Notes: Hey, thanks for reading this story! This is one of the few ships I've written for and I'm really excited to explore something new.
Many, many thanks to AKelaNakamura for all the insightful things and rants shared during sprint hours and special thanks to TourettesDog for all the encouragement 3
Prompt: Firsts (First road trip in this case)
Danny does know Tim is Red Robin / Tim doesn't know Danny is Phantom.
Chapter 1: One Foot In The Grave
The road looked endless for a moment, like it would stretch for hours into the horizon. Rows upon rows of trees almost sheltered the two lonely lanes where not many other vehicles drove at this time of the day. Danny could picture for a moment they were stuck in a loop, like in old Hollywood movies where the car was perfectly still against a moving background, with no discernible features between the last dozens of trees and the continuous straight path ahead.
It would be fitting, in a way. To leave Gotham's hellish smog and chaos to the apparent calm of the Northeast's less-traveled roads only to end in a different kind of recursive hell.
Or maybe it was easier to picture hell in this shade of green. It definitely was more bearable to think about dying out of boredom looking at the woods and cornfields, than getting his heart broken if things went wrong when they reached their destination.
Danny kept his mind busy trying to come up with last-minute exits from this trip. But just like their current path, the chances of escaping were narrowing as they got further away from the dark city. He turned to look at his companion on the wheel; Tim just kept a pleasant smile as he talked about how good the coffee from the last stop was, unaware of the tension in his co-pilot's shoulders.
Guilt began to fill Danny's stomach with its accompanying dread and nausea. He knew Tim was excited about hitting the countryside together, probably the new biggest milestone in their time dating. There was something so endearing in the way he seemed to even enjoy the random detours. That was saying something about how determined Tim was to see this journey through despite the inconveniences, especially when he was well-known for planning every single thing ahead.
"Hey, Buzz, we're getting lots of static on the radio here," Tim said after a lull in their conversation and Danny snorted at the appropriate choice of the pet name. For all the complaints he got about his puns, Tim wasn't that bat at it. "You wanna switch to that playlist you made for the trip?"
Danny lit up at the sudden epiphany, feeling the almost feral grin on his lips, unnoticed by his driving companion. This was probably his last resort before they were too far from New Jersey to consider going back home; not too far yet that they needed to reconsider all their life's choices, at least.
"Sure thing, duckling," he said in the most sugary sweet voice he could muster, getting a small chuckle from his boyfriend.
Looking for the playlist he downloaded on his phone, Danny scrolled through the songs he selected for this specific brand of torment: earworms from the 80s, his parents' favorites. The first song started with a drum beating, followed soon by a synth keyboard playing high notes as "Take on Me" began.
While Tim and Danny had shared many things in their short life as a couple, music was not necessarily one of them. Tim seemed to prefer more world music and jazz, while Danny was okay with the mixture of whatever the recommendations would vomit; sure, rock bands were still at the top of his list, but so was whatever filled the background silence. So, why not show Drake what's waiting for him in the Fenton household to really get on his nerves?
Tim frowned in confusion as if trying to identify what he was listening to. That only encouraged Danny to start dancing with his head and shoulders as obnoxiously as he could. Not minding if he was out of tune, he began to sing the first lines at the top of his lungs, encouraged by the deserted road and the air coming from the open windows.
"We're talking away – I don't know what – I'm to say I'll say it anyway – Today's another day to find you – Shying away – I'll be coming for your love, okay?"
His boyfriend continued his quizzical stare until the chorus began and his face morphed into a wide smile. "Oh! Oh! I do know that song! I love this part!" Tim said instead, making Danny's smug smile fall.
"You…do?" he asked tentatively.
"Sure," the driver replied with a shrug. "Sometimes when I stayed home as a kid, I would play my parents' vinyl records. That's how I began to love Miles Davis. But I also liked these upbeat songs."
Danny stared in silence, partly in awe and partly concerned about how little he knew the extent of his music tastes. All these plans were backfiring horribly. If Tim wouldn't be persuaded to turn around and head back to Gotham, Danny would have to resign to his fate at the end of this road trip.
Tim turned for a second to look at Danny before he kept his eyes back on the road. "Everything alright, Apollo? You kinda crashed for a moment there."
That got Danny to laugh. "Glad to see your puns getting better. How's the banter going during patrol?"
The sound of Tim's own laughter brought a spark of joy in Danny's chest, a lifeline he didn't know he needed. "Not really my thing. But you are becoming a bad influence," Tim answered as he affectionately brushed his companion's hand for a moment. "Aaand you're changing the topic. I know that look."
