Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Danny’s supremely unimpressed look had the pair of ghosts wilting. They’d got into a fight heated enough that Danny had sensed it across the Zone and felt the need to intervene.

“Seriously guys?” The fifteen-year-old asked in exasperation. “You’re fighting over a guy. I’m so disappointed.”

“But-”

“No guy is worth ruining a friendship over.”

“We both fell for him,” one of the girls admitted. “Love doesn’t come easy in the Ghost Zone.”

Danny rolled his eyes and floated more down to their level. “I say this with all the love in my heart, but you’re both idiots. Ever heard of polyamory? When you’ve got eternity, you’ve got a hell of a lot of time to try out new things. And between you and me, Alexander is perfectly okay with more than one serious partner. Besides, you two have had a crush on each other for ages too.”

Danny wondered why being the Ghost King came with giving so much relationship advice.

By the time he returned to his castle, he was wishing that he could take a break. There was a council meeting though and he couldn’t miss that without getting complaints about it later. At least it was a short meeting. There weren’t any major problems in the Zone currently and things had stabilised now that he’d been King for a bit. The Zone was happy to move or change anything he asked for but everyone seemed happy with its current state. Their biggest project currently was making the place summon-proof and Danny was still working on making the walls between the Ghost Zone and the human world thicker. A summoning would have to be seriously powerful to break through now and some of the older ghosts were coming up with protective runes to add to that.

He’d really rather not end up getting summoned again, regardless of how many positives came from the last one. He’d gotten so many lectures for wounding his core but he still maintained that there hadn’t been another option. He was fully healed up though and Clockwork had sped up their lessons so Danny was a bit more clued up on the finer details of being a ghost.

The first time he properly manifested his core, he was surprised by how bright it was. It resembled an ice crystal and threw off rainbows and colours even when no light was around to hit it. A thread of fire wreathed it which he was pretty sure was his connection to the Ghost Zone.

Danny had tucked it away after checking that there was no residual damage from the summoning incident but everything seemed fully healed now.

That meant he’d been thrown fully into being King now, but surprisingly, the Zone was good at managing itself with laws in place. Skulker had fully embraced being a peacekeeper and hunting down criminals or troublesome ghosts. Kitty had insisted on taking on an assistant sort of position and was the one ghosts had to go to to request audiences and help. She made sure that he had a schedule that allowed him enough free time to still be a teenager and he’d be forever grateful for that. Ember was more a jack of all trades and filled in whichever position or job that was needed at the time and she was probably the only reason things were running as smoothly as they were. And Johnny generally drove around the Zone and checked that things were alright on his trips. He usually came back with some news about a new section of the place that had appeared and everyone guessed that the Zone would continue to expand as long as Danny thought it was necessary. Most ghosts wouldn’t complain. It meant that they had more space for their lairs which were growing slowly and becoming much more comfortable for them.

Danny perked up when he felt a ripple across the Zone and the council noticed. They all rolled their eyes but it was more fond than annoyed. He was grateful when they ended early so that he could dart across to the now open portal.

The Bats had made good on their promise to check in on him regularly.

At first, the ghosts had been uncertain about the humans visiting so often, but the group had won their respect pretty quickly.

The Bats didn’t need any powers to kick anyone’s ass and the ghosts learned quickly that they didn’t need Danny’s protection at all. Especially Damian. A ghost had tried to attack him when it became common knowledge that Danny was dating him and Damian had beat him into the ground while Danny watched with a grin.

Everyone learned not to fuck with the Bats and the group had become a common sight in the Zone. Danny’s ghost friends were also pretty happy with them. Ember and Kitty had spoken to them many times and Johnny had a weird kind of friendship springing up between him and Jason. The pair had been in a few motorcycle races already.

Tim was most excited to be learning more about ghosts and was usually testing out new things and improving their gear for if they ran into hostile ghosts.

Nightwing and Batman were more focused on creating diplomatic relations with the Zone and Danny left Ember and Kitty to sort that out so he could run off with Damian during their visits.

Everyone had come to the unanimous agreement that seeing their King with his boyfriend was adorable and most of the Zone shipped it despite Damian being human. Even Clockwork hadn’t discouraged it and Danny was super suspicious over why.

But he pushed all that aside so that he could greet his boyfriend who’d come alone this time. Danny flew into him at full speed and knocked him over, getting an annoyed grunt from the boy. But Damian still returned the hug so Danny knew he wasn’t actually irritated.

The area around the portal had shifted to form a waiting area of sorts and a parking spot for the vehicles the Bats brought through and it was solidly connected to the road network as well.

Occasionally, the portal would open and a bewildered ghost would be shoved through, usually newbies that had appeared in the human world and were scooped up by the Justice League before the GIW got there. Their ghost tracking equipment was miles ahead of the GIW now and Danny would bet that it was irritating the life out of the agents.

Danny grinned at Damian. “Hi.”

Damian huffed but smiled back. “Hi.”

Danny visited the human world fairly often as well. He was getting proper training from Bruce and just enjoyed spending time at the mansion. He’d also started to get to know some of the members of the Justice League.

He was still pretty intimidated by the senior members, but the younger ones were a bit easier to talk to. He liked Raven who always greeted him and was still dating Nightwing. It seemed to be going really well and Danny definitely shipped it. He also liked Wally and Conner too. Despite being older than him, they never minded when he was around and Conner always made a beeline for him when he had Cujo or Boo with him. One of the animals usually liked to tag along and he was pretty sure it was because they thought he needed protection in the human world.

The first time Boo had changed into her jaguar form had been hilarious since the League hadn’t been expecting that at all.

Conner just thought it was the coolest thing and Damian kept stealing whichever one he came through with to pet and play with. His boyfriend was such an animal lover.

The League seemed to like him at least and he didn’t get suspicious looks from everyone. They kept him updated on their progress with the Acts and the GIW’s movements and he really appreciated it.

He didn’t appreciate some people trying to give him dating advice and suggesting that being with his favourite superhero without knowing his identity wasn’t healthy. That’s when his sarcasm came out and he let Danny Phantom colour his tone more. Most of the League accepted it since Batman didn’t have a problem with it, so he didn’t know why some people wouldn’t let it drop.

Okay, he did know. It was because they were ex-team members who were still salty over Dick not telling them his identity. He’d got the full stories from Raven and Danny lost some respect for certain heroes after that.

The Justice League was full of drama apparently and Danny found it both hilarious and annoying. Overall though, they were a cool group.

He still preferred the Bats though and had politely turned down some alternate training options since he enjoyed his lessons with Batman. He was a strict teacher, but fair. And the others were always up for a spar to help him practise.

Things were settling into a pretty nice new normal for Danny. He was getting the hang of this King thing and he had a way to move between the worlds safely. He had people on his side helping any ghosts in the human world and new awesome friends who were more becoming a second family to him. He could still talk to Sam and Tucker and the only dark spot lately was still being unable to see or communicate with his family. He missed his parents and Jazz fiercely but he couldn’t risk making things worse for them.

So he stayed away. And worried about Ellie, but he couldn’t do anything about that either. At least the Bats kept an eye on everything for him and had promised to step in if things got bad again.

Mostly, things were okay. So he fully expected things to go badly again since that always happened when he found some stability in his life.

Chapter Text

Batman had got a tip-off that there was GIW activity in Gotham and they’d all jumped on that immediately. This was the first time the group had infiltrated the city and the Bats were not pleased.

They did reconnaissance first though and weren’t happy with what they’d found. The agents were trying to get some weapons from the dealers in the city but were being frozen out to their frustration. Gotham didn’t deal with outsiders though. They kept their insanity personal and in-house.

And tipped off Batman about the attempt.

After some information gathering, he was sure that they were also transporting some captured ghosts along the way and had made an ill-advised stop in Gotham on their way back to their main base.

Informing the Justice League of the activity was just a formality as the Bats went in on their own.

Gotham was their territory and they didn’t share well.

They infiltrated the warehouse far too easily and all shared the same despair over their terrible security. They hadn’t gotten any better since Damian and Jason had broken in to steal ectoplasm.

From what they could see, glass containers were being used to hold the ghosts and they guessed that they were packed with suppression technology to keep them trapped. They could count three current captives and ten agents with clear disdain for the ghosts.

“I’m guessing one-way glass,” Dick murmured on the comms. Ghosts aren’t reacting to anything unless the agents physically knock on the glass. I’d bet money on sound-proofed too.”

“Sensory deprivation,” Tim muttered with a sneer. “Bastards.”

“They don’t see them as people, remember?” Dick reminded him. “Those ghosts are probably scared shitless. I’m trying to get a better view but they don’t seem-”

He cut off and everyone tensed.

“Oh shit I think they’ve got Danny’s cousin. The container the agent is actively guarding.”

“Dammit,” Bruce cursed. They didn’t know how long the GIW had had her. They still hadn’t figured out if these ghosts were new captures or being moved from one facility to another. “That agent is a primary target. Red Robin, secure that container first. They’ll be desperate to keep at least her. Red Hood, Nightwing, you’re with me. Focus on taking the targets down. Robin, take care of anyone who gets close to any of the containers. We don’t know if there’s a kill switch built into those things.”

He got tense affirmatives before the group struck.

All in all, it was an underwhelming battle. The GIW might have very good tech, but they weren’t the brightest and prone to panic. So when the Bats dropped among them, they were pretty easy to pick off.

Damian was a bit more aggressive than usual, but then again they all were. These were the bastards hunting Danny and making his life a living hell.

They didn’t like that.

Soon enough though, the agents were disarmed and tied up. They were completely bewildered to be faced with the infamous Bats of Gotham and immediately started digging their graves.

“There seems to be some misunderstanding,” the lead agent said in annoyance. “Our activities in Gotham are perfectly legal. We’re transporting ecto-entities. Please don’t touch those, those things are dangerous.”

He directed the last statement to Red Robin who was examining the control panels on each container.

Batman took the lead in the interrogation while Red Hood patrolled for any surprise enemies. Nightwing was digging through their computers, already having hacked them and Robin was taking stock of the ghosts.

“You made a mistake bringing your business into Gotham,” Batman informed the agents, studying them with a critical eye. “International laws are little more than suggestions here.”

“This is our city,” Nightwing added, spinning around in his chair and giving them a cold grin. “And boy are you screwed.”

The agents looked confused and more than a little scared. It was hard not to when faced with Batman and his team.

There was a reason most stayed away from Gotham if you weren’t born there. Gothamites were another breed entirely and the Bats had grown up in the heart of it.

“Are you going to give us the details of those controls now? Or after we beat the shit out of you?” Red Hood asked conversationally. “I know which option I prefer.”

“Two new ghosts,” Robin spoke up, finishing his study of the containers. He had the most experience with ghosts and had learned the most from Danny so they trusted his judgement on the matter. “Both recently died.”

“Container for Danielle is more advanced than the others,” Red Robin confirmed. “Most of the failsafes on this thing lead to a massive electric shock.”

He sounded deeply unimpressed with that.

“Do we need them to give us the details?” Batman asked, never taking his eyes off the agents squirming anxiously in their bonds.

“Please say yes,” Red Hood added, prowling around behind the agents now.

“For the simple containers, no,” Red Robin straightened up. “I can get those open easily. For hers, I’d feel better about getting the details since I’m pretty sure it’s been altered recently. And badly. One wrong move could set the entire thing off.”

“Wait, you’re trying to get them out?” one agent asked in alarm.

“I think they’re blind as well as dumb,” Red Hood remarked dryly.

“They’re not actual people,” another agent said with a long-suffering sigh. “They’re just echoes that need to be contained. They’re very good at faking it but you mustn’t be fooled.”

There was a long moment of silence.

“I get first crack,” Robin said darkly. “Nightwing would be best for calming the ghosts as we get them out.”

Nightwing gave a salute. “Got all their stuff downloaded already and the computers are busy wiping.

“No, wait,” the leader said in a panic. “They’re really not real people! You can’t let them fool you! They’re just ectoplasm and memories!”

“You really shouldn’t have come to Gotham,” Batman said, almost pityingly. “Robin, Red Hood, they’re yours. Get the code for Danielle’s case. Red Robin, disable the others. Must we be prepared for them to run?”

“They’ve got those suppression collars on,” Red Robin told him as Robin stalked forward. “I don't want to risk trying to take those off here. They can be nasty Danny said.”

Batman nodded while one of the agents caught on the name.

“Danny? As in Phantom? You can’t believe that abomination! It’s a master manipulator-”

He was sent to the ground by a solid punch from Robin. 

“I wouldn’t speak about him like that if I were you,” Red Hood smirked, cracking his knuckles. “Robin is a little protective of his boyfriend.”

Their eyes widened. “What?”

“Boy did you fuck up coming here,” he chuckled. “Don’t cough up the code too early. I want to enjoy this.”

Batman tuned out the screaming that started up and moved over to supervise the container disabling. He had no pity or sympathy for the people that had sent Danny running from his home and had given him the shadows that haunted his too-young eyes.

Red Robin made quick work of deactivating the security features on the containers before picking the locks and lifting the tops. Both ghosts shrunk down in fear the moment the containers opened, gazes snapping up to him before Nightwing stepped in and spoke calmingly to them. He waited until they were calm enough to listen to them before helping them out of the cases, promising that they were safe and that they’d get them to a much nicer and safer place soon. The poor things were horribly skittish and scared, but they grabbed onto the kindness desperately. They were probably the first ones to treat these new ghosts like they were people instead of things. 

“Come on, huddle up and make friends,” Nightwing coaxed. “Ignore the screaming over there. My friends are just getting the code to open that last case. It’s a bit more complicated and we don’t want to hurt her by accident.”

“Why- why are you helping us?” the almost elf-like girl asked in a whisper.

“You needed help,” Nightwing told her gently. “And we’re pretty good friends with another ghost. Their nonsense about ghosts not being people is all lies and we never believed it. So we’re gonna get you guys home, okay?”

“Where’s home?” the other asked. They had a very androgynous appearance and was pressed close to the other. The pair were clinging to each other now.

“The Ghost Zone,” Nightwing told them easily. “With all the other ghosts who are having a grand old time now. I think you’ll like it. Their King is a good guy.”

The flickers of hope in their eyes were almost painful to see.

“You guys are new?” he asked gently.

They gave him timid nods.

“Sorry the GIW found you first. The League is trying to get to all the newbies before them but we don’t always succeed. Have they had you for long?”

The haunted looks he got didn’t bode well. 

“You coming from another place or did they just catch you?”

“Another place,” the elf-like girl answered softly. “They said- they said we were going for dissection.”

Nightwing hid the anger he felt at that and gave them a reassuring smile.

“That’s not going to happen alright? You’re safe now.” 

They all looked up as Robin walked back over. “I’ve got the code,” he told them, restrained anger still in his tone. “Red Hood is getting all the details of where they’re coming from so we can raid.”

Batman nodded, turning away to update Oracle on what was happening.

“Just hang tight while we get Danielle out,” Nightwing told the ghosts, preparing to stand.

“They were cruel to her,” the second ghost said urgently. “They seemed to hate her more.”

