Batcat Spectre (DPXDC)

Chapter 10

Don't ask don't ask don't ask

Danny chanted this in his head as they waited in line at the small sandwich restaurant. This was definitely not an appropriate time to ask. It probably never would be. But...this guy...he's weird. Everything about him's weird. The way he showed up out of nowhere (how did he even know where they were?). There was the fact that he was looking for Danny specifically, meaning he knew that Danny was 'back from the dead.' How? And he wasn't connected to Danny through Selina, because he said he was a friend on his dad's side....another thing he really wanted to ask about. It had completely slipped his mind that just because he found his mom, Selina, doesn't mean he had found his true origins. There was still his dad apparently.

But the weirdest part? This guy felt weird.

Not as bad as that one Red Hood guy, but he still felt off. Kinda like Jazz, but she was kinda worse. It was impossible to live in their house, eating and sleeping around ectoplasm, and not have it affect you at least a little. She wasn't a half-ghost like him, but there was a distinct aura of liminality around her that he could kinda sense. Nothing really changed that much about her, but she was able to understand Ghost Speak if she focused hard enough. Or she would be able to sense a ghost just a split second before a regular human could. It gave her goosebumps. Small things like that.

This guy though? He felt like Jazz but...more dead? No, not dead. No, distinctly not dead....but there was a feeling of liminality. So perhaps associated with death? It was faint, so whatever happened to him to make him that way either faded or happened a long time ago. Maybe he died, but the hospital revived him before he could slip all the way? Danny had no way to know if that caused a sense of liminality, but maybe that really was the case.

But what he did know? Asking someone if they had been acquainted with death was a very very bad idea. Especially because if it was true....well, Danny knew how traumatizing such an experience could be. Asking could bring up the bad memories associated with dying.

So no, he really shouldn't ask.

"You ok kid?"

Danny flinched, looking back at the man in question. Richard Grayson.

"Just feeling a little dead on my feet. Didn't sleep well." Danny replied, once again, without thinking. His hand immediately reaches to scratch his neck as he looks anywhere but at Dick. The pun had slipped through unwillingly because he had been thinking about Dick's liminality! What if he asked?!

"Pfft, then hopefully getting something to eat will lift your spirits," Dick replied, not quite laughing, but clearly amused at the play on words. Danny graciously awarded his pun with a few chuckles.

But it also takes Danny a few seconds to remember that he is, in fact, still in ghost form. Dick thought the pun had been pointed at Danny's ghostly properties. Wait....Did Dick know? Again, how? ....Besides the glowing, weird looks and floating. But he could be a meta!

...Or maybe Danny is just looking too much into it and drawing false conclusions in his panicked state. He should just calm down. It isn't like he hasn't already gone through a ton of life-changing situations. Surely he could handle a few more right? This certainly isn't the worse thing he's gone through, so he can handle it.

By now the three of them had finally returned to the park with sandwiches in tow, awkward silence following them the entire way. It was clear that all of them wanted to say something, but no one was willing to make the first move. Not until they were in a more private setting anyway.

A few minutes pass.

"Well this is stupid," Dick muttered, turning to Danny. "Favorite superhero?"

"What?" That came out of nowhere.