#dami's teddy

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Danny hit the floor hard. Like really hard. Which shouldn’t have hurt so bad considering he seemed to be in ghost mode. Wait why was he in ghost mode? That didn’t really make a lot of sense-? Danny’s head hurt. But also it didn’t? It felt like when he sometimes had pain in his tail when he didn’t have a tail because he wasn’t using it at the time.

Danny looked down at himself, he did seem to have his tail right now. Where were his legs? Danny sighed, transforming his tail to legs so he could stand.

He stood too fast. He fell back to the floor. Why was everything spinning? Holy shit?? Danny wanted to throw up but there was an innate part of him that sensed there was nothing inside to do that with. He gagged anyway. All that came up was slobbery ecto on his lip.

Danny tried to breathe only to realize his lungs didn’t seem to need the air. Right- ghost form. Duh- The floor beneath him was cold. But Danny didn’t feel it. He just knew that tile was supposed to be cold. The fact that his knees and palms couldn’t tell was something he wasn’t used to anymore.

He could hear things. Marginally. Lots of garbled chatter like an old abused radio trying desperately to keep its signal so all that comes out is static and unintelligible nonsense. It was loud. Almost overwhelming. It hurt his ears.

Danny tried to get up again but fell back down in another wave of nausea. Why couldn’t he stand? Was he really hit that bad? It didn’t matter, Danny’s head was spinning. He decided that getting up was more trouble than it was worth. Everything hurt as he curled himself into  a pitiful ball on the tile floor.

He lay like that for a while. The voices were loud and demanding but he couldn’t understand any of it. He wanted to hold his ears and go back. Go back where? Um- somewhere. Wherever he used to be. It was better than this. Bright, loud, incoherent, nauseating. That’s what this was. This sucked.

“Danyal, are you quite alright?” a voice broke through. One that he could understand. He knew that voice. It was the butler. The old man Danny had come to appreciate as a friend. What was his name? He had never been able to say it before so he wasn’t sure if he even remembered it…. Al- Arnold? No. Allen? Definitely not. His name felt like something you would name your stuffy if you wanted to give him a British accent….. Alfred. Yes, Alfred Pennyworth. What a weird fucking name. What the hell was a Pennyworth? It sounded fake.

Danny found the strength to force his head to rise off the floor one more time, this time the butler was on his knee offering a hand. It was the only thing Danny could see clearly in the over-bright light. He was smaller than Danny remembered. Hell, until about 2 seconds ago, Danny was sure the man had been a dream altogether.

“Old man,” he groaned, his throat burning with dryness as if he hadn’t uttered a sound in thousands of years, “No.” He was barely able to croak out the last bit. Danny had been in all kinds of bad situations before, he had even been tortured but he had never experienced anything like this. It felt like his body wasn’t his. Like he didn’t have one and never did. Like it was a world of solids and he was a gas trapped under an upturned bowl.

“YOUR’E HURTING HIM!” Danny’s head dropped for a moment before hearing that scream. It made his blood boil. Suddenly, despite everything, Danny felt the strength to stand. No, he had the strength to fight. He knew that voice and he knew that he couldn’t let anyone cause that voice to cry out in such a manner. Damian was his baby and nobody was gonna fucking hurt him.

Danny stood, his obsession fueling his rage. While he could hardly see anything, he knew where Alfred and Damian were and that was enough. He took a step, intending to get them away from whoever made Damian scream when he felt himself halt at an invisible wall. He immediately tried to use his intangibility but that didn’t work either. So he started punching.

Voices seemed to panic but he wasn’t listening. Punch. Punch harder. Another punch. Crack. One more punch. And he was through.

Danny ran to Alfred and Damian, pulling them behind him before facing the crowd with ice on his breath, power in his hands and fear in his heart. Danny wasn’t thinking straight but he didn’t much care.

His eyes were starting to focus now and from what he could tell, the room was filled to the brim with people. Some he recognized. Bruce, Dick, Jason, Tim, Barbara. But some he didn’t remember and those were the ones that worried him. A girl in a cloak that smelled like a demon, a woman in a top hat and fishnets whose fingers twitched with magic and a man in a trenchcoat that Danny could see was a soul whore.

While he theoretically knew what that meant, Danny had never had to fight someone before. Not living people. Fuck it. First time for everything. He raised his fists into a defensive position.

“Danyal, I assure you they mean no harm,” he heard Alfred say. And while he wanted to believe the butler, he knew the man well enough to know when he doubted his own words. Which he did. It did not make him feel any better.

“Damian sounded hurt,” Danny snapped, “Dami are you okay?” He kept his hands up, to let everyone know he wasn’t backing down but he didn’t much care what it looked like when he turned to look at Damian. The boy had tears in his eyes and a look of shock and confusion. It made him look like the little kid Danny had fallen into the arms of all those years ago. The scared child in a new world. Those tears were something Danny knew only he got to see back then and it broke his heart to see them welling up now. Especially because he knew Damian hated the crowd watching.

Damian didn’t respond before Danny dropped his position and gave the boy a hug. The thing that Danny had never been able to do was wrap his arms around the boy when he needed it and now that he had that chance, he was going to use it.

“I thought they were hurting you,” he heard Damian say, muffled into his shoulder. Danny’s heart ached. He wasn’t hurt himself. He was frightened that Danny was. He felt Damian’s arms wrap around him, reciprocating the hug. He wasn’t a boy anymore and he was taller than Danny’s short slender frame but he felt like a baby in Danny’s arms.

“No I’m okay now. See? No injuries,” he let Damian examine his arms as proof, “Don’t worry about me.”

Danny looked back to the crowd when he heard a shuffle. Alfred had stepped in front of him and Damian, blocking the way of sad trench coat man and Bruce who both looked as though they wanted violence. Even when he wasn’t trapped in that damn bear Alfred still had his back it seemed.

…

“I would advise you both to rethink your next decisions. As continuing this path will end with me causing you great amounts of bodily harm,” Alfred said smoothly. He would not let his anger rise up into his voice. Master Bruce knew him well enough that he had no need. Constantine on the other hand was a stubborn fellow that he was very much worried he would need to remind of his place as a guest.

“Alfred-,” Bruce started, trying to argue. Alfred shot it down with a stern look. He would not be hearing any more from him. While Alfred normally left the more fantastical side of things to those wearing capes, he knew Danyal well and was a close friend of the bear, well, boy. And just because he appeared to be some kind of specter didn’t mean he had any less right to be spoken to and treated with decency.

He had already been thrown around enough as it was. Whilst Constantine and Raven had fought over what to do with the teddy, the two of them had ended up magically jostling the poor thing around until the magical cube it was contained in shattered, the pieces ripping open the stomach of the teddy where the green marble had fallen out and hard into the floor. After a loud crack, a boy that Alfred had since deduced as Danyal had appeared out of the small globe, the orb embedding itself into his chest.

The scene after that had been horrible to witness. The magic users seemed to panic by his appearance, trapping him under some kind of magic prison hold. Inside he seemed weak and weighed down. Alfred could do nothing but watch as he seemed to gag, unable to vomit.

Anger had risen inside of his old soul at that but he knew far better than to pick a fight with imbeciles in trench coats with magic dancing in their fingers. Instead, he approached the crumbling form of his once stuffed friend. He placed his hand on the magic barrier, daring it to hurt him. It did not.

It was as he asked Danyal if he was alright that he heard Young Master Damian’s soft gasp from the shadows. Of course the boy had seen everything… Alfred’s heart sank. He didn’t know how the young master was feeling in that moment but he knew that it must have been devastating when he heard the pained, desperate cry come from the boy’s mouth.

