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"Hey love." he rolled around, opening his eyes, expecting to find the person who he had spent the last few years waking up next to. But today was different. Today was their first time waking up together with their souls bound. A ritual as old as time in the ghost realm. He had researched it for days on end to make sure everything was just perfect. And it had been. Never had he felt a purer form of happiness, than when he saw a part of himself woven into the person already holding his heart. All he wanted was to reach out and touch his love. Feel their warmth against the palm of his hand. But he couldn't. The bed next to him was empty. Empty and cold. Where were they? Where was his Queen?
His heart clenched. Something had happened, he could feel it in his gut. As he sent out his senses like tentacles feeling for any traces of his love's presence, he couldn't rid himself of the biting feeling of dread. A bitter suspicion clawing into his heart. The person that should have been next to him wasn't just gone, the whole ghost realm was completely wiped clean of their being.
It was like they'd never existed here to begin with.
.˚⊹. ࣪𓉸 ࣪⊹˚.
It had been, what? Three years? Three years since Jason had come back from the dead. For three years he's been running around Gotham, fighting crime, eating, sleeping, reading. He got a second chance at life and he’s trying his best to use it meaningfully. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was somehow - and that is gonna sound like straight out of some tacky movie - incomplete.
At first Jason had thought it was his grief. He had died and the world had kept spinning. Bruce's world seemed to have continued spinning. Then Jason found out it didn't. Bruce's world had broken down - shattered so thoroughly only the united efforts of Alfred, Dick, Superman and later Tim had been able to puzzle all the pieces back together. It was still so unstable, like the pieces were to break apart again any moment. Jason could see it in his dad's eyes, always searching for Jason at family gatherings. He could see it in the way Bruce would border on a panic attack, if he saw Jason getting hurt. And Jason wasn’t that great off himself - fluctuating between too many emotions, like his body couldn’t find a good way to balance it out. If Bruce did something annoying, Jason would throw punches (he had learned to redirect them at walls) or if Roy would ask Jason to join him and Lian to the cinema, Jason would be the first to cry in the kids movie. It was good that he was wearing a helmet, no need for his men to see all the emotions Jason felt when seeing all the bad things happening in Crime Alley.
But the two of them managed. Bruce and Jason had settled in their clumsy, oftentimes awkward father-son-relationship. They talked like normal people. Tried, most of the time. But Jason? He still didn't feel complete. So he kept looking.
He continued cleaning the streets of Gotham, but with every person whom he gave the chance to reunite with their loved ones instead of ending up in some dark alley, the emptiness just grew a little more. Jason threw himself into relationships - casual as well as serious - yet he'd only lie awake at night. The physical component didn’t give him what he was looking for and the emotional felt just wrong. He even got a dog for fucks sake! (Which Damian confiscated after Jason didn't have enough energy to feed the dog for a whole day. Mr. Snouts currently lives the life of royalty in the manor.)
In conclusion, Jason blankly staring at the man lying on his couch of his apartment, with severe injuries, was justified. After all, something about the raven hair and the teal blue eyes had given Jason a feeling he had been hunting after for years. Not quite completeness, but perhaps, in whatever way it will play out, something similar.
That is if the man survived.
.˚⊹. ࣪𓉸 ࣪⊹˚.
Fighting ghosts in the ghost realm was one thing. Danny could handle that, he was the motherfucking Ghost King after all. What he couldn't handle, apparently, was this freaking city with its dark buildings and dark sky and shitty air and even worse villains or rogues or whatever they called themselves. Who would have thought that a bunch of them would work together to summon and then trap Danny?
And it’s not like he’s weak either. Not before and definitely not after becoming the Ghost King. Just normally his enemies were…GHOSTS. Danny wasn’t sure what the rules with real people were. He could totally just pull their hearts out of their body, but that would likely kill them and he did hear about this man dressing up as a bat-furry. And like, Danny’s all for people respecting furries - they’re cool! - but this particular one could apparently be a little (extremely) frightening. Also, maybe he’s territorial about his villains? Danny wouldn’t wanna risk his fury (pun intended).
…and also…
The rogues were perhaps kinda really kicking his ass here, maybe.
Midfight he had come to the only logical conclusion: Someone with extensive knowledge of ghosts - their powers and weaknesses - was in cahoots with the rest of Gotham's villains.
This lead him to do the only reasonable thing he could in this situation:
Danny ran - didn't fly or float, no, he ran. Well, stumbled, would probably be the more accurate description. Something had happened to him. Blood from a wound right above his eye coloured the world in a shade of red. Danny could feel the pain from one of his feet shooting tears into his eyes. His lungs screamed for air, which he only managed to give to them through agonizing gasps. And this fucking streets were so confusing. Why did they need to be this confusing?!
He ran around another corner, another turn and another. Just trying to get rid of his followers. He wasn’t sure if he had already lost them, but he knew the moment he’d stop to see, he wouldn’t be able to keep going. It had been a long time since Danny had felt himself so completely and utterly powerless. Danny didn't even know where he was running to. He just followed his instincts, reduced to a scarred and hurt animal.
Hell, Danny cursed to himself, Jazz will kill me for getting myself into this situation.
There was another turn right, another alley and then a sharp left and then - a wall. Danny ran right into it. He was sprawled out on the ground groaning in agony. Well, this couldn’t be worse.
Through the fog clouding his brain, Danny heard steps.
Well, Fuck.
Fuck this rouges. Fuck this city. Honestly, fuck this whole shitty world.
