Danny Is A Good Bro™
“What do you mean it doesn’t come off?” Danny asked Clockwork, squinting at him suspiciously.
Clockwork continued unraveling the paradox he was working on, completely unbothered.
“It is the Crown that signifies your place as Prince of the Realms, Daniel. It does not come off. It will, however, adapt to appear however you would like it to appear.”
“The Cloak comes off,” Danny argued.
“Hm. The Cloak and the Crown are not the same, now are they?” Clockwork replied.
Danny put his head in his hands and groaned.
“There is no need to be dramatic, Daniel.”
“I’m a teenager, Grandfather. There is always a need to be dramatic.”
Clockwork just laughed.
The next day, Danny went to the Tower. He had come with the loose idea of seeing Peter, but as soon as he walked into the Common Room he found Bucky lounged across the couch with a book in his lap. The man was staring blankly at the page he was open to, not reading it but not closing it either. His eyes were a little glazed over. Danny walked closer, concerned.
“Hey, Bucky,” he said softly, trying not to startle him.
Bucky blinked, then slowly looked up at him. “Hey, kid.”
Yeeeeah, he was zoning out hard. Flashback, maybe?
“Bucky, can you tell me what year it is?”
“Huh?”
Oh dear.
“Friday, how long has Bucky been like this?”
“Approximately an hour.”
Of course. Alright.
“Come on, Buck. Let’s go on a walk, okay?” Danny coaxed, reaching out to grab his arm.
As soon as he did, Bucky looked up at him and his eyes looked a little clearer.
“Danny?” he asked.
“Yeah, Buck, it’s me. C’mon, let’s go on a walk,” Danny repeated, pulling him to his feet.
“Don’t wanna,” Bucky protested, “‘s too loud here.”
Danny paused and tried to listen. He didn’t have enhanced senses, but even he could tell it was louder in Manhattan than it had been in Birnin Zana. Right. Outside walks as a reset wouldn’t work here, then. Maybe…
“How about we visit Shuri?” Danny asked. “She did basically threaten to murder us if we didn’t visit.”
“Shuri?” Bucky asked, still seeming lost. Yeah, he was out of it.
“Yeah, let’s go see Shuri. C’mere, Buck,” Danny coaxed, pulling Bucky against his side.
Bucky came willingly, and Danny wasted no time in opening a portal and flying them through the Realms. It didn’t take long for them to emerge in Shuri’s lab, which was empty at the moment.
“Shuri!” Danny called, obnoxiously loudly. “Bucky’s zoning out again!”
Shuri walked into the room in about two seconds, her eyes zeroing in on Bucky immediately.
“How long?” she asked, not even bothering with a greeting.
“I just found him, but Stark’s AI said about an hour,” Danny answered. “He said it was too loud in New York, so I brought him here.”
“That is not surprising,” Shuri agreed. Then she sighed. “Come on. Let’s go on a walk.”
So they sandwiched Bucky between them like they’d done many times before and started leading him through the Palace, then out into the city streets. The further they got, the more his head seemed to clear.
“Danny?” he asked.
“Yeah?”
“Why are we in Wakanda?”
Danny shrugged. “You were far away again. Couldn’t get you to come back in New York, so I thought we should come back here. Which seems to be working. You with us?”
“Hm. Uh, mostly, I think?” Bucky answered, grimacing. “I’m still kinda-” he waved his hand vaguely around his head. “Y’know?”
Danny nodded. “I get ya.”
“Let’s walk a little further out,” Shuri offered.
“Alright,” Bucky agreed.
A few minutes later, Danny’s phone rang. He fumbled it out of his pocket and
answered without checking the caller ID.
“Is Bucky with you?” Peter asked, sounding tired.
“Yeah, we’re in Wakanda. Why?” he answered.
“Steve couldn’t find him and he got worried.”
“He didn’t think to ask Friday?”
“Tony put privacy protocols in for Bucky, because the idea of an all seeing AI
freaked him out. Only people Bucky has given access to can know his whereabouts. And he hasn’t given anyone access, as far as I know,” Peter explained.