“YOUR’E HURTING HIM!” he had said. The sound of a scream over silent broken sobs. It was terrible. It was enough that everyone in the room cowered away from the sound. Damian has never been so openly distraught with anyone in the room. But it must have been a sound that Danyal recognized.

Alfred watched as the ghostly form of his friend turned from defeated to enraged. A green glow caught in his eyes as the air around his body rippled in his own power. Despite everything, he had found the strength to stand and began to punch his way out of the magical hold.

Constantine raised his hands yelling, “Fuck!” The others began to fall into defensive positions, calling things to one another, no one really knowing what to do. Young Master Jason was holding Young Master Damian back as the young man fought to pry himself out of his older brother’s grip, tears dripping down his face.

Alfred had just enough time to give Young Master Jason a look and a brief order of “let him go” before the cracked walls of the magic embrace fell away like shattered glass of a window pane.

Young Master Damian ran toward Danyal but the ghost was quicker, throwing Alfred and the young master behind him and squaring up his arms to get ready for a fight. Danyal was trying to protect them. And while Alfred knew that no one wanted to hurt himself or Young Master Damian, he couldn’t say the same for his dear friend. But as long as Danyal looked as though he posed a threat, Alfred knew nobody was going to stand down.

It was the moment that Danyal turned to hug the young master that the others tried to take action. Something that Alfred did not have the patience for. He took a large step, making sure to block the way of his own master and the trenchcoated imbecile. Silent rage was rolling through his aged bones and he was not above using it. Though he doubted he would have to when the two took a step back after he gave them a warning.

“Alfred you don’t know anything!” Constantine shouted. Alfred raised an eyebrow at that, wondering if the man before him really had that much audacity. If anyone in the room knew anything about Danyal, it was himself and the young master.

“What exactly is it that I do not know Constantine,” he kept his voice calm and flat, controlled. He kept an eye on his peripheral where he saw Danyal and Young Master Damian watching the interaction carefully. Both looked as though they were ready to jump to back him up if things got physical. Alfred couldn’t help but snicker at that. What an odd little team they’d make.

“He’s marked!” Constantine raised his finger in accusation, “That thing put a sigil on Bruce’s spawn.”

Almost at the same exact moment Alfred heard an offended “Excuse me?!” from the young master and a terrified “WHAT?!” from Danyal. The ghost turned to the young master, searching him briefly with his glowing eyes that seemed to widen when they fell over the back of Young Master Damian’s neck.

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Before Alfred could make it to the Batcave, there were already several magic users teleporting in. That was not ideal. He was hoping to speak with Master Bruce before Rachel sounded the mystical alarm bells. Alfred had known all of the magic users for a long time but he was still unsure just how they all communicated with one another so quickly. He assumed it was some sort of magic but it made things very hard when it came to trying to keep anything from any of them.

"I see you all heard," he said, composing himself as much as possible. While he trusted these people and knew enough to know that they were going to attempt to do the right thing, he also knew that some of them were known to jump the gun when it came to certain things. Especially Constantine. Mostly Constantine.

Master Bruce gave Alfred a look, "You knew about this?"

Alfred couldn't help but stare at his employer for a moment. Of course he knew. Master Bruce also knew. He had told him several times. He made it no secret in fact. The only reason Alfred ever covered for Danyal was to not freak out Young Master Damian while he was growing up. The look of shock and betrayal on his master's face was completely unnecessary and Alfred had no sympathy for the man. Of all the things for him to conveniently forget, it had to be the things that made Alfred seem less trustworthy to the magic using allies that the family had gained after the years.

"May I remind you that I mentioned it to you several times and you always said to leave it alone." While Alfred was worried for his employment, it was only a marginal fear, something that would never come to fruition. Alfred simply knew too much. He could ruin Master Bruce if given the chance. He wouldn't. But he very much could.

Alfred was mostly worried for Danyal. After so many years, he knew enough to know that Danyal was no harm to anybody and didn't want to hurt anyone either. He seemed pretty content with the existence he was living most of the time, only ever communicating discontent while mourning whatever his life was before. But Danyal had made it clear that it wasn't something he could ever truly go back to. Not to mention Alfred knew that Danyal cared about Young Master Damian far too much to want to leave. He had watched the boy grow up. The last thing Alfred wanted was for Constantine to assume some sort of animosity and hurt Danyal.

Bruce kept quiet after that and Alfred turned his attention Constantine and Zatanna, "May we all wait to dive in at least until after Young Master Damian gets his rest. He will want to be a part of this conversation and he hasn't slept in several days."

Bruce spoke up once more, his voice softer, "Several days?"

Alfred sighed, "Sir, your son graduated the top of his class and valedictorian. He didn't do that naturally. He lost many hours of sleep to study and review. Especially this last few weeks. Now that it's all over, he's finally resting."

Bruce's brows furrowed, "I will go to his graduation."

Alfred looked down, not wanting to break it to him, "Young Master Damian attempted to invite you but you didn't accept. Young Master Dick went instead."

Bruce looked confused, "I said no?"

Alfred nodded, "I do not think you meant to sir but you know Young Master Damian doesn't handle even the slightest of rejections well from you."

Bruce went quiet once more. The magic users watched, their faces blank as possible, most likely knowing how it goes. It wasn't uncommon that when they were involved with his children, he was the one who seemed to know the least. They all became very good at keeping things from him and sometimes even when they did tell him, Master Bruce was known to prioritize Batman duties unless one of them was actually dying. He tried to be a good dad, Alfred knew that. Everyone knew that. But it was easy to get lost in all the darkness and horror that Gotham had to offer. It was easy to get so lost in wanting to protect everyone else that the people in his own home became less easy to see. Bruce's work home balance had always been abysmal.

Alfred turned to look as the titans entered, fully costumed unlike how he had seen them just 10 minutes before when he was greeting them into the home. The entire team was present but he was mainly keeping an eye on Nightwing and Raven who seemed more antsy than the rest.

"Are you sure it's safe to wait," Zatanna asked.

Alfred nodded, "Yes. I am quite certain that we would be in more danger from Young Master Damian's retired swords for waking him than anything that Danyal could do."

"Danyal?" Constantine pinched the bridge of his nose, "Have you named the entity?"

Alfred sighed, "Young Master Damian did when he was 10. He has gone by that name willingly since then."

"Alfred, your acting like you know this uh- Danyal personally," Nightwing took a step forward.

"I do. He is very good company," Alfred responded. There was no use to lie.

Raven nodded, "I'm inclined to believe you. When I briefly tried to communicate with it, the entity was very benign."

"First contact doesn't mean anything. We don't even know if what we are dealing with is actually a human spirit," Constantine snapped in response. It was the exact attitude Alfred feared he would have.

"Everything I could sense suggested it was. I told you I could exorcise it on my own, you don't even need to be here Constantine," Alfred was beginning to sense there was something else going on with Raven and the magic users that he wasn't privy to that was affecting the way this was going.

Suddenly Raven threw her hand in the air and Danyal appeared on the floor in the middle of the cave, encased in some sort of magical cube, imprisoning the teddy. It was definitely Raven's magic as Zatanna acted shocked at the sudden movements and John Constantine looked personally offended by it. Alfred was almost positive that there was something else going on now. It was entirely none of his business but it did make him rather prefer of there weren't quite so many of them in his master's home.

"This is Danyal?" Nightwing looked at the teddy incredulously.

Alfred nodded, "Yes."

