Chapter 5: This Side of the Grave

"So, what do you think so far, duckling?"

Tim turned his head to the side, switching the view of the stars in Amity Park's skyline for the sight of Danny's concerned blue eyes.

Their first day in the eccentric hometown had been pretty close to what he expected: full of awkward jokes from his boyfriend's family, but also full of insight into what their dynamic was like, while also learning more about Danny's past. But once the existence of ghosts was confirmed, there was so much he hadn't accounted for.

For instance, he wasn't prepared for the revelation that ectoplasm looked disturbingly similar to Lazarus pit water, which he would have to look into once he had a sample to compare both substances. Maybe he could ask Danny more about it when they went back to Gotham.

Another surprise was the family's long history of research into the paranormal, spanning more than six hundred years. It made Tim wonder if Constantine had really known all along about the Fentons, their methods, and their discoveries. If the occultist had known, had he been trying to mess with Tim to keep him away from the strange town?

The odd part was how, despite all of that, there was still not a single ghost in sight. The wheels in his head worked in overdrive trying to reconcile what he was told with what could be proven. And so far the only evidence he had of ghosts' existence was the ectoplasmic-powered gadgets he was able to see.

So, what did he think of that so far?

Tim sighed and shifted slightly from his spot on the roof, resting his head on his arm. "I think I have more questions than answers," he admitted. "Although they sure know how to give a detailed account of things."

Danny's eyes rolled in slight amusement. "I mean, I did warn you. You're the one who brought up more topics than we could cover in one day."

Touché. He did ask about their origins, how they theorized a way to open a door to a whole other dimension, if they had trouble getting funding (to get to know more about their beef with Bruce), and basically what was the science behind ghosts: how they were formed, how they could be studied and the ethics considered in that; if there were different types of ghosts, and why Amity Park had been attacked for a while before being left mostly alone.

The answers were more detailed at first, but as they neared more recent events or their new approach to ghosts, it had all been more guarded, vague. Even Danny seemed uncomfortable with part of his line of questioning, but Tim couldn't really figure out why.

"They didn't tell me everything, though," Tim stated simply, making Danny turn his eyes back to contemplate the sky. "I didn't even get to see the portal."

The following silence lingered for a moment until Danny sighed. "We should probably talk about that tomorrow," he replied softly, looking for Tim's free hand to hold. "You had like, thirty years of ghost research, plus the info dump of old family lore, shoved into your brain in less than a day. I'm pretty sure you need some rest, night owl."

Tim leaned closer to Danny's side. "I probably won't be able to sleep anyway," he muttered.

A sudden ringtone came to life in Danny's pocket, the Ghostbuster's theme now making Tim laugh for different reasons than before. Danny pulled out his phone and stared at the incoming notification. The partial view of 'Sam & Tuck & Val &' appeared on the screen. A group call with his friends. At almost midnight?

Danny groaned and turned to look at Tim with an apologetic look. "You have to take this," Tim stated. He really didn't mind. They were probably eager to know how the meeting between Tim and the Fentons went.

Tim gave him a quick kiss and stood up from his place on the roof of the Ops Center. "Take your time, starlight. I'll be down in my room. Probably awake."

There was a softness in the way Danny smiled before sitting up to watch Tim go. "Thanks, birdie. Catch you later." The phone rang again with the theme song. "Hopefully," he added with a dry tone.

Tim laughed on his way down the ladder on the side of the metallic structure. He heard Danny's voice a second later. "Hey, guys, uh, can you hold on while I go inside the Ops Center? I don't want the neighborhood to wake up to my ringtone."

By the time Tim left the roof, there was a warm feeling in his chest. After everything they went through today, after all the talk about ghost dimensions and ecto-powered weapons, it was silly how in the end they could still fit into the craziness something so normal, like having a group of childhood friends looking to gossip about Danny's boyfriend.

It almost felt like belonging.

Downstairs, Tim realized he didn't want to go back to his room. Sure, he could start his report on everything he learned that day, but he wanted to do something else, maybe clear his mind a bit.

