Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume. The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite.
Therefore love moderately; long love doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Danny Fenton never gave it much thought as to how he would die. But dying in the place of someone he loved, it seemed like a good way to go.

Too bad for him, he decided to half die trying to impress his friends at just fourteen. 

Three years later and somehow he found himself in an entirely new city with his parents locked up for child abuse and tax fraud. Federal prison would likely be the thing that drove Jack and Maddie Fenton to insanity.

He stared down at his shoes as he listened to the doorbell ring and waited for his godfather to answer the door. His social worker stood beside him, her nose wrinkled as if she didn’t like the smell. 

Danny couldn’t blame her. It was Gotham City, the smell was absolutely horrible. He still couldn’t figure out why the hell Vlad Masters had decided to move to Gotham City of all places. 

Tiffany let out a huff, her suede heel started tapping impatiently as they waited for Vlad to answer the door. After Vlad had seemingly decided to reform a few years prior due to the unfortunate death of Dani, he had moved to Gotham and seemingly cleaned up his act. He ran Dalv Co and he kept his nose out of other’s business. It was enough for the eyes of the government and Jazz to agree that he would be the best one to have custody of Danny for the next year until he turned eighteen and would be thrown on his ass. 

In all honesty, Danny thought it was all a joke. Vlad reformed? Yeah, when pigs started to fly maybe. But it was just a year. Just a year of living with that narcissistic megalomaniac and then he would be free. Finally the door swung open to show Vlad standing in the doorway with a tired look on his face. 

“My apologies, I was just finishing up Daniel’s room,” he said as soon as he opened the door. “Please come in.” 

Danny looked at the man over warily. He was dressed far more casually than Danny had ever seen him in just a tshirt, jeans, and sneakers. His hair wasn’t pulled back in his usual pony tail, instead it hung freely around his face. This was a Vlad that Danny had never seen before. 

The put together asshole was long gone and Danny had some questions in all honesty. Did Dani’s death really fuck him up this much? Had he actually become a better person because of it? Danny wasn’t sure he believed it and different looks wasn’t enough to change his mind from that to be honest. 

Danny and the social worker, Tiffany walked in together. Danny’s heavy bag hung over his shoulder like nothing as he took in the large brownstone that Vlad now owned. It wasn’t fancy like his mansion had been but it was still rather large, still beautiful and exquisite. 

“Mr. Masters, it’s so good to see you again,” Tiffany crooned and Danny wanted to gag when he saw the heart eyes she was giving his godfather. 

“Likewise, Ms. Wong,” Vlad purred, giving Tiffany a smarmy look that the old ass must have thought was flirty. Danny refrained from rolling his eyes. 

“Where’s my room?” He asked, wanting to just cut to the chase and hide out, far away from Vlad as he could.

“Daniel,” Tiffany chided and Vlad let out a soft chuckle. As if he were used to Danny’s rude behavior. He probably was after knowing Danny for so long.  

“He’s likely ready to settle in, I imagine Daniel has gone through quite a bit of trauma these last few months what with the trial and having to bounce around for a while,” Vlad said and rested his meaty palm on Danny’s shoulder, making the young halfa cringe ever so slightly. 

“I’ll show you up to your room and Tiffany and I can iron out the last of the details,” Vlad said before he led Danny up the stairs. 

“I do hope that things will go smoothly for us, Daniel. I was quite devastated when I learned about your parents arrest, I had,” Vlad let out a soft breath. “I had hoped that after the death of Danielle, Jack and Madeline would understand the importance of protecting one’s child. That they would have learned from my mistakes.”

Danny let out a scoff. “You know how they are,” he muttered, clutching the handle of his bag tight. “They only ever cared about work.”

“And it has cost them greatly,” Vlad sighed. Danny side eyed the man, looking him up and down for a moment. It had been two years since Dani’s death and it had affected everyone differently. At the time, Jack and Maddie knew about Danny’s halfa status and had even accepted Dani as a niece of sorts. Vlad and Dani’s relationship wasn’t perfect, hell it was far from it. But they were working on it, as far as Danny knew. 

Then Dani died. 

No one knew what happened. One minute she was off exploring, the next she was on the Fenton’s doorstep crying as she turned to goo. Danny refrained from a shudder as he remembered that night, of holding her close. 

Vlad had been beside himself after her death. He blamed himself, for not requiring her to live with him rather than explore the world like she was. From what Dany knew –overheard when the man cried to Jack and Maddie about it– he regretted not providing Dani with more structure. Maybe if he had, she wouldn’t have died. If he was there to watch over her, protect her, keep an eye on her condition, she would still be alive. 

Danny was inclined to agree. 

Yet now he found himself in a similar situation. 

“Unpack, get comfortable. I will speak with Ms. Wong and then order take out, how does Chinese sound?” Vlad asked and Danny shrugged his shoulders. 

“S’fine,” he mumbled, pushing the door open to his room. It was larger than his bedroom at FentonWorks. But rather plain. 

A large bed was tucked into the far corner with a wooden headboard and foot board. A desk sat in the opposite corner lined with two large bookshelves on either side. A TV sat across from the bed on a large dresser and the corner held a large, plush chair that Danny could already see himself curling up in after long days. 

He glanced over at Vlad who was giving him a sorrowful look and gave him a small smile. 

“Thanks, Vlad,” he murmured. Vlad gave him a timid smile of his own before he turned and headed back downstairs to speak with Tiffany. 

Danny let out a breath and dropped his bag on his bed before  he ripped a finger down through the air and opened a portal. He carefully reached through and grabbed the boxes he had stashed there when he had first moved out of FentonWorks. 

He climbed onto the large full size bed and tapped a finger on the box, watching it open itself before the contents of the box flew throughout the room. Books slid into spots on the bookshelves along with action figures, along with his lego space ship and other space dioramas as they found places for themselves.

The next box revealed his space posters and blankets, he smiled as he watched them press against the wall, ectoplasm oozing out to stick them to the walls and his blankets fell in a heap beside him. 

He unzipped his bag and let the clothes start hanging themselves up or tucking themselves into the dresser. 

The last few years, Danny had truly mastered a lot of his powers. They had become like an extension of himself now, just a thought sent them into action, a nod or a flick of his hand, it was all he needed to do.

He leaned back against the wall, his legs spread out in front of him as his mind started to wander. Things really had been going really good for Danny until they weren’t. He had parents who knew he was a halfa, Jazz was happy and had just moved to California to go to Stanford University of all places. The ghosts weren’t starting problems anymore, hell, they had finally come to an agreement even. 

Things were perfect. 

Until they weren’t. 

Until suddenly the Fentons had thrown themselves into their work again after Jazz went off to college. Until their experiment had caused half of FentonWorks to get destroyed in an explosion that nearly killed them, that would have killed Danny if he hadn’t been able to shift to ghost form in time.

It had been the catalyst to what Danny dubbed four months of  hell. Next thing he knew, the FBI was investigating, the IRS were now aware of Jack and Maddie Fenton and their years of non payment of their taxes. Child protective services were now taking all of the tips from Lancer and other teachers at Caspar high much more seriously. 

Jazz was telling the officers about all of her worries and concerns for Danny’s safety, how they had been the ones to cause Danny’s half death in the first place. 

He still hadn’t spoken to her since he learned about that little tid-bit. 

Soon Danny found himself staying with the Foleys as investigations went underway. Then the trial started and Danny was required to talk about what happened to him and what life was like growing up with the Fentons. 

Soon they were slapped with neglect charges as well as tax evasion and were sentenced to federal prison and Danny was required to live with a responsible guardian for the next year. 

That meant he now had the pleasure of living with none other than Vlad himself. In Gotham City of all places. 

Which was going to prove to be an annoying problem for Danny.

Sure Vlad was here because he was trying to get away from memories or whatever. But Vlad also very rarely shifted to his Plasmius form and didn’t really care about it all that much. But Danny? He loved shifting into Phantom, the freedom of getting to fly away whenever he was having a tough time, the freedom of just being Phantom in Amity Park was nice. But not attainable in Gotham. 

So, Danny would just have to be boring old Danny Fenton. 

Or, well Danny Masters since Vlad had legally adopted him and in a depressed haze, Danny had tiredly signed agreeing to the name change. 

“I want you to be comfortable, Daniel,” Vlad said as they sat across from one another at the small kitchen table, both of them eating their Chinese food quietly. 

“I know,” Danny murmured. “I am, I already decorated my room and got my backpack packed up for tomorrow for school.” 

He glanced up to find Vlad giving him a sad, small smile.”I just want to make sure you’re ready. I can call the school and request that you start in a few weeks to make sure that you’re comfortable in Gotham first.”

Danny shook his head. No. No more waiting, no more sitting around. He was tired of the sitting and the waiting and the thinking. He was tired of thinking about how pissed he was at Jazz, how mad he was at his parents, how betrayed he felt that he couldn’t just stay with Sam or Tucker. He was tired of not having a distraction keeping him from paying attention to all of the anger that was stirring up inside of him. 

“No, I want to go. I need,” Danny took a deep breath and looked up at Vlad who was still staring at him in concern. “I need a distraction. I need to just, move on and I can’t do that if I just keep thinking about everything that has been happening recently.”

Vlad gave him a small smile and let out a soft chuckle as he shook his head once. “I can understand that, Daniel. It was one of the reasons that I moved to Gotham of all places. I needed somewhere to go to just get away.” 

Danny nodded. “I just want to move on,” he whispered in a broken voice, his eyes burned with tears that he refused to shed. 

That was one of the things he had been thinking about a lot to be honest. Yeah, Gotham was going to be different. He wasn’t going to be able to freely be Phantom anymore and he was going to be in a new place and there was a lot of shit that he had on his back. But he was also not going to have to worry about Jack and Maddie and their hairbrained schemes.

He hadn’t thought about it since the trial when he had been all but forced to share out loud what the Fenton’s invention had been. But he wouldn’t have to worry about the Fenton’s guilt or their desire to fix him.  

“Just remember, Daniel, Gotham is nothing like Amity, things are much different here and people are not nearly as nice,” Vlad said and Danny nodded. “And be careful about shifting here, I am unsure how they would react to Phantom.”

Danny pursed his lips and stirred his chopsticks around his noodles. “I know, I’m not planning on changing any time soon. If I need to get away, I’ll just go to the zone,” he muttered before eating a large mouthful of food. Vlad nodded and said nothing else as he continued to eat his own dinner. 

The young halfa withheld a sigh as he continued with his own dinner. Maybe living in Gotham would be a much needed change. Maybe it would be exactly what Danny needed. 

Chapter Text

Vlad pulled in front of Gotham Academy and gave Danny a small smile. “Have a good day, Badger.”

Danny did his best to muster up a smile at his godfather before he got out of the car. “Thanks for the ride, Vlad. I’ll see you later,” he said as he shouldered his bag and started towards the school. Gotham City was so different from Amity in ways it was unreal. He missed the heat. 

In Amity it was bright and sunshiny still, probably in the eighties or nineties. Which made sense considering it was the end of summer and a toasty August day. He was starting school right at the beginning of his senior year of high school which wasn’t too terrible, he thankfully wasn’t starting at the middle of the school year which would have actually been the worst.

Danny just wanted to keep his head down and not get any attention thrown at him by anyone at the school. In Amity he had always been the target for bullying, always at risk of dealing with Dash or Qwan or the other athletes. He honestly just wanted to float through school with no issues, no drama, and no villains trying to destroy him. Which should be easy, he was a no name kid that just moved to Gotham from the middle of nowhere, there was no chance that he would be seen as interesting, right?

If he kept his head down and focused on getting his shit done, he had nothing to worry about. It was just a year and he would be out of here before he knew it. Danny wasn’t quite sure where he was going to go once he graduated high school. Part of him thought about going back to Amity Park, but he didn’t think he would be able to. Amity had too many bad memories, too many reminders of what happened to him, of everything he was leaving behind.

Was he incredibly angry about everything that happened? Yeah he was. He had every single right to be. His parents, they sucked. They weren’t good parents in the slightest, they were neglectful and shitty, and paid more attention to their work than they did Danny. They compared him to Jazz, never really tried to get to know him or his interests, they weren’t good parents. But they were his. Things were slowly getting better, they were getting to know Danny, at least a little bit. They were interested in his ghostly half and they wanted to know about him.

Until that interest turned into a desire to fix him out of their own misplaced guilty. 

They became so single minded in trying to fix him that they didn’t quite realize that Danny didn’t want to be fixed. Not in the way they wanted to fix him, at least. He liked being a halfa, liked being able to fly through the sky and fight ghosts who eventually became friends that he play fought with. He liked his half life and it was as if they didn’t listen to him saying that he enjoyed that part of his life. It was frustrating beyond words. 

But he didn’t want them to go to prison. 

Didn’t want them to be charged with criminal child neglect. 

He was angry with Jazz for stepping in and saying something about it, mad at Mr. Lancer and Principal Ishiyama for putting in their own concerns about Danny’s safety. He was angry at his parents for not filing or paying their taxes like they were supposed to. He was angry at his lack of control or say in this situation, angry at Tucker and Sam for thinking that him leaving Amity would be a good thing for him. 

Danny Fenton–Masters was just fucking angry and it seemed like no one really cared about how he felt about this entire situation. Hell, even Vlad didn’t seem to actually care that Danny didn’t want this despite how much he was trying to make Danny comfortable. 

In this entire situation not a single person had asked Danny what he wanted to do and he was angry, he felt voiceless in all of this and that was even more frustrating. 

He carefully navigated the halls of the school, he had been just the day before with Vlad to pick up his schedule, find his locket and learn where he classes were so he thankfully wasn’t wandering around like a lost duckling. But he did feel like the odd man out as everyone around him caught up on how their summers were, laughing and chatting with one another, talking about their summer adventures. Part of him felt jealous. 

His summer was spent on the stand having to testify about what happened with his parents and be put under the scrutiny of the US Government. They had questioned him about his halfa status before coming to the conclusion that it would be better to keep what happened to him under lock and key without anyone actually knowing the existence of ghosts. As far as he knew, they were still actively trying to suppress the information, something about how humans wouldn’t know how to react if they knew about the reality of ghosts and their existence as a true and absolute thing.

The halfa found himself in his first hour English class and looked around tiredly before he took a seat in one of the middle rows. Back row would be too much attention due to being where the burnouts and athletes sat. The front row was for brown nosers and kids who actively liked getting attention from the teacher. Middle rows were the safest bet. He took a seat in the middle, closer to the door and pulled out a notebook, ready to try his best to pay attention. 

Before he became a halfa, he had been a rather decent student. Usually got low A’s or B’s on assignments, after he became a halfa, those went down to D’s and F’s from being so distracted with trying to fight goats and survive in his home with traps and weapons designed to destroy him.

He was determined to keep up his grades, maybe if he could fix it his senior year, it would make up for the bleak and depressing grades he got his freshmen, sophomore, and junior years. A guy could dream, couldn’t he?

Soon the seat beside him became occupied by a slight brunet boy who seemed to ooze energy. 

“You’re new,” he said, looking beyond excited as he looked at Danny with wide, excited eyes. “I’m Bart, Bart Allen. I’m like the unofficial welcoming committee for any and every new kid that comes to Gotham Academy. Which like you’re the first new kid we’ve had in a while, not a lot of kids just randomly start going to Gotham Academy of all places, most times it’s Gotham High or Park Row High School not really ya know, this place. This place is for the bougie and the rich,” he blabbered and Danny gave him a look, arching his eyebrow as he did. 

“Which one are you?” He asked and Bart made a face. 

“The scholarship kid,” he said, blowing a strand of hair out of his face. “I got in on a science scholarship. But honestly, I’m okay with it. No one here is actually weird about the scholarship thing, it’s pretty chill. What about you?”

“Rich godfather,” Danny said, with a small smile. “I’m Danny, by the way. Danny Masters.”

“Oh! Like uh, Vlad Masters, the CEO of DALV CO?” He asked and Danny nodded his head. “Crash, that’s so crash. My uncle, Barry, he works with S.T.A.R. Labs here in Gotham I know they’ve partnered with DALV Co a few times.” 

“That’s cool,” Danny said, not really sure what else to say. Only, he thankfully found that he didn’t actually have to contribute too much to the conversation as Bart started to yammer on and on about something or other up until the bell rang and Mr. Nygma came in to start going over their syllabus for the semester.  

Once the bell rang, giving five minutes before the next class, Bart turned to Danny expectantly.

“You should sit with me and my friends at lunch,” Bart said with a wide smile. “I think you’d really like them, they’re a lot of fun but also I think they’d be chill with your whole broody act ya know?”

“Broody act?” Danny asked, arching up an eyebrow as he looked at Bart with amusement clear on his face.

“You know, you’ve got that whole angry and broody thing going like a whole “don’t talk to me vibe” kinda thing?” The energetic teenager said, his eyes wide and bright. Danny let out a soft snort and shook his head as he stood up from the table and pushed his chair in. 

“Yeah, fine. I’ll just look for the hyperactive fuzz ball,” he teased, looking at Bart’s insanely voluminous hair. 

“What’s your next class?” He asked, snatching the binder that Danny kept his schedule taped to.  He skimmed over it and nodded. “Oh Crash, okay sick, sick. You’ve got English and Calc with me. I’m pretty sure Cissie or Cassie is in the same history class. Uh, I don’t know about Chem to be honest, or study hall. But you and Jaime will be in the same gym class! I think Greta is in AP Psych and that class is a lot of fun from what I hear.” 

“I don’t know who any of those people are, Bart,” Danny told him blandly. Bart threw his head back with a loud laugh as he passed Danny’s binder back to him. “You’ll meet them at lunch! You have Psych next and then study hall and then I’ll find you at lunch and snag you away to eat at our table! Then they can go with you to your other classes!”

Danny gave him a small smile. “Alright, fine. I’ll see you at lunch,” he said already accepting his fate. Bart was one of those kids that was sorta like a tumor, he just grew on you and no matter how hard he tried to get rid of the tumor, he would never quite be able to. It was easier to just accept that he was going to have Bart Allen as a friend for the rest of his life because there would be no getting rid of him, ever. 

The rest of his morning went by slowly, he soon found himself being dragged by Bart to a table full of the friends the teenager had told him all about earlier that morning and tried to suppress the nerves that were threatening to spill over. Danny had never been a popular person, he was never really all that outgoing or extroverted either. He met Sam and Tucker in elementary school and the two had pretty much just adopted Danny and pulled them into their friendship and that was that. 

He was more than happy to let the same thing happen with Bart but he still found himself anxious about whether or not his friends would actually like Danny. 

“Guys, this is Danny, he’s in my homeroom English class. Danny, this is Jaime, Cissie, Cassie, and Greta,” he said, pointing to each person sitting at the table. “They’re pretty cool if I do say so myself,” he said as he plopped his lunch tray on the table and took a seat. 

Danny gave the teenagers a tight smile as he sat down beside Bart with his own lunch tray. “It’s nice to meet you guys.”

Cissie leaned forward, her eyes narrowed into slits. “You have a midwestern accent,” she pointed out. “Why the hell would you move to Gotham of all places?”

The halfa shrugged. “I had to move in with my godfather and this is where he lives,” he said awkwardly, rubbing at his arm for a moment. There was something about feeling the scars that went down his arm that seemed to ground him when he found himself feeling nervous. Maybe it was just a texture thing? He wasn’t super sure. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pressed,” Cissie said, leaning back in her seat, looking slightly apologetic. 

“Godfather you say,” Cassie said, giving him a sharp smile of her own. “What happened to your parents?”

“Dios Mio Cassie, you can’t ask people that!” Jaime exclaimed, slapping his hand against his forehead. He looked at Danny apologetically. “I’m so sorry, the girls have no filter.”

“I take offense to that,” Greta said softly, flicking a grape at Jaime who caught it with his mouth expertly. He winked at her and turned back at Danny. 

“I take that back, Cissie and Cassie have no filter. Greta is practically perfect in every way,” he said and the girls all let out huffs of annoyance. 

Danny just let out a soft laugh. “It’s okay, really. My best friend back at home, Sam, she’s the same way. She’s straightforward and just gets right to it,” he said before he looked at Cassie. “My parents are in prison for tax fraud. So my godfather is taking care of me until I turn eighteen next August.” 

Cissie gave him a sad smile. “I’m sorry, I know what that’s like. My mom lost custody of me last year. I’ve been living with Bart and his guardian ever since,” she said and Bart gave him a wobbly smile of his own. 

“My parents were really young when they had me so one of my uncles, Max, decided to raise me as his own instead. Now he has me and Cissie,” Bart explained before he started digging in on his meal. 

“I’ve just got my mom,” Cassie said with a shrug. 

"It's me and my mom too," Greta told him, her lips pursed.

“I told you, you’ll fit right in with our fucked up crew,” Bart said with a small smile. Danny let out a soft laugh and shook his head. 

“No, you’re right. I’ll fit right in,” he said just as he felt a shudder run down his spine. It wasn’t quite the same as when his ghost sense came out full force, but it was enough to have him looking up to find whatever the hell partially set it off. 

He watched as a group of dark haired teenagers started into the cafeteria and frowned as the chills came in full force. There was something… off about them. Something not quite right. They weren’t ghosts but they weren’t normal either. 

“Who are they?” Danny asked, elbowing Bart’s side lightly. 

Bart looked up and let out an exasperated sigh. “Cassie, take it away.”

Cassie leaned forward with a feral grin. “Those are the Waynes,” she whispered, waggling her eyebrows. 

“The Waynes?” Danny asked, his own brow furrowing as he looked at them. The first was the tallest and bulkiest. Dark black hair with a single white curl at the front, his face looked like he was constipated as he looked around carefully, as if he didn’t quite trust his surroundings. He was huge, maybe six two or six three and he looked like a fucking linebacker. 

The next was a Black man with short cropped black hair and an easy going smile. He was a little shorter than the first and was looking around curiously, his eyes met Danny’s for a split second, he winked before looking away. 

“They’re the billionaire Bruce Wayne’s kids, total rich kid snobs. They keep to themselves for the most part, none of them really like talk with anyone who’s not family,” Cissie said with a huff. 

“That really big one, that’s Jason Todd-Wayne, he’s like a total bad boy,” Cassie said with a grin. “And behind him is Duke Thomas-Wayne.”

“That little one, that’s Damian Wayne. He’s the youngest, just fifteen, he’s a bit of a grouch and always looks pissed,” Jaime said with a snort. Danny looked at the next one to come in, his hair dark, skin a dark brown shade. He had a scowl on his face as he listened to the blond girl beside him chatter away about something or other. 

“That’s Stephanie Brown. She’s not one of Bruce Wayne’s kids, but she’s dating Cass. From what I know, her dad’s in prison and her mom isn’t in the picture so Mr. Wayne just took her in when she started dating Cass.”

Danny nodded, looking over the blond girl with a bright smile and kind eyes as she continued to talk to Damian. The next two to come in, the final two, were stunning. They were short, just a bit shorter than Danny, with identical small smiles on their faces as they listened to Steph.

They were both beautiful but Danny’s eyes were on the boy. He was pale, paler than even Danny with a soft smile and sharp jawline, his nose swooped in a sharp tip. He was gorgeous and Danny couldn’t seem to pull his eyes away from him.

“Next are the twins,” Greta said with a soft smile. “No one knows if they’re actually twins but they’re pretty much connected at the hip, Timothy Wayne and Cassandra Wayne.”

“Cass like never talks, Tim is pretty quiet himself but kinda snobbish. Definitely weird,” Cissie said and Cassie let out a love struck sigh as she rested her chin on her hand. 

“But so pretty. Just look at all of them,” she said, a small smile on her face. “They have an older brother too, his name is Richard Grayson and he’s the prettiest of all of them.” 

“No Mrs. Wayne?” Danny asked, his eyes still glued to the Wayne family. Timothy smiled at something Stephanie said before his eyes slid over to Danny and he gave Danny a small, polite smile, just a thin press of the lips before he looked away once more and said something to Cassandra who signed something in return. Timothy glanced back at Danny and blinked at him again before he turned back to his family. 

“Nah, Bruce Wayne is just a single, playboy billionaire who just keeps adopting kids,” Cassie said with a shrug of her shoulders. 

Danny pursed his lips and nodded. “They seem interesting.”

“That’s one way to put them,” Cissie muttered as she stabbed at her salad. The subject soon changed and before Danny knew it he was walking through the halls to his next class, Chemistry. 

He scanned the room for an open seat and his breath hitched as he landed on the only empty one. Right beside Timothy Drake at a two person lab table. Chills raced down his spine as he met eyes with the teenager and shoulders hunched, walked over and took a seat beside him. 

“Sorry,” he mumbled under his breath when he noticed Timothy stiffening beside him. 

He set his backpack on the ground beside his feet and pulled out his notebook and pen. He glanced over at Timothy who was now sitting on the far side of the table, his nose wrinkled in disgust and his body stiff and tight. Danny discreetly sniffed at his armpit only to smell his deodorant and glanced back at the teenager who was apparently now going to be his lab partner for the rest of the year. 

This was just great. 

They guy he thought was absolutely beautiful and definitely wanted to get to know better considering he set off Danny’s ghost sense thought he was disgusting.

That was just… lovely. 

As soon as the bell rang, Timothy was out of his seat and all but running out of the classroom. Danny let out a huff and followed suit, ready to find out what the hell he did to suddenly offend Timothy Wayne so damn much. He turned the corner and found the other teenager marching towards the front office’s desk. 

“Is there any way I can switch out of chemistry,” Timothy asked. Danny slipped behind a large fake tree and turned invisible as he listened to Timothy complain about how he didn’t want to suffer through the class the entire time. Danny let out a scoff. 

The teenager turned around to see who was there only to find nothing. Timothy turned back to the secretary as she explained that there was no open slot and Timothy needed the science credit. 

“I guess I’ll just suffer,” Timothy let out a huff before he stalked out.  Danny scowled. Well, so much for being pretty. 

Timothy Wayne was a grade A asshole and Danny was going to find out what the fuck his problem no matter what it took.

Chapter Text

Danny padded down the stairs to the kitchen to find Vlad sitting at the table reading a newspaper as he ate a bowl of oatmeal. He kept from rolling his eyes at the walking cliche that was his godfather as he went over to the pantry and grabbed a box of cereal.

“Good morning, Badger,” Vlad told him in a tired voice. Danny grunted and started making his own breakfast. 

He spotted the pot of coffee and smiled minutely before pouring himself a mug and made his way to the table, his drink and bowl of cereal floated along behind him. 

“Mornin’,” he grumbled. He blinked blearily for a moment before his eyes focused on the headline on the newspaper. Something about Bruce Wayne.That woke him up a little more as his eyes slid over to his godfather. “Hey, what do you know about the Waynes?”

Vlad let out a soft hum as he flipped the page. “They’re a little odd, Daniel, but they’re good people,” he responded mildly. “Bruce and I have worked together on a few shared projects between Wayne Enterprises and DalvCO and it has been nothing but pleasant.”

Danny wrinkled his nose at that response. There was definitely something off about the Waynes what he didn’t understand is how Vlad didn’t notice anything. 

“Don’t they feel strange to you? Like not quite…human?” Danny asked hesitantly. Vlad set down his newspaper and blinked at Danny in surprise. 

“No stranger than any other Gothamite. Why? What brings this about? Did something happen with his children?” He asked, giving Danny a quizzical look. 

Danny just shook his head. This was getting him nowhere. “No, there’s nothing going on, I was just curious.”

Vlad just let out a hum. “Well, while I have you here. We have dinner plans tomorrow evening, I will be ordering an outfit for you to wear and I would like for you to be on your best behavior. Alright, Badger?”

The younger halfa just let out a huff as he slumped his shoulders and started eating his breakfast. He didn’t want to go to any stupid dinners, especially if Vlad was going to shove him into some pompous, shitty suit. But he also needed to stay on Vlad’s good side. His godfather may be acting like he was reformed and that he was a good person now but Danny didn’t know if he trusted that. Not only that but his entire goal was to keep his head down and stay out of trouble until he was able to move out and go off on his own. He couldn't do that if he was picking fights with Vlad.

“Alright,” he finally agreed and stirred his spoon around in the milk tiredly. 

Danny found himself floating through the rest of his day. His mind seemed to keep straying towards thoughts about Tim and his siblings. He still seemed to get a weird feeling each time he was near them, they didn’t seem fully human but they weren’t ghosts. Not only that but there was just something other about them. It was likely that the humans didn’t even notice. During his time being a halfa, one of the things he had truly come to realize was that humans were dense to the supernatural. Half the time a ghost could be right in front of them and they would never notice.

But the question stood, if they weren’t ghosts, what were they? 

He didn’t know much else about the supernatural, sure he knew that there was other stuff out there. Wulf had been a werewolf when he was alive, Freaskshow had all of those powerful gems, there was definitely a world full of weird and freaky shit.

Danny listened with one ear as Bart chattered throughout their first class together, talking about this or that. Danny was too focused on his own thoughts, though, too consumed with thoughts of the Wayne siblings and their weirdness that just didn’t make sense. He shouldn’t be looking into it, though, there was nothing there, no mystery for him to try to solve, nothing like that. 

Danny Masters was here to keep his head down and nothing else and that meant not trying to figure out what it was that was so strange about the Waynes, about Timothy Drake. 

Yet his mind kept straying towards Timothy. He just couldn’t figure out what the hell he had done to offend the guy. The only thing he could really think of is that if Danny could tell that the Waynes were slightly off, maybe Timothy could tell that Danny was also slightly off. 

As he made his way into the cafeteria, he found his eyes trailing over to the table that the siblings all sat at and found all of them but Timothy. Jason and Stephanie both looked over at Danny and eyed him warily, distrust clear in their strange eyes. Danny squinted, their eyes, they were nearly black. He blinked and shook his head, maybe it was the fluorescents or something. 

Still, he kept a curious eye on the table as he made his way to the lunch line and couldn’t help but wonder where Timothy was. Danny chewed on his lip as he thought about the strange teenager. He really was pretty, even if he was a rude asshole. He had a nice smile from what Danny had been able to tell the day before, he wished he had gotten a better chance to look the guy over. 

Danny had only really accepted that he was bisexual just a year before when he realized that maybe finding Kwan pretty was a lot more than just finding him pretty. Especially when he found himself getting caught up with his smile, staring at those dark brown eyes. Yeah, the more he thought about it, the more clear it was that he had a giant crush on the football player.

 It had been after a long conversation with Sam and Tucker who had made him realize that he was bi that he had really accepted it. He had never really acted on it before, being queer in a small town like Amity Park? Didn’t really seem like a good idea. Especially when he already had a big enough target on his back as it was. But in Gotham? 

It had never really occurred to him that maybe it would be fine here. Maybe he wouldn’t have to worry about bullies targeting him for liking boys, for being a little different from other humans. He shook his head and grabbed his tray of food. He didn’t know what the hell he was even thinking. Danny had been in Gotham for all of three days now and he was apparently crushing on fucking Timothy Drake who was avoiding him like the goddamn plague after sitting beside him for all of one class. 

“Man, Bart really wasn’t kidding when he labeled you as the broody type,” a voice said and Danny glanced over to find Cissie falling into step beside him. “What are you thinking so hard about?”

Danny just let out a hum. “Just, Gotham is very different from my hometown,” he said carefully as they walked towards the table where their friends were already gathered, talking and jeering at one another. 

Cissie snorted. “Gotham is different from literally everywhere, Danny.” 

He cracked a smile. He really didn’t know too much about Gotham yet, if he was being honest. He voiced as much to Cissie who just gave him a wide smile. 

“We can change that!” She exclaimed as they sat down at the table. 

“What are we changing?” Jaime asked, looking up from his conversation with Bart. 

“Danny hasn’t explored Gotham that much yet,” Cissie explained, elbowing Danny in the side lightly. He shrugged his shoulders noncommittally. 

“I’ve only been here for three days,” he told his friends. “I don’t really know what there is to do here.”

“Well,” Cassie said, resting her chin on her hand as she looked Danny over. “What did you do in your hometown?”

Fight ghosts, rebel against the government, try to stay at least halfway alive. Deal with his parents overbearing selves as they tried to fix their mistake. Danny blinked. 

“Video games mostly,” he said simply. “Go eat at the Nasty Burger or go to the skatepark with my friends. There really wasn’t a whole lot to do,” he lied.

Greta smiled. “I like video games, there’s this really fun arcade in Old Gotham we can go to one of these days. Jaime and Bart and I go a lot and they sometimes do tournaments.”

“I skate,” Cassie said with a grin. “Well, I prefer rollerblading but still. We can go to the skate park too.” 

“Plus, we may not have whatever the Nasty Burger is, but we do have Batburger,” Jaime said with a smile. 

“Batburger?” Danny asked and Cissie snorted. 

“It’s based on the Gotham myths,” she explained. At Danny’s blank look she rolled her eyes. “They were bedtime stories to get kids to go to sleep or to not break rules or whatever. But it was about Batman and his birds.”

Danny blinked. “What?”

“The Batman. He’s a shadow in the night, no one has ever been able to capture him on camera or get actual proof that he’s real. But he and his birds protect Gotham at night, they’re like urban legends parents tell their kids. Don’t steal or else Batman will catch you, eat all your vegetables or else Nightwing will show up and whisk you away into the night,” Cissie explained, amusement laced in her voice. 

Danny heard a laugh covered up by a cough behind him and glanced over to find Jason Wayne laughing into Duke’s side. The halfa frowned and shook his head before he looked back at his friends. 

“Who all are the birds?” He asked. 

“So there’s Batman, he’s the leader,” Jaime said. “Then there’s Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Robin, Spoiler, Signal, and Orphan.”

“Those aren’t all birds,” Danny said and the others gave him an annoyed look. 

“Well no shit Sherlock,” Cassie said with a scoff. “They’re called the birds because of the noises they make. They chirp and shit.”

“Have any of you actually seen the Bat and Birds?” Danny asked and Greta raised her hand. 

“I have,” she said quietly. “Red Robin saved my life once.”

The others nodded sagely and went into a hush as she started to talk in her soft voice about what happened. 

“I had a brother,” she said quietly. “An older brother that my parents had adopted, he was strange, violent, though. And he got mixed into something he wasn’t supposed to. He killed my dad and tried killing me and my mom, Billy kept calling himself Harm and wanted to become the scariest villain in the world or something. I was trying to get away from him one night after he killed my dad and Red Robin swooped in and took care of him. I don’t know what he did or what happened but my mom and I never saw Billy again and Red Robin made sure we were both okay.”

Danny frowned. “I’m sorry that happened to you, Greta,” he said quietly. 

She gave him a small smile. “It’s alright, it’s been a few years now and mom and I both went into therapy and we’re doing good.” 

Danny gave her a small smile. Maybe one day he would feel comfortable enough to tell her about what happened with his own parents and himself, it wasn’t quite the same. But he knew what it was like to be killed by a family member.  

His own family was a strange ball of weird. He hadn’t gotten a letter or a phone call or anything of the sort from his parents ever since they went to prison and he wasn’t really expecting to hear anything from them at this point. Not when he had to go and speak about what had happened to him in a federal court. 

Jazz sent him daily check ins but Danny couldn’t bring himself to respond to her. Not when she had played such an active part in their parents going to prison in the first place. Their life wasn’t normal, and things were weird with them but that was still his family and Jazz had been part of the reason they were taken away from him without getting his input.

He just couldn’t bring himself to forgive her for it. Not yet, anyway. 

In all honesty, any time he thought about the entire situation with his parents and Jazz he just got angry. He never got the chance to make a decision for himself in any of all of this. They had all pretty much taken that choice from him and he wasn’t going to forget that any time soon. It was why he hadn’t answered any of Jazz’s calls or texts, not when  he couldn’t even think about it without getting angry all over again.

He was just angry. 

“So the Batburger is named after urban legends?” Danny asked, thrumming his fingers on the table. His friends all shrugged. 

“Pretty much, but they’re more than urban legends Danny, they’re real,” Bart said with a smile on his face. “They’re out there watching and waiting for someone to fuck up.”

“There’s even a rhyme for it,” Jaime told him around a mouthful of food. 

“Beware the Batman, that watches all the time, ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime. He’ll watch you at your hearth, he’ll watch you in your bed, speak not a whispered word of him, or he’ll send the Birds for your head,” the entire table intoned. 

Danny heard another snort and glanced over to find the entire table of Wayne's laughing quietly and glancing over in amusement. The halfa frowned and turned back to his friends who were now collecting their things before the bell rang. 

On the way to Chemistry, Danny couldn’t help but wonder what the Waynes were laughing about. There was no way they knew what Danny and his friends were talking about, right? They were across the cafeteria. But they also kept looking over and seemed to laugh the entire time they talked about Batman and the birds. It was odd. 

