Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Being King of an entire dimension had its perks, the new powers, meeting new (alien!) civilizations and cultures, getting an actual mentor to help him figure everything out. Those were really cool, and oftentimes it was fun to figure out the new powers with said mentor and his friends, but at the moment all Danny could think about was how much it sucked to be king of the Zone.

Why, do you ask?

The paperwork.

Pariah Dark was many things, a tyrant, a conqueror, a fearsome warlord with a look that could melt steel, but he was not a good king. Might be stating the obvious, but ruling with an iron fist does not a just king make, and the evidence was clear in the sheer amount of paperwork the old king left behind. Several filing rooms had been allocated to the pileup since the previous king was forcefully put to rest, and now…

Now it was Danny's problem.

In the three years since he defeated The Mad King, and the two since he took the throne (only part time until he’d finished his human education) the amount of files and requests and notices Danny had had to go through was mind melting, and so far it had only been the ones of most importance! He tried to keep out of the filing rooms as much as possible, partly because the royal record keeper had a system for those rooms that for the half-life of him Danny could not wrap his head around, and partly because the amount of paperwork in those rooms made him want to melt into a puddle and not reform for the next century.

The one thing currently keeping him going while at his royal desk during summer break (other than his friends and family) was his boyfriend. They had met a year and a half ago when Danny had gone to Gotham on a STEM exchange program with Gotham Academy. They started talking after some incorrect statement the teacher had made about electromagnetism that they had both pointed out. From there they had basically spent the two weeks glued to each other, bouncing ideas off one another and creating coffee induced chaos in the science lab.

By the end of the exchange they had swapped contact information and promised each other to keep in contact as much as they could with their hectic schedules, them having important rich boy stuff and Danny with highschool and ghost king work.

A week later Tim had texted asking if he was Phantom.

He responded by asking whether or not he was Red Robin.

A few explanations and it all went downhill from there, them only getting more and more comfortable with each other, texting and calling after patrolls, Danny abusing his newfound portal making power to hop over to Gotham for hangout sessions, then sleep overs, then spending weekends.

It was Tim that eventually asked him out, and Ancients dammit, he was too cute not to say yes.

It went on pretty well after that, Tim telling him about his family and their nightly activities, how he got into the whole thing himself (which Danny just had to laugh at) and all the… feuds he and his brothers have had since then.

Danny personally wanted a few words with his boyfriend's adopted family, just a few, but he respected Tim’s wish to keep their relationship a secret, with Tim explaining that if his family knew he'd never get away from them.

Right now he’d love for that to happen.

Danny was on his second week of summer vacation, and his second week of ghostly paperwork. The Observants had all but whisked him away the first day of break, and the only thing currently saving him from a lecture about staying out late is the fact that his parents don’t keep up with where he goes during the day and his late hours in the office (and sometimes a little help from Clockwork,) keeping him out until everyone was already in bed.

The observants shuffled him from meeting to desk work and back, always keeping an eye on him so he couldn’t just run off. He had no excuse (that they would take) to keep him from working his way through the stacks they deposited on his desk, and made their opinions of his “inconsistent and intolerable” working habits very well known to Danny.

Ancients, he needed a break.

And just as he thought that for the fifth time that hour (was it an hour? Time was so inconsistent in the realms,) the opportunity for a breather presented itself. Danny was halfway through his most recent stack when the door opened. Another Observant than the ones that had been keeping an eye on him had barged in, fuming about something going on at the Tribunal HQ. They screeched at each other for what must have been half an hour, talking “impossibilities” and “needing to speak to Clockwork about this” before giving him a stern “don’t you dare get up from that chair,” then racing off to do their freaky hivemind shouting match between themselves.

Needless to say Danny didn’t listen to them.

First thing to do was stretch. With the Observants breathing down his neck, Danny barely had any room to move. He felt like being back in school, having to ask for a stretch or bathroom break, not to mention the amount of grumbling from Bert, the Observant currently watching him, that Danny very quickly learned to tune out.

Lacing his fingers and lifting his arms above his head, Danny heard more than a few sickeningly satisfying pops run down his back, even a few in his neck afterwards. He did a few stretches, even sneaking in a few yoga poses Jazz had shown him before, and with each different move he felt something stretch or unstiffen, even a few more satisfying pops here and there.

Next thing on the agenda? Get the hell out of the Realms.

Specifically, to Tim’s place. The Observants would probably check Amity first when they find him gone, and he wanted as much time as he could get out of this. Tim doesn’t usually mind his impromptu visits, and even if he’s out on patrol just getting to see him when he comes back would be nice.

Even with the paperwork Danny had been finding ways to keep in contact, a missive here, a text there. Not a lot, but they were both busy, and they both knew that.

It was with great joy that Danny grabbed the folds of reality and tore, creating a tear in space big enough for him to step through to his favourtie humans home. Reasserting his heartbeat with his human form Danny found himself in the darkness of the upstairs bathroom. It made sense for the bathroom to be dark given the time, but the presence in the apartment gave him pause. The little digital clock on the bathroom shelf indicated that Tim should be on patrol by now, if not just leaving, but the human's presence was down in the living room.

“Timmy?” Danny called out into the equally dark apartment as he opened the bathroom door. A low groan emanating from where Danny could feel Tim’s presence didn’t ease his worry as Danny crept his way through the upper floor and down the stairs to find his boyfriend.

Another groan had Danny rushing down the rest of the flight of stairs, jumping the last three and turning to the living room. Shuffling behind the couch had Danny running around the corner to find Tim, in full Red Robin uniform, struggling to get up off the floor on weak legs.

“Tim!” Danny rushed over to catch a shaking Tim from collapsing again, grabbing him by the cape before pulling his human into his arms. He was pale and sweating, with the vigilantes mask crumpled as he screwed his eyes shut with nausea at the sudden altitude shift.

"Danny?" Tim groaned as he cracked one eye open. Danny was frantically checking the bird over, peeling his mask off to check his eyes, placing fingers to his neck to read his pulse, and placing the back of his hand against the human's forehead to check his temperature. Tim made a small sigh at cooled contact, and while Danny noticed he was burning up, it wasn't to a dangerous degree. Right now it just seemed as though Tim had caught a really bad cold.

"Tim, what the hell? Why are you trying to scare me to full death by trying to go tour the realms in your costume‽" Danny whisper-shouted to the vigilante in his arms, noting the bird's costume was out of place in certain spots. Did he put his costume on like this?

The bird groaned as he tried to sit up, but the grip Danny still had on his cape prevented it.

"Gotta… go, Bats called… bigg breakout a’… Arkham… nnneed to help…" With the way Tim was shaking, he couldn't help anyone, let alone leave the apartment. Another attempt at getting up had Danny sighing at his boyfriends antics, what's with these Gotham vigilantes' and their need for self sacrificing?

"Tim, you look halfway to your grave, I'm not letting you out on patrol, not like this," gently the half-ghost repositioned his grip on the human's shoulders, snaking his other arm around his knees and picking the teen up bridal-style. With another glance down he started walking, softly adding in, "how did you even get up here? A light breeze would make you crumple."

Dazedly Tim made a confused grunt, seemingly only realizing he was not, in fact, in The Nest downstairs and actually in his living room. The wrinkles between his eyebrows would be cute if he wasn't looking about as dead as Danny was.

"Wazn… this bad… before-" a dry cough wracked through his frame, causing Danny to readjust his grip slightly. "-fought Ivvy yeserday… got hit… didn think it wass 'nything to worry 'bout… till now…" he trailed off as they reached his bedroom, watching with half lidded eyes as Danny carefully opened and maneuvered them through the door and striding over to place Tim down on the bed.

As Danny started taking Tims cape from around his shoulder he grabbed Danny by the arm.

“Nnnoooo… Batz’l kill mee.. f’I don go outt…” Tim whined, trying to simultaneously push danny off and prop himself up, but his shaky arms barely held his weight and before long he was back on the bed with his cape removed.

“Tim, you look like shit,” the ghost boy replied bluntly, “you really think you'll be able to help anyone like this?”