How he missed going out for patrol to blow off some steam...

Without his "cosplay neighborhood watch", as Danny liked to call it, and now deprived of his late-night conversation with his boyfriend, Tim decided to venture down into the kitchen. He would be fine as long as he didn't touch anything that looked remotely green. It's what he would've done to distract himself in the manor, and Jack did tell him to make himself at home.

Now with a clear route in mind, he silently went downstairs and noticed as he got closer to the kitchen there were lights on. He confirmed it was one of Danny's parents once he reached the room, the sight of Maddie tinkering with a device on a table was a weird one at this hour of the day.

The woman jumped slightly when she noticed movement from the young man's arrival. "Oh, Tim! Didn't see you there," she said with a relieved chuckle. She turned to look at the clock on the wall. "Oh, my! Is it that late already?"

The scene had a sense of familiarity with his own home, with how many times he, Bruce, or any of his siblings were caught by surprise working late in the Batcave, either trying to solve a case or working on some piece of tech.

"Sorry," he said, mindful of the volume of his words. "I thought I'd get some water. And, you know. Clear my head."

Maddie gave him a knowing look. "I imagine it can be a lot to learn in one go."

Tim nodded and took a seat in one of the chairs next to her, careful not to scrape the floor. "Thanks for explaining everything, by the way."

"Anytime," Maddie cheerily replied. "I hope we didn't lose you with the interconnected universe theory."

"Oh, no, It's fine. I've known about different worlds and dimensions. Even alternate timelines," he confided, knowing this could be mistaken as common knowledge for someone living in a city as crazy as Gotham. "But to find out these two dimensions are so connected one can destroy the other? It's—"

"Mind-blowing, huh?" Maddie supplied.

That was an understatement. He had to wonder about all those times someone had been on the brink of death or had actually died long enough for their essence to leave this world. Did Jason or Damian or Cass ever get in contact with the Ghost Zone that time they were gone? Jason had been gone for a longer time, did that have any implications? Did ghosts see him as one of their own?

Of course, he couldn't say any of that to his mother-in-law, so he had to settle for the regular civilian version of his freakout. "Yeah, it's like, do the people who die at the hospital only to get revived later have enough energy to connect to that world? Just… knowing that connection, that bridge, requires a link through death is… too much, don't you think?"

Makes him wonder how they were able to build such a stable connection through their portal.

Maddie faltered at that comment, a sad look in her eyes. She suddenly looked so worn out. "Why don't I just get you that glass of water?" she said in an attempt to recover the cheer and confidence she had seconds ago.

Maybe that had been a touchy topic Danny hadn't warned him about.

Tim's gaze followed Maddie as she stood up and got the glass of water for her guest. He couldn't help but turn to look at the device and tools on the table. It looked like a small panel, maybe some kind of radar or long-range detection system. He'd seen similar displays from Bruce's old gadgets, though now everything seemed less bulky and more wireless.

"I apologize for the mess." Maddie handed him the glass of water and picked up the device once she sat again. "I wasn't able to work early in adjusting this tracker."

He took that as an invitation to look closer. "Oh, what does it do?"

The scientist turned it over carefully for him to inspect. "It helps us predict natural portals that open into our world," she explained. "But there must be a problem in calibration if we didn't sense the ghosts that came through."

Tim perked up at that. Had Danny been right? Had he jinxed it? "There have been ghost sightings?" he asked incredulously. In the earlier explanation he had been told that ghosts rarely came into the human world unless the portal was left open, which the Fentons had learned to avoid. He had to be honest: curiosity was getting the best of him and he wanted to see what they had been dealing with. "Will I get to see a ghost around here?"

"Well, obviously," Maddie laughed, making him feel like he was missing something in her joke. "But I wouldn't be too eager. You never know who you might find. Besides, you have Danny for that."

"Like…to give me a ghost tour or something?" he asked in utter confusion.

The statement made no sense. Danny had said they would check out the portal the next day, barring him from going to the basement until then. But what did that imply?

