Chapter Text
October 15, 2XX2
Danny’s been in this new dimension for at least a week by now. Clockwork, in all his timely glory, had insisted the young Halfa King take a ‘vacation’ from his ‘depressing sulking’ because it’d ’help him forget about the fact that he had to leave behind every human he loved’. Psssh. What does he know?
So, here he is, once again following the teenager with curly green hair he’d found at the beginning. He was one of the first people Danny had seen here who looked at least somewhat similar to the humans he was used to, so he kept haunting out of a sense of familiarity.
It was routine at this point, really: Wake up in the depressingly silent apartment building that Clockwork had scored for him, attempt to learn how to cook more than just basic American breakfast, mess around at various locations, wait for the boy’s school to get out, follow him and silently fret over the new mysterious injuries, mess around with him some, leave when Greenie started on his route that he always goes when the sun starts to set- probably the way to his house, following him home seemed like a violation of his privacy, and finally, head home, rinse, and repeat. The routine worked, alright?
Danny… couldn’t help but be a bit worried, though. When Greenie had left school he seemed even more depressed than usual. Danny could only wish he were able to help. But, the best he could do was subtly release feelings of comfort-it’s okay-feel better. CW said that for the best possible timeline, he should avoid interaction until he gave Danny the okay. He’ll probably mess it up anyway, though. He’s never been the best at following directions, after all.
After some time of following Greenie, they approached an underpass, Danny couldn't tell if he recognized it though. Suddenly, though, the sewer cover on the ground starts to clank up some. And out came some kind of living sludge monster! Danny thought it might have been a ghost at first, but his ghost sense hadn't gone off. And, almost as if to dispel his suspicions, it spoke as though it were living.
“A medium-sized body… to hide in…” The sewage incarnate stated. And then launched at Greenie. It covered his body in its nasty self, it appeared to be trying to force itself into the boy's mouth!?
“Don’t worry.” The sludge grossly started, “I’m just hijacking your body. Calm down. It’ll only hurt for about 45 seconds… and then it’ll all be over.”
Greenie appeared to struggle against the slime, to no avail. Fingers grasping at the liquid, failing to catch anything. It looked absolutely disgusting and Danny’s core began to ache with a need to help.
“I’m saved. You’re a real hero.” The sludge continued, “I never thought he’d show up in this town.” It then caught on to Greenie's struggle, “No point trying that. I’m fluid, you see!!”
Danny struggled to hold himself back, his core almost seeming to burn as he watched the teen painfully flail. He cursed Clockwork for instructing him to not interact with anyone until he received permission.
And then, out of nowhere, a large, buff, blonde man appeared. He seemed to be wearing regular civilian clothes and parts of his hair stuck up like an antenna.
Big Buffie then reeled his fist back and shouted, "Texas… SMASH!!” And he punched straight through the sludge. The very shockwave of the attack breaking through the nasty enemy. It was kinda cool to watch until Greenie fainted.
Thankfully, buff blondie noticed it too.
…Or not thankfully? Why is he slapping Greenie to wake him up? What if he uses too much strength? Surely there are better methods!
To Danny’s very exasperated relief, Greenie woke up.
“Hey… uh.” Greenie started before Buff Blondie™ cut him off.
“Thank goodness.” Buffie thanks, “You’re okay! Excellent!”
“WHA-?!”
“Apologies for getting you caught up in my villain hunt. Mistakes like that aren’t my style, but, This is a strange land to me. And besides, I’m off camera!!” And… Buffie just slicked his hair back. Seriously? “But my success here is all thanks to you!! I’ve contained the villain!!” Yeah, in a plastic bottle! That is so much worse than a Fenton Thermos!!
Danny was a bit annoyed at Buffie. He seemed unprofessional and unprepared, not that Danny who started fighting ghosts at 12 could really argue about professionalism… But, judging by Greenie’s muttered praises, Greenie was a fan. And Danny would respect that.