Danny could hear across the cafeteria just fine, his hearing was far better than the average humans but they shouldn’t have been able to hear anything, right? Unless there was something else going on.

He made his way over to the classroom and sighed when he saw Timothy’s empty seat and set his bag down at their work table. He was a bit disappointed if he was being honest. Danny had been more than ready to confront Timothy about being an asshole the day before but now he would have to wait again. 

The halfa scowled and slumped in his seat as the bell rang and Ms. Isley launched into her lecture. He would just have to wait until he saw Timothy again to give him a piece of his mind.

Chapter Text

Danny scowled as he buttoned up his stupid white shirt that Vlad was forcing him to wear and glared at his reflection in the mirror. He had stupid gray slacks, a dumb button up shirt, stupid loafers and still needed to put on his god awful tie and gray suit jacket. He felt like a dumbass. 

“Daniel! Are you almost ready in there? We need to head out soon if we want to make our reservation,” Vlad called through the door and Danny rolled his eyes. He still couldn’t believe that he was willingly agreeing to even go to this dinner. Apparently Commissioner Gordon was wanting to meet with Vlad to make some kind of deal about weapons for the police force and Vlad thought that it would be the perfect thing for Dalv Co. Danny wasn’t nearly as optimistic in all honesty. 

He shrugged on his jacket and snatched his tie before he stomped out of the room and let out a huff. 

Vlad gave him a kind smile. “Can’t tie your tie?”

Danny just scowled as his godfather let out a polite chuckle and took the tie from Danny and looped it around Danny’s neck. He stood still as Vlad carefully looped the pieces of fabric, tying it in a careful knot that likely had some fancy name to it. Danny let out a huff and waited for Vlad to pull his hands away. Instead he just gave Danny a sorrowful look, cupping his face in his hand for a moment. 

“I see her in you,” Vlad said softly. “I know it was because she was your clone and that is why I see her in you, but I miss Danielle every day.”

Danny swallowed hard and let out a breath. “I miss her too.”

“Life is very unfair sometimes,” Vlad said quietly, remorse seemingly thick in his voice and Danny mustered up a small smile. 

“We just gotta roll with the punches, I guess,” he said in a quiet voice of his own before Vlad pulled away. “Now, don’t we have a dinner we need to go to?”

The millionaire let out a hum in response and Danny found himself following the man down to a town car parked in front of their home. The two loaded up in the back and Danny found himself clenching his fists into his slacks, his hands feeling sweaty. He didn’t know what he was so nervous but the nerves were strong as he sat there watching the gotham city scape fly by them. 

They drove past the large and imposing Wayne Enterprises sign and Danny frowned. Timothy hadn’t been to school for the last three days and he was starting to wonder if something was going on. Maybe it wasn’t that Danny was gross or smelly or offensive to the billionaires precious sensibilities at all. Maybe the guy was just sick as hell and didn’t want to infect him. 

It was possible, but Danny wasn’t certain. His siblings seemed unconcerned about Timothy’s absence and the teachers didn’t say much about it either. He wasn’t sure what was going on but it was absolutely driving him insane. He just wanted to figure out just who exactly Timothy Wayne was and why he acted the way that he did. 

“Before I forget, I need to inform you that the two of us have been invited to the fall gala held by the Richardson family, they are most esteemed and have a son your age. It will be held on September thirteenth so we have a month to prepare and get a suit tailored for you for the event,” he informed Danny who withheld a groan. He was already getting sick of this, the whole having to be paraded around in front of Vlad’s friends. 

He knew what the bastard was doing. 

He was trying to garner attention and sympathy for adopting his poor, pathetic godson and charitably allowing him into his home. 

Danny rolled the date around in his head nonetheless, though and smiled to himself. It was the same day as the homecoming dance, which means Danny at least had an out for that. 

Everyone at Gotham Academy had been excitedly talking about the homecoming dance all year. It was also the night of the big football game between Gotham Academy and Gotham Central. The two rival schools had it out for one another and it was the one time a year where they were allowed to actually go all out against one another. He had been dreading the day ever since he had heard about it in morning announcements and had been trying to figure out a way he could avoid going. Now, though, he had one. As shitty as it may be that he would be stuck going to a gala with Vlad of all people. 

Anything was better than going to a lousy homecoming dance where the teenagers tried to sneak booze into the punch, got way too close to one another and where Danny would absolutely find a way to make a complete and total fool out of himself. 

“We’re here, Daniel,” Vlad chided softly as the car came to a stop in front of a restaurant. Danny nodded and the two climbed out and made their way inside. Danny followed behind Vlad as he guided the two back to a large, private table where Commissioner Gordon and a few other officials within the GCPD already sat talking to one another in low voices. 

“Gentlemen, I apologize for our tardiness, traffic was dreadful on our way over,” Vlad said as he shook the Commissioner's hand. “Please, allow me to introduce you all to my godson, Daniel.” 

Vlad introduced Danny to each member of the table, each one nodding a simple greeting before the two halfas took their seats and Danny tried his best to keep from slumping down in his seat as everyone started talking about a recent string of murders that they started to think was a possible serial killer. 

Danny just sat hunched in the corner, listening to the conversation as Vlad did his best to schmooze and impress the GCPD officials. 

Danny walked into the doors of Gotham Academy and let out a huff. Timothy had been out all week and he was curious to see if maybe he would be there today. At this point, the halfa was seriously starting to wonder if the teenager had dropped out of school at this point. Was it him? There was no way that he could make Timothy so uncomfortable that he dropped out of school, right? He had to be sick or something, maybe mono? Danny heard that the kissing disease was a rough one that kept people on their ass for weeks. 

Maybe Timothy was a victim of the recent string of murders?

Danny shook his head immediately at the thought. There was no way that was true, his siblings wouldn’t be in school if that was the case, and it would likely be all over the news that the son of billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne had fallen victim to a serial killer.

His mind was going a little crazy with all of the different ideas, though. He had come up with so many scenarios in his head about where Timothy was and what was going on with him that by the time he had gotten to lunch and had found Timothy already sitting at the Wayne’s unofficial, official lunch table sandwiched in between Cassandra and Duke.

Danny couldn’t help but grin at the sight, something that of course had Bart teasing him. 

“Oh look, Mister Gloomy and sad is actually happy for once! It’s the end of the world,” Bart exclaimed, elbowing Danny in the ribs lightly. Danny just let out a soft snort and elbowed him back. 

“I’m always happy, I’m a literal ray of sunshine,” Danny said sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he did. 

“You have a nice smile, Danny,” Greta said softly. “I hope we see it more often.”

Danny gave her a tentative smile. “We’ll see,” he told him. 

The halfa was a little too excited to be going to Chemistry if he was being honest. But after spending a week thinking about the mystery that was Timothy Drake, well, he couldn’t help but be excited. He couldn’t wait to find out what the hell was going on with the guy. 

“Hello,” Timothy said as soon as Danny took a seat beside him at their assigned table. “I’m Tim.”

Danny eyed him curiously. “I’m Danny,” he responded, hesitant. “Are you alright? You were out of school for the last week.”

He felt like a dumbass. It was like he had turned into a complete and total idiot as soon as Tim Wayne even looked at him. What the fuck was this? What the hell was wrong with him? Sure he had always been awkward but this was new heights, even for him. 

Tim blinked at him for a moment. “Yes, I’m fine. I was,” he paused for a moment, as if to mull over his words. “Sick,” he finally stated.

“You were sick,” Danny asked slowly. 

Tim nodded. “Yes,” he said just before the bell rang, signaling the start of class. Ms. Isley soon walked in and started going on about anaphase and prophase and honestly at that point Danny tuned it all out to instead focus on the fact that he was a complete and total dumbass. 

Sure he always had foot in mouth disease but it seemed even worse since he moved to Gotham. He wanted to smack his head against the table and die. 

“So, why did you move to Gotham?” Tim asked him quietly as they got to work identifying the different stages of mitosis together. 

Danny let out a hum. “I don’t see why it’s any of your business.”

Tim quirked up the corner of his mouth in a small half smile and huffed out a soft laugh. “I suppose it’s not. But if we’re going to be lab partners for the rest of the school year, I would like to get to know you.”

The halfa glanced at him. “Seriously?”

The Gothamite blinked owlishly at him for a moment. “What do you mean?”

Now Danny was filled with righteous fury. “What do you mean ‘what do you mean?’ I don’t care if you were sick, you acted like I stunk the first time we sat together! You were so weird!” He exclaimed, only to get hushed by Ms. Isley who was now giving the two boys a look of utter annoyance as she looked away from her newest propagations that she kept on her desk.

“Oh,” Tim said softly. “I apologize for my behavior. It was not you, I just wasn’t feeling well. I would like to make this up to you if you would allow me.”

Danny looked him over for a moment. On one hand, he absolutely wanted to know what it was about Tim Wayne that was so damn weird. On the other hand, he already felt like he was making a fool of himself in front of the teenager and he didn’t want to make it worse. But he had a feeling that’s exactly what he was going to do. He took in Tim for a moment, though, the pretty pink lips, his deathly pale skin that was actually pastier than Danny’s even–a shock considering Danny was literally dead– and his dark black hair that framed his face so lovely. His bright, crystalline blue eyes. 

His blue eyes. 

“I swear you had like black eyes last time I saw you,” he said, squinting his eyes a bit. Tim blinked at him once again. 

“It’s the fluorescence,” he said without missing a beat. “My eyes are blue, sometimes the lights just uh, make them seem darker.”

Danny stared at him for a moment, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Yeah, no, this guy was strange and he was going to figure it out. 

“Oh, makes sense,” he said simply. “Then yes, I’ll let you make it up to me.”

Tim gave him a bright smile that made Danny’s heart flutter ever so slightly. “Thank you,” he said and started collecting his things just as the bell rang. “Can I walk you to your next class?”

The halfa tilted his head to the side and looked the student over for a moment before he turned and started to shove his things into his backpack. “I suppose,” he responded.

The two started out of the class together with Danny eyeing the other suspiciously as they walked together. He caught Bart’s curious gaze from across the hall and shrugged his shoulders in response. The brunet made an o shape with his mouth and nodded before he made a pointed look towards Cassie who was currently walking towards the two teenagers like a woman on a mission. 

“Hey Cassie,” Danny said with an easy going smile as she looked over at Tim curiously and back at Danny, probably deciding that it wasn’t worth the questioning at the moment. “Hey, I had a question for you.”

“If this is about the reading for history, I didn’t do it,” Danny told her, raising his hands in the air. “Vlad had me at some stupid dinner last night and we got home late.”

Cassie blinked at him before she shook her head, her brow furrowed. “No, not that. So, the homecoming dance is a Sadie Hawkins dance.”

“What’s that?” The halfa asked blankly, staring at the girl like she grew a second head. She let out an annoyed huff and Tim snickered quietly. Danny turned and gave him a look. “Oh? You know what it is?”

“It’s where the girls ask the guys,” Tim said, an amused look on his face. Cassie pursed her lips and nodded. 

“Exactly, and this is me, asking you,” she said, her blue eyes directed at Danny once again. “I think we could have fun, you need to get a little more laid back, and I like you, Danny; you’re sweet.”

Danny felt his face grow hot. 

“Oh,” he said carefully. “There are two very unfortunate problems with that, Cassie.”

Her face fell and Danny hurried to finish. 

“I uh, I have a gala I have to go to that night with Vlad,” he said, his cheeks still burning hot. “And uh, I’m gay.”

Cassie’s eyes shot up to his once more, wide and surprised. “Oh! Oh! You’re gay! So like, it’s not me, of course not, it’s you!”

Tim snorted and Danny elbowed him lightly. 

“Yeah,” he said lightly. “It’s me. But uh, yeah, I doubt I would be very much fun anyway. Parties and dances, they’re uh, not my thing really.”

Cassie gave him a soft smile. “I think you would be a party animal if you let yourself have fun for once. I’ll see you later,” she said and leaned up on her tip toes and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek before she ran off to class. Danny watched her go for a moment and let out a soft laugh. 

“What gala are you going to?” Tim asked as they continued down the hall together. Danny shrugged his shoulders, shoving his hands into his pockets. 

“I dunno, some fancy gala thing. I didn’t really pay attention,” Danny told him. 

“Why?”

“Why didn’t I pay attention?” Danny asked, glancing over at Tim who was staring at him like he was the most complicated puzzle he had ever seen. “Because it’s Vlad and I couldn’t give two shits about what he says.”

“No, why are you going to a gala?” Tim clarified as the two turned a corner and Danny realized that somehow Tim was leading him, as if he knew Danny’s class schedule. 

“Because my godfather is the CEO of DALV Co and apparently that’s what people with money do,” he said simply. He had heard enough horror stories from Sam to know that galas were bleak and boring and that he would likely be hiding in a corner somewhere eating fancy ass canapes and wishing he were curled up in bed playing Doomed instead. 

“Oh, Vlad Masters is your godfather,” Tim said with a nod. “I see. How is that?”

“It’s okay, I mean if it were up to me, I’d just be emancipated and take care of myself but apparently you have to like actually prove yourself to the courts first and show that you can take care of yourself. I couldn’t do that, apparently,” he said, letting out a huff of air. The two slowed to a stop in front of Danny’s next class and Tim was staring at him expectantly for a moment. Danny furrowed his brow.

“Well, this is my class and the bell is about to ring so you should be going,” Danny told him, Tim looked almost disappointed for a moment as he realized where they were and his shoulders slumped ever so slightly before he stood ramrod straight once more. 

“Yes, right,” he said awkwardly, swallowing a bit. “I will see you tomorrow in class.”

“Right, in class,” Danny said slowly before he turned on his heel and went into class. He didn’t have any answers yet on Timothy Wayne and the weird feeling that came from him, but Danny knew one thing for certain. 

Timothy Wayne was weird as fuck and Danny thought it was kinda cute.

Chapter Text

Danny nodded along, idly listening as Bart and Jaime bickered on either side of them, complaining about their outfits for homecoming. It was drizzling outside, not a full on rain, but just enough to be annoying and to leave the pavement full of puddles and soaking wet. It was just another reminder that dreary Gotham City was nothing like sunny and bright Amity Park. 

“I’m telling you, a bedazzled blue suit is gonna be the way to go,” Jaime argued as Bart tried to dissuade him from the fashion faux pas.

It was strange, he had never really put all that much interest into school dances before, usually him, Tucker, and Sam would just hang out at Sam’s place and watch horror movies. He had never really put too much interest in them, but now he felt a little envious of his friends, they were all so incredibly excited to go to homecoming of all things and Danny was going to be missing it for a stupid gala. 

Part of him wondered if he could convince Vlad to let him go to homecoming instead of the gala but he knew that it was no dice. Vlad put far too much interest in his name and his status and unfortunately for Danny that meant he had to be a part of it. Danny wasn’t stupid, he knew that he made Vlad’s image even better, how could he not? He was a poor, neglected teenager who’s parents had just been thrown into federal prison. Sure, not everyone knew the major details involved around his parents arrest, the government had made sure of that, but the world knew about Vlad adopting his poor godson and the media was eating it up. 

Vlad Masters was the next Bruce Wayne, adopting poor kids who needed families, taking them in and protecting them and giving them a better life. It made Danny want to barf at just the thought of it all. Vlad was eating it up, though, good press was his weakness and it had been a long time since Dalv Co had gotten just this much press. So there was no way that Danny would be able to convince his godfather into allowing him to bail from the gala, not when it was Vlad’s chance to parade the halfa around as his newest charity case. 

“Alright, whatever,” Jaime finally said, shoving Bart lightly. “My dad’s here, so I’ll see you two later.”

Bart waved enthusiastically at their friend before he turned to Danny and wagged his eyebrows. Danny’s shoulders immediately slumped. 

“What?” He whined dramatically. 

“So, you and Tim Drake-Wayne, huh? What’s that about?”

“Cassie told you didn’t see?” He asked, his voice flat and resigned. 

“She did! She gave me very important information about my new best friend, first off, why didn’t you ever tell me you were gay? We can be gay together–well not like together together, i’m not gonna lie, I kinda got a thing for Jaime, but we can be gay allies! Or I dunno, something! I can’t believe my gay-dar is broken. Then again, you’re just so quiet and mysterious, it’s hard to even get a read on you,” Bart blathered. “But then she told me that Tim Drake-Wayne was walking you to class,” he said and a wide smile took over the brunet’s face. 

“What about it?” Danny asked, ignoring the entire ramble about being gay buddies or whatever the hell Bart was talking about. 

“Is it like a thing?” Bart asked as the two of them started towards where their two guardians were waiting. Danny was still mildly surprised that Vlad insisted on picking him up from school every day, and Bart, well, apparently Max declared that he wasn’t responsible enough to drive. Either Cassie gave him a ride, or if she was at cheerleading practice like today, Max would just come and pick the hyperactive teen up. Danny didn’t blame the older man for not trusting Bart with a car, he could just imagine how easily his friend would get distracted and wreck the vehicle somehow.

“What do you mean a thing?” Danny asked, once the question had registered in his brain. He glanced over his shoulder to find Tim hanging out at one of his siblings cars, his brothers and sister all talking and laughing with one another. Blue eyes were on Danny, though, tracking him as he walked across the parking lot. 

“Well, you know, are you two like smashing?” 

Danny rubbed his hands over his face and let out a huff. “We aren’t smashing, Bart. And don’t say that ever again, no one says smashing. Tim was just being friendly and trying to get to know me.”

Bart gave him a shit eating grin. “Bet you want him to be even friendlier, though, huh? I’ve seen how you look at him, Danno, like you wanna eat him,” he teased and Danny huffed out a laugh and shook his head when he suddenly heard the sounds of brakes locking up. Before he could full register what was happening, he found himself shoving Bart out of the way and preparing to phase through the van that was now barreling towards him at way too fast of speed for a parking lot. 

Only, the impact never came, and Danny had found himself not needing to phase through anything as he looked up to find Tim in front of him, breathing heavy as his hand pressed deep into the metal of the car in front of them, his hand print obvious. Danny looked between his hand and the bewildered expression on Tim’s face and blinked owlishly. 

“Tim?” He asked, his voice just slightly high pitched as the two started to stand. “Where did you come from?”

Around them their peers were flooding around them, asking if they were alright, if Danny or Tim were hurt. Danny glanced over to find Bart staring at the scene in front of him in shock, as if he was still processing what exactly had happened. Danny had shoved him pretty hard to get him out of the way of the hydroplanning van, he was standing a good two feet away from the accident that would have crushed Danny if not for the fact that one, he was a ghost and would have phased through it and two, Tim hadn’t stepped in and stopped the giant van like it was nothing. 

Tim stared at him for a moment with those bright blue eyes and slowly pulled his hand away from the now dented van. “What do you mean?” He asked. 

“I mean, where did you come from? You were across the parking lot with your siblings,” Danny said slowly, glancing over at where the Waynes were all staring at them curiously. Jason’s jaw was tensed as he stared at the two, Damian’s arms crossed over his chest as he stared on disapprovingly. Cass, Steph, and Duke looked like they couldn’t care less in that moment and just wanted to go home. 

Tim let out a soft laugh and shook his head as he looked Danny over curiously. 

“Danny, I was right beside you,” he said simply. “I was just about to ask you about the chemistry homework when the van nearly hit us. You shoved Bart out of the way,” he said and Danny narrowed his eyes. 

He was good. Not even a hitch in his breath to show he was lying through his teeth. But Danny wasn’t stupid, he knew that Tim wasn’t anywhere close to him, if he was, Danny would have known. His ghost sense would have gone off and it didn’t, not until he felt Tim jump beside him and stop the car from hitting him. 

“No, you weren’t, you were across the parking lot, I saw you,” Danny ground out through gritted teeth as he heard Vlad’s voice start calling his name in a panic. He heard someone start calling emergency services and hoped to the Ancients that Vlad would intercept it before they had to deal with any extra drama. 

Tim gave him an amused look and pressed a cold hand to Danny’s cheek. “Did you hit your head? I was right beside you, you can ask Bart,” he said and glanced over at Bart who was staring at them with wide eyes. 

“Are you okay?” Bart asked, finally seeming to gain his bearings as he rushed over, pushing past everyone else who seemed to be trying to assess the damage. The driver of the van, Bernard something, kept apologizing, over and over. Danny ignored them all as he looked at Tim again. The teenager just gave him a kind, mocking smile and pulled away to let Vlad through. 

“Mr. Masters,” he said as Bart’s arms wrapped around Danny’s waist and hugged him tight. 

“Timothy! My boy, I didn’t realize that the van nearly hit you as well, are you alright?” Vlad asked and Danny ignored the two as he looked at Bart. 

“Was he really next to us?” he asked and Bart let out a sniff. 

“I don’t remember, it all happened so fast,” Bart said, burying his face in Danny’s chest. “You pushed me out of the way, though, you saved me.”

Danny smiled and patted his friend’s back lightly. “You’re my friend, Bart, of course I would save you,” he said and Bart let out a loud wail, throwing his head back as he did. 

“Don’t ever do that again, Danny Masters, you scared the shit out of me,” he exclaimed and Danny laughed, hugging his friend tight. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and glanced over to find Vlad looking him over with a critical eye. 

“I’m glad you’re okay, Badger,” he said with a kind smile. Danny returned it with one of his own, his shoulders slumping just a bit when he realized that Tim was nowhere to be found. 

“Thanks, Tim saved me,” he said pointedly and Vlad just smiled.

“Shall we get home so that I can have our doctor look you over?” He asked and Danny nodded, extracting Bart from him and patted his friend’s back. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Bart,” Danny told him lightly and Bart sniffed but nodded his head. 

“Text me if you need anything,” the smaller boy said before he looked between Danny and Vlad, mustered up a small smile and left the two alone. 

“I have already assured young Mr. Dowd that there was no harm done and that you are alright,” Vlad said, glancing over at the blond driver who was still staring worriedly. 

“I’m fine,” Danny assured. “If it had actually hit me, I was prepared to phase through it and act like it barely missed me.”

“Regardless, I’m glad that you’re alright,” Vlad said as he led Danny back to his car. Danny just mustered up a smile and nodded in agreement. He let Vlad fuss over him as soon as he got home, allowing the man to check his pupils and look him over despite the fact that he was totally fine. Before he knew it, though, he found himself in bed and his thoughts, like always, seemed to be revolving around one Timothy Drake-Wayne.

The teenager was growing more and more fascinating in Danny’s eyes and he found himself desperately wondering what the hell was going on with the guy. He knew without a doubt that Tim had been completely across the parking lot when that van was spinning towards Danny. Not only that but Tim’s hand had left a dent in the van, that wasn’t normal. 

Setting off Danny’s ghost sense in a weird way was one thing. Danny could accept the little quirk for just being his powers on the fritz. He could accept the lie about the fluorescent lights causing Tim’s eyes to change color. What he couldn’t accept was that Tim had managed to get across the parking lot in a blink of an eye and stop the car from crushing them. He couldn’t just brush that off as Gotham City weirdness. He couldn’t excuse that as his powers being off or whatever. 

Something about Tim Drake-Wayne was different and he definitely wasn’t human. Now, Danny just needed to figure out what the hell was up with the guy and see if he was a threat to Danny’s last chance of normalcy or not.

Chapter Text

Danny hated all the eyes on him. He felt like he was just seconds away from turning invisible to hide from all of the staring. It was the day after the accident in the parking lot and after spending an entire night with Vlad fretting over him, Danny wanted nothing more than to go back to his safe net of invisibility that he had come to love since moving to Gotham City. 

Unfortunately, for him, it seemed that he was the talk of the school. Just the walk to his first hour class had him wanting to hide in the folds of his hoodie and not be seen by any of the curious eyes. 

”Did you hear about it? They said Tim Drake jumped in and pushed him out of the way,” a voice whispered. 

“They were so flirting with each other before it happened,” another voice said in a hushed voice. Danny simply rolled his eyes and clutched the straps of his backpack just a little tighter as he turned the hall and found more eyes on him.

“Hey man, are you okay?” A voice asked and he glanced over to find Jaime looking at him worriedly as he shut his locker door. “I saw what happened yesterday. I’m glad Drake was able to push you out of the way.”

Danny mustered up a small smile. “Yeah, lucky,” he muttered under his breath before he looked down the hall at where the Waynes were all gathered. Tim was nowhere to be seen but Jason, Cassandra, and Steph were all eyeing him warily. The halfa shook his head and glanced back at Jaime. “I’m fine, Hime, really. I’m glad Tim was there to knock me out of the way. Vlad had me looked over by a doctor and there wasn’t even so much as a concussion.”

Jaime’s shoulders slumped down in relief. “Well, I’m glad. We were all really worried about you and you weren’t texting us back in the group chat and Bart was really shaken.”

“Yeah, Vlad didn’t want me on any electronics on the mere chance that I did get a concussion,” he lied. 

In all actuality, Vlad had fretted for the entire drive to the brownstone and then once they had made it inside, sat Danny on the couch and lectured him for nearly three hours. First about how he needed to maintain his secret, how he shouldn’t have even thought about phasing through the van when it came careening to him, then it was how he should have moved out of the way. After that he ranted about how they could use this, how he could use this to their advantage. Poor Danny Masters nearly hit by a car, just another thing that happened to him after the downfall of his scientist parents. Danny had simply sat there, slumped down in the couch trying his best to look as though he was listening while also managing to daze off. 

This was the thing with Vlad. He acted like he cared, he really put on a good show of it too. He was convincing to everyone, even Danny sometimes. But there was still always a part of him that wasn’t quite as nice or convincing as he tried to convince people he was. There was a part of him that truly wanted to trust Vlad, that wanted to rely on his godfather and have the love and support from a parent that he had always desired. But the other part of him, the part that screamed he had been burned far too many times by his godfather, always worried that he would get burned once more. Maybe not because Vlad had a scheme for him, but because Vlad Masters was always scheming and Danny didn’t trust that he wasn’t going to rope Danny in one of his schemes.

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” Jaime said with a small smile. He looked around and winced slightly. “Don’t worry, the stares will stop in a few days. You just gotta wait for the next piece of drama to drop and everyone’s attention will be off of you in no time.”

“Yeah, fingers crossed it happens soon,” Danny muttered. The warning bell shrieked loudly, causing his ears to ring. He winced a bit and looked around. “I gotta get to class, but I’ll see you guys at lunch.”

The rest of the morning seemed to drift by after that, the stares were still there, as were the whispers and speculation about Danny and Tim and their sudden friendship. Finally, the stares grew to be too much, causing Danny to slip away from his third hour class and hide out in the parking lot of the school to take a breather. 

He leaned against the cool brick wall and let out a soft breath as he let his fingers sink into the soft brick. He was ready to scream with all the looks, the whispers, the gossip, it was far too much to deal with. It reminded him far too much of the way things had been in Amity before he left.

Poor Fenturd and his stupid parents. The town shame or whatever the hell they said about him when they thought that he wasn’t listening. The thing about being half ghost, though, was that it meant that Danny heard everything. Something that could be considered a blessing and a curse. 

“Tim, you need to fix this now,” a voice hissed in pure annoyance. 

 “I’ve got it under control,” Tim said with a scoff. “Danny doesn’t suspect a thing, I convinced him yesterday that I was talking to him before the car nearly hit him.”

Danny held back a snort at that. He was absolutely not convinced that Tim was standing beside him. He was half dead, not half stupid. He took another breath and tried his best to tune out the squabbling of Jason Wayne and Tim Wayne and instead focus on trying to get some space and quiet before going back inside to the whispers and gossip of everyone around him.

“I don’t think we have anything to worry about in terms of Danny Masters,” Tim said softly, Danny’s ears prickling at the sound of his name. His nose wrinkled slightly at that. Tim had absolutely no idea what he had to worry about when it came to Danny Masters. He was a retired vigilante, he could hold his own in any fight that came his way. The matter of if he would risk his identity was another thing altogether, but he could do it if he needed to. 

“I think we have a lot to worry about,” Jason said with a scoff. “No one just moves to Gotham, not only that but his guardian is Vlad Masters and–”

“And for the first time in all the years that you’ve known me, I just need you to trust me,” Tim interrupted. “Do you think you can do that for me, Jay? Trust me for just a little bit while I figure things out.”

“I just hope you know what you’re doing Tim, before the court tries to get involved,” Jason responded with a hiss.

“You worry too much, Dick and Damian are the worry warts, you’re supposed to be the fun one,” Tim said and Danny let out a huff of a laugh as he slipped through the bricks and back into the school before he could hear any more of the brother’s conversation. 

“So, Mister Popular, how are you feeling?” Cassie asked with a shit eating grin as she rested her head on her hand and stirred her spork around in her mashed potatoes. 

“Like I want to kill myself, except that would only get me more attention,” Danny muttered, slumping down in his seat. Cissie snorted and flicked him in the ear. 

“Dramatic much?” She asked. 

“I hate attention,” Danny muttered, stabbing at the piece of meatloaf on his lunch tray. He wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and hide away from everyone and everything for a few days. 

“There, there, our little emo,” Bart said sympathetically, patting Danny’s back lightly. “It’s okay, you’re okay.”

“Bart, I hate you,” Danny whined as the auburn haired boy scooped him in his arms and held him tight. 

“I know you do buddy, you wouldn’t be you if you weren’t filled with hate and essential dread,” Bart cooed and Danny wanted to hit him. 

“So, what happened?” Greta asked, looking at him curiously, poking his forehead with her finger lightly. 

“What do you mean?” Danny asked bitterly. “One minute, Tim, Bart, and I were talking and then Bernard’s van lost control from the rain and it nearly hit us. I shoved Bart out of the way, and Tim shoved us out of the way,” he grumbled. “Now everyone and their dog keeps staring at me and I’m going to lose my mind.”

“It was a little sexy,” Cassie said with a smirk. “I mean have you seen the picture?” 

Danny froze. “The picture?”

“Oh dude,” Jaime said with an evil laugh. “Someone got a picture right before the van nearly squished you two.”

“Lemme see,” he snapped and a phone slid his way. He stared down to find Tim’s arm wrapped around his shoulders, the other arm outstretched as if he were going to push the van out of the way. But Tim wasn’t looking at the van that was about to crush them, no his eyes were on Danny. He had a furrowed brown and his eyes seemed rather soft as he stared at Danny instead.

“I think right after this was when he pulled you back before the van hit you,” Cissie said and smiled. “The two of you are really cute together, though. I mean between Tim walking you to class every day after you guys have Chem together and this, it’s no wonder people have been gossiping that you guys are dating.”

“Dating?” Danny spluttered. “I hate everything in this world.”

“You’re so dramatic, have we mentioned?” Cassie teased and Danny flipped her off. 

“Well, I think he has a crush on you,” Greta said lightly. “I mean the way he looks at you, it’s so intense.”

“You’re insane,” Danny scoffed. “All of you are insane. There’s nothing going on between Tim and I. We’re just chemistry partners and nothing else.”

“Whatever you say,” Cassie said with a hum as Bart continued to pat Danny’s back comfortingly. 

He hated everything. 

Soon the bell rang and before Danny knew it, he found himself in his chemistry class and eyeing Tim warily. The teenager was looking Danny over with a concerned eye and Danny wanted to flick him in the forehead. 

“What?” he finally hissed. They still had a few minutes before the bell rang and Ms. Isley had yet to come in for class. 

“You look better,” Tim said with a small smile. “I was worried about you, you were acting concussed yesterday after the incident.”

“I didn’t get a concussion, I got a clean bill of health. Not only that, but I want answers, Tim Wayne. And I want answers now,” he snarled, glaring at his classmate.

“What is there to answer?” Tim asked, giving Danny a concerned look. 

“How the hell did you get to me so fast?” Danny demanded and Tim rolled his eyes and let out a soft laugh. It had Danny ready to grit his teeth. 

“This again?” He laughed. “Danny, I was right next to you. We were talking, remember? Are you sure you didn’t get a concussion?”

“You and I both know that we weren’t talking to one another,” Danny said with a huff. “I was minding my own business, talking to Bart when you just appeared out of nowhere. You were across the parking lot with your siblings and you and I both know that.”

“I’m worried about you, Danny. Should we maybe go to the nurses station just to make sure you haven’t hit your head?” he asked and Danny was even more tempted to flick Tim in the head. 

“No, we’re not going to do that. I’m not crazy,” he said with a huff. “I know what I saw, Tim.”

Tim’s smile dropped and he let out a soft huff. “Look, can’t you just thank me and drop it? I saved your life.”

“My life didn’t need saving, you sanctimonious prick,” Danny hissed just as the bell rang. “I can thank you but there’s something weird about you Tim Wayne. I’m going to figure out what it is.”

Tim just gave him a small smile as Ms. Isley walked into the room. “Well, I hope you’re not too disappointed once you learn I’m nothing more than an eccentric billionaire’s son.”

Danny ground his teeth as their teacher started up their lecture. He was going to figure out what the hell was going on with Tim and his family, even if it killed him.

Chapter Text

Danny took a seat on the school bus and slumped down, his arms crossed over his chest as the other students started filling the bus. The Chemistry class was going on some field trip to a composting company that Ms. Isley was incredibly excited about and Danny was determined. Not about paying attention to the importance of composting, honestly he really didn’t care all that much about it. He rarely ate, his carbon footprint had to be pretty small with how infrequently he actually ate food these days. 

He was determined because he was going to start getting to know Tim Drake-Wayne even if it fucking killed him the rest of the way. He wanted answers and he was going to get them. He was sick of being gaslit by the other teenager. He wanted to know why he was so goddamn weird, he smelled weird, he felt weird, it was too much and it had Danny’s former vigilante senses absolutely tingling. Plus his ghost sense acted weird any time he was in a close proximity to the Wayne family and he was starting to get a little desperate to figure it out. 

“Is this seat taken?” A soft voice asked and Danny looked up to find Stephanie Brown staring down at him curiously. He shrugged his shoulders and pointed his nose at the seat. 

“All yours,” he said, adjusting himself so that he was no longer slumped down in his seat. Stephanie took a seat beside him and gave the halfa a bright smile.

“I’m Steph,” she introduced. “I’m in Ms. Isley’s first hour chem class.”

“Danny,” he said and looked her over. He felt the cold air push through his lungs, telling him she was different, not quite human but not a ghost either. He held back from wrinkling his nose at the feeling and instead tried to give the girl a polite smile. She seemed more approachable than the others, more bright. 

“So, how are you liking Gotham Academy?” She asked once everyone was situated and the bus started the drive to the composting company. 

“It’s fine, it’s high school, ya know?” He said, not really knowing what else there was to say on the matter. High school was the same no matter where you went, there were cliques and groups and you did everything you could to keep your head down so that no one noticed you. Danny wanted to skirt by the rest of his high school career as under the radar as possible. So far, it really didn’t seem to working out for him the way he was wanting it to but it was fine, everything was fine. He was…dealing with it.

He had a good group of friends, it had been a week since the van thing, whispers were finally going down, and he was doing good. He was still trying to figure Tim out. He had been pretty much avoiding Danny altogether ever since the whole van thing which was incredibly frustrating. The guy was hot one moment and then cold the other and Danny couldn’t keep up with his mood changing so fast.

Steph let out a hum. “I remember when I transferred to the school, I felt like a fish out of water,” she said with a soft laugh. “It gets easier, though, as time goes on.”

“You transferred to Gotham Academy?” Danny asked incredulously and Steph made an affirming noise in the back of her throat. 

“Yeah, I was going to Gotham High before. But then I had some family things happen and Mr. Wayne took me in and paid for my schooling. Said I was practically family since Tim and I were dating at the time.”

“You and Tim used to date?”  Danny asked, his curiosity getting the better of him as Steph let out a soft snicker. 

“We did,” she confirmed. “And then I dumped him for his sister. I don’t think he’ll ever get over it, either. Not the breaking up part, the dating his sister thing.”

Danny snorted. “He seems the type, he’s so grouchy.”

Steph rolled her eyes, the same shade of blue as Tim’s. “Tell me about it. Half the time, I’m convinced he’s actually a grumpy old man and not a seventeen-year-old teenager. He takes himself way too seriously sometimes. But he’s got a good heart,” she told him with a small smile. “Tim’s always been there for me when it mattered and he cares in his own, weird way.”

“You sound like you’re trying to convince me of it,” Danny pointed out and Steph let out a soft laugh. 

“My family says I’m a meddler,” she said as if it were the most untrue thing anyone could ever say about her. “But I think Tim likes you, and I think you’re at least interested in him. I see the way you look at him sometimes when you think no one is paying any attention. You look at him like he’s a puzzle and you want to connect each of the pieces.”

The halfa let out a disbelieving scoff. He did not stare at Tim Drake-Wayne and he definitely wasn’t interested in him for any reason aside from figuring out what the hell his problem was. 

