Chapter Text
Danny leant against the bus window, his forehead pressed to the glass, breath fogging it up and frosting over instantly to a worrying degree. He sighed, pulling away from it a bit so he could actually see the trees passing outside. How Jazz had got it in her head to send him to summer camp was beyond him. Danny had tried almost everything in the book; from ghost excuses, to faking being sick, trips with his friends, everything short of actually ending up in summer school (the deciding factor being Dash and Kwan were the only others in summer school and he’d rather get thrown in the Ghost Zone in his underwear).
It wasn’t even the thought of being stuck out in the middle of nowhere with no phone and no internet that made him dread this. It was his core, which was thrumming with anxiety being so far away from his haunt. When Danny had admitted this, Jazz had taken on her annoying junior-therapist voice.
“That’s why it’s so important for you to get away, Danny! You haven’t spent any substantial time away from Amity since the accident and I’m worried you’re letting your obsession rule your life - you are still half human after all.” Danny sighed, the glass fogged up in summer heat, the faintest impression of frosted snowflakes on the window, “Besides it won’t be forever Danny! It’s only a month and a half, and it’s important to know now if you can survive being away from Amity. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.”
The most annoying line any child or teenager could hear. But Jazz had pretty much kicked him out of the house and onto the bus. While the other kids and teens were chatting loudly, he simply pulled up his hood and tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut that he had left Amity behind to be destroyed.
That wasn’t true, he had left Fright Knight guarding the entrance to the portal, convincing the ghost that it technically counted as the front doors to Danny’s castle. Not even ‘kingly duties’ had convinced Jazz, and she loved responsibility!
“The Ghost Zone survived five centuries without an active king, they’ll survive another summer.”
The bus started to slow as they pulled up to an overpopulated entrance. Kids were running in front of them while the bus beeped to be let through. Danny glanced up at the welcome sign as they entered - ‘Camp Walden’. He let the other, rowdier kids clamour out of the bus before following sulkily.
People were running this way and that - some weighed down by heavy duffle bags, others excitedly catching up, while the newest campers looked around nervously, hoping to find a friend. He commiserates with some other teens complaining about the lack of reception. Everyone basically seemed to ignore the woman with the loudspeaker greeting them.
“My name is Marva, your camp director,” She called in an overly peppy voice as children ran screaming around her, “And this is my daughter Marva Jr, listen for…”
Danny winced at the high pitched squeal of a group of little girls running towards each other. He rubbed his ears, deciding to track down his duffle so he could at least get away from the crowd. There were staff walking around ferrying bags, so he followed one to a giant pile of duffles. He could just barely see his NASA pin buried under a mountain of other bags.
Danny looked this way and that, but everyone was too self involved to notice him and Danny really wasn’t in the mood to go digging through a pile of junk. He turned his arm intangible, reaching straight into the pile until he found his bag. He turned tangible and yanked, slinging his bag over his shoulder and walking off before anyone noticed or thought to talk to him.
He was walking away when a car beeped at him, making him jump. Danny turned and scowled at the limo? a full-on limo! bullying him out the way.
“What sort of rich asshole is in there?” Danny muttered to himself, only moving out the way after a few seconds rooted in place staring down the driver.
---
Damian, said rich asshole, was sitting in said limo with Alfred across from him. The youngest Wayne suspected he was mainly there to make sure Damian didn’t try to slip off during the drive. Because honestly, exiting the car and heading back to the Titans or Young Justice would be a better use of his time than this inane summer camp idea.
Unfortunately for him, reason could not be used on his family. It had been Grayson’s idea to start with of course. He had managed to convince Father it was a good idea for Damian’s ‘development’ - whatever mildly insulting sentiment he had behind that , Damian didn’t care to know. He suspected Drake merely wanted him out of the way and Todd was, how do you put it? Messing with him.
Still, Damian couldn’t fathom why Pennyworth was supporting this. A mixture of each, he suspected.
“We have arrived, Master Damian.” Pennyworth announced as they pulled up, as if Damian hadn’t been glaring out the window in disdain at the people around them, gawking at the car.
“I can see that, Pennyworth.” Damian made no effort to open the door, scowling at the back of someone who had rudely gotten in their way. He wished he had caught the other's face to confront them at length later.
“I’ll remind you, Master Damian, that any and all combat gear has been locked up securely for the summer, and there are trackers monitoring if you leave the premises,” Pennyworth opened the door, speaking quietly, “And yes, I did remove the weapons you smuggled into your bags before the trip.”
“I’m aware of that Pennyworth,” Damian internally cursed as the butler climbed out behind him, “This place is ghastly.”
He looked around the small rundown camp. He doubted it had anything close to air-conditioning, although Grayson had at least promised running water and power. Really, he could make do with far less, but if such a place was meant to be ‘enjoyable’, Damian could hardly see the appeal.
“I believe the term Master Dick used was ‘charming.” Pennyworth said cordially, removing the bags from the trunk as Damian scoffed.