Nightwing nodded and gave them another smile before moving over to the third container. His first good look at Danny’s cousin had anger boiling in his gut. She was curled into a tiny ball in the corner of the case and flinched at the lightest tap against the container.

Red Robin paused a moment before opening the case and Nightwing started talking before the girl could panic.

“Danielle right? Nice to meet you.”

She froze at the words, frightened gaze darting up to him before her eyes widened.

“You’re Nightwing,” she said weakly.

“Aw you share Danny’s love of superheroes?” Nightwing grinned. “That’s adorable.”

Her gaze sharpened at his words and the others breathed a sigh of relief as Nightwing avoided any panic from her.

“Danny?” she asked warily.

“Yup,” Nightwing answered easily. “We met him a few months back. Great kid. We see him pretty often now. Got a ghost portal up on the Watchtower so he can come and go pretty easily.”

She looked torn between believing him and calling this a trick. So Red Robin stepped in, turning his phone around to show her a picture of Danny and Robin doing some dubious acrobatics in the Bat Cave. Danny was there to catch Damian if anything went wrong though, so they let it happen.

Danielle’s eyes widened and she reached desperately for the phone. Red Robin let her take it as she stared at the photo.

“He’s okay?” her voice cracked.

“Yup,” Nightwing assured. “And we’re going to take you to him. He’s talked about you a lot. He misses you.”

Her eyes filled with tears and she started sobbing, holding the phone tight. The girl was only thirteen. She’d been through way too much.

“We don’t want to risk messing with those collars yet,” Red Robin added when she calmed down to the occasional hiccup. “We don’t know much about them and would rather let Danny tell us what to do about them. Think you can trust us long enough to get you to the Ghost Zone?” Nightwing asked.

Danielle hesitantly nodded and let them help her out of the container. She was very unsteady on her feet and Red Robin had to catch her before she fell. 

“Okay, take it easy,” he murmured. “How long have they had you?”

“What’s the date?” she asked in return.

“I hate that both of you default to that question,” Robin muttered.

When they gave her the date, she winced. “A month,” she told them softly.

“Danny is going to be livid,” Red Robin winced.

They looked at each other and over at the agents who were a whimpering mess now that Red Hood was finished with them.

“We’ll bury them in so much corrupted red tape that they’ll be lucky to get out when we get the Acts rescinded,” Nightwing decided. “It’s not like anyone will tell the GIW where they are if they ask.”

“You don’t fuck with Gotham,” Red Hood added.

The GIW were going to get a crash course in that.

Robin stepped forward and Danielle squeaked when he pulled her onto his back. “You can’t walk,” he deadpanned when she tried to protest.

She gave up fairly quickly and just focused on not passing out. Batman and Red Robin helped the other two out of the warehouse with Nightwing staying behind to deal with the agents while Red Hood destroyed the rest of their equipment.

Those guys wouldn’t be seeing the light of day for a good long while.

Danielle was only partially conscious by the time they arrived at the Watchtower. She was stubbornly refusing to pass out though. They said she could see Danny and she needed to see him. She needed to make sure he was alright.

She blinked dazedly as she was lowered to the ground again and a glass was pressed into her hands. She recognised the glow of ectoplasm and drank the juice almost desperately. She hadn’t had any in too long and she’d been holding herself together by the skin of her teeth. When she felt a little less likely to pass out, she looked around at the room she was in. The other two ghosts were sitting nearby and the Bats were scattered around the room. There was a new woman at the controls and they were activating what was definitely a Ghost Portal.

She looked down at the phone that she was still holding, staring at the picture of her cousin. He looked okay in it, happy. She desperately hoped that was true. And that he wouldn’t blame himself too much for what happened to her. It wasn’t his fault.

He wouldn’t believe that though.

She couldn’t help how she leaned forward towards the portal when it activated, the ectoplasm spilling out making her desperate to rush into the Zone.

She was too exhausted to move though.

She was a little confused when Robin slipped through the portal but it wasn’t long before he reappeared, Danny bolting into the room just before him.

Ellie started crying at the sight of him again.

“Ellie!” he shouted, darting over to her and pulling her close. She clung to his suit, sobbing into his chest. He was here, he was okay. She was okay, everything would be fine.

“Danny, Danny, Danny,” she chanted between sobs. 

“I’ve got you Ellie, I promise,” he whispered, hugging her close and rocking slightly to soothe her. “I’m so sorry.”

“Not your fault,” she mumbled, trying to wipe her eyes. She was crying like a baby in front of all these strangers.

She peered out at the room to find the other two ghosts being ushered through the portal and most of the Bats were giving them space at least. Although Robin was lingering close by with an odd expression.

“I got careless,” Ellie whispered. “Saw them catching some newbies and tried to stop them. It was my fault.”

“I should have found you,” he argued, voice pained.

“No,” she said sharply, pulling back enough to glare at him. “It’s not your fault. It’s theirs. They’re the bastards hunting us.”

He didn’t look like he believed her but he dropped it for now. “How are you holding up?” he asked in concern.

She winced, still using more focus than she should need to hold herself back from melting into a puddle of goo.

“I’m low,” she admitted. “Started melting a couple of times but managed to pull it back.”

He looked panicked at that and twisted, opening his mouth to ask someone for some help, but Robin beat him to it, already holding out another glass.

“Thanks Rob,” he said gratefully, giving Ellie the glass and urging her to drink it. “We need to get you into the Zone,” he said to her.

She just nodded tiredly, leaning her head against his chest again. She was exhausted. She didn’t even notice who got the collar off her but she nearly passed out from relief when they did.

“We’ll take care of the GIW,” Robin promised, tone a little different when he spoke to Danny. “You two head back over. I’ll let you know what we find.”

“Thanks,” Danny said gratefully, pulling Ellie onto his back as he stood up. She just nuzzled into his neck, clinging on tight. “I’ll see you later?”

“Yes,” Robin confirmed.

Ellie peered up in time to see Danny lean forward and kiss the vigilante, making her eyes widen in shock. Robin pressed their foreheads together for a moment before stepping back and letting Danny fly through the portal.

Entering the Zone felt like heaven to her ectoplasm-deprived system, but Ellie had more important things on her mind.

“You’re dating Robin?!” she demanded, voice going up in pitch and making Danny flinch away from her.

“Ow,” he grumbled.

“Yes he is,” a new voice answered and Ellie tensed when she spotted Kitty and Ember nearby. Kitty was talking gently to the two new ghosts while Ember sauntered over with a wide grin.

Danny muttered something under his breath and glared at the ghost. There wasn’t really any heat in his eyes though.

“Babypop here went and got himself a famous boyfriend,” Ember cooed. “It’s adorable.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “You guys need to leave my love life alone. You’ve got your own to focus on.”

“You’re dating Robin,” Ellie repeated in shock.

Danny sighed, but she recognised the faint blush on his cheeks. “Yeah. I’ll tell you the story when we’re home.”

“Have you told her that you’re the Ghost King now?” Kitty asked curiously.

“WHAT?!”

Danny winced again. “I hate you guys.”

“Danny! What did I miss?!”

It turned out, a lot.

Chapter Text

Danny was noticeably happier now that he had his cousin back and the Ghost Zone accepted her purely for that. Ellie stuck to him like glue in the beginning, still recovering from everything that had happened and learning about what Danny had been doing in the meantime.

Kitty in particular took a bit of a shine to the girl and tried to form a friendship with the suspicious ghost.

Danny was just relieved to have Ellie safe and he was pleased to see his friends accept her so easily. She was still wary of most of them but she was adapting to their new normal pretty well. And when she did get used to everything… that’s when the teasing started.

“Can’t believe you went and became King,” she cackled.

Danny groaned, dropping onto his bed and watching her float around near the ceiling.

“You were a bit of an overachiever there Danny,” she teased.

“It wasn't in the plan!” he protested. “I didn’t even know it was a thing.”

He huffed when she cackled again.

“Was the boyfriend a part of the plan?” she asked with a wicked grin.

Danny pulled a pillow over his face and resigned himself to a good long while of teasing. Halfway through though, he felt a familiar ripple and sat up quickly, already grinning. They must have sorted everything out if they were making a trip back now.

“Portal’s opening,” he chirped, darting out of the window. He heard Ellie call out a surprised protest but she caught up quickly.

“Rude,” she huffed.

He rolled his eyes and zipped over to the portal to find Robin and Nightwing standing there waiting.

Danny did his usual of just crashing into his boyfriend, prompting a laugh from Nightwing. Damian muttered something under his breath but Danny noted that he still returned the hugs and didn’t brace for the impact when he could.

So their little routine stayed.

“Hey there Ellie,” Nightwing called, drawing Danny’s attention back to his cousin who looked nervous as she floated a short distance away. “Feeling better?”

She nodded shyly, watching as Danny floated up off of Robin so he could stand again.

“Ellie, this is Robin and Nightwing. They’ve helped me out a ton. They’re safe.”

She scoffed. “You’re dating one so I would hope they’re safe,” she pointed out, but she did drift closer to them.

“Things work out okay?” Danny asked, turning back to the two Bats.

Nightwing’s grin was a little feral. While he was the nice one, you had to remember that he was still a Bat. 

“Oh yeah, those guys have disappeared into the Gotham prison system and some guys I know are going to lose their paperwork. It’ll resurface when the Acts are overturned. Then they’ll get their fair trial.”

Danny nodded sharply. Those guys had hurt Ellie so he didn’t really feel very sorry for them. She’d been so close to destabilising and melting into a puddle… he could have lost her.

“Thanks guys,” he told them genuinely as Ellie came to land next to him, back to sticking close. “For helping Ellie.”

“Well, she’s our future cousin-in-law,” Nightwing said innocently. “Gotta keep her safe.”

Both Danny and Damian blushed and scowled at him while Ellie cackled.

“I like him,” she decided.

“You two are going to be a nightmare together,” Danny sighed.

He still couldn’t be too mad though. He’d never imagined that he could start getting his people back while keeping his new family too.

When Danny’s sixteenth birthday came around, the Bats were insistent on actually celebrating it this year. So he was having a party in the human world while Ellie, Kitty and Ember planned one in the Ghost Zone. Ellie hadn’t taken any offense to not getting told the Bats’ identities and she was just pleased to get to help plan the Ghost Zone one which was apparently going to be huge…

Danny fled to Wayne Manor as quickly as he could to avoid the impending insanity.

He still found himself relaxing almost instantly when he entered the mansion. The place had quickly become a safe space to him and he greeted Alfred cheerfully. There was so much jamming equipment in every nook and cranny of the house that no one was tracking him here. So it was safe to visit as long as he stayed invisible on the way in.

He was almost immediately attacked by Dick who scooped him into a hug with a cheerful “Happy Birthday”. That of course summoned everyone else over who gave him hair ruffles and shoulder claps as they gave him their own congratulations when Dick released him.

Damian pushed through the little crowd and grabbed Danny’s hand to pull him away from them. 

“You’re smothering him,” he scolded, one arm wrapping around Danny’s waist.

Danny leaned into his side and absently wondered if he’d ever catch up in height with Damian. His boyfriend had turned sixteen four months previous, soon after they brought Ellie home. The party they’d had had been fun and Danny got to spend the whole day with them before they had to do the official rich people birthday gala that night.

He was looking forward to doing the same now, just without the gala thing interrupting everything.

Danny grinned up at Damian when he was finished scolding his family. “Am I getting a birthday kiss?” he teased.

At least he and Damian weren’t blushing messes about their relationship anymore. They’d settled into it nicely and were pretty used to it all now.

Damian huffed, but the mischievous spark in his eye warned Danny before he actually leaned down to kiss the halfa.

It was a little bit more than the usual chaste peck and Danny vaguely heard Dick whistling, but he ignored that for now.

He had something a little more important to focus on at the moment.

“That was some birthday kiss,” he remarked breathlessly when they pulled apart.

Damian hummed, pressing another, light kiss to his temple. “Missed you.”

Danny leaned into his arms with a content sigh. “Missed you too.”

He couldn’t wait for the Anti-Ecto Acts to get overturned. While he did have a lot of responsibilities in the Ghost Zone, he was slowly pushing them towards something a bit more democratic. They still needed a Ghost King for the connection to the Ghost Zone itself, but if he got them more comfortable making their own decisions, it would give him more time to visit the human world when the danger was mostly passed.

“Happy birthday Danny,” Damian murmured.

The day was starting off great and it only got better. There was cake and games and ridiculous antics from everyone. Barbara showed up to join and even Wally dropped by briefly to wish him and hand over a present.

It was his own personal key card for the Watchtower and a bigger sign of trust from the Justice League than Danny had ever expected.

“This is how they sneakily make you a part of the League,” Dick said in a stage whisper. “They all secretly want to adopt you, but we got you first.”

Danny rolled his eyes and slipped the card into his pocket before accepting Barbara’s present. Hers was a bit more practical, being a panic button of sorts. If he got into trouble and needed help, the nearest Justice League member would be alerted when he pressed it.

“Better to be prepared for emergencies,” she told him after giving him a hug as well.

He got something from all of them and Danny was really starting to feel pretty spoiled. He got a wicked pocket knife from Jason, a new personalised phone from Tim and a massive ridiculously soft bat-themed blanket from Dick along with his own personal mug to go in the kitchen. Bruce gave him his own code to the Bat Cave and a fucking motorcycle.

Danny was way too excited when he realised what the key was for. Apparently, they’d all worked on making a Danny Phantom-themed bike for him.

“I’m teaching you to drive first though,” Bruce warned. “No taking it out before then.”

Danny wasn’t about to risk losing the thing so that was easy to agree to.

It wasn’t like he needed a bike, but it was seriously exciting to get one. All the Bats had one although some didn’t use theirs as much. Damian had got his on his birthday as well. He already had his license though.

Damian was the last to give him a birthday gift and he pulled Danny away from the rest to do it in private.

“We’ve been together for six months now,” he started and Danny was startled by how quickly time had passed. “And… it’s a little old-fashioned,” Damian admitted with a little embarrassment. “But I really liked the idea.”

Danny cocked his head as his boyfriend pulled something out of his pocket.

“It’s a promise ring,” Damian explained quietly, making Danny’s eyes widen. “It’s not done very often anymore, but I wanted to give you one. We don’t see each other as much as most couples do, but I’m serious about this Danny.”

Danny could barely breathe as he met Damian’s determined green gaze. He swallowed hard as he reached up to accept the ring. It was solid black and smooth to the touch.

“This is packed with mini tech, isn’t it?” he asked with a wobbly smile.

“Of course,” Damian said, like it was obvious. “It will act as a distress beacon if you charge it with your ecto-energy and also acts like your bracelet for absorbing electricity. It needs to be drained between each use but it won't break. With a push from your energy though, you can redirect it at someone else.”

Danny let out a soft chuckle. “Only you would give me a weaponised promise ring,” he said. He grinned up at Damian. “I love it. Thanks Damian.” He moved closer to give his boyfriend a kiss and Damian unexpectedly deepened it so they were busy for a bit longer than they planned.

When they did pull apart though, Danny slipped the ring onto his left ring finger.

