Dani's To-Do List

- swing off the chandelier...?

- actually tour the manor this time

- hate cats

- get her own room

- meet the grumpiest teenager ALIVE. wait. he is alive, right?


Sparkly.

"It's a little more reinforced now," Dick is explaining. "The extra expense was worth it if we didn't have to replace it every other month."

"You could always just not swing on it," Dani says. She doesn't sound convincing even to herself.

Dick barks out a laugh, putting his hands on his hips. "Yeah, right."

They stare at the chandelier for another long moment.

"I want to swing on it," Dani confesses. There's nothing she wants more in this moment than to hang on the chandelier and shaking all the crystals on it like a glorious windchime.

"Me too," Dick replies.

"Absolutely not." Dani and Dick jump at Alfred's voice. He's wearing his outdoor shoes, so he must be on his way out to the market, like he'd announced earlier. He must have suspected Dick's intentions and came to check on them, drat. Dani can just tell she's not going to be able to get away with much anytime Alfred's around. "If either of you swing on the chandelier, I will abstain from baking the snickerdoodles I promised last night."

"That's a good threat," Dick mutters in defeat.

"Anything for snickerdoodles," Dani agrees.

Alfred hums, looking between the two of them, and then apparently decides they're telling the truth. "I'll be back before lunch."

Dick and Dani say their goodbyes as the older man walks out a side door, and then they continue on their tour. Before they make it down the staircase, Dani comments, "I can't believe you have a butler." Vlad didn't have any... Ugh. She shouldn't think of him. It'll ruin her time with Dick.

"Alfie's family," Dick replies. "He runs the entire manor."

"That seems like a lot of work."

"We're fairly sure he's superhuman."

"Why don't you guys get more help?"

"Alfred would probably kill them," Dick answers seriously. "This place is his."

Alfred would make an absolutely terrifying ghost. He's already protecting his home like its his haunt.

Dick continues on with the tour, leading her through the winding halls of the manor. It's huge. Like, obnoxiously, ostentasiously, almost offensively huge. Six floors and a basement, easily over twenty thousand feet, over a hundred rooms… it's nearly the size of Phantom's Keep. And that's a literal castle.

(It's so much bigger than Vlad's mansion. He would be furious if they were compared.)

First on the tour is the basement. Dick briefly shows her around, but it's not too interesting. There's a panic room that resembles a bank vault with comfy seating and refreshments, an oak room with shelves to the ceiling of wine bottles, and several storage rooms stuffed with boxes.

The first and second floor has a huge ballroom behind the entry foyer. A walkway balcony divides the room and allows for access to the other second floor rooms. Between the first and second floors, there's a gym, the catering kitchen and guest dining room, two sitting rooms (for receiving guests), a parlor and grand salon (for entertaining guests), two offices (one for business, one personal), a grand library, a portrait room of family paintings and pictures, a sunroom full of windows and plants, and Alfred's quarters (which is apparently the size of a decent apartment, but Dick didn't show her since it's Alfred's space).

The third floor has ten bedrooms, the family kitchen and dining room, a game room, and theater. Dick doesn't spend much time on the bedrooms, since he doesn't want to invade their privacy, and mentions that his own is a mess. Besides, he seems too excited to stay still in any given place.

The fourth floor is full of guest bedrooms, a guest kitchen, and a much smaller, cozier library. It's fairly uninteresting, so they move to the fifth floor fairly quickly.

The fifth floor is where all their fun stuff is. Dick shows her the sewing room, which he explains is mostly used by Alfred and Cass, but that everyone in their family spends time in occasionally ("We like to make our own costumes!" "For Halloween?" "Sure. And recitals and stuff!").

There's a ballet studio that Dick explains is for Cass, who loves to dance. Apparently, she's pretty nonverbal and prefers to speak with her body — whether through visual arts or sign language. Dani admires the clean but obviously well-used studio and tries to imagine what dancing in front of all those mirrors might feel like. Maybe Cass will let her…?

Another room is smaller, only a bit bigger than a regular closet. This, Dick explains, is Tim's dark room. He only shows her because he knows there are no photos currently being processed. Dani is particularly interested in this room, and she wonders if Tim would let her borrow a film camera for her own pictures. They might actually turn out alright.

