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thebubblesareevil · 2 years

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The Gotham Ghost Pt. 1

This is not how he thought things would go. After the reality gauntlet Danny thought everything would turn out okay when he finally revealed himself. He was wrong.

One thing he neglected to consider was the two times his identity was revealed were life or death situations. Situations where they had to rely on him in order to survive. This was not one of those times. It was stupid really, he was just so tired and he wasn’t paying attention. He walked into the kitchen and made himself breakfast like he did every morning. He didn’t see his mom sitting at the table. She did see him phase his hand through the cabinet. Before he even turned around he was hit in the back with a shot from an ecto gun. He knew his parents could be cold, he knew they could be neglectful. He didn’t think they would be so cruel. He ran through the house, grabbing the bug out bag Jazz insisted he pack and he ran, he ran far and he ran fast, his parents hot on his tail. He ran to the one place he knew the boo-merang couldn’t find him.

Gotham

He’d lost count of the amount of times his parents complained about Gotham. Apparently it generated massive amounts of interference which distorted low levels of ectoplasm. Which meant that so long as he didn’t overdo it with his powers in his human form, and didn’t transform, they shouldn’t be able to track him. So he took buses and hitchhiked his way to Gotham, found a condemned building to squat in and, just to be safe, hid his bag in the walls. The first time someone tried to rob him was pretty fun. He was walking down an alley when some guy held a gun to his back, demanding he hand over his wallet. Danny slowly turned around allowing a light green glow to coat his eyes, his skin began to pale as the muggy temperature slowly begins to drop as he eyes and teeth begin to sharpen. The would be mugger slowly tries to back away when Danny charges, going right through him and stealing HIS wallet in turn before taking off while he was on the ground panicking. It happens a few more times before rumors start to circulate that Gotham is haunted. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to truly catch the bats attention, until robin goes missing.

Danny is minding his own business, heading back to his hideout when he comes across the little bird, it appears he bit off a little more than he could chew this time as a massive man slowly corners the brightly colored vigilante. Danny stops and weighs his options. He likely wouldn’t kill the little bird, incurring that level of wrath from the bat would count as suicide. But looking at the downed kid he lets out a long cold sigh, he knew he couldn’t walk away. He pushed his ghostly nature to the front as much as he dared as he slowly made his way down the alley, stretching his shadow out until it reached the end of alley. He speaks with a shattered voice tinged with a hollow echo that reverberates through the alley “Walk away.” The large man quickly turns and gasps when he sees the apparition “Diablo de ojos verdes” but he steadies himself and charges towards the specter..only to was right through him sending an icy wave through his body. Danny doesn’t move he just slowly turned his head around, making sure it cracks as it turns bringing out his fangs as he gives a wide toothy grin and says “run” he fully turns around and starts to move towards the masked giant. He was gone before Danny made it to the end of the alley. Danny gives a out a relieved sigh, he really didn’t want to fight, before release if his ghostly state and turning back to the fallen bird.

He tries to wake the kid, because that is most definitely a kid, with little success. Danny looks around trying to see if he can catch sight of the bat to no avail. Danny lets out a loud groan knowing there was no way he was leaving an injured kid knocked out in alleyway in Gotham, there are sooo many ways that could go wrong. So with some slight struggling he managed to get the kid on his back and headed back to his hideout.

When he gets there he lays him down on his makeshift bed, wincing at the blood that he just KNEW was going to stain. Oh well it’s not like it was anything new. He pulls out his limited supplies and makes a note to pick up more bandages. Once he finishes dressing the kids wounds he’s starts packing up everything ha can and pulls up his go bag. He’s just finishing when the kids starts to stir. Danny grabs his last bottle of water and brings it over to the kid. “Take it easy little bird, you took quite a beating back there.” The bird immediately reaches up to check his mask “I’m not an asshole, your honor is intact don’t worry.” He looks around at the dingy building before looking at his apparent rescuer “who are you?”

“Me? I’m nobody, just a ghost. Now drink your water, I need to head out before your bat dad comes charging in.” Robin snorts the water “I’m sorry my what?!” He laughs.

Danny looks at him like he’s lost it “Your bat dad, the furry that goes around fighting crime with you?” At this point Robin has rolled off the makeshift bed laughing and is holding his bruised ribs “Oh god please stop, it hurts, your killing me.” Danny grins “Well at least your sense of humor is intact.”

