He's A Phantom (Dp x Dc)

Chapter 6

It took a bit a convincing (and Tim promising to get a full night's sleep), but Alfred eventually conceded to drive Danny and Tim into Gotham a few hours before the concert started.

Danny had been wearing only Tim's clothes since he had arrived at the Wayne household, and they both agreed that they'd need better outfits for such an important outing (Bruce's treat of course). As it turned out, Ember was Tim's favorite musician, but he'd never been able to get tickets to one of her live concerts.

It wasn't until they arrived at the clothing store that Tim asked the burning question that he had been withholding since they left the manor.

"So, your friend that's getting us into the concert... what does she do there? Is she staff or..?"

Danny chuckled at the inquiry. The other boy really had no idea what he was in for.

"You'll meet her when we get there. For now, let's focus on the task at hand," as he said this, he took in the sight of the shop. It was a lot bigger inside than he had originally thought.

Tim lead them around, apparently well acquainted with the layout of the place.

After about an hour and a half of picking out clothes that matched their styles and laughing at stupid t-shirts, the boys ended up at the dressing rooms.

Despite their previous argument, the two of them got along well. They had similar styles and interests, which lead Danny to the thought that, just maybe, they could be friends.

His elation turned to regret as he was visited by memories of Sam and Tucker. They had been his best friends for as long as he could remember, and he had just left them alone in that town.

Danny shook himself out of the dark thoughts. He was sure they were doing just fine without him.

He pushed the curtain aside, stepping out of the dressing room to reveal his outfit, a black sleeveless turtleneck accompanied by black cargo pants. Chains hung around his hips, adding to the look.

Tim laughed as Danny gave a small joking twirl, "How do I look? Actually, I know I'm pretty, you don't need to tell me."

Just as soon as Tim had burst out laughing, he stopped. With a concerned look at Danny, he asked, "Dude, what happened to your shoulder?"

Danny froze. He had forgotten about the gunshot-like scar on the back of his shoulder. His parents had managed to hit him with a shot from some weapon not long before he had revealed himself to them.

"Eh, this is Gotham. people get shot all the time," He said, trying his best to sound nonchalant.

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up. I'm surprised your parents didn't move you away as soon as you were hurt. A lot of families have been doing that lately with the crime rates being higher than ever."

Not a very subtle change of topic. Danny got the feeling that the other teen was trying to use the situation to get more information out of him.

Suddenly, the halfa had an idea.

"Nah, they haven't been around for a long time," Danny hated to mislead his new almost friend, but wasn't technically a lie. He certainly hadn't said they were dead, but he sure made it sound that way.

It would be better this way. If the Waynes thought his parents were dead, they would stop searching for them. He couldn't risk them finding out where he was staying. Worst case scenario, they might come hunt him down, or even send the GIW after him.

Tim was silent. Whatever he was expecting, it probably wasn't that.

"I'm so-"

"It's fine. You go ahead and try on whatever you picked out. Concert starts in an hour."

Tim hesitated, as if he wanted to say more, but he decided against it. Taking the clothes with him, Tim entered the dressing room, emerging a few minutes later fully dressed.

In contrast to Danny's outfit, which covered his torso but revealed his arms, Tim wore a long sleeve crop top and a pair of shorts with a metal ring at the front.

He also wore a choker, which Danny had originally considered, but scrapped the idea. He didn't do well with things around his neck, remembering the feel of the restraints the GIW had used on the multiple occasions they had captured him.

Danny shuddered at the memory.

The two boys headed to the checkout counter, hurriedly paying for the clothes with Bruce's card.

Danny wasn't used to fancy stores like these. They had let them leave wearing the merchandise, apparently trusting the teenagers not to shoplift. Either they were extremely trusting, or they had a great security system.

He guessed the latter.

Tim and Danny left the store, their previous clothes shoved into a backpack that Tim carried, and began their walk to the concert site.

With Ember's popularity, an empty fairground had to be rented to accommodate the massive crowd of fans. Unlike in the past, Ember no longer used mind control to make her fans love her. Now they swarmed the concert grounds because they genuinely enjoyed her music.

Danny was proud of how much she'd grown on her own.

When they were within sight of the ticket booth, the two noticed the line of people that stretched farther down the road than they could see.

Tim sighed and took a step towards the line, intending to find the end and join it, only to be stopped by Danny.

His confused expression was met with one of smug amusement as Danny marched them straight to the "staff only" gate.

As expected, the boys were stopped by security. The large man stood directly in their path, looking annoyed.

"Look, kids, you ain't sneaking in. I suggest you go get in line with everyone else, unless you want to be banned from any future concerts."

Tim's panic was priceless. Danny rolled his eyes, smirking, before whispering something to the guard that the other teen couldn't hear.

Rather than being turned away as Tim had expected, the man took a step back, opening the gate for the two.

"I apologise for the misunderstanding. Have a great night."

Just what did Danny say to him? He didn't have much time to wonder as he was steered inside, past the gate and straight around the side of the crowd.

The boys approached a door, as well as another security guard. Rather than question them, The woman seemed to recognise Danny, smiling as she opened the door for them.

"Fourth to the right," she said before closing the door behind them, shutting them into a long hallway with exactly twelve doors (Tim's perceptiveness was especially heightened as his nerves got to him.

Tim's dazed state quickly turned into one of skepticism. Something here seemed suspicious. Was this some sort of trap? Did they know about his vigilante persona?

One thing he hadn't been expecting when he entered a dressing room after Danny was to see Ember herself.

The blue-haired girl sat at a mirror, apparently applying her signature eyeliner. Her eyes traveled further up the mirror, widening as they landed on the two boys that stood behind her.

"Dipstick!"

Excuse me?

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