Notes: Heeeey! Thanks again for tuning in to this story. This chapter was really exciting to write (also a headache lol) but I'm so happy with how it turned out in the end.
Many, many thanks to the amazing AgentIanLegend for all the help and excellent pointer while beta-reading this chapter.
So, funny story: did you know this is my first time writing a full, detailed reveal?
Chapter 6: Six Feet Under
After ten more unproductive minutes at the Nasty Burger, full of teasing towards the living couple and no more useful information about whatever the ghosts were up to, Tim and Danny left for the Fenton home.
"OK, what was that all about?" Tim asked when they were a good distance away from the fast-food restaurant, hoping none of the ghosts followed invisibly. That's something they could do, right?
"Some ghosts' idea of a sick joke, apparently," his boyfriend mumbled.
Danny's glare had been intense, a hint of fear if you knew what to look out for. Tim had to admit he didn't have much to compare against, considering Danny's worries and fears had been for different reasons in the past. He hadn't looked intent on murder before, which had even made a couple of bystanders move aside and look away to avoid any potential trouble.
"Danny, can you slow down? I'll be fine." Tim pulled his hand out of his companion's grasp.
As the couple stopped, the vigilante stared deep in thought at his hand, at the strange cold sensation Danny left on his skin. He wondered how he was able to shake the hands of the ghostly pair at the Nasty Burger, how solid they felt, how cold…
"Tim, you have no idea what ghosts can actually do." Danny snapped him out of his thoughts, his voice full of concern. And he was right. "So, I'd rather drag you to FentonWorks and keep you under the ghost shield while I go to solve this."
"So you do know how to hunt ghosts!" Tim exclaimed as one of the many questions he had hoarded over the course of two days suddenly found an answer.
There was a hint of hurt pride in Danny's scowl. "What, you didn't think I could? Not even after you learned who my family is?"
How could Tim put this delicately?
When Danny found Red Robin almost dying from blood loss on the roof that night so many months ago, the vigilante had been convinced this random guy who saved his life couldn't be an ordinary civilian. But whenever Tim had tried to stalk him from a safe distance, it was evident Danny had no skills or muscles to confront even the laziest of muggers. It became painfully evident Danny wasn't used to physical confrontations. He was great at getting out of harm's way during attacks, though.
If Tim hadn't known any better, he would have believed Danny was playing the helpless victim with a calculated level of incompetence.
So, no. Being the son of two ghost hunters was no guarantee that Danny could, in fact, solve this in a fight.
Tim sighed and held his boyfriend's shoulders, looking sternly into his eyes. "Danny, it's not that I don't trust you in a fight. It's just that…I've never seen you in one! And I have a strong feeling that you like to bite off more than you can chew."
Danny crossed his arms over his chest with a scoff. "That really hurts. I pick totally reasonable fights."
The Gothamite squinted at him. "Danny… You once said you could beat Superman behind the Nasty Burger."
At least the statement gave Danny some pause and Tim hoped he was finally coming to his senses. "Ah, yeah, you're totally right," he admitted sheepishly. "I should've said behind a Bat Burger. I don't want him near Amity Park."
The way Tim's eyes rolled in frustration made him worry for a moment about giving himself a headache. "Danny, you can't possibly beat—" He cut himself short, rubbing his face with his hands as he took a deep breath. At least the streets in this residential area were deserted enough to avoid any witnesses to this nonsense. "Ok, you know what? If you're throwing fists, then I'm throwing fists by your side."
Danny's look of concern returned with full force, making him rub Tim's upper arms softly. "My cute feral duck, you don't have to do that. It's too dangerous and I can't risk your safety like that."
"Oh, but you can risk yours?" Tim questioned with a deadpan look. "You can't be that reckless, Danny."
"I'm not being reckless. Besides…" Danny paused and released Tim's arms with a nervous glance at the ground. "I did promise your family to never put you in danger."
Drake felt the heat rise in his cheeks at the reminder. He learned from Steph, who cackled madly while telling him the whole story, about how his brothers and B himself had separately visited Danny when they started dating to deliver almost the same speech. They had the right to be worried about some mysterious civilian who had learned Red Robin's identity and, therefore, of most of the other bats. Tim felt it was overkill and only confirmed it when Danny recited to Batman the speech from his other sons, making the Dark Knight leave with a glare and a grunt directed at his new son-in-law. This whole ghost ordeal felt almost like some elaborate payback.
Tim took Danny's hand and began walking at a calmer pace. "Look, starlight…you're not putting me in danger and you honestly can't do anything to keep me away. You know this. Why don't we sit down to plan this through together?"
Danny hesitated for a moment. "Alright. We still have to talk, anyway," he replied softly.
