Lay With Me And Forget The World- Danny 4
Big fluffy snowflakes drifted lazily from the heavens, disappearing in a white carpet that enveloped the park; If Danny hadn't been freezing, it might have been pretty.
Snow weighed heavily on the emergency blanket like it intended to trap him and Liz there forever. All he had to do was hide under it, and they'd be hidden from the world. More than anything, Danny wanted to hide and get more desperately needed sleep, to be buried by the flakes and left alone. With a cup of hot coffee or a better coat, he would have been tempted, but the frigid air strung his cheeks and scraped his lungs; it wasn't safe to stay outside.
Beneath the blanket, protected from the cold, Liz snored softly. It was a miracle she hadn't woken up yet, insomniac that she was, not to mention that she was so deeply asleep, she snored. Danny wanted to let her keep sleeping as long as needed, but the snow began falling heavier.
"Liz?" He flexed frozen fingers and shook her shoulder. "You gotta wake up."
Her nose scrunched up adorably as she waved him off.
"C'mon Ghost Girl, rise and shine."
"No," She whined, pressing a finger to his lips to keep him quiet. "Five more minutes."
That wouldn't have been a problem in better weather, but Danny couldn't feel his nose. Luckily, he'd had 14 years of training as a pain-in-the-ass little brother and an arsenal of unconventional ways to wake someone up.
He wormed a hand out from under the blanket to grab a fistful of snow.
"Last chance to wake up," He tried and was thoroughly ignored.
Have it your way.
Liz shot up with an undignified screech as frost pelted her face. "What the hell!"
Danny couldn't stop himself from laughing. She looked ridiculous, lines from his hoodie imprinted on her cheek and ice melting off her nose; it ruined her otherwise angry expression.
"Omigod, I cannot believe you did that!"
He shrugged innocently. "I had to get you up somehow."
She stuck her tongue out, blew a raspberry, and threw a handful of fresh powder at his eyes.
"Hey!" He protested, blinking it away. "That is so not fair!"
"Karma's a bitch- that was totally fair."
"Karma's a liar because it was not!"
Liz wiggled away, standing and stretching. "Is too. It would only be unfair if I did something like this," She grabbed the bottom edges of the blanket and pulled up, sending the powder that had accumulated overnight tumbling over Danny's head.
He jumped up with a shriek, shaking out his hood. "You did not just do that!"
With a mocking shrug, Liz said, "I had to get you up somehow."
Quickly, Danny scooped up more snow, shaped it into a ball, and chucked it at her. She dodged, eyebrows quirking playfully.
"Watch yourself, Danny. Another shot like that and you will have officially declared-" The next snowball caught her full in the chest. "War it is!"
He ran for cover as she bent to make ammo. Her snowballs weren't 'balls' so much as they were vaguely rounded lumps, but they were effective. Most of them missed or fell apart before they reached Danny, but the ones that landed packed a punch. Liz's real skill was dodging, and Danny struggled to get a hit in even with his better aim. Childish joy fluttered in his stomach when he managed to score.
"You suck!" She giggled, a snowball exploding on contact with her thigh.
Danny leaned out from the tree he hid behind, hoping to nail her again, but she'd vanished.
"Liz?" His heart skipped a beat.
"Sneak attack!" In the short time Danny had taken to make a new snowball, Liz had climbed his tree. She shook the branches, sending chunks of slush raining down.
A few surprised swears escaped Danny's lips as he was bombarded, and Liz cackled hard enough to fall out of the tree.
"I wish I had a camera," She panted, eyes sparkling. "That face was priceless!"
He offered her a hand up, but she pulled him to the ground with her, still laughing.
"It wasn't that funny." He said with a fake pout.
Liz rolled to her side. "Aw, I'm sorry Darling, did I hurt your ego?" She joked.
Danny's chest hummed pleasantly at the nickname. "Pfft, obviously not. I was taking it easy on you; you never could've done that if I was actually trying."
She snorted, covering her face with her hands. "Is that so?"
"Absolutely! I could annihilate you if I wanted to; it would be so easy."
