I'd like to thank my new Beta reader DGM100. She's amazing and is helping me give you all the highest quality writing I can.

Chapter 6 Unlocking Doors

"When are your brothers getting here?" Danny asked. He was seated at Jason's counter, lazily flipping through his phone. Jason looked up at him from where he was kneading dough.

"At five," he answered, looking out the window at the dark howling storm "What time is it?" he asked.

"Four thirty," Danny replied. "Is Tim coming all the way from New York?" he asked, as he was still looking through his phone.

"It's only like two hours," Jason said, shrugging.

"That's still four hours both ways. He must really like your pizza," Danny teased, punching Jason lightly on the shoulder.

"I've been told it's worth it," Jason said. He wasn't sure if this was flirting or not.

"Hey Jay?" Danny started, looking up from his phone.

"Yeah?" Jason asked, curious.

"Were you serious about the camping thing?" Danny asked. Jason couldn't get a read on him. He seemed nervous, and maybe, hopeful.

"Of course," Jason said, sincerely. "Why? Do you want to go?"

"Yeah," Danny said, half rising out of his seat. "It's been ages since I went camping, or even just got out of the city." Jason smiled at his enthusiasm.

"Okay. I'll need to get some supplies, I lost most of my stuff when I left Gotham two years ago, but we'll go."

Danny sat back down on the stool, grinning. They talked about what they would buy, and Danny looked up campsites on his phone until there was a knock on the front door. Jason stared at it incredulously, surprised that his brothers even knew how to knock when they always just picked his lock and let themselves in. He dried his hands on a towel as he walked to the door and flipped it onto his shoulder as he said through the door, "Who is it?"

"Jay, let us in," Tim said.

"Hmm," Jason said, glancing back at Danny who was looking at him curiously. "Sorry, no one here by that name."

"Todd! I know that is you. Do not leave us on the front step," Damian demanded. Jason could just imagine him stomping a foot as he said it.

"Don't think this counts as a front step," Jason countered. He heard a growl through the door, and the sound of lock picks in the knob. He latched the security chain, just as Damian attempted to open the door with force. The chain caught and he could just see Damian glaring at him while Tim had his hands over his face. They were both soaking wet from the rain outside.

"Let me in, Todd!" Damian growled and Jason started to think he'd made a mistake, the bat brat was in a bad mood.

"Okay okay," Jason said, surrendering. "You gotta let me close the door first." Damian glared while he closed the door to unlatch the chain. When he opened it again, Damian stomped inside and shook himself like a dog, soaking Jason.

"Hey!" he complained while the kid sat down and started pulling off his rain boots, dumping out the water on the linoleum floor.

"Would you quit that?" Jason demanded, dropping his towel onto the puddle. Tim skirted around Damian and stripped off his rain jacket. He was wet underneath it, the wind clearly having blown the rain up under it.

"Do you still have that spare change of clothes for us?" Tim asked miserably.

"Yeah," Jason said. "Bottom drawer of the dresser," he gestured to the bedroom. Tim removed his rain boots and wet socks and dripped his way over to the indicated room. He saw Danny and said, "Hey Danny," before slipping through the door. Damian struggled out of a wet sweater revealing an equally wet t-shirt. He then turned around and glared at the new person.

"Hi?" Danny said, unsure. Damian threw down his wet clothes in a pile by the door and marched over to Danny.

"So you are Todd's friend?" he asked like he didn't believe it.

"Todd?" Danny asked, and Damian's expression changed to panic for a split second before Jason saved him.

"Damian doesn't like first names, so he calls me by my middle name," he explained. Actually, Todd was his last name, but since Jason Peter Todd was legally dead, Jason had made a new identity with the name, Jason Todd Peter, not very original but if it wasn't broken…

"Oh," Danny said, understanding.

"I do not dislike first names!" Damian complained, but declined to explain further. He turned back to Danny. "So what makes you think you are a worthy companion for Todd? Are you courting him?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What?!" Danny said, blushing. He put his hands up in surrender, and Jason recognized the motion not from him, but from Phantom. He stored that observation away for later.

Tim saved Danny from answering the kid's question by coming out of Jason's room in a dry t-shirt and jeans.

"Really Jason?" he demanded, planning his hands on his hips. Jason looked at him and laughed. He'd forgotten the specifics of clothes he'd bought in his brother's sizes in case of emergency. Tim was wearing a wonder woman t-shirt.

