Archive of Our Own ^beta

Danny’s doing pretty well all things considered. He’s all moved into the new place, which is actually in a decent area for the price, a small apartment about a fifteen minute walk away from his new school, Gotham Academy. Despite being a rich kids’ school, he’s getting pretty excited to start going there. The engineering and astronomy programs are some of the best in the nation for the age group he’s in. He could really use something to be excited about, too. Things have not been going his way for the past… few years? 

After the accident that gave him his powers, things have been steadily going downhill. Between going to school, avoiding his parents, and getting his ass kicked on the daily, he’s been barely holding on for a while. His only saving grace was the support of Jazz, Sam, and Tucker. They were the ones that made the hard choice for him when his parents got about an inch too close to blowing his head off one fateful nightly patrol. With Sam secretly siphoning her parents’ funds and Tucker keeping the missing persons report off the national media’s radar, the transition had been blessedly smooth. Well, as smooth as leaving your home and every person you've ever loved behind could possibly be. 

He still feels bad for his parents. For all they know, he just ran away one night, probably off doing drugs with some ne’er do well from out of town. He supposes it's better than them thinking he's dead. Even if it is technically true.

He still can’t believe he’s actually here, that he really left. It feels wrong leaving Amity Park and all of his responsibilities there. Tucker had gathered some burner phones for him, Sam, and Jazz, and had acquired a new phone for Danny to ensure that they’d still be able to contact each other without any problems arising. Danny was taking advantage of this, calling them daily to check in on them and hear their familiar voices. Jazz insisted to him on their last phone call that the ghosts were under control. Between the three of them and Valerie, they’d figured out a new system that seemed to be working fine, though Danny was skeptical that this system wouldn’t fall apart the second school started and Jazz left for college. The only thing that comforted him was the thought that he could pull up a portal and return to Amity as Phantom if he ever needed to. He’d reluctantly promised that he would only do this if there was an extreme emergency that couldn’t be solved any other way. He supposes that it would sort of defeat the purpose of him leaving if he just kept coming back all the time.

It’s a warm, yet overcast August afternoon in Gotham. Danny’s working on tying up his loose ends and has spent the first part of the day unpacking. He’s decided to take a break and walk to a shopping area nearby to find some furniture to fill out his new apartment, maybe pick up a treat somewhere as a reward for being so focused. School doesn’t start up again for another few days and he’s starting to run out of things to do. He would normally have no issue staying in and playing video games all day, but what he expected to feel like a long-earned rest feels more like living in an echo chamber of all of his worst thoughts. He’s trying to keep his mind off of things, trying to stay positive. 

He’s walking down a popular street, peeking into shop windows along the way to see if they're selling anything that he’s interested in. He wanders into a thrift shop on the corner, drawn by the enticing smell coming from the small coffee stand inside. He orders something sweet and packed with caffeine and explores the store’s wares as he waits. 

Nothing’s really catching his eye. He looks over a few mismatched chairs, examines an overpriced shelf, and fingers through a rack of vintage clothing. He discovers an old trunk holding a selection of paintings made by local artists and flips through them. He pauses at one of them, a peaceful snowy landscape with an iced-over lake in the background. Something about it gives him a sense of familiarity. It reminds him of the Far Frozen. It’s been a while since he’s gotten to visit Frostbite. He checks the sticker on it, it’s actually a decent price. He hears his order being called out and picks up the painting, deciding it would look good in his new living room. 

Danny walks out of the shop holding his coffee in one hand and bagged painting in the other. He scans the street, looking for a place to sit down and enjoy his drink. He spots the grassy green of a park a few blocks up and heads over to it. It’s a small park, just one square block of a field with a couple of benches and a walking path circling the perimeter. He settles onto a free bench, sitting back and taking in the scene in front of him. There’s a couple of people walking their dogs, making stiff small talk when their dogs stop to sniff each other. A few kids are throwing a frisbee back and forth to each other, though one of the kids is mostly trying to hit his friends with it. Businessmen file out of the tall building on the street next to him, off on their lunch break, he guesses.

 He takes another sip of his coffee. It’s better than he thought it would be, he might have to become a regular at that stand. His sight is drawn again to the large building. He follows the sleek lines of it upward and sees a logo he recognizes, a neat ‘W’.

‘ Oh, that must be Wayne Enterprises.’

He eyes the businessmen a little closer and notes that they do indeed look pretty upscale. Well, except for that guy. He watches as a person his age, wearing just jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt walks out of the crowd. Danny thinks he must not be associated with the rest of the employees, but is proven wrong when he engages in casual conversation with one of the suits. A few people in the group wave goodbye to him as he breaks off and crosses the street, hands in his pockets.

Danny wonders what his deal is. The guy falls into a slouched posture as soon as he’s out of eyesight of the professionals. He’s dragging his feet as he steps now, distractedly tapping away at the screen of his cell phone. 

He’s walking along the path on the opposite side of the park from him when Danny catches sight of one of the frisbee kids out of the corner of his eye. One of the kid’s friends, the rowdy one, chucks the frisbee as hard as he can and it’s currently flying through the air at an incredible speed and heading straight for the weird guy. The frisbee kid is sprinting after it, on course to knock right into him. With the busy street on the other side of the path, this is a disaster waiting to happen. He really hopes he doesn’t have to intervene, but the more momentum the kid builds, the more sure Danny is that he’s not going to be able to stop in time. 

‘Shit.’

The park isn’t particularly busy, but it’s broad daylight in a public area. He can’t use his powers here, but he can’t just sit back and watch either. Letting go of his bag and coffee, he pulls up the hood of his jacket and rushes to conceal himself behind a nearby play structure, then lets invisibility take over him. 

He reappears on the other side of the park and charges towards the guy yelling, “Hey, watch out!”

The guy stops moving and looks up from his phone, seeming completely lost as to why some random stranger is screaming at him. With a significantly delayed reaction, he swings his head  to look around him and finally notices the frisbee and the kid mere moments away from slamming into him. Luckily, Danny makes it there just in time. He pulls the guy out of the way by the arm and in the same motion, swings himself into place and gets low, bracing for impact. Just as expected, the child has been completely focused on the frisbee and realizes his mistake much too late. The frisbee blows clear over Danny’s head and into the road. He watches the kid’s eyes widen and his legs attempt to slow down, but he crashes directly into Danny’s outstretched arms. Danny grinds his heels into the dirt and they both fall backwards onto the concrete of the sidewalk. The wind is knocked right out of him. Damn, that hurt a lot more than he was expecting.

The kid gains his bearings and pulls himself off of Danny stuttering out, “S-sorry!”

“Geez kid,” he squeaks out, still trying to get air into his crushed lungs. “You need to make sure you watch where you’re going.”

The boy stumbles backwards, looking a bit dodgy before hearing his friends calling his name behind him. He doesn’t say anything else before whipping around and running back towards them.

Danny rolls his eyes and looks at the guy for the first time since the tumble.

“Kids, am I right?” he says with humor.

The guy just stares back at him, looking completely shell shocked.

“Oh my god, are you okay ?” he asks at last, then reaches out his hand to help Danny up to his feet.

“Oh yeah, just a little scuffed up. No big d.” He brushes dirt off his pant legs. He lets himself get a good look at the guy. Black, medium length hair parted down the middle and pale skin that looks like it's never seen the light of day. And oh man, he looks dead on his feet. He’s got these dark circles under his eyes that Danny knows from experience come from not getting nearly enough sleep. He decides that this guy looks a bit like a lanky vampire from a teen drama. It kind of works for him. 

“Okay, if you’re sure. Thank you so much, uh…” he looks expectantly at him.

“Danny,” he says, speaking over a car horn in the distance and holding his hand out for a handshake.

“I’m Tim,” he returns, shaking his hand loosely. “Thank you. That could’ve been…bad.” His gaze shifts to the frisbee in the street, cracked into large pieces after being run over by a couple cars.

“No problem, just doing my job.” Oh no. That’s a Phantom line that just slipped out. That doesn’t make any sense right now. Ughhh. He mentally kicks himself.

Tim seems to think that he just made a joke. Good, yeah look at him, just a funny guy over here.

“Well, thanks again,” Tim says, turning his feet to leave. “I hope you don’t end up bruising too badly tomorrow.”

“Yeah, thanks. Take care,” he raises his hand and Tim smiles, then walks off down the path.

Danny checks around him to see if anyone caught his little disappearing act earlier. He doesn’t see anyone seeming suspicious. Looks like he got away with it.

‘I guess it’s a good thing I decided to leave the house today.’  

He trudges across the field to retrieve his things from the bench he was sitting at. He crosses his fingers that his coffee’s still warm when he gets there.

Gotham Academy is a bit more intimidating than Danny had previously imagined. He’s standing in front of the massive main building, trying not to look as awestruck as he feels under its looming pillars. Other kids are filing into the front doors, clearly indifferent to the scale and grandiosity of the school. It seems impossible that his old tiny high school can have over twice the amount of students as this school. He even had to walk across an honest to goodness campus to get to the main building.

Danny subconsciously straightens out his uniform as he climbs the steps and follows the crowd inside. He walks with purpose through several of the wrong hallways, trying to get his bearings while simultaneously attempting to look like he knows where he’s going.

He eventually navigates his way to the hallway that his new locker is in. He scans the numbers down the row until he finds his. Danny fiddles with the code to his locker, failing to open it in the first four attempts. He spins the dial three times to reset it yet another time.  

Fifth time's the charm. Why do they have to make these things so complicated anyways?

He briefly considers trying to subtly phase through it, the hallway isn’t that busy and he’s tucked away in the far corner of it. A finger taps the top of Danny's shoulder and his head whips around to meet a pair of sharp blue eyes. 

"Hey, Denny? I thought that was you."

‘Do I know this guy?’ he thinks, trying to analyze the face in front of him. The recognition clicks pretty quickly when he notices the deep-set bags under his eyes. They’re somehow even worse than the last time he saw him.

 "Oh, yeah... Tim? Right?"

His tired eyes light up the slightest bit.

"Yeah, what are the odds of us going to the same school? I'm kind of surprised I haven't seen you here before, what year are you in?"

"I'm a junior, but this is my first year here. My dad and I just moved to Gotham this Summer." He recites the piece of information from the cover story Sam and Tucker decided on. He was born and raised in a small town in the Midwest. Indiana, not Illinois. Danny is the only child of his single father, a software developer, who was offered a higher-paying position in Gotham. The two of them relocated in July. His father, Henry Nightingale, is a workaholic who spends most of his waking hours at the office and is known to leave on business trips often. A fairly normal story for a lot of kids who attend Gotham Academy. And a believable excuse for Danny not having a lot of parental supervision. In reality, he lives alone in a two-bedroom apartment.

"Oh, that makes sense. I'm a junior too, and I definitely would've remembered you if you'd been in my classes last year." He doesn't have any time to overthink that last comment before Tim's leaning over him and Danny’s breath catches in his chest, because wow he’s really close and has Danny’s heartbeat always been this loud? Danny has to pry his eyes away from Tim’s in order to follow his gaze to the piece of paper he's holding with his locker combination printed on it. 

"You know, these lockers are the only thing they didn't update in the big renovation last year. Some of them can be kind of touchy. Let me show you the trick to it." He opens it on the first try, explaining that the mechanism doesn't trigger unless you lean against the door as you push the button. Well, he uses more words than that to explain it, but Danny gets distracted when he catches sight of his school ID badge. Tim Drake-Wayne. That’s not like Wayne Wayne, is it? As in, ‘richest family in Gotham, one of the sons of gazillionaire playboy Bruce Wayne’ Wayne? He thinks back to the building he saw Tim walking out of the other day. He suddenly feels a little nervous.

"-got unlucky with your locker assignment, none of the ones on the top floor have this issue,” Tim finishes.

Danny jumps back into the conversation, just catching the tail end. “Ah yeah, that sounds about right. I’m just about the unluckiest guy I know.” He rubs the back of his neck.

Tim chuckles. “I don’t know, I was pretty lucky that you were around the other day-“ The warning bell cuts him off. He looks down the hall and back to Danny with a bit more urgency. "I need to start walking to class, it’s all the way in the east wing. Maybe I'll see you around!"

Tim gives him a genuine smile and Danny finds himself struggling to reply. "Uh, yeah-yeah, definitely! Definitely see you around," he says trying and failing to pose himself casually against his locker.

If Tim catches his moment of awkwardness, he doesn't show it. "Cool, see you, Denny." He gives a slight nod before turning to walk away.

  ‘Wait hold on. Did he just say Denny?’

Everyone's seated for second period. Danny stumbled in last, just a few minutes past the bell ringing. It's going to take some time to figure out the layout of the labyrinth that is Gotham Academy. The teacher gives him a slight glower as he steps through the doorway and takes the nearest open seat.

‘Great, already building my reputation as the late kid. This feels familiar.’

She starts taking attendance, rattling off names alphabetically, each one answered with a succinct "present". Danny starts to zone out, brushing at pieces of eraser left behind by the last person who sat in his seat and flicking them softly off his desk as the j-names are read. He flicks one piece with more force than intended and watches it catch the air and land on a desk in the row in front of him and to the right. He is briefly mortified when the guy sitting in that seat turns his head and looks to see where the projectile had come from. Of course, it’s Tim. His eyes land on Danny's and the look on his face changes from confusion to amusement. Danny smiles and lifts his hand in a faux wave, attempting to play it off like he'd just been trying to get his attention.

"-ale," the teacher pauses briefly, and Danny is brought back to reality when the class is silent for a moment. "Is Danny Nightingale here today?"

Danny jolts and raises his hand but is quickly distracted by the way Tim looks at the teacher and then to him with a confused look. Tim mouths 'Danny?' to him and furrows his brows.

