November 13

When Wally invited them to come over to hang out before their sessions with Canary, neither boy expected it to be so...

Boring

Sitting awkwardly around the coffee table sat 7 teens and their respective furballs. Selina made them come along, wanting to help along Cicci and Shminky's socialization with sheer chaos Shiro and Nanaki brought along. Poor Cheddy was just the tiebreaker between social ineptness and the lack of functioning braincells when left unchecked.

Though it gave them a few good laughs at first, it didn't help the more human side of the socializing. All they had been doing the past hour or so was just watch whatever show was playing. With their drinks in hand and snacks on the table, it was just them and the awkward glances between each other as nobody really paid attention to the show.

Or was it a movie? Honestly hard to tell at this point.

Just as hard as it was to ignore the blatant glances at the youngest two in the room. Even Zatanna tried to block them from whatever looks she could body as she shifted around every so often. It didn't help at all, given they were on the center couch in the U formation, but it was the thought that counted.

Thoughts that were, unfortunately so, kept to themselves as the main source of the current awkwardness was the continued lack of direction regarding the two Batlings. Robin had finally informed Phantom he had the last say in staying or not, but that did fuckall to make the choice any easier.

It had its ups and downs, both options.

The only thing they knew for certain was to not ask Frostbite anything about it. Undoubtably the yeti would boast about how great of an opportunity it would be to practice being in charge during uncomfortable tensions with the people. "Good practice makes for good leaders," he'd say while nearly knocking them over with his excitement at the presented chance to learn. All of which made Phantom even more uncomfortable as preparing to take the throne was the last thing on his mind when his body was still littered with proof of his failures.

The only good thing that had come of it was Robin's healing being protected under Clockwork's watch. The mere thought of somebody coming after either of them, but especially the fully living members of the family, made Phantom's stomach summersault into oblivion. A worry that was only slowly ebbing to the back of his mind as Robin's leg was almost back to full health. A few more Manor weeks and he should be back to normal.

But when was normalcy anything but an illusion

Phantom's ghost sense came out of nowhere. Breath forcing its way through his throat as he failed to drink his soda. Cujo jumped to guard his boys, eyes bleeding red but not yet growing in size as the unknown lurked around. The team jumped to defensive positions as well, their only sign of trouble being Cujo's sudden alertness as Phantom hacked out the carbonated evil from his lungs.

Trying to regain his breath, the young ghost glared at his surroundings as his breath remained an ever visible whisp of pale blue. "What the fuck?!" His voice broke as the last remains of soda left his lungs. "Are you trying to kill me a second time?!" He bit out sharply, glass nearly chipping on the table as he set it down. His anger only serving to stress the other heroes out even more.

Robin tried his best to flank his brother, eyes narrowing as he tried to feel for that almost inexplainable vibe he got when he tried to find an invisible Phantom. Zatanna joined on the other side, spells at the tip of her tongue ready to protect the idiots forgetting they're both still injured. Conner drifted closer as well, following Wolf's gaze as neither knew what to even look out for.

That was until a singular floating box and an all too familiar voice elicited an annoyed groan from Phantom. "I AM THE BOAX GHOAST!" The voice cried out, unfamiliar accent painting a wild image in unsuspecting minds. "BEWARE!" It cried out again as Phantom's shoulders fell, sunglasses shifting just enough so he could pinch the bridge of his nose without exposing his features.

Flopping back onto the couch, Phantom reached for his abandoned glass again. "Nevermind," he sighed deeply, breath still swirling midair as he aged a century in just those few seconds. "Let's try that again, shall we?" Bringing the glass back to his mouth, his plan was thwarted when Robin stole it from him.

Pouting as he leaned back into the cushions, Phantom didn't even twitch when the overweight man in overalls finally showed himself to the young heroes. The sudden appearance of the intruder put the group of heroes on edge. All except Phantom who ignored his surroundings and Robin who only mildly eased up at his brother's dismissal of the proclaimed box ghost.

Glowing a dim, darkened blue, the newcomer looked over his not quite captive audience. Menacingly. "Beware, young brightly colored children!" His grin stretched for as far as his chubby cheeks would allow. "For I am the master of all cubical containers! My powers are far more matured than what mere children could ever wish to comprehend!" He boasted as navy energy pooled in his hand, shaping into little square boxes that danced around his personal space.

Artemis pulled her arrow taut, ready to fire at Kaldur's signal as they watched the man rant on. Their one guarantee against ghost attacks remained seated and uninterested where they stood to fight. So much for Phantom dealing with paranormal situations. Though, should they wager a guess, his exact lack of interest made this seem a lot more 'normal' than 'para' but guesses were useless when the man had yet to run out of material to keep speaking down on them.

