November 17th-20th

Discomfort was not something Phantom and Robin were unaccustomed to. Actually, they'd be oddly used to it by now, given how their lives have gone so far. From stepping into spilled syrup with socks to Ember forcing Phantom to play the guitar for the entire concert while not knowing a lick of music. Robin's first year at snotty Gotham Elementary to Phantom nearly phasing through his clothes while stressing about a presentation. Even dealing with old ladies who should be on some sort of watchlist at a gala to daily therapy sessions with Penelope Specra.

Every single one of those felt more enjoyable and more preferable to being cornered by the team who were expectantly waiting for an answer neither boy had.

Really, why they even thought cornering the two during a social visit with Nanaki, Shiro and Cheddy about potentially getting promoted again to co-leads was beyond them.

Cheddy had their collective braincell and he thought it was a tasty treat. Just something to chew on, spit back out, and chew on once more. Not much thinking was going to happen, let alone to something that required quite some mulling over.

"Well?" M'gann asked innocently, hands clasped together to hide her nervously fiddling.

They were quite literally cornered as they'd been making a little snack in the kitchen when the rest of the team showed up. Some clearly less happy to be there than others, but water under the bridge. Though, considering they didn't know about jack shit, Batman didn't know about this stunt either. And if they didn't tell Batman of their plans, well, let's say it wouldn't be the first time they did some things on their own behind the League's back.

Looking at each other, the pair of boys tried to think of a way to escape without being so blatant about it. It may have looked genuinely well intentioned, but it felt more like a hostage situation than a promotional offer.

For the first time in ages, Phantom was actually happy when his ghost sense went off, cutting off whatever sorry excuse he was going to ramble through. The team had already come to know what that meant as well. Given the polarity of their previous visitors, defenses flew up as soon as Phantom's breath puffed out of his mouth. The unmistaken flavor of gas, leather and vanilla coating the inside of his throat as he looked around for his unlikely knight in leather bound armor.

"Johnny." Phantom sighed deeply, earning himself some looks. Though grateful for the rescue, he knew there was chaos wherever the biker went. What was even more worrisome was the lack of the vanilla he had forced out of his throat.

"Whatup, man!" The aforementioned biker greeted happily as he came to a screeching stop, engine turning off as he swung his leg over to face Phantom. "Been too long, hasn't it!"

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Phantom already regretted cheering for the man's arrival. "How many traffic accidents did you cause getting here?" Stopping in his tracks, Johnny's eyes blew wide for just a second before he tried to compose himself.

Under the pressure of multiple sets of eyes suddenly on him, Johnny whistled in innocence. "Who, me?" With a puff of air and a way too casual wave, Johnny did his best to look offended at the thought. "Not a single one!"

Phantom raised an eyebrow, unimpressed as he lazily looked over Johnny's messy appearance, well, more messy than usual. "Are you sure about that?"

"Pfffffffffffffffffffft," Johnny waved him off, hand on his waist as he tried to innocently make it through the conversation. "Like you have any proof." Not even looking at where he was typing, Phantom held the glare he sent the biker's way as his fingers flew over the keyboard he summoned.

Johnny's eyes went wide when Phantom pulled up security video from all over Happy Harbor without even needing to look at the screen he was vigorously typing on. His deadpanned glare focused solely on the ghost before him.

Working up a sweat as screen after screen of less than stellar driving popped up, murmurs filled up the silence between the two ghosts. After the 6th video, Johnny finally cracked and tried to wave away the holograms. "Okay! Okay! I get it, there were a few! No need to rat me out to your new friends." Shadow curled up around Johnny's arm, silently snickering at the other as he tried to plead with the younger ghost. "I'll go say sorry later, swearsies."

Holding out his pinkie, Robin bit back a laugh at how utterly serious this rugged biker ghost was about a pinkie promise. Only to get one thrusted his way as well, though less forcefully as his brother.

Still holding the glare, Johnny desperately waved his hand in Phantom's face to get the boy to take the deal. With a long dragged out sigh, Phantom finally hooked his pinkie around Johnny's.

Only to immediately be dragged into a crushing hug. Phantom's back cracking in a less than comfortable sounding way. Enough for Robin forgo the usual request for his turn, rather stepping a few inches back before Johnny could pull him in too.

