The correct meaning

Danny didn't know that the first thing he would do when he retired from being a hero would be to open a flower shop, but he found that flowers brought him peace. Maybe it had something to do with commemorating the dead, or with his lack of a headstone, but flowers were soothing.

Ghosts never messed with them, they were almost sacred in the Infinite Realms, and with the help of his friends he researched the meaning of all of them. Besides carrying a small dictionary because he didn't have a photographic memory.

Unfortunately, he couldn't open his flower shop in Amity, his parents made the whole thing very awkward and he didn't know if he would be able to make a bouquet that would go to that cemetery, a cemetery where he didn't belong.

So he opened his store in Gotham, where his sister was staying. He bought a small place and went about tending to his plants. He tended to anyone and gave them a little bouquet depending on what he saw in them. Ivy seemed delighted.

Jason didn't know what to think of hid bouquet with orange lilies, lavender, hyacinths and gardenias. It was certainly an odd combination, and he didn't know why the florist looked so determined to give him the bouquet, but he accepted it, the boy looked happy about it before going back to work.

A week later he gave him a different bouquet, and Jason wondered if he was going crazy, was the florist flirting with him or had he read too many books?

The last thing anyone would expect is for the Joker to believe in the supernatural, but apparently Gotham was in luck, because the clown was about to make a deal with the King of all ghosts to revive his prized foe.

Said King was not happy about the request, nor did he care about the clown's feelings, but he knew it was a necessary evil. Or at least, that's what Clockwork told him; of course, Danny didn't intend to do anything for free.

The Joker got his wish, Bruce came back from the dead and Danny wondered what he should do with the clown's soul. With a shrug he decided to put it to the best possible use and wrapped it in a little bow before handing it over to Jason Todd.

Jason thought it was a joke, a cute guy giving him a gift out of nowhere and claiming that the frozen ball in his hand was the Joker's soul? Yeah, right.

However, John Constantine came through Gotham and it became obvious that it wasn't a joke and that the cute guy was more than just a regular guy. It also came with the feature that Bruce returned to the living, which made him strangely relieved.

And fuck, reckless or not, Jason needed to find the guy again and steal the air out of his lungs, because that weird ball was the best gift he'd ever been given in his life and it might as well be an engagement ring.

After enduring weeks of comments from his friends, Danny decided to watch Barbie, unlike Jason who was quite interested in Openhaimer, both met by chance in the middle of the movie theater after being informed that both movies would be delayed.

That was fine, until they walked into their respective theaters and the movies were switched, and shortly after they failed. The cinema manager couldn't help but chuckle as he looked at the boy dressed in pink next to the acclaimed Crime Lord of Gotham. He explained to them that both movies would be repeated one after the other, and that the failures were due to minions of the Joker ruining the projectors.

Danny, tired of wasting time, dragged the Crime Lord to see Barbie and promised to see Openhaimer with him later. Before entering the room he made sure to knock out the clown's goons, so Jason couldn't say anything as he was dragged away. At least the tickets were free after so many failures.

Danny was tired. Tired of fighting, tired of running and tired of repeating the same routine day after day. Even Desiree could tell that the halfa didn't take her as seriously as he should, but she didn't complain. The boy had a rough couple of days.

That's why the ghost sighed and called for two chairs instead of continuing fighting. Danny didn't know what made him do what he did, but he told Desiree what was bothering him.

"They still don't understand," Danny murmured, his voice cracking, "I thought they needed time, I gave them time, but I don't think it helped."

"That's probably because you're the only halfa in existence, and they are humans" Desiree shrugged, "you know, neither Plasmius nor your clone are the same as you, that makes it a bit hard for them to understand you"

Danny was frustrated, frustrated because he knew the ghost was right, he was the only one who didn't fit in with anyone, so he made a rash decision. He ignored his own rule and wished.

"I wish there was someone who would understand," Danny said, allowing himself to be selfish, "or someone who could come to understand, someone like me."

Desiree looked at him curiously but shrugged before snapping her fingers. Her power was growing because of the wish, but she didn't really care. Maybe she'd go back to the Realms for a few days, Danny was annoying, but even stupid kids with hero complexes deserved a break.

