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Danny let out a snarl as he flew through the floors of the apartment, chasing after the goddamn demon that had just barely managed to slip from his grasp. He had been hunting the fucker across three different dimensions and twenty different cities and he was getting sick and tired of how long the chase was taking.
He just wanted nothing more than to get back to his house and couch rot. But no, a demon just had to go on a rampage and now Danny was stuck dealing with the consequences of those actions.
He blew out a thin stream of ice, hoping it would freeze the thing in its tracks and let out a snarl when the bastard missed it. He sped up, feeling his fists suddenly start to burn. Phantom burst through the roof of the building and spotted the shadowy demon he had been chasing slink off the side of the building.
“You!” He shouted before running across the roof top and jumping over the side. When he caught the bastard, he wasn’t just going to return it to its dimension, he was going to fucking beat the shit out of it. The thing was a chaos demon and had done nothing but leave chaos and wreckage in its wake and Danny had been stuck fixing all its mistakes for Clockwork and he was now at his wits end.
He had managed to chase him back into his home dimension, hell, they were even close to Danny’s new home in Gotham City, as he had chased the fucker into Bludhaven. But it had been after days and hours of chasing and he was tired god damn it.
“Mother fucker!” Danny shouted, letting out a groan as a force suddenly hit him full on, arms wrapped around him and he was yanked into the air.
“It’s okay, I’ve got you,” a voice said and Danny let out a sigh as he recognized the familiar blue bird. They suddenly landed on a balcony on the sky scraper and Danny crossed his arms over his chest and scowled as Nightwing set him down. “Listen, I don’t know what’s going on in your life, but I promise you, you have so much to live for.”
Danny blinked at the man, his brain slowly catching up. He unfolded his arms as he looked up at the vigilante.
“Are you… trying to convince me to not kill myself?” He asked, tilting his head to the side. Nightwing took a step back.
“Well, yes. I just saw you jump off of that building and—”
“First off, Dude, look at me. Do I look human to you?” Danny asked, motioning to himself. He was a ghost, dammit. He was glowing and had green skin. And he was using powers. “Second, I wasn’t trying to fucking kill myself dude. I was chasing my perp and you made me lose him! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been chasing him?” He demanded.
“It’s been fucking days, Man! I haven’t slept in nearly a week, I haven’t eaten, I haven’t taken a break cleaning up that fucker’s mess and now I have to deal with some fucking vigilante thinking he’s being valiant by saving me from killing myself? Newsflash dude, I’m already dead!” Danny shouted, throwing his arms in the air.
Nightwing stared at him in surprise. “You’re not human.”
“That’s what you got from all this?” Danny asked incredulously, his arms dropping to his side.
“And you weren’t trying to kill yourself?” He asked.
Danny buried his face in his hands. He was too tired to deal with this. He wanted to go home and go to sleep but he couldn’t fucking do that until he caught that stupid demon for Clockwork.
He regretted agreeing to be that bastard’s apprentice every day of his half life.
“No, I wasn’t trying to kill myself,” Danny said, his voice muffled.
“If you’re dead, why do you need to sleep, or eat?” The vigilante asked suddenly and Danny let out a sigh. He looked up at Nightwing and squinted at him.
“Are you stupid?” He asked, genuinely wondering if maybe the Nightwing guy was stupider than Danny originally thought. He had seen the vigilante throughout his years of living in Gotham now, he knew the guy helped the bats but mostly stayed in his own city for the most part, but he had heard his puns and god did they suck. Somehow they were worse than Danny’s which was saying something.
“I take offense to that,” Nightwing said with a scoff. Danny let out a groan, the exhaustion was starting to kick in. The days of no sleep and no eating had him feeling weak. The moment he stopped it was as if it all hit him.
“I’m too tired for this,” Danny said with a sigh before he looked back at the vigilante. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is I’ve been chasing that guy for a week now and I’m exhausted.”
“Well, whatever you were chasing is long gone, man,” Nightwing said, waving his hands around. Danny’s shoulders drooped.
“Yeah, he is.” Danny rubbed his face tiredly. “I just need to get back to Gotham and go to sleep before I try again.”
“You live in Gotham—er well exist?”
Danny shuddered as energy all but seeped out of him. Fuck he was running out of energy and he was running out fast now that he had slowed down. He felt his powers waver slightly and held onto his stomach as he felt his form start to slip from him.
It was an unfortunate part of spending such long amounts of time using his power without slowing down to rest or eat. He was exhausted. He had a fridge full of ectoplasm at home and he needed some desperately.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Nightwing asked, grabbing Danny’s shoulder to keep him from swaying.
“Just tired,” he grumbled. “Look, I need to get going. Thanks for keeping me from killing myself, I guess.”
Danny stepped away from Nightwing and let out a grunt as he stumbled, his ghost form falling completely as his stomach let out a painful growl.
“Fuck,” he groaned, resting his head to the ground.
“Oh fuck,” Nightwing whispered. “What is that on the back of your hand?”
Danny furrowed his brow. “What?” He asked, feeling his head start to spin. He looked down. “My soulmark?”
“Is it circus peanuts and ice?” Nightwing asked, his voice faint. Danny stilled, trying not to focus on how utterly tired and starving he suddenly was.
“Yes?” He said slowly. Nightwing carefully lifted him up and looked at him, his eyes wide underneath the domino mask. Danny squinted in confusion when Nightwing pulled off his glove and showed a matching soul mark on his hand.
“I always wondered about the ice crystals,” Nightwing said with a small smile.
“The circus peanuts were pretty weird,” Danny admitted and winced. “Listen, it’s cool that we’re soulmates, and I guess it makes it even sweeter that my soulmate was trying to keep me from kill myself even if it was misguided. But I need food and I’m exhausted and if we stay here any longer I might collapse.”
Nightwing stared at him for a moment. “You’re my soulmate and you’re some kind of hero. I’m hoping?”
“Yes,” Danny said, leaning against Dick, eyes feeling heavy.
“What I’m saying is, I know a place,” Nightwing said with a small smile. “And maybe while we’re there we can talk.”
Danny gave him a soft smile. “I’d like that. I’m Danny by the way.”
Nightwing grinned, his smile was beautiful and fuck was Danny tired and this had to be the worst way to meet his soulmate. “I’m Dick. Now let’s get you out of here before you fall over dead.”
The halfa snorted. “Dead jokes. I like it.”
“You’ll hear a lot more, then,” Dick said with a laugh and Danny smiled, leaning into his soulmate. He was dead on his feet and the chaos demon got away. But at least his met his soulmate, so that was something, right?