pocket. Inside is a pair of savory pastries. “Eat something?”
Danny nibbles on them. He stares at the tips of his knees, but he can see Tim and Jason communicate non-verbally. Danny doesn’t call them out on it.
The core twinge has passed, and he’s not feeling as bad as yesterday. His head is still clear, and he has a task to do.
All of a sudden, a weight drops on Danny’s shoulders and he feels his collarbone scrape against his scapula. Vlad is twisting the knob on the watch, compressing the space his core shard lives. It’s a warning. Get in my sight. You better be obeying me.
Danny shoots to his feet. “I’m ready to return to the party. Can you please show me the way back?”
The other two look at him. Side by side, it’s easy to tell Jason is older, and not just because of the streak of grey hair flowing from his widow’s peek. They blink at him in sync and Danny figures them for cousins or really close friends.
“Are you sure-“
Another twist of the watch knob.
Danny grits his teeth and fists his hands. “Yes.”
Jason and Tim look at each other.
“I don’t know why, but something about you reminds me of Damian. Let’s go see him.”
Danny frowns but follows Tim out of the library. Jason trails behind, book tucked under his arm. It’s not long until they’re back in the event space, evergreen garland filling the rooms with the scent of pine. Danny beelines toward Vlad, heeding the tug of his core from the next room.
Vlad clocks him as soon as Danny walks through the doorway, as well as his two shadows. Tim and Jason weren’t supposed to follow his dash for Vlad, his dash to make the pain stop, but Vlad must know who they are. He gives Danny a nod. He’s done something good.
Danny knows Tim is an important person Vlad would be glad he got introduced to, but Jason too? Cousins, Danny settles on.
Danny turns to Tim and Jason with a bright smile. “Thanks for talking to me, but I think I should introduce myself to other people. Enjoy the party-“
Jason grabs his elbow. “I’ll introduce you to a few.”
Jason presents him to his family. He and Tim are adopted brothers. But Dick, a tall man with an acrobat build is also his adopted brother. Cassandra, Cass, who is fighting the urge to move to the waltz the string quartet is playing is the adopted Wayne daughter. There’s Barbara, who Danny originally assumed was attending as a representative of a benefiting charity, but is one of the librarians who helped plan the event. Steph, who shamelessly holds a tower of cookies in her hand, a family friend and Tim’s ex. Duke, a black boy eager to complain about his college courses.
They’re friendly and kind, but there’s something sharp about their looks Danny is uncomfortable with. He does need, doesn’t want scrutiny. Not from them, and not from Vlad.
The doppelganger is always close, Danny feels its brush every five minutes, and he’s struggling to keep up the image Vlad wants him to. It’s easy to smile and act for a brief conversation, but he’s been in Jason’s company almost forty minutes and Danny doesn’t know what to say.
These people are strangers. He has nothing in common with them, no books to talk about, no hobbies, and Humpty Dumpty is a band none of them are familiar with. They’re also all older, college or above. Danny is still stumbling through high school.
Every time Danny tries to duck out of the conversation, someone in the Wayne crowd keeps him in it. A question, a drink, and nod toward someone else at the party to people watch. They don’t ask about Vlad. They do ask about Danny, and his answers are non-committal.
He can’t talk about home. He’ll cry. He’ll core will throb. That’ll get Vlad’s attention, and earn his disappointment. Danny wants to avoid that.
“Drake, I was enjoying myself. Let me go.”
“I want you to meet someone.”
Tim drags a new member to the shifting social circle. He’s slightly shorter than Tim, but also the youngest of the group. Nineteen maybe. His green eyes are a shocking color in a Middle-Eastern face.
The most startling feature about him is how Danny’s core sings.
Mine. Mine. Protect. Family.
It jumps in Danny's ribcage as Danny feels his obsession try to lock on this older boy. He’s been ripped in two, bleeding ectoplasm for months, family gone. He’s been pulled from his haunt, core weeping, obsession trying to find something to lock on to.
He never expected it to claim who can only be Damian Wayne.
The problem is, Danny can’t lock onto this boy. His core’s not his, not anymore. He needs to reel back, fast, prevent his ghost from clinging to a stranger. The slow, not quite separation from Tucker and Sam has kept his core from splintering further. A violent separation from a new obsession will have consequences.
Danny’s bones grind. The core in his chest has jumped, but so has the bit in Vlad’s watch. Vlad wants him at his side, now, and it’s only public eyes that has him turning the knob to squeeze the core splinter instead of shock it.
Danny puts a hand to his chest, and steps away, eyes wide.
“Whoa!” Tim crowds close. “I don’t know what medical condition you have –“
“Ahk?”
Damian takes a step forward, his voice familiar in cadence if not pitch. Danny knows the pinch in the corner of his eyes. But he doesn’t, he doesn’t, and Vlad turns the knob again.
It’s as if someone has twisted his stomach. The Waynes, except Damian, step back as Cass looks for a trash can.
Danny’s core in his chest reaches toward Damian, even as the piece in Vlad’s hands screams in pain and calls him back.
