[Third Person's PoV]
Date: February 13
Time: 10:13 AM
Location: Batcave
Since it was the start of the weekend, Danny was getting in some training.
In his ghost form, eyes closed in concentration, he stood in a horse stance and punched the air. A blast of fire shot from his fist before dissipating. He punched with his other hand, releasing another wave of flames.
Then he began moving systematically, unleashing blasts of green fire with every punch and kick.
Planting his heel firmly into the ground, Danny began to rotate, drawing a circle of fire around himself. The flames swayed and crackled fiercely.
Finally, he extended his palm, and the flames surrounding him flew upward, condensing into a glowing ball in his hand. He clenched his fist, and the fireball exploded in his palm. Smoke curled up between his fingers as he sighed. Rings of light appeared around his waist, and in a flash, he reverted to his human form.
Sweat clung to his forehead and soaked through his clothes. Wiping his brow, he muttered, "My training with the Ghost Fire has definitely improved, but it takes too much energy to use continuously. I'll need to keep practicing to control the amount of energy I consume... I only used it for ten minutes, and I'm already exhausted."
Danny opened and closed his fist, satisfied with his progress.
"Yo, Danny! You down here?" Dick's voice echoed as he made his way into the Batcave, hands stuffed in the pockets of his sweater.
"Yeah? Something wrong?" Danny asked, looking up from where he stood.
"Not really. I'm here to invite you out with a friend… You wanna come?" Dick asked casually.
"You want me to come along with your friends?" Danny tilted his head in confusion. Dick never invited him to hang out with his school friends. "Wasn't your whole thing, 'We already hang out enough at home and at work, no reason we have to hang out at school too'?"
"It's not school friends we're meeting," Dick said, shaking his head, understanding where Danny's confusion was coming from. "And it's only one."
Dick rubbed the back of his head bashfully. "I know you're upset that you can't be honest about your identity with your friends. So, I thought I'd introduce you to someone you can be honest with—apart from me."
"What?" Danny asked, taken aback.
Dick smiled at his expression. "Yeah, he already knows about my secret identity, so it's cool for you to tell him yours too."
'Wally.' Danny immediately figured it out. 'If there's anyone Dick would have told his identity to, it'd definitely be Wally West.'
Danny ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "I get what you're trying to do, but you're actually making it worse."
"What?" Now it was Dick's turn to be confused.
"You're expecting me to be honest about my identity to someone I don't even know, when I can't be honest with my two best friends. He's just gonna be one more person who knows before they do—and that's only gonna hurt them more."
"You're talking like they're gonna find out or something," Dick said suspiciously. "You aren't—"
"No, I'm not planning on telling them!" Danny snapped, cutting him off. "I don't blab secrets. But secrets don't stay buried forever. They come out eventually, especially when you're keeping them from the people closest to you."
Dick, now at the bottom of the steps, clicked his tongue and turned back, rubbing the back of his head. "A simple no would have sufficed…" he mumbled.
"That's what I get for trying to be helpful…" he grumbled to himself.
Danny stared at Dick's hunched back as he climbed the stairs. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Ugh! Fine!"
Dick froze mid-step and turned to look at Danny, who was scratching the side of his head. "Seriously? What happened to the whole—"
"I know you're just trying to be nice and help me out… I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier," Danny mumbled his apology.
"Nah, I should've realized how insensitive it was to ask you to reveal your identity like that. But—are you seriously coming?" Dick asked.
Danny waved him off with a sigh. "Yeah, yeah. I mean, how bad can it be?"
'The only reason I'm doing this is because I know Wally's one of the good ones. One of the best, even. So I don't totally mind.'
"Let me just get ready. It'll take me a while," Danny said as he started up the staircase.
…
Half an hour later, Danny came down from his room, refreshed and ready. He wore an open blue coat with a fur-lined hood, his breath visible in the cold air of the Manor.
Dick was waiting by the door, dressed in a black jacket with matching tinted glasses.
"So, where are we meeting him?" Danny asked as he descended the stairs.
Dick led the way out into the lightly snowing city. "We're heading to Central City."
"Seriously?" Danny raised an eyebrow. "So, I guess we're meeting someone connected to the Flash."
"You could say that…" Dick replied with a knowing smile.
Danny's eyes lit up. "Do you think if I ask, I could get the Flash's autograph?"
Dick chuckled as the snow crunched beneath their feet. "You're a fan of the Flash?"
"Oh yeah, definitely in my top three all-time favorite heroes," Danny said, his voice brimming with excitement.
Dick shot him a curious glance. "What? Who are your top three?"
"Batman, The Flash, Wonder Woman," Danny replied, ticking off each name on his fingers. "In that order."
"Seriously?! Wonder Woman?" Dick laughed, nudging him. "You just saying that 'cause she's beautiful?"
Danny's cheeks flushed—not from the cold. "No… I think she's really cool."
Dick scoffed, shaking his head. "Superman's way better than Wonder Woman. I mean, don't get me wrong, she's alright in her own way."
"Superman's alright, and a fantastic hero in his own right—definitely in my top five," Danny countered, "but Wonder Woman is so underrated and underappreciated."
Dick gave him a sideways look. "What the hell are you on about?"
"I mean, think about it," Danny said, warming to his point. "She's a princess of an entire island of women—she could live her life in luxury, but she chooses to go out of her way to be a hero for us. Plus, she was raised on an island that discriminated heavily against men, but she doesn't hold that against anyone she saves. She pushes past what she was taught and fights with her own thinking and ideology. What could be more admirable than that?"
Dick blinked, momentarily speechless. Then he snorted. "Phttt! Who would've thought Wonder Woman's biggest fan would be a dude."
Danny crossed his arms defensively. "What's wrong with that? She's awesome. I've got nothing to be ashamed of."
Dick kept teasing, and Danny kept defending, their banter echoing through the cold streets as they made their way to the subway station. They rode the train to Central City, the underground lights reflecting off the windows as they continued to bicker playfully.
When they finally emerged from the subway into the bustling streets of Central City, Danny asked, "So, where exactly are we going? You never really said—just 'Central City.'"
"We're heading to Central City Mall," Dick replied, pulling out his phone to check his messages. "One of the largest malls in the U.S. He should be waiting for us there."
"The mall?" Danny frowned in confusion.
"Yeah, it's got all kinds of stores, even an arcade," Dick added.
They walked a few more blocks, their breath misting in the cold air, until they reached a sprawling parking lot leading to the mall entrance.
By the doors stood a tall, red-haired boy wearing a burgundy jacket, two hot dogs in hand.
"You guys sure took your time," the boy called out, grinning. "I got hungry from all the waiting."
"When aren't you hungry?" Dick scoffed. "Anyway, introduce yourselves, you two."
Danny shook his head with a sigh, stepping forward and extending his hand. "Shouldn't you be doing the introducing?"
But he shrugged it off. "Danny. Danny Fenton."
The boy grinned, shaking his hand. "Wally… West."
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