Hopefully everything would be clear after that.
When they reached FentonWorks, Tim heard Danny's parents working in the kitchen, from where they shouted their greetings. Instead of a reply, Danny walked straight to a panel by the stairs that sent a green glow around the whole building.
Oh, the ghost shield.
Jack and Maddie ran out to the main entrance with questioning looks. Mrs. Fenton was about to say something when her son simply said, "Code Eye-Sore," making both parents groan in frustration.
Tim had no idea what that meant. Well, no, it did mean his boyfriend had faced a situation close to whatever they learned at the Nasty Burger if he already had a code assigned for it. It also meant his parents were well-aware of this and trusted their son to call the shots.
In fact, now that he thought about it, it almost felt like most of the things the parents said or did in front of Tim had to pass through Danny's blessing first. It would make sense if this was just about letting Danny handle his relationship, but maybe there was something else.
Tim's detective senses were on high alert when he noticed the small signs of a silent conversation between the three Fentons: Danny's eyes shifted to a door in the kitchen; Maddie's brow twisted in concern as one of her hands gave Danny a supportive squeeze in the arm. Even the boisterous Jack, who looked intent to follow them, stopped dead in his tracks when his son shot him a warning look.
The air had grown tense and protective. The concerned parents stood helpless in their spot as the couple retreated further into the house. Tim barely had a chance to make sense of their worries, Maddie giving Tim an encouraging nod before Danny guided him to the now-open door in the kitchen, where a long flight of stairs led to a floor below. To the basement, Tim realized. The portal.
This was it, wasn't it?
All the things that were half-said and half-imagined would finally get an answer. It almost felt like the moment they touched the last step downstairs things would start to clear. An answer the size of the elephant in the room would finally materialize into existence. Sure, it probably wouldn't go that way, but Tim could only try to give a shape to his growing anticipation, his hands now feeling clammy as he flexed them.
The two men went down the darkened steps that were only illuminated by a neon green color at the end of it. Lazarus Green. The ambient ectoplasm Tim was learning to identify grew a hundred-fold with each step. He hadn't noticed how silent the house had gotten, until the speed of his heartbeat almost made him hear its fast thumping.
Tim hadn't realized he was holding his breath until they reached the bottom of the stairs, the tiles of the lab reflecting the luminescence from various vials of what he had to remind himself was ectoplasm, not Lazarus water. The place was cold and filled with a certain static; it was almost reminiscent of how Danny felt to the touch whenever he became anxious in Amity Park.
It was so stupid, now that Tim thought about it. How were there so many threads knit together that he hadn't processed without the right perspective? He knew he was missing more, and the sight of the giant doors by the wall would probably bind the rest of the threads in place to give him the full picture. Being so close to the truth had never made Tim so hungry for it as it did now. In a way, this finally allowed him to let his detective skill seep through, to finally dissect whatever his boyfriend had been hiding.
"So, this is it, I guess," Danny's voice echoed in the quiet lab, giving it an eerie effect.
Tim took a moment to ground himself. He turned around in the spot Danny had chosen to stop, finally taking in the walls covered with metal, some with different assortments of weapons hanging for easy access; a large containment unit looked vacant in a corner, while there were various tables with a mixture of engineering and biological (ectological?) experiments that gave the term "ghost hunter" a whole new meaning.
Tim wanted to throw up at the sight of a green blob held by needles next to several vials of equal color. "Are those—"
Danny frowned and then opened his eyes wide with shock. "No, no, nononono… those are synthetic. I swear. Uh, my parents don't do those kinds of experiments. Not anymore."
"Synthetic?" Tim repeated out loud and allowed himself to walk closer to the station. Upon closer inspection, it didn't look really organic or like any kind of tissue he had ever seen before. It looked more like…raw energy?
Danny sighed. "Yeah, they're finding ways to contain ectoplasm that doesn't corrode everything around it. They're trying to recreate a membrane that—you know what? They can explain it later."
Tim turned to look at Danny who was staring directly at the huge yellow and black striped door on the wall.
"We have more important things to discuss," Danny's voice finished.
The understatement almost made Tim laugh. "Are you sure? Because we can go for coffee now. Maybe there's a Starghosts in this town. Or we can see if the amusement park is open. Or not, who cares? We can still go in there. There are so many things we can do before we can have this… overdue conversation."
Tim knew he sounded almost hysterical, but it had to just be his luck to land a boyfriend who had a whole dimension of secrets hidden from him. The one person he had decided to not investigate, because trust and boundaries were apparently a thing in normal relationships, turned out to be hiding the most confusing mysteries he could ever imagine.