‘Oh, shit he definitely thinks my name is Denny.’

Hand still raised in the air he adds "present". There's a sound of confirmation followed by a silent pause as the teacher looks back down at the list to find her place again. Tim looks a bit sheepish for a moment, seeming to put together his mistake.

‘Shit now things are awkward, aren’t they. Is Tim gonna think I'm weird because I didn't correct him? First person I meet, and I've somehow already made it weird, I think he even said it twice, I can't believe I didn-’

"But actually," the teacher lifts her head to look at him. "-it's Denny, not Danny." He regrets saying it the second it comes out of his mouth. His face flushes hot and his heart immediately starts beating faster.

‘Fuck fuck fuck why did I just say that.’

" Denny Nightingale?" the teacher asks him. He sits very still and just nods his head at her. There's another pause as she glides her pen down the list, seeming to find his name, then crossing it out and scribbling beside it. "Must have been a typo," she mutters mostly to herself, then shifts her gaze back to him. "You'll need to stop by the main office sometime today so they can fix that in the system."

"Yep. Thanks, I will," he says quietly as he sinks back into his chair, letting out a tense breath and seriously considering turning intangible and escaping this whole situation. It’s not too late to change schools again, is it? Tim's still shifted to look back at him and sends him a semi-sympathetic glance as if to say, 'aw that sucks' and then turns his attention forward again where it stays for the rest of class. 

‘Look, it’s actually not a big deal,’ Danny reasons to himself a bit frantically as he walks down the hall towards the main office. ‘ It’s my first day and no one knows who I am, and it doesn’t even matter because it’s a fake name anyway! Well not the ‘Danny’ part but you know it’s actually better this way because now it’s further from my real name, so it’d be harder for people to put that together.’

‘And I haven’t even finished doctoring my fake documents, so it’ll be easy for me to just go in and change it. Daniel to Dennis, Danny to Denny. It’s just one letter! No big deal.’ He doesn’t do a good job convincing himself. He knows he’s taking it too far but can’t think of any other way around it. He’s in too deep. He opens the door to the office and gets in line behind a few other students.

‘I can’t tell Sam and Tucker. They’ll never let me live this down.’

Something’s off about Denny. The day they met, Tim’s sure he remembers seeing someone with the same dark, messy hair sitting on a bench a good distance away from him before he was rescued. There’s no way he could have gotten to him in the time he did. He’s not 100% sure, he was pretty out of it at the time, but call it a hunch. The dude’s weird. Tim’s had a few interactions with Denny at school over the last few days, and every time he starts talking to him, he starts stuttering or the muscles in his shoulders tense up. It's a classic stress response, a sure sign that Denny is hiding something. He doesn’t interact with any other students, always picks a seat at the very back of the class, and never stays even a minute past the final bell. It’s like he doesn’t want to be noticed. Sure, he’s nice and his jokes are funny, but Tim’s learned the hard way that those things don’t necessarily mean that a person is safe.

He’s seated in his usual spot for this time of night, in the massive chair in front of the batcomputer. He finishes his additions to a case file, wrapping up his reports from tonight’s patrol. He hovers over the button to close the search engine’s tab and turn in for the night. He finds himself pausing longer than he intended.

 It couldn’t hurt to dig around a little, right? It surely couldn't take more than a half hour to settle his worries about his new acquaintance. Really, he’d be saving himself sleep by looking into it right now. If he didn’t, he’d be keeping himself up all night thinking about it. He types in the name ‘Denny Nightingale’. No results. He tries ‘Dennis Nightingale Gotham’ and finds an article about a birdwatcher named Dennis who captured an award winning photo of an elusive bird in one of the city’s parks.

 After two hours of scouring through his usual channels, he finds absolutely nothing. Like, a suspicious amount of nothing. He finally relents, dragging himself the long distance to his room and flopping face-first into his bed. He needs to get more information.

Tim shows up to school early the next day. There are a small handful of kids loitering in the common areas, but the majority of the student body won’t be arriving for another half an hour. He’s seen Denny walking into school enough times to know that he falls within this group. He casually wanders into the hallway that Denny’s locker is in, noting that he’s alone. He knows that it wouldn’t matter too much if there were students present, assuming that the average student doesn’t know the locker layout beyond those directly neighboring their own. He still feels some small relief at having zero witnesses around.

Denny’s locker opens easily with the code Tim had memorized after their interaction the other day. He’s disappointed at first, not immediately seeing anything of interest. Three textbooks, two spiral notebooks, and a soup thermos. Tim starts with the textbooks, rifling through the pages to make sure there aren’t any papers hidden between them. He finds a page of space-themed doodles tucked into the cover of his Astrophysics textbook, and nothing else. He moves onto the notebooks, which hold equally little information, though many other drawing pages. There aren’t even as many notes as he would’ve expected there to be. Tim’s suddenly worried about Denny’s grade in their math class. Maybe he should stop distracting him during their work time.

He grabs the thermos, thinking to check the contents just to be thorough. ‘ What if Denny’s been sneaking alcohol into school, that’d be necessary information ,’ he thinks. He quickly notices that it’s heavier than an average thermos and shakes it a bit, feeling its heft. Upon closer examination, Tim’s not even sure this is a thermos. Its metal walls are made of many small pieces, all connected by a litany of tiny screws. He thinks his eyes might be playing tricks on him, but he swears that he sees a green glow pouring out between a few of the gaps. There are several buttons in various unorthodox places along the outside of it. This is definitely not a normal thermos.

‘ What the hell. ’

Instead of risking any possible consequences of messing with a mysterious piece of what looks to be handmade technology, he pulls out his phone and snaps several pictures of the thing for him to refer back to later. He carefully arranges each item to be in its original spot and closes the door. He turns the dial a few times to lock it, making sure to leave the dial on the same number it had started on when he had first walked up.

He finds his way back to the commons and spends the remaining time before class hacking into the school record system on his phone. It doesn’t take him long, this isn’t his first time doing it, after all. Or his second, for that matter. He scrolls through Denny’s file, taking screenshots of his full name, date of birth, and other tidbits that may prove useful to him later. He’s feeling validated with his newest discovery and he can’t help getting excited to log on to the Batcomputer tonight.

A few days later, Tim’s sitting in his advanced biology class, deep in thought. Of course, he’s thinking about Denny. Despite the promising information he gathered, his most recent research into the guy has come up with nothing. He still hasn’t found a single thing about him by looking into his name, old town, or date of birth, and he’s checked every database he has access to. He knows what it means when people don’t come up on his searches, so he supposes he at least has that as information now. 

He’s also hit a dead end on the thermos. He’d thought he was getting somewhere when he found an image of an invention with a similar looking design. It wasn’t a perfect match to Denny’s clunky machine, this one looked sleeker and more streamlined, but many of the elements were there. The post about it had even been updated within the last year, which is usually a good sign. He’d dropped the thread when the website he’d traced the post back to turned out to be some sort of conspiracy theory blog about ghosts. The rest of the posts detailed various outlandish stories and ‘sightings’ and he deemed the similarities to be an unrelated coincidence.

Tim’s replaying all of his search attempts through his head on repeat, wondering if he could be missing something. The teacher’s giving his lecture up at the front and Tim thinks he should probably be listening to him, but he gets distracted when he sees movement out of the corner of his eye. He looks out the class’s second story window and sees someone speed-walking down the tiny pathway alongside the gymnasium. And of course, it’s Denny. In the middle of the school day. Walking along a basically unused path that leads to an empty field. And apparently, he’s in a rush. 

‘ Maybe he’s running an errand for the gym teacher ,’ Tim reasons. ‘ Except he’s not wearing his gym clothes . Maybe he’s selling drugs. ’

Tim watches Denny stop in the middle of the pathway and stare straight up at the sky. Tim looks too, but doesn’t see anything.

‘ And getting high on his own supply. ’

His curiosity wins out and he asks the teacher for a bathroom pass.

He takes the fastest route to the gym. He speed-walks most of the way, slowing down to a nonchalant walk when he passes another student in the hallway, then picks up his pace again when he turns the corner. He hops the railing of the staircase and drops to the lower floor, then pushes open the small exit door to the outside. 

Denny’s no longer standing where he saw him last. Tim rushes in the direction he saw him walking in, hoping that no one from his class looks out the window and sees him out here. He makes it behind the gym and scans equipment pushed up against the back of the building, then the field. He’s not there. Tim jogs to the other end of the building, and checks to see if he’s circled the gym. Nothing. He’s about to give up when he hears metal clanging behind him. Tim’s instincts kick in and he ducks around the corner, peeking through a stack of hurdles. 

He sees Denny climbing down off of the closed lid of a dumpster. Tim realizes that he must’ve just jumped down from the roof and used the dumpster to break his fall. Jumped off of the roof of the gym. It’s at least a ten foot drop. How the hell did he even get up there in the first place?

‘ You’ve got to be kidding me ,’ he thinks, reeling at yet another mystery.

The way that he’d dropped to the ground, the way he held himself during and hadn’t even needed to catch his breath after, it was clear Denny was no stranger to this kind of activity. What exactly that meant, Tim wasn’t sure. He did know that it was pretty unlikely that he was selling drugs on the roof.

Denny clearly hadn’t seen him when he jumped. Tim watches as he unclips something from his belt. He shifts his view through the hurdles to a different gap to get a better view of what it is. He’d recognize it anywhere. It’s the thermos. Denny grasps the cylinder and checks something on it before turning and walking back the way he came. 

Tim follows him from afar and watches him return to where he assumes Denny’s class is. He knows he can’t realistically be gone any longer under the guise of a bathroom break, so Tim returns to class and resolves to check out the rooftop later.

He doesn’t find anything when he does.

The final bell has rung for the day. Tim’s exhausted. Some days just take it out of him, especially the days after he’s pulled an all-nighter. Wait a minute, didn’t he pull an all-nighter on Tuesday? Has he slept since then? That would explain a lot. He really needs to start tracking these things.

He’s walking out of the main building to the student pick-up area and spots Denny starting on his walk home. He tries to get his attention.

“Denny!” He trips on a step and has to catch himself on the railing. God, his body is not listening to him right now. Ugh, he’s probably going to have to skip patrol tonight. 

Unfortunately, Denny heard him and happened to look over just in time to see his stumble. Tim trudges his way down the rest of the staircase to him. 

“You okay?” He asks Tim, looking concerned. 

“Yeah, I’m good. I just stayed up a little too late last night playing Doomed 2. I’m really feeling it today.” It’s a believable lie. The game’s been incredibly popular since releasing last month and a lot of people at school have been playing it. Tim’s actually been interested in playing it himself, he’d even picked up a copy when it had first come out, but he hasn’t had the time to even think about it. 

“No way, you have Doomed 2?! It sold out so quickly, how did you get a copy?” Denny’s excitedly bouncing on his feet. Tim’s not used to seeing him look this energetic.

“Oh, I didn’t know that, I just bought it a couple days after it was released.”

“Ugghhh, I’m so jealous! Everyone keeps talking about how much better it is than the first one and the first one was already so good,” his eyes are practically sparkling. Okay, he can work with this.

“Do you just want to play my copy?”

Danny gapes at him.

“What, seriously?”

“Yeah, tomorrow’s Friday, you could come over and we could do two-player. If you want.” It’s pretty obvious that Denny does in fact, want.

“YES!” He coughs awkwardly at the loudness of his own voice. “Yes. That would be so cool.”

“Cool,” Tim echoes. “Maybe I’ll order us a pizza.”

Tim recognizes Dick’s car amongst the sea of vehicles lined up in front of the school. Alfred’s usually the one to pick him up after school but whenever Dick’s in town, he likes to take over the duty so they can catch up. 

“Oh, that’s my brother,” he says to Denny. He turns to leave, walking backward for a moment to wave goodbye to him. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Denny’s smiling. “Yeah, sounds good. See you tomorrow.” 

Tim weaves through the crowd and grabs the passenger-side door handle, knocking on the window when it doesn’t open. He watches his older brother hit the button to unlock the door, then locks it again the second Tim tries the handle again. Dick’s smiling mischievously at him. He hates this game and really doesn’t have the energy for it right now. They repeat this cycle once more before Tim loses his patience and pulls out his keys and jams his keychain into the lock. He forcibly turns it clockwise and lifts the handle, overriding Dick’s attempt to lock it again. Tim opens the door and slides into shotgun, dropping his bag at his feet and slumping into his seat.

Dick makes an offended sound. “You’re gonna mess up my door!”

“It’s your own fault.” Tim ignores his brother’s annoyed huff. He digs around in his bag and pulls out the energy drink he’d been saving, pulling the tab and taking a sip. Dick gives him a disapproving look that Tim also ignores. They sit in silence for a moment while Dick flicks on his turn signal and waits for his turn to pull out of the busy turnabout. 

“Who’s that you were talking to?” Dick asks, nodding his head in the direction that he and Denny were standing.

“Denny Nightingale. He’s new to town and has some questionable habits. I’m keeping an eye on him.”

Dick hums in response. “So what’s his deal? I assume you’ve looked into him.” 

“Couldn’t find anything about him in the usual places. Even checked his school record to confirm his details. Nothing. So, you know.”

“Fake name?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Interesting.” 

Tim takes another sip of his drink. 

“He’s coming over after school tomorrow.”

“Oh, really?”

“I know what I’m doing.”

Dick chuckles, “Never said you didn’t. God, you and Bruce are two paranoid peas in a pod.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Tim waves off the comment that he’s heard a million times before.