An heir is obedient.
It’s not Vlad’s voice, it might even be Damian’s just higher, but Danny doesn’t care. He bites his lower lip, blood flavoring his mouth. Bows. “Thank you for your time, but I have elsewhere to be.”
It’s stiff, and formal, and not Danny, not Danny at all, but something he feels he has to be.
With a twist, Danny dives into the crowd. He goes invisible and intangible but feels Damian’s hand go through him.
Somehow, Danny finds himself standing next to Vlad. Vlad places a hand on his shoulder and introduces him to Vlad’s current conversation partner. Danny greets the woman and stays close. He can’t be near Damian.
Damian doesn’t know that.
Danny catches him in the crowd, moving toward them. Danny tugs on Vlad’s sleeve, nodding toward the older teen, and places a hand on the watch. Vlad stills, flicking a glance at Damian, before ending the conversation.
“Please excuse me,” he tells the woman. “It appears my son needs me.”
She titters but lets Vlad go.
They don’t talk. Danny keeps his eyes on the floor, Vlad keeps a hand on his shoulder. It’s a fight to not clutch his chest, but knowing the action is useless helps. His core isn’t actually trying to escape his body, it just feels like it. Danny tries to tie it down. Thinks of Sam and Tucker. They’d had such a good call this morning. Tries to think of Amity Park, better to let his core grieve than open it up to a new crack.
They’re waylaid – Barbara asking for Vlad’s opinion about the gala. Bruce Wayne wanting introductions to the child who has captured his family’s interest. Danny can’t give them any attention, he’s too busy protecting his core. The familiar muscle ache of being controlled slips over his body and Danny lets Vlad do as he will. Conversation is useless right now. He needs to leave. He needs distance between him and Damian. He can’t let his core believe Damian is someone under his protection.
Damian is a stranger.
Damian is a face and voice he knows in a different shape.
Danny blinks.
They’re outside. He’s tucked into Vlad’s ribcage. He looks up at the man to ask, but the scowl on his face has Danny swallow his tongue. He can guess. The Waynes have tried to pry, maybe tried to encourage Danny to step away from Vlad. They’ve failed, obviously, but this is not how Vlad wanted the night to go. They were supposed to get in the good gracious of people, not make them suspicious.
It’s cold, but not enough for snow. Not that it would bother Danny if it did. He’s not wearing a coat, nor is Vlad. Slight shivers run through the older halfa’s body. Danny tries to pull away, but Vlad pulls closer. Danny sinks back into Vlad’s side as they wait for their luxury cab.
“Are we going to Madison tomorrow?”
“Yes. Can you explain?”
“I’ll try at the hotel.”
“Do you need another dose?”
Danny nods frantically. He hadn’t drunk this much ectoplasm in Amity Park, nor have they expected him to need as much as he has, but these are extenuating circumstances. He’s wounded, bleeding ecto into the air, and pulling away from Damian is increasing the flow. He needs another dose. He needs something to cling to, that Vlad will allow.
He needs to call Sam and Tucker again.
He needs a new obsession to lessen the ache.
He wishes his core would latch onto Vlad. It’s been two months. It would be easy – Vlad will not let him go, so why not force himself to not want to go? But it’s been two months. If his obsession would have even considered shifting to Vlad, Danny would have known by now.
“Come, Little Badger,” Vlad whispers as the cab finally pulls up to the curb. He runs a hand through Danny’s hair. “Let’s get you to bed.”
As the driver scrambles to open the car, screams come from the library.
Danny twists toward it, energy flowing through him. The need to help, to protect the people inside is a jolt. His aches from Vlad’s control are gone. There are more screams.
Damian. Damian. Damian.
It’s too late. Something about the youngest Wayne has made Danny’s ghost clutch at him. There’s a click in his chest as Danny feels the shift in his list of things to protect. No more sister. No more parents. No more access to Amity Park. But Damian Wayne is feet away. Damian Wayne is in danger.
This is going to hurt.
Vlad tries to shove him into the car, but Danny phases through his hands. Vlad is yelling at him to come back, but Danny doesn’t listen. Electricity coarses through Danny’s core shard. He collapses to one knee, panting, but the people streaming out of the library are a distracted and panicked cover. He goes invisible, transforms, and pushes through the pain to fly into the library.
As soon as he’s inside he drops the invisibility and intangibility to conserve power. Danny only has so much, but his ghost sense has not gone off. This is something small. Maybe a fire near the food. A robbery. Easy fights.
Danny has fought gods, humans are nothing.
His appearance draws attention. He’s an unfamiliar Gotham face. He’s flying. He’s glowing. Of course, people turn to look.
Danny catalogs the situation as fast as he can - a bundle of people surrounded by men demanding jewelry and watches, including Barbra and Steph. A ring of people near the Christmas tree, each holding one of the wrapped Christmas gifts, surrounding a guy in a bright green suit littered with question marks. Damian is one of them, as is Bruce.
