Chapter Text
Danny had time on his side. Being half ghost meant that he seemed to age a little slower than the rest of the world. Hence being age 17 and having not even hit puberty yet making him on the smaller side of people his age but that didn’t stop the muscle he’d built up over the last 3 years.
Danny had nothing but time if anything. After running away, he ran to California taking time to study books on engineering and things like that. He dyed his hair a dark green then and got himself a fake ID and passport by ghostly means. Then went up to Oregon for a little bit. Then down to New Mexico keeping tabs on the Avengers and what areas to avoid.
He kept tabs on his parents and Vlad too. None of them having any luck finding him despite his ID being so fucking similar it was hilarious how they never found him. The name he chose to go by was Micheal Danny Phenton.
He also got good at forging documents really fast(he thought so at least) as he forged the emancipation documents to show he wasn’t in the foster care system anymore. Tucker kept tabs on him and was the only one who knew where he was.
He took gymnastics classes and went to the gym to build muscle when he could as well as start training in martial arts. He wanted to be prepared. As limited as he was with… particular injuries he’d gotten when he was younger.
That wasn’t to say living alone was hard. He left just before his 15th birthday. A birthday spent alone with a cupcake in a shitty alley way in the rain. He was thankful for his ghost powers, allowed him to make sure no one saw him stealing. You couldn’t catch who you couldn’t find let alone see.
Before moving to New York he had dyed his hair a neon green and decided to go and check out the super collider down in Texas. He was perched on the edge of a building with binoculars backpack over his shoulder wearing all black.
“That’s so cool,”He whispered to himself. He had flew in and transformed on the roof making sure no one saw him. He flew right through security.
“Yeah it is cool,”A new voice spoke up and he heard the thrumming of engines. It scared the shit out of Danny as he jumped out of his skin moving to kick him.
Standing behind him had been none other than Iron Man. The man landed on the roof as his suit collapsed in on itself. The other dusting off his clothing which was a very nice suit.
“Tony Stark,”was all Danny breathed out.
“You are a long way from home, kid,”The man raised an eyebrow at him. “And in a very illegal place for you to be.”
“Haha,”Danny chuckled nervously.
“Yet There’s no sign of you entering. So either you’re incredibly smart or… and this is the one I’m betting on,”He smirked. “You have super powers.”
“Uh well… I just wanted to see the super collider!! It’s an engineering marvel!” Danny began slowly, trying to choose his words carefully.
“Where are your parents' kid?” Stark crossed his arms.
“Don’t have any.”There went up a wall between them. Whether it was made of vibranium or glass had yet to be decided as they stared at each other. Tony gave a sigh as he broke first, giving a sympathetic frown.
“Dead?”
“I emancipated myself from them,”He shrugged his arms. “I was doing a lot on my own anyways so it was easiest.” Danny put his binoculars away in his bulky backpack.
“How long have you been by yourself then?”
“Two years.”Danny shrugged.
“Two years?’The man seemed absolutely shocked at this statement.
“Please don’t…”Danny began slowly before he looked away.
“Kid…”
“Look, Mr.Stark. Tony, whatever you want me to call you. I.. I have had to deal with those for the past two years by myself. I don’t want a pity party. I don’t care,”He was blunt and honestly exhausted and tired from all the elderly women who cooed over him hearing about his issues. He didn’t want some middle aged white woman or family to try to see him as a charity case as he passed through. He sure looked like a charity case.
Sure Danny stole just enough to get by and only from well off individuals and big chain grocery stores but that didn’t mean he could just buy whatever he wanted. He lived as frugally as possible and even neglected himself so he would have to steal less. This ended up with Danny’s hair being wild and long and messy. His clothing old and dirty and falling apart in places. While Danny kept some muscle it still didn’t help the fact that he was far too thin for his age.
“Alright…” Tony seemed to give a nod and seemed as if he was thinking to himself. “Look I wanna believe you but do you have your papers on you?”
“Yeah,”Danny moved to set his backpack down crouching in front of him before grabbing the papers and handing them over. The man flipped through them giving himself a laugh.
