#and he's gotta keep 'phantom' on the downlow

[clickerflight]

Voltober 28. Caught a Light Sneeze - Sons of Billionaires

Author's notes: 3 hours of research into tea rituals for 1,650 words. Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!!!!!

Masterlist - Part 27

Content: Halfa/ghost whumpee, allergy whump, poisoned, guilt

@voltober

Danny politely took his shoes off before leaving the front hall of the manor, waving as Damien appeared at the top of the stairs that led in the direction of his room.

“Hi, sorry I’m late,” Danny said warmly. “I had to find a sitter for Cujo since Vlad is off doing something.”

“You could have brought him,” Damien said, arching a dramatic eyebrow. “Ace enjoys the company.”

“Oh, I know, but Cujo needs to be watched when playing in a physical building,” Danny said with a shrug, “And it sounded like what we were doing wouldn’t be very good if we had to keep an eye on the dogs to make sure they didn’t bring down the house.”

“I suppose that is true. This way. We are doing the ceremony in my room.”

Danny nodded and headed up the stairs, following Damien into his room where he had a low table in the center of main room. The Wayne manor had several wings, and each room was really a set of rooms. It made the place seem even more opulent than Vlad’s manor, but Danny was glad Vlad’s manor wasn’t like this. It felt more impersonal to him, though it seemed to suit the Waynes just fine.

“Take a seat on the floor there,” Damien said, pointing to the other side of the quite fancy table.

Danny did so, sitting crisscross and watched as Damien knelt on the other side, making sure everything was in place. There was a rectangular tray on which everything else was placed, with slats between the small boards and deep enough to let things drain into it safely.

There was a cup with a lid that nestled within the flared rim, a small pitcher, two cups, a small strainer dish in a holder that looked a bit like weapons coming together to form a stand, and a container with a couple of tools. Beside the tray was a box with the loose leaf tea, all of it darkened with drying. He had a kettle plugged in somewhere, the water hot enough to get started quickly, and in a place of honor on the board, facing Danny, was a clay dragon painted with symbols he recognized as being from the League of Assassins where Damien was raised. It was all perfectly set up, as Danny would expect from Damien, and he was very much looking forward to the Gong fu tea ceremony. He had looked into it a little before he had come over, but he didn’t have enough time to really learn all of the steps or reasons for them.

He looked at Damien, expectant and was surprised to see a moment of hesitation on his friend’s face.

“What’s wrong?” Danny asked.

Damien shook his head. “Nothing. I just…. Pennyworth is the only one who has done this with me since I’ve been here. I didn’t expect to be…..” He cleared his throat and shook his head. “I will begin. Sorry.”

“Hey, it’s no problem, man. I’m honestly really honored that you’re sharing this with me,” Danny said warmly.

Damien nodded. He lifted the kettle. He started to pour the hot water over everything on the tray, using small tongs to lift the cups and completely bath them in the hot water, putting them down. After he had done that and emptied the water out of the cups and pitcher, he put the tongs away and pulled out a tea scoop, digging out the loose leaf tea as he said, “That’s to clean everything off before we start. It also helps to warm the gaiwan. I like making the tea in it…. My grandfather had a whole range of pots with different meanings for his servants and guests and bodyguards…. But this was all I could take with me.”

“Better than nothing,” Danny suggested, “You even managed to bring your tea pet. Does he have a name?”

“She,” Damien said, putting the leaves in the gaiwan and putting the lid on the cup, shaking it a little to steam the leaves. “Dalal.”

“Hello, Dalal,” Danny said with a little grin, patting the dragon on her horn gently.

Damien watched before he picked up the kettle again.

“I’m going to do the wash,” he said. “The first steep is not very tasty because the leaves are not open.”

He poured the hot water into the gaiwan and put the kettle down. Putting the strainer into the small pitcher, he picked up the gaiwan, tilting the lid so the liquid could pour out. “How are you and your father doing?” Damien asked a little awkwardly.

Danny felt a zing of excitement in his chest as he watched the reddish water fill the little pitcher. The idea of calling Vlad his dad was still new and exciting, and he wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to it.

“We’re doing good,” he said as Damien poured the wash into the cups and over his dragon. “Things have been really chill recently, actually. It’s been nice. I mean, besides trying to train Cujo.”

Damien nodded, lifting the lid of the gaiwan off the cup and offering it to Danny.

Danny lean forward and took a smell of the tea fragrance. It was spicier than expected and stung in his nose strangely, almost making him lightheaded in a nice sort of way. “That smells really good,” he said, leaning back and Damien nodded, pouring more water in the gaiwan and waiting a moment for it to steep a little.

“And Vlad has been really busy. Something to do with a new business deal to take a step away from using oil and stuff,” Danny said, still pleasantly light headed. “He said he’ll be home more next week.”

Damien nodded, pouring out more of the tea into the pitcher, holding the gaiwan in one hand and making sure the strainer was stable on the pitcher.

“That will be good. Father has promised the same thing next month. He is launching several projects. He said that it would create more jobs in the city.”

“That’s good. I hear that half of the folks that commit crimes around here are people down on their luck,” Danny said.

Damien simply nodded and poured a cup for Danny and then for himself.

He picked up his cup, holding it clearly so Danny knew how to hold his, and with a little nod they both drank.

Danny swallowed half of the small cup, prepared to lower it and savor the flavor, but when it struck him he had to put the cup fully down and turn away from the table, coughing as fire burned a prickly trail down his throat, invading his sinuses.