Nothing but a soft grunt came from the bed bound bird as Danny folded up his boyfriends cape, setting it down lightly on the dresser nearby. He turned around to see his boyfriend covering his eyes with his arm… Was he crying?

“Boo? Boo what's wrong?” Walking back over he saw his boyfriend was indeed tearing up, using his arm to try and hide the damp rolling down his cheeks and sniffling softly. Danny kneeled next to the bed and took the arm, revealing Tim, crying and pouting like a child. It was so cute, Danny had to resist taking a picture.

“Bruce’ll be mad…” he heard the sick teen mumble softly. Danny had to sigh, why was Tim suddenly acting like a five year old? Was it because of what he got hit with yesterday? Tim had said there was an Arkham breakout, so people could be in danger if they didn’t have enough people to round all the villains up, but Tim couldn’t be left alone… But but if he went out he could maybe find Ivy and ask her for an antidote, but but but he couldn’t go out as Phantom because he still hadn’t been introduced to the family yet…

Ugh, this was giving him a headache.

Stewing in his own head wouldn’t do any good, Tim was supposed to be out for patrol by now. Danny absently looked around the spacious bedroom, eyes landing on nothing until he spotted the folded cape on the dresser.

He and Tim shared quite a few characteristics, height, figure, relative facial features…

A plan formed in Danny’s head as he stood up, a half assed, crazy plan, but one that just might work. Quickly he started stripping Tim of his Red Robin gear, knowing roughly how to take it off and put it on from the few times he had shadowed Tim on his patrol. He replaced the costume with a loose sleep shirt and shorts, then just as quickly stripped himself. A small gasp had him stop halfway through, turning to see Tim with clearer eyes. Tim was looking at him put on the costume. A blush crept onto Danny’s face for a reason he couldn’t figure out, but it had stalled him long enough for Tim to regain some rational speech.

“Danny… what are you doing?” Tim asked, looking absolutely and utterly confused, cute.

“What does it look like I’m doing Polaris? I’m getting Red Robin ready for patrol,” he turned back to finish putting on the costume. It fit him well, with only a few minor adjustments to his form he filled it out nicely. All zipped up and caped, he didn’t look that much different to Tim, and he spun around to show off, even giving little jazz hands as he faced Tim.

Danny couldn’t tell if the blush on the boy's face was due to the fever or the pet-name, but the calculating look was aimed at him nonetheless.

“How do I look, Starlight? Pretty similar?” Danny gave his best smile, even at the near glare his boyfriend was scrutinizing him with. He really hoped the glare was due to hazy vision and not him being mad.

“Bruce’ll find out,” Tim grumbled, but didn’t deny he looked the part.

“Only if we’re together too long. I feel like I know you well enough to act like you in front of them for a little,” he replied humorously as he applied the domino mask to his own face. It didn’t restrict his vision as much as he thought it would, and the readouts streaming into the lenses was pretty useful, if a bit distracting.

“‘Nd the hair?” Tim questioned hoarsely, looking at the mop of black locks that was too short to fall like Tim’s but too long to say he just had it cut.

That was easily fixed with Danny running his fingers through his hair, using the little trick to help show off his form changing and growing at a thought. When his hand dropped he looked like Tim, if Tim had gone through a windstorm and came out with messy hair. The mess was fixed, not entirely but enough, for Danny to look near identical with the mask on.

Another calculating look over from Tim and he seemed to pass his test.

“‘Nd… the voice?”

“A little bit of precise muscle control and I’m peachy,” Danny replied easily in Tim’s voice. Sure, he’s been told by Sam and Tucker that the voice changing was creepy, but for this?

For this it works perfectly.

Tim made a similar face to his friends when he had showed off the voice manipulation, but made a grunt of approval at the display. A nod and Danny was making another swirling green vortex to his castle, popping his head through to a hallway. Sticking an arm through Danny pulled a very startled footmen through the portal into the bedroom.

“You, you aren’t busy, are you?” He asked the footman in ghost speak.

If the ghost wasn’t startled at being pulled into the human world, they were with his lord addressing him personally.

“N-no my lord! I am here to serve!” They hastily replied with a deep bow.

“Good, I’d like you to watch over my human for a while. He’s bedridden with illness and I’m going to be taking over his duties for the night so he doesn’t get the crap beaten out of him by his boss,” Danny waved off the bow, rolling his eyes at another rejection of his order to not bow at him.

The footman looked between the bedridden human and his king in panic. “But my lord, I couldn’t possibly take care of a human! It’s been too long since I was alive for me to remember how to care for a sick mortal, and if I were to accidentally damage them my crime would surely be severe!”

Danny couldn’t stop the chuckle that came from his throat as he replied “Don’t worry, too much. I just need you to keep a water glass full and come get me if he looks like he’s getting worse.”

Danny tilted to look at Tim with a pointed glare, “you will stay in bed and sleep to get better, right Tim?”

A grumble and wave as his human turned away from him was as good enough a reply as he was going to get. So he quickly phased through to the kitchen to swipe a glass, led the footman, Markov, to the bathroom to show him how to use the tap on the sink, then he was racing across the rooftops to where the bat family usually assembles for missions.

So, maybe Danny didn’t entirely think his plan through when he first thought of it.

Why?

The bats were very intimidating up close.

Danny had made it to the rendezvous rooftop just fine, even using the grapple to propel himself across the city instead of flying like he wanted to! (He really wanted to, controlled falling with only a tiny cable to keep him from going splat? He may be self sacrificial but not suicidal.) Had to keep up the Red Robin persona, after all. By the time he had made it to the predestined rooftop the rest of the clan had already arrived and were just barely waiting for him. Barely.

“The hell were you, Replacement?” The guy in the leather jacket and death stank snapped at him. Huh, Danny thought Red Hood didn’t like working with Tim, but that question almost made it seem like the antihero was worried for him. “Dickwing here wouldn’t shut up about you not being here early, and we were the ones that had to deal with it!” Ah, so that’s what it was.

Nightwing elbowed Hood with a glare, before turning to Danny with an apologetic smile. “What he meant to say was that we were all worried when you weren’t here at the usual time, something we should know about, Timmy?”

“Nothing, really,” he replied in Tim’s voice. “I had an unexpected visitor and getting them to leave took longer than expected, that's all.”

He could feel someone’s gaze on him, from just beyond the shadows of the roof's stairway access. Danny could only imagine which more observant bat was in there watching him. Tim had mentioned one of his sisters being able to read body language fluently, he only hoped that if he kept his stance relaxed and open and not looked he’d at least be able to get through this.

“I expect a more in depth answer when I read your report, Red Robin,” the sound of gravel came from Danny’s left, and turning revealed the big Bat himself. Ancients, Danny really needed to keep calm here, Tim had said his adopted dad was intimidating, but holy crap, Batman!

With how silent the bat was he really hoped he didn’t die and become a ghost, he would be terrifying. (Or maybe he should want Batman to become a ghost? Then Tim could still see him and he’d get a fearsome new strategist.)

A smaller form rounded the imposing caped crusader, one Danny recognized instantly. It was hard not to recognize the youngest Wayne with how often his starlight complained about him.

“Drake,” Robin said as he crossed his arms.

“Brat,” Danny replied with a nod of his head.

Batman made a grunt as he turned to face the rest of the group.

“We’re splitting up to cover more ground, teams of two,” the Bat motions to the shadow and Nightwing, with Orphan stepping out of the darkness to be better addressed. “Orphan and Nightwing will be taking the west side, Robin and Spoiler-” he points to the child and the blonde in purple sitting above Orphan on the access hut roof. “-you’ll take the south. Red Robin and Red Hood-”

“If you say anywhere other than the north, old man, I swear-”

“-you’ll be taking the north,” he cuts over Hood’s rant quickly. How used to that was he? Danny could only imagine.

“I’ll be taking the southside, with Oracle on lookout. We have reports of the joker running around, if anyone spots him do not engage. Call for backup and keep a safe distance,” he turns to give what Danny thinks is a glare to Red Hood, the cowl makes it a little hard to guess.

