Danny's entrance exam came and went without much pomp or circumstance. At least, until the results came in. Much to his surprise, the results of the entrance exam actually placed him a year ahead of his age in the senior class with Duke. Bruce, despite only having known Danny for a short while, had smiled at him with no small amount of pride and asked Alfred to make a special dessert for that night's dinner. Danny was uncomfortable with all the fuss until the mention of cake had been made.
He'd allow the fuss to be made if it meant he got a cake out of it. And a damn good cake it had been–dark chocolate with black frosting and white stars piped on top. It amused him that knowledge in his interest in space had spread throughout the house so quickly, but he wasn't complaining about it. Having people to engage with his hobby was nice, actually. Before, only his dad had ever humored Danny's interest in space and actually encouraged it. That line of thinking quickly put a pit in his stomach, however, so Danny shoved the memories of rambling to his dad about constellations aside.
The stargazing with Damian continued most nights for the next week or so. The following Friday, however, the boy pulled Danny aside early in the afternoon to announce that they'd be unable to continue their lessons that night. "Dick is having a family movie night at his apartment in Bludhaven," Damian announced.
"Oh," Danny said, "Uh, okay. Have fun." He tried his best to not sound disappointed–he had actually come to anticipate their astronomy sessions with a bit of excitement. It was apparent that they'd have to do them much less frequently when the two boys returned to school.
Damian scoffed and shook his head. "You do realize you're an adopted Wayne, right? That means you are invited to this event."
"This is the first I've heard of it," Danny said, trying to coolly play off the small twinge of eagerness he felt at Damian saying he was welcome to come.
"Do you–" Damian paused and looked at him oddly, "Do you not check the group chat?"
Ah, right. The Wayne kid group chat that strangely held a few family friends as well, but Danny wasn't gonna question Barbara, Jason, and Stephanie's inclusion too much. He had muted the chat pretty soon after joining when it became apparent that they talked a lot in the chat. Given that he had only met Duke and Damian out of the eight others, he felt a bit too awkward to say anything.
"Nope," he said, popping the P.
Damian gave an exasperated sigh, "Well, Fenton, will you be coming tonight? The others are eager to meet you."
Danny hesitated. It's not that he didn't want to meet the rest of the Waynes and their friends, but it was a bit of an overwhelming amount of people. The only time Danny had ever had attention from that many people as Fenton before was negative attention. His only human friends had been Sam, Tucker, and sometimes Valerie. Being in an apartment with eight people, most with their attention on him as the new one of the bunch… yeah, no. That was not appealing in any way to him.
The younger boy picked up on his hesitance, and narrowed his eyes. "Tt, backing down?"
Was the brat going to challenge him on this? Danny was fully aware of his own faults that he could absolutely be provoked by a 14-year-old. He chose his words carefully, "I just am not a people person. Not my idea of fun."
"Well," Damian began in a way that Danny knew the rest of the sentence was going to be irritating, "I suppose I'll let the others know that you can't handle such a large group outing, and that they'll have to meet you individually."
The rational part of Danny was reprimanding himself, saying that he shouldn't let himself be provoked into going to a social event out of pure spite by a 14-year-old. The petty part of Danny, however, was much louder. "Fine," he snapped, "I'll go to the dumb movie night."
Damian turned away to hide the ghost of a pleased smile that upturned his lips. With a dismissive wave, he headed off towards his room in the manor, calling back, "Meet in the garage at 5, Fenton."
He only shook his head, muttering under his breath about Damian being a rat.
Stepping out of the elevator and into the hallway, Danny could already hear the ruckus of the movie night and was filled with a vague sense of dread. He tossed Duke and Damian glances, and Duke sent back an apologetic smile. Damian merely tutted, squared his shoulders, and made his way down the hallway towards the source of noise. The oldest of the Wayne children, Dick Greyson, lived on the 15th floor of a very nice apartment building. He shouldn't have expected anything less from a ward of billionaire Bruce Wayne, but Danny's new normal had not yet fully sunk in.