“This means I can get you one too right?” he asked with a mischievous grin. “It only seems fair.”

Damian smirked. “I’m fine with that.” his smile dropped into a scowl as he rested his hands on Danny’s hips. “I wish I could wear it in civvies.”

“Getting flirted with again?” Danny asked sympathetically, slipping his arms around Damian’s waist and leaning closer.

“My birthday gala was unbearable,” he complained. “Even Jason started playing interference.”

“Yikes. You know it’s bad when your brothers help out instead of enjoying your misery.”

Damian pouted at him. “Sometimes I wish I’d started dating you as Damian Wayne. But then I remember the younger Justice League members and I feel like they’re a greater threat.”

Danny let out a startled laugh. “They aren’t a threat Damian,” he said in amusement. “I’ve got no interest in any of them.”

Damian just scowled. “Many have an interest in you,” he complained. 

Danny only rolled his eyes. “I’m dating you Bird-Brain,” he reminded, poking his boyfriend in the nose to get him to scrunch it up all adorably. “And that’s not going to change. Now come on, they’ll come look for us if we’re gone too long, and it’ll probably be Dick.”

Damian groaned at the thought and the pair made their way back to the main room. There were some wide grins when everyone saw the ring, but they’d obviously known about it already since they didn’t make a huge deal over it. 

They were halfway through the afternoon when the real world intruded on the day. Danny sighed, having expected something to happen. The day was going too well.

“Justice League emergency?” he asked as all their phones went off.

Damian scowled at his like he was trying to set it aflame and the others didn’t look happy either.

“Oh? Ghost emergency actually,” Tim said in surprise. “A massive Ecto Disaster is happening and the GIW is failing hard enough that they’re trying to call the Justice League in."

They all looked at each other.

“You know…” Dick started slowly. “The League really likes Danny. I’m sure they’d be on board for helping get him some legal protection.”

Damian sat up straight while Danny frowned. “Uh, not with the Anti-Ecto Acts,” he reminded.

“Oh, but diplomatic immunity is a wonderful thing,” Dick said, a grin slowly growing on his face. “If we were to say we had a heavy hitter who was great against ghosts but worried about the non-human rights situation…”

“They could grant diplomatic immunity,” Tim caught on quickly. That would mean the Justice League could also legally protect Danny.”

“And if they tried to rescind it, they’d just be pissing off the JL and they know it,” Jason said, a wicked smirk growing.

They all looked to Bruce who was mulling over the idea. “Get Superman to do it,” he finally said. “He usually gets what he wants and he thinks Danny is a sunshine child.”

“They all think Danny is a sunshine child,” Tim snorted while Dick started frantically typing. “They’ve never seen him pissed off.”

“What’s going on?” Danny asked in confusion.

“We’re about to do some political trickery,” Damian said, a small, savage smile on his face. “Come on. I think you’re coming on this mission.”

Danny perked up. “I get to go on a mission with you?!” He asked excitedly.

“Unless they can say no to a passionate Superman, yes,” Tim told him. “Let’s go suit up.”

They got the news back very quickly that the higher-ups had caved very quickly to Superman and had handed over the diplomatic immunity to their ghost expert with very little trouble. As a result, Danny was on the plane when the Bats took off.

Superman was responding to the threat along with Raven and Starfire. They had less experience with ghosts though and the Bats had the best equipment to go up against this kind of threat thanks to Danny working with them.

So those three were on perimeter control until the Bats got there.

“How big is the threat if those three don’t want to engage?” Danny asked from where he was sitting next to Robin. He’d already switched to his ghost form by now.

“A sea monster off the coast kind of big,” Nightwing told him cheerfully as Tim showed him the footage.

“Oh that’s big,” Danny agreed. “I think her sister is in the Zone though. I know how to handle this one.”

The Bats grinned over his head. They were making progress in their ‘protect Danny from the GIW’ plan. This was the first big step.

Chapter Text

Danny’s birthday was the only day that Sam and Tucker broke the whole stay away from Danny’s family rule. The GIW was going to barge in on the day regardless, so staying away did nothing.

It was still irritating when the agents forced their way in through the door.

The teenagers didn’t even wait for the usual demands, they just threw their phones at the bastards and went back to comforting Jazz who was really struggling with everything. Sam hated to see the older girl struggling this much and it wasn't fair that the GIW had done this to their family. 

Jazz had been a wreck since Danny had to flee and she was crying over missing Danny’s sixteenth birthday. Her parents weren’t any better and Sam was fully expecting Mr Fenton to punch an agent again. Mrs Fenton was glaring out the window as she drank her coffee.

They weren’t going to find anything in the house. They never did. The Fentons flat out refused to build anything ghost related and they didn’t have any contact with Danny. Jazz was the only one who knew that Sam and Tucker were able to talk to Danny but they scrubbed their phones of those conversations multiple times a day just to be safe. And she never brought it up, only taking comfort in the fact that them not saying anything meant that Danny was okay.

“Can we seriously not have a single day to miss our friend in peace?” Tucker snapped when the agents started poking around like usual.

Sam glared at the nearest agent when he opened his mouth. “Do not give the whole ‘ghosts don’t deserve this grief’ spiel on Danny’s birthday. He was human before he was half ghost remember?”

That at least got them to shut up. She didn’t like using the angle of ‘grieving their lost friend/son/brother’, but it usually got the bastards to be a bit more tactful for one day at least.

It was still irritating to have them digging around in their space though and the teenagers tried to focus on the television to ignore it. 

There was some random program pulled up, but none of them were really following it. They just needed the noise and visual distraction while they waited out the GIW bastards.

That was until an urgent news bulletin started.

“Whoa,” Tucker whistled as their jaws dropped. “That is one big ghost.”

Everyone’s attention, including the agents, went to the screen where what could only be described as a sea monster was causing chaos by some beach in Greece.

“This just in,” the reporter on screen spoke urgently as they turned the volume up. “After the GIW failed to contain the ecto-threat, authorities have reached out to the Justice League for help.”

Sam sneered at the agents. “You guys suck all over the world then?”

The agents bristled but the news caught their attention again.

“We’ve just received news that the Justice League is bringing in a ghost expert to help with the threat. Interestingly enough, they requested diplomatic immunity. The general consensus is that this is a new alien coming to help. The Justice League has been open about the fact that inhabitants of other planets are wary of the Anti-Ecto Acts and the League is still attempting to get them overturned.”

Which was literally the only thing that had them still hopeful. The Justice League had been very clear in how disgusted they were by the Act and had been working non-stop to get them overturned.

One of the agents muttered about people appreciating the effort and work they did one day. Sam highly doubted that. This was the Justice League. They didn’t make a stand about something like this with the intention of losing.

They all leaned closer when the superheroes arrived though. Superman swept in and lifted the GIW’s boats right out of the water and to the beach, not seeming to want to bother with getting them to move out of the way themselves. Raven and Starfire moved to evacuate any civilians in the line of fire and the three made a clear perimeter around the ghost. It looked like a cross between a sea dragon and a mass of tentacles. It was actually really hard to wrap her head around and Sam wished some ghosts would stay away from the eldritch horror side of things.

They watched as the Bat’s jet approached rapidly after a few minutes and Sam was just looking forward to the GIW getting shown up.

“Batman’s team has just arrived,” the reporter said with clear relief, turning to watch the plane stop just short of the ghost’s reach. “It looks like someone’s just jumped from the plane!”

They all watched as the camera zoomed in on a figure dropping from the plane. There seemed to be some kind of static fuzzing out the footage…

Wait.

The figure hit the water and a huge radius around the ghost abruptly turned to ice.

Sam gasped, already realising who it was before the reporter spoke.

“Wait! Is that the Amity Park ghost?!” the reporter asked in shock. “Our cameras are having trouble but we’re watching a young-looking ghost with green eyes and white hair freeze a huge amount of water. He’s now engaging with the ghost and- holy shit! He knocked it over! How strong is that kid?! Is this the Justice League’s heavy hitter?!”

Everyone in the room watched the television numbly.

Danny was with the Justice League?

“Damn kid,” Nightwing commented over the comms. “Coming in strong there huh?”

The other Bats had moved to help out with the damage and evacuation on the beach while Tim piloted the jet and stayed back in case Danny needed help.

He was doing fine though. Freezing the water had stunned the ghost and limited her movement. That meant that Danny could knock her over pretty easily. The ice was too thick for it to break when she landed on it too, so she was half stuck outside the water now.

“Eh, practice,” Danny commented off-handedly as he focused on the fight. “Oi! What’s with the dramatics today? Charybdis right? You and Skylla are so moody when you’re woken up. At least she sleeps in the deep ocean. You can’t be mad that someone woke you up when you nap this close to the shore!”

He weaved between her tentacles. The things were strong enough to create vicious whirlpools in the ocean so he didn’t really want to get hit by them.

“Insolent humans-”

“Yeah yeah, ancient ghosts, should be revered and feared,” he cut her off. “Scylla already gave me the whole spiel. You’re gonna have to catch up with the times Carrie. When you sleep for centuries, you’ve got to be prepared for some change.”

She lurched for him and he twisted out of the way of her strike. That left the gleaming sapphire at the centre of everything vulnerable though and Danny grinned. He charged up a blast and hit it dead on.

That was the problem with these ancient ghosts. They kept their core manifested and it hurt like hell when someone got a hit in on them.

Charybdis screamed and writhed, tentacles curling in on themselves as she automatically shrunk down to her usual form. She wrapped her arms around her chest and scowled at him. She looked a lot like her sister like this. They both had snakelike pupils and icy blue skin. Charybdis’ hair was a brilliant blue as opposed to Scylla’s bright purple. 

“You little brat!”

“Yeah yeah, heard it all,” he rolled his eyes. “Keep your core covered, it’s basic common sense. Now, into the thermos.”

She frowned in confusion before panic crossed her face as she was dragged into the thermos Danny still carried with him. It was great for timeout for annoying ghosts in the Zone. He put the cap on with a sigh of relief. Scylla would deal with her when he took her to the Ghost Zone. They were moody as all hell when woken up, but Scylla had been delighted to find the new ocean in the Zone. They’d be fine once they reunited.

Danny glanced around. The ice would take a while to melt. Ah well, Superman could melt it if it was a problem.

He turned and flew back to the beach, warily eyeing the GIW scrambling to regroup. He landed next to Batman and Superman dropped down next to him moments later. The clearly protective move made the GIW falter at least. Danny wouldn’t want to piss the man off either. As strong as he’d become, he was sure Superman could still wipe the floor with him. The only reason they’d let him deal with this alone was because they were doing their political thing.

“Everything sorted?” Superman asked.

Danny wiggled the thermos. “Yeah, I know her sister. Scylla’s cool now and she’ll set Carrie straight. There’s an ocean in the Zone now and they’ll be happy there.”

He nodded and Batman shifted slightly as the press came running up. Danny grimaced to himself but stayed put.

They’d tell him to leave if he needed to. But Danny was pretty sure he knew where this was going.

“Batman! Superman! A moment?!” the reporter all but begged.

Danny slid a glance over at the cameraman who was fiddling with his equipment frantically. Poor guy wasn’t going to have much luck. While cameras were better now and could record most ghosts, they couldn’t handle higher power levels yet. Danny would still be fuzzing it out like crazy. He took pity on the poor guy and changed back.

“I don’t want to kill the guy’s camera,” he defended when Batman shot him a glance but Superman chuckled, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“That’s kind of you,” he acknowledged. 

The cameraman looked ready to cry from relief as well.

“Ghostiness, the bane of cameras,” Danny shrugged. “Even Batman doesn’t have a camera that can record me properly yet.”

Tim was determined to make one though so it was just a matter of time.

“Yes, thank you,” the reporter looked grateful as well. “You’re Danny Phantom right? The Amity Park ghost?” he looked really excited to be talking to him and that confused Danny. Superman and Batman were right there!

“Yeah,” he ended up answering. “Ghost problem,” he waved the thermos. “Kind of my specialty.”

The other Bats were drifting closer now and subtly watching the GIW. Danny was just trusting them to let him know if he needed to get out of there. He wasn’t too worried though. Robin alone would be able to take them all out through spite alone. He really hated the organisation.

“So you're a part of the Justice League?” the reporter asked excitedly. “Despite the Anti-Ecto Acts?”

“The United Nations was kind enough to grant Daniel diplomatic immunity so he could help us out with this issue,” Superman took the question. “But he has been made an official junior member under Batman’s team. When he turns eighteen, he’ll be upgraded to a full member.”

The reporter looked like Christmas had come early. He was getting one hell of a story Danny guessed.

“Danny here is also our ambassador to the Ghost Zone,” Superman added. “He’s been very helpful to us over the last six months.”

“Doesn’t this conflict with the Act?” the man asked.

“Not at all. The Ghost Zone is a separate dimension with its own monarchy. They’re self-governed and as such, our laws don’t apply there. We've been working hard to build a positive diplomatic relationship with their ruler.”

“Monarchy?” the reporter latched onto. "Ruler?"

“There is a Ghost King,” Superman answered vaguely and Danny was just relieved that they didn’t need to give that away yet.

“Phantom,” Danny startled when the man focused on him again. “What is your take on the Anti-Ecto Acts?”

Danny blinked at him. “Uh, they kind of suck? It’s not great to have no rights,” he gave an uncomfortable shrug. “Makes living a bit hard. Heh, half-living.”

Batman and Superman rolled their eyes while Nightwing snickered at the joke.

“Can I go now? I was in the middle of my birthday party,” Danny added on after a moment of thought.

“Birthday party?” the reporter asked in surprise.

“Yeah, I’m sixteen today,” he said cheerfully. “We didn’t get to the cake yet though. So can I go?”

Batman nudged Danny backwards just as the GIW intruded on the conversation.

“I’m going to have to ask that you hand over the ecto-entity,” the lead agent demanded bravely. Stupidly, but bravely.

Robin sidled up next to Danny as the others closed in.

“That would be a no,” Raven said dryly as she landed next to Nightwing.

Starfire landed next to her and looked just as annoyed about the situation.

“They are very ungrateful, are they not?” she mused. “He did just do their job for them.”

The agents bristled but seemed appropriately intimidated by the gathered superheroes.

“According to the Anti-Ecto Act-” the leader started again.

“Which doesn’t apply while Danny has diplomatic immunity,” Red Robin pointed out calmly. “This isn’t going to go your way if you push it.”

“But please, push it,” Red Hood said, a wicked note of excitement in his voice. “Gimme a reason to beat the hell out of you.”

Batman glanced at him but didn’t scold him. Which was a tentative approval of what he’d said.

Which was absolutely terrifying.

“We’re going to leave now,” Nightwing said with a cold smile that sent chills down Danny’s spine. “And as long as Danny has diplomatic immunity, you’re going to leave him alone.”

“I would be very disappointed if they were to rescind it after Danny’s invaluable help today,” Superman added.

Yeah, they were never taking it away. The League was making its stance very clear.

Danny turned and started towards the jet at Robin’s nudging and Raven fell in on his other side, adding more than just the Bat’s support in the public eye.