“He’s infuriating,” Danny muttered. 

“I didn’t say he wasn’t,” Steph chided with a knowing look. “That’s part of his charm, I think.”

“I’m not interested in Tim, besides, I’m pretty sure he hates my guts,” he told the blond, crossing his arms over his chest like a petulant child. He did not like Tim, he wasn’t interested in him in any way aside from figuring out what exactly he was hiding. The Wayne kids were a mystery and he was going to figure them out one way or another.

He felt Steph wrap her hand around his elbow and looked over at her, a surprised look on her face. 

“Interesting,” she murmured before pulling her hand away. “Look, all I’m saying is that I’m going to be the one to say I told you so when the two of you finally start dating. Got it?” She said and Danny let out a huff as the bus started to slow to a stop. 

“Don’t hold your breath,” he muttered, staring out the window as rain pattered on the window pane of the bus. It was another dreary Gotham day and Danny found himself even more ready for the day to be over than he had been before this… enlightening conversation with Stephanie Brown. 

“So, what brought you to Gotham in the first place?” Steph asked as the two waited to unload the bus. 

“My godfather,” he answered blandly. That was another thing he couldn’t understand, he didn’t quite get why everyone was so interested in why he had moved to Gotham? Was it just small talk to get to know him? Was it that odd for someone to willingly move to Gotham City of all places? “My parents were sent to prison a few months ago and my godfather adopted me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Steph said, her face genuine. “My dad was sent to prison when I was younger. It’s hard.”

Danny’s brow furrowed and he clutched his backpack straps tight. “Yeah, it was. They aren’t good people, and they didn’t care about me. But I love them, ya know?” He found himself saying. This was the first time that someone seemed to really get it, or potentially get it. 

Steph made a sad sound and nodded her head. “It never goes away. They’re your parents, ya know? There’s always going to be a part of you that loves them and wonder why that wasn’t enough.”

“How long has your dad been in prison?” Danny asked, glancing over at the blond as they watched the bus doors open and the people in the front start unloading. 

“A while now,” she said. Danny nodded, that made sense. It sounded like she had a while to really think about how it felt having a parent in prison, unlike Danny who was still struggling to come to terms with it all. “How is it living with your godfather?”

Danny snorted. “A pain in my ass. He insisted that as soon as he got custody of me he change my last name to his so that we could be a real family. So I’ve been stuck as Danny Masters for the last few months and it’s taking some getting used to.”

“Masters? Like Vladamir Masters?”

The halfa let out a hum, watching as the group in front of them stood and started to file out before they started to do the same. “The one and the same unfortunately. CEO of DALVCO and general pain in my ass most days,” he said dryly and Steph’s lips puckered a bit before Danny grabbed his backpack and started to file out of the bus. 

“What’s that like?” She asked carefully, her voice suddenly a lot more neutral that it had been before. Danny gave her a curious look and shrugged. 

“I’m getting dragged to a gala instead of getting to go to homecoming and I get to be tugged along while he schmoozes with different rich assholes to get more funding for his own business,” he muttered. He hated it to be honest. He hated the politics of Vlad’s job, hated that he seemed to get pulled along with it. Hated that Vlad started to tell people that he was Danny’s father, that whenever they were out in public he called Danny ‘son’. It was all just a little too much and he simply couldn’t stand any of it. 

“Alright everyone! I want you all to pair up with your usual lab partners so that you can complete your assignment together!” Ms. Isley called once both school buses had emptied out and the students were all standing in a large semi-circle. 

“Well, I should find my partner. It was nice talking to you, Danny,” Steph said with a small smile. Danny gave her a smile in return and scanned the crowd for a moment before finding Tim walking towards him with a pinched look on his face. 

“Someone spit in your cheerios this morning?” Danny asked, shoving his hands in his pockets once Tim had gotten close enough to him. 

“What were you and Stephanie talking about?”

Danny waggled his eyebrows for a moment. “Jealous?” He teased. Tim gave him that look that told him he wanted absolutely none of Danny’s shit and the halfa let out a huff. “We were just talking about what it’s like to have parents in prison, if you really need to know.”

“Oh,” Tim said awkwardly, his face smoothing over now. Danny held back a smirk. Served the asshole right to be thrown off guard for being such a damn jerk all the time. “I’m sorry. About your parents.”

“They’re psychopaths, don’t worry about it,” Danny said, waving his hand dismissively. He was tired of talking about Jack and Maddie. That was a can of worms with far too many complicated feelings and he had already met his quota for thinking about them for the day. He wanted to keep that particular box shut and locked in the back of his mind where he couldn’t stop and think about them or what they did to him. 

The two started into the composting building, each taking the hand out from Ms. Isley with the instructions to fill in the blanks as they learn about the magical world of composting. 

“Danny,” Tim said after a few minutes of silence as the two filled out their papers together, only speaking when giving one another answers and asking needed questions. The halfa glanced over to find Tim giving him what seemed like a pained look on his face. 

“Yeah?” he asked, arching a brow in curiosity. He frowned as Tim took a step forward and looked Danny over curiously for a moment. 

“I want to apologize,” he blurted out suddenly and Danny took a step back. 

“What?” He asked, flabbergasted. Tim let out a soft laugh and ran his fingers through his black locks and looked away for a moment. 

“I just, I’m not good at this,” he admitted.

“Are you trying to apologize to me for being an asshole? Because if you are, I would also like for you to tell me how the hell you stopped that van. I think I would actually prefer that over an apology,” Danny snarked. 

Tim let out a scoff and kicked at the ground. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“No, because you and I both know that one, you stopped that van with your bare hands like it was nothing, and two, we weren’t talking to each other before you came over,” Danny hissed at him. “I don’t appreciate being gaslit.”

The teenager made a face and blew a strand of hair out of his face. “It was an… adrenaline rush. I saw the van rushing towards you and I just had to do something to stop it,” he said slowly and Danny gave him a look as he crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Yeah and pigs fly,” Danny stated. “Apology not accepted, Tim.”

Danny started walking once more, looking at the different plants in the large greenhouse and Tim’s steps hastened to pick up. 

“Look, I’m sorry I’m so rude all the time I just–”

“Boys,” Ms. Isley stated, interrupting whatever stupid excuse was about to spew out of Tim’s mouth next. She flipped her red hair behind her shoulder as she looked them over. “How are you doing with the assignment? Do you have any questions about the green house or how they use their compost?”

“No, Ms. Isley, I think we’re understanding it pretty well,” Danny said with a small smile. “I’m very interested in how they are using the vegetables they grow here to give back to low income neighborhoods instead of selling to grocery stores. It’s actually a really incredible set up they have going on here. I have a friend back home, she’s an ultra-recyclo vegetarian and she would have gone nuts over this entire thing.”

Ms. Isley gave him a small, approving smile. “I’m glad you’re getting something out of it, Mr. Masters. Maybe your friend’s ideals will rub off on you and we can continue to make the world a better, greener place,” she said before stepping away. Danny flashed the teacher a smile before he looked back at Tim who was staring at him as if he had grown another head. 

Danny simply shrugged. The two continued on with the field trip, taking notes here and there, answering one another’s questions, not bringing up the previous conversation. Before Danny knew it, they were leaving the building and heading back towards the busses when Tim spoke up once again. 

“Look, I’ve been thinking and I really don’t think we should be friends,” Tim said and Danny couldn’t help but scoff. 

“You really should’ve figured that out a little earlier, dontcha think? I mean, why didn’t you just let the van crush me and save yourself all this regret,” Danny demanded and Tim blinked at him owlishly. Danny felt the urge to sock him in the face.

“You think I regret saving you?” He asked incredulously and Danny’s eyes narrowed. 

“It’s obvious that you do,” he snarled. “It would have made your life so much easier than having to deal with me asking you all these questions and you lying to my face every damn time.”

Tim’s face darkened. “You don’t know anything,” he said before storming away from Danny and stomping up the steps of the bus. 

A loud whistle sounded, causing Danny to jump. He glanced over to find Stephanie watching with sad eyes. 

“Give him time, he’s just an emotionally stunted asshole who acts way too much like his dad,” she said sadly. 

“Or he’s just a cunt,” he muttered before he spun on his heel and stormed towards his own bus. He was going to kick Tim Drake-Wayne’s ass one of these days. 

Chapter Text

Danny dropped his lunch tray on the linoleum table and slumped down in his chair, kicking his feet out in front of him. Bart elbowed him lightly and Danny mustered up a small smile. 

“We’re planning on going to Metropolis this weekend to go to the amusement park there,” the red head told Danny, his smile bright and infectious as always. “Our friend, Connor moved there last year with his older brother, Clark and so we’re going to meet up with him and go ride some coasters.”

“I don’t want to intrude on your time catching up with your friend,” Danny said, his brow furrowed. Bart threw his head back and let out a loud laugh, garnering the attention of the rest of their friend group. 

“You’re not going to intrude, you’re our friend too. Besides, I think you’ll like Connor,” Bart said. 

“Oh you’ll love Connor!” Cassie said with a wide smile. “He’s a lot of fun, and I think he’s just as moody as you are.”

“No one is as moody as our sweet Danny-Kins,” Cissie teased, wrapping her arms around Danny’s shoulders and hugged him tight. Danny scowled and elbowed her in the ribs lightly.

“I am not moody,” Danny grumbled, stabbing at his pathetic piece of baked chicken. It was like a dry piece of rubber. 

“Danny,” Greta said, giving him a knowing look as Jaime and Bart started laughing loudly. “You are our little pet emo and you know it.”

Danny narrowed his eyes at the girl and let out a huff. He was not a moody emo. Even if he was, he had every single right to be moody and maybe even a little emo. Danny went to argue, though, when he felt eyes on him and glanced over to find Tim staring at him as if he had grown a second head and gritted his teeth in annoyance. He was going to kill that motherfucker. 

“So, you’re gonna go, right?” Jaime asked, kicking Danny’s attention from Tim. He glanced over at his friend and shrugged his shoulders. 

“I’ll have to get permission from my godfather first but I don’t see why not,” he said simply. He wouldn’t mind getting out of the doom and gloom of Gotham City at least for a few hours. He had never been to Metropolis before and he couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like there. He was itching to get out if he was being honest. There was a dull ache under his skin even with the desire to shift into Phantom and soar through the skies above. But Vlad had been firm in his rules and wanted absolutely no shifting while in Gotham, citing a safety issue of some kind. 

Going to Metropolis wouldn’t change that desire, but it would at least help him get a little freedom from Gotham which would hopefully help. 

“If I have to, I’ll go beg Mr. Masters on my hands and knees to let you go with us,” Bart told him seriously. Danny let out a soft snort and shook his head in dismay.  He glanced back over at Tim who was still casting him looks and furrowed his brow. He didn’t get what was going on with Tim. 

He felt weird to his ghost senses, he had extreme mood swings like he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to act around Danny. Not only that, but it was like he thought Danny was the weird one. The halfa chewed on his bottom lip for a moment, watching as Tim finally looked away from him and started talking to his siblings. 

What if the reason Tim was so weird around Danny is that he could feel Danny’s differences just as well as Tim could feel his? Was it possible that Tim could tell that Danny wasn’t quite human? It would make sense, considering that Danny could tell that Tim wasn’t human. He wasn’t sure what the guy was, he definitely wasn’t a ghost but he was something else, something not quite normal. 

As much as he wanted to kick the guy’s ass for being a jerk, he had to admit that he was intrigued by him. 

Tim Drake-Wayne was, despite his shit attitude at times, gorgeous. He was a bit smaller than Danny with a slender frame, his nose a beautiful swoop, with the most beautiful smile. Tim was beautiful. But not only that, but he was smart, he was funny when he wasn’t being an asshole, and Danny did enjoy hanging out with the guy. He wanted to be friends, get to know him, figure out what the hell he was that made Danny’s ghost senses act just slightly off.

Despite Tim’s insistence that they not be friends, Danny couldn’t help but want to go against that however he could. Once the bell rang and Danny eventually found himself in Chemistry, his resolve to become friends with Tim was even stronger.

He tried convincing himself that it was because he wanted to figure out what the hell Tim Drake-Wayne was. But he knew, deep down in his soul, that what he really wanted was to be friends with Tim. He felt like a kindred spirit, someone who had seen the rough sides of this world and knew that not everything was perfect and beautiful all the time.

He knew that Tim wasn’t human, he could feel it in his bones that he wasn’t human. He wasn’t sure what the hell Tim was but he would figure it out eventually. 

Tim took a seat beside Danny and the halfa felt a shiver run down his spine, just as it always did whenever Tim came close to him. Something whispered to the ghost, not human, not normal. Similar, but not the same. 

Tim gave him an uncomfortable look and Danny was immediately reminded of the shitty conversation they had just the day before. He wrinkled his nose and instead stared straight ahead as Ms. Isley stepped into the room and gave everyone a pleasant smile. Danny had heard a rumor that the Chemistry teacher recently had started dating the school counselor, Ms. Quinzell. Ever since then she had been in a far better mood than usual, even going so far as to smile before class. 

Danny listened as she launched into her lesson for the day, doing what he could to ignore the boy next to him. He was in a weird position, he knew it. How the hell was he supposed to make friends with someone who very obviously did not understand his own feelings for him? Tim couldn’t decide if he wanted to be friends with Danny or if he wanted to kill him. 

Part of Danny wondered if it was because Tim wasn’t human. Was he trying to distance himself for fear that Danny wouldn’t accept the inhuman part of him? He found himself thrumming his fingers against the top of their desk as his mind drifted. He didn’t quite know how to go about things. He wasn’t sure what Tim was, yet, and he certainly wasn’t going to tell Tim that he was a ghost until after he knew for sure that Tim really was something not human. 

He wasn’t sure what he was, though, that was the main problem. Once he figured out what Tim was, he would tell Tim about his own secret and then who knew what could happen. Maybe they could create supernatural freaks anonymous. 

Danny couldn’t help but snort at the very thought and shook his head, garnering him a strange look from his lab partner. He met Tim’s curious gaze and gave him a soft smile. 

“What are you laughing about?” Tim asked once Ms. Isley had them start working on their lab project. 

“Why do you want to know?” Danny asked, arching an eyebrow. “Weren’t you the one who said we shouldn’t be friends?”

Tim laughed quietly. “You are the only person that I never know what you’re thinking. It’s maddening,” he admitted and Danny sniffed harshly. 

“Don’t worry about it,” he said before he looked down at his worksheet. He chewed on his lip as he looked at the questions for a moment, the awkward, uncomfortable silence hanging in between them. “Have you ever been to Metropolis?” He finally asked and Tim gave him a confused look. 

“No,” he said carefully. “I’ve never left Gotham.”

Danny gave his lab mate a surprised look at that. “Really? You’ve never left Gotham, like at all?”

Tim shook his head. “Nope.”

“Huh,” Danny said and Tim looked at him quizzically. “I’m going with friends to Metropolis this week to go meet up with one of their friends who moved there. We’re going to a theme park or something.”

Tim let out a soft hum. “That sounds like fun. When are you going?”

Danny wrinkled his nose. Cassie told him when they were going? Right? Or did Bart? He was pretty sure someone told him. They were going this weekend, possibly Saturday? This was why he needed to actually listen when his friends were talking rather than get lost in his own head. 

“Saturday,” he finally said. “If you want, you can come with us. I bet you could use the sun.”

Tim gave him an annoyed look and let out a huff. 

“I don’t need more sun, I’ve got a perfectly fine complexion,” he said and Danny wanted to laugh. Tim Drake-Wayne was paler than a ghost. Which was saying something, there were some ghosts that were nearly translucent. 

“Whatever, do you want to come or not?” Danny asked, elbowing Tim in the ribs lightly, feeling him jump just a bit before he looked at Danny in surprise. “What? Has no one ever elbowed you before?”

“No, no,” Tim said, shaking his head. “But I’m busy this weekend, so I can’t.”

“Oh? What are you doing?” Danny asked and Tim gave him a look of alarm that had Danny holding back a snicker. 

“What?” He asked, looking like a deer in the headlights. 

“What are your plans for the weekend?” Danny clarified, trying to keep from smiling at the poor guy. 

“Homework, mostly. But I also need to help Jason study for his ACT, he’s been hounding me for weeks to go over the math and science sections with him,” Tim said with a roll of his eyes and Danny scowled. 

“Do it on Sunday. Come to Metropolis with me and the guys, it’ll be fun,” Danny said, getting just a bit annoyed. Why was he not wanting to come? Were the Waynes such a strict cult that they weren’t even interested in being friends outside of their little family? Was he scared of leaving Gotham? Holy shit, that was it, Tim was scared of leaving Gotham! 

Maybe Gotham was like his haunt, whatever his species was, maybe they were connected to their haunts. 

“Look, I appreciate it, but Metropolis and me don’t really mix?” Tim finally said in an overly polite voice. Danny chuckled. 

“Why?”

Tim gave him a look of annoyance. “What’s with all the questions?”

“Indulge me,” Danny said with a shrug of his shoulders as he started scribbling down answers, thanking his lucky stars that despite his parents neglectful actions, he did learn quite a bit of science from them. Chemistry so far had been a complete and total breeze.  

“Lex Luthor lives in Metropolis and he and Bruce hate each other's guts,” Tim stated and Danny wracked his brain for a moment. 

“Lex Luthor, that’s big billionaire CEO guy, right?” Danny asked and Tim nodded. “My godfather has a secret hard on for him.”

That got a surprised laugh out of Tim, earning them both a curious look from Ms. Isley. The red head walked over and looked down at the two teenagers. 

“How is your assignment going along, boys?” She asked and Danny slid her his paper. 

“Pretty good,” Danny said with a shrug as Ms. Isley looked over the worksheet and let out a hum. She gave Danny a soft smile and set the paper back on the desk. 

“Very good, Mr. Masters,” she said and Danny wrinkled his nose ever so slightly. He had easily accepted the fact that Vlad had changed his last name to Masters when he adopted him, but it still felt so wrong to hear people call him Danny Masters, much less call him Mr. Masters. 

“Do you not like being called Mr. Masters?” Tim asked once Ms. Isley had left. 

“Ancients no,” he scoffed. “But it’s fine. I’ll get used to it eventually.” 

“Well, if you ever want to talk about–”

“Tim, you hate me. I’d rather swallow knives than talk to you about my problems.”

Tim frowned at that, his pencil scratched against the worksheet. Danny waited for the teenager to say something but when he didn’t, looked back down at his worksheet and started scribbling along the page once more. 

“I don’t hate you,” Tim finally said after a few minutes. 

“Sure,” he said humorlessly. 

“I don’t,” Tim told him, setting his pencil down and looked at Danny. “I don’t hate you, I just said that we shouldn’t be friends.”

“And yet you still haven’t told me why,” Danny said with a hum, his pencil scratched against the paper. 

“You don’t understand,” Tim said quietly. 

“You haven’t given me the opportunity to understand, Tim. Maybe, I’ll surprise you,” Danny said just as the bell rang. He shoved his pencil in his bag and before Tim could say another word, stood from his seat, dropped his paper in the turn in box and made his way out of the classroom.

Chapter Text

Danny rested his head against the window of the car and watched as the street flew by outside. They were driving out to Metropolis and it felt kinda weird to be leaving Gotham. Part of him wondered if it was because of Tim, it was like every single one of his thoughts went back to the rich asshole. It made him want to scream. 

“Dude, I’m so excited,” Bart said, bouncing in the seat beside him. “I love roller coasters, they’re like the ultimate adrenaline rush. And we get to see Conner and holy shit, Danny, you’re going to love Conner, you guys are so similar. And he also used to have a crush on Tim!”

Danny gave him a look. “I do not have a crush on Tim.”

“Danny, who the hell are you trying to convince?” Cissie asked from the driver’s seat. They were all currently in her mom’s van, smashed in like a bunch of sardines. Cissie driving, Cassie in the passenger seat beside her. The middle row held Jaime and Greta and the back seat was where Danny found himself smooshed beside Bart who had more energy than the energizer bunny.

“What do you mean?” He demanded, poking his head between Jaime and Greta. “I don’t have a crush on Tim Drake-Wayne. I can’t stand the guy.”

“You’re a lying liar who lies,” Cassie sang. She turned her head back to look at Danny, pinning him with her bright blue eyes. “It’s so obvious with how you look at him and the way you act around him. You have a crush.”

“Danny has a crush,” Jaime and Bart sang in unison. 

“It’s okay, Danny, the crush is sweet,” Greta told him softly. “I think if Tim ever botched to get the stick out of his ass, you guys would have a great relationship.”

“That would mean Danny would need to get the stick out of his ass too,” Cissie said with a snicker. Danny scowled. 

“Fuck you guys, I don’t have a crush on Tim. We barely get along as it is,” he snapped. He fell back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest to pout.  He did not have a crush on Tim. Sure, he thought he was pretty and he had the most beautiful eyes that Danny had ever seen. And when he wasn’t being an asshole, he was funny and kind and his smile was so lovely. Not only that but he was so fucking smart it was crazy. But he didn’t have a crush, that would be utterly ridiculous. Besides, it wouldn’t work out between them. Tim was the son of a billionaire and Danny was the kid with supervillain parents. 

Not only that but while Tim may give off the vibes of not being totally human, he was still most likely just as human as anyone else and just gave weird vibes. Maybe because he was a billionaire, Danny wasn’t sure. 

But he didn’t have a crush, he definitely didn’t have a crush.

“It’s hate fucking with your eyes,” Greta said with a chuckle. “The way you glare at each other across the cafeteria is like the steamiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Not only that but like you talk about him constantly? If we want to hear you talk, we know the best way to do it is to mention Tim,” Cisse said with a teasing lilt in her voice. 

“You guys are like the ultimate enemies to lovers young adult story that’s happening in front of our very eyes,” Cassie said with a wide smile. 

“It’s okay Danny, I don’t think anyone but us have noticed,” Bart said kindly, patting Danny’s shoulder. 

“Whatever,” the halfa grumbled, slumped down in the van seat. He couldn’t believe this. His own friends, bullying him. It was like he was back in Amity Park. 

“Whatever,” Cissie mocked, making a face at Danny in the rearview mirror.   

Danny let out a huff and went back to staring out the window. He couldn’t believe this. 

Eventually, the van pulled to a stop in the parking lot of the amusement park, SuperLand, a superhero themed theme park. Everyone quickly filed out of the crammed minivan and made their way towards the entrance where some guy waved at them. Danny took him in for a moment, realizing he had to be Conner. 

The guy was dressed in ripped jeans tucked into combat boots, a black t-shirt underneath a studded leather jacket. He had both sides of his head shaved with the top long and curly, piercings littered his ears and holy shit was he hot. Danny bit his lip as his eyes dragged up and down Conner for a moment and shoved his hands in his pockets. 

Once the group got closer, though, a shiver racked through Danny’s spine, similar to the feeling he got around Tim every time he was around the guy. 

“What the fuck?” He whispered under his breath, squinting at Conner Luthor. 

“What’s wrong?” Bart asked, giving him a curious look. 

Danny just shook his head. He didn’t know how the hell to explain it even if he tried. Bart simply shrugged and ran towards the guy, throwing himself in Conner’s arms. Conner caught the excited red head and hugged him tight.

“Conner!” Bart squealed, hugging the teenager tight. “OhMyGod, I’ve missed you so much. I can’t believe you had to move all the way to Metropolis. I mean I get it but it’s like so unfair and I miss you and you should really honestly just move back. You can just live with me, I’m sure Max won’t be mad. He would love to have you!”

Conner let out a loud laugh and hugged Bart even tighter. “Slow down! I’ve missed you too! Now, are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

“Oh! Right!” Bart bounced out of Conner’s arms and grabbed Danny, yanking him over. “Conner Luthor, meet Danny Masters. Danny just recently moved to Gotham!”

Conner grabbed Danny and shook his hand tight. “It’s nice to meet you man! Why the hell would you move to a dreary place like Gotham?”

Danny gave him a tight lipped smile as the silver raced down his spine again. It wasn’t quite the same as Tim’s. When Tim triggered Danny’s ghost sense, it was a lot stronger, Conner’s was more subtle, as if he were just a little too wrong but not incredibly wrong, not the same way as Tim was. 

“Oh you know, I’ve always wanted to live in a place where there’s only three days of actual sunshine in a year,” he said sarcastically and Conner snorted. 

“And that’s exactly why I left,” he said. “Lex bought our tickets, so we’re good to go in.”

“Who’s Lex?” Danny whispered to Cassie as they walked in. 

“Oh! It’s Conner’s guardian. So, his brother, Clark, isn’t really able to take care of Conner, but he’s got a god father, Lex who’s more than happy to keep him. The only issue is they both kinda lowkey hate each other’s guts,” Cassie explained. “He was living with Clark in Gotham before Lex took custody and had him move here.”

Danny held back a snort. Between feeling not quite human and having a similar story to Danny’s, he sort of felt a camaraderie towards the guy.

“So, Gotham,” Conner said as the two sat on a bench and watched as the rest of their friends climbed up the stairs to their next roller coaster. The two boys had chosen to opt out of the ride, instead preferring to grab something to eat and watch the others ride the large coaster. 

“Yup,” Danny said, popping the ‘p’. He hated this, he hated the small talk and it was taking everything in him to not just ask Conner why he felt so different, felt just a little wrong, not quite human.

The two sat in silence for a few moments, Danny tapping his foot on the pavement anxiously as they watched the coaster loop around a few times.

“You feel strange, has anyone told you that before?” Conner said, looking him over. Danny startled at the question, surprised that the other one was just going to outwardly say something, so different from Tim who was so insanely secretive and tight lipped and moody.

“No,” Danny admitted. “You feel strange too. The only other person I’ve met who felt similar was Tim Drake-Wayne.”

A look crossed over Conner’s face at that. “I would recommend steering clear of Tim. He’s nothing but bad news. His whole family in fact.”

Danny wrinkled his nose. “Why do you say that?”

Conner shrugged his shoulders. “The Luthors and the Waynes have never quite gotten along. Different species and all, but not only that, the Waynes are just nothing but trouble for anyone who gets involved with them. Trust me.”

“What do you mean different species?” Danny asked, squinting at Conner. What the hell was Conner? What were the Waynes for that matter? How were they different? His mind was starting to race as he tried to figure out what kind of questions to ask, and think about how to keep from sharing his own secret before getting something from the other teenager first.

The strange teenager squinted right back at him. “You know what I mean. Like us,” he said, motioning to himself. “You feel more like the Waynes, but not quite the same.”

The halfa snorted. His shoulders easing just a bit. They were talking around the subject, it seemed. He looked around the park for a moment, no one seemed to be paying them any attention. He slumped down on the bench just a bit. 

“Makes sense, it’s probably the whole dead thing,” he muttered, thinking maybe that would be enough to give away.

“No shit?” Conner asked incredulously and Danny just gave him a secretive smile, his eyes flashed a bright green for just a moment. 

Conner grinned back, sharp teeth peek out from underneath his lower lip and a soft growl slipped from the boy’s throat. “Didn’t know that was a thing.”

“Tim feels similar, but I haven’t talked to him about it,” Danny said, hoping maybe that Conner would tell him why Tim was different. It was clear the guyu knew something. What he needed was to see how much Conner was willing to share.

“He won’t, he’s denser than a box of rocks,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I can’t tell another person’s secrets but just be careful. He’s a fuckin’ leech and those re never good news if you know what I mean.”

Danny had absolutely no clue what the boy meant. Conner soon changed the subject, obviously no longer interested in talking about what they were, instead asking Danny about Gotham and how he was enjoying it so far. But just because Conner was no interested in talking about it didn't mean it stopped Danny from obsessing over their conversation.

In fact, he focused on it the rest of the trip in Metropolis, the drive back to Gotham, and when he was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, he still couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

It was clear that there were more supernatural beings in the world aside from ghosts. They could even identify one another as other. As much as he wanted to know what the hell Conner Luthor was, he found himself thinking about Tim Drake-Wayne once again. 

Conner had called Tim a leech. 

The halfa chewed on his bottom lip as he thought about it. A leech was a blood sucker, a supernatural being, similar to that was a vampire. 

It would make sense for why Danny clocked Tim as something not quite alive, something other. Why he felt more similar to a ghost than Conner did. 

Conner felt other, he felt like he was something not human. Tim felt the same, but Tim felt more like Danny, more dead adjacent just in a different way. If he was a vampire, that would make sense why Danny’s ghost sense went off around him, what with the whole, like calls to like nonsense. 

Part of him kinda hoped that Tim was a vampire. If the boy was something not human like Danny had been suspecting, well it would be nice. Things wouldn't feel so isolating, he didn’t think. Not when there was someone who understood what it was like to be dead but still existing, to be not quite human. It would be less lonely. Part of Danny found himself wondering, would it be worth it to just tell Tim he was a halfa? Maybe he would finally stop being weird around Danny, maybe they could be friends. Maybe they could finally stop dancing around one another and get to know one another.

Chapter Text

Danny tapped his pencil against his study book and gave Jaime and Bart an annoyed glare. The two had been flip flopping between flirting with one another relentlessly to teasing Danny. They were in the middle of their weekly study session and Danny had made the mistake of telling his friends about his theory that maybe, somehow the Wayne family were actually vampires. 

He felt like an idiot the moment the words came out of his mouth but he had to tell someone. Only now he was starting to wonder if this was how Wes felt the last few years, trying desperately to get anyone to believe him that Danny was Phantom. It made him want to slam his head against the table at the very idea that he was comparable to that piece of shit conspiracy theorist. 

“This isn’t Twilight, Danny,” Jaime said, giving Danny an amused look. “The Waynes are just a bunch of weirdos with too much money. There’s nothing else about them, though, and they’re definitely not vampires.”

“I hate both of you,” Danny muttered. “Can’t you go back to making out while I do our homework?”

Bart wrapped his arms around Jaime’s shoulders and gave him a loud kiss before he let out a hum. “Not as fun as teasing you, Man.”

Jaime simply snickered and pushed Bart off of him. “Rude ass.”

“Fine, fine, they aren’t vampires,” Danny grumbled, slumping down in his seat. “Forget I ever said anything at all.”

“It’s okay, you’re just trying to find excuses to not give in to your crush on Tim,” Bart cooed, reaching over to snatch Danny’s pencil from his hand. “What we should really talk about is that, you know? Your crush on Tim is getting to be just a little ridiculous. I mean just tell him you like him, what’s the worse that could happen? He says no?”

“I don’t have a crush on Tim,” Danny said with a huff, snatching his pencil back from Bart. “I just…find him interesting, you know? I mean one minute he’s hot, the next he’s cold. I can’t figure him out.”

“Why does it matter so much that you figure him out?” Jaime asked, tilting his head to the side. “Why not just accept the fact that he’s a weird asshole who treats you like shit and move on?”

“I think he’s hiding something,” Danny muttered, tapping his pencil against the linoleum table. “I think he’s an asshole because he’s scared of getting close. Because there’s times where he’s genuinely nice to me and seems like he wants to be my friend. I think he’s just scared.”

“I think you’re delusional,” Jaime said with a huff. Danny rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat, staring down at his textbook. Maybe Jaime and Bart were right. Maybe Tim was just an asshole who couldn’t figure out his own feelings. But between what Conner said and Danny’s own feelings about Tim, he knew they were wrong.  Tim was hiding something, maybe he thought that he couldn’t get close to Danny because he thought Danny was a human. Maybe he was scared of risking his secret getting out and no matter how much he was interested in Danny, he didn’t want to risk it. Maybe that was why he was pushing Danny away the way he was, for fear of his secret getting out. 

“You know we care about you, right?” Bart asked suddenly, giving Danny a worried look. “We just want you to be okay and it’s just shitty how Tim acts like he can mess with your feelings. You deserve better than that.”

Danny mustered up a small smile. “I know you guys care about me. I just think there’s something I don’t understand about Tim yet, I don’t think he’s as bad as he’s making himself out to be,” he said quietly. 

“Well we’re here for you, no matter what happens between you and Tim,” Jaime said seriously as he shut his textbook. “Now, I dunno about you guys but I’m tired and I can’t look at this stupid book for another second.”

Bart let out a laugh and shoved his own book into his backpack. “I knew there was a reason I liked you Reyes, and it’s not just for your good looks,” he declared, pressing a kiss to Jaime’s lips. “Danny, do you need a ride home?”

The halfa shook his head as he packed up his own things. “Nah, I think a walk is exactly what I really need,” he said with a small smile. “You two don’t get into too much trouble, though.”

“Us? Never,” Jaime said affronted at the mere thought. Danny rolled his eyes and shouldered his bag before he started out of the library. He headed outside and started towards Vlad’s place, ready to just fall into bed and sleep for hours on end. It had been so long since he had been able to shift into Phantom and his skin was starting to itch from the lack of using his powers.

This was probably the longest he had ever gone without using his powers and he hated it. Hated the fact that Vlad had given him restrictions on even shifting into Phantom. He felt like his senses were dulled, everything felt like it had a film over it and he hated it. He understood, Gotham wasn’t Amity Park, he wasn’t sure how safe it would be to even shift into Phantom, or to even use his ghost powers more than a little at a time, but it didn’t make it less uncomfortable. 

“Empty your bag and pockets,” a voice growled before cool metal pressed against the side of Danny’s throat. He glanced over to find some guy in a ski mask snarling at him and rolled his eyes. 

“You want some gum and a few textbooks?” He snarked, feeling the knife press just a little harder into his skin, just barely breaking skin. He was half tempted to just let the knife phase through him if he was being honest but there was something in him telling him that now would be a bad time to do so. 

“You think you’re smart, huh? I know you got somethin’ on you,” he growled. “Now give it.”

“How am I supposed to do that when you have a knife digging into my throat?” He asked dully when he felt a shiver run down his spine and his eyes flicked over to a shadow in the alleyway beside them. 

“You’re actin’ a little too cocky for someone with a knife to your throat, huh?” The mugger snarked back, his free hand moving to yank at Danny’s backpack, as if he could rip it off himself. Danny rolled his eyes before he slammed his foot on the man’s toes and knocked the knife from his hand just as someone else whipped in and kicked the man to the ground. 

Danny turned to find Tim there, shoving the mugger against a wall, the knife scattered a few feet away. An inhuman grown ripped out of Tim as he shoved his face closer to the man. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you man?” The mugger whimpered, staring up at Tim from under his mask, his eyes bright with fear. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Tim demanded back. “You’re luck I don’t call the fucking cops.”

“Tim,” Danny said with a sigh, grabbing the teenager by his shoulder and pulling him away from the mugger. “Come on,” he said. 

Tim glanced at him and the growls faded away as he zeroed in on Danny’s neck, his nose wrinkled just a bit. Danny frowned and pressed a hand to the spot the man had pressed the knife to Danny’s throat and frowned when his fingers came back with blood on them. 

“Come on, you can help me get this cleaned up,” Danny said with a small smile, his eyes flicking towards the mugger who was slowly inching away. “Then I can make sure you know that I can take care of myself and definitely don’t need you to swoop in and save me.”

Tim rolled his eyes and grabbed Danny’s arm and dragged him over to a still running car parked on the other side of the road. Tim opened the passenger seat and unceremoniously shvoed Danny into the car before going around to the passenger seat. Danny sat back in his chair and gave Tim an amused smile as the other started to dig in his center console before finding a few napkins. He leaned over and carefully pressed it to Danny’s neck. 

“So you’re following me, now,” Danny said easily. He watched Tim’s eyes darken ever so slightly as he dabbed at the blood and added another check to his mental checklist of all the signs that Tim Drake-Wayne was definitely not human.

“I’m not following you, Danny. I just happened to drive past and see that asshole and if you had heard what he was thinking–” 

Danny gave him a look. “You heard what he was thinking?” The halfa asked, arching an eyebrow in the air. “How the hell did you hear what he was thinking?”

Tim let out a huff and went back to dabbing at the blood on Danny’s throat. 

“It’s not that deep, you know,” Danny chided, grabbing Tim’s chilly hand. “I’ll be fine. It’ll probably heal in an hour or two.”

“Cuts don’t just heal in an hour, Danny,” Tim grumbled. 

“And normal humans can’t hear people’s thoughts,” Danny said back with a sly smile. “What are you hiding, Tim Drake-Wayne?”

Blue eyes met his own. “How much do you know?”

“Nothing really, except that you can apparently hear thoughts. What am I thinking right now? Do you know?” Danny asked, cocking his head to the side. Tim huffed out a laugh and leaned back in his seat. 

“Nothing,” Tim said with a sigh, staring straight ahead. “I can’t hear a single thing from you and it’s maddening.”

“And you can read other people’s minds?” Danny asked incredulously. “What makes me so different?”

