#tim showing danny how to love his new identity as the bridge between worlds

[goinggoingghone]

Danny was struck with fear.

Fear? No, nonsense, that couldn't be right. He's a ghost (only half of one, but still), the Ghost King of all beings, he shouldn't be scared of such a measly human.

Looking deeper, it was never the human he was afraid of. There was no human to be afraid of.

This boy, no, this thing in front of him stared up down and sideways through his soul as if seeing it only a molecular level in three different dimensions. Time bent inwards and backwards and flipped between realities before the creature masquerading as a human spoke.

"Oh.. you're even more beautiful than I imagined..." The voice sounded human enough, but Danny was well-versed enough in ghost speak to recognize when there was a language he was understanding. It buzzed through his core all the way down to the center, his ectoplasm churning. The way it sounded so full of awe and wonder was terrifying.

He was expecting fear. He was expecting terror, a scream, running, or even a fight. Danny would never have accounted for.. whatever was happening now. He couldn't speak. He felt like he was floating upside down, that the Earth had tilted and gravity alongside it. The city pressed down on him.

No, not the city. The city was in the boy. The city was the boy. This creature before him felt like Clockwork to him. Old as life and newer than the breath in his unliving lungs. Danny was lightheaded. The time medallion felt heavy in his chest.

"Who are you?" He breathed out, hoping that his ghost sense would give him answers. Not even a wisp left his mouth.

"Timothy Drake. Red Robin. Gotham. It's.. so wonderful to see you properly."

The fear turned to anger, and then to bewilderment. "Properly? What do you mean properly?"

The creature whose name was Tim smiled. "You were incomplete. Now I have the complete picture. You're like me."

For a brief, overwhelming instant, Danny saw what lurked behind the boy. It was.. not scary per se, but... Jarring. Off-putting. Comforting? Why was Tim's true visage so.. so warm to him?

"D- Danny. Danny Fenton. Phantom. That's me." Danny hastily introduced himself, feeling a thousand different names from a thousand different timelines leave his mouth.

Tim reached out a hand. He felt the air move with that simple gesture, as if the city bent to his will even so involuntarily. "Would you like to get a coffee with me? You can switch back if you'd like."

Danny's first instinct was a hard no, to flee from Gotham no matter how far he had to go to outrun this monster. Into the Realms and beyond, seal up every portal in this dimension, make sure Tim would never find him again. But something in him stirred.. a push against his back from the wind, a thumping of a heart not active in this form, the beauteous breathlessness of magic coursing through his unused veins.

A promise.

He would be safe.

Gotham would make sure of it.

With the confidence he'd earned by besting Pariah Dark at his own game, Danny took Tim's hand. "Coffee sounds nice."

His hand was warm.

Short DPXDC Prompts #749

Tim Drake isn’t human, he knows that and is comfortable in his skin. This strange ghost boy very obviously isn’t comfortable in his ghost form around humans. He will help change that.

[kore-arts]

AAAAAAA!!! This is so Cool!!!!!

Short DPXDC Prompts #749

Tim Drake isn’t human, he knows that and is comfortable in his skin. This strange ghost boy very obviously isn’t comfortable in his ghost form around humans. He will help change that.