Danny was royally fucked. He was powerless, probably had a concussion and-slash-or extreme blood loss. Oh yeah, and his body wasn’t following his command anymore. Whichever one of the villains had caught up, would be free to do whatever they wanted with Danny. He wouldn’t be able to say or do anything about it. And even if it wasn’t one of the people who had summoned him, this was Gotham, Danny was sure, his chances of the steps he heard belonging to an innocent nice person were extremely low. Whoever it was, in this moment Danny couldn’t even muster the energy to lift his eyelids to look the person in the eyes before they’d-
- gently lift them up?
Arms under his legs and shoulders evoked a surprised whimper from Danny. He tried opening his eyes again. This couldn't be one of the villains, right? But who else would it be? He opened his mouth to say something, anything. But nothing more than another whimper ripped from his chest.
Danny, the powerful Ghost King, was reduced to a pile of misery, depended on the desperate hope that perhaps, there was one good person in this city and that by chance he had been found by them. This was just great. Perfect. He let out a groan stemming from a place of complete frustration.
"Shh" a soft voice spoke close to his ears, "It's okay, I've got you." The man's thumb rubbed clumsy circles into Danny's shoulder. Well, this was…not what someone with bad intentions would do, right? Right? Of course there were people out there sick enough to act all kind just to turn around and do unspeakable things to helpless victims. But just for now Danny wanted to be the naive boy, thinking nobody would ever wanna hurt him. He couldn’t have his mind overthinking at a time like this. And this feeling of safety, which overcame him the moment he had heard the sound of the other’s voice, made it really easy to just. Stop. Thinking. For a moment. The last of Danny's adrenaline left his body making him complete and utterly limb in the other's arms. With a last prayer to wake up again, Danny relaxed his head against his saviour's chest.
"You're safe."
Danny's mind drifted off into the darkness.
.˚⊹. ࣪𓉸 ࣪⊹˚.
With his hands full, Jason had to use his foot to awkwardly open and close the door to his apartment. He was just praying that nobody saw him with a hardly conscious man in his arms. The walk to the couch was mostly Jason trying not to bump the head of the other against anything, which he almost succeeded in.
Jason exhaled. Yeah, this was fine. There was just a bleeding stranger in his safe house. Why was there a half dead stranger on his couch? Fuck.
Every instinct in Jason screamed to leave this stranger alone. Bring him to a hospital perhaps, but get him out of his safehouse. This was a safety hazard. When the man would wake up, he could be a potential risk to Jason's identity as Red Hood. And if he didn't wake up- well Jason had to clean up another body. Both weren’t very pleasant options. His first instinct was to call Dick and ask his big brother what to do. But he knew Dick would just tell him what he already knew: To bring the stranger to a hospital and leave it to the professionals.
But some part of Jason, some part buried deep inside him, fought with hands and teeth to stay close to this mysterious stranger. He needed to protect him at all cost. The thought of leaving him with just anyone evoked a physical discomfort in Jason.
Bringing him to the hospital was no option. Calling Dick for help? Perhaps. But for now Jason needed to get a clearer picture of the situation.
Cautiously, Jason rid the man off one piece of clothing after another. He had a system: First the socks, then the trousers, the jacket and the shirt. One after another he meticulously searched the man for injuries before taking off the next piece. Finding injuries wasn't even hard. Jason was rather concerned how the other was still breathing with this extent of bone fractures, bruises, cuts and bigger open wounds. Every now and then the man would let out a pained moan when Jason accidentally grazed one of his wounds. While the sound let Jason wince every time, mumbling apologies, it also helped him keep in check that the other was still holding on to consciousness.
"This won't do." Jason muttered as he looked at the bloodied body. He couldn't tell where there were wounds and where it was just blood. This was bad. Like, Mission gone wrong, Alfred’s gonna kill them if they made it back to the batcave, wrong. Jason exhaled another time. "I'm so sorry, but I gotta move you to the bathroom." There was only a whimper in response. Jason was sure, the man didn't even comprehend what he had just told him.
As gentle as he managed he scooped him up again and walked to the bathroom of his safehouse. Jason ignored the tingling sensation at the places where his arms met the other’s bare skin. For now he put it away, this was something he would look into later. Luckily this place was one of the few ones that actually had a tub, so Jason could place the man right inside and wasn’t dependent on the other sitting upright.
The other one hissed the moment he came into contact with the cold surface of the bathtub.
.˚⊹. ࣪𓉸 ࣪⊹˚.
Danny's eyes flew open as he was yanked out of his state of fading consciousness by an ice cold sensation. White tiles filled his vision. A bathroom? Then he was in…a tub? Oh god. A tub would be perfect to kill someone. The last thing Danny could remember clearly was the alley. The wall. The fall. Then everything was a vague mix of darkness, pain and sounds. The loudness of a street, then doors, steps, a voice.
"Fuck, I'm sorry man. I just needed to bring you somewhere to clean you up." His head snapped to where the voice came from. His attacker or saviour - Danny hasn’t decided yet - looked down to him. There was something strangely familiar about the voice, yet Danny was sure he heard it for the first time. Danny squinted as he looked at the figure in front of him. A man, roughly of his own height, but where Danny's body was more lean, the other was - for lack of better words - a walking fridge.
The fridge grabbed something out of the medicine cabinet, then came back to sit on the rim of the tub, putting down some washing clothes and bandages as well as ointment. Danny followed each movement through his now half closed eyes. This seemed okay so far. The stranger hasn’t shown any sign of hostility towards him. Maybe he really was just someone really nice? Danny would have to take his chances, seeing that trying to move any muscle of his body was accompanied by agony.