“I don’t know!” Tim exclaimed before he started driving down the road. Dany gave him a curious look and watched as the other teenager angrily tapped at his steering wheel before he pulled in front of a small shopping center full of bustling people. 

“He’s thinking about money, that one is thinking about how she needs to get groceries for dinner, that one is thinking about how much she wants to talk to that guy over there, and that guy–he’s thinking about his cats,” Tim said, pointing at each person. 

“And I’m just supposed to accept that as truth?” Danny asked, giving the other a curious look. 

“You can believe it or not, I don’t care,” Tim said with a huff. “What I want to know is why I can’t figure out what you’re thinking.”

“Maybe my brain’s broken,” Danny said with a shrug, leaning back in the passenger seat. “Maybe you’re just a lying liar who lies.”

“A lying liar who lies?” Tim asked, his eyebrows nearly meeting his hairline as he looked at Danny in surprise. “What about you? Why the hell is everything about you so fucking weird? Why are you so weird?”

Danny snorted. “Wow Tim, you really know how to make a guy feel special, you know that?” He snarked back, not looking at the other teen. Instead he watched the people in front of them, tracking one person as he grabbed a shopping cart and headed into the grocery store. Anything to keep him from looking at the weird asshole beside him.

“Will you shut the hell up? What’s with you, Danny Masters? You just show up out of nowhere and you’re apparently Vlad Masters’ son and–”

“Godson,” Danny interrupted. “He is not my fucking dad.”

“What happened with your parents? They’re in prison but there’s nothing that says what happened, nothing about you or why you’re here and I can’t find shit on your parents. It’s all suspicious as hell. It’s like every court record got burned or shredded and never once uploaded online.”

“Why are you looking into me?” Danny asked, his eyes slid away from the grocery store to instead glare at Tim.

“I’m just saying, you come to Gotham the same time these weird murders start happening,” Tim said with a huff and Danny’s temper flared. He slammed his hand on the center console and turned to glare at Tim.

“I have nothing to do with those weird murders. I’m just trying to get through high school and figure out why the hell you hate me so much,” he snapped. “I’ve done nothing but be nice to you and try to be your friend and you’ve done nothing but try to gaslight me and treat me like shit.”

Tim faltered at that. “I don’t hate you.”

“Well you have a funny way of showing it, that’s for damn sure,” he snapped. He fell back in his seat and let out a huff of breath. “Can you just take me home now? Or do you want to insult me some more? Or tell me some more theories about how you think I’m some kind of serial killer?”

Tim sighed and threw his car into reverse before he took off down the road once again. “Look, I’m sorry.”

Danny said nothing, instead staring out the window, his lip trapped between his teeth as he watched the city speed past him. He was pissed, no he was livid. He couldn’t believe that not only was Tim looking into him but that he thought Danny had something to do with those weird murders. He hadn’t even been paying attention to that shit, hadn’t done more than listen to Vlad talk about it with Commissioner Gordon or see random clips on the news before he stopped paying attention. The fact that Tim thought he had something to do with it was ridiculous. 

It was like a thing with ghosts! They didn’t take lives, they didn’t kill! They were dead, they knew what death was like, they would never do that to someone else. To suggest otherwise had his ghostly instincts pissed beyond belief. He tapped his foot against the floorboard and kept quiet until his and Vlad’s brownstone came into view and before Tim could even put the car into park climbed out, slamming the door shut behind him, grabbing the bloody napkins out of the cupholder before he did. As he walked up to the brownstone, he let the napkins burn in his hand and dropped the ashes on the ground.

Only, he stopped in his tracks as the flashing red and blue lights finally came into the center of his focus and he watched the cops scurrying in and out of the brownstone. Without casting another look at Tim, he hurried into the building, searching for his godfather. 

“Hey! This is a private residence–” a cop started before Danny cut him off with a glare. 

“I live here,” he snapped, his mood already soured by his interaction with Tim, this just making it that much worse. The cop’s hand went to his gun and Danny narrowed his eyes, all but daring the man to pull it out and point it at Danny.

“Don’t worry Officer, he means no harm,” a voice said. Danny glanced back to find Vadl walking into the room looking a mess. His hair was out of his usual slicked back ponytail, his eye already swollen and purple, looking as if he had been hit. Even his clothes were torn and destroyed. 

“Vlad? What happened?” he asked, stalking over to his godfather. He knew the man would heal in just a few hours due to his own halfa status but that didn’t mean Danny didn’t still worry. He looked his godfather over with a nervous eye and didn’t find any other injuries. 

“Someone broke in,” he said with a huff. “I’m alright, Daniel, truly. Just a little roughed up. I can’t say the same for our neighbors, though.”

Danny frowned. “What happened to Mr. and Mrs. Barnes?”

“They were murdered,” Commissioner Gordon said, walking towards them. “The murderer killed them and ransacked their home before breaking into Mr. Masters’ home. Thankfully Mr. Masters has top of the line security and we got here before the murderer could do anything to your father. But he did get away before we could do anything.”

“Godfather,” Danny corrected and looked at Vlad, his brow furrowed. Vlad wasn’t particularly the type to just let someone beat him up, he had always been more than willing to take someone out with his powers. Unless he was really set on the two of them appearing as normal as possible. But this was odd, even for his godfather. 

“Did you get a good look at him?” Danny asked and Vlad shook his head, his lips thin. 

“I did not,” he denied. “But tomorrow I will be going down to the police station to give my statement. Until then, I would very much like to clean up and take a bit of a breather.” 

“Of course, Mr. Masters. Just come by anytime tomorrow and we can talk. The detectives should be out of here soon,” Gordon said before looking at Danny, a small smile on his face. “It’s a good thing you weren’t here boy, you’ve had enough drama to last you a lifetime, I doubt another incident would be good for your health.”

Danny mustered up a small smile. Gordon didn’t have the faintest idea. Once the officers were gone, Danny turned to Vlad who was picking up some of the broken furniture and waved a hand, letting his powers lift everything in the air instead. 

“So, not using your powers to fight back?” Danny asked, arching an eyebrow. Vlad turned and looked at him, his smile bland. 

“No, Daniel. I am trying for a fresh start here, one where I am not a half ghost who is reliant on his powers. Besides, he did not do much before the police were here,” he said smoothly. 

“What was he looking for?” Danny asked, his eyes bouncing around the living room. 

“I have no earthly idea. Mr. Gordon thinks he’s just robbing and killing anyone who seems to have even a little bit of money on them and thinks that we fit his MO,” Vlad explained. “Now, shall we get this cleaned up and have an early night in?”

Danny pursed his lips and nodded. Something wasn’t adding up, but after his own mugging and emotionally exhausting conversation with Tim, he simply didn’t have the spoons to push more tonight. All he wanted was a shower and some rest.

Chapter Text

Danny laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling blearily as his alarm blared beside him. He slammed his hand on his phone, shutting off the alarm and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.  He had not been able to sleep all night, his mind too busy overthinking everything that had happened the previous day.

The conversation with Tim was circulating around maddeningly. Tim knew that there was something off about Danny, could somehow sense it, maybe in the same way that Danny could sense that Tim wasn’t quite human either. 

Not only was Tim not human, though, he also could apparently read minds. Everyone’s except Danny’s–which wasn’t that just convenient? The only way to actually prove it and he couldn’t even do that. It was maddening and frustrating and Danny was ready to kick the possible vampire’s ass. He hated that a part of him still wanted to be Tim’s friend, despite how much of an asshole the guy was. But he could see a camaraderie in Tim that he couldn’t see in many others. Tim was snarky and witty, he had a dark sense of humor, he possibly even understood what it was like to be different, to be not quite human, to always feel like you’re looking in on the outside. 

Tim was aggravating beyond belief, but Danny couldn’t help but wonder just how much of that was a front for something else. Maybe Tim was just as angry at the world as Danny was and had thick walls to hide behind as a sort of protection. Tim was smart and attractive and the most frustrating person that Danny had ever met in his life. 

He thought that Danny was the one committing the murders but that was easily squashed now that Danny was clearly with him when his own neighbor’s had been killed and Vlad was attacked. It had him wondering what would happen next, sure the guy had pissed him off the night before, but now after an entire night of thinking about it, he could see why Tim would find him suspicious, especially if the murders started the same time Danny moved to Gotham. 

The murders. 

Danny let out a huff and climbed out of bed before he padded over to his closet to start getting ready for school. He hadn’t really thought much about the murders, he knew they were going on, remembered Commissioner Gordon talking about them to Vlad just a few months earlier, but he had never given it more thought than that.

But last night someone had killed his neighbors–not only that but someone had tried to kill Vlad. Vlad hadn’t done anything to stop it, though, didn’t use his powers, didn’t do anything but let whoever it was get away. 

There was something in Vlad’s story that just didn’t quite add up to him. Vlad was powerful, he was more than capable of defending himself even without using his powers. It just didn’t make sense that someone got the drop on the halfa. 

He finished getting ready and made his way down to the kitchen area and stared at his godfather for a moment. He was hiding something and Danny was going to figure out what the hell it was.

Danny glared at his godfather from across the kitchen table, his arms crossed over his chest. Vlad gave him a curious look before he set his paper down on the table and let out a dramatic sigh that had Danny rolling his eyes in annoyance. 

“What do you want, Daniel?” He asked, crossing his own arms over his chest. 

“You’re up to something,” Danny said carefully, crossing his ankles underneath the table. “That attack last night. You could have done something and you didn’t and I want to know why. Don’t give me that bullshit about wanting a fresh start. You and I both know that’s a lie.”

Vlad hummed. “There was a reason I moved to Gotham, and it was not because of how good business is here,” he finally said as if that answered any of Danny’s questions. The halfa simply tilted his head as he looked at his godfather. 

“What does that mean?”

“I mean that Gotham is also a hub for all things supernatural. Ghosts, werewolves, vampires, they’re all here. I thought that it would be the safest place for us after all of that mess with the Ghost Investigation Ward. But I am growing concerned that this is not the case.”

“Why?” Danny bit out. He already had figured out for himself that there were more supernatural beings in the world, he was about eighty percent convinced that Conner Luthor was a werewolf and that Tim Drake-Wayne was a vampire

“I recently learned that vampires are controlled by a group called the Court of Owls, they run the entirety of the city, control vampires all over the world,” Vlad said with a sigh, tapping his fingers atop the wooden surface of the table and Danny bit back a sigh of his own. His godfather was taking forever to just simply spit out the words and he was ready to pull his hair out. 

“What the hell does that have to do with us? Or the fact that someone tried to kill you last night?” Danny demanded, gripping his biceps tight as he kept his arms crossed tight. Mostly to keep from reaching across the table and socking his godfather in the face.

“Because this Court of Owls–they suspect something that is off about me. They can tell that I’m not a vampire, but something different. They’ve been following me, investigating me and trying to test me to see if I will slip up. Until your parents punched a hole into the Ghost Zone, no one knew about the existence of ghosts, they never left their dimension until that blasted portal was opened. But now–”

“Now there’s two half-ghosts in the world and we’re just different enough for them to tell that we aren’t human,” Danny concluded. “They had someone attack you to see what you would do in retaliation. But what do we do?”

Vlad loosened a breath. “I am afraid that they will continue looking into us forever, Daniel. I’m not sure we will ever be able to get them off of our tail now that they are aware of existence. For now, we are going to continue on as if nothing has happened. If I cannot come to a solution, we will have to leave Gotham. Maybe this entire dimension.”

“You mean go live in the Ghost Zone?” Danny asked incredulously. “Vlad, I’m not doing that–we’re not doing that! We’re going to stay here, I need to stay here and just be normal. I mean, what about Jazz? Or my parents? They get released in a few years and–”

“And your safety is what matters to me, Daniel. They don’t know what we are yet and we will do whatever we can to keep it that way. We will figure out a way for you to still see Jasmine but our last case scenario will be relocating to the Ghost Zone,” Vlad told him in a tone that told him that he would not accept any kind of argument from Danny on the subject. 

Danny let out a huff and stood from his seat. He stalked over to the pantry and grabbed a box of cereal as Vlad went back to reading his paper, effectively ending the entire conversation. But something in Vlad’s explanation didn’t quite sit right with him.

If the Court of Owls was aware that Vlad and Danny weren’t quite human, why would they try to kill them? Wouldn’t they want to create an alliance with the ghosts to learn more about their existence? Unless they thought that they were a threat, if they thought that they were too different and wanted them out of their territory, that would make sense. 

But why would Vlad want them to live in a city that’s ripe with supernatural beings if he didn’t want them to know what Danny and Vlad were? Was Vlad not expecting for the Court of Owls to hunt them down? There were so many questions that were circulating Danny’s brain and he didn’t have answers for any of them and Vlad was obviously no help. The halfa was obviously hiding something, Danny just wasn’t sure what exactly it was. 

But he knew someone who might be able to give him answers. Sure, things were weird between him and Tim and yeah, Tim knew that there was something weird about Danny. But Danny all but had confirmation that Tim was a vampire and maybe the two of them could exchange information. Maybe he could get share with Tim that he was a half ghost and in return, Tim would be willing to answer all of his questions about the Court of Owls and find out just what the hell he was hiding. 

The only problem would be to figure out a way to get Tim alone to talk about this creepy vampire cult. Especially after their argument the night before, he likely wouldn’t want to be caught anywhere alone with Danny and he couldn’t quite blame him. 

But Danny needed answers and he was going to do anything he could to get them.

Chapter Text

As soon as Danny got to school he looked around the entire parking lot until his eyes landed on the one and only Tim Drake-Wayne. Tim was currently surrounded by his siblings, the group laughing loudly and chatting with one another. Danny narrowed his eyes and stormed towards the group, ignoring the looks of surprise from Tim’s siblings as he wrapped a hand around Tim’s wrist and started to pull him away from his family, ignoring the sounds of annoyance from the others. 

“What the fuck are you doing?” Tim demanded, trying to dig his heels into the ground. Danny glanced down at the ground starting to crack from Tim’s refusal to move and smirked. 

“Cute,” he stated blandly before turning the both of them intangible before he continued dragging Tim towards an alleyway close to the school and looked around for a moment. He stared at Tim, squinted for a moment before he popped his head into the old building on the left and found it empty. He sighed in relief and pulled Tim in after him. 

“What the fuck?” Tim demanded again, this time his voice a little angrier, a little more surprised than the first time.

Danny turned on his heel and looked Tim over for a moment. He was just a little disheveled, his shoes were torn from where he had tried to stop them from walking and his hair windswept. Danny would have felt a bit bad about the shoes if it weren’t for the fact that he knew Tim came from old money.  

He looked around the room for a moment. It was some abandoned office of some kind. A large desk sat tucked into a corner with a few worn chairs and tables around the room along with a couple of rusted  file cabinets.

“Look, we need to stop skirting around shit. You’re a vampire, I’m a ghost, we both have been suspecting that the other person is weird or up to something, right? Well we’re both right,” he said in one breath. “But right now, that shit doesn’t matter. What matters is that I need answers and I feel like out of everyone in this godforsaken city, you’re the only one who might give me some answers.”

Tim blinked at him owlishly. Once, twice, three times before he let out a soft chuckle and shook his head. “Danny, ghosts and vampires aren’t real,” he said and Danny glared at him. 

“You’re really going to stick with that, huh?” He asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “I know Conner Kent is a werewolf. He’s the one who called you a leech. You’ve already admitted to me that you can read minds, why do you think it would be so difficult for me to put the pieces together and realize you’re a vampire.”

“Ghosts aren’t real,” Tim said, narrowing his eyes. 

“That’s xenophobic as fuck,” Danny declared. He took Tim’s hand and looked into his eyes. “Look, believe me or don’t. But we need to talk about this.”

“Why?” Tim asked, eyeing him suspiciously, although he never pulled his hand away. “If you’re so convinced that I’m a vampire, why haven’t you asked me the most important question?”

Danny blinked at the vampire. “Why don’t you disintegrate in the sun? I figured this was a Twilight situation.” Tim hesitated and Danny gave him a wide grin. “It is a Twilight situation, you sparkle, don’t you?”

“No,” Tim ground out. “I get sunburns, my skin is sensitive. But that isn’t the question I’m talking about. What’s the most important thing to remember about vampires?” he asked slowly and Danny stared at him blankly. “What do we eat?”

“I’m assuming blood,” Danny said as he if were talking to an idiot. “You’re a vampire, Conner called you a leech, therefore, I’m assuming it’s blood.”

Tim blinked at him. 

Danny just gave him a small smile. “I get that you’ve probably got the whole “this is the skin of a killer” vibe going on. But seriously, Tim; we’re supernatural beings, Tim, the same rules don’t apply to us,” he said in a conspiratorial whisper. “Now, I have some questions, I imagine you have some as well. So how about we trade some information?” He asked as he pulled his legs up in the air and sat criss crossed. 

Tim stared at him in surprise for a moment and let out a sigh. “This makes sense why I can’t read your mind,” he muttered. “You’re dead. You’ve probably lost it years ago.”

The smile on Danny’s face spread into a full on grin at that. “Probably. Now, I need to know what the hell is going on in this city. Are you and your family the only vampires here? Vlad said something about the Court of Owls?” 

The vampire huffed out a breath of annoyance and took a seat on one of the old broken down chairs.

“The Court of Owls is the ruling government over the vampire population in Gotham City,” Tim said, looking bored. “How do you know about them?”

“So, Vlad and I are half ghosts. Vlad brought us here allegedly because he thought it would be a safe haven for us since Gotham is a hub for all things supernatural,” Danny explained slowly. “He learned that vampires are controlled by a group called the Court of Owls and that they run the entirety of the city and control vampires worldwide. Apparently the court suspects that there’s something strange about Vlad and me. Just like you could tell that I’m not quite human and they’ve been investigating Vlad, stalking him, investigating, all that jazz. He thinks that they’re trying to figure out what we are and if we’re a threat.”

“Are you a threat?” Tim asked and Danny scoffed. 

“Ancients no, I’m just trying to graduate high school,” he said. “What I need to know, though, is the validity of what Vlad said.”

Tim let out a thoughtful hum, his foot tapping quietly on the dusty ground. 

“First, the only supernatural beings in Gotham are vampires. Different cities in the country are home to different beings. Metropolis is werewolves like Conner. His brother Clark is one, so is Lex. Lex is a pain in the ass and likes to cause problems for us whenever he can because of his and Bruce’s rivalry. You know the whole cliche vampires and werewolves hate each other thing.”

“Is that what happened to you and Conner?” Danny asked and Tim shook his head, a small smile on his face. 

“No, we used to date. We ended on a bad note and then the Court found out that Clark and Conner were living here and pretty much forced them out with threats of death,” Tim explained. “The court is controlling and possessive.”

“What other cities house supernatural beings? What else is there?”

Tim arched an eyebrow. “You…really don’t know?” He asked and Danny shook his head. “That’s fair, I never realized that ghosts existed until now. Star City has witches, Fawcett City has faeries, Happy Harbor houses demons, um Central City has banshees I think? Hundreds of years ago it was decided that for the United States it would be safer for different species to interact as little as possible, there are a few other cities with each type and they tend to not overlap for everyone’s safety and peace of mind.”

“Why?” Danny asked, his brow furrowed. 

“Some millenia old vendettas and disagreements,” Tim told him simply, shrugging his shoulders. “Bruce knows more about it than I do. Why does Vlad not want anyone to know that you’re ghosts? Isn’t the whole point of coming here to find a safe haven?”

Danny nodded. “That’s what I thought, but Vlad is convinced they’re hunting us for some reason and that we need to stay away from the Court of Owls.”

“There’s more to it than that,” Tim said and Danny shrugged his shoulders. 

“I have absolutely no idea,” he admitted. “I’ve been left in the dark this entire time. I’m just trying to get answers.”

“I’ll be honest, your godfather has good reason to be nervous. The Court of Owls likely doesn’t like that you’re here because you’re not a vampire. Not only that but the Court thinks that knowledge is power and the fact that they don’t know what you are makes them nervous,” Tim said, still tapping his foot thoughtfully. 

“So we should leave?” Danny asked, his brow furrowing. He didn’t want that. He was finally getting comfortable in Gotham and he really didn’t want to lose that comfort. He especially did not want to move to the Ghost Zone. There was something he was missing, something that Vlad wasn’t telling him. Which wasn’t a surprise, Vlad never told him anything. Despite his whole reformed schtick that Danny didn’t believe for a second, he was acting far too innocent for Danny’s taste. There was something going on and he was going to figure out what the hell it was.

“No,” Tim said after a few moments of thinking. “My family hates the court.”

“Okay and that has to do with me?”

“Bruce is one of the members, he’s been around since the beginning of the court, though, and if anything we can use that to sway the court to leave your family alone. Especially if you’re just looking for a safe place to exist.”

“Okay, I need you to explain the Court of Owls to me,” Danny said with a sigh, feeling even more confused. Tim let out a beleaguered sigh but nodded his head nonetheless. 

“The Court of Owls is made up of prominent members of Gotham. The Waynes, the Cobblepots, the Elliots, the Kanes, the Crownes and the Arkhams. History books call them the Founding Families of Gotham. But they’ve never really gone away. Not quite.”

“Because they’re all vampires,” Danny surmised and Tim nodded his head. 

“Bruce didn’t take over his family’s role until after his parents were killed by some vampire hunters over three hundred years ago. He’s now the representative for both the Waynes and the Kanes since his mother was a Kane. Dick also has influence on the court since he’s technically a Crowne. The Court of Owls is a secret society with centuries old power and their influence is literally everywhere. They give themselves new names every few decades to disguise the fact that they’re the same people but they control every aspect of the city, the vampiric side and the human side. My family has taken up the task of trying to stop as much of the court influence as we can. There’s a few of us who think they are overstepping way too much in an attempt to stay in power.”

“Tim, someone broke into my house and tried to kill Vlad. He’s convinced that it’s someone from the Court,” Danny said, standing up once again to start pacing the length of the office. 

“That would likely be a Talon, but they aren’t allowed to dispatch a Talon without full permission of the entire court, Dick and Bruce should have gotten to be a part of that vote and they hate the Talons, they always vote against them,” Tim said, looking just a bit perplexed. He stood up and started to pace with Danny, his hand going to his chin.

“I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if the court thought that you and Vlad were behind the murders. My family has been investigating on the side because they don’t seem human,” Tim explained. 

“What’s been going on with the murders?” Danny asked with a frown as he turned on his heel to face Tim once again. “I keep hearing about them and apparently they look like animal attacks but we don’t do that? We’re dead, we don’t kill.”

“Ghosts don’t kill?” Tim asked before he shook his head. “We’ll get into that later,” he muttered. 

“We know what it’s like to be dead, why would we kill?” Danny asked with a shrug. 

Tim stared at him in surprise for a moment. “Well, it isn’t you or your godfather. I had suspicions at first but the more we looked into it, the more we were thinking it’s a werewolf or some other monster with a vendetta.”

“What is with you and calling supernatural beings monsters? We need to talk about that, it feels very speciest,” Danny said pointedly.

“Whatever. But like I said, we don’t particularly like the Court of Owls or their dealings. They’re too punitive and control more than just what the vampires do, they control all of Gotham from the underbelly of the city. Bruce doesn’t believe in harming others, neither do we. We aren’t punitive and sometimes the Court of Owls will tend to try to slip past us to control Gotham anyway. I’m thinking what went after your godfather was a Talon. Bruce and Dick will be pissed.”

“And what’s a Talon?” Danny asked, arching a brow. This conversation was getting too confusing. There were still so many things he didn’t know, so many questions without answers, so little time to really get all of the answers he wanted. He was going to have to sit Tim down at a later time and drill him on all things vampire society it seemed.

“Talons are the court’s lackeys, mindless vampires who have died and been brought back wrong. Dick’s great something grandpa is one of them. They’re who the courts send when they want to destroy someone. Bruce has been actively fighting to get rid of them completely because of how vicious and violent they are. They’re vicious and deadly, trained to kill and destroy and nothing more.”

Danny let out a soft swear as he started to massage his temples. “So, if a Talon is after Vlad and me things have probably gotten a lot more complicated, haven’t they?” He asked, looking over at Tim who had a concerned look on his face. 

“Yes, but we’re going to figure it out. Together,” Tim said with a small smile. “Now, how about we get out of here and go back to school before my siblings start to think you killed me.”

Danny blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah I did just forcefully drag you away from your family before class.”

Tim gave him a small smile. “I’ll calm them down. I’ll see you in Chem?” He asked and Danny smiled. 

“Sounds good. And uh, later I can answer any ghost questions you might have? We can share notes? I learn about vampires and you learn about ghosts?” He asked hesitantly. 

“I’d like that Ghost Boy,” Tim said and within a blink of an eye, Tim was gone. Danny let out a scoff. 

“Ghost boy,” he said scornfully before he walked through the wall and started back towards the school. He just knew his friends were going to have something to say about how Danny had dramatically pulled Tim away. He could feel it in his core.

Chapter Text

Danny sat cross legged on the roof of the school as he waited for Tim to show up. This morning he had woken up to a text from the vampire, telling him to meet him on the school roof during lunch so that they could talk. Which was fine with Danny, he barely ate these days anyway, besides he still had a lot of questions for Tim and he owed Tim answers as well. He had to admit, he was also curious on how the hell Tim was even going to get on the roof. Danny had turned invisible and flown up here, but as far as he knew, Tim didn’t have invisibility powers, did he? 

He knew that Tim could read minds and that he was incredibly fast. But what else could the vampire do? Danny added it to his ental list of questions just as he heard a door creak open and found Tim walking towards him from the rooftop entrance. 

“You took the stairs?” Danny asked incredulously. “How boring are you?”

Tim glared. “I’m not boring. Unlike you, not everyone can turn invisible at will,” he hissed as he walked towards Danny and took a seat on the ground beside him. 

“Lame,” Danny told him and let out a sigh. “So, how old are you?”

Tim gave him a surprised look. “Jumping right in, I see. I’m seventeen,” he told him. 

Danny looked the teenager over for a moment and pursed his lips. He had a feeling that getting answers out of the vampire was going to be like pulling teeth. He could feel it in his bones. 

“And how long have you been seventeen?” He asked slowly and Tim blinked at him. 

“A while.”

The halfa pinched the bridge of his nose and reminded himself that it would be a bad idea to murder a vampire. He and Vlad were apparently in enough trouble as it was. 

“How long is a while, Tim?” Danny asked slowly and Tim shrugged his shoulders. 

“Don’t make me say it, it makes me feel old,” he complained and Danny simply blinked at him, waiting. “I’ve been seventeen for about a hundred years, give or take a few.”

“How the hell has no one caught on?” Danny asked him, flabbergasted. He was expecting Tim to tell him maybe ten or so years, maybe twenty at the most. But he had been a vampire for a hundred years? That was insane. 

Tim let out a breath. “It’s a long story,” he said. 

“I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” Danny said, elbowing him lightly. Tim frowned down at Danny’s elbow for a moment before he shook his head and leaned back until he was laying on his back, staring at the sky. Danny followed suit, resting his arms behind his head as he did. 

“It starts with Bruce,” Tim finally said. “Bruce is a born vampire. His parents were turned years and years ago, before the United States ever became a country. They came over on some of the first pilgrim ships here and with the help of a few other families, founded Gotham. When Bruce was around eight, his parents were murdered. Bruce never found out who did it, but he barely survived with his life,” Tim said with a hum. “But his parents weren’t normal vampires. Thomas was a doctor he didn’t believe in taking lives, he wanted to save them. So, he and Martha were vegetarians and they raised Bruce to be vegetarian. Instead of killing humans, they hunted animals. My family continues these practices, it’s why our eyes are blue rather than the bright red of normal vampires,” Tim explained to him, crossing his ankles. 

Danny fell captive to the vampire's story from there. 

Bruce had been taken in by his parents’ butler, Alfred, another vampire who know one knew how long he had existed for. Alfred raised Bruce and primed him for his role in the Court of Owls now that his parents were gone. Only, Bruce wasn’t interested. He thought that the court was corrupt and that they had something to do with his parents’ deaths. 

Then, in the eighteen hundreds, he came across a traveling circus called Haly's Circus. Where he witnessed the deaths of the Flying Graysons.

“Why were Dick’s parents’ murdered?”

“That’s where things get complicated,” Tim said, wrinkling his nose.

Dick Grayson’s great grandfather was a man named William Cobb, he had met Amelia Crowne and fell in love. The problem was that Cobb was middle class and a human, whereas Amelia was a member of the founding family of Gotham and a vampire.  Amelia’s father had been livid to learn that a human seduced his daughter and ordered Cobb to never speak or come near Amelia again. Only, Cobb had already gotten Amelia pregnant. When Amelia’s father found out, he made an agreement with both Cobb and Amelia. He wouldn’t kill the child, if Cobb agreed to becoming a Talon and if Amelia gave the child away. 

They agreed. 

John Grayson was raised in Haly’s Circus and William Cobb became a Talon for the Court of Owls. 

“You said Dick has taken the Crowne’s chair in the Court, right? How did that happen?” Danny asked, furrowing his brow in confusion. 

“I’m telling you, Danny, Dick’s story is so fucking weird,” he said with a sigh. “Once Cobb became a Talon he went rogue at first, killing Amelia’s parents for trying to keep him from Amelia. But Amelia was so horrified by what he had become that she killed herself before he could get her. Cobb turned into a monster after that, a monster that the Court of Owls could use however they wanted. Then they saw how useful Cobb was and wanted another. And who better to make another Talon than William Cobb’s bastard son, John Grayson?”

The problem, Tim explained, was that John was an abomination, he was half vampire, half human and had next to no vampire traits. Not only that but he had become famous during his time in the circus. So no, they couldn’t use John, he was too well known now as part of the flying Graysons. But his son? Dick? He would be perfect to mold into their perfect Talon. 

The night that his parents were murdered, a plot by the Court of Owls, Bruce just so happened to be looking into the circus for a different reason. He saw Dick Grayson, a young orphan who saw his parents die in front of him and saw himself and decided to take him in. It wasn’t until Dick got a little older that they learned that Dick was a quarter vampire and a Crowne. 

The two didn’t find out about Dick’s heritage until Dick was kidnapped by Cobb who brought him to the courts where he was turned against his will in an effort to turn him into a Talon such as Cobb. Bruce managed to get to him, but not before he had been fully turned into a vampire. 

It was then that Bruce finally took his position in the Court of Owls so that he could keep a closer eye on what the other founding families were doing. He took Dick under his wing and eventually Dick took his place on the Court of Owls as well.

“Ancients that’s fucked. How old was Dick when he was turned?” Danny asked, his brow furrowed. He couldn’t imagine how traumatizing that must have been. To not only learn about his great-grandparents but to be nearly turned into a monster of some kind. 

“He was nineteen,” Tim told him. “Then in the late eighteen hundreds Bruce found Jason. He was a street rat that tried to rob Bruce and the poor guy got snatched by B because he was convinced that Jason was going to get himself killed with being so reckless. He ended up being right. Jason was taken by this crazed, maniac vampire who had lost his mind after drinking blood from a person with rabies. The vampire tortured him for hours before nearly killing him. Bruce got there as Jason was dying and too scared to let Jase die, he turned him. Jay has held a grudge about it ever since, the torture nearly drove him mad. He struggles a lot with blood lust. I mean, don’t get me wrong, we all do, we’ve all killed in one way or another. But Jason never wanted to be a vampire and he still resents Bruce for turning him instead of letting him die.”

“And you?” Danny asked. 

Tim gave him a wide grin. “Bruce changed me in nineteen seventeen when I was just seventeen years old. At the time I was just his neighbor but there was a robbery, they killed my parents and nearly killed me, Bruce smelled the blood and got there before I died from blood loss. Next came Cass, we don’t know how she became a vampire, don’t know anything about her. All we know is one day she found us and decided she didn’t want to be a killer and joined our family, she’s been with us since the sixties. Duke came next, the same vampire who nearly killed Jason had killed his parents. Duke had tried to hunt him down but the vampire turned him instead. Duke eventually staked the vampire through the heart but then didn’t know what to do. Bruce found him not long after and asked him to join our family.”

Tim then told him about Steph who had been turned in the eighties by her dad. She and Tim had dated on and off before they both realized they were queer and decided to become friends. 

“And Damian?”

Tim wrinkled his nose a bit. “He’s the newest member of our family. A few years back we learned that Bruce apparently got this vampire named Talia pregnant. She never told Bruce about the baby until one day she  dropped a ten-year-old Damian on the manor doorstep and they never saw her again. Damian had been living with them for six years now and everyone was still adjusting. 

“That’s a lot,” Danny said with a breath. He couldn’t even begin to imagine just how complicated that was, the trauma, the heartbreak. He thought he had been through some shit but goddamn the Waynes took the cake in the trauma department, that was damn sure. “I still don’t get how no one has noticed that the rich and powerful Wayne family are vampires.”

Tim shrugged his shoulders. “The people only see what tehy want to see. Bruce disappeared after his parents died and he didn’t come back. Then in the forties, Thomas Wayne the second appeared claiming to be Bruce Wayne’s son when he was just Bruce. He’s been reusing personas every handful of years. He’ll die and one of us will take over, then we use these charms that a witch friend of Bruce’s made to make us look like we’re aging and just restart the process. This time around, Bruce is an eccentric billionaire who keeps adopting poor orphaned kids who need a home. Not too far from the truth if you ask me.”

“Sounds confusing,” Danny said with a hum. 

“Price to pay for normalcy, I suppose. I prefer it to hiding in the shadows like most vampires do.”

Danny snorted. “I don’t blame you. At least you know what your future looks like. I have no clue,” he said quietly. 

He launched into his own tragic backstory from there, telling Tim about  his parents, how their invention turned him into a halfa, the two years he spent fighting to survive until his parents had learned about his status and accepted him.  He told him about Dani and her untimely death, how it had destroyed both him and Vlad. How things started to change after that.

“That’s what sucks, though. They accepted me, Tim. After Jazz went off to college and Dani died, though, something changed. My parents became obsessed with my future, what it was going to look like. Was I going to cease to exist like Dani? Would I become unstable like she did and fall apart? Suddenly, instead of just accepting me as a halfa, they became obsessed with trying to fix me.”

Danny tilted his head back a bit and closed his eyes tight. He didn’t like thinking about it. Didn’t like thinking about how one mistake seemed to ruin his entire life and take him from everything he knew. He didn’t see his friends, his relationship with his sister, his parents hadn’t written him or called him since they had been taken into custody. He had lost all control of his life and his decisions and he hated it. Hated that he hadn’t gotten the choice in any of the decisions made for him. 

“One day they were working on some new idea of theirs and the lab exploded. I had turned into a ghost in time and my parents barely survived but it was enough. The FBI started investigating, Jazz got worried about my safety, my parents fell on the IRS’s radar. Next thing I know, they’re being sentenced to federal prison for tax evasion and child abuse. Jazz testified in court and told them they were the reason I was half dead, they found previous CPS tips that my teachers had submitted my freshman year of high school. Suddenly, I’m in Vlad’s custody and my parents are in prison and everything is wrong.”

“Danny, I’m so sorry,” Tim whispered, looking over at the halfa. Sadness evident in his eyes as he stared at Danny with furrowed eyebrows and a frown on his face. Danny felt tears burn behind his eyes and screwed his eyes shut. 

“What’s stupid is I told them I was scared, Tim. I was the reason they threw themselves into their work. I told them that I was scared that what happened to Dani would happen to me. I don’t know what my future looks like, am I going to continue to age? Or am I going to stop aging? I’m rarely hungry anymore, I don’t need to eat like I used to. I barely ever have to sleep, most of the time I do it because I like the routine not because I need it. I’m still aging, I’ve grown since I died.  Vlad is aging, but we’re different kinds of halfas. Am I ever going to fully die? Will my human half continue to age while my ghost half stays the same? What’s going to happen to me?”  

Danny had so many questions about his future. So many what-ifs, so many uncertainties and the only people who had ever wanted to help him were now in prison for trying to help him. It was frustrating. He had done a good job at not thinking too much about it, keeping himself distracted by the mystery that was Tim Drake-Wayne but now? Talking about it with Tim, it brought up all of the anxieties that Danny had been suffering with.

“There’s different kinds of halfa’s?” Tim asked and Danny nodded. 

“I’m what the other ghosts call a true halfa. I died and the ectoplasm rearranged my DNA and turned me into this, half alive and half dead. Vlad got sick and slowly started to turn into a ghost. He and my parents suspect that the ghost part will slowly take over as he ages until all that’s left is his ghost half. As for me, It’s fifty/fifty. I don’t know what my future looks like, my ghost ages just like my human half does, I don’t know what I am or what’s going to happen to me and that terrifies me,” Danny whispered, feeling silly as a tear started to slide down my parents. “My parents saw that I was scared and they wanted to help me. They weren’t bad people Tim, they’re just a little dumb sometimes.”