"In the wise words of William Shakespeare, I quote, 'He doth protest too much, methinks.'"
A laugh caught in his throat, but he choked it down. He stood, pretending to be offended. English may have been his worst subject, but if Liz wanted to play Shakespeare, he could play Shakespeare; something good had to come from Lancer forcing him to act in Macbeth.
With a flouncy accent, he said, "I am the one who possesseth the ice powers. It is foolish to challenge me to snow-based combat."
Liz's eyebrows shot up, and she had to take a moment to reign in her laughter before taking on a look of mock horror. "Dear God, you're right! I'm surrounded by snow- mine own greatest weakness. Oh, what a fool am I to engage with thee here. Certes I am to meeteth my death here, hath fallen by thy frozen hands!"
Danny was taken aback. If she didn't have crippling stage fright, Liz could have been a hell of an actress. "Woe is thee, thee poor, cursed soul. Go, retreat now before I gather mine own wits, and thee might yet liveth another day."
"Retreat?" She got to her feet and turned her back dramatically. "Your pity insults me, sir. I did refuse to runneth and encave. Nay, fore mine own honor, I shall stayeth and square thee, and I shalt prevail!"
"Is that so? How doth thee expecteth to defeat me, an ice ghost, while in mine own strongest element?"
"Mayhaps our battle shalt not be-est in thy element," Liz grinned mischievously and took off running. "Catcheth me if thee can!"
With a chuckle, he chased after her. She was fast and agile, making sharp turns around trees and ducking under low branches in a path that was hard to follow. She wasn't going as fast or far as she could have, keeping a comfortable, if not taunting, distance from Danny.
"Art thee sure we art in thy element, Sir Ghost?" She teased, hand on her knees, taking a chance to catch her breath. "For I seemeth to be-est winning this exchange."
They'd run deeper into the park, where the trees began to thin out to open space. The endless expanse of undisturbed snow made it difficult to tell where the ground was flat or raised, but it looked like Liz had stopped at the top of a small hill.
Perfect.
Danny raised his hands. "Alas, it seemeth thou art right. It would appeareth thee hath bested me. Alloweth us shaketh hands and depart ways with dignity." Grinning smugly, Liz extended her hand for him to shake. "PSYCH!"
"Son of a-" Liz squawked as she was tackled, both rolling down the hill.
Fresh powder cushioned their tumble, but wetter sleet clung to their clothes and soaked through.
"You lying, conniving jerk!" She swatted around blindly, trying to get her bearings. She snickered when she saw Danny, his hair matted with ice. "Where is thy so-called 'dignity' now?"
"Mock all thee wisheth," He replied. "But this hast only madeth me stronger! Where is thy wit now that thee have been sheathed in that which most weakens thee?"
Liz glanced at her frost-dusted sweatshirt and gasped. "'Tis true. Prithee, Sir Ghost, I begeth for mercy yond thee might spareth me!"
"Mercy is for those who get up when they're asked."
"Alas. Truly then, these shall be but the lasteth moments of mine own life." She flopped backward.
"I did warneth thee. I cannot be-est beaten here, for I am the Mighty Snow Ghost! Beware!" Danny sprinkled powder on her forehead, doing his best impression of the box Ghost.
"And so it is," she said through a poorly suppressed smile, "That I meeteth mine own endeth by the hand of the Snow Ghost. Holdeth me close, that I might whisper mine own dying words to someone who shall heareth them."
Gracefully, he pulled her into his arms, letting her head rest on his shoulder. "Speaketh, so thy words might live on where thee shalt not."
"Thee hast been tricked," she whispered. "For I am not weakened, nor am I beaten. Thee may be-est the Mighty Snow Ghost, but I am the Ghost of Fire, and I never lose."
Danny pulled back fast enough to see her eyes flash purple before he was engulfed in heat. The snow around them had melted instantaneously, leaving them dripping in a soaked circle of grass. He was stunned Liz had used her Ghost Flame to win a fake Shakespearean fight; going ghost had given her back some bravery with her powers.
With wet hair plastered to her face, she burst into uncontrollable giggles. "Omigod, stop, stop, that face is too much!"
