Danny was not having a good morning. Well, the part of the morning when the sun was in the sky. He's morning went off without a hitch, he left the park without a problem. Settled himself into bed, and ready to fall asleep, be extra dead to the world for a few hours before he would have to be a functioning member of society once more.
It would have been great if that's what he had been able to do.
Instead, he was startled out of his half-asleep state by a loud noise vibrating through his house. Jazz wasn't home, there was no hope leaving her to deal with it. Not like he would anyways. She was off on some college tour trips, and has been on and off being home.
What he was met with, wasn't how he wanted to kick off his day with.
The lab was covered, floor to ceiling, in corrupted ectoplasm. The feeling sent a disgusted shiver down Danny's spine, even as he grounded his teeth and pitched into help clean. Bit his tongue at the ramblings he's parents spouted during the cleaning, tried not to flinch at some of the heart-wrenching things they were saying.
Once he was done, he jumped in the shower. He wasn't sure how long he'd stayed in there, couldn't really remember all the things that were running through his mind. By the time he was out, he had to rush to get dress, and be out the door in a whirled wind just make sure he wouldn't be late.
Spoiler alert, he was late.
He hadn't even managed to catch up with his friends, having gotten through the door of his classroom once everyone was already seated. He's teacher gave him yet another disapproving look, and another warning of his tardiness before sending him to his seat.
Danny ignored the snickers, as usual, and smiled at his friends as he settled in his seat. Brushing off their questioning stares, and settling for pulling his notebook out of his bag. Everything the teacher had to say, went way over Danny's head. A little more than usual.
Okay, a lot more than usual. He had to keep reminding himself which class he was in by glancing up at the board and seeing what was written. His notes were just half written sentences, barely put together thoughts about whatever it was Danny was thinking about. Or whatever few words from the teacher he caught.
"You okay, dude?" Tucker's whispered pulled him from his thoughts. Danny immediately nodded, giving the other teen a smile. Tucker didn't look very convinced, but before he could say much else, Danny whispered back.
"Don't need to be warned twice in one class." Danny offered a light laugh, and that seemed to do it. Tucker and Sam shared a light laugh, understanding where Danny was coming from.
Once class let out, Danny explained to them that he was only late because he's parents made a massive mess of the lab. Sam chastised him, telling him it wasn't his job to help clean up their messes. Tucker gave a sympathetic pat on the back, understanding clear in his eyes. The teen told Sam to lay off, after all Danny didn't want to come home to his house still reeking of corrupted ectoplasm.
The rest of the school day went on as usual.
Dodging his bullies, trying to not get lectured by a teacher, and sneaking a nap in during lunch. It was hit-or-miss these days if the trio had lunch together. Tucker was spending most of the time trying to instate the first Casper High robotics club. Sam was working with Valerie on some top-secret AFAB plan for something big for senior year.
Overall, Danny's day hadn't gone that bad after his rough start in the morning.
It was a nice break to spend some time with his best friends in Nasty Burger, wasting some time before he should get home. They talked, mostly Sam and Tucker did. Updating him on their progress, Sam still being weirdly closed off about her plan. Tucker complaining about the newest member of the club, and how they couldn't just kick him out because then they wouldn't have enough members for their first competition.
Danny updated them about Jazz, his parents as vaguely as possible without being weird about it. Along with all the new tricks he's been managing to teach Cujo. When the topic switched to his new title as Ghost King, Danny brushed it off.
It wasn't like being King was the worse thing to happen, after all ghost attacks were much less frequent now. Most of the citizens felt okay being around ghosts, as long as they weren't aggressive. That's ignoring the struggle between possible peace, and the hunters. The break from constant physical fighting was nice, but the added stress of being a king wasn't exactly what he expected. There were so many more moving parts than he expected. So much more expected from him.
It's a struggle to keep up when he's still just a kid. It didn't matter the titles he has, or his experiences. Danny knows that, no matter what, he's still just a kid. He shouldn't hold the power he has, shouldn't have as much control. He does, so he just has to try to grow-up quicker.