Dick doesn't have his own hobby room, explaining that the gym downstairs has acrobatic equipment for him and there's already a game room on the third floor. He also mentions that Jason's own hobby room is really just the fourth floor library, since he loves books, and the kitchen, where he's allowed to cook (and is apparently the only Wayne kid to gain that privilege).

Damian apparently has a few areas for his hobbies, the biggest being the barn in the back full of animals he rescues and rehabilitates. Dick promises that he'll get Damian to show her around, but admits that he can't do so without the younger boy here at risk of severe bodily harm. Dani is even more convinced that she has to meet this guy. He sounds so violent, but also so soft. She has to know what that looks like.

The thirteen year old Wayne also has a room for his other passion: art. The next room Dick shows her is an art studio full of light from a wall of windows overlooking the extensive backyard, with several comfortable places to sit and sketch. Dani would love it, adore it actually, but…

On the nearby settee, there's a cat.

Dani hates cats.

Vlad had cats. He named them both after Danny's mom – Maddie and Madeline. They both hated her, scratched her arms up whenever they were given the chance (and they had a lot of chances), made messes that Vlad blamed her for, and were generally the cherry on top of Dani's incredible experience in the Masters Mansion.

She's never given cats another chance, not that she had many opportunities beyond the rare alley cat that hissed at her if she glanced at them. She refuses to meet any others. Cats suck, and nothing will change her mind.

Dani glares at the offending animal as soon as she sets eyes on it. The cat blinks lazily at her, stretching its back as it prepares to get up.

"Oh, and look!" Dick steps forward and meets the cat when it jumps off its perch to approach the man. Dick crouches down and runs a gentle hand along the cat's back as it rubs against his legs. "This is Alfred the cat." At Dani's scoff, he laughs softly, careful not to spook the cat. "It was Damian's way of showing affection for Alfred the person."

The cat makes its way to Dani despite her increasingly intense glare. "Don't come near me," Dani threatens. The cat doesn't even slow down.

Dani jumps on Dick's back as he goes to stand back up, throwing her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders. Dick barely stumbles despite her sudden attack and stands back up, resting his arms under Dani's legs to hold her in place.

"Are you afraid of cats?" Dick asks, turning to face Alfred as the cat sits, tail curling around his body. He looks up at Dani curiously. Dani keeps glaring.

"No," Dani replies. "I just hate them."

"Why?"

Dani doesn't want to explain. There's so much behind that story that she doesn't want him to know about, that wouldn't make sense without lots and lots of context. So instead, she says, "I'm a dog person."

"The way you're clinging to me to stay away from an animal a fourth your size suggests otherwise," Dick banters back, but he makes no move to put her down. "It's very cat-like."

"I don't want it to sniff me," she insists. "Then he'll think he can come near me."

"Cats like it when you leave them be. It's good cat manners."

"Do they like getting thrown down the stairs?" Dani shoots back. "I can do that instead."

Dick laughs. "Please don't, Damian might kill you."

The cat starts creeping forward again and Dani slaps Dick's chest. "Let's get out of here." She can feel him shaking with laughter and she kicks her feet a bit. "Go, Grayson! Close the door behind us!"

"Alright," Dick agrees, but before he can close the door, the cat darts forward into the hall.

"RUN!" Dani shrieks.

Dick takes off in a dead sprint, the cat following closely behind.

"It enjoys the chase, Dick! GO GO GO!"

Dick's chest is heaving with either exertion or laughter as he runs down the hall. When he rounds the corner to the stairs he leaps onto the banister and slides down the railing on his socked feet. Dani would be ridiculously impressed with this stunt — they're going pretty fast on the way down and Dick didn't hesitate— but the cat is gaining ground.

Dick jumps off the banister and runs down the next hallway. Without warning, he darts into one of the rooms lining the hall and slams the door shut behind them.

"Miiiaeow?"

Dani holds Dick tight as a tiny paw pokes out from underneath the door and swats at the air.

"Can it get in?" Dani whispers. The cat makes another noise from the hall.