Tim asks Dick how long he’ll be in town for and their conversation shifts into more mundane topics for a while before settling into comfortable silence. Tim watches the buildings go by out the window. He’s so tired, he really should just let himself crash when he gets home. Oh shit. He told Denny that he was up late playing Doomed 2 and he doesn’t even have a save file on the thing. Looks like he’ll be staying awake a bit longer.

Danny’s never really sure how to act around rich people. He’s had some experiences interacting with Sam’s family, but he could never shake the feeling that everything he said and did was wrong around them. Not that he really cared about their opinions anyway. And then there was Vlad, but he didn’t really count as a regular rich dude. He was more of an evil vampire who tricked his way into wealth and then used his influence to push his wacky agendas onto others and better his own social standing. You know what, maybe he is a typical rich dude. Minus the whole being a half-ghost business. Point being, Danny’s not sure how he’s supposed to act around Tim’s family. Tim seems pretty down-to-earth, but what if his family isn’t? He doesn’t want to get off on the wrong foot.

He can’t hold in his initial reaction as he walks into the Wayne Manor for the first time.

“Holy shit, Tim. You live here?” 

Tim shrugs off his jacket and hangs it on the coat rack in the foyer. “Yep. Trust me, with as many of us as there are running around in here, it ends up feeling a lot smaller than it really is.”

Danny’s not buying that. Vlad’s mansion has nothing on this place. And he has a state of the art lab in the basement. He doubts that's a standard-issue mansion feature.

Tim’s showing Danny around the main features of the first floor when they hear a distant crash and a yell. He glances at Tim, who looks more annoyed than surprised. 

“Ughf. Damian’s home.” He drops his polite host pretense and grabs Danny’s arm, pulling him in the other direction. “Come on, if we’re lucky we might be able to avoid him.”

Danny lets himself be dragged up a winding staircase, already feeling lost in a new part of the home.

“What happens if we’re not lucky?” he asks. He’s actually sort of surprised. Tim complains about his siblings a lot, but he never got the impression that he really dislikes them at the end of the day.

“Just don’t make eye contact,” he says. Danny can’t tell if he’s being serious.

They trail through the home for a few more minutes, passing beautiful rooms that Danny wishes he could stop to explore, but their pace remains consistent. They whip around a corner and stop so abruptly that Danny has to regain his balance. There’s a boy standing directly in front of them, arms crossed with a scowl on his face. Danny’s not the best gauge of age, but he’d guess this kid is around eleven or twelve years old. 

The boy speaks first.

“Drake.” 

Did he just call his brother by his last name? That’s rough.

Tim sighs, “Damian.”

He’s a little distracted by the fact that Tim hasn't stopped holding his arm, but he still picks up on the tension in his friend’s voice. Annoying little brother, huh? He wonders if Tim’s comment from earlier was a joke. He decides to test it and stares the kid directly in the eye. Damian’s focus shifts to him in an instant and he swears he can see his eyes slightly narrowing at him.

“Who is this ?” The question sounds way too cold to be coming from a child. 

Tim’s about to speak when Danny cuts in.

“Name’s Denny. I’m Tim’s friend from school,” he answers with a friendly smile.

Damian ignores the introduction and turns his glare on Tim.

“You don’t have friends. Who is this?”

Danny laughs at the straightforwardness of his comment. It reminds him of Ellie.

“Look Demon Brat, why don’t you go harass someone else? We have places to be.” He tries to push his way past the kid, but he shifts in front of Tim and stands his ground.

“Where did you put it?” he snarls.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he replies, monotone.

“There will be consequences if it is not returned to me, Drake.” 

They stare each other down for a long stretch of time. Did Tim take one of his toys or something? What’s going on? Tim leans over to whisper in Danny’s ear. 

“ Run .” What?

Before his brain can comprehend what he just said, Tim’s hand is sliding down his arm and into Danny’s hand, grasping it tightly. Suddenly they’re sprinting down an adjacent hallway. It takes a moment for his legs to get with the program, but soon he’s running right alongside Tim, taking his cues for direction. 

“Why are we running?” Danny pants out.

“I’ll explain later,” Tim replies, keeping their same speed.

Danny glances behind them and sees no sign that they’re being followed.

“I don't even think he's chasing us.”

“Believe me, he is,” Tim says.

He’s really doubting Tim’s assessment when a full minute passes without seeing him. They’re losing some steam now, more jogging than running at this point. Danny’s about to suggest that they stop when they enter a large sunroom and a small blur jumps from the doorway and tackles Tim to the ground. Wow, this kid is not messing around. How the hell did he get ahead of them? Thankfully, Tim lets go of Danny’s hand as he falls, otherwise he would have followed them down. Now he’s standing and watching the two brothers wrestle on the floor. 

“Seriously, Damian, can this wait for when I don’t have company over?” He manages to shove Damian off of him and rolls to the side to avoid getting pinned again. 

“I do not care that there is a witness to your crimes, Drake. You will not leave until you reveal its location.”

Both of them rise from the floor, standing off against each other. The air is tense. Danny’s slowly backing through the door they entered through. He’s got a plan. He’s not sure why he’s getting involved in this sibling spat, but he just can’t help letting himself get wrapped up in the moment. Once he makes it past the threshold, he calls to his friend.

“Tim,” they both turn their extremely pointed focus to look at him. Danny smiles playfully and nods his head in the direction of the hallway, signaling for him to follow, then bolts back the way they came. He remembers seeing a small alcove tucked into one of the other rooms they passed by, and makes his way to it. It looks like some sort of library or study, full of bookshelves and desks. Danny wishes he had time to take a closer look at their collection, but he’s on a mission.

He waits for the sounds of Tim’s light footsteps running down the hall, getting closer and closer. Good, he got away. Hopefully he has a solid lead on Damian. Danny reaches out and pulls him through the doorway before he can run past. 

“Denny, what the-”

“Shhh, c’mon hurry, we’re gonna hide in here,” he leads Tim to the alcove and slides them up against the wall of a bookshelf, mostly hidden from view behind the arched entrance. Danny’s holding his arm across his friend to keep him from leaning too far out.

”He’s definitely going to see us here,” skepticism colors Tim's voice.

Danny shushes him again. “He will if you keep talking ,” he whispers.

Tim rolls his eyes but doesn’t move from his spot. 

They’re both listening intently for any sounds. Danny watches his friend peek his head around the arch. His hair is messed up from getting tackled earlier and he’s a little red in the cheeks. He looks incredibly serious, like he’s hiding from an entire fucking army instead of his baby brother. His gaze falls to Tim’s arm that’s pulled up against his side. The sleeve of his t-shirt is riding up a little. Wow. He’s never noticed before, maybe since he’s used to seeing Tim in his school uniform, but he’s actually pretty buff. Does he work out? Danny glances away, feeling a bit guilty. What, he’s not allowed to look? He’s buried, not married. And his friend is incredibly cute.

‘ Focus up, Danny ,’ he scolds himself.

It isn’t much longer before Damian purposefully walks into the room. They hear his footsteps echoing as he searches for them. Danny’s getting a little too wrapped up in their impromptu game of hide-and-seek. Without thinking, he touches his fingers to the side of Tim’s wrist and lets his invisibility wash over the two of them. They both hold their breath as Damian ducks his head into the alcove, scanning along the bookshelves and right past their hiding spot, seeing nothing. He retreats back to the room, looking for another minute before leaving to trek further down the hall.

Danny realizes that they’re still invisible and quickly drops the power before letting out a sigh. That was probably a stupid idea, but hey, it worked. He turns to face Tim, who looks awestruck.

“There’s no way he didn’t see us just now. He looked right at us,” he breathes.

“I guess we just got lucky,” Danny shrugs, nerves tingling through him. He didn’t notice, did he?

“No, he’s probably playing some kind of mind game.” 

They wait for another few minutes, and when it’s clear that the kid isn’t coming back, Danny slides down the wall and lets himself relax.

“So, you gonna tell me what that was all about?” He asks after the silence.

Tim slides down next to him keeping his legs tucked up against himself, still out of sight of the doorway. 

“He got a new sword for his birthday.” Tim doesn’t elaborate.

What the fuck. Who gives a kid a sword? More importantly, who gives that kid a sword?

“That’s an… interesting gift,” he says, trying not to sound too judgemental.

“He likes to collect them. He takes sword fighting classes. He’s not supposed to use them in the house, but he does whatever he wants when Bruce isn’t home.”

Rich people are weird. 

“So you took it from him?” 

Tim seems reluctant to fess up to it, like he’s worried that if he says it out loud Damian will somehow just know . He ends up leaning in to whisper his confession.

“I buried it in the garden. I’ll give it back eventually. Probably,” he thinks for a moment, then leans back in. “Maybe I’ll give it back to him for his birthday next year.”

Danny starts cracking up, his loud laugh sounding out of place in the quiet room. Tim elbows him and holds one finger against his lips in a shushing motion. He reigns it in and covers his chuckles with a hand over his mouth.

Tim checks around the corner, confirming that the coast is clear. He turns back to Danny.

“I know how to block the doors to the game room, it’s back downstairs. You think we can make it?”

Danny smiles. 

“Hell yeah.”

Tim’s sitting at the kitchen island in the manor, nursing a fresh cup of coffee. His brain is working overtime, creating a plan of action for how he’s going to handle this. This is his chance. After weeks of knowing each other and a little more than a half-dozen afterschool hangouts, he’s finally going to get to see Denny’s house. Their usual after-school routine has fallen into two camps, they either walk to the shopping area a few minutes away from school, or they let Alfred pick them up and they end up playing video games or taking things apart and reassembling them at Tim’s workbench in the Wayne Manor. 

Tim had originally invited him over hoping that he’d be able to learn something of substance about his mysterious past, but the more time they’d spent together, the more Tim found that he was just enjoying his company. Denny’s smart, he not only keeps up with Tim’s rants about his various tech-related side projects, but Tim’s actually learned a thing or two from him . Though, it seems most of Denny’s interest lies in Astronomy. He can talk about the intricacies of various celestial bodies for hours, apparently he was pretty serious about wanting to become an astronaut for a while. When Tim asked him why he wasn’t interested anymore, Denny waved him off saying something about a medical issue. ‘It’s just not in the stars for me,’ he’d said, winking obnoxiously.

He’d finally gotten lucky when Denny had suggested they have a movie night at his place this weekend. Apparently his dad was out for business all weekend, so they’d have the place to themselves. Tim knows that there’s something about Denny’s dad that he’s trying to keep under wraps. His friend only talks about his father when absolutely necessary and only in short, clipped sentences. Either the two of them don’t get along, or his dad’s involved in the kind of business that you get hurt for speaking freely about. One way or the other, he’s hoping that he’ll be getting some answers tonight.

He’s taking another sip of his coffee and staring blankly at the cabinets across the counter when Dick walks in and makes a beeline for the fridge. 

“Hey, Timmers. What did Alfred make for dinner last night?”

“Did you seriously just come here to raid the fridge? There’s such a thing as grocery shopping, you know.”

“Oh come on, you know I’m not just here for the food. I'm also here to check in on my brooding baby brother,” he flashes Tim his classic Dick Grayson smile as he shoves a full plate of pasta into the microwave.

“Not brooding, just thinking about a case. Well, sort of a case.”

“Wow, do you ever take a break? Wait, don’t answer that,” he sets his plate on the island across from Tim and takes a few bites. It’s silent in the room while he chews. Tim thinks he catches a look of worry on his brother’s face right before he asks, ” What are you doing right now, do you want to go do something fun together?” 

“I would, but I’m about to head to Denny’s place for a movie night.”

Jason waltzes into the kitchen, clearly on his way to the Batcave. He stops when he sees Dick’s leftovers and heads to the fridge.

“Hey, Jay. If you’re looking for more pasta you’re out of luck,” Dick says.

Jason closes the fridge door. “No problem, just give me some of yours.”

“You wish. Should’ve gotten here sooner.” Dick ignores Jason’s grumbling and turns his attention back to Tim. “Sooo, you’re going to Denny’s , huh?” Dick arches one eyebrow as he says it.

Tim rolls his eyes at his brother’s implication.

“Bring me back some pancakes,” Jason interjects.

“It’s not that kind of Denny’s, Jay.”

“What kind of shitty Denny’s doesn’t have pancakes?”

Tim soldiers on and addresses Dick, “We’re just going to watch some movies and hang out. And I’m going to try to take the opportunity to look around and see if I can't find anything on him while I’m there. I still think there’s something weird going on with him.” He lifts his mug up to his mouth and downs the last couple gulps of his liquid caffeine. Jason, clearly bored with this conversation, heads out of the room to resume his business.

Dick’s wearing the same worried look from a second ago.

‘Oh boy, here it comes.’ Tim thinks.

“Hey Tim, do you have any friends at school? Other than this Denny kid?” Dick asks.

‘Wait, what?’ He was sure this was going to be another talk about how he wishes Tim would cut back on the coffee. Is he about to tell him he needs to make more friends? Easy for him to say, he’s Dick Fucking Grayson.

“I have Steph. She goes to my school.”

“Yeah, but Steph’s your vigilante ex-girlfriend.”

“She’s also my friend.”

“Okay, other than her.”

Tim’s feeling a little frustrated that he doesn’t know where this is going. ”Look, Dick, just tell me what you’re getting at.”

The expression on Dick’s face is his soft, ‘walking on eggshells’ look. “I’m just thinking,” he starts slowly, ”that this is your first friend outside of…work in a really long time.” He pauses. “And I think that maybe , you’re a little bit worried about letting someone get… too close.”

He’s floored by this. Does Dick expect him to just ignore the warning signs when he sees them? “It’s my job to be cautious. People like us don’t get to have the luxury of making friends without looking into them first,” he argues. “Not to mention that Denny has a lot more things to be suspicious of than your average civilian.”

