#deadman

His eyes shift between Constantine and the door the king disappeared through. He really should warn John. As much as he likes to joke that John deserved to go to hell, he truly didn’t deserve to be the petty plaything of the King of the Infinite Realms for all eternity.

“John— you—“ is all he can manage to clip out before the boy reappears. He slips over to the table with three steaming mugs in hand.

He sets the teas down with a thunk and takes a seat next to John. Boston had heard the king could interact with the physical world in a way that ghosts like him couldn’t, but seeing it for himself makes him twist with jealousy. The third mug of tea on the table—the one Boston would not be able to pick up— is a taunting reminder.

“Thanks, mate.” John takes a long sip. The king lifts his mug as well, before his attention shifts, finally, to Deadman.

“So, you must be Boston?” The king pins him with green eyes that glow with all the power of the in between. “John told me all about you.”

“He did?” Boston’s eyes go wide. He looks to John, who gives half a shrug, and Boston confronts another horrible possibility.

John sold him out.

Ghosts aren’t supposed to hang around on the mortal plane, and Boston has certainly overstayed his welcome. It isn’t far out of character for John to lure Boston here just to hand him over. He’s an offering, or a trade of some kind, a bargaining chip for good favor with a very powerful entity. Either way it didn’t matter much now. The king was here to collect his truant ass for good, and he could dunk Deadman into the afterlife simple as swatting a fly. It’d be nearly impossible for Boston to get back.

Pure panic ices through him.

“I promise I’ve done nothing but try to help. I don’t belong in the afterlife, please— I—“ the pleas fall pathetically out of his lips, but he can’t bother to protect his pride now. He can’t go to the afterlife permanently. Not yet.

“Oh, I know what you’ve done.” The king’s lips curl into a smile, hinting at sharp teeth. Deadman considers dissolving. “Honestly, I’m surprised that you, weak as you are, have done as much good as you have.”

“I—what?”

The king sips his tea. “You only do possession? Really? I guess you have to make do with what you’ve got.”

“I’m not sure I—“ Boston frowns. John’s shoulders shake, holding back laughter. “It’s not funny, con man, that’s the King of Ghosts.”

John nods, perfunctory. “That he is.”

Deadman blanches. “What’s he doing in your house?”

The king smirks. “It’s technically sorta my house, at least when it’s in the Infinite Realms.”

“What?!” Boston hisses, and Constantine does let out a chuckle then.

Constantine leans back in his chair. “Relax. Danny helped me with a demon problem in Gotham. He’s staying here for a while.”

“I helped you?” the king side eyes Constantine, grinning. John raises his hands in a gesture of concession.

“Danny?” Deadman practically squeaks, and oh god, did he just call the king by his first name?

“At your service.” The king- Danny- nods with a mock salute.

Boston opens and closes his mouth, as if that might help make sense of what the hell is going on. “So you’re… not here to drag me back to the afterlife?”

“Nope,” Danny replies, popping the p.

Boston puts a hand to his face, mortified, a whirlwind of anxiety still swirling. It seems John still was finding new ways to try to give him an aneurysm.

“I meant it when I said you’ve done good work,” the king continues. “You help people. I can’t say the same for most ghosts who try to make a life outside the realms.”

Boston sinks closer to the table, sitting beside them as much as he’s capable. He lets the warmth of the king’s approval sink into his chest, as well as the relief.

Boston will berate John for the panic he caused later. For now, he’s just glad to have gotten a royal get out of jail free card.

“Ah, we talked too much, your tea’s gone a bit cold.” Danny nods at Boston’s cup, and Boston bites back a bitter retort. But there’s no mocking edge to Danny’s face, only a kindness, and a familiar conspiratorial bend.

Boston can see why he and John get along.

He reaches for the cup, just to humor his king, and—

His fingers close around the mug, solid, real. He can feel the lingering warmth of the tea, the weight of the cup in his hand. Slowly, he lifts it to his lips to sip. It tastes bitter, and sweet.

