Just An Extra

Danny knew a lot of immortals and near immortals. Not that he knew, of course, because other than the time traveling nonsense, he always stayed in Amity. He saved a lot of said immortals too.

Three months after he moved to Gotham, a bunch of assassins were trying to wreak havoc on the city. Danny flew around to help his new friend, Red Robin. When he landed on the roof top where Tim was facing down the Demon’s Head, neither of them expected the Demon’s Head to stop his attacks and blurt out a surprised, “Danyal?”

Tim, instantly on guard, asked, “How do you know Danny, Ra’s?”

Danny straightened. “Oh my Ancients. You’re the bratty kid with the stick! Ra’s al Ghul!”

Then again, Danny is sure keeping an eye on random natural portals that could open anywhere and any given time would be difficult. Even if you are an all seeing-bastard.

Danny turned to the snot-nosed brat that had nearly gotten themselves killed after trying to go after a ghost, a wooden stick in the kids hands. An assessing look on his features. The kid was scrappy, Danny would give him that.

"Who are you?" The kid practically demanded with a sort of pride Danny imagined only aristocrats could have. Which means the kid was potentially related to a fruitloop or a fruitloop in the making. The thought caused Danny to shiver uncomfortably.

Oh well, it wasn't as if he would ever actually see this kid again, so it didn't really matter. And Clockwork would stop him if anything truly disastrous happened. (What Danny failed to realize, was that Clockwork lived to amuse and entertain himself, and the deaths of a few thousand never truly meant much to ghosts anyway since they were already amongst the dead.)

"Phantom. The current Champion." Danny shrugged. "Listen, I need to get going, but you should know better than to chase after ghosts. See any glowing green things in the future? Leave it alone, or you might just be seeing me sooner rather than later." With that ominous piece of advice, Danny glanced over the infinity map to find the nearest portal out of this timeline.

Danny never really thought of the interaction again, since such an interaction wasn't all that important for him.

So, a lot of people have suggested Danny meeting Klarion, as Klarion in a way could be classified as a particularly mischievous spirit. Well, I propose Klarion, Danny, and Discord meet.

After all, Discord was introduced as a spirit of Choas. Not to mention a Lord of Choas. Would that mean he would have more jurisdiction over Klarion or would it be the other way around?

It took ALL the Lords of Chaos backing Child to threaten him.

So, a lot of people have suggested Danny meeting Klarion, as Klarion in a way could be classified as a particularly mischievous spirit. Well, I propose Klarion, Danny, and Discord meet.

After all, Discord was introduced as a spirit of Choas. Not to mention a Lord of Choas. Would that mean he would have more jurisdiction over Klarion or would it be the other way around?

It took ALL the Lords of Chaos backing Child to threaten him.

So, a lot of people have suggested Danny meeting Klarion, as Klarion in a way could be classified as a particularly mischievous spirit. Well, I propose Klarion, Danny, and Discord meet.

After all, Discord was introduced as a spirit of Choas. Not to mention a Lord of Choas. Would that mean he would have more jurisdiction over Klarion or would it be the other way around?

Esral Shikh has organised a worldwide campaign to call for a permanent ceasefire in gaza. Here are the details:

Total Strike on Monday, 11 Dec 2023.

It is necessary to paralyse the movement of life and the economic wheel in all countries so everyone feels directly affected by the genocide happening in Gaza.

Start making communications, spreading the word, mobilise your communities.

This strike includes transportation, aviation, trade, banks, ports, and even schools and universities.

Here’s how you can join the strike:

Don't buy anything (cash or online)

Don't use your bank account, and don't make any transaction

Don't leave your house

Deactivate your Facebook accounts (you can reactivate them later)—please make sure to follow the palestinians on other social media platforms to keep updated on their posts

Leave 1-star reviews on Instagram, Whatsapp, and Facebook on your app store and play store for silencing pro-palestinian voices and supporting genocide.

I would also suggest to not stream anything for the whole day (incl spotify, netflix, youtube, hulu, paramount, amazon prime, etc)

Tweet using the hashtag #StrikeForGaza

[For US citizens] sign your strike card as well

Do all these things together for maximum pressure

We are protesting but our protests are going largely unnoticed by the people in power, so we need to increase pressure.

Stop all operations on a working day, let the world feel even a fraction of what it’s like to have your life put on hold. It’s only a day. We can do this. If we mobilise and get people together who support this cause, we can make this happen.

17,400+ people have been killed. 7,000+ of which are children. 1.9M people have been displaced. Please. You owe it to them to speak up. Please stop this. Please call for permanent ceasefire.

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!!!

Okay, so you know how everyone talks about how Danny and Jason would recognize each other as members of the undead in a way?

Well, what about Talons? The Talons are basically undead assassins, so Danny would also recognize them. And maybe if you want to go with the idea that Danny is the Ghost King, the Talons might even feel more loyalty to Danny than the Court of Owls.

Danny watched the shadow out of the corner of his eye. He didn't know who or what was following him.

But at this point in time, he ceased to care. He was pretty sure it wasn't the GIW. They were never subtle, and probably would have attacked already.

Then again, them getting better at their jobs was the entire reason he had moved to Gotham to begin with.

Aside from that, the shadow only ever appeared to be following him at night. Dimly, Danny considered it might have been one of Gotham's many vigilantes and that his Halfa status had been compromised. But if they hadn't attacked him yet, he was probably safe. Maybe. Possibly.

And so, this went on for weeks to months at a time. But the figure never approached Danny. So, Danny decided that he wasn't going to give it much thought.

That was until of course something landed loudly on his fire-escape.

Grabbing a Fenton-Anti Creep Stick, he snuck over to his own fire-escape to just see a weird looking figure just sitting there.

The figure was dressed up as an owl? An owl assassin? It was some really weird cosplay.

Danny stared at the figure and the figure stared back. Neither of them moving. Just staring at each other.

"Are you just going to sit there staring all night?" Danny asked, exasperated. He didn't receive a reply.

Screw this, he was getting some sleep. He had work in the morning and he had to deal with people. Ugh.

He never did anything, just hung around his fire-escape. He didn't even come inside when Danny left the window open. Just sat there staring.

It was more than a little creepy, but the dude wasn't actually bothering Danny, so Danny didn't do anything about it.

But as it started to get colder and colder, and the snow began to pile up, Danny couldn't help but feel a bit concerned.

Danny could deal with the cold. The cold wasn't a problem to him, not with his Ice Core. In fact, Danny was most comfortable in cold weather. But he knew this wasn't the case for most humans.

(Not that Danny was so sure that the guy sitting on his fire-escape was human, but that was besides the point.)

It also didn't help that some part of Danny wanted to invite the guy in. That part of his Core, the part that was filled with his Obsession with Protection screamed to drag the guy inside.

Which was something Danny was a little more hesitant about. The dude was more than a little creepy. Danny still didn't know who he was. And he was always wearing that creepy owl cosplay.

But as the harsh cold of winter grew, Danny resigned himself to his fate.

Mixing up two mugs of hot chocolate, Danny walked himself over to the window next to the fire-escape.

"Do you want to come inside? It's getting cold out here." Danny inquired. He still didn't receive a reply. Figures.

So, in the end, Danny stepped onto the fire-escape himself. The birdman perked up at that, and Danny became equated with the fact that the man was decided taller than him. Curse his short height.

"At least take this." Danny handed the man one of the mugs of hot chocolate, and the man seemed to react mostly on instinct. Danny began to move back inside when a voice stopped him.

"What is Talon supposed to do with this?" The man spoke. This was the first time in all the weeks that the man had been coming to his fire-escape that he had spoken. His voice was smooth, but had a robotic lilt to it that made Danny shiver in discomfort.

"You can do whatever you want with it." Danny responded, eyeing the man up and down strangely.

"Talon doesn't have wants." The man answered back.

Okay, this was starting to get real creepy, even for him. What was up with this guy. Pausing for a moment, Danny responded.

"Then drink it. Use it for warmth. That's what it's there for." Danny pointed out.

Surprisingly, the man quickly moved to remove his mask. The sudden movement startled Danny, but the man didn't stop for anything.

He began to quickly down the glass, causing Danny to speak up in a panic. Not even having enough time to observe the man's features.

"Slowly! Drink it slowly! You'll burn yourself otherwise." And the man automatically slowed down at Danny's words. It was unsettling.

Strangely enough, Danny had never felt more discomfort around the man then when he was so clearly listening to Danny. Because that was the weird thing, he was listening to Danny's words like they were orders. Not the suggestions they were.

Quietly, Danny moved back into his apartment building.

Maybe he should be more concerned about the fact that some strange unknown was following him around.

Still though, he left the window open in case the man ever came inside. He never did.

But later that next morning when Danny woke up, he found the mug he had given the man resting on the windowsill. Completely drained of any hot chocolate.

Despite himself, Danny couldn't help but thing back to how the man looked. His skin grey with what Danny could only connect with the dead. And yet, the man's soft looking black hair would suggest he was perfectly healthy. And the man's eyes? Well Danny never saw them considering they were hidden under his goggles.

Maybe he should shoo the man away. Things were just getting weirder to the point Danny could no longer ignore it.

But his Core screamed against the idea. Danny sighed in annoyance to himself. It seems, at some point or another, his core had decided the mystery man was apart of his 'fraid.

Talon turned towards the strange man, its claws inches away from the steaming mug.

The man had blue eyes, like Those Who Talon Did Not Know. Like his family the strangers in the Memories That Did Not Belong to It.

Talon had returned to the balcony again and again for the memories. It did not like it, because Talon had no likes or dislikes, but the color of the man's eyes made the memories clearer.

The man's eyes were not blue tonight.

Tonight the eyes were a neon green. This too carried memories.

Gunfire and rage. White streak and snark. Shared meals. Quiet libraries. First of little brothers. Lost returned. Little Wing.

DICKIEBIRD.

Eyes should not be glowing green. Eyes should not be gold

the one time it had seen its reflection in the mirror, it had tried to gouge out its eyes and slit the throat of the Good Doctor who tried to sedate it

Talon did not think the Doctors were good doctors. They always made the memories fade away.

They made everything fade away, and stored Talon in the Sleeping Cold until the Court needed him again.

The Above has started to remind it of the sleeping cold. If Talon could worry, it would worry that the cold would slow his reactions and leave him to sleep in the Above.

Perhaps the cold had already slowed it too much. It did not attempt strike back at the man's attack.

Was it an attack?

The man had wrapped his hand around its wrist and was gently tugging it towards the open window.

"I don't know where you go when you leave, but it's obvious they aren't taking care of you."

The Good Doctors insured that Talon was fully functional. The Court would be angry if it didn't return and would send others to hunt down whatever had delayed it. Is that not the same as care?

"I don't have much space, but the couch is comfy and it's way better than freezing out here"

It thought of the cold darkness of the roost and the memories that would slip through its fingers like sand.

"Please just let me help."

Valerie would also probably want to kill him. Or maybe she's giving up on understanding ghost shenanigans, same with Wes.

Danny glanced at the strange man, watching him from his kitchen as the man sat on his couch. Well, Danny practically sat him there himself, but that was besides the point.

If Danny didn't know any better, he might have thought the man was cationic with his lack of responses. But seriously, this was the type of weirdo that Danny's ghost core thought was ideal to be apart of his 'friad?

(It was strange. Danny's core so rarely accepted others like that easily, especially if they were living. Danny's core only really accepted others into his fold that easily if there were also dead. The man didn't seem dead, and he wasn't setting off Danny's ghost sense, so Danny failed to see why the connection had been formed, but he couldn't do much about it now.)

"The pantry's fully stocked. Feel free to help yourself. Bathroom's down the hall on the right." Danny stated, leaving the man to his own devices, deciding to go to bed.

The next day, the man was gone by morning. Nothing in Danny's pantry had been touched. Actually, the apartment seemed as if no one but Danny had even been inside of it.

The next week, the man didn't come back. But when he did, he hanged around on his fire-escape like normal. Didn't even try to come inside even though the window was open. So, Danny dragged him inside once more.

This time, it wasn't as late as it normally was when Danny noticed the man, so Danny put on a TV show as he sat the man down on his couch. Still no response. Still no real signs of life.

"Do you want any hot chocolate? Any snacks?" Danny asked.

"Talon doesn't want things." Was the first thing said to him all night. Ah, yes, the ever so cryptic words that Danny had no context to understand.

"Would you like to try some?" Danny tried a different approach.

"Talon doesn't have likes or dislikes." And really, Danny should have expected that response. That night, Danny dropped it, left it alone. He was already having the man watching trashy TV shows with him, best not to push it.

But the next night the man came over, Danny dragged him into his kitchen instead.