"Are you kidding me? It's a cat."

"You didn't answer my question," she hisses.

"No, Dani. No, the cat cannot get through the closed door."

Dani doesn't bother getting offended by Dick's patronizing tone. She doesn't trust cats. What if it has a kitty door? She watches the paw bat at the carpet just inside the door. Dani is one hundred percent convinced it's looking for a way in.

"He's a very well behaved cat," Dick tries to convince her. Dani is not convinced.

"He chased us through the halls," she counters.

"He thought we were playing."

"He is a cat."

"You are ridiculous," Dick laughs. "He's friendly."

"He's a CAT."

"Alright, alright. Well, do you want to wait him out? It might be a while, we've piqued his interest."

Dani sets her chin down on Dick's shoulder. "You distract him and I'll run?"

"You'd sacrifice me like that?" Dick gasps, affronted.

"You said he was friendly!"

"You don't even believe me!"

"You pet him before!"

"And clearly, you think he'll attack!"

"I know he probably won't attack! I just don't want him to think it's okay to come near me!"

"Unfortunately, he's interested in you now, so good luck with that!"

There's a soft knock on the door and both Dick and Dani yelp in surprise.

"Did the cat learn how to knock?" Dani asks, horrified.

"Don't be ridiculous," comes a posh English voice from the other side of the door. The door opens to reveal both Alfreds, one in the crook of the other's elbow, a judgemental look in both their eyes. "If you two are quite done shouting at each other, I've prepared some ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch."

Dani glares at the cat. I don't trust you, she mouths at the cat.

"Miss Dani, this is a cat," Alfred deadpans. "He will not understand what you've said, verbal or otherwise."

Dani shrinks behind Dick. "You don't know that. Cats are evil."

Alfred lets out a long-suffering sigh. "Very well." He steps past the two black-haired youths and sets the cat gently on the guest bed covered in a white sheet in the room Dick had run into. He gives the cat a gentle pat and then shuts the door behind him, leaving it trapped. "Now you may rest easy. Let us adjourn to the sunroom."

Dani cautiously lowers herself to the ground, Dick remaining a champ the whole time by staying still and letting her climb off him like he's a jungle gym. Dani looks at the door. "Is he going to be alright?"

Dick can't stop surprised laughter from bubbling out of him, and Dani glares as he shoves his fist in his mouth and tries to stifle it. Alfred is looking at her too, but he just says calmly, "He will be fine, Miss Dani. I'll come to retrieve him in a few minutes."

Look, Dani hates cats, but that doesn't mean she wants them to suffer or anything. And she definitely won't admit it, but she's mostly being dramatic. She normally just avoids cats. She meant what she said though: she doesn't want the cat to think it can approach her. The less memories of her time with Vlad, the better, and she was already getting enough reminders with the whole mansion thing.

"I can't believe you have a cat," Dani grumbles on their way to the sunroom, which she vaguely places as somewhere on the second floor. "I thought you were a dog person."

"I am," Dick replies. "Alfred the cat isn't my cat, he's Damian's. All the animals here are."

"Are there more cats?"

"Uh, I think so." Dani watches Dick cast a questioning glance at Alfred, who's keeping pace with his hands clasped primly behind his back.

Alfred answers Dick's unasked question. "To my knowledge, there is a litter of kittens Master Damian found in Park Row. He's nursing them back to health in preparation for adoption."

"Kittens aren't so bad," Dani mutters. "They're tiny. I could beat them in a fist fight."

"Neither cats nor kittens have fists, Miss Dani, so I'm afraid your prediction means little."

Dani wonders if Alfred is amused. He's a hard man to read, but she gets the sense that he's enjoying her shenanigans. It's kind of hard to tell with the dry voice, though.

"Do you think you could win in a fight against Alfred?" Dick asks curiously. They reach the sunroom and Alfred holds the door open for them.

Dani looks at the butler as she passes. There's not a chance in the realms she'd be able to put this sweet, terrifying man on his back. "Absolutely not."

Dick sees whom she's eyeing and chuckles. "I meant the cat."

"Absolutely not," Dani repeats. That was a full grown cat, back there. She'd be helpless, fists or no. With a slight smile, Alfred shows them to where he'd set up lunch.