Danny sets down his bag.

“What we’re you doing fighting that guy by yourself anyway?” At this Robin looked more than a little offended. “Don’t give me that look, I may not have been here for long but even I know who Bane is and I know that even the Bat has a hard time fighting him. So what possessed you to try doing it by yourself.” Robin gives a huff and looks away.

“It was just a simple robbery, how was I supposed to know it was a trap?” Robin looked dejected “One I walked right into.” Danny sat down next to the smaller hero. “Look you’ve been doing this for how long?” Robin looks at him “about a year now” Danny nods “So you’ve been doing this for one year, ONE, and you fell for a trap meant for Batman, who’s been doing this a heck of a lot longer than you have. Honestly I’m impressed, I only came in at the tail end of it but it’s pretty obvious you held your own better than most. That’s something to be proud of. Don’t get me wrong I don’t think you should be out fighting at all, but at the very least I know you can handle yourself.” The two continued to chat and eventually they were joined by a third. Danny didn’t notice the newest addition, but Robin did and he slowly maneuvered to block the only other exit. It was then that Danny noticed the bat and sighed “You were stalling.” Robin had the decency to look a little ashamed as he said “Yeah, sorry about that.”

He turned towards the bat “I haven’t done anything illegal and I wasn’t the one who hurt your bird, so I’ll just be on my way okay.” Batman narrowed his eyes and held up one of the stolen wallets “OH come on! Who hasn’t stolen a few wallets?! Besides they tried to rob me first!”

“I’m not coming after you for a few wallets, however there is a noticeable pattern among the wallets stolen.” Danny scoffed “and would you like to share with the class?” Batman slowly approached the teen, stopping when Danny too a step back. “All of the wallets belong to people who have claimed to have seen the Gotham Ghost.” Danny starts to take deep breaths, his eyes widening. “Look I haven’t hurt anybody, okay!?! I just needed a place to stay for a bit, sure I took their wallets, but I needed food! They were threatening to kill me!” Batman motions for Danny to calm down as he continues his approach, Danny slowly backing into a wall. “I already said you’re not in trouble for the wallets. I just want to make sure you’re doing okay. I can help you get home, I’m sure your parents are looking everywhere for you, worried—”

“Oh they’re looking for me alright, but they’re not worried. They’re the ones hunting me.” Batman froze, looking towards Robin. He looked back at Danny he came to a decision “I have a safe house near here that you can stay in for the night. If you’re still there in the morning, a man will come by in the morning and we can see about getting you a more permanent residence.” Danny looked at Batman, shocked, before asking “Why?” Batman shook his head and said, “Because you need help.” With that he moves over to Robin and picks him up. He gives Danny a slip of paper with an address on it. “If you’re interested go to this address.” And the two left. Danny sat down and stared at the paper thinking over his options.

————-

Batman gently sets Robin down in the batmobile before getting on his side. Once they are both settled and the hood is up the two head back to the cave. Dick looks down at his knees in shame “I’m sorry, I should have waited.” Bruce gives a soft sigh before placing a hand on Dicks head “You’re right, but what matters right now is that you’re okay. We can go over protocol another day, for now let’s get you looked at.”

Dick looks back at Bruce “and what about Ghost?” Bruce raises an eyebrow. “Don’t look at me like that you know who I mean, he didn’t tell me his name and he sure as heck didn’t tell you it either.”

“For now, if he decides to take the offer, he can stay at the safe house. Tomorrow Bruce Wayne will come to him on Batman’s behalf and try to set him up in foster care.” Dick gives a slight hum “Y’know you could do that or…” Bruce glances over at Dick “or what?” Dick gets an excited look on his face “I’ve always wanted a big brother!”

—————-

The next day found Danny waking up on one of the most comfortable mattresses in his life. He walked into the kitchen and made himself coffee and a half burned omelette (progress!) and sat down to eat. After he finished his meal he pulled out everything in his big out bag to determine what is still usable and what needed to be replaced. After all it’s not like Batman doesn’t clearly have the money to replace a few bandages. It was as he was packing everything back up that there was a knock at the door. Danny sighed before opening the door to reveal… a rich guy, great. “Are you the guy Batman sent?” He asks as he steps aside to let the stranger in.

“You could say that, my name is Bruce Wayne and this is a halfway house that I set up with Batman as a way to help get kids, like yourself, off the streets.” Danny scoffed “Off the streets to where, foster care? No thanks, I’m trying to stay off of the governments radar if you don’t mind.”

