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"Alfred wants to know if you're coming to Christmas dinner," Tim said, checking his phone. Danny looked up from where he was preparing breakfast before sighing and putting down the knife.
"Tim-" Danny started. They had this conversation every year. Normally Danny was more than happy to spend the holidays with the Waynes, but he preferred to spend Christmas alone.
"I know you don't like Christmas, but Alfred wants the whole family together for pictures," Tim said.
“I don’t see what that has to do with me,” Danny said, going back to chopping up fruit.
“Really?” Tim asked, coming over to lean against the counter. He stole a blueberry and popped it into his mouth. “Don’t let Dick hear you say that, he’ll cry if he finds out you don’t think you’re part of the family.”
Danny swatted at Tim’s hand as he went for a strawberry. “If you want Christmas dinner to be good, you’d want me far, far away.”
“Not the curse, again.”
"Something bad always happens to me. Last year the apartment caught on fire, I got the flu, and you almost ended up in the hospital because of it."
"The fire was Dick's fault.”
“It doesn’t matter whose fault the fire was, I’ve never had a good Christmas.”
“You had to have had at least one,” Tim said, stealing another blueberry.
“When I was two I got peed on by a dog. When I was four my parents were too busy fighting to realize the turkey had come to life and Jazz had to kill it with a broom.”
“That doesn’t prove anything.”
“When I was fifteen, a ghost trapped me in a Christmas poem and I spent a whole day rhyming. I still watch the Grinch without having a panic attack.”
“Okay, I won’t force you to go, but you’re leaving me defenseless in the snowball fight.”
“A sacrifice I am willing to make.”
“You’re also missing Alfred’s award-winning caramel apple pie and homemade ice cream.”
“Oh, unfair.”
“So you’ll come?”
“Okay, but when something goes wrong, I am going to hold it over your head for a long time,” Danny said, handing Tim a plate with pancakes, eggs, and fruit salad. “Now, take your meds and eat.”
Tim grinned and took the plate from his boyfriend with a kiss.
Things were surprisingly normal for most of the day. Dinner went off without a hitch. Alfred had outdone himself with a turkey and a ham, as well as a dozen side dishes. After everyone had eaten until they felt like they were going to pop everyone piled outside for a snowball fight. As expected of a snowball fight with half a dozen vigilantes, it was intense.
Duke and Damian had spent the day before building up their defenses, which Danny thought was a little unfair, as both he and Tim had to work. Officially there weren’t teams, but it was quickly apparent that Damian and Dick were working together. Dick had taken the high ground, disappearing into the trees as soon as the fight started, pelting everyone with snowballs and herding them toward Damian’s fort, where a pile of snow would be dropped on them from above.
Duke and Jason were unlikely allies but worked well together. Jason had perfect aim, and Duke could call out positions, even when Danny was invisible, making them the only ones who could get a hit on Danny and Tim.
Danny, meanwhile, had Tim on his back, flying high above the yard. They used the natural snow and the snow that Danny made in equal measure, striking invisibly and retreating before they could be retaliated against.
Danny was having fun on Christmas, for once, which was the universe's cue to ruin it.
Danny had created a snowball the size of a large pumpkin and was hovering it over Damian, ready to drop it on the unsuspecting bat when a swirling green portal opened up over the treeline. Two ghosts in white robes and high-collared black robes edged in gold flew out, their single eyes scanning the scene before finding Danny.
“Your majesty.” They greeted him formally.
“No!” Danny yelled, pointing at the two observants. “I already said no.”
“You can’t escape your fate, Phantom,” Observant number one said, floating a little closer. “You must take your place on–”
“The hell I do,” Danny said, throwing the snowball that had been hovering over Damian at the two ghosts, knocking them to the ground. Danny landed nearby and let Tim off of his back and safely to the ground before transforming back into Fenton.
“Danny, what are they talking about?” Tim asked. Danny looked at his boyfriend and his boyfriend's family, all looking between him and the snow-covered observants with suspicion and confusion. “What place?”
