Gotham's Haunted (by a Little Shit)
The theater had once been majestic, there was no doubt of that.
Even if its walls collapsed every now and then, even if the rotten floors seemed to want to swallow you whole like time has done with the place, even if the stairs made noise with non-existent steps, and the rats and vandals had left their mark there like the actors from past years.
You could see it in the way the stage stood, almost untouched by decadence, as if haunted by glory days.
You could hear it in the rumours surrounding it.
All the vigilantes of the city saw and heard, though, was that there was a seemingly abandoned building with lots of space and suspicious noise coming at suspicious hours.
And with their work, they had to deal with it as if a crime was already in place, or about to.
It's the paranoia that kept them alive for so long, or at least that's what Bruce said.
So, one night, a couple of them went to investigate.
All was normal- for an old, abandoned building, that is.
And then they heard it.
"Excuse me, do you know when the next play is?"
Nightwing was closer, so he reacted first, turning to the voice. There, sitting in one of the old seats, was a dark haired teen, who shielded his eyes from the light Nightwing shone his way.
"Calm down, dude, I'm just messing with you."
Nightwing debated for a moment if he should get closer -nothing was safe in this city, much less in his line of work- but ultimately decided to do it, nodding to one of his brothers to come too. Just in case.
"Well, you surprised me," said the vigilante. "Didn't expect to find someone just appreciating the view..."
"Yeah, no shit, me neither. Of course the night I come here you guys crash too.."
"So, what are you doing here, kid?"
Bold of Red Robin to call him that, seeing how the boy seemed around his age.
"A dare. My friends and I heard this place was haunted, and they thought I should check it out."
"Wow.. what kinda friends do you have?"
"Seen anything interesting yet?"
The boy shrugged, blue eyes -don't let Bruce find him- glued to the front as if he was actually watching a play unfold before them.
"A pair of rats fighting here, a couple masked boys there," he smirked. "More than I expected, really."
"I take it you don't believe in ghosts?"
A chuckle came from their new friend then, as if he had heard an old joke, echoing through the whole damn building. He finally looked at them.
"I don't really have another choice..."
And he faded away.
-
"Bruce? Bruce, uh, there's a-"
"Meta," Tim said before Dick could finish that sentence. "We just found and lost a meta..."
"Yeah, what Red Robin just said."
"How do you lose a meta so fast?" Jason commented, having gotten there while they were trying to process the strange interaction.
"You forget to cherish him!"
"...The fuck-"
-
Duke was watching the footage of the other guys' "spooky" adventure, when he got a new message, just as the echo-y last phrase was heard. Then another. And another one.
They hadn't stopped sending him "we cherish you" texts since the meta suggested.
And really, it felt nice, but he didn't know if he wanted to thank the boy or throw his phone at him. He'll figure it out when they find him.