ao3 turns 15 today
reblog if youre older than ao3
(there's a lot of people asking about this, but the legal age to use social media is 13, except in few countries. so yes, there are people here under 15)
During one night in Gotham, the Bats and the Rogues of Gotham were going about their business with each other. When a bright green light had flashed above the city. And then a big floating piece of land was above Gotham. It showed no signs of falling down, and yet the Rogues were already heading for the island before the Bats once they learned that it wasn't going to crush them.
The island was the size of Gotham itself, with many strange plant life on it, including animals that Damian had wanted to take home (but couldn't as the animals had tolerated him, but wouldn't follow him home). The most prominent thing on the island was the massive castle in the center of it, with the Rogues of Gotham already entering the structure while the Bats are still on their tail.
The castle would fit in Gotham, with its gloomy appearance and feeling to it, and while it is empty of anyone and anything, it looks like it's been maintained quite well.
The Rogues of Gotham had found a treasure Vault and were grabbing anything that they like or could use, but when they try to leave, a green force field prevents them from leaving the Vault.
Of course, all of the Batfam had an intense fight with the Rogues, and when they sent them all to Arkham, they began to explore the castle on the island some more. They came across a grand chamber, with a sleeping boy in the big bed, who had a familiar face. The boy has the same face as Bruce. Sure, he may have white hair and a skin color the same as Damian, but the features are still the same. And then the Boy wakes up from his slumber and looks at them after he stretched out his back and arms.
Danny was enjoying the peace and quiet he had made for himself. He sent Jazz out on a "me day" out in the Infinite Realms for her to relax a little, same can be said for all the staff that's been in his Keep he inherited from Pariah after he bested the Tyrant.
He just wanted to sleep after getting a little more work done on the piles of paperwork he had to do. He had asked Nocturne to prevent him from dreaming, as they are always bad memories from before he permanently moved to the Infinite Realms (His parents cutting him open. His BEST FRIENDS leaving him in Amity to pursue their own things in life while cutting all ties with him. But Jazz wouldn't leave him alone, not like them. Dani had destabilized in his arms after what Vlad did to her. That was Danny's first and only kill, the Fruitloop deserved it after ending his daughter). He may be the Ghost King, but his human half still has basic needs that need to be met, so after his nap, he'll head to a random world to live in it for awhile then return to his Ghost King duties.
But when he woke up, he had seen unknown people in his room, looking at him like they've seen a ghost (Ha!).
"What are you doing in my bedroom? It's rude to sneak into someone's royal bed chambers"
He deadpanned to the group of costume wearing people.
(A massive natural portal took Danny's keep to the DC verse, and it will stay there for quite a long while.)
The Anti-Ecto Acts applied only to North America.
The USA and Canada both permitted the capture, experimentation, and termination of ecto entities.
One night, after weeks of being constantly hunted down, Danny decided it was time to leave the continent.
At first, he was terrified.
He didn’t even need false documentation, since the GIW wasn’t looking for his human identity, and Jazz helped him get everything he needed.
He… didn’t even have to buy a flight or something, since his speed could get him anywhere.
So, a bit anxiously, he traveled down to South America.
He had a pretty good time!
People were friendly and welcoming, excited to share the beauty they had with them and Danny found himself so much more interested in other cultures.
Being surrounded by languages, Spanish, Portuguese, and even some Indigenous ones became much easier to learn.
Traveling around wasn’t a problem, he often found people happy to take him in for a shower and a meal.
It wasn’t safe all the time, but it wasn’t because he was a ghost, which was somehow nicer.
With much less anxiety, he started to travel even more.
Africa was the obvious choice since it was the closest continent.
The main cities were rich with people and modern buildings, making him feel a bit out of place like he was in a cleaner version of Hollywood.
Going away from touristy sites, everything started to become more bare, the people still welcoming, but weary of noisy strangers. Wich was understandable, so next came Asia, then Europe, Australia, and Antarctica.
By the time Danny was in his twenties, he had pretty much visited almost every country on Earth.
He was having fun, he really was, but in every new country he visited, he was reminded how much he wished he was waking up in his bed, spending the days with his family and friends.
Once, he met a guy in London, whose soul looked like Swiss cheese, that he helped with some ghost stuff. He was recognized as from America, so he explained what he was doing all the way in England. Apparently, the guy had connections with the Justice League and promised to help.
At several spots, he even met with Dani. Every time they saw each other, they remembered that, even if it was so diverse, the World was still very small.