Danny at least looked ashamed. "Yeah, I guess I deserve that." He walked the distance to meet Tim face to face, cupping his cheek in his signature loving way to keep Tim from spiraling out of control with anxious thoughts and theories. "But I need you to understand, birdie. This is the first time in my life I've had to tell anyone this secret. It's…hard to find the right moment, the right words...the right mindset." His hand lowered until he found Tim's hand to grasp like a lifeline. "Heh, I kinda thought—actually, I even kinda hoped you would either figure it out on your own or, I don't know, someone else would blurt it out by mistake."
Tim held the cold hand tighter and searched for answers in Danny's blue eyes, which looked eerie and inhuman with the vials' green light reflecting in them. "I could try to figure it out if you think it'll be easier," he offered. "Maybe meet you halfway. You can tell me if I'm too off the mark."
Danny smiled and brought Tim's hand to his lips, the kiss small but enough to send the same electric chill from before down his spine. "I appreciate it, birdie. But I need to do this. I should take responsibility for this whole situation, you know?"
Before Tim could ask what he meant by that, Danny released his hand and walked up to the portal's massive doors. The Fenton family had already shared how it was made and how opening it had led to the ghostly realms on the other side. They talked about their dimensions' intricate connection, the balance that had to exist between them to keep both alive. To see that balance kept in check with a tacky industrial door felt a bit uncanny.
This was a mixture of science and magic like no other. In a way Tim wouldn't be sure who to call if any emergency arose: the brightest minds of the Justice League or the most powerful occultists from the Justice League Dark?
"It all started here," Danny spoke, his eyes still focused on the door. "I was a dumb teenager, hanging out with Sam and Tuck after school. The portal didn't work at first, and we all thought ghosts were totally fake." The dry chuckle he let out was anything but amusing, matching his sad look as he finally met Tim's attentive gaze. "Can you believe my folks had never seen a ghost before they built this? You heard them yesterday. They had a hard time being taken seriously because they had no proof. Brucie Wayne even mocked them. That's why they wanted to make the portal work. To have proof."
Something in Tim's stomach clenched. "You can't blame yourself for doubting them. I understand this hurt you a lot, between the bullying and the stares—"
"Oh, it hurt, alright," Danny muttered with some bitterness. "Do you know what happens when you punch a hole between dimensions?" Danny's eyes lowered again, staring now at his left hand, at an almost invisible scar Tim had known was there because he had traced it a thousand times, spreading like tendrils beneath his fingers. A near-death experience, Danny had said of its origin. The silence between the two of them was heavy, and Tim didn't like the implications of the small gesture. "How about when you're the one punching it, and it bursts wide open right where you're standing?"
A sudden chill sent Tim's fight-or-flight reaction into overdrive. He didn't hesitate to hold Danny's shoulders, his panicked eyes scanning his boyfriend for any sign of injury, as if that would keep him safe from the danger that wasn't there anymore; from harm that couldn't possibly have been real. Danny was right under his grasp, breathing, alive. Tim recalled the heart beating inside his chest…he knew it was there; he had heard it countless times after a rough night patrolling, eager to make sure his boyfriend was safe and sound.
"Danny, starlight…please tell me that's not what happened to you," Tim desperately begged.
But a part deep inside him knew it was something entirely possible, despite not having any prior evidence or even a solid theory to make that assumption. The two worlds had a tight-knit link, death being their common connection, the way it built a bridge between them if only temporarily. Life after death after life.
Tim knew there were also loopholes, ways to return from death that didn't involve becoming a ghost. He had family who'd come back with the help of a Lazarus green substance. Ectoplasm. He knew death wasn't the only thing that could happen. And he knew Danny was not dead now.
But had he ever been? Did the portal somehow bring him back?
Danny looked him in the eye with raw honesty. Tim already knew the answer before he could even hear the whispered words. "I came out different. We still don't know the science behind it. I…I died—"
Tim's heart clenched, mourning a loss he didn't know was weighing heavily on him.
Danny frowned at his boyfriend's reaction and switched to a lighter tone, rushing to placate him. "But I got better! Honestly, birdie! I'm here. Still alive, see?" He took Tim's hand to place it on top of his chest, where his heart should be. The beat was present as ever, albeit as high-paced as Tim's whenever his anxiety began to take over.
A wave of relief washed over Tim upon the reminder of the familiar, rhythmic thump under his hand, his spiraling thoughts reigning in. Danny was fine. He was still alive. Just different.
How different, was the real question sending Tim down a new rabbit hole of theories.
He had already known of someone close who had changed after returning from his premature death.
"Are you like Jason?" he asked, trying to make sense of what this implied.
Jason walked again amongst the living with fire in his veins, anger forged from the pits as he emerged. The bats noticed when his head wasn't as clear nor his decisions as sound. There had been other implications he wasn't too sure he fully understood, mostly because his brother didn't talk much about it.
