Work Text:
Danny had been working as a barista in a coffee shop in Gotham for a few weeks now. He didn’t necessarily hate the job, but he didn’t really like it either.
It was mostly just to keep suspicion off him for how he’s getting money for rent (it was mostly money he had from being High King of the Infinite Realms, but he didn’t want that advertised and didn’t want to be on the Bats radar so soon), so he was stuck with the job for now. It was also because it wasn’t too bad combined with his college schedule.
Which meant he usually worked nights. Combined with his homework, he wasn’t getting a whole lot of sleep, but that wasn’t really any different from back in Amity. At least here he didn’t have to fight ghosts every few hours. And he’d learned how to use ectoplasm to help his energy levels when he wasn’t able to get enough sleep. He’d also been busy establishing Gotham as a new Haunt for him so he could indulge in his Protection Obsession here, too. He couldn’t really indulge in his Space Obsession a whole lot with how hard it was to see the stars clearly, if at all, here.
Currently, he was working another night shift and was using some of the quiet time to do some of his homework. He had a test tomorrow for his engineering intro class and while he’d always been good at STEM classes, he wanted to study to make sure he passed. He didn’t want to have to retake any of his college classes. He nearly had to redo his freshman year in high school and he didn’t want a repeat of that. He also had some English homework that he was working on when taking breaks from studying. The coffee shop wasn’t overly busy after a certain time because only those who were desperate or crazy were out in Gotham at that time. Danny was a special category as he had powers that made any of the threats here void in regards to Danny. Except for the Joker.
Danny fucking hates clowns and if he ever comes across Joker, it’ll be on sight.
Sighing, he looked up from his textbook and decided to use some of the time to do some of the work to close up. It was nearing closing and since nobody was here, it was the perfect time to do some of it.
Like mopping. He needed to mop the floors. He couldn’t do everywhere yet since the chairs needed to be on top of the tables for that, but there were some areas of the place he could do.
As he mopped the floor, he was mentally going through what he’d been studying for the test. Luckily, the information was pretty easy for Danny to understand and remember, so he was pretty sure he’d pass easily.
He was so distracted he didn’t notice that someone else had entered the shop.
(Nevermind his enhanced hearing not picking up on the person either)
The presence of someone else in the shop became apparent to Danny only when he turned around and Red Hood was right there nearly in his face and the sudden appearance of the anti-hero caused Danny to jump back, directly onto the slippery tile. He, of course, slipped and flailed, fully prepared to fall flat on his ass. The only reason that didn’t happen was because Red Hood surged forward and caught him around the waist.
His brain stopped working for the few moments that Red Hood held onto his waist while he found his footing and he could feel the heat of his blush as it spread across his cheeks and down his neck.
He really had a thing for people who could easily lift him or beat him up. His track record with exes showed they could all whoop his ass, and sometimes they already did that by the time they started dating.
“You good?” Red Hood asked once Danny was firmly back on his feet, Red Hood’s hands hovering for a few moments in case Danny slipped on the wet floor again. Danny felt himself nod.
“Yeah, yeah I’m good. You just startled me is all. I didn’t hear anybody come in,” Danny replied, moving away from the wet floor and putting the mop in the bucket for later while he moved back over to the counter to take Red Hood’s order. That is, assuming that’s why Red Hood was here in the first place. Though if he was here to question Danny it wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense for him to wait until Danny noticed him and then catch him so he didn’t fall on his ass.
There was what was probably a wince, though the voice distortion of the helmet made it a garbled mess that was hard to figure out.
“Sorry about that. I tend to forget that not everybody is used to how quiet the Bats can be.”
“So… what can I get you? You are here to order coffee, right?”
Red Hood chuckled a little and Danny felt his heart and core both stutter at the sound.
“Yeah, I’m here to order something.”
Red Hood gave Danny his order, which had their limit of espresso shots in it, and Danny got to work making it. As he did, he made some small talk with the man to help fill the awkward silence and ‘build a relationship with the customer’ like his boss wanted.
“So, you usually get an espresso filled coffee during patrol?” Danny asked, looking at Red Hood out of the corner of his eye. Red Hood snorted.
“Nah, I’m grabbing the coffee for my sleep deprived little brother. I wouldn’t drink this monstrosity,” he replied, arms crossed. Danny chuckled at the reply.
“That’s fair. I only drink something like this when I’ve missed way too much sleep and need to study or take a test or something.”
“You in college?”
“Yeah, first semester. Aerospace engineering major.”
Red Hood let out a low whistle. “Damn. So you’re hella smart.”
Danny shrugged a little after telling Red Hood and price and started on the drink after he’d paid. “Eh, maybe with science and stuff. I’m not all that great with English though.”