"Okay, mask off. We're having a taste test party." Danny declared, having prepared a large arrange of different drinks and junk foods to try. Danny wasn't a chef of any sort, so it wasn't anything elaborate, but Danny was sure he could find something the man enjoyed.

The man obeyed, taking off his masks, simply obeying Danny without a second thought. It made Danny uncomfortable, but maybe he could use it to help the man be something more than whatever the hell he was right now.

"We're going to find out what you like and dislike. This way I'm not just shoving hot chocolate at you." Danny explained.

"Talon doesn't have likes or dislikes." The man reiterated. Danny nodded, as if that made perfect sense.

"You've said that. But everyone has likes and dislikes. Even people dressed up in weird owl cosplays." Danny pointed out.

"Talon is not an Owl. Talon is a Talon." The man stated. Once again, making a comment that made zero sense.

"And I'm sure that statement makes perfect sense to you. Now, taste test time."

Danny watched closely as they made their way through the different items. The man's face was neutral the entire time, not giving anything away. He was really committing to the bit of whatever this 'Talon' business was. But it wasn't enough to hide the subtle nuances to Danny's obsessed core that insisted on coddling the man even though he was a full grown adult.

He noticed how the man seemed to linger around the cereal, ate more of it overall. Would have bigger sips of the Sodar verses the Zesti. Small things like that. It wasn't a lot, but it was something.

So, the next time the man came over, Danny had cereal prepared and bottles of Sodar at the ready.

It wasn't just the one weirdo this time. He brought someone with him.

He brought a child that was dressed in the same weird outfit as him.

Danny took a moment to collect himself.

"Ya'know what? Why not. This might as well happen." Danny couldn't help but mumble to himself.

He got to work, setting up the TV and got even more snacks and drinks out. He pretended not to notice as the man gestured the child through the actions, as if eating and drinking wasn't normal behavior. As if being offered food and drink wasn't normal.

Then again, it probably wasn't normal to get offered food and drink by the person of the apartment that they just kinda snuck into. So why not.

Weeks passed, and this continued to happen. Sometimes the original guy wasn't there, but it'd be some other random child. But the one Danny most frequently saw was the one guy.

Robin tries to come up and talk with him, but Danny just brandishes his ladle threateningly and says "We are a no cutting household--wait your turn."

Damian: Father. There is a man who is attempting to deprogram the Talons of the Court of Owls.

Bruce: What?

Robin or Batman keep popping in randomly as well. Danny has no idea why? But they seem pleased he is helping the Talons? So whatever. He has undead to help rehabilitate into their own choices. Some of them even start living with him! He is so pleased they are starting to stay!

Batman? Is very confused. But whatever Fenton is doing? Works. And the Talons are no longer following the Courts orders. He will keep an eye on the situation. But Fenton has no idea about what a Takin is. Poor man seems very confused. But very willing to adopt them all.

Drake also shared his suspicions, but was so far keeping a distance, instead attempting to dig up what he could on the boy before approaching. Probably so he could pile up Blackmail. Damain on the other hand would observe closely. Make sure nothing happens. Make sure Fenton didn't take advantage of the fact that he had an army of undead assassins that would probably do anything for him. Todd had said he was like catnip for zombies, whatever that meant. Though Damain suspects that Todd may very well be compromised in that case.

Like always, the Fenton boy let him in. And while it was clear that he wasn't as open to his presence as opposed to the Talons, even seeming apprehensive of it at times, he did nothing to shoo Damian away, which ultimately worked in his favor.

He did his normal rounds of the house. Nothing seeming to out of the normal, the Talons still much like baby chicks that had to be coaxed into most things. It was a normal sight. Nothing out of the ordinary. That was, until of course, Damian stopped by the living room, where he saw something different for the first time.

Or maybe it wasn't something different, but rather Damian didn't have the tools earlier to realize.

Sitting in the living room was Dick. His older brother Dick that was thought to be dead. And in a way, Damian supposes he was, as he was now a Talon. But that was still his older brother. The one that had first shown him the ropes in Gotham. The one that had been his mentor.

Dick, seeming to notice that he was being watched, turned to stare right back at Damain. And besides the tilt of a head, he made no change in facial expression. He stared and he stared. And Damian stared right back. But Dick never seemed to recognize him.

"Ancients, are you drinking that again?" Danny came up from behind Damian, gagging. Now finally taking notice of the drink, Damian had to agree with the disgust. "That can't taste good."

In a brief moment of defiance, Dick brought the unholy concoction to his lips and drank it, staring Danny right in the eye as he did so. Danny visibly gagged at the sight, but made no move to actually take the drink away. And while Dick's expression never changed, he certainly seemed smug.

Soulmate bonds were looked upon as a blessing. For they were rare and few and far between.

With the added presence of extraterrestrial lifeforms, there was a guarantee that it made it even more difficult to find any potential Soulmate that someone might have. 

And of course, not all Soulmate bonds were the same, most differing in variety. The point being, it was very difficult to find one's soulmate if one did have them. 

However, the media stated that it was always worth the effort. Soulmate bonds always worked out, either that be platonically or romantically, soulmates would be with each other for life.

So, what exactly did one do if their soulmate kept dying over and over again?

Tim, Bernard, Danny, and Wes all shared a soulmate bond. A touch-bond based Soulbond. They could feel anything their soulmate physically came into contact with. Skin on skin. And they could also feel any injuries their soulmate acquired.

Which, wasn't inherently an issue.

At first, the group couldn't actually tell how many soulmates they had once they realized what the soulbond was. The general consensus amongst them all was that they at least had more than one soulmate.

Danny didn't look to deeply into it. Wes and Bernard had been curious but had also left the detail alone. And Tim was the one that had been the one that had actually spent hours upon hours of sleepless nights trying to figure out just how many he had.

(He had even learned morse code in the hopes of communicating with his soulmates, but not being able to actually get his soulmates to do the same thing had more or less ruined the point.)

Everything, other than that, had been fine for the most part. Besides the general occasional scraps and bruises, everything had been fine. That was a normal occurrence amongst a touch-bond based Soulbond.

And then, Tim Drake became Robin at thirteen years old. And the injuries got a bit more severe. They were much more serious. 

This started Bernard down the path of looking into Gotham's vigilante's. It was no secret that Batman took on Young prodigies, that other heroes at times would do the same. With the injuries his soulmate was receiving, Bernard began his search.

Danny and Wes had considered that their soulmate might be apart of an abusive household. But besides hugging themselves, they couldn't add much for comfort.

And then, Danny died when he was fourteen. His end of the bond going quiet. Tim, Bernard, and Wes all assumed one of their soulmates had died. That was until Danny's end of the bond came back as if nothing had happened. Sometimes with even more bruises they didn't feel happen originally, or completely unharmed.

Tim and Bernard assumed their soulmate was in the hospital, going in-between life and death. Tim doing more than a few illegal things in an attempt to find one of his soulmates. Wes had thought the same until he had saw Phantom bleed once. Noticed how Phantom always appeared when that end of the bond went quiet and was nowhere to be seen when it came back. He drove himself insane looking for Phantom.

This had to take the cake.

Tim had noticed a couple of odd things about his boyfriend.

One: His boyfriend had an unusual cold temperature-- Tim had originally assumed it might just be because he had poor circulation in his blood stream. But as winter creeped in and his boyfriend still didn't get cold? Not only didn't get cold, but thrived in the temperature? Tim considered just maybe his boyfriend was a meta.

Danny had never mentioned being a meta. But Tim hadn't mentioned being Red Robin either. Not to mention, this was Gotham, so Tim understood why Danny may be a tad apprehensive as to mentioning his colder temperatures.

And if Tim kept the thermostat at a lower temperature from then on any time Danny came to visit? Well, that was his business and nobody else's.

Two: His boyfriend was abnormally quiet. Danny had managed to sneak up on Tim and a few of his family members before. He had managed to sneak up on Cass. And while, on some level Tim could understand his family's apprehension, he felt telling them to promptly 'f*ck off' had also been justified. Tim knew Danny, and Danny genuinely hadn't meant to sneak up on them. 

He had seemed just as startled as them when they shot up in surprise. (And maybe he did ask Cass if Danny was genuinely surprised. His boyfriend was a little sh*t and would totally pull something like this to laugh at. It was his business and Cass's and as far as the two of them were concerned, Danny was perfectly fine.)

Three: Danny was oddly protective. He freaked out anytime there was a Rogue attack and he hadn't heard back from Tim. And while Tim was touched, he hadn't exactly appreciated the mini heart attack he received when he saw Danny out in the field looking for him in a panic.

(That was one of their first big fights. Tim didn't want Danny out in the line of fire, he could take care of himself. Even if Danny didn't know that. But Danny had been just as insistent that he needed to hear back from Tim to know that he was safe.)

They'd reach a compromise. Tim made sure to always respond to Danny's text messages asking if he was safe during a major rogue attack. (Never any phone calls. Danny would know he was lying then.) And he would put up with Danny coddling him the next time he saw him. While it was a bit frustrating, Tim was still touched by the worry.

Four: Danny had enhanced senses. At first, Tim didn't really notice. But eventually, he saw how Danny would flinch at particularly loud noises. Would avoid crowds like the plague. Would sometimes have to wear sunglasses because it was "too bright". Tim never said anything. Never called attention to any of these occurrences, just attempted to help his boyfriend through it.

Tim knew it was a possibility that Danny was just sensitive to those types of things. But considering Tim was sure that Danny was some type of meta, he was leaning more towards that theory.

Five: His boyfriend was unusually strong for someone that looks as much like a twig like him.

Once when Tim had been injured particularly badly during patrol, he had practically been put on bedrest. Not because he hadn't attempted to go out the next night, but because Danny had found out he was injured and came to take care of him while he was injured.

When Tim had attempted to sneak out that night, luckily he had yet to change into his Red Robin suit, Danny had basically manhandled him back into bed. With absolutely no effort, even with Tim struggling against him. Not that Tim had struggled much, with how frazzled his brain had been when he realized that Danny was stronger than he realized.

And if Tim invited Danny to the gym next time he worked out? Well, that didn't have any ulterior motives, no matter what Steph insisted upon.

And now for number six. This took the absolute cake. The last thing Tim had expected. And at this point? Tim wasn't so sure that Danny was actually even human. Which means he would have to completely scrap his theories on his boyfriend and start over from scratch.

Because right now, Tim and Danny were cuddled up on the couch in Danny's apartment. They were having a series marathon of the Star Trek series. It had started out perfectly fine. It had started out as normal.

A weighted blanket on top of the two, Danny cuddled up to Tim, with a bowl of popcorn in-between the two. Eventually, they shifted. The bowl of popcorn ending up on the floor with Danny on top of Tim on the couch.

Absentmindedly, Tim began running his fingers through his boyfriend's hair, not really paying attention to the background noise of the TV. He was just so warm and felt safe with the added weight of Danny on top of him. The movements of his finger's being just as much as a soothing motion to Tim as it was to Danny.

And at first, Tim hadn't noticed it. Not when he was slowly drifting off to sleep. But as the sound got louder, Tim couldn't help but notice. Danny was purring. 

Tim blinked and he blinked again. Not once stopping in his ministrations as he blanked out. Danny continued purring away, leaning into Tim's touch, his eyes closed and a content smile on his face. Tim couldn't help but be reminded of an overly affectionate cat. Especially when he rubbed the space around Danny's scalp and ears, Tim was convinced the was purring louder than the sound coming from the TV at this point.

So maybe he wasn't human after all. Maybe Tim should have given more weight to Damian's alien theory.

But right now, Tim was tired, and he was sure he would remember in the morning.

In the end, Tim allowed Danny's presence to send him off into a warm and comfortable sleep.

However, Tim was also itching for answers. He didn't know of any aliens that purred, or if they did, they certainly didn't do so in front of him. Besides that, Danny clearly wasn't Kryptonian, Tamaranean, Martian, or any other alien that Tim was familiar with. Which means Danny had to be something else entirely. 

Considering there haven't been any clear major cultural differences, Danny probably was raised on earth. He might be a case similar to Clark, and in that case he might not even realize what exactly he was, but Tim found it hard to believe that Danny didn't know he wasn't human.

Even though Danny wasn't the...smartest, that didn't change the widespread information about aliens on earth, or the fact that Danny himself was obsessed with information about space. Looking back on it, Danny being an alien might be the entire reason why Danny loves space so much to begin with.

So, attempt number one: Declare that aliens are super cool and how he would love to meet more of them.

At first, this didn't seem to be like a bad idea. In fact, Danny perked up in the cute way that he does any time something interest him. A sparkle in his eyes and a large grin on his lips, he eagerly divulged into a conversation with Tim about aliens and space in general. Which eventually involved into Danny talking about how Martian Manhunter was his favorite hero of all time.