“Are we clear?” Batman challenged, clearly expecting only a yes. A glare-off started and Danny could swear he saw sparks.

Finally, after a good five minutes, Hood relented, huffing out a “Clear,” between clenched teeth. Everyone else sounded off their confirmations as they left in different directions, with Oracle relaying sightings of various rouges through their comms.  Seems he and Hood were on the trail of the Riddler to start, with him being spotted near Gotham stadium.

With the directions given from Oracle, Danny had to use a tiny amount of flight to catch up to Red Hood, who had started his run just after the grumble to B. Seems he was trying to lose him, if the dissatisfied grunt when Danny caught up was anything to go by.

Good news, The Riddler was an easy catch, running around in the stadium underground trying to get ready for whatever hair-brained scheme he’d come up with, only to be knocked cold by a few rubber bullets to the back and bo staff to the face. There were a few bombs to dispose of, and while Danny didn’t actually know how to safely dispose of a bomb safely, he did have the ability to pocket inanimate objects into a space between spaces, and no one really needed to see the bombs he disposed of right away.

He figured he could give them to Tim to disarm and he’ll be able to give them to the police later.

Bad news, he and Red Hood split up to make sure they got all the bombs in the basement floors, making it really easy for Hood to ditch once he was done and leave Danny alone.

Coulda at least given him a heads up, so he didn’t try to wait for him while the police showed up for the weirdo in green. Guess he was on his own then.

Propelling himself off another rooftop to the northwestern port, Danny absently listened to the chatter of the other bats over the comms. They all liked making small talk, with Nightwing being the most talkative. Apparently Tim was just about as talkative as his brother, as Nightwing made a comment towards him saying something along the lines of “Tim, you good? You’re quieter than normal tonight,” and he had to spin something about how he was fine, and he was just thinking about something his guest had said before he left and left it at that.

The docks were just as haunted as he remembered, with shades and whisps floating from warehouse to warehouse aimlessly. Danny remembered a few villain hideouts around here from the cases Tim had shared with him, and it was better to be safe than sorry with this port being closest to Arkham.

Danny wasn’t finding anything immediately dangerous as he went from one corrugated roof to the next, thanking whoever staged the breakout mentally that they had decided to do it during a dry spell. He would not do well as a regular human on slick roofs, ancients only knew what would happen if Tim fell from this height just because he slipped.

A clattering noise coming from a few buildings in front of him startled him enough to stop. He was nearing the end of the docks, and the warehouses were becoming sparse enough to see the more residential buildings not too far from him. More noise and he zeroed in on the warehouse it was coming from.

One of the Joker's known hideouts.

Danny really didn’t like the situation he had just found himself in.

“Oracle,” Danny clicked on his comms, silencing whatever Nightwing was about to say. “I’m at Port Hill on the northern point, there's movement inside one of Joker’s hideouts.”

That got everyone's attention, silencing any chatter they may be having on private channels. B’s line clicked on and the low grumble practically shook Danny’s core.

“Red Robin, maintain your position, everyone else rendezvous at his position.”

Several sounds of confirmation could be heard, with eta’s coming in just after. Looks like Danny will be staying in place for a while, so he might as well plop himself down on the ledge of the roof next to the one he was watching.

He busied himself with counting the ridges of the roof as he swung his feet rhythmically. Not really focusing on anything except the weak presences of the nearby spirits as they  wandered around the port.

A shrill scream cut through his daydreaming, coming form the warehouse in front of him.

Shit, did the Joker take a hostage?

His core flared to life with protective urges, needing to make sure the origin of the scream really was someone in need, and if there really was a hostage that they could get out safely before whatever the clown had in store for them played out.

Great, this was so going to get him in trouble.

Danny clicked the comms alive once more, relaying the new information to the bats. “Just heard a scream, I think the clown might have taken a hostage.”

“Red Robin, don’t engage. We’ll be able to handle a hostage more efficiently together.”

“But B, we may not have the time to wait! He’s probably waiting for us all to come in guns blazing so he can kill them in front of us!”

“My orders are the same, do not engage,” Batman shut his comms off after that, leaving no more room to argue.

Danny turned his own comm off and growled, deep and inhuman. He couldn’t just not go and try to help. If someone was in there and Danny stayed? He didn’t want to remember the burning his core would give him in response. Making up his mind, he grinned a too wide smile as the whites of his domino lit up green.

Fuck Batman, time for some fun.

Finding a way in was easy, as the roof was lined with windows just below the overhang. They were dirty and rusted at the hinges, but gave easily when he pulled enough against one. He managed to pull one open just enough to squeeze through and drop himself onto one of the catwalks snaking through the rafters of the building.

The place itself was packed with clown themed contraband from wall to wall, some being just benign stage props and others being rather nasty looking contraptions. Danny was pretty sure he spotted an electric chair knocked over in a ball pit.

The center of the warehouse was cleared of the clutter, rounded to the main doors like some inverse stage. Strapped to a chair in the center of the clearing was a guy, maybe mid twenties, with short brown hair and gray hoodie. Poor guy must have been picked up off the street on the Clowns way here, he was gagged and wide eyed with terror.

The hostage was here, and other than looking a little scuffed up he seemed fine, but where was the Joker?

Danny crept along the catwalk silently to canvas the rest of the warehouse for the Clown, even jumping a few beams to get a better vantage. No sign of him. The probability of him going out for a smoke break or something was pretty low, but as Danny’s core was still screaming at him to get the hostage out of here, he'd rather take the chance of a trap than get the guy hurt.

When he returned to his original spot on the catwalk there was still no change to the guy in the chair, no noise other than his muffled gasps and sobs and no shuffling in any other part of the building. Silently Danny slid off the platform to the concrete floor below, crouching and using a bit of flight to negate the impact he had with the ground. He scanned the room once more, looking to see if anything had changed with the new perspective. Still nothing.

Ancients, this situation had ‘Trap’ written all over it in bright red letters.

Still, he made his way over to the guy strapped to the chair, who by then had noticed him and was looking at Danny with tearful eyes. The spotlight overhead cast most of the building's innards in shadow once Danny stepped inside, but he’d still have the shadows and the guy to help him notice if anyone snuck up on him.

Danny’s first order of business was to ungag the guy, both to help him breathe and to ask the guy some questions.

“You’re Red Robin,” the dude sputtered eloquently.

“Sure am,” Danny replied with a huff, moving to untie the guy's arms from behind him.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he added on nervously, shifting his gaze around as he tried to look for invisible enemies.

“Well sorry to disappoint,” Danny grumbled as he moved from the knots behind the guy to the ones tying his legs.

“No, no, you don’t get it! He’s waiting for you bats! He went somewhere a while ago and who knows how long it’ll be before he gets back!” The guy was nearing a panic attack with how quickly his breath was coming out. Danny needed to calm him down so they could both get out of here safely.

“What’s your name?” The non sequitur seems to jolt the guy out of the panic spiral he was going down.

“M-Mark. You really shouldn’t have come in here.”

“Well, Mark,” Danny rolled his eyes behind the domino. “What do you think he would’ve done to you if I hadn’t come in here to get you?”

At that Mark paled, not realizing exactly how bad his luck was tonight until Danny pointed it out. Mark stiffened, never letting his eyes still as he watched the shadows in front of the duo.

The knots came undone rather quickly, and while Danny wanted to question it, he could do it at a better time and place. He looked up, about to reassure Mark that they could make their way to the door now, when he had to cut himself off by dragging the guy off his chair. A bat narrowly missed the back of his head, clanging onto the metal back of the chair and denting the soft metal.

“Awwww, I was really hoping you wouldn’t notice till his head popped like a piñata,” a lilting voice said. The Clown Prince himself walked closer to the two, roughly kicking the chair out of his path as he propped the bat up on his shoulder.

“And, what? No Batsy? Too busy for good old Joker to come himself, so he sends one of his little birdies to play instead?” The Clown exaggerated a pout as he looked to the rafters. “Or are you just hiding Batsy‽ Waiting till I let my guard down!”