"I'm gonna clean your wounds now. This will hurt." The fridge stated it like a fact, rather than a preemptive apology. Danny huffed in response, trying himself in a half smirk as if to say “Well no shit, Sherlock”. It’s not like his body didn’t hurt right now.
The man leaned over the tub and started cleaning blood from Danny's feet. His sockless feet. Danny looked at himself. No clothes. Great. If he were in a better state right now, he might be embarrassed or even angry for someone undressing him without his consent. Right now he was more concerned with how gentle the hands were for such a big man. Sure, Danny could see scars running all over the others arms, but that was likely just normal for Gothamites. The way the man meticulously wiped away the blood without touching the wounds seemed almost professional. Most of it was Danny's but if he remembered correctly, he also had gotten some of the villains real good. He chuckled as he recalled the pleading of the men who had tried to control him, the King of the Ghost realm. But the chuckle fastly turned into groaning, as Mr. Fridge started cleaning the wounds themselves.
"We need to make sure that you won't die from blood poisoning, should you survive the blood loss." mumbled the man apologetic and gently put on some ointment before he bandaged the right foot completely. The left seemed relatively fine.
"Gee, thanks for the encouragement." Danny pressed through gritted teeth. The pain was more prominent now that the adrenaline had left his body, but at least it also grounded him. Danny didn't feel like drifting out of consciousness any second now, anymore. He still kept his eyes shut, he really didn't need to see all the wounds in addition to feeling them - the pain is always worse when you look.
The hands wandered up now, running over his calves, cleaning, rubbing in medicine, putting on band-aids and wrapping bandages around the bigger wounds. Even though the man was a stranger, Danny felt himself relaxing into the touch. Every now and then he couldn't suppress a hiss or a pained moan, when the man handled a more severe wound, but all in all, Danny slowly let the exhaustion overwhelm him. His senses followed the soothing touches, listening to the quiet mumbling of the other.
Danny sighed by the time the man was done with his chest and prompted him to lean forward. "Thanks man, I really owe you." Fridge let out a hum as he ran the wash cloth over Danny's back. "I don't even know your name. Mine's Danny."
The hand vanished just to return a bit later with some more of the ointment. "Jason." The man said casually and Danny's world shattered.
.˚⊹. ࣪𓉸 ࣪⊹˚.
Cleaning and treating injuries came like second nature to Jason ‘the Red Hood and former Robin’ Todd. He knew how much each of the bruises, open wounds, sprains and bone fractures could hurt. So he wasn’t a stranger to look at them either, Jason wouldn’t throw up or pass out from seeing them. But he was extremely concerned with the amount of wounds at once. Especially, since he couldn’t find many older scars. This person should already be at the brink of death from the pain alone. Instead he was almost docile under Jason’s touch. Flinching every now and then, groaning when Jason cleaned the wound out with some wound disinfectant, but other than that the stranger didn't react much. From someone with seemingly no history of getting in fights, Jason expected screaming, trying to escape even. He did not expect whatever this was.
Jason didn’t even feel bad that he didn’t have any alcohol he could give the man, to numb the pain.
He worked fast and as gently as possible, just like he had learned to do back in his Robin days. Jason remembered all the times Bruce took a hit for him and ended up needing stitches. At some point Alfred had taught Jason, so he could start treating Bruce while still in the Batmobile. A precaution that had proven itself useful many times. When Jason had started throwing fits and ended up over at Dick’s place for multiple nights in the row, he would patch his big brother back up, after Nightwing had finished his patrol through Blüdhaven. For the bats, treating each other’s wounds had become an after-fight ritual.
It had started to be about more than just the simple treatment of injuries. It was a way to ground each other. Dick would stitch Jason’s leg up and grumble his lectures about not taking unnecessary risks. When he was done, he was also done with his lecture. In return, when Jason cleaned and bandaged a wound on Dick’s side - too close to his heart - he could feel the steady heartbeat, indicating his brother was still alive.
The first time Jason had let Bruce clean his injury, since he had come back, had been extremely special. A show of good will. An open hand reached out.
The wound wasn’t big, merely a bullet that had grazed his arm, but the way Bruce had stared at it after they were back in the Batcave… Jason had taken off his jacket and shirt and just thrown the bottle of disinfectant for Bruce to catch. Having his father clean his wound had been a silence truce. Something Jason knew, his dad would understand without him needing to express it in words. I trust you. To this day Jason swear he had seen tears in Bruce’s eyes.
Damian had been introduced to the ritual way back in the league, where Jason had insisted on taking care of any injuries personally. Now Damian used the excuse of ritual whenever he needed physical affection. Every now and then the kid would pop up in Jason’s safe house to show him a wound - mostly a small cut he might as well have gotten from Alfred the cat - and Jason would take his dear time to treat the injury. Then he would wrap both of them into a blanket and put on nature documentaries. The ones with lots of animals.
The first time Jason treated Tim’s injury, the boy hadn’t stopped smiling. Jason was tempted to apply more pressure than necessary to wipe that grin off his brother’s face. He didn’t. For all of them, the ritual was something sacred. For a family of people who’d repress their true emotions rather than talking about them, this was their way to show affection, that they cared, that they apologize and that they forgive.
And now Jason was using this ritual on a stranger. Not his family. Not his teammates and friends. A guy that he had literally found on the streets. And he was strangely okay with that.