Tim knew Danny was entirely the opposite of his brother; if anything, his boyfriend was always looking at the bright side of things, a quick pun at his constant disposal. Always avoiding danger and confrontations, but eager to help when someone needed it. So what made him different?
"No, I'm not like him," Danny flat-out denied. "It's more complicated than his whole tangle of corrupted ectoplasm."
Had Danny known enough about Jason's story to reach that conclusion or did he sense it somehow? 'What does that mean for Jay?' Tim wanted to ask, but a part of him rationalized they should have that conversation back in Gotham, with Jason present.
In any case, Danny was Tim's priority at the moment. The 'here' and 'now' Tim needed to focus on. "How complicated?"
Danny grimaced. "Like having to live with ectoplasm in my system?" He turned to look at his hands, flexing them in silent contemplation. "It has some perks but also a whole lot of problems, like ghosts not leaving me alone." There was a sudden playful smile on his lips that didn't match the storm inside Tim's head. "I guess you could say… I see dead people," he hoarsely whispered.
A coil within Tim broke loose with the out-of-place comment, releasing the tension and the dread that had been building up in a soft huff that barely resembled a real chuckle. This revelation was groundbreaking enough to turn Tim's whole world upside down. Yet, here was Danny, troll extraordinaire, goofing with his particular brand of humor. Always looking for levity even in the darkest moments.
Wasn't that exactly one of the things he loved the most about Danny?
Tim didn't know when he had relaxed his grip on Danny's shoulders, but he used their proximity to pull him into a hug. "I can't believe you're making jokes right now," Tim said against his boyfriend's neck, feeling Danny's arms tighten around him in response. The cold sensation that for some reason clung to Danny during their visit to Amity Park was a sour reminder of the hidden nature he just revealed. "I can't believe you died," he whispered, his voice breaking slightly with the last word.
Danny sighed. "Sorry for not telling you sooner," he said in a deeper tone. "I know this is too much already."
Already.
Tim's curiosity rose and he broke the hug to stare into Danny's blue eyes. There was a heaviness in them.
Right.
This was only the tip of the iceberg. There was still so much he didn't know, so much to ask. About these perks Danny didn't explain. About how he managed to live surrounded by all these inventions that were triggered by ectoplasm. If anyone else had known. If his parents had known. About what this meant for his future. The imminent threat of whatever the ghosts' test was about hung over Tim's head, as well.
Tim needed to push his worries aside. This wasn't about him; this was about Danny, who wanted to confide something that made him feel really vulnerable, something he hadn't been able to share out of fear of being rejected. Tim needed to reassure him, protect him. He rubbed Danny's arms gently. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm listening, starlight," he whispered.
"Honestly, I'm really bad at explaining this," Danny admitted, running one of his hands through his hair as he stepped away from Tim. "I'm— I can show you, but…I feel like I need to explain other things before we get stuck into that part."
There was something in his words that suddenly clicked back to a memory from Tim's conversation with Maddie. Has Danny not shown you? And she said something else. It sounded like a code word.
Or a name. The more he repeated it in his head, the more certain he was of his assumption. It sounded like a vigilante name.
Tim's face must have shown something, because Danny chuckled. "You figured something out, didn't you?"
The anxiety building up in Tim's gut told him he had enough pieces now to draw conclusions, and this was one thing that Danny hadn't mentioned yet. A key piece.
Danny was different. He felt as cold as the ghosts he was familiar with. He knew how to follow in his family's footsteps but had also been hurt by his parents' inventions. With weapons that were meant to hurt ghosts. And there were more words to call a ghost…
"Phantom," Tim stated.
Danny's eyes widened in shock, his mouth opening and closing several times before he found his voice. "Where did you hear that name?"
So Tim was right about his assumption. And the way Danny phrased it, he was sure it was not someone else's name. Had Tim really been dating another hero this whole time?
How was this their life?
"Your mom mentioned it," he answered almost absentmindedly as more things began to fall into place, his previous worry now twisting slowly into something more akin to betrayal, casting a shadow over the discovery.
That's why Danny knew how to patch him up. That's why he understood the dangers of Tim's double life and didn't care about the crazy schedules. Or why he didn't flinch under the Wayne family's scrutiny or threats. Because he had probably faced other beings that were way scarier. His own town had been sucked into a different dimension, for crying out loud!
But why wouldn't Danny tell him until now?
What could have possessed him to believe Tim wouldn't get it?
Why, despite knowing about his life as Red Robin, did he not trust him?