Now that he had a good look at the infamous circus freak, Dannny was amazed at just how hated the villain was. The stories Tim told him and the sites dedicated to the Clown really didn’t quite make it feel real, but now that Danny has had a chance to look at him up close. Just, wow.

That was a lot of curses.

The mass of negative energy slithered over and around the crazed man’s form, swirling around him like smoke and hanging off him, covering every inch of the human in thick, oily smoke. The smoke condensed behind him, forming a writhing mass of living curses, angry and sad and hateful. It looked like everyone the Clown ever killed had a piece of their soul stuck to the man just to make sure they knew he’d died in the afterlife. It was beautiful and terrifying at once, just how many had this one mortal killed?

“Seems like I’m just disappointing everyone tonight,” Danny mumbled under his breath as he refocused and got himself and the hostage to their feet, bringing out his bo staff carefully. He placed himself between the hostage and villain protectively as the Clown swung his head around to view the rafters, searching for something that wasn’t there.

Taking advantage of Joker's distraction, Danny pushed Mark towards the door behind them.

“But!-” Mark tried to get out but Danny silenced him before he could say anything more.

“Go, I’ll keep him busy,” and with another push Mark was running to the door and Joker’s attention was back on them.

“Hey! You’re letting my guppy get away, the nerve!” The crazed Clown exclaimed as he charged at Danny, taking a swing at his head and missing by a hair as he dodged. The clown changed the angle of his swing and the bat came down, nearly hitting Danny's shoulder if he hadn’t blocked it with his bo.

“Aw, well… Suppose I did catch a bird with my fish, so I still have some bait to lure the bat in,” another swing that glanced off Danny's staff had him taking a step back, unused to the weapon. Sure, Pandora had trained Danny in a few different weapon styles while training, but he wasn’t nearly as proficient in it as Tim was.

A sadistic grin grew on the Joker’s face as they swung again, manic glint in his eye and cackling as he spoke. “I never did manage to get you in my collection of plucked birdies, did I? Maybe once I clip your wings I’ll give you to the Bat as a gift! Another dead bird for his flock!” A louder cackle and another dodge of the bat as Danny's thoughts swirled in the new information.

Another dead bird? A few things came to mind, including the worrying smell of death revived from another red themed vigilante. The fact that this maniac had got one of Tim’s brothers and killed them, and now he wanted to do the same to another one?

Danny’s core was icing in his chest at the thought.

Dropping any pretence of dodging the next swing Danny let the Clown cackle triumphantly as his bat connected with the side of the hero's face. The laughter turned into annoyed grunt as the Joker dropped the bat in favour of clutching his wrist, now numb and tingly from the impact. Danny hadn’t moved an inch from the swing, watching the confusion grow on the Clown’s face as he looked to the supposed bird in front of him.

“What-” the Clown started but silenced himself at the deep chuckle Danny forced out of his throat, much too deep for someone of Tim’s stature to produce.

“See, now you’ve gone and did something you shouldn’t have, Boingo.” Danny stated, using his own voice and lacing it with a ghostly chill. “You just threatened the lives of people under my protection. Just the fact that you’ve already done something as great as killed one had you on thin fucking ice, but you threatening my people in front of me?” Another low chuckle escaped his throat as he smiled with lips pulled back too far and teeth too sharp. He could see the glow his eyes were putting off on the rims of the domino as he cocked his head jarringly to the side.

“Now we play my game.”

Bruce was worried, they hadn’t made good time to the north port and Tim hadn’t responded when they had tried to ask him more about the situation.

Now, it wasn’t that Bruce didn’t trust his sons, he just didn't trust them against someone like the Joker. He’d already lost one son to the mad man, and even if he did get him back he couldn’t afford to lose another.

Bruce was the last to arrive at the port, and scanning his children left one unaccounted for. He had told Tim to hold his position, why did his kids never listen?

Jason, the first on scene had told them Tim was nowhere in sight, and when Dick asked why he wasn’t with him in the first place he grumbled something about losing him while apprehending The Riddler in the sports stadium underbelly. While Bruse could have called him out on the lie he had more pressing things to think about, so he left that to Dick.

One more look to his children before they dispersed with a nod, off to find their own ways into the building as Bruce headed for the warehouse bay doors. He landed on the ground silently, noting the doors were left open enough for him to move in without moving them. Something intentional? A trap maybe? Dread filled his gut as he realised Tim would have been alone while possibly walking into a death trap.

Two taps over the comms signaled everyone in position, and a tap to his own comm gave them the go to start going in. Bruce maneuvered himself through the door to find a singular overhead bulb illuminating a cleared out space in an otherwise packed room. A steel bat lay dented a few feet from the door, warped at an angle suggesting it had hit something denser than it. A metal chair was on the edge of the cone of light, clearly knocked out of the way as it sat on its side, another dent on its back clearly seen.

At the opposite end of the circle was Tim, unmoving with his back facing Bruce. From his point of view he couldn’t see anything wrong with the boy, but he could tell something was wrong. Tim was too still, his situational awareness would normally have alerted the boy to Bruce coming up behind him, yet he didn’t move to face him.

More taps over the comm signaled an all clear, and still Tim didn’t move, proving he had taken his comm out earlier. Bruce moved to just behind the boy, hearing the soft thumps as the rest of his family made their way down.

“Tim?” Bruce asked softly, fearing dark scenarios with Joker’s poisonous smile on his son.

Finally, Tim moved. Turning to face Bruce with a questioning hum. Bruce minutely sagged in relief, the boy wasn't smiling, that was good. Something still didn’t sit well in his stomach, though he couldn’t place what.

“You disobeyed orders,” he ground out. He knew his son was safe, now he was in deep trouble.

“Yeah, well,” Tim shrugged nonchalantly. “You were late.”

Bruce’s brows came together under the cowl, as he noted a few of his kids stealing glances at each other. That wasn’t something Tim would say. Something wasn’t adding up here, with Joker being nowhere in sight and Tim acting off.

Tim turned his head to follow Cassandra as she moved next to Bruce, Keeping a critical eye on Tim while she spoke.

“Not Tim.”

Those two words sent everyone on high alert, tensing for a fight now that the imposter was outed. Not-Tim didn’t move, keeping his posture relaxed as he smirked.

“You knew the whole time, didn’t you?” The imposter asked in an unfamiliar voice, his tone almost sounding amused with the outcome. Cassandra nodded once, confirming the man’s assumption and he chuckled, shifting to place his weight on one foot as he brought his hand up to scratch at the back of his neck.

“Was it anything in particular, or did you just read me that well?” He asked, still no heat to his tone. By now the others were beyond confused, looking between each other in uncertainty as their forms dropped with the tension, though Jason and Damian still kept their weapons raised.

Bruce would really like to know what was going on right now.

Cassandra smiled at the man in front of them, eyes crinkling over the half mask. The man gave another chuckle as he moved his hand from his neck to his hair, carding his fingers through the mop. When he set his hand down again his hair had become shorter, no cutting or pulling it back, just magically shorter.

Bruised wanted to groan, he hated dealing with magic.

“If you aren’t Tim, then where is he?” Dick asked cautiously.

“He’s at home, sleeping off whatever Dr. Ivy hit him with the last night you went on patrol,” the stranger replied easily. A glance to his daughter beside him told Bruce he was telling the truth.

“What, is he sick?” Stephanie asked with a scoff. “That's bull, he said himself that he felt fine after taking it, for all we know you could be lying.”

“Believe me, or don’t,” the stranger shrugged, pulling his legs up to sit cross-legged in the air as he spoke. “I have someone keeping an eye on his condition while I take his place for the night. He was delusional and could barely stand, I found him in his living room trying to jump out the window.”

A snort from Jason's direction was cut short with a grunt. The stranger before them snickered.

“Y’know, you guys are a lot more fun when you don’t have a mission to be focused on. Maybe I’ll ask Tim if we can hang out sometime now that I’ve met you.”