“Look Danny I’ll make you an offer…”The man slowly folded the papers again before handing them back. “These forgeries are shit kid. But your secrets are your own and if you have powers to completely hide under the radar of a relatively secure place that’s a valid thing to keep a secret.”
Danny took them back a little sheepishly upon the statement that they were quite bad forgeries. “I did what I could okay!!”
“And I applaud you for that, now again, not gunna report you, but..” There was that goddamn smirk again.
“But what Mr. Billionaire?”
“You come with me, work for me. In return I’ll make sure you’re never found, plus I’m always interested in helping someone as gifted as you Danny Fenton. Straight A’s mostly until 3 years ago where it was reported you had an accident and were sent to the hospital for treatment.”
Danny tensed up during that. “What-- I’m not?!?!”
He put a hand up to stop that statement. “Also was reported missing but after you were gone a year it was labeled as a runaway case. Look, the hair is a cool choice admittedly but your fake name? Not the best to hide under. We’ll put you under Stark when we create your papers,”Another fucking smirk.
“Hey! I didn’t agree to this yet!”
“Look…”He paused, seemingly choosing his next words very carefully. “Let me help you. I want to help you. No one has to know that I’m your benefactor, but if you have powers you’ll be found sooner rather than later. Especially, if you’re choosing to use said powers to check out some scientific marvels.”
“Fine…”
“Good to have you a part of the family then Mr. Daniel Stark,”Tony smirked a bit but then a frown crossed his face as the other flinched at being called that name. “Danny Stark.” He promptly corrected but didn’t forget how nervous the teen was as Tony guided them to his plane. Thankfully, no one was there to see them and Danny had been so thankful for that. He never knew how much he had needed help especially as they got onto the plane and Danny was passed out in the chair in mere minutes and was left with a quiet Tony Stark calling Pepper and informing her of what just happened and who would be staying with them for a while.
Danny knew it was a stupid move to fall asleep so quickly and if sleeping in alleyways and on the streets for years it was to always keep one eye open, despite the fact that his ghostly abilities gave him heightened senses amongst a dozen other abilities really. It did allow him to overhear the conversation between Tony and his CEO, wife? Only half of it really but something was always better than nothing.
“Pepper, my love!”
“Oh come on, don’t give me that accusatory voice!”
“Okay I did do something small though.”
“...Well you see. I found a kid..”
“What do you mean another one?”
“Yeah but this one doesn’t really have parents, like either side. Okay well he does but it’s complicated and despite this line being encrypted that is a manor I would prefer to speak to you in person about.”
“How I found him is.. A funny story.”
“Yup, a funny story.”
“I found him perched on a roof admiring the Super collider.”
“How’d he get past our heightened security? Assuming he walked right in?”
“No. I don’t know the specifics.” A brief pause. “Yes I know this is risky, but he has no one to help him, and he has superpowers!”
“I know that’s dangerous Pepper but you--”
Even Danny could hear the yelling on the other end.
“You haven’t seen him Pep..”A fondness to his voice. “Let me help him. He looks like a battle worn soldier. He has a look of constant fear in his eyes like he’s constantly on edge for an attack. Dark circles that put mine to shame. Too thin frame yet he obviously cares more about being strong enough to fight people off than keeping himself fed. His…” More hesitation. “There’s a slight quiver to his left hand, Pep. He’s desperate to trust someone again. I can see it in his eyes.”
Danny was not desperate to trust someone! He turned a bit in his seat and Tony let out a sigh speaking quieter than he did before. He was fine. He didn’t need anyone else. He couldn’t. He had himself and those in Amity Park he trusted, that’s all he needed, right?
Right?
Ignoring the burning annoyance in his chest he knew what a stupid decision he was making right now, walking into the lion's den and trusting a very popular man take it, an avenger even. Then again there was the chaos that happened not too long ago with the accords and the fighting between Iron Man and Captain America. Danny had opted to stay far away from the avengers much preferring to deal with the GIW on the occasion than actual avengers.
He thought he had been ready to deal with his parents over the avengers but now?
Now he needed to stay far away from Amity Park. Vlad as Mayor. His parents hunting for him every day and Jazz going off to college? Well, maybe he could see his sister eventually, but going anywhere near the Fenton household otherwise made him nauseous. He would never be ready to face his parents again, not after what they had done. He forced his body to relax and tuned himself out from the conversations between Pepper and Tony Stark… the Tony Stark.
