Chapter Text
Jazz Fenton
Jazz felt the shiver of Dick’s brand new ghost-speak as it sparkled like a firework in deep night. /eager/ Jason’s shock drifted up the stairs like a crack opening in the earth. /wtf-Dick!/ “Ancients... Dick. You’re Liminal.” Jazz didn’t know what else to say. What to do. What to think. How the hell had this happened? Dick stared at her, then shifted suddenly as Jason barreled up the stairs three at a time.
Of course Jason was panicking. Not that Jazz wasn’t, but she knew better than to show most of it right now. Jason reached the top of the stairs, checking him up and down to make sure he was okay. “Dick?”
“Yeah? Someone want to tell me what’s going on?” /angry-worried/ Jazz pinched the bridge of her nose, “Hey, Jason.” Danny let them know he was headed back across the way while she and Jason dealt with this. She took a deep breath and addressed Dick. “You remember what Danny said about the process of being Liminal?” “Yeah,” Dick was wary, uncertain, and the bright sparkle of his ghost-speak dimmed with that.
“Well...you just used ghost-speak.” No point in beating around the bush about it.
Dick licked his lips. “That’s what you call your telepathy.” His voice was taut as a high-wire about to snap. /-hear me?-/
Jazz nodded. She did not want to deal with this right now. Didn’t want to think about the implications, the ramifications, the potential consequences. Thankfully none of that came through, since her core was too exhausted to project it. “Hear you clearly. I just shouldn’t right now.”
Jason grimaced, lips pressed into a thin line. /we hear you/ Dick cursed in three or four languages. Under other circumstances, she might have asked him to translate. Right now, he just needed the space to vent, and she knew it.
Jazz rubbed her temples. Her core and head ached with the desire to help him, to wrap him up in her empathic flames til he felt safe again. She didn’t. Jason would catch it if she did. “I have no idea what triggered it.”
“Okay.” Dick took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. I need to talk with Danny.” Jason scowled. “Dick…”
Talk with Danny? He was in no shape to. Jazz raised an eyebrow. “Not the reaction I expected.” “Priorities.” Dick said, taking a step toward the stairs. Okay, fuck him. Just…was he that fucking unaware of his own emotional state? Jason blocked, thank fuck. “Damn it Dick, don’t DO this.” “Don’t do what, Little Wing?” /angry-scared/
Ancients, Jazz wanted so badly to wrap him in that warm comfort she knew she could provide. She frowned. Maybe she could at least get him to realize taking half a second wouldn’t break the planet. “Yes. Priorities. You just had an emotional ballistic missile dropped on you. Take a goddamn minute to breathe.”
Dick smiled at Jazz. Just as he tried to speak and she registered something not right about that smile, Jason stepped in. “Nope.” And he punched Dick right in the solar plexus.
Jazz groaned and backed the fuck away. She couldn’t stop a faint, smoky murmur of /really? God/ from escaping.
Dick stepped back, easing the punch, and retaliated with a leg sweep. Jason tackled him. They landed hard, trading blows and trying to pin each other viciously.
Jazz had to stamp down her libido at the display. They were both hot when they were mad. She grabbed the chair Jason had dragged into her room and sat down in her doorway, wishing she had popcorn. Obviously they were both pissed, but they needed to get it out of their systems, and somehow she doubted their father figure was a stellar example of emotional competence. Jazz was fully prepared to wait them out.
Within a minute, Jason managed to break free of Dick’s hold and they both jumped to their feet. “What the fuck, Jason?! You’re not thirteen anymore.”
“And you aren’t at a fucking gala right now,” Jason spat as he came in again. /rage-FAMILY-hurt-worried/
“What is that supposed to mean?” Dick growled as he dodged the headlock and threw at short jab at Jason’s kidney.
Okay. That was enough. Jazz stood, straight, tall, and ready to get between them if needed. “Enough! Both of you.” A streak of reddish magenta surge through the fires on her skin and she knew her eyes burned aqua.
They both glanced at her, then cautiously stepped back from each other. /beautiful/ slipped out of Jason. Timing, god.
---
Dick Grayson
Dick could not lose it. He could not fall apart. They thought he was liminal, which meant he was fucking dying and he couldn’t begin to wrap his head around it and he wanted to scream, but he couldn’t. He had to keep it together. So he only sighed and rubbed his face while he tried to get some control over himself. “What the HELL is your problem?!” he asked Jason. Okay, not as in control as he thought. Keep breathing…
Jason rolled his eyes at him, which – not helping Jason! “Maybe I don’t like my fucking boyfriend lying to me.”
