Work Text:
Danny Fenton looked up at the building his job interview was about to go down in and tried to look as confident and cool as he totally wasn’t feeling. He muttered to himself, “You got this. It’s just ghost fighting without the breaking things and hitting people.”
The Grayson Gymnastics Institute did not respond, which Danny appreciated. Talking buildings seemed like a ghost problem and Danny did not want that, no thank you. He wanted a break from the whole everything that was Amity Park. And what better place than Gotham City’s own Gotham City: Blüdhaven? The odds of accidentally running into anyone he knew were so minuscule they were approaching zero and the only people that’d bother him here would be entirely unable to hurt a ghost, half or full. And! There was even a local cape-less cape so Danny could just let that guy deal with any actual problems that came up! He could finally get more than two consecutive hours of sleep at a time.
Danny wasn’t totally untrained or anything, and he was mature enough to recognize a week spent mind controlled back as a teen was not enough time to learn anything at all. He had gotten into parkour and then there had been a whole thing with a gymnastics ghost and, well. That was that, really. True, he didn’t really need a job. If he really needed something he could either ask Sam for help or brace himself and ask his parents, but it’d be nice to have some sort of routine to follow, and gymnastics coach seemed like a perfect choice. Flexible (hah!) hours and a nice workout every day. Or maybe it wasn’t coach but just instructor? Teacher? Whatever, he hadn’t even gotten the job yet, don’t count your fish before they hatch and all that.
Danny took a steadying breath and headed inside.
Dick Grayson, the owner, was the guy interviewing him. Danny should maybe have expected this, but he’d thought the actual owner would have more important things to do than interview someone, like, maybe shooting endangered animals or yachting or scheming to take over the world or something. Danny might be sort of oblivious to many things, but he knew Dick Grayson was more than incredibly, impossibly hot. He was also crazy rich. If the man wasn’t so dang hot Danny could better appreciate the not a fruitloop behavior of working. But despite seeing pictures of the man Danny was not prepared. Dick’s hair was long and shiny and black. And even a little bit curly, well, wavy more than curly but not straight. Like Danny. Who was about to make this weird and get fired immediately for being a creep by openly drooling over the biggest boss in the place.
“Hey Danny, call me Dick, pleasure to meet you!” Dick Grayson said with a smile that on a screen or on paper was nice but in person was actually blinding. It was almost enough to distract from the way his leotard did nothing to hide the way his pecs freaking bounced with his steps. Danny’s mouth went dry and he swallowed.
“Hi! I’m Danny!” Danny blurted out like an idiot. Then laughed and went on, “I mean, obviously you know that. Sorry!”
Dick’s smile stayed bright and his little chuckle was so cute. This was some kind of cosmic punishment, wasn’t it? Dick said, “Don’t worry about it. You ready to give me a demo or…?”
“Y-yeah! Just let me, I gotta warm up,” Danny said like a moron. Ancients he was going to be kicked out before he even got a chance to show Dick he knew his stuff!
“Yeah, of course! Here, here,” Dick ushered him over to a section against the wall with a bench and sink and cabinet. There was no mirror. Danny dropped his duffel of clean clothes on the bench, toed off his shoes and started stretching.
Dick kept talking, going over what Danny had put down in his resume while Danny warmed up. Danny at least managed to get more coherent and less stupid answers out. He was proud of that, even if it was because he had his eyes either closed on focused on the equipment. There were rings, which was a big duh. Danny had thought he’d been braced for how handsome Dick Grayson was, but really now, the man should come with a warning or something. The man was also good at small talk, which did make Danny wonder where he picked it up. Small talk was not a big city thing, after all. But it was helping Danny settle so it was nice.
Tempting as it was to rush through his warm up Danny was well aware he was not trying out for a team but to be a teacher. He made sure to run through his full routine before taking a break for some water and dusting his wrapped hands with chalk.
“Alright, I’m ready.” Danny said with as much confidence as he could. Dick Grayson was an incredible gymnast and Danny had managed not to think about that yet but of course his brain immediately thought about how weak Danny’s own forms were in comparison and had to force himself to ignore the anxious urge to run away. That was ridiculous.
Dick was on his phone making sure the camera feeds were clear, because of course Dick Grayson had a permanent recording setup. Danny should have already figured he would. You didn’t stay as good as he without reviewing your performances for flaws after all.
“Alrighty, you’re good to go!” Dick said with a thumbs up and grin.
Danny went.