Forcing his way out, Phantom re-cracked his back to put his misaligned spine back in its place. "What-" he forcefully twisted his shoulders the opposite way, nearly turning a full 180 compared to his feet, "are you doing here, Johnny?"

"What, can't an old friend come to say hello?"

Phantom paused his stretching, still twisted like a twizzler and looking anything but impressed at the lame excuse. "You? Never. Now spill."

"Well-"

"JOHNNYYY!"

As if his question answered itself, a very ticked off Kitty finally made her appearance. Slinking back to his bike, Johnny tried to hide behind Conner as his angry girlfriend approached. "There you are you rat faced, piss bucked colored, limp dicked-"

"I'm sorry?" Robin had to do a double take as the string of insults continued on.

"-lint licking, Temu rip-off, Goodwill rejection pile,-"

"Isn't that a little-" M'gann tried to interrupt but was wholly ignored.

"-good for nothing piece of scrap metal junk-"

"HEY!" Johnny interrupted for once, peaking out from behind Conner's shoulder to point an angry finger at Kitty. "I worked hard on her!"

"Not the bike you daft piece of rank cheese!" Kitty's fists shook as she got right up to Conner's shoulder, the poor clone just standing still as a wall between the arguing couple. "You! You flaccid whor-"

"Oooookay, that's enough, Kitty." Phantom got in between, saving Conner's chest from potentially getting mauled if it got any dicey-er. "I do not need to hear that much about...all that." A shudder ran down Phantom's spine as he shot Johnny a perturbed look. "What did he do this time?"

Kitty tried to calm herself, for the sake of the boy floating in front of her and blocking the view of the aforementioned piss-bucket colored man. "He cheated!"

"Again?"

That was apparently the wrong thing to say as it sent Kitty clawing for Johnny once more. Jumping in to help pull her back, it took Phantom, Robin and Zatanna's combined strength to get Kitty out of scratching distance.

"Come on, babe. You know it meant nothing." Johhny tried in vain as all he did was piss off Kitty even more.

"Nothing?!" She screeched as she tried to lunge for him. "Trying to get it on with one of my best friends is not nothing!"

"It is when nothing came from it?" Helplessly Johnny peeked out from Conner's shoulder, beyond thankful the teen hadn't just stepped to the side yet. "Aint nun wrong with aiming a little older-"

"Wait." Phantom's brain nearly blue screened at all the information thrown around. Older, one of Kitty's friends, the colorful insults. "Fucking Spectra?!" Phantom joined Kitty in her outrage. "You tried, out of all people, you, huh??" Loosening his grip on Kitty, the girl took her chance to lunge forward, dragging Robin and Zatanna with her until they found their footing again.

"Help a brother out, man." Johnny pleaded as he ducked to Conner's other shoulder. "Come on big dawg. I taught you to ride, that has to count for something?"

Phantom's face contorted in confusion and disgust as he still tried to wrap his brain around everything. Face scrunched up, Phantom tried to look for the audacity Johnny somehow picked up. "You literally possessed my sister with your not-currently-girlfriend's jacket."

"That was one time."

"And nearly got me arrested because every damn thing you taught me was against the law!"

"Was it?" Johnny nervously smiled as he looked between the tense but unimpressed heroes. Something telling that little voice in his head it wasn't an idea to take them out for a joyride later. "H-hey, lil dawg." Johnny called out to Robin as he struggled to keep his grip on Kitty. "Put in a good word for me, will ya?"

"Man," Robin grunted, thanking his lucky stars Kitty hasn't tried going intangible yet. "This is literally the first time we met, I'm not doing shit if this is what I get dragged into." As if to prove his point, Kitty gained a step forward, literally dragging Robin and Zatanna with her.

"Tell me why," Phantom grit through his teeth as he tried to reign in Kitty again, "you thought coming to me for help was a good idea?"

"Because you like me?"

"Debatable."

"You, uh," Johnny looked around, trying to find an excuse, "You're good with these things?"

Phantom actually nearly let go again just to stare blankly at the biker. "Dude I'm 13 with all of half a relationship to speak of. The fuck kind of advice can I give you?"

"See," Kitty sneered, "Good for nothing, rat faced-"

"Kitty."

"Draggin poor little babycakes into your mistakes." Kitty course corrected after the warning, still disappointed in Johnny's lack of a backbone.

