Chapter Text
Thursday, March 3rd 2022;
Danny growled lowly to himself, he shouldn’t have come to the mortal realm. Jazz didn’t even know the significance of today, so popping in unannounced and her being busy wasn’t her fault.
9 years ago exactly, it was a sunday.
9 years and one day ago, his parents' life’s work didn’t work. And one day later… it did. Killing him in the process and leading to the rest of everything.
“Happy 9th Death Day Danny,” he muttered to himself as he trudged toward the coffee house near Jazz’s place.
His parents disowned him, and refused to speak to him. Better than being strapped to a table again, in his opinion.
Sam and Tucker had their own life together. They made their choice, so did he.
There were very few ghosts that actually liked him. Even if he was their king. Even admitted he was a good king.
He could get in contact with Ellie, but she wasn’t around much anyway, and had been aloof the past few years.
And since the raid on the GIW and the onsite emergency ecto transfusion from Wulf - well, let's just say he was a pretty solitary creature.
A real Lone Wolf.
Danny wasn’t very sure of Gotham, he could hear about 10 different crimes taking place within his hearing range. Half of them included assault, three of which he could smell the blood from.
The scents of Gotham were a lot, blood, mold, gunpowder and too many emotions; He could smell and feel both. It took a lot to keep his hackles down, and make sure his skin stayed free of fur.
He shut down his empathetic abilities, and took a breath, the scent of fresh pastries as he entered the coffee house that helped settle his nerves. As soon as he had his drink, he would return to the realms for the yearly brawl held at the end of his death day.
Well, that had been the plan till he saw… or rather felt the man walk through the door, stepping into line to order.
A reverent.
And his anger was visible, at least, to Danny it was visible. A pressing, sickly green aura surrounded him.
He tilted his head from the waiting area, repressing his own aura while he gently prodded the man’s energy and emotion.
Anger and rage were what made up most of any reverent’s emotions. But there were always the reasons they were feeling those. When Danny took his small peek, there was so much hurt and fear and pain that the Dead Wolf had to choke on a whine in his throat.
Well then, that had his attention. He’d see if he could do something about it for his subject before he left.
The man looked about his age, if not too well built for his own good. The kiss of death graced the front lock of his hair, and Danny could see the green edging at his eyes.
The barista called out his order, and he moved to the counter to grab it as the other man was paying for his. He didn’t want to linger and make himself look like he was staring, but he had to do something if he was going to help.
He looked longingly at the coffee in his hand as the man was making his way over to the wait area. Resigned, Danny sighed and turned, purposefully moving quickly with his drink in optimal spill position and crashed into the other.
For a moment he felt the rage spike, so he ‘slipped’ on some ice and made it look like he needed physical contact with the other to keep upright. The moment his hand made contact, he pulled away the rage, and tried to let his own aura feed calm apologies.
He quickly stepped away after. “I’m so sorry, I spilled my drink all over you, are you okay?” he said.
The other man looked stunned, to his credit the rage was… unlike anything Danny had felt before. Removing it that quickly had probably been disorienting. And his own system was struggling to cleanse it.
Reverent’s anger was what brought them back, a stubborn and powerful thing that didn’t want to be washed away, it wanted vengeance enacted in their name.
This rage was old too. How long had he been alive since his death? Danny wondered. And how strong he must be to have it not have driven him crazy by now.
He felt a type of pride swell in his chest, and smothered down a whine and resisted other wolfy instincts. Looking at the man objectively, there was a lot to like.
“I…” the man spoke. “It’s okay. I’m not upset,” though he looked confused about that himself. “Are you okay? You slipped.”
And ohhh… his voice was smooth. A deep and confident tenor, and just on the right side of menacing even when he was being soft.
Danny’s stomach fluttered and a quiet whine managed to escape him. The young king realized very quickly that this was no longer just the ruler of the dead helping one of his subjects. He gave a single, slow nod.
“I’m sorry,” Danny said again, looking down at the mess as he grabbed some napkins and bent down to start cleaning the spill.
The staff came around with a mop and shooed him away, the other was handed his drink, and started to walk away.
“I, uh… My name's Danny,” he said, a little more eager than he meant. He was trailing behind the other man. Who stared at him, an eyebrow raised in question as he was halfway to the door.
“Jason,” the other said, turning to face him slightly.
