Archive of Our Own

"Tim? Babe?"

The typing continued at a relentless pace even as Tim raised his eyebrows, giving a soft nod in acknowledgement while he kept his focus on his report.

"Tim," Danny repeated, the way he expressed it no longer a question. The firm tone made Tim pause and turn to look at the man standing in front of him.

Danny's brow was furrowed in concern, eyes intense and expectant, with that kind of worry reserved whenever Tim had been working too long.

He probably had, but time was no longer something that made any sense when he was so invested in closing a case after weeks of looking for a breakthrough.

Even when the time on the screen glared back 4:29 am.

Tim tried not to dwell too much on it—or the sudden feeling of looking at Danny through some kind of dissociative filter, almost far away—and leaned back on his chair. "What?"

Danny moved closer, walking around the desk until he was half-perched on it in front of Tim, already dressed in his pjs. Probably woken up by the empty space in their bed. "When was the last time you slept?"

And that was a great question Tim had no answer to. He started writing the report on the new line of investigation for this case in the last few hours, but he'd taken a shower before that, and there was that quick lunch once Danny came home because he totally forgot to eat, and—okay, so maybe he wasn't sure. And his latest streak of work had started two or three days ago overall, while also balancing patrol, online meetings with potential clients, and an undercover interrogation or two since Saturday…

"I took a power nap?" Tim replied with only a small wince. At Danny's disappointed frown, he backpedaled. "I'm almost done. For real this time."

The deep sigh he got in response was not promising. "I'm really not trying to be a hard-ass—"

"I mean…" Tim interrupted with a suggestive grin.

Danny scoffed. "Don't try to distract me, I'm trying to be a responsible boyfriend here."

Tim pulled one of Danny's hands and rubbed circles on it. "I know, and thank you for that. I'll go to sleep soon."

Danny put his free hand on top of Tim's, stopping the gentle movements. "Tim… you said that yesterday," he deadpanned. "You've been working on this for three days. And it's been a trend in the last few weeks. Why not pause for a bit and sleep for, I don't know…eight straight hours?"

Eight hours unconscious? Easier said than done…

"I have a meeting at 9," Tim reluctantly replied. "Best I can do is three hours, maybe three and a half."

Danny stared in dismay. "Ok, first? That's not enough. And second, stop trying to negotiate around your health. It's not like you're doing me a favor for going to bed."

"I know," Tim said under his breath, running a hand through hair he had allowed to grow longer. "What I mean is that there are still things that won't let me sleep. And even if I cancelled—which I can't,—it's not like I'll be able to turn my brain off and get some actual rest. You know I'm wired differently."

The unimpressed raise of Danny's eyebrow already told Tim he wasn't going to win this battle. "Babe…you've been sitting on your wet towel after the shower you took three hours ago. I'm not sure your brain is even wired anymore."

Tim looked down and checked his seat—where he found the goddamn towel. He pulled it from underneath and tossed it to the small bench by the window to deal with it later. "Fine, so I missed something," he muttered defiantly. "I'm still functioning well enough for everything else."

Danny hummed. "Let's see…" he leaned over to look at his screen. "Uh-huh…sure, this makes total sense. It's not like you wrote your new report over a different case you finished last month."

Doubt mixed with exhaustion and turned into dread as Tim noticed the file markers. Danny wasn't lying to try to win an argument. Tim slumped in his chair. "Fuck my life…"

Of course, Danny was right. Of course, Tim needed to stop hyper-focusing on the case he was so close to breaking. Because if he ended up messing things up due to sleep deprivation…

Strong hands pulled him to stand, half-dragging him comfortingly closer into Danny's arms. "Will you now get some rest? Please?"

Tim sighed as he allowed himself to fall into the embrace, into the soothing cold he had grown used to keeping for himself like some cozy mystery, one he resisted letting go. "Danny, I won't be able to sleep. I'll be overthinking about what else I reported in the wrong document. And I have to go to the 9 am meeting. Lucius wants me to explain our project to other departments to get approval."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Then I can go instead, while you stay and actually try to get some rest."

"That will have everyone asking why my partner is presenting on my behalf…" Tim left the implications in the air, knowing Danny would understand where it would spiral.

Because it was one thing to have Danny Fenton's name in the project he pitched to Lucius. It was an entirely different thing for Danny to raise all kinds of questions and stir gossip around who he was and why he was connected to Tim Drake-Wayne. Who, according to everyone including the other Waynes, was still single and "doing his own thing."

Instead of agreeing with him, Danny shrugged. "I can go as your business partner." He leaned forward to make their foreheads touch, eyes half-lidded as if they could hide away every secret behind a knowing smirk. "No one has to think we have anything else going on until we're ready."

Sometimes Tim felt weak at the knees when Danny made everything seem so easy. Which is why it made it always harder to have to plant both feet more firmly on the ground.

"Fine, you have a point. But it's not that simple," Tim protested, showing only a hint of the frustration brewing inside, finally feeling the pull of exhaustion from the last couple of days. Maybe weeks. "Lucius also wanted my point of view on the other initiatives they'll be presenting."