Before she could go on another tangent, Phantom pulled her back with all his might. "How about we take a breather? Yeah?" He looked around the room, hoping the team understood the dilemma he was in. "M'gann, Artemis, please explain to the idiot what he did wrong. Con, Kal, Wally, please keep him here. Shadow isn't an issue, he's Johnny's bad luck charm but doesn't affect others." Not waiting for an answer beyond a glance passed between the older set of teens, Phantom floated up to face Kitty properly. "How about we go somewhere nicer than here?"

Letting herself be pulled along, Kitty sent another glare over her shoulder before following wherever Phantom was taking her. Going down a hall or two, they finally made it to the bedrooms. Pulling Kitty into Phantom's never-used room, they sat her down on the bed as the three heroes spread out around the door.

"So," Phantom started, "why are you two really here?"

Kitty blinked, leg swinging over her knee as she got comfortable. "I told you, he cheated and made that your issue."

"Uhuh." Phantom hummed unimpressed, arms crossed over his chest. "because that's definitely a new occurrence enough to cause such a scene out there. You never even tried to phase out of our grip or use your kiss on him. Not to mention I sensed you both arriving at the same time but you waited a lot longer to come out than he did." Pushing himself off the door, Phantom wandered closer. Not quite intimidating, but definitely raising the heat. "So, I'll ask again. Why are you really here."

Kitty looked away, pouting as she did. "Damn, I forgot how smart you are, babycakes." Throwing up her hands in surrender, she shifted into a more casual position. "Fine, you caught us. We just wanted to come say hi but Boxy and Skulky told everybody about your new attachments so we wanted to have some fun."

"And why, ancients tell, did you want to do that?"

"I dunno," Kitty shrugged, feet dangling as she looked around the barren room. "You're the one who sent out the open invitation."

"I-what?"

Kitty blinked, confused at Phantom's confusion. Sitting up a bit straighter, her eyes narrowed as she took in the sight of the future king. "That speech a few weeks ago?" At Phantom's exasperated nod she continued. "Well, you kinda publicly announced your return with that, you know? We all thought that meant we were welcome to come visit again."

Phantom's shoulder's sagged as he dragged a hand over his face. "Of course I did."

Robin wandered closer, a sympathetic hand rubbing circles on Phantom's shoulder blade as he wallowed in his own misery. "So Box Ghost and Skulker showing up...?"

"Boxy I don't know, he refused to explain what happened when he was here beyond getting help." Kitty shrugged, still perplexed at the man's whole shtick herself. "But Skulker definitely came looking for a spar. He did offer to help train you back to health when you first came back." Smiling up at Robin, she added teasingly, "Everybody's excited to meet our new lord kin. It's not every say a secret second version of our favorite child spawns out of nowhere."

"And here I was thinking you were keeping all the fun ones hidden for yourself." Zatanna smiled, walking over to sit next to Kitty on the bed. "Please say you have some funny stories? He never wants to tell us any stories about you guys."

"Tanna!"

"Oh sweet cheeks, I got plenty."

"Kittyyyyyy." Phantom pleaded for the pair to shut up, cheeks burning as he knew Kitty would try to drag up whatever embarrassing dirt she had on him. Apparently chatter in the Realms was quite lively if they all knew about Boxy and Skulker coming over. He did not want to risk finding out what else she knew about with Zatanna and Robin in the room. "Can't you just, I dunno, tell the others to give me a few? Or to at least ask to come over instead of crashing in. I got other stuff to focus on at the moment, I don't have time for catching up under gunfire or a pile of Lunchables."

Kitty blinked up at him, concern coloring her expression as she walked over. Shock adorned her features as she felt just how boney his shoulder still was. Following his arms down, she didn't need to look too closely to see the illuminated scars still marking his skin where his hoodie had kept them hidden. Cupping his face, she softly made him look up at her. "Babycakes, you're in no shape to be back yet. At least not fully."

Phantom looked away, eyes cast downward as he felt Kitty lift up his sunglasses to show the deep dark circles he had kept hidden the whole time. "I didn't mean to. I'm not ready, I just-" he breathed hard, "We were in over our heads, I had no choice. I didn't know it would set all of this off too."

Pulling Phantom closer, Kitty brushed her fingers through his hair as she hummed one of Ember's songs to calm down the stressed ghost in her arms. Waving the other two closer as well, they all curled around Phantom as they felt the tenseness in his muscles ebb away.