“Father honestly wants me to waste my time here instead of training?” It wasn’t even an undercover mission. Damian had scoured for any signs of money laundering or child trafficking. He had come up nada.
“I believe the intention is for you to make friends.” Pennyworth set the last bag down, not phased by Damian’s venomous look.
“That would be foolish, for insurmountable reasons.” Damian huffed as Pennyworth climbed back into the car.
“Still, try - you may just surprise yourself.”
“I doubt it,” Damian jutted out his chin. Alfred had a sparkle in his eye as he closed the door. Damian watched as the car drove off, leaving him behind in this utterly imbecilic place.
---
Fine, Camp Walden - one point.
Danny admitted begrudgingly, as he looked at the spread of vegan and vegetarian options in the cafeteria. Unsurprising, since he knew Sam and Jazz had been co-conspiring when they sent him here. At least he wouldn’t starve (of food - he was unsure of how long he could go without ectoplasm, so call this an experiment.)
Unfortunate side effect of being a ghost, you run into enough dead animals that eventually your dinner comes back to bite you, literally. Danny had had enough ecto-contaminated food coming after him that he did not want to spend an afterlife fending off actual turkey ghosts. Between that and having Sam as a friend? It had led to the greatest betrayal Tucker had ever faced in his life; Danny going vegetarian. He had refused to talk to Sam or Danny for three weeks after that.
“Fried chicken, dear?” Danny heard Marva, who was in line in front of him, ask someone else as he scooped strawberries onto his plate.
“No, I'm vegetarian.” Whoever it was said haughtily before walking away.
“What about you dear?” Marva said to Danny.
“Nah, I’m vegetarian.” Danny shrugged, looking at her.
“Yes, vegetarian you just said that-” Marva paused looking at Danny confused, “Yes you just said that- how did you get over there?”
Danny raised his eyebrow at her, summoning the sass every teenager innately possessed and pouring it into the gesture.
“Oh, you’ll have to excuse this old girl, first day,” She said with that over-friendliness that had Danny nodding and backing away at, “Well at least I’m not putting salt in the sugar shakers or, well, salt in the sugar shakers - wait …”
Danny just decided to walk away, leaving Marva to talk to herself. He looked around the room for a spare place to sit. How everyone had already formed their own little groups Danny didn’t know. He hadn’t been around this many strangers in ages. He already sort of knew everyone in Amity - not personally but the town was his haunt, so he guessed it kinda felt like he was familiar with their souls? Anyway, he hadn’t felt this out of place in a room full of strangers since highschool orientation.
“Hey, is that a NASA hoodie? In this weather?” Someone already sitting interrupted his brooding. Danny shrugged - ice core and all, he never really felt hot so black hoodies in the summer hadn’t been a problem for a long time, “Man you’re dedicated.”
They shifted to the side on the bench, patting it, motioning for Danny to sit down. He looked at the squashy gap sceptically, before squeezing in.
“We were just talking about the stars at camp. I was here last year and you can see them really clearly!” The bubbly girl said, while her companion, a boy their age, waved.
Alright, Camp Walden - point two.
“That's good - it’s one of the only things I was looking forward to being here for.” Danny was shoulder-to-shoulder with the girl. It was uncomfortable and unfamiliar, and it didn’t help that she acted so unlike Sam or Jazz, the only girls he was close to.
“I know how you feel, I wanted to go to space camp.” The boy pouted.
Jazz had told him to try new opportunities and make new friends. But his core churned at the idea. These people were strangers, they had no connections to him, to Amity. Still, Danny really didn’t want to be singled out and bullied for sitting alone the whole summer camp. So he turned to Not Sam and let her draw him into a conversation. Not Tucker had apparently brought an astrology book that Danny tried not to let his insides curl up cringing at.
Not Sam and Not Tucker introduced themselves - names Danny’s brain immediately forgot - and the three set off to look around the camp. There were the typical activities like canoeing or whatever. Lots of kids were playing sports and everyone just seemed so much more into this than Danny was. It was Not Sam who dragged them over to watch fencing.
Danny was honestly pretty good with a sword nowadays. Fright Knight had insisted on teaching him and, quite frankly, ghost swords were just cool. So when Not Tucker lost his match and passed the helmet on, Danny knew, between that and his ghost powers, no one at camp would cause him any trouble.
And honestly? It felt good to send a dozen happy-go-lucky campers sprawling to the ground (not injured, just defeated). Even if he was majorly holding back and he knew they were just untrained kids, it admittedly felt good and was the most fun he had so far.
Point three, Camp Walden.
He stopped to take a drink as the people around him hesitated to jump into another round. He ignored it as someone eventually stepped forward, donning the gear. When Danny turned around he could tell something here was different. For one, the challenger actually had a correct grip on their sword and despite the match not starting yet he was on guard. Danny went on guard too. His ghost sense wasn’t going off in any way, but something felt strange enough to warrant caution.
They got into stances as Marva Jr did a countdown.