Danny shifted to place his arm over Tim's shoulders and drive him back to their bedroom. "Ok, so no cancelling and no mystery partner showing up to explain a project. Though I could give interesting feedback with my background in engineering and—"

"No, it has to be me," Tim muttered as they reached the dimly-lit room.

As Tim sat on their bed, Danny kneeled in front of him with an amused grin and took his hand. "What if I turn off your alarm?"

Tim rolled his eyes. "Right, so I can get a restful anxiety attack once I notice."

"Maybe not that, but something's gotta give, red string," Danny reasoned. "I'd rather if what gave wasn't your health."

"Boo, even if you make me go to bed, you won't be able to keep my brain quiet." Tim wasn't even sure that was possible with so many things plaguing his mind at all times.

Instead of the usual pushback, he saw Danny's face lit up as if suddenly inspired. "Wait…what if I knew a way to shut your brain off for the next few hours, while you don't miss that meeting?"

Tim raised an eyebrow, half in surprise and half in amused interest. "I thought you didn't want me to distract you, responsible boyfriend."

There was a moment of silence as Danny processed the exchange with confusion. "What? No! I meant…" Danny gestured with both hands separated in front of him, then slowly made his palms touch each other. "What if I take over your body?"

Tim's expression didn't change. He loved making Danny flustered.

"Overshadowing," Danny blurted out. Seeing that Tim's confusion was now more genuine, Danny huffed in exasperation. "You know what? Let me start all over…"

Danny was so dead.

Which was probably an understatement given the circumstances, but maybe this would fully, totally, and completely finish what the portal tried to do all those years ago.

He sat back into his chair, trying to sink as much as possible without phasing through the floor, until he remembered the posture might give him away. So he sat straighter, setting an elbow on the large table while he pretended to take notes on what the other people in the room were explaining.

As some guy droned on about some ambitious projects to keep WE as the leading tech company of the century (at least for the next fiscal year or whatever), Danny's mind drifted into everything Tim had told him before agreeing to sleep and allow Danny to take care of him for a few hours.

But in all of Tim's warnings and notes to parse through different conversations, he had never mentioned the possibility of Bruce Wayne—CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Tim's father, and The Batman™— joining the meeting.

Danny was thankful that at least the man entered the room after "Tim" had already wrapped up the presentation. It still didn't take the edge of anxiety whenever Danny asked details on something technical to appear engaged in the conversation, or gave some vague feedback on other projects. Through it all, it always felt like Bruce Wayne was watching him like a hawk. Or was it like a paranoid bat?

Danny's gaze inevitably drifted across the room and found the man's scrutinizing stare in his direction.

Oh, shit…Danny focused back on the notebook. He was so not ready to meet Tim's dad like this.

"Tim?" Lucius Fox asked from the other end of the table, closer to the large screen with charts and numbers that Tim had not expected Danny to memorize.

Danny realized everyone was staring at him and, for a moment, had forgotten the role he was playing, wearing a face different from his own. Right. They were asking Tim things.

Tim, whose consciousness was currently taking some well-deserved rest while Danny piloted his body through the activities scheduled for the day.

He tried not to make Tim's face look too out of it. "Sorry, could you repeat the question?"

Lucius raised an eyebrow, a look that Danny didn't know if he should interpret as concern or as being unimpressed. "I was wondering if you have any other projects you'd like us to consider for the next quarter."

That was on script. Rehearsed, even. Danny relaxed his posture and inclined his head in a way he'd seen Tim do hundreds of times during online meetings while working in their shared apartment.

"No, just focusing for the moment on the alternative energy test run," he replied with confidence.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and realized Bruce Wayne was leaning forward with interest. Had he said the wrong thing? The wrong way?

"Alternative energy?" Mr. Wayne questioned. Was it awkward to think of him as Mr. Wayne?

Danny hadn't exactly prepared for this interaction. Tim's dad wasn't supposed to be here at all. In any case, the hardest hurdle was supposed to be Kate, from Procurement, whatever that meant.

Other than that? Lucius was supposed to be chill. The other people in the room, mostly from different WE departments connected to new tech initiatives, usually wanted to work with Tim. They were even nodding and engaged during his presentation.

But Bruce was a mystery.

Danny shifted to sit more comfortably in his chair while facing the man. "Yeah, it's the project I was done presenting when you got here. I've been developing it for a while now with my, uh, partner, who's been working on cleaner substitutes to lithium batteries."

Shit, Danny had almost said boyfriend. Though he supposed 'partner' was still an accurate term in business settings. He just had to keep under wraps the secret smile that threatened to tug at his lips.

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "A partner."

There was an air of judgment Danny interpreted in the tone, almost skeptical, that sent a wave of defensiveness through his borrowed chest, but Lucius saved him from saying something not very Tim-like in response. "Perhaps we can give Bruce a rundown of the proposal he missed after this meeting?" the man replied with infinite patience.

Bruce changed his expression to something more cheerful. Oh no, he was going to pull a dumb CEO moment, wasn't he? Tim had told him about those a while ago. "Oh, didn't mean to interrupt, Luce. Please, keep blowing our minds with all the innovation we'll have."

Danny fought the urge to roll his eyes at the blatant performance, even if he knew Tim would absolutely roll them in less business-like settings.