Extremely reluctantly he allowed himself to fall asleep curled up into a ball on the plane seat. A 15 year old child too skinny. Too worn. Too tired. Too done with the world around him for anyone's liking. Maybe this was something Danny hadn’t had time to comprehend yet.
Maybe he didn’t want to.
Yet the arrival at the tower went brief and Tony Stark made his list of “demands” as Danny made his.
Danny’s was relatively simple:
A place to live
A job
Papers that were mostly legal or at least appeared that way
He wanted to live on his own away from the constant eyes of the Stark tower. Tony had put him in one of the guest rooms which was far too nice than what Danny was used to even in comparison to what he had seen at Vlad’s several manors. The entire tower, especially around Tony’s floors, was connected to his AI. It creeped Danny out and reminded him to use his powers wisely here if not none at all. It was nice though. It came with a laptop on a desk, and an amazing view of New York City.
Tony’s list was a bit more demanding in return for those items, and Danny deemed it fair since the guy would be breaking the law for him:
He would go to school at least online to catch up in the meantime and maintain good grades, if not Danny dropped the job so he could focus.
He would work at Stark tower as an IT intern for the time being to get the cash(Danny presumed this would be so Tony could keep an eye on him)
He would stay in the tower for 6 months to get his mental and physical health evaluated and after that Tony would gladly buy him an apartment.
He wanted to know the specifics of Danny’s abilities
The requests were easy enough to accommodate but Danny managed to talk the man down to 3 months in the tower rather than 6. He didn’t know if he could stand being there any longer. He remained in the tower most of the time. The tower was an interesting place to live for 3 months. He met another avenger named Bruce Banner, Yep, the hulk.
Bruce actually was the one who did his physical evaluation. Most of it being Danny standing arms out while the AI scanned him and gave a verbal report of what they saw and then he got brain scans and more x rays and too many doctor things, but then they tried to take his blood.
“Uh huh, no blood samples.” Danny refused hands up. “No can do Metal Man”
“Danny.”
“Look! I’ll answer your questions honestly and give you your pony show! But my red life juice? Uh huh no way in hell you’re getting that.”
“You made the deal.” Tony crossed his arms and Bruce’s eyes were glued to a set of x rays they had just done.
“I agreed to a health evaluation yeah, but I promise there’s nothing in my blood Tony. No blood.” Danny crossed his arms sternly. Tony’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the kid opening his mouth to say even more before Bruce spoke up interrupting the Avenger.
“Danny, did you know your heartbeat is not only slow for your age but also your entire body temperature is 5 degrees lower than the average human’s? Yet all your bodily functions are the same? Everything seems to be working in optimal order, this is amazing. I need a blood sample, but if you’re not willing to give it I’m not going to push you, and neither will Tony,”A pause staring at the man. “Right Tony?”
“Fine,”The man huffed, leaving the room.
“He’s one stubborn boomer,”Danny joked for a second before moving out of the room into the room next door. One appropriately labeled the observation room.
“That he is,”Bruce snickered. “I’ll go over the rest of your tests and get back to you if I spot anything but… You appear to have quite a bit of healed over breaks Danny. It’s not my business to pry too much but, the therapist Tony recommends? She can be trusted. Just want you to know that.” Danny nodded, pulling his sleeves further down his arms a little bit. It was too soon for them to find out about his scars and the damage done to him. They’d find out soon enough but now? Now was not a good time.
Then came the fun mental health evaluation, which required them to leave the stark tower and allowed for Danny to actually look at New York city. He wanted to fly over the city but even he didn’t fly much anymore. He stared at his palm, opening and closing it slowly. Maybe he would become Phantom again someday, but that day was not today.
“You have your phone?”
Yeah, duh,”Danny rolled his eyes. “And the keys, and the credit card, and the other burner phone you gave me and my wallet with my fancy new ID!” Danny opened it to show the photo they took of Danny and his wildly trimmed hair and Stark Industries long sleeve shirt on.
Tony let out a heavy sigh. “Alright alright and you know who your doctor is?”
