DP x DC: Gold Trophy Husband
Danny's human and ghost halves working together symbiotically + his healing factor mean that Danny has a way of surviving absolute bullshit perfectly fine without injury.
One day while passing in the background of a news crew, on live TV streaming across the country, Danny accidentally breaks a world record. It's in the stupidest way possible too, like whatever the news people are filming tries to hit him and he does a quadruple backflip from standing or something of the like. (The quadruple backflip thing in DC canon is a bigger deal than you realize, only a few people in the entire world can do one.) Or, perhaps, they were doing a wild animal expo and a lion breaks free and goes for him, but he horse-girl/disney-dragon-tamers it because he faces much worse all the time so he thinks nothing of it.
Whatever he does, people are in an uproar. It's in memes. People are using the surroundings to make estimates on how impossible it was. Danny's grade school blood test showing him negative for meta-gene is found and thrown around in the news.
Danny hates that his privacy is invaded... BUT, since it was on video which can be used as proof, Guineas World Records puts his name in their lists. (Maybe Danny even makes good on sudden attention to start a channel online of him doing really stupid science experiments that he really shouldn't survive, or a 'fake' ghost hunting channel because it's legitimately considered comedy/fluff in Amity despite the rest of the world thinking it's horror genre.)
So, Danny looks at what exactly there are World Records for, and then says 'yeah I can do that' and breaks a couple more for funsies.
Like, people already took his anonymity, may as well tbh. And he's not using ghost abilities for this. It's just inherently how he is from his upbringing and ecto-contamination.
A couple of people from Casper High decide to break world records too. As it turns out, they break records related to their passions, things they've been obsessing over and learned to be skilled at ever since they became Liminal. It's relieving to Danny - because this means he wasn't cheating. It was his experience with protecting people (or with astronomy things) that led to him having the drive and focus to be the best like his former classmates. And it just happened to relate to his physical abilities gained from what he does all day.
He doesn't realize how big of a deal it all was until he opens the door one day to a publicist on the doorstep. The Waynes are always on the up and up of who's who and Danny is a 'rising star for his talents' among socialites (thoroughly average in class, Danny doesn't realize there's a difference between a socialite and an online TikTok influencer until WAY later).
He's being invited to Meet the Waynes, the classier version of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. He can say no but who says no to people like the Waynes? Their money makes them as influential as the President!! Why the hell would they want to meet Danny anyway? Sure he got on the news once or twice but he was just an average guy! (And did he want to be widely known as the one who turned down an appearance with the Waynes??)(This would not happen but they're celebrities and people don't talk about that fact enough in fics, even though it's really funny).
Brucie Wayne also invited him to what Danny guesses is a fancy party. With Wayne's reputation he has no idea what this means, like, is it a Princess Ball™ (gala?)? With Brucie known as a player is it some kind of event with lots of women for the men to show off to and then swagger about saying they all 'want' him (totally 'not' paid for being there?)? Is it one of those vague rich people things that it comes out later they were breaking laws at but doing so casually because they think laws don't apply? Is it a PARTY party where there will be a neon lit dancefloor? Is it a fucking tea party with dainty sandwiches and polite small talk?
Instructions unclear, Danny has no idea what this means and doesn't know who to talk to as to find out.
The public appearance is first through. Apparently they're supposed to act like besties and then freeze in poses shaking hands while smiling at cameras. Danny wonders if he's supposed to talk to them at all and if it's rude to ask about the party.
He sure as hell doesn't mind if his questions 'reveal' him as lower class than them or if they think he's an idiot. If they're condescending in that way the rich are so infamous for he'll honestly be glad for the division.
But when he does meet them... they aren't. Brucie, his son Timmy who technically isn't the CEO of W.E. anymore and only was so briefly when Brucie was on vacation once (for some reason this matters greatly to socialites and he's the only Wayne kid working at their company so this somehow makes him Very Important still), and his youngest son Damian who is the only one still living at home. The three are more normal than Danny expected.