“I’m not lying to you!” Seriously, Dick did not need this right now.
“Maybe not. Maybe you’re lying to yourself – which is just as bad.” Jason said. /support-here for you-its okay/
Dick shook his head. He heard Jason’s voice twice. But the second voice was… not quite right. It was Jason but… underlain with something that reminded him of the earth rumbling during a small quake. It was that telepathy – that ghost speak – that he’d been aware of since he met the fraid, but never heard, never caught even a hint of. And now he heard it plainly, clearly, more clear than regular speech almost…
Jazz was rubbing her temples, and muttered under her breath “Now I see why ‘emotionally competent conversation’ was such a surprise.”
Jason snorted. Dick chuckled in spite of himself.
“Jason, I’m… “ Dick trailed off not sure what to say.
“You’re allowed to be upset, Dickhead. You don’t have to paste your Richie Wayne gala smile on and try to gone on as if nothing has happened.”
And somehow, with that odd /support/ underlying it all, it got under Dick’s guard in a way nothing else would have…
“I forgot people know you by that name,” Jazz said, “God, it’s awful. No offense. But yes, you’re allowed to be thoroughly fucked up over this and call whoever you need to and run away for a bit before you talk to Danny. We’ll still be here in three hours.”
Dick rubbed his face. /I can’t-sorry-hurting/ This time he faintly heard his own voice and cursed inwardly as he realized he’d probably been yelling everything he’d been thinking at Jason and Jazz for the past few minutes.
He got confirmation of that when Jason (of all people) pulled Dick into a hug. “Damn it, Golden Boy…”
Jazz rested a hand on Dick’s shoulder. “This whole mess is a lot.” Dick sighed and just let himself melt into the hug. If a few tears got lost in Jason’s t-shirt, no one else needed to know.
“Alright, I… I get why you’re upset,” Dick said after a minute. “I can’t… I was performing before I could WALK and sometimes the world literally does depend on my being about to keep going no matter what.”
“But not with us,” Jason said quietly.
Dick nodded and reached out for Jazz.
She joined the hug.
“Fair. I can’t promise it won’t happen again. But I promise I’ll try. And I won’t complain if you bitch me out when it does happen.”
“Glad we have an understanding.” She returned the hug. “After all, I didn’t agree to date you without your mess.” She smiled. “And I think that goes both ways.”
Well, he couldn’t argue with that. “Good.”
Jason asked, “So how are you feeling right now?”
Jazz took a step back, and Dick wanted to pull her back close, but instead he let go of Jason and stood up.
“I... don’t actually know.” Dick sighed. He wasn’t hearing any of the ghost speak right now, and could only hope he wasn’t projecting at the moment either.
“That’s fine. You don’t have to know right now.”
“And I really do need to talk with Danny.”
“Yes, but first, I think we all need food, if you’re still up for making pancakes, Jason?” “Yeah,” Jason rubbed his face, “Yeah, I can do that.” He hesitated a moment, then pulled Dick into a quick hug. “Love you, you asshole.” Then he headed downstairs to start cooking.
“I can listen if you need to verbalize right now,” Jazz said, “Otherwise, I’m hungry.” Dick opened his mouth, then shook his head. “Food sounds good.”
---
Sam Manson
/eager/ Sam didn’t recognize that ghost-speak. Danny’s eyes went wide and he swore quietly, tugging on her and Tucker’s shoulders. She got up, eyeing him, confused, but followed him back across the way. What the hell? Why was he denying—”But… pancakes…” Tucker stared forlornly at the wall splitting the brownstones. Apparently she wasn’t the only one confused and disappointed.
“Later, Tucker.” Danny rubbed his temples, muttering under his breath in Yeti. She caught the word he usually used for Nightwing when he was frustrated.
Come to think of it, that ghost-speak did sound like Dick. If that was true… She dropped onto the first available furniture she found. “So… that’s a fucking thing.”
Tucker shrugged. “It isn’t that big a deal.” /one of us now-right?/ Danny just sighed. Fate really needed to stop fucking with her favorite halfa. “Yes, Tucker, it is a big deal. I know you’re excited for the transition, but not everyone shares that opinion.” At least Danny understood. Sam rubbed her forehead, suddenly remembering the accident… that maybe was kinda sorta her fault. “What if… is it because he’s your liaison? Spending time with us?” “I really, really fucking hope not, but it’s not impossible.” “God that would complicate things with the Justice League.” Sam let herself sink more deeply into the chair. They would be less than pleased if they thought Danny was trying to manipulate the circumstances into something more favorable for himself and detrimental to the liaison they’d ‘graciously’ provided.