Bruce narrowed his eyes at the stranger, something still wasn’t adding up, and it had nothing to do with the floating act. Before he could pursue it, though, Jason brought up another good question.

“So where’s the Joker?” The stranger flinched, making Bruce tense again at the sheepish look on the beings face.

“Yeah, see well… About that…” he stuttered, before deflating, sinking a few inches in the air as he motioned over to a dark lump behind him just outside the light. There wasn’t anything special about the lump until Bruce let his eyes adjust some, he realised the lump had legs.

The Joker was curled up in a ball on the floor.

“What the hell‽” Jason alarmingly exclaimed as he backed up a step.

Bruce took two batarangs out of the pouch on his belt, ready to throw them at the being in front of them. “What did you do to him?” He growled in warning, making everyone raise their guard in waiting with him.

“It’s not my fault, okay‽ The dude was just really cursed, I just helped a little!” The being raised his hands as a show of peace, looking slightly panicked.

“What exactly did you help?” Dick asked, batons out at the ready.

“Well, the curses were pretty weak, so after I roughed him up a little I fed them a bit. I swear he’s not dead!”

“He sure fucking looks dead!” Was that a touch of glee to Jason’s voice? Best to ignore that for now.

“No, I swear! He’s just in a coma! He’ll come out of it in a month or two once the ectoplasm wears off!”

Well, he wasn’t dead at least, though now Bruce’s question really had to be asked.

“Who are you?” He looked the still floating being up and down one more time as a surprised look came over them, followed by a sheepish one.

“Oh, shoot, sorry. I guess I forgot to introduce myself.” The being places their feet back on the floor and sticks out their hand. “Hi, I’m Danny Fenton, I’m Tim’s boyfriend.”

Chapter Text

“Do we really have to be here so early?” Danny complained with a whine as their car drove up the path towards Wayne manor. In the week following the reveal of his and Danny’s relationship Tim had gotten a few talks; about his secret identity being blown, about the importance of self care, about the importance of telling someone he had a boyfriend in the first place.

At least Cass let him sleep when she was watching over him while he was sick.

After one too many times at impromptu shovel talks Tim compromised that he would bring Danny by the manor for brunch so the rest of the family could interrogate meet his boyfriend officially.

Boy he sure hoped he wouldn’t regret this.

“Alfred always serves brunch closer to breakfast then lunch. It's tradition, and no one has tried getting him to change it without chickening out.”

“Oh, so it's the scary grandfather/butler’s fault that I have to wait for coffee?” Danny sank lower into the leather of the passenger seat. “Better be as good as you make it out to be. I’m crawling back into my grave over here.”

“Oh yes,” Tim drawled in a sarcastic reply, “because you would so much rather be back in your castle, reading over paperwork and sending slightly condescending letters to people that could be your great-grandfather. That sounds like a much better option to meeting your boyfriend's family.”

Tim got no reply from his passenger, nor could he look long enough to try to read him, but he hoped the soft snort he got in reply was more fond exasperation than annoyance. He knew at least that Danny was glad for some actual time off from his duties, as since that little escape he pulled with the Observants he’d been put under stricter watch so that he could get more work done. Much to his boyfriend’s enjoyment.

The Observants only really allowed this in the first place after Danny’s doctor gave them a scolding on overworking their king, ordering Danny to give himself a week of rest before their king decided to pop one of their eyeballs with his fancy quill. That was yesterday. Last night Tim slept early after patrol, curled up against his boyfriends chilled skin and focusing on the soft hum coming from his boyfriends chest to push out the busy thoughts, leaving a peaceful quiet. It was the best sleep he’d had in a while, and for once he actually felt somewhat up to dealing with his family's bull so early. Maybe.

The manor came into view before either teen had anything else to say to each other, and Tim quickly took the side way to head to the family garage. Danny made the excuse of making sure he had everything to sink deeper into his nasa hoodie and try and nod off like that, until Tim physically pulled him from the car. He only saved himself from falling on his ass by levitating, at which Tim rolled his eyes. Danny stuck his tongue out in turn. Stupid ghost powers.

Alfred was there to greet them when they came in, looking impeccable as always as he surveyed his charge and their guest. A minute quirk of his lips was the only sign the butler gave the two before he spun on his heel to lead them to the breakfast nook, leaving Tim to deal with Danny's concerned side-eye by himself as they followed.

The closer they got to their destination the more noise could be heard. Voices pitching over themselves in a cacophony he was sure had Danny's sensitive ears ringing slightly.

This was going to be a fun morning.

So Danny had met the bats already, he should know what to expect, right? They were seriously scary when they needed to be, but otherwise something of a chaotic bunch.

The image he'd built up from that night weeks ago and Tim's half rants about his siblings did not prepare him for the chaos that met them when Tim's… Alfred (Grandbutler? Butfather? No, that was weird, don't think that) opened the double doors to the breakfast room.

It was chaos.

Before Danny even got a good look at the room he was catching a croissant thrown at his head. He blinked at it, holding it out for his boyfriend to see as he teased in faux confusion and real amusement, “Tim, Boo, I thought you said my house was the only place that had dining room warfare.”

Tim looked at the croissant like it personally offended him, poised to retort before a shout drew both their attention.

Jason was standing, almost crawling over the table as he pointed accusingly at the girl with blond hair that could only be Stephanie (and how exactly did that make Danny feel, that one of his boyfriend's exes were still with the family after years of not being together? Better not look too deep into that) who had a viciously smug smirk plastered on her face as she leaned back in her chair.

"You take that back!" Jason demanded, to which Stephanie smirked harder somehow.

"It's true and you know it, sorry-not-sorry," she replied with a shrug and using her fork to pick up a piece of melon from her plate and eat it.

Jason looked ready to strangle her and Danny was honestly a little worried for her safety at this point (seems the dude's death stank grew when he was mad, Danny was resisting pinching his nose at the smell) but one polite cough from the older man next to him was enough to snap the angry man's head around.

"Our guests have arrived," Alfred announced with a glare pointed at the standing aggressor. Jason had enough mind to look sheepish as he sat back down.

Now that the chaos was dealt with (with a fearsome swiftness) Danny could get a proper look at the room in its entirety.

Warm browns complimented dark stained cabinetry, accenting the lighter stained wood of the long dining room table, making it the highlight of the room. The table -and the chairs now that Danny looked- were old, well used and aged with nicks and cuts across the grain that even with its restaining and sanding could not get rid of completely. It reflected perfectly the occupants of the room; scared, but well loved.

Danny's eyes traveled to the walls, adorned with pictures of the city's nightscape along both adjacent walls and leaving the floor to ceiling windows opposite to the door open to view the side yard and the rare display of a mostly clear sky over Gotham city proper. The pictures were something Danny was familiar with instantly- he knew his boyfriend’s handiwork just from the few small pieces he’d seen put up around Tim’s apartment and the even fewer Tim had shared with him himself. To see them displayed in such a public room sent Danny’s heart fluttering in pride, as all the times he’d been shown and asked about Tim’s hobby he’d gotten a bashful reply about how it ‘wasn’t all that impressive’ and ‘I’m just an amateur, really. There are so many people better than me.’ 

It was disheartening to hear the cutest guy he’d never think he’d score think so little of himself, but that was besides the point. The space looked loved, in a way that when Danny compared it to his own dining room at home blew it out of the water.

That thought made something inside him sour, just a little.

His mood picked up again when he surveyed just who was in the room with them.

It was a full house this morning, Danny thought to himself as he gazed at the nearly full seating. There were only two spots left vacant, directly to the right of the head of the table and directly across from the man Danny could only guess to be Dick -with his easygoing smile as he kept the youngest in either a side hug or a headlock- and next to the blond Danny was %90 sure was Tim’s ex.

Across from Stephanie sat Red Hood -Jason- who by now was slouching in his seat and making a face of what Danny could only describe as pouting as he pushed a piece of cut toast around on his plate. Down from him was a dark skinned teen -Duke, if he had to guess- and across from him and next to Stephanie was an asian girl. Danny could make a rough guess to who the last two were in cowl (because no one in here didn’t not have a cowl of some sort he was sure) but it probably wouldn’t be very polite to just go out and ask about it.