“Nice work there Spooks,” she said with a smile. “You’ve got them pissing their pants now.”

Danny rolled his eyes but returned the smile. “Thanks.”

Before they were too far away though, the reporter snapped out of his shock. “Phantom!”

Danny looked back at the man. 

“Happy birthday!”

Danny grinned in reply. “Thanks!”

With that, he disappeared into the jet and the rest of the Bats followed soon after.

The interruption to his birthday wasn’t so bad in the end. That was kind of fun actually.

“How much do you think that interview broke everyone?” Red Robin asked.

“Oh the world is freaking out for sure,” Raven answered, having moved over to lean into Nightwing’s side. Their relationship was still going strong.

Danny tuned out the discussion that followed to lean his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder.

He wondered if his family would see that interview.

…he was going to get so many questions from Sam and Tucker pretty soon. 

Chapter Text

They could barely breathe as the fight ended and the fuzzy image of Danny Phantom landed next to Batman.

The agents in the house were cursing and panicking a little but the Fentons, Sam and Tucker were glued to the screen. The camera fuzzed out even more the closer it got to Danny before he abruptly changed back.

And suddenly they could see him.

He’d definitely grown since they’d last seen him. He was taller and he’d filled out. He must be getting regular exercise in his human form since there were muscles on his lean frame that weren’t there before. He looked… good. Really good. There was a happy sparkle to his eyes that made them all relax a little.

He was okay. He was more than okay actually.

His voice was deeper when he spoke but he was still Danny. Still kind and quick to make a ghost joke. Sam noted how the League had all gravitated back towards him and realised that it was a protective move.

They listened closely as he answered the reporter’s questions easily and Superman confirmed that he was part of the Justice League now. Sam grinned widely when they revealed that Danny was fully protected from the Act now with his diplomatic immunity and Superman all but dared the United Nations to take that away.

Danny was safe. And legally protected too.

His parents looked on the verge of tears while Jazz was openly crying as she stared at her brother. They relaxed even more when all the supers present made it clear to the GIW that they weren’t going to let them get to Danny and that made the agents present panic even more.

It was bittersweet to see him walk away towards the jet between Robin and Raven, but they were glad that he had something good to get back to. Someone was celebrating his birthday with him and that eased their hearts. If they couldn’t be there for Danny, it relieved them that someone else could be.

Danny looked healthy and happy and they couldn’t ask for more.

“He’s okay,” Jazz whispered, voice wobbly.

“He is,” Tucker was grinning. “And an official superhero too. You guys are never getting him now!” he pointed victoriously at the agents.

They glared at him but Sam was feeling the same euphoria.

“He’s protected by the Justice League. And has diplomatic immunity. He’s so far out of your reach that it's hilarious," Sam crowed.

Sure, Danny couldn't return to Amity since the GIW had set up their main base here. And they'd stalk the Fentons, Sam and Tucker if they went anywhere. 

Until the Acts were overturned and it was illegal to hurt and persecute ghosts, it wasn't safe for them to see Danny. But this was a step in the right direction.

Because now the rest of the world could see how amazing Danny was and they could start to realise that the Acts were wrong.

Sam closed her eyes. Maybe an end to this nightmare was on the horizon now.

Danny had left for the Ghost Zone in time to walk into a massive party they'd planned for him. The entire Zone was ready to party apparently and he got dragged into the madness immediately. 

By the time it ended, he felt like he could sleep for a week despite his ghost form needing an hour or two at max.

He couldn't help but smile after collapsing onto his bed though. It had been a great day and everyone had done their very best to make him feel loved. He rolled over and lifted his hand to study Damian's ring in the soft light of his room.

His smile dimmed a little after a moment. As much as he'd enjoyed the day and causing trouble for the GIW, he couldn't be completely happy.

He missed his family, Sam and Tucker. He wished there was some way to see them but he wasn't willing to cause more trouble for them.

Danny sighed and rolled over again to try and get some sleep. The League was making progress with the Act. He just had to be patient and when it was gone… he could see them again without putting them in danger.

He just had to wait and trust the Justice League.

At least he had the Bats. They made everything better.

And Damian gave him hope of a happier future than he'd expected.

After Danny's first outing with the Justice League, he started getting called out to more. He knew what they were doing but he didn't really mind. The missions were a nice change of pace and it was good publicity for ghosts.

He was also being seen with multiple members of the League which was a not-so-subtle way to show which heroes had thrown their support behind him. And at least one of the Bats was always on the mission too.

Robin was a constant, something that some gently teased them about, but Danny didn't care. It was a way they could spend more time together. They flirted over the comms, they chatted after missions and they fought side by side which was one of the coolest things to ever happen in Danny's life.

It really wasn't too surprising that everyone found out about their relationship. It wasn't like they were hiding it or anything after all.

Cameras had improved rapidly and Tim was convinced that it was just so that they could actually film Danny Phantom in his fights. Danny was just glad he didn't need to keep switching forms when the inevitable interviews happened.

So all the cameras present after the latest fight caught Danny flying up to where Robin was scaling a nearby building.

"Fancy meeting you here," Danny said cheekily, turning to float upside down. 

Damian smirked, pausing in his ascent. His grappling hook had a solid grip so neither of them was concerned about him stopping for a moment.

"What a surprise," he agreed, head tilting up a bit to look at Danny. 

The halfa twisted around to float the right way up.

"This interrupted date night again," he complained. "And I've got a council meeting to attend later. So we'll have to postpone."

Damian scowled, equally annoyed by the irritating habit of missing their dates lately.

"Next time they can deal with it themselves," he huffed. "Until then though…"

Danny let out a little squeak of surprise when Damian reached out to grab his jumpsuit and dragged him into a kiss.

Neither of them realised how much chaos that kiss would cause.

Chapter Text

The news had turned into a blessing for the Fentons. The entire world was enamoured with the newest ghostly addition to the Justice League which meant the family was seeing and hearing a lot about Danny now.

The world absolutely loved him. As they should. Most were smitten with the teenager who was polite and kind in every spontaneous interview he had with reporters and not even his morbid puns could stop that.

He was a sweet kid who could somehow smile and laugh despite not truly having rights in the world.

He'd won most of the human population over in a matter of weeks and there was a sudden outcry of protests over the Anti-Ecto Acts. Suddenly, they weren't just a vague new law. Now they had a person who showed them how bad those laws were. They could see it in the way the Justice League never let the GIW close and in how much the organisation openly hated Danny. They'd tried to launch a smear campaign against him, claiming that he'd manipulated the Justice League.

No one believed them. Because they saw him in both his forms. They saw him interact with the League and most especially with the Bats.

He was so genuine that the GIW was fighting an uphill battle to make everyone hate him.

Not to mention how much he helped. He was called out on random seeming missions, likely so the GIW couldn't try and prepare an ambush. They weren't always against ghosts either since ghost attacks were very rare.

Instead, they saw Danny in regular battles. He helped Superman against a robot army. He helped the Flash with a search and rescue mission after an earthquake. He helped Wonder Woman during a hostage situation, pulling the innocents out easily with the use of his ghost powers.

The sixteen-year-old had won the hearts of the world.

And then it only got worse after the kiss.

They'd been watching the latest news, just enjoying seeing Danny smile and joke with the Bats. They were lingering after a battle while Batman and Nightwing spoke to reporters. The camera was focused on Danny though as he flew up to talk to Robin who'd been scaling a building. They'd spoken for a bit, smiling and presumably joking.

And then Robin had dragged the halfa in for a searing kiss and Danny let him.

The world lost their collective mind.

"Hmm?" Nightwing turned around when the reporter trailed off in stunned silence at the sight. "Oh. Oi lovebirds!"

The teenagers broke apart to look down at them.

"Not on the side of the building! Keep your make-out for the roof!"

Robin rolled his eyes while Danny saluted. They did make great time to the top though before disappearing from sight.

Nightwing turned back to the reporter with a grin while Batman gave a long sigh of exasperation. 

"They could wait until we're off duty," he muttered.

"This mission did interrupt their date," Nightwing pointed out. 

"They're dating?" The reporter asked in shock.

"Hm? Oh yeah. It'll be seven months on Friday," the hero answered cheerfully. "They're adorable."

He grinned in the face of the world's shock. The Fentons themselves were gaping at the screen in disbelief.

"I didn't realise that- as half-ghost…" the reporter trailed off at the scowl Batman threw at him.

"Danny is a teenage boy," he deadpanned. "That doesn't change because he's half-ghost."

"The relationship drama we hear about from the Ghost Zone," Nightwing whistled lowly. "Let's just say that ghosts love passionately and their fights are explosive. Danny's played mediator between couples so often that he's a master at it."

They only stayed for a few more minutes before the Bats left, picking the couple up from the roof before the jet left.

"Danny's dating?" Maddie whispered. "He's gay?"

"Bi," Jazz corrected faintly. "I can't believe he's dating Robin."

"He looked so happy," Jack murmured.

And while they ached at the fact that they'd missed his first romance, they were thrilled to see him still living his life despite the GIW trying to ruin it.

They could be more than content with the fact that the Justice League had given him protection and the safety to live his life again. And the world absolutely loved the superhero romance.

Danny’s friends sent him many shocked messages after the reveal but were overall happy for him.

Things were looking up despite the GIW still breathing down their necks.

The Justice League was in town. They weren't sure if it was just to annoy the GIW by getting permission to study the town with the highest ecto-activity in recorded history, but the Flash, Cyborg and Black Canary were all in Amity Park.

And the Fentons were stuck far away from it. If they stepped foot outside, the GIW were on them immediately. They'd essentially been put under house arrest and there were armed guards inside the house to make sure they stayed there.

They'd resigned themselves to the day being filled with interrogations and frustration until an unexpected voice spoke up.

"Well now, this is a violation of human rights, isn't it?"

Everyone spun around to find Nightwing casually leaning against the wall at the top of the stairs. He grinned when the GIW brought up their guns.

"You really wanna try that?" He asked. "When do Bats wander far from home alone?"

The agents froze and looked around frantically.

"You're bluffing," the lead agent tried.

Nightwing's smile widened. "Am I?"

The man froze when Robin dropped down in front of him and yanked the gun out of his hand.

"I wonder," the teenager started. "If you have a warrant for this?"

"It's a thing you need, you know? Legally," another voice came, making the other agents flinch. Red Robin was lounging in the now open window, playing absently with a batarang. 

"Now, the question is if you want Red Hood involved?" Nightwing asked pleasantly as he started down the stairs. "Here's a hint, we're the nice ones."

The agents swallowed hard before making the surprisingly smart decision to lower their guns.

"Oh, they do have brains," Red Robin said dryly.

"Or a common brain cell between them," Robin scoffed, tossing the gun back to the leader as he stalked away towards Nightwing.

The Fentons didn't know what the hell was going on and the parents still had Jazz protectively between them. She didn't look away from Robin though. He had a strong build, although not overly muscled. He was more on the slender side of things.

This was Danny's boyfriend? He'd really landed the Robin?

"We are here under the authority of the Anti-Ecto Acts-" the lead agent started bravely but Red Robin scoffed.

"Your authority begins and ends with ecto-entities. When it comes to anything else, your authority is very limited. This?" He gestured at the room in general. "Is illegal. And we have every right and the authority to arrest you for pulling this."

"We have reason to believe that they have contact with a dangerous ecto-entity-"

"Oh shut up," Robin snapped in annoyance. "Just say it outright. You're looking for Danny."

The silence suddenly felt heavy and oppressive before Nightwing spoke again.

"Now, that might hold up in court. And that's a doubtful might. If Danny didn't have diplomatic immunity. However, since he is currently protected by that, every action you justify as searching for him becomes, once again, illegal."

"And you can't justify it as searching for ghosts in general," Red Robin added. "That would set some dangerous precedents the courts aren't going to touch."

"So," Nightwing said brightly. "Either you walk out that door, or we throw you out."

"And arrest you," Red Robin tacked on. "Just to get the message to sink in properly."

The agents were panicking now. It didn't matter how many guns they had. They weren't dumb enough to think that they would be able to take down one of these guys, nevermind three with the threat of Red Hood hanging over them as well.

"You can't let that creature fool you!" The lead agent burst out. "It's dangerous and is manipulating you-"

He yelped and fell silent when a blade whizzed past his ear.

"One," Robin said coldly. "You only get one warning."

The agent whimpered at the dark promise in the vigilante's voice.

"You're used to dealing with Danny Phantom," Nightwing said conversationally. "And he's much nicer than we are. He never used his full power against you and he never tried to hurt you. Us on the other hand? We're not nice, agent. And we're not happy with your organisation. Now, are we going to do this the easy way? Or the fun way?"

He flicked out his own weapons as the other two drew theirs.

"W-why are you even here?" One stupidly brave agent asked.

"The Justice League would like to approach Doctors Fenton and Fenton for a consult on a new project," Nightwing said easily.

"You can't-"

Robin drew his katana. "File a complaint," he growled. 

"It's all terribly confidential of course," Red Robin said. "So you need to leave."

"Now," Robin added flatly.

The agents fled, stampeding out the door in a panic.

"Hood is going to be so disappointed," Red Robin noted.

"I'm disappointed," Robin muttered petulantly.

Their weapons disappeared again and Nightwing turned to the Fentons. His threatening aura evaporated and he gave them a friendly smile.

"So, that was more dramatic than we intended our first meeting," he chuckled. "Sorry about that."

Red Robin dropped off the windowsill to walk over to them, tapping on his phone.

"Gimme a moment to get the bugs they left and then we can talk," he said.

In a matter of seconds, he'd gathered up little pieces of tech and dropped them into a box he slipped into his pocket.

"We are eavesdroppers free," he announced.

The three vigilantes seemed to noticeably relax now.

“Again, sorry about that,” Nightwing apologised. “We meant to just pop by with the invitation, but, well seeing what they were doing didn’t sit well with us.”

"I'm very confused over what is happening," Maddie admitted.

The Bats glanced at each other before Nightwing answered.

"Danny is a sweet cinnamon roll and he misses you. He can't come home until the Act is dealt with and the GIW would just follow you and make your lives even more difficult. But we've got an excuse for you to spend a few days on the Watchtower."

"Danny misses you," Robin said simply.

"Oh," Jack whispered as they processed what they were being offered.

A way to see Danny again, safely. Only for a day or two but… they could see Danny again without the GIW interfering.

Maddie covered her mouth, blinking back tears.

"We can see Danny?" She whispered.

"Yes," Red Robin confirmed. "He doesn't know that we're doing this. We didn't want to get his hopes up in case someone got in the way. But we just got the permission to work on an ecto-project with two of the foremost experts in the field."

"Everyone knows what we're doing but they're letting it slide. I think they're just hoping you'll actually start building stuff again," Nightwing added. "The GIW can't do anything about this trip, no matter how much they want to."

"Yes," Jack said abruptly. "Yes, please. We just… we just want to see him."

"And Jazz?" Maddie asked anxiously.