“Maybe after we figure out what to do about the Court of Owls and your godfather, we can figure out what’s going on with you?” Tim said quietly. 

Danny swallowed hard but nodded his head. “I’d like to.”

Tim reached a hand down and squeezed Danny’s hand tight. “The first thing we’re going to need to do is talk to my family. I can explain the whole ghost thing to them, but we need Bruce and Dick to figure out why they sent a Talon after you,” Tim said with a huff. “There aren’t many Talons, maybe like five? So we’ll need to figure out which Talon they’ve woken up and start figuring out how the hell we’re going to take them down.”

“Why are you helping me?” Danny asked him, squeezing Tim’s hand tight. Tim tilted his head to look at Danny and gave him a soft, small smile. 

“Because you’re the most interesting being I’ve seen in the last hundred years Danny Fenton and I want to see what happens from here,” he admitted and Danny grinned. He moved his hand around until his fingers were laced with Tim’s. 

“And so the ghost became friends with the vampire,” he said with a laugh. 

“What a stupid vampire,” Tim murmured. 

“What an idiotic ghost.”

Chapter Text

“They’re staring,” Danny said quietly, glancing over at where all of his friends were openly staring with their jaws dropped. Tim let out a soft laugh and took a sip from his water bottle and glanced over at his own family who were sneaking glances. 

Tim and Danny were currently sitting in a corner at an empty table well away from most of their classmates. Just far enough that Danny was sure that anyone without super hearing would not be able to hear them talking. 

“Let them,” he said with a shrug. 

“What’s in your bottle?” Danny asked, changing the subject as he pushed the food around on his plate. 

“Blood,” Tim said blandly and Danny glanced up to look at him in surprise. Tim let out a soft laugh and shook his head. 

“I’m joking,” he said, rolling his eyes. “It’s just water.”

“So you can like, eat and drink like normal?” Danny asked and Tim shrugged his shoulders. 

“I don’t need to,” he answered, drumming his fingers on the table. “My family is screaming at me right now, by the way.”

Danny snorted and glanced over at the Wayne family. Jason’s jaw was clenched and Damian looked like he was ready to murder both Tim and Danny at any moment. 

“You haven’t told them?” Danny asked incredulously and laughed as Tim shook his head. 

“Nope,” he said. “This is them finding out. I think they suspected when you accosted me the other day. But I haven’t actually said anything. Besides, I bet Duke already knew.”

“How would he know?” Danny asked and Tim shrugged his shoulders. 

“You ask so many questions–”

“Yeah, well sue me. Up until a few days ago I didn’t really know that vampires were real,” Danny said and Tim huffed out a laugh. 

“Yeah and I didn’t know ghosts were real either,” he murmured. “How about twenty one questions?”

Danny hummed and stirred his food around for a moment in thought. “Fine. First question, explain the food thing.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “We don’t need to eat but we do it to keep appearances. The venom destroys anything we consume that isn’t blood so it doesn’t really do anything. What about you? You’ve barely been eating. Jason likes to eat for the taste, so does Alfred.”

“I don’t need to eat as much as I used to,” Danny answered. “The longer I’m a ghost, the less I need to eat. It tastes fine but I just don’t feel the desire to actually eat very often.”

Tim looked like he wanted to push but said nothing, instead just pursing his lips as he soaked in hat information.

 “Okay, now what did you mean that Duke would know?” Danny asked, moving along the conversation.

“Not all vampires, but some vampires, when they’re turned they get a gift. Like I can read minds–”

“Except for mine,” Danny said with a smug smile. Tim scowled and leaned forward and flicked Danny’s forehead, only for Danny to go intangible. 

“Except yours. Which I need to figure out why not,” Tim huffed. “But Duke can see the future. Um, Cass can control emotions, Steph is like a walking taser.”

“That’s fascinating,” Danny hummed. He gave Tim a shit eating grin. “I win, though.”

“Oh really?” Tim cocked his head to the side and pierced Danny in his seat with his predatory gaze, it made Danny shiver just a bit. “How so?”

Danny just gave him a cocky grin and shrugged his shoulders before he rested his head on his fist. “What can’t I do? I can walk through walls, disappear and fly. I have ice powers,” he said and held his other hand out, allowing a small sphere of ice to grow in his hand. “I can control ectoplasm to do whatever I want. I can hear better than the average human, I’m more durable and faster. I bet I could even beat you in a fight if we tested it out.”

“I would love to test that theory,” Tim said with a grin. “So you’re overpowered as hell.”

“Overpowered as hell,” Danny confirmed. “But there’s still things that can weaken me. A lot of things, unfortunately.”

Tim winced. “Danny you’re talking to someone who can’t stand in the sun longer than ten minutes without getting a major second degree sunburn. I understand.”

“I’m still really sad you don’t sparkle,” he mumbled. “And your skin isn’t even hard.”

At this, Tim gave him an incredulous look. “Danny, my skin is like marble. Like hard as a rock and cold as one, that’s like one of the few things Twilight got right.”

Danny frowned and reached over and grabbed Tim’s hand and pushed his finger into it. “No, your skin is soft as a normal humans. And you feel fine, you’re not cold at all.”

“Danny,” Tim said with a look of pure disbelief. He glanced around suspiciously for a moment before he grabbed a fork and bent over. Danny watched as Tim stabbed the fork into his palm and the tines seemed to crush into themselves. “I’m literally as hard as marble. You’re just built different.”

Danny frowned. “Do I feel different?” He asked, more to himself than others. 

Tim shrugged. “I don’t tend to touch humans very often so I might not be the best one to ask. I mean you feel warm to me, your skin is soft,” he said, running his thumb along the back of Danny’s hand. “But not too hot. Just right,” he said, his brow furrowed.

The bell rang overhead and Danny groaned. 

“What is it?” Tim asked, giving him an amused look. Danny looked up at him and sighed. 

“How likely am I going to be accosted the moment I walk away from this table?” he asked and Tim let out a loud laugh and glanced over at where Danny’s group of friends were sitting. 

“Cassie and Cissie are practically vibrating in their seats,” he said. “Cassie is thinking about grabbing you the moment you walk past and forcing you to ditch class. Cissie is just planning on just questioning you until you get to class. Uh Greta thinks we’re dating, Bart and Jaime are thinking about each other.” 

Danny snorted. “Figures, the girls are busy bodies. I’ll uh, I’ll see you after school? We’re still going to game plan how we’re going to talk to your family? I mean they’re likely about to question you within an inch of your life, but you know what I mean.

Tim let out a soft laugh and stood up. “Yeah, I’ll see you in chem and then we’ll drive home together. And yeah, wish me luck, I’m dead meat,” he said and winced. Danny let out a soft laugh and patted Tim’s shoulder. 

“It’s okay, me too,” he said before he bid Tim goodbye and made his way over to Cassie and Cissie. He felt like he was walking towards his death but it was fine, it was all going to be fine.

“Cassie and Cissie are insane,” Danny breathed as soon as he got in Tim’s car. “They have followed me between every class. Then they kidnapped me Tim. They didn’t let me go to my last two classes. They grilled me for two hours. I don’t think they even believed me,” Danny said, a haunted look in his eye. Tim just laughed and shook his head. 

“They don’t. If it makes you feel any better, Damian chewed me out and Jason is convinced he needs to give you a shovel talk.”

Danny hummed. “Can you give a shovel talk to someone who’s already dead?”

“You’re only half dead, it’s fine,” Tim said, waving his hand in dismissal as he started his drive towards Danny’s house. 

“Also, I’ve been thinking. We can make a case to B about you and Vlad and then he can present it to the Court of Owls. I mean there’s nothing like you to have ever existed before. I’ve been doing research since you told me about ghosts and I can’t find anything about ghosts or halfas or anything. Not in Bruce’s library, or with some of my contacts.”

Danny wrinkled his nose. “Ghosts aren’t exactly rare,” he said slowly. “The government just keeps us a secret. I think it’s just because we’re so powerful, even compared to other supernatural beings. It’s better that no one really knows about us. It’s why the GIW exists to study ghosts and find out what we can do.”

“The GIW?”

“Ghost Investigation Ward. They’re a government agency whose sole existence is to capture ghosts and investigate us. The government doesn’t know that I’m a halfa or Vlad, they just think that my parents’ experiments gave me ecto-radiation that might end up killing me one day and gives me a few ghost-like qualities. But yeah, since people don’t know about ghosts, and the government doesn’t know about ghosts they made an entire department to study us. There’s even laws surrounding ghosts.”

“Laws?” Tim asked as he turned a corner and Danny hummed in response. 

“Laws. They’re called the anti-ecto acts. They declare that ghosts are not sentient beings and are dangerous and must be captured and studied. I have a theory that the GIW wants to not only find out how ghosts work, but see if they can control them to use as weapons. Do you know how amazing it would be for the government to have beings that can go intangible and invisible to do their bidding? Beings that don’t need to eat or sleep, who have powers and can be controlled? It would be the ultimate weapon.”

“Holy shit,” Tim whispered, horror clear in his voice. “That goes against everything. I mean the supernatural community has an agreement with governments all over the world to stay hidden and secret and in return, we don’t get hunted.”

“Well up until my parents managed to punch a hole into the dimension, no one even knew ghosts were real,” Danny said with a sigh. 

“That’s not right,” Tim said, scowling. “How do you know your parents aren’t telling them about the portal and all of their information on ghosts while in prison?”

“They won’t. Besides, I destroyed their lab before I left, well what’s left of it. All their research and blueprints, gone. The lab? Destroyed. No one will ever be able to open another portal, I made sure of it. Ghosts can’t come through any more,” he said. 

“Good,” Tim said with a nod. “But we need to figure something out about those acts. That’s fucked up, Danny.”

“Tell me about it. But let’s focus on the Court first,” Danny said with a soft laugh. Tim smiled and shook his head. 

“We’ll figure it out,” he said. 

“We will,” Danny said with a hum. “Do you miss it? Being human?” 

“I was a lousy human,” Tim said with a shrug of his shoulders, glancing at Danny for a quick second before back on the road. “I did whatever my parents wanted, I never thought for myself. I stalked Bruce like crazy because I was convinced that I was convinced he was hiding something. Turns out I was right,” he said with a scoff. Danny watched as Tim turned down a road and stopped at a light. 

Tim tapped his fingers against his thigh. “Being a vampire, it’s lonely sometimes and even though we fight, and I constantly want to wring Jason’s neck or throttle Steph, I love them and I’m happy with this life.”

“Even if you’re convinced you’re a monster?” Danny asked with a sly smile. 

Tim snorted. “Even then. What about you?”

Danny let out a quiet cough. “I’m still half human, you know.”

“You know what I mean,” Tim said with a roll of his eyes. 

“I hate being in the in-between. I can feel it slip away sometimes, the parts that make me human. Not needing to eat, not needing as much sleep. Part of me wonders if I’m really different from Vlad, and that the ghost half actually is taking over slowly but surely. Sometimes I’ll forget to breathe and have to remind myself. There’s days where I feel like I’m a ghost that’s just possessing a human body and not an actual human. Ya know?”

Tim pursed his lips and nodded his head. “I think I do.”

“Sometimes,” Danny said, barely breathing as he stared straight ahead as the light changed green. “Sometimes I wake up and my body is stiff and achey and I wonder if my body is dying in my sleep.”

“We can test it out sometime if you’d like. I don’t sleep at all,” Tim said and Danny gave him a weird look, arching his brow a bit. 

“You want to watch me sleep?” He asked and Tim spluttered, slamming his foot on the brake in front of the brownstone. 

“I didn’t say that!” He exclaimed, looking horrified at the very notion. “I said we can test it out and see what’s happening to your body when you sleep. Maybe it’s going into rigor mortis or something.”

Danny grinned, a sly smile. “You want to watch me sleep,” he sang. Tim scowled at him. 

“Get out of my car Danny Masters,” he said through gritted teeth. 

The halfa just smiled and leaned across the center console, his face just inches away from Tim’s. “You can watch me sleep any time,” he purred before he pulled away and got out of the car without another word. Danny glanced back at Tim to find the vampire squeezing his steering wheel, his eyes tracking Danny as the ghost made his way into the brownstone. 

He smirked and looked ahead once more. Maybe this newfound friendship with Tim would be a little more fun than he original expected. 

Chapter Text

Danny hadn’t even fully registered what the hell was happening until hands wrapped around his arms and he was suddenly yanked off of his feet and into a van. Before he could go ghost or start to fight his way out, though, he blinked at his kidnappers. 

“What the fuck?” He demanded, glaring at Bart and Jaime who were currently giving him twin shit eating grins. He glanced behind them and found Cassie and Cissie glaring at him and Greta pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head in dismay. 

“You owe us answers, Masters,” Cissie said, pointing a manicured finger in Danny’s face. He blinked owlishly, confused. “You’ve been holding out on us, when the hell did you and Tim Drake-Wayne start dating?”

“Dating?” He asked faintly, leaning back against the wall of the van. He snorted. “God no. He’s cute but we’re just friends. We’re not dating or anything.”

“So you admit that you think he’s cute?” Cassie accused, leaning over the passenger seat to glare at him. “When did that change? What’s going on between you guys? Huh?”

“We just got close in Chem and we’ve been hanging out a few times, that’s it,” Danny lied, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“At least tell me you’ve noticed the way he looks at you,” Cissie exclaimed shrilly. “It’s like he wants to eat you!”

Eat him? Yeah right. Tim had told him just that morning that Danny’s blood was the most unappetizing thing he had ever smelled in his life. Apparently it made the asshole gag the first time he smelled Danny. 

Danny huffed. “You guys are being weird, we’re just friends. Now can I go to class? I’m going to be late.”

“We want answers, Masters,” Bart declared, throwing his hands up in the air. “We need to know what the hell is going on with you and Tim. It’s important to our well being.”

“You’re being dramatic,” Danny said with a sigh. “Greta, help me out here?”

“Danny’s allowed to be evasive, maybe he’s in the closet and you all are forcing him to come out,” Greta said softly. 

“Danny’s not in the closet,” Jaime said with a huff. “He’s already told us that he’s gay. We just need to know if he’s dating Tim yet.”

“No, I’m not dating Tim,” Danny said, rubbing his temples. “Now, I’m going to class and if you freaks ever kidnap me again, I’m kicking your ass.”

“You’re no fun,” Jaime complained as Danny opened the door to the van and climbed out, storming to class.

“You’ve been in a bad mood all day,” Tim noted as they walked together to the cafeteria.

“Yes and it’s your fault,” Danny said through gritted teeth. Tim huffed out a laugh. “You could have warned me.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Tim asked with a hum. “I’m over a century old, Danny, I need my amusement where I can find it.”

“And there’s the answer as to why you and your siblings keep going to school, you’re all sadists.”

“Maybe masochistic as well,” Tim acknowledged. “Although, I’m nearly certain that Jason enjoys going through school over and over again. He finds the oddest things fun.”

“Says the one who let my friends kidnap me. How long were they plotting that?” Danny muttered under his breath, knowing that the vampire would hear him. 

“Three days. I was surprised that they planned it for so long, they usually seem to be a more impulsive group,” Tim said and Danny whirled to look at him, pointing a finger at the vampire. 

“That reminds me,” he exclaimed. “What happened between you and Conner Luthor?”

“I told you, we dated, broke up on a bad note, and then the Court threatened them to get out of Gotham,” Tim said with a shrug of his shoulders, his jaw tense. 

“Why did you end on a bad note?” Danny asked.

Tim threw his head back and let out a dramatic groan. “When the court found out that two werewolves were in Gotham they were pissed, no outside species allowed,” he said quietly, where no one around could potentially hear. The two continued down the hallway together, heading towards the cafeteria. “I wanted to fight them on it, get them to stay. Bruce said no, that it wasn’t worth it. Especially not when the person in question was the son of Lex. So, I didn’t fight them on it and Conner hasn’t forgiven me. He thinks I chose the Court over him.”

“Which you did,” Danny pointed out. 

“Which I did,” Tim said after sucking on his teeth.

“Then why are you willing to help me?” Danny asked as they stood by the entrance of the cafeteria. 

“That’s a long answers and is better to be shared somewhere that isn’t Gotham Academy,” Tim said with a wry smile before they walked in. The two went through the lunch line and that was where Danny thought they would separate, Tim to sit with his family and Danny to sit with his friends. Instead, Tim followed Danny over to his friend’s table and took a seat beside the halfa. 

“I hope you all don’t mind, but Danny asked me to sit with you all today,” Tim said with a polite smile, not even fluttering an eye as Danny elbowed him in the ribs. 

Cassie and Cissie blinked in surprise at the newest guest. Greta simply smiled. 

“We would love to have your company,” she said, speaking for the other two girls. “We were actually just wondering what your relationship with Danny was.”

“Yeah! We think you would make a really cute couple!” Cissie said, finally coming back to herself just as Jaime and Bart sat on the other side of Danny. 

“Tim’s sitting with us today? Hell yeah man!” Bart exclaimed. 

“So, Danny wouldn’t spill the details to us,” Cassie said, resting her chin on her hand. “But I bet you’ll tell us Timmy, you’ve always been so honest with us.”

“Oh right, like how he and Conner were so honest about the fact that they were dating the entire time?” Jaime asked with a roll of his eyes. 

“Things with Kon were difficult,” Tim said, getting just a bit defensive. Danny nudged him again. Tim blinked and shook his head. “But no, Danny and I are not dating, we’re just friends.”

“Just friends,” Cissie asked, waggling her eyebrows. “That’s it? Just friends?”

“Just friends, Suzanne,” Danny said, narrowing his eyes at the girl. Cissie gave him an afronted look, resting her hand on her chest. 

“Daniel Masters, did you just full name me in front of our guest?” She asked with a gasp. 

“We’re just friends you guys, nothing more,” Danny said and Tim gave him an amused look. Danny had never wished for someone to be able to read his mind more in his life than that moment. He was cursing the vampire out with every fucking curse word he knew. He just knew that the moment Tim followed him to the table that he would just be feeding the fire for his group of conspiracy theorists. 

“Who knows,” Tim said idly as he took a sip from his water bottle that Danny knew for a fact was not water. “Maybe my charming good looks and amazing personality will sway him eventually.”

“I will kill you,” Danny hissed in threat. 

Tim smiled and leaned close to Danny’s face, their noses mere centimeters apart. “I would like to see you try, Ghosty,” he said quietly before he leaned back into his seat and took another innocent sip of his water bottle.

Danny scowled at him and stabbed at his salad with a huff, ignoring his friends as they jeered and shouted at him. 

As soon as Danny walked through the door of the Brownstone he could tell that something was wrong. There was a certain electricity to the air that only happened when Vlad was angry or stressed, which Danny knew both of those reactions from his godfather far too well. 

Danny stepped in the living room and leaned his shoulder against the door jam as soon as he saw Vlad pacing the length of the room. He was a bit more disheveled than usual, his hair not pulled back in his typical pony tail and the circles under his eyes a bit darker than normal. Now that Danny was thinking about it, Vlad was looking more and more stressed the longer that they lived in Gotham. The halfa just hadn’t been paying attention to the man with his own mind stuck on trying to figure out what the hell was going on with Tim. But now, it made just a little more sense than he had initially thought. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked, arching his brow in curiosity. Vlad turned and stared at him for a moment, blinking a few times before he huffed out a sigh and smoothed his hair abc as if that would help at all. 

“This Court of Owls, they are causing more issues than I initially expected,” Vlad said, taking a seat on the couch. Danny stared at him for a moment before he took a seat on the plush armchair across from his godfather and crossed one leg over the other. 

Danny let out a soft hum and leaned back in his seat. “I think I may have figured something out to get the Court taken care of, but it’ll require you to trust me.”

“I trust that you are not getting yourself into any trouble, Daniel,” Vlad said with an arch of his eyebrow. 

The younger halfa simply gave him an innocent smile. “No trouble whatsoever. Just trust me.”

Vlad let out a hum and lifted a glass of wine sitting on the coffee table beside him and took a sip as he crossed his leg over his knee. “If you don’t have something, or it does not pan out the way you think, I may have a different route that we can go. I have recently learned that Lex Luthor of Metropolis also happens to be one of the heads of a clan of werewolves. He and I have been discussing the two of us creating an alliance, he hates the Court of Owls and has his own reasons for wanting to rid the world of them.”

Danny let out an annoyed huff and crossed his arms over his chest, feeling the chair grow just a bit icy beneath him. “Will you trust me? Just let me do my plan first, and if it doesn’t work we can go to Lex. Please Vlad?” He asked. 

He and Tim had been working on what they were going to say to Tim’s family to convince them to help Danny fight the Court of Owls and let him stay in Gotham but it would all be for naught if Vlad got more involved than he already was. And he wasn’t going to risk sharing the Wayne family’s secrets with someone who didn’t already have confirmation that they were vampires. Besides, he still didn’t trust Vlad and he certainly didn’t trust him with that kind of information.  

Vlad let out a sigh and set down his wine glass. “Of course I trust you, Badger. I think I would just feel a little more comfortable if you shared this plan with me,” he said as he moved to massage his temples. 

“I can’t tell you yet,” Danny admitted. “I just need you to trust me, and if I give you the signal that means it failed and we’ll go to Lex.”

The signal was a shot of ectoplasm into the air. Either of them would sense it or see it anywhere in Gotham and would know that the other needed them as soon as possible. It was a signal that Vlad had come up with after Dani had died. 

Part of him wanted to tell Vlad, he knew it would be easiest if he did. If he let Vlad know, then Vlad could potentially help. But there were so many problems with that idea. The first being that it wasn’t his secret to share, and he wasn’t going to betray Tim’s trust by telling his smarmy, slimy godfather that the billionaire family the Waynes were all actually centuries old vampires.  But also, he didn’t trust Vlad as far as he could trust him and he wasn’t going to risk things if Vlad truly were up to no good. 

Lastly, he just had a bad feeling about Lex. Tim hadn’t told him a lot about Lex Luthor, just that he was a slimy bastard and that the fact that Conner went back to living with his father still made him uncomfortable, simply because he didn’t trust the bald billionaire as far as he could throw him and thought he was up to no good. There was a lot that Danny still didn’t know about the werewolves, but between what Danny knew from Tim and what he had barely learned from Conner, they were their own clusterfuck of drama and Danny really didn’t want to get mixed into it. Even if Conner Luthor seemed like a nice guy when they met in Metropolis. 

Danny was growing to like Gotham, he enjoyed his time here, he loved his new friends, and he was finding his rhythm. He didn’t want to leave, not unless he absolutely had to. Not only that but, it was nice having someone who understood what it was like to be dead but not quite dead. Tim understood him and Danny was incredibly appreciative of that. Especially when not very many people really understood what that was like. He wanted to get to know Tim better, wanted to get this whole Court of Owls nonsense taken care of so that maybe he could take a breath and just get to know Tim better, maybe give in to all of his friends’ goading and ask the vampire on a date. Maybe he would get to know the other Waynes better as well, it would be nice. 

For the first time since his parents were arrested, Danny could see a future for himself in Gotham City and he truly did not want to lose that future, not when it seemed so bright, so hopeful. Not when he finally felt like he had a chance to grow past what happened to him. He wouldn’t be able to get that if Vlad fucked things up and got the werewolves involved, Danny could just feel it in his gut. 

No, he and Tim would get this figured out. They would find out a way to get the Court of Owls to leave Danny and Vlad alone. Then as cheesy and as awful as it sounded, even to Danny, maybe then he would finally be able to move on. And in all reality, that was all Danny ever wanted, to move on from everything that happened in Amity Park and to just finally live. It may not have seemed like a lot, but it was important for him, he needed this, more than anything else in the world, he needed this. 

“Alright, Daniel,” Vlad said with a click of his tongue. “I trust you. But if something is to go sideways, I also trust you to let me know as soon as possible. I will not lose another child, do you understand me?”

Something that almost felt like fondness grew in Danny’s chest for just the briefest of moments. He smiled at his godfather and nodded his head. “Understood.”

Vlad gave him a tired smile. “Very well, now what shall we have for dinner tonight? I was thinking Italian.”

Danny just smiled and listened to his godfather talk about different dinner ideas as his mind drifted off to Tim and what a future in Gotham could truly look like. Once the Court was taken care of, things could be perfect, he could just feel it.

Chapter Text

Danny fidgeted in the car as Tim drove them towards Wayne Manor. Today was the day that Danny was officially going to meet the other vampires in the Wayne family and ask them for help to protect him and Vlad from the Court of Owls. He could only hope that they would be willing to help him. 

“Quit it,” Tim said with a sigh, glancing over at Danny who was now messing with the buttons on his jacket. “You act like you’re being led to your death.”

“A house full of vampires and he thinks I’m acting like I’m being led to my death,” Danny muttered, rolling his eyes. Tim barked out a laugh as he pulled into the long drive up Wayne Manor.

“Trust me, no vampire with good taste would ever want to suck your blood. You smell like death,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “Too similar to other vampires, but not quite the same. It’s odd.”

“Good to know I’m unappetizing,” Danny said with a scoff. “Your siblings already think I’m suspicious, I’ve seen how they glare at me at school.”

“It’s not because they hate you, Danny. They can just tell something is different about you. Duke is frustrated that he can’t see your future, Cass can’t pick up on your emotions and Steph said she tried to shock you and you couldn’t feel it. None of our powers seem to work on you and they find it frustrating.”

Danny pursed my lips. “I wonder if my powers work on you. I was able to turn you intangible with me, but I wonder,” Danny said before he turned his hand intangible and poked Tim’s head only to find resistance. He frowned and poked him in the temple again, harder. “I can’t phase into you. That’s annoying.”

“That hurt,” Tim muttered. 

“You’re dead, you don’t have any feeling,” Danny said, rolling his eyes. He poked Tim once again, just for good measure before he leaned back in his seat. “Well, this means I can’t overshadow vampires, good to know.”

“You can’t what?” Tim asked, glancing at Danny with horror on his face.

“I can possess humans,” Danny said blandly. “Like fly into them and take over their bodies, make them do whatever I want.”

“I have concerns.”

“Says the one who can read minds and invade everyone’s privacy,” Danny shot back. “I rarely use that power. Unlike you Mister I Read Everyone’s Thoughts.”

“I can’t exactly turn it off,” Tim said with a huff as he pulled in front of the giant manor and threw the car into park. “Now come on, you get to meet the family.”

“Lovely,” Danny said with a sigh. “Should I go in my ghost form or stay human?”

Tim quirked up a small smile. “Stay human.”

“Staying human it is.” Danny climbed out of the car and followed Tim up to the manor. “What if they like arrest me and take me to the Court of Owls themselves? I’ll never forgive you.”

The vampire glanced over at him, an amused look on his face. “Are you always this anxious? It’s fine, Danny.”

“If you say so,” Danny grunted, shoving his hands in his pockets. He followed Tim up the stairs and the door swung open nearly immediately. 

“Master Timothy, I see you have brought a guest,” an older looking gentleman said. He was dressed nicely, like the stereotypical butler as he peered down at Danny curiously. 

“Don’t act like you haven’t been eavesdropping from the moment we drove onto the property,” Tim said with a laugh. “Alfie, this is my friend Danny, he’s in on the whole secret.”

Alfred arched an eyebrow as he looked Danny up and down. “Very well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mister Danny. I am Alfred Pennyworth, the butler for the Wayne Family.”

He held out a hand and Danny took it gingerly, giving the man a firm shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Pennyworth.”

“The pleasure is mine. Now if you would follow me to the parlor, I believe the rest of the family has been anxiously awaiting your arrival,” the man said before he spun on his heel and started down the hallway. Danny gave Tim a look, raising an eyebrow as he did. 

Tim simply shrugged his shoulders and grabbed Danny’s hand before he started to drag him along, keeping pace with Alfred. 

“You all have superspeed, why not use it more?” Danny complained as they walked at a brisk human speed. 

“It just feels like overkill,” Tim said with a shrug. “Do you use your powers constantly? Just because you can?”

Danny grinned, showing off his own unnaturally sharp teeth. “Before I moved to Gotham? Yes.”

The vampire huffed out a soft laugh. “You know, it’s a little funny that the non-vampire is the one with fangs,” he said, nodding towards the fangs that Danny was now showing. 

“I did wonder about that, are they all just razor sharp? Or do you have fangs that come out before you feed like in Interview with a Vampire?”

“Razor sharp,” Tim said simply before Alfred let out a soft, polite cough and opened the door to the parlor.

“Time to meet the vampires,” Danny sang under his breath. Tim elbowed him in the ribs and he turned to glare at him for a moment. “Stop it.”

The vampire grinned and led Danny into the room filled with his siblings. “Hey everyone, this is Danny, he’s half dead.”

“Tim,” a man scolded and Tim let out a huff. 

“Danny, this is Bruce, my father for all intents and purposes, you know my siblings, Jason, Cass, Cass’s girlfriend, Steph, Duke, and Damian. And that’s my other brother, Dick and his wife, Barbara.”  

Danny gave them all an awkward wave. 

“Everyone, this is Danny, he’s a half ghost, half human hybrid. He’s harmless, I don’t think his powers even really work on us,” Tim said, his voice bored. “And don’t try to use yours on him, you’ll just be annoyed when they don’t work.”

“That’s what it is?” Steph shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Danny. “You didn’t even flinch when I shocked you at my highest setting!” She accused. 

“Stephanie!” Dick exclaimed. “You tried to shock him?”

“It didn’t work, obviously!” She shouted. “He didn’t even notice.”

Duke pursed his lips. “It makes sense why I can’t see your future.”

Cass gave him a small smile. “Can’t see emotions either,” she told him.

“If it makes you feel any better, I can turn you intangible but I can’t possess you,” he said. “We haven’t tested to see how any of my other powers interact with you all. But I imagine Tim already has plans for that.”

“I do,” Tim said simply before leading Danny over to a couch and the two took a seat. “Alright, Danny has a problem and we need to help him get it taken care of. We owe it to him.”

Bruce gave him a concerned look and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “What’s going on, Danny?”

And so Danny told them everything, from how Danny and Vlad moved here for safety reasons, how Vlad thought that they would be able to most closely fit in with vampires than anyone else, how a talon broke into their home and attacked Vlad, Danny shared everything he could on the subject. 

Bruce rubbed his forehead tiredly, beside him, Dick had a pinched look on his face. 

“They made a decision without us being there to vote,” Dick murmured. “How often are they purposefully leaving us out of decisions that are being made?”

“I don’t know,” Bruce murmured. “But this isn’t good.”

“How did you know that we are vampires? What did Timothy do to give it away?” Damian suddenly asked, staring at Danny with narrowed eyes. 

Danny shrugged. “I put it together for the most part, but Conner Luthor gave me the ultimate clue. He realized I wasn’t human and thought I knew you guys were vampires, he called Tim a leech.”

“Tim is a fucking leech, have you seen him?” Jason muttered with a laugh. Dick shot him a disapproving look. Jason simply shrugged and looked at Danny before he asked. “What else was it?” 

Danny shrugged. “I imagine I don’t quite feel human to you guys. You guys don’t feel human to me, and you feel dead but not dead like me, more like dead adjacent, if that makes sense? And of course it was easy once I realized that none of you have heartbeats or need to breathe,” he said.

“Can we get back on track? Please?” Bruce asked. “You’re saying that the Court of Owls set a Talon on the Masters family?” 

“That’s what Tim said it was,” Danny said with a shrug. Bruce’s blue eyes flicked to Tim as if to ask a silent question and Danny was suddenly reminded that Tim could read minds. 

“Yes, I fully believe it’s a Talon. I think that the murders we’ve been seeing might be from a Talon as well. I think they just have the Talon on the prowl without much control.”

“Do you think we should call a meeting?” Dick murmured, glancing over at Bruce who had a contemplative look on his face. “They’ll just lie to our face, they do it every time.”

“Between the two of us, we hold three seats on the council. They aren’t supposed to be making decisions without us,” Bruce said with a sigh. “I don’t like the idea of your grandfather prowling around Gotham without a leash on him either.”

Dick scowled. “That thing is not my grandfather. Alfred is my grandfather,” he said vehemently. 

“The Court is meeting next week, let’s see if we can push that meeting forward,” Bruce said before he looked at Danny. “Danny, I apologize that this happened. Unfortunately, you are not the first supernatural being to deal with the Court’s attacks. But we will make sure that this is the last. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.”

Danny swallowed hard and nodded his head. In that moment as he stared at the vampire before him, he was starkly reminded that this man was hundreds of years old and had more power than Danny could even imagine. 

“Thank you,” he said, his voice slightly raspy. “I just want a home that’s safe. And I was really hoping that it would be Gotham,” he admitted, feeling slightly stupid just for even saying that out loud. He wanted to throw himself off a building out of sheer embarrassment. Tim rested a hand on his knee and gave him a soft smile. 

“We’ll figure it out,” he said softly. Bruce gave him a nod before he sped out of the room before Danny could even blink.

“I can’t believe this is how we finally get to meet your boyfriend,” Dick said with a dramatic sigh. “After everything we’ve heard about sweet Timmy’s boyfriend and we have to meet him due to bad circumstances.”

“Oh, we aren’t dating, we’re just friends,” Danny said in a hurry. “We’re just friends.”

“He doth protest too much,” Jason teased, leaning back onto the couch he was taking up by himself. 

“Tim’s emotions say otherwise,” Cass said, giving Tim a teasing smile.

“I hate you all,” Tim said flatly. 

“What other powers do you have, Danny?” Duke asked, changing the subject as he leaned forward, looking Danny over in interest. “You said you had more than one.”

Danny gave him a secretive smile. “I can’t reveal all of my secrets. But I can keep up with you all in terms of speed and strength. In my ghost form I’m more durable. I can go intangible and I can fly.”

“But you have more than that?” Jason asked incredulously. 

“I do,” Danny said and held out his hand, letting ectoplasm bubble up inside. “The way vampires have venom, ghosts have ectoplasm. This is my life blood, it’s what I’m made of.  But I can also use it as a defense.”

Danny held his hand out and shot the ectoplasm into the fireplace, watching as it caught the log on fire, green flames licking around the bark.  

“Oh,” Jason said, blinking in surprise. “I wonder what kind of damage that would do to a vampire.”

“I imagine nothing, if your powers don’t work on me, mine likely don’t harm you either. We might cancel each other out,” Danny explained. “At least in terms of stuff like that.”

“Shoot me,” Jason said suddenly, as he stood up and stepped in front of Danny. The halfa blinked at him in surprise. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Danny said slowly. 

“Jay, we don’t know if it’s harmful,” Dick said from behind him. 

“I say do it, Jason needs to get knocked down a peg,” Steph said with a huff. 

“Just a small blast,” Jason goaded. 

Danny glanced at Tim who just shrugged his shoulders. “Just a small one?”

Danny nodded and pointed a finger at Jason and shot him in the shoulder with ecto. Only, instead of harming the vampire, the ecto seemed to be absorbed into the being. His eyes suddenly flashed bright green for just a blink of an eye before going back to blue and he shuddered. 

“Holy shit,” he breathed out.

“What is it?” Dick asked uneasily, giving Jason a worried look. 

“I feel like I just fed on like five humans,” Jason said, rocking on his heels. “It’s like, is this what humans feel like when they down like twelve energy drinks? Holy shit! I need to go for a run, or break things, I feel like a newborn all over again.”

“A newborn?” Danny whispered to Tim as Jason took off in a run.

“The first few months after a vampire is turned, they’re stronger than normal due to their own blood still being in their system. They’re stronger and faster than older vampires, but they’re sloppier.”

“Jeez,” Danny said with a huff. “So ectoplasm is like an energy shot for you all. Good to know.”

“We could probably use that somehow,” Tim said, looking at Danny consideringly. 

“No, no, no tests without Bruce here to supervise,” Dick said suddenly. 

“Yeah, yeah sure. Danny and I are going to go up to my room,” Tim said with a roll of his eyes. He took Danny’s hand and using his own speed, sped up the stairs and into his bedroom.

The two soon found themselves sitting on Tim’s bed and Danny plucked at the threads on the crochet blanket. 

“I’m sorry about my family, they’re a bit intense,” Tim said with a tight smile. 

Danny shrugged. “It’s fine,” he said, leaning back. “You have to deal with my friends giving you the third degree the other day. Call us even.”

“I never really let myself think about dating after Steph and I broke out,” Tim suddenly blurted out. “I just, I never expected to find another vampire who had the same lifestyle as me and I didn’t want to risk it, ya know?”