“Good morning Tim. And can I call you Mr. Fenton?” Bruce Wayne asked from the head of the table with a welcoming smile, his eyes no doubt categorizing each and every difference and similarity he had with his boyfriend compared to that night. His eyes sharpened at the flinch Danny couldn’t keep down at the name, no doubt taking notes about that too.

“Uh, no thanks. Mr. Fenton is my dad, just Danny is fine for me Mr. Wayne,” Danny replied sheepishly, unconsciously raising his hand to the back of his neck. Mr. Wayne chuckled warmly, and out of the corner of his eye Danny noticed Jason scowl at the facade.

“Please, call me Bruce, it’s only fitting.” He motions to the two seats to his left, “Come, sit. Alfred has made us a lovely spread this morning and you don’t want to miss out.”

Quickly the two take their seats, and not too long after they were served. By the smell and the way Tim's lips curled after a sip Danny knew his boyfriend was given decaf, and with a smile he took a sip of his own coffee, immediately curling his own lip the mug. Damn, decaf too. He glanced back at the butler, seeing a ghost of a smile on his face as he walked back out the door. Tim didn't call the old man out, and from the stories he told about him it was probably useless to try anyway, so with a sigh the ghost accepted that they would be doing a coffee run after brunch was over. He still took another sip. Coffee was coffee after all.

The food itself looked great, like something you'd find at a hotel buffet but better. Both boys were given a sunny-side up egg with three pieces of whole grain toast, buttered and cut on the diagonal, as well as homemade hash browns and a fruit parfait. Danny took one look at the sliced toast and grimaced, rotating the plate so that the side the toast was on was closer to Tim. His boyfriend knew his dislike for the overcooked abomination, so hopefully he'd get the message should he try to steal off his plate.

The rest of the meal though? Once they were served it seemed to be the signal to start, as everyone stopped their conversations while they dug in. Danny took one bite of the hash brown, mostly just to test to see if his boyfriends stories of Alfreds cooking were true (look, there are a lot of foods you can go wrong with, but there's not a lot wrong you can do with a potato.) His first bite surprised him, and he let out a small moan at the taste. Just, perfectly crispy, perfectly seasoned, ten-out-of-ten perfect hashbrown.

Danny didn't even care about the chuckles from around the table as he dug in wholeheartedly.

And, like, sure, Danny knew cooking. He and Jazz had to cook for themselves when they were home most of the time, and they knew the recipes they liked and the ones that would get their parents out of the basement. They knew never to let their parents near the upstairs fridge with samples anymore, and to never let their mother suggest she cook when they were in. But this was a whole other level of cooking. "D'you think I could get your butler to teach me some recipes?" He asked no one in particular between bites.

"I'm sure we can arrange something," Bruce replied with a smile more genuine than the one before as he dabbed his mouth free of crumbs, his plate empty. The rest of the Wayne clan seemed to be slowing down too, half or whole empty plates and satiated smiles all around as conversation started to pick up again.

"So," Dick caught Danny's attention through a mouthful of parfait. "How'd you two meet?"

The question was easy enough to answer, though Danny had the sneaking suspicion that this was only the first of many. "We met at Tim's school. I was there for a STEM exchange program last year and we clicked after working on a project together."

Dick nodded his head, accepting the answer, but the explanation must have clicked in Stephanie and she bolted up, knocking her chair back as she pointed at the couple.

"YOU! You're the reason Tim was so distracted on that case! He never wanted to talk about why his head was in the clouds but that dopey ass smile he wore was because he had a crush!" Danny blinked at the outburst, before glancing at Tim, who was sinking into the plush of the dining room chair with a massive blush.

With a smile, he teased, "Aw, boo, we weren't even dating and I was flying you that high? So sweet." For added effect he placed a hand over this heart as though he was touched. Tim swatted his arm while covering his eyes with his other hand.

"This was a terrible idea," Tim groaned to himself.

"Is that your pet name for Tim? Boo?" Duke asked next, leaning an elbow in the table to prop his chin up with his fist.

At that question Danny could feel a mischievous grin spread on his face. Before he could do anything with it though, Tim answered for him. "Yeah, that's what he calls me. He thinks it's funny because of some inside joke that I was let in on early in the relationship."

"Boo, don't say that like my whole existence is some kind of joke," Danny pouted to his boyfriend. "They wanted to meet me 'cause of that night after all, no use tip toeing around it."

"Well when you put it that way, your existence is entirely some sort of sick joke." Tim said with a snort, "I don't know anyone -in or out of costume- with as bad luck as you do." Tim gave him a look as though to say 'just try to say I'm wrong' and Danny had to sit back in his seat, arms crossed. He couldn't say anything -he knew Tim was right- but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"And what the hell does that mean?" Jason interjected, breaking the couple out of their little bubble and getting them to turn and see all the confused looks the rest of the table was giving them.

Danny was about to reply, but Bruce broke in before he could let out the breath. "Let's talk about that night," he diverted, his mild demeanor replaced with something more similar to the one he'd seen that night in particular. "What happened?"

That… that was so fucking vague the Big Bat could literally be asking about anything. He blinked, once, then twice, trying to process the question before failing and trying again, inevitably giving up and turning to Tim to give him a 'what the hell does that mean?' look.

Tim, the traitor, just shrugged as he sipped more of his decaf coffee, not saying a word.

Well, if Bruce thinks it's time to cut the bull, Danny can do that too. Turning back to the head of the clan Danny put on his best confusedly deadpan stare as he said, "Okay, you're going to have to be blunt with me here. There were a lot of things that went down on that night that you could be asking 'what happened' about so you're gonna need to elaborate."

He gave it a second before continuing, ignoring the gobsmacked faces on all but one of the rest of the table. "Are you talking about the Joker's curse induced coma? Or maybe me doing that whole glowy-eyed floating number? Or maybe you're talking about you giving me a babysitter for the way home to make sure I was telling the truth about Tim being sick? Or, maybe, you're talking about the report my babysitter made after I was kidnapped by two purple robed floating eyeballs and dragged arm in arm through a vertical Lazarus pit?" Danny sat back in his chair, trying to look bored with what he was saying. "Really, so much happened that night you gotta make it more clear."

Beside him he could hear someone trying to cover their choking noises as the rest of the table sat in stunned silence. With a sweeping glance at their faces Danny turned back to Tim, who was giving him a very unimpressed stare. "Too much?"

Tim didn't even have to reply, the 'no duh' look on his face was enough.

"A. What?" Someone asked stiltedly after a moment, causing Danny to whip his head around. Jason looked like he was trying not to fly over the table and tackle him now, for what reason Danny didn't know, but the poor juice glass did not deserve the death grip it was being subjected to. Danny was pretty sure he heard it crack.

Jason asking his question broke the spell on the table though, so before the ghost could answer him all hell broke loose.

"Floating what?-"

"I thought that floating thing was a trick!-"

"So wait, is that why you look like you were dipped in glow stick juice?"

"Tch, it seems you and Drake are perfect for each other after all.-"

Danny winced as a hand slammed on the hardwood table, overlaid by glass shattering and silencing the other voices. Jason looked ready to lunge, eyes swirling a familiar green as he let go of the now crushed juice glass. Tim had tensed with the outburst, tension high in his shoulders in a way that Danny knew meant he was slipping into Red Robin's flight or fight mode. Realizing he might be made a warzone if the breakfast table Danny placed a comforting hand over Tim's, a placating gesture, but also something he could use to turn them both intangible and escape that way if needed.

But his boyfriend's concerns didn't mean he was going to stop; he was still a little angry at them after all the stories he'd heard of Tim's early days. Let them have a conniption, if nothing else it leaves one hell of an impression.

"Let me ask this again," Jason ground out between clenched teeth, the room quiet enough now to hear the fury, "A floating what dragged you into a what?"