“This is super forward-” Danny pressed on with vigor, because he was never good at subtlety. “-But are you free? I’d like to treat you since I made a mess of your shirt.”
Jason looked him up and down and then continued to the door. Danny watched, another whine escaping and he could almost feel his wolf ears drooping even though they didn’t exist right then.
But then the larger man paused at the door and looked back at him with a smug grin. “You coming or what?”
Jason didn’t know what to make of Danny.
When he’d spilled his coffee, Jason was actually fearful underneath all of his rage that he would hurt the unsuspecting man, but he’d slipped and his hands latched onto him for safety and he felt the rage leave him as the man caught himself.
The contact had been cold, one step past comfortable and the anger drained out of him.
Then the twink stepped back and those blue eyes locked onto him, all of him, as he apologized. Jason had thought he made him uncomfortable, head to toe covered in scars. Even his face wasn’t spared.
He got his coffee and moved to leave, not wanting to linger and scare the smaller man further. But he’d stopped him and asked to treat him.
They walked a few blocks in comfortable silence, Danny walked with a grace that rivaled Cass’, even if it was a completely different type of movement. The rest of his movements, however, were stilted. Like he was almost reacting to his surroundings, but stopping himself last second.
“Where’s the nearest clothing store that you shop at? I’d like to replace your shirt,” Danny glanced at his black T, tilting his head a bit. Jason could’ve sworn he was smelling the air between them as his nose twitched slightly. “And then you can pick a restaurant. Don’t worry about the cost, it’s all my treat,” Danny smiled. Bright and earnest and sharp canines just shy of being vampiric.
When Jason stopped walking, Danny did the same.
“The fuck is up with your teeth?” Jason grunted.
“My…?” The man seemed to be licking his teeth behind his lips. “Oh! Those,” he smiled again, only it was a wide open-mouthed smile as if to show off.
Jason’s heart might have sped up slightly. Adorable and hot didn’t usually go together that well.
“They were a ‘why the heck not’ on a trip to Vegas after I graduated high school. My friend got them to piss off her parents. I got them for the aesthetic."
“Vegas? I’ve heard it’s like a drunken fever dream,” Jason said, continuing to walk.
Danny followed and nodded. “My gut says you’re a Gothamite to the core, which means you don’t leave much if my friend is to be believed. Vegas isn’t all that anyway.”
“Are you not from Gotham yourself?” Jason asked, lifting a brow in question. The guy seemed to match the brand of crazy that only existed in this city, the way he spoke was local.
“Ah, I’ve been here two hours and I already did it,” he scoffed. Taking a breath the man spoke again, but with a much different lit to his words. Coming with a midwestern accent. “Hi, Danny Nightengale, from small town Illinois.”
“You were just speaking in a Gotham accent,” Jason said. He eyed Danny a bit more carefully, this could possibly be a trap.
Danny once again tilted his head, different this time. Like he was trying to hear something. After a moment, Jason heard police sirens.
Wordlessly, Danny moved to the alleyway they’d just passed, the sirens getting louder. He moved to one side of the green dumpster and as the screeching tires rounded the corner, he kicked it. Hard. Sending it into the street and leaving the culprit crashing into it. The cops came to a stop and had their guns pulled on what looked to be a bank robber.
Jason had to admit that was impressive. Danny was probably a meta of some sort. He didn’t have the muscle to kick that dumpster that hard with how full it was like he did otherwise. The man with raven hair left the alleyway and kept walking, hands in his pockets.
He ran a few strides to catch up and allowed a laugh and wary smile to grace his lips.
“Are you sure you’re not from Gotham? Or related to Batman or something?”
Danny’s whole face curdled at that, his lips pulled up, nose and forehead wrinkling. “I’m insulted you would compare me to someone so emotionally constipated,” he grumbled. His voice was slightly raspier, with a deeper tone than before. The gotham accent was bleeding back in.
Jason figured it was probably an ADHD thing at this point, with how it wasn’t a quick change back. “Emotionally constipated?”
He was curious how he knew. If he wasn’t from Gotham, he could be out to get him and his family. Even though he wasn’t getting a single bad vibe from the guy.