Jason knew that the other wouldn’t recognize the meaning of his gentle hands, wouldn’t understand the history behind the soothing words he was mumbling. And yet, he didn’t stop Jason either, giving completely into the touch, closing his eyes to the sound of Jason’s words. When Jason had reached his chest, treating the cuts and bruises, he could feel a steady heartbeat under his hand and it evoked the same feeling of grounding, that it would if it was the heart of any of his family.
Did Jason trick himself into feeling something like familiarity for this man due to the ritual? If seeing someone injured and helping that person had such an effect on Jason, then he really had a problem. Then again, he did see his goons injured a lot of times and while he didn’t feel anything, he also didn’t suddenly feel like he wanted to take care of them himself.
Jason slipped a hand behind the other’s back to gently guide him into a forward leaning position. "Thanks man, I really owe you." The man sighed and Jason hummed, as he dragged the washcloth over his back. The cuts seemed from his fall, rather than the origin the other injuries had. Lot’s of small, surface cuts. "I don't even know your name. Mine's Danny." Danny introduced himself. Right. Jason could have thought of that, but he was glad that the other was able to remember his own name. So no head injury…probably.
Jason scooped some ointment up and spread it generously over the scratches. At least Danny would be able to sleep on his back without pain. "Jason." he answered Danny’s question and he’s gotta admit, he had rarely had someone react this badly to his name.
One moment he was bent over the tub, taking care of Danny's back, the next fingers were buried in his hair, tucking his head down, and glowing green irises stared right at him. At his face, like Danny was looking - really looking - at him for the first time. Jason’s world narrowed in on the man's face completely. He let out a surprised huff.
"This is low. Taking my powers, capturing me, using me for your gains - fine." Danny hissed at him. "but this kind of torture?" The fingers in Jason's hair clenched harder, shooting painful stings through his scalp. "Don't you dare, use hisface. Not him."
Jason was dumbstruck. Not only did Danny attack him out of nowhere after Jason had literally worked over an hour to carefully treat his wounds, Danny's also suddenly showing an impressive amount of strength. He had figured as much when he was cleaning the man earlier. At first he'd looked lean, weak even, but under his clothes was a strongly built body.
That, however, did not help the predicament Jason was in. He didn't want to hurt Danny, when he just got all his wounds treated, but the furry and the small but terrifying fact Danny's eyes were actually glowing, kind of made him waver in his resolve. And what was this about losing powers and being captured? Was Danny some kind of Meta? "Hey, it's okay. I'm not trying to hurt you." Jason stored all this information away for later and decided to see if he could get some more information first. Getting Danny to loosen his grip would also be great.
"Then why are you wearing his face, his voice, even his name?" Danny's voice was thundering. Not in a human way. Jason was sure he could hear actual thundering underlining the other’s voice. There was a knife under the sink just stretching out his arm would be enough to grab it and hold it to Danny’s throat. Even a Meta couldn’t do anything against metal against their carotid artery if they were powerless. But something stopped Jason dead in his tracks.
A singular tear rolling down Danny's face. "How dare you use him against me?" His expression was furious, his muscles trembling under the tension Danny put on them to hold Jason close, but his voice betrayed him after all. It broke halfway through the accusation. Jason found himself in Danny, in the anger, in the hurt. It was the same betrayal he’d felt, coming back from the dead and realising that Joker was still alive, still killing more innocent and Batman just did nothing.
Jason's eyebrows softened. "I'm not. My name really is Jason, but if you see someone you know, perhaps you are hallucinating. Do you remember if you breathed in any sort of gas?" He tried his best to relax his whole body - appearing as harmless as a man of his stature could - and waited patiently for the other's answer.
"I- I'm not sure. It's - a blur." Danny mumbled, his brows furrowed and his eyes unfocused as he tried to remember what had happened to him. "But you - look so much like him." More tears streamed down his face. He sniffed a few times. Slowly, his hand relaxed and his eyes returned to the teal colour they had before. The hands slid down to cup Jason’s face, gently this time, as if he was the most precious thing Danny had ever laid his eyes upon, only to retract his hands completely. Whomever Danny was seeing, it wasn’t Jason and he could see that it took all of Danny’s willpower to keep that in mind.
"Yeah, those hallucinations can fuck your head up real bad." Jason mumbled sympathetically as he remembered the first time his mask had broken mid mission and he had been subjected to the fear toxin himself. While the hallucination had Jason curled together, sobbing on the ground, he did remember fondly what had happened afterwards. How Bruce had scooped him up and carried him home, just to cradle him in his arms. He had drawn soothing circles on Jason's back and whispered reassuring words with a voice so soft, Jason hadn't even known the old man was able to.
Now he saw Danny in front of him. Naked, covered in nothing but bandages all over his body, a trembling mess. Likely not much older than Jason's 21 years. Barely an adult. And Jason found himself reaching out to cup the man's face. He didn't dry the tears that were streaming down Danny's face - Danny was clearly mourning someone, who was Jason, to take tears that weren't his. Instead he leveled their faces and tried his best to soften his voice like his dad had all these years ago.
"I'm gonna carry you back to the living room and then we will find you some clothes and calm you down till all this is over."
Danny nodded slowly and Jason carefully reached down to take him up for a third time this night. If any of his rogues or, god forbid, his family saw him tonight, he could kiss his image goodbye. It was enough that Damian knew about his…weakness.
.˚⊹. ࣪𓉸 ࣪⊹˚.
Danny felt stupid for staring at Jason that much.
