Chapter Text
Y'all must know, it really wasn't anyone's fault.
When Kaldur came to visit, no one had bothered to mention that our lovely young merboy could, in fact, speak perfect English.
Yes, even Arthur didn't.
But could you fault him? The king was quite furious by the recent information they had on Danny dear and he needed time to well...chill.
So naturally, the Atlantean greeted our boy in his own language, thinking that it might make Danny feel more at ease.
He had even planned to be the official interpreter between his friends and his new Prince so everyone could enjoy their time together.
Except... Well...
In Danny's case, he didn't even notice. As everyone knows, one of the perks of being the king of the infinite realms is every translator's dream aka the knowledge of all languages be it alive or dead.
Even with that, it didn't mean much with him. He doesn't hear the difference, nor notice it actually until it's too late. Whoever speaks to him, he hears what his brain decides as his default language. And when he replies, all they hear is their own language.
Of course, if Danny wills it, he could speak multiple all at once. It's crazy crazy and truly makes my brain heat up.
Think Harry Potter speaking perseltongue, it's all English to him but definitely not to others.
So when Kaldur spoke first, Danny's brain instantly locked onto that language. And stayed there.
Even when our speedstar spoke after, our protagonist's brain just simply picked favourites.
And honestly I can't fault that.
Which is why, when Danny offered his food, all adults weren't surprised by the use of another language.
Yes, even our Nightwing wasn't up to date with the news because, who checks the Batchat every second?
So, they both simply looked at their friend to translate, and when they did that Danny just thought they were taking permission for some reasons.
Kaldur, bless him, didn't even flinch. He simply translated, just how he planned to do. "He is offering you his food."
Wally perked up immediately. "Sweet!" He reached out without hesitation, he won't mind a snack after all.
But before he could grab it, smack!
"Ow!" Wally rubbed the back of his head, glaring at Dick. "What was that for?!"
Dick rolled his eyes but still looked fondly at him. "Yeah, and you don't just snatch food from someone recovering, genius."
Kaldur chuckled, mildly amused. "He was offering, so it should be fine."
Wally grinned, shooting his boyfriend a smug look. "See? I'm innocent."
Dick didn't argue, why would he? He let his fingers linger on the back of the Speedstar's neck which was enough to make the ginger shut up.
"At least introduce yourself first." He added.
Wally flushed faintly, the tips of his ears turning pink, clearly embarrassed. But what for exactly? Well...
Anyway.
Danny watched the exchange quietly, blinking as the two bickered with each other.
'They seem like good friends.'
Wally coughed which gained Danny's attention. Blue eyes meeting green.
'Not like Robin's, not as shiny.'
Danny found himself comparing the two unconsciously. He couldn't help it really, he missed his own green eyes.
"Hey kid, just call me speedy! Fastest man alive."
The ginger, speedy, introduced himself proudly which made Danny pull away from his thoughts.
'Fastest man alive? As in literally?'
Danny didn't know if he should take the last sentence seriously or not.
Dick shook his head, already knew that wally would go straight to nicknames. "I'm Nightwing." He then pointed at Wally after noticing the boy's clear confusion. "Flash here is indeed the fastest man alive but we don't talk about it here."
Kaldur choked on a laugh and Wally gasped, scandalized. He did not just say that!
Aqualad wisely ignored the two and choose to translate what they had said to the young merboy who simply kept staring at them.
Quite adorably in fact.
As he was about to translate when Danny interrupted—this time in clear, perfect English.
"Oh—uh, hi." His voice was quiet but warm, and a little shy. "I'm Danny."
That caught them all off guard for a second. And all they could do was watch.
Wally blinked, blurting out. "Wait— you can speak?!"
Danny flinched at the volume of the voice, confused by the question but answered nonetheless. "....yes?"
Didn't he just speak with them?
Wally quickly realized his voice had come out a little too loud, especially when Danny flinched. His face fell instantly, guilt flashing across his face.
He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced helplessly at Dick for help.
Dick sighed softly and walked over, crouching beside the bed. "Hey," he said gently, "Sorry about Speedy here."
Wally muttered apologies which didn't quite reach Danny but the two adults heard it.
"What he meant to say," Dick continued, smiling like le best older brothers he is, reminding Danny of how Jazz smiled at him in turn. "is— are you able to understand us?"