He was in South Italy when his phone rang.
It wasn’t hard to keep in touch with his friends and family, sending them photos or even packages of stuff he found traveling.
He answered Jazz, as she started to cry happily about the Anti-Ecto Acts being revoked.
He… hadn’t actually believed Jonh.
His mind was blank, with her sister excitedly talking over the phone.
After five years.
He could go back home.
AKA "Alfred Pennyworth hires an interim butler while he recuperates from a Rogue attack. Who better than adoption bait Danny Fenton?" prompt!!
Okay, so imagine Danny moves to Gotham to pursue astrophysics at Gotham-U but he's having a surprisingly difficult time keeping a job. Every time he gets hired, the place gets burned down or blown up by Rogues; it's like he's catnip for trouble. Somehow, he's always in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And Alfred Pennyworth also happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. He's at the Gotham Market Co-op, where Danny's been recently hired, and suddenly it's gassed by Scarecrow's Fear Toxin. All the employees and customers scramble to put on their gas masks, but Danny's new enough that he has no idea what's happening. He's suddenly seeing Fright Knight, Dark Pariah, and the GIW. So, he Goes Ghost, defeats all of Scarecrow's goonies, and saves the day! If only his boss would think so, too.
Uh, no. Apparently Danny's now on a Wanted List as an undocumented meta?? And his boss can't be investigated by the GCPD (he's, like, four years behind on taxes and has been dodging the IRS for longer), so he regretfully has to let Danny go. But, hey! Maybe if he becomes a documented meta, he can get hired back. Except Danny can't because the GIW can access the meta registration database and he'll be found out faster than he can leave Gotham.
So, Danny's fired again.
And Alfred "Pride & Honor" Pennyworth?? He's not gonna let the child who saved him (because Scarecrow absolutely was going to snatch the Wayne's butler, who better to take hostage than a billionaire's publicly beloved Father Figure??) possibly become homeless. It's clear the kid is a college student and is barely scraping by, probably paying way too much for room and board at Gotham-U. And... maybe his wrist hurts a bit from a fall. He's older now, it's not impossible that he'd get a sprain or a broken bone. (Plus, Alfred knows the look. The same one as Dick, Jason, Tim, even Bruce. There's an immense grief in those small shoulders, fear and loneliness.)
Cue Alfred hiring Danny on as an interim butler while he recuperates (oh, he's terribly injured, thank you so much for helping me, my boy-). And Danny can't say no. I mean, this old man got injured during the Rogue attack he was apart of! And he's asking for help! And it's also nice to have some money. And a bed and... oh, God, he's working for a billionaire frootloop. Uh-oh.
(Alfred absolutely doesn't tell Bruce about his new son apprentice. It's worth it to see Bruce's eyes glaze over as sees a black-haired teenager standing in the kitchen with Alfred, then doing a double take when he realizes it isn't Jason. And the others are banned from the kitchen, so who is this child in his house?? It's not Kon or Jon either??)
Meanwhile, Danny is actually having a great time with Mr. Pennyworth!! The older man is kind, soft-spoken, and really knows his stuff. Danny really enjoys learning how to cook, especially because none of the food comes alive to fight him. Eventually the Batfam just become used to seeing Danny in the kitchens, gardens, around the house with Alfred. He's a cute kid, always smiling and talking about his college classes. He has effortless sarcastic banter with both Damian and Jason, bonds with Tim about some kind of difficult mechanical mathematics or something, trades dad jokes with Dick. He even manages to win over Cass, Steph, Duke, and Babs.
The only one Danny doesn't truly seem to like is Bruce Wayne, although he never outright disrespects him, since he pays the bills and Danny's midwestern manners kick in. Bruce is confused and very concerned because why is this kid literally glaring daggers at him all the time?? Is he going to poison Bruce's coffee?? Danny's just trying to figure out if Bruce Wayne is a "collects vintage dentures" or "keeps teenagers locked in his basement" type of billionaire frootloop. (He'd kinda prefer the kidnapping, Danny does not want to go looking for a wine cellar and find an entire basement of old teeth.)
Bonus if Bruce tries to subtly win the boy over and Danny's just like, squinting at him, white-knuckling a frying pan and muttering, "That's exactly what someone who collects teeth would say..."