The sunroom is a bit like a greenhouse, mostly full of fresh herbs and vegetables. The sun fills the entire room, and it would be hot if there weren't heavy-duty fans blowing cool air around the room. The small lake in the backyard glitters in the midday light, and Dani feels like they're at a resort. On the nearby patio table, there's a small platter of sandwiches and a pitcher of what Dani guesses is lemonade.

"I do hope you receive Titus more favorably," Alfred comments lightly as he holds out the chair for Dani to sit in.

Dani beams at him in gratitude before asking, "Who's Titus?"

"Master Damian's Great Dane," Alfred replies. "He's currently keeping the aforementioned litter of kittens company while Master Damian is at school."

"There's a dog?!" Dani flutters her hands in excitement. "I love dogs!"

Dick laughs at her antics before saying, "Thank you for lunch, Alfred." Dani parrots him, smiling brightly at the older man. She feels intense fondness from him, though that may be a mirror of her own feelings reflecting back at her.

"I must attend to the cat. Ring me if there's anything you need."

Alfred leaves them there to enjoy their lunch. Dani is quickly rowing spoiled with the ridiculously good food. The sourdough bread is freshly made, and the cheese is something fancy with flecks of spice in it that pairs so well with the honeyed ham. The lemonade is made with actual lemons, little slices floating between the ice cubes. Delicious.

"What's after lunch?" Dani asks after devouring her third sandwich. She sips at the lemonade, enjoying the way it tenuously balances sweet and sour. "Isn't there another floor?"

"Yeah, but it's just the attic. We can go up there if you want, but otherwise, I want to show you your room!"

"It's weird you got me a room," Dani tells him. "You didn't even know I'd be coming."

"I hoped," he replies, giving her a warm smile. "Tim was right though. I tend to buy things when I'm stressed."

Dani laughs at him, then switches gears. "When will Tim be back?" She already felt that spark of connection she felt with Dick, and she's eager to expand on it.

"Late," Dick answers. "That boy makes workaholics look like slackers."

Dani snickers at his obvious disdain. She can sense the intense care Dick has for his brother and can tell he worries. It makes her feel even better about how that same care extends to her; it's nice to know she's not a special case or obsession of his, just another sibling. Her core warms at the thought. "And the others? Who'll I meet?"

"Well, there's Damian, who gets home from school around four. Cass is at dance, and then she has something with friends, so she might not get back until the early morning. Tim and I will be working late, but I should be back for dinner, and Alfred will be home all day."

"Oh, you are busy," Dani says. She's a bit disappointed, but not entirely surprised. Dick's been looking more and more exhausted as the day wears on despite his obvious excitement to show her around.

"We'll do something after dinner," Dick promises. "I just need to get a few things done. It'll only take a few hours."

Dani appraises him in disbelief.

"Alright, well I won't be done, but I'll be able to take a break in a few hours," he amends. "My dad is an insanely busy person."

Oh right, the whole reason Dick is in Gotham in the first place: his sick dad. "Is he doing okay? What happened to him?"

"Second bout of dengue fever," Dick recites, and then further explains, "It's a tropical disease spread by mosquitoes. The first time you get it isn't usually bad, like a mild case of the flu, but getting it again can be really dangerous. Bruce decided not to transfer out of the Guatemalan hospital he's in right now."

"Are any of you going to visit him?"

"No, it's contagious. Also, he asked us not to." Dick shrugs. "He gets injured and sick all the time. He's got some great medical care, so he'll be just fine."

Dani hums. His blasé attitude towards his dad's illness points towards this being fairly commonplace. Her ghost biology helps her evade most pathogens, so she's been fine even after all her travel, but she's seen some of the devastating effects on travelers and locals alike. Mosquito-borne diseases are particularly prevalent in lower income countries, but Dani's doubly immune to those since they die the second they come in contact with her blood.

"When will he be back?"

"Hard to say. A month, maybe two?"

"Will he be annoyed that I'm here?"

There are two reasons for this question. Dani is genuinely worried about annoying anyone with her presence (she's never stayed anywhere, okay?!) and she also wants Dick to know she plans on being here in a month or two.