Tim didn't have the heart to ruin Danny's fun, even when he could tell his boyfriend sorely missed the hint he was dropping. It wasn't an entire waste. After all, seeing Danny talk about something that he was so passionate about sent Tim's heart ablaze and kept a warmth throughout his body. Right then, plan b.

Attempt number two was honestly a little more desperate than the first, but Tim had thought for sure that it would work. Maybe Danny didn't realize that he wasn't human! So Tim being Tim, he created a fake brochure on "How To Recognize If You're An Alien: 101", and coincidentally left it to where his boyfriend could find. And while Danny did read it, it just brought up another conversation about space and the stars. And while Tim loved hearing his boyfriend talk about his interests, it doesn't change the fact that this hadn't exactly been what he was after.

Alright, fine. Tim could work with this. He'd just get Danny to pur again and bring it up then! It would be perfectly natural, not out of nowhere, and he could pretend that he hadn't been cataloging his boyfriends peculiarities!

So, attempt number three had been a go! Only, Tim couldn't get Danny to pur again like he had that night. It didn't matter how much he cuddled the man, or ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to get the boy to relax, Danny never did end up purring like he had that night.

Not that Tim was particularly frustrated with attempt number three. It was the one he had enjoyed the most by far, and even if he hadn't gotten the results that he wanted, it doesn't change the fact that the moments spent curled up against Danny had been utter bliss.

(And if this was because Tim was a useless bi-disaster, no he wasn't Jason, you can shut up! It's for science, and no, he will not be elaborating!)

At this point, Tim had to consider that his boyfriend hadn't actually purred. That maybe it was a sleep deprived hallucination. Except, Tim had been getting better sleep ever since he started dating Danny, for the boy always made sure to drag Tim off to bed whenever Tim got particularly bad about not sleeping. (Tim could never find it in him to turn Danny down, not when he stared at him with those artic blue eyes that at times seemed to glow.)

But Tim had never been one to let things go. He was certain that his boyfriend had actually purred! And Tim could admit that maybe Danny was oblivious enough to not notice that he was human. (Danny was the first person that made Tim seriously consider if he was into idiot men that at times had a hard time functioning in everyday society. Shamefully, he had to admit that he very much so was attracted to that.)

(Unbeknownst to Tim, privately Danny thought Tim was the one that had a horrible time with basic function. The man didn't even know how to use a washing machine until Danny showed him how! Or a toaster. Actually, Danny refused to show Tim how a toaster worked. Toast was evil and the food deserved to die.)

So, attempt number four. Actually, Tim had yet to attempt it. Rather, it had just been an idea. If Danny didn't think he was an alien, then he probably thought he was a meta-human. And if he did, that doesn't change the fact that he still didn't feel comfortable enough sharing this information with Tim. But if Tim was to show him his own form of extreme trust, that might just change things.

Which was why Tim considered telling Danny that he was Red Robin. Tim really wanted to introduce Danny to his family, properly. Sure, Danny knew of them, and even personally knew some, but it doesn't change the fact that a big part of his family was comprised of their vigilante selves. That a large part of Tim was comprised of his vigilante persona, and he wanted to trust Danny with it. And hopefully, if Tim tells him this secret, it would make Tim comfortable enough to tell Tim about whatever the hell Danny happens to think he is.

Only, Tim never got the chance to make this decision himself. Not when he crash landed into his boyfriend's apartment, heavily injured, and proceeded to pass out.

The next time he whole up, he was dressed, changed (probably because the only was to dress his injury was to remove his armor), and in his boyfriend's bed, with said boyfriend purring next to him.

Tim's mask had been left alone, but Tim was certain that his boyfriend would recognize the scars he had, there was no way that Danny was that oblivious. Add in the fact that there was also no way that Danny was not going to meet the rest of the Bats as vigilantes, as Tim was sure that Barbara had someone check on Tim the moment he failed to report back. So there was absolutely no way that cat was going back into the bag. Sighing to himself, Tim left sleep consume him, deciding he could deal with it in the morning.

"So, you're Red Robin?" Danny asked, staring at Tim from across the couch, his expression neutral, not giving anything away.

"Yep." Was Tim's oh-so-intelligent response.

"And you thought it was a good idea to come to me while injured instead of going to someone that you knew could help you? As touched that I am that you trusted me, you could have died Tim! I'm hardly a medical professional." Danny ranted, and a stab of pain went through Tim at Danny's expression. The boy clearly distraught over the idea that he wouldn't have been able to help Tim. That Tim might have died last night.

"I know... it's just, I've been thinking about telling you for the past few days. So, I think my body just lead me here." Tim explained, and yet Danny's expression didn't faulter.

"I love you too, but I'm still mad at you." Danny huffed. Tim was quiet for a few moments, deciding now was a good a time as any.

"So, when were you going to tell me you were a meta-human?" Tim asked. Danny blinked at him, his expression morphing into confusion.

"What are you talking about, Tim?" Danny replied, looking genuinely lost. And while Tim knew Danny wasn't always the smartest, there was absolutely no way Danny failed to notice he wasn't a normal human.

"Danny, you always run at a lower body-temperature. You've managed to sneak up on me and several of my family members, and we're trained vigilantes. You have enhanced senses, don't bother lying, I know for a fact that you do. And I'm almost positive that you have enhanced strength. That isn't even talking about how your eyes glow in the dark, or the fact that I caught you purring. Literally last night." Tim listed, watching Danny's expression go blank. The boy looking thoughtful for a moment, biting his lip in a way that almost made Tim want to drop the conversation entirely and kiss the boy senseless. Almost.

"I'm not a meta-human." Danny began.

"Danny--" Tim sighed, not wanting his boyfriend to lie to him when he just revealed the biggest secret he had. Besides his missing spleen.

"I'm not an alien either." Danny snorted, seeming to have not realized what Tim was trying to get at these past few weeks. "But I'm also not entirely human either. I'm something else." 

Tim blinked at his boyfriend. Confused. What was Danny talking about?

"Danny, what are you talking about? You can only be meta-human or an alien. There isn't anything else that you could possibly be." Tim pointed out. Maybe his boyfriend was just confused? 

But Danny just gave him a wry smirk, and in a flash of light, Tim was staring at someone else entirely. Or at least, it seemed like he was for a moment. 

Sitting in the place of his boyfriend, was well, his boyfriend if his boyfriend looked entirely different. Had had bluish-greenish tinted skin and toxic green eyes that reminded Tim of Lazarus waters. His snow-white hair moved and swayed as if the wind was blowing through it harshly. Pointed ears seemed to wiggly mockingly at Tim as Danny gave him a too-wide grin that showed off a pair of sharp canines.

"Suprise." Danny spoke, making jazz hands. "Your boyfriend's a ghost."

Tim blinked and then he blinked again. 

Tim lied earlier. This had to be what took the cake. And considering Danny's insufferable little grin, he knew it too. God, his boyfriend was such a little sh*t.

Tim didn't know what it said about him when this fact just made him want to lock lips with Danny even more. Instead of addressing that, and the fact that deep down, he truly was a useless bi-disaster that had a hard time focusing on anything when his boyfriend looked at him like that, Tim instead landed on--

Danny's amusement was clear, as he watched his boyfriend attempt to reboot himself. At the very least, he wasn't denying Danny's very existence, just seemed to be in a state of shock.

Tim knew ghosts existed. Gretta and Deadman were both proof of that. But Danny was too solid for that. And as far as Tim was aware, being a ghost didn't involve a magical girl transformation. Then there was the fact that Danny claiming to be a ghost didn't match up with Danny's list of abilities. At least, not with what Tim knew about ghosts. Maybe Danny thought he was dead? Maybe he got into some sort of accident, that caused or lead to the discovery of his abilities, and he just assumed he was dead?

"Danny, you're solid." Tim pointed out. And as if to make his point, he scooted closer to his boyfriend, ignoring the pain from his injuries, and patted Danny down with his arms. Which just proved, that even in this form, Danny was very much so solid. He was also colder than normal.

Danny just gave him an indulging look, not once moving to stop Tim's actions.

"Tim." Danny spoke, his voiced holding a tone that implied he knew something Tim didn't. "Ghosts come in all shapes and sizes. What might constitute as normal for one, isn't going to constitute as normal for another."

"You're solid, Danny. You aren't dead. I've seen you injury yourself with a kitchen knife while trying to cut up a bunch of potatoes. You breathe, you have a pulse--" Tim began to list, all the while Danny watched him with a quirked brow.

"Are you sure about that, Tim?" Danny inquired. Tim stared his boyfriend down, opening his mouth to argue, only for his boyfriend to grab his hand and place it at the pulse point at his neck. Tim rolled his eyes at Danny, waiting to feel his boyfriend's heartbeat, even if it was always a little slow--

Except, Tim never felt it. Furrowing his eyebrows, Tim began to frantically check Danny's other pulse points. Only to feel nothing. Danny let him manhandle him, not expressing any reaction to the concerning lack of pulse that was quite frankly going to give Tim a heart attack.

"I-W-we need to call the hospital. I-I can't find your pulse." Tim stuttered in duress, beginning to back away so he can run and find a phone. Find something. Call someone for help. Just for Danny to wrap his arms around him and pull him close. His touch was gentle, but considering the fact that Tim himself was injured, he couldn't very well get away without opening his wounds. Which was something he was more than willing to do. "Danny this is serious!"

"Tim, I'm fine. You're fine." Danny reassured, speaking in a calming tone that had Tim whirling back around in anger.

"Danny, you need a hospital. You don't have a pulse, you aren't breathing--" Tim began to rant.

"And I'm perfectly fine. I don't need to have a pulse or to breathe. Don't you think I would have passed out by now If I needed it?" Danny pointed out. Tim gave him a blank stare, thoroughly unamused.

"Explain." Tim all but demanded. Danny chuffed at him, a sound that was also as unhuman as the purring, but ultimately indulged Tim.

"Tim, I had an accident. When I was fourteen." Danny went quiet for a moment. Seeming to struggle to get the words out. "I died that day Tim." He swallowed. Tim himself felt as if his world was crashing down around him. "But I didn't die correctly. The thing that caused... what killed me--Ancients this is hard." Danny sighed, folding himself into Tim, to rest his head on Tim's shoulder. "It brought me back, but not fully. It's--I'm basically stuck in-between. Not really dead and not really alive either."

Tim was quiet, his head buzzing but quiet all at once. He needed answers. He needed to do some research. He needed to get away. He needed a moment to just think. But that would leave Danny alone, after he had just told something to Tim, that Tim was sure was a big secret of his. But it's something Tim needed to process properly.

"I think I need sometime to process this." Tim spoke, pulling away from Danny, and Danny let him. But his boyfriend, because this was still his boyfriend and there was nothing that could make Tim give him up, looked pained at the prospect. "I'm not breaking up with you. I just need sometime to understand what you've just told me."

Tim needed to look into the Lazarus waters. He needed to look into Amity Park. He needed to look into his boyfriend. 

Tim had avoided doing a background check on Danny before, but with this knew information, clearly he needed to if he wanted the full picture. It wasn't that he didn't trust his boyfriend, but this was clearly a difficult topic for him and Tim needed answers. Now.

"Alright." Danny agreed, seeming to think about something as he transformed back into an appearance that Tim was more familiar with. "But can you stay tonight? At least?"

Tim smiled at his boyfriend softly, leaning back into him.

"Of course."

Bruce watched Tim from across the cave. His boy tapping away on the Batcomputer, and Bruce wasn't entirely sure what he was looking into. He wiped the data every time after he left, no matter how many times Bruce had told him not to.

And while Tim disobeying Bruce's orders wasn't new, and Tim being this obsessive in his research also wasn't knew, it was certainly different from how he's been acting in the recent months ever since he started dating his boyfriend. Something was clearly bothering his son, anyone could tell just by looking at the dark circles underneath his eyes.

Something that had started after Tim had crashed into his boyfriend's apartment in his Red Robin gear. A boyfriend he hadn't seen since.

Discreetly, Danny began texting Tim. If Tim had been the one to send Batman after Danny, then it would be one thing. Danny would prefer if it was him in person, but at the very least Danny would answer Batman's questions if he had any. (Which Danny assumes he does, considering how he hadn't attacked Danny the moment he saw him.) However, if Tim hadn't sent Batman, then quite frankly nothing involving Danny was any of his damn business.

'Hey, I hope this isn't a bad time or anything, and I understand if you still need space, but you wouldn't have happened to sent Batman to ask me some questions? Because he's in my apartment.'

Danny sent the text, before he finally turned on the light in the kitchen. Even if Danny could see in the dark, he might as well give the Dark Knight some light as well. Hopefully, Danny could come off as none threateningly as possible.