Bruce, introducing his kids at a family Interview: This is my eldest Dick, my second eldest Cassandra, then my son Jason, my second youngest Tim, and my youngest Damian
Bruce: That's my daughter-in-law Barbara, and my other daughter-in-law, Stephanie
Tim: ??? Steph and I broke up forever ago?? How is she your daughter-in-Law?
Stephanie: I may not be dating any of you anymore but I'm the State of daughter-in-law. Daughter-in-law is not a family title, it's the friends you make along the way
Jason: I'm not high enough for this shit
Golden boy Dick Grayson: Me fucking neither
Jason: what
Dick: what
Bruce: ??? What do you mean she's not my daughter-in-law anymore?? I was counting on her marrying into the family :C
Steph: Sorry B, unfortunately your son would rather kiss superbitch than me
Dick: TIM IS KISSING WHO NOW
Bruce: >:( We'll talk about that later, right now-
Tim: I don't think that's necess-
Bruce: We'll talk about that later. Right now can't any of you date her?? Jaylad, you're sin-
Steph: HELL NO
Jason, already on his second blunt: You're so funny, old man. I'm literally co parenting my best friends kid. I'm literallyyyy be gay do crime. Haha.
Dick: YOURE WHAT WITH WHO NOW
Bruce: CAN ANY OF YOU JUST DATE HER
Cass, slowly raising her hand like in Hunger Games: I volunteer
Bruce: ...
Tim: ...
Dick: ...
Bruce: This is why you're my favorite daughter 🥹
Cass: Father, I'm your only daughter
Tim: Untrue. I did drag one time, that has to count
Steph: Does this mean I have a girlfriend
Damian: This family is a disgrace
Interviewer: ...
When Danny Fenton got into MIT, he thought the biggest challenge would be balancing ghost hunting with college coursework. What he didn’t expect was to impress Dr. Jane Freaking Foster—renowned astrophysicist, literal genius, the mind behind the Foster Theory, and, unbeknownst to her, his idol since age thirteen—during a campus science expo when he presented his thesis on interdimensional ectoplasmic lattice fluctuations as a potential fuel source for wormhole stabilization. He thought she’d walk by his booth with a polite smile. Instead, she paused, squinted at his equations, asked three rapid-fire questions, then turned to the MIT faculty and said, “Is this kid legally allowed to work in a government lab yet?”
That’s how he became her apprentice.
Danny thought it would be, you know, an internship. Fetch coffee, carry papers, maybe input data if he got lucky. What he didn’t expect was to be living in New Mexico three months later, standing on a roof beside Jane Foster while she casually pointed at the sky and said, “If this gravitational anomaly maintains its trajectory, we’ll have a Yggdrasil branch brush up against the heliopause by Tuesday. That’s new.”
Danny nodded, mostly pretending he understood.
What neither of them anticipated was Thor crashing into their lives again like a golden retriever with a god complex and a hammer. He landed dramatically during a research presentation, lightning still fizzing off his cape, and made such eye contact with Jane that the projector screen behind them shorted out.
And then he saw Danny.
“Young one!” Thor bellowed, eyes wide, blond hair tousled by divine winds, “You must be her son.”
Danny blinked. “I—what?”
“Of course!” Thor clasped his shoulder. “You have her radiant intellect and tenacity. Truly, you are worthy of Midgard’s finest mother.”
“I—she’s not—” Danny tried.
Thor turned to Jane, face alight. “You did not tell me you had borne a child! And one so strong in spirit! A scholar of the stars!”
Jane rubbed her temples. “Thor. He’s nineteen. I met him last month. He’s my apprentice. He is not my son.”
Thor shook his head gravely. “Say no more, Jane. I understand. You wished to protect him from the dangers of our past. But I vow upon Mjolnir’s handle, I shall be a father to him.”
“What the hell,” Danny muttered.
Over the next few days, things escalated fast.
Danny woke up one morning to find a goat outside the lab. A live goat. Wearing a ribbon. The tag read: For my brave son, may his mornings be strong of milk and noble of beard. Jane nearly choked on her cereal. Darcy screamed and immediately named the goat “Spacey.”
Thor showed up during Danny’s lecture on cosmic radiation and brought a sack of Asgardian textbooks written in glowing runes, which promptly caused two lab interns to faint and one professor to file a complaint.
Danny begged Jane to tell him this would stop.
“No,” Jane said, sipping her coffee without looking up. “You’re his emotional support stepson now.”
“I don’t want to be anyone’s emotional support anything!” Danny cried. “I have ectoplasmic trauma and insomnia!”