His eyes left the other’s face only for seconds as Jason shoves the red hoodie over his head. That Jason didn't look exactly how Danny remembered Jason - his Jason. He looked like an older version, more muscles as well. Jason had been a scrawny kid, looking younger than he was due to the malnutrition from his early childhood. But the gentleness in his actions and the comfort Danny felt in his presence were the same. The eyes as well, while the colour was off (the blue replaced by a deep green), they had a sharpness to them. A glint of mischievousness.
This fear toxin was really something. It didn't just show him Jason, it showed him a grown up version of him. A possibility of how he could have looked if he hadn’t died at fifteen.
So, no, Danny wasn’t really opposed to the fact that, for whatever reason, Jason guided him into his lap so that Danny could lean against Jason’s shoulder. He also didn’t say anything when this Jason started rubbing soothing circles onto his back. And Danny decided to use this situation for his own selfish desires, leaning the side of his head against the other man's shoulder while staring unapologetically at his face.
Any other person would have been weirded out long before this point by a stranger sitting in their lap, staring at them. But this Jason, perhaps, was feeling sorry for Danny. Whatever it was, Danny didn't mind it for one moment. If he had to act even more mournful, if he had to cry snout and tears, he would, happily do so, to be able to glance at his Jason's face a little longer. God, this felt so real. Danny needed to find more of this fear toxin, he could probably find a way to replicate it in a way, he could control the hallucination.
"Do you want to talk about him?" Jason's offer was as surprising as his whole attitude towards a stranger and judging by the way his eyebrows drew together, Danny figured that Jason himself would agree with him. "Only if you want to of course. It might help while waiting for the toxin to leave the system."
"Sure." Danny contemplated how much he could tell this man. Then again, seeing that he quite literally saved his life, he might as well tell him the whole truth. What could go wrong now- "I'm the Ghost King, Danny Phantom."
"Yeah right." Jason snorted. "And I'm Batman."
"I thought your name was Jason, not Bruce Wayne." Danny deadpanned. Did he just give away the secret identity of Batman - the scary bat furry? Yeah, but one could argue that this was the first time in a long time that he was under the effect of strong pain meds, seeing that normally his injuries just heal up in the matter of minutes.
Jason's mouth fell open as he gaped at Danny. "How- you- Who told you?" The stammer made Danny snicker a little bit.
"Told you, I'm the Ghost King. I know things like that." He didn't mention that he dated the second son of Bruce Wayne for quite a while.
This time Jason didn't laugh, he just starred. At first at Danny's face, then down at their position (him holding the Ghost King like you would a little child) and back up at Danny who grinned even more now, his head still resting on the other’s shoulder. This was fun. If he had his powers he could do his little trick where he put his hand inside a person. A great way to get the blood pressure up.
"I was summoned by some villains and they tried to get me to do something for them. I fought them, of course, but they had studied up on ghosts apparently and managed to get me to use enough of my energy to lose my powers temporarily." Danny felt anger bubbling up again, only thinking about it. "I managed to escape. And that's when you found me."
"Well, you found me, considering you ran into me." Jason mumbled.
"I thought that was a wall." Danny said surprised. His eyes wandered down and with one hand slightly pressing into Jason's pecs he felt the hard muscles under his fingers. "Interesting."
"Are ghost kings normally just casually groping people they’ve just met?" Jason grunted, yet he didn't make any effort to stop Danny either.
"Well, you do look like my late partner right now, so I'll make an exception." Danny smirked. He would hate himself for flirting with this man, after the toxin was out his system. "So you believe me? That I'm the Ghost King?"
"I guess," Jason shrugged, "I had weirder things happening than meeting the ruler of the ghost realm, believe me." The statement was loaded, but Danny decided to not pry further information out of Jason, who was already offering him so much kindness.
He took a deep breath then started talking. "The person I'm seeing in front of me right now is called Jason as well. He is - was - my partner. A ghost who died before his time, but so full of life." Danny smiled as he remembered the first time he met the ghost of Jason. The way the kid had grinned at him had made his heart skip. "We started out as friends. Companions. Over the months and years we grew closer. Very close. He was so wonderful. Happy, always laughing - and by god, his laughter, it was beautiful. The kind where you just had to join in. And then his eyes would light up. And then, after about 3 years I proposed to him." Danny's voice took on a more serious tone.
The day had been wonderful. Not because something big had happened. It had been quite mundane if anything. He had come back from fighting ghosts. Exhausted and annoyed; what was he the freaking Ghost King for, if they still did what they wanted? And there was Jason, leaning against the headboard of their shared bed, a book in his lap, napping peacefully. And Danny had felt such a deep feeling of comfort and calm creeping up on him. With a smile he had leaned down to place a kiss right on top of Jason's head. "If I could, I would put a ring on your finger, just to keep you by my side like this forever." he had whispered into the black hair. A chuckle. "Do it then, coward."
Jason picked up at the change in Danny's demeanor immediately. It wasn't hard with the way he suddenly got that far off look. "Sounds like you really loved him."
"Mhm." Danny agreed. He had. He still did. "He was wonderful. Dark blue eyes, and beautiful black hair. And always laughing, did I mention that already? It’s just- you don’t often find a ghost with a heart still so light. Sometimes he'd imitate the call of this little round bird; a Robin. And he loved telling stories about his time as vigilante-"
"Danny." Jason's voice cut through the air. "Are you implying that this Jason, whom you met as a ghost, is the second Robin. The one who died about 6 years ago?"
.˚⊹. ࣪𓉸 ࣪⊹˚.
Danny's eyes went wide and he actually lifted his head to get a better look at Jason. "How did you figure that out?"