"Well, are you going to continue to stand in the shadows like a total creep, are you going to come over here and get whatever the hell this is over with?" Danny gestured vaguely around him as he got himself a glass of water before sitting at the countertop in his kitchen. Just then, his phone buzzed. Danny glanced at his phone, seeing a reply to his text message.

'No, I didn't. I'll be there shortly.' Was Tim's curt reply. Which, wasn't all that surprising. Tim's text typically were short and to the point. It was just how his boyfriend was.

But now knowing that his boyfriend had not in fact sent the man that was now looming over him in his own kitchen, Danny decided he wasn't going to give the man anything to work with. He broke into Danny's apartment. He didn't have the right to whatever it was he assumed he did, so Danny wasn't going to give it to him. It didn't really help that Batman was apart of the same Justice League that had denied Amity Park's request for help. The same League that let the Anti-Ecto Acts pass.

(While Danny still loved his boyfriend, he didn't know how to feel about that one. He assumes Tim didn't know. He hopes he doesn't know. Danny doesn't know if he could deal with the betrayal of his boyfriend if he were to turn him into the GIW. So far, it didn't seem as if Tim was doing that. So, he would give his boyfriend the benefit of the doubt. Danny just hopes that trust isn't misplaced.)

"You know Red Robin's secret identity." Batman started. Danny didn't say anything. Neither confirming or denying the allegation. Danny didn't really know a whole lot about Gotham's Bats. There was a possibility that they all knew who each other where, but that was far from any guarantee. Red Huntress hardly knew who Danny was for the longest time, and she had only just recently learned of who he was. So Danny knew, even if they worked in the same area, that didn't actually mean they knew each other.

Batman stayed silent, attempting to intimidate Danny with his height. Which, wasn't really working considering some of the people Danny has met in his life and afterlife. Batman wasn't particularly intimidating to him by any means. Besides, the man didn't actually have any gear to protect himself from ghost, Danny could tell that much by just looking him over. If a fight were to break out, Danny would win.

"And you broke into my apartment at two O'clock in the morning when I have school tomorrow. Or rather today. Now, what do you want?" Danny reiterated, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible so that he could go back to bed. 

Batman glared down at Danny, a frown on his lips, clearly not pleased with Danny's response.

"Three days ago Red Robin went to you for help with an injury. For the past three days, he's been working none stop on a research project that he refuses to let the rest of us see. You are involved somehow." Batman practically growled out. Danny didn't even bat an eye at the man, instead choosing to down his glass of water.

"What happened three days ago is between me and Red Robin. It isn't any of your business. If he wishes to tell you, that's his own business. But you won't be getting anything from me, so you might as well leave." Danny stated, folding his arms over his chest.

"You will tell me what happened!" Batman slammed his hand against the countertop, an intimidation tactic that did nothing for Danny.

"No, I will not." Danny retorted, standing up to go back to his bedroom. "I trust you can see yourself out, seeing as you broke in without any care in the world. Now if you would excuse me, I have an exam I have to take today at school, and I need all the sleep I can get." Danny was stopped as he was rather roughly grabbed by Batman, who tugged him backwards to trap him against his counter top.

"This isn't the type of thing you can just walk away from." Batman spoke. So Danny blinked at him.

Fine, alright, fine. This was the game they were going to play. Unfortunately for Batman, Danny over the years has ceased to give a damn about what happens. So Danny, turned invisible and intangible and just walked through the man and flew outside of his apartment.

Right, there was no way he could stay there for the night. Normally, he would stay with Tim, but that wasn't an option right now. So Jazz's apartment it is!

Red Robin landed on the roof of Danny's apartment, only for Bruce to come out shortly afterwards dressed in all of his vigilante boyfriend. Tim didn't know what Danny did, but considering how tense Bruce was, and the expression on his face, Tim was willing to bet that his boyfriend had proceeded to be the little sh*t that he was known for being.

"Why didn't you tell me your boyfriend was a meta? He's an unknown and could be a serious threat." Bruce scolded. Though, Tim supposes he was more like Batman right now then he was Bruce.

"Danny isn't dangerous." Tim countered, not correcting Batman's assumption that Danny was a meta. Tim had made the same mistake as well, so he understood the confusion. But Tim was sure the moment Batman got back to the Batcave, he was going to do a deep dive into Danny's background. The less information he knew the more time it gave Tim to fix everything. To fix everything with his boyfriend. To fix the relationship between his boyfriend and his family, which was starting to look like was going to get turbulent.

"He disappeared when I was attempting to interrogate him. There's no trace that he's in the apartment, that he was ever there to begin with. Someone that can do something like that is dangerous Tim, we need to make sure we plan accordingly for such a case." Batman lectured. Huh, there weren't many people that could slip away from Batman. Tim would have to ask him about that later, and if it wasn't a ghost ability, ask if he could teach Tim later.

"Danny isn't a threat, Batman. I have everything under control." Tim snapped.

"You've been compromised." Batman scoffed, beginning to grapple away from Tim. Tim took off after him, even though he knew there was no way to convince Batman to drop it now.

"I haven't been compromised, Batman. I think I would know more about the boy that I've spent months with, compared to you who's only met him tonight." Tim pointed out, as the pair landed on another roof top.

"Then tell me what you've been researching for the past three days." Batman all but demanded. And just like that, Tim knew he had lost the battle. He would have to hack into the Batcomputer later, in an attempt to by himself more time.

"Classified."

"Then consider yourself taken off the case. And you will not be hanging out with that Danny Fenton boy until this is resolved." Batman ordered. Only, Tim had never been known to follow the orders of Batman. So the moment he left, Tim pulled out his phone and began texting Danny.

'Where are you right now? We need to talk.' Tim sent, and after a moment, he added, 'I missed you.' The text he recieved in reply made him smile.

'I love you too. I'm at Jazz's place, you still remember where that is right?'

'And Batman's a total weirdo. Seriously, who hangs out in the dark corners of someone else's apartment, fruitloop much?' 

Tim snorted at the last line of text.

This had to take the cake.

Tim had noticed a couple of odd things about his boyfriend.

One: His boyfriend had an unusual cold temperature-- Tim had originally assumed it might just be because he had poor circulation in his blood stream. But as winter creeped in and his boyfriend still didn't get cold? Not only didn't get cold, but thrived in the temperature? Tim considered just maybe his boyfriend was a meta.

Danny had never mentioned being a meta. But Tim hadn't mentioned being Red Robin either. Not to mention, this was Gotham, so Tim understood why Danny may be a tad apprehensive as to mentioning his colder temperatures.

And if Tim kept the thermostat at a lower temperature from then on any time Danny came to visit? Well, that was his business and nobody else's.

Two: His boyfriend was abnormally quiet. Danny had managed to sneak up on Tim and a few of his family members before. He had managed to sneak up on Cass. And while, on some level Tim could understand his family's apprehension, he felt telling them to promptly 'f*ck off' had also been justified. Tim knew Danny, and Danny genuinely hadn't meant to sneak up on them. 

He had seemed just as startled as them when they shot up in surprise. (And maybe he did ask Cass if Danny was genuinely surprised. His boyfriend was a little sh*t and would totally pull something like this to laugh at. It was his business and Cass's and as far as the two of them were concerned, Danny was perfectly fine.)

Three: Danny was oddly protective. He freaked out anytime there was a Rogue attack and he hadn't heard back from Tim. And while Tim was touched, he hadn't exactly appreciated the mini heart attack he received when he saw Danny out in the field looking for him in a panic.

(That was one of their first big fights. Tim didn't want Danny out in the line of fire, he could take care of himself. Even if Danny didn't know that. But Danny had been just as insistent that he needed to hear back from Tim to know that he was safe.)

They'd reach a compromise. Tim made sure to always respond to Danny's text messages asking if he was safe during a major rogue attack. (Never any phone calls. Danny would know he was lying then.) And he would put up with Danny coddling him the next time he saw him. While it was a bit frustrating, Tim was still touched by the worry.

Four: Danny had enhanced senses. At first, Tim didn't really notice. But eventually, he saw how Danny would flinch at particularly loud noises. Would avoid crowds like the plague. Would sometimes have to wear sunglasses because it was "too bright". Tim never said anything. Never called attention to any of these occurrences, just attempted to help his boyfriend through it.

Tim knew it was a possibility that Danny was just sensitive to those types of things. But considering Tim was sure that Danny was some type of meta, he was leaning more towards that theory.

Five: His boyfriend was unusually strong for someone that looks as much like a twig like him.

Once when Tim had been injured particularly badly during patrol, he had practically been put on bedrest. Not because he hadn't attempted to go out the next night, but because Danny had found out he was injured and came to take care of him while he was injured.

When Tim had attempted to sneak out that night, luckily he had yet to change into his Red Robin suit, Danny had basically manhandled him back into bed. With absolutely no effort, even with Tim struggling against him. Not that Tim had struggled much, with how frazzled his brain had been when he realized that Danny was stronger than he realized.

And if Tim invited Danny to the gym next time he worked out? Well, that didn't have any ulterior motives, no matter what Steph insisted upon.

And now for number six. This took the absolute cake. The last thing Tim had expected. And at this point? Tim wasn't so sure that Danny was actually even human. Which means he would have to completely scrap his theories on his boyfriend and start over from scratch.

Because right now, Tim and Danny were cuddled up on the couch in Danny's apartment. They were having a series marathon of the Star Trek series. It had started out perfectly fine. It had started out as normal.

A weighted blanket on top of the two, Danny cuddled up to Tim, with a bowl of popcorn in-between the two. Eventually, they shifted. The bowl of popcorn ending up on the floor with Danny on top of Tim on the couch.

Absentmindedly, Tim began running his fingers through his boyfriend's hair, not really paying attention to the background noise of the TV. He was just so warm and felt safe with the added weight of Danny on top of him. The movements of his finger's being just as much as a soothing motion to Tim as it was to Danny.

And at first, Tim hadn't noticed it. Not when he was slowly drifting off to sleep. But as the sound got louder, Tim couldn't help but notice. Danny was purring. 

Tim blinked and he blinked again. Not once stopping in his ministrations as he blanked out. Danny continued purring away, leaning into Tim's touch, his eyes closed and a content smile on his face. Tim couldn't help but be reminded of an overly affectionate cat. Especially when he rubbed the space around Danny's scalp and ears, Tim was convinced the was purring louder than the sound coming from the TV at this point.

So maybe he wasn't human after all. Maybe Tim should have given more weight to Damian's alien theory.

But right now, Tim was tired, and he was sure he would remember in the morning.

In the end, Tim allowed Danny's presence to send him off into a warm and comfortable sleep.

However, Tim was also itching for answers. He didn't know of any aliens that purred, or if they did, they certainly didn't do so in front of him. Besides that, Danny clearly wasn't Kryptonian, Tamaranean, Martian, or any other alien that Tim was familiar with. Which means Danny had to be something else entirely. 

Considering there haven't been any clear major cultural differences, Danny probably was raised on earth. He might be a case similar to Clark, and in that case he might not even realize what exactly he was, but Tim found it hard to believe that Danny didn't know he wasn't human.

Even though Danny wasn't the...smartest, that didn't change the widespread information about aliens on earth, or the fact that Danny himself was obsessed with information about space. Looking back on it, Danny being an alien might be the entire reason why Danny loves space so much to begin with.

So, attempt number one: Declare that aliens are super cool and how he would love to meet more of them.

At first, this didn't seem to be like a bad idea. In fact, Danny perked up in the cute way that he does any time something interest him. A sparkle in his eyes and a large grin on his lips, he eagerly divulged into a conversation with Tim about aliens and space in general. Which eventually involved into Danny talking about how Martian Manhunter was his favorite hero of all time.

Tim didn't have the heart to ruin Danny's fun, even when he could tell his boyfriend sorely missed the hint he was dropping. It wasn't an entire waste. After all, seeing Danny talk about something that he was so passionate about sent Tim's heart ablaze and kept a warmth throughout his body. Right then, plan b.

Attempt number two was honestly a little more desperate than the first, but Tim had thought for sure that it would work. Maybe Danny didn't realize that he wasn't human! So Tim being Tim, he created a fake brochure on "How To Recognize If You're An Alien: 101", and coincidentally left it to where his boyfriend could find. And while Danny did read it, it just brought up another conversation about space and the stars. And while Tim loved hearing his boyfriend talk about his interests, it doesn't change the fact that this hadn't exactly been what he was after.

Alright, fine. Tim could work with this. He'd just get Danny to pur again and bring it up then! It would be perfectly natural, not out of nowhere, and he could pretend that he hadn't been cataloging his boyfriends peculiarities!