"Simple children such as yourself should fear the greatness standing before you!" With his shoulders squared, the box controlling ghost levitated all kinds of containers in the room. Spotting M'gann's hot lunch container in the cupboards, his prideful glee soured by a pinch. Pulling it towards him, he held out the offending item as he glared at the group below. "HOW DARE YOU TRY TO SNEAK THIS CILINDRICAL CONTRAPTION INTO MY PRESENCE?!"

"You grabbed that yourself?" M'gann confusedly looked on, Phantom's deep sigh breaking through the monologue for just a moment.

"SILENCE CHILD! YOU SHALL NOT CONTAIN ME IN YOUR ROTUND PRISON OF DOOOOOM!" Though he could have sounded intimidating at first, the overly expressive wiggling fingers at the mention of doom killed that illusion rather quickly. Perhaps Phantom was right in not paying attention to him. But for that it was far too late unfortunately. "Not even this new sleek design will be enough to contain the great Boax Ghoast for my greatness cannot be-! Why aren't you trying to capture me?"

The intense shift in demeanor threw the young heroes off guard. The switch from mid-monologue evil villain gestures to slumped shoulders and a pout decades too childish for the grown man startling Artemis enough she almost shot her arrow on accident. Kaldur and M'gann jumped slightly as well, the tension in their muscles releasing involuntarily as the energy in the air slammed into them. The softly growing thickness dissipating so fast it was almost like Wally had vacuumed the air out.

The only ones least affected by the sudden shift being those who were actually paying attention to the only other ghosts in the room. Considering Cujo had laid back down somewhere during the whole interaction should have said enough.

Robin had already moved his hands away from anything easily thrown, simply keeping an eye on the newcomer out of interest on the undoubtably interesting history. So far every ghost he had met had some funny stories from Phantom's life before coming back. Who knew what could have happened to get such odd reactions out of both of them, so could you really blame him for watching it go down with a front row seat?

Watching on with a barely hidden smirk, Robin and the others eyed Box Ghost as he floated over to the very disinterested boy still pouting on the couch. Leaning over, Box ghost floated nearly upside down as he blocked Phantom's view of the tv. After a few too many adjustments that got blocked anyway, Phantom finally chose to acknowledge the man. "Do you mind? I'm trying to watch this worm...boy...thing. Hey, what movie was this?"

"Elio." Artemis answered offhandedly as she stared incredulously between the two undead.

Phantom hummed, shifting once more to not be staring at Box Ghost's inverted face. "Move, I'm trying to watch Elio." Not pleased by the dismissal, Box Ghost flung a container straight at Phantom's head. Not too hard for anybody to intervene but enough to make Phantom yelp out in surprise. "Wha-dude, that's plastic."

Feeling like he finally succeeded in getting the upper hand, Box Ghost smiled wildly. "It has been nearly two years since we first met! I have gained power and become strong enough to command the artificial substance of non-cardboard qualities!" Boxy Ghost proudly announced, displaying said new power by what could only be described as playing dolls with the food containers he levitated over from the cupboards.

"Oh, cool. Good for you." Phantom replied tone as monotone as his blank stare, serving to upset the poor ghost even more.

"Why aren't you fearing me, child?!"

"Oh, I am." Phantom sighed, fingers finding their way to the bridge of his nose once more as they switched from rubbing circles into his temple. "For my sanity." He muttered in addition, much to the amusement of a certain magi and birdboy duo.

Having found his way in, Box Ghost puffed his chest out once more. Standing as tall as he was rotund, he floated upright again. "Well then, fear not! For I have not come to cause harm!" Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to finish the rest of his impending monologue as Phantom once again interrupted.

"My therapist will beg the differ."

Puffed out cheeks and fists clenched, Box Ghost had had enough. "WELL THEN LET THEM BEG!" Turning away from the infuriating boy, he looked at Robin. "Lord kin, since your other half is being A STINKY MEANIE, may I request your assistance instead?"

"Say no."

"SILENCE AND WATCH YOUR STRANGE WORM BOY!" Throwing over another box, Boxy Ghost didn't even flinch when Phantom caught it this time. Straitening back out when Phantom started munching on the cookies flung at his head, Box Ghost turned back to Robin. "As I was saying before being so RUDELY INTERUPTED," Box Ghost shot a glare over his shoulder, "I would like to request some help."