Rather than getting scared over the obviously dangerous guy with raging death stank (who was already making the ones seated closest to him lean away) Danny instead acted confused. "Huh? Oh well, y'know, a council of hive minded neverborns that look like stick men with eyeball heads decided that I was the best person to be in charge of a place full of dead people, but they don't like me so after summer break started the eyeballs kidnapped me to do all the paperwork they don't wanna do, saying things like 'as king it is your duty' and 'surly you should be able to do this much as king' blah blah blah. Anyway I snuck out when they were all in a meeting to maybe spend a night with my boyfriend only to find him flat on his ass cuz of some stupid pollen -not calling you stupid boo, just the pollen- and 'tryna commit autodefenestration to meet you guys for the Arkham breakout. Boo wanted to go so bad so what kind of boyfriend would I be to deny him like that?" He ended with a half shrug.

"But it wasn't Tim that went out that night though?" Dick commented.

"Well of course not, I'm dead not stupid.-" that got a few gasps from the audience. Jason still looked ready to strangle him. "-I left him with another ghost and used a little body manipulation to fit into his suit."

"But-" Dick was cut off again by Jason.

"Get to the part with the eyeballs already," he growled.

"Right right, I'm getting there," Danny waved him off flippantly, which did not help with his boyfriends tense shoulders. "Well after Orphan and I got back and she saw that Tim was, indeed, flat on his ass sick, the observants finally tracked me down to his place. They made a big show about being so disappointed in me over leaving my office to do regular human things like spend quality time with someone instead of doing some evil dudes paperwork.“

Danny paused to take a breath (seemingly the first one this whole conversation) only to hear Duke whisper, ”Evil dude? There are bad guys in the midwest?“ And Danny's lungs shook with the force of his cackling. He laughed until an elbow nudged him in the shoulder and he looked up to see Tim's done face and the rest of the tables concerned looks.

”Sorry, sorry,” Danny waved off with the last of his chuckling. “You just don't know how funny it is to hear someone related to the Justice League say that they didn't know there were bad guys in the Midwest. I know y'all've never actually tried looking into Amity and our brand of crazy until Tim, but just hearing it out loud.“ He gives another chuckle for good measure.

Bruce not so subtly shoots Tim a look™ and Tim sinks further into his chair. Danny knows he'll be hearing about their talk later. Honestly he can't wait, the gray hairs Danny will give his boyfriend's father...

”Anyway, back to the eyeballs,“ he says lightly, and he could see Jason's shoulders come down from his ears. Was he planning another way to silence the room? Maybe, they'll never know now will they? Though as Alfred had stepped back into the breakfast room a bit after the glass broke, and was now coming back in with a first aid trunk (and damn, they really do have first aid kits the size of suitcases. He owes Sam twenty bucks) to clear the glass and fix Jason's hand Danny saw it as unlikely. ”Like I said before, they're ass-“ Tim slaps his arm as the butler points a glare at him. ”-ssuredly, unequivocally, and totally the worst group of ghosts you'll never meet.-” Hopefully. “-and they really have it out for me, so after putting on this great show for my sick boyfriend, my babysitter, and the poor soul I dragged across the veil to watch Tim, they grab me under the armpits and throw me back through the portal they used to get from the Realms to the mortal plane. I land back in my office where they explained that my ‘punishment’-” and he used air quotes there for emphasis, “-was to do even more paperwork until they were satisfied that I could do a ‘reasonable job’ at handling the stuff when I get crowned. Or, y'know, until my doctor throws a fit about overworking me and forces them into giving me a week off. So there,” he ends with a shrug and some jazzhands, “the story of my boring summer break.”

Danny looked around the table to gauge everyone's reaction to the tale. Bruce was pinching the bridge of his nose, likely to stave off a mounting headache; good. Dick and a few others looked either shell shocked by the word vomit or like they were slowly going over his story to digest the information and ask questions about things they picked up on later. Jason looked calmer now, which was good. Danny had really thought that their first encounter had gone well, so to mess up their second interaction by saying something that somehow pissed the other guy off- well it didn't really sit right with him.

“So, any questions?”

∆•∆•∆•∆

This was a mistake. Tim never should have fooled himself into believing that this would be any kind of good idea. He should've known Danny would make some sort of scene or that something he joked about would set one of them off or something but all his stupidly well rested brain could think about was how well Danny would fit in with the chaos of the bats.

He should've realized that Danny was an entirely different brand of chaos, and the two might mix more like oil and water than sugar and spice.

Danny, the love of his life and a traitor to everything Tim warned him against, took another sip of his coffee like the last twenty minutes didn't just happen. Tim wanted to strangle the ghost, and he probably would have if not for Dick's sigh. "Well, I think we can safely say that the meta theory has gone out the window."

"I should hope so," Danny replied with a snort. "Being dead is technically a medical condition."

That earned a snort from Jason, who was thankfully looking a lot calmer now that the whole explanation was out of the way (he shouldn't have gotten that mad in the first place if he'd just read the damned report.) "That's what I keep trying to tell them."

"Just because you're legally dead Jason, doesn't mean you can skip patrol." Bruce sighed like they hadn't had this petty argument a thousand times over.

"Frick you, old man. The saying is 'I'll sleep when I'm dead' so if I want a damn night off I can have one."

"Ah, but you know there's another saying that trumps that," Danny interjected with an air of wisdom that immediately set Tim on edge. A feral grin took its place back on Danny's face as he quoted, "'Ain't no rest for the wicked.'" It had Jason in a fit of cackling before anyone could do anything else about it.

Danny looked very proud of himself. Tim wanted to go back to bed.

"Danny," Tim hissed at his boyfriend. "For the love of everything would you please tone it down?"

"Whatever do you mean, my dear core keeper?" Danny looked back at him with all the faux innocence the ghost could muster. Tim hated that look and what it did to him.

He blushed, much to his embarrassment, and more than a few of his family noticed.

Dick immediately started cooing, opposing Damian's renewed scowl. Steph and Cass both gave him a look that he really didn't want to look too deep into, and Bruce and Jason looked constipated, which overall was normal for them. Duke himself had done what Tim was now doing; burying his face in his  hands to escape the second-hand embarrassment.

Tim knew Duke was his favorite sibling for a reason.

Danny was still looking at him with that god awful expression so Tim backhanded him in the chest, right over what Danny had said he was keeper of. Danny gasped dramatically and stuck his lip out in a pout. Tim wondered if he could summon the Observants to take him back again.

A cough came from the head of the table, grabbing everyone's attention. Bruce, still looking mildly constipated, looked at him before turning back to Danny. “Getting back on track, would you be willing to give us a list of your powers? It would help for… future references.” Tim barely resisted an eye roll at how obvious Bruce was being, and from the corner of his eye he knew some of his siblings couldn’t do the same.

With a snort, Danny replied a curt “no,” then watched as Bruce bristled before adding. “Tim already has a mostly updated list for my powers, he can get you a copy of it later ‘cause I’m not going to sit here for the next hour explaining everything.”

Another glance from Bruce and Tim nodded. "I have a flash drive with everything Danny's shared with me so far. I'll get you a copy of it by tonight's patrol." Of course, not everything on that flash drive will be going into the copy. Danny shared some big secrets with him, secrets that Bruce could use in his contingencies. Sure, there are some weaknesses he knees his boyfriend wouldn't mind sharing with the bats -he has his own stories on mind control and other loss of bodily autonomy, after all- but the ones that harm, that do real harm will stay with Tim and Tim only unless the situation calls for it (and he really hopes it never will).

With a meaningful glance Danny's way he knows that once they're done at the manor they'll have to go over whatever else they're going to add to that drive, whether or not they'll add certain ghosts Danny's only told him stories about and never wants to meet. About the ghost hero-turned-king's own rogue gallery and their power sets and the exact likelihood of them ever turning up in Gotham.

But for now, Tim can enjoy his morning as his siblings ask more questions, his boyfriend answering them with varying levels of snark. There's conversation going on around him, but nothing immediately directed at him, so just for now he allows himself to tune it out and enjoy his coffee (... Even if it's decaf).