“Ready, set, go-” The challenger lunged right at him, Danny having to parry the aggressive attack. He defended himself, getting backed up. The crowd behind him split as Danny was forced to jump over the bench to avoid another swipe.
He used the break to mount his own attack, but the challenger parried, jumping up on the bench so they had the high ground. Danny backed up, forcing the challenger to follow him. They traded blows, neither one connecting. Which was very strange because, even if this random camper happened to be a champion fencer, Danny was relying on his ghost strength and reflexes - there was no way an average human could stand up to that.
He was forced to duck as the challenger went for a–illegal, mind you–head shot. He retreated up a flight of stairs until they were fighting by a couple campers playing cards. Danny was backed against the railing and, short of phasing through it, there was nothing he could do to avoid the next attack.
He yelped as the blow to his shoulder sent him careening back, directly into a water trough. Danny gasped as he hit the water, flailing for a second, trying to right himself. Gasps and giggles around made his cheeks burn. Above him, the challenger, the smug bastard that he was, leaned over holding his hand out, somehow with an air of dismissiveness.
“You were adequate.” Danny gaped behind the mask gritting his teeth as he reached for the hand-
“How's this for adequate?”- and pulled hard (with just a touch of intangibility). The challenger fell in right on top of Danny, who had only a second to regret the pain in his ribs before the challenger was shouting at him.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“What do you think you’re doing!” Danny splashed around as they both sloshed around in the trough, “You pushed me in!”
“It’s hardly my fault if you are so uncoordinated that a little nudge would send you careening,”
“Careening!?”
“Boys, ok boys, let’s break up this little love fest.” Danny scowled at Marva Jr from beneath his mask, pulling himself sopping wet out of the tub, the challenger doing the same.
“Alright, we have a new Champion! Mr Damian Way- ah… from Gotham,” Marva Jr announced.
Now people were definitely laughing at him. Danny growled as he ripped off the mask, he could hear Damian doing the same.
“Now shake hands, boys!” Danny wondered if she would consider him drop-kicking the helmet at Damian as a suitable replacement, “Come on, shake hands.”
Danny sighed, it was better than dealing with the peppiness. He turned at the same moment Damian turned around and Danny gaped. He blinked rapidly, trying to see if the image of the boy would change but no, he was Danny’s exact copy.
His first thought was Vlad. His second much more terrifying thought was Dan. And Danny might have considered blasting first and asking questions later if Damian didn’t also look as shocked. Damian mechanically raised his hand, prompting Danny to do the same. When they touched Danny’s core thrummed, almost purred in a way they could each feel, startling them both.
Danny let his hand quickly drop, reality filling back in around him. People were gaping, looking between the two and, honestly, Danny was not ready to deal with this or any craziness that might come from it. He went on the defensive, crossing his arms and trying to appear casual to the crowd.
Consider your points revoked, Camp Walden.
“What’s everyone staring at?” Danny questioned, glancing at Damian and desperately hoping they shared a coping mechanism along with appearances.
“Don’t you see it? The resemblance between you and I?” Damian said suspiciously, almost accusatory, and honestly Danny wasn’t a fan.
“A resemblance? Between you and me?” Danny raised a brow, inner sass don’t fail him now, “Hm, let’s see,” he scrutinised this Damian, likeness to Danny uncanny except for the green eyes (ghost eyes– steering clear of that thought), “Well, those scowl lines have you already looking like an old man. Not helping that is the stick you seem to have up your ass, and, really, you should have a second helping at dinner because you’re looking, hm, scrawny .”
“Me? You look as though you wouldn’t be able to hold the weight of your clothes wet.” Damian growled, trying to loom over Danny which didn’t work as they were the exact same height (because of course they were), “Your posture is slumped but, to be fair, your back likely has a hard time holding up that massive mouth of yours. Do you spend all night thinking of such immature insults? Thinking must be so hard for you. I can see where those shadows under your eyes come from then but really, at least put the effort into brushing your hair in the morning, you look like the living dead.”
Danny smirked sardonically, with just a bit too much teeth, at Damian’s smug self satisfaction.
“Wow, really think you got me there, huh?” Danny forcibly relaxed and pointedly did not straighten up his posture, “That ego must have been what made your head so big - weird, I assumed it was full of hot air… probably shouldn’t cross it out.”
“Damn Danny!” Not Sam cheered from behind him, giving the boy a boost of confidence.
“But all that’s surface level - you want to know the real difference between you and me?”
“I know how to fence and you don’t?” Damian jutted out his chin, looking down at Danny, “Or I have class and you don’t?”
“Alright boys, let’s stay calm,” Marva Jr cut in just as Danny felt his eyes threatening to turn green, “Danny-Damian, I mean Damian-Danny I mean--whoa.”
They glowered at each other before breaking away in a huff. Danny walked off with Not Sam and Not Tucker at his heels, smugly satisfied that Damian had no one follow him. Served him right, the jerk.