Danny gave him a tight smile. “I do. I tried dating a few times after my accident but then I realized that no matter who I date, they’re not really going to get what it’s like ya know? The whole half dead experience, the whole being other. Not only that, but what if I do stop aging? And I stay the same while whoever I love ages? It’s frightening to think about.”

“But if you have an immortal boyfriend,” Tim said, giving him a sly smile. Danny let out a soft laugh. 

“How about we get to know one another first and maybe get the whole Court of Owls thing taken care of. Then maybe I’ll let you take me on a date, Vampire Boy,” he said, elbowing Tim in the ribs. “I think you’re very cute, and you make me laugh. But I want to get this taken care of first, just in case Vlad and I do end up having to disappear.”

Danny held his hand out for Tim who took it with a small smile as he twined their fingers together. “I think I can handle that. Right now I don’t know how much we can do until Bruce and Dick can meet with the court.”

Danny let out a breath and leaned against the pillows. “Then in the meantime, let’s get to know each other. Starting with why the hell a vampire who doesn’t sleep have the comfiest bed ever.”

“I like to curl up and read, you know, get comfortable when I’m relaxing,” Tim said as Danny pulled him down to lay beside him before he launched into a myriad of questions of his own. Danny just smiled and answered each one, asking his own questions sprinkled throughout. He really did hope that they could figure this out. It really would suck if he had to leave Tim after finally finding someone who at least somewhat got what it meant to be a dead adjacent teenager.

Chapter Text

“I’ve made a decision,” Tim said, falling into step beside Danny as he headed towards the cafeteria. 

“God help us,” he said blandly as he glanced over at Tim who had a smug smile on his face. Whatever the vampire was planning, Danny had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it, he could feel it in his bones. 

“Since you made me sit with your friends the other day–”

“I absolutely did not make you sit with us,” Danny said, stopping in place to glare at the other teen. “In fact, if I recall correctly, you /followed/ me to the table like a lost puppy dog. But I did not make you.”

Tim blinked at him as if he were waiting on Danny to continue before he grinned. “Anyway, because you forced me to sit with your friends, I have decided that today, you’re going to sit with my family.”

“Tim, my friends will kill me. You realize that right? Like they’ll murder me and hide my body,” Danny said, giving his friend a serious look. “I am under a contractual obligation to sit with them at lunch or else they are allowed to hunt me down wherever I am and drag me to the lunch table.”

Tim blinked at him for a moment. “Your friends frighten me,” he stated matter of factly. “But it’s okay, if they kill you, you’ll probably just come back as a ghost and it’ll be fine.”

“Whatever,” Danny said after a few moments of staring at the vampire in disbelief. “Lets go sit over there. But when they all inevitably start questioning me, you’re going to be there to answer the questions.”

The vampire gave him a pretty smile, his blue eyes shone mischievously under the fluorescents. “Of course,” he purred. “I’d be happy to answer all their questions. Especially when they start grilling you on if we’re dating or not.”

Danny stomped on Tim’s toes. Hard. Tim winced as Danny started walking towards the Wayne family table, waving at his friends for a moment before taking a seat beside Cass. 

“You’re not going to let your girlfriend try to shock me again, are you?” He asked, giving her a serious look. 

Cass let out a soft laugh. “No promises, very mad her powers don’t work.”

Tim let out a huff as he sat beside Danny. “That hurt,” he said before a serious look grew on his face. “You do know that the moment you tell your friends the joke isn’t funny, they’ll stop, right? They worry that they’re taking it too far right now and it’s pushing you away.”

Danny gave him a soft smile. “I’ll make sure to reassure them that the jokes don’t bother me. They’re just teasing me and it’s fine. Besides, it’s not like they’re /wrong/.”

“You’re going to kill me,” Tim said with a huff, a wide smile on his face. “Alright guys, I convinced Danny to sit with us like you asked. Have fun.”

“Why did you want me to sit with you all?” Danny asked, looking around. Damian scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Isn’t it obvious? You’re one of us,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “Even if you do have terrible taste in partners–friends,” he corrected after Duke elbowed him in the ribs. 

“Tim gave us the riot act and told us to not tease about you guys potentially dating until he was sure you were okay with the jokes,” Duke said, giving Danny a polite smile. 

“Oh, it doesn’t bother me. I think it’s funny, especially since Tim can’t blush so he just gets all flustered and looks like an idiot,” Danny said with an easy grin, ignoring the elbow that jammed into his ribs, simply going intangible so that the vampire couldn’t bother him. 

“That’s not fair,” Tim grumbled. 

“Life isn’t fair,” Danny mocked, he leaned on his elbow and looked at the table full of bloodsuckers. He felt a little flutter in his chest over Damian stating that he was one of them. 

It felt nice to have that kind of camaraderie with someone. 

“So, what does a group of immortal vampires do for fun?” He asked with a grin. Jason matched his grin with a wide, mischievous grin of his own. 

“You’ve got super strength and speed, right?” Jason asked, arching an eyebrow. Danny hummed in response. “Have you ever played baseball with a bunch of other super powered beings?” He asked, waggling his eyebrows. 

Danny furrowed his eyebrows. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever played baseball.”

Steph gave him a wide smile of her own. “Next thunderstorm, we’re playing.” 

“Thunderstorm?” He asked, tilting his head to the side. Tim let out a soft laugh. 

“It gets too loud for us to play any other time,” he explained. He winked at Danny. “I’ll show you whenever we get a good storm.”

“I think that’d be fun,” he admitted. “Tim can just call me next time there’s a storm.”

“Good, now, tell us more about ghostiness,” Steph pushed. 

“Only if you want to,” Duke interjected. “If you’d prefer, we’d also love to hear about life before you came to Gotham. Tim says you were a vigilante?”

“Really?” Damian asked, perking up. “You know, we’re sorta like vigilantes.”

Danny gave the youngest Wayne a surprised look despite the groans of all of the other Wayne siblings. 

“We aren’t, really. We all just have a bad habit of not being able to sit to the side when shit happens in the city. You know, stopping muggings here, saving people from burning buildings there, but that’s it,” Steph explained. 

“Do not forget that Father also has us stepping in so that the Court does not order Talon to come out. Timothy has been investigating the strange murders so that the Court would not intervene. There’s also the whole dealing with other issues that we take care of before the Court does, like the nymph who lives in the Robinson park.”

“So you guys like act like henchmen for the Court so that they don’t get Talon?” Danny asked. 

Jason shrugged his shoulder. “Sometimes, yeah, but not often. And it’s never anything major.”

“If you want, I bet I can figure out a way to get us to the Ghost Zone one of these days and you can fight some of the ghosts. It would be evenly matched since you can’t use any powers against one another,” Danny said. 

He hadn’t fully figured out how to make portals to the Ghost Zone on his own yet, but he was going to figure it out eventually. If Wulf and Cujo could do it, so could he. Besides, if he couldn’t, after destroying the portal in Amity, he took all the notes and blueprints with him. Not only that, but he also had access to Vlad’s research and could use that to build a new portal.

“How about after we figure out the Court issue?” Tim suggested before Danny and Jason could start planning. 

“You’re no fun,” Jason declared. 

“Danny, are you absolutely certain you want to date this guy?” Steph asked and Cass giggled beside Danny. 
 
The halfa glanced at Tim and gave him a soft smile. “Maybe, he’s very pretty, and he makes me laugh sometimes–when he’s not annoying me.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “You’re a riot.”

“You’re the one who likes me,” Danny shot back. “That’s got to be so embarrassing for you.”

Tim stared back at him and Danny just smiled as he took in his pretty eyes once more. “The fact that we are waiting until after we deal with the Court is the most frustrating part of my existence.” 

Danny felt his cheeks heat up and he tore his eyes away from the vampire. “Don’t talk to me for the rest of the day.”

Everyone laughed as Tim just gave Danny a smug smile and rested his chin on his hand.

Once lunch was over, Danny found himself cornered by Cassie and Bart who were giving him twin nervous looks. 

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Danny asked, looking between the two curiously. 

“We didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” Cassie blurted out. 

“Yeah, we’re so sorry, Danny we didn’t mean to make you feel so uncomfortable that you don’t want to sit with us and–” Danny covered Bart’s mouth with his hand and gave him a small smile. 

“I wasn’t uncomfortable, the teasing is fine. If it bothered me I would tell you,” he assured. “I sat with the Waynes because Tim’s siblings wanted to give us a hard time.”

“You’re not mad?” Cassie asked as Bart pulled Danny’s hand off his mouth with a huff. 

“Of course not. Friends tease each other,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “It’s normal. As for me and Tim, because I know you guys are dying to know, we’re taking it slow. We want to get to know each other better before we go on a date,” he lied. It was as close to the truth as he felt comfortable sharing at that time. He wasn’t particularly interested in getting his human friends involved in his supernatural drama. But they also deserved an answer. 

“You talked about it?” Bart blurted out and Danny blinked at him. 

“Yes?” He said, tilting his head to the side. Why wouldn’t he and Tim talk about it? They obviously had an attraction to one another but they weren’t ready for more than friendship yet, they still had so much to get to know about one another. They only really knew the basics and well, Danny and Tim both needed to get a little more comfortable with one another before progressing any further. They needed to know what it was like to be friends before anything more. Once the whole drama with the Court of Owls was taken care of, they would go on an actual date and start getting a little romantic with one another. 

For now, though, it would just be light flirting and getting to know one another. They both needed to take it slow. Despite what others may think. 

“You’re just so–so emotionally constipated,” Cassie said before slapping her hand over her mouth. Danny gave her a tired look. 

“I know how to talk about my feelings, Cassandra, I just don’t like the vulnerability of all of it,” he said dryly.

Bart threw his arm around Danny’s shoulder and pulled him in for a tight side hug. “You can be vulnerable with me any time,” he said brightly.

“I appreciate it, Bart,” he said with a chuckle. 

“Well, since that’s taken care of. We were making plans during lunch and we didn’t want you to feel excluded,” Cassie said, shoving her hands in her pockets as the trio started down the hall. “We’re  all planning on going shopping this weekend for homecoming since it’s ya know in two weeks and we wanted to know if you’d like to come?” Cassie asked. “I know you’re going to that gala with your godfather, but  you can get your fancy suit for it while we’re there.”

“Can I come?” A voice asked and Danny glanced over to find Tim standing beside Danny’s locker with a small smile on his face. Danny narrowed his eyes at the vampire who simply gave him a smug smile. 

“Uh duh, dude, now that you and Danny are in your little situationship or whatever, you’re automatically a part of the squad. Conner never wanted to share you when he was around but now it’s our time,” Bart said with a grin. 

“I would love that,” Tim said with a wide smile of his own. “Besides, Danny has horrible sense of style. Have you seen how he dresses?” The vampire teased, glancing at Danny with mischievous eyes.

Danny frowned and looked down at his outfit. A NASA shirt and blue jeans. His chucks were a little beat up but that’s just how chucks were supposed to be. 

“What’s wrong with my outfit?” 

“No, no, Tim’s right,” Cassie said with a sigh. “Greta, Cissie and I were all talking about it and we’re concerned. It’s why you have to come with us so we can pick out your tux.”

“I can dress myself–”

“Man, it’s easier to accept. Jaime thinks I’m a lost cause too, he’s picking out our tuxes,” Bart said as he pulled his arm off of Danny’s shoulders. 

“Oh! And before I forget, Anita–you know Anita right? She’s in Lit with you!” Cassie said, looking at Danny. 

“Anita Fite?” he asked, furrowing his brows. 

“Yes! Anita Fite, she asked me to Homecoming as her date, so we’re going to go together,” Cassie said, clapping her hands together just as the warning bell sounded. She frowned, her shoulders hunching slightly. “Shoot, I gotta get to class. But check the group chat after school! I’m gonna send all the details.”

“Yeah, Mr. I Mute My Friends,” Bart said with a sad look on his face. 

Danny rolled his eyes as started to twist the lock on his locker. “Whatever, I’ll check it later. And I’ll go with you guys to go shopping but I’m picking out my own tux.”

The two gave him twin looks of annoyance before Cassie reached over and ruffled his hair and gave Tim a polite look. 

“Danny can pass the details onto you if you want Tim,” she said politely before her and Bart took off down the hall. Danny glanced at Tim who was waiting for him pointedly. 

“Why do you want to go shopping?” He asked. 

“I don’t, but I worry that you being out without me will make Talon feel emboldened to attack you and it would really fucking suck if he ruined your outing with your friends,” Tim said with a sigh as Danny glanced either way before he phased his hand through his locker and grabbed his text books.

Danny let out a soft hum. “You and your family can’t just stalk me and Vlad until we get this whole thing taken care of you know,” he said as the two started down the hall together. 

“We have it handled. We’ve been keeping an eye on your home as well.” 

Danny blew a strand of hair out of his face. “How is that all going?”

“Bruce and Dick have a meeting with the Court tomorrow night,” Tim said quietly under his breath. “We’re hoping it will go well and we can just call this whole thing off.”

The halfa pursed his lips and nodded. He didn’t like that he was having to rely on someone he barely knew to get this entire situation taken care of. But there wasn’t much else he could do. He wasn’t strong enough to take on an entire court of vampires who were millenia years old. Especially not when a good chunk of his powers didn’t even work on them. He would likely be outmatched and not nearly strong enough to combat it and Vlad wouldn’t be much help either. The man could barely fight Danny without losing. The ghostly vampire would be no match against actual vampires.

It was better to trust Bruce and Dick with this, even if it did make him just a bit anxious. 

“We’re going to get this taken care of. You’re not going to have to leave Gotham, I won’t let that happen,” Tim said softly and Danny nodded his head. 

“I trust you,” he rasped out before they stepped in front of the classroom door. Tim smiled and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. 

“Good, because I’m always right,” he said in a soft voice before he slipped into the classroom right before the bell rang. Danny smiled and shook his head before following suit. He would trust Tim and his family, he had to if he wanted to stay in his new home. 

Chapter Text

Danny and Tim walked a few steps behind the rest of Danny’s friends as they walked from store to store. So far, no one had found an outfit for homecoming that they seemed to like and it was starting to make Danny’s head spin just a little bit. Vlad had informed him just the day prior that he had already bought him a tux for the gala that they were attending the same day of homecoming and apparently Tim was going to be at the same gala and had over forty suits of his own he could choose from. But the others insisted that they come and, well, Danny loved his friends, even when they annoyed the shit out of him. 

“Okay, this one has to have a dress I like,” Cassie exclaimed as they walked through the doors of another boutique.  Danny gave Tim an exasperated look only for the vampire to smile and shake his head. 

“I think this one is the one,” Greta said in agreement as she bound towards a light blue dress and ran her fingers across the fabric. 

“I think Jaime and I are gonna go to the store next door, it’s a rent-a-tux place,” Bart said, bouncing on his heels. 

“Okay, but remember, let Jaime pick the tux. You’re a fashion disaster,” Cissie said. 

Bart scowled. “I am not! I dress myself every day and I look great.”

Danny gave him an amused look. Bart was wearing knee high pink socks with converse, khaki cargo shorts and an obnoxious bright orange t-shirt that said roadwork ahead. He was in fact, a fashion disaster. 

“I think your clothes look great, babe,” Jaime said before giving Bart a quick kiss on the lips. “It’s part of what makes you Bart Allen.”

“This is why you’re my favorite boyfriend,” Bart declared as he twined their hands together. “We’ll see you haters later.”

“Don’t forget, we’re going to eat at the Italian place down the street in an hour! Meet us there,” Greta said as she now draped a dress over her arm. Tim led Danny over to a small sitting section and took a seat on the small, uncomfortable velvet couch as the girls started looking at dresses.

Cissie sauntered over with a long, slim black dress. “What do you think of this one?” She asked, posing behind the dress. 

“It’s cute,” Danny said, looking it over. 

“Hm, the homecoming theme is Vegas casino night, right?” Tim asked, crossing one leg over the other. 

“Yes, and I feel like this just screams Vegas,” she said. Tim leaned forward, a glint in his blue eyes. 

“What shoes?”

“Strappy heels. Hair in a half up half down style, simple silver chain on my neck and some fun silver rings,” she said and Tim nodded. 

“Go try it on, but I see your vision and I think it works,” he said and Danny snorted as Cissie skipped away. 

“I have a sister and an insane sister-in-law, Danny. Unlike you, I’ve learned to say exactly what a girl wants to hear when they’re dress shopping,” Tim said with a scoff. 

“Or you’re just gay as hell,” Danny said under his breath only to get an elbow in the ribs. Next Cassie came over wearing a black and white pinstripe suit. It was fitting, almost like it was made for her.

“This, but with some heels? Or sneakers? I don’t know what shoe to wear,” Cassie said with a frown. 

“I don’t know about the pinstripes to be honest,” Tim said, resting his chin on his hand as he looked over the outfit. “I like that you’re wanting to wear a suit, very fashion forward of you. But also, just because the theme is Vegas casino night, doesn’t mean you need to go that far. I think a simple black suit would look nice,” he said. 

Cassie made a face but nodded. “Danny?”

“You remind me of a cartoon villain,” he said with a chuckle. “Like you’re gonna show up as the head of a mob and guns blazing. You just need one of those hats with a flat brim and the outfit would be complete.”

Cassie glared. “Danny I hate you,” she said before she spun on her heel and stomped away.

“Okay, but you were right,” Tim said under his breath and Danny snickered, leaning his head on the vampire’s shoulder for a moment. 

“God, we’ve been doing this for three hours,” Danny complained.

Tim patted his head softly. “Just one more hour and then you and I can go off on our own,” he said politely. 

“They’re going to demand we get lunch with them,” Danny said. 

“Not if I mentioned to Greta that I’m wanting to take you out for lunch and she’ll stop the others from insisting.”

“Using Greta, evil, I like it,” Danny said with a chuckle. Danny didn’t know what it was, but Greta had a way with getting people to do what she wanted. Not in a bossy way, but more like a motherly way if anything. It was just the Greta-ness about her. She was just so nice no one would want to upset her. Therefore Greta’s word is law, thankfully she has never used her powers for evil. The rest of the friend group though? Absolutely.

“She’s got our back,” Tim said just as the girl came up in a pastel pink dress. 

“What do you think?” She asked, spinning around a few times. 

“I like it,” Danny said and Tim scowled. 

“Absolutely not. It’s casino night Greta. Get a little risky, red will look amazing on you,” he said and Danny let out a groan, leaning back until his head hit the wall. They were going to be at this forever.
 
Tim just patted his thigh lightly. 

“So, where are we going?” Danny asked and Tim shrugged his shoulders. 

“I figured we’d just walk around for a bit,” Tim said as he reached over and twined his fingers with Danny’s, the halfa easily letting him. 

“That’s fine,” Danny said with a hum. “You know, it’s pretty lucky that you live in the dreariest city in the country. Especially with all those vampire issues with the sun.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “I told you, we get a sunburn and that’s it. No disintegrating into dust, no sparkling, no erupting into flames. Just sunburns.”

“Kinda disappointing if you ask me,” Danny said with a sad sigh.

“Our eyes are sensitive to the sun,” Tim said, tapping his sunglasses lightly. “We have night vision so the sun is harsh on them.”

“Doesn’t help that you have blue eyes, ya know with the whole not enough color in your eyes to handle the bright sun or something, I read about it in a book once,” Danny explained. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about but I’ll take your word for it,” Tim said with a laugh. “But I usually just wear sunglasses and then keep myself covered with some long sleeves and hoodies if it’s too sunny out. Which considering this is Gotham rarely ever happens.”

“Perks of being a ghost, I don’t have that issue,” Danny said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Before I left Amity, though, I was working with some of the ghosts and my parents on how I could change my ghost form into whatever I want. I never got very far, but I did learn how to change my hair color to black to look somewhat like my human form. The jumpsuit, though, I can’t get rid of the fucking jumpsuit.”

“Your ghost form has a jumpsuit? Wait, what is your hair color in that form? What does it look like?” Tim asked and Danny just gave him a mischievous smile. 

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” he sang. 

“As you keep saying,” Tim said with a roll of his eyes. “I’m starting to think that you don’t actually have a ghost form, just powers.”
 
Before Danny had a chance to respond, though, Tim stiffened just as Danny’s ghost sense slipped out of his mouth. Tim suddenly made a sharp turn down an alleyway and let out a quiet hiss. 

“We have a talon on our ass,” he murmured and Danny let his hand ice over. After a few rounds with Jason on the Wayne property, they learned that his ice did still affect the vampires, despite his ecto blasts being relatively useless. The only problem with ice was that with vampire strength they were able to break through his ice eventually, it was mostly just enough to slow them down. But between his ice and his other ghost powers, he would be able to at least handle a talon until he and Tim could get away. 

“What do we do?” Danny asked, feeling the frost grow up his arm in preparation. 

“Nothing, we’ll just see what he wants,” Tim said, straightening his back. 

“You can’t hear his thoughts?” Danny asked and Tim shook his head. 

“The court has learned how to block out mental powers like mine. I’m more surprised Duke didn’t see this coming, but you also block his visions,” Tim hummed just as a man stepped into the alleyway and stalked towards them.

 There was something predatory about him. Rather than the striking blue color that Tim and his family’s eyes were, his eyes were bright yellow, a gross shade that made Danny shudder just a bit. His skin seemed to be sallow, just a bit off colored almost. Like it had been bleached. 

“I see the Court’s fears were true, Drake, cavorting with an enemy of the court,” the Talon crooned. “You know what the Court said.”

Danny gave Tim a surprised look.  Why hadn’t Tim told him that the court had met to talk about his presence in Gotham? What did they said? Why hadn’t Tim told him?

“The Court is wrong,” Tim spat out. “He’s not an enemy, and if the Court would calm down and just get to know who he is, you would know that.”

“He is an unknown, and the court destroys what is unknown,” Talon said in a haunting voice before he pounced with a speed unlike anything Danny had ever seen. 

He let out a curse as Tim shoved him out of the way. Danny fell to the ground, hitting his head on the brick wall, his vision blurred as he watched Tim and Talon fight, snarling and growling at one another. Vampire fights were nothing like ghost fights, Danny realized as he tried to sit up, his head spinning. 

Ghost fights were about power, throwing each other into buildings, shooting ectoblasts at one another, brute strength and force. 

Watching Tim and Talon fight, it was almost like a dance, only, Tim never let Talon get past him, never managed to get past Tim’s barrier. It was almost as if they were equally matched, not only that but it seemed as though Tim actually knew how to fight, unlike Danny who had barely retained his mother’s martial arts lessons and again, relied on brute force and his powers. 

He shook his head, his eyes watering slightly and his head pounding as his thoughts registered. His powers! He could help Tim!

Danny stared bleary eyed as he raised a hand and tried to focus on Tim’s form the two blurring and fuzzy in his vision, before shooting him with a blast of ectoplasm. He hoped to the Ancients he hit Tim and not Talon.  

He watched as the ectobeam shot through the air and  Tim let out a shout and Danny felt his stomach drop as the blast hit Talon dead on, slamming him into the wall before his eyes blazed a bright golden yellow color.

“Shit,” Danny said, his eyes wide. “I fucked up. Oh Ancients I fucked up,” he whispered, getting up on shaky legs, his head absolutely spinning. 

“Danny! Quit trying to help!”  Tim snapped as Talon threw himself at Tim with full force, knocking the vampire into the wall roughly. The wall seemed to crack under Tim, just a bit as he pulled himself up and let out a snarl deep from his chest, his knees bending slightly as he prepared to pounce and launch himself at Talon. 

Only, Danny moved and stood in front of Tim and squinted, seeing two Talon’s stalking towards him and Tim. He closed one eye and aimed his hand towards the undead vampire before he shot a beam of ice, forcing him into the wall and freezing him in place. Danny winced at the sound the bricks made as they cracked upon impact, these poor buildings, he hoped to the Ancients no one was inside.

“Take my hand,” Danny said, yanking Tim’s arm towards him. A loud cracking noise sounded as a supercharged Talon started to rip himself out of the ice. Danny let out a curse and turned the two of them invisible before he took to the skies.  His head was spinning but he just needed to get away from Talon before he broke free from the ice. He let out a curse as they slammed into the brick building. 

“Danny!” Tim exclaimed, his voice annoyed. 

“You gave me a fucking concussion! Shut up and let me focus asshole,” Danny snapped as he flew off to the manor, far from Talon. “And you and I have a very long conversation when we get to the manor. I want answers Tim Drake.”

Tim let out a huff. “Just get us to the manor in one piece and we’ll talk.”

“I should drop you, you know. Right on your fucking ass. It might even hurt you from this height,” Danny said as his concussion finally started to heal, his vision getting just a bit more clear. “I’m still half human, you know. You shoved me hard.”

“I’m sorry,” Tim snapped. “Will you just hurry up?”

“That’s the kind of attitude that’s going to get you dropped,” Danny muttered before he held Tim close to his chest and shot off into the sky, fr away from Talon and hopefully close to getting some much needed answers.

Chapter Text

Danny crossed his arms as he glared at Tim. It had been a day since they were attacked by Talon and Danny was ready for some answers. Tim winced and ran his fingers through his hair as he leaned back in his seat. The two were currently at the Wayne manor. Bruce and Dick had been pissed to learn about the attack from Talon and had grilled Danny and Tim for all the information they had on what happened, recounting every single moment of what happened. 

“I can’t believe you got a concussion,” Jason had snickered when Danny had sourly admitted that Tim had thrown him into the wall so roughly that it had caused him to get concussed. Danny had been unable to get any answers of his own after Dick and Bruce had stormed out of the manor and the others had been too busy teasing Danny and Tim for getting cornered by the Talon. 

“I want answers, Timothy,” Danny said, tapping his foot on the hard marble floor. 

“You have answers,” Tim argued and Danny narrowed his eyes and Tim rolled his eyes and let out a huff. “Look, Dick and Bruce met with the Court last week. It didn’t go well at all.”

“What happened?” Danny ground out. His eyes glowed a menacing green at the vampire. 

“What happened was that they pissed off the Court,” Duke said as he walked into the room and fell onto the couch roughly. “The Court doesn’t particularly like our family and any chance they have to disagree with us or ignore us, they will.”

Danny pulled his eyes away from Tim and squinted at Duke. “Why?”

Duke let out a hum and tilted his head to the side. “If we want to get into the nitty gritty about it, it’s because they feel threatened. We’re the largest coven around and we have a lot of heavy hitters and powerful members in this coven and the Court wants that. Especially Tim and myself. A mind reader and someone who can read the future? The court would be unstoppable. I would see any threat, Tim could read the minds of any vampire that came by.”

“So the court wants power?” Danny asked and Duke hummed in response. 

“They want power, but they’re also scared that Bruce will get fed up one day and take down the court–even though it totally goes against our family’s beliefs,” Tim said with a sigh. 

“So when Bruce and Dick met with the Court about me, they got pissed?” Danny asked and Tim hummed in response. 

“Yes. Essentially. The entire court disagreed with Bruce and Dick and declared that you were an unknown who needed to be captured by any means necessary,” Tim said and Danny let out a growl. 

“And you didn’t think that it was necessary to tell me about this?” He asked, his fingers digging into the wooden armrests. The chair creaked underneath him and Duke let out a low whistle. 

“You fucked up there Tim,” Duke said before he got up, off of the couch and stretched. “I’ll just leave you guys to talk that out.”

“Thanks Duke, thanks so much for all of your help,” Tim bit out before the vampire sped out of the room. Tim pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment before looking at Danny. 

“I didn’t tell you because Bruce and Dick are handling it. Dick has his wife, Barbara looking into things a little more. But I didn’t want you to worry about everything happening.”

“Tim I need you to look at me when I say this,” Danny said, staring intently at the vampire. “You are not going to keep things from me. I don’t care what the reason is, I don’t care about how worried you are, you’re going to be honest and upfront with me and I’ll be honest and upfront with you. That’s how friendship works.”

“Danny–”

“No. I am not some weak human who needs to be protected, Tim. I’m already half dead and I am more than capable of taking care of myself,” he said, glaring at the vampire. “I appreciate that you really want to protect me, it’s cute. But that’s not who I am, I am strong and capable and I can handle anything that’s thrown at me. So don’t keep secrets.”

Tim pursed his lips and nodded. “I understand. I didn’t want to cause you more stress or make you worry. But I see where you are coming from and I’m sorry,” Tim said, lacing his fingers together and set them over his knee. 

Danny gave him a small smile. “Thank you.” 

Tim smiled at him. “What Duke was saying is true, though. The Court is using this as a way to go against the Wayne family. They’re mad about how much power we have and they will use any excuse to go against us. So, they all voted against Bruce and Dick’s argument to allow you in Gotham and want to instead bring you in to figure out what you are.” Tim tapped his foot lightly. “Not only that, but they want to continue to undermine Bruce and Dick any way they can.”

“They want to get rid of you guys or force you to work for them,” Danny said, giving Tim a surprised look. 

“Yep, and Bruce has a theory that they’re using you to do it. They now know that we have some sort of bond or friendship with you and they think capturing you might give them leverage over us.”

“Why don’t you guys just do what they fear and get rid of them?” Danny questioned, his brow furrowed. 

“I’ve thought about it,” Tim mused. “I don’t know Bruce’s feelings on the matter. While he may disagree with the Court of Owls, he does still respect the rest of the members of the court and what they stand for. Bruce still believes in protecting vampires, but more importantly he cares about protecting Gotham City as a whole. It’s why we’re the unofficial protectors of the city.” 

“Not only that,” Tim continued. “But at the end of the day Bruce–as well as the rest of us, believe in due process. Everyone is given a chance, including the Court of Owls. Bruce has spent years now trying to shift the vampiric legal system to be more modern, to believe more in the innocent until proven guilty aspects rather than simply hunting down and killing anyone that they suspect are in the wrong. Bruce taught all of us that every life matters, including the lives of the vampires, despite not agreeing with every decision they make. Therefore, I think it would be more problematic if we decided to just take over the Court of Owls as that would be far too similar to what the Court would do as well.”

Danny hummed in response and stared at Tim for a moment as he took in all of this new information. There was so much to digest. He could absolutely see where Tim and his family came from on not wanting to destroy the Court because at that point, that would make them just as bad as the court. 

But on the other hand, they also wanted to catch Danny and experiment on him which had the halfa nauseous just thinking about it. Sure, at the end of his time with his parents they were less focused on tearing him apart molecule by molecule and more focused on fixing him. But the idea of the Court hunting him was a little too reminiscent of his parents and the GIW. 

He chewed on his lip, he needed to stop thinking about this for the time being or else he was going to send himself into a panic attack and that wouldn’t help anyone. Instead, he needed to focus on something else, just for a moment, at least. He looked the vampire over and frowned, his eyes were less blue than usual, nearly completely black, in fact. 

“When was the last time you ate?” Danny asked suddenly. 

“About two weeks,” Tim said, his brow furrowed. “Why?”

“Your eyes are almost black,” Danny said. 

“Are you changing the subject because you don’t want to keep talking about the court or are you genuinely worried?”

“Both,” Danny declared and stood up, stretching a bit as he did. “Let’s go hunting.”

Tim pursed his lips and nodded, following Danny out of the manor and into the woods behind the house. 

“You’re going to have to change into your ghost form,” Tim told him as he scanned the woods. “You smell too much like a human and it’s going to distract me while I’m hunting. I’m going to smell you and try to hunt you instead and that wouldn’t be conducive to anyone.”

Danny wagged his eyebrows suggestively. “You can hunt me anytime, Timothy,” he purred, pressing his finger to Tim’s chest. Tim blinked at him, unamused. 

Danny tilted his head back and let out a loud groan. “Fine,” he complained before the bright rings of light circled his body and he let out a breath as his ghost form took over and closed his eyes for a moment, feeling his heart stop beating and his breathing stopped. There was something that was incredibly freeing about being in his ghost form. 

“Beautiful,” Tim murmured, smiling at him. 

Danny gave him a small smile. “Thank you,” he said, opening his eyes once more. “Sometimes I think I look better as a ghost.”

“I think you look beautiful either way,” Tim said. He paused and tilted his head to the side, his brow furrowed. “Your heart stopped beating. You also don’t smell wrong anymore.”

“What do you mean, wrong?”

Tim hummed. “In your human form you smell like a human but… tainted. Like there’s something that isn’t quite right. It’s why I told you once that you stunk. Your scent as a human is interesting. As a ghost, though? You smell wonderful, I don’t have a desire to bite you now,” he said with a grin. 

Danny grinned. “You know, I wonder what vampire venom would do to me,” he stated and Tim wrinkled his nose. 

“We aren’t even going to entertain the thought or risk it,” He declared. Danny pushed his lips out in a pout but nodded nonetheless. Tim took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It is odd to fully realize that you’re dead, or at least half dead.”

The halfa nodded, showing his own sharp fangs. “Yep, I can even recount how it felt to get killed by thousands of volts of electricity coursing through my body.”

Tim winced. “Danny,” he said in a pained voice and Danny just grinned. 

“Don’t worry, I actually don’t remember. I passed out from the pain before it killed me,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders before he floated off the ground. “Now, go hunt for your food and I’ll be here following you around.”

Tim smiled. “Race me?” He asked. 

“Be prepared to lose,” Danny sang as he started to glow before he shot through the air with Tim right beside him. Danny watched as Tim shifted from just a normal guy to something far more predatory, even the air around them shifting as he let out a growl and veered towards the right before he stopped in his tracks and went completely still. Danny watched as Tim tilted his head to the side and sniffed before he crouched down, his eyes focused on his prey. Danny turned invisible beside the vampire and watched as Tim tracked the deer as it moved along the clearing. In a flash, the vampire pounced, lithe and beautiful as his teeth bit into the throat of the deer and pulled it to the ground. 

Despite the gruesome picture in front of him, Danny couldn’t seem to pull his gaze away from the vampire. Not when he had taken the deer down so deftly and cleanly, not getting a single drop of his blood on his clothing. 

“Beautiful,” Danny murmured as Tim pushed the carcass to the side and stood up, adjusting his t-shirt slightly. “Are you done?” 

Tim snorted and shook his head. “No, that’ll keep me satisfied for maybe a day. I usually take down about three does, or a couple of stags. If Jason’s around, we’ll go up north and hunt some grizzlies or mountain lions when we have the chance. That usually keeps us fuller longer.”

“Something to do with prey being more gamey?” Danny asked and Tim nodded, crinkling his nose. 

“Mountain lions are my favorite. Carnivores are typically fattier and provide a little more sustenance than herbivores are,” Tim said, rocking on his heels. “And bears? They’re just fun to fight to be honest.”

Danny let out a soft laugh and shook his head.  “Your pretty blue eyes are coming back.”

Tim stuck his tongue out at Danny and straightened up. “Come on, I can smell some more deer this way,” he said before he took off in a run. Danny snorted but followed the vampire nonetheless, having fun just watching the vampire let loose as he hunted.

Chapter Text

Danny crossed his ankles as Tim ran his hands threw his hair and typed furiously on his computer. He was currently at Wayne Manor working on homework as Tim gave him emotional support. The bastard had already finished his homework hours before during the study lunch with Danny and his friends. Danny unfortunately did not, instead getting far too distracted shooting the shit with Jaime and Bart. Which led to Tim having him come over to try to force him to finish his homework.

“I hate this. Why can’t you just give me one of your old essays?” He complained and Tim let out a soft chuckle. 

“No, Danny, you need to learn this information. It’s important for you to know.”

“It’s important for me to write a paper on the cultural and economic differences of the North and South during the civil war?” Danny asked, flicking his eyes up to glare at Tim. 

“You know, I was there for the civil war,” Jason said as he walked into the room and fell on the couch parallel from Tim and Danny. Danny glanced over at him. 

“Really?”

Jason grinned. “I was sixteen and lied about my age so I could join the Union and kill some racists–well up until they kicked me out for fist fightin’ other soldiers and gambling,” he said, kicking his ankles up onto the couch armrest. “Then I was just hangin’ around Gotham as a little street rat ‘till B picked me up and kidnapped me.”

“So can you tell me about the cultural and economic differences?” Danny asked and Jason let out a snort as he picked up his book from the coffee table. 

“Fuck if I know, I was a broke kid from Park Row, I joined the war for glory and a fat paycheck that I didn’t even get,” he said, rolling his eyes in annoyance. “I remember knowing to keep my mouth shut if any runaway slaves showed up in Park Row that’s for damn sure.”

Danny let out a groan. “This is killing me. Tim just help me, you’ve gone to high school like a million times by now, you should be able to walk me through all of this.”

“Nope, you need to think for yourself,” Tim said with a hum as he continued scratching his nails lightly against Danny’s scalp.

“Both of you are horrible,” Danny said with a sigh as he closed his laptop. He watched as Duke and Dick walked in with wide smiles. 

“Guess what Duke saw,” Dick said, rocking on his heels. “Tim, no cheating.”