Tim didn't realize he closed his eyes until a pointy elbow nudged him in the shoulder. Jolted out of his reverie, Tim looks over to see his boyfriend giving him that smirk.

"Well?" Danny presses him, and he's pretty sure he tuned out so hard he didn't hear the question.

"Well what?" He asked, much to the amusement of his ghost.

"Well, can I let them see the crown?" The ghost clarifies, his face still light but his eyes glinting with a hint of worry.

What was he talking abou- oh wait the crown. "Right, that. Uh-" he glanced around quickly, noting all the eyes on him once again. "-sure, they can probably handle it."

Danny's face lit up with a smile more genuine than the one before. The breakfast table probably wasn't the best place to bring the Ghost King's crown out for, but Danny wouldn't offer to take it out himself so he was probably asked about it. Maybe Duke saw it or something.

There was a reason Danny asked Tim if it was okay to bring it out though, the Crown of Covenants was a powerful ghostly artifact, after all. It can be a bit… much, for humans to be around. Luckily they were all sitting down for this.

"C'mon already," Steph jeered from his other side. "Don't keep us in suspense! What does the Ghost King's crown look like?"

Tim groaned; of course Stephanie would goad this on when she didn't know what something like this would do. With a mental prayer for strength Tim braced himself for what was about to happen.

He felt it before he saw it, as always. The pressure from a millennia old artifact like the Crown preceded its arrival, filling the breakfast room with an air of foreboding, like being underwater and not knowing what lies in the depths below. Then a more physical pressure fitted itself in, filling Tim's lungs with the smell of sulfur and decay. It was getting harder to breathe, and a few of Tim's more unprepared siblings started gasping for breath, not understanding that the choking feeling will only get worse if they don't keep their breathing level. Finally, as the pressure on his chest began to feel like too much for him, an ephemeral glow started to pulsate around his boyfriend's head. It was faint at first, nothing more than a thin halo of dancing green light, but as the seconds between the pounding in Tim's head continued the light pulsed and flexed, growing until the Crown of Covenants appeared to them fully in a dance of aurora fire and crystalized mist.

It was beautiful, no matter how many times Tim saw it.

It was also starting to suffocate him.

Being this close to an artifact of immense power like this was a lot on a human body, and Tim was past the threshold most humans could stay conscious for by will and spite alone. But at such a close proximity he wouldn't hold out for long, and neither would his family.

Luckily, Danny knew this. They tested this after all.

The Crown stayed visible for moments or eons, then all at once, the pressure on Tim's lungs let up, allowing him to take his first real breath in what seemed like hours. He forced back the spasming cough his lungs begged to perform to let his body get the oxygen it needed, and instead looked at the face of his boyfriend, now hovering over his seat in an attempt to somehow comfort him. Their eyes met, and Tim offered a weak smile to assure the ghost. He wouldn't pass out, not that soon.

With a few seconds to recompose himself Tim looked to his family to assess the damage. To his mild surprise everyone stayed conscious, if to some degree. Damian and Bruce were the most conscious, Bruce likely picking up Tim's mental preparations and doing so himself, though he had no guesses for why the demon brat was so composed. Jason and Cass looked a little more than winded, but otherwise clear-headed. Dick, Duke and Steph, though, all had their heads lowered in some way; Dick holding his in his hands, Duke bent over the table so that it was pillowed in his arms, and Steph straight up with her head on her empty plate.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," came a soft utterance from the end of the table.

"Well," Jason wheezes out between slowly calming gulps of air. "That was definitely something."

"I did try to warn you," Danny said apologetically, awkwardly glancing around the table as he fidgeted with the strings on his hoodie. "The Crown is a ghost artifact, even normal ghosts can't always stand the pressure. Y'all did pretty well, all things considered."

"And you have to wear that all the time?" Dick's hands slid down his face slightly, so that his chin was resting on his palms while his fingers covered his mouth and nose.

“Only for ceremonies and high court sessions,” Danny denied with a shake of his head. “Otherwise I and the people around me would start feeling overexposed and succumb to the madness the artifact brings. Not to mention it being a ghostly artifact when my parents hate anything that makes ghosts seem like they’re more powerful and intelligent then they already are.” The final statement left with more than a little bitterness considering the topic, but after a while away from his birth parents, Tim got it, got loving them even if they went against everything you protected and stood for. He understood that frustration.

“Can you imagine wearing that thing around the apartment?” Tim joked to lighten the mood, ignoring that itch still present in his chest to cough. “It’d be like having your own personal plumbob icon from the Sims. Not to mention never needing a nightlight ever again.”

“Let's not joke about what gave the last king the title of ‘Mad King’ please? I may have beat him but he was still terrifying before he got put back in his box.” Danny’s voice was laced with forced levity as one hand rose to rub the back of his neck.

“The last king went mad because of the crown?” Dick asked in a mix of curiosity and awed horror.

“Yup,” Danny nodded with a pop to the ‘p’. “It’s why he needed to be sealed by the Ancients -basically a group of super powerful ghosts born of concepts and ideals- in a battle history called ‘the sealing assault’.”

“Ghosts can be born?”

“Where is the previous king currently?”

“I’m sure we’d all be very interested in having a lesson on the history of your territory, Danny.” Bruce laced his hands over his mouth, clearly focused on the line of questioning. “If you don’t mind, do you think you could give us a spark notes version for now?”

As Danny dove into the history of the Infinite Realms Tim felt himself relaxing into his chair again. He was half listening to the spiel when another jab of a pointy elbow met his shoulder. Slightly annoyed, as he knows no one called him this time, Tim looked over to see Steph grinning like she caught the canary. She crooked her finger at him, despite him sitting right next to her, and reluctantly he obliged and leaned in Taking a sip of his coffee as he went.

When Steph deemed him close enough she cupped her hand to his ear so she could whisper to him.

“So, dating the dead guy was gay enough for you?”

Tim unceremoniously choked on his coffee. Stephanie cackled in schadenfreude.

That night Tim was out, grappling across rooftops and leaping over lamp lit streets. As much as the night before was peaceful, getting to sleep the whole night with his boyfriend, his bones itched to get out and run.

His boyfriend, never one to disappoint, suited up and went out with him.

They raced across the city, playing the most acrobatic game of tag as they leapt and swerved around each other, uncharacteristically free despite Bruce’s insistence on strict professionalism on patrol. When he’d demanded that Phantom decided to seek him out in the shadows just to blow him a raspberry out of pettiness.

With the news of the game and the relative quietness of the streets below them the rest of the birds out quickly decided to join in on the fun, leading somehow to Phantom picking Nightwing up by the arms and flinging him into the air so the older vigilante to perform some very impressive aerial maneuvers before getting caught by the ghost.

Tim was not about to join in on that, and as the first to join the little game he was already a little winded, so he moved to a building close by to watch the games from the roof access shed.

Tim watched in amusement as Robin tried to stop Phantom from ‘flinging his brother like a ragdoll’ before getting picked up and thrown himself, only getting saved by his own grapple after hurling at least a dozen hidden daggers Phantom's way. He was still watching even as the shadows of the shed collected to hide his adoptive father, who gazed at the scene with a look Tim couldn’t place right away. They watched in silence, listening to their family’s delighted squealing and accusing shouts.

“He makes you happy,” Bruce uttered the phrase as both a question and a statement.

“Yes,” he replied, to both.

“And you know his capabilities? You have contingencies if something were to happen?” So Bruce noticed that they only gave him the lighter ways of dealing with his kind.

“We made them together, Phantom has a few stories already about him saving the world and himself from things like mind control and bad futures.” Bruce nodded, seemingly accepting the answer for once.

They lapsed back into silence as Spoiler joined in the aerial acrobatics, squealing like a schoolgirl the entire arc of the swing.

“I’m glad you found someone you trust, Tim.” A warmth grew in Tim’s chest at the affirmation, something beyond words that his dad approved of his choices.

“Thanks, B,” Tim smiled, and got as much of a smile his dad would give him while in costume in return.

Yeah, the first meeting wasn’t the best, but now that they knew him, Tim was pretty sure Danny would stay with the family no matter what.