“Denise Kres, yes I know Tony. Come on, you've only known me for like a month. Don’t go all full-dad mode on me yet. I’ll have to get you a father’s day present,”Danny smirked and opened the car door stepping out onto the streets immediately pulling up the hood in case anyone recognized who’s car he just out of as he walks down another half a block and into the building on the 3rd floor to the therapist's office.
“Hey I have an appointment with Ms. Kres for 10am?”He spoke to the assistant who gave a small smile.
“Oh yes sweetheart, just sit down and she’ll be with you shortly. There’s water and coffee just over there if you want it as well.”
“Alright thanks,”Danny pulled out his food, absentmindedly rubbing his hand ignoring the slight numb feeling to it.
Let’s just say Danny had weekly sessions with the woman from then on out, even if she didn’t know everything she knew a lot, and those scars he was so worried about being seen came up in a way Danny hated to think about. He worked short shifts at the Stark tower. 8am to 12pm. Then he went up and did school work for the rest of the day.
He was working when his scar started to act up on him… the large lightning scar reaching from his left hand all the way up his arm and a little up his neck and over his torso and down through his left leg as well. The thing Danny had been hospitalized for all those years ago had been electrocution for a faulty wire in their home. Even the doctors had been skeptical of the tale that had been spun, but of course being Amity doctors they didn’t want to do anything about it so they treated him and left him there in the hospital for a week while he was recovering. Dealing with memory problems and a constant thrumming of his left side all while juggling the new issue of these ghostly powers.
Of course after that incident Danny realized a lot of things. He could be as physically active as he wanted but only to a certain percentage part of the time. The lightning physically altering his body gave him a lot of things, supernatural strength, hearing, sight, abilities, but the disadvantages that came with? The constant numbness. The sporadic pain in his entire left side left him reeling and unable to walk without help. The sleepless nights filled with tossing and turning and frustrations of the never ending pain. That was of course until he realized that going ghost would help his pain and allowed him to hide how much he had been in. How badly the entire thing had affected him.
Of course this didn’t stop Danny from using a cane at school to get around. So when he was on his way back towards the server room to test something for one of the upper management he felt a large pain in his left side. Forcing him to lean against the wall taking slow deep breaths trying to register what he was feeling. He knew he had to sit down but that required walking or sitting where he was at. He took a slow steady step before falling with a loud thump in the office.
“Fuck me.”
It didn’t take long for Friday to report the incident to Tony and he was up in the lab with Tony and Bruce by Dinner time with small electrodes sitting on his entire upper left side. Shirt neatly folded to the side as the duo finally realized the true damage.
“Don’t say a single fucking word…”He hissed looking to the side avoiding eye contact.
“You lied?! Danny, I want to help you! Protect you!”Tony exclaimed obviously trying very hard to not yell at the other. “Please. Let me help you! I can’t do that if I don’t know what I’m dealing with!”
“Tony..”Bruce gave a soft but warning tone.
“No, Bruce this isn’t just something I can pass by on! This isn’t just some simple accident the reports said they were. This is as if someone plugged him up to be a goddamn circuit board!”Tonny rubbed his face fighting the urge to go grab a bottle of vodka. He was better than that. Danny rolls his eyes as he bites his cheeks letting him say whatever the hell he wanted to say.
“The hospital wrote it off so they wouldn’t have to file a CPS report Tony! I don’t know how much electricity ran through me in that moment but I know what I’ve been dealing with! PAIN. Numbness, tingling. Inability to walk to do things by myself all the time! You can only do so much with permanent nerve damage caused by electricity. It’s off and on. Most days I’m fine. Others? Other’s it feels as if the left half of my body is on fire. I can’t even think straight some nights! Let alone sleep soundly.” He laughs. “This isn’t a new thing to me Tony! I’ve been living with this for 3 years now! Stop assuming that just because something happened that I can’t live with it. It’s not important because there’s nothing that can be done!” Maybe Danny was raising his voice a bit but he had heard ableist bullshit since he went back to school leaning on a cane with Tucker and Sam by his side. He wasn’t about to deal with it from Mr. Money bags either.