"I THOUGHT THEY WERE ALL TALKING STUPID! YOU ACTUALLY TALK TO THE FUCKING TEDDY BEAR!?" Nightwing threw his hands in the air dramatically. The boys must have told him about Alfred's habit of speaking with the bear as if he were a person. There was no doubt that all of the bat children had seen him do so at least once but it was mostly Young Masters Tim and Jason that seemed to catch it over the years. The only one who had never really seen it was Young Master Dick as he was gone so often.

Alfred nodded, "Yes."

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Years passed as years tend to do. Alfred watched the boys grow into men and slowly one by one move out of the manor. Young Master Dick was forging a path of his own in Bludhaven and he was nothing but proud. Young Master Jason was still fighting but he had his own family now, youngsters under his own wing in Crime Alley. It wasn't so full of crime anymore, the alley's name now just an homage of what it once was before the young master set his mind to helping restore the area. Young Master Tim was retired from field work after a very nasty cold took out his immune system. He was however CEO of Wayne Enterprises and he was doing very well. Young Master Damian had put down his swords in favor of schooling, graduating top of his class in high school. He was on his way to university to pursue his dream of being a doctor soon.

In the same way that the boys had grown, the ladies that frequented the house had also turned out to be extraordinary women. Young Miss Barbara was now going back to school, taking night courses in technological engineering. She was doing work for Young Master Tim and he wanted to be able to legally pay her so she was finishing up some courses so she had the specks to be legally hired on at WE. Young Miss Cassandra was currently travelling in a touring production of Giselle and she sent post cards often. She seemed to be enjoying it. Young Miss Stephanie was no longer attached to the hip of Young Master Tim as she had gone through some self discovery and she was currently travelling with Young Miss Cassandra as they were romantically intertwined nowadays.

The only stagnant figures in the home were Master Bruce who seemed to have been in enough supernatural events that he seemed to have stopped aging, Alfred who looked just as much of an old man as he had before and Danyal which remained unchanged. Alfred was beyond happy to see the children growing into who they were meant to be as he saw them less as employers and more as his own grandchildren. They were the family he chose after he retired and he was beyond happy to know that they had all made their own way and were happy and healthy. Alfred was an old man now and was willing to admit that they were all very dear to his heart.

Alfred stopped seeing Danyal so often once Young Master Damian fully started to acclimate to being in the manor. Once the world around him died down enough for the boy to breathe, he didn't hide behind his own pride and started to bond with the family. He didn't need Danyal to hold anymore when he was alone. He became self assured in his place within the home just as Alfred hoped he would. However it meant that after a while, the dynamic duo became a dynamic uno.

Danyal still came to see Alfred on days that the bear had the energy to try and move but for the sake of Young Master Damian, Alfred made sure the teddy was returned to the boy's room before he returned from school. They were still good friends but it wasn't an often occurrence that Alfred got to hear his inanimate friend's tenor voice box. They made the most of it baking together most times. If the manor suddenly had cookies or lemon squares it was most definitely because Danyal and Alfred were having one of their secret meetings to catch up. Danyal often updated Alfred on Damian's life like if he was more stressed recently or if he was dealing with a new moral quandary Danyal was helping him through. Danyal had his own place on the shelf where he sat in the young master's room and Alfred thought it fitting for such a sophisticated bear.

Today was not one of those days were Alfred was graced with the presence of his dear friend. Damian was holed up in his room, having just graduated high school. After the many sleepless nights that Danyal told him the boy had, he was most likely finally getting the rest he deserved no longer needing to worry about finals. It left Alfred alone to stew in his own thoughts as he finished up his duties for the day.

"Hello Alfred." he heard a familiar voice say as he wiped up the dining room table.

"Hello Rachel," he said in return, offering her a smile. Alfred was aware that the titans were visiting the manor for the week. It had happened before but never for very long. However Young Master Dick seemed to have a case that he and the titans wanted to work with Master Bruce on. Alfred was proud of the progress the two were making in their relationship. Young Master Dick was coming home more often and the fighting was less. It was nice.

"You don't mind having more mouths to feed for the week do you? Garfield has quite the appetite," the young woman chuckled at her own joke about her boyfriend.

Alfred gave his own chuckle in response, "After years of feeding Young Miss Cassandra, I think I can handle it."

"I was told that you knew which room he and I were allowed to use for the week?" Rachel fiddled with her fingers, a nervous tick she never seemed to have grown out of even after all this time.

"Indeed I do," Alfred said in response, finishing up the table, "I can show you if you'de like." He stood up and looked to the young woman. She had grown up well. She was more confident than she used to be but her underlying anxiety still remained. As she matured so did her power, growing within her as Young Master Dick had explained once. Alfred understood why that would give someone a great anxiety.

"Yes please," she said, following as Alfred began to walk with her to the stairs. While the dining room was on the lower level of the house, most of the bedroom occupied the second and third floors of the manor. The room that Alfred had cleared for Rachel and Garfield was on the third floor near the bedroom that Young Master Damian had moved into in order to see the stars better at Danyal's request a few years ago.

The two of them passed the young master's room quietly as to not disturb him. At least that was the original plan.

"Wait-" Alfred turned to see Rachel standing in front of Young Master Damian's door, wide eyed as she stared at the ivory handle.

"Is something the matter?" Alfred asked. He had never seen her act in such a way outside of a work environment. It was a face she made when something supernatural was happening that she herself did not do. Alfred felt his heart sink slightly.

"I can sense it- a soul," Rachel muttered as she reached for the handle of Young Master Damian's door, "It's trapped-"

Alfred held out an arm in front of the polished wood, "Please refrain from disturbing my young master's rest." He made sure to use a tone that was soft but authoritative. He knew what poor Rachel was sensing but something in Alfred didn't want to acknowledge it. Didn't want to think about it.

"I- I'm sorry, forgive my rudeness," Rachel spoke softly, seeming surprised at her own forwardness. She retracted her hand and took a step away.

"It's quite alright, though I ask it not happen again," Alfred let his tone relax once more as he finished walking the young woman to her room.

(The mini adventures of Danyal and Alfred)

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Alfred held the teddy in his arm as he entered the living space on the first floor to tidy up and dust. It was filthy from the last time everyone in the house decided to spend time in the same room for more than 5 minutes. They were a clean bunch individually but the moment they were all together and it wasn’t the Batcave, they fed off of one another’s chaos and the room ended up a mess.

“At least it’s not as bad as last time,” he muttered as he began to clean up. He noticed it was quiet as silence entered the space. While there was once a time where he would have been accustomed to it, he had gotten so used to the conversation the Danyal brought that it was unnerving to not hear the male tenor of the voice box.

"Is everything alright Danyal? You are awfully quiet this evening," he said while picking up the remnants of what was once a very beautiful vase. It wasn't one of any value, Alfred didn't let Bruce display the real ones around the house anymore.

There was no response from the teddy so he figured that whatever was going on, there wasn't words in the voice box that could express it. And that was okay. He wondered if changing the subject might help but before he could mention it, he finally heard the teddy once more.

"I was kidnapped by aliens, said Coraline. Coming down from outer space with ray guns but I fooled them by wearing a wig and laughing in a foreign accent and I escaped."

Alfred nodded. He had no idea what that could possibly men but he knew that it was the closest thing the teddy had to the words he wanted to express and he wasn't going to fault Danyal for the ramblings.

"I see," he simply said in response.

...

Alfred was trying a new recipe. It was a combination of a few that he was already familiar with but he was experimenting to see if he could make a perfect tart shell that tasted of citrus. All the recipes he had found for what he was trying to do weren't very good and a few didn't even have the taste he was looking for. So, He was attempting to come with one that he liked on his own. especially since Young Master Damian had mentioned that he found the flavor of lemons appealing. Alfred wanted to make sure that since the boy was opening up more, he felt like he was being heard.