Danny dissolved into hysterics, laughing so hard tears formed in his eyes.
Time stood still as they lay in their bubble of joy, laughing until they were out of breath, only to gasp and laugh harder. The grass was cold and wet, snowflakes fell aimlessly, Danny's sides burned and his stomach cramped, but he never wanted that moment to end.
Liz curled on her side, gasping as her giggles were punctuated with hiccups. Soon she started snorting too, and she tried unsuccessfully to hide it. Danny inscribed a mental picture in his memory; nose crinkling, hair wet and stringy, face flushed as she gave up on suppressing the snorts she was usually so self-conscious about. She was an absolute mess, and he never wanted to forget it.
"Omigod, okay, I'm calming down, okay," She panted, stretching out on her back and folding her arms behind her head.
"I had no idea you were fluent in Shakespearean," Danny rested on his stomach, fighting off a few lingering snickers. "It's impressive."
"Thanks," She grinned. "I got extra credit for writing a five-page essay in Shakespearean in 7th grade. How do you know it so well?"
"Mr. Lancer forced me to play the lead in the class production of Macbeth before you transferred in."
She propped her head up with a hand. "You're into acting?"
"No, no, God no. Especially after memorizing lines and fighting off a jilted theater ghost."
"I swear there was only, like, a three-week gap between when we met and when I transferred to Casper- how did I miss that?"
"Be grateful you did. It was an anticlimactic fight and an underwhelming show."
"I'm sure you did great," Liz shook her head and shivered. "That was fun, but now I'm freezing."
"Oh, thank God," Danny rolled to his feet and helped her up. "Another five minutes and I'm pretty sure my ass would freeze to the grass."
Another inch or two of snow had fallen. It was a workout to climb the hill and trek back to their tree. Liz let Danny take the lead, walking in his footsteps instead of making her own. Danny noticed and went out of his way to take the biggest steps he could.
"You're only, like, a few inches taller than me," She said. "That isn't as effective as you think it is."
"Still fun!"
Liz sat heavily in the fresh powder when they reached their tree while Danny rooted around for their backpack.
"Wilbur was right; we should invest in better coats."
Danny nodded, shaking slush off their silver blanket and folding it away. A brisk wind had picked up, cold air cutting through his clothes like knives. "The sooner, the better."
"Think any stores are open?" She crossed her arms against the chill.
"If the city plowed the roads, sure."
"Good. Let's go before this storm gets any worse."
The question was which way to go. Danny hadn't paid enough attention to Wilbur to know the quickest way out of the park, and Liz admitted it had taken her over half an hour to find an exit when she left for the gas station. Instead of going deeper into the trees, they followed their tracks back to the open space.
"Look," Danny pointed far across the span of white. "I think those are picnic tables over there; there's probably a parking lot or signs or something that'll tell us how to get to the city."
He was right; there was both a parking lot and a giant sign showing a map of the park with clearly labeled directions.
"If we keep going this way, we'll be at the soccer field," Liz read. "That's right at the edge of the park. We cross a street and we're back in the city."
"Perfect."
It was a longer walk than the map made it out to be. Danny didn't regret their snowball fight, but as more snowflakes fell, he wished more and more they'd done it after getting warmer coats. His jeans were stiff and frozen, creaking with every step.
"OkayOkay, enough," Liz said, stopping him with a hand on his elbow. "This is ridiculous; you look like you're gonna shake apart."
"You're one to talk."
Ignoring him, she took his hands in hers. Her eyes flashed purple and her palms heated up, slowly bringing feeling back into Danny's fingers.
"You don't have to do that," He told her.
"Shut up. I should have done this from the beginning." She sounded guilty.
"It's okay." He knew how much she hated her ghost flame, a power that had only been unlocked after saving Tucker from Phobos, the ghost of fear.
Liz avoided his gaze. After a few minutes, the heat faded, and she fell back into step behind him.
They could hear the sound of other people playing in the park as they neared the soccer field.
"Missed me!" Someone unseen goaded.
"You can't do that," Another argued. "That's totally cheating!"
"Sounds like someone's trying to steal your title, Snow Ghost," Liz knocked her shoulder against Danny's.