Danny attempted to listen to the muttering, but it didn’t work out too well… He did hear Greenie call Buffie something like Fall Might. Weird.
Greenie then started to look all around like a madman, “Oh! A-an autograph! Where’s…” He suddenly found his notebook, “Ah, my notebook…” Only to open it and see it already signed.
Danny looked over Greenie's shoulder and read the text. Thank the Ancients for omnilingualism… Huh. Looks like Ball Fight is actually All Might. Bit of a cocky name…
“WOWWW!! Thank you so much!! What a treasure!! It’ll be my family heirloom!!” Greenie praised All Might while rapidly bowing. A bit much in Danny’s very honest not jealous opinion.
“Now I must bring this fellow to the authorities!!” All Might began to waltz away, “You can catch me on TV!!”
Poor Greenie looked upset, “Um! Wait... Is that it...? I…”
“A pro hero battles not only villains but time!” And All Might… squatted??? “Until next time… THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!” And then All Might jumped with so much force he rocketed into the air and practically flew. He didn’t actually fly though. Only cool people like Danny could do that. Duh.
‘Wait… what is Greenie doing?’
And then Danny noticed Greenie had latched onto All Might’s legs and he was quick to fly after them.
"Hey now!!" All Might yelled, "Release me! Such enthusiasm is a bit much!" All Might must be stupid to tell a kid holding onto him, in the middle of the air, to let go of him.
"If I.. let go now... I'll die...!" Greenie explained, helpfully, "I... Need to ask you.. so many things... Gah! You..."
"Okay, okay. Just do me a favor and close your eyes and mouth!" All Might relented.
Greenie did as he was asked and they landed on a random rooftop. Danny floats easily to join them.
"Scary..." Greenie muttered.
"Of all the...!! Hopefully, the people downstairs will help us get down." All Might practically spoke to himself, "I've no time though! Truly!!"
Greenie did catch onto that last bit, though, "Wait! Um..." He started.
"No!! I will not wait." All Might interrupted. Rude.
"Can someone without a quirk..." Danny latched onto the word 'quirk', CW had explained the interesting superpowers to him, and Greenie continued, "...become a hero like you?" He closed his eyes while saying so. Practically in his own world.
"Quirks are..." All Might began to say.
"Because I don't have a quirk, I...well, maybe that's not the only reason. But I've always been picked on..." Greenie supplied, was he getting bullied!? "That's why... Maybe that's why I think that saving people is just about the coolest thing someone can do."
"Damn it all" All Might cursed as he began to sizzle and steam appeared. Was he... cooking himself?
"The way you save people with that fearless smile! I want to be the strongest hero just like y-" And then Greenie opened his eyes and the smoke and steam dispersed, "WHAAAAAT?!" In front of him stood a skeleton of a man, with clothing too big and deep-seated eyes. "You're all shriveled up! Huh?! A fake! An imposter?! So thin!!"
The man glared at Greenie and began to say, "I am All Might." As blood spewed from his mouth. Yikes..!
"No way!!"
"You know how people hold in their gut at the pool?" All Shrink explained, "It's like that!" Danny had to hold back a snort at the, frankly, humorous response.
"No way!!"
"A fearless smile, huh..." And All Shrink slumped to the ground, "You've seen the real me, kid. But don't write about it on the internet, okay?"
"No way..." All right buddy, time to say something else.
All Shrink then lifted his shirt and revealed a caved-in wound. Cracks and scars rippling throughout his torso. Which, damn.
"Five years ago... an enemy did this to me." All Might began to explain, "My respiratory system was nearly destroyed and my stomach was removed. I've wasted away because of the after-effects of those surgeries. I can only do my hero work for about three hours a day now."
"Five years ago..? Was that when you fought Toxic Chainsaw?" Greenie asked.
"That lowlife? He could never do this to me! You've done your homework, though..." All Might answered, "This was never made public. It is a national secret after all... Even me, the symbol of peace can be bested..." Did he just tell a teenager (technically two, but he doesn’t know that) a national secret!? A stranger, at that, too!