So, attempt number three had been a go! Only, Tim couldn't get Danny to pur again like he had that night. It didn't matter how much he cuddled the man, or ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to get the boy to relax, Danny never did end up purring like he had that night.

Not that Tim was particularly frustrated with attempt number three. It was the one he had enjoyed the most by far, and even if he hadn't gotten the results that he wanted, it doesn't change the fact that the moments spent curled up against Danny had been utter bliss.

(And if this was because Tim was a useless bi-disaster, no he wasn't Jason, you can shut up! It's for science, and no, he will not be elaborating!)

At this point, Tim had to consider that his boyfriend hadn't actually purred. That maybe it was a sleep deprived hallucination. Except, Tim had been getting better sleep ever since he started dating Danny, for the boy always made sure to drag Tim off to bed whenever Tim got particularly bad about not sleeping. (Tim could never find it in him to turn Danny down, not when he stared at him with those artic blue eyes that at times seemed to glow.)

But Tim had never been one to let things go. He was certain that his boyfriend had actually purred! And Tim could admit that maybe Danny was oblivious enough to not notice that he was human. (Danny was the first person that made Tim seriously consider if he was into idiot men that at times had a hard time functioning in everyday society. Shamefully, he had to admit that he very much so was attracted to that.)

(Unbeknownst to Tim, privately Danny thought Tim was the one that had a horrible time with basic function. The man didn't even know how to use a washing machine until Danny showed him how! Or a toaster. Actually, Danny refused to show Tim how a toaster worked. Toast was evil and the food deserved to die.)

So, attempt number four. Actually, Tim had yet to attempt it. Rather, it had just been an idea. If Danny didn't think he was an alien, then he probably thought he was a meta-human. And if he did, that doesn't change the fact that he still didn't feel comfortable enough sharing this information with Tim. But if Tim was to show him his own form of extreme trust, that might just change things.

Which was why Tim considered telling Danny that he was Red Robin. Tim really wanted to introduce Danny to his family, properly. Sure, Danny knew of them, and even personally knew some, but it doesn't change the fact that a big part of his family was comprised of their vigilante selves. That a large part of Tim was comprised of his vigilante persona, and he wanted to trust Danny with it. And hopefully, if Tim tells him this secret, it would make Tim comfortable enough to tell Tim about whatever the hell Danny happens to think he is.

Only, Tim never got the chance to make this decision himself. Not when he crash landed into his boyfriend's apartment, heavily injured, and proceeded to pass out.

The next time he whole up, he was dressed, changed (probably because the only was to dress his injury was to remove his armor), and in his boyfriend's bed, with said boyfriend purring next to him.

Tim's mask had been left alone, but Tim was certain that his boyfriend would recognize the scars he had, there was no way that Danny was that oblivious. Add in the fact that there was also no way that Danny was not going to meet the rest of the Bats as vigilantes, as Tim was sure that Barbara had someone check on Tim the moment he failed to report back. So there was absolutely no way that cat was going back into the bag. Sighing to himself, Tim left sleep consume him, deciding he could deal with it in the morning.

"So, you're Red Robin?" Danny asked, staring at Tim from across the couch, his expression neutral, not giving anything away.

"Yep." Was Tim's oh-so-intelligent response.

"And you thought it was a good idea to come to me while injured instead of going to someone that you knew could help you? As touched that I am that you trusted me, you could have died Tim! I'm hardly a medical professional." Danny ranted, and a stab of pain went through Tim at Danny's expression. The boy clearly distraught over the idea that he wouldn't have been able to help Tim. That Tim might have died last night.

"I know... it's just, I've been thinking about telling you for the past few days. So, I think my body just lead me here." Tim explained, and yet Danny's expression didn't faulter.

"I love you too, but I'm still mad at you." Danny huffed. Tim was quiet for a few moments, deciding now was a good a time as any.

"So, when were you going to tell me you were a meta-human?" Tim asked. Danny blinked at him, his expression morphing into confusion.

"What are you talking about, Tim?" Danny replied, looking genuinely lost. And while Tim knew Danny wasn't always the smartest, there was absolutely no way Danny failed to notice he wasn't a normal human.

"Danny, you always run at a lower body-temperature. You've managed to sneak up on me and several of my family members, and we're trained vigilantes. You have enhanced senses, don't bother lying, I know for a fact that you do. And I'm almost positive that you have enhanced strength. That isn't even talking about how your eyes glow in the dark, or the fact that I caught you purring. Literally last night." Tim listed, watching Danny's expression go blank. The boy looking thoughtful for a moment, biting his lip in a way that almost made Tim want to drop the conversation entirely and kiss the boy senseless. Almost.

"I'm not a meta-human." Danny began.

"Danny--" Tim sighed, not wanting his boyfriend to lie to him when he just revealed the biggest secret he had. Besides his missing spleen.

"I'm not an alien either." Danny snorted, seeming to have not realized what Tim was trying to get at these past few weeks. "But I'm also not entirely human either. I'm something else." 

Tim blinked at his boyfriend. Confused. What was Danny talking about?

"Danny, what are you talking about? You can only be meta-human or an alien. There isn't anything else that you could possibly be." Tim pointed out. Maybe his boyfriend was just confused? 

But Danny just gave him a wry smirk, and in a flash of light, Tim was staring at someone else entirely. Or at least, it seemed like he was for a moment. 

Sitting in the place of his boyfriend, was well, his boyfriend if his boyfriend looked entirely different. Had had bluish-greenish tinted skin and toxic green eyes that reminded Tim of Lazarus waters. His snow-white hair moved and swayed as if the wind was blowing through it harshly. Pointed ears seemed to wiggly mockingly at Tim as Danny gave him a too-wide grin that showed off a pair of sharp canines.

"Suprise." Danny spoke, making jazz hands. "Your boyfriend's a ghost."

Tim blinked and then he blinked again. 

Tim lied earlier. This had to be what took the cake. And considering Danny's insufferable little grin, he knew it too. God, his boyfriend was such a little sh*t.

Tim didn't know what it said about him when this fact just made him want to lock lips with Danny even more. Instead of addressing that, and the fact that deep down, he truly was a useless bi-disaster that had a hard time focusing on anything when his boyfriend looked at him like that, Tim instead landed on--

Danny's amusement was clear, as he watched his boyfriend attempt to reboot himself. At the very least, he wasn't denying Danny's very existence, just seemed to be in a state of shock.

Tim knew ghosts existed. Gretta and Deadman were both proof of that. But Danny was too solid for that. And as far as Tim was aware, being a ghost didn't involve a magical girl transformation. Then there was the fact that Danny claiming to be a ghost didn't match up with Danny's list of abilities. At least, not with what Tim knew about ghosts. Maybe Danny thought he was dead? Maybe he got into some sort of accident, that caused or lead to the discovery of his abilities, and he just assumed he was dead?

"Danny, you're solid." Tim pointed out. And as if to make his point, he scooted closer to his boyfriend, ignoring the pain from his injuries, and patted Danny down with his arms. Which just proved, that even in this form, Danny was very much so solid. He was also colder than normal.

Danny just gave him an indulging look, not once moving to stop Tim's actions.

"Tim." Danny spoke, his voiced holding a tone that implied he knew something Tim didn't. "Ghosts come in all shapes and sizes. What might constitute as normal for one, isn't going to constitute as normal for another."

"You're solid, Danny. You aren't dead. I've seen you injury yourself with a kitchen knife while trying to cut up a bunch of potatoes. You breathe, you have a pulse--" Tim began to list, all the while Danny watched him with a quirked brow.

"Are you sure about that, Tim?" Danny inquired. Tim stared his boyfriend down, opening his mouth to argue, only for his boyfriend to grab his hand and place it at the pulse point at his neck. Tim rolled his eyes at Danny, waiting to feel his boyfriend's heartbeat, even if it was always a little slow--

Except, Tim never felt it. Furrowing his eyebrows, Tim began to frantically check Danny's other pulse points. Only to feel nothing. Danny let him manhandle him, not expressing any reaction to the concerning lack of pulse that was quite frankly going to give Tim a heart attack.

"I-W-we need to call the hospital. I-I can't find your pulse." Tim stuttered in duress, beginning to back away so he can run and find a phone. Find something. Call someone for help. Just for Danny to wrap his arms around him and pull him close. His touch was gentle, but considering the fact that Tim himself was injured, he couldn't very well get away without opening his wounds. Which was something he was more than willing to do. "Danny this is serious!"

"Tim, I'm fine. You're fine." Danny reassured, speaking in a calming tone that had Tim whirling back around in anger.

"Danny, you need a hospital. You don't have a pulse, you aren't breathing--" Tim began to rant.

"And I'm perfectly fine. I don't need to have a pulse or to breathe. Don't you think I would have passed out by now If I needed it?" Danny pointed out. Tim gave him a blank stare, thoroughly unamused.

"Explain." Tim all but demanded. Danny chuffed at him, a sound that was also as unhuman as the purring, but ultimately indulged Tim.

"Tim, I had an accident. When I was fourteen." Danny went quiet for a moment. Seeming to struggle to get the words out. "I died that day Tim." He swallowed. Tim himself felt as if his world was crashing down around him. "But I didn't die correctly. The thing that caused... what killed me--Ancients this is hard." Danny sighed, folding himself into Tim, to rest his head on Tim's shoulder. "It brought me back, but not fully. It's--I'm basically stuck in-between. Not really dead and not really alive either."

Tim was quiet, his head buzzing but quiet all at once. He needed answers. He needed to do some research. He needed to get away. He needed a moment to just think. But that would leave Danny alone, after he had just told something to Tim, that Tim was sure was a big secret of his. But it's something Tim needed to process properly.

"I think I need sometime to process this." Tim spoke, pulling away from Danny, and Danny let him. But his boyfriend, because this was still his boyfriend and there was nothing that could make Tim give him up, looked pained at the prospect. "I'm not breaking up with you. I just need sometime to understand what you've just told me."

Tim needed to look into the Lazarus waters. He needed to look into Amity Park. He needed to look into his boyfriend. 

Tim had avoided doing a background check on Danny before, but with this knew information, clearly he needed to if he wanted the full picture. It wasn't that he didn't trust his boyfriend, but this was clearly a difficult topic for him and Tim needed answers. Now.

"Alright." Danny agreed, seeming to think about something as he transformed back into an appearance that Tim was more familiar with. "But can you stay tonight? At least?"

Tim smiled at his boyfriend softly, leaning back into him.

"Of course."

Bruce watched Tim from across the cave. His boy tapping away on the Batcomputer, and Bruce wasn't entirely sure what he was looking into. He wiped the data every time after he left, no matter how many times Bruce had told him not to.

And while Tim disobeying Bruce's orders wasn't new, and Tim being this obsessive in his research also wasn't knew, it was certainly different from how he's been acting in the recent months ever since he started dating his boyfriend. Something was clearly bothering his son, anyone could tell just by looking at the dark circles underneath his eyes.

Something that had started after Tim had crashed into his boyfriend's apartment in his Red Robin gear. A boyfriend he hadn't seen since.

This had to take the cake.

Tim had noticed a couple of odd things about his boyfriend.

One: His boyfriend had an unusual cold temperature-- Tim had originally assumed it might just be because he had poor circulation in his blood stream. But as winter creeped in and his boyfriend still didn't get cold? Not only didn't get cold, but thrived in the temperature? Tim considered just maybe his boyfriend was a meta.

Danny had never mentioned being a meta. But Tim hadn't mentioned being Red Robin either. Not to mention, this was Gotham, so Tim understood why Danny may be a tad apprehensive as to mentioning his colder temperatures.

And if Tim kept the thermostat at a lower temperature from then on any time Danny came to visit? Well, that was his business and nobody else's.

Two: His boyfriend was abnormally quiet. Danny had managed to sneak up on Tim and a few of his family members before. He had managed to sneak up on Cass. And while, on some level Tim could understand his family's apprehension, he felt telling them to promptly 'f*ck off' had also been justified. Tim knew Danny, and Danny genuinely hadn't meant to sneak up on them. 

He had seemed just as startled as them when they shot up in surprise. (And maybe he did ask Cass if Danny was genuinely surprised. His boyfriend was a little sh*t and would totally pull something like this to laugh at. It was his business and Cass's and as far as the two of them were concerned, Danny was perfectly fine.)

Three: Danny was oddly protective. He freaked out anytime there was a Rogue attack and he hadn't heard back from Tim. And while Tim was touched, he hadn't exactly appreciated the mini heart attack he received when he saw Danny out in the field looking for him in a panic.

(That was one of their first big fights. Tim didn't want Danny out in the line of fire, he could take care of himself. Even if Danny didn't know that. But Danny had been just as insistent that he needed to hear back from Tim to know that he was safe.)