Danny sputtered. "You're focused on the road, how do you even know what look I have right now?"
Tim smiled knowingly. "I've been trained to be aware of my surroundings, remember? So, what's going on?"
Silence fell between the two, accompanied by the sound of the same song playing on the speakers, while the noise of the tires on the asphalt droned in the background. The road continued, like it had for the past couple of miles, mostly unchanged scenery-wise. The same cover from the trees, the bright blue sky, a few old barns and houses that seemed to be barely holding up. A contrasting view from what Gotham usually offered.
Yeah, probably better to tune out his problems with the beautiful sights outside.
When Danny didn't give an answer, Tim continued. "You know, even if I'm nervous about going to Amity Park, I'm really happy we're on this trip together. Have I told you that?"
No, Tim hadn't said it in so many words, but it was kind of evident with all his efforts to make this trip happen. Danny first thought Tim just wanted to dig more about the town or even his parents. But no, there was this giddiness in the way he talked about the trip, this palpable excitement to even accept all the different hurdles Danny put in his way: from convincing Tim they could only reach Amity Park by car (which wasn't entirely false), or getting him to rent a regular SUV instead of picking whatever supercar he had in the garage. Not to mention the changes to their GPS settings or the playlist, Danny hadn't made it easy. And yet, Tim's smile hadn't faltered.
"You really don't have to do this," Danny said softly, feeling so small and horrible for bursting the bubble. "We can go back and see hours of trees or whatever, or even go get lost in some random small town where we can pretend you're not some hotshot billionaire-slash-vigilante and I'm not this huge mystery you think you have to crack."
Tim sighed and pushed the hazard lights on. The car slowed to a stop as he suddenly pulled over on the side of the road, despite how small the space was. He turned to look at his co-pilot with all the intensity of his concerned blue eyes. "Danny, babe, my wonderful nebula…I do feel like I'm missing an important part of your life, but I'm not trying to crack it, this time. This is me just trying to get to know you better. I promise."
Danny turned to look at Tim straight in the eye. "Tim, honey, my good luck duck…there are much better ways to get to know me than doing this exhausting trip to some 'tourist trap' in the Middle of Nowhere, Ohio."
There was a look of uncertainty, a moment of hesitation when Tim opened his mouth but no words came out, and Danny could almost feel the anxiety beginning to build in his boyfriend.
Oh, no. He's seen that same expression so many times he had almost memorized the worry lines near his eyebrows and the slight twist in his pursed lips.
The same face when he asked Danny if he was sure he wanted to have a relationship with Red Robin. The same worry from the time he asked why he felt so distant and detached at moments, thinking things weren't right between them.
No. Danny didn't want him to feel insecure, unloved, unwanted. Maybe that's why he had never upfront told Tim he didn't want him to come to this visit, going for the annoying-pranks route instead.
He should've known better. Tim deserved better.
It wasn't his fault Danny was an anxious mess at the prospect of telling Tim everything. Because once they crossed the threshold that kept all the town's secrets buried from the outside world, there was no way one of the world's greatest detectives wouldn't figure out his deepest, darkest secrets.
Danny reached out for Tim's right hand, entwining their fingers to give a reassuring squeeze to calm his boyfriend's nerves. Danny's uncertainty felt long forgotten with that single gesture, always the protector of Tim's feelings, his well-being, his sanity.
"Look, I do want you to come," Danny began, searching for his partner's gaze. "It's just that—" His throat felt dry.
He couldn't just outright say it, that was the whole point of this mess.
It's not like Danny hadn't tried coming clean about his secret to Tim before. But there were just so many reasons not to do it all those times he thought about it.
For starters, whenever Danny said something related to his time in high school, Tim reacted as if it were just a figure of speech and not something real. It probably had everything to do with the fact that all Tim knew about Amity Park was that it had some elaborate story going on to convince tourists that ghosts were real. Tim was so sure it was all a hoax that he even cited some nonsense he heard from a guy named Constantine. Danny would eventually like to have some words with that jerk.
On the other hand, he also hadn't been Phantom, the ghost hero, in the two years he had been in Gotham, not even after he began dating Red Robin, so bringing Tim into the secret meant opening a whole can of worms he wasn't ready to disclose. Like why Amity Park was still safe now that he was off to college or why there was a crown on top of Phantom's head. Telling your boyfriend you're at least dead-adjacent seemed very cruel.
So, if they were going to do the whole reveal in this trip, it would have to come once they reached Amity Park, no sooner than that.
Once he could show and not just tell. Where Tim could ask everyone about everything. Where all the science behind Danny's existence could be backed up.