Danny groaned and glared at the stairs. "Awesome. Thanks a lot, Mom." He seemed to be appraising Tim's reaction, which was currently some form of confused betrayal. "What's on your mind, birdie?" Danny asked with a different wariness than before.
Oh, he had a lot on his mind, alright…
The beginning of a headache loomed behind Tim's eyes, pain so intricately linked to the demons plaguing him now. "You're a vigilante, like me, aren't you?" He felt the bitterness in his words and wondered if he was being too harsh, but the shame on Danny's face was enough to feel it justified to scoff and plow on. "Seriously?"
"Look, Tim, I—"
"And you have powers," Tim interrupted, fitting the remaining questions to match the new information he had. "Ghost-like powers? What does that even mean?"
His mind was going at hyper-speed trying to make sense of how it all aligned with what he already knew about Danny. Or what he thought he knew. Hadn't Danny claimed he always said the truth? Did he really? Had it all been there in plain sight all along? Was there ever any eerie display of power Tim didn't pay attention to?
"Fine, I'll show you the whole light show," his boyfriend muttered and walked to stand a few feet away from Tim with a tense stance. "It's not even the most relevant part of this talk, honestly. Be thankful this didn't happen back when the ghost shield wouldn't let me transform."
Transform?
He could look different?
Tim tried to picture Danny with red eyes like Kitty or with a sentient shadow following him around like Johnny. Danny wearing goggles like his parents to keep everyone from figuring out his identity. Or donning an orange jumpsuit like the one his dad had offered Tim the day before. Or like an eldritch abomination straight from a Stephen King novel.
He stared in stunned silence, expectant, curious, while Danny stood deadly still with his eyes closed, seconds passing in silence before an ethereal ring of light appeared around his waist, splitting in two as it traveled in opposite directions. It left in its wake the sight of a suit similar to those of his parents, black with white accents in his case. Nothing else seemed to change about his physicality until the light passed over his head leaving snow-white hair instead.
What made the transformation fully hit was the sight of Danny's eyes as he opened them. Ectoplasmic green. Lazarus green. An eerie look that had Tim gasp slightly in surprise.
Danny tried a sheepish smile. His skin looked so pale, with faint tinges of blue, all life apparently drained out of it. There was a celestial glow that made him shimmer faintly, as if one trick of the light could make him disappear in an instant. His hair was also floating with an invisible wind pushing it upwards; it looked almost made of mist.
It was so disconcerting. How could someone so full of life mere moments ago look so dead? So out of this world, leaning into uncanny valley territory.
"Birdie…" Phantom spoke at last, voice small and afraid. "Please say something?" There was something off about how he sounded as well, echoing with a faint static noise that clung to every word.
Tim tentatively walked closer to Phantom. A new feeling began to fill his senses, his adrenaline rising. He knew this was the same guy he had been dating for the last six months; his logical mind saw Danny transform, but his instincts were begging him to get the hell away. Each fiber of his being vibrated with anxiety as the feeling of danger Danger DANGER intensified with every step. The ambient ectoplasm strengthened around them, whispering threats into the back of his mind, its oppressiveness making each muscle feel like lead.
But this was no different than fighting against the dreaded fear toxin, or seeing death right in the face and walking away with nothing worse than a lost spleen. Tim knew how to see past the horror, force the fog to lift. He was trained to focus, and right now he needed to see beyond the ghastly appearance of the one he loved. He breathed deeply, steadily, purposefully, to avoid hyperventilating in his boyfriend's presence.
Even when there was something so elementally different, this was still Danny.
Tim's hand got close enough to touch his partner, his starlight, the static under his fingers tingling all his nerves as they reached for Danny's cheek. Tim wanted to see how different it felt from every other moment they shared. Would Danny somehow phase through his fingers and slip away?
Danny's skin was so cold under his touch. "I still can't believe this is happening," Tim finally spoke, the pang of pain still ever-present. He wanted to say so much more; to scream. But he needed to understand first, to assess what drove Danny to keep something so big under wraps for so long. There had to be a good reason, right?
The ghostly figure floating— had Danny been floating this whole time?—in front of him looked so ashamed, his form almost translucent for a moment. "Trust me, I've been trying to figure out the best way to explain the secrets about life after death, the universe, and everything else," Danny said with the same otherworldly echo, placing a gloved hand on top of Tim's, making the chill chase through his whole body.
Something in that struck Tim. Whatever Phantom looked like or whatever powers he had didn't matter in the great scheme of things, did it? It went beyond that, at a more existential level.
Because in the end there were harder things to answer; issues that were even heavier than Tim's initial turmoil or the ghostly aura in the lab. Like what would happen to Danny if he got seriously hurt or died? Would he forever be a ghost? Or would he live forever in this balance, an immortal like Ra's? Alive, dead, undead…those could be the questions that probably kept Danny at night.