Danny just groaned, dropped to a seat on the couch with his head between his knees. He folded his arms around himself. An inhuman and long-suffering groan escaped his throat and core. “I know.”
Tucker shook his head. “Well, it’s not like we did it on purpose.” “They don’t know that.” Danny huffed/growled.
Well, there was only one thing to do, then. “We can’t do anything about it now, and we still need breakfast.” Sam got out of the chair and stomped back to the kitchen.
Tucker followed her. “We’ve still got cereal, and some other stuff.” He rummaged in the cupboards, glanced back toward the living room. “You think Danny’s okay?”
Sam sighed. Danny’s core was always far more sensitive than theirs. He could hear ghosts just showing up about a block away. “God only knows what he’s picking up from them right now. But that trip to Frostbite really did help. I think he’ll be alright as long as this doesn’t blow up in our faces too bad.” Not that she could say it wouldn’t blow up in their faces like every other goddamned thing since they left Amity Park. She pulled down a couple boxes of cereal.
“Fair. I’ll bring him a bowl.”
Time to change the subject. “I was planning on going job hunting today,” Sam sighed. “I’m so tired of being stuck here all day.”
“What kind of job you going to try for?”
“I don’t know. Just… something fun?” she sighed again, “I should probably stay close to home, so I don’t know how many options I’ll find.”
“Try by the gardens and plant shops. You might find a good one, or at least one you can fix.” Wait, what?
“Plant shops? In Crime Alley?”
“Not IN Crime Alley, but there’s a few just outside the borders.” “Huh. Might be worth checking out.” She poured oat milk into her cereal and nodded to Danny where he was still curled up by the wall, no longer growling at least.
Tucker took a bowl to Danny, who sat up, and took it. “Thanks. Ugh.” He shudders. “Anyway, we might be having company soon.”
“Company?”
“Our liaison is probably going to step down. Not sure what to do about it, but...yeah...” “Is he that upset?”
“Yeah.”
“Damn it.” Sam flopped back on the couch, nearly spilling her cereal. Note to self, do not flop when holding a full cereal bowl.
“I know. I can handle that meeting though, if you’ve got other stuff you want to do.” Tucker shook his head, “Nuh-uh. We’re your consorts. I’m pretty sure that means we’re supposed to be support you with this kind of thing.” Thank you Tucker. “Weird word, but yeah, I guess. So I’m gonna eat before I deal with this bullshit.” At least Danny didn’t argue.
---
Jason Todd
Jason took the few minutes alone in the kitchen to catch his breath and calm down. The /green/ had been starting to creep in there and he didn’t think it got strong enough for Jazz or Dick to notice, he wanted to get it under control before it got bad again.
Just… Dick! Dick was supposed to be safe from all this ghost bullshit! And what if it was Jason’s fault? What if he was becoming liminal because of being around Jason and… Fucking breathe, that wasn’t helping anyone.
By the time Dick and Jazz came down stairs, he had his head on mostly straight and a couple of pancakes on the griddle.
He’d made sure to set out marshmallows and whipped cream and chocolate chips so Dick could make his pancakes a sugary monstrosity.
They ate quietly, Jason and Jazz following Dick’s lead and Dick not wanting to say anything he didn’t have to right now. That didn’t stop his ghost speak from flaring every few bites and telling the world he was in a bit of an emotional tailspin. Jason could sympathize. He remembered what it was like before he could any control of his ghost speak and kept telling the Fraid things he didn’t want anyone to know.
Thankfully, Jazz wasn’t projecting. The last thing Jason wanted to do was shut her down right now, and he knew how much good her help would do Dick. But she couldn’t afford it, she’d already hurt herself too much helping all of them…
From what Dick’s ghost speak was saying, Dick was conflicted, his instinct was to put on a show of how normal and okay everything was, but he didn’t want to upset Jazz and Jason again. He wasn’t comfortable with the silence but doesn’t know what to say.
Which Jason could completely sympathize with. He didn’t know what to say either. He tried projecting the kind of /support/ and /here for you/ Jazz usually did, but had no idea how good a job he did of it.
When Dick finished eating he pushed his plate back and just said “Thank you.” “Glad to be here for you. I… I get wanting to make everything seem okay.” Jazz left it there, open for Dick to respond or not.
Dick sighed. “I really will try not to hide how I’m feeling from you.” /really need to talk with Danny-angry-uncomfortable/
“I can call him.”