"They can have it," He chuckled. "I want to be the Warm-And-Dry Ghost now."
He adjusted course to stick closer to the trees bordering the field. They hadn't seen anyone else yet, but they heard laughter. Ideally, Danny and Liz would be able to veer around them and avoid any awkward interaction. Danny didn't want to have to come up with an excuse for his appearance.
Suddenly, he stopped short. "Did you hear that?"
Liz tilted her head and listened. There it was again, the crunch of snow- footsteps- coming closer. They were heavy but careful, like someone was taking care not to be heard.
Blood running cold, Danny grabbed Liz and pushed her behind a patch of bushes, dropping low to hide in a snowdrift. The footsteps stopped on the other side, and Danny chanced a peek through the branches to see who was there.
"They shouldn't be able to hear us here," Cyborg whispered to Raven.
Liz sank deeper into the snowdrift, dark green eyes big and confused. She and Danny shared the same thought; What are they doing here?
Raven floated a foot above the ground, wearing appropriate winter gear under her cloak. She looked conflicted about something. "What did you want to talk about?"
"I bet you can guess," Cyborg signed tiredly. "I'm worried, Rae, and I feel like you're the only other person I can talk about this with. Starfire doesn't really understand, and BB, as much as I love the little guy, he's too… he wouldn't be able to take this seriously."
"We're all taking this seriously."
Danny gripped Liz's hand hard. 'Are they talking about us?' he mouthed. She shook her head and motioned for him to be quiet, even though he hadn't made a sound. His heart stuttered in his chest, mind racing to come up with a plan. Two Titans were practically on top of them; if Danny breathed too heavily, they'd hear him. Running now would be suspicious. All he could do was stay still, be silent, and hope they left soon.
"You were there yesterday," Cyborg continued. Danny's heart stopped. "I've never seen anything like that. I know it was a stressful situation and the mission went to hell five minutes in, but hearing how he blamed himself?"
"I know," Raven agreed, eyes on the ground. "It was hard to hear. Robin went through something traumatic. He's still processing it."
Wait, Robin? They were talking about Robin. Danny's heart started beating again.
"Is he, though? Processing?" Cyborg dragged his hands over his face. "He hasn't told us anything, and I can guarantee he hasn't looked for professional help."
Guilt crept up Danny's spine. He didn't like eavesdropping, especially on such a serious conversation. Liz, on the other hand, was listening intently.
"He isn't ready to talk yet," Raven replied. "He might never be. The best we can do is ensure he knows we're here to support him, no matter what."
"It's hard to support him when we don't know what happened, what was said, what was done. Remember how he reacted when Starfire broke the plate?"
"We know enough- more than he wants us to. He's well aware what kind of shape he found him in, and like it or not, those injuries painted a pretty clear picture."
Cyborg's head dropped back in defeat. "It's killing me, ya know? The knowing but not really knowing. Every time I close my eyes I see those damn burns. I can't stop thinking about it. He's my best friend, and I can tell he's suffering, but I can't do a goddamn thing about it."
Raven rested a hand on his shoulder. "I know it's hard. We all know you care about him, and even if he isn't showing it, Robin knows too. All you can do is keep reminding him."
He covered her hand with his own, swallowing hard. "Do you… Do you think he talked to Robin like that? With all that hatred?"
"Proba-" Hic! "What was that?"
Liz covered her mouth in horror as another hiccup escaped her. Hic!
"Whoa," Cyborg looked over the bush, surprise coloring his face. "Uh, hey there."
With another hiccup, Liz grabbed Danny's wrist and bolted.
"Wait- hold up!"
Danny didn't look back to see if they were being followed, too focused on keeping his balance. He wasn't running so much as he was aggressively high-kneeing away, the snow doing its best to slow him down. Liz wasn't faring much better.
The ground under Danny's foot suddenly gave way- he stepped on a rock and it rolled, taking him down.
"Danny! Are you-" A snowball exploded in Liz's face before she could finish. "Son of a-"
A confused Beast Boy appeared from behind a pile of snow. "You aren't Starfire."