“I get that you’re watching your back and trying to keep yourself safe, that’s a good thing to do. I wouldn’t want you getting kidnapped or anything- by someone actually competent enough for it to matter,” he corrects, knowing full well that Tim has no issue getting himself out of most kidnapping scenarios. “ But out of these ‘suspicious things’ Denny has going on, are there any that you think would concern your safety? Or other peoples’?”

Tim sighs, "I mean, maybe? He hasn’t done anything dangerous around me but that doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous.”

“Well, you’ve been spending a lot of time around him lately, right? I’d say you’re pretty perceptive. Let's agree that he’s hiding something from you, because he probably is. Generally, do you think he’s a bad person?”

Tim shuffles through his interactions with Denny in his mind. He’s thoughtful, excitable, and caring. He’s always genuine in those moments, and Tim knows what people look and sound like when they try to fake those sorts of traits. “No, I don’t think he is.”

“Alright, so you don’t know the whole truth about him, but he doesn’t know the whole truth about who you are either-” he raises his hands up in a defensive gesture, “not that I’m saying you should tell him or anything, you obviously have reasons not to share that with him. I guess I’m just saying… maybe he has his reasons, too.”

Tim hates to admit it, but he kind of gets what Dick’s saying. Even if he is overstepping his bounds a bit. There are plenty of reasons Denny would realistically want to hide. If Tim’s theory about him being a meta is accurate, it would make sense that he wouldn’t want to share that information, especially in a city with a reputation like Gotham. If his dad really is involved in some shady business, Denny wouldn't think it would help to drag his new friend into the mess. None of the most likely scenarios Tim can put together in his head paint Denny as a malicious person. Should he really just give him the benefit of the doubt and leave it at that? He’s not a big fan of the idea. He’s shaken loose from his thoughts when he sees Dick’s focus shift from their conversation to the doorway. 

“Alfred! Fantastic as always!” Dick exclaims, gesturing at his half-eaten plate. 

The elder man stands with his usual level of poise at the threshold. "I am pleased you think so, Master Dick. It is always a pleasure to see you enjoying my meals on your visits. Master Tim, are you ready to depart?”

“Uh- yeah, Alfred, I’m good to go,” he says, bending over to grab his book bag from the base of his chair. He stands to leave, giving Dick a short nod over his shoulder, “See ya, Dick.”

Dick rounds the corner of the island and swoops him up a tight hug. “Later Timbo,” he squeezes a bit tighter, then releases. “Think about what I said, okay? And text me your schedule, we’re going to go do something together next week.”

Tim chuckles, “Alright, I will.” For all of Dick’s nosiness, Tim knows he means well. It’s hard to hold it against him.

Denny’s sat on the curb waiting for him when Alfred pulls up. Denny’s house is not what he was expecting. For one, it’s not a house. It’s an apartment, and not in the neat, suburban neighborhood that most of the families who can afford to send their kids to Gotham Academy tend to live. It’s not Crime Alley , either, but it’s not what he was expecting. They walk up the stairs together, Denny gushing about the movie lineup he put together for the night. He stops at the door that Tim presumes is his. 

“-and we can finish off with Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, if we make it that far,” he tries to turn the handle and freezes. “Ah, oh man.” He jiggles it another time.

“Oh my god, did you lock yourself out?” Tim laughs.

“Um, maybe. I think there’s a spare key under that planter, can you check?”

Tim walks to the balcony at the top of the stairs. “The red one?” he asks, lifting both the planters and finding nothing.

“Yeah, I think so.” Denny replies from behind him.

Tim blows out a nervous breath, “Uh, bad news…” He hears the sound of the door open behind him. 

“Oh, I got it. I think the latch was just jammed, it’s always doing that. Come on.” he gestures for Tim to follow him.

“Oh, nice. That would’ve sucked.” he wanders in after him. Tim gives the knob an extra twist as he closes and locks the door behind them. 

‘Feels pretty smooth to me.’

He turns around and takes in the open living space. Okay, Tim was briefly considering taking a step back from the investigating after his conversation with Dick, but now he’s not even sure if investigation is necessary. Denny obviously lives alone in this apartment. It’s sparsely decorated with cheap, mismatched furniture. There’s a TV sitting on the carpeted floor of the living room next to a DVD/bookshelf that’s comprised of two cinder blocks and a couple planks of wood. There’s a few decorations on the walls, a couple of unframed posters and an out of place  painting of a snowy field by the front door. The painting still has a $15.00 price sticker on it. There’s a cluster of boxes stacked just outside the small kitchen that’s attached to the living room.

“Sorry about the mess, we’re still working on getting unpacked,” Denny states, as though that clears everything up. “Lemme show you around.” He gives Tim the “tour” of his hallway, pointing out the only bathroom and his bedroom at the end and to the right. There’s another room to the left behind a closed door, “Dad’s room,” he says as he walks into his own bedroom. After the interior decoration of the front of the apartment, Tim’s not surprised to see that Denny’s room is just a bed, a nightstand, and a dresser. “Chez moi,” he says in a faux-elegant voice as he casually picks up an empty chip bag off the floor and throws it into a little trash can beside his dresser.

Tim realizes that he’s been quiet for a little too long, too absorbed in taking in the details. “Cool, cool,” he nods.

“Oh!” His friend seems to realize something and steps back towards Tim. “Check this out.” His excited tone puts Tim at ease, though the next moment finds Denny flicking off the lights, leaving them in total darkness. Tim’s worried for half of a second, tensing reflexively at the inherent risk of the situation. He relaxes when he sees the lights. There are some of those stick-on, glow in the dark stars scattered on the ceiling. As his eyes adjust, he notices that there are actually a lot of them up there. They’re arranged into realistic representations of the constellations, accurately placed, though scaled down to fit the space.

“Oh cool, they’re the constellations,” Tim states.

“Yep. Do you remember which one’s which?”

Denny had gone over them with him at lunch a few days back when Tim had admitted he didn’t know anything about them. Tim walked beneath one and pointed,” Big Dipper… and that one’s the Little Dipper.”

“Ursa Major and Minor,” Denny interjects, then smiles at him. “Come on, those are the easy ones. What else?”

“That one’s Leo, and Draco, and… Cepheus?” He points at each guess, looking at his friend for confirmation. He pauses a while as he tries to remember the others. “That’s all I got.”

“It’s a good start. That one’s Pegasus, and that one…” Denny continues to rattle off their names while Tim watches. 

Their conversation veers off into other topics and they find themselves chatting about this or that, ending up sitting on the floor when their legs get tired from standing. They chat about school and their personal projects and their favorite shows, getting distracted often and going off on new tangents. They’re sat staring at the dark, starry ceiling when their talk reaches a natural lull. Tim thinks that his friend’s about to stand up and say that they should start watching their movies, but when he looks over he finds Denny’s face lost in thought. He suddenly notices that they’re very close, sitting nearly shoulder-to-shoulder. In the dark. Did they never turn the lights back on?

Tim’s about to say something, but Denny speaks first. “I used to have these set up in my old room, too. I could see the real stars outside my window there on the nice nights. The skies were a lot better for stargazing in Am- in my old town.” He goes quiet again.

“Do you miss it? Your old town?” Tim asks, not really sure what else to say.

It takes him a moment to answer. “I miss my friends. And-...yeah, I miss my friends.”

He looks so sad, it hits Tim that he’s never seen Denny look this way before. He feels an inexplicable urge to do something to make him feel better. He wills his voice into something cheery and says, “Well, I’m glad you’re here now. I’m glad that we got the chance to meet.”

“Yeah?” Denny asks with a shy smile, like he wasn’t expecting him to say so.

Tim scoffs. “Yeah! Who would I have to teach me constellations and save me from runaway frisbees if you weren’t here? I’d be a total mess,” he jokes. He’s surprised when he finds himself meaning it. He really likes being around Denny, having someone to mess around with and bounce ideas off of in the free time that he used to spend drowning himself in casework. He’s been thinking of that as a downside, that him having a social life has been taking his time away from the more important things. He wonders if that’s why he’s been so insistent on thinking about Denny as if he was another case, instead of just someone that he cares about. 

Denny laughs and Tim catches himself staring for a second too long. “If you say so. I mean, I am pretty great. It would be a shame to deprive you of me.”

Tim laughs and nudges his shoulder against Denny’s. “Shut up, can’t give a guy a compliment without it going straight to his head.”

Their chuckles peter out while they look at each other and the silence suddenly turns awkward, though Tim can’t really place why. Denny’s looking right into his eyes and Tim notes that they’re still pretty close to each other. He hasn’t moved in a bit. Maybe he’s zoning out? He breaks the silence by asking, “Do you have any snacks?”

Denny looks flustered for a moment before his usual chipper personality snaps into place as he excitedly says, “Popcorn! We need to get the popcorn going, and I got some other stuff too…” He trails off and pulls himself up out of his seated position, turning slightly to offer Tim a hand up. He takes it.

Denny continues, ”I wasn’t sure what kind of stuff you liked so I got a few different things.” Tim follows Denny to the kitchen and watches him pull out several bags of chips and boxes of candy, announcing each one as he places it on the counter, all the while ranting about how he’d chosen a variety of things to cover all of his bases. Tim smiles. He doesn’t like most of the things that Denny picked out, but it’s nice to feel like he was being considered. He picks up a bag of popcorn and jams it into the microwave.

The rest of the night goes by quickly. They watch a couple of truly awful horror movies, Tim thinks they must have made them bad on purpose to be funny but Denny continues to insist that they’re classics. 

At some point, Denny gets up to use the bathroom and Tim loses the battle with his own curiosity, sneaking quickly down the hall to take a peek into the mysterious extra bedroom Denny had pointed out earlier. In his defense, the door wasn’t even locked. The room was completely empty save for two lone boxes pushed against the wall. 

‘So Denny lives alone, that much is obvious. Henry Nightingale most likely doesn’t exist.’ His theories shift in his mind as the new information filters in. No parents in the picture, is he a runaway, then? He shuts the door softly and makes his way back to the living room.

He freezes when the door to the bathroom opens and Denny is suddenly blocking the hallway. Denny notices Tim standing next to the bedrooms. “Oh, you’re- is everything okay?” Denny asks, confused.

“Yeah, I just realized I left my phone in your room,” Tim throws out casually as he pushes past him and splays back out on the couch, tapping at his phone as though he were checking his messages. Denny seems unconcerned as he flops down beside him and they put on another movie.

It’s well into night-time now and the energy is dipping. They’re about two-thirds of the way through their latest movie, some odd comedy that Denny was very excited to introduce Tim to. Denny’s been nodding off for the last ten minutes or so. He’s leaned all the way up against Tim’s side with his legs bent and taking up the other half of the couch. Every time Denny drifts asleep, his head tips to the side and rests on Tim’s shoulder before he jerks up and lifts it again every few minutes. Finally, Tim reaches for the remote, jarring him awake. “Do you want me to pause it?” he whispers.

Denny waves his hand dismissively and shifts a bit. “I’m good, leave it on. Oh, this is my favorite part.” They stop talking to watch someone on screen deliver a cheesy line to the lead actress. Denny speaks again, apparently deeming the next part not as important. “I don’t know why I’m so tired, it’s not even that late.” He yawns and lays his head back on Tim’s shoulder. It doesn’t take long for his eyes to slowly close and Tim decides that he’s going to leave him that way for a bit.

He looks down at Denny’s soft, sleeping face and is hit with a feeling of fondness. Tim runs through the worst-case scenarios that have been plaguing his brain since he met Denny. He tries to imagine him turning on Tim, using their friendship against him, or Red Robin discovering that his friend has been involved in a drug ring or organized crime the entire time they’ve known each other. He finds that he just can’t imagine it. Denny doesn’t have a malicious bone in his body. He thinks that maybe he should just trust him. That Denny will tell him when he’s ready.

The movie’s wrapping up as Tim’s phone buzzes in his pocket. He carefully maneuvers his hand between himself and Denny, trying to pull his phone out without waking him up. He finally succeeds and taps the screen to see who’s texting him. It’s Jason. 

‘Blueberry. Extra syrup. ON. THE. SIDE.’ it reads.  

Tim quietly snorts and places his phone down on his leg, not bothering to respond. The sound of the TV cuts out abruptly as the credits start to roll and the change in ambiance causes Denny to stir gently awake. He doesn’t move from his spot, just sniffs a bit before groggily speaking. “Aw, it’s over? Did you like it?”

Tim thinks he did like it. It was a confusing movie, maybe because he was having trouble paying attention, but he mostly saw what they were going for. “Yeah it was pretty good,” he ends up saying. His phone vibrates against his leg and he begrudgingly picks it up, causing Denny to sit up and wake himself fully, stretching loudly. Tim feels a bit of a chill with the loss of heat at his side. He opens the message.

‘I swear to god if you bring me soggy pancakes I will try to kill you again.’

Tim sighs a world-weary sigh and turns to Denny, who gives him a questioning look.

“You hungry?”

It’s Winter break. Sam wheels her suitcase through the apartment door, catching the wheel on the threshold and aggressively tugging it loose. Her attention swings around the space, craning her head to peek into the tiny kitchen. “Hey, this isn’t too bad. It’s actually roomier than I thought it’d be.”

“I’m glad you approve, seeing as you’re the one paying for it. Well, your parents I guess. They haven’t said anything yet, have they?”

“Danny, I’ve already told you they’re never going to notice it missing. A couple grand a month is a drop in the bucket for them. They’d probably think my Grandma bought herself a new hat, if they think about it at all. I’ve seen them drop that much money on dinner before.”

“Okay, okay. I believe you. No more tales of excessive wealth,” Danny cuts in hastily.

“Yeah, it drives me crazy, too,” she replies.