"Has so much experience with ghosts that naturally we want to talk to her as well," Red Robin explained easily. "Look, we can legally pull this off once. The others are keeping most of the agents busy with their 'research'. Those GIW are going to be coming back with backup and as much as we want to kick their asses, that'll delay everything."

That got them scrambling up immediately to grab what they would need for a few days away from home.

By the time they were safely in the jet, the GIW had returned with all their usual bluster. But they couldn't do anything. The Justice League was doing everything the legal way so they couldn't even complain to anyone.

The jet took off and they were headed for the Watchtower.

Chapter Text

Jazz couldn't even feel awe over the fact that she was in the Justice League’s Watchtower. She was too excited and anxious over seeing her baby brother again.

It had been so long, almost two entire years since she'd seen him in person. And the last time he'd been hurt.

What had happened to him in the meantime? Was he happy? Did he miss them? Was he safe?

She was a bundle of nerves as they followed the Bats through the hallways.

"There's a bit of a party going on," Nightwing explained. "Officially a diplomatic celebration with the Ghost Zone. Mostly the League wants excuses for Danny to visit since we usually steal him away."

“Robin’s a bit of an attention hog,” Red Robin informed them in a stage whisper, getting the youngest Bat to shoot a glare at him. 

Jazz didn’t know what to think of Danny’s boyfriend. He gave off such an unapproachable vibe and she was struggling to imagine her sweet brother with the prickly hero.

After a few minutes, they walked into a large room that was filled with people. There were Justice League members and ghosts all over the place. They recognised some of the ghosts, catching sight of Ember and Kitty in the crowd.

There was so much going on that it was overwhelming.

A sharp gasp caught their attention as a familiar girl dropped down in front of them.

“You did it!” Danielle exclaimed in excitement.

“Of course we did,” Nightwing gave her a grin.

“Ellie!” 

Jazz’s parents practically pounced on the girl to pull her into a hug. They’d all been worried sick about her, not knowing if the GIW had managed to capture her. But she was here as well and looking healthy and happy.

Ellie returned the hugs with a wide grin and let Jazz smother her in frantic affection as well.

“Where’s your cousin?” Red Robin asked, looking around.

“Last I saw, he was talking to Raven,” she told them.

Nightwing grimaced. “Bad things happen when he talks to my girlfriend,” he complained.

“You mean that he makes her aware of things that are bothering you and she makes you talk about them,” Robin corrected. “I’ll go get him.”

With that, Robin stalked off into the crowd. Jazz felt uncertain about him. Did he not like them? He seemed irritated about something.

Ellie didn’t seem bothered though. She was talking happily with Jazz’s parents about how they were fine and assuring them that the Ghost Zone was safe for them now.

Jazz couldn’t focus on the conversation though, eyes scanning the crowd as she chewed on her lip.

“What’s the big surprise Robin?” 

Jazz stiffened at the voice. That was Danny. Oh fuck, Danny was here. She was going to see her baby brother again.

“It’s not a surprise if I tell you,” she heard Robin scold and suddenly they both appeared out of the crowd again, Robin leading Danny by the hand.

Her brother was smiling and watching Robin with a fond expression as the hero led him towards them. She could see the moment he spotted them. His eyes widened in shock and he gasped softly.

“Mom? Dad?” he asked, voice a little shaky.

Robin stepped back just in time for his parents to drag Danny into a tearful hug.

He was here. He was really here.

Jazz threw herself into the family hug, desperately reaching for her brother. He was okay, he wasn't scared or hurt or alone. He was safe.

He clung back just as desperately and Jazz smiled for the first time in too long.

Danny was okay.

Eventually, they pulled back from the hug, smiling tearfully. Nightwing gently nudged them to the side of the room where a few couches were. The moment they were out of the crowd, Danny spun on Nightwing and Robin who were the only Bats present currently.

"This is what you guys were sneaking around for," he accused, but he was still smiling. 

Nightwing laughed, raising his hands. "You'd be surprised how hard it is to hide something from you Spooks, especially since your boyfriend hates keeping anything from you."

Robin huffed. "Batman convinced me," he grumbled.

"The GIW?" He asked, concern bleeding into his expression as he looked back at his family.

Nightwing's smile was feral this time and Robin smirked.

"Actually, those expressions tell me everything," Danny laughed.

He turned back to his family and smiled widely.

"I can't believe you guys are here!" He said excitedly.

"We jumped at the chance," Maddie assured. "We've missed you so much Danny."

“I missed you guys too,” Danny said, dropping onto the couch next to Jazz while their parents sat on the one across from them.

“You’ve been busy though,” Jazz teased, having wiped her face clean of tears.

“You have no idea,” Ellie said, reappearing and dropping down on Danny’s other side before changing back to her human form.

"Don't start," he groaned when Ellie gave him a chesire cat grin.

"On top of getting a famous superhero boyfriend," Ellie was still grinning and Danny covered his face, aware that there was no stopping his cousin who delighted in embarrassing him. "Danny also went and became the Ghost King."

"What?!"

Danny winced at the exclamations and tried to do damage control.

"It's not like I did it on purpose!"

"No, just won a war and defeated a centuries old tyrant ghost," Ellie said dryly. "Not on purpose at all."

He shot a glare at her. She was never going to let this go.

Reluctantly looking back at his family, Danny cringed. They still seemed almost frozen in shock.

"The Zone loves him," Ellie added into the silence.

"Would you stop?!" Danny hissed.

"He's a very popular king."

"Ellie!"

She cackled and Danny just buried his face in his hands again.

"You really have been busy," Jazz was the first to recover, eyes still wide but a smile tugging at her lips. "Royalty huh?"

"More of a title-"

"He's got a castle."

Danny shoved his cousin off the couch, the girl letting out a squeak as she landed on the floor at the unexpected move.

"Hey!"

"Stop it!"

"Do you think it's going okay?" Damian fretted as he and Dick watched from a distance. They'd snuck away to give the family some privacy and were just keeping an eye on things so no one interrupted the reunion. 

"They're fine," Dick assured. "Ellie's probably just being a little shit and annoying Danny.

Damian nodded, still chewing on his lip nervously.

"Do you think they'll like me?" He asked after a long moment of debating with himself. Dick never laughed at his questions though. He never had. "They're important to Danny-"

"And so are you," Dick told him firmly, turning to rest a hand on the younger vigilante's shoulder. "You're his boyfriend and he loves you."

Damian’s cheeks heated at the words like always.

"But I'm pretty sure they're going to love you," Dick continued. "What's not to love?"

Damian shot him a withering glare but it melted into confusion when Dick's expression didn't change. He was smiling softly at the teenager. 

"Honestly, what's not to love?" He asked quietly. 

Damian looked away from the genuine question, cheeks heating even more.

Damn Dick and his earnest affection.

"It'll be fine," his brother murmured. "Stop stressing so much."

He squeezed Damian’s shoulder again and he let out a shaky breath, looking back at the Fentons. Some of the tension left him when he saw Danny laughing about something and he smiled softly. Regardless of what happened, Danny was happy. And that was what mattered the most to him, to all of them. They'd figure the rest out.

Chapter Text

Bruce exchanged a razor-sharp smile with Dick as they watched the news. There were protests popping up everywhere as dissatisfaction over the Anti-Ecto Acts started growing. Ever since Danny had begun appearing in scattered interviews, people suddenly had a person to connect to the acts and how it negatively affected him. Suddenly there was a hero everyone liked… and they were realising how badly the GIW were persecuting him. The organisation hadn't been subtle about it after all. They'd launched a (very unsuccessful) smear campaign and had also tried to ambush the teenager.

That hadn't gone well. Not only because Damian was never far from his boyfriend when they were on jobs, but also because the rest of the League had grown very protective. They didn't have to do much since Damian dealt with the problem very efficiently. Even those dubious of the relationship had come around after seeing how smitten the pair were. 

And how dangerous Damian became when someone threatened Danny.

The GIW gave the youngest Bat a very wide berth after that encounter.

The world didn't take very well to their actions though. Danny Phantom had shot up in popularity thanks to his likable and genuine personality. 

So the protests started as the public began to argue against the acts. The right people in high places were getting nervous about the backlash and starting to talk about rights and all manner of things that made the GIW agents look aghast.

It was very satisfying for them to watch. The world was waking up to ghosts being sapient in the same way they'd realised it about inhumans, mutants and enhanced.

"Things aren't going to change easily," Dick murmured after a moment. "The GIW is going to start getting desperate as everyone turns against them. We need to watch out for them trying something dangerous against Danny.

Bruce nodded in agreement. "I want him to stay at the Manor more," he admitted. "No one knows to look for him here. If they can't find him, they can't hurt him. And he can't be summoned if he's not in the Ghost Zone."

Which had been a confusing realisation that they still couldn't fully explain. There had been a few attempted summonings of the Ghost King, but none of them had got through the new defences of the Zone and no summoning ever affected Danny in the human world.

Only a handful of the League would know where Danny was as well. The few in the know about Batman's identity wouldn't give that up either. There was a reason they'd been told at all after all.

"I don't think Damian would mind Danny hanging around more," Dick snorted. "He's still mad about their last date getting interrupted."

Bruce smirked slightly. "He's still upset with Clark for calling them in."

Clark was distressed over the cold shoulder he was getting from the youngest Bat as a result and had decided to give Danny a break from missions so the couple could have some extended time together. Which they were loving. 

"We'll keep an eye on things," Bruce murmured quietly.

Dick nodded in agreement.

They wouldn't tolerate the GIW hurting Danny more than they already had.

Damian was grudgingly sharing his boyfriend with the other younger members of the League. While he might prefer to have all of his boyfriend's attention, Danny liked talking to the others. So he put up with it with minimal complaining and watched his ghost boy interact with everyone from his seat beside him. It made the younger boy happy so Damian would accept the situation despite his dislike of certain members of the League.

They were in a group with a fair number of the younger supers, although they were the only ones from the Bat Clan. Most of the old Teen Titans and Young Justice were present. Damian wasn't particularly a fan of these groups since he knew how much the team breakups had hurt Dick. 

He held a grudge since Dick wouldn't.

The conversation had been pretty pleasant so far but now it was straying too close to dangerous territory and making both Damian and Raven scowl.

"What's your opinion on secret identities?" Cyborg asked Danny.

Damian’s lips pursed in displeasure at the question and Raven's eyes narrowed.

"That it's personal to the person and depends on their situation," Danny answered immediately.

The others frowned when he didn't give a simple answer and he sighed.

"Look, I know you've all got opinions on secret identities. It's a complicated topic. But, at the heart of it, you're not entitled to someone's secret identity if they don't want to give it up."

"Your friends know-" Beast Boy started.

"They were there when I half died," Danny shrugged. "They helped me figure it out. Jazz found out on her own and Vlad outed me to my mom. I don't think I would have told any of them because…" he trailed off. "I didn't feel safe enough to. I love them. I trust them. But I was petrified that people would stop seeing me as human if they found out. If the world didn't already know who I was, I wouldn't have told you guys either."

They looked frustrated at his answer.

"We all told each other-" Miss Martian started, but Danny cut her off.

"Which was your decision and your secret. You can't expect someone to give theirs up just because you told them yours," Danny said sharply. "That's peer pressure. You shouldn't try and make someone else's decision like that. It's not your choice to make."

Raven and Wally nodded in agreement while the others floundered.

"Nightwing told Wally," she tried again after a moment.

The speedster narrowed his eyes at her trying to use him in the argument.

"You're not Wally," Danny deadpanned. "Wally is his best friend. Like 'ride or die' friend. The type who knows literally every one of his secrets and would help bury the bodies."

Wally grinned at that and nodded.

"But-"

"It's not your secret," Danny repeated. "And you're not entitled to that knowledge either."

"We were friends," Starfire said in frustration.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Not very good ones," he said candidly. "Not if you demanded a secret that impacted his life as much as it did. You were demanding that he give up his identity. That's more than a name. That's a home, a family, friends and enemies. That's an entire life that could be changed forever if you knew about it. It wasn't fair that you demanded that. It wasn't about trust. It never was. You shouldn't have put him in that position."

Silence descended on them as the others looked torn between anger, offence and unease.

"Nightwing asked the Bat before he told me," Wally volunteered. "I never asked him to. He just told me one day."

"I'm not going to ask my boyfriend that question either," Raven said quietly. 

"How can you have a relationship when you don't know?!" Beast Boy asked in frustration. "How isn't there resentment or fights?!" 

He directed the question at Danny as well and Damian bristled. 

"I knew what I was getting into," Raven shrugged. "I grew to like him as Robin and then as Nightwing. I like him. I might love him." She blushed at the admission. "I won't ask him. Not when that question has hurt him so many times."

There were a couple of flinches at that.

"Batman told me," Danny said to draw the attention off of Raven's confession.

All eyes snapped to him at the words.

"It didn't have anything to do with Robin either," Danny shrugged a little, uncomfortable under the stares. "It was for a different reason. And I didn't ask." He looked down and leaned on Damian a little more. "You shouldn't ask for that. Cause its not just one secret identity. It's all of theirs. Were you friends with Red Hood? Or Red Robin? Or Batman? If he'd told you then you'd know Robin's too and that's not fair. It wasn't just about Nightwing and you can't be mad that he didn't give up everyone's secret when you asked him to."

"You have known them for barely a year and you get it better than any of them ever did," Raven said with a small smile.

Danny rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Secret identities are hard," he said simply. 

"Truer words were never spoken," Kara said with a chuckle.

That broke the tension and the topic switched to secret identity 'oops' stories instead. Damian eyed them and was satisfied to see that Danny's words seemed to have made them think at the very least.

He still wasn't going to forgive them for the pain they'd put his brother through though.

Dick was an annoyance but he was still his brother. And he deserved better than hostility for protecting everyone else's secret.

Damian took his boyfriend's hand subtly and Danny squeezed it, leaning more on him again.

While Damian’s reaction anytime someone asked about his identity was to threaten them with his katana, he supposed that Danny's more diplomatic approach to the subject might work better long-term.

Chapter Text

Danny flew over to the portal when he felt it open, already grinning. That smile faded when he found Nightwing alone and with a grim expression on his face.

“What happened?” he asked, heart sinking.

“The League was responding to a Ghost Level Six threat, but the GIW refused to leave the area. They’re getting desperate to prove themselves right in the public eye,” Nightwing explained, stepping closer to rest a hand on Danny’s shoulder. 

“What. Happened?” Danny demanded more forcefully.

“They got in the way in the fight and Robin and Superboy broke away to push them back. From what Superboy said, harsh words were exchanged and Robin… got shot.”

Danny stared at him, feeling numb. “He got shot? The GIW shot him?”

Nightwing grimaced and nodded. He was paler than usual and Danny knew he was worried out of his mind about his brother. “Superboy punched the agent who did it into the nearest wall. Everyone was distracted enough that we weren’t able to stop the GIW using their new ‘super weapon’ on the ghost.”

Danny grabbed at Nightwing’s arm. “What happened to him?!”

“He's missing. The weapon backfired and caused an earthquake. We were on a mountainside and we’ve got several heroes down and missing. We need some ghostly assistance to find everyone and get them out. Everything's too unstable to use our usual rescue options.”