A few metres away, a boy with a red helmet on his head appeared. Jason had just lost contact with his family and his satellite equipment wasn't working. He frowned and examined the partially destroyed city around him, where had he fallen?

Being the King of the Infinite Realms didn't really give you many dating options. There were no candidates who weren't committed or completely sincere, and Danny was feeling sensitive those days so he was frustrated. The Observants telling him to get a partner to create a "better future" and offering horrible options was especially infuriating those days, he wished they would stop meddling in his life.

Sam and Tucker, seeing the halfa's frustration did what any friend would do in such a situation: They created a profile for him on a dating app. Although they didn't notice that when they connected it to Technus' Internet the app started taking "candidates" from other dimensions that had it.

Despite not trusting it much at first, Danny eventually embraced the idea and very quickly connected with "Jason Todd" who claimed to be a zombie. Danny thought it was funny and told him he was a ghost, which Jay obviously didn't believe. Ironically, they matched because of the "I died" jokes on their profiles.

The only problem was when Jason asked to meet (he was absolutely convinced that Danny was either homeless or living on the streets due to his refusal to send pictures from home and wanted to feed him) and Danny didn't know how to tell him that he didn't know what dimension he was in.

Danny spent way too much time watching spy movies, that's a fact. And probably the main reason why he dubbed himself "the spy for the dead", even though he wasn't actually doing spy work at all.

The ghosts of the Infinite Realms are eternal, but some of them are still young (in the sense that not much time has happened since their death) and miss their families. Clearly they can't visit without alerting anyone, so they go to the one ghost that usually swings between the realm of the living and the dead.

So, Danny started doing favors, watching lives, giving some gifts, sometimes even talking to his "targets", depending on what the ghost wanted. Even if the ghost wasn't from the same planet.

Danny had snuck into the Watchtower so many times to check on Bruce, Barry, Clark, and others that he'd lost count. He wondered if it would be easier to announce his presence but they probably wouldn't appreciate it.

On one of those occasions two ghosts asked him to check "Jason Todd" (his grandmother had many questions and his mother was not far behind); the halfa had been so distracted while exploring Red Hood warehouse that he forgot to activate his invisibility and before realizing, Danny was in the middle of a gang fight and everyone was pointing their guns at him, which felt strangely like home.

He smiled and sheepishly waved at the Crime Lord, which didn't know whether to shoot him or get him out of harm's way. Jason had noticed that the boy was hanging around, but he didn't think he would be suicidal. He sighed with resignation, if the boy survived he would probably have to interrogate him, or worse, protect him from the rival gang.

Lover Fight (Or Not)

Danny didn't know why he was in Gotham. Honestly, Clockwork just pointed him the way to see something "interesting" that would help him to "calm down", so he had no further clues as to what was going to happen next.

He continued to fly over the city without a care, until he saw one of his biggest nightmares walking. A fucking clown. The halfa scrunched up his face before realizing that the clown had a weapon? What the fuck Clockwork? Incredulous, Danny continued to follow the clown.

A man in a red helmet and a woman with a large hammer seemed to be waiting for him in the middle of the street. The halfa raised an eyebrow doubtfully, before he could wonder what was happening, the woman tried to smash the clown with the hammer saying that her "darling" had betrayed her. Maybe it was a lovers' quarrel?

Still curious, Danny approached the man in the red helmet and after becoming visible he asked him if he was dating the clown too. The man had an extreme reaction and yelled something similar to "What the fuck? He killed me!"

That didn't answer Danny's question, of course, both his parents and most of his ex's had wanted to kill him. But maybe his scale was just broken. He asked the boy in the red helmet if he needed help.

Jason, still confused by the situation, agreed. A few seconds later (after Harley managed to hit him with her hammer, apparently) the Joker had turned into a block of ice. Jason stared in disbelief at the boy next to him, who had a mischievous smile on his face.

Danny really hated clowns.