But Thor persisted.
He invited Danny to spar in the desert, claiming it would “toughen his warrior instincts.” Danny blasted a crater in the sand when a ghost startled him mid-match, and Thor wept with pride. “Such fire! Truly, a son worthy of thunder.”
Jane sighed. “You’re going to give him a complex.”
“I already have a complex!” Danny yelled from where he was half-buried in sand.
Then came the night Thor pulled Danny aside with intense solemnity.
“Daniel,” he said, kneeling, “I seek your blessing.”
Danny froze, halfway through a sandwich. “I—what—blessing for what?”
“To court your mother.”
“She’s NOT my—!”
Thor raised a hand. “Please. I know you wish to protect her. But my heart is true. I have spent long hours learning Midgardian courtship. Observe.”
He pulled out a guitar. A guitar. From nowhere. And began strumming aggressively while singing off-key.
“Oh Jane, fairest in the stars, your eyes burn like a neutron quasaaaaaar—”
Danny screamed into his sandwich.
Jane screamed into her coffee.
Darcy recorded the entire thing.
By the time the Avengers got wind of what was happening, it was too late. Tony Stark showed up purely out of pettiness.
“So this is the ‘son,’ huh?” he said, looking Danny up and down like he was a new model of iPhone. “You do look like Jane. Same ‘don’t talk to me before coffee’ vibe. But with a sprinkle of sleep-deprived raccoon.”
Danny glared. “You must be the one Jane threatens to launch into orbit when she’s annoyed.”
“See? Family resemblance,” Tony muttered.
Then Steve Rogers took Thor aside and whispered, “Are you sure he’s her kid? Jane would’ve told us if she had a child.”
Thor nodded gravely. “It is the only explanation. He speaks with passion, has knowledge of the stars, and I saw him summon green fire from his hands!”
“It was a ghost, Thor,” Danny shouted from across the lab. “It was literally a ghost trying to possess a vending machine!”
“Exactly!” Thor beamed.
“Thor. I’m nineteen. Jane is thirty-seven.”
“She is a goddess among mortals. Perhaps she birthed you when she was five.”
“That’s not how—YOU KNOW WHAT, NEVER MIND.”
Soon, even Loki showed up, slinking into the lab with a smirk like a serpent in silk.
“I had to see for myself,” he purred, circling Danny like a shark. “The mortal child who ensnared my brother’s affections.”
Danny just blinked. “I’m not his kid. Or Jane’s. I’m not even sure I’m awake right now.”
Loki chuckled. “You’ll make an excellent prince. Do you have any interest in necromancy?”
“I’m a ghost half the time,” Danny deadpanned. “Define interest.”
Loki grinned wider.
Eventually, S.H.I.E.L.D. got involved. Fury showed up, took one look at the scene—the goat eating research notes, Thor trying to build Danny a golden throne, Jane yelling about radiation levels, and Danny levitating out of sheer stress—and muttered, “Nope,” before turning around and leaving.
But beneath all the chaos, Danny… didn’t hate it.
Jane never treated him like a kid. She taught him everything, from solar flares to Bifrost trajectories. She let him make mistakes, then helped him fix them. She told him he was brilliant, and for once, he kind of believed it. And Thor, for all his thunderous confusion, brought him starfruit from Alfheim and carved him a wooden Mjolnir as a “coming-of-age” gift.
Danny didn’t even mind the goat anymore.
He still insisted, every day, that Jane was not his mom.
But when Thor presented him with a massive, hand-forged broadsword inscribed with: To my noble son, may your ghosts be vanquished and your GPA ever high, he kind of teared up.
A little.
One evening, as they watched the stars from the roof, Jane handed Danny a cup of tea.
“He really does think you’re my kid,” she said.
Danny took a sip. “Yeah. I gave up trying to convince him.”
“Is it weird?”
“Kinda. But… not bad.” He hesitated. “Do you… mind?”
Jane looked at him, surprised. “No. I mean—you’re not. But if you were, I’d be proud.”
Danny stared at the stars until they blurred.
Later, Thor appeared beside them, cape fluttering dramatically despite the lack of wind.
“I have returned with tales of valor,” he declared, “and also cheesecake.”
Danny took the box.
“Son!” Thor beamed.
Danny sighed.
“Fine. You can have my blessing.”
Thor dropped Mjolnir in joy.
Jane looked horrified. “Danny, what the hell?!”