They'd reach a compromise. Tim made sure to always respond to Danny's text messages asking if he was safe during a major rogue attack. (Never any phone calls. Danny would know he was lying then.) And he would put up with Danny coddling him the next time he saw him. While it was a bit frustrating, Tim was still touched by the worry.

Four: Danny had enhanced senses. At first, Tim didn't really notice. But eventually, he saw how Danny would flinch at particularly loud noises. Would avoid crowds like the plague. Would sometimes have to wear sunglasses because it was "too bright". Tim never said anything. Never called attention to any of these occurrences, just attempted to help his boyfriend through it.

Tim knew it was a possibility that Danny was just sensitive to those types of things. But considering Tim was sure that Danny was some type of meta, he was leaning more towards that theory.

Five: His boyfriend was unusually strong for someone that looks as much like a twig like him.

Once when Tim had been injured particularly badly during patrol, he had practically been put on bedrest. Not because he hadn't attempted to go out the next night, but because Danny had found out he was injured and came to take care of him while he was injured.

When Tim had attempted to sneak out that night, luckily he had yet to change into his Red Robin suit, Danny had basically manhandled him back into bed. With absolutely no effort, even with Tim struggling against him. Not that Tim had struggled much, with how frazzled his brain had been when he realized that Danny was stronger than he realized.

And if Tim invited Danny to the gym next time he worked out? Well, that didn't have any ulterior motives, no matter what Steph insisted upon.

And now for number six. This took the absolute cake. The last thing Tim had expected. And at this point? Tim wasn't so sure that Danny was actually even human. Which means he would have to completely scrap his theories on his boyfriend and start over from scratch.

Because right now, Tim and Danny were cuddled up on the couch in Danny's apartment. They were having a series marathon of the Star Trek series. It had started out perfectly fine. It had started out as normal.

A weighted blanket on top of the two, Danny cuddled up to Tim, with a bowl of popcorn in-between the two. Eventually, they shifted. The bowl of popcorn ending up on the floor with Danny on top of Tim on the couch.

Absentmindedly, Tim began running his fingers through his boyfriend's hair, not really paying attention to the background noise of the TV. He was just so warm and felt safe with the added weight of Danny on top of him. The movements of his finger's being just as much as a soothing motion to Tim as it was to Danny.

And at first, Tim hadn't noticed it. Not when he was slowly drifting off to sleep. But as the sound got louder, Tim couldn't help but notice. Danny was purring. 

Tim blinked and he blinked again. Not once stopping in his ministrations as he blanked out. Danny continued purring away, leaning into Tim's touch, his eyes closed and a content smile on his face. Tim couldn't help but be reminded of an overly affectionate cat. Especially when he rubbed the space around Danny's scalp and ears, Tim was convinced the was purring louder than the sound coming from the TV at this point.

So maybe he wasn't human after all. Maybe Tim should have given more weight to Damian's alien theory.

But right now, Tim was tired, and he was sure he would remember in the morning.

In the end, Tim allowed Danny's presence to send him off into a warm and comfortable sleep.

However, Tim was also itching for answers. He didn't know of any aliens that purred, or if they did, they certainly didn't do so in front of him. Besides that, Danny clearly wasn't Kryptonian, Tamaranean, Martian, or any other alien that Tim was familiar with. Which means Danny had to be something else entirely. 

Considering there haven't been any clear major cultural differences, Danny probably was raised on earth. He might be a case similar to Clark, and in that case he might not even realize what exactly he was, but Tim found it hard to believe that Danny didn't know he wasn't human.

Even though Danny wasn't the...smartest, that didn't change the widespread information about aliens on earth, or the fact that Danny himself was obsessed with information about space. Looking back on it, Danny being an alien might be the entire reason why Danny loves space so much to begin with.

So, attempt number one: Declare that aliens are super cool and how he would love to meet more of them.

At first, this didn't seem to be like a bad idea. In fact, Danny perked up in the cute way that he does any time something interest him. A sparkle in his eyes and a large grin on his lips, he eagerly divulged into a conversation with Tim about aliens and space in general. Which eventually involved into Danny talking about how Martian Manhunter was his favorite hero of all time.

Tim didn't have the heart to ruin Danny's fun, even when he could tell his boyfriend sorely missed the hint he was dropping. It wasn't an entire waste. After all, seeing Danny talk about something that he was so passionate about sent Tim's heart ablaze and kept a warmth throughout his body. Right then, plan b.

Attempt number two was honestly a little more desperate than the first, but Tim had thought for sure that it would work. Maybe Danny didn't realize that he wasn't human! So Tim being Tim, he created a fake brochure on "How To Recognize If You're An Alien: 101", and coincidentally left it to where his boyfriend could find. And while Danny did read it, it just brought up another conversation about space and the stars. And while Tim loved hearing his boyfriend talk about his interests, it doesn't change the fact that this hadn't exactly been what he was after.

Alright, fine. Tim could work with this. He'd just get Danny to pur again and bring it up then! It would be perfectly natural, not out of nowhere, and he could pretend that he hadn't been cataloging his boyfriends peculiarities!

So, attempt number three had been a go! Only, Tim couldn't get Danny to pur again like he had that night. It didn't matter how much he cuddled the man, or ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to get the boy to relax, Danny never did end up purring like he had that night.

Not that Tim was particularly frustrated with attempt number three. It was the one he had enjoyed the most by far, and even if he hadn't gotten the results that he wanted, it doesn't change the fact that the moments spent curled up against Danny had been utter bliss.

(And if this was because Tim was a useless bi-disaster, no he wasn't Jason, you can shut up! It's for science, and no, he will not be elaborating!)

At this point, Tim had to consider that his boyfriend hadn't actually purred. That maybe it was a sleep deprived hallucination. Except, Tim had been getting better sleep ever since he started dating Danny, for the boy always made sure to drag Tim off to bed whenever Tim got particularly bad about not sleeping. (Tim could never find it in him to turn Danny down, not when he stared at him with those artic blue eyes that at times seemed to glow.)

But Tim had never been one to let things go. He was certain that his boyfriend had actually purred! And Tim could admit that maybe Danny was oblivious enough to not notice that he was human. (Danny was the first person that made Tim seriously consider if he was into idiot men that at times had a hard time functioning in everyday society. Shamefully, he had to admit that he very much so was attracted to that.)

(Unbeknownst to Tim, privately Danny thought Tim was the one that had a horrible time with basic function. The man didn't even know how to use a washing machine until Danny showed him how! Or a toaster. Actually, Danny refused to show Tim how a toaster worked. Toast was evil and the food deserved to die.)

So, attempt number four. Actually, Tim had yet to attempt it. Rather, it had just been an idea. If Danny didn't think he was an alien, then he probably thought he was a meta-human. And if he did, that doesn't change the fact that he still didn't feel comfortable enough sharing this information with Tim. But if Tim was to show him his own form of extreme trust, that might just change things.

Which was why Tim considered telling Danny that he was Red Robin. Tim really wanted to introduce Danny to his family, properly. Sure, Danny knew of them, and even personally knew some, but it doesn't change the fact that a big part of his family was comprised of their vigilante selves. That a large part of Tim was comprised of his vigilante persona, and he wanted to trust Danny with it. And hopefully, if Tim tells him this secret, it would make Tim comfortable enough to tell Tim about whatever the hell Danny happens to think he is.

Only, Tim never got the chance to make this decision himself. Not when he crash landed into his boyfriend's apartment, heavily injured, and proceeded to pass out.

The next time he whole up, he was dressed, changed (probably because the only was to dress his injury was to remove his armor), and in his boyfriend's bed, with said boyfriend purring next to him.

Tim's mask had been left alone, but Tim was certain that his boyfriend would recognize the scars he had, there was no way that Danny was that oblivious. Add in the fact that there was also no way that Danny was not going to meet the rest of the Bats as vigilantes, as Tim was sure that Barbara had someone check on Tim the moment he failed to report back. So there was absolutely no way that cat was going back into the bag. Sighing to himself, Tim left sleep consume him, deciding he could deal with it in the morning.

"So, you're Red Robin?" Danny asked, staring at Tim from across the couch, his expression neutral, not giving anything away.

"Yep." Was Tim's oh-so-intelligent response.

"And you thought it was a good idea to come to me while injured instead of going to someone that you knew could help you? As touched that I am that you trusted me, you could have died Tim! I'm hardly a medical professional." Danny ranted, and a stab of pain went through Tim at Danny's expression. The boy clearly distraught over the idea that he wouldn't have been able to help Tim. That Tim might have died last night.

"I know... it's just, I've been thinking about telling you for the past few days. So, I think my body just lead me here." Tim explained, and yet Danny's expression didn't faulter.

"I love you too, but I'm still mad at you." Danny huffed. Tim was quiet for a few moments, deciding now was a good a time as any.

"So, when were you going to tell me you were a meta-human?" Tim asked. Danny blinked at him, his expression morphing into confusion.

"What are you talking about, Tim?" Danny replied, looking genuinely lost. And while Tim knew Danny wasn't always the smartest, there was absolutely no way Danny failed to notice he wasn't a normal human.

"Danny, you always run at a lower body-temperature. You've managed to sneak up on me and several of my family members, and we're trained vigilantes. You have enhanced senses, don't bother lying, I know for a fact that you do. And I'm almost positive that you have enhanced strength. That isn't even talking about how your eyes glow in the dark, or the fact that I caught you purring. Literally last night." Tim listed, watching Danny's expression go blank. The boy looking thoughtful for a moment, biting his lip in a way that almost made Tim want to drop the conversation entirely and kiss the boy senseless. Almost.

"I'm not a meta-human." Danny began.

"Danny--" Tim sighed, not wanting his boyfriend to lie to him when he just revealed the biggest secret he had. Besides his missing spleen.

"I'm not an alien either." Danny snorted, seeming to have not realized what Tim was trying to get at these past few weeks. "But I'm also not entirely human either. I'm something else." 

Tim blinked at his boyfriend. Confused. What was Danny talking about?

"Danny, what are you talking about? You can only be meta-human or an alien. There isn't anything else that you could possibly be." Tim pointed out. Maybe his boyfriend was just confused? 

But Danny just gave him a wry smirk, and in a flash of light, Tim was staring at someone else entirely. Or at least, it seemed like he was for a moment. 

Sitting in the place of his boyfriend, was well, his boyfriend if his boyfriend looked entirely different. Had had bluish-greenish tinted skin and toxic green eyes that reminded Tim of Lazarus waters. His snow-white hair moved and swayed as if the wind was blowing through it harshly. Pointed ears seemed to wiggly mockingly at Tim as Danny gave him a too-wide grin that showed off a pair of sharp canines.

"Suprise." Danny spoke, making jazz hands. "Your boyfriend's a ghost."

Tim blinked and then he blinked again. 

Tim lied earlier. This had to be what took the cake. And considering Danny's insufferable little grin, he knew it too. God, his boyfriend was such a little sh*t.

Tim didn't know what it said about him when this fact just made him want to lock lips with Danny even more. Instead of addressing that, and the fact that deep down, he truly was a useless bi-disaster that had a hard time focusing on anything when his boyfriend looked at him like that, Tim instead landed on--

Soulmate bonds were looked upon as a blessing. For they were rare and few and far between.

With the added presence of extraterrestrial lifeforms, there was a guarantee that it made it even more difficult to find any potential Soulmate that someone might have. 

And of course, not all Soulmate bonds were the same, most differing in variety. The point being, it was very difficult to find one's soulmate if one did have them. 

However, the media stated that it was always worth the effort. Soulmate bonds always worked out, either that be platonically or romantically, soulmates would be with each other for life.

So, what exactly did one do if their soulmate kept dying over and over again?

Tim, Bernard, Danny, and Wes all shared a soulmate bond. A touch-bond based Soulbond. They could feel anything their soulmate physically came into contact with. Skin on skin. And they could also feel any injuries their soulmate acquired.

Which, wasn't inherently an issue.

At first, the group couldn't actually tell how many soulmates they had once they realized what the soulbond was. The general consensus amongst them all was that they at least had more than one soulmate.

Danny didn't look to deeply into it. Wes and Bernard had been curious but had also left the detail alone. And Tim was the one that had been the one that had actually spent hours upon hours of sleepless nights trying to figure out just how many he had.

(He had even learned morse code in the hopes of communicating with his soulmates, but not being able to actually get his soulmates to do the same thing had more or less ruined the point.)

Everything, other than that, had been fine for the most part. Besides the general occasional scraps and bruises, everything had been fine. That was a normal occurrence amongst a touch-bond based Soulbond.