Fighting ghosts had caused his grades to drop, to the point where some were barely passing. That's why Mr. Lancer recommended him to get a tutor or attend a remedial course, something Danny considered quite absurd, how was he going to be able to get away from Amity without it getting destroyed?

Jazz didn't seem to find it absurd at all, and despite his complaints, the halfa ended up at "summer camp" to boost his knowledge or something (Sam and Tucker seemed pretty sure they could handle the ghosts on their own while he was gone), at least, they had an activity about stargazing, for which Danny was grateful.

In the camp he found someone just as bitter as he was, but strangely excited. "Jason Todd" was grumpy about attending and having to be away from his family, but he was excited to learn new things. Danny found it endearing.

They both ended up becoming friends, and reminding each other of the things they were missing. At the end of the camp, it seemed that life had returned to the eyes of the tired halfa. It was during his last night at the camp, when Danny was showing the boy the stars, that Jason kissed him.

Unfortunately they didn't have much time left so they decided to keep in touch and send each other letters. Each headed to their respective city with a smile on their faces. The happiness Danny had earned was gone as soon as Jason's letters stopped coming.

He checked the Gotham newspapers with curiosity and was furious as soon as he saw the news of Jason (sweet, nerdy, and rude Jason) being killed in a fucking explosion. He flew at full speed until he found his grave, and helplessly began to cry. Whether he was angry or sad, he didn't know.

Ectoplasmic tears fell on the grave and unknown to the halfa, they were absorbed by the body. When Danny noticed that the tomb was beginning to glow the same toxic green he knew he couldn't help but feel hopeful. But it wasn't enough.

He didn't know if it would work, but on instinct he drew ectoplasm directly from his core and propelled it into Jason's tomb, hoping it would help. Danny wondered if he was breaking a rule in the Realms but he didn't care.

When he heard his friend's weak heartbeat (Boyfriend? Lover? He doesn't know, they never put a label on each other) he began to dig up the dirt around the grave, but before he could finish, time stopped and Clockwork looked at him with a frown. His mentor looked annoyed, but strangely comprehensive as he directed him to the Clock Tower.

Jason Todd had an imaginary friend. Or at least that was his theory, because the other option was not acceptable. His imaginary friend appeared right during the moment of the explosion (in the same place where the fucking Joker had stood) so Jason wondered if what created it was the trauma, maybe his head wished he saw a friendly face before dying.

However that didn't explain why his friend appeared after his resurrection. Jason wondered again if he was going crazy. The day he came out of his grave, with a dizzy head and blurred memories, his friend manifested. The weird thing was that his friend aged (just like him) and his shiny white hair had a floating crown.

Maybe Jason wanted to be friends with royals, who knows. His friend (Danny, because apparently he can talk), showed him where to walk (he seemed to be avoiding something?), unfortunately he didn't listen to Danny, and he ran into Talia. His friend frowned at him in obvious disgust, but how was he supposed to know?

That was how Jason confirmed that Danny was product of his imagination, because Talia couldn't see him. But Danny was strangely helpful, he knew a lot about combat and helped him in the League, when he asked him about it he said that he wanted him to get out of there as soon as possible.

Years later, when he had already left the League and established himself as Red Hood, his friend was still by his side. And Jason was strangely grateful that he'd never left—Danny had helped him so much— his friend had grown up with him. So, the day Dick asked him who he was talking to (Danny, of course), he dodged the question.

In his apartment, he looked at Danny (patient, always attentive) and asked "Are you really imaginary?" Danny smiled sadly, but didn't answer. Jason wondered if it was possible to fall in love with a product from his head.

Stardew and the halfas

When Tucker told him that he needed to relax and recommended a game about being a farmer, Danny frowned and pushed him away. How could it help him to know how long tomatoes took to grow?

However, after a restless night, where his parents had shot him (curiously by accident), the halfa noticed the downloaded game on his computer and sighed. It must have been Tucker, but he had nothing to lose by trying.

He never thought that he would become addicted to said game, or that he would want to marry Sebastian (something about him was just- well, attractive, even halfas weren't immune to falling in love). The problem was that his schedule was strange and Sebastian didn't like any of his gifts!