Danny hesitated, his gaze flicking between them. He didn't really get why they were asking that. Weren't they speaking with each other just now?
Our halfa might actually start questioning their intelligence at some point.
but something about the way Nightwing looked at him made him think that it was genuine.
So he nodded.
Dick hummed thoughtfully, glancing over his shoulder at the others.
Kaldur took a small step forward, hands behind his back. "And did you know you were speaking two languages just now?"
That made Danny pause. His head tilted slightly, the question taking a second to fully process.
'Two languages?'
He blinked as the realization soon came sinking in.
'Oh—'
Ghost King perks. He may have forgotten about that part.
But he couldn't exactly say that can he? So he did the next best thing.
His cheeks flushed faintly with embarrassment. "...No," he admitted after a beat, which was true! "It all sounds the same to me."
If he can't name it, he'll just explain it!
Still, Danny gave the adults his most pitiful puppy eyes. "Is it bad?"
Wally choked, even Dick who was directly in front of the boy was left speechless.
Kaldur on the other hand was trained to do better! He placed a hand near Danny without touching him, making the merboy turn to him.
His future prince and younger brother shouldn't fear such things after all.
"No, actually it's a good thing." He smiled at Danny. "It simply makes us wonder how many other languages you know."
They did come to gain information after all, not that they weren't worried about the lil guy!
Danny's eyes lit up. A chance! This was perfect timing to explain a lil without looking suspicious.
Who knows if he'll slip up again in the future?
"Oh! I know lots and lots of languages!" he said brightly, voice almost bubbling with excitement. "Even Vlad had trouble keeping up with me!"
The memory of his Godfather made Danny smile. Though it fell soon after.
He won't be able to see him again...
The three adults exchanged glances, a name was mentioned which means a possible lead, a possible suspect.
"… who is Vlad?" Wally asked quietly, leaning forward just a little, careful not to alarm Danny.
He doesn't want the boy to flinch because of him again.
Danny paused, torn between telling them who Vlad was or not. He still didn't trust them yet even If they were handsome and nice.
So he chose the safest option.
"He's my... guardian." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.
That set off alarms in everyone's heads, but they had to proceed with caution if they wanted to know more.
Dick's expression softened, "and did he take good care of you?"
Danny's gave fell to his lap, watching how his tail swayed in the water.
He couldn't tell them the truth.
He can't.
Because Vlad really had taken care of him. He had fed him, taught him things he could hardly even imagine, even tried to make his strange new diet feel normal!
It was difficult for him to have Ecto more than once every day, but Vlad promised that he had to for his body to grow stronger.
Especially after he....
Then a thought hit him like a bucket of cold water.
Right, food.
Maybe he can use this chance and get Ecto! He really liked the shiny Ecto candy and would love for nothing more than to have it again.
Kryptonite, was it? Well then, Danny will just hunt more.
Danny lit up, proud of the genius plan he had. "Yeah!" He replied, face was full of smiles and sunshine. "He even gave me lots of Kryptonite to eat!"
The room went dead quiet.
Kaldur blinked once. Dick's smile froze and Wally made a noise halfway between a choke and a gasp.
"I—sorry, what?!" Wally sputtered.
Dick's brows shot up, frozen halfway between confusion and horror. "You… ate Kryptonite?"
Kaldur looked mildly alarmed but kept his composure. "Danny, are you certain it was Kryptonite?"
"Uh huh!" Danny nodded, remembering earlier. "Even Arthur gave me some! It was only a small shard though and I really wanted more."
Another beat of silence.
Wally's head snapped toward Kaldur. "Aquaman gave him Kryptonite?!"
Kaldur was now horrified. His own king gave his young prince, poison?!
Was it even poisonous to them? It's a rock! How could one even eat a rock?!
He couldn't believe it but Danny looked so sincere it was hard to argue.
"Danny," Dick said carefully. "Do you still have any of it?"
Danny shook his head. "No, I ate it like I said. But I would love to have more please."
What is up with them? This is the fifth time he asked for more and no one even gave it to him.
The people in this universe don't have manners at all!
Kaldur's brow furrowed. "So you…actually ate it."
"Mhm!" Danny nodded, proud of himself. "It's like candy but even better!, you know?"