The rest of the meeting continued with a tiresome back and forth between the other people gathered in the conference room. Most were leaders from different departments that Danny knew nothing about, but who apparently wanted to reduce costs.

Danny mentally checked the notes he took from Tim for these interactions and realized his boyfriend had predicted all of them with unerring accuracy. Such a nerd…

For instance, Tim had mentioned that 'Jan might ask to check some of the logistics for newer projects in detail. If she asks about ours, just tell her you can schedule a meeting later to do a deep dive.'

Or his cues for Mark, who 'would try to find a way to cut the budget. If he's being an ass, just tell him the project is a low-hanging fruit. He loves buzzwords. He'll laugh and stay off your back.'

With so many outcomes so easily predicted by Tim, that left Danny wondering why his detective boyfriend hadn't realized Bruce would join this meeting in the first place.

Unless this wasn’t normal Bruce behavior. In which case, Danny was even more screwed.

As far as Danny knew, Tim and Bruce rarely saw each other these days. Dinners at Wayne Manor had become scarcer and more spaced out the older and busier they all got, or so Tim had tried to explain. Vigilante missions were often handled solo or with everyone's respective teams, which left Tim with only vague mentions of seeing his siblings in passing and never consistently. As a result, the Waynes never interacted long enough to have any meaningful conversation like, say, sharing that Tim had moved in with his boyfriend. Or that he even had a boyfriend…

And from everything Danny had learned from off-handed comments, Bruce was also rarely seen in Wayne Enterprises. Unless there was the equivalent of a fire in their quarterly reviews. For everything else, he had trusted Lucius Fox to take over as COO.

Well, Bruce had trusted Tim for that role first, but Tim had gently declined that offer.

Tim felt the position had been a way to prepare him for a more permanent CEO role in the future, something none of his brothers or sister had wanted to touch with a ten-foot pole. Bruce had also tried offering Tim a CSO role, and then a CTO role, and then a CIO— honestly, Danny had no idea how many chief officer roles they needed to complete their alphabet, but he knew with certainty Tim had no intentions of stressing over profit margins and PR when he was perfectly fine doing his own thing with Danny.

Hence, the olive branch in the shape of "tech consultant" Tim offered to appease Bruce. Even if most of his work was directly handled through Lucius.

Danny kinda knew what that was like after moving out of Amity Park, where distance and busy schedules kept everyone from finding time for a phone call. But it never occurred to him that things like that happened to big families living in the same city and even sharing a team in their double life.

Danny continued leaving small notes in Tim's notebook that had nothing to do with the meeting. He had to resist the urge to doodle little ghosts on the margins so badly… But with the world's most brilliant detective watching his every move, Danny would only be looking for trouble.

As some other guy from Finance was giving budget projections, something Tim had told Danny he could ignore without any guilt whatsoever, Danny couldn't help but check the time left in the meeting to sprint out of the room. And if anyone tried to stop him, he was given permission to say he'd "circle back to it in another meeting" and promise vaguely to "catch up sometime next week."

The ten minutes left felt like an eternity, but at least he was no longer expected to participate with meaningless jargon. As he took stock of how exhausted Tim's shoulders still felt, Danny tried to zone out for a moment to continue sharing a bit of his healing with Tim's body. Otherwise…yeah, Tim would be tripping during patrol if only his mind were well-rested.

When the time was finally up, and everyone got up to do whatever business small talk they had in mind, Danny quickly put all of Tim's belongings in his bag and gave Lucius a small nod before leaving the conference room…

…only to be intercepted at the door.

"Tim," the voice of Mr. Wayne froze Danny in place, and he hoped his panic didn't wake Tim up and give him a heart attack in the process.

Danny didn't want to turn around. He didn't want to see the man face-to-face and mess things up by giving him the wrong gesture or having a facial reaction that was a little too far to the left.

But he turned, anyway. "Yeah?" Danny asked while keeping his best possible impression of a stressed Tim Drake who was running late for another meeting.

Bruce got closer and put a hand on his shoulder (or rather Tim's shoulder, he supposed). "A word in my office?" the man said with a small smile that Danny didn't know how to interpret.

A man who could convincingly pull off the deceptive performance of an airhead playboy billionaire could not be trusted with a simple smile.

Danny glanced down at Tim's phone and did a show of scrolling through the calendar widget. "I gotta run to take a call in…roughly 10 minutes." Which was total bullshit, but it looked very formal in Tim's agenda at least. "Can we catch up some other time?"

Mr. Wayne frowned, and Danny wasn't sure but there was a hint of disappointment in his eyes. Or maybe he always expected that expression from older mentor figures—which probably was something he didn't want to unpack while he was overshadowing his boyfriend's body, where he could end up projecting those feelings enough to leave an impression.

"We can talk on the way to the elevator," Bruce stated, his tone not really asking for permission.

Welp…

"Sure," Danny replied and hoped it didn't sound too strained.

Bruce's smile felt more genuine as they slipped out of the conference room, but it still didn't ease the tension brewing in Danny's head. He considered waking Tim up, aborting the mission even if Tim didn't manage to get the full eight hours of sleep Danny had promised.