"I'm not sure he's willing to put you at that much of a risk. You being a civilian and all," Maddie replied with some amusement and Tim had to suppress his need to set the record straight. "But you can get a pretty good idea of what other ghosts look like."

Other ghosts? He was definitely missing something here. Did they explain something he somehow missed? "How would I be able to get that idea?"

That gave the woman pause, her stare brimming with suspicion. "Has Danny not shown you?"

His stomach dropped. "What do you mean? Shown me what?"

"Phantom," she said, as if that had any meaning. It sounded vaguely familiar. Maybe from the town rumors? Or had it been the name of an invention?

Tim didn't know what his face looked like to Maddie because she blanched and hesitated before she tried forming the next words. "He hasn't–? He didn't— How…"

He watched her stumble over her words but the conversation so far had been beyond confusing. "I'm not sure I follow," Tim admitted slightly ashamed.

Maddie stood up from her seat, pacing for a moment in the kitchen before her hands settled with a tight grip on the back of her abandoned chair. She took a deep breath and apparently found her center. "I need to ask you something simple," she stated before pausing again for another extended moment. "What did you mean by knowing about the 'ghost thing'?"

This only made his thoughts spiral further. There had been a misunderstanding of some sort, Tim was now certain. Something involving 'Phantom', and which Danny was more familiar with.

He eyed Maddie curiously, wondering if she would give him any additional clue to piece this together on his own. "I meant that I know ghosts are real. And that you hunt ghosts for a living," he explained and kept his gaze firm despite her frustrated look. "But now I'm guessing I'm off the mark with something else."

Maddie's grip on the chair tightened and she hung her head, to reign in her growing anger from the looks of it. "It's not my place to tell you. But there is a certain someone whoneeds to take responsibility soon and talk," she replied, almost grumbling the last part.

And it suddenly felt like a blow to the gut.

Danny had been procrastinating on whatever secret he had yet to reveal. A secret his family knew about.

Tim rarely tried to figure out Danny's private information once they started dating. He had promised himself to take a chance to trust his boyfriend. If he started doing detective work on his significant other, it would only lead to paranoia, overstepping more boundaries than he already had, and creating a huge rift between them.

But wasn't this an unexpected rift too? Not knowing what had Maddie so angry that Danny hadn't yet revealed?

He wanted to be fair. Danny did tell him it was already a lot on Tim's plate to process. That they would talk tomorrow. That he needed to understand other things first, leading him to believe this was definitely related to ghosts somehow. And now that he had more information to work with—

No. He couldn't do it.

"He'll tell me tomorrow," he replied in the most determined tone he could muster, but he wasn't sure who he was trying to convince with that statement: Maddie or himself.

The frustration in Mrs. Fenton's eyes vanished and her look was replaced with concern and regret. She released the chair from her grasp and walked over to Tim, leaning to give the boy a hug he didn't know he needed; one he accepted and reciprocated.

"I'm so sorry, sweetie," Maddie whispered in his ear. "I didn't mean to intrude. It wasn't my place."

There were so many mixed feelings wreaking havoc in his chest. Hurt from the secrecy, a pang of melancholy from having a mother's warm embrace, confusion from the way his perfect relationship had been hurting in just a couple of days.

An ugly voice inside his head piped up to reproach the whole situation, feelings of disappointment corroding him inside. Questioning why Tim had to keep trying to prove he was worthy of Danny's trust, as if trying to prove his worth with his adoptive family hadn't already been enough struggle.

The vile behind those feelings oozed in a way he hadn't felt for so long. He tried to drown the noise in his head, but it was getting so loud. And hadn't Danny said ambient ectoplasm could make him feel like this? Tense? Hollow? Paranoid?

That had to be it. Right?

Right. He could compartmentalize. Find sense behind his feelings to avoid drowning in them.

Tim took a deep breath as he gave Maddie one last squeeze on her arm before he broke their hug. Something in her warm, violet eyes gave his heartache another reason to pause. "Thank you, Maddie," he said after a moment. "Everything will work out. Don't worry."