“I didn’t say I wanted it to happen,” Danny muttered. “I just figured he’d stop bringing me swords if I gave in.”
“He won’t,” she said flatly.
He didn’t.
The next morning, Danny woke up to find a full set of Asgardian armor beside his bed and a note that read: For my beloved heir. P.S. I have begun planning the wedding. Do you think your mother would prefer swans or flaming eels as decoration?
He screamed into his pillow.
The goat screamed with him.
Bruce: What do you do if you wake up to one of your wards standing over your sleeping body, checking your heart rate while holding an Anti-creep stick?
Barry: Im going to take a wild guess here and ask: Was that Danny?
Bruce: Yes! He wanted to make sure I wasn't a vampire.
Clark: Where was Dick?
Bruce: Digging a hole.
Diana: Why was he digging a hole?
Bruce: In case I turned out to be a vampire, they needed somewhere to hide the body after Danny killed me.
Hal: Spooky, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but I think those kids you took in are a danger to the public.
Bruce: They're good kids! Dick is just going through a lot with his parents being killed in front of him and Danny.....well, Danny escaped a lab that his parents sold him off to. Both of them are having some trust issues right now and are acting out. That's all.
Clark: Bruce, last week Danny broke into my apartment and held me at knife point demanding to know what my intentions were with you. He wouldn't accept that we're coworkers.
Bruce: He probably thought you were a vampire. Danny doesn't like those.
Hal: Didn't Dick break into your house too Barry?
Barry: Yeah, but that was more so he could cuddle with Wally then to make threats at me. Danny, on the other hand, showed up at three am. after rumors about Batman and Flash sleeping together went around. He threatened to cut the muscles in my legs so I could be " The fastest crawler in the world" if I didn't offer Bruce a ring by morning.
Bruce: Why is this the first I'm hearing about that?
Barry: *shrug* I figured you knew since the next day you showed up and apologize for the boy's behavior.
Bruce: I did not know. I was apologizing for him breaking into what I assumed was to see Wally while grounded like Dick. Great, now the boy is going to kill me in my sleep and/or ensure I never get a lover again.
Diana: I think it's rather sweet. Danny is placing a challenge for your would-be suitors. It's like a wolf pup attempting to scare away mates from his father. No real harm was done.
J'onn: He set me on fire.
Bruce: What? Why?
J'onn: Apparently, my eyes were on your back for too long. I was admiring your cape, but Danny believed my eyes were focused too low, and I was instead admiring your bottom. Dick threw glitter in my eyes a few hours later.
Bruce: *sigh* Danny is overly protective, and Dick does whatever his big brother tells him to. I don't know what to do anymore.
Oliver: Tell him you're a vampire but like a sluty one that feeds on lust instead of blood. He'll get scared and leave your dates alone.
Bruce: That's an incubus. What you just describe is an incubus. Also, that's a terrible plan. I would be in a hole so fast.
Hal: Yeah, but they would cry while they buried you so there's that at least
First it was a few classes because of a lost dare, but then those few turned into a usual thing for him.
In fact, he got so into it that even his rogues, when they realized it was almost time for his Ballet lessons, would pause the fight and make sure he went. The young half-ghost was, in their opinion, far too tense and stressed, and if they wanted to make sure he was in top form for fighting then he needed a hobby.
Regular Ballet lessons turned into competitions.
Competitions turned into him being scouted.
And while he never, ever expected this path for himself, at the age of twenty-four he became one of the best Danseurs in the country.
He's also a registered meta, but only because when he dances he gets so into it that some of his ghostly features leak over to his appearance.
Floating white hair, eyes shifting from blue to green in the lights, slightly pointed ears; costume designers adore him.
So it's no surprise that he has his fair share of stalkers.
This is where John Constantine comes in, because someone just tried to send a very nasty curse to Danny, and they need to find out who.
Song that inspired this idea here
So I just had an Idea...
I love it when Fright Knight gets pulled in as Danny's guardian.
So imagine, if you will, Danny leaves for Gotham bc of college, but his parents worry over him going alone. Jazz is in an Ivy league college so she can't go with him, Sam and Tucker are doing their own things at different colleges.
But they really can't let their son go alone, he may be the ghost king and he may be really strong but that is their baby! Cue Jack asking Fright Knight to go with his son so he has some protection in crime capital. Amity Park barely has human crime after all, what would their poor boy do? He only knows how to fight ghosts, Jack is speaking from expierence here, humans are oh so fragile.