He started to get desperate and visit forums of the game, found someone who had the same problem with Elliot, and somehow they started talking. Jason seemed pretty frustrated, and they bonded out of mutual frustration. Neither of them was willing to consult guidebooks out of simple pride, but they appreciated the recommendations.

So they bonded over Discord calls, trying each other's strategies, and quickly became friends. To the point that they did a farm in multiplayer. They had spent so much time in the game that they both almost forgot their problems in the real world.

After Danny didn't go online for a while, Jason decided to invite him to Gotham. The boy took a few hours to respond but in the end he accepted.

Tim couldn't believe it when he passed a coffee shop and saw Jason laughing with a guy (very suspicious, in a sweater, and what the hell... were those fangs?), they were both very close to each other pointing at something on their phones and laughing .

Ice tears

When the pit rage got worse and Jason was barely able to think he decided to ask Constantine for help. Mainly because B hated when he asked Constantine for help and the wizard was nicer than he seemed at first glance.

Constantine strangely had the answer. It turns out that the Lazarus Pits had an history with something called "The Infinite Realms", and the water was the remains of one of the "Ancients" (Jason had no idea what that title meant) who died trying to stop the first King and bled in the confines of the world of the living.

As interesting as the story was, Jason had no idea how it helped with his problem, and he told the hellbazer so. John just rolled his eyes and gave a summary "You are possessed by the rage of that ghost, the only way to calm it down is to get the king's tears, the only thing he wanted, although that's a bit suicidal mate"

And well, now that he had forced Constantine to take him to the King (after making the portal, the British fled, coward) standing in front of the castle, Jason prepared his weapons, he probably should have thought it better since the king could be a powerful, interdimensional entity that could kill him with a snap of his fingers. But it was too late for that.

With a sigh he entered the throne room and saw a rather cute boy, with a crown and a dazzling smile, waving at him excitedly and asking a thousand questions a minute. Damn, was that the king? He was so friendly and— fuck, Jason had to make him cry, he was screwed.

End Day

After years, the Infinite Realms began to collapse. Mostly due to a dimension that kept destabilizing and resetting continuously. Although Danny was the Ghost King he couldn't find a solution to the problem so he talked to Clockwork.

The ghost told him that there were two options: Find something that would stabilize the Realms, and therefore the dimension, or destroy it completely. Danny knew which option was easier, but that dimension, though changed and altered, had been his home once.

Because of that he decided to explore it, and sadly he fell in love with it all over again. He couldn't destroy it so he made an alternative decision: he would use his own core to stabilize the Realms, even if it left him in a state of eternal sleep. Clockwork smiled sadly as if he was waiting for the decision.

However, he had things to do before. Lots of things to live for that he had been avoiding since the death of his family, he never completed college for example. He didn't even fall in love with someone!

So, he decided to do everything he had left in one day. At midnight he went to a bar where he got a friend to accompany him on the journey. He had 24 hours to live his life, and fulfill all his wishes!

Jason didn't know about the stranger who had approached him at the bar, or why he seemed so intent on completing his wish list in a couple of hours, but he tagged along out of curiosity. As time passed, he began to fall in love, which was absurd because it had only been a few hours since they met.

In the middle of the day he asked him why he was so intent on completing his list, almost desperate to do it. Danny replied that he didn't have much time left, and even the brightest stars faded eventually. Jason found it strange but he accepted his answer.

Danny was truly upset that he found someone to love in his last hours because every day has its end. And maybe for the first time in a long time, he wanted to stay, to live. But meeting Jason only confirmed that his decision was correct, he would save the dimension, even if he couldn't save himself.

Phantom, the adopted son of Frostbite, heir to Far Frozen, and Robin, the adopted son of Pandora, heir to the Acropolis of Athens, hated each other to death.

It could be due to their opposing cores, with Phantom being an ice core ghost and Robin being a fire core ghost. Or because of how much they were compared to each other in the Realms, since they had both appeared at the same time.