“Come to play, ghostie?” The man in the center crows. “We’re playing guess which box is the bomb!”
Vlad twists the watch and electricity runs through Danny’s body. He resists the urge to curl into himself and spits out a gob of ectoplasm from his bit lip. They’ve been through this before. Danny can only resist for so long – the shocks will build in intensity and length. He might not be able to save everyone. He can save Damian.
“What’s the rules?” Danny shouts back.
“I provide riddles of course, and they must answer them. If they put the clues together, they’ll figure out which present is the bomb. I’ll graciously de-arm it as a reward for their genius.” The man waggles a control in his hand, then tucks it into his suit pocket.
The goons are still stealing money. The rouge leans back on his heels. The gifts would have been handled and shaken, being passed out to the ring of people. The bomb is well built to not go off. Or…
Damian! Protect!
First things first. Satisfy his obsession, the first time he’s been able to since it split.
“Bet!” Danny shouts.
He dives for Damian. Someone yells, maybe Bruce Wayne. It doesn’t matter, but Danny is pretty confident that this riddle rouge doesn’t actually have a bomb. He hits Damian at twenty miles an hour, wraps his arms around the guy’s waist, and turns them both intangible as they go through at least six people, a cocktail table, and a wall before Danny deposits them behind an overturned table.
“What-“ Damian says.
“Will you be safe here?” Danny grits out as Vlad shocks him. He’s constantly twisting the ring around the watch face. Danny can feel his arms starting to shake. Feel the sparks start to arch between his teeth.
Damian stares at him.
“Will you be safe here?” Danny asks again. Another shock goes through him and Danny curls in on himself, hand on his chest. Electricity hurts. But this hurts less than what Danny knows is coming next.
A gentle hand rests on his spine. There’s a sound of breaking glass from the other room. The riddle man shouts “Red Robin!”
Vigilante. There’s a vigilante here, probably more. Gotham heroes that will save the day. Danny doesn’t have to stay. Damian just has to hide here.
“Are you okay?” Damian asks.
No. But who cares about that?
Danny spins to face him. They’re sitting on their knees, low and hidden. It’s safe enough for Danny’s core to hum. Until Vlad shocks him again. Danny grunts in pain, wrapping hands around his stomach.
Damian’s hands hover over his sides. “Tell me what’s wrong. Please, please.” What a kind man, to care so much for a stranger. Maybe this is why his core latched on the guy.
Danny takes advantage of a gap in the voltage to grab Damian’s hands. “We don’t know each other, and we probably won’t ever meet again –“
“Don’t say that-“
“But I want you to know that you are extremely important to me.”
Danny has barely seen Damian. Never even had the chance to be introduced, but he knows in his bones that Damian’s face on the edge of tears is a rare sight.
“Don’t go.”
“Gah.” Danny drops his obsession’s hands to prevent the flow of electricity into his human body. Danny wants to scream, he wants to cry, but he can’t do that now. He’s Phantom. He’s a hero. He needs to keep up an image. He can’t let Damian think he can’t protect him.
“Something’s wrong. Tell me. I can help.”
Danny locks eyes with Damian, his green eyes wide with worry and something in Danny’s core flickers with recognition.
Mine. Family.
He ignores it.
Instead, he asks for a third time. “Will you be safe here?”
“Yes.”
Danny’s core sings with pride, he’s saved those under his protection! And then it screams as Vlad cranks the watch. Danny can’t take much more of this. But he doesn’t have to. Damian is safe. Danny can leave.
“I’m glad.” He smiles and gets to his feet. He stumbles, catching himself on the upturned table, and sprints for the wall of the library.
The electricity running through him is constant now. His arms are shaking, his ectoplasm wobbling as he phases through the thick rock to fall to the sidewalk outside. Danny lands on his hands and knees, gasping for air he doesn’t need and letting the tears come.
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts.
Uncaring of where he is or who may see, his transformation fails. His core is still in his chest but muted, and Danny can feel his heart beat erratically. It jumps and jerks and stops and beats. He vomits onto the sidewalk, wanting it to end.
Vlad. He needs to get to Vlad. Show the other halfa that he’s here. He’s back. He’s a good, obedient heir. He’s returned. He’s at Vlad’s side. But Danny can’t move.
No matter. Two pointy shoes step into his vision. Danny knows who they belong to by sight, but even if he didn’t, he’d tell by the thrum between the core in his chest and the splinter in Vlad’s watch. By the sudden stopping of electricity running through his veins.
He collapses on the sidewalk and breathes.
Vlad tsks. “You just can’t help yourself, can you, Little Badger?”
Vlad crouches down and runs a hand through Danny’s sweaty hair. “I get it,” he croons, “we can’t choose our obsessions, but I wish yours wasn’t so reckless.”
So against his own.
Danny rolls his head to look up at his godfather. His guardian. His jailer.
“You’re in no condition to get back to the hotel on your own. Don’t worry, I’ll get you there.”
Vlad’s control flows through Danny’s body and he lets him. There’s no way Danny can walk without the help.