He knew there was more than just the pang of pain. He needed to focus on what he knew made it all worth it. Like the late-night comfort in Danny's words after a mission that had gone wrong, or his empathy whenever he heard about other people's struggles, or the way he looked out for others around him, or how everything felt lighter whenever they managed to talk…

Like when they talked under the cover of the stars in the clear sky at the top of the abandoned roller coaster, where the rest of the world seemed to disappear. Danny had been a guiding light there as well.

After whatever Danny revealed tomorrow, Tim knew he would no longer be left alone in the dark.


In the end, it turns out Tim could fall asleep if he wanted to avoid listening to the demons in his head. Before he could even open his eyes the next morning, he knew he wasn't alone. There was the weight of an arm wrapped around him, a familiar warmth and breathing pattern he had missed before he fell asleep the night before.

Tim shifted and turned around to look at Danny, who was already dressed for the day and fully awake on top of the bed's covers, staring at him with his icy blue eyes. "Hey, morningbird," his boyfriend greeted softly.

"Hn," Tim half-replied. He almost laughed dryly at how similar to Bruce that must have sounded. "Morn," he mumbled instead.

Danny pointed with his head toward the nightstand next to Tim. "I got you coffee. A homemade Death Wish."

There was a pause and in the silence Tim realized the house wasn't as loud as he expected in the mornings, considering how boisterous Jack's voice could be. The light coming from outside still looked soft, probably due to the recent sunrise. Danny never got up that early.

A knowing smile crept to Tim's lips. "What did you do this time?"

Danny's apologetic look deepened and he glanced anywhere but Tim's face. "My mom had a few things to say to me last night," he admitted. "Well, my friends did too. They think I'm just stalling with the thing we need to talk about."

Oh. Right. Maddie had been mad that Tim was hurt by Danny's secrecy. He had gone to sleep thinking everything would be fine and it was comforting to know that was truly the case. At the end of the day, the problem wasn't Danny, the heartless fiend who hadn't trusted Tim. This was Danny, the miscommunicating, nervous wreck who was afraid of how Tim would react.

Last night's turmoil now felt so foreign.

Tim sighed deeply. "I really appreciate it, space case, but I want to be at least half awake to talk," he groggily replied.

That brightened his boyfriend's mood, if the troll-like grin was anything to go by. "Oh, don't worry, I know the best secrets to staying half alive."

"Right, the Death Wish," Tim acknowledged, turning around to look at the still hot cup of coffee that read 'I'm dead inside' with silly rainbow drawings. The typical Danny humor made him smile, as well as the cute gesture.

He sat up and stretched his arms and back. "Let me get ready and we can talk over breakfast if you want."

"Why don't we try this?" Danny said after a moment of consideration. "Let's go out, maybe have a milkshake at the Nasty Burger, relax a bit, and then come back home so I can tell you everything."

Tim shook his head. "I can't believe you are stalling," he teased. "It will be fine, I don't know why you're so nervous."

The gloomy look returned to his boyfriend's features, which he tried to hide behind Tim's pillow. "I'm—there's…a really good chance you might not want to stay after you learn everything," Danny admitted, voice muffled.

Danny lowered the pillow enough to give Tim a hopeful look. "Can I just…have one last normal and sappy date with you?"

The sight was so ridiculous. how did he even manage to do that when he was so tense? Instead of the hurt or the anger and betrayal from the previous intrusive thoughts, Tim felt relieved. It was like, no matter how much things around him changed, Danny somehow remained the same. A constant.

Tim sat next to Danny and patted his head. "I think you're being overdramatic, supernova."

The pillow that had been covering Danny's face was then launched at Tim's head, making him laugh. "That hurt, you know?"

Tim almost wanted to tell him that, no, it didn't hurt that much now.


In the end, Tim wanted Danny to have a chance to calm his anxiety and tell him everything when he was ready later in the day. The plan was really very simple so far: breakfast, a walk through Amity Park's…well, park, maybe sightsee a little, and close their small outing at the Nasty Burger.