“My sister is a criminal profiler and a psychiatrist at Arakham, she’s worked with a good number of the bats. Said Batman communicates in grunts when he doesn't want to emote. She’s scolded him for it, but it never gets anywhere,” he laughed. And the sound was so nice in Jason’s ears. “She once asked Nightwing if he would help her lock Batman in a room with her for a session, but Nightwing said the man would do literally anything, including calling Superman, to get out of it.”
Jason scoffed, letting himself relax a bit. He could confirm that his sister worked at Arakham, and he had Danny’s full name to run a background check on him. That was a good point that Danny wasn’t a villain.
“You’re from a small town, and she came to Gotham for this? Is she crazy?”
A low sound he couldn’t make out sounded just underneath Danny’s laugh. “Small town, yeah. But the kind of crazy we saw and dealt with on a daily basis makes Gotham rouge's motive seem sane. She said it would be easier to tame them then back home.”
“We’re a special brand of crazy, so I have a hard time believing that,” Jason gave with a light smile.
“So,” Danny stopped at a crosswalk of a busier intersection. He made an obvious motion to the streets, before tugging on the hem of Jason’s shirt with a laugh. “Where to?”
Danny couldn’t remember the last time he had this hard a time keeping his wolfish features hidden while they walked through the mall. He was using invisibility and intangibility on his tail as it wagged in wide sweeps behind him. He followed Jason into the bathroom then to a stall to let his features out for a moment while the other changed and washed the coffee from his body and shirt, it was sticky by the time they left the store with a new apparel.
He could feel the other getting frustrated, but he let him have his minute. Besides, Danny didn’t know if he could handle seeing Jason bare chested right now, his ears and tail were already giving him a hard time. Not to mention his vocals…
All that went out the window when there was a younger shout of fear and quick footsteps out of the restroom. He forced his features away completely as he ran out of the stall.
Jason looked and felt emotionally pained. His shirt was off and he was trying to quickly wipe the sticky coffee from his bare chest. His skin was covered with scars. Bullet and knife wounds. A few burns here and there as Jason turned his chest away from Danny, trying to make sure he couldn’t see the large ‘Y’ scar on his body.
He turned his gaze respectfully, and stepped toward the exit with a soft smile. “I’ll make sure no one comes in while you finish.”
He felt Jason’s emotions shift in an instant. Surprise and hope. Confusion and curiosity.
Danny frowned as he stood at the exit, stationed it like a guard dog. Was Jason not used to that kind of respect? Or care? Basic decency??
He was going to have to change that. Make sure Jason knew he was worth it, and to make sure he knew he deserved that and a lot more. Danny would be sure to give it to him.
…
…
… Oh shit.
Oh shit.
Shit.
His core was already attaching himself to him.
Fuck, how long had it been since he’d done that with a human? He didn’t know how to be a human anymore. Fuck.
He was already struggling not to be wolfish, the only people he visited in the mortal realm were Jazz and the packs across the globe when he needed to trade things for his alchemy.
The fuckers wouldn’t let him in their packs. They claimed he was worse than turned. He was scum to them, even if he could beat them easily without his ghost powers.
But damn… how was he going to pass for anything remotely normal. Being in Gotham would help, but… Fuck.
He heard Jason moving toward him, and when the man stepped next to him, with his posture making him smaller, Danny swallowed a placating whine.
“Thank you,” Jason said, his emotions still a rollercoaster.
Danny tilted his head in thought. “I used to avoid mirrors too, because of mine,” Danny said thoughtfully. Moving away from the bathroom, Jason keeping up.
“...Yours?” Jason asked carefully.
Danny gave a nod, pulling at the edge of his collar to show his welcome gift from the GIW for his short stay with them. A much more jagged and sloppy vivisection scar than what he suspected was Jason’s autopsy scar.
Jason stopped dead, looking around then guided them to a bench tucked in an alcove. He raised his hand to Danny’s collar, eyes glancing between where his scar sat and Danny’s eyes in question.
Danny leaned closer, and Jason’s hand made contact, gently pulling his collar some to look at the gnarled skin. “I don’t… can’t… talk-”
He was okay showing someone who understood. But that didn’t mean even the thought of talking about it, stranger or not, made everything in him crawl.
“No, don’t,” Jason said softly as he could. He felt murderous and full of wonder. This complete stranger shared this with him in an attempt to comfort him. Not to mention, it looked like Danny might have been alive. Awake and thrashing when it happened. “You didn’t even ask about mine, I can return that favor.” He let go of the collar and scooted back to give Danny room.