(She plans on being here as long as he is.)

From his radiant smile, he picked up on that bit of subtext. "No, he loves when people are in the Manor. The more the better."

"The more the merrier," Dani corrects, ignoring Dick's rolling eyes. "And I'm glad. I don't want to overstay my welcome."

Dick's baby blue eyes soften, and he offers her a gentle smile. "You could never," he promises. "Even if you stayed for the rest of your life."

Dani smiles back, but she quickly grows uncomfortable with the heavy aura. "Soooo," she drawls, glancing over the lawn to break eye contact, "You had a room for me?"

Dick lights up.

After they clean up their lunch, Dick leads her back to the third floor and shows her to a wooden door. There are nameplates on the rest of the doors, all of them creatively decorated, but this one is blank. It's across the hall from Cass's door, whose nameplate has curly writing for her name, the surrounding area covered in music notes with a sparkly pair of ballet shoes to the side.

Dani's room is the third in a little alcove in the corner of the common area. The boy rooms, Dick explains, are all along the other wall, with Bruce's in the opposite corner and the game room on the next wall.

The alcove area houses Cass, Stephanie, and now Dani. According to Dick, this room used to be an empty guest room that has been used in the past for Barbara and some of their other friends, but he insists that there are several other guest rooms just upstairs that they can use instead.

"So now it's yours," he finishes. "Are you ready?"

"I can't contain myself," Dani deadpans, struggling to keep down a smile in the face of his infectious excitement. "Just open the door already."

Dick sticks his tongue out at her, but he does as she says.

It's just… a room. Yeah, it's a big room, but Dani was expecting streamers or something from Dick's energy. Instead, there's just a regular old room.

A heavy wood dresser, a ceiling fan light, a desk, a little sitting area with two arm chairs and a TV, a large king-or-queen sized four poster bed, and a door that presumably leads to a closet. It's impersonal and freshly cleaned, and Dani shrugs, figures it could be worse, and goes inside.

There's a throw blanket thrown over the white comforter. Remembering Tim's earlier comment about a blanket, Dani grabs it and holds it open.

It's a weathered yellow-tan color, fuzzy and ridiculously soft. But the best part is that this blanket is a map. The words are hard to read from the fabric, but the countries and their boundaries are clear. It's a map of the world. Dani notices the design is a couple years old, since some of the countries in Africa are wrong, but she loves it.

Dani wraps it around her shoulders and snuggles into it. "I love it," she says quietly. She's not used to gifts. She never thought of herself as a material person, but she loves this blanket. She wants more stuff like it. She wants everything she owns to have maps on it, or stars, or be her favorite color or material, or have a rich history or cultural background.

"I thought you would," Dick brags, pretending not to notice her little moment. She greatly appreciates it. "I also got a few more clothes, just copies of the stuff I had at the apartment, and Tim's right. I did get maps of Gotham. A couple atlases too."

They spend the next hour hunched over the desk, making notes on what Dani deemed the best of the Gotham maps. Dani circles areas of interest and Dick writes notes about which places to avoid and when to avoid them.

It's Dick's phone that breaks their concentration. He pulls it out and checks the caller ID — a L. Fox. "I have to take this," Dick says apologetically. "I'll be back for dinner. Let Alfred know if you need anything?"

Dani nods and waves him out. He answers the phone and starts talking about numbers and trends and statistics… Dani stops listening. She goes back to her map for a few minutes, but it loses her interest quickly. She needs to see the city or at least have some kind of visitor's guide to continue annotating. Going out into the city the first day here seems a bit rude, so she'll just have to entertain herself another way.

She finds her entertainment in trying to explore, getting hopelessly lost, and then laying on the ballroom floor drawing up a map of the Manor for future reference. She's opted to use seven papers all on top of each other to get each floor. The paper and pens came from Alfred, who she'd run into in the parlor when she'd been all turned around and disoriented. He handed her the materials and then showed her the full-manor intercom system that she could use to ask for directions.

Like she'd ever use that. Her pride would never allow it.