The idea of Damian buried under who knows how much rubble while bleeding from a gunshot wound terrified Danny down to the bone and he spun around, the ghost zone responding to what he needed before he even realised he needed it to. 

“Ember, Kitty, Skulker, Johnny,” he said shakily. “I need you here now.”

He hadn’t experimented much with actively altering the Ghost Zone, but he’d always known  that he could summon ghosts if necessary. The four ghosts were startled to find themselves at the portal abruptly but any protests died in their throats when they saw his expression.

“What do you need?” Kitty asked immediately, moving over to stand in front of him, glancing at Nightwing.

“The GIW caused a landslide and some heroes are missing,” he gave the clipped answer.

“Robin,” Ember realised immediately. “Gotta go save our future queen then I guess.”

Nightwing snorted in amused surprise at the words as the other ghosts started heading for the portal.

“If we run into any GIW agents?” Skulker asked.

“Kick their asses,” Nightwing said darkly. 

“With pleasure,” Johnny grinned.

Danny launched himself at the portal, hoping desperately that they’d be in time.

Danny didn’t think anything would be quite as satisfying as seeing Superman punch a GIW agent clear across one mountain and into another.

“Get out of our way, and stay out of our way,” he ground out. This was the angriest he'd ever seen the superhero.

The Flash zipped over, depositing two unconscious agents in front of them and darting off to grab the punched one. He looked relieved to see Danny land near them. The other ghosts followed him while Nightwing flew in on his jet.

“Hey Danny!” he called, dropping the agent with little care. “Can you guys take that side?” he asked, pointing. “Supes and his nephew are focusing on north since it’s so precarious. Bats and Wonder Woman have east. I’m busy with west. We need someone to cover south but it’s just as bad as north and we don’t have many flyers.”

“Who’s missing?” Danny asked as the others took off immediately to start searching. Boo and Cujo raced after them. The two animals had caught up just as they were heading through the portal.

“Most of the old titans, Robin, Red Hood and Artemis.”

Danny shot a glance at Nightwing. “Raven?”

The man gave a slight nod before running off to rejoin the search. Shit, two of his brothers and his girlfriend. It was a miracle Dick had dragged himself away to call them in the first place.

Danny took a deep breath he didn’t need before darting off to catch up with the others and help search. The upsides of being ghosts on these kinds of missions was that they could search through the rubble while intangible. They didn’t affect anything they passed through so they didn’t risk causing more landslides. At the same time, all ghosts were naturally drawn towards the warmth of living humans. They’d naturally stumble on survivors.

Ember and Kitty quickly found Cyborg and were working with Johnny to move rubble after checking that everything around him was stable enough. Going intangible with him with all the tech he was connected to could be disastrous, especially since it was damaged. Skulker had found Starfire who was unconscious but not badly injured thankfully. He’d pulled her out after turning them both intangible and took her back up to where Black Canary had set up an emergency medical site.

A sharp bark had Danny change direction to find Cujo with Artemis.

“Danny?” she asked, clearly dazed and with a likely concussion.

“Yeah, the GIW are dicks,” he gave her a shaky grin. “This is gonna feel cold.”

He reached out and grabbed her arm, turning intangible and pulling them up to the surface.

“Oh I didn’t like that,” she groaned, curling on her side when he landed near Black Canary. “I feel sick.”

“Sorry about that,” he apologised. Before he could fly off to continue, she grabbed his wrist. “I saw Robin when everything collapsed. He fell east from me.”

Danny gave her a tight nod. “Thanks.”

With the new information, he darted off towards that area. The others had already got Cyborg out and Skulker found Beastboy who wasn’t impressed with the hunter's jokes about pelts.

Danny dived down into the rubble again, focusing to try and find any hint of living warmth. It felt like forever before he sensed something to his left and changed direction. This was deeper than any of the others had been found and he dreaded what he’d find.

He could have cried when it turned out to be Damian. He’d fallen further than the others but the rubble had formed a small but shaky pocket of air. The rocks above them kept shifting and it didn’t feel like this would last much longer.

His boyfriend was pinned by a large rock lying over his legs and he was pressing against a bullet wound in his side. But he was alive and thankfully conscious.

“Robin!”

His eyes snapped over to Danny as he landed next to him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked in shock.

“Nightwing came to ask for help,” Danny explained. “Are you okay to turn intangible?”

Robin gave a tight nod. “Nothing’s broken, my legs are just pinned.”

Danny leaned in to press their foreheads together. “Bullet wound is still going to hurt like hell when I do this.”

“I’ll be fine,” he assured, giving Danny that smug smirk he loved. “This bubble won’t last long.”

Danny knew he was right but he also hated to cause Damian any more pain than he was already in.

“Brace yourself,” he murmured. 

Damian grimaced when he pressed down harder on his hand to stem the bleeding and he rested the other on the hero’s shoulder. With a quick breath, he turned them intangible and quickly flew them both up out of the rubble.

Damian cursed in his ear when they went solid again. Danny had shifted to holding him in a bridal carry and the fact that his boyfriend wasn’t complaining about that told him all he needed to know about his pain levels. The hand not pressing against his bullet wound wrapped around Danny’s neck as he breathed through the spike of pain the movement and intangibility caused.

“I’ve got you, I’ve got you,” he promised softly, flying over to the medical area. 

It looked like all the heroes had been found by now. Raven was leaned against Nightwing as her arm was bandaged and Red Hood was cursing up a storm as Batman took most of his weight on the way up to safety.

Danny set Damian down carefully where Flash quickly got to work on his injuries.

“You guys really saved our asses,” he told Danny conversationally, ignoring the way Robin growled at him. Damian didn't like medical care on the best of days, but especially outside the Bat Cave.

Danny grabbed his hand to stop him from pushing the hero out of his space. Just until he was fixed up at least. There was a lot of blood staining his suit. Everyone seemed to be out of danger by now and Damian was the one with the worst injuries. He thought he could finally breathe a sigh of relief as everyone gathered together again before a loud crash dashed that hope.

He spun around to find that a huge ghost had just freed itself from the landslide, an enormous bear with antlers and a whip-like tail.

A dented and rough looking GIW ship rose above them, clearly aiming to attack the ghost.

“Seriously?” Red Hood muttered. “They’re going to cause another fucking landslide at this rate.”

Danny could see a large gun-like machine barely hanging onto the bottom of the ship and he guessed that was the thing that had caused all this with it’s backfire.

“Are they charging it again?” Black Canary asked in horror.

“Idiots!” Raven hissed.

Superman stood up to deal with them but Danny had more than a little anger burning in him that needed an outlet. He darted past the hero and everything turned frigid very quickly as he formed an ice spear in his hand, hurling it through the ‘secret weapon’ bullshit and causing it to explode. As the jet went off course, Danny grabbed the backend and hurled it down to the ground where Superman safely caught it.

A roar from the ghost had him spinning around to face it. He was not in the mood to be dealing with a ghost the Justice League could have handled just fine if it weren’t for the GIW screwing things up as usual.

He felt the crown flicker into existence above his head as he dipped into it’s power. He didn’t do it often but he’d really like to get back to checking that his boyfriend was okay.

“Sit. Down!” he yelled, an authority he didn’t like to use coating his tone.

The ghost’s eyes widened and it promptly sat. Danny eyed it warily but it seemed to have decided to behave for now. The crown didn’t compel ghosts to obey, but it certainly encouraged them to. Ember had told him once that they had a choice but the abrupt power spike he gave off usually resulted in most ghosts he was yelling at choosing the wisest course of action and listening. 

He didn’t like the idea of scaring anyone into following orders but sometimes it was necessary. And seeing the crown did usually make any ghosts who didn’t know who he was stop dead and think twice about what they were doing. Every ghost recognised the Crown of Fire on an instinctual level.

He still didn’t like using it, but sometimes it was necessary.

Satisfied that the problem was temporarily solved, Danny darted back down to Damian’s side, letting the crown disappear again.

“Damn,” Red Hood whistled. “Why'd you never do that before?” 

Danny shrugged. “I don’t like to rely on it.” He took his Damian’s hand again. The Flash was just finishing up on the bandaging and Batman was also checking on his youngest. “Besides… it kind of feels mean to do it.”

There was a beat of silence before chuckles broke out.

“You’re such a softie,” Ember said, nudging him in the back with her foot. “You gonna be fine if we leave?”

Danny nodded at her, shoving her foot away. “Thanks guys.”

They all waved and said their goodbyes as they flew back to the teleporter which would take them to the Watchtower and the waiting ghost portal.

The heroes around them broke out into conversation and Superman tied up the GIW, completely exasperated with their actions and ignoring their whining. Danny caught sight of a news helicopter flying on the side furthest from the giant ghost and grimaced when he realised the whole world was going to be seeing that crown now.

Great.

Damian sat up and leaned over to whisper in Danny’s ear while he was distracted watching the chopper.

“You going all king mode on ghosts is pretty hot actually.”

Danny’s mind blanked for a moment before he turned bright red, torn between embarrassment and a pleased kind of excitement.

As Damian pulled him close to kiss him, Danny wondered if he should use the crown more after all.

Chapter Text

There had been some kind of shift among the younger heroes. The good kind, for once, as well. Superman said that it was emotional growth. Batman said it was growing up, period. But the hostility that had lingered between certain heroes was slowly fading away. There was no more snubbing each other in the halls of the Watchtower or pointed comments during meetings and get-togethers. It made HQ a much more pleasant place to be.

Dick was terrified of breathing wrong and ruining the sudden peace.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” He complained to Connor when he ran into the man after a debrief. 

“Danny’s lecture was the thing that finally got through to them,” he explained after rolling his eyes, leaning against the window they were standing beside. “They complained about it at first but his words stuck in their heads. They couldn’t just ignore him either since he was in that position and got outed without his permission. He knew what it felt like and that got them to actually think without bias in the way.”

“It’s weird,” Nightwing sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I’m used to them all avoiding me. I almost had a heart attack when Starfire greeted me today.”

“It’s about time they grew the hell up.”

They looked behind them to find Raven walking up to join them at the window.

“I’ve been waiting for this for years,” she added with a huff.

It was automatic how she tucked herself into his side and he wrapped and arm around her waist, kissing her lightly in greeting.

“In my opinion, you should make them grovel,” she grumbled. "Even though I know you're too soft for that."

He rolled his eyes. “Raven-”

“I’m with her on this,” Connor interrupted. “You should make them squirm. They kept this shit up for way longer than they should have. Wally is shoving it in their faces too. It’s been great.”

“Why do you want me to make your girlfriend upset?” he asked in confusion. As far as he knew, they were together again and pretty happy.

“I’ve had to listen to way too many complaints about you,” Connor shrugged. “More than half our break ups were because of shit she was saying.”

That threw Dick completely. “What?”

“You’re my friend Nightwing,” Connor sighed. “You were one of my first friends. I still remember how much you helped in the beginning when I was pretty much a caveman. You were the only one who didn’t tiptoe around me. The others forgot a lot of the time that the team breaking up didn’t change that we were friends.”

“Same as the Titans breaking up didn’t mean I wasn’t your friend anymore,” Raven added. “So yet, make them squirm. It’s karma.”

“You two are petty,” Nightwing grumbled, not quite sure what to do with Connor’s admission. He hadn’t realised that the man had sometimes chosen him over his girlfriend and he’d never even made a big deal about it to Dick. He just did it like it was a given.

“It’s not like you’re going to be petty. You’re a bleeding heart. So we’ve got to do it for you, birdie,” Raven said sweetly.

Nightwing shook his head. He should say something responsible, but… he didn’t really want to.

“Thanks,” he settled on.

For picking him even if he hadn’t noticed.

The bat clan as a whole wasn’t as forgiving as Dick was. While he was tentatively and hopefully embracing the change in attitude from the others, his brothers were a lot more suspicious, and snarky, about it.

Jason was blatant about it, outright challenging them about the change and the reason behind it.

“So it takes a complete stranger calling you out on your bullshit to cut it out?” he asked Cyborg. “When the entire League has been saying the same shit for years?”

Both Cyborg and Beastboy winced.

“I’ve had my issues with Nightwing over the years and we don’t always get along. But you guys really took the cake. Honestly, it made me look like a saint in comparison. And just for the record, I sure as fuck wouldn’t have trusted any of you with my identity. Nightwing was right not to give any of you a crumb of a clue.”

Tim glanced over from his seat as Jason stormed off.

“You know the rest of us aren’t going to let this go so easily, right?” he asked, gaze returning to his phone. “Nightwing’s got a heart of gold but the rest of us sure don’t.”

“We want to make it right,” Cyborg tried.

“And I want world peace. Doesn’t mean it’s as easy as that. You’re going to have to earn that. And don’t mix up forgiveness with trust when it comes to Nightwing. They’re two completely different things.”

He turned his focus back onto his text conversation with Damian. As salty as they were all being, he knew it wouldn’t last too long. Tim would inevitably fold to what Dick wanted. Jason would hold a grudge and make snarky comments for years to come and things would settle into a new normal that would make Dick much happier than before. Barbara was also a lot more open to the change. Others though...

‘What about you baby bat? You planning to give them a chance?’

‘No.’

‘Not even if he wants you to?’

‘No.’

Not surprising and the sulky refusal made him smile a little. As much as Damian was an angry wildcat, he was a lot softer for Dick. Despite the early stabbing incidents. He’d probably hold a grudge over this for even longer than Jason did, but he’d tolerate it for Dick’s sake.

‘What does Danny say?’

There was a pause as Damian no doubt asked his boyfriend before he answered.

‘He said to make them squirm.’

Tim huffed out a quiet laugh. Danny really fit into the bat clan beautifully.

Danny let out a whoop as he followed the others through the streets. Batman had finally deemed him roadworthy and the others quickly announced it was time for a night ride through Gotham.

It was brilliant flying down the streets after the bats. Damian tended to stay closer to him while Dick and Jason were in some kind of showing off competition. Tim was pretty much the only one on lookout since Danny certainly wasn’t.

“This is amazing!” he called through the comms. “We need to do this more often.”

“That sounds like a plan,” Damian agreed, tone smug and cocky. “But next time without the tagalongs.”

“Excuse me?” Jason scoffed. “Sorry to break it to you Rob, you’re the tagalong here.”

“I’m the babysitter,” Tim deadpanned and Dick laughed.

Danny smiled to himself. When everything went sideways in Amity, he’d really thought he’d lost his chance at a happy set of teenage years. Then the bats swung in and fixed that with their usual dramatic flair.

He watched the world flash past him as the brothers all bickered over the comms. A lot of things had been happening lately. Not only were things better in the league for Nightwing, which had the benefit of dragging the rest of the bats into more social gatherings, but there was a lot of progress on making the Ghost Zone self-governing. 

Of course, there was the media storm over the whole Ghost King reveal, and way too many pictures of his kiss with Damian after the landslide. The GIW was in more than a little hot water for that entire thing and there were whispers about them being forcefully disbanded.

Sometimes it felt like things were going too fast, but he had good people around him to keep him stable.