Danny sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Remember when I said I defeated the Ghost King, Pariah Dark?” Danny added. It had been when they had first started living together and Tim had to wake Danny up from a nightmare. He had told the story clutching a mug of hot chocolate while Tim leaned into his side, a comforting presence.
Tim nodded.
“These guys think that means I’m the king now,” Danny finished, giving a sour look to the two ghosts.
“It is not what we think, it is the laws of the Realm.” Observant number two stepped forward. “We have allowed you to come to the age of majority, and now it is time to leave these foolish human things behind and fulfill your destiny.”
A snowball hit the observant in the eye. Everyone turned to see Damian glaring at the ghosts. “Fenton is the only thing keeping Drake alive. I will not let you take him.”
“Aw, gremlin, you do care.” Tim said, receiving a ‘tt’ and an eye roll in return.
“It isn’t up to you, child.” Observant number two said “Phantom must–” Another snowball hit them in the side of the head.
“If Danny says ‘no’,” Jason said, stepping forward, tossing a snowball from hand to hand, “Then that means ‘no’. Find someone else.”
“There is no one else.” Observant number one said. “Only Phantom has shown he has the potential to contain the entities in the crown.”
“In case you eyeballs forgot,” Danny said, summoning a ball of ice, ready to throw. Around him, he could feel the others gathering snow to pelt the observants with. “I was wearing an experimental bio-mech suit that amplified my strength and almost killed me all the way. I’d hardly call that one-to-one.”
“Without a new King, the power of the crown will weaken until the entities contained within escape. They will raze the Infinite Realms to the ground. We don’t need to tell you what happens then.” Observant number two said, raising a few feet into the air.
“Excuse me?” Duke said, stepping forward. “What happens then?”
“Multiversal de-stabilization,” Danny said, his voice tight. “Imagine the Infinite Realms is the jello in jello salad, and the other universes are the bits of fruit. If the jello is destroyed, the fruit collapses in on each other.”
“Sounds unpleasant,” Dick said.
“Why me?” Danny asked. “I wasn’t the only one there that day, there could be another one.” Not that he wanted Vlad to be King, but at least it isn’t him.
“We have explored every other option, trust us,” Observant number one said. “If there was another way, we would take it.” Observants didn’t have mouths to sneer with, but Danny was sure that would be the expression on these ones faces.
“Well, I refuse. Try something else, because I want nothing to do with you, or ghost zone politics.” Danny said. “Now, get back, ya spooky bitches, we’re having a snowball fight.”
The two observants shared a look that Danny did not like before straightening their robes. “Very well, we shall try something else.” Observant number two said. From the depths of their cape, they pulled out the Crown of Fire, contained within a glass dome. “We shall try the Crown on every being over the age of majority until we find someone who can contain it, starting with your consort.”
Observant number one disappeared and reappeared behind Tim, grabbing him around the middle and restraining him. They pulled him up into the air, out of the reach of those on the ground. Shouts, threats, snowballs, and weapons went flying, but all missed their marks. Observant number two brought the Crown out of the dome and floated up near Tim.
“Let him go!” Danny transformed in a flash and slammed into the Observant holding the crown, which fell to the ground, melting the snow in a ten-foot circle around it.
“Someone has to be King, Phantom,” the Observant holding Tim said. “If you won’t do it, we will not stop until we find someone who will.”
Danny looked down at the crown, quickly burning the ground where it sat, to the Waynes, pelting the downed Observant with snowballs, and lastly to Tim, held in the Obesrvants arms, dangling twenty feet above the ground. “Tim, Activate Protocol Supernova.”
“You don’t have to do this, we can call the Justice League, we can figure something out,” Tim said, tears in his eyes that he refused to let fall.
Danny didn't respond, his eyes fell on the crown and the black char that was spreading out from where it sat on the ground. “Don’t hesitate.” with one last look at his boyfriend, Danny jetted to the crown and settled it onto his head.