“Me too,” Tucker says, just now walking through the door with his backpack and laptop case. “What are we talking about?”

Danny chuckles and closes the door behind them. “Just rich people stuff.”

“Oh yeah, you’d know all about that now, wouldn’t you, Mr. Gotham Academy ?” Tucker jests. “How are you fitting in with the Gotham Elite’s snobby kids?” He drops his bag on the floor and makes himself at home on Danny’s couch.

“Oh, most of them suck, I still get weird looks when I walk home after school because my butler isn’t picking me up in an overpriced luxury car. Tim’s pretty much the only bearable person there.” Danny thinks Tim’s friend Steph(anie?) is pretty okay too, but he doesn’t see her around very often.

“Isn’t that just because you think he’s cute, though?” Tucker gives him a knowing look and Danny flushes.

“I never said that.”

“Yeah but it’s pretty obvious, right? Back me up here, Sam.”

Sam joins Tucker on the couch, leaving Danny standing alone in the middle of his living room. “It is pretty obvious,” she states. “I mean, the first time you told us about him in that video call, you mentioned his muscles and wouldn’t stop smiling like a dope for the rest of the call. Not to mention that you bring him up every time we talk. You’re definitely into him, I’m guessing you just haven’t made a move yet.”

She’s guessing right. “Been here two minutes and I’m already being interrogated about my love life,” Danny mumbles, rubbing his eyes. “You’re not allowed to bring any of this up around him. Seriously, I might just die again of embarrassment.”

“We would never embarrass you!” Tucker exclaims, feigning a hurt tone. “In fact, we’re going to be the best wingmen for you and your hot new rich friend. Don’t worry man, we got you covered. Right, Sam?” He elbows Sam to join in on his fun and she just rolls her eyes.

“Please don’t,” Danny begs Sam, the one reasonable person in the room.

“Knowing you, you already have the embarrassing yourself thing covered,” she replies. God, she doesn’t even know how right she is.

Shit, speaking of. “Oh by the way, he only knows me by my fake name, so make sure that you call me Denny in front of him.”

Tuck gives him a dumb look. “Uh duh, that is your name. What else would we call you?”

“Wait, wait, wait-” Sam holds her hands out in front of her. “I’m sorry, did you just say Denny ?”

“Uh, yeah. Dennis Nightingale.” He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.

“We didn’t decide on that, I thought we were keeping ‘Danny’ specifically so we wouldn’t have to start calling you something different,” Tucker replies.

He scrambles for an excuse, using one that he’d told himself when it first happened. “I decided to change it last minute, so it’d be harder for someone to connect the dots. I mean, I didn’t really bother to disguise myself, I thought it’d be dumb to not change my first name either.” He hopes his face looks more convincing than he feels.

“And you didn’t think to tell us about that decision until just now ?” Sam’s voice dripped with suspicion.

“It never came up?” He doesn’t mean it to come out as a question, but it does. He hopes that they somehow miraculously don’t notice. They do.

Sam’s looking at him with a raised eyebrow and Tucker looks completely unconvinced. Shit, he’s really bad at lying to them. 

“Fine, okay!” Danny sinks down to sit on the floor with a long, exasperated sigh. “It’s just- it’s kinda cringey.”

Tucker smiles a wicked smile and leans forward to hear him better. ”Oh, I am so excited.” His friends are now looking at him expectantly. He’s having trouble making the words come out.

He pulls his knees up to his chest and mumbles, “I- I may have changed it because Tim got it wrong on the first day of school…and I was too nervous to correct him.” He braces himself for their reaction.

Sam’s the first to speak. “...Oh. My god.”

Tucker breaks into a bout of unstoppable laughter. Danny drops his head into his arms and groans loudly.

She continues, “Oh my god , are you telling me that you were crushing so hard on this boy that you actually changed your name instead of telling him he got it wrong?”

“That’s not. It just happened- it happened so fast.” Danny’s voice is muffled by his arms.

Tucker’s still laughing, doubled over holding his stomach and gasping for air. He takes a moment to regain his composure just enough to speak. “And he’s been calling you Denny this whole time ? Denny ?”

He lifts his head up. “Yeah I know, it’s bad. Trust me, I’ve been suffering from that decision for a good long while now. I have to think about it every time someone talks to me, it’s awful. Look, just make sure you’re extra careful when Tim gets here.”

Tuck smirks. “Sure thing, Dennis .”

Danny has so many regrets.

Danny didn’t consider that not telling Sam and Tucker until now would mean that they wouldn’t have time to get used to switching his name. He didn’t think it through nearly enough. Or at all, really. He was too mortified at the prospect of other people knowing about his shameful mistake. His pride is really backfiring on him right now. He’s sure if Jazz knew about this, she would be having a field day.

Tim’s been here for less than an hour and Tucker’s already slipped up twice. The first time wasn’t so bad, he caught himself right as he was saying it and managed to turn it into a ‘Daenny’, which ended up sounding pretty close and wasn’t too egregious (he hoped). 

The second time was considerably worse. Tuck had been excitedly telling the story of the time they’d all broken into the school and moved all of the teachers’ desks one classroom to the left. He’d left out the parts where Danny had used his powers to get them in and move things around, of course. Danny was already stressed with the fact that he was telling this story at all, not sure how Tim would feel about their petty crimes, but his stress level exploded when he dropped a clear ‘Danny’ mid-sentence. He’d held his breath and watched Tim for a good 30 seconds afterwards while Tucker continued his rendition of the event, completely oblivious to his mistake. 

He relaxed a bit as time passed and Tim hadn’t appeared to notice. He’d seemed to be completely enthralled in hearing about their escapades, even looked amused by them, and Danny felt himself smile at that. It made him wonder if his new friend had any juicy rule-breaking stories of his own.

Other than the admittedly self-inflicted emotional rollercoaster Danny’s been on, the hangout has been going really well. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little nervous to introduce his friends to each other. He really likes Tim, he’s the closest thing he has to a Sam or Tucker in this new city and it would really suck if they didn’t end up getting along. He was a little worried that his two best friends might try to test Tim, to make sure that he was worthy or safe or something. It’s just been the three of them for so long and they’d been through so much together, he wasn’t really sure how things would play out with someone new.

He was pleasantly surprised to see how well they all got on. Things were a little awkward when Tim first walked in, but that had fallen away pretty quickly the second Tim started asking Tucker questions about his souped-up PDA. He’d won Sam over once the conversation had turned towards talking about their musical tastes. Apparently Tim’s incredibly obscure favorite band happened to be one of her favorites too. Their friendship was cemented once Sam shared a humiliating anecdote about Danny from a few years back and they instantly began cracking jokes at his expense. It was then that Danny thought he probably should’ve been less worried about them not getting along, and more worried about what would happen if they did get along.

They’re all spread out in Danny’s bedroom, Sam lounging on his bed with Tucker lying across her feet. Tim’s sat down on the carpet, leaning against the wall next to Danny and listing off all of the horror movies that he’s been forced to watch since they’ve met. 

“There was this other one we saw where the main character was being tormented by the spirit of her old doctor, but the twist was that she was actually in a coma and the doctor was alive and trying to wake her up the whole time.” 

“Hell Hospital 3,” Danny added.

Sam laughed. “That one’s really bad, the first one’s the only decent movie of the three.”

“Actually,” Tucker argued, ”the fourth one was best out of all of them, in my opinion. It was less jumpscare horror and more psychological, I think they had to fail at the first three to really figure out what they were doing.”

Danny turned to address Tim. “Don’t listen to them, they're both wrong. We watched the third one because it’s the most nuanced and underappreciated movie in the series.” He glared at his friends on the bed. “Trust me when I say that you are not missing out on anything by not watching the other ones. And you liked it, right?” Tim didn’t immediately respond, his face wearing a neutral expression as he glanced between the three of them. “Right, Tim?” Danny repeated apprehensively.

Tim responded by lifting his hand and turning it in a ‘so-so’ motion. Sam and Tucker erupted into laughter.

“Tim, no! I thought you were on my side,” Danny cried.

“Can’t blame a guy for having taste,” Tucker retorted.

“Sorry, the concept was just a little overplayed, I’m not a huge fan of the coma trope,” Tim explained. “Plus the scenes where the doctor’s ghost was attacking her didn’t make much sense. It’s like they couldn’t decide what the doctor could do, sometimes his ghost could touch her and sometimes he couldn’t, it felt like they kept breaking the continuity. It also would’ve been better if she and the doctor had known each other better before he supposedly died, isn’t that how ghosts are supposed to work? Don’t they generally just haunt people they knew or had unfinished business with?”

Sam replies with an ‘ehhh’ and at the same time Tucker asks, “Do you believe in ghosts, Tim?” Sam glares and kicks him. Danny feels like doing the same. “Oww, geez it’s just a question, Sam, calm down.”

Tim seems to pick up on the anxious energy in the room and answers Tucker with reluctance. “Um, no? Not really. I think if they were real we’d have a lot more physical proof of their existence. Or any, really. Why, are you guys big believers or something?”

Danny cuts off whatever Tucker’s about to say, not wanting to give him a chance to make things any worse. “Nope! No, we are not. Tucker’s just trying to scare you with this stupid ghost story he heard at camp. Besides, the question he should really be asking you is whether or not you believe in cryptids.” Tim doesn’t look incredibly convinced. Thankfully, he goes along with the change in conversation.

“Well, I think most of them are fake. All of the bigfoot sightings are clearly just people far in the distance or wild animals that are obscured by the forest. And mothman is most likely a mix of large predatory birds flying overhead in the dark and people having a few too many drinks on their back porches. It’s easy for people’s minds to get away from them,” he rationalizes.

“But you think some of them are real?” Sam sits up taller against the headboard of the bed, sounding intrigued. Danny’s also intrigued, suddenly very into this topic change.

“It’s hard for me to discount the underwater ones,” he starts. “I mean, the Kraken has been a part of the public consciousness for centuries and it’s only with the recent photos and discoveries of washed up giant squid that we’ve put together the pieces. I’d like to say that sea serpents and the Loch Ness Monster don’t exist, but with how little of our waters we’re able to explore, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were large, undiscovered species down there that explain the myths.”

“I am so down for that theory,” Sam replies with feeling.

Tucker pulls himself into a cross legged position on the bed, hands out in front of him, preparing himself for one of his patented rants. “I agree that they’re definitely real, HOWEVER, the Sasquatch and Mothman are also definitely real. Now hear me out, Danny stop giving me that look. There’s a lot of misinformation that gets spread around about the Sasquatch…”

Danny’s stopped listening of course, because there it is. The third name drop. There’s no use deluding himself, Tim definitely noticed that one. Tucker’s still monologuing about the intricacies of the Sasquatch hierarchy. Sam’s nodding along, pretending she didn’t also hear it. Danny’s trying to do the same, trying to pretend he isn’t just staring at Tim, watching the gears turning in his brain. 

He’s thinking hard about something, he isn’t even looking at Tuck anymore. He’s staring at one spot on the floor with his brows furrowed in concentration. 

After a few minutes of this, Tim excuses himself from the room, mumbling something about using the bathroom. Tucker doesn’t stop talking even after Tim leaves. Danny and Sam exchange wary glances. He doesn’t hear the bathroom door close. He does, however, hear the faint sound of the front door being shut.

“Fuck,” he says, cutting off and finally ending Tucker’s lecture.

Sam asks, “Did he just leave?”

“Pretty sure,” he answers, standing up.

Tucker looks completely lost. “What’s going on? He left? Where’s he going?”

“I’m gonna go catch up to him,” Danny rushes out of the bedroom, receiving a nod from Sam on the way.

He’s relieved to find Tim sitting on the staircase in front of his apartment door. Well, equal parts relieved and terrified. Maybe more terrified. He sits beside him on the steps and stays silent, hoping that Tim will say something first. A minute passes and it’s clear that he isn’t going to.

“Is everything okay?” he decides to say.

He isn’t sure he’s going to get an answer when Tim finally speaks. 

“Is your name Danny?”

Fuck, goddamn it, holy shit. Okay, he can fix this.

“Oh, that? No, that’s just their nickname for me. A barista got it wrong on my drink one time and they wouldn’t let it go, it just kind of stuck.” He laughs. Good, that’s good. That’s totally something they’d do.

Tim doesn’t laugh back. He’s still not looking at Danny.

“Seriously.” He says in a monotone voice.

‘ Oh, ancients,’ he thinks. Is there really no way out of this? He figures he doesn’t have much choice but to fess up about the name.

“Okay, yeah. It’s Danny. Daniel.” His voice comes out quiet, guilty.

“Dennis Nightingale is a fake name.” Tim doesn’t say it like it’s a question, he says it like it’s a fact. Danny’s blood feels colder in his body. 

‘ There’s no way he knows that. He’s got to be saying it in a dramatic way, right? Like in a ‘you lied to me about your first name and I’m mad at you’ kind of way? ’

He isn’t sure how to respond, he doesn’t want to give anything away.

“I- wha?” he ends up stating eloquently.

Tim speaks confidently, though with such little emotion that Danny barely recognizes his friend. “I’ve seen your school records. Your name is Dennis Nightingale in the system.”

“You’ve seen my school records? Aren’t those like, private?”

“Not if you know where to look.”

‘Not if- WHAT?!?!’ his mind screams. Danny’s stunned into a terrified silence. His thoughts are all pouring in at once, all too loud for him to focus on a single one. He’s attempting to right them, to come up with something to say that isn’t going to out himself more than he already has. Nothing seems to work.

Tim’s next sentence is just short of a whisper.

“Why do they get to know and I don’t?”

“About the name?” Danny's throat is dry.

“About all of it.”