The small towns across the US were always so different. Amity Park had certainly been the weirdest Tim had visited yet. People gave the impression of knowing each other in the neighborhood, but Tim had a feeling it was mostly reserved for older adults who met with their neighbors on the street consistently, not a general thing.

People had stared curiously at Danny and Tim on the street, but he didn't know what to make of it. It wasn't even a rude or insistent look. It was more like a double-take when you thought you saw someone familiar, something the Drake-Wayne heir recognized from his life in Gotham as the young CEO of Wayne Enterprises. Was Danny being recognized the same way as the son of the town's ghost hunters?

One girl in particular stared at Danny unashamedly when they reached the park. That was the moment Tim realized he hadn't seen many people their age on their walk around the town. He recalled Danny telling him how most of his class had fled from the town to escape its unique brand of madness. Maybe this girl was younger than them.

The brunette strummed a purple guitar as she sat on a bench, something in her movements felt unnatural, as if her hands weren't used to moving that way. Her green eyes continued to follow the couple; her grin was almost manic when she noticed Tim staring back.

Danny kept on chatting and hadn't noticed the attention so far. Had he always been this clueless?

"So we used to come here after—"

"I think that girl knows you," Tim interrupted whatever his companion had been trying to say, before they got too far away to keep an eye on their eerie spy.

Danny paused and didn't care about being subtle in the least when he turned to face the girl. She kept playing her guitar, the sound almost ethereal, and then winked at his boyfriend. A feral cackle escaped her lips when Danny glared. "I wouldn't pay her that much attention if I were you," he told Tim in a low voice as he turned them away from her.

The muscles in Danny's shoulders looked tense. Even the grip on Tim's hand was defensive, anxious. Cold? The girl had somehow sent his boyfriend into overdrive and Tim had to wonder what the story was and what was so threatening about her.

"Sooo, we're not going to talk about what the hell was that all about?" he asked Danny after a few minutes of walking in silence.

Danny sighed. "I'll explain it later. We should probably get out of here."

Oh, wow, how reassuring. Tim felt so relieved now. Yeah, no anxiety at all.

He tried not to push the topic, but kept his situational awareness on higher alert as they continued their walk out on the opposing side of the park. Maybe that's how he noticed the next weird event in their journey.

"Uh, Houston? We might have a problem," Tim announced, making his boyfriend pause and sigh tiredly. When the other didn't say anything, Tim took it as a sign to continue. "I'll take it that you noticed the weird dude with the black Fedora and red glasses following us?"

Danny turned to shoot a glare at the strange little man who tried to cower behind a trash can. If Tim had known any better, he could have sworn Danny's intense eyes would melt something on the spot.

The local huffed and turned to face Tim. "Let's go to the Nasty Burger and then home, sound good?"

Tim frowned as he studied the lines on Danny's forehead. "Why are people following us? I thought you said no one knew each other in small towns, but everyone's staring at you."

As if on cue, he felt someone bumping into him from behind, a kid if he had to guess. When he turned around, there was nothing there.

Wait…had that been a ghost? Had that been his first ghost sighting? Well, not sighting. Sensing?

He turned around to announce his discovery to Danny but he was fuming at something in front of him. Was he able to see the ghost?

"There's something different about you while we're here," Tim blurted out before he could process what he was saying.

That snapped his boyfriend out of his thoughts, a shocked expression now directed at Tim. "What?"

He felt the heat rise to his cheeks. "I mean, you're so…different. Protective. You can relax, you know? I can take care of myself."

Granted, Tim hadn't seen a ghost officially at least, so he wouldn't know how to fight one if they attacked for some reason. Which, according to what Maddie told them yesterday, was a real concern since there had been a leak into this world.

The big question was, why now?

Danny released Tim's hand and rubbed at his face, something Tim recognized as a way to try to dispel his rising tension and get back on track. "I know, I'm sorry. Let's just head to the Nasty Burger before we get home," he replied in a softer tone. The mood shifted again the next second then he turned to glare at something next to Tim's head. "I'm sure that whoever's following us will know to keep their distance."