He looks up at Danny in shock.

“How?” he whispers.

Danny shrugs. “Ghosts have an easier time interacting with the physical world when they’re around me.”

Boston might cry.

Danny just smiles. “You’re welcome. Oh, and also—“

Danny points over his shoulder to a door on the far wall. The wood of the door is so dark it’s nearly purple. Boston knew it hadn’t been there before, because now that it’s here he can’t ignore it. It pulls at him even stronger than the king does.

“That’s yours,” the king explains. “The House of Mystery agreed to let it stay here so you can have easier passage back and forth to the Realms. It’s not good for you to stay away for so long.”

Deadman understands the weight of this gift innately. But he can’t help the trepidation that tickles at the thought of willingly leaving the living world, even if it isn’t permanently.

“Thanks. I think.” he says finally.

“It’s nothing.” Danny smiles.

John grins, utterly too pleased with himself. “Oh don’t look so glum Deadman, you’re still the number one ghost in my heart.”

“Fuck you Johnny.”

John just laughs, and so does the king, and Boston, despite himself, joins them.

The door, his door, lingers, an open invitation. He’ll leave that journey for later.

This right here has some insane implications for Heartman’s future love life.

Deadman and Sam are this game’s version of Hal and Snake from Metal Gear Solid. In their first game together Hal will ride off into the sunset with Snake if Meryl, the female love interest, dies and in subsequent games Snake and Hal have moved in together and raised a daughter though Snake still has flings with women here and there. Even though they’re never a confirmed couple it’s strongly implied by them living as a family and they get a lot of callbacks to other confirmed couples, including confirmed same-sex couples.

Sam and Deadman aren’t far off. Once they start suspecting that they can’t trust the president Deadman joins Sam in the shower partly to drown out their conversation but he also press Sam up against the wall so it’ll look like they’re having sex. That way no one will wonder why they’re always sneaking off together. But later on they get a much more emotional connection and in a heartfelt scene Deadman puts his hand on baby Lou’s pod as if it was a pregnant belly and basically asks Sam “The three of us, we’re a family, aren’t we?” and by the end they hold Lou together looking exactly like a couple of loving dads. Before they part ways they hold each other tight in a way Sam hasn’t done with anyone else. In the second game Deadman even tells Fragile he knows Sam’s body better than anyone, which is even less subtle than “I know the major better than anyone” from Metal Gear which is considered one of the most explicit confirmations of a gay couple in the franchise.

So Sam is devastated when he learns Deadman died in Death Stranding 2. Deadman plays a cruel joke on Sam by letting him think he can hug him only for Sam to tumble through the holographic message. In Deadman’s defence he didn’t know he’d be dead by then and probably assumed they’d be able to hold each other for real eventually.

He still found a way to return to Sam though. He donated his heart to Heartman who had abused his own heart to the point of breaking it completely. With Deadman and Heartman’s newfound connection Deadman is now able to possess Heartman’s body in the three minutes Heartman dies every 21 minutes and later on they seem to come to an agreement where Deadman can take over Heartman’s body whenever he wants.

Deadman in Heartman’s body lures Sam to a hidden corner where he explains the situation and Sam eagerly throws himself into Deadman’s arms…just in time for Heartman to wake up. Everything about both Sam and Heartman’s reactions tells us this wasn’t an innocent hug. Heartman clearly feels confused and violated so Dollman asks Sam to leave so he can explain the situation to Heartman.

Heartman seems to really think it over because one morning Sam wakes up in Heartman’s lab just as Heartman is coming back to life, suggesting Deadman had a hand in setting the situation up. Heartman sits down uncomfortably close to Sam as if he’s trying to tell him something. They talk about the state of the world for a bit before Heartman tells Sam that he too is in love with a woman, The Hydrologist, who lives in his lab and who has build a hotspring for Heartman, comparing the hotspring to love and making love. He then tells Sam that he can use his hotspring whenever he wants. No prices for guessing what he means.