Clockwork was furious. He didn't look it on the outside, but boy was he seething. Of course young Daniel had to come up and ask him...ask him a question about...what kind of question was that anyway?! Clockwork wasn't mad at Daniel, far from it, he was mad at his parents. What kind of mother and father were they anyway, to treat a child in such a way to the point of him asking a question like that...!

Clockwork paced back and forth across his Mirror Room furiously, thinking back to yesterday when young Daniel had come up to him with a highly disturbing inquiry...

"Clocky?" The rather adorable little boy sitting next to Clockwork asked. "Is...there something wrong with me?" Clockwork immediately stopped tinkering with the gears in his ghostly blue hands and stared at young Daniel, brows furrowing in concern. "Something wrong with you...are you okay, Daniel? Do you feel sick?" He responded worriedly.

Daniel put his crayons down, suddenly looking very bashful. He stared at the cracked floor, seeming to contemplate something. "No, I'm not sick, I didn't mean it like that..."

Clockwork was confused, but patiently waited for the boy to continue.

"Well, I was wondering if you guys--you, Wulf, Youngblood, and Ember (a female punk rockstar ghost he had met through Youngblood who took on a big sisterly role for him)--were like, my family almost and, well then I thought you guys might not wanna be my family." Danny mumbled.

Clockwork was shocked. "Daniel, of course--"

"I mean, my mum and dad didn't want me," Danny interrupted, seeming as if he had to get all the words out before someone broke in.

"Why don't they want me though? I can tell they don't, because they ignore me now. I thought maybe..." Danny took a deep breath, lifted his head up at Clockwork, and the look on his little face almost broke Clockwork's not-so-stone-anymore heart.

He looked deeply saddened and resigned, shimmering tear tracks running down his pudgy cheeks.

"Is...there something wrong with me?" Daniel asked again, the seven-year-old not knowing how to put what he was really trying to ask into words. But somehow, despite that, the second time he asked the question had so much more meaning to it now that Clockwork understood.

And the meaning behind the question birthed a deep sadness and anger inside of him. This amount of emotion inside of him of aall ghosts was ridiculous.

But he squashed it all down for now, for Daniel's sake.

"Oh, Daniel..." Clockwork reached out for the crying child and held him in his arms tightly, still new to this whole "comfort" thing despite having known Danny for a few months now.

"There's nothing wrong with you, nothing at all...you'll be alright here, with us," Clockwork murmured, successfully quieting the child's sobs until only the soothing ticking of Clockwork's lair and the thousands of clocks that reside in it could be heard.

"Of course...we want to be your family." And the child's face lit up like Christmas.

After feeding Daniel and bringing him home that night, Clockwork had had a chat with most of the ghosts that also knew the young boy about what had just transpired. Clockwork didn't go out often, (no one knew that he was literally the all-powerful Ghost of Time except for young Daniel, and he intended to keep it that way) but he had to speak to the others about this so that they could act more softly towards Daniel for a bit while he was in this fragile state. Clockwork had foreseen that this would be best for him.

Clockwork stopped pacing, flashback forgotten as he thought about the group he had gathered together and just how badly their little meeting had gone.

He had gathered Ember, Youngblood, and Wulf together to tell them about Daniel's unnerving question.

In short, Youngblood started throwing a tantrum, Wulf started howling pitifully (my poor pup, my poor puppy...), and Ember got angry at young Daniel's parents and decided in that moment to take out her aggression on the table they were sitting at with her guitar.

It warmed Clockwork's ghostly heart, of course, how much Daniel's small undead family loved him despite the short amount of time they had known him, but Clockwork had liked that table and didn't feel like replacing it. Not to mention Wulf's anguished howls were ear-piercing and Youngblood's tantrums were annoying.

And they kept trying to inquire who he really was. And there was no way in hell Clockwork was gonna tell them that he was the Ghost of Time. Honestly, why didn't they just believe that I'm-just-a-lowly-unpowerful-ghost-and-that's-why-you've-never-heard-of-me excuse? Dammit, things were just never easy for him. Not to mention the Observants were mad at him for taking in a human child with such an unstable future.

Clockwork thought that was ridiculous. He didn't take Daniel in, the boy still lived with his parents, he was just with Clockwork, like, 60% of the time.

And honestly, Clockwork thought as he started pacing again, ghostly tail drifting behind him as he floated back and forth across the room, I'm still worried about Daniel. I got too attached. And now I notice just how small and skinny he is, like he doesn't get fed often, except for the rare times when he is able to get food himself. And it's not like the ghost food we give him fills him up at all...plus, I fear, that despite the talk we had after he asked me...that question...he still doubts his self-worth. I have to change that.

Clockwork nodded to himself, determined to visit Daniel in the human realm someday and give him the proper parenting he never got, alongside Daniel's other ghostly friends.

And it was in that moment, that Clockwork decided to officially become Danny's new dad.

£-£

Danny lay in bed, staring absentmindedly at the blue walls of his room, feeling significantly happier than he did yesterday.

Clockwork had said there was nothing wrong with him, which meant that it was his parents' fault that they pretended he didn't exist, not his...right? He had decided right after his talk with Clocky that he was going to believe him. Clocky would never lie to him, Danny knew that much. But there was still that flicker of self-doubt dancing solemnly within him. He was still a human, while his new family were ghosts. What if he could never truly be close to them because of that? Did they think he was...weird? Like the kids at school?

Well, not all the kids.

Danny smiled as he thought of what happened at school today. He had made a friend. Another first-grader, just like him. His name was Tucker, and he had brown skin and wore a red beret. Danny thought Tucker was a cool name.

Tucker was new to the school, and he and Danny had hit it off right away. Tucker had said that the kids at his old school called him weird. Danny had replied that the kids at this school called him the same thing, especially his main bully, a blonde first-grader named Dash who was taller than him. Tucker had smiled and said, "Well then, let's be weird together. We can be weird buddies." They laughed and proceeded to play together for the rest of recess.

Danny smiled wider, a little reassured by the flashback. Maybe weird isn't so bad.

He couldn't wait to tell everyone tomorrow about his new friend. Maybe, he would tell Tucker about his ghost friends too. Hopefully he wouldn't be scared of them. He had tried telling a teacher once about his undead family and the terrified look on her face confused him a lot.

He closed his eyes and snuggled under the covers, finally getting used to the feeling of being excited for what tomorrow would bring.

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I am so, so sorry for the long wait, only to end up with a short, boring chapter ugghhh

I hope you enjoyed regardless, and have a nice day :::)))

Vote if you enjoyed, please, and comment if you have any constructive criticism (or the cure for writers block ;-;)