“Danny I am legally your guardian! This isn’t a matter of you not being able to live with it! This is a matter of I need to know about things that can affect your life! It’s going to change what apartment I pick for you and what I can try and pull to help you! I want to be able to support you and give you whatever mobility aids you need and give you all the fucking tools for success I can! If I don’t know, how can I help.”
“Because you’ve already given me enough help Tony! Too much help!” Danny barely even registered Bruce had left the room. “I was fine on my own!”
“You were surviving Danny. I want you to live!” Tony rubs his face walking over and moving to slowly sit next to him on the table, a slow silence settling between them. “I want you to get a chance to Live, Danny. Not just survive.”
Danny kept his gaze on the ground away from Tony knowing his outburst might have been a little over the top, maybe?
“Why me then? There are dozens of other kids out there who are fine and perfectly healthy kids. Who you can give a new life too…”Danny tried to fight the tears prickling at his eyes. He looked up at Tony who looked at him eyes wide with concern. “Why’d you pick the random teen on the streets with badly done hair and a backpack to his name?”
Tony gently moved to bring Danny in for a slow hug and this was the moment that they truly began to connect to each other for the first time.
“I don’t know why I asked you to come with me that day. I think I saw too much of myself in you that night to let you just go on barely scraping by. You have the same eyes that I do. Eyes I don’t think someone your age should have. That slight tremor in your hand? The defiance and unwillingness to run. You snuck into a highly secure facility to just look at it closer from the outside. Not even the inside.” Tony placed a kiss on the top of his head. “You’re like me. A little broken, a little smart, and sarcastic as all hell.”
It was safe to say their relationship got significantly better through the months and well the full year they had been together as a duo. Danny got himself caught up on school, so he wanted to spend his senior year at a real school. Danny was the hidden child of Tony Stark. It stayed that way because Danny wanted to stay hidden. Not that it would be like this forever. Eventually, their charade would be up.
Danny did end up moving into his own apartment. It was in a high rise but the elevator worked and his apartment was right next to the elevator for easy access. Stark and him worked together on designing several canes to help better support him. One, to the hilarity of Tony and Danny, had a candy dispenser built into it. Of course filled with the extra strength pain medication Bruce has prescribed him. Pepper did not find it as funny as they did.
As Danny arrived at the tower having walked from his apartment he looked up to the gigantic screen he was walking past.
“The Spider menace continues to run rampant through New York!” The Daily Bugle began to drone on and Danny ignored it, walking into the building and right past security everyone there incredibly familiar with him by this point as the Tech guy who happened to be friends with their boss. Danny took the elevator up as he pulled down his hood. Last night he had had a manic pixie dream girl moment and bleached and toned the fuck out of his hair leaving it a bright neon blue color. It matched his eyes. He didn’t plan on keeping this long. Just long enough then he would go back to green.
“Mr. Stark is busy with an intern right now Danny. Would you like me to inform him you’re here?” Danny flopped onto the couch halfway upside down. The pain hadn’t been too awful recently.
“Uh sure,”Danny shrugged and opened his backpack to mess with one of the Fenton deflectors he had brought with. He wanted to modify the deflector to a small bracelet to hide his ecto signature. In the year and a half he’d lived in New York the shit was wild and he never wanted to be caught up in it. If however, he’d been discovered and they tried to locate his ectosignature? That would be a problem. A big problem.
“Mr. Stark says he will be out soon Danny.”
“Tell him I said I will eat his kitchen, electronics and all if he doesn’t hurry.”
“Of course Danny.”
Some snickering could be heard from the other room.
Danny ignored it and went back to work. He had gotten most of it transferred to the bracelets as he slowly fed more wire through them before carefully connecting the wires and hooking them to the battery source. A spectral battery that ran on ectoplasm. Wow. Good thing he had that nearby. He grabbed his knife carefully, poking his finger and dropping it onto a battery. Watching the components change and how it slowly turned green. He snapped the small charm cover over the battery and put it on pressing the button. He felt the thrum of energy around him as he pulled out a Fenton finder turning it on. Great. It worked! Not all the way, but it worked! It made his signal extremely weak but it’s significantly better than before. He would probably just make a second one and wear two at once so he would have a completed field to protect him.