Jason dragged a hand over his face. This was surreal. Was he dreaming? He must be. But even his fucked uo mind couldn’t come up with something like this. "It wasn't that hard to piece together with everything you let slip." He took a deep breath. In. Out. Then another. In. Out. "Danny. What do you see when you look at me?"
Jason had to know. He had to make sure that the suspicion in the back of his head was true, before doing anything else.
For a moment both men just stared at each other in silence. Both having the same suspicion yet neither wanting to speak the words first. It was too absurd, too good to be true, too corny soulmate fanfiction on the internet. Then Danny started. "You don't look exactly like him. More like a grown up version." His voice trembled. Jason knew he wasn't stupid. Danny definitely had a hunch why Jason asked this of him. Maybe he'd even felt the same immediate connection that Jason had felt when laying his eyes upon Danny for the first time. "Green eyes instead of blue. The same pitch black hair, but there are some white bangs. A stronger body. My Jason was smaller, less muscles." My Jason. Something tickled in Jason's stomach, hearing these words out of Danny's mouth.
"What happened to him? Your Jason?" Jason whispered. He felt like all the breath had been sucked out of his lungs at once.
"He vanished. I looked for him for three years, but it was like his ghost was removed completely from my realm." Danny's voice was just as much of a raspy whisper at this point. His hands came up, stopping only inches from Jason's face, hanging in the air like he wasn't sure whether he was allowed to touch him or not. The desire won, and his cold fingers desperately pressed with Jason's skin. "I never thought about looking for you in the world of the living. How-"
"Crazier things then having the Ghost King sitting in my lap happened." Jason laughed, tears starting to build in his eyes. If what Danny told him was true - and he had no reason to doubt it - it explained everything. The feeling of always looking for something, someone. Having a part of himself that felt empty. And the feeling of warmth and the desire to keep this man close and protect him. "I'm not- I don't remember anything from my time as a ghost. If I had known- I'm sorry I didn’t search for you."
Danny shook his head vehemently. "No. No, you couldn't have known. I'm just-" Danny turned to completely face Jason, sliding his hands to the back of his head and pulled him into a bone crushing hug, where Jason found his face pressed into the other’s chest, while Danny tried holding back sobs. "Jason, oh god Jason, I don’t even know- To have you back- To think you were so close for such a long time."
Jason's arms moved by themselves as they clasped around Danny's lower back, pressing their bodies even closer together. It was a weird feeling: Jason's body seemed to act out of habit. Being with Danny, having him in his arms, it felt like the most natural thing to do. But his mind was not on the same stage yet. There was a stranger, holding onto him, as if he was scared Jason might vanish (again). And the stranger told him that they were what? Together? Engaged? Married? His brain was still trying to make sense of this.
The conflict of his body and mind left Jason utterly confused and perhaps even slightly scared. And Danny, of course, picked up on it immediately.
"This must be very weird for you." Danny stated as he slowly entangled himself from Jason and sat down on his heels on the couch next to Jason. "I mean, I'm basically a stranger to you." Danny mumbled.
Jason nodded. "I feel like I've known you forever, but when I actually try to remember-" He made a movement with his hands imitating something evaporating into smoke. "Nothing."
The silence stretched between them. Outside the window Jason could hear the nightly traffic of Crime Alley. Inside, he felt his heart beating in his throat. Danny fixed his gaze at his hands. He picked at the waistband of the hoodie he wore as if he was trying to make a decision. Then, shortly before Jason thought he couldn't handle the silence anymore, Danny raised his head again.
"The memories of the ghost realm are gone. Forever." He added before Jason could even open his mouth. "If you like - I could tell you about it though." Another pause, then a little quieter. “I could show them to you as well. It won’t be the same as your own memories, but it’s the next best thing.”
Danny's voice was cautious, his words letting uncertainty shine through in every syllable, as if one wrong move would have Jason jumping out the window. (To be fair, there was a time where exactly that had happened more than once a week.)
“You can do that? Showing them to me?” Jason asked in awe.
Danny nodded slowly. “Well, I am the Ghost King and as such I have tons of powers. I never tried, but I’m preeeeetty sure, I can somehow make it happen. As soon as I am not powerless anymore…”
"That would be lovely, actually." Jason said. He put - what he hoped was - a reassuring hand on Danny's leg and gave it an encouraging squeeze.
It helped. Danny smiled - genuinely smiled, not grinned or smirked - and something shifted in Jason. Something finally clicked in place. For now he didn't need the memories, because deep down he knew that this was the man he had been looking for. The missing piece. And he knew he had been in love with Danny. Was falling in love with him again in this exact moment. And, Jason was sure of that, he would fall in love with him over and over again.
He couldn't even pinpoint it. If someone were to ask Jason “why?” - he wouldn’t be able to answer. He wouldn't be able to list ten things he loved about Danny. He just did and for now, that was more than enough for Jason.
And just like he had read Jason's mind, Danny leaned forward, closing the distance between them and-
Danny kissed Jason.
Danny’s lips pressed against Jason's.
Jason felt like he had just run a sprint. His breath was reduced to short, little gasps escaping his mouth. His whole body trembled at the thought of what a real kiss would feel like, if this little peck on the lips already sent him into a haze.
And again, Danny read his mind. "Don't be scared-" he teased in response to Jason's shaky breath. "You might not remember, but we've actually done this part before." Danny's voice was but a whisper. His forehead resting against Jason's. Teal blue orbs gazing into the depths of irises as green as the Lazarus pit.