Thus, Danny finds himself saddled with a babysitter for college, reluctantly taking the ghost with him under the condition that he tries to look human.
Fright Knight acquiesces. Taking off his armor he reveals a tall man with dark grey skin and glowing purple eyes, long black hair braided back in a longsleeve shirt and pants.
He's still giving major scary vibes.
Well, it's not getting better so, eh.
Now Danny makes friends in college, he eventually gets asked out on a date by one of the batboys ( I personally hc Damian bc it would be funny). So Danny is getting picked up, only he's not the one opening the door, it's Fright Knight. Tall, intimidating-looking and scary AF vibes Fright Knight.
It doesn't matter how brave you are, or how well your immunity to scare gas is, something about the glowing purple eyes glowering down at you is scary.
And then arrives Danny, sunshine personified, waving off Fright Knight while his date wants to get the hell out of dodge while the scary guardian of his date glares like he tries to set them on fire!
Meanwhile Fright Knight is trying to gauge if this human is good enough for his king, he only deserves the best! And the kings father did tell him how fragile humans were... maybe he should send a letter to Frostbite and ask for some help.
Next
"Oh hell naw!"
Goon Nr.1 shouted the moment the bag got pulled of Danny's head, and he squinted at the light. His eyes adjusted.
"I am not paid enough to deal with a Wayne kid!" Goon Nr.2 groan.
Danny blinked again. Now he could just... easily walk out of this, but the school trip had been boring, and he thought he could get in some rough housing if he let this men... like kidnapped him. You know? Like he does with his ghost rogues. But this was unexpected now that these guys were apparently getting a closer look at him.
"Come on its Wayne kid! The Ransom will be a big pay out." Goon Nr.3 said cheerful.
Danny blinked again, the other two goons giving the third one a rather deadpan stare.
"New guy?" Nr.2 asked.
"New guy." Nr.1 confirmed.
Okay, this was the point on which Danny was now puzzled. Who were the Wayne's? Why was kidnapping them bad? And was this a good moment to transform and get a bit of brawl in? He really wanted some action after all the museums and sightseeing trips Mr. Lancer took the class on.
Goon Nr.1 was now patting Nr.3's shoulder like he was an innocent child. "Dude, we don't mess with the Waynes because that alerts the Bats. We don't want to deal with Batman if we don't have too."
"Last time I worked for Peguin, he strung me up and tied me to a roof..." Nr.2 shivered.
"I saw him take out ten guys at once before... ran for my life that day." Nr.1 sighted before he shook his head. "And that's when Batman has a good day. On a bad day... you will have broken bones."
"And in the worst case, you get one of his spawns to show up instead." Goon Nr.2 added on.
"Uh... Spawns?" Danny couldn't help but ask, blinking from his spot on a chair, no longer tied onto it as he had already phased out of the ropes while they weren't looking.
"The Robin's!" The two goons said in sync and then proceeded to launch into an explanation about the Robin's, their theory about which Robin became which other vigilante according to the timeline and how Red Hood fit into that theory and also why they were so much worse when they showed up instead of Batman.
Danny won't deny it. That was kind of the most interesting part of his school trip now, as he sat there nodding along to the explanation Goon Nr.1 and Nr.2 were giving him and Nr.3.
Meanwhile...
Mr. Lancer was panicked. One Danny Fenton was missing. A Fenton was mission. He lost a God damn Fenton in an unknown city. He needed to do damage control and that quickly. Unknowingly alerting the Bats to the situation through contacting the GCPD to find one blue-eyed, black haired teenager.
Hood needs to hurry or Mr Freeze will adopt him
Danny's love language is physical touch.
He adored his dad’s crushing hugs, his mother’s forehead kisses, and his sister's way of putting both hands on his shoulders to guide him.
He loved the way he would accidentally brush against his friends while walking, how they would grab on each other during horror movies, how Sam would stop and pick the loose hair on his shirt, and how Tucker would press his hand against his back every time he caught up to them.
After being forced out of Amity and outed as Phantom, he started to miss Dash’s punches, too.
Any type of touch was considerably better than the cold he was feeling inside his chest.
His ice core made him feel like he was suffocating, the warmth of a human touch now felt more urgent than eating or finding shelter out in Gotham.
In the meantime, Red Hood received news of a new criminal in the alley that would target random people in the street and grab them, causing their arms to freeze over.