And then, Tim Drake became Robin at thirteen years old. And the injuries got a bit more severe. They were much more serious. 

This started Bernard down the path of looking into Gotham's vigilante's. It was no secret that Batman took on Young prodigies, that other heroes at times would do the same. With the injuries his soulmate was receiving, Bernard began his search.

Danny and Wes had considered that their soulmate might be apart of an abusive household. But besides hugging themselves, they couldn't add much for comfort.

And then, Danny died when he was fourteen. His end of the bond going quiet. Tim, Bernard, and Wes all assumed one of their soulmates had died. That was until Danny's end of the bond came back as if nothing had happened. Sometimes with even more bruises they didn't feel happen originally, or completely unharmed.

Tim and Bernard assumed their soulmate was in the hospital, going in-between life and death. Tim doing more than a few illegal things in an attempt to find one of his soulmates. Wes had thought the same until he had saw Phantom bleed once. Noticed how Phantom always appeared when that end of the bond went quiet and was nowhere to be seen when it came back. He drove himself insane looking for Phantom.

Danny’s end goes quiet and comes back bruised or hurt? Ok, so, does it also mean that if Danny has a rough day with Dash and then a rough vigilante time, it’s like “My soulmate gets hurt in the morning dies for a while and comes back even more hurt?”

How would this tie with Dan??? How would it tie with Dani???

(I'm assuming Danny also has a fast regeneration ability, so it's not as if the pain is felt for very long. Which causes even more confusion for his soulmates.)

Dan -- From my perspective, is someone completely different from Danny. There is no part of Dan that is human, and only one half of Dan is Danny, so Dan wouldn't have any connection to Bernard, Tim, and Wes. (Now if you want to write Dan as having his own soulmate or soulmates, that's something completely different. But considering Dan's timeline basically no longer exists, its safe to say that Dan's soulmate or soulmates in that timeline no longer exist as well. So that would just be pure angst.) (Or, as I said that Dan and Danny or completely different people, once Danny turned into Dan officially, his soulmate or soulmates connections ceased to exist.)

Dani is also her own separate person from Danny. They aren't the same person, regardless of her being his clone. So, Dani also wouldn't have any connection to Tim, Bernard, and Wes. If you want Dani to have her own soulmate or soulmates, it could be something similar to Danny, only her connection just pops into existence. (So, her soulmate or soulmates assume she's a newborn baby.) Or it could be something completely different, or maybe she doesn't have any soulmates.

I'm assuming they did feel the initial electrocution. Which is why they are so convinced Danny is dead at first. They felt him dying and then the connection cuts out. Only for it to pop back up again moments later.

(Now, medically speaking, someone can only be "dead" for a few minutes before it is considered "unhealable", so after a while, Tim would definitely notice that something else was going on. Probably being able to connect that his soulmate probably isn't in the hospital, for they are dying to often and for too long for that to be the case. And then when Jason comes back, this might cause Tim to get involved with Ras early on.)

Now, Danny is an idiot. And with everything that goes on in the show, I doubt he's worried about finding any of his soulmates. Soulmates he isn't even sure is romantic or platonic. Danny wouldn't be aware of what his soulmates feel when he dies, he can still feel their connection loud and clear. (Even if they were to die, Danny would still feel it because he's "dead".) So, he doesn't know that he is causing his soulmates stress.

And from Danny's perspective, he's hardly the most concerning one, not when he feels the injuries Tim gets when Tim's doing his own vigilante thing.

As far as Danny is concerned, Wes is just some weirdo with a camera that won't leave him alone. Someone that might expose him to the GIW or his parents, he's not even considering the fact that Wes is his soulmate. In part, because at first, Wes doesn't even consider the idea that Phantom might be alive, that Phantom might be Danny.

And by the point Wes is one hundred percent certain, in his mind, that Danny is Phantom, Danny distrusts him. Which makes bringing up the fact that he thinks he and Danny are soulmates a little difficult.

(Though, Danny himself is actually a really good kid overall. He forgave Dani for trying to kill him plenty easily, so I'm sure he would forgive Wes for stalking him. It would just take a moment for him to warm up to him considering things, and from there it comes down to Wes actually bringing up their soulmates. Because Danny isn't going to notice. And the longer Wes puts it off, the harder it is to tell Danny.)

They definitely feel Tim getting his spleen yoinked from him. But then they also feel him getting beat mercilessly at Titans Towers and a whole load of other things. So, besides the initial concern, until all four figure out who each other are, safe to say nothing's going to get done about it immediately.

This is kinda how I imagine them finding each other out.

Wes figures out Danny is his soulmate the same time he figures out Danny is Phantom.

Bernard figures out Robin is his soulmate, but he doesn't know about the fact that Tim is Robin.

Tim suspects that Danny might be something else entirely, but doesn't actually know about Phantom or Danny, but he is definitely looking into the occult.

Bernard figures out Tim is Red Robin.

Wes and Danny start dating around the time Bernard and Tim start dating. Wes and Danny move to Gotham for college.

Danny goes out as Phantom and figures out Red Robin is one of his soulmates. Then immediately tells Wes, who starts up his whole stalking thing that he did with Danny, only with Danny's help this time.

Tim now starts looking into Phantom and into Amity Park. Along with the rest of the bats. Which leads to him looking into the Fenton's as well.

Tim figures out Danny is Phantom and Phantom is his soulmate and has now recruited Bernard into trying to swoon both Danny and Wes at their college.

Danny is not picking up on it, instead flirting with Red Robin as Phantom. Over all, leading to all four basically playing footsies with one another, until Bernard and Wes finally have enough and decide to take matters into their own hands.

Okay, so you know how everyone talks about how Danny and Jason would recognize each other as members of the undead in a way?

Well, what about Talons? The Talons are basically undead assassins, so Danny would also recognize them. And maybe if you want to go with the idea that Danny is the Ghost King, the Talons might even feel more loyalty to Danny than the Court of Owls.

Danny watched the shadow out of the corner of his eye. He didn't know who or what was following him.

But at this point in time, he ceased to care. He was pretty sure it wasn't the GIW. They were never subtle, and probably would have attacked already.

Then again, them getting better at their jobs was the entire reason he had moved to Gotham to begin with.

Aside from that, the shadow only ever appeared to be following him at night. Dimly, Danny considered it might have been one of Gotham's many vigilantes and that his Halfa status had been compromised. But if they hadn't attacked him yet, he was probably safe. Maybe. Possibly.

And so, this went on for weeks to months at a time. But the figure never approached Danny. So, Danny decided that he wasn't going to give it much thought.

That was until of course something landed loudly on his fire-escape.

Grabbing a Fenton-Anti Creep Stick, he snuck over to his own fire-escape to just see a weird looking figure just sitting there.

The figure was dressed up as an owl? An owl assassin? It was some really weird cosplay.

Danny stared at the figure and the figure stared back. Neither of them moving. Just staring at each other.

"Are you just going to sit there staring all night?" Danny asked, exasperated. He didn't receive a reply.

Screw this, he was getting some sleep. He had work in the morning and he had to deal with people. Ugh.

He never did anything, just hung around his fire-escape. He didn't even come inside when Danny left the window open. Just sat there staring.

It was more than a little creepy, but the dude wasn't actually bothering Danny, so Danny didn't do anything about it.

But as it started to get colder and colder, and the snow began to pile up, Danny couldn't help but feel a bit concerned.

Danny could deal with the cold. The cold wasn't a problem to him, not with his Ice Core. In fact, Danny was most comfortable in cold weather. But he knew this wasn't the case for most humans.

(Not that Danny was so sure that the guy sitting on his fire-escape was human, but that was besides the point.)

It also didn't help that some part of Danny wanted to invite the guy in. That part of his Core, the part that was filled with his Obsession with Protection screamed to drag the guy inside.

Which was something Danny was a little more hesitant about. The dude was more than a little creepy. Danny still didn't know who he was. And he was always wearing that creepy owl cosplay.

But as the harsh cold of winter grew, Danny resigned himself to his fate.

Mixing up two mugs of hot chocolate, Danny walked himself over to the window next to the fire-escape.

"Do you want to come inside? It's getting cold out here." Danny inquired. He still didn't receive a reply. Figures.

So, in the end, Danny stepped onto the fire-escape himself. The birdman perked up at that, and Danny became equated with the fact that the man was decided taller than him. Curse his short height.

"At least take this." Danny handed the man one of the mugs of hot chocolate, and the man seemed to react mostly on instinct. Danny began to move back inside when a voice stopped him.

"What is Talon supposed to do with this?" The man spoke. This was the first time in all the weeks that the man had been coming to his fire-escape that he had spoken. His voice was smooth, but had a robotic lilt to it that made Danny shiver in discomfort.

"You can do whatever you want with it." Danny responded, eyeing the man up and down strangely.

"Talon doesn't have wants." The man answered back.

Okay, this was starting to get real creepy, even for him. What was up with this guy. Pausing for a moment, Danny responded.

"Then drink it. Use it for warmth. That's what it's there for." Danny pointed out.

Surprisingly, the man quickly moved to remove his mask. The sudden movement startled Danny, but the man didn't stop for anything.

He began to quickly down the glass, causing Danny to speak up in a panic. Not even having enough time to observe the man's features.

"Slowly! Drink it slowly! You'll burn yourself otherwise." And the man automatically slowed down at Danny's words. It was unsettling.

Strangely enough, Danny had never felt more discomfort around the man then when he was so clearly listening to Danny. Because that was the weird thing, he was listening to Danny's words like they were orders. Not the suggestions they were.

Quietly, Danny moved back into his apartment building.

Maybe he should be more concerned about the fact that some strange unknown was following him around.

Still though, he left the window open in case the man ever came inside. He never did.

But later that next morning when Danny woke up, he found the mug he had given the man resting on the windowsill. Completely drained of any hot chocolate.

Despite himself, Danny couldn't help but thing back to how the man looked. His skin grey with what Danny could only connect with the dead. And yet, the man's soft looking black hair would suggest he was perfectly healthy. And the man's eyes? Well Danny never saw them considering they were hidden under his goggles.

Maybe he should shoo the man away. Things were just getting weirder to the point Danny could no longer ignore it.

But his Core screamed against the idea. Danny sighed in annoyance to himself. It seems, at some point or another, his core had decided the mystery man was apart of his 'fraid.

Talon turned towards the strange man, its claws inches away from the steaming mug.

The man had blue eyes, like Those Who Talon Did Not Know. Like his family the strangers in the Memories That Did Not Belong to It.

Talon had returned to the balcony again and again for the memories. It did not like it, because Talon had no likes or dislikes, but the color of the man's eyes made the memories clearer.

The man's eyes were not blue tonight.

Tonight the eyes were a neon green. This too carried memories.

Gunfire and rage. White streak and snark. Shared meals. Quiet libraries. First of little brothers. Lost returned. Little Wing.

DICKIEBIRD.

Eyes should not be glowing green. Eyes should not be gold

the one time it had seen its reflection in the mirror, it had tried to gouge out its eyes and slit the throat of the Good Doctor who tried to sedate it

Talon did not think the Doctors were good doctors. They always made the memories fade away.

They made everything fade away, and stored Talon in the Sleeping Cold until the Court needed him again.

The Above has started to remind it of the sleeping cold. If Talon could worry, it would worry that the cold would slow his reactions and leave him to sleep in the Above.

Perhaps the cold had already slowed it too much. It did not attempt strike back at the man's attack.

Was it an attack?

The man had wrapped his hand around its wrist and was gently tugging it towards the open window.

"I don't know where you go when you leave, but it's obvious they aren't taking care of you."

The Good Doctors insured that Talon was fully functional. The Court would be angry if it didn't return and would send others to hunt down whatever had delayed it. Is that not the same as care?

"I don't have much space, but the couch is comfy and it's way better than freezing out here"

It thought of the cold darkness of the roost and the memories that would slip through its fingers like sand.

"Please just let me help."

Valerie would also probably want to kill him. Or maybe she's giving up on understanding ghost shenanigans, same with Wes.

Danny glanced at the strange man, watching him from his kitchen as the man sat on his couch. Well, Danny practically sat him there himself, but that was besides the point.

If Danny didn't know any better, he might have thought the man was cationic with his lack of responses. But seriously, this was the type of weirdo that Danny's ghost core thought was ideal to be apart of his 'friad?

(It was strange. Danny's core so rarely accepted others like that easily, especially if they were living. Danny's core only really accepted others into his fold that easily if there were also dead. The man didn't seem dead, and he wasn't setting off Danny's ghost sense, so Danny failed to see why the connection had been formed, but he couldn't do much about it now.)

"The pantry's fully stocked. Feel free to help yourself. Bathroom's down the hall on the right." Danny stated, leaving the man to his own devices, deciding to go to bed.

