It was on the same day still that Dick witnessed Bruce disappearing into the study, meaning that he was going to the cave. Now this may seem like the most normal thing to do for The Batman, but Dick knew better. It was not Bruce's usual time for going down there - he usually tried to eat dinner with Dick (and now Danny) - and Dick was one hundred percent sure that he had not informed him of an especially hard case that required more work than usual. And Batman almost always told Robin about those. So he figured Bruce was either trying to hide something from him, in which case he would find out what it was, or he had been called to an urgent League meeting or something of the sort. He tended to rush off to those without telling every now and then. Deciding that he had enough time to check the cave (and the batcomputer if Bruce wasn't there anymore), he made his way down to the vigilante's secret hideout.

He was almost surprised to find Bruce standing in front of the batcomputer, cowl up and looking like he was about to leave at any moment. Dick could not see his expression from his angle, but his gut told him something was wrong. Letting his disappointment in Bruce due to his failing to tell him what was up drop in favour of worrying what was wrong, he called to his mentor.

"Bruce?"

Dick knew he had heard him and that he was listeneing even though the man apparently did not feel the need to turn around. He waited a moment, thinking, wanting to make sure there was not anything he might have forgotten about. No, he was sure Bruce had not told him of any top secret league meetig that no non-league member was supposed to know of - Bruce always informed him of those - and all apointments Bruce Wayne related were out of the game being that Bruce was in costume.

"Where are you going?"

"Out."

Dick rolled his eyes. Of course that was going to be his answer. He would have to be more specific if he wanted to get information from The Batman.

"Yeah. That's as far as I got. But where exactly? I thought there were no major cases or meetings today. Besides, we were going to have dinner now before Babs comes over - in case you forgot about that, too - and I hate lying to Danny as it is. It's harder when you're not even there to eat with us!"

This time, he turned around and Dick was almost able to make out an apologetic look beneath the black cowl. They had had this conversation. Bruce was reluctant to tell Danny about their sercret vigilante lives while Dick claimed it was only fair if he was going to stay with them. (You can guess who had the upper hand in that argument.)

"I know, but this is important. The Watchtower has been attacked."

Dick gasped. How had he not know of that?

"Attacked? When? Why? Who was it?"

Bruce's voice stayed as calm as ever as he relayed the facts.

"A few days ago, an unnown meta with incredible powers, attacked the Watchtower, threatening to destroy it should they not give him what was his. The only members at the scene had been Flash and Martian Manhunter."

"Wait," Dick interrupted, frowning. "Why am I only learning about this now? You said it happened days ago!"

Dick swore he heard the other sigh.

"It was an unknown meta with power levels high enough to rival even Superman. I did not want to worry you, especially not when you needed to be there for Danny."

Now the disappointment was coming back full force. Who did Bruce think he is?

"Oh yeah? Well guess what, it's my job to worry about these things, too! Just as much as it is your job to be there for Danny, as well. You could've at least told me where you were going today."

For a second, guilt seemed to flash across the billionaire's face, but it was replaced with his usual stoic expression so fast that, had he not been trained by The Batman, Dick would have easily missed it.

"Doesn't matter now. I am required to be at an emergency meeting in a few minutes to further discuss this being. Stay here, Dick. We don't know what this meta wants, but it is beyond dangerous. I will be back as soon as I can."

Bruce turned towards the zeta tubes already on his way to leave when Dick interrupted him a last time.

"Bruce?"

The vigilante stopped to indicate his attention was on his ward.

"Can I tell Barbara about this meta?" His voice was hopeful and when the other did not answer right away, he added, "Please?"

Dick could not see it, but for some reason he imagined Bruce was smiling at least a tiny bit.

"You would do it anyway, wouldn't you?"

Despite his previous negative emotions, Dick laughed a little and had Bruce been Bruce instead of Batman, Dick was sure he would have laughed, too. He watched his mentor vanish in a flash of golden light before he went back up to the manor. Danny was already awaiting him at the table by the time he entered the dining room. The hopeful smile on his face turned into a light frown when he saw no one follow his brother inside.

"Is Bruce not coming?" Danny asked carefully.

Dick thought he knew what the other might be thinking. When he first came to the manor he had not been sure when it would seem appropriate to feel sad when Bruce could not eat with him. To be honest, he had been from the first day on, but it had seemed weird for him to show this when he did not actually know the man much.

"I'm sorry. He had to leave for an urgent meeting, he said it's important."

Danny dropped his head on his hand, looking annoyed and disappointed.

"I am never going in that job direction," he declared and Dick found himself agreeing.

He took the seat opposite from Danny on the left end of the long dining table and they ate in silence. Alfred's cooking was as good as every day and no food stayed on the plates. For someone who had recently lost his while family, Danny had a pretty good appetite, not that that was a bad thing, just something the protégé of Batman noticed. Actually, Danny was doing exceptionally well after everything that had happened to him. It stunned the Boy Wonder, to say the least. However, he could not rule out the possibility that Danny was just pretending to be okay in front of him, Bruce and Alfred. Dick did not know if Danny let out all his grief in his room when he was alone or if he even just kept it in completely. Whatever the case, Dick did not like it. But how would he help him? Maybe he would know the answer after he waited a while longer. He was going to give his brother his space. And then he was going to make sure he knows how to fill up that empty space in his heart where someone had ripped away what he had held most dear. The doorbell interrupted his thoughts. Dick smiled at Danny amd motioned for him to follow him.