She starts with an outline of the house, forgoing measurements and scaling in favor of a really really rough sketch just to pin down locations. She hasn't been all around the house yet, so she doesn't even know its general shape, so she just goes with a rectangle for now. A shaded inner rectangle designates the ballroom, and she's focused on adding rooms along the sides from the doors she can see from her position on the floor.

"The dimensions are incorrect," comes an accented voice from above her. Dani had noted the steps that were approaching her, but she was trying to focus, so she ignored them. "The ballroom is far too large in your poorly-made drawing."

Dani finishes the room she's on before looking up at her visitor.

It has to be angsty-bro. He's around her age – her biological one, anyway – wearing a sharp academy uniform and an even sharper expression. Dani can see hints of Chinese descent in him with the olive-toned skin and raven hair, though that's mostly since Dick mentioned his mother was half Chinese and she knew to look for it. His face is angular, all hard lines, and Dani wonders if he ever smiles. His eyes are the most prominent feature: bright green some shade between jade and emerald, piercing in a way Dani knows means he's dissecting everything around him.

Right now, that intense look is focused on her. She wonders what he sees in her.

"It's just a start," Dani says. "Are you Damian?"

His expression doesn't change, but she gets the impression he's displeased. "I suppose you are the street urchin Richard brought from Blüdhaven?"

Dani wrinkles her nose at the implication that she was brought by anyone. "I came here on my own."

"He did not mention your name."

"It's Dani," she replies with a smile. He's grumpy, but Dani senses something deeply caring in him. Her weak emotional sense picks up great anger and even greater pain, with a kindness forged in hardship and suffering that glows like an undying flame. She senses…

No, that can't be right. She's never met anybody with so much death in their aura. She can see souls trailing after him. She can sense the cutting pain of death he experienced himself. But… but he's just a teenager, there must be another reason death saturates his aura. Ecto-contaminated maybe?

The other teen sniffs. "I do not address others by nicknames."

"That sucks," Dani answers, returning to her map. "Cuz I'm not giving you more than that."

"I suppose it's short for Danielle?"

"Don't call me that," Dani snaps, a twist of fear squeezing her lungs so unexpectedly she nearly gasps. "It's not my name."

"Shall I address you as qalil al'adab?"

Dani giggles. He just insulted her in Arabic, almost certainly unaware of her own proficiency in the language. She wasn't quite fluent, as her teachers were mostly uneducated lower-class citizens, but she'd been called this often. 'Qalil al'adab' refers to someone that lacks good manners or is uncivilized – things Dani has been called very, very often. "It fits, so go ahead!"

Damian silently appraises her, his brow scrunched as he tries to decide whether or not she's only pretending to understand. Eventually, he seems to give up and tutts, "Get off the floor. I will fix the inaccuracies in your blueprints."

"It's a map," Dani insists, but does as he requests.

"It is a blueprint," he corrects. Dani grabs her papers and follows after him as he leads her into the library. "The diagram you are drawing is a technical design of a single building; therefore, it is a blueprint."

"Hm," Dani hums, reconsidering her drawing. Maybe she likes blueprints too, then.

"Sit." He points to one of the desks. Dani does, but only because she's curious about what he's doing. Damian searches through one of the file cabinets against the wall before withdrawing a thick folder. He puts it on the desk next to Dani, swatting her hands away when she immediately goes to open them. "These are the construction blueprints. They will have the measurements you require."

Dani makes a grab at it again, but he holds it out of reach. "Then let me see!"

"I will request they be copied," he says, staring at her with those sharp, calculating eyes. "I do not want them to be lost or damaged."

"First of all, I'm always careful with maps. Secondly, I want to do this now, and the original is always better anyway. Thirdly, you can always just stay and make sure they're fine." Hang out with her, hang out with her, Dani wants to ask him so many things.

"I have more important things to do than babysit you," Damian sniffs. He finally lets her open the folder, watching closely as she withdraws the first diagram and unfolds it.

… Yeah, she loves blueprints. The detail is phenomenal — measurements, color samples, furniture placement… She could essentially copy it, then relabel the rooms later for whose room is where.