He set the newest batch he had just finished onto the stove top to take a look at them.

"How do they look Danyal," he asked casually as the bear was his unofficial kitchen assistant.

"Very modern dear."

Alfred frowned. He knew they looked terrible but he didn't have to be so on the nose, "Duly noted."

...

Alfred was trying to mind his own business however he and Danyal had found themselves together in the sitting room while Young Master Jason complained very loudly about a gunshot wound that had already been stitched up. It was a light graze and while in the field, he was no doubt a man about it but the moment the young master came back to the manor, he made sure everyone knew of his plight.

"-and I don't get to take any of the good meds because Babs says that I take them too often and I'm gonna wreck my liver but honestly who gives a shit? I don't wanna limp though patrol!"

"Perhaps she would be more lenient if you didn't mix your pills with champagne when you attended the charity gala last week," Alfred offered.

"That was one time! I forgot!" the young master said while throwing his arms up to increase the dramatics, no doubt a move he learned from Young Master Dick.

"When do you go back to school?"

Alfred had to hold back a laugh after the soft tenor of Danyal's voice box basically asked when the young master was going to leave. No doubt because he was just as tired of hearing the complaints.

...

Alfred retrieved Danyal from the room as subtly as he could. Young Master Dick had finally returned from Bludhaven to speak with Master Bruce and it was going poorly so far. Alfred felt the need to help his inanimate friend escape the vicinity.

Once they were far enough away, Alfred asked the teddy if he was alright, as the conversation had been quite intense.

"They were having an argument as old and uncomfortable as an armchair. The kind of argument that no one ever really wins or loses but which can go one forever if both parties are willing."

"How very perceptive of you Danyal," Alfred said in response only for Young Master Jason to overhear.

The next moment, Alfred heard him calling to Young Master Tim who was in the library on the other side of the wall, "Tim! Alfred's talking to the fucking teddy bear again!"

Alfred simply chuckled.

...

Alfred was sweeping the main entrance hall to the manor, leaving Danyal on a small table in the corner. There was quite a bit of debris after a recent scurmish that ended up leading to Young Miss Cassandra being thrown through the door, covering the area with dust and dirt. Young Miss Cassandra was quite alright but Alfred had suggested that she and Young Miss Stephanie start having their spontaneous brawls somewhere with less noticeable to the public eye than the front yard. According to the ladies, that was the point.

"Hey Danyal," he heard Young Master Tim absent mindedly say while looking for something on the table the teddy was placed on. Ever since the poor boy's friend had died, he was paying less and less attention to how sane he looked to others. Alfred was wary that he may crack but it wasn't his place as long as the young master didn't do anything to bring harm to the household.

Alfred continued sweeping but did pay close attention to the young master as he often had to nowadays. He knew the boy was muttering to himself but he couldn't quite make out what it was as Young Master Tim was well known in the household as being able to speak faster than most humans could keep up with. Even the speedsters had trouble with it on occasion.

"We could be friends you know."

Tim didn't seem to care that the voice he just heard came from a teddy bear which concerned Alfred as just a few months ago he would have said it was crazy.

"Ya know anything about cloning?" the young master asked.

"Yes."

Not the response Alfred was expecting.

Young master Tim had begun to walk away when the response made him swivel back and grab the bear in his haste to interrogate it for more answers.

"What do you know!" he practically shouted to the stuffed toy.

"Crazy old man."

Alfred knew that the bear was not referring to him but was curious what other old men Danyal had experienced in his life before he was a toy. Especially if this person was crazy.

"Can you take me to him!?" Young Master Tim shook the teddy violently and Alfred was very close to intervening.

"Not unless you can walk through bricks dear."

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Damian settled into bed, holding Danyal close. Things were eventful recently. Jason had told Father who he was. And Father was reacting… like Father. While Damian was admittedly excited to see Jason again in a setting that wasn’t secret, it was hard to be anywhere near either of them right now.

Damian had started to get over the shell shock of how different Father was from Mother. He was learning to adapt. He started to have an understanding of when smiling was appropriate and when it was not. He was learning how to censor his words to be more acceptable. He was learning how to do mundane tasks he had never done before like board games.

All of this was training for a new uncover mission Father was preparing him for. He was to go to public school as a normal teenager in the hopes that his public persona would give him the chance to monitor the youth. Father said that the children writhing the school walls were the future of Gotham and that Damian had to be there in order to protect them while undercover.

Obviously Damian was skilled enough for the task. He could kill a man within seconds and had experience with schooling as he was currently enrolled in a private academy. But Father said that it was imperative that Damian act the role that he needed to play in order to not raise suspicion and that public schooling was a far different social climate. He needed all the other students to believe he was a normal boy in order to “make friends.” Damian was planning to use any bonds he developed with others to gather intel for his mission. As he was not in any need for more people in his life.

But Damian was not finished with the training yet so for now he was stuck in the manor most of the time. It was annoying. It had been bearable before but now with the way Father has been acting about Jason, Damian did not even want to be there. It felt like watching a support beam crack on the ceiling above you. Except Father was the ceiling. And the idea of Jason being dead was the support beam.

Damian watched specks of light flicker off of Danyal’s tinsel. It was calming after a day of watching Father barely hold himself together. Damian didn’t know how to feel on Father’s better days, let alone his worse ones.

On one hand, he felt ashamed of himself for ever wanting to look up to him. How could Damian ever think that a man who was so weak psychologically could be a good role model for him? Mother would have never reacted that way. Grandfather even more so. But in the other hand… Father seemed genuinely distraught and Damian wasn’t sure he was quite used to an adult caring about Jason so much yet. Damian was just so used to being the only one that saw use in his brother.

Could one person really bring a man so many emotions? Damian was always taught that was weak. That he was meant to continue the bloodline and make sure Grandfather’s perfection would continue through genetics in each generation. He was never taught to actually process what others meant to him. He hadn’t ever considered that he actually enjoyed Jason until he couldn’t see him anymore. Was that what Father felt? If so why was getting him back so sad?

Damian sighed looking at his teddy, “I wish I knew how to understand. Nothing makes any sense.” He whispered it softly, afraid of the words coming out of his own mouth. If the version of him that lived with Mother could see him now, he would laugh in his face and call him childish. He was childish. But maybe that was because he was just a child.

It’s hard to understand when you’ve never experienced it. Damian knew the teddy was silent. It was always silent. But it didn’t mean Damian didn’t understand what he had communicated. He may have been pretending that the bear was talking to him but it was the closest thing to a confidant he had.

“I do not understand why Father is so sad Jason is alive. If he cares for him as he says that he does it does not make sense,” he said.

When you lose someone important to you, you grieve and learn to move on from the loss. And that process can take a long time. Sometimes if you think you’ll never get something back and come to peace with it, it can feel like you went through all that pain and grief for nothing when you do get it back.

Damian thought about that. It seemed to make sense somewhat. Like training hard for a mission only for grandfather to give it to someone else. Experiencing pain and feeling like with wasn’t for any real reason. Pain that could have been avoided. Injury that could have been prevented. Allies that didn’t need to be lost.

But your father isn’t mad at Jason for that. It wasn’t your brother’s fault, what happened to him. But he does feel betrayed that Jason didn’t tell him until now. Danyal’s plastic bead eyes seemed to hold some sort of deep wisdom within them.