All Might stood up slowly and then said, "Without power, can one become a hero?" He asked. "No. I should think not."
The fuck!? Did this guy seriously just tell a kid, A KID, that he couldn't do something he so clearly dreamed about!?
"ah..."
"If you desire to help people, becoming a police officer is always an option... It's not wrong to dream..." He started as he prepared to leave, "However... you need to be realistic, kid." An explosion let off in the distance and All Might was gone.
He seriously just... left a teenager on a rooftop!? After crushing their dreams!? This All Might is an idiot!!
And so what if Greenie didn’t have a quirk!? Jazz doesn't have any powers, but she used to save Danny’s ass all the time! Sam didn’t need to be able to shoot lasers out of her butt to be able to help keep Amity safe. Valerie’s time as Red Huntress wasn’t thanks to some wacky genetics, it was man-made technology. And Tucker isn't the tech guy because of some power! If anything, they're more trouble than it's worth!
All Might is just some dumb oaf who doesn't deserve the title of hero.
Danny watched with muted anger and sympathy as Greenie gazed blankly out at the sky. And, still in his broken state, he walked over to the door on the roof and attempted to open it. It was locked.
Greenie let out a groan of frustration and slipped his yellow bag off his shoulders, tossing it to the side, as he slumped down against the wall and onto the ground.
The sobs were obvious. It hurt Danny to see this.
After about an hour, Greenie's seemingly endless tears began to dry up. Danny should've been glad, but Greenie felt so strongly that even he, a minor empath, could feel his emotions. He wasn't okay.
Greenie lifted his head and looked up at the sky, the sunset painting it in beautiful hues. He rose from his spot and headed over to the ledge. Danny hoped with all his might it was simply for a better view.
He swiftly shook his head, as if shaking away a thought, but continued to look out over the city. Danny could hear some explosions in the far distance, but Greenie was his focus right now. The heroes they totally overhype here can deal with it. Hopefully.
And Danny knew he wasn't allowed to interact with Greenie yet, but he feared the worst. He did the only thing he could think, he forced as many feelings of COMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORT-PLEASEDONT-STOP-DON'TDOIT-ITSOKAY-PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE out through his core and towards Greenie.
It might have worked, or something else could have done the trick, but Greenie finally stepped down from the ledge after maybe thirty minutes of riskily standing at it.
It was clear that he wanted to go home, but that any little thing might set him off, so Danny rushed over to the locked door and used his intangibility to sneakily pick the lock. It was a smart move, too, because soon Greenie approached the door and picked his bag up off the floor. He slung it haphazardly around his shoulder and reached out for the door. Seemingly forgetting the locked situation from before, he opened it up easily and trekked down the stairs.
Danny, in the spur of the moment, decided to follow him rather than leave him be as he usually would at this time. Greenie reached the bottom floor and exited the building. Danny recognized most of the route that Greenie took, but it began to appear unfamiliar at some point.
The further they went, the worse the buildings got. Danny tried his best to not judge Greenie if this was where he lived. Speaking of, right in front of a seemingly abandoned, burnt building, Greenie took a sharp turn. He approached a rickety fire escape that had a strategically placed dumpster. Greenie climbed onto the dumpster and then reached out for the fire escape. He had to jump a bit to make it, but he eventually got over it.
Danny's curiosity was continuously piqued the further Greenie went. He eventually got to a window and pried it open, then climbed in. Danny followed easily as Greenie plopped his bag onto the floor.
Simply put, the place was a mess. The room was caked in dirt and soot, it appeared to have been burnt. There were notebooks strewn across the floor alongside piles of blankets, clothes, and towels. A first aid kit was shoved to the side amongst the mess. And there were two whole posters on the cleanest wall, Danny didn't recognize the people pictured.
Even Danny's lonely apartment here was better than this.
And so, on impulse, Danny blurted out, "Damn bro, you live like this?"