A Little Overshadowing Never Hurt Anyone

Coffee? -Chapter 6

Phantom stilled instantly. How did the man sneak up on him? He felt the boy within him freeze too, but it was more of an 'I just got caught doing something bad and I'm going to get grounded' kind of feeling, and not the, 'if this guy recognizes me as a ghost I'm going to be captured and dissected' kind of fear that Danny's got going on.

He slowly turned around to find a man who was probably a little older, since he had white hair and a mustache. His suit was very dapper and he was holding a tray with some sort of biscuits on it. He seemed like a butler of some kind. 'Alfred!' Red exclaimed in his head. Danny immediately turned on whatever charm he could find and spun around fully to face the man.

"Hey, Alfred." Red seemed puzzled at the fact that Danny knew the man's name, so he obviously didn't know that he had just revealed it to him. "How's it going?" He put his hand on his hip and leaned against the kitchen counter he was just sneaking past moments ago. 'Act natural, act natural.' Danny repeated in his head. He was sure Red heard him because he felt a hint of amusement spark up at Danny's mantra.

Alfred frowned slightly looking the boys —boy– up and down. "Don't start that with me, Master Tim. You know you can't have your suit upstairs, no matter how 'Cool' it makes you feel." Danny had to suppress a snicker and Red Robin —Or Danny guessed, Tim, now– had felt a little embarrassed.

"Sorry Alfred, I guess I just forgot I had it on." Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He had no idea if that was something 'Tim' would do, but it sure as hell made him feel better.

Alfred raised an eyebrow at him slightly skeptically. "You should get changed then. Your brothers have already gotten changed and are upstairs, if you are looking for them." Okay, so he had brothers, that's cool. Danny assumed they would also be other vigilantes like Red Robin, here. Danny didn't know much about the Gotham Vigilantes. He heard a few things from Tucker but he never really looked into them.

Danny inched away slightly. "Riiiight. I'll go look for them then." It seemed like Alfred didn't take his eyes off of him, but suddenly another man —maybe 20-something— walked into the room.

"Hey, Alfie!" The man jumped up and slid onto the kitchen counter. 'Oh no, not Dick too. Please not now.' Danny stored the information he just received from Tim as he looked the man up and down. He gave a light smile. He had black hair and blue eyes, he was also quite tall and somewhat muscular, and he was wearing a t-shirt that had a superman logo on it. Danny snickered in his head.

Alfred had sent a disapproving look towards the young man. "Master Dick, I would appreciate it if you got off of my kitchen counter." He scolded.

"Sorry, Alfie." Dick chuckled and slid off and stood a little closer to Danny —Tim— and leaned on the wall next to him in a relaxed position. "Hey Timbo, is B back yet? Is that why you're not downstairs?" He had a bright smile and seemed way too cheery to be in a house with Batman. Or, Danny guessed, mansion in this case.

Danny tried to quickly think of something. "Uh, Yeah he's on his way back now."

"Why are you not with the ghost we caught then?" Danny stilled slightly but tried hard not to give it away.

He rubbed the back of his neck again. "The contaminant device downstairs is good enough to hold him, at least until Batman gets back."

"Yeah right!" Tim scoffed. "And how did you get out of there in the first place?" He seemed genuinely curious.

"Later."

Dick nodded, seeming to accept Danny's excuse before he reached his hand up to ruffle Danny's hair in a friendly or brotherly manner. "Alfred must be giving you an earful for wearing your suit upstairs, little bird."