Getting closer to the apartment, the noise grew, and he was able to pick out words with his sensitive hearing.
"Jay, I thought the 'no guns around Danny' rule didn't need to be explicitly stated." One voice shouted accusingly.
That shot Danny's eyebrows up to his hairline. The argument continued, oblivious to the fact that their new adopted brother was a halfa that could hear them halfway down the hall.
"Oh let off, Grayson, they're concealed."
"Concealed? You mean carelessly shoved into the back of your pants?"
"Kid's not gonna notice."
"I noticed."
"Is your name Danny?"
Damian sniffed and shook his head. "What could they possibly be arguing about?"
Danny bit his tongue to not make a blithe comment that it was about guns, of all things. The gun part didn't bother him. He was a Fenton, after all, and had grown up around weaponry. He'd learned to shoot before he was even in middle school. Sure, that had been ectoweaponry and not traditional guns, but the idea was similar enough.
"No clue," Duke spoke up and then glanced at Danny, "But we're really sorry that our brothers are about to have the world's worst first impression."
He chuckled a bit at that. "Trust me, I've met people that have made worse first impressions." Hell, even Clockwork had tried to kill him upon their first meeting.
"What kind of friends do you even have?" Duke asked.
Danny gave Duke a 'do you really want to know' look to which the other teen nodded. He sardonically said, "Well, they're either dead or dead." Duke's expression became alarmed briefly and then apologetic and sheepish, his eyes not quite meeting Danny's face anymore. He struggled with a response, so Danny took mercy on him. "Seriously, befriending ghosts is so stressful. I swear they've cut my lifespan in half just due to stress."
Damian made his characteristic derisive noise and stopped in front of one of the apartment doors. He knocked, sharp and clear, three times then opened the door without waiting. Duke and Danny followed the young teen into the apartment.
The scene in the apartment was chaotic, to say the least. A tall man in a leather jacket with a streak of white in his otherwise dark hair was standing on a couch, pointing at another tall, dark-haired man. Sat beside the couch in a wheelchair was a red-haired woman who looked exasperated. There was a blonde woman sitting cross legged in an armchair and standing behind the chair was a third dark-haired man, this one holding a bowl of popcorn and shaking his head. Danny almost missed the smaller woman crouched on the ground in front of the coffee table, shoveling chips into her mouth and watching the two arguing men with rapt attention.
What was it with this family and black hair?
When Danny and the other two boys entered, the argument froze and everyone in the room turned to look at them walking through the door. There were a few beats of silence, before the blonde woman jumped up and ran over to them.
"Ah! You're so adorable!" She shouted, approaching Danny and going to dote over him. He scowled at being called adorable. Sure, he hadn't grown since the portal accident but his height didn't make him cute.
Danny swatted away her attempt to ruffle his hair. "I'm pretty sure nameless women trying to touch my hair counts as stranger danger."
"I'm Stephanie, the cool one of this lot. Don't let Jay fool you, he's actually a nerd underneath that leather jacket and combat boots." She responded with a sunny smile.
"Hey!" The man with the white streak in his hair protested. Stephanie merely blew him a kiss with a cackle and a wink.
"The leather jacket nerd is Jason," Stephanie said, pointing at him. "Red-haired one is Barbara, or Babs if you feel like it. The rest are your oh-so-lovely siblings. Your sister is Cass. She prefers sign language, so we'll have to teach you if you don't know it."
Before Stephanie could introduce him, the dark-haired man that had been arguing with Jason began to walk over to Danny and spoke up. "I'm Richard, but you can call me Dick. I'm the oldest of Bruce's gaggle." He stuck out his hand to shake, which Danny tentatively took. After releasing Dick's hand, the man immediately went to ruffle Danny's hair, which he nimbly dodged out of the way of.
"What's with you all and touching my hair!" He complained, eyeing the last dark-haired man he hadn't been introduced to yet suspiciously. If this one also tried to touch his hair, he was out of movie night.