"No shit!" Liz blinked slush out of her eyes. "Christ, what was in that thing? A rock?"
Raven and Cyborg caught up with them.
"Ouch," Cyborg winced at the red mark between Liz's eyes. "You good?"
"Peachy."
"Friends!" Starfire flew up with a giggle, Robin strolling after her with a half-made snowball in his hands. "Robin has agreed to join- oh, hello!" She smiled wide at Danny.
"Just for a little," Robin frowned, noticing the two strangers. "What's going on here?"
"Beast Boy brained this poor girl with a trick snowball," Cyborg explained, reaching to examine Liz's head. "Can you follow my finger?"
She waved him off. "I'm fine."
"It was not a trick ball!" Beast Boy protested. "It was just dense- I didn't want it to fall apart! Sorry I hit you."
Liz gave him a sarcastic thumbs-up.
Robin glanced down at Danny. "Did he get you too?"
Danny had forgotten he was on the ground. "Oh, uh, no, no. I'm good; it's all good!" It was not, actually, all good. He brushed the frost off his knees and tried to act normal, but nothing about that interaction was 'good.'
Starfire leaned closer, swiping powder from his shoulders. "Excuse me, but why are you not wearing appropriate weather garments?"
"Whoa, yeah," Beast Boy agreed. "You're, like, shaking really bad, dude. Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?"
"He's fine," Liz pulled away from Cyborg. "We're both fine, so if you don't mind-"
"Fine?" Cyborg shucked off his coat and zipped it around Liz, who drowned in the fabric. "Y'all are frozen solid. How long have you been out here?"
"More importantly, what are you doing out here?" Robin asked.
"Same as you," Danny hid his shaking hands in his pockets. "Snowball fight."
"Without proper coats?" Starfire frowned.
"What can we say? The weatherman lied when he said we'd only get two to four inches. I'll never trust his forecast again."
Beast Boy pulled his beanie over Danny's head and ears, wrapping his jacket over his shoulders. "Here, dude. You need this way more than I do."
His fingers were too cold to work the zipper, so Danny settled for threading his arms through the sleeves and leaving the front open. Against his frozen hoodie, it might as well have still been on Beast Boy. In the back of his mind he worried about the younger kid getting too cold, but the green teen shifted into a cat and leaped into Starfire's waiting arms. "Oh my God, okayokay, yup, that's a thing, okayokay. Cool. Cool, cool, cool."
"He does that," Raven's eyes moved from him to Liz. "Why did you run from us?"
"Run?" Robin repeated, eyebrows raised.
"They were hiding in the trees."
Liz hiccuped. "We were not hiding! We were just… taking a break."
"From your 'snowball fight,'" Cyborg sounded doubtful.
"Yeah."
"Dressed like that?"
"Are you referring to before or after you turned me into the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man?"
He laughed. "What's your name, funny girl."
Hic! "Nunya."
"Liz," Danny groaned. "Play nice with the Titans." He wanted the interaction to be over, but the Titans seemed to have other plans. Glances were shared between the team, pity and concern evident in their eyes. If they didn't leave soon, Danny was sure they'd march them down to the Wayne Building Wilbur had mentioned.
"Joy," Starfire beamed. "You know who we are! And now we know you are Liz. And you are?"
"Dan- Danny." It came out stuttered, and he cringed. Beast Boy's coat hadn't helped his shivering; if anything, the shakes felt worse. Maybe he did need to sit down.
Raven pressed the back of her hand to his cheek; her warm skin felt like a burning brand on his skin. "You need to go inside."
Liz wrestled an arm through the oversized sleeve of Cyborg's coat, trying and failing to undo the zipper. "Yeah, we'll get right on that, thanks."
"You're freezing," Cyborg caught her trembling hand and tucked it back under the sleeve. "It's not healthy- you need to warm up ASAP."
"Perhaps a mug of hot chocolate would help!" Starfire suggested brightly.
Danny's stomach twisted. He'd kill for a hot chocolate. He must have looked it too.
"Guess that settles it," Cyborg clapped his hands with a smile. "We're taking you to Titans Tower!"