Everyone fell silent as Bruce cut into the comms to tell them about a robbery happening and Danny didn’t need to see the others’ faces to know they were all grinning in preparation for a fight. All five of them peeled off the highway and Danny let his worries go for the night.

He didn’t think the GIW would go quietly, even with the world calling for their heads. But that wasn’t his problem tonight. It wasn’t his problem in general. There were much more qualified people dealing with it and Danny got to be a crime fighting teenager for a bit instead of a politician. 

He wondered how things were changing in Amity with all the reveals. Hopefully it was getting better. He hated that his hometown had suffered because of him.

For now, he pushed those thoughts aside and focused on being badass on his bike as they all made a pretty damn dramatic entrance.

Life was good.

Chapter Text

Amity Park had had a tough few years. It used to be a normal, boring town before the ghost activity started to tick up. (Thanks Fentons). That had been annoying, and then suddenly there was a different ghost on the scene. A smartass teenager going out of his way to deal with the problematic ghosts. They hadn’t always treated him well. They’d listened to the wrong voices and let the human fear of anything different colour everything he did.

But they learned. They started to listen and see that the kid was always trying to help and took the fearful hatred in stride while still doing what he could to protect them. One by one, the residents changed their opinion and Danny Phantom started to become a hero. His arrival was met with cheers and thanks instead of anger and fear. They became fond of him and annoyed with the people that hunted him. 

Maddie and Jack did get some of that annoyance for a while but it was the GIW that really pissed them off. Huntress also did cause them frustration with her single minded hatred towards the now popular ghost. 

Overall though, the attitude towards Danny Phantom had been positive and he’d inevitably gained some fans. The older townspeople had been amused by his clear bafflement as his fans started showing up and asking for autographs and the like. 

He was kind, he was sweet and he put himself through hell to help people that hadn’t been grateful in the slightest in the start. He’d shown them that ghosts weren’t monsters and that had coloured some of their views of others. Cujo and Boo were treated like any other animal when seen and Ember had a fairly large fanbase who listened to her music (without the weird ghost hypnosis thing). When a truly dangerous ghost showed up, they listened to what Phantom told them to do. They trusted him and worried over him when he got hurt.

So the Anti-Ecto Act was a disaster for them. Suddenly the GIW had legal authority to do whatever they wanted in their pursuit of ghosts. One in particular.

Phantom’s self-sacrificing move to save the other ghosts had the town in a panic. And then they saw the truth. They didn’t understand it, the how and why, but they were suddenly faced with the fact that the town hero wasn’t a who-knew-how-old ghost teenager and was actually a real life teenager who had possibly really killed himself with that stunt.

Danny Fenton who was always conveniently missing when Phantom was around because of his ‘fear of ghosts’. Chronically late to class and the awkward kid that was bullied at school. Son of the resident ghost hunters and somehow always smiling despite everything.

He was Danny Phantom.

In all honesty, most of them felt like complete idiots since it was a bit obvious in hindsight. They hadn’t had time to beat themselves up over it in the face of what happened next though. Huntress betrayed the GIW and the ghosts were ushered through the portal which was then destroyed. Amity Park was suddenly ghostless and down a teenager who the world suddenly claimed wasn’t human enough to deserve basic rights.

The school took it hardest in the aftermath. The teachers wondered to themselves how they missed the signs. The kid always seemed tired and his homework was rushed and sometimes entirely missing. He took detentions with a quiet resignation when he was late and his sister’s frustration with the school and not her brother was put into an entirely new light. His sleep schedule was probably horrendous and he spent who knew how much time protecting the town from ghost attacks. He’d been working fulltime as a vigilante while trying to complete school because there wasn’t anyone else who cared about both humans and ghosts to deal with the problems fairly.

The student body was left with disbelief and guilt. The boy who was regularly bullied had so much power at his fingertips but never used it to defend himself. He took it all without lashing out and still protected and rescued them every time they needed it.

The guilt didn’t go away as Danny’s sister and friends finally gave them the real story.

“He died,” Sam stated bluntly. “Well, half died. He got electrocuted when he tried to fix the ghost portal that wasn’t working. He became half-ghost. Tucker and I were there.”

It was barely a week after everything had gone to hell. They were all sitting outside the school, classes having been cancelled as the teachers listened as well. Some other Amity residents had joined them and some damn agents as well. There was no way they could use this information now though, not with Danny in the Ghost Zone. Jack and Maddie were nowhere to be seen, not handling having to send their son away well. The GIW was making it worse by hounding them for their ghost portal designs.

“He really sucked at it for a bit,” Tucker said, smiling sadly as they remembered the disaster he was as he tried to learn how to use his new abilities. “That didn’t stop him from trying to help though. He felt guilty for it, like he was responsible for the attacks since he fixed the ghost portal. He always blamed himself for too much. And most people just added onto that guilt.”

Valerie was in the back and she flinched. She’d made everything worse, she knew that now. She’d only added to his already over-full plate.

“He stumbled onto the superhero thing,” Sam chuckled to herself. “And he was terrible at it. He was terrified of being found out so he really took awhile before being ‘Danny Phantom’ wasn’t a cringy, awkward persona. Sometimes I think he was more honest when he was Phantom. He didn’t have to be whatever people and society wanted him to be. He could make an entirely new identity and he was such a little shit when he did.”

There were some weak laughs in the crowd. Phantom had really been a mischievous menace sometimes and it was endearing and annoying. It didn’t match the quiet and awkward teenager that always let himself fade into the background.

“I only found out later,” Jazz said. She’d been very quiet and subdued since Danny had to leave but she’d agreed to help out with the explanation so they got it from both the friends’ and family’s perspectives. “He was such an idiot and really needed to learn where to ‘go ghost’. After I had my freak out since he was my baby brother and he was putting himself in danger all the time, I did what I could to help him. I didn’t tell him I knew because… he was scared of anyone finding out. Family of ghost hunters after all.”

They winced, trying to imagine being too scared to tell his own family out of fear of their reactions. Considering the first reactions from the town, they’d probably hammered that home even more. 

“He deserved better,” Jazz whispered and everyone glared at a GIW agent when they scoffed.

“Fuck off!” Someone yelled.

“It isn’t fair,” another student said, voice cracking. “He only helped and we treated him like shit.”

“He was tempted,” Sam said, quirking a smile. “He wasn’t a saint and there were multiple times where he was tempted to get some ghostly revenge. He never did though. He messed around with people a little, but he never actually hurt them. He was just- just too good.”

And that was the core of everything. Danny had been too good and no one deserved everything he’d done for them.

The popular kids had been quiet as they thought back to all the shit they’d put Danny through and how they’d only made things worse for him while idolising his alter ego.

Why had they even picked on him? He’d been dorky and awkward, but those weren’t good reasons. He was just… an easy target. He never really fought back, but was just defiant enough to irritate them.

Overall, everyone felt like complete fuck-ups when the explanations ended. The three didn’t tell them everything of course. They wouldn’t give away private information without Danny’s permission. But they gave enough that the guilt lay heavy over the town.

The GIW were so damn smug about their new legal power that they were oblivious to the sheer hate they’d gained from the town.

The shock hit Amity hard when Danny showed up on tv with the Justice League. Jaws dropped all over the town before a giddy sort of excitement rolled through them all. Danny wasn’t stuck in the Ghost Zone anymore. He was still in top fighting form despite the condition they’d last seen him in and he had the backing of one of the strongest organisations on the planet. The Justice League had taken Danny under their wing and he was still the kind boy from before, but he’d seemed to embrace the Phantom persona much more. His personality was coming through even in human form and they wondered how much he’d kept back as a bullied teenager in school. He was cheeky and optimistic and Batman’s expression dared anyone to try and lay a hand on the half-ghost. He had support and protection again and the town felt hope as the Justice League started to make headway against the Anti-Ecto acts in the public arena. The GIW had more than met their match now and they were so outclassed that it was hilarious.

After that surprise reveal, Danny was seen on more missions. He helped out in every situation imaginable, always with one of the bats nearby. He was cheerful and happy but there was some kind of steely determination under it all whenever he caught sight of the GIW lingering around. He was growing older and it was something special to watch him grow up into a young man who equalled many League members in power, if not experience.

The reveal of his relationship left everyone gaping all over again.

The television that had been set up in the lunchroom (specifically to watch Danny Phantom appearances) showed one hell of a fight in Gotham. Danny somehow seemed comfortable in the darkest, hardest city on the planet and he floated around while Nightwing and Batman spoke to the reporter.

The halfa drifted away from the interview and up to where Robin was scaling a nearby building. Watching him easily interact with these famous superheroes so easily was amazing to Amity when he was just a small-time hero a couple of years ago. The GIW had tried to ruin his life and instead he was thriving better than anyone could have expected.

“Damn, he’s hanging around in Gotham?” Kwan asked around a mouthful of food. “Don’t the other superheroes even avoid it?”

“It’s Bat Territory,” Star explained. “And they clearly like him. There’s always a bat around whenever we see him.”

Paulina always felt guilty whenever she caught sight of the teenager. Dash did too. Seeing him so happy on tv just hammered home how miserable they’d made him in school. 

“I wonder how he met the Justice League?” Kwan mused. “I thought he was going to be stuck in the Ghost Zone. Did they make a portal maybe?”

Before the others could say anything, the entire cafeteria fell completely silent. On screen, Danny had been talking to Robin before the vigilante had grabbed him by the front of his suit and pulled him into a kiss.

Dash’s spoon slipped through his numb fingers while they all gaped at the sight. Someone hurriedly turned up the volume when Nightwing turned to look at what the cameraman was no doubt staring at.

“Hmm?” he looked up at the pair but didn’t seem in the least surprised. “Oi! Lovebirds! Not on the side of a building! Keep your makeout for the roof!”

It took a long moment for it to sink in as Nightwing confirmed that the pair were officially dating. Danny, dorky and awkward, was dating Robin. He was dating one of the infamous bats who were well known far beyond Gotham.

“He’s gay?” Paulina asked weakly.

“Bi,” Star corrected quickly. “That crush he had on you was real.”

“Talk about an upgrade,” Dash whispered.

Paulina looked at him in offence and Kwan shrugged. “It’s Robin.”

There was nothing to say to that. Danny was dating the equivalent of a superstar.

All those moments watching from afar culminated in the most recent shocking reveal. Danny seemed to always have another up his sleeve.

The footage was being captured by a news helicopter as they watched in horror when the GIW’s uselessness created a landslide which hit the Justice League in the middle of their fight. Several heroes disappeared under the rocks and earth and everyone around the world watched with fear and anger. How much more did the GIW have to completely fuck up before they finally lost that stupid legal power they still had?

Not only did they threaten superheroes’ lives with a landslide, the camera had also caught an agent outright shooting Robin. Who had also disappeared under the disaster.

The students in the cafeteria were barely breathing as they watched the other members scramble to save their teammates. Nightwing took off in his jet and everyone knew where he was going. A ghost helping in a search and rescue would be invaluable.

And Danny did arrive to help, bringing a few other familiar faces to speed up the process. They all started to relax when heroes were pulled out to safety and the tension left in a rush when Danny reappeared with Robin.

The tension ramped right back up when the ghost burst out of the rubble and the GIW started charging up the stupid gun that had caused this all in the first place.

Danny reacted before the others, destroyed the weapon with a large ice spear and then grabbing the helicopter and throwing it down to where Superman caught it. The easy display of strength from the halfa always left them breathless. If Danny had been even a little less of a good person, he could have kicked their asses in school.

Then the halfa turned towards the ghost. The camera caught a glimpse of his pissed off expression just before a strange crown flickered into sight above his head.

“Sit. Down!” He ordered with an unfamiliar authority and the ghost was brought up short as it immediately complied.

After taking a moment to eye the ghost and make sure it was listening, Danny darted back down to Robin, the crown fading from view again. Everyone was completely silent as the ghosts flew off again and Danny returned to speaking to Robin before being dragged into a kiss that bordered on inappropriate in public.

Later, the Justice League released an official statement that Danny Phantom was the current Ghost King.

Fucking hell.

Chapter Text

Danny was in the manor when they got the news. The Anti-Ecto Acts were officially overturned and the GIW ordered to disband with immediate effect. There was going to be an investigation into their actions since the start of their organisation. Their absolute disaster with the landslide had been what kicked everything off in the end. Their sheer disregard for the almost-casualties of some of the most popular and powerful people on the planet had been the nail in the coffin. Seeing Danny yet again cleaning up one of their messes with ease and still keeping everyone safe had firmly given him official hero status worldwide. 

Ghost rights were being worked out on the political level, but for the moment everyone was going off meta-rights. While having different rights for metas, mutants and humans was a frustrating situation, they were necessary to counter the legal dangers each group suffered from.

For the moment, ghosts weren’t something to be hunted down anymore. There were embassies being set up all over the place for ghosts on the run to go to. It wasn’t perfect yet, but they had the right to freedom and safety and that meant a lot after everything.

Danny could (theoretically) go out in public again without worry about being attacked. He didn’t believe that the GIW would give up that easily, even after losing their power. He’d also made sure that the ghosts in the Zone understood that they were still a danger regardless of the law.

Watching the announcement was a little surreal for Danny. They were all in the sitting room and they’d known it was coming. The Justice League had been instrumental in pushing for this and multiple celebrities had gotten involved as well. The Waynes included. Actually seeing it officially, knowing that this was really happening, was overwhelming for Danny. Damian held his hand as they watched the spokesperson give the news to cheering crowds.

“This is real?” he breathed the question, too afraid to accidentally break it if this was a dream.

“It is,” Dick said from behind the couch they were sitting on. He reached over and squeezed his shoulder. “It’s over Danny.”

A sob caught in his throat and he didn’t know why. But the next thing he knew he was crying and Damian had pulled him into a tight hug, fingers running through his hair and whispering quietly to him. He was pretty sure the others cleared out to give them privacy but he just didn’t know why he was crying like this.

It was good news! He was happy about it! So why was he crying?

Damian shifted enough that he could scoop Danny up, walking towards his bedroom, but all the halfa could do was cling to him and sob. The tears only ran out almost an hour later, wrapped up in his boyfriend’s arms and feeling entirely wrung out.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “I don’t know why-”

“Richard said it was the release of all your stress,” Damian interrupted. He still sounded worried though. He usually deferred to Dick or Tim when it came to emotional things because his upbringing before living with Bruce was pretty lacking in that department.

“It’s just…” Danny trailed off. “Yeah. I don’t know if I really believed this would happen.” He pushed himself up only enough to roll over into Damian’s side. “I think a part of me never expected this to get better. That I’d have to hide behind diplomatic immunity, never see my hometown and always worry about someone out for me and the ghosts I’ve befriended.”

Damian was still rubbing his back comfortingly as he spoke.

“It hit me hard suddenly. That it was over,” he whispered. “The GIW will always be a problem, but all that power they had… it’s gone.” 

Damian hummed softly. “We can legally beat them up outside of Gotham,” he sounded entirely too pleased by that and Danny laughed.

“Yeah, you can,” he agreed.  He snuggled closer to his boyfriend. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologise,” he said sharply. “You did nothing wrong.”