Danny freezes in every sense of the word. He’s desperately trying to control the thin layer of ice that he can feel spreading out from his hands and across their step. It’s stopped about two inches away from Tim. Either Tim doesn’t notice, or he doesn’t call attention to it. Danny’s hands are shaking, but he knows it isn’t from the cold. He’s starting to realize that he’s gravely underestimated Tim. Is this really the same person he was talking to a few minutes ago? Is Tim a threat? 

“I just,” Tim continues, then briefly stops. “I just feel like we’ve gotten really close these last few months… and I know you’ve known them for way longer, but I- I’m kind of sad that you haven’t told me anything yet. You know that.. You’re basically my best friend, right?” He turns to finally look Danny in the eyes. The emotionless Tim is gone. This Tim looks more like the one Danny’s used to, though much more vulnerable than he’s ever seen him.

Danny feels like a total mess. His panicked thoughts have slowed down considerably, but he still isn’t thinking straight. He feels like Tim’s looking straight into his soul. For some insane reason, he doesn’t really mind. He’s frozen and freaking out, but he can see in Tim’s eyes that he really cares about this. About him. He doesn’t think when he says it.

“I like you, Tim.”

He’s still looking at Danny, seemingly waiting patiently for the rest of his sentence. Danny catches the moment that he puts together that he’s not going to say anything else. He watches the realization sink in. It’s clear that was not what he was expecting to hear. Hell, it wasn’t what Danny was expecting to say , but there’s no backing out now.

Tim picks his hands up off the step and places them onto his knees. He turns his head to stare back out into the street. Danny notes with a bit of terror that he’s gone back to looking detached.

After what feels like an eternity, Tim stands up. 

“I need to think,” he states blankly. And then he leaves. He just walks down the stairs and keeps walking. Danny doesn’t stop him.

Danny feels like he’s been hit by a truck. He doesn’t move from his spot for what he thinks is about fifteen minutes, but could easily be longer. There were so many better things he could’ve said. He could’ve given Tim some kind of context, some kind of explanation, that’s clearly what he was looking for! He tries to imagine what Tim is thinking right now. He knew about the fake name, what else does he know? How does it look to him? Does he think he’s a criminal? Or on the run? He wouldn’t really be wrong, but there’s more to it than that. Oh jeez, what if he thinks that Danny just confessed to him to change the subject? Just to take the heat off of him, that he didn’t really mean it? Or he knows he meant it but he doesn’t feel the same. He did leave right after. That’s not something that he would do if he was interested.

He’s trying and failing to compose himself. He doesn’t know when he started crying, but he’s struggling to stop. He’s not sure if Tim is coming back. He’s not sure if he wants him to, to see him like this. He's not sure if he’d even know what to say to him right now. He’s not sure about anything. Well, except for being sure that this is all his fault.

He eventually picks himself up and heads back inside to face Sam and Tucker. They’re waiting for him in the living room, engaged in their own conversation. They both look expectantly at him as soon as he opens the door. 

“Hey,” Sam calls to him in a questioning tone. Danny closes the door and stands awkwardly in his place. They take one look at him and their energy shifts immediately. He must look pretty bad.

“Shit,” Tucker curses and they’re both scrambling to their feet and moving to wrap him up in a three-person hug. 

“What happened?” Sam asks.

He feels his tears starting up again and hugs them back, resting his head on Tucker’s shoulder.

“I messed up.”

Tim is overwhelmed, to put it lightly. He knows he’s being a hypocrite. He knows that it’s unfair to expect Den- Danny to spill his most important secrets when Tim’s been keeping his whole secret identity and vigilante lifestyle from him. Tim’s walking at a steady pace, head down as he walks past strangers on the sidewalk. He’s made it quite a ways away from the apartment by now, looking for somewhere secluded that he can go to get his thoughts in order. He needs to go somewhere quiet. He needs to get up high.

He hadn’t even meant to confront him. He doesn’t know what came over him, he already knew that ‘Denny’ was a fake name and that his past was fabricated. Having it confirmed to him shouldn’t have been such a shock. Maybe he just didn’t like the feeling of everyone in the room knowing something he didn’t. Knowing something that he’s wanted to know for so long. Maybe he was a little frustrated knowing that they got to know Danny better than he does. He’s frustrated at himself for letting it get the better of him. 

He sees a brick alleyway and takes it. He scales the side of the old building and makes his way to its highest point, taking the rooftops from there until he finds a place that he deems high enough. He doesn’t have his grappling hook with him, so this will have to do. He’s high enough up that he can see the whole surrounding area and knows that anyone walking below won’t be able to see him. He sits down on the ledge and lets himself relax. The sun was setting when he left Danny’s, it’s just now settling into the darkness of night. He takes a few deep breaths and watches the skyline.

He actually likes Danny’s friends a lot. Their whole dynamic with each other fit really well, they were interesting and they also seemed interested in him. Tim was having a good time getting to know them. He liked seeing how they interacted with Danny, everything that he learned about Sam and Tucker felt like another thing he was learning about him. And they were so accepting of Tim, too. Sure, he’d been making a real effort to get along with them, but it hadn’t taken long for it to feel like he didn’t have to force it. And then he had to go and ruin it.

‘I can’t believe I just outed Danny’s secret, accused him of not caring enough about me, and then ran away right when he-’

His whole body heats up and he suddenly feels like yelling. He settles for covering his face with his hands and letting out a frustrated groan. Yeah, that one had really thrown him for a loop. It makes a lot of sense the more he thinks about it. He’s annoyed that he hadn’t seen it sooner. 

‘ God, I really messed this up. ’

He doesn’t know how to deal with this. He sighs and pulls out his phone, opening it and scrolling through his contacts. He finds Dick’s name and stares at it for a minute. He closes the screen and sits in silence, throwing his head back and looking at the sky. He can deal with this on his own, he’s fine. He just needs to think about what he’s going to say to Danny. An image of Danny’s face pops into his mind, of him looking terrified sitting next to Tim on the steps. He looked like he was in a full-blown panic. Fuck, he had done that. He’d made him feel that way. Guilt seeps into his mind and blurs his thought process. 

He opens his phone and pulls up Dick’s contact again, this time pressing the call button before he can talk himself out of it. It rings twice before he picks it up.

“Tim?”

He’s regretting this already, what is he supposed to say?

“...Hey.”

His voice is immediately worried. “Are you hurt? I can come get you, just tell me where you are.” There's some panicked shuffling on the other end. ”How bad is it?” 

More guilt. It’s not a surprising assumption. He should really start calling his brother more.

“I’m fine Dick, I’m not hurt.”

“Oh. Good.” The shuffling sounds stop.

“...” He knows this is the part where he’s supposed to say something, but he’s drawing a blank.

“So, what’s going on, Timmers?” His patient voice prompts.

“Danny said he likes me.” He cringes at the way it sounds. That’s what he came up with, really?  He feels like he’s in second grade talking about his schoolyard crush.

There’s some silence on the other end.

“Danny?”

Oh, right. 

“That’s Denny’s real name, apparently.”

“He’s not the most original person, is he?” Dick asks. 

Something about that catches Tim off guard and he laughs. If his theory is correct, Tim’s at least partially at fault for that choice of name. He doesn’t feel like getting into that right now, so instead he just chuckles, “No, I guess not.”

Dick pauses like he’s waiting for him to say more. When he doesn’t he asks, “Well?”

“Well, what?”

“What did you say to him?” 

“Oh, I… didn’t. I kind of left him at his front door.”

“Tim.”

“I was stressed out, okay? There were other things happening at the time.”

“What kind of other things?”

“...Me confronting him about his fake name. And other details.”

Dick takes a deep breath in and out. Tim agrees. 

“How long ago was this?”

“Half hour-ish?” He feels small when he says it.

“You should go talk to him. Tell him how you feel about him.”

Somehow Dick already knows how he feels about Danny when he hadn’t even thought about it himself until today.

“You assume I feel anything about him?”

“Come on, Tim. Be real,” he says with amusement in his voice. “You’ve been obsessing over him for the last four months.”

“That doesn’t mean I like him.”

“It does for you. You know this family doesn’t know how to do crushes normally. You remember B and Selina, right?”

“Yeah,” he replies without much feeling. How is it that his brother knows about his own feelings before he does?

“What are you thinking about over there?”

He waits a moment before responding. “How do I know ? That I like him?” He says it quietly even though he knows no one else is listening. He knows Dick won’t make fun of him, but he still feels embarrassed asking.

“Oh. Well,” he says in a way that sounds like he’s thinking. “Do you like spending time with him? The actual feeling of being around him, not just the puzzle-solving part of you.”

“Yes,” he responds without thinking.

“Have you ever thought about him romantically?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, try it now. Imagine you… I don’t know, went on a date with him or something. How would you feel about it?”

Tim has trouble imagining it. Would they go to a restaurant, or get coffee, or go to a movie? Okay, a movie maybe, he can see that. They’d sit next to each other and share snacks. This just sounds like something they’d normally do. What makes it a date? A scene forms in his mind of Danny pulling the classic ‘yawn and throw your arm over your date’s shoulder’ move on Tim. He imagines that he then tries and fails to reach the popcorn with the same arm and spills a bunch onto the floor. They’re both trying not to laugh too loudly. The thought makes Tim flush. 

“Nervous,” he eventually answers.

Dick laughs. 

“But not bad,” Tim clarifies.

“Okay, that’s a good start. I really think you should talk to him. Sort this stuff out together.”

He doesn’t respond to that. 

“Tim?”

“I will. Just- not right now. I need more time to think.”

“Okay. Do you want me to pick you up?”

Tim really doesn’t want Alfred picking him up. He knows the butler would see right through him. He doesn’t have the energy for that right now.

“Please.”

“You got it. Send me your location and I’ll head over.”

He sends the information over to Dick, who gives him an ETA back. Tim sends a text to Alfred, letting him know that Dick ‘happened to be in town’, so he won’t be needing a ride home. He sees the name ‘Denny’ in his recent text messages and opens up their conversation. Their last texts were from when they were making plans for their get-together today. He reads a few messages.

‘What are your friends’ names again?’

‘sam and tucker. Dont worry about meeting them theyr cool and youre cool itll be great’

‘Not worried. Just want to make sure I get their names right. Nothing wrong with making a good first impression.’

‘nerd. Also i already told them that you visit your dad at his boring office job for fun so there goes your first impression srry’

Tim smiles, then frowns and types out a new message.

‘Going home. Sorry I left. Talk to you later.’

A minute after he pockets his phone, he feels it vibrate.

‘ok’

Patrol doesn’t go incredibly well that night. Dick had tried to convince him to take a break from it entirely tonight and Tim had even agreed when he wouldn’t get off his back. Of course, he’d gone and suited up anyway the second he’d been dropped off. He’d needed to work off the tension of the day and there’s nothing better for that than beating the shit out of criminals. It ended up being a pretty busy night and he wasn’t exactly on his game. He’d taken a few solid hits. In retrospect, he probably should’ve joined up with Steph so he could have someone to watch his back. He’d just wanted to be alone.

He’s dragging himself into the Batcave, making his way over to their medical supplies to assess the damage. He’s fucking sore and decently bruised up, but he’s had worse. He knows that he wouldn’t have a scratch on him if he’d been paying more attention tonight, but it was still worth it to go. He feels a little better, a little clearer. This clarity falls away the second he catches sight of the Batcomputer. A certain conversation from earlier in the day has been gnawing at the back of his brain. He knows he shouldn’t be looking into this right now, but his self control goes out the window the second he sits in the computer chair.

He pulls up the website he’d dismissed as being a coincidence all those weeks ago. The second Tucker had brought up ghosts, he’d known something was off. He examines the post with the strange cylindrical device. It really does look like Danny’s. The post reads, ‘Now introducing: the new and improved Fenton Thermos 2.0! This baby sucks up those pesky ghosts faster than you can say ‘Get out of my house!’.’ Weird. These people can’t really believe they’re ghost hunters, can they? Maybe they’re part of some incredibly niche roleplaying group.

Tim clicks over to the ‘Fenton Works’ page and reads through the about us section. The site is run by Drs. Jack and Madeline Fenton. What kind of doctorates could these people possibly have? He scours the web for any information on the two odd characters. Their public records show them being responsible for a considerable amount of property damage. They don’t have any accounts on social media or other sites, but they sure have been mentioned by a lot of people who do. 

Apparently, they’re something of a nuisance to the residents of a small town in Illinois. There’s even a petition with upwards of 300 signatures that’s simply named ‘Petition to Evict the Fentons from Amity Park’. The comments are mostly from those who are in agreement, saying things like, ‘They still owe me money for driving their van into my house,’ and ,’I feel bad for those poor kids of theirs’. Kids? He clicks on the replies to this comment and reads a few chiming in. One in particular catches his eye. ’It’s really no wonder that their boy ran away. I say good for him’. What is going on with this family? He finds a list of students that attend the town’s local high school and scrolls down to the ‘f’s. There are two students with the last name ‘Fenton’. There’s a Jasmine Fenton, she must be their daughter, and a-

No way. The name right below hers reads ‘Daniel Fenton’.

He shifts forward in his seat to get a better look at the screen and winces at bumping a particularly nasty bruise on his arm. It snaps him out of his focused state. What is he doing? He shouldn’t be invading Danny’s privacy any more than he already has. He should stop. Like right now. Tim leans back and listens to the silence of the cave. He takes a few long, deep breaths.

He pulls up another tab and types ‘Daniel Fenton Amity Park’.