“Huh,” Danny muttered, thinking of how Friday had answered his questions about Bucky with no trouble. Bucky must’ve given him access, which wasn’t surprising, necessarily, but-
“Anyway, thanks for letting me know he’s in Wakanda with you. Maybe now
Steve can stop worrying, if that’s even possible,” Peter joked.
“Right,” Danny agreed, then, in a sudden burst of courage, “are you busy tomorrow?”
Peter was silent for a moment. Then, “It’s Friday, so I normally patrol after school, but I can be free. Why? What’s up?”
The words “do you wanna go on a date with me” were one the tip of Danny’s tongue, but instead he said, “Do you wanna hang out? I could teach you ghost science?”
“YOU’RE TEACHING SOMEONE ELSE GHOST SCIENCE?!” Shuri yelled from Bucky’s other side.
“Shuri and I could teach you ghost science?” Danny corrected quickly.
Peter laughed. “Sure. I mean, yes. I mean, that sounds fun. Time and place?”
“I’ll pick you up in your lab in the Tower at 4?” Danny offered.
“Sounds good,” Peter agreed.
“SPIDEY? IS BUCKY WITH PHANTOM?” Danny heard Steve call across the phone line.
He could almost feel Peter’s wince. “Gotta go, see you tomorrow!”
“See you tomorrow!”
Click. Danny exhaled.
“You are so gone for that boy,” Shuri proclaimed, with great authority.
“Yeah,” Danny sighed, not bothering to argue, “I am.”
Shuri laughed.
“Why don’t ya just ask him out?” Bucky asked.
Danny sighed. “I don’t know. I mean, I do know-it’s just. I’m not sure if he even likes guys, much less if he likes me, and if I ask him out and he says no it’ll be weird or even if I ask him out and he says yes and it doesn’t work out it’ll be weird and I’d rather have him as a friend than not have him at all and just-I’ve got a lot going on in my life, right now.”
“Hm,” Bucky hummed, sympathetically.
“You should talk to him,” Shuri said.
“You should,” Bucky agreed.
“But what do you mean you have a lot going on in life? Are you okay?” Shuri asked, because as much as she could be a little shit she did genuinely care.
“I got crowned Prince of the Realms the other day,” Danny blurted out.
“You’re the Prince,” Bucky said, slowly. Danny nodded. “Of the Infinite Realms.” Danny nodded again.
“I have a Crown?” he offered. “And a Cloak?”
“I WANNA SEE!” Shuri exclaimed, delighted.
Bucky winced. “Right here. Ya don’t gotta yell.”
“Sorry,” Shuri whispered. “Also, for the record, I thought you were already the Prince.”
“Not officially, but like, symbolically I guess? Whatever, now it’s official,” Danny answered.
“Does this make us, like, royalty bros or something?” Shuri asked.
Danny snorted. “You wanna see the Cloak and the Crown or not?” he asked.
“I do!” Shuri assured.
So he pulled Bucky and by extension Shuri to a stop with him. He stepped around so he was in front of him, then let the transformation rings wash over him. As soon as he did he felt the familiar weight of the Cloak settle on his shoulders, the Crown reforming into its usual icicle formation on his head. (It had previously been hiding as a bobby pin in his brown hair, which was the most innocuous form Danny could think of)
Shuri and Bucky stared at him in silence for a moment. Then-
“Our baby ghost prince is all grown up,” Shuri stage-whispered to Bucky, with an exaggerated sniffle.
Bucky nodded solemnly. “They grow up so fast,” he agreed, also obnoxiously fake sniffling.
Danny rolled his eyes. “Hardy har har you two.”
Bucky and Shuri laughed at him.
“It’s a good look on you, kid,” Bucky said, softly, voice sincere.
“It really is,” Shuri agreed.
Danny smiled at them and let the rings wash over him again. Then he rejoined Bucky and Shuri and they started walking again.