Did he ever struggle to go after his dreams? Or was that why he always seemed so detached from so many things? Did he ever fear building a connection with someone, when death could always tear them apart?
What would this mean for them on a larger scale of things?
Tim sighed. "I have so many questions that I don't know where to start," he managed to mumble.
Danny hung his head before releasing Tim's hand, stepping away before he transformed. The same light as before traveled over his body, bringing back his usual aspect—black hair, blue eyes, faded black jeans, and that band t-shirt Tim gave him two weeks ago— leaving all traces of a ghost behind. If he hadn't been already convinced, Tim would have accepted it had all been a hallucination caused by a chemical from one of his rogues.
The ghostly man in front of him sighed tiredly. "Yeah, that's why I said there were more relevant things to talk about. More complicated, even."
The Gothamite shot him an unimpressed look. "Really? More complicated than using the ectoplasm in your body to unveil your ghost side?"
Danny perked up at that with a fond smile. "I love that you're so brilliant that you understood I'm not a ghost posing as a human or something."
Tim felt struck by the concerning words and he couldn't help staring quizzically at his boyfriend. "How else was I supposed to interpret your whole…" Tim gestured at Danny's chest, "existential situation?"
That got a good laugh out of Danny. "Trust me, you'd be surprised," he muttered darkly, a heavy meaning behind that simple expression.
Great. Add that to the long list of questions as well.
With so many things Tim hadn't known before their arrival at Amity Park, he felt completely out of his depth. But maybe he didn't have to navigate all of this on his own. Tim had to trust his partner would tell him everything now. Danny could take the lead.
"Why don't you continue with whatever you think is relevant and we go from there?" Tim felt he sounded as dead tired as he felt.
Danny crossed his arms in front of his chest in a protective way. "Right," he mumbled.
The newfound responsibility appeared to give Danny many things to consider for the next topic, his inner debates evident in his small hand gestures and the way he tried (and failed) to get words out of his mouth. He settled for pacing in front of the portal, making Tim uneasy. "Okay, okay," Danny finally spoke. "So, remember when I told you our town got sucked into the Ghost Zone?"
Tim felt puzzled but nodded in response. Out of all the things he thought they would talk about, that event had not crossed his mind at all.
There was another look of hesitation before his boyfriend stopped pacing. "Right, well, I obviously omitted a few details. I sort of was there, fighting Pariah Dark. The King of all Ghosts." Danny paused, staring at the floor as he let the weight of his words drop. "And I defeated him." Another pause and Tim soon felt his intense stare, Danny's eyebrows raised as if begging him to piece together the conclusion on his own.
Tim had zero knowledge about any kind of ghost lore, but he knew enough of different forms of government and kingdoms to start inferring what the problem was. Pariah had been king for millennia in the Ghost Zone, from what he recalled. A tyrant that powerful would only be able to ascertain his position through a show of strength, with no successors since he's already dead. So if someone were to defeat him in battle—
No. That couldn't be possible.
Tim's eyes widened. "No way…"
His partner looked apologetic, his arms hugging himself closer. "Tim, I—"
"No, hold on," Tim interrupted, his hand gesturing to stop as he tried to process any alternative conclusions. After several moments, he stilled, having drawn a blank. His dark blue eyes landed on Danny, silently questioning.
Danny sighed and averted Tim's gaze, wordlessly confirming Tim's worries. "I'm sorry," he said with heavy regret.
It was Tim's turn to pace and try to come to terms with this nonsense he didn't dare to fully verbalize. "Danny, I think I would've noticed if you had regular visits from ghosts or advisors or any royal entourage. Or if you went for extended periods of time to rule a whole freaking dimension."
Danny sighed in defeat, leaning against one of the tables in the lab. "For the record, I did tell you when we started dating."
Tim paused his pacing and gave his boyfriend a bewildered look. "And when did this imaginary conversation happen?" he asked with an indignant scoff.
The Amity Parker tilted his head and furrowed his brow. "Uh, do you even remember what I told you that time at the coffee shop? Where you claim it was the time we first met?"
Tim racked his brain to recall what part of that first unintended date had contained such a groundbreaking piece of information. Sure, they had talked for hours, which led to finding that spark that later evolved into the start of their relationship. But he would've remembered talking to a king.
Danny carried on when Tim didn't answer. "You asked me what I did for a living, which you already knew, so I told you 'I'd rather talk about what I do for the un-living as the King of the Dead.' And what did you do, Tim? You laughed!"
Tim stared in disbelief, now recalling those words. "Danny, I thought it was a metaphor! We were bonding over a Death Wish!"