But… Danny had reassured Tim, insistently, that he could take care of things. If he surrendered now, where would his credibility go? When would Tim ever trust him again with creative problem-solving? No, he had to keep going. He could handle this. It was just a short walk down the hallway. He could interact with Bruce Wayne alone, even if they had never interacted before.

What's the worst that could happen?

"Lucius did tell me about your project the other day," Bruce started as he kept a deliberately slower pace. "I've been very curious about other applications of the alternative energy source you're proposing."

Uh-oh. Danny tried not to show his hesitation.

He wasn't sure how much of the project Tim had already shared with his family. Especially since it was a way to find new applications for ectoplasm that could easily turn messy and complicated if not handled with care.

Tim had told Danny about the different projects Bruce had worked on as Batman to prepare for a crisis. But, while using ectoplasm to power Bat-grade gadgets had gone fairly well when he tried it with Tim, there was no telling what Bruce could get himself into if he used the substance for anything else and without any support, as the man was known to do.

Danny needed to deflect, shift the conversation to something else, and let Tim take the reins on how he wanted to handle that technical aspect after he woke up.

"Well…" Danny said in the best imitation of Tim's tired-bordering-on-sarcastic tone he could muster. "Maybe Lucius can fill you in about that, too."

Oh, no. Maybe that had too much bite.

Or maybe…no, actually, it might be just the right amount. Considering Bruce hadn't reached out to his son in so long that he'd never asked about Tim's projects or his not-so-new living arrangements. And maybe Danny had Opinions™ about the kind of parental figures Tim had in his life growing up.

Bruce paused mid-step with a frown, the expression hidden quickly while he turned to adjust his cufflinks. "Fair enough. I didn't need to follow you for that. That wasn't what I actually wanted to talk about."

Danny hoped that meant less time to talk before Tim had to leave. "Okay? Is this something that can wait?"

Bruce took a moment before he turned to face his son again, his expression unreadable. "If we're getting technical, yes. It can wait." Danny felt a wave of relief at that. "But—" Danny tensed Tim's shoulders at the word. "—so can the call you have. And so can the rush to file reports and solve a crisis."

Danny hadn't gained access to Tim's brain to interpret the older man's intention. But this had to be batspeak, right? A reference to things they can't discuss in civilian spaces? Oh no, what if Bruce wanted to discuss a case now? Sure, Danny had peeked over Tim's shoulder occasionally and even discussed cases where his paranormal knowledge came in handy. But keeping up in a conversation about case specifics with Batman? That was a surefire way to get caught.

Instead of allowing his panic to show, Danny tilted Tim's head, channeling all of Red Robin's cool during missions mixed with some Fenton-grade Anxiety-Masking-Sass™ in a simple: "So, that's a no?"

Concern colored Mr. Wayne's expression, but at least it wasn't a bat-scowl. "I won't force you to talk to me," Bruce replied. "But I don't want you to believe you can't share your projects with me or that you can't talk to me about anything going on in your life."

Oh, no.

This wasn't about some bat-case. This was about Bruce trying to have a heart-to-heart.

This was worse. Fuck…

The thought startled Danny just enough, and he almost forgot he wasn't being himself right now. "My life? What about it?" he replied almost too defensively. Not that it was too different from the kind of wariness Danny got from Tim when they talked about what the Waynes knew Tim was up to nowadays.

The look Bruce gave him would've been enough to get Danny to fold on his performance, but he knew it wouldn't be enough to make Tim budge. "For starters, you look like you haven't slept in days. Cass noticed, Lucius noticed. And I just want to make sure you're taking care of yourself."

This wasn't what Danny had signed up for. He wasn't expecting to outright lie to Batman, of all people, about how his son was taking care of himself. As if Danny hadn't struggled to convince Tim to release some of the load off his shoulders through overshadowing. How did Tim manage to lie to his dad so easily?

Danny pinched between his eyes and massaged the spot as he'd seen Tim do when stressed. He needed to get out of there. "Can we not do this right now?"

And can we please not raise Tim's cortisol levels while I'm in his body?

A thin line formed on Bruce's lips. "When, then? When you're done avoiding me with made-up calls?"

Danny scoffed, mostly to mask some of the tension, and resumed their walk to the elevator. "Bold of you to assume I'm avoiding you when you weren't supposed to be here."

Bruce followed closely, and Danny could practically hear the hint of amusement in his voice. "No. You didn't expect me to be here." They stopped by the elevator, where Bruce gave him a sad smile. "There's a difference. And it's one I would like to address, too."

This was definitely not in any of the hypothetical scenarios Danny went through with Tim. None mentioned 'apologetic dad tries to have a meaningful conversation with son he forgot to talk to’.

The elevator gave a soft ping as it reached their floor, and Danny wondered if it was built to detect when Bruce got close or if he had absentmindedly pressed the button to find a quick exit. The door opened, promising to take Danny far away from complicated conversations.

But he knew deep inside, maybe due to Tim sleeping in the mental backseat of this ride, that this was a conversation his boyfriend needed to have.

Unless…

No, this was a terrible idea.

Bruce crooked an eyebrow, probably waiting for his son to leave dramatically with one last zinger and call it a day. And was that what Tim would want, or would he want to try?