Danny pouted when he did, but didn’t crowd his space. Curious, he very pointedly moved back, and closer than before. Their knees touching, Danny lit up like the sun once again.
With that puppy head tilt, he spoke with a hesitant smile. “I don’t know how to be a person, not after this,” he drew the Y over his chest. Then looked up at Jason with his eyes sparkling. “And I know I’m going to be really weird, and I have secrets that I can’t share with you yet.”
Danny offered his hand palm up on Jason’s knee. His touch was cool, but not like it was before. It was more like lemonade in summer.
“But Ancients I’m already head over heels for you. I suck at being subtle, so I’ll just ask. Can I take you out a few times? If you don’t want to pursue a relationship I’ll leave Gotham the second you ask. But would you let me court you first?”
The words tumbled out of Danny’s mouth, and Jason’s heart did flips.
…
… Oh shit.
Oh shit.
Shit.
It was the most earnest and decisive way to say Jason’s opinion and choice mattered to him more than his comfort or plans.
He was a hopeless romantic, and he felt like Danny just put him in a romance novel of Jason’s own design.
He might swoon.
But…
Jason shook his head “I have… anger issues that are… outside my control. I lash out sometimes,” he frowned. Resisting reaching out and taking Danny’s offered hand. “I hurt people. People I care about, just because they’re there.”
But Danny didn’t seem to take the rejection as he thought he would, instead, Danny thought for a moment, looking around. Then grabbed his wrist and pulled him up. Leading him to a shitty mall dojo that was between classes. He held two $100’s out to the instructor.
“Can we use the mats?”
The man’s eyebrows rose, looking between the two of them before taking the money. “Clean up the blood when he’s done beating your ass.”
Danny scoffed and stepped out of his shoes, motioning for Jason to do the same.
As soon as the instructor man disappeared into the office, Danny spoke.
“Let me prove to you that you can’t hurt me. Let me prove that I can protect myself against some… outside influence of anger.”
Jason raised his brow and they stepped barefoot onto the mats. “I don’t think you understand, Dann-”
He barely had time to dodge with how quick the other man moved, side stepping a kick aimed for his head, but somehow got tripped by the other foot still on the floor, wrapping around his stabilizing foot and yanking in out from under him. He landed flat on his back.
And that… shouldn’t have been physically possible.
With one foot next to his head, and the other by his waist. Danny tilted his head with his sharp teeth smiling. The fluorescent mall lights highlighting him. He blinked up at him, still caught off guard.
“Don’t tell me I don’t know well trained when I see it,” He stepped back and offered a hand to help him up. Still grinning.
Jason looked him up and down. “You can throw offensive, but can you dodge?” because he was honestly more worried about hitting him in pit rage.
Damn… he was actually considering this. It hadn’t been two hours.
Danny gave a nod and a fond smile. “Someone once taught me a game after I got decked too many times in close range,” he said, stepping into closer quarters. “Gotta stay within 5’ feet of each other and not get hit while only dodging or blocking. If you get hit, then it becomes the other person’s turn to dodge.”
He tilted his head once more, contemplating.
“We can do 6’ since we’re both tall,” he laughed.
Jason smirked, once again looking at Danny. Trying to figure him out. His strange energy was compelling. His body language was confusing and strange. But from everything he could tell, he was being honest and genuine.
So Jason nodded, and the game began.
Danny blocked for the first minute, but then quickly transitioned to only dodging, able to predict Jason’s movements. Even when Jason switched styles, it only took a few attacks with him blocking to go back to dodging.
He somehow was barely out of breath, and was grinning wide. Jason was only breathing a little hard, but his grin matched.
He was having fun. And he was actually trying to hit the other and wasn’t even managing to graze him. That thought should’ve been worrying but it was enticing instead. He wondered what an actual spar would look like. The kind of energy it would give him.
Danny’s fluidity was beautiful and bordering taunting toward the end. He tilted his head one more time with a smug grin before he moved. Kicking his feet out from under him and catching him by his waist and his wrist in Danny’s other hand.
“Let me court you, Angel,” Danny said softly.
Jason frowned, looking away. “I’m not an angel.”