The next day, the man was gone by morning. Nothing in Danny's pantry had been touched. Actually, the apartment seemed as if no one but Danny had even been inside of it.

The next week, the man didn't come back. But when he did, he hanged around on his fire-escape like normal. Didn't even try to come inside even though the window was open. So, Danny dragged him inside once more.

This time, it wasn't as late as it normally was when Danny noticed the man, so Danny put on a TV show as he sat the man down on his couch. Still no response. Still no real signs of life.

"Do you want any hot chocolate? Any snacks?" Danny asked.

"Talon doesn't want things." Was the first thing said to him all night. Ah, yes, the ever so cryptic words that Danny had no context to understand.

"Would you like to try some?" Danny tried a different approach.

"Talon doesn't have likes or dislikes." And really, Danny should have expected that response. That night, Danny dropped it, left it alone. He was already having the man watching trashy TV shows with him, best not to push it.

But the next night the man came over, Danny dragged him into his kitchen instead.

"Okay, mask off. We're having a taste test party." Danny declared, having prepared a large arrange of different drinks and junk foods to try. Danny wasn't a chef of any sort, so it wasn't anything elaborate, but Danny was sure he could find something the man enjoyed.

The man obeyed, taking off his masks, simply obeying Danny without a second thought. It made Danny uncomfortable, but maybe he could use it to help the man be something more than whatever the hell he was right now.

"We're going to find out what you like and dislike. This way I'm not just shoving hot chocolate at you." Danny explained.

"Talon doesn't have likes or dislikes." The man reiterated. Danny nodded, as if that made perfect sense.

"You've said that. But everyone has likes and dislikes. Even people dressed up in weird owl cosplays." Danny pointed out.

"Talon is not an Owl. Talon is a Talon." The man stated. Once again, making a comment that made zero sense.

"And I'm sure that statement makes perfect sense to you. Now, taste test time."

Danny watched closely as they made their way through the different items. The man's face was neutral the entire time, not giving anything away. He was really committing to the bit of whatever this 'Talon' business was. But it wasn't enough to hide the subtle nuances to Danny's obsessed core that insisted on coddling the man even though he was a full grown adult.

He noticed how the man seemed to linger around the cereal, ate more of it overall. Would have bigger sips of the Sodar verses the Zesti. Small things like that. It wasn't a lot, but it was something.

So, the next time the man came over, Danny had cereal prepared and bottles of Sodar at the ready.

It wasn't just the one weirdo this time. He brought someone with him.

He brought a child that was dressed in the same weird outfit as him.

Danny took a moment to collect himself.

"Ya'know what? Why not. This might as well happen." Danny couldn't help but mumble to himself.

He got to work, setting up the TV and got even more snacks and drinks out. He pretended not to notice as the man gestured the child through the actions, as if eating and drinking wasn't normal behavior. As if being offered food and drink wasn't normal.

Then again, it probably wasn't normal to get offered food and drink by the person of the apartment that they just kinda snuck into. So why not.

Weeks passed, and this continued to happen. Sometimes the original guy wasn't there, but it'd be some other random child. But the one Danny most frequently saw was the one guy.

Okay, so you know how everyone talks about how Danny and Jason would recognize each other as members of the undead in a way?

Well, what about Talons? The Talons are basically undead assassins, so Danny would also recognize them. And maybe if you want to go with the idea that Danny is the Ghost King, the Talons might even feel more loyalty to Danny than the Court of Owls.

Danny watched the shadow out of the corner of his eye. He didn't know who or what was following him.

But at this point in time, he ceased to care. He was pretty sure it wasn't the GIW. They were never subtle, and probably would have attacked already.

Then again, them getting better at their jobs was the entire reason he had moved to Gotham to begin with.

Aside from that, the shadow only ever appeared to be following him at night. Dimly, Danny considered it might have been one of Gotham's many vigilantes and that his Halfa status had been compromised. But if they hadn't attacked him yet, he was probably safe. Maybe. Possibly.

And so, this went on for weeks to months at a time. But the figure never approached Danny. So, Danny decided that he wasn't going to give it much thought.

That was until of course something landed loudly on his fire-escape.

Grabbing a Fenton-Anti Creep Stick, he snuck over to his own fire-escape to just see a weird looking figure just sitting there.

The figure was dressed up as an owl? An owl assassin? It was some really weird cosplay.

Danny stared at the figure and the figure stared back. Neither of them moving. Just staring at each other.

"Are you just going to sit there staring all night?" Danny asked, exasperated. He didn't receive a reply.

Screw this, he was getting some sleep. He had work in the morning and he had to deal with people. Ugh.

He never did anything, just hung around his fire-escape. He didn't even come inside when Danny left the window open. Just sat there staring.

It was more than a little creepy, but the dude wasn't actually bothering Danny, so Danny didn't do anything about it.

But as it started to get colder and colder, and the snow began to pile up, Danny couldn't help but feel a bit concerned.

Danny could deal with the cold. The cold wasn't a problem to him, not with his Ice Core. In fact, Danny was most comfortable in cold weather. But he knew this wasn't the case for most humans.

(Not that Danny was so sure that the guy sitting on his fire-escape was human, but that was besides the point.)

It also didn't help that some part of Danny wanted to invite the guy in. That part of his Core, the part that was filled with his Obsession with Protection screamed to drag the guy inside.

Which was something Danny was a little more hesitant about. The dude was more than a little creepy. Danny still didn't know who he was. And he was always wearing that creepy owl cosplay.

But as the harsh cold of winter grew, Danny resigned himself to his fate.

Mixing up two mugs of hot chocolate, Danny walked himself over to the window next to the fire-escape.

"Do you want to come inside? It's getting cold out here." Danny inquired. He still didn't receive a reply. Figures.

So, in the end, Danny stepped onto the fire-escape himself. The birdman perked up at that, and Danny became equated with the fact that the man was decided taller than him. Curse his short height.

"At least take this." Danny handed the man one of the mugs of hot chocolate, and the man seemed to react mostly on instinct. Danny began to move back inside when a voice stopped him.

"What is Talon supposed to do with this?" The man spoke. This was the first time in all the weeks that the man had been coming to his fire-escape that he had spoken. His voice was smooth, but had a robotic lilt to it that made Danny shiver in discomfort.

"You can do whatever you want with it." Danny responded, eyeing the man up and down strangely.

"Talon doesn't have wants." The man answered back.

Okay, this was starting to get real creepy, even for him. What was up with this guy. Pausing for a moment, Danny responded.

"Then drink it. Use it for warmth. That's what it's there for." Danny pointed out.

Surprisingly, the man quickly moved to remove his mask. The sudden movement startled Danny, but the man didn't stop for anything.

He began to quickly down the glass, causing Danny to speak up in a panic. Not even having enough time to observe the man's features.

"Slowly! Drink it slowly! You'll burn yourself otherwise." And the man automatically slowed down at Danny's words. It was unsettling.

Strangely enough, Danny had never felt more discomfort around the man then when he was so clearly listening to Danny. Because that was the weird thing, he was listening to Danny's words like they were orders. Not the suggestions they were.

Quietly, Danny moved back into his apartment building.

Maybe he should be more concerned about the fact that some strange unknown was following him around.

Still though, he left the window open in case the man ever came inside. He never did.

But later that next morning when Danny woke up, he found the mug he had given the man resting on the windowsill. Completely drained of any hot chocolate.

Despite himself, Danny couldn't help but thing back to how the man looked. His skin grey with what Danny could only connect with the dead. And yet, the man's soft looking black hair would suggest he was perfectly healthy. And the man's eyes? Well Danny never saw them considering they were hidden under his goggles.

Maybe he should shoo the man away. Things were just getting weirder to the point Danny could no longer ignore it.

But his Core screamed against the idea. Danny sighed in annoyance to himself. It seems, at some point or another, his core had decided the mystery man was apart of his 'fraid.

Talon turned towards the strange man, its claws inches away from the steaming mug.

The man had blue eyes, like Those Who Talon Did Not Know. Like his family the strangers in the Memories That Did Not Belong to It.

Talon had returned to the balcony again and again for the memories. It did not like it, because Talon had no likes or dislikes, but the color of the man's eyes made the memories clearer.

The man's eyes were not blue tonight.

Tonight the eyes were a neon green. This too carried memories.

Gunfire and rage. White streak and snark. Shared meals. Quiet libraries. First of little brothers. Lost returned. Little Wing.

DICKIEBIRD.

Eyes should not be glowing green. Eyes should not be gold

the one time it had seen its reflection in the mirror, it had tried to gouge out its eyes and slit the throat of the Good Doctor who tried to sedate it

Talon did not think the Doctors were good doctors. They always made the memories fade away.

They made everything fade away, and stored Talon in the Sleeping Cold until the Court needed him again.

The Above has started to remind it of the sleeping cold. If Talon could worry, it would worry that the cold would slow his reactions and leave him to sleep in the Above.

Perhaps the cold had already slowed it too much. It did not attempt strike back at the man's attack.

Was it an attack?

The man had wrapped his hand around its wrist and was gently tugging it towards the open window.

"I don't know where you go when you leave, but it's obvious they aren't taking care of you."

The Good Doctors insured that Talon was fully functional. The Court would be angry if it didn't return and would send others to hunt down whatever had delayed it. Is that not the same as care?

"I don't have much space, but the couch is comfy and it's way better than freezing out here"

It thought of the cold darkness of the roost and the memories that would slip through its fingers like sand.

"Please just let me help."

Valerie would also probably want to kill him. Or maybe she's giving up on understanding ghost shenanigans, same with Wes.

Danny glanced at the strange man, watching him from his kitchen as the man sat on his couch. Well, Danny practically sat him there himself, but that was besides the point.

If Danny didn't know any better, he might have thought the man was cationic with his lack of responses. But seriously, this was the type of weirdo that Danny's ghost core thought was ideal to be apart of his 'friad?

(It was strange. Danny's core so rarely accepted others like that easily, especially if they were living. Danny's core only really accepted others into his fold that easily if there were also dead. The man didn't seem dead, and he wasn't setting off Danny's ghost sense, so Danny failed to see why the connection had been formed, but he couldn't do much about it now.)

"The pantry's fully stocked. Feel free to help yourself. Bathroom's down the hall on the right." Danny stated, leaving the man to his own devices, deciding to go to bed.

The next day, the man was gone by morning. Nothing in Danny's pantry had been touched. Actually, the apartment seemed as if no one but Danny had even been inside of it.

The next week, the man didn't come back. But when he did, he hanged around on his fire-escape like normal. Didn't even try to come inside even though the window was open. So, Danny dragged him inside once more.

This time, it wasn't as late as it normally was when Danny noticed the man, so Danny put on a TV show as he sat the man down on his couch. Still no response. Still no real signs of life.

"Do you want any hot chocolate? Any snacks?" Danny asked.

"Talon doesn't want things." Was the first thing said to him all night. Ah, yes, the ever so cryptic words that Danny had no context to understand.

"Would you like to try some?" Danny tried a different approach.

"Talon doesn't have likes or dislikes." And really, Danny should have expected that response. That night, Danny dropped it, left it alone. He was already having the man watching trashy TV shows with him, best not to push it.

But the next night the man came over, Danny dragged him into his kitchen instead.

"Okay, mask off. We're having a taste test party." Danny declared, having prepared a large arrange of different drinks and junk foods to try. Danny wasn't a chef of any sort, so it wasn't anything elaborate, but Danny was sure he could find something the man enjoyed.

The man obeyed, taking off his masks, simply obeying Danny without a second thought. It made Danny uncomfortable, but maybe he could use it to help the man be something more than whatever the hell he was right now.

"We're going to find out what you like and dislike. This way I'm not just shoving hot chocolate at you." Danny explained.

"Talon doesn't have likes or dislikes." The man reiterated. Danny nodded, as if that made perfect sense.

"You've said that. But everyone has likes and dislikes. Even people dressed up in weird owl cosplays." Danny pointed out.

"Talon is not an Owl. Talon is a Talon." The man stated. Once again, making a comment that made zero sense.

"And I'm sure that statement makes perfect sense to you. Now, taste test time."

Danny watched closely as they made their way through the different items. The man's face was neutral the entire time, not giving anything away. He was really committing to the bit of whatever this 'Talon' business was. But it wasn't enough to hide the subtle nuances to Danny's obsessed core that insisted on coddling the man even though he was a full grown adult.

He noticed how the man seemed to linger around the cereal, ate more of it overall. Would have bigger sips of the Sodar verses the Zesti. Small things like that. It wasn't a lot, but it was something.

So, the next time the man came over, Danny had cereal prepared and bottles of Sodar at the ready.