“I suppose that is a reasonable explanation,” Damian muttered. He did not want to admit that he was starting to see the issue. It made him feel bad for feeling mad about their behavior. He wanted to feel mad. He wanted to feel like he was allowed to be mad. But now he just felt guilt. Which was ridiculous.

Damian remembered how upset Jason was when he found out Father had let the Joker live. He felt like his death had not been avenged. At the time, Damian had agreed to the sentiment as the Joker was a liability to keep alive under any circumstance anyways. He had told Damian that the betrayal was inexcusable.

But then Damian met Father. He saw how easily he would snap and kill everything in his path if her were allow himself one single kill. At first he thought that Father was weak for that. And in a sense he still believed that. But perhaps it was more of a strength in the long run that Father knew his own limitations and stuck to his rules. His self control was ironclad and anyone who wished to be a great fighter was smart to try to imitate the ability.

Things were so complicated. He didn’t know which side to be on in the fight. If he had to pick a side. He did not want to. He respected his brother and cared for him in a sense. And he was learning that Father had a reason for everything he did. It was just so much. Damian didn’t want to be a part of it.

He really wanted to sleep. But it felt impossible. Before he met Father, things were so simple. The only thing he had to care about was training and his missions. Every problem that did not involve his orders was not his concern and he didn’t have to feel bad for not being concerned. He didn’t have to care about anything but gaining the respect his Mother claimed he needed to earn.

Damian rolled onto his back, staring at his ceiling. It was tall and shadows of trees outside his window were dancing on the surface. Damian used to hate that. He hated that it wasn’t dark. But he remembered the night he held Danyal close and realized that he could see the stars.

Look at the sky, the teddy had communicated. When Damian looked, he realized that the manor was high up enough on the hill that the smog of the city wasn’t as bad. He could actually see the clear sky. And in it were the stars. Damian had seen stars before but he had never gotten to stop and actually enjoy them. Now, in the manor, he could.

“Danyal, I cannot sleep,” he said, groaning as he rubbed his eyes. His mind was far too full to allow slumber. He wished to do something. He wished for something familiar. He wanted to feel like the house he resided in wasn’t experiencing an unspoken civil war.

We could steal Alfred’s cookies.

“Excellent plan.”

…

The next morning Damian was found perched on top of the fridge in the kitchen hiding in the shadow provided by the small cubby of space. His head was slumped onto the teddy in his arms and Coraline was softly broadcasted to the kitchen. The cookie jar was open in the boy’s lap and it was clear that a few were missing.

Alfred sighed, pity washing over him as he saw the typically prideful child crumpled in defeat. It made him think of Young Master Dick and how he used to hide in cubbies and corners that were high up when he felt himself going into verbal shutdown. Alfred suspected that was not the case for Young Master Damian and that it was instead a response to the recent stress of Master Bruce and Young Master Jason reuniting.

“Old man”

Alfred smiled at the teddy, “Good morning to you too Danyal. Let’s get the young master to bed.”

“What should I do?”

Alfred smiled as he gently got the sleeping boy down and cradled him into his arms, “Just let him sleep in. Be there for him.”

“Okay.”

(Repost)

Shameless ao3 plug

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At first? Alfred was pleased to see that Master Bruce and Young Master Damian had been able to do a bonding activity together and both came back from it unscathed. The young boy had only recently joined the household and was having a hard time adjusting to life in the manor. The only thing Master Bruce had been able to get Young Master Damian to agree to before their trip to Amity Park was training and field work. But now…. there was Danyal.

Yes. The teddy. It was a problem. Not a big problem at the moment but it was something that Alfred was keeping an eye on. It wasn't much at first. Alfred was getting on in age and he knew that his senses weren't as sharp as they once were. He knew that eventually his mind was going to slip as well. At first he thought that maybe that day had finally come.

The teddy was always attached to Young Master Damian's hip when he thought nobody else was home. The boy only seemed to trust Alfred to see him with his new friend that he had lovingly named Danyal. For all the pride within the young master, he was still a young boy who had never been given the chance at a normal existence. Alfred knew that better than anyone. He recognized it in the young master’s eyes. He was scared and hardened. He had seen things no child should. Things he didn't fully understand when he started doing them in turn.

Now that he wasn't doing them anymore, he seemed to need something to hold onto. Danyal seemed to be that thing. Alfred knew better than to say anything about it. He wanted Young Master Damian to be as comfortable as possible in this new place with new rules and new people he had to learn to get long with at the very least. If Danyal was that thing that made the transition even the slightest bit easier then Alfred was glad that Young Master Damian felt comfortable enough with him to let himself be vulnerable and hold the teddy in his presence.

He would come to eat breakfast on his own, as it often was nowadays. The others all had their day jobs. Master Bruce would spend his day making a fool of himself for the press to see. Young Master Dick was off in Bludhaven most of the time now, hardly ever coming to visit lest Bruce wanted to buy a new window. Young Master Jason was still with the league (Alfred was well aware that the boy was alive once more as he had snuck into the Batcave on occasion only to be mistaken for a hallucination by Young Master Dick and Young Master Tim on several occasions). Young Miss Cassandra came and went as she pleased, not eating with others often. Young Miss Barbara spent her days in the local library. While Young Miss Stephanie was not one of Master Bruce's children, she was often in the manor in the evening to see Young Master Tim. Although she spent her mornings sleeping in. Thus, breakfast before school was a perfect opportunity for Young Master Damian to hug his teddy as he came down the stairs and into the kitchen as nobody was home by that time.

Young Master Damian did this every morning. Most days, Alfred asked if the young master had slept well and most days he got a glare in response. That was quite alright. He had plenty of time to wear the child down. Alfred knew that it was going to be a slow process. Young Master Damian was like his father in that sense. Alfred could still remember how it had taken a month for Miss Martha to convince Young Master Bruce make friends with one of the children he went to school with at the time. He had attempted it after she begged but Alfred never saw the boy again after the young master simply became... the master.

Sometimes while Young Master Damian ate his food, he would speak with Danyal, as if the teddy knew what he was saying. At first Alfred thought it was Young Master Damian embracing his young age in a rare moment of vulnerability. But after the events Alfred had started observing from the teddy, he began to think that maybe it did understand. Even if it was just the slightest bit.

It started with small things. Alfred would catch movement in the corner of his eye and when he went to look, Danyal would be sitting just as it was before but it was leaning a bit more than before, sometimes as if it were trying to cock its head to the side in confusion. Sometimes it was as if it were leaning to try and get a better look at something Alfred was standing in front of. The first few instances of this were far enough apart that Alfred had almost forgotten it had happened before. It was enough to make any normal person think that it was a one off, the bear leaning as gravity slowly pulled it down from it's position. Unfortunately for Danyal, Alfred was the farthest thing from normal so he had started to notice the pattern.

As time went on, Young Master Damian would often leave Danyal with Alfred for the day, claiming the bear had told him that it liked the butler very much and wanted to spend the day with him while Young Master Damian was at school or on patrol. So, Danyal became Alfred's little pal, coming along in Alfred's arm as he did his duties for the day, often setting him down nearby when he needed both hands. This was when Danyal began to do more than just lean.

On several occasions, Alfred would look away after placing Danyal on a surface to do some work only to turn around once more to find that the teddy had moved to another surface in the room. It was a curious habit for a stuffed bear to have. Curious indeed. Alfred made note of it. As long as the behavior, while strange, was no threat, he felt comfortable letting it continue for the sake of Young Master Damian who had grown oh so attached to it. For months, things went on this way.

Until, that is, when Danyal started talking. It made Alfred whip his head around the first time he heard it, thinking someone was in the house but all he saw was the teddy sitting there, staring back at him.