Their haunts had also lined up next to each other, which didn't help the ghosts' constant argument over "Who's better?". They also had similar abilities, and their outfits looked "heroic" which amused the ghosts a bit. When two Ancients adopted them and proclaimed them heirs, the argument only escalated.

Strangely, none of this was the reason they didn't get along, their mutual hatred stemmed from being too similar. Their personalities constantly clashed but there was a big difference.

While Phantom went through the Fenton portal and played a hero in his dimension constantly, Robin was afraid of the portal, his previous dimension did not bring back good memories so he guarded Acropolis and stayed away from the realm of the living.

Jason hated Danny, but that wasn't exactly right. Jason hated that Danny played the hero, that he took responsibility for his parents mistakes like it was his duty, that he came back with constant injuries and a smile on his face but then hid in his haunt and cried at night. He couldn't understand it.

Jason was a hero, and he was tired of it. Danny hated that Jason held back, that he would give up on his connections, he couldn't imagine himself abandoning Sam, Tucker or Jazz. They had taken different routes and neither of them could understand it.

Two halfas met in winter and after an eventful day full of snowballs and laughs Jason offers Danny a snowflake, not realizing that this action was a promise of a future engagement for ice core ghosts.

Since Jason had a fire core, he was taught by the other fire core ghosts when he discovered he was a halfa; the traditions of other types of ghosts completely ignored.

He learned important things for the fire cores like: how romantic the bonfires were, saying I love you through food among other things. Fire cores used to value survival and effort above all else.

However, Jason had no idea about the others ghosts; according to him, Danny had started flirting first (Danny didn't know he was, since he only knew the traditions of ice core ghosts)

It was common in the Realms to investigate your potential partner's traditions if they didn't have the same core. Something most ghosts knew about, of course, this didn't include halfas.

So, Danny has no idea how to respond to this proposal...

Friendless

After being pestered by Tim about not having any friends (Apparently: Bizarro, your brother's exes, family friends, your dad's friends/exes and your exes didn't count), Jason was determined to make a friend.

But it was extremely difficult since most of Gotham knew him as "Red Hood, the Crime lord" or "The reincarnation of Jason Todd" (Jason still didn't know how they came to the latter conclusion, idiots or geniuses?).

So he decided to look for someone who didn't know anything about Gotham or moved recently to the city but it was impossible to tell! Tired of his fruitless search, he ordered drinks at the new bar that opened recently.

And while he was drinking he met his first friend! (Or well, the first friend he had made on his own and without outside influences, fuck you Tim); Danny Nightingale was a strange boy, with a lot of resistance to alcohol and who had recently moved. Jason was 80% sure that he was a meta or another creature since he didn't show up in the photos.

But that didn't matter! It was time to show off to the family his new best friend! (And show them that he can make friends!) Not Steph, not Barbara, Danny. On the other hand, the halfa was quite confused but glad that the people of Gotham were so nice and friendly, Jason seemed like a nice person, and maybe it was time to widen his friendship circle beyond Sam & Tucker.

Jason spent a couple of months as Red Hood before being able to remember his life as a ghost, and when he did he got so many answers to his questions that it was overwhelming, he also remembered his best friend during that time: The Ghost King, or just Phantom for friends.

Phantom was apparently bored with ruling the Realms and taking care of Amity Park at the same time, he was practically an adult! He wanted to do more than just be an eternal guard!

So, after listening to his complaints over the phone (and hearing his crying over "forgetting to call" for so long), Jason considered it and offered him something: open a bakery together.

After all, despite everything Red Hood did for Crime Alley, that wasn't enough: They needed a livelihood, a place that provided food at a low price and offered some jobs where they were not discriminated against, and having a legal identity never hurt, Jason knew Danny had some contacts (not bat related) for that.

So together they founded "Bookery" a bakery run by Jason & Danny, which was quickly supported by Red Hood, and well, Danny had some Infinite funds to spend to open the place and buy everything they needed.

Everyone was admitted to Bookery (except for Ghostbusters and Batman) so it quickly became neutral ground. Jason had fun cooking and Danny had fun being free, it was just a matter of time before they fell in love or something went wrong.