"What's the problem?" Danny asked, confused, but grateful for the interruption.

"Timmy is a Batman fan," Jason explained. Damian glared at the shirt and then at Jason.

"I hope the clothes you have procured for me are not so offensive," he declared as he marched towards the bedroom and slammed the door.

"Oh god," Tim said. "I hope you didn't." Jason shook his head.

"I'm not stupid enough to fuck with Bat… Damian," he said, barely catching himself. Danny didn't seem to notice, but Tim elbowed him in the ribs as he moved around him to sit down at the counter. The timer on the oven beeped, and Jason went to get his tomatoes out and blend them up.

Damian came out a few minutes later in a plain black t-shirt and jeans. He didn't seem happy, but at least he wasn't being forced to wear a shirt like Tim's. He scrambled into the stool on the other side of Danny.

"Why are you wearing a brace on your knee?" he asked, having noticed it. "Are you injured?" Danny looked down at his knee as though he'd forgotten it was there.

"No," he said simply. "It's an old injury. The rain is just making it ache," he explained. Damian nodded solemnly like he understood. Jason knew he probably did. All the bats had old injuries that storms aggravated, they just hid them.

"How did you two get so wet?" Danny asked, attempting to make conversation.

"Drake refused to park in the Narrows," Damian glared around Danny at Tim. Having had the Jason/Todd thing explained to him, Danny picked up that by Drake, Damian meant Tim.

"Hey!" Tim complained. "The last time I parked nearby, my front window was smashed when I came back."

"That's what you get for driving that prius around here," Jason said, pointing a knife at him to emphasize his point.

"It is not a prius!" Tim complained. Jason shrugged. "It's a fancy ass girly car and any crook worth his salt is going to break into it," Jason said as he was putting the finishing touches on his pizza sauce.

"Anyway," Tim said forcefully. "We parked a few blocks away in a better neighborhood and walked over, and the rain picked up."

"More like a hurricane hit," Damian muttered. Jason was surprised he was starting to use sarcasm. Tim ignored him.

...

The rest of the night went off without too much squabbling, but as it turned out, Danny was no stranger to sibling fights. He was right there with them as they fought over pizza, which Danny wouldn't stop praising, or spots on the couch, Danny ended up next to Jason on the couch and about half way through the movie threw his legs over Jason in a way that made it very hard to focus on anything else. Overall, a successful movie night, even if there was popcorn all over his floor from an impromptu popcorn war.

"Well," Danny said, looking at his phone. "I have to go get ready for work." He stood up and stretched, and Jason got up to see him out.

"Yeah," Tim agreed. "I should probably get Damian back home for the night." Damian groaned and pulled himself up off the floor. Jason only had a couch and one chair, and Damian pulled the short straw and ended up with neither. Jason let Danny out, then dug through his cabinets and came up with a few plastic grocery bags which he gave to Tim. "For your wet clothes," he explained. Tim nodded and gathered up their stuff.

"See you on patrol tonight?" Tim asked quietly as they headed out.

"I've got something to do, so I'll be a little late, but sure," he agreed.

Jason did a little more cleaning as he listened to the movement of Danny downstairs. It wasn't long before he heard the front door open and close, signalling he'd left for work.

Cautiously, in case Danny came back, Jason crept downstairs and picked the lock. He slipped inside and quietly shut the door behind him. The lights were off, and blackout curtains blocked out any light from the streets. Since the layout was the same as his own apartment, Jason had no trouble finding the light switch. The place was shabby and under furnasched. An old lumpy second hand couch stood opposite a small TV that was perched on a plastic tub. An ikea coffee table sat between the two, covered in old take out containers. Jason held back the desire to clean up. He was here to look for clues that Danny was Phantom. He didn't know what he might find, but anything would help.

In the kitchen he found only a few dishes, all of which were dirty, and a cabinet full of poptarts and ramen. The bathroom was mostly empty too, just a single towel and axe soap. A decent med kit sat under the sink, but nothing to write home about. There wasn't anything in it a normal person wouldn't have. No suture kit even. He abandoned the bathroom and tried the bedroom. Clothes were scattered all over the floor, and a dresser stood open spilling more clothes everywhere. 'Damn this guy is messy,' he thought. Jason was surprised to find there wasn't a bed. He looked back over at the couch and realized the pillow and blanket on it meant that Danny slept there. He made a mental note to find a way to get the guy a proper bed.