The next time their lips collided, it had been Jason, who closed the painful distance between them. This kiss started innocently enough. Soft lips touching Jason's. Hands appearing in his hair, tucking gently. And the next thing Jason knew, Danny had vacated his spot on the couch for Jason's thighs. His lips started moving and Jason, still in a faze, mirrored the movement with his own. Simultaneously, Danny started moving his hips, grazing ever so slightly the bulge that had started forming in Jason's pants. The surprised gasp that escaped his lips in response was immediately used as an entrance for Danny's tongue.
"Fu'h." Jason slurred around the foreign tongue in his mouth, as his hips started moving against Danny’s, grinding into the man with just as much purpose. " 'anny."
Jason made the mistake to open his eyes. Through burning green eyes, Danny stared back at him, the intensity of the gaze sending shivers down Jason’s back. His head was emptied of everything that wasn't Danny's name the moment the other man moaned Jason's name as well.
This - Jason thought - was how he could live the rest of his life.
.˚⊹. ࣪𓉸 ࣪⊹˚.
"So, there is something I still struggle to wrap my head around." Dick leaned his head against the back of the couch. Jason's couch. Jason's couch in Jason's apartment. Where Dick had walked into. Climbed. Through the window. In full Nightwing costume. (Luckily after Jason's impromptu make out session with Danny. Having his brother walk in on Jason enthusiastically sucking on a - to Dick - stranger's tongue was not on Jason's bingo card for this year.)
Now his older brother was launched on the couch in his hero suit, feet probed up on the table, grinning at Danny. Dick's eyes had immediately clocked the clothes Danny wore, as Jason's.
"Yo little wing, guess who is here to visit-" Dick had gone through multiple emotions in the blink of an eye. Sizing up the man sitting on the couch, snuggled into a red hoodie and holding a tea cup with both hands. Dick had been ready to throw a punch, then his eyes had narrowed in, his mind making multiple conclusions at once and then a wide grin formed on his lips. "Hey there, stranger, who wears my little bro's clothes."
"Shoot." Danny offered, leaning comfortably back into Jason. The both of them sat at the other end of the couch. Jason leaned into the corner, while Danny had, once again, settled between his legs, cuddling happily against him.
"Jason was fifteen when he died and you tell me you guys are like married?" Dick's voice was slow, calculated, almost fully hiding the animosity building up behind his goofy grin, but Jason knew his brother. There was hardly a more overprotective person in their family. "Sorry, I know being immortal and all changes..things, but marrying a fifteen year old kid sounds a bit-" Dick didn't finish the sentence but made it clear what he wanted to hint at:
Pedophilic.
Danny blinked, once, then twice. Then he bursted out laughing. "Oh hell - this is great." he gasped through tears after a solid minute of laughter. Jason caught the confused look Dick sent him and just shrugged. "OH. I gotta tell Sam. She's gonna love that." Danny laughed his phone already next to his ear, as he still ignored Dick.
"Hey, dude, could you just answer my question. I don't think this is that funny." Dick grumbled.
"Yo, guess what, girl." Danny started without even greeting the person at the other side. "I was just called a pedophile for kissing my multiple month's older Ghost Queen."
There was a grumble at the other end of the phone which turned into a surprised exclamation "Danny I swear to all the realms that exist, it's 5am. I'm gonna- You what? You found him?!"
Danny chuckled, a low sound which in turn let butterflies loose in Jason's stomach. "Mhm, he found me. And his older brother is about to kill me if I interpret his expression correctly. Anyway, talk to you later, love ya." He made a kissing sound before hanging up the phone.
"What do you mean Jaybird's older? Aren't you like some immortal ghost king, or something?" Dick's rambling started before Danny had even pressed the button to end the call. Evan Jason was confused by this revelation. To be honest, he hadn't really thought as far as Dick had. The only thing that had mattered in the moment was Danny. Keeping him safe, keeping him alive. Then keeping his lips on Jason's. Now, Danny found himself caught between the questioning looks of the two brothers.
The man sat upright and Jason immediately missed the warmth of Danny's back against his chest, but the fingers Danny threaded through his just a second later soothed his anxiety in the blink of an eye. "While I am the Ghost King, I've only taken on that title shortly before Jason died. I was in fact fifteen just like he was. And we didn't quote unquote marry before we both turned 18." Danny squeezed Jason's hand. His gaze locked onto the man watching him with big eyes. "You disappeared the night of our wedding."
"Danny…" Jason whispered. His other hand lifted without thinking, cupping the back of the Danny's head and pulling him closer to rest their foreheads together. "I'm sorry." Of course it hadn't been Jason's fault, he didn't even know till now, but the thought of Danny waking up to an empty bed left Jason's heart clenching uncomfortably.
Danny pressed a kiss onto his cheek before turning his attention back to Dick, who witnessed their interaction with his lips pressed into a thin line. "Though ‘marrying’ and ‘wedding’ aren’t quite the right words to describe it. It's more like a binding of souls. Exchanging parts of your soul with the soul of your love." Danny explained. "Being dead the whole Till death due us part thing doesn't really work anymore."
Jason chuckled and even Dick's eyes softened slightly.
"As I am the Ghost King, the ritual made Jason the Queen. As for the immortality part: I'm only half-ghost, therefore I'm not even sure if I am immortal. I'm still aging. I might just live normally and when I die become a full ghost or I might age to my prime or whatever and then just stop getting older physically." Danny talked about his death as if they were deciding whether to get sushi or pizza for dinner. It shoved the reality right in Jason's face: This man sitting between his legs, holding his hand and calling him his Queen was not human. Not fully. For Danny, death was just another event in his life like starting university, moving out, getting a job. It seemed so surreal, when for Jason, having died had been one of the most life changing experiences (and not in a nice, finding himself way).
