Chapter Text
Tinted glass, sparkling lights and decadence. That’s the first thought that enters Danny Fenton’s mind as he steps into the Gotham Botanical Gala. The entire conservatory is swathed in silks lined with twinkling lights and shimmering baubles he wasn’t sure weren’t some kind of melding of magic and technology that thrived in this strange city he was still adjusting to after his parents dragged him to the gloomy city. Overhead fairy lights shimmered like sprites, adding to the ethereal feeling around them all. The conservatory smells of spring and happiness that Danny just knew Jazz would love. His heart clenches at the thought of his late sister. He tugs at his tie, as if that will release the sudden pressure building in his throat.
“If I suffocate because of this stupid thing, I’m haunting whoever invented formalwear in the first place,” he mutters darkly.
Maddie’s shoulders stiffen slightly at the comment. Her smile is crisp, sharp enough to slice cleanly through glass. “You look wonderful, dear. Do try not to draw too much unwanted attention this evening. Be on your best behavior. We want to be normal this evening.”
“Right,” Danny says, grabbing a flute of champagne from a passing waiter to salute his parents. “Because nothing says ‘totally normal family’ like being paraded around in front of Gotham’s elite at some Gala we can barely afford to attend.”
Jack claps a heavy hand on Danny’s shoulder, his fingers tightening in warning. “Danny-boy.”
The nickname is a warning and threat in one. Danny stiffens, swallowing back the bile that burns his throat with a heavy drink from the flute. “Got it. Mission: don’t embarrass the family.”
“That’s my boy,” Jack praises in his booming voice. It draws curious looks, and Danny wishes he could just melt into nothing. “Remember Danno, wide smiles, shake hands, talk up the Fenton name. This town loves inventors!”
Danny’s smile becomes forced, the corners trembling slightly. “Sure thing, Dad.”
Jack’s fingers bite into Danny’s shoulder, sure to leave angry bruises he’ll have to find some way to hide before his ghost powers make them fade. It’s quicker than human healing, which makes little sense to Danny, but it still takes a bit of time for it to fade away.
Maddie and Jack are immediately swept away in a flurry of half-sincere small talk that bored Danny to tears. Danny takes the opportunity to slip in the opposite direction while he still has the chance. He floats along the fringes of the party, forcing a polite smile on his face as he drifts over to a wall of ferns. His eyes dart carefully around the party, searching for a way to escape without making it obvious. His head throbs painfully behind his eyes as he slips past another slightly inebriated couple chatting a little too loudly.
“If one more person says ‘networking opportunity’ I will start a forest fire,” he mutters to himself, ducking beneath a thick fern.
“Please don’t. The paperwork alone would be an absolute nightmare.”
Danny startles, looking up. A young man with dark hair, maybe just a little older than Dany himself, stands a few feet away. A half-empty glass of whiskey and an expression that screams “I’m so over this” is the first thing Danny notices. Tall, broad-shouldered, with a wicked grin that makes Danny’s heart beat faster in his chest, though he tries to keep it silent. The tux the other man is wearing fits like it was lovingly tailored by someone obsessed with the other man’s body. His dark green eyes are sharp, taking everything at once and assessing, sparkling with amusement.
“And you are?” Danny asks, blinking owlishly.
“Jason,” the man says, taking a slow and deliberate drink from the crystal tumbler. “Jason Todd.”
“Danny Fenton.”
“You’re new.”
“That obvious? I’m just Gotham’s latest charity accessory,” Danny says with an easy grin.
Jason snorts. It’s the kind of amused sound that isn’t forced, and is the first authentic thing Danny has heard all night. It’s endearing. “You volunteer for the role or were you drafted?”
“Dragged,” Danny mutters, gesturing vaguely to where his parents were talking with their backs to him. “Parental ambition. I’m just here for the free snacks.”