Jason didn't find anything incriminating in the bedroom though. He looked through all the clothes, hoping to find something that matched the old getup Phantom wore before he'd gotten a proper suit, or anything with that glowing green stuff on it, but no luck. There was nothing here that indicated Danny was Phantom. That didn't mean they weren't the same person, but if they were, then Phantom was careful. He thought that maybe Phantom had a safe house where he stored his suit, after all, Jason had seen him come home from work several times, and he never had a backpack with him, and he couldn't hide those silver boots under his shirt.

And with no other clues to support his theory, Jason gave up and headed out for patrol.

...

"Red Hood? Can he talk in private?" Robin asked Jason quietly a few hours later as the four of them patrolled together. Jason stopped and let Phantom and Red Robin get ahead of them. The two of them were chatting about something, but Jason had been ignoring them for a while.

"Sure," Jason said, quietly enough that the two vigilantes a few roofs over wouldn't hear. Phantom looked back at them and Jason waved him on. Phantom turned to Red Robin and shrugged before the two continued on a ways.

"What is it?" Jason asked, turning his full attention on the kid.

"I have a suspicion that your friend Danny may be Phantom," Robin said simply.

"You too huh?" Jason said, looking back at the white haired meta who'd started to spar a bit with Red Robin. He seemed in a very good mood tonight.

"You suspected this already?" Robin asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Jason breathed. "They both said something very similar, but I'm not a hundred percent sure it all lines up. What makes you think they're the same?"

"They both move the same way," Robin said. Jason had to admit, they did move similarly, but Robin would know best. He was raised by the League of Assassins after all; the way people fight and move had been a big part of his childhood.

"Like what?" Jason asked, wanting to get Robin to think about it for himself and also tell Jason exactly how similar the two guys were. Robin screwed up his face behind the domino in thought.

"Well, they both make this motion," Robin said, putting his hands up in mock surrender. Jason hummed in agreement. He'd noticed that too.

"And they both limp on their right knee," Robin said.

"Phantom doesn't limp," Jason argued, looking back up at the meta. He was dancing lightly away from Red Robin's attacks, his feet barely touching the ground. Were they even touching the ground? Jason couldn't tell from this distance.

"Phantom does limp," Robin argued. "I've observed it twice. He is disguising it somehow," the kid reasoned. "I've observed him limping when he is weakened or compromised. For example, the other night with Batman when you pushed him off the roof." Jason had to think. In all the commotion that night, he'd forgotten he'd seen Phantom limping.

"Okay," Jason agreed. "But there's a lot that doesn't line up."

"If you shared your observations, perhaps I could find a way in which they do," Robin said smugly.

"Danny gets locked out of his apartment," Jason explained and Robin's expression turned confused.

"But he can walk through walls can he not?" Robin asked.

"He can," Jason agreed. "And I know from experience covering up scars like the ones Phantom has is a pain, and the results are never perfect."

"I will have to think about this. Your counter evidence is very inconvenient Hood," Robin admitted.

"Hey!" Phantom called waving his arms at them. "What are you two talking about? Let's get back to work!"

"He's really excited tonight," Jason commented with a slight smile under his hood. Together, both he and Robin caught up with them.

...

The next week passed by with some semblance of routine. Jason woke up, cleaned or built new gear, went shopping, or worked on cases. Then, he met up with Phantom and they patrolled together. Jason was starting to rely on the guy to watch his back. They found a flow, and worked well together. The meta was also a lot smarter than Jason had given him credit for. Once, Jason's grapple had broken, and with easy motions, Phantom had disassembled it, fixed the issue, and put it back together. He was also becoming quite the talker, rambling at crooks and thugs, throwing them off their game. And he would not stop with the puns. Jason recognised he was slowly opening up. Jason's worry that he was the same person as Danny took a back seat.

Then, once their patrol was over, and they'd spit up, Jason went home and invited Danny up. At some point, they'd stopped using the fire escape and Danny just came in through the door. Jason would cook dinner, and they'd talk, and occasionally they'd watch a movie. Danny was turning out to be almost as touchy as Dick was, throwing his legs over Jason's while they sat on the couch like he had the night Tim and Damian had been over. Danny would find excuses to touch Jason's arms or shoulders, bumping into him when they walked past each other, it was all sending his heart fluttering. They were becoming comfortable with each other.