Danny rolled his eyes, though the amusement was clear in the gesture. "Oh, you had a death wish, alright," he added with a teasing grin.
The retort Tim was about to shout died before it even formed when he wondered if Danny was right. If he had subconsciously noticed the ghostly eeriness before and even welcomed it.
Tim realized the cold sensation that ran under his skin when he had been closer to Danny had felt familiar. And he realized it had been the flight-or-fight reaction, the adrenaline. It had reminded him of the thrill of following Danny's spontaneous ideas for a late outing; the danger of entering abandoned places to stargaze, or leaning so close to the ledge of a building just to get the right angle for one of Tim's pictures; or the excitement of just joining whatever prank Danny had in mind to get back at the other bats who had declared war on him.
What if it had always been Danny's ghostly side that subconsciously called out for him?
Maybe Tim really had a thing for danger and near-death experiences.
Shit…
Tim sobered up and gave a long sigh as he tried to ground himself. "Okay, so you're really the king of a whole dimension I just learned about yesterday." He gave Danny a searching look, trying to remember every interaction that came to mind to reprocess everything with the newfound information.
There had been so many death puns.
Danny nodded absently. "Pretty much. When I turned 16, the Observants—these weird eye dudes that form the Ghost Council—decided it would be a great idea to put a fiery crown on top of a kid's head," Danny explained. He then furrowed his brows in concentration until a dark crown surrounded by green flames materialized, floating above his black bangs.
Despite his human appearance, the odd shadows on his face and the imposing aura made Tim's hairs stand on end. Before, it had felt like being in danger of something sneaking up on him, looming over his shoulder. Now it was like his lungs struggled to get enough oxygen, an oppressive presence sucking all life around him. Taking a hold of his soul in its cold grasp.
After a moment, the crown disappeared, taking the frightening air with it. Tim reached behind him to find support on one of the tables, his breath trying to get back to normal.
A flurry of emotions went through Danny's face as he stumbled upon words that wouldn't come out. "It… Yeah, it was a whole mess," he said with a heavy exhale, making clear how it was a huge understatement, but there was no easy way of sorting the whole story. "Any ghost with ridiculous levels of confidence tried to come and beat me up. My parents found out because some of those big eyeball jerks decided to visit during breakfast."
Something nagged at Tim in the back of his mind. Had Danny's parents found out about his royal status? Or had they just found out about Phantom? That would have been after two years of being Phantom and wouldn't have painted the best scenarios.
No, with how they got along, it couldn't be the latter, could it? Would Danny even tell him the truth if he asked? He needed to look more into it, before Danny felt he was attacking his parents under false accusations. Hopefully that's all they were.
Everything Tim had learned so far about Danny's life before Gotham sounded so surreal. And he had been going through it since he was 14. Tim could sympathize with jumping into a dangerous world at a young age. And it made sense his partner was turning a new leaf if things had finally calmed down enough to live a more normal life.
And Tim had been worried about making Danny's life crazy by dating a vigilante…
No wonder Danny had tried to stay as far away from Amity Park as possible. And it explained why he didn't want Tim to come on the trip in the first place. When he mentioned the town had its own brand of crazy, nothing would have prepared Tim for ghost politics.
Which reminded him of an imminent problem. A concern he couldn't still shake.
Tim looked at the floor, his mind trying to process everything. "That's the real reason behind the test, huh? Since you're the king and I'm—" He refrained from completing the idea with the words that he thought could label him in the ghostly realms. Mortal? Human? Commoner? "What does this mean for us?"
Would this be what broke them? What tore them apart? Not the secrets, not the dangers of a double life, nor the intrusion of others in their relationship.
Would Tim be considered too human to stay with Danny in the future?
Danny approached and raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Don't worry. I'm going to talk to the Council and—"
Tim frowned. "No, that's not—Danny, you said Pariah had been king for thousands of years." He left the statement linger, all his other worries hidden behind those simple words. He knew Danny wasn't dense.
What if they wanted to grow old together? Tim knew that was too much pressure to put into a relationship that had only started six months ago. But he couldn't help wondering about what it meant if this went further. Whenever he tried to see himself in the future or when he traced longer-term plans, Danny was there in the back of his mind. They were getting into a certain rhythm of things. Despite everything, the Wayne family liked Danny and tried to include him in their gatherings. Even his hero friends had gotten a chance to meet him before.
(Would they be surprised to learn Danny had powers? How did he even fare against other heroes?)
Danny was now a part of Tim's everyday life. Tim's new normal.