He got a text from Tim earlier that day, looking to set up a time and place to talk. They had agreed to do it at Danny’s apartment. Sam and Tucker had gone back to Amity Park the day before, as they’d originally planned. They had offered to stay longer, but Danny convinced them he would be fine. He’s regretting not taking them up on their offer right now. They had been there to help him through his initial panic and talk through his options and he was feeling a bit better about it, but his confidence had left him as soon as they’d walked out the door. He’s been anxiously pacing around his living room for the last hour.

He wants to tell Tim everything, but he doesn’t even know where to begin. He doesn’t know how he’ll handle it, will he freak out? That’s a dumb question, of course he’ll freak out. 

‘It’ll be fine’ he repeats the phrase that his friends hammered into his mind over and over. They’d agreed that he should just ease Tim into it, to not drop the whole thing on him at once. He’ll see how he reacts, then decide what to do from there. The only problem is, he’s not sure what exactly ‘easing him into it’ means. What’s crossing the line? Telling him that he ran away from parents who were trying to kill him? Telling him that even if they had caught him, it wouldn’t do much because he’s already fucking dead ? Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic. It would still hurt and he could still die more than he already has. This is the problem, any of it seems like too much to him. 

He hears a knock on the door and allows himself exactly ten seconds to get his nerves out before answering it. Tim looks a lot more put together than Danny feels. He’s standing patiently outside his door while Danny stares at him with barely-concealed terror. 

“Hi,” Tim says after a moment.

“Hey.” He takes a breath and gestures for Tim to come inside. 

They both sit next to each other on the couch, sinking into the silence. He was sort of hoping that Tim would be the one to start them off, but he’s making no move to, instead he’s just staring at the blank TV. Danny’s eyes catch on a dark spot that’s just barely visible from under his mid-length shirt sleeve. Is that a bruise? It looks bad. He can’t help himself from leaning forward and trying to get a better look at it.

“Jeez, Tim, what happened?” He has to hold back from reaching out to touch it.

Tim glances at his arm and pulls the sleeve down over the splotches of purple and yellow, covering them.

“Just bumped into something. Nothing serious,” he brushes off.

That’s the most cliché lie about a bruise there is, and Danny would know, he’s used just about every excuse in the book. He wants to call him out on it, but this doesn’t seem like the most appropriate time, so he lets it go. They’re here for a reason, after all. He soaks in the awkwardness for a moment longer before gathering up the courage to speak again.

“So…” This is so rough. Danny sighs a long and drawn out sigh, willing his hands to stop shaking. “How much do you know?”

Tim looks at him, surprised.

“Oh, you want to get right into it. Okay, uh…” He stops to think for a long minute. He pivots towards Danny, opening his mouth to say something, then closes it and waits a bit longer.

“Okay,” he repeats, seeming to have sorted his thoughts. “I know you’re a meta-”

“Oh, uh,” Danny interrupts, “not a meta, actually.”

Tim’s face scrunches up in confusion. 

“But you have powers.” Danny had suspected that he’d figured that much out.

“Yeah. Not a meta, though…” Danny circles his hand to signal Tim to go on.

“Okay, I guess we’ll come back to that later. I know that you have ice powers, pretty sure you have advanced speed, either super strength or flying powers, and I’m about 80% sure you can turn invisible.”

Okay, it makes sense that he would put the ice and invisibility together, but how the hell did he figure out the other stuff? He just nods, thinking about how to reply to that, but Tim continues speaking.

“I know that your real name is Daniel James Fenton. Your dad isn't named Henry and he doesn’t live with you, you're the son of Jack and Madeline Fenton of Amity Park. I know that your parents claim to be ghost hunters…” he trails off, seeming to lose steam.

How could he possibly know that? There’s no way he got all that from the name ‘Daniel’.

“Ectobiologists,” Danny corrects, sounding hollow. He feels like he should say something else, but he’s at a loss.

“Uh. Sure,” he’s back to looking confused. “I know that you have a piece of their technology and that you use it to do…something.”

He must be talking about the thermos.

“I just wanted to say,” Tim carries on, “I’m sorry. I had no right to expect you to tell me anything, and I had no right to dig it all up when you didn’t. I should’ve waited until you were ready to tell me on your own terms, if you ever wanted to. It wasn’t fair to you.”

Of course Tim is taking all of the responsibility for this. At least he’s not mad at him. 

“Thanks for that, but I probably should’ve told you something -”

“ No , Danny.” His voice is firm, but gentle. “This is on me, especially since-” He retreats into himself and runs his fingers through his hair. He says the last part quietly. “Especially since I haven’t told you everything about myself, either.”

Well, that actually makes a lot of sense.

“Would this have something to do with the fact that you somehow know everything about me?” 

Tim nods, staring down at the ground.

“It might.”

 Danny elbows him and tries to break the tension. “What are you some kind of stalker or something?”

Tim freezes, then surprises him by laughing harder than he expects him to. Danny’s overcome with a strong feeling of curiosity. 

“Not exactly.” He seems unsure about elaborating on that comment. Danny can relate. He should buy Tim some time to think. It’s probably his turn to start talking now, anyway. 

“You got them right, by the way,” Danny says.

“Got what right?”

“The powers. You got them right.”

He sees a bit of excitement light up Tim’s face.

“Which ones?”

“All of them.”

Tim’s eyes widen.

“You have them all ?”

Danny smirks, failing to fight off the urge to brag.

“Yeah, but you missed a few. I can also phase through stuff, blast people, and sense when ghosts are around. Among other things.”

Tim chuckles. Danny looks questioningly at him.

“You’re messing with me, right?”

Danny shakes his head ‘no’. Tim’s amusement becomes concern.

“I mean, at least about the ghost thing?” 

“Oh, Tim. Poor, sweet Tim.” He shakes his head.

“Ghosts aren’t real, Danny,” he states with surety.

Yeah, he should’ve seen this coming. He considers his next step, chewing on his nail and letting time pass by as Tim watches him. Okay, fine. 

“You wanna see one?” 

Tim looks equal parts alarmed and disbelieving.

“Are you serious?”

Danny nods.

“Should I be worried?” Tim asks.

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” Danny says with a wink. He stands and walks to his bedroom, retrieving his backpack from the side of his bed. When he returns, Tim’s standing in the middle of the living room, shuffling uncomfortably. He rustles around in his backpack and pulls out his thermos, then presents it to him.

“This is called the Fe-”

“Fenton Thermos,” Tim completes a bit blankly.

“Uh, yeah. You’re kind of stealing my thunder here, man.”

“Sorry.” He doesn't look that sorry. He’s watching the thermos like it’s a ticking time bomb.

Danny lets it drop to his side.

“Hey. Tim.” He waves his hand in front of Tim’s face to break his eye contact with the device. “It’s okay, nothing bad’s gonna happen.”

He still looks stiff.

“What is going to happen, exactly?”

Danny sidles up to him and uses his free hand to hold Tim’s in what he hopes is a comforting gesture. He holds the thermos up so he can see it.

“I’m gonna press this button,” he thumbs at the green release button, “and a ghost is going to come out of the top. She’s not a scary ghost or anything, so there’s really nothing to worry about. She’s actually just an old woman I found wandering around the neighborhood, she’s a really nice lady.”

“You’re really not messing with me, are you?” he breathes.

“No, Tim, I am not. Are you ready?”

Tim just nods, back to staring down the thermos. Alright, here goes nothing. 

He presses the button and a familiar light pours out from the top. A fog billows along the carpeted floor before materializing into a humanoid figure that stands before the two of them. She’s more transparent than the ghosts he’s used to seeing in Amity, there’s a lot less ectoplasm floating around in Gotham for her to absorb. He was surprised to find that she could even materialize here. She’s a stout woman with short, wispy hair and a kind face. Danny feels Tim’s hand tighten around his.

“Hello, June. It’s good to see you again,” he says gently.

“Danny, dear.” Her voice has a hazy quality to it. She brings her soft eyes to look into his. “Is it time already? Are you taking me to that place you told me about?”

“I sure am, but I wanted to introduce you to someone first. This is my friend, Tim.” He clips the empty thermos onto his belt and waves his hand in Tim’s direction. 

“Oh, my. He looks as though he’s seen a ghost!” Danny knew there was a reason he liked June, she’s got the exact same sense of humor he does. She glances at the clasped hand between them. “The two of you are just friends, are you?” she asks playfully. Oh boy, charming, too? He wonders if he can get her to adopt him as her grandson.

Tim is stuck intensely scrutinizing the woman. He’s probably trying to figure out if she’s a hologram or magic trick or something. Danny nudges him and whispers, “Don’t do that, you’re being rude.” He responds by straightening up and appearing to be embarrassed.

“Hi,” he verbalizes, at last.

“A boy of few words,” June jokes, smiling with all of her teeth.

“Yeah, he’s funny like that,” Danny responds. “Would it be okay with you if he asked you a few questions, he’s really curious about you.”

“Oh! I suppose, though, there's really nothing all that special about me.” Humble, too. He may have to go visit her in the Ghost Zone sometime.

He turns his attention to Tim.

“Well? Go ahead, I know you have questions,” he says quietly.

Tim puts on a face that Danny has come to learn means that gears are furiously turning in his mind. After a long moment, he opens his mouth to speak.

“When did you die?” Oh, ancients. Of course he would ask that.

The old woman starts to look afraid.

“Jeez, not that,” he whispers to a completely lost Tim, then switches to console her. “Sorry, June. Don’t mind him, he’s new to all this.”

She eases slightly and addresses Tim directly.

“That’s alright, dear. I’m new to this, too.”

Well, that’s lucky. She could’ve taken that a lot worse. Danny decides that he should cut the question-asking session off short if he wants to avoid things going south. He should’ve given Tim a crash course or something before doing this. Not that there’s a right way to do this, really.

He releases Tim’s hand and steps forward to take both of June’s in his own.

“I think it’s time we sent you off, is that alright with you?” he asks.

“I would love that.” Excitement floods her voice. “Tell me, is it nice there?”

He always feels like he has to walk a fine line in situations like these. Some people have certain…expectations about what the Infinite Realms is going to be like. It’s hard to tell them that no, they are not in fact going to heaven, they are actually going to a glowing green void that’s jam-packed with other people’s junk. It’s not as straightforward as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, it's a mixed bag, just like living. 

“It might be a bit overwhelming at first, but there’s a place there that’s made just for you. You’ll like it there, you just have to find it,” he settles on saying. 

He thinks he must’ve said the right thing, because she gives him a determined nod in return.

Danny puts some space between himself and the other two, taking a deep breath. He used to really struggle with this part, but he’s gotten a lot better with it recently. He’s still slightly afraid that he’s gonna mess it up right now, just because he has an audience. He lets himself focus inward, searching for the familiar energy that he associates with the Zone. It’s similar to the feeling he gets when he transforms into Phantom, a faint buzzing under his skin. He mentally grasps onto the sensation and pulls it towards himself, filling his entire body with it before concentrating the energy and channeling it towards his hands. He reaches outwards, grabbing hold of thin air and sinking his fingers into it. He tugs at the space between his fingers and tears a hole in reality, the ectoplasm-green glow instantly permeating the room. He continues to stretch the opening until it’s wide enough that it can be stepped through easily.

Danny offers his hand to June. She accepts his help and he guides her to step through the swirling green portal. She doesn’t flinch as her foot disappears to the other side, but does look back to say, “I hope I’ll get to see you again someday, Danny dear.”

“I’ll make sure you do, June,” Danny says, smiling softly at her. 

She slips the rest of the way through and there’s no sound in the room but the low thrumming of the portal. He looks to Tim, who’s staring right at him. Danny instantly feels self-conscious. This was way too much all at once. 

“Sorry. It’s a lot, isn’t it?” He absentmindedly falls into a reserved posture, his hand dropping to his side.

Tim doesn’t answer him. He takes small steps towards the green void, analyzing every part of it. Yep, it’s too much.

“Is this…” Tim reaches his hand out to touch the glow, then seems to think better of it and retracts it.

“It’s a portal. To another dimension.” How did they get here? Why the hell did he think that this was a good idea?

“You have the ability… to access other fucking dimesions ?” Tim finally looks at him. Well, he’s not having a full breakdown yet, that’s got to be a good sign, right? 

“Haha, yeah. I’m just quirky that way.” Fuck, why is he like this? Tim gives him an ‘are you kidding me’ look. 

“You can look in it if you want.” He’s just saying things now, he’s never had the best filter, especially not in moments like this.

Surprisingly, Tim looks intrigued by this idea.

“It won’t hurt me?” Oh, wow. He actually wants to do it. Does nothing phase him?

“No. It might make you a bit dizzy, but-”

Before he can tell him anything else, Tim’s sticking his head through the portal. Danny can’t believe this is happening. He panics for a few seconds and then Tim’s pulling his head back out. He hooks a thumb towards the portal, looking awestruck.

“Danny, that’s another dimension.”

“Yep, that is what I said.”

“But Danny, that’s-” he stops like doesn’t actually have anything else to say.

“Yeah, I know.” He’s a little worried that Tim’s about to look into the portal again, so he moves him aside and grabs either end of the tear and closes it. The thrumming sound and eerie light goes with it, leaving them in Danny’s normal living room, as though nothing had happened. 

Tim watches Danny’s hands even after the portal’s closed, then shifts his gaze to look him in the eyes.

“You’re not a meta?”

He rubs the back of his neck.

“Nope. Don’t have the gene.”

Tim seems to get lost in his thoughts for a moment before asking, “Are you human?”

A shiver prickles the skin of his arms. Even though Tim didn’t say it derogatorily, he still feels uncomfortable. He doesn’t like thinking about this. He is, at least he’s pretty sure he still counts. 

“Ye-yeah, no. Yeah, I’m human,” he can hear the uncertainty in his own voice. He feels the need to follow up on that before Tim can make any assumptions.