"Steph and Dick are just like that. It's unfortunately terminal," the unnamed man said, voice serious but a smile quirking up his lips. "I'm Tim."
With all of the Wayne family and their friends introduced, Danny looked over the room again. The apartment was obviously very nice but looked lived in and cozy. He noticed that the windows had additional security bars that Dick must have added himself, and filed that information away. He also noticed that the front door had extra locks installed.
While looking over the room, he found his gaze drawn to Jason. He furrowed his brow, trying to put his finger on why the man stood out to him. There was an… odd feeling surrounding him. It wasn't quite his ghost sense, but there was a similar feeling that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He could feel something around the man. If he squinted, he could almost see a subtle neon green ring around Jason's pupils. Was that–
Duke elbowed him.
That brought Danny back to reality enough to realize he had been staring intently at Jason for the better part of a minute or two. His cheeks heated in embarrassment.
"Seems like you got an admirer, Jay," Stephanie chuckled in a good natured way.
"I just thought he seemed familiar," Danny mumbled. Jason narrowed his eyes for a moment, examining Danny. They met eyes and Danny felt almost like a spark jolt through his body. Something was off with Jason. He just hoped that whatever Jason had going on didn't mean he could sense how off Danny himself was. He forced a smile. "It's nothing, though."
The others shrugged and moved on from the topic. Dick gave Danny a brief tour of his apartment and told him to feel at home. Everyone settled into various spots around the television to get ready for the movie night, leaving Danny feeling a bit awkward at inserting himself into the situation. It was obvious that they all had their pre-established spots and roles and Danny was just an intruder.
It left him on edge as he settled down next to Duke on one of the couches.
The feeling was pushed to the side as arguments over which movie to watch started. Danny observed, amused at seeing his adopted siblings and their friends interact in an obviously familiar way. Even with the arguing and targeted jabs, he could see there was a lot of love in the group. They had the sort of dynamic that felt good to even be an observer to. He was thankful that when it came time to order pizza, there were no arguments there. They had their pizza order down to a science, although Dick had to correct himself on the phone and add in some extras to account for Danny being an extra mouth to feed.
The group settled on watching Into the Spiderverse, which Danny had never seen but seemed to be a favorite amongst the Waynes and their friends. What he didn't realize immediately, though, was that by picking a movie familiar to them all, they had opened up the chance for them to assault Danny with questions about himself and his life with the movie acting as background noise.
"Soooo, Danny-boy," Stephanie began, "What's Amity Park like. Are there really ghosts?"
He laughed a bit at that. "Asking if there are ghosts in Amity is like asking if Venice has water."
"Really that bad?" Barbara inquired.
"I mean, mostly? My parents are ectobiologists, so I guess I had more exposure to it all." There was a twinge deep in his gut as he remembered and corrected himself. "Ah, were. They were ectobiologists." He did his best to ignore the sympathetic looks his siblings were shooting his way.
"Ectobiologists?" Cass asked, surprising Danny. It was the first time she had voiced something rather than sign it to her siblings and friends. Her voice was soft and gentle, more like a whisper than anything.
"Ya know, ghost scientists. They studied the applications of ectoplasm and the biology of ghosts." Danny said. "Although mostly they really liked to hunt ghosts. They were very gung-ho about the hunting aspects of their job."
"Did you hunt ghosts?" Tim asked.
Danny frowned, tapping his fingers on the armrest of the couch. There wasn't a great answer to that, even outside of trying to keep Phantom a secret. His status as a ghost hunter was… complicated. So, he voiced that. "It's not as straightforward as that. I didn't agree with my parents on a lot of things they accepted as fact."
Jason looked at him with a strange sort of understanding, but asked, "What do you mean?"
"Ghosts aren't as easily boiled down to a core malevolence as they think. They're just as complicated as humans, if not more so. Sure, some did come out of the Ghost Zone to cause problems, but most ghosts just want to live out their existences like anyone else."