"That must be Babs. Come on!"

The less happy thoughts forgotten for the moment, Dick led Danny to the front door, where Alfred had already opened the door to a girl who was maybe a year older than them with red hair and blue eyes. She was just giving Alfred her jacket, thanking him when both boys arrived, Dick up front and Danny awkwardly lingering the slightest bit behind.

"Hey Babs," Dick greeted, a huge grin in place on his face.

"Hey Dickhead," Barbara returned, adapting the grin. "Wow, you look exactly the same," she added when she caught sight of Danny.

Dick took a small step to the side as Barbara inspected her friends brother, who waved shyly.

"Hi. I'm Danny."

"Name's Barbara. Nice to meet you."

Danny smiled friendly while Barbara just outright grinned. Her gaze kept going back and forth between the two twelve-year-olds.

"This is so cool," she decided and both boys chuckled a little. "You know, you don't only look the same, you sound the same, too!" Her eyes widened. "Oh my god, think of all the pranks you can pull off together!"

Dick smirked and gave Danny a meaningful look, which Barbara noticed.

"Oh no," she said. "You will not pull those pranks on me, you hear me? You would totally regret that."

Dick gasped and put a hand on his chest, right over his heart.

"But Barbara! You could never hurt me. You know you love me!"

Danny laughed and Barbara narrowed her eyes.

"Don't test me." She put an arm around Danny's shoulders, smirking at Dick. "Besides, I have him now. If I accidentally destroy your handsome face, Grayson, I can always take this one!"

The three agreed to play some video games in Dick's room for a while. Dick was delighted to see how well Danny and Barbara got along already. He could see them become great friends and it did not bother him at all. They were all having a lot of fun, even though the only girl amongst them kept beating them at nearly every game they played. Dick knew he could easily hack such a game, he did not mind losing. He had already won, after all.

The next thing he was going to need to do was introduced Wally to his brother. It had taken lots of convincing to stop Wally from abandoning the giant amount of homework he still had to finish and running over to the manor. Apparently, Wally did not care about getting killed by the bat or getting scolded by his uncle. Actually, he should only really be careful of Bruce, Barry he could handle. Why would Bruce kill him, you ask? Now that would probably be because it would give away that Wally knew of his identity. Dick always had to check that Bruce was not home every time Wally wanted to come over. It was annoying, but as long as they got to spend time together, Dick did not mind the trouble.

Some time into their playing, Danny put his controller down and stood up.

"I'm gonna use the bathroom real quick."

"M'kay," Barbara said and Dick just nodded.

He welcomed the moment of privacy with Barbara since he finally had time to tell her about the meta-attack on the Watchtower. Her previous smiling expression turned into a worried frown as shr yook in the news.

"He sounds powerful. What is the League doing about it?"

Dick shrugged unhappily.

"Don't know. Bruce is at an emergency meeting because of it right now. Guess that's where they're discussing what to do."

"What do you think it is he wanted?" Barbara wondered curiously.

He sighed. He was asking himself the same thing.

"I don't know." He huffed. "I hate not knowing about these kinds of things!" he said, throwing his arms up.

Of course, Danny chose that exact moment to reenter the room. Both Barbara and Dick plastered innocent smiles onto their faces, but it was too late.

"Uh, is something wrong?"

"No, no. Why are you asking?" Barbara replied in a tone that was just a tad too cheerful to be natural.

Danny barely narrowed his eyes at them.

"Because," Dick swore he could hear disappointment in his brother's voice. "You two looked concerned when I came in and as soon as you noticed me you acted like nothing was up."

Barbara and Dick shared a nervous glance.

"Uh... well, you see-"

"Dick is having trouble with his boyfriend!" Barbara blurted out, much to Dick's horror and Danny's confusion.

He slowly looked from Barbara to Dick, brows creased.

"Your... boyfriend?"

Dick frantically shook his head while Barbara nodded.

"Yeah, his name's Wally. He didn't tell you?"

She looked at Dick, a mishevious glint in her eyes that definitely foretold bad things. He felt his face heat up and the (evil) smirk on her lips only grew.

"O-of course I didn't tell him! Uh, I mean, he's not my boyfriend!" Dick half-stuttered, making Danny raise a knowing eyebrow.

"Uh-huh." He nodded towards Barbara. "I see where you're coming from."

Dick was about to say something to further defend himself when an alarm sounded throughout the manor. Instantly, he was in Robin mode, rushing over to his desk and picking up his phone. His worry grew as the warning message on the screen confirmed his suspicions.

"Dick? What's going on?" Danny asked, voice almost unnoticably shaky.

Barbara came up behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"What does the alarm mean, Dick?"

Her voice was as steady as always, but Dick knew she was worried. He turned around with a serious expression.

"He's here."

° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

I do not own Danny Phantom or any of its characters. Neither do I own Young Justice or any of the DC Universe characters.

A whole chapter and not a single breakline! Wow. Not interesting at all. But I hope you liked the chapter (especially the nice little cliffhanger)!

Can I get those six votes I need to get to six hundred?

FaHa :D