Hell - they're more normal than the damn rich reporters and publicist. And apparently the other lower socialites/the Wayne-hired publicist who set it all up thinks they're kind of weird too. Talks about them in this way using the words 'unique' and 'interesting' that makes Danny confused if she's genuine or calling them nuts-but-not-in-a-good way. He isn't sure if that means out of touch or simply the world travels they always see the Waynes doing in the news taught them common sense.
And he sees why after meeting them. They're... confusingly practical. Literally nothing like Sam or Paulina's parents, much less Vlad. Honestly? ... They remind him of Valerie after she lost everything and got hurt. It's kind of concerning.
At the same time something about it puts Danny on edge - but not in a bad way - it's as if they're aware certain things would give them away, like keeping backs to a wall or eyes on doorways, and try not to. The way they stood didn't seem comfortable to them despite the relaxed hands and calm expressions. Danny was no professional combatant - a pro probably wouldn't see the difference between that and comfortable calm because they wouldn't know what it was like either. The halfa ended up feeling bad for them, he saw the news after Timmy Wayne got shot on TV a few years ago, and Danny thinks maybe they saw a lot more shit than people would expect.
Danny's pretty sure the Brucie thing is an act but the guy is just having so much fun with it while giving a tiny grin when his kids groan at him. They're a cute family. And Danny does get to actually talk to them to ask about the party thing, which seems to horrify everyone else, but the Waynes don't even blink nor get that awkward polite tone of voice people do.
Damian Wayne, with an air of trying really hard to not be overexcited, asked if Danny can replicate the quadruple flip (or whatever it is he did). Timmy Wayne feigns disinterest but he's watching Danny from the side while pretending to pay attention to his phone with eyes wide and a little sparkle in them, like a total tsundere. (It took every bit of self-restraint Danny had not to call him out on it, because it was adorable.)
Unnoticed by the halfa they both ask the same question in different ways - how the fuck are you able to do that. They're too aware that he shouldn't be able to and too informed on how to do those kinds of things themselves to think Danny can just luck into his 'talents'. No, he learned them somehow, he's too composed when doing it. Like it's fucking average.
Damian is frustrated. (If going the backflip like Nightwing route, there is also personal history there - he is defensive on behalf of the Grayson legacy because it took a lifetime of training to accomplish that.)(If going the fight off a wild animal route, he is suspicious of Danny having this knowledge knowing himself how hard it is to handle them.) (Etc.) He is blunter at questioning but also doesn't straightforwardly ask how he learned it. Danny knows better than to talk about Amity and Damian can tell he's hiding something.
Tim meanwhile is determined. Maybe a little awed. (Dick Grayson was his hero as a child. He knows something is up, and thinks it ironic he might figure out someone's deal for the same weird reason twice.)(Or; he's handled attacking wild animals many times and definitely empathizes.) (Etc.) He finds Daniel Fenton - "Danny" is said with a cringe that Tim totally understands seeing as he has to go by Timmy so often for the Wayne bullshittery - to be an absolute mystery.
It's nice to have a low-stakes puzzle that is more about something cool than the things they find on patrol that usually end up with people dead. He would say he shouldn't assume that now either, but Danny is just too genuinely kind - kind, not necessarily nice. There was a difference. Danny was obviously kind to the core, but also had sass levels that could clear an entire room of anyone neurotypical. A skill that Tim absolutely admired and coveted. He couldn't wait to see what went down at the Wayne Party because of it and fully intended to stick to Danny's side even tighter than his plus-one just to revel in the chaos.
Danny gets the feeling he broke multiple social codes but the Waynes seemed to like him and also seemed sincere when Timmy and Damian said they looked forward to meeting him and whoever escorts him at the party. (Wait, was he expected to bring a friend? Was it social taboo not to?? Sam was the default since she knew these kinds of social traps, but she hated these kinds of things. Maybe Valerie would be down, she knew some since she used to go to Paulina's and Danny thinks she missed it. Or Dora, she loved any kind of party, though she also had a habit of getting things set on fire - though it usually wasn't her fault, fire just liked her.)