Jason follows Danny’s gesture, watching Jack and Maddie chat with some couple in a subdivision of Wayne enterprises that Jason couldn’t be bothered to remember the names of. He leans against the railing nearest the pair of young men. He watches the Fenton couple with burning curiosity, though his real attention is on the son beside him.
“They look like they don’t take no for an answer.”
“You have no idea,” Danny mutters.
Danny waits, expecting Jason to wander away. Instead, Jason lingers. He shifts closer to Danny as they speak about nothing of importance, nothing of note, but for Danny, it’s everything. There’s a steady rhythm between them, a symphony that plays between them. Jason’s dry humor meets Danny’s quick sarcasm in a way that feels like a battle but for nothing of consequence. For the first time, as the night goes on, Danny is happy he came with, even if it was under duress.
“So,” Jason says, cutting into Danny’s inner musings, “what is your Gotham origin story?”
“Moved here. Regret it. Though the college has a surprisingly vast amount of degrees and studies.”
“That’s Gotham for you. Psychos and degrees. Hell, half our major villains have big shot degrees. Doctorates, masters, professional certifications, you name it.”
Danny laughs. A real laugh that bursts from him in surprise, starting deep in his tattered and bruised soul. He can’t remember the last time he laughed like this, or even wanted to laugh like this. Jason looks thunderstruck for a moment before joining in. Danny loves the sound. It warms him through his very soul.
“Danny,” Maddie’s voice cuts through Danny’s thoughts. Her tone is sweet but he can feel the edge, the warning hidden in the facade, “Come meet the board of Gotham General.”
Danny’s grin falters, only a moment. A flicker really. “Right. Duty calls, Todd.”
Jason’s gaze locks on Danny’s, his eyes darting to where the smile flickered before returning to his blue eyes. “Good luck, Fenton.”
“Oh, I don’t need luck,” Danny says with a grin that has much more bravado than he feels, “just need some plausible deniability.”
Danny floats after his parents, tight smiles that becomes more forced as he’s paraded around. He feels like a circus animal, a show piece for his parents to brag about. He wishes more than anything Jaz was there with him, that she was by his side to be paraded around as well. His heart clenches at the thought of his late sister, and for a moment, he allows himself to miss her, to wish things had gone differently. Only for a moment.
Eventually his parents steer him over to the board members for Wayne Enterprises. The “big fish” according to his parents. He shakes hands politely with Bruce Wayne, offering a charming smile that feels partially genuine, if only for Jason hovering over Bruce’s shoulder. Maddie excitedly tells Bruce about the “innovative research” that FentonWorks is currently studying, while Danny fights not to roll his eyes.
“And what are your plans in town, Danny,” Bruce asked with a warm smile.
“I’m not sure yet, Mr. Wayne. I may apprentice for a while before I fully decide.” The answer is automatic, exactly what Jack and Maddie had coached him to say over the week leading up to their first societal event in Gotham.
“You’re around the same age as my second son, Jason, right?” Bruce asked.
Danny’s eyes darted to Jason for a moment then back to Bruce, heat burning the back of his neck.
“I’m twenty-one, sir.”
“Ah, so just a year older than my Tim,” Bruce says warmly.
“How many children do you have?” Maddie inquires politely.
“Well, Dick is my oldest. Then there’s Jason here,” Bruce claps his hand on Jason’s shoulder. “And I have two more sons and two daughters who have joined my family over the years.”
“Joined your family?” Jack asks.
“Yes,” Bruce answers without elaborating.
“Like a cult,” Jason whispers to Danny under his breath. Danny snorts quietly, fighting not to cringe at the sharp look from Maddie.
Half an hour later, Danny manages to escape to the refreshment table again. He loosens his tie just enough that it doesn’t feel like it’s strangling him anymore. His sanity feels more or less intact after being marched around to be polite to people he’d never care about outside of these events, and even at these events it’s minimal caring. Though, he’s happy to have met Bruce Wayne, the only semi-genuine person at this event (for donors). Jason materializes beside him in the span of a blink.