As soon as the black iron crown touched his head Danny fell to his knees, overwhelmed by the power surge of the entities contained within the crown, trying to get free. He could feel them clawing at his mind, at his core, trying to possess his body. Distantly he heard screaming. Was it him or someone else? Tim? Danny felt a surge of protectiveness. If the entities get free, Tim would be among the first of their victims. He will not allow anything to happen to his boyfriend.
With a shout that was verging on a wail, Danny pushed back against the entities.
—
“DANNY!” Tim shouted. He rolled his shoulders back, pulling up on the ghost's arm simultaneously, and created space for him to slip out of the ghost’s grasp. He fell for all of five seconds before Dick used Jason as a springboard and caught him, landing safely a few feet away. Tim didn’t wait to thank his brother for the save, sprinting to the ever-expanding circle of ice and fire surrounding his boyfriend.
“Tim!" Dick put his hand on Tim's shoulder and pulled him away from the circle.
“Get Bruce and the green case in the contingencies vault,” Tim said, eyes not leaving the dark figure in the middle of the firestorm. "Protocol Supernova."
From inside the dome of fire and ice, there was an echoing, ghostly sound that chilled Tim to the core. It was like nothing he had ever heard before, and nothing he ever wanted to hear again.
“Hurry.”
Dick nodded and ran off, leaving Tim with Jason, Duke, and Damian.
“What’s protocol Supernova?” Duke asked, standing next to Tim and squinting at the dome.
“It’s Danny’s contingency. He came up with it when we first started dating.”
“I believed he was retired from hero work,” Damian said.
“He is, but he insisted.” Danny had never told him why he needed a contingency plan, and he had never asked. He guessed he had his answer now.
Jason came over, dragging the two observants tied up in glowing green fishing line. “Caught these two trying to make a portal. Figured loverboy would want a word with them when he’s done.” Tim hummed in response. “Hey,” Jason put his hand on Tim’s shoulder, “he’s going to be okay.”
Tim couldn’t say how long they stood and stared at the swirling vortex of ice and fire. At some point, Dick returned with Alfred, Bruce, and Cass. The green case was opened and ecto weapons were handed out, each to their own specialty. Tim ran a hand down the collapsible ecto-bo staff Danny had crafted for him and tried not to think about Danny making it with him using it on him in mind.
Suddenly, with a flash of light from inside the dome, the fire went out, consumed by the ice. The ice dome shrank and the wind stopped. All the ice that had been swirling fell to the ground. Inside the dome was Danny. Or, Phantom?
Phantom was floating cross-legged, eyes closed in what would have been approximately the center of the dome. His skin, usually pale, had turned blue, even his lips had a dark blue tinge to them, like someone suffering from hypothermia. His hair, which had always been white and wispy, had taken on a more flame-like appearance, flickering and moving on its own and revealing Danny’s now pointed ears. The biggest change, the one that drew Tim’s eyes, was the horns, coal black and six inches long sticking out of the top of Danny’s head. Floating above his boyfriend’s head was the Crown of Fire. Instead of fire, however, the black iron was encased in ice, vapor rolling down around him like a veil.
No one spoke. No one breathed until one of the observants whispered “King Phantom.”
Phantom’s eyes snapped open. Solid green glowing eyes found the observant in an instant. Phantom stood and Tim was reminded of a venomous snake getting ready to strike. As he glided across the frozen lawn a set of black armor appeared, a breastplate with his symbol on it and a set of gauntlets and a pauldron on his left shoulder. Attached to the pauldron was a short cape that seemed to shift and change with images of the night sky.
“Observant,” Phantom spoke and his voice reverberated in Tim’s chest. It was as if Phantom was speaking straight to his soul. “What is your job?”
“To observe the future for possible threats to the timeline.” The observant said, still on the ground where Jason had dumped them.
“Are you meant to interfere with the timeline?” Phantom asked.
“No, my king.”
