My Graveyard Song Ch. 14
(Totally got distracted and forgot to post this to tumblr. It's been up on ao3 for a few days now)
[Masterpost]
Jason looked at the two empty bowls and one empty plate of food Danny had polished off and promptly decides to take him to Rosa Lee’s Diner. They always serve extra large portions of food that stands up to even Alfred’s high standards.
As he urges Spooky into one of the jackets left by his siblings, he shoots a text off to Cass.
[BCC plz 4 Spooky u wel 2 IOU 1 🏠🍝 ur chc]
By the time Cass gets there, Danny is starting on his third plate. Mind you, she got here in under half an hour and Danny is not in fact a speedster, but at the rate Danny is going, Bruce is certainly going to think someone fed a speedster.
Jason is really not sure where all this food is going. By all rights, his spooky friend should be on the verge of exploding from eating more than his body weight in food.
Even the waitstaff are watching this little meta-looking kid down pounds and pounds of food.
Cass passes Jason an unmarked black credit card and sits next to him in order to better watch Danny scarf down his waffles.
Five minutes later when their waiter swings by, Jason orders a platter of beignets and Danny orders Rosa Lee’s own personal special, a breakfast that comes with four slices of ham, a mountain of cheesy scrambled eggs, two pancakes, four breakfast sausage links, two biscuits, and an apple turnover.
At this point, the waiter doesn’t even blink, just asks if he’d like anything to add or substitute.
He asks for 3 extra pancakes.
By the time he's halfway through his stack of pancakes -the last thing left of his Rosa Lee Special- it dawns on Jason, that maybe Danny shouldn't be eating this much when he hasn't eaten regular human food in a long time.
But then again, what does he know? The world is a great big mysterious place and you cannot treat every humanoid looking being by the limitations of humans.
Danny is watching him now, an openly curious look on his face. There's a question in the air between them, even Cass picks up on it.
Carefully slow, Danny sets down his fork and finishes chewing the bite in his mouth.
"You're worried," he croaks, tapping his index finger on the table to emphasize his words.
He pauses, distracted, and looks down at his hand, repeating the motion of tapping his finger on the table while studying it closely. Jason almost breaks into laughter when Danny’s head tilts in an oddly animal like fashion.
If he needed any other proof that Spooky the dog is Danny the spirit sitting before him, this would do it.
His glowing eyes flick back up to Jason.
"Amused," he rasps out barely above a whisper. There's still that unspoken question in the air.
It finally clicks. The emotions Danny is naming are Jason’s. The question he wants to know is 'why'.
"I wasn't sure if you could get sick from overeating. Humans need to ease back into eating normal amounts but you're not human so I don't know what standard to hold you to."
Danny nods absently, his finger tap tap tapping away on the table.
"Hard to say," he says finally. His voice still sounds like gravel, not unlike Cass' own voice.
"Ecto fills in gaps. A temporary fix. Rebuilding with the right stuff now." He gestures vaguely to the empty plates stacked on their table. "Ecto is fast. I'm probably fine."
"Sorry," Jason half mumbles. "I just worry."
All movement from Danny freezes, like someone pressed pause on the TV. His eyes go wide in realization and alarm.
"Jazz..."
Jason blinks and then it hits him with the speed and force of a freight train.
"Oh shit! Jazz!" He scrambles for his phone. "Do you remember anything else about her that might help?!"
~•~
Bill would like everyone to know that he works very hard to be a good hench person.
He's not dumb. Now he may not be book smart like half the big baddies in Gotham, but he's not dumb.
He would have died long ago if that were the case. He's worked for the Red Hood for a couple years now —it's one of the best decisions he's ever made; the guy knows how to treat his hench people. What more can Bill say?— and he's avoided asking questions just like with all his hench jobs before this.
But he'd really like to ask one now that he's stuck watching years worth of security footage...
What even constitutes suspicious activity in a cemetery?
Now most people would automatically say, graverobbing, but Big Red is a Gotham native. In Gotham, no one is buried with their valuables, not unless your grave is in a super secret spot. Gothamites can smell money and anytime there's a possibility of it, people will dig up the grave in question.
Hell, the cops don't even stop for it anymore, they just keep on rollin' even if it's happening right before their eyes.
Point is, graverobbing can't be the suspicious behavior he's supposed to look for, but Bill really isn't sure what exactly does quantify as suspicious behavior to Big Red.
Everything here has been run of the mill, graverobbing, teen/young adult vandalism, or drug deals.
Yes, he considers goth teens/young adults having sex in a cemetery as vandalism too. Vandalism on his eyes, if nothing else.
He hits pause on a big white van and rubs his eyes tiredly. Perhaps it's time to call it a night. He's losing focus, getting caught up in his own thoughts.
His hand hovers over the mouse about to drag it over to close out of the program when his brain catches up to what his eyes are seeing.
The van, big, white, armored...
Now that IS unusual. Black or gray vans are the favored colors in Gotham and anyone, who knows anything about Gotham, knows that you NEVER armor up a suspicious color and type of vehicle. Not if you don't want the cops and vigilantes breaking down your door.
He can just make out two people in bright colors inside the van. They're grainy but not grainy enough for Bill to doubt the color of their outfits.
It's too bright for any regular gothamite. The only people in this city who dress like that are the big shot villains and their cronies.
The two disappear into the cemetery, out of sight of the camera with tools in hand. He scans forward a few hours (less time than he expected honestly) and slows back to normal speed just in time to watch them unload what seems to be some sort of coffin, except it's metal with glowing lines and patterns on it.
He pauses the video again and with elbows resting upon the desk he presses clasped hands against his mouth to muffle his sigh.
Well, if that doesn't constitute suspicious activity then Bill will hand in a letter of resignation and go flip burgers.
Well...time to let the boss know.
Yall thought I made up the part where Bill the Henchman comes in, but I definitely, absolutely had this planned from the beginning. [Lying]
Okay, gonna be honest, I may have had a plan for Bill, but it either was lost in the shuffle or there never actually was a plan for scenes with Bill. Considering I can only sometimes keep my dream memories from mixing with my awake memories, any hope of recovering any potential memories is nigh on impossible.
HOWEVER
I can always make new plans. AND I HAVE! So yes, we have Bill now and I'm going to pretend like this was planned all along.
Oh yeah! So Jason’s text at the beginning says: Black credit card please, for Spooky. You are welcome too. I owe you one homemade meal, your choice.
Also can you imagine being a vigilante? Bc you have at least 10 very important things you have to juggle on just an average Tuesday. This is not including sudden family disasters like a family member getting trapped in a burning building and having to go save them, plus more wild revelations about your funky supernatural roomie. So like, cut a guy some slack, I know I'd be floundering some days. Attempting to prioritize must really be a bitch some days. Just...oof...
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