"I'll go talk to the others, okay?" Phantom nodded softly, head still hidden in her arms as she kept her hand moving through his hair. "Who's the one looking after you?"

"Frostbite, but he only comes around every week or so." Robin answered, feeling his brother's arm sneak into his hoodie pouch just to pull him closer to the cuddle circle.

"He did say ghostly training had to wait a bit until the scarring was fully gone." Zatanna added onto it, thankful she was kept in the loop of everything. Clearly the two geniuses couldn't think of everything when they were involved in whatever mess they got themselves into again.

Kitty nodded, mentally shelving the information as she leaned back. Lifting Phantom's head up just enough so she could gauge his reaction. "We'll go discuss with Lord Frostbite when best to come visit, okay? But you have to learn to speak up for yourself when things are too much. Don't wait until the third time when something happens." Phantom nodded, eyes still averted as he failed to place how he felt.

On one hand, he felt somewhat mortified to be...he didn't even know what this was. It reminded him so much of how Jazz tried to do her best to be there for him, even when he tried to shut her out at first. It felt...nice, being looked after.

On the other hand, he hated how vulnerable he still was. Even with all the meds Frostbite gave him, his healing went too slow for his own liking. How he had to admit he wasn't ready for simple ghost sprawls like before, especially given how easy they used to be. That sense of helplessness ate him alive.

But then again, he wasn't in this alone.

The ghosts were willing to work with his healing journey. Compassion far further than he thought they'd be willing to provide.

His brother and Zatanna were still by his side too, quite literally as he could feel their body heat bleeding through the fabric of his clothes. But it wasn't just them anymore. Batman and Catwoman were but a dial away from being right by his side as well, and the team seemed to be more open to friendly interactions at the very least.

But it didn't make everything any less overwhelming to deal with. Not when he knew that the moment Kitty and Johnny left, the team would go back to waiting for an answer neither Batling had. Finally daring to look back up, Phantom chose to listen to Kitty's advice. "Actually, while you're here, could you help with something?"

And that was how the three Stooges, along with Kitty, Johnny and Shadow managed to create enough of a chaotic diversion to get the two boys out of Mount Justice before the team even noticed what was going on. Not like they could do much as Johnny went all in on the secretly planned bike race. He had his skills as a teacher to prove after all, and poor Robin got dragged along to make the driver-passenger ratio even.

Of course, their avoidance could only last so long.

Their glorious exit had bought them a few days. Thinking hard about it and discussing between the two of them, they didn't even dare ask either of their parental figures for their advice. Nothing they could offer wasn't already calculated for. Of course, James just had to bud in. The ghost had gotten quite comfortable in the Manor, and as Alfred's friend, equally comfortable parting with some old people wisdom from time to time.

But it was exactly that old people wisdom that made them stand firm in their choice.

While the team thankfully didn't try to message them about it, there was no escaping the next time they had to be in the same room together. Mandatory training just a few days later put their whole escape plan down the drain as they were forced to finally give an answer under Canary's watchful eye. Their attempts at sneaking off right after training failing as a few too many eyes were on them the entire session.

"No."

"What?" Canary blinked as she looked over the two Batlings. Even she had thought they'd accept the offer. Not just because Robin used to be co, but Phantom's interdimensional status made being a co-leader a downgrade if anything.

"No." Robin repeated. Neither resignation nor elation was to be found in his tone. Just a flat, unexpressive no. No option for discussion either, though he knew they wanted to.

"Why would we take on a position that already caused so much trouble in the past?" Phantom had no such reservations, though his tone was steady, the displeasure still leaked out. "How can we be sure you would actually listen if we say something you don't agree with? Something to hold against us on a whim, to be taken away if we don't act like you wanted us to."

Phantom's words cut hard. While not their mistake specifically, the team was just as guilty of how they treated Robin's demotion after that situation. Let alone Phantom's...everything, really. The risk of their position being held over their heads as a means to control being too great. The exact situation too recent.

Weeks of debating on if Robin and Phantom were trustworthy enough to be on the team, let alone potential leaders, and now they were the ones unworthy of their trust. The tables of karma had turned, and now they had to face consequences they once tried to impose on the two boys they were so afraid of losing.