Wally muttered, "No, actually, we don't know," under his breath, who could even do this to a young child.
Experimenting is one thing, but to actually feed him such a horrible thing that could in no way be possible to bite into—
Wait, how did he even eat it?
"Kid," Wally asked, rather carefully. "How were you able to...chew it."
His question made the two adults pause, fair.
Kyriptonite was a hard rock after all, it can't easily be broken but less bite into.
Danny blinked at them, confusion clear on his face. Were they serious right now? He tilted his head slightly, tail fin giving a lazy flick in the water.
Maybe because no one eats Ecto here so they were curious?
The young ghost was tired of answering so many questions without receiving anything in return.
'Maybe I'll just have to ask Robin and Jon, they are better than these adults anyway.'
So he wrapped his arms around himself, shoulders curling slightly. "I dunno," he mumbled, eyes avoiding theirs. "I just do."
Wally's mouth opened, aiming to question further but Dick caught his arm, a quiet shake of the head telling him to drop it.
Kaldur studied the boy for a long moment, how can he make his lil prince trust them? "You do not have to answer if you are tired, Danny." He bowed his head. "Forgive us if we disturbed you."
Danny turner and blinked at him. Great, now even the handsome men looked sad. Seriously, why was everyone here so stupidly good looking?!
He gives up honestly.
"...I'm hungry," he muttered after a moment, voice shaky. "And the only thing I want is to eat. So why isn't anyone giving me the only thing I want to eat?"
No, Danny was not going to cry. He wasn't! He was just hungry, that's all.
But when the tears started pooling anyway, blurring the edges of his vision, all three adults instantly panicked.
Kaldur straightened in alarm, lost on how to react. Wally froze, eyes wide, hands flailing slightly like he was trying to comfort a wet cat.
They couldn't just give him Kryptonite! What if he gets harmed?!
Dick, unfortunately wasn't able to stop himself seeing how easily the tears fell. "It's okay, it's okay!" He reached out, wiping the tears away. "You just want Kryptonite right?"
Danny sniffled, looking up at him with those bright, watery blue eyes much like his own.
Damn it, Bruce is going to kill him!
Dick checked his belt and unlocked one of the hidden compartments. Every Batfam member had one, though it was more of a 'just in case Superman gets mind controlled' like that one time than for feeding children.
He took a steady breath and pulled out the small lead lined capsule, clicking it open. Inside, the green glow shimmered faintly, it obviously had kryptonite inside.
And it was much larger than the one Danny had before.
The halfa's eyes locked onto it immediately. His pupils widened like a starving kid seeing food for the first time.
Wally gasped. "You just had that with you?!"
Dick raised a brow, deadpan.
The speedster groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "Of course you did."
Dick ignored him, eyes falling back to the merboy. Danny was still watching the shard, eyes still red from crying.
"Are you sure this is what you want?" Dick asked quietly, his voice cautious. This might still be a huge misunderstanding after all!
Danny nodded instantly.
"Are you sure you won't get sick?"
Danny blinked at him, then gave him a look that said are you serious?
Dick sighed. If Bruce doesn't kill me, Arthur definitely will.
He hesitated for only a second longer before holding out the shiny green rock. "Alright, just don't make me regret this."
Danny held it with utmost care. The kryptonite was much bigger than the small shard from before and could hardly hold it without using both of his hands.
He smiled as the glow reflected in his eyes, his core purring simply by being near it.
'Finally.'
Without wasting anymore time, he opened his mouth and bit right into it.
Crunch.
Wally was about to faint.
Kaldur caught him by the arm before he could, but his eyes never leaving his prince.
All three adults stood frozen as Danny casually took another bite, and another, and another. Humming in delight as if he's eating candy and not something that could kill a Kryptonian.
"Holy—he's actually eating it!" Wally breathed out, not believing his eyes.
Danny didn't even seem to notice them. He just hummed softly, tail flicking once in contentment as his eyes fluttered close.
His core purred, blooming in delight.
Oh, this tasted so good... This was such a tasty Ecto, so pure and perfect.
After taking his last bite, savouring the taste. He opened his eyes to thank Nightwing, possibly ask for more.
Once he did, all adults inhaled sharply.
Because Lazarus green eyes stared right back at them.