"And this exchange of souls-" Dick said the word like it was foreign on his tounge. "did it involve…"
Jason blinked. Dick raised one of his eyebrows. Danny snorted.
"For fucks sake- Richard!" Jason cried out and threw a pillow right at his idiot of a brother's face. "Get your nose out of my sex life for once."
"What sex life?" Danny mumbled. "We never went that far."
"We didn't?" Jason asked deadpanned.
"You didn't?" Dick laughed at the same time. "You mean to tell me Jason had sex out of wedlock before even having slept with his actual partner once?"
"It's not like I knew, okay?" Jason hissed, throwing another pillow which Dick dodged easily, stretching out his tongue in the most annoying-sibling-way.
"Cheating is cheating." Dick laughed loudly. "Oh I'm gonna tell B’ about this. Everything."
"Get out, fucker." Jason growled. His free hand slit under the couch where one of his guns was hidden. “Or I’m gonna tell B’ how careless you were showing up in your suit in front of a normal citizen.”
Dick raised his hands into a defensive pose, while he slowly got up and backed away in the direction of the window. "Woah, little wing. I'm already gone, see? Have fun and don't forget to use protection." With a teasing wink Dick was out the window and merged with the darkness of the early morning hours.
Leaving Jason blushing from head to toe. "Sorry about him, he is an asshole." He mumbled with his forehead hiding against Danny’s shoulder. The absence of Dick brought his attention back to Danny. Danny, who hadn't said a word in a while. Danny, who just sat with his back to him. "Danny?"
The words that left the other one's mouth next, were mumbled, too quiet for Jason to string the sound together to something his mind could make any sense of. But Jason wasn't stupid enough to need to understand exactly what Danny was saying, to be able to gather that Danny was hurt. Or angry. Or maybe both. His hands hooked under Danny's legs and in a quick movement he turned the man to face him.
"Can you repeat that please?" Jason lifted Danny's chin with one hand, sliding the other to his hips to rub over it with his thumb.
Green eyes burned through him. "Who was it?" Danny growled.
Oh. Oh.
Not hurt. Not angry. Jealous.
Jason was pretty sure, if he gave out any names now, he would be cleaning up bodies pretty soon.
"Nobody important." Jason answered with, what he hoped was, a reassuring smile.
"Then why did you fuck them?" Danny spit.
Hands gripped the collar of Jason's shirt, as Danny leaned in, his green eyes glowing even more and- were his teeth always this sharp? Fuck.
"Listen, man. I really don't remember." Jason swallowed hard and fixed his eyes on Danny's lips. He could still feel the softness of them on his own and right beneath he could see the sharp teeth. If Danny would bury those teeth in his neck right now- Jason was definitely learning new information about himself at this moment. "But if you continue looking at me like that you might as well just clean off any trace of other people off of me."
"What-" Danny tilted his head slightly to the side, which only really managed to make him look adorable and hot at the same time. Jason gave his younger self a proud pat on the back for pulling such a man. Danny's eyes slowly drifted down, down, down and then his eyebrows shot up to nearly meet his hairline.
Jason would be embarrassed if he wasn't so turned on right now. So he leaned in and licked over Danny's lips before taking the lower one between his teeth. "My bed is much more comfortable than this couch, you know." he whispered.
The next moment Jason's legs desperately searched for support, finding it around Danny's hip. Danny's hands under his ass, keeping him up, as he walked through the bedroom door. Jason was thrown on top of his bed, with the other man following just seconds after.
"I guess your powers are slowly returning?" Jason grinned up at Danny and wound his arms around his partner's neck to gently guide Danny down and into another kiss that lasted for multiple minutes.
"Mhm 'eems like it." Danny's answer came slurred and breathy. And while his hips were already moving in anticipation, that had likely built up for years, his expression looked scared. Unsure of what to do next or how far to go.
It was a bit funny to have this supposed Ghost King freezing up, unsure what to do next. Jason pushed down the desire to throw Danny's words from before back at him. "Don't be scared, I've done this before." He planned on getting laid tonight and this comment would likely be counterproductive in his endeavor. Instead he switched their position in a swift movement, placing himself right above Danny. With a mischievous grin Jason asked. "Well, your highness, ready to be worshipped?"
.˚⊹. ࣪𓉸 ࣪⊹˚.
Danny woke as rays of sunlight tickled him. With a yawn he rolled around to face Jason. His love was wearing a fully relaxed expression, as he happily snored. His legs were still entangled with Danny’s and one of his arms was tucked around Danny’s hip. Danny smiled as his eyes fell to the white streak of hair. He reached out to take the hair between his fingers. It was soft, just like the rest of the hair. But it had a meaning, Danny hadn’t dared to mention in front of Jason’s overprotective brother.
It was a claim. A part of his soul intertwined with Jason’s, but visible to everyone. A part of Danny himself implemented into Jason’s DNA. “Mine.” Danny whispered with a drunken smile and leaned in, to place his lips against the white streak.
Jason was his Queen. His partner. His lover. His. Fully. Body and Soul.
Jason's eyes opened slowly and he had to blink a few times before they managed to focus. "Mornin’, love." he murmured with a sleepy smile on his lips. But instead of getting up, he just tucked Danny closer, burying his head in the other's neck. Jason inhaled deeply, then exhaled with a pleased moan and continued his slumber.
Danny smiled. "Good morning, love."