“You have come here on a day of truce, threatened me, threatened the people I love, threatened the people under my protection!” by the end of his speech Phantom was shouting, white hair flickering and Tim could see fangs glinting as he yelled. Phantom took a deep breath and asked deadly calm “Why shouldn’t I end you?”
The Observants gasped and began a litany of pleas and appeals, none of which seemed to reach Phantom.
“Danny,” Tim said, taking a half step forward, ignoring the hissed warnings of his family. Phantom turned and paused, seeming to notice them for the first time, weapons held ready but not threateningly. “Danny, it’s Christmas. Not on Christmas.”
“Quite,” Alfred said. “We’ve yet to have dessert, and I’d hate anyone’s appetite to be spoiled by witnessing an ending.”
“I’m sure there’s a ton of paperwork to do after ending someone like an Observant. You don’t want to have to do that on Christmas, do you?” Dick asked, twirling his ecto-escima with practiced ease.
“Well, let's put it to a vote, then,” Phantom said. The eerie aura that had surrounded him since he laid eyes on the Observants lessened. “All in favor of allowing the Observants to leave, on the stipulation that they never interfere with the timeline again, say ‘Aye’.”
There was a chorus of ‘Aye’s from everyone, including the Observants, and Phantom grinned. “You heard them,” he said, turning back to the Observants. “Don’t interfere again and you get to continue your existence. Agreed?”
“Yes, of course.” the Observants said, nodding their bulbous one-eyed head. Tim might have imagined it, but he could have sworn he saw tears gathering in one of their eyes.
“Don’t ever let me see you again,” Phantom warned, snapping the ecto-wire the observants had been tied up with like it was a piece of thread. As soon as the wire was gone, so were the Observants, who disappeared into a swirling green portal.
For a long minute, it was silent, then Tim stepped forward. Danny took half a step back, turning away from him.
“Danny, are you alright?” Tim stepped forward again, holding his hand out. He hesitated for only a second before grabbing Danny’s hand. The metal of the gauntlet was freezing cold and Tim could see fractals of ice spread across the surface in a geometric pattern.
“Tim,” Danny said, tugging his hand away and went to run it through his hair, only to be stopped by the horns. “Do I have horns?” he asked, voice turning soft and pitching high.
“And fangs,” Jason said, stepping forward as well. “Your Majesty.” Jason swooped into a low bow, followed shortly by Cass, who gave a graceful curtsy. Dick, never one to be outdone on dramatics also sank into a low bow, his head practically touching the ground.
“Ancients, stop it. This is serious.” Danny said. “How can you be so calm about this?”
“Because we love YOU, Danny,” Tim said, grabbing both of Danny’s hands. “Horns of not, you’re still my Danny.”
Danny looked across the gathered Wayne family. “Bruce, you’ve been quiet.”
“Hnn.” Bruce grunted. “Are you sure you won’t come out of retirement? You’d make an excellent addition to the Justice League.”
“My stance on that hasn’t changed, I’m open to consultations, but nothing more.”
“I’m just saying, all that ability and you don’t use it.”
“Bruce,” Tim said, warningly.
“Alright, I’ll let it go. Just know, the door is always open.”
“So, we just witnessed a Ghost coronation?” Duke asked. “Because I feel like there should be more pomp and circumstance.”
“There is still dessert,” Alfred said, gaining everyone's attention.
“I think I have some fireworks stashed in the Cave somewhere,” Jason said thoughtfully.
“Aren’t fireworks illegal in New Jersey?” Duke asked.
“Yeah, but this is Gotham,” Jason said, turning toward the house and leading the way.
Danny watched them go for a few seconds before transforming back into his human form. Tim noticed that this form had changed, too. Danny’s ears were pointed and when he smiled his eye teeth were just a bit too sharp to be human. A shiver ran down his spine at the sight and he filed that under ‘Things to be examined at a later time.’
“Come on.” Tim said, “Let's go get pie.”
“I’d like that.” Danny grinned.