Danny licked Tim's lips—it definitely felt odd from this perspective. "Look…I'm not in the right mindset for this conversation right now," he played a bit with the vulnerable truth in plain sight. "But… can you tell me what you want to talk about so that I can at least come mentally prepared?"

There was something akin to fond exasperation on Bruce's expression. "Are you going to draft a contingency plan to talk to me?"

The snort Danny couldn't suppress probably didn't sound like Tim. "Uh, no. Not exactly."

Bruce shook his head. "Alright. But, it would still be better to talk in my office instead of the elevator."

The older man gestured for Tim to go ahead and lead the way into a different hallway. A simple route Tim could probably take in his sleep.

But maybe not when Danny was piloting and had no idea what direction to take.

"Oh…that's not necessary," Danny said with every grain of nonchalance he could muster. "You can tell me here."

Bruce gave a soft hnn. Or was it more of a hng? "I insist. Some topics are private."

Batspeak? Danny's mind tried to guess again, but wondered if it was just his wistful, inner fanboy still gushing about that fun fact from Tim's life. "Then let's talk about other topics that aren't so private."

Danny was lucky that he'd gotten familiar with Tim's brand of defiance because it didn't seem to raise any red flags with his dad.

"Alright. Let's start with your sleeping schedule," Bruce stated simply.

"What, like I'm 10?" Danny asked with an indignant scowl to keep the performance. "Fine, I'll cancel my call, go to sleep, and you can call me in like… four hours when I'm back being myself."

Bruce placed a hand on Tim's shoulder before Danny could reach for the elevator button again. "I know something's wrong."

Danny internally panicked. Had the man noticed something? Sure, Danny hadn't done his best Tim impersonation with so little time to prepare, and he knew Batman was paranoid, and that they'd already faced all sorts of impostors in the past and—

Ok. Yeah, the gig was probably up.

It hadn't been a bad run, and Tim at least got two more hours of sleep than originally planned.

Bruce turned Tim to face him, now both of his massive hands on Tim's shoulders, keeping him trapped. "You never agree to go to sleep that easily. Lucius said that you seemed disconnected today. Almost…dismissive."

Oh. If the disconnect was that obvious despite his very specific knowledge about the project, then Danny had messed up monumentally in his delivery. Lucius probably noticed, then called Bruce, and then they just waited for Tim to say or do the wrong thing, didn't they?

He braced himself for the accusation, keeping Tim's expression as neutral as he could.

But instead of the intimidating bat-glare, Bruce frowned. "Do you…want to talk about it?"

Danny arched Tim's eyebrow in confusion. "What?"

Bruce pursed his lips and left only one hand on Tim's shoulder, steering him to a different hallway that ended in a large door—ah, probably big enough to be the CEO's office, Danny thought, as he recalled the titles in his mental Chief Operating Alphabet.

The older man took a slow stride by Danny's side. "I've seen you do this before—spreading yourself too thin when you're taking too much on your shoulders. And I worry that you're not giving yourself a minute to breathe."

Relief flooded Tim's muscles with every step Danny took towards the large door at the end. "I'm fine, seriously."

Bruce held the door open once they reached it and shook his head. "I'll believe it when you don't look like you'll crawl out of your skin if you stay here any longer."

Danny couldn't help it and laughed. He realized by the second huff of air that the cadence was probably off, but the irony was so good and unexpected. If only Bruce knew…

"I didn't think my comment was that amusing," Bruce replied as he closed the door behind them.

That made Danny sober up and duck his head a little in embarrassment. He mumbled an apology as he took stock of the huge office and the reality of the situation: Bruce Wayne was standing with cautious distance from him, brows furrowed, no need for pretenses while they were in the private office—an impressive office with a privileged view of Gotham from its tallest building.

Right.

Danny was not here as the secret boyfriend with biting remarks. Bruce was probably expecting a son he hadn't talked to in ages, from what Danny could recall. And while Danny knew he shouldn't be here, in Tim's place, he owed it to Tim to not make the relationship with his dad more complicated by making his family worry.

With a wary exhale, Danny turned to find somewhere to sit. He noticed a couch opposite to Bruce's desk and walked towards it. He was about to just plop down when he remembered Tim would sit differently, closer to the edge of his seat, forearms on his knees, hands intertwined. Like a Bat ready to bounce into action.

Bruce followed and sat on a smaller chair in front of him.

Danny looked up. "I meant it when I said that I'm not in the right headspace for this conversation," he said softly. "But I also don't want anyone to be alarmed about me."

"That sounds reasonable," Bruce replied, with a voice that felt more authentic than the obnoxious CEO or the front-page father. "And I can respect if you don't want to share anything about your personal life. But if there's something affecting you, I'd like to know. Especially when you start falling into old patterns."

"Old patterns?" Danny asked despite himself. He knew repeating words as questions was one of Tim's many inherited quirks from being a Bat.

Bruce shook his head, apparently in disbelief. "Like avoiding the cave when possible, keeping yourself busy with different projects, taking on more missions without pause, not sleeping enough, turning down invitations to the manor—Alfred still can't believe you turned down your favorite meal last week—"

"Whoa, what?" Danny interrupted with alarm.