Yeah, that wasn't worrying at all.

As it turned out, the restaurant was only five minutes away from the park, so they were soon sitting in front of each other in a booth with a milkshake each. Tim had opted to change the conversation to more mundane things, like Danny's favorite item on the Nasty Burger menu or why he preferred Red Robin's burgers over the local brand.

They had finally managed to relax when a sharp gasp escaped Danny's lips, putting him on edge as he turned around, looking for something. The weather wasn't exactly cold and yet he noticed his breath fogging. It couldn't have been the milkshake, so he felt something more…supernatural was going on.

Tim was beginning to think they were being haunted. Suddenly, all his desires to see a ghost abandoned him.

"I told you it was him!" a feminine voice called behind Tim. He noticed the moment Danny's face fell as he muttered something under his breath.

"Well, well, well…" another voice said closer to their table, belonging to a younger guy with long, blond hair, and a biker vibe. There was something oddly familiar about him. Biker guy walked to their table with a green-haired girl, who had skin so pale it reminded Tim of Harley Quinn's unnatural tone. "Look at you, all grown up!"

Danny's reaction continued being slightly annoyed. At least it was an upgrade from the tension he displayed before. "This is so not the time, guys," he replied forcefully. "Can't you see I'm having a private conversation?"

Tim almost wanted to say he didn't mind the company if these were some of Danny's friends, but the knowing smile on the girl's face put him on edge for some reason.

"Oh, c'mon, Danny," she said without taking her eyes away from Tim. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your…friend?"

"Kitty…" Danny warned and it sent a chill down Tim's back.

There was something wrong with the whole situation. All the red flags were there and Tim knew he had to do something about it, although he didn't have much context to know how to approach this situation. Well, if he had handled worse, he could do this. "Actually, we were just leaving," Tim said and gave Danny a meaningful look to get out of the booth they were sitting in.

"Relaaaax, little man," the blond guy said as he raised his hands in a placating motion, the shadows under him moving oddly with each movement. "We're not looking for trouble, we just wanted to say hi."

"Yeah!" Kitty said with a hint of nervousness in her voice. "We heard you were back and, well, you did say we could come if you were in the neighborhood."

Danny scowled and the look seemed so foreign. It was almost intimidating, everything he usually wasn't when Tim was around, at least. "Yeah? Well, please tell the others I'll take it personally if you interrupt my vacation again."

Tim conjured up thousands of theories for this odd interaction. They couldn't be school bullies, since they seemed younger than Danny. Relatives? No, too different. Neighbors? With how familiar they were to each other, maybe friends of Elle?

He was missing something but there was no way Danny would tell him now.

Upon hearing Danny's words (or threats?), Kitty's smile grew to something smug, overconfident. She leaned in closer, putting her hands on the table for support. "I don't know, Danny. Something tells me you don't want to scare your date. But if you want, I could just give him a goodbye kiss, you know?"

Were her eyes glowing red?

Knowing all the odd things he hadn't believed about Amity Park, he couldn't ignore there was evidence of something unnatural going on with their visitors. There was the same eerie sensation he got from the strangers in the park. Were all of them ghosts? Was this something else?

Tim could think of dozens of ways to escape without a hitch from two teens. But ghost teens? Danny probably knew more about what was going on and how to deal with them. So that left Tim to do what? Wait for Danny to do something?

Nope, not gonna happen.

"Yeah, hardly scared," Tim declared while rolling his eyes. "So, if you don't mind…"

Getting out of the booth with calm and firm motions, he walked past the younger couple, followed by Danny, who took the opportunity to glare once more at them. "Go home," he warned in a lower tone.

"Aww, we were just kidding, man!" the guy yelled after them. "We just wanted to see what the fuss was all about!"

That froze Danny on the spot, but Tim couldn't see his face before he turned around and walked swiftly in front of the two weird teens. "Fuss? What's that supposed to mean?" he asked with a hint of dread.

Kitty held onto her boyfriend's arm and shot Danny a teasing smile. "I know you're not that dense, lover boy."