Where Danny could find a bigger support system if everything went to hell and he was no longer welcome in Gotham.
But he couldn't say any of that, yet.
"My parents are very embarrassing, okay?" he finally lied and he could tell Tim wasn't buying the whole story, but Danny was going to momentarily die on this hill (was he basically going ghost on this hill then?) "You'll find out what they do for a living, for real, and it's not as fancy as "working with alternate sources of energy" makes it sound, all right? There's a reason why I was bullied for so long."
Tim shook his head and smiled. The way he cupped Danny's face made everything stand still for a moment. "Hun, I'm not going to make fun of you or think any less of you. I don't even think there's anything you can do or say that would make me love you less. You know that, right?"
All the love in that simple gesture made Danny feel like maybe everything would be alright. Like they would be able to handle this together. It wasn't the end of the world to find out whatever secrets Danny had been keeping from him.
"If it helps," Tim said after a moment, "we can take it one step at a time. How about we treat this like a long date and avoid talking about anything related to Amity Park or your parents until we're closer?"
Danny gave him a skeptical look. "Sure, we will just save the torture for later, why not?"
"Starlight, you do know I'm the one who's supposed to be nervous, right?" When Danny stared at him like he had grown a second head, Tim sighed. "You really think I won't be getting the shovel talk from your family?"
Oh.
Yeah, Danny hadn't exactly focused on that part of the visit. He had been thinking about a shovel talk, alright. Just one more in the field of things that had been buried and posed a grave threat to their relationship. Or one related to an undead teen who dealt with ghost attacks in his hometown.
The other, regular shovel talk? Yeah, Danny wasn't even thinking about that nerve-inducing train wreck.
The suffering sigh that left him made Tim laugh out loud so hard it was contagious. Danny couldn't help but join him. They were so ridiculous right now with all the dread and gloom. Wasn't that supposed to stay back in Gotham? Not that Amity Park was any better, but at least that was still far away from their current stop.
There were so many beautiful sights and things to do before they even reached the haunted town. The opportunity to see the stars in the clear and open sky. Maybe Danny could give this whole trip a new perspective.
"Right," he managed to say between his own chuckles. "So we're just going to, what, enjoy ourselves and handle this like a couple's retreat in the meantime?"
Tim shrugged. "Yeah, I mean, I'm happy to go with your original obnoxious plan to convince me to stay out of Amity Park, just as long as we make it there in the end. I'm sure you had in mind a lot of cringe-worthy places to visit, didn't you?"
Leave it to Tim to figure out what Danny had been doing all along. Not that he was being subtle about it, but he could only hope.
"Well, I didn't just pick route 206 to make the trip 5 hours longer plus whatever stops we included," Danny admitted sheepishly. "There were some genuinely cool places to visit. Like, some restaurants, abandoned places, hiking trails... Oh! And tons of coffee shops with puns in their names."
"Please tell me you didn't."
Danny smiled and pulled out the map with all the pins and names shown nearby. "I've bean planning this escape route, you know?"
Tim snorted and shook his head. "Then let's go to wherever you had planned," he replied with a pleasant smile. "This hasn't been that bad. Have you seen a sky like this in Gotham before? Or do you remember ever having that fresh smell of clean air?"
Danny rolled his eyes but grinned despite himself. "Pretty sure you're smelling the manure. Which, I guess is an upgrade from the sewer stench back in Gotham."
The loud horn of an incoming truck pulling a tractor broke them from their moment and, though neither would admit it, almost made them jump. They laughed when they noticed each other's startled surprise.
Tim turned off the hazard lights and started the car again to continue their journey toward Ohio. "Right, so what's our next stop, then?"
The smile on Danny's lips grew even wider as he remembered what he had planned ahead. "We can do the right thing, the right way, and go to the Red Robin burgers nearby," he said with the most innocent voice he could muster.
The loud groan he got in response might have made this trip worth it after all.
Notes:
- The 80s song Danny sang was "Take on Me" by a-ha
- Gotham is located in New Jersey's coast while Amity Park is located in Ohio (near Salem because of Jack Fenton Nightingale)
- I actually traced the route they would take and some hints of their stops, which is why they took Route 206 instead of a quicker highway to hell… err… Amity Park. For reference, this chapter and the next take place in Pennsylvania.
- Red Robin is also a restaurant with gourmet burgers. Their slogan is "We do the right thing. The right way."
- I chose for pet names bird and duck related ones for Tim (due to being Robin and Drake) and space for Danny (since he's studying Astrophysics at Gotham University).
- The "Buzz" reference is to astronaut Buzz Aldrin but, yeah, can also fit Buzz Lightyear.