Tim huffed out a laugh. “There’s a thunderstorm creeping in,” he said and Jason let out a whoop. 

“Should be here in about thirty minutes, looks like it’s going to be a loud one too, very little rain, though,” Duke said with a hum. 

“Perfect time to introduce Danny to the great game of baseball,” Dick said, waggling his eyebrows.

“Baseball?” Danny asked, furrowing his brow as he craned his head back to look up at Tim. 

Tim gave him a small crooked smile. “Our family is a little intense when it comes to baseball, Bruce only lets us play when it’s thunderstorming. Or if there’s a hurricane, those are fun too.”

“Yeah and Hal’s in town so he can join us too,” Duke said, grinning. 

“Hal?” Danny echoed. 

“He’s Bruce’s boyfriend. He’s a vampire that Bruce has been messing around with for decades but they’re both too afraid to actually commit,” Jason said with a sigh as he sat his book back down on the coffee table and got off the couch. 

“He also knows how to get Bruce to loosen up,” Dick said. “Okay, Jay, Duke round up the gear. I’ll round up the others.” With that, the three vampires sped out of the room before Danny could blink. 

That was going to get annoying real fast.

“Well, I guess we’ll see them there,” Tim said with a sigh as Danny sat up and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to get it back in place. 

“Should I change?” Danny asked as he stood, stretching until he felt his spine pop. 

“Clothes or forms?” 

Danny arched an eyebrow. “What do you think?”

“Hm, you can use your powers in your human form right?” Danny nodded his head as the two walked out of the living room. “Then I say just use that form. Just to be on the safe side.” 

The two headed out to the large clearing behind the manor and Danny found the others already practicing their swings as Bruce and Cass set out the bases. 

“First baseball game, huh?” Steph said, waggling her brows at Danny as Tim grabbed a bat. 

“I mean I played a little in my hometown,” Danny said with a shrug.

“Oh this is different, these maniacs are intense,” Steph said with a laugh. “Especially Tim, Duke, and Damian, they get way too into it. Bruce usually plays umpire because he’s the only one who won’t get accused of cheating.”

“Alright, we’re going to have Tim, Damian, Duke, Jason and Danny on one team. Cass, Steph, Hal, you’re with me. B, you’re ump,” Dick said, tossing his bat in the air and catching it with ease. 

“Can I just watch the first round?” Danny asked. “I need to see just how intense you guys get.”

“I’ll allow it,” Dick said, pointing at him. “On the sidelines!”

Danny grinned and stepped back. 

“Oh! Hal, this is Danny, he’s the ghost boy we told you about,” Steph shouted at Hal who was standing beside Bruce, his arm wrapped around the vampire’s waist. Hal, like all vampires, was ridiculously pretty. He looked around the same age as Bruce which meant absolutely nothing in terms of his real age. The man raised a hand and waved at Danny with a confused look on his face before Bruce turned his head and quietly explained to the man, his arms crossed over his chest. 

“Alright, Jason, your team is going to bat first,” Dick said as he took his place on the pitchers mound and the others fanned out. 

“So, just how intense do you guys get?” Danny asked as Tim stood beside him and bumped shoulders with him. 

“Very,” he said with a soft chuckle. Danny watched as Cass flounced towards the pitchers mound, a baseball hat sitting snugly on her head. She gave Danny a happy wave before she made a I’m watching you motion with her hands as she glared at Jason. 

Jason simply smirked, throwing the bat in the air in some expert toss that he made look incredibly simple. He caught it and spun it a few times before he lowered down into a batting position and grinned at Cass. 

“Come on little sister, let’s see what you’ve got,” he crooned. 

“Big sister,” she snarled before she wound her arm back and kicked her leg in the air, pointing her toes like a ballerina before she threw the ball across the field. The ball whizzed through the air at impossible speeds only for Jason to hit it with an eardrum shattering crack of the bat. Danny watched wide eyed as it sailed far across the clearing and Steph and Dick took off after it as Jason started running around the bases.

“Now I get why you have to play during storms,” Danny said, blinking in surprise.

“Jason is the strongest in the family,” Tim murmured. “He gets a big head about it sometimes.”

“I do not,” Jason shouted as he slid into homebase right as the ball sailed through the air and Bruce caught it with ease. 

“Safe,” the eldest vampire declared. 

“Fuck yeah I am!” Jason whooped as he stood up and dusted the dirt from his clothes. “Duke, you’re up!” 

Danny watched in wild amusement as the game went on and on. The teams switching positions at one point and Danny smiled as Tim stood in the outfield. He really did look cute in his little baseball hat and glove, if not a bit out of place. It was almost odd to see this side of his friend. He seemed so at ease and calm as he rocked on his heels and waited for Jason to pitch the next ball.
 
“So, you’re a ghost, huh?” Hal asked, standing beside him as they watched Damian and Tim jump in the air and collide with one another as they tried to catch a ball. 

“Half ghost, but yeah,” Danny said with a hum. “And you’re Bruce’s decades old fling?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Hal said with a smirk. “You and Tim?”

“Complicated,” Danny said, sucking his teeth a bit. “Everyone is waiting for us to get together but we both just want to take it slow and get to know each other. But, he is going to take me on a date once the Court is taken care of. You and Bruce?”

“Bruce is scared of commitment,” Hal said and laughed as a ball hit his head. “But so am I. So, we do our own thing and come back to each other every few months. We’re immortal, we have time to figure it out.”

“That’s true,” Danny hummed, tilting his head to the side. “I dunno how much time Tim and I have together, but I think no matter how long it is, it’s going to be something special.”

Hal snorted. “That was incredibly cheesy,” he said and Danny let out a soft laugh. 

He watched as Dick to bat when Duke suddenly froze on the field.

“Someone’s coming,” he stated, his eyes vacant and the vampires all suddenly converged around Danny. 

“It’s Talon,” Tim said, his eyes just as vacant as Duke’s. 

“This is getting ridiculous,” Dick growled just as a form stepped through the tree line and walked towards them slowly. 

“What are we going to do?” Danny asked. “I’m not sure if my powers–”

“You’re not showing him any more of your powers,” Bruce said. “We need to keep them in the dark as best as we can and that means no powers from you.”

Danny went to protest only to get a look from Tim who shook his head. 

“We’ll see what he wants and go from there,” Bruce said with a sigh. He stepped in front of his family and dusted off his t-shirt. “Mr. Cobb, to what do we owe the pleasure?”

The Talon gave them a sickly smile as he tilted his head to the side. “I heard you all were playing a game and thought that maybe I could join.”

“We’re good,” Dick said blandly, stepping beside Bruce. It was as if the two had completely transformed into different people. They weren’t relaxed and the kind vampires Danny had started to get to know. Now there was an air of power to them both that Danny had never seen. Dick seemed absolutely pissed, but powerful. Bruce was terrifying, there was an icy air to him that screamed in control. 

“You are not supposed to be out unless the entire court approves it,” Bruce said. “So, who released you?”

“The court is no longer interested in following the demands of the Waynes and the Crownes, as little claim as my grandson may have on that title,” Cobb said and Danny watched as Dick’s jaw clenched slightly at the mention of their familial ties. “The court will be displeased to know that you are harboring an enemy to the Court of Owls.”

“There is no enemy in our midst,” Bruce said. “There is no reason for this being to be considered an enemy in the first place, as I have told the court numerous times.”

“He is an unknown, unknowns shall be destroyed. You may either give me the unknown to take back to the Court, or you shall deal with the wrath of the Court of Owls.”

“The court cannot go against its own members,” Bruce snarled out. 

“The court has decided that the two of you are unworthy of your place within the Court of Owls, you will soon be out of the way for the Court to continue as they would like,” Cobb crooned. 

Tim stiffened beside him. Danny gave him a nervous look. 

“Just let me go with him, it’ll keep you all safe,” Danny whispered.

“Absolutely not,” Tim snarled. “He’s not getting you. The Court isn’t getting you Danny.”

“You all should just remember, the court always gets what it wants,” Cobb said with that sickly sweet smile. “We’ll talk again soon.” 

Danny watched as the Talon took off into the woods once again and Danny let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

“What are we going to do?” He whispered. 

“We’re going to take down the Court of Owls is what we’re going to do,” Jason snarled, punching his hand into his fist. 

“We cannot feasibly go against the Court of Owls alone,” Damian said with a scoff. “We should just give him–”

Duke smacked the back of his head before he could finish. 

“That was unnecessary,” Damian snapped. “I was going to say give hi, as in Danny a head start and call in my Grandfather.”

“We are not calling in your grandfather, and we are not going to go against the Court of Owls,” Bruce said and glanced over at Hal. “We will have a family meeting this evening. I need to think.”

Dick hummed in response. “I think I have some ideas.”

“Tim, get Danny out of here. Get him to his godfather and meet us back at the manor once you’re done.”

“I should be involved in this, it’s my life at stake–” Danny started. 

“You need to be safe,” Bruce said, levelling him with a look. “I know that you were a hero once before, but you are no match for vampires. We have already seen as such when you sparred with Jason, your powers are too much at risk of amplifying a vampire’s powers or simply not working against them. We cannot risk your life.”

“My life is mine to risk, this is ridiculous,” Danny argued. 

“Danny, we need to check and make sure that your godfather is alright and keep you safe,” Tim said softly. “I know you want to fight, but please let us do this for you? This isn’t your fight, you should not have to deal with the Court of Owls.”

Danny scowled, his nose wrinkled in annoyance. “Fine, but after all this is over with you owe me a fanfuckingtastic date,” he snapped. 

Tim let out a soft laugh. “I’ll take you on the best date of your life,” he said and pressed a soft kiss to Danny’s forehead. 

“Should we call in the wolves?” Steph asked, her brow furrowed. 

“No,” Duke murmured, his eyes had that vacant look once again. “I don't see the wolves in our future. I can’t see anything with Danny in the way.”

“Tim, get Danny at home, Duke, keep looking for possibilities with the Court, if Danny isn’t involved, you should be able to see more clearly,” Bruce said. 

Tim nodded and took Danny’s hand. “Let’s go,” he said quietly. 

Danny scowled but let Tim drag him back to the manor to grab his things. 

“Danny I’m so sorry,” Tim said quietly. “This is all my fault.”

“How is it your fault?” Danny asked, giving Tim a surprised look. “I’m the one who moved to Gotham. You aren’t the one who told the Court about me.”

Tim frowned. “How did they find out about you? They don’t have some kind of tracker that tells them when other beings are here. And you’re very good about keeping your powers hidden.”

Danny grabbed his backpack and pursed his lips. “I don’t know.  I just know Vlad’s house got ransacked and he was assaulted one night and then Cobb started showing up after I started talking to you.”

“If a vampire came close they would be able to tell that you’re different but you haven’t been around any as far as I’m aware.”

“I don’t know,” Danny said. “It’s not adding up. I don’t even know how they got close, I would have sensed them too and I haven’t.”

“You should ask Vlad more about what happened,” Tim said. “Maybe they sensed him and are going after both of you.”

Danny nodded. “He mentioned he was trying to figure something out. But never really said what,” he said tapping his foot. 

In all honesty everything with Vlad was odd. Danny still wasn’t sure what his godfather was up to but he would need to get to the bottom of it, it felt just a bit off. And while Danny would like to think that Vlad truly was reformed and a better person, he didn’t quite believe it. He hadn’t believed it from the moment that Dani died. He wasn’t sure what Vlad was up to, but Danny had a sinking feeling in his stomach that Vlad had something to do with it. But he couldn’t prove it. Not yet at least. But he would.

Chapter Text

Danny fell onto his bed and stared up at his ceiling, kicking his shoes to the floor. Tim and his family had been talking for a few days on how they were going to handle the Court of Owls and Danny had been privy to quite a few of the conversations and so far all of them ended in arguments and Tim and Duke having to walk out of the meeting citing that they were getting ‘vampire headaches’ or whatever the hell that was.

They had yet to come to a consensus on what the hell they were going to do and it was starting to give Danny a headache. At this point he wondered if it would be easier for him to just hide out in the Ghost Zone for the rest of his existence and never leave. 

He furrowed his brow and let out a huff. He would miss his friends. And Tim. 

Unfortunately he would miss Tim and all of his annoying habits.  He absolutely had not planned on getting this attached to Gotham or the people here. But he had to admit, he really did love all the idiots he had met since coming to Gotham. Bart, Jaime, Cissie, Cassie, and Greta were amazing friends, unlike any friends he had ever had–Sam and Tucker included as horrible as Danny felt thinking about it. Sam and Tucker weren’t always the nicest in their friendship, they held Danny to impossible standards that he consistently failed to meet that would end in his friends being upset with him. It made things stressful and it left him feeling as though he wasn’t good enough. 

But his group of friends in Gotham? They never made him feel bad for who he was.

Honestly, aside from the supernatural drama and having to live with Vlad, Gotham was going pretty great. He had a guy that he really liked and wanted to eventually be in a relationship with, he had friends that he loved, and he could see a future for himself that he hadn’t seen before and he didn’t want to lose that. 

Danny let out a sigh as his phone rung, stirring him from his thoughts and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Not bothering to check the caller idea, he slid his thumb across the screen. 

“Hello?” He asked dully. 

“Danny? Is that you?” Jazz asked and Danny frowned. 

“Jazz? I thought I told you to never talk to me again,” Danny bit out, sitting up in bed. 

“Danny, please, help,” Jazz exclaimed. “Help!”

Danny was off the bed in an instant. “Jazz? What’s going on? Where are you?”

“Little Jazzy and I are having some fun together,” a different voice growled into the phone. “She makes such lovely noises when I cut her.”

The halfa was already shifting into his halfa form as Cobb spoke in his ear. 

“Where the fuck do you have her, you sick freak,” Danny spat, flying through the ceiling of the brownstone.

“I’m at a warehouse on twentieth and Dent. Come alone, without any of your vampire brats around and the girl won’t get hurt any worse. She may even still be alive when you get here,” Cobb said in a sing-songy voice before the line went dead. 

Danny let out a curse and shoved his phone into his chest as he flew full speed towards the warehouse. 

Yes, he was pissed at Jazz.  She betrayed him. She went out of her way to tell the courts that Danny wasn’t safe with their parents, had done so without even telling him she was going to. He had to watch her on the stand, absolutely blindsided as she told the court that the Fentons were the reason he had been in an accident at fourteen, that they weren’t safe people to live with and Danny had felt nothing but betrayal. 

But she was also his sister, and no matter how angry he was at his sister, he would do anything for her. He certainly wasn’t going to let her get tortured by someone like a talon. Absolutely not, she was still his sister. 

The halfa sped through the air at top speeds, focused on nothing but saving his sister from the undead vampire before he flew through the roof of the warehouse and landed in front of Cobb. 

“You know,” Cobb said as he stepped closer to Danny, his hands in his pockets. “Your godfather was right, this was much easier.”

“What are-” Danny was cut off as a Fenton Thermos appeared in the Talon’s hands and the lid was unscrewed. Before the halfa could utter another word, he found himself yanked into the thermos. 

He let out a curse as he pressed against the walls of the thermos before he started to bang his head against the side. 

“God fucking damn it,” he groaned, hitting his head again. The thermos wasn’t bad, per say. It was cramped as hell and there was very little breathing space. Not only that but it smelled.

But what really mattered was how the hell a talon got his hands on a Fenton Thermos. He curled up on himself, his tail wrapped around the rest of his body. Being in the thermos always managed to give him a headache. He closed his eyes tight. 

Cobb had mentioned Danny’s godfather and he had somehow gotten his hands on a Fenton Thermos. Which meant that his and Tim’s initial suspicion that Vlad was involved was correct. Which also meant that Danny was right. If he wasn’t trapped in a thermos completely and totally smooshed, he would have felt more smug. Instead, he felt more like an idiot for not investigating Vlad more. 

He knew that the entire thing after Dani died was shit. Part of Danny had suspected that his godfather had something to do with his cousin’s death but had never been able to prove it. Especially when his parents had believed Vlad so easily, when Vlad had played the grieving parent so well. Then he played the reformed villain act so convincingly that even Danny hadn’t pushed too hard in looking into him more. 

Which led him to being trapped in a fucking thermos and being taken Ancients only knew where.  Now he just had to wait until he got released and hoped to anyone who listened that Tim would find him in time–just in case there was no way that Danny would ever be able to get out of this mess on his own. Honestly, Danny had no clue what he was about to be released to and that had him feeling rather sick to his stomach.

Danny let out a grunt as he was ejected from the thermos and fell onto the ground. He flicked his head up as a shiver racked down his spine and found five vampires in black hoods staring down at him. Beside them stood Vlad with a smug smile on his face.

“You wanted a new Talon to control and do your bidding, correct?” Vlad asked, looking at the vampire in the center of the little half circle of vampires. It took a moment for Danny to realize that he was in front of the Court of Owls. He blinked tiredly as he tried to gather his bearing only to let out another groan, feeling nausea rack through his body. He looked down to find a circle of blood blossoms surrounding him and gagged. 

“Daniel will be the perfect choice,” Vlad said as he held up a familiar looking crystal. “Especially with this.”

Danny squinted, his head swimming. “Is that?” He cut off as he started to dry heave. It was almost similar to the crystal Freakshow had used years ago. “How did you get that?” he demanded, trying desperately to keep his arms from buckling beneath him. 

Vlad sneered. “You couldn’t possibly think I just let those shards get away after you destroyed the crystal, did you? Not with the kind of power it held.”

“Let us see how it works, Plasmius, and maybe then we will allow you to continue on in Gotham with no interference from the court,” one of the court members said in a sickly voice. Danny paled as he watched the crystal light up and Vlad gave his first order. 

“Stand, Daniel,” he commanded. Danny’s mind went blank as he stood.

Chapter Text

Tim rubbed his temples tiredly. Everyday, Tim wondered more and more on whether or not vampires truly could get migraines or if Jason just had a special gift that no one knew about. 

“Can you please quit shouting your thoughts at me?” He asked with a sigh, glancing over at where his brother laid out on the couch. “I really don’t need you narrating some smutty book while I’m trying to relax.”

“Hey, no one asked you to listen to my thoughts,” Jason shot back, setting his book down on his lap. “Besides, Fabio is about to ask Mariella to marry him and maybe it will give you some incentive to hurry things up with Danny.”

“We’ve discussed this,” Tim said with a sigh. “We’re taking things slow and we’re not going to go on a date until we get rid of the Court of Owls. I mean I don’t particularly want Talon to crash my first date with a guy I like, you know?”

Jason rolled his eyes. coward. 

Tim glared and threw a pillow at his brother, only for the other to catch it with ease and tuck it behind his head. He wasn’t a coward, he was respecting Danny’s boundaries. Not only that but Danny was respecting his and that mattered a lot to Tim. 

“How is the ghost dude?” Jason asked and Tim furrowed his brow. 

“I haven’t actually heard from him since yesterday morning,” Tim said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “I dropped him off after we spent the night hanging out in the city but he hasn’t texted since then.”

Images flashed through Tim’s mind suddenly, drowning out whatever response Jason had made as the mind reader instead focused on whatever vision Duke was seeing somewhere within the house. 

The Court of Owls, a blood red crystal, red flowers, a silver thermos. Tim frowned. “What did that thermos say?” He asked. 

“Fenton,” Duke said, taking a seat beside Tim on the couch. His blue eyes met Tim’s, fear evident within them. “I think something may have happened to Danny.”

Tim swallowed hard around the venom growing in his throat. “I think you’re right. Jason, call Bruce tell him that we think that the Court might have taken Danny. Duke, call Dick. I’m going to try and get a hold of Danny and see if Cass and Steph can stop by his house. They’re in the city right now,” Tim said, already pulling his phone out. 

He pulled Danny’s contact up and pressed call, gnawing on his lip nervously. He hoped to anyone who was listening that Danny would answer and that Duke’s vision meant absolutely nothing. He saw the future which meant there was a very good chance that Danny was at home and nothing had happened to him yet. Absolutely. 

He listened as Danny’s phone went straight to voicemail and let out a soft curse. 

“He’s not answering,” he muttered. 

“Bruce said to meet him at the entrance to the Court of Owls chambers. Dick and Damian are on their way as well,” Jason said, shoving his phone in his pocket. 

“Cass and Steph stopped by, said no one is home. Steph called DalvCo and apparently Mr. Masters hasn’t been in the office all week,” Duke told him.

“Shit,” Tim cursed. “I have a feeling that we’ve got a ghost to save.”

“Tim to save Timmy’s boyfriend I guess,” Duke muttered, giving Jason a look. 

The elder vampire gave him a wide grin. “C’mon Duke! It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to kick some ass. ‘Sides, the Court has had it comin for ages,” he said.

“True,” Duke said with a sigh and looked at Tim. “You can stay behind. If they do have him–”

“You need me,” Tim said. “I know what they’re thinking and–”

“And you’re compromised,” Jason said, resting his hand on Tim’s. “It isn’t that we don’t want you there, but if something happened to Danny, can we trust you to keep a good head? What if we go in there and it’s a bloodbath? Are you going to keep your cool?”

Tim let out a guttural snarl. “No matter what happens, I’m going to be there. Now let’s go.” 

Running to the chambers of the Court of Owls was much faster than taking a car or any other means of transportation. Before Tim knew it, he and his family were walking through the halls of the chamber that held the Court of Owls. The majority of the founding families spent their time within the chambers itself, only leaving to hunt or send others to hunt for them. 

“This is gonna suck,” Steph muttered, her skin lighting up just a bit as her powers started up through her skin. Tim could just barely hear the low crackle of electricity. Calm rushed through the group as Cass’s powers wrapped around them all like a warm blanket. 

“Don’t know how much my future vision will help, but I’m looking at all the possible outcomes,” Duke murmured. 

“Just ensure that you aren’t distracted,” Bruce murmured as their footsteps echoed through the chambers.

“What’s the plan?” Damian asked, his eyes scanning the area around them. Tim could see that his youngest brother was already making plans on how to best take down the Court, using his training from his mother and grandfather to destroy anyone who dared to get in their way.

“The plan is that we are going to talk to the other members of the Court in a civilized fashion and see if they know the whereabouts of Daniel,” Bruce said. Dick let out a snort beside him. 

“Yeah because that always works with these ancient dirtbags,” Tim’s eldest brother muttered. The family turned the corner and stopped in their tracks as their eyes laid on the singular person standing within the main chambers. 

Danny stood facing away from the family, stock still. He was in his ghost form, hair snow white, a slight green glow around him, dressed in his jumpsuit. Tim blinked. 

“Danny?” He asked quietly. “Danny, what’s going on?” 

He stepped forward and pressed his hand on Danny’s shoulder, turning his friend to face him only to see that Danny’s eyes were not the usual bright green when he was in his ghost form. Instead, they were a bright, blood red. 

“Danny?” Tim rasped out. 

“Talon no longer answers to that name,” a voice stated, his voice echoing within the large, cavernous chambers. Tim spun on his heel to face the Court now standing before them in their ugly cloaks and haunting masks. 

“Thomas, what is this?” Bruce asked, stepping forward. “What have you done to this boy?”

“We have found our new Talon. One that we can control with a single instruction, one with power unlike anything you or any of our enemies could ever comprehend,” Thomas said from beneath his mask. “You have always been too narrow minded Wayne, you have never been able to see the larger picture. With our newest Talon we will have a power unlike any other.”

“He isn’t a talon,” Tim bit out, stepping forward. “He isn’t someone you can just control.”

“He is nothing,” another Owl drawled. “He is ours to control. It was a part of our agreement with his dear Godfather.”

“Vlad?” Tim whispered before seeing it in their minds, the older ghost selling Danny to the court as if he were nothing more than a cow being led to slaughter. 

“Of course,” Vlad stated, stepping forward. “It has been a part of the plan all along. My original creation, Danielle, the crystal started to destroy her from overuse, likely due to the way that she was created. But Daniel, her template, he would work perfectly for what the court was needing. I was more than happy to oblige,” Vlad said with a smarmy smile that had Tim feeling sick. “It was far too easy to have Daniel’s parents arrested, to isolate him from his sister and friends, to gain custody of the boy. Once he was here, it only took the rest of the pieces to simply fall into place.”

Vlad walked past Tim and rested his hand on Danny’s shoulder, the ghost stood unblinking, unmoving beside him. 

“The original plan was to stage a robbery and kidnapping, allow the police to think that Daniel had been taken and label it as a missing person’s case. Only he was not where he was supposed to be that night,” Vlad said, his lip curling in distaste. “So we made plans for Daniel to accompany me to a gala where he would get taken by Cobb. Then you and your family decided to step in and cause more issues and we needed to get creative.”

“What do you gain out of this? Why Danny? Is Cobb not enough?” Dick demanded, his eyes cutting over to where his great grandfather stood, hands clasped behind him as he stood at the shoulder of Thomas Elliot. 

“Cobb has limitations, he is a lovely pet, but he is unruly, difficult to control at times,” another Owl rasped out. “But we needed more. We needed a Talon who would do as we say and nothing more. You have seen this Talon’s powers, you have seen his potential. Now imagine that power under our control, what we could do with it, who we could destroy with that kind of power.”

“That power is not for us to use, Ezekiel, you know this better than anyone,” Bruce stated. “He’s just a child.”

“He is a child with a purpose, one that we will put to good use, I can guarantee you,” Thomas stated. “Now, would you like to see just how Talon can be put to use under the right hands?” 

Thomas held up a red crystal. “Talon, attack.” 

Danny suddenly crouched, moving into a defensive position as he let out a snarl before launching himself at Tim. Tim staggered back, his hands going up to block a hit from Danny. Snarls filled the room as other Talons flooded the court, each one attacking a member of Tim’s family. He paid no attention, though, his eyes only on Danny.

Bright red eyes stared back at him with an anger Tim had never before seen in the ghost’s eyes. But there was also an emptiness there, a hollowness in his eyes that made Tim’s frozen heart ache. He caught Danny’s fist and held it, keeping the ghost still for just a moment. 

Vaguely he could hear the clatter and cracks of his family fighting the others, he could also hear the plans in Eliott and Vlad’s minds as they tried to escape, only for Cass and Jason to stop them. Tim paid no mind to the other’s, his focus solely on Danny, focused on saving him.

“Danny,” he said with a grunt as the fist in his hand turned to ice. “This isn’t you. You don’t hurt people, you’re a hero,” he stated as he squeezed Danny’s hand, feeling it creak beneath his grip the ice cracking just a bit. 

Danny said nothing as he wrenched his hand from Tim’s grip and instead swung once more, his leg swiped out, an attempt to take Tim down to his knees. 

“I know you’re in there Danny, you’re a good person,” Tim said, jumping over Danny and blocking another hit. He wasn’t going to hit back. Danny wasn’t in control of himself, he couldn’t stop what he was doing. Not only that but he was innocent in all of this, trapped within his own mind as he fought Tim. Tim couldn’t hurt him, not when Danny was defenseless. 

“You have to stop,” Tim snarled, forcing Danny back. “You’re stronger than this, Danny, fight it. I know you can fight it.”

I have an idea, Cass thought loudly. The crystal is what’s controlling him. We get the crystal and we save Danny.

Tim pulled his eyes from Danny and stared at where Elliott still held the crystal, watching Danny with beady red eyes and a smarmy smile. There were talons surrounding him and the other members of the court, protecting them from Tim’s family who were valiantly trying to break the barrier. Tim let out a slow snarl as he watched Steph take one down with her powers and throwing them over her shoulder with ease. His family was doing well, this was one of the things they had trained for, prepared for in the last fifty years since Bruce and Dick had decided they needed a contingency for the Court. 

Cass jumped across the room within a blink of an eye, her hands going to stop Danny before he could hit Tim. go get the crystal, I’ll make sure that Danny doesn’t hurt anyone.

Tim nodded his head at his sister and with a speed unlike anything he had really had before, ran towards the middle of the fight. He jumped over the wall of Talons and landed a solid hit on Thomas, causing the ancient vampire to stumble back, a look of surprise across his face. 

Tim let out a snarl as he crouched down. 

“You made a mistake,” he declared, leveling a glare at Vlad and Thomas. Behind him he could hear the tell tale cracks of vampires heads being ripped from their bodies and he hoped and prayed it wasn’t members of his family. If it was, he would do worse than what he was planning for Thomas and Vlad, oh no, he would do far worse than kill them. He would make them wish they were dead when he was finished with them. 

“You hurt the boy I love,” Tim told them, stalking towards Thomas, his eyes only on the ancient vampire. “You thought you could take his autonomy away, but you were wrong. Danny is stronger than that.”

“If that were true, why was he so easy to control?” Thomas asked with a purr and Tim let out a snarl. He ignored the gasp behind him and launched himself at Thomas, ready to get his teeth into the ancient monster. A body hurled into his, a bright light flashing throughout the cavernous room.

Tim blinked as his head slammed into the hard wall, the brick and concrete cracking loudly from the impact. He looked up to find Danny letting out a pained gasp as he looked at Tim and smiled.
 
He was still in his human form, his eyes no longer bright red and now his usual beautiful blue. They were pained, though as he stared up at Tim. 

“Cobb almost got you,” he gasped out. “Couldn’t let him.”

Tim’s eyes flicked down to where Danny was clutching his hand to his chest. Wordlessly, ignoring everything around them, the shouts from Thomas, demanding that Danny come back to him, the scuffling of the fights continuing, instead he focused on Danny. 

“Let me see your arm,” he rasped out and Danny let out a pained grunt. 

“Don’t think it’s a good idea,” he said as his veins started to show in his face. The veins started to change, turning a dark black like color causing Danny to look sickly. 

“Danny, let me see your arm,” he snapped. He ripped Danny’s hand from his chest and took in the bite from Cobb, his teeth deeply indented in Danny’s arm, a few chunks even missing from where Danny likely ripped his arm away in an effort to get Tim away. 

“How?” Tim whispered. 

“I couldn’t let him hurt you,” Danny said and let out a shuddering breath. He looked up at Tim and pulled out a thermos from his stomach and winced as he did, his powers obviously starting to give out on him from the venom that was likely spreading through his body. “The thermos can be used on Vlad too. You can get rid of him with that, just point and shoot once you get it.” 

“Danny–”

Danny gave him a small smile. “I would have loved to go on a date with you too, Vampire Boy,” he rasped, his eyes fluttering shut. 

Tim stared wordlessly as he watched Danny’s chest stop moving, stopped hearing the slow and steady beat of his heart, felt his lungs stop moving and expanding. He pressed a soft kiss to Danny’s pale head and laid him down on the ground as carefully as he could. 

He grabbed the thermos from Danny’s now loose grip and walked towards the group of vampires still fighting. This was going to end here and Vlad Masters was going to pay. 

Chapter Text

Tim stalked towards the fray of fighting and shoved any talon that ran his way with a strength unlike any he ever had. He slipped between his family members, taking note that as of right now they were all thankfully alright. 

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion around him as he stalked towards where Thomas was now fighting Jason, an angry snarl on his brother’s face. He ignored him, though, his focus now on Vlad. 

This was all Vlad’s fault. He was the one to bring Danny here, he was the one to lead Danny to Gotham like a lamb to slaughter, to give up his own godson to be nothing more than a slave. He was the reason that Danny was dead.

And Tim just wasn’t going to allow the bastard to get away with it. 

Tim unscrewed the cap of the thermos as he hunted Vlad down, his eyes never leaving the ghost who was fighting against Dick. 

“You,” Tim snarled as he appeared before the ghost. “You took him from me.”

Without giving Vlad a moment to speak, Tim pointed the thermos at the vampire just as Dick managed to get the halfa on the ground and watched as he was sucked into the thermos and screwed the lid on. Around him the fighting continued until each talon had been subdued and all that was left were the members of the Court. 

Talons laid strewn around the entirety of the cavern, heads ripped from their bodies–the only way to truly subdue a vampire without killing them outright and each court member kneeled on the ground, their arms held behind their backs by members of Tim’s family. Danny’s body laid in a heap against a wall, unmoving. 

Bruce walked up to Thomas and gave him a tight smile. 

“I am going to give you a choice, you will either leave Gotham for good and stay out of Gotham, or you will have to deal with my children. While I do not condone killing and would very much disapprove of any of them killing you, my children do not hold that same belief and I do not keep them on leashes,” Bruce said with that smile still on his face. 

“I’m more than happy to throw a few of ya in the fire,” Jason said with a vicious grin on his face as he pulled the arms of the court member in his grasp just a little tighter. “Been itchin’ for it for decades.”

“It would be rather fun, wouldn’t it, brother?” Damian asked, glancing over at Jason, a sharp smile on his face. It reminded Tim that before he came to live with them, he had been raised by vampires who took pleasure in taking lives and had little to no remorse doing so.

“That’s your plan? Let us run away or sic your slaves on us?” Thomas growled and Dick pressed his foot to the vampire’s back, pulling his arms as he did. A crack sounded throughout the cavern. 

“Children, not slaves,” Bruce said with a wink. “Now, I will give you two hours to get out of Gotham, I can only hold off my children for so long. Especially after you have caused the death of my child’s mate.”

Venom filled Tim’s mouth. He would give the two hours but even after they left Gotham, he wouldn’t stop. He would hunt each of them down and destroy them after making them wish they had never existed. They hadn’t even had a chance, he hadn’t even gotten to take Danny on a date and now he never would. Because of the Court of Owls. 

Why did they deserve to exist when Danny did not? 

That was a type of injustice that Tim could not let stand. 

I’ll help you he heard Jason say and looked up to find his older brother staring at him, his jaw clenched. 

We’ll leave in two hours, Duke thought loudly, giving Tim a pointed look of his own.

Tim gave his siblings tight smiles and nodded his head. They would help him get revenge. And oh would he get revenge. The court of owls members were going to wish they never existed by the time Tim was finished with them.

“Let them go,” Bruce told Tim’s siblings as Tim’s focus went to his– went to Danny. He sped over as the court members disappeared and dropped to his knees with a loud clack against the hard floor and pressed his fingers to Danny’s throat despite already knowing that he was gone. 

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, cupping Danny’s cheek in his hand, feeling the last of Danny’s warmth slowly seep out of his body. “I’m so sorry, I never took you on that date. I never told you just what you mean to me.”

Tim brushed hair out of Danny’s face before his hand slipped to behind the halfa’s neck and lifted his head carefully. He pressed a soft kiss to Danny’s lips and let out a breath. 

“I love you,” he whispered quietly. Without another word, Tim carefully hefted Danny into his arms and looked at his family before the left Jason and Dick alone in the cavern with the Talons, leaving them to their own devices. 

Tim stared down at the ground, Danny’s body buried underneath the freshly turned earth. It felt wrong. For Danny to be gone. He and his brothers and Steph were set to leave soon to hunt down the Court of Owls.

Cass refused to take part, unable to stomach killing in any nature–even in situations such as this. Tim couldn’t begrudge her of that, not with her trauma. But the others, they were more than happy to help him avenge Danny.

“I didn’t get to take him on a date like I promised,” Tim said quietly as Jason stood beside him. 

“I know,” Jason murmured. “But he knew you liked him, just as much as he liked you.”

“I love him,” Tim said with a soft laugh as he tilted his head back to look at the cloud covered sky. “I’ve known him for a handful of months and hated him for half of it. But–”

“When you know, you know,” Jason interrupted. “I know.”

“He was so funny, he didn’t put up with my bullshit and teased me relentlessly. God, he was so fucking funny and smart, holy shit he was smart. He wanted to be an astronaut before his accident and he had dreams to be a meteorologist. He had so many hopes and dreams and I really wanted to watch him attain all of it.”

“I know, I’m sorry Tim,” Jason said quietly. “We’re going to get revenge, though. But you need to continue to live, he risked his life for you and that means you’re going to exist for both of you now.”

“I don’t know how I can,” Tim breathed. “I’m going to miss him. God and what do I tell his friends? Or his sister? He has a sister somewhere in California and he writes his parents. I mean what do I tell them? Hey Vlad threw him under the bus and he was murdered by vampires? They aren’t going to believe that.”

“I think Bruce is working on a story already,” Jason said. “You know how he is with these things. We’ll spin a story, Vlad killed his godson and went into hiding because of it, I dunno, B is better at it than I am.”

“He’s better at it than any of us,” another voice said and Tim turned to find Dick, Damian, Duke, and Steph walking towards him. Dick wrapped his arm around Tim’s shoulders and pulled him in for a tight hug, pressing a soft kiss to Tim’s temple. “I’m sorry, Timmy.”

Tim hummed in response. In moments like this he wished that vampires could cry, that he could at least get these overwhelming feelings out of his body but it was as if they were trapped, as if he couldn’t express them even if he wanted to. 

“I know,” Tim rasped out, venom coating his throat thick. “I’m sorry too.”