And so, everything was comfortable, and quiet, until it wasn't.

Red Hood and Phantom had been hearing talk of a body snatcher stealing fresh corpses and selling their organs on the black market. They hadn't looked too much into it, until people started to go missing, only to turn up with a missing kidney, or part of their liver, if they came back at all. Oracle had helped trace what she could, and finally, after a week of searching, they found their man.

The door to the supposedly abandoned two story house splintered as Jason's boot kicked it open. Instantly, the smell of blood and rot rose up to assault his senses. Jason ramped up his helmet's filters. He heard a bang as Phantom kicked in the back door. Their perp was in here somewhere, and now they had both exits covered. The plan was to sweep the house, but as it turned out, they didn't have to. A shape whirled out of the shadows, a knife raised to strike Jason. But he was too slow. Jason fired a rubber bullet into the man's knee, and he went down.

Phantom appeared from where the man had come, he hit him on the back of the head to knock him out and snatched up the knife. Jason then came over towards them. He quickly zip tied the asshole's hands behind his back. One twisted organ seller caught. Easy.

"You good?" Phantom asked. He had a hand up covering his nose and mouth against the horrid stench. Jason nodded.

"Let's find the source of that smell," Jason said, already dreading it.

As they walked, Jason saw Phantom was limping, though he hadn't been when they entered, and his face was pale. The conversation he'd had with Robin rose up to meet him, but he shoved it down. He didn't have time for that thought. But something was clearly bothering Phantom, and Jason figured it was the thought of what was causing the stench.

They followed the smell to the kitchen, and the sight even made Jason want to hurll. Bodies lay in heaps, their chest's cut open with Y shaped incisions; their ribs broken open with practiced ease. Filthy medical tools and other less refined instruments lay scattered around the room. It was horrible.

Phantom took a step back from the doorway and Jason glanced over at him. He'd never seen the meta look so scared before, but now he looked about ready to bolt at any second.

"Keep it together Phantom," it came out like an order. "We need to search the rest of the place for survivors." Phantom nodded, though he still looked shaken. They didn't find any, just coolers of organs.

By the time the authorities had shown up, and Jason was handing their crook over, Phantom had vanished.

…

Jason dragged himself home. He was glad that they'd caught the guy, but it was still rough to see that kind of shit. He showered in scalding water, trying to get the imagined filth of the place off, and the stench out of his nose with too much soap. When the water ran cold, he got out and dressed. Usually, Danny had let himself into his apartment by now, they'd exchanged keys by that point, but he wasn't there yet. They didn't always hang out in the evenings, but usually Danny texted when he wasn't up for it.

Jason checked his phone, but he didn't have any messages, so he texted Danny instead.

Jason: Not up for dinner today?

He set the phone on the counter and looked through his fridge for leftovers. He found some fried rice, and set a pan on the stove. It was a lot tastier to re-fry it than to put it in the microwave. He checked his phone once the rice was done, but Danny still hadn't messaged back, which was unlike him. Jason walked around his apartment, listening. The floors were thin, so he could often hear what Danny was doing if he was quiet. Sure enough, he could hear the shower running below his feet. Figuring that was why Danny hadn't messaged him back, he settled down on the couch to eat his food.

When Danny still hadn't responded by the time he was done, and the shower downstairs was still running, Jason got worried. There was no way the water was still hot, and his friend hated cold showers. He was forever complaining about the lack of hot water. Jason grabbed the key to Danny's apartment and headed down. He knocked first, but when there was no answer, and the shower kept running, he went in.

Despite all the time Danny spent in Jason's apartment, Jason had rarely been in his. The place was still shabbily furnished. The lights were off, and with the black out curtains, Jason couldn't make out much.

"Danny?" he called, but got no answer. He went to the bathroom door and knocked. "Danny? You in there?" No response. "Hey, you okay?" Still nothing. "I'm coming in." He slowly opened the door. Only a dim bulb illuminated the space, and Jason saw Danny, fully clothed, except for his socks and shoes, sitting on the floor of the shower with his knees pulled up to his chest. He was soaking wet, water still pouring down on him.

"Danny?" Jason asked, softly. He knelt down next to the tub, and gently touched him on the shoulder. Danny violently flinched away, his eyes closed tight. Jason pulled back.