“The mice do not like the mist.”

While the message seemed to be quite random, the tone had that of an audiobook or somebody attempting to sound soothing while reading aloud. The voice seemed to be of a young man. The accent was slightly different from those in the household. Not a Gothamite to be sure. When Alfred took a better look, he realized that the sound came from a small voice box in the hand of the teddy. Alfred thought maybe the toy was malfunctioning for a moment but at this point it had gone too far and he had seen to many things for him to not at least suspect that it was somewhat intelligent. He simply had to inform Master Bruce.

He did try to at least. He had told his master that the teddy was simply unnatural. Something must have been wrong with Danyal, if it was really a teddy bear at all. Alfred suspected that it was far too intelligent to only be a stuffed toy.

“Alfred, I can’t take Danyal from him,” Master Bruce had said, “He loves that bear and I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong end of his swords if it were to go missing.” While Master Bruce was more than capable beating his son in combat, he felt it would be best if he didn’t do something to cause his son to want to fight in the first place, given he was still trying to gain his trust.

While he knew his master had a point, Alfred was still not entirely sure whether or not the teddy was any sort of threat. It hadn’t been so far but who was he to know the motives of a stuffed toy?

So after Young Master Damian left for school and the house was empty, Alfred placed Danyal on the table and stared at it for a long while before sitting down in front of the bear, and staring at it some more.

“What are you…” he mumbled mostly to himself. Alfred didn’t have much of a plan when it came to figuring out the answer to his little question.

“I’m me.”

Alfred watched the Danyal lean the slightest bit to the right.

“Ah yes. That was very helpful thank you.” Alfred rolled his eyes the slightest bit in response. That was until he realized he was talking to a stuffed teddy.

“I’m sorry.”

Alfred blinked. This was definitely a development. There was still the slightest bit of a chance that he was finally getting to that point in his age that he was simply hearing things. And while that chance did exist, Alfred rather thought it smarter to make sure that Danyal meant no harm anyways just in case the voice he was hearing was infact real.

“That’s quite alright. I assume you can only repeat things already saved in your voice box,” he said.

“Yes.”

Alfred nodded, “I will try and understand you the best I can.”

“Thank you.”

Alfred decided to start with his own questions, “Why are you here?”

“She has our hearts in her keeping.”

Alfred frowned, “I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you mean by that. Um… how about- do you wish us harm?”

“No.”

He could live with that at least. He could get used to Danyal in the home as long as it meant everyone was going to be safe.

A thought occurred to Alfred, “Are you- a boy? Like your voice box? What pronouns do you prefer?”

“I believe I was once a boy.”

“He/him pronouns then,” Alfred said, “I’ll try to respect that as long as you are here with us. Do you ever talk to Young Master Damian like you are talking to me?”

“She has our hearts in her keeping.”

Alfred furrowed his brow in thought. He still didn’t know what that meant but it must have been very important to the teddy if he kept on repeating it. He decided to try something else.

“Were you always a teddy bear,” he asked.

“No.”

“What were you then,” Alfred stood from his seat, realizing he was behind schedule on his daily duties due to the conversation. He lifted Danyal into his arms and began to head to the stairs.

A long pause.

“Phantom.”

Another pause.

“It comes to me that I certainly was a boy, now I do think on it.”

Alfred did not fully understand it. But he knew enough to be saddened by this answer. The only thing he could really guess was that it was ghost that was tethered to the bear in some way. Like the Annabelle doll two of his friends once found while they were traveling the country. While their charade was a scam, he still remembered how real that doll turned out to be.

“Are you… happy here? With Young Master Damian?”

“I suppose…. Interesting.”

Alfred nodded, heading up to Master Bruce’s room to tidy up, Danyal in tow.

“Bruce.”

Alfred’s eyes widened. He hadn’t excepted that name to be in the voice box or for the bear to recognize who was who in the home other than maybe himself and Young Master Damian, “Yes I usually go to his room first to check for laundry and tidy the bed.”

“Father.”

“Yes, Master Bruce is Young Master Damian’s father. He is also my employer,” said Alfred.

He found himself explaining more to the bear as they went about Alfred’s day. Telling him which rooms were whose and who everyone was to one another. There were lots of names in the voice box. And Danyal seemed to find one to replace the ones he couldn’t say when referring to each member of the house. Alfred was referred to as “old man” which he didn’t take offense to. He knew his age.

Master Bruce was still Bruce. Young Miss Barbara was Miriam. Young Master Dick was Jock. Young Miss Cassandra was Ophelia. Young Master Jason was Angus. Young Master Tim was Hamish. Young Miss Stephanie was April. Young Master Damian was Andrew. Danyal referred to himself as Phantom.

Speaking with the sentient teddy seemed to pass the time rather well, making the long days feel not as such when he was all by himself in the manor. The bear became a great listener when he wanted to speak about his frustrations on the few occasions he could not sit silently about them. The two of them became quite the duo when nobody else was home, the others no doubt noticing but no one ever made a negative comment about it with any real malice.

Just as Alfred had suspected, the toy would never speak around Young Master Damian but Alfred was starting to see why. When Danyal and Young Master Damian were together, Young Master Damian seemed to have an understanding with the teddy. He would talk to him and as if he were talking back and seemed to know when Danyal wanted to stay downstairs for the day rather than go back to his bedroom. On those days, the young master would shuffle to Alfred with a glare, telling him Danyal wanted to spend the day with him, handing over the bear.

Once again, Alfred found himself becoming quite the duo with Danyal, often having him around when the young master was busy. He didn’t mind it. It actually was quite fun. Especially since no one else understood why he was so respectful to the toy. Sometimes, the voice box would start to play while others were around but not within earshot which only made the everyone more confused when Alfred was the only one who could hear it and respond.

On more than one occasion, Master Bruce had tried to tell Alfred that perhaps a doctor’s visit was in order to which the old man could only laugh as he had tried to tell him several times that the bear was a peculiar little thing. On one occasion in particular, Alfred had seen Young Master Jason sneak into the manor to see Young Master Damian and the poor boy stared at Alfred as he conversed with Danyal while preparing the dough for some tarts he was planning on baking. Alfred had pretended not to notice Young Master Jason so he wouldn’t have to fetch Master Bruce and cause a very awkward family reunion neither of them were prepared for.

“Out of curiosity, is Danyal the name you had before you were a bear or was the name chosen by young Master Damian,” he had asked while prepping the ingredients. He had sat Danyal on the countertop, leaning against the tile on the wall while he worked.

"It's Coraline. Not Caroline. Coraline."

By now Alfred was getting better at understanding what the teddy was trying say despite the obvious limitations, "Ah. So your old name was similar but not the same."

"Yes."

"Interesting. Well I hope that the new name is comfortable for you,” Alfred said as began to mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.

“It is.”

He smiled, “I’m glad to hear that.”

The bear suddenly shifted the slightest bit, leaning as if looking over Alfred’s shoulder, “Angus.”

A laugh fell onto the old man’s lips as the teddy was just as perceptive as ever. Alfred had also noticed Young Master Jason standing there in the doorway to the kitchen. He was doing his best to ignore it, as the boy was only here to see Young Master Damian and he knew it wasn’t his place.

“Yes, he drops by from time to time. I must say you have quite the eye Danyal,” Alfred said, turning away from the baffled look in the doorway. Danyal’s speaker box was quiet so it most definitely looked as though he was talking to an inanimate object. He paid no mind to that simply continued mixing ingredients.

“Anyways, your tinsel looks very good today. Did Young Master Damian have you dry cleaned?”