"Huh," Stephanie intoned. "That's interesting. We'll have to pick your brain some more about ghosts later. We wanna learn about you, afterall, not just ghosts."
Danny half shrugged. "There's not much to know about me. Just a loser that likes space."
"Tt, you say that." Damian muttered.
"Bruce told us that you were skipped ahead a year with your entrance exam," Dick pointed out, "That's pretty cool."
Danny made a wiggly hand gesture to indicate that he didn't really agree with that assessment.
The conversation shifted from focusing on Danny into the siblings and friends lightly asking how Stephanie and Tim were doing in college, then diving into stories from each other's college experiences. Duke and Damian didn't look to feel too left out by the discussion, instead offering up some of their school experiences even if they weren't as notable. Danny didn't have much to add to the conversation, given that his school life had devolved into being shoved into lockers in between skipping class and late assignments. Any of his fun school stories were distinctly ghost related and couldn't be shared.
He stood up to go grab something to drink from the kitchen, only to hiccup with a gasp, a puff of cold air curling out of his mouth. Shit, he thought, ghosts here? Danny glanced back at where the others were engrossed in their conversation and figured they wouldn't notice right away if he snuck out to deal with his little ghost problem. Quietly, he shut the fridge door and tip-toed to the entrance of the apartment. No one noticed when he slipped out the front door.
With a quick glance around the hallway, he transformed into Phantom and invisibly phased through the walls of the apartment building to get outside. Following the tug of his ghost sense, he flew over the dark streets of Bludhaven. The city had similar vibes to Gotham, albeit on a smaller scale, and it made him want to try out a flight over Gotham's streets.
Eventually, his ghost sense led him to a dimly lit street a few blocks away from Dick's apartment. Underneath the light of a flickering street lamp was Johnny, taking a drag from a cigarette. Danny landed in front of the biker ghost, arms over his chest, and in a commanding voice, asked, "What are you doing so far from Amity?"
Johnny didn't startled but looked surprised at Danny's appearance. He flicked the ashes off his cigarette. "Kitty and I broke up."
"Again?" The words slipped out before Danny's brain could catch up with his mouth, and that was very much the wrong thing to say.
Johnny bristled and sneered. "What would you know about relationships?"
"I know plenty."
"You and that goth chick never got together before she kicked it, freak."
Danny froze.
Johnny seemed to realize what he said as well, and began to backtrack. "Woah, woah, I did not mean it like that, kid."
A cold sort of anger washed through Danny like a tidal wave, intense and unrelenting. It was overwhelming and sudden, taking over any sort of sensible thought. He unfolded his arms from his chest and clenched his fists at his sides. "What did you say?"
"Nothing," Johnny said quickly, holding his hands up in mock surrender, "Don't get your panties in a twist, I was just playing."
"Playing?" Danny echoed, head tipping to the side. That cold anger coiled inside of his core, hissing like a rattlesnake. He could see dark, black tendrils creeping in to the corners of his vision. Licking his lips, he eyed Johnny.
Johnny threw his cigarette on the ground and crushed it under heel, "I'm just gonna head out, okay kid? I'm out of your hair."
In a flash, Danny closed the distance, grabbing Johnny's wrist before it could rest on the handle of his motorcycle. The other ghost stilled, gaze nervously flicking to meet Danny's. He… wasn't sure what happened next. One moment he had Johnny's wrist in his grip, and the next there was the sound of a large crash and the smell of gasoline. He blinked, and saw that Johnny as well as the bike had been tossed across the street into another car.
Danny's mouth was dry.
Johnny groaned in pain, "Dammit kid, if you're going to be like that, just shove me in the thermos and be done with it."
Wordlessly, he pulled the Fenton Thermos off of his belt and obliged. Johnny didn't put up a fight as Danny sucked him into the thermos.
What had just happened?