“Foster care is an option, there’s also private adoption. Could you share anything about why you don’t want the government knowing where you are?” Danny raised a skeptical eyebrow “I don’t see how any of that matters to you, look I’ll be out of your hair by the end of the day, so just forget about it.” There was something off about this guy.

“I’m not trying to push you out of the apartment, I only want to make sure you have somewhere safe to go and someone looking after you, you won’t have that on the streets.” He said with a frown.

“Yeah, no shit Sherlock!” Danny was starting to get annoyed with this guy, and why did he feel so familiar!! “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to put someone else in danger just so I can feel safe! Look I’m grateful for the offer I really am, but no.” Danny gets up and heads for the door despite Bruce’s protests. “Thank you for letting me stay the night, if all goes well, I won’t be seeing you around.” Bruce grabs Danny by the shoulder and holds out a business card.

“Just think about it, if you change your mind you can reach me anytime.” Danny reluctantly took the card before leaving.

——-

Bruce sat down for a second “Well that went well.” He said with a sigh before touching something behind his ear. “Is the tracker activated?”

“Good news and bad news!” Dick replied “The good news is the tracker is working great!” Bruce sighed, looking to the heavens “and the bad news?” Dick let’s put a laugh “The bad news is it never left the apartment.” Bruce scrunched his brow, ‘This may be more complicated that we thought.’

——-

After leaving the apartment Danny went in search of a new place to stay, as there was no way he was going back to that apartment. He was passing by the Gotham cemetery looking at the card he was given when he heard someone call out to him.

“You should take him up on his offer dear.”

Danny turned to face the woman sitting on a gravestone. “Oh? And pray tell why should I trust him? He’s just another rich weirdo looking for something to gain. As far as he’s concerned I’m just some charity case, he’ll put me in a home and that will be that. For me though? I can only hide so much.” He sighs “I’m tired of hiding.”

“Hmmm, that sounds like quite the conundrum….Walk with me?” She says with a secretive smile. Danny snorts “A gorgeous gal like you? How can I refuse?” Danny steps into the cemetery and breathes in the morning dew.

“Even Gotham has its moments, don’t you think?” She said with an airy voice.

“You could say that. They’re rare that’s for sure but those few moments of peace….they’re worth the chaos.” He says with a soft smile before giving her a heavy sigh “Out with it, I know you want to say something. Probably something about how I should open myself up to new opportunities, or that not everyone is out to get me, or even that I can’t know that things will go wrong unless I try!” A soft giggle echos through the graves. “It seems to me you’ve already told yourself all those things… so what’s holding you back?” He sighs

“I just… I guess I’m scared, I don’t want to put myself in a situation where I can be hurt like that again.” He sighs rubbing the back of his neck with a soft grin. “Y’know this is what happens when your sister is a budding psychiatrist, you become way too self-aware.”

She gives him a soft laugh as she comes to a stop before a grave “There’s nothing wrong with knowing yourself. I think it’s time you take a leap of faith, and for what it’s worth Bruce is a good man. He’ll make sure you’re taken care of, but I may be a bit biased, just don’t forget to visit us every now and again. We all love having you come by.” Danny smiles

“And be deprived of your lovely company, never!” He chuckles “Thanks Ms. Martha, it was good talking to you. Tell your husband I said hi!” Danny turned to make his way back to the entrance, greeting wayward spirits as he passed. He wandered through the streets of Gotham thinking over everything, he looked at the night sky and saw the bat signal lighting up the night.

He had made his decision.

——————

He was in the process of taking a fresh patch of cookies out of the oven when Alfred heard the doorbell ring. Making sure to turn off the oven, he made his way to the entrance, curious to see who had come calling so early in the morning. After all Master Bruce was notorious for being late to rise and Master Dick was already at school for the day. Any…. other guests would attempt to make contact through the cave, not the front entrance. Perhaps a salesman? They so rarely get unexpected visitors, he made sure his shotgun was within reach before answering the door. What he found on the other side was oddly enough a young man, not much older than Master Dick, who appeared to be distracted by the manor grounds.

“How may I help you young sir?” The teen turned to face him and he was struck by tired blue eyes. They reminded him so much of Master Bruce at that age, tired and lost. He pulled out a card from his pocket before addressing him.