Red Hood seemed to stand up a bit straighter at that. “Oh?”
“Yeah, I’m just not too great with interpreting text and stuff. Wasn’t that good with it in high school, either.”
“If you need some help, I’m pretty good at it.”
Danny paused making the drink to turn and look at Red Hood with a raised eyebrow, a little surprised by the offer. He turned back to continue making the drink before answering.
“No offense, but why would you help me with my homework? Don’t you have more important things to do like protecting Crime Alley and fighting crime? I’m just a tired college student struggling with one class.”
Red Hood took a moment to respond as Danny was finishing the drink.
“I mean, I could take a night off every now and then and we could always meet up before patrol.”
He almost sounded… bashful? Danny really wished he could see Red Hood’s face just to see if he was blushing and have an easier time trying to figure out what Red Hood might be feeling. Danny definitely was blushing just a little bit at this. The only other people who cared about helping him were his sister and Mr. Lancer. Now he had his favorite Bat, who could easily lift him, offering to help him.
“Hm, I’d be alright with that. Here’s the drink you ordered,” Danny handed him the cup and took out a sticky note, writing his number on it, “and here’s my number. Text me later and we can arrange when to meet up.”
Red Hood thanked him, nodded, and left the shop. Danny finished closing up not too much longer later. He got a text from Red Hood right before he went to bed and they set up a time to meet up.
~~~~
Red Hood made the most recent assignment Danny had actually make sense. The professor had explained, but not in a way that Danny fully understood. That was about par for the course for him. But when he showed it to Red Hood, he explained it in terms that made it click in Danny’s head.
He’d given Red Hood his address for them to meet (Red Hood could probably find his address anyway if he wanted it so Danny didn’t really blink at sending it to him. Also he was down bad for the vigilante and his brain wasn’t fully operating) and the two of them were sitting on his couch. Red Hood had even taken his helmet off, revealing that he was wearing a fucking domino mask underneath for extra identity protection. And revealing soft looking black hair with a white stripe through it and possibly the most attractive face Danny had ever seen. He was lucky he didn’t start drooling or completely freeze up over that revelation.
Though he was pretty sure he saw Red Hood smirk a little when he turned his head away, which meant that he probably noticed Danny admiring his face.
“Ok, I actually understand what the fuck I’m supposed to do now. Thank you because I was pretty sure I was gonna fail and this is a pretty big part of my grade,” Danny told Red Hood, smiling. Red Hood smiled back.
“No problem. To most people’s surprise, English is my forte. If you need help with anything else for that class, let me know. Or if you’d like to, I don’t know, go on a date?”
Danny looked at Red Hood, eyes wide in shock. He didn’t think Red Hood had a thing for him.
Holy shit.
“Are-are you asking me out?” Danny asked, still in shock and wanting to make sure he wasn’t misunderstanding something. If he agreed to a date only to find out he misunderstood, he was pretty sure he’d leave for the Infinite Realms and never return out of sheer embarrassment.
Red Hood just nodded. “Yeah, I am. You’re damn cute, snarky as hell, and smart. And before you try to argue that, just because you have trouble with some classes doesn’t mean you’re stupid. You’re a fucking engineering major and think those classes are easy, so you’re smart. You could probably give Red Robin a run for his money.”
Danny felt his face heat up with what was likely a dark red blush. His neck heated up too, and he could tell Red Hood saw based on the smirk he was wearing. It took Danny a couple moments to reboot his brain enough to respond.
“Uh-uhm yes! I’d love to go on a date with you. I just- you’re sure you want to date me specifically?”
In lieu of a verbal answer, Red Hood placed a hand on the back of Danny’s head and leaned in, pressing their lips together and Danny’s mind went blissfully blank for the few moments that the kiss lasted. Red Hood pulled back, leaving Danny dazed and wanting more.
“That should tell you whether or not I’m sure,” Red Hood said, to which Danny frantically nodded, face and neck still aflame. Red Hood grinned. “Great. I’ll text you about details. And you don’t mind not knowing my identity?”
Danny shook his head. “No, I understand. There was a vigilante in my hometown who nearly nobody knew the identity of. I was one of the few who did, so I know why it’s important to make sure you can trust whoever you tell.”
Red Hood kissed him on the cheek and Danny was pretty sure he was getting too overheated for his ice core to handle. Even if he was in human form right now. Danny walked him to the door not too long after, with the vigilante quickly pecking him on the lips before putting on his helmet and leaving.
Danny was still beet red when he answered the weekly video call with his sister and friends, and they immediately started questioning him.
The dopey grin on his face stuck around for hours, too.