“What’s wrong?” Damien asked, putting his own cup down. “Did you swallow wrong.”

“What are you made of?” Danny croaked jokingly. “That’s so spicy!”

Damien tilted his head. “Spicy? It isn’t supposed to be spicy.”

Danny opened his mouth to respond, but could only gasp, clutching at his throat as the discomfort traveled down, the passages swelling in their wake. He was having an allergic reaction. He could see hives on his hands where he had touched the cups washed with the first steep of the tea. He tried to push himself to stand up, but collapsed in a gasping heap, fear expanding as rapidly in his chest as the flesh in his throat.

Damien leapt over the table and picked him up as though he weighed nothing, rushing him out of the room and down the stairs, calling for Alfred.

Danny coughed, but hardly any air moved in or out, leaving him dizzy and terrified as he tried to suck anything in. Haltingly, he tried to go ghost to escape the moment, but the pain that rippled through his core was too much to bear. Whatever it was, it was affecting his ghost side.

His head lolled as he was placed on something, his eyes too swollen to see what was going on now. He tried to suck in another breath, but it wasn’t enough. There wasn’t enough air and he was suffocating.

He felt something slam painfully into his leg and, after a moment, he felt his airway relax and he got something close to a half draw of air.

He rolled his head to the side, the itching his his body becoming slightly less unbearable.

“I didn’t know he was allergic to anything!” Damien said, anxiety in his voice.

“That is alright, Master Damien. Master Danny, I will give you some intravenous fluids and antihistamines. Will you be alright if I carry you down to the cave?”

Danny nodded and he felt himself being scooped up again as the sense of his blood pounding right next to the surface faded down a bit.

Soon, he was laying in a bed with an IV and feeling rather miserable. Not as miserable as Damien looked as he sat on a chair by the bed.

“I’m sorry, Danny. I didn’t know.”

“’S Alright,” Danny replied, fighting the urge to scratch at his arms and chest while Alfred was getting a cream for his hives. “You didn’t know. What was in it?”

“It was a mix of white tea and blood blossoms,” he said. “I don’t know if it was contaminated with- what?”

Danny had stiffened and shook his head. “That explains it. Blood blossoms are deadly to ghosts. I’m not mad at you though, okay?”

Damien didn’t look like he believed that, but he nodded anyway. “If there is anything I can do to make up for this-”

“This? Please, we’re past that, I think. Just think of it as payback for how I accidentally put you through that wall that one time we fought together.”

“It was only a thin wall.”

“Still a wall,” Danny snorted, despite how the action hurt his raw throat and nose.

Damien just shook his head, a small smile on his face.

VTB Part 29

Sons of Billionaires

[big-deku-energy]

Dragging this back out since it’s been over a year and the scenes that were written will probably never come out of my drafts at this point

The background starts out angsty but the story itself is supposed still be chaotic good crackfic

Misc. notes for this AU

Alternate universe where All Might runs into AfO a year early and dukes it out while Izuku is still in middle school. Despite their limited time together, sneak passes OfA onto Izuku before he leaves (Spoiler: Yagi doesn’t die, no worries)

There’s a child loose with One for All

Flash forward and Izuku Yagi is still registered as quirkless, had a tragic childhood “accident” that took his right arm and eye but damn if he will let that stop him. Well known quirk/less discrimination activist

Always makes an “I’m unarmed” type joke at the worst time. Always.

Can and will beat you in a fist fight though

Totally nothing to do with the mysterious Wildcard vigilante with two arms and ??? quirks that’s been single handedly taking down organizations and also harassing the Heroes Commission between random appearances saving kittens from trees or taking out every shipment of bird masks in the city.

(Black Whip can fill out a suit arm and punch pretty well. He still has to learn how to write with his left hand though and gets phantom pains when he forgets his right arm isn’t there anymore)

Izuku’s day job is as the personal assistant to current #1 Hero Endeavor and absolutely no one knows how that happened so people assume he’s an illegitimate child or something

Endeavor (who was dragged screaming through a redemption arc because he was the Todoroki available) just KNOWS Izuku has to be All Might’s child but can’t say anything because it’s a matter of national security and it kills him inside

Shouto’s perfectly willing to kill him on the outside too

To be honest a good portion of it was Endeavor and All Might’s absolutely ridiculous coparenting adventures as they try to reign in an Izuku who’s never been tempered by Aizawa

Endeavor: He developed a new quirk just to SPITE me!

All Might: Uh huh, well you have fun with that as I enjoy my day off

(Izuku: I wonder how much more is in here...)

Izuku didn’t actually lose his right eye but not long after the accident he developed another quirk involving his eyes and it was easier to just keep an eyepatch on that one. Also his iris in that eye turned black while the sclera flashes colors (think reverse All Might eyes) and gotta keep that on the downlow.

Through shenanigans Yagi also ends up adopting Eri after Izuku saves her. One of the quirks Izuku develops (Accelerate) provides an almost perfect counter to Eri’s Rewind and they practice using flowers, when they’re old and dying Eri rewinds them back to a seed and then Izuku accelerates them into bloom. Eri loves and trusts him already but with this practice she started trusting herself too

(Yagi’s house is filled with flowers and plant life)

I really want to know all of Izuku’s other quirks so I can make a vigilante AU where he’s called Wildcard because no one knows what he’ll do next or how many quirks he has, all they know is that he’ll beat up injustice and is the bringer of chaos, chaotic good, but chaos nonetheless.