Suddenly feeling the eyes of the entire room on him, Robin looked around at his teammates looking just as confused as him. "I can try?" He shrugged before immediately being whisked away to the kitchen.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Phantom muttered between mouthfuls, now being the one ignored.

Pulling the attention towards him, Box Ghost excitedly hovered just a few inches away from Robin. "I require assistance finding the perfect cubed storage delights for my darling. I want to give her the best of the best when I ask for her hand." With nearly literal hearts in his eyes, Box Ghost curled in on himself at the thought of proposing.

"Hold up!" Phantom called over, "You're proposing? To who-no." Shock adorned his face as memories he tried to push away resurfaced. With genuine surprise coloring his features, Phantom gaped at Box Ghost. "Lunch Lady?!"

"I SAW HER FIRST!" Box Ghost cried out, shoulders tensed and ready to fight for the honor of his dearest.

Phantom on the other hand instantly lost all newly gained energy. "Dude," he sighed deeply, "she tried to kill half the student body with lunch meat when I couldn't even fly properly yet. You can have her."

"Didn't she look stunning in her suit of fleshy sustenance." Box Ghost swooned, hands squishing his cheeks as he blushed at merely the thought of Lunch Lady's excellence. The gesture looking equally adorable as disturbing given the situation mentioned. All too soon his lovey dovey exterior changed to glare at Phantom once more. "Didn't you have a worm boy that was more important than my query for containers befitting my dearest?"

Coughing awkwardly, Robin tried to avoid another squabble from breaking out. "Well, if you want my help, I'm going to need more information on her and what you are looking for."

At the proposal to monologue once more, and about boxes and his dearest no less, Box Ghost set off on another tirade. Grand gestures nearly knocking down an array of supplies as his special awareness dwindled the more his excitement rose. The attention of his captured audience fueling said excitement even more as not just Robin was trying to brainstorm for the man.

"We should probably cross reference everything with Techie's files." Phantom called over, somehow having included himself in the disaster of an operation anyway. "Grandpa knows a lot about this stuff and he could check if anything is on the 'ect-no' list."

"The what now list?"

"Stuff that doesn't like ghost energy." Robin answered as he scanned over the big no-no's. "Why the hell is Teflon on here?"

With a helpless shrug, Phantom munched away at the cookies.

"What about a split compartment box? That way she can have multiple stuff in there all organized." M'gann suggested, already pulling up pictures on her phone to show the now thoroughly overwhelmed man.

"What about temperature resistant containers? Or ones that are fully sealed?" Aqualad supplied as well, experience with thermal vents and the wrong lunchbox still haunting him to this day.

"I could have a look at the motion resistant tech in the organ transport and see if I could reverse engineer it." Even Wally offered his assistance, all too caught up with the distraction that had everybody working together as an actual team.

"Aaahhhh," Box Ghost helplessly looked over to Phantom, nervous sweat pooling at his hairline. "Big words mean what?"

"Box shakey shakey, food no shakey. He try to make for her." The glazed over look leaving Box Ghost's eyes was enough sign he understood this time. "Hey, actually, would that work for liquids too? Can't give them a double-walled insulated flask of any kind or, well, nothing pretty."

Wally blinked at Phantom, gears in his brain working overtime with all the random topics going on around them. "Why would they not want a thermo-"

"YOU WILL NOT BRING ANY KIND OF CAPTURING DEVICE NEAR MY DARLING OR YE SHALL FEEL THE WRATH OF MY SQUARED VENGEANCE!"

Jabbing a thumb at Box Ghost, Phantom blankly stared at the speedster. "That's why. Old tech I used that was in the shape of a soup thermos. This guy right here had VIP access to it almost every week."

"It was not enjoyable. Very small and cramped, especially when Skulker was there too." Box Ghost pouted, a small shiver running down his spine as he held himself close.

The apparent trauma earning Phantom a few dirty looks. Not that he cared. "Pocket dimension. It's bigger than you think. He's just pouting because he could never take a box in there with him." It was oddly pleasant thinking back on the times he got souped on accident. Like an unexpected we'll laugh about this someday moment.

"Is not fair." Box Ghost pouted, "You let Skulker bring his mech, what's a simple box compared to that."

"Man the last time you nabbed a box that I could soup along with you, nana Panda lost it on you."

"Nana Panda..." Robin mused outloud, realization hitting hard as he looked at the pair incredulously. "Did he steal THE Pandora's box?!"

"And unleashed it's evil upon the town, yeah." Phantom nodded, fishing for another cookie like he was just telling a mundane story. "Nana Panda made him clean up her courtyard and labyrinth all on his own."