 “I just, there was an accident. A few years back. It gave me powers and- yes. Yes, I’m still human.”

Thankfully, Tim seems to pick up on his discomfort and changes the topic.

“Okay. So, I guess all of those ghost sightings in Amity Park were real? Wait, if ghosts are real, why does nobody know about it? Why have we never seen any evidence? Do they only show themselves in your old town or, wait no, you said that you found that ghost in Gotham right? And what the fuck was that all about? Did you just send that woman off to the afterlife? Are you like the Grim Reaper or something?”

The tightness in Danny’s shoulders relaxes. Okay, this he can deal with, just some good old-fashioned ghost questions.

“Woah there. Slow down, one at a time. Danny sits sideways on one end of the couch and gestures for Tim to sit on the other. 

“Alright, first things first, yes ghosts are real. They exist in most places but they have a better chance of forming if there’s a healthy supply of ectoplasm around- I’ll get to ectoplasm in a minute. They can’t be seen in most places by most people and they either don’t show up on film or they distort the film, depending on the ghost, so it’s hard to prove their existence without seeing one in person-” he explains some of the basics to Tim. He tells him about Amity being a hotspot due to the meddling of his parents and their ghost portal, about the function of the Realms, and then drives home the point of ghosts not being explicitly evil, just to cover his bases. He expects Tim to be completely lost at the influx of information, but he’s keeping up surprisingly well. He’s asking the right questions and seems to trust Danny’s judgment on all of the answers. It feels nice to be the authority on something and have someone actually believe him. He supposes that he did just prove the entire existence of ghosts to him, but still.

“So, you used to do this in your old town, too? Help ghosts get to the Infinite Realms?” he asks.

“Well, yes and no. The ghosts in Amity tended to be a bit more,” he tries to think of a polite way to put it, “rowdy than the average bunch. A lot of them were already in the Realms looking for a way to get to the living world, hoping to exact revenge, yadda yadda, heard about the portal in my basement and used it to break out. That didn’t go very well for the town, and it was more convenient for me with my powers and access to the portal to just take care of them myself. I actually made a bit of a name for myself there as a- like a vigilante, I guess? Though maybe not as popular as the ones here. I was pretty hit-or-miss, you either loved me or you hated me. That’s uh, that’s sort of the reason I ended up having to leave.”

Tim’s processing the information, looking like he’s having trouble deciding on what to ask about first.

“The town kicked you out?” he seems to settle on asking.

“Ehhh, not the town… so much as… my parents.” Oh, boy. He shouldn't have brought that up, he does not want to talk about that right now. Please, please, don’t ask about it. Please-

“Your parents made you leave? That’s… that’s really messed up.” Tim sounds angry. Danny suddenly feels defensive.

“They didn’t know it was me! They didn’t know that I was their- they wouldn’t have done it if they… you wouldn’t understand.” He’s frustrated. He wants to believe what he’s saying, but if he was really so sure, he would’ve tried telling them before he left. He’d rather take the blame for keeping it from them than to tell them and find out that it doesn’t change anything in their eyes. He’s not sure why, but he likes to cling to the slim chance that they would accept him, even when their actions never reflected the possibility. Telling them just wasn’t worth losing that.

Tim doesn’t say anything to him, just moves himself closer and places a hand on Danny’s arm. His frustration seeps out of him and he tries to keep himself from breaking into tears. They sit together for a while, Danny trying to control his breathing. He eventually gives in and lets his head fall on Tim’s shoulder, who uses the movement as permission to pull him into a hug. Danny lets him. His warring emotions ease a bit as he breathes in Tim’s familiar smell. Man, he hopes Tim likes him back. This is gonna suck so much if he doesn’t.

“You know, I’m-,” Tim whispers, pulling him out of his thoughts. Danny’s still nestled into his shoulder. “I’m not exactly… a stranger to that kind of lifestyle, myself.” 

Okay, what. Danny lifts his head from its spot and looks Tim in the eye. He looks nervous. Wait, is that how he figured so much out about him? Is he trying to say that he’s a- 

Tim’s sleeve has ridden up again, showcasing his bruise. It looks a lot bigger than he originally thought it was. His eyes narrow. Okay, he needs to know what this bruise looks like, this is very important information right now. Without thinking, he grabs the hem of his shirt and pulls up.

“ Danny -” Tim’s tone is disapproving, but he lets Danny reveal the large cluster of mottled skin along his side. 

“Tim! You’re a vigilante?!” He can’t believe this. No wonder he was so drawn to this guy.

“I never said that, just that I know about the lifestyle,” he backtracks, smacking Danny’s hand away and pulling down his shirt with some redness in his cheeks.

“Yeah, because you fight crime!” Danny gestures to his now covered up bruises. 

Tim gives him a steady look, but doesn’t deny the accusation.

“Holy shit, which one are you? Wait, let me guess,” Danny excitedly runs through all of the vigilante heroes that he knows. 

“Danny, you can’t-”

“Are you Superboy?”

Tim laughs.

“Danny, there aren’t any Supers in Gotham. Also, Superboy doesn’t look anything like me-”

“Hey, I don’t have them all memorized. And he has black hair like you!”

“I’m not Superboy,” Tim snickers.

Danny pauses for a moment to think.

“Okay, what about Nightwing?”

Tim laughs even harder.

“Nightwing is way older than me, and- you really think I’m Nightwing?” Uh, yeah he does seem to remember something about the guy being taller and broader than Tim.

“Fine, fine, how about Bluebird?” 

“You know Bluebird's a girl, right?”

“Wait, really?”

“Yes, Danny.” Okay, he’s not the most knowledgeable person on Gotham vigilantes, so sue him. He’s running out of ideas, but the fact that Tim’s playing along with this game at all must mean he’s onto something, right?

“Robin?”

Tim is completely silent.

“Holy fuck, Tim, are you Robin?” He doesn’t know much about the sidekick, except that he’s supposedly on the younger side. That could track. Wait, does that mean Tim knows Batman?!

“I’m not Robin.”

“Then why did you go quiet like I got it right?”

“ I’m not Robin ,” Tim repeats.

“Fine!” Danny throws his hands up in the air, not able to think of any other heroes off the top of his head. He leans back against the couch.

Tim leans back with him. Danny thinks he sees him smirking out of the corner of his eye. 

“...anymore.” 

Danny whips his head around to face him.

“NO. WAY.”

Epilogue

Tim stands beside Danny, waiting patiently for the employee at the ticket booth to finish a leftover task from their last customer. He feels a kick at his ankles and looks over to see Danny beaming at him.

“Alright, what can I do for you?” the employee prompts at last.

“Two tickets to Hell Hospital 5-” they both say simultaneously, then laugh. 

“Please,” Danny adds, holding out two twenties. 

The employee exchanges the cash for their ticket stubs and points out the hallway that their theater is in. They head in that direction until Tim stops and moves towards the snacks.

“I’m gonna get us some popcorn, do you want anything?” he asks. 

Danny looks around to see if anyone's watching and then pulls a package of candy out of his pocket and shows it to him. Of course Danny’s the kind of guy to sneak food into the theater.

“I got us covered. Theater food’s always too expensive,” he stuffs the candy back into his jacket and checks around again like he’s committed some major crime. 

‘He’s so weird,’ Tim thinks affectionately.

“Okay, then I’ll just get the popcorn,” he starts to walk away but Danny stops him.

“Nooo, I’m supposed to be taking you out, I should get the popcorn.” Oh my god. He’s not for real right now, is he?

“Danny.” 

“Tim,” he returns seriously.

“You know that ten dollar popcorn isn’t going to make or break my bank account, right?”

“It’s ten dollars now?!” He leans over and squints to find the prices on the sign hanging above the stand. “That’s insane, how do they get away with charging that much? I feel like it was half that the last time I went to a movie-” 

Tim cuts him off with a chuckle.

“Danny. I’m gonna get us popcorn, why don’t you go on ahead and pick out the best seats before someone else gets them?”

Danny throws his head back and groans.

“Fiiine. Can you get extra butter?”

“You got it.”

When he gets to their theater number, he pushes the large door open with his elbow, trying not to spill any popcorn. His eyes adjust to the dark room and he tries to find where Danny’s sitting. It isn’t too difficult, seeing as it’s just him in the middle of the row and one other guy about four rows back. It is a Wednesday and this movie’s been out for a full week already, but he expected there to be more people here. That’s probably not a good sign about the quality of this movie. Danny has his legs across the seat next to him, like he’s saving it. He catches sight of Tim walking in and moves his legs, waving at him. He points at Tim, then at the seat next to him.

There’s something so funny about him saving a seat in an empty theater that Tim can’t help but crack a smile.

They talk through the ads at the beginning, keeping their voices at a whisper to not annoy the one other person in the back. Danny gives his early opinions of all of the horror movies that show up and Tim comments about which of the other movies he’d watch. The trailer for their movie plays right before the movie starts. Tim’s surprised at how high-budget it looks for the fifth one in the series, maybe it’ll actually be decent. He says as much to Danny, who nods enthusiastically and crosses his fingers as the screen goes black and the movie begins.

He was wrong, it’s awful. It has a decent budget, but that does not make up for the godawful writing. There are a few good actors who are clearly trying to do their best with what they were given, but the rest of them might as well have been random people picked up off the street. At least it’s kind of funny-bad, he’s still enjoying watching it and making jokey comments to Danny while they eat their snacks.

“God, it’s like they’re not even trying to be scary,” Tim whispers after the third time the undead monster appears on screen. The monster makeup and effects are pretty convincing, but whoever they got to play the thing has the energy of a dad trying to jump out and scare his kids on Halloween. It’s just too goofy.

“I know, look at the way he walks,” he whispers back right as the costumed man on screen exaggeratedly tiptoes up behind the unaware protagonist like he’s in an old cartoon. 

Tim glances over the seats behind them and sees their only neighbor passed out in his seat. He motions for Danny to look, too. 

He glances at the guy, then back up to Tim and nods his head sympathetically in response.

“That’s what happens when you don’t bring a hot guy with you to watch a horror movie,” he says solemnly.

“Yeah, real mistake on his part,” Tim agrees, grabbing another handful of popcorn.

They finish off their food and Tim honestly can’t tell how far into the movie they are. Isn’t this supposed to be about a hospital? When does the hospital come in? There aren’t even any doctors, or sick people, or anything. Danny yawns beside him, shifting to lift his arms up and stretch. 

Wait is he- yep, he definitely is. Tim gets a strong sense of déjà vu as the arm closest to him wraps around to rest on his shoulder. He looks at Danny and rolls his eyes.

“Somehow, I knew that you were going to do that.”

“Impossible. I’m too spontaneous and unpredictable.” 

“Uh-huh,” Tim teases as he adjusts himself under Danny’s arm, nestling closer into his side.

They’ve created an entire imaginary drinking game for the movie at this point. Drink when the main character acts afraid when nothing’s happening. Drink when the monster does his classic sneak-walk. Drink when a character dies off-screen. It’s fun, but Tim’s still holding out hope that the finale is leading up to something good.

“Man, I would even take a jumpscare at this point,” Tim jokes.

“You know it’s bad when you’re asking for a jumpscare. Wait, shh. I think someone just mentioned a hospital.”

“Fucking finally .” Tim leans forward, enraptured in the first taste of real plot. He was worried they weren’t going to get any, he can feel them trying to wrap up the movie.

He’s surprised when Danny moves to stand up.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m just gonna run to the bathroom, I’ve been holding it for like, an hour,” Danny whispers back to him.

“Oh no, you’re going to miss the ending,” he says sarcastically. 

“Yeah, I know, it’s a real bummer.” He gives Tim his jacket to hold for him and walks out of the theater.

Tim tries to tune back in, but he’s kind of over it. It doesn’t look like they’re going to throw in a surprise twist or anything. He thinks this is definitely the final scene, the main character is running through the woods screaming, being chased by the tiptoe-ing menace. She’ll probably die and then it’ll be over. 

He shivers and pulls Danny’s coat up to cover him like a blanket. He’s suddenly freezing, did they just bump up the AC in here? An uneasy feeling prickles at his skin, like he’s being watched or is in some sort of danger. He looks around him, just seeing the tired man starting to rouse from his nap. There’s no one else here. He thinks he must just be imagining it and settles back down, trying to ignore his nerves.

One upside to the odd energy is that this chase scene is starting to feel tense. He’s actually getting into it, noting that the main actress seems to have saved her one believable performance for the last minute. She finds an old abandoned ambulance in the forest, cracks open the rusted handle, and seals herself inside of it. 

The ambient music cuts out and all he can hear is the panting breaths of the protagonist as she listens for the monster’s footsteps outside of the vehicle. Tim’s heartbeat has picked up, feeling a bit of fear, himself. He focuses on the screen as metallic creaking noises come out of the theater’s speakers. The main character looks up to the ceiling of the ambulance, terrified as the creaking stops directly above her. Just as the monster tears through the roof, a ghostly face protrudes from the screen and wails. Tim flinches and he hears the man behind him yelp.

‘Wait is that-’

It takes his brain a second to catch up, but he recognizes Danny’s features on the face before it smiles and sinks back through the screen.

Tim starts laughing. He knows the guy behind him must be judging him, but he just can’t stop. The screen goes black and the credits roll and Tim gives a standing ovation, clapping loudly for a full minute. He watches their theater neighbor gather himself and walk down the staircase, muttering that he didn’t know this movie would be in 3D. 

Danny finally wanders back in, acting casual with his hands in his pockets. He makes it to Tim, who just stands there, taking in his smiling face.

“What’d I miss?” he asks, playing it cool.

Tim shakes his head slightly, takes his hands, then leans in and kisses him.

“Just the best ending ever.”