Even Danny knew about Alfred's delicious cooking, from the few times Tim had brought some to their home.

He tried to gather his thoughts and the picture this painted wasn’t a good one. Hadn't Tim said he was busy with a case last week? It was right after Danny started noticing the change in Tim's sleeping patterns, or lack thereof. The fact that Danny hadn't known this spoke volumes about why Tim had been so stressed: he was carrying it all by himself.

But…was Tim really avoiding his family with more work?

Bruce gave him a curious glance. "You're not gaslighting your way out of these facts."

Danny wanted to protest, but remembered whose body he was in and tried to keep his cool. "Look, I've been busy with cases," which was true, "I'm sorry if it gave off the wrong impression." That was honest enough while deflecting, right?

"The point is," Bruce continued, sitting closer to his son, "You tend to keep yourself busy when you're avoiding something important."

Something important.

And it suddenly clicked. The times that Danny and Tim had recently discussed telling the Waynes about their relationship. Danny had never wanted to pressure Tim, but he knew how heavy some secrets could feel over time. And with their relationship growing more serious, Danny reasoned it was only a matter of time for a family of bat-grade detectives to figure it out. But that Tim could come out to reveal it on his terms and not theirs.

Danny squirmed in his seat and realized this was definitely not the kind of topic he could just circle his way back later for Tim to handle. He needed to leave ASAP and find a way to talk it out with Tim when he was better rested. "I thought we were just brushing over topics, not having this kind of deep conversation."

Bruce's smile was warm and patient. It reminded Danny of the stories he heard growing up about Batman being fierce against criminals but gentle with people in need.

Guilt wormed its way in Danny's gut, realizing he had misread the man's concern.

"I'm not trying to push you into a corner," Mr. Wayne said softly. "But I'm trying to offer support if you need it. You can't keep doing this alone."

Despite himself, Danny couldn't resist the immediate mumbled response. "Who said I was doing this alone?"

Time seemed to freeze as Danny caught up with his mistake the moment the words finished coming out of his lips.

Ah, shit…

How could Danny possibly save this? Quick banter was second nature to him, and he was well-versed in Lame Excuses 101 since freshman year. But this could have actual consequences that could hurt the guy he loved if Danny wasn't careful.

Bruce's surprised stare felt piercing with questions. Danny knew he had to backpedal. "I mean…"

Tim was the one who wanted to talk to his family about the important step he took by moving in with his boyfriend. Months ago, in fact. It wasn't Danny's place to reveal their relationship. A simple deflection wouldn't work, which might have been why Tim was more avoidant and had been so stressed going through the perfect way to share the news with his family.

Double shit…

Danny took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, Tim's muscle memory coming through in the simple gesture. "Look, I really don't want to get into this right now. I promise I've been trying to do better. This is just an important case I'm so close to cracking—"

“Tim…” Bruce tried to interrupt, but Danny didn't want to leave any opening.

“—And I get it, really," Danny plowed on, standing up to start inching towards the exit. "Thanks for the concern and all, but I’m sure this is something we can discuss later when I’m not dead on my feet.”

The room fell silent with the heavy weight of Batman's stare. Danny felt the shift from concerned father to calculating strategist in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment.

Bruce nodded and stood in front of Danny. “There’s something else, before you find a hundred ways to avoid me.”

If only he knew that, while Danny had already thought about a hundred ways to avoid Bruce, Tim would probably think of a thousand more after this whole mess.

But even if Danny had learned a bit more about Tim's family from a different perspective, it still didn't change one key fact that Bruce wasn't taking into consideration…

Danny tried a small smile to defuse the tension with a half-hearted jab. “Are you sure it wasn’t the other way around?”

The man's brow furrowed, and Danny could almost see in real time as the gears clicked into place. He hoped Bruce would realize how little he called Tim outside of a mission, to name one out of a thousand things Danny had noticed during his time living with Tim.

Bruce sighed tiredly. “You’re right. I should’ve reached out sooner. But the fact that I didn’t even know where to find you made me realize how much I’ve been missing out.”

Something in Danny's chest felt like a pang of hurt mixed with guilt that didn't feel like his own. Danny had always thought Tim's dad hadn't visited him to keep some respectful distance from the adults his kids had grown to be. But that every bat knew by osmosis everyone else's whereabouts in case there was a crisis, as it often happened in Gotham.

But looking at Bruce Wayne standing in front of him, it didn't fit the same image Danny had painted from Tim's stories. From how lonely and independent Tim carried himself, it reminded Danny of so many tells he could associate with his own upbringing while his parents worked restlessly down in the lab.

“What, you mean you really don’t know where I live?” Danny asked with genuine curiosity, adding a slightly teasing tone. "I thought you were the world's greatest detective."

That broke some of the tension, bringing a chuckle out of Mr. Wayne. “Touché. But you were always good at covering your tracks.”

Danny's grin turned more playful, probably not too different from Tim's all-knowing smirk. "Well, I guess I'm just like a ghost, sometimes."

And maybe Danny was too used to joking about his half-dead status that he never stopped to think how concerning it might sound to others out of context. He just hoped Bruce didn't get the wrong idea about Tim's mental health.