“Back from the battlefield? All limbs intact?”
“The casualties were high,” Danny says gravely. “I barely survived the small talk without being a casualty myself.”
“You did good, soldier. Bruce liked you at least.” Jason grins.
“I deserve a medal. Or a nap. Either will do.”
“Careful,” Jason says, “or people might mistake your sarcasm for charm.”
“Whose to say they don’t already?”
“So,” Dick says casually, appearing from thin air on Jason’s other side. “This must be the Fenton kid I’ve heard so much about.”
“Don’t start,” Jason warns.
“What? I’m just saying hi,” Dick says with a wicked grin. “You two look cozy.”
“What do you mean?” Danny asks, raising a brow.
“Just wondering when the wedding is,” Dick says, taking a slow sip from a crystalline tumbler.
“Excuse me?!” Danny asks, choking on his own drink.
Jason’s ears turn pink as he glares at his brother. “Grayson…” The name is a warning, little more than a growl.
“Relax, little brother,” Dick says casually, grinning. He looks slowly back and forth between Jason and Danny, obviously enjoying himself. “It’s just an observation.”
Danny fights to keep his face straight, taking a long slow drink of his own flute of champagne. Jason clenches his jaw, continuing to glare at Dick, as if his flustered anger was enough to chase the older man away. Instead, Dick just grins, standing his ground.
“You two’ve got the whole banter-and-eye-contact-from-across-the-room thing down. Very Rom-Com of you both,” he says.
Danny raises his glass in mock salute. “Here’s to our impending nuptials then, Todd.”
Jason groans, covering his face with a hand. “I hate you both right now.”
Dick laughs, wandering away as someone catches his eye across the room. For a moment, there’s a tension between Danny and Jason, one that neither of them wants to think about long enough to name. The buzz of the gala and the champagne swirls around the pair, twinkling in the air much like magic. Danny breaks the spell first, a snort tearing from him and shattering the spell around them.
“I guess we’re engaged now, Todd.”
Jason drops his hand from his face, his mouth twisting into an amused smirk. “Congratulations. Should we start the registry now?”
“Only if it includes noise-canceling headphones. My parents will never stop bragging.”
As if summoned, Jack’s booming laugh echoes across the hall. Maddie’s voice follows, honey-sweet and precise. They’re watching him again, smiles a little too tight. Danny feels the hairs on his arms rise. His smile begins to slip from genuine to the carefully curated grin his parents had drilled into him.
Jason tilts his head. “You okay?”
Danny forces himself to ignore Maddie and Jack for the time being. “Fine. Just… Gotham galas are a lot. It’s a bit overwhelming.”
“Yeah,” Jason says softly. “They are.”
Danny swallows whatever smart remark wants to escape and looks away first. By the time he collects himself, it’s too late.
Jack calls him again: loud, jovial, insistent. “Danny, come take a picture!”
“Duty calls,” Danny says, voice light and overly airy. “See you around, Jason.”
“Count on it.”
As he walks back toward his parents, he can still feel Jason’s gaze like warmth on the back of his neck. Maddie adjusts his tie with too-firm fingers, tightening it like a threat while her smile remains flawless. Jack’s arm lands heavy across his shoulders for the photo, a subtle warning that shakes Danny to his core. The flash goes off, leaving spots dancing behind Danny’s eyelids. He keeps smiling. It’s easier than explaining why his stomach twists every time their hands linger too long.
When the picture’s done, Maddie whispers, “Good posture, dear. Try not to slouch next time.”
“Yes, Mom.”
“Smile wider.”
He does. It hurts a little, but he does. Across the room, Jason catches his eye again and raises his glass in silent salute. Danny’s grin turns real for a heartbeat before he remembers himself, before he remembers who is beside him. For a moment, he thinks about the move. A moment is all he spares.
Maybe Gotham won’t be so bad after all.