“It’s time,” Damian said, standing on the other side of Dick. “Duke knows where they are.”

Images flashed before Tim’s eyes, showing him what Duke’s vision had shown him. He closed his eyes and let out a breath he didn’t need. He opened his eyes and stared down at Danny’s grave. 

“We don’t have to do this, Tim,” Steph said quietly. “We can just let Danny rest and let this be done with.”

“Let’s make them pay,” he said in a steady voice. Dick squeezed his shoulder. “They know too much about ghosts and we can’t risk that information getting out. Besides, the Court needs to be gone for good or else they’ll just reform somewhere else.”

“You’re right, but you don’t have to be one of the ones to do it,” Duke spoke up. 

“Thomas Elliot is mine. No one touches him but me,” Tim grounded out, determination evident in his voice.

Chapter Text

Tim sat curled up beside Danny’s grave and smiled down at the mound of dirt. It had been all of twenty four hours since his death and Tim and his siblings had avenged him far faster than Tim had expected. 

Bruce and Cass were purposefully acting ignorant and Tim was pretty sure they hid the thermos with Vlad in it from him. Unfortunately the two were the best at not thinking about certain things in Tim’s vicinity and he had yet to figure out where they had hidden the thermos. 

“Anyway, Thomas was pitiful in the end,” Tim said, pulling his knee to his chest. “It was honestly a bit pathetic. I thought he would have put up more of a fight but Steph barely used her powers on him and he was on his knees begging her to stop.”

Tim huffed out a laugh and leaned against the tree beside Danny’s grave and kicked one leg out. 

The vampire tilted his head back and stared up at the cloudy sky. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to know you more, I knew better than to get emotionally attached to a mortal. But you were so beautiful and you always surprised me. Not only that but you didn’t have a problem telling me exactly what was on your mind and I liked that,” Tim breathed. He smiled up at the clouds. “I liked that a lot.”

Too many people in Tim’s existence told him one thing when they meant another. Or they learned to shield their thoughts from him, making sure that they didn’t think of certain things in his presence. Or they didn’t bother and simply lied straight to his face. Not only that but he was rarely surprised with others and their actions, their thoughts almost always giving away their motives. His family had learned long ago to not even bother to hide things from Tim–barring Cass and Bruce who were frustratingly exceptional at controlling their thoughts around him when hiding something. The others–not so much. 

But Danny.

Tim never knew what Danny was thinking, which was refreshing as he always seemed to surprise Tim. But even without being able to read Danny’s thoughts, he spoke them aloud, never one to mince words or soften his blow. He said things as he saw them, something many people didn’t do. It made Tim desperate sometimes to know what it was like inside of Danny’s mind but it was also so very thrilling to never know for sure what the ghost was up to.

“I liked it too,” a voice said and Tim’s eyes flicked over to Danny’s grave and found the halfa smiling at him, floating just slightly above the grave in his ghost form. 

“Danny?”

The ghost quirked up a small smile. “Didn’t think you’d get rid of me forever, did you, Vampire Boy?” Danny asked and Tim got up before he dashed over to the teenager.

“You’re dead,” Tim said rather than ask, looking the ghost over. He wasn’t sure what it was, but Danny no longer had that odd not quite right feeling to him. It was as if Tim’s senses knew that something was wrong, that it wasn’t natural for him to be half human and half vampire. 

“I mean, technically so are you,” Danny said, now giving him a nervous smile. He held out a hand and Tim took it gingerly, feeling Danny’s solid, corporeal hand in his. 

“Ghosts don’t quite work the way you seem to think they do,” Danny said quietly. “My human half died but I’m still here. It took me a bit to get back here, had to go through like ghost orientation first,” he said with a laugh. 

“Oh,” Tim said, still not quite knowing how the hell to respond. This was still all so much. He had spent the last twenty-four hours grieving and now he was just getting another chance? He was getting another chance to get to be with Danny? It felt too good to be true. 

“I will say, I’m sorry if you liked me for my baby blues or the black hair. I’m not really sure how long it’ll take me to figure out how to create a more human-ish look,” Danny explained, giving Tim a nervous look. He was starting to ramble now but Tim couldn’t seem to get out of his reverie, not when Danny was in front of him. Not when this felt far too good to be true. “A ghost, Penelope, said she would show me but her method requires her to drain the life out of teenagers and I don’t know how comfortable I am with that. But I’m sure I’ll figure something out eventually.”

“Danny, you’re dead,” Tim said again, still taking in Danny’s ghost form and squeezing his hand lightly. “It’s my fault, you’ll never get to just have a human life and I mean your friends and–”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Danny said, his hand moving to hold Tim’s face in his. “I know. I’ve already accepted it. Give me a couple of decades and maybe I can be like you and your family. But for now, there’s a whole supernatural underworld I know nothing about and I’ve got you and your family. Hell, I’m pretty sure that Conner knew I was different the first time I met him and he was pretty cool.”

Tim gave the ghost a distrustful look. “You’re being oddly optimistic about the entire dead thing.”

Danny shrugged his shoulders. “I mean, I’m dead. Gotta just accept it. I had like a year in the ghost zone to grieve and now I’m ready to move on and be with you.”

“A year?” Tim demanded. “What are you talking about?”

How the hell had Danny grieved an entire year in the Ghost Zone when he had only been dead for a day? How the hell did that make any sense whatsoever? 

“Time is different in the Ghost Zone. I told you, Ghost Orientation and all that,” Danny said. “Now, can we leave my grave? It just feels a little morbid to be floating over my grave when I really want to kiss you.”

Tim blinked up at the ghost, still not fully able to wrap his head around everything. 

“Uh, yeah, we can uh, we can leave,” he said, feeling slightly off kilter. Danny smiled and pulled Tim close to his chest before he shot up in the air. 

Once they were hundreds of feet in the sky, Danny pulled back just a bit to look Tim over, a kind smile on his ghostly features. Tim stared up at him, wide eyed and feeling just a little crazy. 

“I think it’s very cute that you were grieving me at my graveside,” Danny told him, that ever annoying smirk on his face. Tim finally gained his bearings just enough to scowl at the ghost. 

“Yeah whatever,” Tim muttered and Danny smiled. 

“You look beautiful,” he murmured and Tim rolled his eyes. 

“Just be happy you have me in the sky at night instead. I’d be pissed if you got me sunburned, might even kick your ass,” Tim shot back, his voice still just a little shaky. Danny huffed out a laugh. 

“I’m dead Timmers, that little venom trick won’t work on me now,” he said and Tim gave him a critical look. His mind was already whirring, there were so many tests he could do. Venom had been their worry, that it would kill him, which it had. And of course vampire powers didn’t work on him, his ectoplasm seemed to give vampires more of a power up. But without his human side weighing him down, would things be different? Had his human side stopped him from being more evenly matched against vampires? What would it be like in a fight between them?

“Hey, quit looking at me like I’m a science experiment and kiss me already. We have all the time in the world for everything else,” Danny said, pulling Tim from his obsessive thoughts. 

Tim smiled and watched as Danny leaned closer, giving him a soft delicate kiss. Danny was soft in his arms, fully corporeal, fully here. His heart was no longer beating but he was here, he was in Tim’s arms–well Tim was in his arms. They were together, somehow after everything. That was what was important. 

He wrapped his arms around Danny’s neck, resting his arms on the ghost’s shoulders as he pulled him in closer. Danny’s mouth opened atop him, his tongue running along Tim’s razor sharp teeth–something Tim had been terrified about when he was human. Tim leaned into the kiss, allowing Danny to explore the caverns of his mouth as the ghost’s hands gripped Tim’s thighs tight as they spun around in the sky together. 

They look so fucking gay.

The thought hit Tim’s mind loudly and unfortunately ruined the mood. He pulled away to look down to find Jason, Dick, and Damian staring up at them in bewilderment. 

Danny followed his gaze and huffed out a laugh. “Guess it’s time to answer a bunch of questions, huh?”

“Oh absolutely, I have so many questions for you,” Tim said and Danny let out a hum. 

“That’s fine, but I distinctly remember you telling me that you would take me on a date once all the court shit was done. I’m still holding you to that, Vampire Boy,” Danny told him as he started a slow descent down to earth. “So, I’ll only answer any questions you guys have if you take me on a date.”

“You are so incredibly frustrating I can’t stand it,” Tim said with a huff, kicking Danny’s shin, only for his foot to go through the ghost’s leg. 

“I mean, I can go back to the Ghost Zone if that’s how it’s going to be,” Danny said with a sly grin. 

Tim scowled and leaned in, giving Danny a deep kiss. “Not in a million years,” he murmured, their lips a hair’s breadth apart.

Tim laid on the couch with Danny curled against him, their fingers interlocked. Tim had just finished telling Danny about everything that had happened after Danny died and now Danny was telling Tim and his family about his own events after his death. 

It had been odd, unlike anything that Danny had ever experienced in his life. Dying had been painful, the venom had burned throughout his veins, lighting him on fire from the inside out. The ectoplasm had fought against it desperately but the two substances were far too different and for the ectoplasm to burn the venom out of his body, it had to kill his human half to do so. 

When he awoke, he found himself in his haunt in the Ghost Zone, a place he hadn’t been to since the explosion that had nearly killed his parents and destroyed the portal. Next thing he knew, he was being whisked away to Walker’s prison where the ghost gave him a year long run down on everything it meant to be a ghost, teaching him how to use powers that had once been out of arm's reach due to his human half, and explaining the rules that he now had to follow. It had been a lot, lasting a little over a year as he came to terms with being fully dead, as he grieved the life he lost, and learned what it meant to be a full ghost. 

It wasn’t easy. He had cried and raged at the life he had lost, at all the friends he would never get to see again, at the future that was forever gone from his grasp. But he had also learned to accept this new lot in life, deciding he would join Tim and his family, that he would learn to use his newfound powers and how to eventually get to rejoin the world of the living at the edges of society similar to the Waynes. His life may have been taken from him, but that did not mean he couldn’t continue to live, to exist in a little piece of forever with Tim. 

It wouldn’t be the same, no, and Danny’s core ached at all the things he had lost. But he couldn’t focus on that. He learned that he had so much more to exist for, so much he could still do.

All of this he shared with the Waynes, explaining he could now travel between the land of the living and the ghost zone, that he had new powers. He explained that he had learned that the reason he was so weakened to the vampires was because of his human side. 

His ghost side was evenly matched with the vampires, hell, venom boosted ghosts the same way ectoplasm boosted vampires. But with his human side, it caused it to kill him, the venom and the ectoplasm combining into something that wasn’t even remotely safe for a human to deal with. The venom wanted to turn him into a vampire, the ectoplasm refused to let that happen, the result? Death. 

“So now if you bite me, I’d probably get the same power rush that you guys get from ecto,” Danny explained, smiling as Tim’s hand rubbed across his chest lightly, as if he were relishing in the fact that he was actually here, actually with him once again. 

Danny tilted his head back and gave Tim a soft kiss. Tim squeezed him a little tighter. 

“Just so you know, I’m not as breakable anymore,” Danny whispered to him and Tim’s grin was blinding.

“Jesus, they’re going to be obnoxious a hell,” Jason muttered to Dick. Danny ignored them, though, as he moved around until he was straddling Tim.  He leaned forward until he was resting his head on Tim’s chest, ignoring his boyfriend’s brothers who were now complaining behind them. 

“So, where are you taking me on this date?” Danny murmured. Tim let out a soft hum and ran his fingers through Danny’s white hair.  

“I can’t ruin the surprise,” he said with a soft smile. 

Danny rolled his eyes and rested his arms on Tim’s shoulders playing with the short black hair at the nap of Tim’s neck. 

“You’re annoying,” he murmured. “What happened to Vlad by the way? You never told me.”

“He’s somewhere where neither of you will find him,” Bruce said as he walked into the room. He gave Danny and Tim a tired look. “Is this how things are going to go now?”

Danny let out a soft laugh and looked at Tim who gave Bruce a lazy grin. 

“Yeah,” Tim said, still playing with Danny’s hair. “Weren’t you and Hal just complaining a few years ago that I needed to get a life?”

“I didn’t think that would entail having your ghost boyfriend lay on you in the middle of the living room,” Bruce said dryly. Danny snickered and buried his face in Tim’s chest. 

“That was your mistake,” Tim said with a hum. “Remember when Cass and Steph got together? They were unbearable for the first thirty yeras. We’re going to be so much worse.”

“Jesus,” Duke said with a groan. “We barely survived that, this is going to be so much worse.”

“Is that what your future vision is telling you?” Danny snarked, glancing over at the psychic. Duke gave him a sour look. 

“No because I can’t see your future, which tells me enough because it’s so damn entwined with Tim’s,” he muttered. “You’ve rendered me blind.”

“Maybe we’ll figure out a workaround eventually,” Danny said with a grin. “I have some ideas.”

He looked back up at Bruce. “Why can’t I know what happened to Vlad?”

“Because we have him handled,” Bruce told him. “Now, we need to talk about your cover.”

“My cover? I’m dead,” Danny said, sitting up and moving himself from Tim’s lap. 

“Exactly, you’re dead,” Dick said, crossing his arms over his chest. “People are going to have questions. So, the story is that you and Vlad were the latest victims of the serial killings that have been happening.”

From there, Dick, Bruce, and Tim explained that William Cobb had been the one behind all of the killings. He had been hunting Gotham on the behest of the Court to keep an eye on Vlad until he managed to hold up his end of the deal–deliver Danny like a prized pig to slaughter. The deaths had been from his feedings. 

The story that Dick spun with the police department he worked for was that Danny and Vlad had been attacked one night and brutally attacked by Talon. Leaving hardly anything left of their bodies. Tim was the one to identify their bodies due to his closeness to Danny 

“I’m going to miss them,” Danny said sadly, thinking about Bart, Jaime, Cassie, Cissie, and Greta. He really had come to love his friends and didn’t know if he would be able to handle parting with them so easily. It was the first time he had ever found a group of friends who just loved him. They never tried to tell him what was good for him, didn’t get angry at him for not doing what they wanted, they just loved him, the emo broody asshole that he was. 

Tim let out a soft hum. “Now that the Court of Owls is gone, maybe we can figure something out,” he said quietly.

“That’s the other thing, Bruce thinks it’s time that vampires integrated with the rest of the supernatural world, that we all just join as one. He has a meeting with Clark Kent to talk to some of the wolves and get them to agree while Hal tries to talk with some witches that he knows,” Dick said. 

“Maybe make just one large council to rule over everyone rather than keep everyone separate,” Jason said with a hum.

“You just say that because you’ve got a crush on that faerie girl Koriander,” Duke said with a snort. 

“Don’t forget his weird crush on that werewolf Roy,” Steph added. 

“I’m not the only one with a thing for werewolves,” Jason said, giving Damian a pointed look. 

“Tch, don’t rope me into this,” Damian muttered. “Jonathan and I are simply friends and nothing more.”

“Anyway,” Tim said. “We’re going to hold a funeral for you and maybe afterward you can show yourself to your friends. I don’t want you feeling cooped up in this manor for the next hundred years or so.”

“I would like that,” Danny said with a small smile. He had accepted that he was dead and had gone through a lot of the grieving process but that didn’t stop the pain when he thought about everything he was leaving behind. He already had plans to sneak into the prison to see his parents and to say a final goodbye to Jazz but he wasn’t sure if he could cut himself off from everyone, not yet at least. He was still struggling to come to terms with how much was changing in his life. 

Tim pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. “We’ll take it slow, alright? You’re not alone in this.”

Danny turned and gave him a soft kiss. “I know. It would be better, though, if I had a boyfriend by my side,” he said with a dramatic sigh. Tim stared at him for a moment. 

“I hate you. I can’t believe I’m agreeing to spending forever with you,” Tim said. 

“You haven’t,” Danny said with a forlorn sigh. “You haven’t even asked me to be your boyfriend, you haven’t even asked me on a date.”

“Oh my god,” Tim groaned, falling back into the couch. “Danny Fenton, will you be my boyfriend?”

Danny pursed his lips and hummed. “I’ll think about it.”

Tim punched him in the shoulder and Danny laughed. 

“Yes, I’ll be your boyfriend, not even death could get rid of me,” Danny said and gave him a kiss. Tim smiled against his mouth and held him close. Danny deepened the kiss, yeah he could handle this, especially if he had Tim by his side. 

Chapter Text

Danny gave his mother a soft smile, his hand to her cheek. “I love you, Mom. I’m so, so sorry that Vlad did all of this.”

“Oh baby,” Maddie cooed, holding Danny’s face in her calloused hands. He hated that he couldn’t actually feel it. One of the downsides of being dead—which there were many— was that sensation wasn’t the same. Tim felt more human to him now than humans did. He hadn’t realized it until now, until he stood in Jack Fenton’s prison cell and felt his hands on his face. It was as if there was a barrier between them, he could feel Maddie but it wasn’t the same. It was like touching someone through a thick blanket, no real feeling of skin on skin. Like touching your mouth after it’s been heavily numbed with Novocaine, you can tell you’re touching your mouth but it’s just a sensation, not nearly the same as real touch. Not the same as when Tim would touch him these days.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Maddie told him softly. “I do, I should have protected you, should have done more to keep you safe. I’m so, so sorry Sweetie.”

Somehow, seeing his mother had been even more painful than seeing his father. Jack’s face had crumpled the moment he had seen Danny appear in his cell. A loud heaving sob escaped his mouth as he fell to his knees. A newspaper had sat balled up in the corner, showing Danny and Vlad’s faces on the cover with the obituary that had been written up.

He had taken the news well, though, had held Danny in his arms and hugged him tight. Made Danny swear that he would come to visit him, Danny had agreed nearly instantly. Jack Fenton had always been emotional, but not Maddie. Seeing his. mother standing in front of him, tears running down her cheeks. It felt like his core was cracking inside of him. She was never emotional.

“It’s not like you’re the one who killed me,” Danny said, quirking up a small smile. “I’m okay, though. This uh, this wasn’t what I was expecting, but I’m happy. My boyfriend, he uh, he takes care of me.”

Maddie arched an eyebrow at that. “Boyfriend?”

Danny swallowed. “His name is Tim, he’s a vampire.”

He watched his mom bark out a laugh at that, resting her forehead on his shoulder. “A vampire?”

“Yeah, um, you know how you and Dad had that theory like six years ago that ghosts weren’t the only supernatural beings? Then you guys threw it to the side and decided to just focus on ghosts? Well you were right.”

“Please tell me you haven’t told your father,” she complained and Danny laughed, patting her back lightly.

“Not yet, I figured I’d tell you first. But you know he’s going to gloat about it, you were the one who kept insisting they weren’t real.”

“He just kept talking about how his ancestors were witch hunters Danny.”

“Tim told me withces are real,” Danny said as she pulled away, his lip twitching a bit into a smile.

Maddie snorted. “Of course they are. Can’t wait for you to have that conversation.”

Danny’s ears perked up as he heard footsteps coming their way. “I’ve got to go. But I’ll visit often. Time is different for me, but Tim told me he’d remind me to visit. Before you know it, you and Dad will be released and we can see each other more often.”

His mother gripped his hand, part of Danny hated how it felt. “Your sister?”

“I’m going to talk to her now,” Danny said and kissed his mother’s forehead. “I’ll see you soon, Mom.”

“See you soon,” she said with a sad smile as she took a seat on her bunk and watched as Danny stepped through a portal and appeared in Stanford, California, sitting in the passenger seat of a car. Tim was still hiding in a car where Danny had left him. He had his hoodie scrunched around his face, his arms crossed over his chest as if he were pouting. Danny grinned and leaned over, giving the vampire a soft kiss.

“Hey there handsome,” he murmured.

“You could have let me come with you,” he muttered.

“Nope. Parental reunions were private. But you’re going to be there for the one with Jazz and with my friends, if it makes you feel any better,” Danny said with a cheeky smile as he leaned back in his seat.

“How do you think that’s going to go?” Tim asked and Danny shrugged his shoulders.

“I dunno, depends on how much she checks the news. Mom and Dad both told me they don’t talk to her. She’s denied their calls every time,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “But we’re probably going to argue and it’s going to be a disaster.”

“Fingers crossed it doesn’t become a disaster,” Tim muttered as Danny floated out of the car and held his hand out for Tim. Tim made a face before he climbed out of the car, a low hiss escaping from his mouth for just a moment before Danny turned the two invisible and flew towards an alleyway where he opened up a portal.

“Even when you’re invisible did it still burn?” Danny asked and Tim wrinkled his nose.

“No,” he admitted. “Usually it’s just an irritating burn, the moment we went invisible, I stopped feeling it.”

Danny grinned. “Fascinating,” he said as he pulled Tim through the portal and they stepped out into Jazz Fenton’s dorm room where she would be walking in any second now. Tim had managed to hack into her schedule and based on what Danny remembered of his sister, she would come straight to her dorm right after class to get started on studying ASAP.

So, she’d be here any minute now. Tim took a seat at Jazz’s desk as he looked around curiously, Danny pulled his legs up in the air as he sat criss crossed, bobbing in the air just a bit.

“She’s very er bland,” Tim said looking around.

“She didn’t get very much character development outside of focusing on me,” Danny said with a hum.

Tim pursed his lips, looking at Danny like he wanted to question him but didn’t get the chance when the door started to creak open.

Danny bit his bottom lip nervously. He had been flip flopping on whether or not he was going to say goodbye to Jazz. He had decided he wouldn’t tell Sam and Tucker they deserved to have a safe life outside of all of this. Hell, Jazz did too. But he needed to tell Jazz that he forgave her, that he didn’t blame her for what happened.

She may have fallen for Vlad’s shit, but she did it because she was worried about Danny’s safety. She was just wanting to protect him. She was a bit wrong in how she handled it but he couldn’t fault her for wanting to protect him. There was no way she could have ever guessed that Danny would fall for a vampire boy and get killed by creepy vampire cultists who wanted to make him their slave, or that he would have been sold out by Vlad. Danny was a bit resentful that she still seemed to trust Vlad after everything he did. but he did play a good game, he was pretty convincing that he had become a changed man after Dani died.

Danny watched as his sister stepped into the room. She looked…bad. Her hair was pulled back in a messy bun, her eyes puffy and swollen as if she hadn’t done anything but cry since she learned about Danny’s death. Danny’s core ached for his sister.

“Hey Jazz,” he said quietly and her head shot towards him.

“Danny?” She whispered, her bag dropping to the ground beside her. Danny landed on the ground just as she threw herself at him, her thin arms wrapped around his waist and she buried her face in his chest, squeezing him tight. Danny just smiled and rested his hand on her back.

“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed.

The reunion went well from there. Jazz was beyond elated to know that Danny still existed as a ghost and was happy to meet Tim. She had apologized profusely for ever having a hand in everything, stating that she had no clue she knew that Vlad was up to any of this. Danny had just forgiven her and asked that they try again, something that Jazz had been all for. Hell, the shock of seeing Danny after believing him to be dead was also enough to convince her to give their parents a shot and talk to them. They needed each other, now that Danny was dead. Things weren’t going to be the same no matter how much he participated in their lives, they would need to lean on one another. Before Danny left, he had given Jazz Tim’s phone number, promising that if she called him, Danny would appear to talk to her. As frustrating as it was, now that he was a full ghost, electronics didn’t seem to work very well around him. His mom had a theory about electromagnetic interference but if he was being honest, his eyes had glazed over. Tim had been pissed when Danny had told him declared that he would go meet with Danny’s mother to get more information on their ghost research himself. But all of that also meant that Tim was now his primary means of communication if someone wanted to talk to Danny.

Before he knew it, he and Tim were back in Gotham and settling down in Tim’s room.

“Okay, they’re going to be here any minute now, are you sure about this?” Tim asked, giving Danny a concerned look. It was one thing to tell his parents and sister about being a ghost, it was another to tell his Gotham friends. How the hell would he even begin to explain everything to them?

He wasn’t sure. But he had decided that it was important to do so. He couldn’t just throw his friends to the side just because he had died. They meant too much to him and if he was going to be in the same city as them, he wouldn’t be able to keep himself away.

He and Tim had decided that they wouldn’t explain Tim and his family’s secrets but they would explain Danny.

“Yes, I’m sure. They’re here,” he said as he listened to the sound of Bart’s car driving up the long driveway.

'“Perfect,” Tim said as he cocked his head to the side, obviously listening to their thoughts. “They’re confused why I called them to come over. Bart thinks I’m going to suggest holding a memorial for you since you never got a funeral.”

“You buried me and said nice things,” Danny said lightly. “I think that was enough. A funeral might just make me want to disappear into the Ghost Zone, way too embarrassing.”

“I think it could be good closure,” Tim argued as they both moved to the downstairs entryway in lightning fast speed.

“Why do they need closure if they’re about to find out that I’m still here as a ghost?” Danny shot back, watching Tim step over to the door and turned himself invisible. He listened to the crunch of shoes over gravel from his friends as they walked up to the door.

“I meant closure for you dumb ass. You can’t even say that you’re dead out loud, and we still haven’t talked a lot about it,” Tim said and Danny made a face.

“I’m dead,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “I’ll never get to get drunk, or get to go to college or any of the things I had looked forward to. It sucks, I don’t want to think about it. I just want to think about the things I still have. Like my family and hopefully my friends and—and I have you, Tim. Right now that’s all I want to focus on because the rest of it is still difficult to think about. I had to grieve a lot of it when I was in the Ghost Zone and it’s still not fun to talk about.”

“I still think we need to talk about it,” Tim said with a hum before he opened the door to reveal Danny’s friends on the other side just as the doorbell rang throughout the manor.

“Hey guys,” Tim breathed, looking at each of them. Danny frowned, his friends seemed to be doing even worse than Jazz was. They all looked like they hadn’t slept in literal days. He mentally counted back to how long he had been dead in human days and his frown deepened. It had only been a week for them.

“Hey Tim,” Bart said, lacking his usual exuberant joy as he stepped in. “How are you doing?”

“I’m doing okay,” Tim said with a small smile. “You guys are the ones I’m worried about. You all are Danny’s best friends.”

Cassie winced at that. “I still can’t believe he’s gone,” she whispered.

“About that, I wanted to talk to you all if you want to come take a seat,” Tim said, motioning to the sitting room to his right.

“Oh, yeah, what should we do?” Jaime asked as he took a seat on a couch and pulled his knees to his chest.

“Danny didn’t have any family, well he had his sister but they didn’t talk,” Cassie said quietly. “I heard that his body is still in the ME’s office. Shouldn’t we try to get him out so we can give him a funeral?”

Tim winced. “I think Danny would kill us if we gave him a funeral,” he said, glancing over at the general area where Danny was floating. Danny chewed on his lip, he was wanting to reveal himself so badly but Tim still needed to prepare them first. He couldn’t just show up like he did with his family. They weren’t a part of this world like the Fenton’s were.

“Who cares?” Cissie demanded, her eyes flaring wide. “He’s still our friend, he deserves to have a funeral.”

Tim held up his hand. “No, no I agree with you. It’s just,” his lips puckered. “This is difficult, your thoughts are all screaming at me,” he murmured.

Tim closed his eyes for a moment and Danny’s lips twitched in a smile as he breathed out.

“Tim what is it? Is it about Danny’s murderer? We were talking and I think we can solve it faster than the cops can,” Bart said quietly.

“We could not,” Greta said with a sigh.

“No, no. So it’s weird and I don’t know how to really explain all of it. But you all remember how Conner and I are uh, a bit weird, right?”

Danny arched his brow at that. He vaguely remembered that Tim and Conner had dated once upon a time, hell, Tim had even hung out with the friend group every so often when he and Conner had been together.

“Yeah, the secret we’re not supposed to ask about, just accept,” Greta said, her eyes wide.

“Whatever the hell that means,” Cassie muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Well, because of that weirdness, Danny er, he found me,” Tim said slowly. “He’s a ghost.”

The five friends stared at him for a moment before their faces screwed up in anger.

“Tim that’s way not funny,” Jaime hissed.

“Yeah dude, he just died, it’s not the time to make fucking jokes,” Cissie exclaimed.

“It’s not a joke,” Danny said, speaking up as he slowly showed himself in front of his friends. “Uh, hi? Guys?”

If he wasn’t so incredibly anxious about the entire thing, Danny would have laughed at the looks on his friends faces. As it was, though, his core was racing inside of him and he oddly felt like he was going to throw up. An odd feeling considering he didn’t have a stomach any more.

“What the fuck?” Cissie whispered.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “So, funny story,” he said with a tight smile. “I got murdered. Really suks to be honest. But surprisingly it doesn't hurt as bad as you think it would. Being a ghost has been pretty cool, I feel like I’ve hit my final emo form.”

“Your final emo form,” Bart repeated. A small smile cracked on his face. “It is pretty damn emo to get murdered and become a ghost I guess.”

“If anyone was going to get murdered it would have been you,” Cassie said slowly, her eyes just a bit watery. He watched as his friends slowly relaxed in front of him. There were still some watery eyes, but Danny could tell that they were trying their very best to relax just a bit. Danny’s jokes were hopefully helping.

“Yeah, too bad I lost my black hair. I think that’s a cruel joke, I die and the universe gives me white hair? How fucked is that?” Danny said with a soft laugh. “Tim hates it.”

“I do not!” Tim exclaimed. “I told you I liked it. It’s just… different than what I’m used to.”

“The white hair is good on you,” Cissie said, her smile thin. Danny flashed her a wide grin, opening his mouth to respond when Jaime spoke up.

“Are we allowed to know what happened?” Jaime asked.

Danny huffed out a breath as he took a seat on the ground. This was the part where they were fudging the truth just a bit.

“I don’t remember, actually. One minute I’m walking into the house, the next I’m floating over my grave and Tim’s there crying like a baby,” Danny said and Tim let out a soft scoff.

“Shut up, I was not,” Tim muttered. “I don’t even cry.”

“I don’t even cry,” Danny mocked, making a face at him. “Anyway, I’ve been desperately trying to get my bearings, the whole dead thing is difficult to come to terms with. But I couldn’t exist in this state without telling you all. It wouldn’t be fair to keep this a secret from you guys. I mean, I love you bozos, you know?”

“I can’t believe it,” Cassie said quietly. “It took you dying to finally admit it.”

“You love us!” Jaime cheered, throwing his arms around Danny’s shoulders before he jumped back with a shiver. “Dude, you’re freezing.”

Bart grinned. “We love you too!”

“Yeah, you’re our little emo idiot,” Cassie said, reaching over to ruffle Danny’s hair.

“Are you doing okay, Danny?” Greta asked, giving Danny a small smile.

“I’m okay,” Danny said with a tight smile. “Tim’s weirdness works with my weirdness so we’re going to try out this whole relationship thing. But also if you guys ever want to hang out, call Tim and he’ll get a hold of me.”

“You guys are dating? Finally?” Cissie asked, her eyebrows to her hairline.

“It just took me dying for us to finally get together,” Danny said with a soft laugh.

“Jesus,” Jaime groaned. “The dead jokes are going to be ridiculous.”

“Oh definitely,” Danny said with a soft laugh as he patted Jaime’s leg.

“Wait, you said he was crying over your grave,” Greta said slowly, looking Danny over quizzically. “Where is it?”

“Oh, he’s in the backyard,” Tim answered. “Dick managed to get his body since he had no family to claim him except Jazz and no one could get a hold of her. So, we just brought him here and buried him.”

Tim Drake was an evil and fantastic liar.

“Jazz! What about your sister?” Bart asked, whipping his head to Danny.

Danny gave his friends a tight smile. “She knows, she’s sad but she’s happy we can still talk.”

“Would it be weird to visit your grave and like leave flowers? I know you’re still here but Danny, you died,” Cissie said, her eyes still red with tears. “You died and we didn’t get to say goodbye and now you’re here and—”

“And we can go to my grave. Uh, Tim’s right, though, I really don’t want a funeral. It just feels too weird.”

“You don’t want your friends to all come together and say nice thing about you, typical,” Cassie muttered. “So, what now?”

Danny shrugged. “Well, ghosts can’t go to high school and I definitely missed homecoming—”

“They rescheduled,” Bart said, waggling his eyes. “Apparently your murder was enough to push it back a few weeks.”

“No, absolutely not. I’m not going to homecoming. I’m going to stay here and hang out with my boyfriend. What I was going to say, though, is that we can still hang out. It might be a little weird and it’s going to suck to watch you guys grow up, but I want to stay in your lives. If you know, if you’ll let me.”

“I would like that,” Greta told him.

“Me too,” Jaime said, nodding his head.

“Yeah man, you’re stuck with us,” Bart declared, patting Danny’s leg lightly. “We’re like tumors, you can never really get rid of us.”

“I wouldn’t want to, I’d never even try,” Danny said with a small smile.

Chapter Text

SIXTY YEARS LATER

Danny sat criss crossed atop Wayne Enterprises and watched as Tim zipped through the streets, obviously hunting something or other. Some asshole vampire was on the prowl in Gotham tonight and the Waynes were beyond furious about it. Gotham was off limits, each human soul protected by the vampires who resided within the city. 

It had been Danny who came up with the idea, that if things were going to change for the supernatural world and the Court of Owls were no longer going to be running Gotham, someone would need to. Not only that but the humans here needed to be protected, they needed a hero to keep an eye on things. A few decades later, the legend of the bats started to grow, stories whispered in the streets about the mysterious beings who lived within the shadows and saved people from danger. First it had just been vampire attachments, then it started to shift into other things as well, muggers, robberies, city-wide attacks, the bats started to take care of it all. 

A few years later the Gothamites started to give them names. Batman, Black Bat, Nightwing, Red Hood, Shadow, Bat Girl, Oracle, Signal,  Robin, and of course, Phantom. The group protected the city, doing everything they could to protect their city. Sometimes when Hal was in town he would help as well.

It wasn’t the future that Danny had expected for himself, but he had to admit that he enjoyed it. He enjoyed being a hero, keeping his home safe from those that wanted to harm it. He watched as the rogue vampire skidded to a stop at a dead end and turned around, snarling at Tim as he landed in front of him. Danny watched with interest as Tim fought him, his mind reading really did make any fights comical considering he knew every move someone would make before they did it. It made for Tim’s fights to be rather boring if Danny was being honest. 

But he still loved it nonetheless. There was something interesting about watching the vampire take down rogues with such brutal efficiency. 

He watched as Tim broke the vampire’s head off and before Tim could light a match, Danny pointed a hand at the body and shot an ecto blast at it, catching the body on fire. He floated down to his mate and smiled. 

“That was a fun race to watch,” Danny hummed. “Are you okay?”

Tim nodded, grinning. “More than okay,” he breathed, his blue eyes glimmering in the night. “How was your patrol?”

“It was good,” Danny said, brushing hair out of Tim’s face. “You’re late.”

He smiled as Tim’s face fell and he let out a groan. “I am not! We didn’t set a time. We just said after patrol.”

A hint of a smile curled at Danny’s lips. 

“Still late,” he sang before turning to watch the last of the embers burn down. They had learned long ago that Danny’s ectoblasts incinerated dead vampires, the energy causing them to combust rather than give an energy boost. Once there was nothing left for the ecto to eat at it, it simply disappeared. “Besides it’s my sixtieth death date and we have to celebrate.”

Each year for their death dates– or well in Tim’s case the day he was turned, they did a little something. This year they were going to the cemetery. It was a little bleak, yes, but the last of their human friends from Danny’s living years had passed on and Danny wanted to say goodbye. None of them had come back as ghosts–not that he was really expecting them to. It always felt a little bittersweet when he thought about it. Each of them had lived long and beautiful lives, Danny had even gotten to be a part of them in one way or another. But now they were gone and he was still here, forever sixteen, forever frozen, never changing. There were perks, though. LIke the fact that he had Tim for the rest of his existence, that he would never truly be alone, not when he had Tim, not when he had the entire Wayne family there. 

“Sixty years,” Tim breathed. “It feels like it was just yesterday we fought the Court of Owls.”

Danny chuckled. “I don’t know about that, but time is strange isn’t it?”

Tim hummed quietly and stared up at the cloudy night sky. “It is. Yet it still keeps moving forward while we stay frozen.”

“Oh don’t get all poetic on me Timothy, it’s far too late for that. Besides, we have places to be,” Danny said, bumping his shoulder against Tim’s

“Let’s go, then,” Tim said, giving Danny a small smile as he took Danny’s hand. The ghost grinned and kissed him lightly before they disappeared into the night. 

“These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume. The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite.
Therefore love moderately; long love doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Chapter Text

Hi guys. Slightly embarrassing lol. But I just realized I posted the wrong draft for chapter 25. So if you want to go back and read it, I promise it’s like 10 times better than the rough draft I accidentally posted. Uhhhh sorry about that lol. 

- Dis