Bruce's expression grew more concerned, which squashed any hopes of not raising any red flags on Tim's mental health. Before Mr. Wayne could spiral and voice another deeply private comment meant for Tim, Danny spoke first.

"So, yeah, anyway…mind if we, uh, table this conversation for later?" He adjusted the bag hanging over his shoulder and pointed towards the door as he took a step farther away from Batman's imminent interrogation. "Maybe when I'm not—"

"Your partner," Bruce suddenly stated, voice firmer as he moved past his brief stupor.

Danny froze in place.

Oh no… please don't go there, please don't go there, please…

Bruce took a step closer to his son, the mask of angsty father figure gone. Danny felt Tim's heart rate increase and belatedly realized his mouth was slightly open in surprise, eyes probably blown wider than he intended. He needed to calm down before he stumbled over his words again, but a part of him couldn't relax when he felt something stirring at the back of his head. Like a thought almost within reach but still lost in the haze.

He couldn't form any words.

At the lack of response, Bruce continued. "Is he taking good care of you?"

Danny's gut churned at the question. A trick question, he knew. Bruce had no proof that Tim had a romantic partner or someone with such a close connection to take care of him. Danny really did mess up saying more than he should about not being alone, hadn't he?

No, he had to salvage this, somehow.

Danny shrugged in his best impression of a casual Tim who could actually lie himself out of tough situations. "My business partner? Sure, he takes care of our project's finances. It's…" he tried to ignore the anxiety brewing underneath his skin, focusing instead on recalling Tim's exact words whenever he talked to Lucius about the project, "an entrepreneurial opportunity. Are we done now?"

Bruce shot him a knowing smirk. "Ah. A business partner, then. Nothing else I should know about?"

Danny was really, really so dead.

He couldn't do this. This was Tim's revelation. Tim's terms. Tim's family. Tim's miscommunication with his father.

The nagging feeling at the back of Danny's head became stronger, like a pull warning him he was about to crash from the overwhelming tension. He inched a step away from Bruce, almost bumping against the small table next to the couch. "I really, really can't have this conversation right—"

White noise filled Danny's head as his words drowned in a hiss of static that clouded his entire vision. His eyes—Tim's eyes, suddenly cleared and blinked without his input.

"What the fuck?" Danny heard himself gasp under his breath.

No, not himself, he realized in his dizziness. It was Tim's voice with Tim's inflection.

Tim was awake.

Danny felt trapped now, observing the scene unfold, struggling with the anxiety brought by the lack of control.

This had never happened before. Not that Danny had overshadowed many people in his years as Phantom, but he recalled the experience well enough to remember that the host usually remained unconscious, and he was never forced to take the backseat. In any case, he should've been pushed out of Tim's body.

Of course, he hadn't tried it with someone trained to fight off mind control and other external factors. Or with someone who had been desperately trying to keep Danny hidden from the scrutiny of the Bat-family. Had Tim really gotten Danny stuck out of anxiety?

Danny didn't know whether to feel touched or panicked.

Stuck only as a spectator, he noticed how Tim glanced to check himself, hands touching his chest, his arms, his head, and pressing his eyes shut to dissipate any lingering dizziness. His nerves felt fried with tension, but he was apparently doing his best to recover. Oh, no… he was causing Tim a well-rested panic attack, wasn't he?

"Tim?" Bruce spoke with concern, but Danny could see his defensive stance, preparing for a threat after whatever had happened to his son.

Tim turned around the room, as if looking for something. Danny, probably.

Knowing Danny's luck, he figured he couldn't just walk out of Tim's body without making things worse, especially since he felt something restricting him from taking any control, trying to send him to the darkest confines of Tim's mind.

"I…sorry, I think I dissociated," Tim replied, but Danny could still taste the lie in his words. He was grateful that at least his boyfriend was much more competent at thinking on his feet.

Bruce, still processing the situation despite the Bat-mask Danny could now start to see, reached out to steer Tim back to the couch. "You should sit down."

But Tim was still wired with tension and probably fueled by Danny's anxiety over the whole being stuck situation. When Bruce's hand got hold of his shoulder, a spike of fear and a cold tingling sensation filled Tim's body from head to toe and—

"Oof!" Danny huffed as the air was knocked out of his lungs from hitting some hard surface.

He blinked as he recovered his breath, noticing he was sprawled on the floor and staring at two figures standing over him: Bruce with his inquisitive scowl and Tim with his wide-eyed shock.

Danny's mouth opened and closed, probably looking like a fish. He belatedly realized he was in human form, which might have made the whole scene uncanny to watch. Just…some random guy falling out of thin air next to Tim, and looking very much out of place in a corporate office wearing jeans and a hoodie.

"Uhhhh…" Danny began to look for the right words, but felt sluggish and dizzy.

He suddenly noticed his boyfriend's back covering his view of Bruce. Oh, he was acting as a shield between them.

"B, wait…I can explain," Tim valiantly defended, his voice much more awake and firm than mere seconds ago.

Danny remained frozen on the floor, not wanting to make any movement that could be perceived as hostile to the vigilante preparing for battle mode.