(Repost)

I've decided to repost all of this au back onto this platform as well as shamelessly plus my ao3 where i will also be posting it from now on.

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Danny got hit. Bad. Whatever new fucked up lazer his parents invented hurt. It hurt really bad. He felt himself fall. He was still in his ghost form but very suddenly, he felt very heavy and flying wasn’t so easy anymore…

He felt his core cry out in fear and then he felt himself shrink. He didn’t think about what that might mean. He was too tired. Maybe he was shutting up like a telescope… all well… Danny felt himself crash through glass…. and for a small second he thought maybe he recognized the glass dome in the mall? Danny didn’t know. Not really.

Danny lost consciousness as his vision was overtaken by green.

…

Damian thought it was absolutely ridiculous. Bonding? Like a child? He was there in Amity Park for a mission with his father not to stroll around some sorry excuse of a mall that had maybe 7 stores. All of which were frivolous at best. He and his father had been dragged along at the idea of Brown who wanted to “experience small town hangout spots.” Useless if you asked Damian. They had finished their case and there was no reason to stay any longer but Brown insisted until Father relented.

So now Damian was shuffling along behind his father, the flashing lights of cheap signs marketing sales and deals in the windows of every small outlet within the half barren mall. Brown had abandoned them the moment she stepped into the building, running off to a store and claiming she knew Victoria’s secret. Whoever Victoria was, Damian was sure she needed to get better security.

Father stood there awkwardly, and it was painful for Damian to watch once he realized he was trying to bond with him. What a frivolous notion. This man may have been his father but he was also the man he was raised his whole life to hate and want to kill. He only didn’t try to do that anymore under the promise that Father would train him to be a better fighter. Was it annoying that there was a no kill rule? Yes. But Damian could deal with that if it meant becoming the best to make Mother proud of him finally.

“Do you want to look around chum? I’ll buy anything you want,” Father said. It made Damian cringe.

He shrugged, trying not to voice his disgust in the hopes that he will stay on Father’s good side so he can continue his training. He used to know how to behave himself accordingly. He was molded to perfection by his mother. But Father’s rules and expectations were different and Damian hated to admit that he was having trouble adapting. He wanted him to smile and it was odd.

“Um… how about we go this way?” Father pointed in a direction that had led to a few shops that seemed to be a bit more colorful. Probably for children. Damian did not want to go that way.

“…Fine,” Damian did not feel that it would do any good to argue. Even if he knew that there would be nothing but childish nonsense to look at.

So Damian walked with his father, not really looking to actually buy anything. He looked through the windows of the shops, taking note of them and the rest of his surroundings as his mother had taught him to do whenever in a new place. One store had video games and another had children’s clothes.

But then Damian and Father passed a store titled Build A Bear and in the window was a stuffed teddy with jeans, biker boots and a leather jacket that looked like Jason’s.  Father was not allowed to know about Jason. Damian wasn’t allowed to see him anymore. He tried to a few times but Alfred always caught him trying to sneak out.

“Father,” Damian stopped in front of the window, “I want that bear.”

Suprise washed over Father’s face at Damian’s request. Was it really so hard to believe that Damian might want to indulge in his father’s wealth ever so slightly? The man created him so why couldn’t he use his money for one thing?

“Y-yeah sure! Of course Damian,” he said, “We can go in.”

Damian nodded in response, walking into the childish store colored from floor to ceiling in pastel yellow and baby blue. It was bright and garish to look at but he made the effort to not cringe as he was much more focused on obtaining the stuffed teddy he saw in the window.

“Welcome to Build A Bear! Take a look around! If you want to build a new bear, the options are over that way and someone will be over to help you. If you are looking for clothes to dress your bear, they will be around that corner,” a staff member said.

Build? Damian was going to have to make it himself?! What kind of foolery was this?!

The look on his face must have reflected those thoughts more loudly than he had anticipated as Father patted his shoulder gently, “Chum, you can make the bear however you want. Um… people typically like to put them together themselves in this store.”

Damian was outraged at the thought at first but when it was explained in such a way, Damian saw the perks of designing the bear himself as it will not have imperfections he cannot account for.

“I will design the bear to my liking,” Damian nodded, determined to create the teddy he desired and walked over to the wall of what almost looked like piles of colorful empty skin that had been abandoned of their insides. It reminded Damian of taxidermy but without the middle bits.

He was initially going to pick a grey bear with a red face. It looked the most like Jason to him. But then he decided against that. He worried that it would be too obvious and Father would catch on. So instead he chose a black teddy with specks of silver tinsel spotted into the fur like stars. Damian thought it looked refined like the night sky. And it still kind of reminded him of Jason just the littlest bit.

Damian held the limp, empty teddy in his hand and looked to Father, “This is the skin I prefer the most.”

Father grimaced slightly. It was the face he made when Damian said something that didn’t align with his preferences. He couldn’t have possibly thought that “skin” was too vulgar? Father was the Batman. Damian had even toned himself down. He initially wanted to call it a hollow carcass as that was what it reminded him of.

“Let’s go to the attendant, she will help you get your teddy customized,” Father said. Damian nodded in response, wanting to move on to the next step. They walked together to the woman standing under the sign that said “Step 2: Hear Me.” Damian couldn’t help but think that title was kind of ominous for something that was meant to be marketed towards children.

“Hi! My name is Valerie. Did you find your bear okay,” the attendant said. She had a confused look on her face for the slightest moment that was masked with a smile after Damian felt Father shift behind him. Perhaps the skin he had chosen wasn’t societally correct? What if it was outside of Father’s expectations? Maybe Damian should put it back… he didn’t want Father to be upset and discard him….

“We found it just fine. He said he liked this one the most,” he heard his father say. It was a nice tone but Damian had been learning certain things about unspoken communication recently as Father and Grayson had been very adamant that it was important in training. If Damian understood it correctly, he was being told that he had chosen the correct skin. Which was good.

Valerie smiled a little more as if she had gotten something entirely different from Father’s unspoken communication than he had. But she seemed more relaxed than moments before. Damian wondered what she thought was going on right then.

“Awesome! This next part is where you get to choose what your bear is going to sound like. These are voice boxes. Most have prerecorded messages like ‘I love you’ or ‘happy birthday’ but we also have blank ones that we can add custom audio to,” Valerie explained. It seemed that there was more to the teddies than Damian originally thought.

“Do you have any that have audiobooks on them,” he asked. Jason used to read to him before bed. He would read him things like Seven League Boots and Treasure Island. He only read older books since it was all that Grandfather had. Ever since he began living with Father, Damian was having a hard time sleeping without the reading. He had gotten so used to it for so long Damian had allowed himself to become dependent. And while Damian knew it was frivolous and immature, he thought that maybe if the teddy could read to him instead, he could acclimate to the new situation better.

Valerie tilted her head in thought, “Well we don’t have full audiobooks. Our typical devices we sell in the store only have a capacity for audios up to about 30 seconds. However I’ve got a friend who’s really good with gadgets like this and he’s been developing a voice box that can hold more sound. He’s been recording himself reading Coraline on his new versions to see how long they go. He’s finally got one that could record the whole book and recite it back.”

Damian’s eyes widened, this could be exactly what he was asking for, “Can I have it in my bear?”

Valerie shrugged, “Sure. He’ll know how to make a new one. Let me go ask Wes to get it from the back,” she said before getting up from her stool next to the voice boxes and heading to the register, “Hey can you go grab me Danny’s voice box? The one with the full book? He said he left it in the back rubber banded to a post it note with checkmark on it.”