Danny smiled to himself. Damian was always one of the first to tell him to stop apologising for things. He lay there for a moment, just soaking in his boyfriend’s presence. He could visit more often now, be in the human world a lot more than before. While he couldn’t be seen with Damian Wayne, he could be seen out with Robin. Dick and Raven did it all the time, going on dates while in their superhero clothes. A lot of the ‘super couples’ did it so that they could still have public dates if they couldn’t be seen together in their civilian clothes. 

He hadn’t been able to do that with Damian because of the risks, but now he could. He could do all the stuff Raven and Dick did like post pictures to social media and be together on more than just missions and privately at the manor.

Part of him wished that he still had a secret identity so that he could date ‘Damian Wayne’ as well, but the GIW took that away.

Then again, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever have really met Damian if things didn’t go to shit like they did. Maybe he should send the remains of the organisation a thank you card for that.

“Wanna go on a date?” he asked softly.

“Richard has already stated that he intends to take us on a ‘double date’ as our first in public.”

Danny had to laugh at the annoyed and pained tone to his boyfriend’s voice. It was both of their first serious relationship though and Dick helping out had been brilliant. Despite his disastrous dating record, Raven confirmed that he was very good at being in a relationship when his partner was fair.

Shots fired and Danny wasn’t looking to see any of the aftermath in the younger supers’ group after that pointed statement.

As a result though, both Damian and Danny did defer to Dick when they weren’t sure what to do. He’d never been irritated with them and had freely offered tips on what not to do as well.

As sulky as Damian sounded over the idea of a supervised date, Danny knew he wasn’t actually annoyed.

It would also mean that Damian wasn’t on alert the whole time and they could figure out the public date thing together. With Raven subtly recording most of it probably while Dick openly took photos.

“Tim and Jason are so going to be lurking around in the background,” Danny snickered.

There was a long moment of silence before Damian spoke again. He clearly hadn’t realised that just yet.

“I hate them all.”

“No you don’t,” Danny pushed himself up enough to kiss his boyfriend. “You love them as much as they love you.”

Damian grumbled but only tugged Danny into a tighter hug after the kiss. The halfa settled down, expecting a nap for both of them. He definitely needed it and he’d never say no to getting an extended cuddle with his boyfriend.

He was tentatively hopeful over how things were changing. When the GIW was dismantled, he could also visit Amity again. He could see everyone again and spend time at home too.

He couldn’t wait to blend his new life with his old. 

And find time to push the Zone to be fully democratic in the background so that he could get out of governing at sixteen years old. Honestly, who thought that was a good idea?

Chapter Text

Watching the bats effortlessly avoid any hint of a connection to the Waynes, even strolling past the oblivious superheroes they regularly worked with while incognito, would always be amazing for Danny. It was the little things he’d learned that made it work. Different yet subtle inflections when they spoke, training themselves to move similarly but never quite the same in other clothes, it was really incredible to see in action. They didn’t go out of their way to be completely different, they were just different enough. Many of the supers had already met the Waynes at various charity galas and those that weren’t in the know really had no idea who they were talking to most of the time.

He’d arrived at the café with Robin and Nightwing with Raven already waiting for them outside the building. Meanwhile, Tim and Jason had donned their super civilian disguises (AKA ‘not famous and also not super’ getup) and were already at the place when they walked through the door. They were insanely good when it came to managing their personas. Red Hood, AKA the bad boy Wayne, was smoking at one of the outside tables with a red (seriously Jason?) hoodie on as he scrolled through something on his phone. He was grumpy with the people around him but not outright aggressive. Tim was inside with a fancy drink, beanie and working on a reasonably priced (not Wayne tech) laptop. The drink was his favourite (only at home, it always fancier when with others and exceedingly over the top when playing the rich boy) and he had earphones in, leading him to fake not noticing when the waitress came up to check on him.

Damian had admitted that this was one of the first things Bruce had taught them. They had their public identities as the Wayne family. They had their superhero identities. And they had their personal identities. And these dressed down and casual options gave them the ability to hide in plain sight. They were always careful of course, but it was a bit of normalcy to keep them sane. Jason was part of a motorcycle club with a bike he’d put together himself. Tim was a regular at the arcade. Dick liked going hiking by himself and Damian volunteered at more animal shelters than his celebrity identity did. He’d said that it was sometimes nice to just be another random person helping out instead of it being a huge show. Apparently, some of the workers at the shelters thought it was a publicity stunt. This way, he got left alone with his love of animals.

Danny would need to practise a lot to pull the same thing off that they did. He’d looked around the place three times before recognising Tim and even longer to spot Jason.

It was almost surreal for Danny to know all three parts of their lives. The rich and famous ones from tv, the crime fighting superheroes he'd worked with and their real selves he'd grown to know and love.

Richard was the level-headed Wayne brother, the one who kept an eye on his father so he didn’t create a new scandal for the papers. He was the responsible cop and avoided the fancy high life of his family if possible. He got into quiet, tense arguments with his rebellious sibling and routinely dragged his spoiled younger brother out of drama. He was also a serial bachelor and had never dated anyone.

Nightwing was the mother hen, a hopeless romantic (and hopeless at it until Raven) and protective as all hell. He let his fellow Bats learn the hard lessons he had to because it was necessary in their line of work but he tried to help when he could, carrying guilt when he failed. He turned a blind eye to Red Hood’s more ruthless side more often than Batman did and was endearingly attached to Robin.

Dick was a guy who worried about his family more than himself and needed to give himself a break once in a while. He was kind and good and the kind of person everyone would love if they actually got to see him. He was also head over heels for his girlfriend and didn’t even notice when people flirted with him anymore since he was so very taken and off the market in his mind.

Jason was the bad boy, the 'problem child'. He’d run away and come back and gone through enough scandals to rival ‘Brucie Wayne’. He’d settled down in recent years and actually showed up to most of the charity events now, but he was always rude and likely to offend someone. His oldest brother and father were always working to smooth over any trouble he caused. He was the only Wayne who seemed to be following his father in his dating scandals since he hopped from one night stand to one night stand like it was an Olympic sport.

Red Hood was dangerous and bloodthirsty to a degree that made more than a few League members nervous. He liked to hurt people, wasn’t afraid to kill and tended to come in guns blazing. They were usually only comfortable with him on missions when Nightwing or Batman were present although fights between them were so common that sometimes the other supers were left to wonder why he worked with the bats at all. His temper was short and he wasn’t afraid to snap at anyone and everyone around him. He had mellowed out somewhat lately and was on better terms with the other bats but he was still out of place in the group in the League’s eyes.

Jason was a jerk and loved pushing everyone’s buttons. He had trauma by the bucket load and as tough as he acted, he craved the support he got from the others. His relationship with Bruce was still rocky at times but Dick had dragged him back to the family in a big bear hug and refused to lose his brother again. The man was loud, angry and as protective as all the others. He loved his family with actions since he never found the words to say it.

Timothy Drake-Wayne (although no one called him that, only Alfred did when he was in deep shit) was the ‘forgotten middle child’ and Wayne Tech’s genius. He was quiet and studious and avoided attention by hiding behind his brothers’ more dramatic antics. He kept a polite distance from most and had dabbled in the dating scene with mild interest in high school. His focus had always been the company and his studies and he had little time for anything else, and most certainly not his father’s latest scandals and bad decisions.

Red Robin was somewhat aloof and was very picky about who he let himself grow close to. His close friends were few and his rare stints on teams had led to the others feeling like he kept everyone at a distance. He was disinterested in most things outside of the mission and the Bats. He was the ‘good bat’ who didn’t get into much drama in the League.

Tim was a little shit who was a master at catching secret photos and videos of the latest embarrassing incident to happen to his brothers. He was the undisputed king of pranks in the manor and held just about every video game record in Gotham, sometimes under aliases to make people think they actually had a chance of beating him. He passively enabled the chaos for the blackmail photos and videos while still behaving like the only sane one aside from Alfred.

Damian Wayne was spoilt and many were bitter over the apparent favoritism the only Wayne by blood seemed to get from his father. He ignored what duties he could and he got by on the least amount of politeness to the people around him as he was allowed. The rest of the family only seemed to enable his behavior to some people’s annoyance. He had his fans, all of them did really, but as the youngest Wayne who only seemed to soften at animal shelters Damian had a larger fan base than the others. He had a strange sense of disdain directed at his father but no concrete proof had ever been found to confirm whether he disliked the man as much as the public believed he did.

Robin was sharp and aggressive and frighteningly quick to stab people. The League had been wary of him for a long time before Nightwing’s attempts to bond had eased his somewhat feral behaviour with the other supers. Most of the League was convinced that he hated every last one of them bar a scant few. For the most part, the supers were still pretty wary of him but relaxed somewhat when he seemed to take his moral cues from Nightwing and Batman instead of Red Hood. His relationship with the other bats confused them since he still seemed pretty ready to stab any of them (and had tried in public multiple times) and yet they took it with either fondness or mild annoyance. He did have a respect for Batman that almost bordered on hero-worship and the boy was constantly working to impress the man, leaving many confused over how the dynamics of the bat clan even worked.

Danny’s boyfriend, Damian, was awful with people and still somewhat uncertain in many situations. He took his cue from his brothers and father and their relentless work to undo the damage his early years had done to his self-esteem and sense of self-worth was the only reason he was as functional as he was. They were exceptionally protective of him since they knew how vulnerable he was in the social and emotional sense and it came across as indulgent to most. He disliked his father's 'Brucie Wayne' persona since he believed he shouldn't need it and mostly blamed the media. He was sweet and loved animals. He would kill for his family but he was working on not killing since his family’s lessons on morality had been chaotic but mostly functional.

And he loved with everything in him. They all did in their own unique ways. Dick was open about it. Jason masked his with insults and anger but the protectiveness gave it away. Tim was quietly watchful over them all and knew what was happening with everyone so he could help if needed. And Damian would do a lot to keep his family safe.

They were all different aspects of the same people and Danny still didn’t know how they kept their personas separate so well or how they hid so effortlessly.

Of course, it helped them now when all the attention snapped to the two couples when they followed Nightwing inside. This was a popular date spot for the supers since the owners took it all in stride and were used to the more famous guests. As a result, they also prevented anyone from mobbing the supers.

There was even a sign outside that warned about that. Any over eager fans would be booted from the premises. There was even a paparazzi line that couldn’t be crossed under pain of being tossed back over by the impressive bouncers the place employed. It was pretty cool in Danny’s opinion. Apparently, there were quite a few ‘superhero safe’ places for dates or hanging out. 

Gotham honestly didn’t even give a fuck so the bats wandered freely there most of the time. But this wasn't Gotham so they had to play along.

He felt a little underdressed next to the three supers but Damian had given him a ‘look’ when he asked if he should go as Phantom. He called the extra energy he’d burn doing that a waste and helped him pick out his clothes instead. They were simple but much different from his old look. He leaned towards the blacks after spending so much time with the bats so he had black jeans, a blue shirt and a black jacket on. They were comfortable but did feel a little ‘less’ than the full uniforms of the others.

Dick had already complained about being jealous over him being in more comfortable clothes and Raven had laughed at both of them.

Damian’s hand in his helped with all of his anxiety as he didn’t pay any mind to the sudden attention and Dick and Raven were already joking ahead of them. Their casual behviour helped calm Danny's nerves.

Nightwing waved at the manager before guiding them over to an open table next to the window. After a few minutes of trying to adjust to the new situation, Danny found himself relaxing. It was weird to have so much attention when they were supposed to be 'off duty', but he’d needed to get used to attention in general when losing his secret identity. Attention was just his life now, especially with such a high profile boyfriend.

He wouldn’t change it for anything of course. He was head over heels for Damian still and honestly couldn’t imagine this not being his life anymore.

They got their orders and Dick and Raven focused on their conversation, acting more as a safety net for the younger couple. Danny appreciated that more than he could express.

“Have you ever been here before?” he asked Damian.

“A few times,” Damian shrugged. “For team bonding.”

“Bet you were the life of the party,” Danny teased, grinning in the face of his boyfriend’s unimpressed scowl. He really didn’t like being dragged out for the younger supers’ outings, but sometimes had to bite the bullet.

Danny still had yet to see the antisocial demon brat everyone still regularly described since his boyfriend was only ever a bit grumpy and generally possessive in some way. He didn’t like to share and the halfa thought it was adorable.

“It would be nice to do this more often,” Danny admitted, leaning into Damian’s side and resting his head on his shoulder. “I feel less like a runaway criminal and more… normal. No bad guys to fight, just avoiding Nightwing embarrassing us too much.”

Damian gave his brother a warning glare at just the idea before wrapping his arm around Danny’s shoulders to keep him close.

“If you want to, we can do this more often,” he offered, not even sounding grumpy over the idea. 

“Wish we could get away with an animal shelter date,” he muttered and Damian gave him a fond smile.

“Perhaps one to Amity would be a better idea?”

Danny’s eyes snapped up to him in shock.

“The League is ‘assisting’ with removing the GIW from your hometown. After a few sweeps through, it should be perfectly safe in a week or so.”

Danny beamed up at him, impulsively leaning up to kiss him. “That sounds amazing,” he whispered excitedly. “I can’t wait to introduce you to my friends.”

Damian frowned a little although his arm wrapping around the halfa's waist kept him close. “Are you certain they will like me?”

Danny elbowed him lightly. “You’re completely lovable. And I wouldn’t care either way. You’re my boyfriend and no one’s opinion is going to change that. Unless it’s yours.”

Damian scoffed. “The thought of breaking up with you is laughable. But if your friends-”

“They’d have to deal,” Danny said easily. “Because you’re not going anywhere anytime soon if I have anything to say about it, Robin.”

His boyfriend’s smile was soft and a tiny bit shy. Danny knew that some people had a problem with his more abrasive personality, but he didn’t care. Damian was sweet and protective and a good person in that way that survived some very bad early moral lessons.

“I love you,” he whispered, soft enough that even the couple across from them couldn’t hear it. “And if someone tried to make me choose, I’d choose you.”

Damian had quickly become his whole world, starting out as a good friend when he needed it and rapidly becoming someone he couldn’t imagine living without.

Damian’s arm around his shoulders tightened a bit as he inhaled sharply. “I would leave it behind for you,” he admitted just as quietly. “The vigilante work. The rich boy life. I love you Danny, and I’m selfishly happy that I got to meet you despite everything that happened.”

Danny smiled at him. “I’d never make you choose. And you wouldn't make me either. Which is how I know we’ll be fine. We’ll find a way to make everything work.”

It didn’t really matter what the world threw at them next, Danny refused to lose Damian. After everything he’d been through, he was pretty sure he was allowed to be a little bit selfish now. They might be young, but they still wore their promise rings, Damian’s on a chain around his neck when in civvies. Danny would be happy to have a future with the other teenager, and despite any odds stacked against them, he was going to make this work. And Damian was just as stubborn as he was.

Not to mention the morally and legally grey family that backed them.

A trip to Amity soon sounded like a fantastic idea.