“I know he said, but uhh I don’t really have a phone.” He said with a wince. “I wasn’t really sure how else to get a hold of him.”

Alfred gave the teen a considering look “I’m afraid Master Bruce has not yet risen for the day.”

“Oh! Uh I see, I can come back later or not…”

Alfred gave a warm smile “I only just pulled a fresh batch of my famous chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. If you would like we could have some with a fresh pot of tea while we wait for him to wake.”

The teen visibly brightened at the mention of food, deeply worrying the aged butler. “That sounds fantastic!”

“Well then shall we?” He opened the door, motioning the boy inside “Might I have a name for our guest or shall that stay a mystery.” The teen paused looking at him.

“Danny. You can call me Danny.”

——-

Bruce found them in the lounge when he woke an hour later. Alfred was pouring a fresh cup of tea while their mysterious guest spoke, quite passionately, about the travesty of Plutos excommunication from planet hood.

“You know” he paused as the teen swiftly turned “I hear they’ve actually fixed that. Pluto is officially back on the roster.” The teen relaxes just slightly but does not let down his guard. Alfred gives him a LOOK “Now that Master Bruce has risen I shall take my leave for now, to prepare lunch. Young master Danny, will you be staying for the afternoon meal? I’m preparing a nice hearty stew.” Danny looked ready to start drooling, but looked towards Bruce. “That sounds fantastic, Danny and I will be in the office discussing some business.” He said, placing a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Shall we?”

The two made their way through the manor, passing sculptures and artwork alike. When they arrive at the office Danny sees a large portrait of a rather familiar couple. ‘Oh yeah, definitely biased’ he thought

“My parents” Bruce explained after noticing Danny’s interest in the painting “Both were quite active in charities and trying to reform Gotham. The Martha Wayne orphanage fund has helped hundreds of children, like yourself, find new homes-”

“Cut the spiel. Look if I’m just a charity case to you, I’ll leave right now. The only reason I’m here to begin with is because a friend of mine said you’d be able to help.”

Bruce nodded “Alright then, I’ve been working on your paperwork. There wasn’t much I could do without your name, but I’ve managed to find a family in Fawcett City that’d be willing to take you in no questions asked. They have a good record and—”

“No”

Bruce wondered if he should still be surprised at this point “Okay, your other option is a young couple in Central City, they-”

“NO!” Bruce looks up from the papers on his desk, the teen in front of him looks seconds away from running out the door. “Okay, would you like to talk about why not?”

Danny paused for a moment “Look I’m sure they’re nice, but I’m not leaving Gotham, I won’t.” ‘I can’t’ he thought.

Bruce gave Danny a considering look. “I don’t have any families available in Gotham at the moment to take you in permanently.”

A slight shake of the head “That’s fine, all I really need it documentation so I can get a job, once I turn 18 I’m out of there anyway.” He said seriously.

Bruce thinks over all the families in Gotham he had looked over. Not many would be willing to work with the severe lack of trust, that coupled with the lack of documents and his options just shrank to the single digits. He could a migraine start to for when he hears the pounding footsteps of his ward racing down the halls. He has mere moments to process this before Dick burst the the door exclaiming “You won’t believe what happened at school today!” Danny twisted around at the intrusion and made eye contact with Dick for a few seconds before he awkwardly laughed. “Sorry to interrupt, I didn’t realize we had a guest.”

Bruce smiled at his ward “Danny this is my ward, Dick Grayson, who is supposed to be in school right now.” Dick gave a mischievous grin “That’s what I was just gonna tell you! You might get a letter explaining things, but there was a massive prank played by some upperclassmen. All of the alarms in the school went of for an hour before they decided to end things early. They were still going off when we left. I hitched a ride with one of my classmates, figured you might still be asleep and Alfred would be cooking.”

“Upperclassmen? Really? Well, I guess I’ll just have to talk to the school about upgrading their security if a few students can disrupt the whole school.” He says giving Dick a stern look, he just gave his signature laugh and replied “I guess so!” Neither of the two noticed Danny’s eyes widen just a fraction, before he schooled his features.

“We were just getting ready to head to the dining room for lunch, care to join us?” Bruce asks Dick raising an eyebrow. “Definitely!” He turns to Danny “Alfred cooks the best food, there’s nothing like it.” Danny indulges him a little as they make their way to the dining room, which was surprisingly already set for three. “Alfred always knows.” Dick says with a shrug. The three sit down making light conversation, Bruce dancing around the topic of his housing situation not wanting to scare him off. They start to talk about how Dick came to be in Bruce’s care.