Damian watched as the boy behind the register glanced over to him and Father and his eyes widened. Damian was suspicious that this Wes person knew something he wasn’t supposed to but he didn’t act on it. Wes dipped into the back and grabbed the voice box Valerie had asked for and went back to fidgeting with the register. Damian looked to his father, noting that he had also seen it. Father gave a nod and pointed to his phone that he was currently using to alert Babs incase any photos or conspiracies come from Amity Park onto the Internet anytime soon so she could erase it.

Valerie came back and finally installed the voice box into the hand of the teddy. After that, she walked Damian and Father to the next step. Which was a stuffing machine, a bucket of fabric hearts, and an array of scent pods in a display.

“Now you get to add a scent for your new friend and choose their heart,” Valerie’s said smiling, “You get to pick them while I fill your bear full of stuffing. How firm do you want it to be?”

Damian thought for a moment, “Very firm.” He did not like the very soft pillows in the manor that felt like he was sinking, something more firm would most likely be preferable.

Valerie nodded and began to fill the teddy while Damian looked at the scent options. Some were standard scents like vanilla and strawberries. But there were some that Damian had never heard of before. There was one labeled, “Ectoplasm” and one called “Ghost Dust.” Damian was pretty sure the “Ghost Dust” was just the smell of sulfur. What struck Damian as odd was the one labeled “Ectoplasm” as it smelled so familiar but he couldn’t really figure out from where. He almost wanted to say the Lazarus but the green waters smelled bad and this scent smelled good.

Valerie noticed him sniffing the “Ectoplasm” scent, “Oh yeah. That’s one of the local options. It’s like an inside joke around here. But you can get that one if you like it.”

Damian nodded, it being the one he liked the most anyways and handing it to her to put into the teddy.

As Valerie was working to get the scent capsule in place she nodded her head towards the bin of fabric cartoon hearts, “Those are the hearts. Each of the bears we make gets to have one. You get to choose it and fill it with love.”

Damian didn’t know about this part. He didn’t know how it was necessary. He almost refused but he had gotten this far. Not to mention he could feel Father’s eyes on the back of his skull. Probably hoping he would comply.

After a few moments, Damian finally reached into the bin. All of the hearts pretty much looked the same. They were made of something soft and covered in red fabric. No doubt they were mass produced.

Except one. One was different than all the rest. It was the same size as the other hearts but it was hard like stone and green. It looked as though it had been damaged slightly, a crack running along a portion of the surface. Unlike the other hearts, it did not have the cartoony heart shape and instead was a perfect orb. Despite that, the moment Damian’s fingers grazed the surface, he knew it was a heart.

“This one,” he said, picking up the green marble like heart. It was very pretty and shone in the fluorescent lights in a way that wasn’t garish like diamonds but rather in a way that just accented the intricacies of the cloudy green that Damian could imagine swirling under the surface like a storm.

“Give it a kiss to fill it with love,” Valeria said.

Damian scoffed, “That’s absurd!”

The attendant shrugged, “I don’t make the rules.”

Damian couldn’t help but glare at the teen girl for making him do something so unnecessary. But after a moment he hesitantly lifted the small green heart to his lips for just the slightest moment. Despite Damian’s certainty that the magic “transferal of love” that Valerie described taking place was not real, for the slightest moment something felt different as his bottom lip grazed the green orb for the slightest second. The feeling was gone as fast it had arrived and Damian discarded it as his mind trying to play along with the whimsical game that the teen girl was trying to make him play.

After that, the heart was placed into the teddy and he was sewn up.

“Before we go to the last step, give your new friend a hug for me to make sure he feels just right,” Valerie said with a smile. Damian was starting to think that if he were a normal child this might have been a fun activity. He was also starting to think that Valerie enjoyed doing her job no matter how childish it was. He supposed that despite the idiocy of the entire encounter, there was something to be said bringing joy to others. Morale was very important in training younger children.

Damian squeezed his teddy in his arms. It was firm like he asked. At the very least, Valerie knew how to follow simple instructions.

“Good?” she asked.

“Adequate,” Damian responded.

Valerie’s smile widened, “Awesome! This the part where I leave you. Just that way are all the clothes and against the back wall are the computers. That’s where you will get to name your bear. Once you go to the register, Wes will print out the birth certificate and you’ll get to leave with your new friend.”

Damian nodded.

Father cleared his throat.

Damian sighed.

“Thank you,” he muttered, shuffling towards all of the clothes for the teddies. He ignored the smile that creeped onto Father’s face.

The clothes were hung from small hangers and were displayed on small clothing racks arranged around the space. Damian was again reminded how childish this endeavor was by how low to the ground the merchandise was for children to have easy access to it.

There were many things to choose from even including the suits of Father and his adopted children. What caught Damian’s eye though was a white t shirt with a red oval on the chest. It reminded him of the bat symbol that Father dawned on his own chest while fighting. It reminded him of the Batman T Jason sometimes wore more.

Damian ended up pairing it with some jeans and black leather jacket. Of course it was all just soft material but the style was meant to look like those things. Damian had taken a moment, not expecting there to be more than one jacket to choose from. One was a plain black and the other had a stylized P on the arm and had a green trim.

Damian liked the way it looked and how the green matched the heart he had chosen for his teddy. The logo on the arm reminded Damian of the jacket Jason had made him. It was a black zip up with patches Jason had sewn into the arms and along the back. They were mostly animals he liked with a few bands that Damian had shown interest in after Jason introduced them to him. He had had to lie to Father about where he had gotten it from after it appeared in the mail. It had taken Damian threatening Alfred’s life for the butler to not throw it out because there was no return address.

Damian didn’t want the teddy to wear anything he didn’t know what it meant so he did get information from the man at the register. Apparently Amity Park was known for its ghost sightings. Damian hadn’t seen any in the short time that he had been there but he knew enough to know that there were many things that very well could have been possible. The P on the jacket Damian had chosen for his teddy stood for Phantom, one of the resident ghosts in the area. He was apparently really helpful and helped residents with more malicious entities. With that information, Damian decided that the emblem of a fighter was something he did infact want his teddy to wear.

After Damian dressed the teddy to his liking, he held it close to his chest and walked with Father to the computers. They were large boxy ones, decorated to look cartoonish and match the color scheme of the rest of the room in pastel yellow. There were two seats in front of each computer. Father sat down in the larger one, forcing Damian to sit in the smaller more childish one.

“What do you want to name him chum,” Father asked. He seemed to be in a far better mood than he was when they first entered the mall. Perhaps Damian putting up with this childish activity made him happy? Surely he knew Damian was above such things even if he was indulging just this once.

Damian thought about what title he wanted to bestow upon the teddy. He wasn’t good at naming things. So he thought about names Mother had mentioned before. She had told him once that while she was pregnant, she had a dream that she had twin boys named Damian and Danyal. It turned out to only be one boy and so Mother had named him Damian.

“Danyal,” he said finally. He typed the name into the computer and filled out the rest of the information on the birth certificate. Father was smiling now, more than he typically did and Damian wanted to ask why but it did not seem wise to distract himself from the process of filling in his teddy’s information.

Once it was done, Damian and Father went to the register where he got to receive the printed certificate, stating that Danyal was now Damian’s teddy. With this proof of ownership, he felt more secure in the off chance that Danyal be stolen by another. It was very unlikely to happen as Damian was a very gifted and trained fighter who knew over 200 ways to kill a man.

Father offered to hold the certificate for him but Damian felt it would be better if he took care of it himself so he carried the colorful folder containing the document and Danyal with him out of the store both close to his chest.