"Come on Danny-boy! It's Uncle Vladdy!"
That's the problem. With Danny's approaching graduation, he's parents want something good on his application. Something note-worthy. What's not more note-worthy than having essentially an internship at one of the best technology companies out there. Dalv Co.
Except that having to be stuck in a stuffy building with his sworn enemy, not like that was a big deal.
Ever time he made it home, whether directly from school or after hanging with his friends, they would bring it up. Danny's already sacrificed four days to Vlad, bit his tongue, and played nice with the Fruit-loop. Maybe it was his fault for caving in the first place, but since then they haven't dropped. Just like clockwork, they were always there asking if Danny would go back.
Usually filled with some speech about how Vlad loved having Danny there. That spending more time with his Godfather could do him some good. Maddie jumping in with statistics about college applications, and Jack just wanting his two favorite people to get along. It was as annoying as it was tiring.
This time Danny barely made it out without caving. Spewing on about some homework he still needed to get done. Which wasn't a lie, he had a laundry list of things to get done, not all of it school related. He just wasn't sure if he'd manage to actually get the schoolwork completely finished before the start of his day tomorrow. Jack seemed disappointed, but understanding. Maddie on the other hand...
Maddie looked at him with a hard suspicion that didn't sit well with him. He knew she was getting tired of his excuses, and all the dodging he's been doing. Unlike Jack, she payed a little too close of attention to him when he didn't need it. Didn't want it. Jack loved him, and he cared. When his father got a feeling he was about to push on something didn't want him to, he'd back off.
It was something Danny loved about his dad.
Maddie, she never did. She'd push and push until it ended in an argument, or Jack pulled her away. Danny stopped counting the amount of times he's end up in an argument, something that kept twisting and twirling in his brain as he laid in bed. If he really thought about it, that might be why he started spending longer and longer at the park. Or it might not be, he tries not to analyze it too much.
He tries to never analyze anything. It took a few discussions with Jazz for her to finally drop any psycho-babble that included him. To let him go at his own pace. He knows he should really think things through, starting figuring out what's going on his head, and start thinking about a tomorrow. But he can't.
No matter how hard he tries, the idea that he'd wake up the next morning was so foreign. It sat strange like something just on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't quite name. He knows he'll wake up, he always wakes up. That doesn't stop the strange idea that it all ends when he goes to bed. He won't have to worry about tomorrow, because there won't be a tomorrow.
But he doesn't like to think about it.
Instead, he goes out for a nightly run. Ends up at the park, where Cujo always appears not long after he gets there. The little guy doing his best to distract Danny, to bright up whatever mood the halfa had, and just make him laugh. Cujo is his best friend. Yes, he had Tucker and Sam, but Cujo was something different.
Cujo didn't seem to see Danny in the light everyone else saw him in. To the little pup, Danny was just Danny. An amazing ghostly being that he loves. That he'd do anything for, and misses him when he's not around. Danny isn't some geek in high school, or a strong Ghost King. He is Cujo's human. He's adopted guardian. Danny couldn't wish for anything else.
Until he got it.
In the strange form of a bat. It's funny really. Danny never really thought about Batman, not anymore than the average Justice League followers. He wouldn't have name Batman as one of his top heroes. Not like Sam or Tucker would. The two would be insanely jealous if they found out he was friends with The Batman.
Except now, if anyone asks, Batman is easily number one.
Since this whole thing started, since the night he met the cape crusader, Danny's mind has changed drastically. Bats was a lot more human than he expected. So human that the teen found himself sometimes forgetting who he was talking to. This man that he's bonded with is the same man that had knocked heads countless of times. Yet, Danny never felt... scared.
"I managed to avoid the single most annoying man in the world, so I'd count today as a win." Danny grinned, glancing over at the masked man. Cujo laid between them, belly exposed for belly rubs. Belly rubs that he was being wrongfully denied for.
The puppy whined softly, legs kicking in the air, and pulled Danny's attention away. Danny laughed, giving the small ghost the affection it was arguing for. Batman moved as well, running a gloved hand over the top of Cujo's head, while Danny went in for the kill. Cujo yapped in response, tail wiggling excitedly. At a few points, it'd vanish into the dirt before resurfacing.
"At least one of us was able to." Batman's gruff voice always felt off. Danny knows it's edited, knows there's a voice modulator hidden somewhere in the suit. No hero would want to be recognized, and some voices are easy to place. The personality Danny has been exposed to, doesn't fit that voice. The Batman he's heard about, fits it perfectly.
Danny gave the man his sympathy, even if he mixed a few jabs in. After all, who could be Batman's most annoying person in the world. If Danny had to guess, it would be one of his enemies in Gotham. None of them have sightings in Amity Park, so it's a wonder who. He wouldn't pry, after all prying would make it seem like he was trying to figure the man out.
If he was being honest, he doesn't care whose under the mask.
"Nervous about your presentation tomorrow?"
The question caught the teen off-guard, maybe because he's been trying his hardest not to think about it. Danny offered a small smile, wringing his fingers through soft fur. In Bats mind, Danny was having a presentation in school, something related to government and laws. Danny was vague about it for a reason.
Instead he had to face majority of the council from The Zone. Pitch his knew ideas on how to adjust the new rules to fit the new world. The new king. He's nervous, that's a given. It'll be the first time in a while that The Order would be there as well. However, both Clockwork and Pandora applaud he's rough draft. Gave him pointers, and he should be good.
But he still hadn't prepared as much as he should.
"Do you ever forget about tomorrow?"
The question left him before he could course correct. Answering Batman's question with a question. The man watched him oddly, confusion at least somewhat clear. Danny shook his head, trying to figure out the best way to explain. In a way that won't make it so weird, so awkward.
"Like, do you ever just think about today, and by the time you go to sleep, tomorrow seems a million hours away?" Danny asked, keeping his gaze on the grass. "You know you should be focusing on it, worrying, and preparing. But you just don't? Because it doesn't feel like it's... real?"
Danny swallowed in the silence, keeping his gaze focused on the ground.
He shouldn't have said anything. They had such a good understanding, they never really talked about anything too deep. Anything too touchy. Simple topics, easy to follow topics. This... it was something else. Danny didn't even really know what he was talking about. Now that the words left he's brain, he was struggle to figure out how to fix this. To correct it so Batman didn't think he was just some melodramatic teenage boy.
Then there were arms around his shoulder.
It felt strange in more than one way. The armor was an odd feeling, pressing against his shoulders in a surprisingly light grasp. Danny's cheek pressing into the Kevlar was more than a little odd, but it didn't really feel... weird. Danny felt comfortable.
The loose grip tightened a little when Danny's arms took a tight grasp around his waist, pressing his cheek a little harder into the armor. Words left Batman, rumbling through his chest, but Danny didn't really listen. He heard it, he had an idea what it meant, but it wasn't important what was said. Not really. Because he could feel it.
Really feel it.
The strange ability that manifested after his second year as a halfa, that only grew stronger once he was crowned, reared it's head. The ability to feel emotions. Feel them like a tangible mass, something he could reach out and take if he wanted to. He never did. Not after his run in with Spectra, not after that nightmare.
Danny could actually feel Batman's true intentions. He's innermost emotion when it came to the teen, and Danny was struggling. Struggling to figure out names for what was washing over him from the points of impact. A lot of it was muddy, strange, but Danny made out the important things. The feelings that had him feeling safe, and seen.
The teen didn't want to focus on the fact that at some point they would have to pull away. That he would have to send Cujo home, and return about to his dark room. Back home to where he's parents would be locked away in the lab, and he'd be met with a silent dark home. A place that seemed to house more ghosts than people. Instead, he buried himself in the feeling. Closing his eyes, and sinking deeper into it.
He'll pretend like it didn't really happen tomorrow.