B—as apparently Tim usually called Bruce—made some kind of gesture with his eyes that was apparently enough to make Tim sigh tiredly. No wonder they grew used to not talking… "I'm okay, I'm not compromised, but—" Tim paused to run a hand through his hair. "Fuck, how do I explain this?"

Danny cleared his throat and got Tim and Bruce's attention. "Is it okay if we sit down and talk calmly about this?"

Tim, who still looked shaken from the situation, turned completely around to help Danny get up. Once both stood in front of each other, they exchanged a silent "are you okay?" / "a bit overwhelmed, you?" / "same" / "oof", before they both looked back at Bruce expectantly.

Bruce remained tense, muscles locked in a posture that looked more like a fierce creature ready to tackle an enemy, and narrowed his eyes on Danny. "I've been talking with you the whole time, haven't I?"

"Mr. Wayne," Danny said, and felt odd voicing the title after not knowing how to address the man during this whole mess. "I'm really, really sorry. I was just trying to give Tim a break."

Tim's turned to Danny with widened eyes (at least the dark circles under them looked healthier…) "Why would you follow Bruce to his office?"

Danny's shoulders hitched, feeling way out of depth as he tried to fully recover from the quick turn of events. "Look, I panicked, okay? I thought he'd be suspicious if I didn't go with him. I tried to deflect, really."

Tim rubbed between his eyes. "Oh, no, Danny…"

The tone in his voice made Danny's heart clench, realizing just how much this put his boyfriend in the position he'd been avoiding in the past few weeks, according to Bruce.

If Danny had a way to revert this, either asking some ancient entity like Clockwork for some slight timeline change, or asking one of the Flashes for a favor without breaking the multiverse, he'd do anything to keep the unintended stress off Tim's shoulders.

Without much hesitation, he rubbed gentle circles on Tim's back.

The gesture changed Bruce's expression entirely into an 'aha' moment, as he pointed between Tim and Danny. "Danny as in Daniel Fenton? The partner?"

Danny froze in place, feeling like a bug under Batman's magnifying glass. The fact that Bruce already knew his name meant he probably knew more than he was letting on. Or had Lucius shared the name during his debrief with Bruce?

Had he also suspected the type of partnership Tim and Danny had beyond business projects?

Tim, on the other hand, wasn't panicking. He began to laugh. A small trickle of chuckles that later led to a bigger guffaw. "Oh, my god… I can't believe this is how you find out."

Tim sat down on the couch and let his head drop into his hands, his laughter muffled between his fingers. Danny supposed that was one way to see him more relaxed than he had been in the last few weeks. Had he known he was that worried about talking to his family…

But, from Bruce's gentle look, maybe he was worrying more than necessary.

Mr. Wayne sat next to Tim and patted his upper back. "So that's why you've been more stressed than usual."

Tim's laughter died, and he turned with a mortified expression to look at Danny. "You told him I was stressed?"

Danny raised his hands in a surrender gesture. "Actually…he kinda pieced that part together on his own."

Tim stared questioningly at Danny and then at Bruce. Maybe Danny's skepticism had left a bit of a temporary imprint, but then he remembered his boyfriend really was just like that…

Before Tim could protest. Danny inched closer towards the door, as he had initially intended while driving someone else's body. "Maybe…you two could catch up, and then we can properly meet? Maybe you can figure some things out before?"

Both Waynes focused on Danny and exchanged A Look™. Batspeak! Danny cheerfully identified at last.

Mr. Wayne gave him a soft hn without losing his over-protective glare. "I'm not okay with you leaving this office without knowing what exactly happened here."

Danny crossed his arms over his chest and shot the man a look. "Didn't you want your son to get some rest? This was just an unconventional way of pulling it off."

Tim turned to Bruce and rolled his eyes. "Protocol BZ-L8-9. I'm not compromised. He's clear." He hesitated for a moment as he looked at the floor and then at Danny. "He's definitely safe. I trust him with my soul."

The warmth in Danny's chest, contrasting his usual cold core, only reminded Danny just how gone for Tim he really was.

He was so lost, smiling like a puppy in love, that he was almost startled when Mr. Wayne spoke. "I still want a full debrief and—"

"Mr. Wayne?" Danny interrupted and got the man's attention. "Don't you want to talk to your son about, you know, everything else first?"

Bruce shared a meaningful look with Danny, a silent vow of understanding between them. Bruce nodded once and took a deep breath. "Please don't go far from the office. We're not done."

Danny tried to keep his cool with a smile. "Sure, I'll be close. I can go haunt Lucius—" Tim shot him a look of disbelief. "Kidding! Wrong choice of words and bad timing. I'll just…" he pointed both thumbs towards the door.

Despite Bruce's initial suspicions, he seemed more open to letting Danny go. Unless he already had security protocols active in the whole building that Danny had not been immediately aware of.

"Nice sort of meeting you, Mr. Wayne," Danny smiled sheepishly at the man.

Tim, on the other hand, seemed at a loss, disbelief clear on his face. Danny shot him a reassuring smile, hoping he could convey how much Tim needed to just let everything out.

Danny gave them a soft nod before leaving the office and shutting the door behind him. Some secrets seemed more pressing than others.

…And maybe Danny just needed to shake off the stress of being under Batman's scrutiny before he got interrogated about invading his son's body.