Danny wasn't sure how long he floated there underneath the flickering street, staring at the thermos in hand. He had to return to Dick's apartment before they noticed he was gone, though. Clipping the thermos back on his belt, he flew in the direction of the apartment and transformed back to Fenton. Carefully, he pushed the front door open.
No luck as to getting back in unnoticed.
"Danny!" Came Barbara's surprised shout.
That caught everyone else's attention, all turning to face him.
He walked into the apartment and let the door shut behind him with a click.
"Are you okay, what happened to your face?" Dick asked, rushing over to Danny's side.
His face?
Danny reached up to touch his nose and when he pulled his hand away, his fingers were coated in blood–red with the faintest flecks of ectoplasm. He realized, belatedly, that his nose stung with the pain of being broken and his chest hurt as if he had bruised some ribs. That frightened him. He didn't remember fighting Johnny.
Dick went to put a handle on Danny's shoulder, and he jerked to the side, slapping the hand away with his own. "Don't." Danny said harshly.
There was something ugly and dark curled in his chest, and Danny did not like it.
So, he did the sensible thing.
He lashed out.
"Don't pretend you care," Danny hissed at Dick.
Dick stepped back, a hurt look flashing across his face. "You're hurt," he murmured. "We didn't even notice you slipped out, and you come back with a broken nose. I'm worried."
"Just–just don't." Danny spat, "Don't pretend that you all want me here."
Duke had joined Dick's side and was looking at Danny with obvious concern. His brow was pinched together as he spoke, "We do want you here, Danny."
He looked away from the Wayne kids and their friends, instead choosing to examine a particularly interesting wall. Yep, that was a wall.
"Danny?" Dick asked tentatively.
"No, like," he began to respond without looking away from the wall. "I know I'm only here as a favor. I didn't delude myself into thinking I was wanted here."
Dick frowned. "What are you talking about?"
He wondered if the Wayne kids knew about their dad funding Batman. They had to, right?At least Tim had to–he worked for Wayne Industries. He gave a half shrug and said, "Ya know, Batman."
There was a tense silence in response to Danny's words. At that, he wrenched his gaze from the wall to look at them. All of the people in the room were eyeing each other uneasily, some strange ripple of wordless communication passing through them.
"What do you mean, Danny?" Barbara finally asked gently.
"Batman was in Amity while I was in the hospital. I heard him talking to some detective. They said Batman had a friend that might take an interest, and the next day Bruce Wayne offered to adopt me? Yeah, I can put that one together."
More silence.
Danny continued, uncertain now, "I mean, it's fine. It's whatever. Bruce Wayne funds Batman. I won't tell anyone. But I'm only here 'cause Jazz dealt with a problem of the Bat's, and he probably asked Bruce to look after me. I'll be out of your hair the moment I turn 18, don't worry."
"Is that really what you think?" Jason asked dryly. Danny narrowed his eyes at the man, trying to parse the oddly angry expression on his face.
"What Jason is trying to say," Dick cut in, "Is that you're not a burden or a problem or just a favor to someone. You're here because we want you. You seem like a good kid, and we're not gonna drop you like that."
Danny scrubbed a hand over his face, then turned away. "I'm just going to go back to the manor."
There was an immediate overlapping of voices at that, as the Wayne kids and their friends all scrambled to try to convince him otherwise. Danny didn't want to listen, though. He had made his decision and needed to leave. This odd, tight feeling in his chest and the darkness around the corners of his vision were scaring him. He couldn't be around his adopted family. He just couldn't.
Ignoring them all, Danny fled through the front door of Dick's apartment and turned invisible the moment the door shut behind him. It was only shut for the briefest of seconds before Dick wrenched it back open and looked around the hallway, baffled. Looking past the invisible Danny, he muttered under his breath in confusion.
Danny stepped backwards a few feet, then turned and flew through the wall.
There'd be consequences to running from the Wayne family movie night, but those would be consequences for a later time. Little did he know how common that line of thinking would become.