That had to work right?
He began to immediately disassemble the other piece he had to steal pieces from it. He looked up the window for a moment before seeing Spider-Man swinging away from the stark tower and back into the city catching Danny a little bit caught off guard. So that was the intern. It was a known fact the superhero knew about Iron man and that it was assumed Tony was his benefactor but honestly Danny saw the other interns more than he saw Spider-man.
It was seconds after this he heard the door open and Danny continued to disassemble the piece of equipment before moving to separate it into things he would reuse for this project versus the other projects.
“What are you working on now Danny?”Stark teased, walking over to sit in the armchair diagonal to him.
“Well, my biggest issue I know that will come back to hunt me is that there’s potential my parents could trace me right?” Danny looks up at him as he bags up the components he’s not going to use.
“Yeah, you mentioned that to me. Other than your nifty gadgets nothing I can make can trace you though.” Tony’s eyebrows furrowed looking at the tracker.
“Yes, but the people who want to find me can track me which is kind of an issue..” he sighs and rubs his face. “I broke apart this device that can block the signals I give off but before it would always shock me right back. Every time. Blocking my own abilities. I don’t need it to deflect I need to contain if that makes sense? So I finally rewired it and managed to make a condensed version.” Danny holds up his wrist with the simple mental bracelet on. “See.”
“But can you still use your powers?” Tony began to lean forward. Danny had been weary of telling Tony about ghosts so he made up some bullshit that was technically true but never gave the man any more specifics than he absolutely needed to know.
“Well this one only blocks out most of the signals but not all so I’m guessing I should have no issue?” Danny shrugged. He stood up and let himself go invisible pleasantly surprised to not find himself shocked. He returned to the visible light spectrum before taking a deep breath. “But can it go intangible with me is another question entirely.”
Danny moved to the fridge letting his arm go through the fridge. He was pleasantly surprised it went intangible with his wrist considering the properties with it. However, when he pulled it out his powers had overloaded the systems and it was smoking a bit. “Damn.”
“It’s progress, kid. Inventions are nothing but trial and error, speaking of which you don’t stop by too often except after work what’s up?”
“I want to go to school this upcoming year… I know the point is for me to stay under the radar but I miss socializing with kids my age. I work mornings which means I don’t even interact with your other interns my age when they get off of school. It would have been my senior year! I want to at least try.”
“I’m assuming you want to go to a public school then? What school?”
“Midtown High. It has a great science program! It’s public and I think it would be a great fit!”
“But you do know the second I put you into that school your name Stark is going to be associated with my stark. I am also your guardian which means I would have to go enroll you.” He had a serious expression across his face. “Part of our entire years worth of work has been keeping you hidden Danny… I Don’t want to see that go down the drain because of someone wanting to talk.”
“I know… I know when you redid my papers you kept the same first and middle and just changed the last right? I think that’ll be enough to deter people. I can say we’re not related! It’s not like I’ll be going back to the tower every night. I’ll be going home. I just stop by the tower for my internship here! I can continue to work on these transmitter blockers in the meantime!”
“Danny just saying you aren’t a Stark isn’t going to magically make you not a Stark. We need a back up plan for this. In case people connect the dots….”
“I know… I’m sorry I just. Planning things out is not really my forte.” Danny put his head in his hands.
“I can tell, kid. We’ll work on that. My mother had an estranged sister. I haven’t spoken to her in years. I’ll reach out and see if she’ll help me out with a cover story for you,”Tony stood up, already pulling out his phone.
“Does this mean… you’ll let me go to an in-person school?”Eyes wide looking up at Tony hope in his eyes. He ran up to give him a huge hug.
“Woah!!”the man was caught up guard but hesitantly returned the hug. “Yeah yeah think nothing of it kid.” He laughed softly before pulling away so he could answer his phone.
“Hey Aunt Kendra… long time no speak! I have a small favor to ask you and your daughter….”
Danny fist pumped into the sky in celebration as he waited until Tony was out of room before he jumped up.
“YES!!!”
It was rare Danny acted his age. He missed the prideful smile on Tony’s face as the man watched him do this before Danny bolted out of the building to head home more excited than he had been in weeks.