Dick was /confused/ “Call who?”
“Danny.”
Dick banged his head on the table. “This is going to take some getting used to.” Jason snorted. “Tell me about it.” /here for you/
Jazz winced. “Sorry.”
Still face down on the table, Dick waved his hand. “Not your fault. Yeah, go ahead and call him.” Jazz called Danny’s phone and let him know Dick needed to talk. “He’ll be over in ten minutes. They’re finishing up breakfast.” “That’s fine.” Dick got up and took his dishes to the sink, started cleaning.
Jason was tempted to tell him to sit down, he didn’t need to do cleaning after the shock he’d just had. But he was pretty sure Dick would feel better having something to do.
Jazz glanced at Jason, clearly worried, but didn’t seem to know what to do.
Jason shrugged and started clearing the table. Following Dick’s lead really did seem to be the best option right now.
Once everything was cleared, Jazz wiped down the table with a spare rag.
About ten minutes later there was a knock at the door.
Jason went to get the door, Dick finished the last of the dishes and sat back down at the table. /determined-nervous-angry/
---
Danny Fenton
Danny took a breath as Sam and Tucker followed him back from Jason’s front door to the small kitchen table Dick sat at. Shit, was he okay to bring Sam and Tucker? “I forgot to ask, you want it to just be us or no?”
Dick flashed a smile /amused-angry/ “You’re fine to bring your ‘advisors’, Danny.” “Consorts, but sure.” Danny shrugged and dropped to a seat. “So, what’s up?” Tucker’s static tesla coil sparked to his left and Sam’s spring chill to his right. The halfa, however, kept his own ghost-speak locked under several metric tons of his willpower and core.
Jason pressed a hand over Dick’s shoulder briefly before he took over cleaning the dishes. /everything’ll be okay/
With a deep breath, Dick Grayson, Nightwing, Liaison to the Justice League, spoke, “If I understand right, liminals are considered… part of the infinite realms.”
Fuck. He wasn’t wrong, but none of Danny’s predecessors had dealt with Liminality that he was aware of. Danny nodded.
“I was afraid of that,” Dick’s ghost-speak practically tripped over itself with /sorry-sorry-sorry/ “I’m afraid you are going to need a new liaison.”
/surprise/ slipped from Danny’s core. Apologizing? “It’s not because you’re pissed?” Wait, shit, he was trying not to listen to what Dick was broadcasting. “Sorry. Not trying to pry.”
Dick blinked and rubbed his face. “No Danny. It’s going to take me a while to… be okay with this. But I don’t blame you.
“And most of the anger I feel isn’t about this.” He pursed his lips and looked at Jason. /help-how much to say-angry/ Danny couldn’t blame him, even if he were angry about all this. Hell, the halfa was still angry at his own botched death some days.
/much as you want-safe here/ Danny ducked slightly as Jason’s hand approached, but Jason ruffled his hair anyway. “Even if Dicky was pissed at you, he wouldn’t walk away. Fucker takes duty and responsibility too strongly for that.” /conflict of interest, right?/
Oh. Okay, Danny could work with that, especially since Dick nodded a confirmation.
“That makes sense. And, honestly, is probably for the best.” Danny’s mouth quirked up in a bit of a smirk. “You are attempting to date my ambassador and another member of my Fraid, after all. So, what happens now? I still need contact with the JL.”
Sam snorted. /now he figures it out-space case/
Danny threw her a look, then turned back to his now former liaison and maybe, just maybe, new friend.
“I get to do more paperwork – file a report and put in a request for a new liaison. You can make a request if there’s someone you’d prefer to work with, but I can’t make any promises.”
Sitting straight up, Danny’s eyes went wide. Maybe. It was a possibility. /excited-hopeful-maybe/ “Then my request is Martian Manhunter.”
Tucker laughed. Of course he knew that would be Danny’s request. Jazz also chuckled.
Dick’s eyebrows rose. “You would trust him?”
“More than anyone else that’s an option.”
“Well you’re right to, but a lot of folks don’t.” He rubs his face. “Yeah, I can put in that request.” “My second choice would probably be Wonder Woman. I know she’s likely not an option at all, though.” “Normally, no, but this is important enough that it might be possible.” /tired-angry-regretful/ “Once a new liaison gets assigned, I’ll set up a meeting to introduce you.” He smiled. “I’ll be sorry to turn it over, I’ve enjoyed working with you.” Opportunity acquired. Danny grinned. “I’m gonna enjoy being friends more. If that’s still an option.” Dick grinned back. “It is, absolutely, an option.”