But she doesn't want to do it alone. Luckily, she has a pretty good idea of how to get Damian to stay…

She draws a terrible approximation of the outer wall.

"The scale will be off if you keep that line," Damian immediately corrects. Dani erases it and redraws it, this time too close to the edge of the paper. "That will leave you without room for the adjacent wall." Again, Dani erases it. This time, she slants her line slightly. "The building will be crooked now."

Dani cuts a glare at him. "Would you like to do it?"

"No."

"Okay." Dani adds another line to her crooked one, and Damian huffs, pulling out the chair next to her.

"Give me the pencil."

Dani hands it over, suppressing her victorious smile. Damian chooses one of her unmarked papers and starts gently sketching lines. Dani goes back to studying the blueprints.

When Damian finishes the basic structure of the first floor, she hands him another paper for the second. She starts drawing in rooms, adding detail whenever Damian interjects about some important feature, though it's mostly just to tell her what not to touch. Dani doesn't bother with furniture, but she does make an effort to put in landmarks for the hallways she can use to find her way around.

She and Damian limit their conversation to the blueprints they're making, both focused on their respective tasks. Dani enjoys the humming peace of the other boy's aura as he sketches. Only those who have experienced great upheaval can feel peace like that. Dani wonders about him between periods of concentration on her work.

When Damian finishes the final floor, he sets the paper next to her and then folds his arms. "I do not agree with Richard's decision to bring you here."

Dani glances up at him. "Do you want me to leave?"

Damian seems taken aback by her response, but he quickly schools his expression. "I do. But I will not ask that of you."

Dani tilts her head, trying to figure out what he's thinking. She focuses on his aura, but she can't parse out what he's feeling beyond mild irritation. "This is your home. If you don't want me here, I can stay in the city."

This isn't the answer he wants. He grows visibly frustrated. "No. You are Richard's guest. You may stay."

"Then what was the point of you bringing this up in the first place?"

Damian's expression shutters, and he stands up, hands clasped behind his straight back. "I simply wish to inform you that I do not like you."

He's lying. Dani can feel it. She may not be able to figure out what he is feeling, but he definitely isn't regarding her with the disdain he's trying to put on his face. "Well I like you," Dani replies. "Dick said you grew up in Pakistan, and that you've traveled around a lot. I travel too! I want to hear all about your adventures."

Damian grunts in response and walks away without another word. Dani watches him go until he leaves the library, then returns to her blueprint. He's as grumpy as she imagined, and she likes him just as much as she thought she would. He's a free spirit, just like her.

And he definitely likes her too. She just knows it.


I actually noticed after I posted last week that I DID have stuff to say about the chapter, but I forgot. Mostly it was about the differences in resolution (I had a picture, but I'm too lazy to go find it now), and a few comments about Tim, Cass, and Alfred. Oh, well, it's all lost to time.

But I DO have some comments this week that I plan to share. First of all, for all you cat lovers, Dani is NOT a cat hater. She associates cats with a really bad time in her life and she's not ready to confront it. She hates cats like I used to... in a fake, mostly just avoid them cuz I got hurt by one, but that's good cat manners and now cats love me, and also I love cats, but I pretend I don't, even though I would die for any furry baby I walk in on. So essentially, Dani and Alfred the cat are gonna pretend to hate each other. For the vibe I'm going for, please reference this video: /shorts/Ry9Dsq1Iq0w?si=GrN5XNVqbLn2FShy Hopefully lets you guys open that link, but we'll see.

Secondly, I'm not quite happy with Damian and Dani's banter, but it WILL get better, I swear. Their first meeting might be a little boring, but I promise chaos to come. It just didn't feel natural quite yet.

- Just so we're clear, Dani will be bonding heavily with ALL the batboys (and Cass). I love every Robin very passionately. Cass is a sweetie. Steph is also fun, but the chaos will explode every time she's present. I don't know much about Duke, but he'll be around, and Barbara will have an appearance too. I also have the thought that she gets along with a bunch of the rogues as she explores Gotham, prompted by a comment from last chapter about her meeting Solomon Grundy. That's so on my list of interactions to include now.

- Thank you all for your comments. They bring me such joy. I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter, and I'll see you all next week :)