"Hey, it's okay," Jason said, gently. "It's just me. I'm going to turn the water off now okay? It's gone cold." Danny didn't react to this, so Jason reached behind him to turn off the water. He was shivering, whether from the cold or the severe panic attack he was currently having, Jason couldn't tell.

"Hey, we need to get you out of those wet clothes, okay?" Jason tried, but Danny didn't seem like he was going to be coaxed out of this state. He'd started rubbing his wrists, a motion Jason hadn't seen him do before.

"I'm not going to hurt you okay?" Jason said, not sure he was being heard but wanting to give Danny every chance to show if he wasn't okay with this. "I'm going to pick you up now, okay?" Danny didn't react, so slowly Jason touched him again, and this time he didn't flinch away. Jason slowly slipped one arm beneath his knees, and wrapped the other around his back. He lifted Danny out of the tub, and held him to his chest. The wet clothes added several pounds, but he was still an easy burden for Jason.

On his way out of the bathroom Jason grabbed the lone towel. He carried the dripping Danny to the bedroom. It was darker here then the rest of the apartment, but he didn't turn on a light. Even so, in the dimness he could make out clothes still all over the floor. He set Danny down, and using the light of his phone's screen, rummaged around for clean clothes. He found a pair of sweatpants, fresh boxers, and a t-shirt that looked worn out.

"Can you get changed on your own?" Jason asked as he knelt with the clothing next to Danny. He wasn't really surprised when his friend didn't respond. "You'll get sick if you stay wet," Jason urged, but still Danny seemed lost inside himself. "Are you okay if I dress you?" He got no negative reaction to this, so Jason slowly pulled Danny's shirt off. Danny didn't fight him, letting him strip the soaking thing off. Jason couldn't see much in the darkness, but his fingers brushed over scars, and he was suddenly glad he didn't turn on the light. It wouldn't be right for him to see this without Danny's consent. He dried Danny's skin and hair with the towel, before putting him in the dry shirt.

With as much care as he could, keeping his eyes averted, he removed Danny's soaking jeans and boxers, dried off his lower half as quickly as he could and put him in the new underwear and sweats. It was challenging, as Danny didn't seem to want to stand on his own, but Jason managed. With that awkward task complete, Jason picked him up again. He could still feel Danny trembling as he held him to his chest, though it was a bit less than before.

Jason scanned the room and remembered the lack of a bed. With a sigh he carried his charge out into the living room and eyed the couch. Sure enough, there was still a pillow and blanket on the old, lumpy thing.

"There's no way I'm letting you sleep on that tonight," he said, mostly to himself. His decision made, Jason headed for the door, grabbing Danny's phone from where it lay on the counter on his way out. He took his friend up to his apartment and set him down in his bed. When he tried to pull away, he found a hand fisted in his shirt. He looked at Danny. His eyes were still far away, but he was clearly conscious enough to know Jason was leaving him.

"I just need to change," Jason said softly. "I'm soaked. I'll be right back hon." Danny let him go and he grabbed a change of clothes before heading to the bathroom to change. When he came back, Danny was laying on the other side of the bed, curled up into a ball. His breathing had softened into deep even breaths of sleep. With a deep sigh of relief, Jason grabbed a pillow and a spare blanket and went to sleep on the couch.

...

The next morning, or more accurately, evening, Jason was making breakfast when Danny emerged from his bedroom. He had his phone clutched in his hand, and a sheepish look on his face.

"Hey," Jason greeted softly.

"Hey," Danny said back. "Sorry about... I…" he looked lost, and Jason quickly crossed the room to get to him, gripping him gently by the shoulders. He tried to meet Danny's eyes, but Danny wouldn't look at him.

"It's okay. You don't have to apologize," Jason said. Danny shook his head.

"You shouldn't have had to see that," Danny argued. Jason bit his lip.

"I don't know what happened, and you don't have to tell me, but I do understand Danny. And I don't blame you for it. I'm just glad I was there. I tried to help..."

"You did help," Danny interrupted, meeting his eyes. His beautiful blue eyes were liquid and sad. "I don't remember everything, but I remember you," he said with a wistful tone.

"I'm glad," Jason said with a smile, and then pulled him into a hug. Danny hesitated for a second before hugging him back. They stood like that for a while, and when Danny finally pulled away, he looked into Jason's eyes like he was searching for something, and then, he kissed him. Jason was surprised for a second but kissed him back earnestly, his heart thundering in his chest the entire time.

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