"I regret nothing! I was feared! I even got a bounty from it!" Box Ghost puffed out his chest, flexing his barely existent muscles as he went on and on. "The Realms will know who to fear soon enough!"

"Fear who, exactly?"

Tensing at the new arrival, 8 sets of vaguely human eyes and another 7 sets of animal eyes zeroed in at Black Canary's sudden appearance.

Fingers twirling around the loose locks at his nape, Phantom looked between the two. "Black Canary, this is Box Ghost, a..ah...he's chill." Canary's raised brow did nothing to quell the stress he was feeling over this whole situation. Of course it only dawned on him now how utterly insane they all looked. "Boxy," Phantom cleared his throat," the therapist."

Box Ghost awkwardly rubbed his hands together, curling back in on himself as he gave the blonde a small wave. "Pleasure to meet you?"

The silent stare and singular raised brow did nothing to make it seem likewise. Though the poor teens knew what her arrival actually meant. Their distraction time was over, without any progress made no less.

"Well, it was certainly something meeting you, Box Ghost." Kaldur started off ever so diplomatic. "But I'm afraid we will have to cut our...ah...planning short."

Eyes falling to the floor, Box Ghost shuffled his feet. "But you guys promised to help. I can't go ask empty handed." Looking up at Wally, he tried to bat his eyelashes. It only made him look more unsettling than a translucent, floating, blue skinned man already did. "I'm sure she'd love the no-shakey shakey box."

"I'll look into it for you, dude." Wally promised, trying to find help between the others. "But, ah, it's gonna take some time."

Sighing at Boxy's unrelenting pleas, Phantom swung an arm over the man's shoulders. "Tell ya what." He started, box of cookies finally abandoned as he shoved one into the ghost's overalls. "You go home and prepare on your end. Meanwhile we'll work on ours and get you the best of the best."

"But how will I know you're keeping your promise and won't just disappear again."

Phantom reeled back a little, the utter pitifulness in Boxy's voice hitting hard as he hadn't quite thought about what his little trip in Belle Rêve did to others. Sure, it probably wasn't the most fun thing in the world that the portal was shut down for them, but he hadn't thought they'd actually miss him.

Though it would be a lie to say he didn't miss them at times.

Still, there was about a year and a half of missed time to make up for now. "How about," he started slowly, "you come visit around Christmas again? Ghost Writer can help make sure you're on time."

"But you hate Chrissiemas."

Phantom cringed, the never ending debate popping in as well from his cove of not-quite forgotten memories. Clearly his distain for certain holidays was more known than he thought. "That doesn't matter. I'll make an exception for you. We all will." Looking around the group with pleading eyes, though hidden behind shades, the team nodded along.

After a moment of thinking it over, Box Ghost sniffled a little as he looked to Phantom. "How?"

Blanking at the question, he had completely forgotten what he was even on about earlier. "Well, you like boxes, right?" Robin interjected, saving Phantom from a blunder in front of everybody. "Christmas is the big boxes day! If you wait until then, I'm sure we can save all our boxes for you."

"Right!" Phantom added, stepping aboard his runaway train of thought. "Between all of us, you'd have so many you wouldn't even know what to do with them!" Still not looking fully convinced, Phantom tried to sweeten the deal. "Come on, when have I ever lied to you?"

Box Ghost chose to remain silent for once, his blank look already betraying the answer.

"Yeah, actually, don't answer that. Those were exceptions."

"If you can't trust him, then trust me." Robin stepped forward, hand reached out and waiting for Boxy's reply. "As lord kin, you have my word we'll keep all our boxes and the special containers." Robin cringed through addressing himself as something so...foreign as what all the ghosts had been calling him. It felt...odd. A neutral odd as he didn't quite know how to feel about it.

Taking a moment to eye the offered hand, Boxy hesitantly grabbed it and gave the boy a squeeze back.

"BEWARE!" He exclaimed suddenly as he floated towards the ceiling, only mildly apologecic once he saw Phantom and Conner clutch their ears. "For I, the Boax Ghoast, shall return! Goodbye." He added with a content little wave as he left through the ceiling.

Silence returned to the group as the realization slowly dawned that Canary was still watching them all. Somehow all forgetting her arrival being what set off their closing deal in the first place.

All except a little magi who had kept her silence for most of the commotion. "So," she smirked as she popped some popcorn into her mouth. "Whose going in first?" Smiling at the group, one by one they relented and decided on an order to start their sessions. Hearts a little lighter than before, but stomachs sunken in deeper as it once again proved neither boy really needed the team so long as they had each other.