“I’m still grateful that Bruce was able to take me in, at that point I had gone through so many foster homes they were planning to send me to an orphanage.” Danny nodded along “How old were you?”

“I was only eleven when my parents died, I was twelve when Bruce took me in, that was three years ago.” Danny gave a slight hum as he took a bite of his food. “And how old were you when you found out Bruce was a furry?”

Bruce choked, Dick spewed stew all over the table, Alfred sighed. Once Bruce managed to regain his composure he gave Danny a stern look “Care to explain? I think there’s been some sort of misunderstanding.”

“Gonna be honest, you definitely seemed familiar at first but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. It was Dick that gave it away, no offense but you have a very distinct laugh.” Bruce gave Dick a look, he just gave him a shrug “You try keeping a straight face as some guy talks about Batman being a furry.”

“Look I’m not gonna tell anyone, just wanted to get the awkward reveal out of the way. Last time I dealt with peoples secret identities my ex girlfriend shot me. Not something I’d care to repeat.” Bruce sighed “While I appreciate that, somehow I get the feeling that you aren’t doing this out of the goodness of your heart.” Danny smirked

“Think of it as incentive to keep me in Gotham, after all who know what I might talk about while I’m away?” Dick chuckled “Blackmailing the bat? Gutsy.”

He turned to Bruce “Can we keep him?” Bruce questioned his decisions on life. “He’s not a pet, he’s a living, breathing, human being.” Danny’s snort did not go unnoticed, something to investigate later. “Let’s head back to the office and see what we can work out. As for you young man, I’m certain they didn’t send you home without work to do, so you might want to get started on that.”

The two stayed in the office going through files on different programs and families. Danny shooting each one down, too religious, too many kids, to far from the area. They were getting ready to widen their search a bit when Alfred announced that dinner was ready. “Stay for dinner and if you’d like, you’re free to stay the night or take up residence at the apartment for the time being.”

“Thanks, I’d prefer the apartment if you don’t mind. It’s close to the cemetery, it’s peaceful there.” Bruce gives Danny a considering look

“Most people try to avoid cemeteries, they tend to hate being reminded of their mortality.” Danny just shrugs.

“I’m not afraid of dying, not when the living can be so much crueler.” Bruce looks at Danny sadly, wondering exactly what he’d been through.

Dick joined them for dinner and the three sat down, Danny trying and failing to convince Alfred to join them. They talked the whole meal, laughing and sharing stories. Bruce hadn’t seen Dick this happy in awhile, weighed down with more guilt and responsibility than any child his age should. He thought back to what Dick said that first night. Once they finished their meal Danny once more tried to fight with Alfred to take the dishes. A losing battle, Bruce knew, Alfred is relentless. He looked at the bright smile on Dick’s face and the argument between Danny and Alfred. He couldn’t help but agree with Dick, all that’s left to do is plan and ask.

They made it all the way to the door, Bruce trying to figure out how to broach the subject.

“Should I come back tomorrow, to keep working on the paperwork and stuff” Danny asked awkwardly

“You could or…” Danny looked up

“Or what?”

“You could stay, here, I could foster you.” Danny moves to object “Before you say no, I understand that you likely don’t want to be in public eye, we could put together some paperwork as far as anyone will be concerned you don’t exist. You don’t have to be my son if you don’t want to. You can think of this as just a place to stay, but I think… I think you could be happy here. Dick has already expressed his desire for a brother and Alfred would welcome the company. If you want to continue your schooling I could hire a private tutor or i could get you signed up for online classes. So what do you say?”

Danny looked at the ground thinking over everything Bruce said. He was tired of running, maybe, maybe Ms. Martha was right maybe he should take a chance on Bruce Wayne. He square his shoulders and looked Bruce straight in the eye.

“Yes”

End Pt 1

#danny phantom #ghost king danny #dc x dp #dick grayson #bruce wayne #detective comics #I was avoiding Batman #FOR THIS EXACT REASON #holy plot twists Batman its a fanfic #I love Batman I do #this is going to be a whole as fic #I can’t stop coming up with stuff #eventual Danny x Kaldur #not sure when we are gonna get to that though #gonna post this on ao3 when I get home

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