The man in question looked at Tim for a moment with his icy blue eyes, head tilting to the side. Tim suddenly realized he was under the scrutinizing gaze of the King of the Dead. The title felt so overwhelming when he began to consider what it implied. It made him feel so small, so out of place, so—
Danny closed the distance between them (had he been this close a moment ago?), his hands reaching for him, one on his chin, the other on his side, pulling him close, leaning in, slowly, tenderly for a kiss. All thoughts racing through his head stopped abruptly, letting himself go into the cold touch of Danny's lips. There was something electric in the air as he closed his eyes, the same thrill he felt around his partner ever-present. Tim's lips reacted on their own accord, parting to return the kiss. The world fell silent as they let the moment freeze them in place, as if nothing else could break them now or ever again.
Tim felt the warm reminder of memories built together. It felt like coming home from a long night working on a tough case. Like the comfort found during the lazy Sunday mornings they spent chilling together. The warmth and patience during anxiety attacks. The silliness of a prank not going exactly as planned.
They parted only out of the need to look at each other, to make sure they were fine, that everything would be okay. He saw his breath fog with Danny's cold proximity.
What had he been thinking about before this?
"Birdie," Danny whispered as he caressed his cheek with a tenderness he wouldn't have imagined coming from a powerful ghostly being. "I don't have all of the answers. But does it really matter?" He took ahold of Tim's hand and pulled it towards his lips for a small kiss. "I love you," he said as he looked into his eyes, and it felt like he was looking straight into Tim's soul, which at this point was entirely possible. "I want to be with you, if you're okay with that. No matter what happens tomorrow or ten years from now, why don't we just enjoy this now?"
Tim felt breathless, lightheaded. "I love you, too," he said with a shaky exhale, the action feeling like the release of heavy pounds of worry and stress off his shoulders.
Why should they think that far ahead when they could be enjoying whatever they could share together? The top of the rollercoaster or the top of the world. A simple cup of coffee before work and school, or the strangest and longest road trip ever. It didn't matter.
"Nothing's changed for me," Danny continued with a warm smile. Until it shifted into a mischievous grin. The same troll-like vibes that always followed him around. "Well, maybe now we get to do meaner pranks to your family and you'll get more ghost puns as an added bonus."
Tim groaned but couldn't help the smile betraying his words. "You mean you have more puns?"
Danny raised both hands and wiggled his fingers in front of him. "I don't want that knowledge to haunt you."
Tim couldn't help but laugh, a proper and hearty laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. And if a tear or two rolled down his cheek, he would blame the hilarity of the stupid joke.
"I'm so dead if the ghosts test my pun skills," Tim said after his laughter began to die down. "I don't think I can live up to that challenge."
"Hey, that sounds more like my line, you magpie," Danny added with another chuckle. He then rubbed behind his neck, the telltale sign of his insecurities, and Tim had to wonder how this was the same ruler of a whole dimension. "I guess I do have to figure out what the whole test is about," he admitted in a more subdued tone.
Tim felt his protective side rising, whether Danny needed it or not. He squeezed one of his partner's shoulders and stared with his most determined look. "We. We'll figure it out," he stated, infusing his Red Robin attitude in each word. Danny gave him a skeptical look and Tim felt his hurt pride rise in defense. "You do remember I've been a hero longer than you have been, right?"
Danny at least blushed in embarrassment. Good. "Uh, yeah, but—"
"And before you pull the fancy powers card on me," Tim interrupted with the most unimpressed tone he could muster, "you do remember I'm well-respected despite being the only non-powered hero in a group that has the likes of Superboy in it, right? Just because I allowed myself to be vulnerable around you, it doesn't mean I'm helpless."
The exhausted sigh from Danny was at least a good sign that he would finally see some reason. "I know, birdie," he whispered, leaning his forehead against Tim's. "I would never think of you that way, you know that."
Tim clung to the warmth that settled in his chest. The role reversal had felt so strange. It was nice feeling protected for once; to be chosen and not having to fight for a chance to be where he is. And he wouldn't let some odd eyeballs dictate what would happen between him and Danny in any way.
"Good," the Gothamite replied softly.
There were many things he still needed to solve, questions that remained half-answered. But maybe they would continue figuring it out one step at a time.
But first…
Tim looked at his boyfriend straight in the eye, letting the determination before a mission take over his features. The spark of anticipation, exciting, thrilling, flared to life. Except, this wasn't just a random rogue they would need to face. This was a firm stand to keep their relationship safe.
"So, What's the plan now?" Tim asked.
Danny sighed and shook his head, a fond smile on his lips. "I should've known you wouldn't want to wait in the wings, birdie."
Tim smirked. Despite everything Danny had learned about Red Robin, maybe it was his turn to see what he was really capable of. What they could do together. So many possibilities opened up now, new mysteries to unveil. And now they didn't have to do it on their own.
Maybe Danny was in for a few surprises of his own.