Avoiding Past And Future

(58) Disordered 4

CW: discusison of character death, somewhat vague description of character death, depiction of bad mental health, soft suicidal ideation (connor, one single line near the end)

October 23

Dick stilled the moment the light flickered on. Shards of the now broken mirror and Phantom's mask laid scattered on the ground. Thankfully there was no blood on them so at the very least, Danny hadn't taken his gloves off. The toilet seat looked like it nearly got ripped off, but the distinct smell of bile still lingering said enough. That didn't help the ever growing dread pooling in his stomach.

"Danny?" He called out softly, cautious to not speak too loudly. Not because anybody might hear them, but rather Danny not looking like he could handle any loud noises at the moment.

Danny, no longer in his ghost form, sat in the bathtub. Completely curled up, there was only a small green glow coming out that indicated Cujo was still stuck to his chest. The water of the overhead shower was turned on, the opened door creating a draft that pushed the freezing air in Dick's direction.

No longer needing to put on an act, he let the shudder run down his spine as goosebumps formed on the exposed skin of his arms. Nevertheless, he walked a few steps further into the room, creeping closer to the bathtub. Danny didn't even look up once, but he knew well enough that he was still following Dick's every movement.

"Can I sit next to you?" He asked slowly, careful to not step on any of the broken glass on the ground. He didn't get much of an answer, just a shaky hum that betrayed the tears already shed. Inching closer, he climbed over the ledge and sat down next to his soaked brother. Just as he thought, the water was absolutely freezing. It was a miracle the water wasn't turning to ice the moment it touched Danny with the unintentional display of his powers earlier. By now, Dick couldn't even tell if it was cold because of the water, or because of Danny.

Letting the water hit his face for a bit, he slowly let the water ease up the glue around his eyes so he could take off his mask as well. It felt a whole lot better than just blatantly ripping it off. Pulling his knees to his chest, Dick let his head rest on them as he looked over to his brother.

Letting the silence take over them, only the sounds of the shower and the occasional sniff bounced against the walls. He didn't want to push Danny in any way, it never really worked all too well but clearly in more recent times it's gotten worse. He'd only just gotten Danny back, both in his life and on the hero scene again. One wrong move here and he might find a better, more hidden hole to crawl into and never come out of.

After a few stressful moments of slowly losing feeling from the cold water, his efforts finally paid off. Shifting to untangle his arm, Danny poked out his hand. Dick reached over, gingerly weaving their fingers together and giving Danny a soft squeeze. Danny slowly pulled his hand closer to his chest again, pulling Dick with him. Scooting over, Dick let Danny lean in so they were shoulder to shoulder.

Cujo poked his butt out from the side, backing up ever so slightly so he could tiptoe a leg into Dick's lap as well. Unsurprisingly, the tiny hellhound provided much needed warmth as he laid sprawled across them. It helped Dick deal with the freezing downpour just as much as the cold of the water helped Danny.

"Why do they hate clones?" Danny's voice cracked and broke halfway the sentence, only a whisper of the sound remaining. Saying it out loud seemed to bring back even more bad...whatever he was dealing with as he curled closer into Dick's side.

"They don't." Dick tried to reassure. But clearly, Danny's brain had a different opinion on it.

"Just a clone." He spat out, shaking slightly as a sob nearly broke off the rest. "A botched mistake that crawled out of the test tube."