A Little Overshadowing Never Hurt Anyone

It's A Family Thing -Chapter 21

Danny's eyes were glued to the ground as he paced around the bathroom. Well, technically, he was still inside Tim's body, so it was more like Tim was being forced to pace around the bathroom while Danny was anxious and bored, using him like a 'meatpuppet' as his dad would say.

They were waiting for Jason to come with a few more bandages, Danny glanced up at the mirror, lightly fogged at the edges from steam. He glanced over the scars on Tim's body and the wound that he had caused Tim from standing still for too long in a gunfight. His eyes immediately shot back to the tile again.

He was unconsciously fiddling with his -Tim's- hands, still trying to get completely used to the feeling of not being in his own body. He has overshadowed a few times before, but never for this long – it feels more and more off the longer he's away from his body.

"What's it feel like?" Tim's voice came through Danny's head, cutting through his thoughts.

Danny looked up at the mirror again, meeting Tim's eyes in the reflection. It was easier to talk that way rather than to open air. He just hoped it didn't weird Tim out too much. "What do you mean?" He tilted his head to the side.

Tim paused for a second, almost as if he was trying to figure out how to word it. He could feel not only his thoughts spiraling in his head but also Tim's. He couldn't hear them, just the presence of thoughts that were running too fast to keep up with. "How does it..." He paused "How does it feel to overshadow someone?" Tim was anxious about asking the question, like he was worried Danny wouldn't want to answer.

Danny clenched his hands and forced them down to his sides. "...When you overshadow someone it kind of just feels wrong. Like you've put on clothes that are either way too tight or way too loose. Only- Those clothes are an actual person... and you are using a body that you have never used before. It doesn't feel familiar, and it makes you want your own body back."

Tim was silent for a second, but Danny could feel him trying to file away that information in his brain, make sure he could understand as well as possible. "So..." He started. "Am I too tight or too loose?" Danny was slightly startled by the sincerity and concern that he felt from it. Tim was worried and really cared about how Danny was feeling. "Is it based on how small the body is compared to yours or is it the souls of the people? Do people with depression have more taxing bodies?"

Danny chuckled slightly, "It's a little bit of both, but mostly a size difference thing. My body is used to being a certain size, and my soul -or ghost- is the size of how I feel I'm supposed to be," he lifted Tim's hand and turned it over, studying it closely. "And when I am in the body of someone else... My soul has to fit in that body."

"So it's uncomfortable?"

"Yeah. It is, like with you. You're a bit smaller than me, so when I flex your hand, it feels like the skin is too tight, like it's been stretched over me. But it feels fine and wrong at the same time. I can tell that the skin isn't actually stretching and it's only in my head, but it's a weird double effect."

He could feel Tim's mind as his thoughts grew more muddled. "And if the person is bigger?"

"Well, then it feels like you have more weight on your shoulders, the arms are slower to move and you feel more like you're floating or trying to push through water," Danny rubbed the back of his neck, "It's easier for other ghosts who are used to it or don't mind the awkward feeling. But for me, it just feels wrong. I hate it."

He could feel Tim think something, more in the back of his mind. Similar to the feeling of 'you hate it, but you used it to escape anyway...' but he didn't voice anything loud enough that Danny was meant to hear.