Danny let go of Jason’s wrist, and with his hand in his line of sight, moved it toward his white lock of hair. “The kiss of death,” he said. Brushing it away from his forehead with a reverence he didn’t think he deserved. “Is only gifted to those who are worthy.”
Jason met his eyes again, eager and kind. He reached up to brush his hand through Danny’s hair, not finding any white. So how did he know that's what it was from?
“Let me court you. Till the end of the month, and you can give me some backwards answer on April fools,” he gave a nervous smile and oh… Jason was gone.
Jason, with his hand still in his hair, ran his fingers down to the nape of his neck and his thumb in front of his ear. He leaned up, and pulled down, bringing Danny into a kiss.
His stomach was full of bats, the good kind, and that feeling of his diaphragm too excited to do its job while his heart pounded faster.
When their lips met, it was that comforting cool. Electric and earthy, it had him melting further in Danny’s hold. Which, wasn’t faltering even with his weight.
Danny’s fingers were scratching lightly at his scalp and then tickling lightly at the nape of his neck. He pulled back only a little, brushing his nose against Jason’s, then nosing gently at the scar on his cheek before pushing his forehead against his.
“I’m taking that as a yes,” he smiled.
It was well after 9PM when Danny was making his way back to Jazz’s apartment.
Him and Jason sparred for a while longer, then got some food from the food court and talked. Jason was mentioning how much he loved to read and so Danny dragged him to the bookstore and told him to pick some, and he would buy them.
With that conversation, they realized they were both well off. Jason was apparently a fancy trust fund kid to a multi billionaire, and even though he didn’t touch it often he had access. But his own job had him well off too.
Danny had explained that he had sold a few patents and also developed a few devices and software for data keeping that landed him his money. Jason didn’t need to know that he was richer than ‘Bruce Wayne’ because he was the king of the between.
They laughed about being each other’s sugar babies and bought each other their favorite books. They left there and got dinner at a Bat Burger before Jason had to excuse himself for himself.
“I promised I’d help some of the kids in the neighborhood with their essays,” he smiled. And Danny’s heart melted just a little over that. They’d exchanged numbers, hugged and stole one last soft kiss before parting ways.
By the time he knocked on Jazz’s door, he couldn't help his ears and tail from being out. His feet ached from his need to shift.
Jazz opened the door, the creepstick in her grip. “Danny? I thought you were going back to the realms? Get in before someone sees you. Danny are you… are you high?”
He took a deep breath as he kicked off his shoes and socks. “No,” he smiled at her. “This is so much better than being high. Can we dog pile tonight?”
Jazz gave him a once over before shaking her head. “I need to go to bed and sleep. If you’re staying the night just make sure you don’t leave fur everywhere, please,” She said. Turning and walking away.
His ears fell and he let himself whine as her door clicked shut. To be fair, that was his fault. He had been the one to distance himself after the raid on the GIW, and had said a lot of hurtful things to all of the people who tried to comfort him as a new werewolf.
He shifted to his half-form and stripped his clothing off and then fell forward to full wolf form. The fur thing was rude, even if he understood. Currently, he was about the size of a regular wolf, but he was still growing. A portion of his face and chest were white, with his front paws having the white socks as well.
His first shift was so weird and awkward, and even Wulf wasn’t sure why he’d shifted to a pup the first time, and only seemed to grow over the passing of time. Danny thought he was done with growing pains.
Grabbing his clothes in his maw, he padded quietly down the hall to the office space.
He laid down on his front paws with his back legs to his side under the desk. He allowed himself a warble of content when he thought back on the day he’d spent with Jason.
Jason who was a reverent.
Jason who didn’t think he deserved anything good.
Jason who… he sighed. Who he was already falling in love with in every way.
He shouldn’t. He knew that. Human compatibility and partnership was far more complex than his wolf and ghost instincts were willing to note. But his core was attached, he was half of the way to imprinting on him as a packmate with potential for something more.
He glanced at the sky through the window. He knew the cloud cover was too thick and light pollution too much, but he could see the stars plainly. Celestial Ancient and all that. A shooting star crossed the sky.
Danny didn’t wish for things, not since Desire. But he for once, would allow himself to hope. He breathed through a large breath and closed his eyes with his head on his paws, letting his mind think back to every touch and laugh and glance and moment and… the press of his soft lips against Jason’s slightly cracked ones.
Best Death-Day Ever.