Tim was…concerned. It felt like those damning words had somehow acknowledged an invisible target on Tim. And the way Danny's eyes widened with apprehension was enough to know this wasn't just about some friendly teasing or pranks. This was not even about threatening Tim to take care of Danny.

If these guys were really ghosts, maybe he should start looking for ways to upgrade his gear to face that kind of threat.

"Hey, uh, would you like to order something else to go while I finish here?" Danny asked him, which Tim could recognize as the universal sign of 'I need you to let me take care of this alone'.

Tim had to frown at that. If he had any lingering doubts about the two teens being ghosts, they sure were long gone now. "I can handle the ghost talk, you know?" he muttered loud enough for his partner to hear.

Danny blanched while the other two started cackling madly. "Oh, I like this kid already!" Biker Guy said, and Tim had to wonder just how long he had been dead to go calling him a kid. "I'm Johnny," he said with an extended hand.

The Gothamite held his hand and he could see a wispy black trail snake up from Johnny's arm to tug at Tim's wrist with some force. Yep, definitely a ghost, then.

"Watch it, Johnny," Danny warned again and with the confirmation that, yes, these were ghosts, Tim had to wonder how the hell he hadn't noticed the eerie factor in his boyfriend's words. There was something so chilling, an edge of danger. This was not just Amity Park's strange vibes.

This was what Danny was afraid of, wasn't it? Not the weirdness of the small town nor the uncertainty of revealing his parents' work. Danny was more involved in facing these ghosts, getting familiar with them even, that he probably didn't want to scare Tim away. The weight in Maddie's words was starting to make more sense now.

When Kitty approached Tim to officially introduce herself as well, Danny sighed and turned to the ghosts. "Kitty, Tim. Tim, Kitty," he said with a monotone voice, he gestured for them to sit back on their booth, making Tim sit next to him on one side, and the other two (three?) opposite to them.

Danny took a moment to take a deep breath and compose himself. He faced Tim with a strange look in his eyes, tinged with fear. "I promise I'll explain everything later," he said softly, his hand squeezing his. This was the old-soul Danny talking, Tim realized.

Tim nodded, and after a moment of hesitation, Danny turned to continue his previous conversation with the ghosts. "So," he said and let the words hang for a moment, as if weighing how to phrase what he had in mind. "How much damage should I expect during our visit?"

Johnny leaned back on his seat and put his arm around Kitty's shoulders. "Plenty, I'd say."

"Johnny! Don't scare the newbie," Kitty reprimanded.

"Fine, kitten," he replied with a smirk. "It's not like they're after your pelt or whatever, punk." He then gave Tim an appraising look and for a moment the vigilante wondered if Johnny could see into his soul. "They just want to make sure he's worthy."

"What!?" both Tim and Danny exclaimed in unison, sharing the same alarm in their tone.

This had to be some sick joke. If ghosts were sometimes created around emotions, were they able to sense his insecurities? His current demons? Again, Tim was reeling with more questions than answers.

"So, who are 'they'? And why does this sound like some test?" Tim asked.

"I wouldn't say 'test'," Kitty said, struggling to find the words she needed for this.

Danny beat her to it. "Definitely a test, then," he mumbled.

Tim frowned. "Why? And worthy of what?" Of being in Amity Park? Of being able to see ghosts?

Worthy of Danny?

"Oh, trust me, you'll find out soon enough," Johny replied cryptically, the sinister smile in his shadow definitely not a figment of his imagination. "It'll be fun! Maybe not for you, though."

Out of all the outcomes he had expected from this trip, Tim had never imagined he would actually need to channel his Red Robin persona. He wasn't scared of ghosts, but they were unknown to him, though not entirely far off from the usual brand of trauma and bullshit his own rogue gallery provided every waking moment in Gotham.

Danny was scared though. Scared for Tim's safety, if he was reading the situation right.

Hopefully, they would have a chance to talk now about whatever Danny had been hiding. About whoever Phantom was or his relationship with ghosts.

Maybe things would make more sense before Tim dug his own grave.