Ghosts Don't Exist

Chapter 6: Men Wore Pants and Girls Wore Skirts

Danny was dressed in over fifty dresses and he was loving one dress after the next. He was squealing, skipping, jumping, and posing. This was dress-up, this was Danny playing dress-up. It felt like a familiar game to be playing and a taller female kept coming to mind. As of now, he couldn't see her face but he knew her name was Jasmine. That's all he knew of her. She was kind and gentle towards him though.

"Danny, look at this one!" Tim said holding a knee-length popping dark silk purple dress. It doesn't have sleeves, it had a ribbon around the neck with see-through lace over the collar bone. Danny gasps at the sight, as he had after every other dress he has worn. "It's so pretty!" he squealed and took his previous dress off (which was a baby blue slim short dress). Danny went over to put the dress on and have Tim zip the back up. It came with a headband where the lower edges, close to the ears, we're decorated with light purple and white flowers. He adorned it twirling and dancing with Tim.

Tim honestly didn't mind, if anything, he was also having fun. Tim never did have fun with Damian as he was more so on the serious side of things. He would play by himself or with the younger justice league. Tim admired Danny's open liking towards dresses. He also admired him for acting like a child, a carefree innocent child. Though, the hard truth, he wasn't carefree. Innocent, yes, but with the loss of his parents and have been used as a lab rat left him with a lot of problems.

... That didn't matter right now, better not to dwell on it. Dancing with a bouncing little boy was all that mattered right now.

"Tim, Danny!" Bruce was calling them. "I'm not supposed to be dancing with my foot, I don't want him to get mad at me," Danny stated wrapping his fists around the dress's fabric. "It's okay, I'll carry you. Um, how is your foot, by the way?" Tim asked picking Danny up and resting him on his hip. Danny held onto his headband. "It's completely healed, but Bruce still thinks I should go easy on it," Danny stated. Tim was surprised to hear that his ankle was completely healed but after hearing that Danny had advanced healing, he shrugged it off.

"I think Bruce is in the other living room. It'll take forever to walk so hold on tight." Tim said as Danny kept one hand on his headband and the other around Tims's neck. Tim started running down the halls cutting corners close. Danny tightened his grip around Tim and balled his fist around the fabric of Tim's collar. "We're here, " Tim said and Danny hadn't noticed with blurs being the only thing to pass him by. "Oh," he breathed out and fixed his headband. Bruce caught sight of them and waved them in. He smiled at Danny dressed in, well, a dress. "I would like you to meet someone," he said, were there others in the room? Danny was switched between Tim's hips and he wrapped his arms around Tim's neck.

Tim came into the living room and Danny froze. There were a lot of people, they looked at him with both confusion and amazement, except one little boy. He was had already decided this kid was not his favorite. He was wearing a dress and Bruce honestly didn't care. It was easy putting two and two together to realize he was wearing that dress willingly. No one had forced it upon him. He narrowed his eyes at him. Danny's eyes switch between blue and green, he was panicking internally. Though, he was about to break any second. "Go on Danny, introduce yourself." Tim whispered.

Danny, you have to introduce yourself to your new classmates. It's rude if you don't, and you do want to make friends, don't you?

"I'm Danny Fenton." He said simply, it was quiet though. He leaned his head against Tim's chest and looked anywhere else he could, anywhere else. He did not want to look at the people staring at him. Like, he really didn't.

Bruce smiled and ruffled his hair but Danny didn't give much of a reaction, if anything he looked lost somewhere else. His eyes continued to switch between colors and darted back and forth from the wall to the floor. He clearly didn't want to be the center of attention. Bruce cleared his throat, he needed to get Danny's introductions out of the way. "Hi Danny, " a female voice.

Wonder Woman was talking now. She waved at Danny with a sweet smile.

Danny knew she was talking as his legs went tangible and intangible, switching between the two. "Danny, if you don't want to do this, you don't have to." Tim stated. Danny looked up at Tim and frowned, no he didn't want to.

It's rude if you don't...

"No, it'd be rude if I didn't do this," he said quietly. Tim sighed and sat down in one of the recliners with Danny in his lap. He tried to calm himself but only exceeded in fixing his legs. "Do you like dresses Danny?" Wonder Woman asked. "Yeah, but Dash didn't. He made fun of me." Danny stated and fixed his headband again. "Who's Dash?" Tim asked.

Danny didn't remember much so Dash was never brought up. Had Danny been getting his memories back at random? Dash didn't like that Danny wore dresses so he was mean to him. Had they done anything Danny would claim were mean?

"He was a football player, I think, he was mean and called me a girl a lot. He was nice to everyone else though, he always was." Danny explained. "He told me guys aren't supposed to wear dresses or skirts or headbands." Danny pressed the explanation. "Jasmine was nice though, she told me I was pretty in dresses," Danny said quietly.

Bruce knew who Jasmine was, that was Danny's older sister and she was gone. Bruce would have to tell Danny if he didn't find out soon. Yet, the smile on his face at the thought of her made him assume he could wait just a little longer. After all, Danny was only now getting his memories back. Be it as slow as it was.

"I do like it, purple looks good on you." Wonder Woman complimented. Danny smiled at her and giggled. "Thanks, it's my favorite color!" Danny said. Damian rolled his eyes.

Men wore pants and girls wore skirts.

Danny was interesting though. He cared for himself in a manner that made him happy. Yet, he also cared about what others thought of him just less. He wanted to be happy, he wanted others to know he was happy, and he wanted to show how happy he really was. His face lit up when he was complimented so he cared more about the encouraging speaking and less about the discouraging things.

Men wore pants and girls wore skirts.

He started at Danny, why was he so skinny? He looked half-dead, but his attitude said something else.

"So, " he spoke, "why do you wear dresses?" Damian raised an eyebrow. His question was scowled at. Danny giggled oblivious to the fact that the question was very inappropriate. "I like dresses. They're freeing and they bounce, oh, and sometimes they come with soft gloves or pretty decorated hats! I had a dress once that was blue and had a flower design on it, but it was ruined by... by... I can't remember." he said and rubbed the back of his neck. Tim patted his back and hugged him. "Its okay, " he whispered.

It's okay honey, mama and dad are right here. You're fine, you shouldn't cry, you'll ruin your make-up. Danny, he was our friend too, but he told us everything would be fine. He would want you to smile at his funeral. For him, okay? Please, Danny.

Danny was in his hospital bed when he opened his eyes. Did he close them? When did he close them? He looked around, he was alone. His face was sticky and wet. He reached up and gasped. He was crying?

He was crying.

"Mama? Dad?"

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So that's another chapter. Damian is very conflicted with Danny's choice of clothing. If you read or saw a comic with Damian wearing a dress as a baby then you know exactly why this makes him upset. Here is the picture: