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too-much-tma-stuff · 2 months

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Finally Getting Help (prt 7)

Masterpost

Danny was very happy to be dragged around by Damian being introduced to all of his pets, first outside to the barn to meet Bat Cow and his ducks, and the giant weird dragon creature which was so cute!! It was all over Danny too, obviously liked him. Danny had a feeling if he woke up from nightmares or couldn’t sleep he would end up finding his way back to the barn to cuddle up with these animals. At this time of year it would probably be a bit cold and night but the cold never really bothered him and Goliath was warm.

Then back into the house to meet all of the pets, the dogs, and snakes, and Alfred the cat, and finally a second cat and her kittens.

“This one is just a foster,” Damian said, sitting on the bed with his legs crossed in a half lotus as Danny sat on the floor next to the box the mama cat was in with her four little ones. Danny felt like he might cry, it was so cute! The mama was a little wary of him but he was easing her way into her trust and good graces.

“Mhm?” Danny sounded, he was listening but he was scared to move since the mama cat was sniffling his fingers.

“I found her while she was heavily pregnant, feral cats usually have kittens in spring, at this time of year they would have been too vulnerable outside. I’ll rehome them when they’re old enough,” Damian explained. “I was glad I got her to trust me enough that I could be present and make sure nothing went wrong while she had the babies.”

Danny held his breath as he tried to pet the cat. The quiet stretching between them until he felt ready to talk without scaring the cat. “Am I your next pregnant stray,” Danny joked.

Damian gave him a guarded look over. “... I have been told humans don’t like being compared to animals,” He said bluntly, and Danny laughed.

“Ya most don’t. But you take very good care of your animals, when you’re making this comparison, I’m guessing what you’re trying to say is that you’ll do what you can do be here for me and make sure I have what I need for me and the babies to be healthy and safe?” Danny said, giving Damian a fond smile.

“Yes,” Damian said stiffly. This was why he usually preferred animals, they could read his intentions and didn’t require him to say such embarrassingly vulnerable things. At least Danny was saying them for him so he just had to agree.

Danny finished petting the cat and moved to sit next to Damian on the bed. “It’s okay Damian, I really appreciate that. I know handling these emotions can be hard, they feel too big for our bodies and they’re hard to express. I’ll let you in on a secret though, they’re more easy to express physically, and I’m not made of glass just because I’m pregnant. We should spar later.”

“Are you formally trained?” Damian asked stiffly.

“My mother was an expert martial artist and she taught me, but I’m very strong too. I promise you won’t hurt me Damian,” He promised, bumping his shoulder against the kid’s and giving him a smile.

“Alright, I will go easy on you.” Damian promised, just as stiffly.

“Until I prove you can’t afford to,” Danny joked and Damian scoffed and shoved Danny’s shoulder. “But really, thank you Damian. It means a lot that you and your family are willing to stick your necks out for me like this.” He sighed, if he didn’t know better he might have wished his parents had been the ones to protect and support him like this, but wishes were dangerous things.

“This family is made entirely of strays, tragedy is a prerequisite. You’ll fit right in,” Damian promised before getting up from the bed, apparently that was enough emotion. “Do you want to train now?” he asked looking back at Danny.

“Sure, I assume this being the home of the bats and birds there’s some sort of training space?” Danny asked getting up from the bed.

“Yes. This way,” Damian agreed and trotted out of the room with Danny on his heels, making sure to close the door behind him so none of the kittens could wander out.

--------

Jason took off his helmet and dropped it on the couch with a sigh of relief before wandering back into the kitchen to grab a drink. So what if he was technically still too young for it? He’d done a lot worse just in the last 24 hours then half a glass of scotch. He had been off grid for a couple of days on a mission and had just gotten home. He was exhausted and half of him wanted to have his drink and go to bed, leaving his phone off for another day so he could get a proper rest.

But he had responsibilities, both to his gang, his turf, and more recently even to his family, so he turned it back on and grimaced when more than a dozen notifications popped up in a row. Damn, something big must have happened while he was gone. Why could there never be just a quiet day around here?!

He opened the most recent message from Bruce that just said; ‘can you call me when you have the chance?’ which made him sigh. But at the same time, it wasn’t urgent, it was ‘when he had a chance’ not immediately or anger about him not answering sooner. So knowing that he scrolled back down to the oldest message so he could get a feel of what was going on.

Cas, 28 hours ago: New brother! 🤗

Oh, well that was a very good start to the context, it seemed that Bruce was in the process of adopting some other poor schmuck. Well, hopefully they’d do better by it then Jason had. And explained why Bruce wanted him to call, he always worried now how Jason would react to new siblings, as if he wasn’t well over that. He’d only been mad about Tim at first but he wasn’t even Really mad at Tim anymore! Ya he felt the urge to attack him regularly, but only the same way Jason did with everyone else in the family now.

Tim 22 hours ago: I’ve got a favour to ask, or maybe a tip for you depending on how much you want to kill someone right now. Vlad Masters brought a pregnant 16 year old to the gala last night. Apparently he’s the baby daddy.

Oh that had Jason seeing green, his lips pulling back in a silent snarl. That man was good as dead, especially when Jason paused to google him and saw someone who must have been old enough to be the kids Father, if not even grandfather judging by the gray hair!

Tim 19 hours ago: Don’t rush in! Turns out he’s got superpowers of the magical variety. You’re going to have to prepare for this one, and talk to Danny.

Danny must be the new kid then, the pregnant 16 year old Bruce was no doubt making quick steps to at least foster. Where were the kid’s parents in this?

Tana 16 hours ago: Please make sure your wards are set up and you have that anti-possession charm we gave you. There is a situation still developing.

Huh, well, good to know both that she was involved and what sort of powers they might be dealing with.

Tim 8 hours ago: We have the parents in custody but didn’t have the resources to hold Masters. Danny and his sister are staying at the manor for now. You’ll like her, tough-as-nails red head.

Jason rolled his eyes, he dated one amazon and now everyone thinks the only people he’s into are tough ladies! He likes tough boys too god damn it! Why doesn’t no one get after Dickie about this?! (He knows they do.)

The last text from the family before Bruce’s was one from Damian, which was rare.

Damian: Hello Todd, you should know before you meet him that Danny has also previously died and come back. I believe you and he are quite similar and I do not know if that will mean you get along well or if you will repel one another. You should know that if you hurt him there will be consequences.

Well wasn’t that just the cutest! Demon brat didn’t usually get attached to new people so soon.

He texted Bruce back: No I will Not call you. But I can be bribed to come for dinner tomorrow if Alfred makes lasagna.

He checked the messages he had from his lieutenants about business and replied to the ones that needed it. Then the ones from his friends. He was just about to turn his phone off again when he got a text back from Bruce.

Bruce: Done, we’ll see you tomorrow. I’m sorry Jay.

Well that was ominous. Jason sighed and turned off his phone, setting it down on the coffee table and heading to bed. He needed to fucking sleep. Whatever the hell Bruce was sorry for could wait until tomorrow.

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Bruce had asked Jasmine for a copy of her slideshow, and Tim for a copy of his notes and updated the files on Danny, Jasmin, Damian, and Jason. He always felt a bit odd about the files he had on his own children, but they were important! Both because his memory wasn’t infallible and he needed to remember all this, and because if he needed to tell someone about his children quickly it was good to have all that already typed out and ready.

Not he was just sitting at the Bat-Computer, staring at the cover picture of the slide show. All of them were so young, and all dead or irrevocably changed by the actions of adults around them. His goal, all their goals, had always been to make a safer world for children, and everyone but especially children. And every time he was confronted with the abject failure to protect a child it tore at his heart. If he found who had blocked them from contacting the JL he was going to have very strong words with them.

“You can’t save every child Master Bruce,” Alfred said making Bruce jump. He must have been staring at the computer for longer then he realized, to not notice the butler’s approach. “There are billions of people on the planet, you cannot catch every single one, especially the clever ones who hide it well. They’re responsible for the harm they cause, not you for not being able to stop it.”

They’d had this conversation before when Bruce got too hanged up on the people he’d failed. He knew that wallowing didn’t do any good, and depression got in the way of action, but he couldn’t always help it. As hyper-logical as he tried to be to compensate, he was still human, and seeing these things would always hurt.

“It’s not just Danny and Jazz,” Bruce said, rubbing his face. “It’s Jason too, I’m trying to figure out how… how what Jazz said about liminals and ghost changes how I feel about him. She says they can look like their immoral but it’s always amoral, following their obsession. I feel like I failed him that this is how he came back. And I blamed him so much, and put him down so much. She said their obsessions have to be supported, if they don’t indulge in their obsessions they die.

“No wonder he’s reacted so negatively every time I talked to him about this revenge quest, this thing that he’s doing. Now that I know I wonder if we can compromise, if we can’t then what? I don’t know if I can blame him at all for what he’s doing, but I know what he’s doing is wrong. I don’t know what to do Alfred.” Bruce said, rubbing his face hard.

“Well, it sounds to me you’re putting the cart before the horse Master Bruce. You haven’t even spoken to him about it yet, and you haven’t slept in more than 24 hours. Sleep, then talk to him, then you’ll know how worried to actually be,” Alfred advised.

“You’re right, as usual,” Bruce chuckled and got up, shutting down the bat computer. “What would I do without you,” He chuckled, patting Alfred’s shoulder affectionately.

“I’m sure you’d be just fine,” Alfred said, in a tone that made it clear he was just being polite and a playful twinkle in his eyes that made Bruce laugh.

“Thank you Alfie. Let’s all get some rest.”

#alfred pennyworth #bruce wayne #danny phantom #jasmine fenton #dc x dp #fanfiction #finally getting help au #trans!danny #Danny is pregnant #damian wayne #casandra cain #implied sa #the fentons are bad parents #jason todd #eventual dead on main

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medusas-graveyard · 7 months

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Projecting to Danny (again)

Touch starved/Clingy Danny :((( Danny doesn't really see Jack & Maddie a lot growing up, even though they would sometimes coddle over him, it just... didn't satiate his hunger for more physical affection. Jazz helped a lot, of course. But there's only so much time between their schedules and personal lives.

Cue: the Waynes.

At first it was just Bruce; where he sat down beside him in the large couch on one of many movie nights the Waynes would attend (this was his first!) And frankly, he did not know what happened. One moment he was leaning towards the older man's broad shoulders, Bruce's hand gently scratching and petting his scalp. The next moment he's already laying with his head on the man's lap, half asleep.

He vaguely remembers the hushed whispers and cooing latch on to his hearing, yet done nothing. Continue: his siblings; one by one would unconsciously give him some physical affection— ranging from Dick's cuddling to Damian's hand holding as a reassurance.

It's...nice.

#danny phantom #dp x dc #batfam #danny fenton #dp x dc crossover #dp x dc prompt #dpxdc #dpxdc prompts #dc x dp #dc x dp prompt #to be honest with you i don't know where to go with this so take it as a grain of salt lmao

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elizabethemerald · 1 year

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Summoning the Cat: Part 2

Danny and Selina reunite in the Batcave, despite Bruce’s wishes to the contrary. A very anxious Jazz accompanies him.

Despite Jason and Dick insisting that Danny was safe in the Batplane with them, Selina still couldn’t force herself to relax. She paced the cave for a few more hours while they flew back across the country to Gotham. When Alfred came down into the cave to prep the medical bay she joined him, more for something to do with her hands than because she actually knew all that much about medicine. To her endless annoyance Bruce followed her around as if she was suddenly going to go off and start killing people. No wonder Jason couldn’t stand to be near the Big Bad Bat anymore.

Tim and Damian had both come back down to the cave at some point to check in before they left for Wayne Industries and school respectively. Cass and Steph were again sleeping together on the couch in the bat cave. Except rather than cutely cuddled together, Stephanie was fully sprawled across the couch, face down and drooling into the fabric. Cassandra was sleeping on top of her girlfriend like one of Selina’s cats. It really was too bad Bruce found her first, she would have made an excellent cat burglar under Selina’s tutelage.

The distant roar of a jet engine once again startled the two girls awake. Steph tried to flail Cass off who just ended up perched on the back of the couch, again looking uncannily like a cat while Steph ended up in an undignified puddle on the ground. The Batplane slowly taxied into the cave before it came to rest, the metal groaning and popping as it settled.

Selina waited impatiently for the ramp to descend, eager for her first glimpse of her son again. Finally she could see him, tiredly leaning on the red headed girl who must be his adopted sister. They had a shared blanket wrapped around both of their shoulders and would have stumbled down the ramp had Jason, still in his Red Hood helmet not steadied them.

She took a step to run forward to embrace her son, but hesitated. She didn’t give a shit about Bruce’s overabundance of caution. What held her back was the look of fear on the girl’s face. She was pale and had deep dark circles under her eyes, and her hair was starting to grow wild and frizzy as if she hadn’t been taking proper care of it and had been running her fingers through for the past several hours. More than anything she looked like she was on the edge of a panic attack. She kept glancing around, her eyes tracking Bruce and the girls. Stopping on Selina before quickly glancing away. Trying to find the exit of the cave and cataloging weapons and threats.

Instead of dashing forward like she wanted, she took a simple step forward, drawing both of the kids’ eyes to her. She gave them both a wide smile, and opened up her arms and posture a little. She did everything she could to make herself see like she wasn’t a threat, that the children were welcome.

“Hello again Danny.” Selina gave her son a warm look before turning to the girl. “And you must be his sister. My name is Selina Kyle. I believe I’m Danny’s birth mother.”

Danny gave her a tired smile in return, obviously despite sleeping on the plane he still had a lot of sleep he needed to catch up on. He pulled away from his sister’s lingering hand and after a moment of hesitation stepped into Selina’s welcoming embrace. He held her gently at first, like he wasn’t certain he should or that he was afraid she would disappear, then he gave her a proper squeeze, and she tried to hug him back with just as much strength. He leaned back from her to look at her face, seemingly examining her just as she had done to him, trying to find the similarities between the two of them.

“H-hi, Mrs. Kyle. I feel- I can feel you. That we have a connection. I can feel that we’re family.” He seemed to be puzzling out what he was thinking as he was speaking, and Selina realized it was all probably just as new for him as it was for her. Then he seemed to shake himself and gestured back toward his sister. “This is my sister, Jazz! She’s the one who's taken care of me up to this point.”

Selina turned to Jazz and gave her the same warm smile she had given her son. She opened her arms to allow the girl to choose whether she wanted a hug or not. Even more hesitantly than before, Jazz stepped into the hug. Selina could feel the girl flinch in her arms, so she kept her hug gentle, and allowed her to pull back when she seemed to have enough, though Selina kept her arms on the girl’s shoulders.

“Thank you so much for taking care of my son for so long. Thank you for keeping him safe until I could find him again.” Selina said softly, her words only for Jazz. Despite her soft tone the girl still flinched slightly, but managed to plaster on a pleasant looking smile.

“Of course Mrs. Kyle. I’m just glad that Danny is happy and safe. That’s all that’s important to me.”

“Please you two, both of you can call me Selina. And either way I’m not married.” She turned to shoot a coy look at Bruce, but instead sneered when she saw his stern, disapproving look. Honestly, what was he expecting to accomplish with a look like that? It wasn’t like he constantly disapproved of her every action or anything. The looks lost their impact long ago.

“Catwoman.” Bruce growled, taking her look as permission to approach. He was still wearing his silly little cowl. “Perhaps, to confirm your parentage, we can perform a blood test to see if you and the boy match?”

Selina was about to make another dismissive comment about his paranoia, when both of the kids reacted. Danny flinched back violently while Jazz stepped fully in front of her brother. Both of them looked like they were on the edge of fleeing for their lives. Certainly Batman growling and stalking closer were scary, but their reactions were far more than she had expected. She mentally played the conversation back and she realized what the problem was. The blood test. Plasmius had said Danny’s parents had experimented on him. She would not allow Bruce to make the children’s first experience in Gotham to be him throwing their trauma back in their face. She immediately steps in between Jazz and Bruce, facing the Bat.

“Get out of the way Catwoman.” Bruce growled, reaching beneath his cape for some piece of equipment from his belt. “You’re behaving irrationally. They are controlling you.”

She could hear the kids behind her breathing faster and faster. They were moments away from either a panic attack or sprinting out of the cave. She didn’t want to try and find two ghostly kids in Gotham if they did run, especially not with the Bat also searching for them. Bruce takes another step into her space, his arm is moving to bring up whatever bat themed weapon he’s about to use against her to try and subdue her and her children and she reacts on instinct.

The first slap across his face, while surprising, didn't do much more than sting. The following knee to the ribs she gave him was enough to force him back a step. Before she could follow up another fist came from the sidelines and knocked Bruce straight to the ground. Red Hood stood over the bat glaring down at him.

“Stay down old man.” Hood’s heavily modulated voice echoed around the cave. “You’re scaring the kids.”

Selina stepped back to comfort the two kids who still looked like they were a moment away from pulling a disappearing act. Jazz was still protectively standing in front of Danny who looked like he had started dissociating. Steph and Cass were both glaring at Bruce and Dick had pulled his escrima. Jason’s chest was rising and falling quickly as he tried to control his anger before he tried to kill Bruce. And the man himself looked up from the floor at all of them.

“Don’t ever threaten my kids again.” Selina snarled at Bruce and began to usher the children away.

“I’ll drive you and the kids to your penthouse, Selina.” Jason said, finally overcoming his anger enough to speak, though his posture was still tense as he led them out of the cave.

It felt like only a few seconds had passed before Selina was unlocking the front door of her penthouse condominium to let the kids in. Jason left them at the front door saying he needed to blow off some steam, by which he probably meant blow something up. Jazz alternated between trying to protectively shelter her brother and anxiously worrying her hands. Danny had finally come back to himself a little and was looking around the rooms with an awed look on his face.

Selina was only half way into her tour when there was a knock at her front door. Jazz again tensed, but Selina knew that if the Bat wanted to come for her he wouldn’t come by the front door. And sure enough at the door was Cass, Steph and Dick, all now in the civies. Cass had Selina’s catsuit and the icy armor Danny had made for her in her hands. Steph had a couple of bags of groceries containing what looked like an entire snack aisle and Dick had several sodas and a small cake.

“We wanted to throw a small welcome party!” Steph said with a smile while her girlfriend leaned over her shoulder. Cass also had a small smile on her face as she looked curiously at the kids.

“Sorry about Bruce. I’ve had my share of fights with him. Either he’ll come around eventually or Alfred will order him not to engage with any of you.” Dick explained as Selina welcomed them into her home. “And Steph is right! Welcome home Alan- I mean Danny!”

Selina smiled at the mischievous trio. She was certain that Damian, Barbara and Timothy would be by later to welcome the new family members. And Jason once he was done blowing up warehouses belonging to Black Mask or Penguin. Even Jazz and Danny seemed to relax and look happier at the welcome wagon that had just rolled up. It was good to have her kids home.

#dp x dc #Danny Phantom #selina kyle #batman #bruce wayne #jazz fenton #dick grayson #Jason Todd #writing emerald

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stormikitty · 1 year

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Paulina: Danny can be bribed with cuddles, but he won't actually admit it. It's how I got him to bingewatch Jem and the Holograms with me, as well as several other shows.

Someone, probably a new sibling, friend, or teammate: Hey Danny! If I cuddle you, will you admit, on video, that you can be bribed with cuddles?

Danny, head down and avoiding eye contact: ...yeah...

Paulina: Well I guess I was wrong...

Or: Danny is touch starved af and the people who he trusts can easily use this to bribe him. His new team/family finds out about this.

Possible thing to make this Dead Serious (ignore this if you'd rather have this be a found family thing without shipping or with sibling relationships instead):

Damian is a couple feet away when that conversation happens. He is silent, but he is worried about how easily one of his newest teammates can be manipulated based on what he has just learned. He also kinda wants to give Danny lots of hugs and cuddles and let him know that he doesn't owe him or anyone else anything for it, but he's bad with feelings and expressing emotions and much like Danny, can't ask for a hug. (Danny would debatabley have an even harder time than Dami asking for a hug.)

They are not together yet, and neither have any idea the other likes them back. They're both just figuring out how they feel for themselves at this point.

#someone #Depending on who Danny is with in this #I can see the who bribes him into admiting he can be bribed with cuddles being Steph but t #but that depends on what y'all wanna do with it #danny phantom #dc #dp x dc #dc comics #batfam #damian wayne #stephanie brown #danny fenton #touch starved #danny fenton is touch starved #danny can be bribed with cuddles #but only by people he trusts #dead serious #dead serious ship #danny x damian

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sp1cy-t0ss · 8 months

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Astrobleme

Antares is officially a series! This one is pure fluff.

Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49804744

‘Cuddling,’ Damian muses, is a more nuanced activity than he had thought as a child. There are a staggering variety of ways to do it, but he has found his favorite.

People are often clingy when they hug, squeezing even if they try to rein in the impulse. It could be tolerated, even enjoyed, from anyone allowed to survive the attempt, but sudden restriction of his movements and tight pressure could still bring a vague sense of unease if he wasn’t prepared.

Danny, as in most things, is different. He is more than content to nestle into Damian’s arms like he has always belonged there, simply soaking in the affection as though there’s no safer place in the world.

At the moment Danny is curled up against him, head on his shoulder as they lay on the ground somewhere in Midwestern America to stargaze. It’s not something Damian ever thought of doing in the past, but his companion makes all the difference.

Danny speaks of space with wide-eyed passion, rambling excitedly about the properties of each planet, achievements in exploration, and how this sky’s constellations vary from those in his own dimension. It’s hard to keep up at times, but his enthusiasm is infectious and endearing. It’s impossible to watch Danny’s eyes light up and not share in his wonder.

Damian’s favorite part of stargazing, however, is the stories. The night sky is a tapestry of myths and legends, and Danny seems to know them all by heart. He weaves their tales with a softer, almost reverent tone, eyes on the sky throughout. On those nights, he can hypnotize for hours.

“Antares, can I ask you something?” Danny’s gaze is fixed on the sky, as it has been for two hours now, but a subtle tension in his face betrays his nerves.

“Of course.”

Danny steels himself with a deep breath. “Iwantyoutobiteme.”

The words come out more like a bullet than a sentence, and are just as unexpected. Surely Damian heard wrong. Surely.

“What?”

Danny looks away, clearly mortified. “That’s my question. If you would...bite me. I swear I can explain.”

The mental image is admittedly captivating. Very captivating. He would make the most beautiful sounds...damn it, focus! Careful to let none of these idiotic thoughts show, Damian allows himself a raised eyebrow. “I did hear you correctly then. Why?”

Danny rolls over on his side to look at him.

“You know how I spent a few months in the Realms before I came here?” At Damian’s nod, he continues. “Well, um. I learned ghosts have a thing about scars. They’re memories, you know? We only get scars when there’s a lot of emotion involved.” He drags a hand down his face and groans. “You already know that, why am I telling you?”

He did. It was why his Beloved still bore faint burns from his so-called parents’ weapons.

“You may tell me again, if it will help,” Damian says patiently as he places a careful hand on Danny’s cheek. Danny does much of his on-the-fly thinking out loud, and this is clearly important to him.

Danny gives him a grateful look and relaxes into the touch. He takes a fortifying breath. “Right, right. Memories. And, well, most of those suck. Obviously. So ghosts will mark their best friends, their families, and…partners. Like tattoos, I guess. And...I want one from you. A memory that doesn’t hurt.”

Damian’s eyes widen in shock. They both enjoy the occasional teasing nip, but deliberate scarification is miles beyond that. The idea of irreversibly marking his Beloved, of injuring him to do so, is antithetical. He can’t.

And yet…an indisputable claim. A symbol of their bond that nothing could take away. His more possessive instincts virtually sing at the idea.

He needs more information. “...And a human can do this?”

Danny nods. “You’re liminal enough that it should work. But you wouldn’t be able to channel ectoplasm through a weapon like most ghosts do. You’d have to…bite. Maybe scratch, that might work.”

“I didn’t get to do it with my fraid before I left,” he admits. “We didn’t know about the…ritual, Dad calls it. Even if we had, everything happened so suddenly and...” Danny wilts at the unspoken memories.

“Are you certain you want my mark? It would be permanent,” Damian cautions. His Beloved can be so impulsive, after all.

“I know. I’ve thought about it for months, ever since our anniversary, and…even if Clockwork is wrong about us, even if we break up tomorrow…” Danny briefly looks pained, but he shakes it off with burning eyes. “I want to remember this.”

Damian suppresses a shiver at his conviction. The question is, does he want this? It seems a drastic act less than two years into a relationship. His rational mind wants to hesitate.

But…

A vigilante’s life is one of constant danger. Any ordinary day might tear him away from his family, his friends, this ridiculous boy who has stolen his heart. Even if he never falls in battle, Damian is only human, only mortal. His love, with any luck, will live for centuries or more.

The odds of becoming a ghost upon death are high in his circumstances, but there is no guarantee.

The pure hope shining in Danny’s eyes makes the decision for him. He cannot leave him behind. “So do I,” he finally says. “How will we do this?”

Damian is rewarded with a smile that could end wars. He can’t help but return it.

Danny sits up on his knees and braces himself with his arms, practically vibrating with anticipation. “It’s pretty simple. Dad says you just make the mark, and I…concentrate on you. How I feel.” He mumbles the last bit, embarrassed. “It’ll take a bit for the mark to settle though, so I’ll be out of it for a few minutes. Just let me come back on my own.”

Damian nods his understanding. “And where do you want it?”

“My wrist,” Danny says with no hesitation. “I want to see it all the time. ” Oh, it isn’t fair what those words do to him. Danny knows it too, if the glint in his eyes means anything. He transforms with a grin, but it fades in favor of a blush as he presents his upturned wrist.

Struck by inspiration, Damian drops to one knee as if proposing and lifts the offered wrist to his lips. Danny lets out an embarrassed meep at the gesture, as planned, but Damian isn’t done. A moment like this requires an appropriate vow.

“My eternity is yours, my love.” With that, he presses a gentle kiss against Danny’s pulse point, and bites down.

Cool flesh easily parts under his teeth, and he drags thick lines lengthwise another inch or so up Danny’s arm. The electric, almost citric flavor of ectoplasm fills his mouth. It tastes…good, contrary to his expectations, and he swallows the liquid on impulse before withdrawing.

For the finishing touch, Damian uses a fingernail to carve a thinner line back across the same skin in a simple, elegant flourish. It won’t do to have an identifiably human bite mark carry over to Danny’s human form, so an obscuring element will help disguise its origin. Perhaps more importantly, he has a point to make. After all, his Dove deserves only the best.

When the mark is complete, Danny gasps. He stares forward with eyes wholly consumed by green light, unresponsive. as though in a trance. A rumble of love-mine-excited-happy-LOVE radiates from him with startling strength, far beyond the rare faint impressions Damian is accustomed to from his Beloved. The ritual itself is all but forgotten as he basks in the emotions.

A ghost’s ability to project and sense emotions seemed like a glaring weakness at first. An aura cannot lie, and thus is a double-edged sword. Damian held that opinion, at least until an otherwise typical date nearly brought him to his knees when he sensed Danny’s emotions.

Feeling his new partner’s contentment, security, and honest affection toward him was… humbling. Addictive.

(He’s certain it always will be.)

After nearly ten minutes, Danny’s eyes dim and he blinks dazedly at his bleeding wrist. Tears prick at the corners of his eyes, expression euphoric as he admires the wound. Though the scene is odd, knowing that he brought his partner this happiness brings Damian a rush of pride and warmth.

“Did it work?” he asks.

Danny faces him, his smile definitely beyond human limits now. “Yeah! See?” He shoves his wrist into Damian’s face once more.

Indeed, the wound looks as though it’s been healed for weeks. Raised lines stand out proudly from Danny’s skin with a faint silvery sheen. The only oddity is how wide the scar still is, as if something prevented normal human flesh from properly knitting together.

“Beautiful,” Damian hears himself whisper as he trails a finger down the marks. And they really are; his signature, right there for all to see on this most precious of things. The knowledge sits like embers in his chest, crackling with satisfaction.

Danny preens at the comment, and Damian realizes he can still feel the echoes of love-proud-mine from his Beloved. Perhaps it’s an effect of the scarification process.

Eventually Danny clears his throat. “Normally we’d both get one. But I know you can’t have identifying things like big scars, so I got you something instead.”

He reaches into his chest cavity and pulls out a black ribbon, carefully placing it in Damian’s hand. Closer inspection reveals the ribbon to be a silk choker, deep black and inlaid with gems that sparkle like nothing Damian has ever seen, in the exact green of Danny’s eyes. Deeper green thread connects the gems in a familiar shape: the Scorpius constellation.

“Crystallized ectoplasm,” Danny explains. “I made them from my own ‘plasm, so they have my ectosignature. Humans won’t know what it means, but ghosts and liminals will.” He gives a proud grin.

While Damian processes that, however, nerves rapidly encroach on Danny’s enthusiasm. His smile falls. “You don’t have to! I brought normal emeralds if that’s creepy! Unless–”

Damian hooks the choker into place, cutting off Danny’s fretting. The ribbon is exquisitely soft, flush against his neck without pressing into it. No one would be able to grab it in a fight, and the silk glides comfortingly across his skin as he turns his head. With a little focus, he can feel a faint chill from the gems.

It feels like home.

Damian finds himself fighting back watery eyes before speaking. A roughness in his voice still betrays him.

“I will treasure it. Thank you, Dove.”

Danny still makes no attempt to hide his own tears, pressing his forehead to Damian’s and wrapping him in a hug. It’s tight this time, but eagerly reciprocated.

“Thanks, Daylight. I love you so much.” The words are mumbled into his neck, and he meets them with a silent kiss to the half-ghost’s forehead. As their embrace loosens, Damian feels his Beloved slump against him. It seems the ritual is taxing on ghosts, and he feels himself flagging slightly as well. Carefully, he sets Danny on the ground and settles into a spooning position. It’s a warm spring night and there’s not a soul around for miles; they can rest here for a while.

It’s not surprising when Danny starts purring. He tends to lose control of the function while dozing – one of his many endearing quirks.

What startles them both into waking is the other purr that sounds out to answer it.

The boys bolt upright, cutting off the quiet rumble in Damian’s throat. Neither says anything for a long moment. Then Damian sighs. “We have to tell your father, don’t we.” It’s not a question. Gods only know what this means in terms of his growing liminality, no matter the cause.

Danny falls backward again with a groan. At the same time, his aura flares with abject mortification. “Oh Ancients, we have to tell him you bit me.”

“How dreadful,” Damian snarks. “I’m the one with five siblings that already call me a vampire.”

Danny laughs. “Good point– You’re totally screwed. Remind me to stock up on garlic, bee-tee-dubs.”

Damian glares without heat. “You’re the worst, Winters.”

“Oh yeah? Do you vant to suck my bluud about it?” Danny taunts, wiggling his fingers and hissing for effect.

A deep, theatrical sigh. “Pennyworth must cease feeding you after midnight.”

From there they settle into familiar bickering, but most of Damian’s mind is on other things. Tonight was a milestone, marking a stronger bond between them, yet it also feels like nothing has changed. He can’t bring himself to fear the future like Danny does, fully convinced they will be together forever. One day Danny will truly believe their happiness will last. Perhaps not someday soon, but Damian can wait.

He touches the ribbon around his neck, feeling pure devotion radiate from the glittering gems, and smiles.

After all, we have eternity.

#dpxdc #dcxdp #dead serious #Damian Wayne #Antares #Spice posts #writing #dp x dc #my fic

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im-totally-not-an-alien-2 · 2 years

Text

Okay but you know the perfect trope for Danny and Damian is basically them being like nebula and gamora from marvel.

-Danny shows up in Gotham and Damian’s like a territorial cat even though Danny is basically just checking on him

-older sibling who’s better at fighting but hates their father(grandfather) and ran away(Danny)

-younger sibling who strives to be the best and has anger issues(Damian)

-give me the rivalry but a Danny who could care less-enemies to brothers au

Ok, so I need this now, this is great! Danny just casually talks to Alfred via intercom and is like. "Hey I'm hear to see my little brother" and no one is sure what to do, especially if Damian never mentioned a sibling.

Danny gets attacked by Damian but the big bro just cuffs him like a kitten and cuddles his growling brother. Damian might even bite him, who knows.

#submission #i love this op

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avelnfear · 11 months

Text

Chapter Ten

Masterlist

Damian wondered if it would be okay to give into the urge to tackle Danny for cuddles now. He’d held back during the entire plane trip back, and he had snuggled with his mother rather than Danny when he’d found where they’d been fighting. He’d spent way too long pretending that he didn’t know such an important person in his life, and it was getting hard, he could practically feel himself vibrating in place. Damian was staring at Danny as he tried to figure it out, even though he knew that he could be considered rude for doing so.

Nellie was curled into one side, so the other was open for snuggling and there was enough room on the couch. Finally after twelve centuries, it was only five minutes according to his internal clock, Danny noticed him staring and smiled an okay. Still, Damian waited until Nellie gave her consent too before diving at Danny.

There were gasps around the room, and Damian heard at least one person yell his most common nickname in the tone that said they thought he was about to hurt somebody. He ignored all of them in favor of finally, finally, curling up into Danny’s side, one arm reaching behind them to tangle his fingers with Nellie’s. Damian’s eyes slipped closed as he let out a noise of contentment, but he knew that there were shocked looks directed at him from almost every member of his family. It wasn’t his fault that acting like the well adjusted person he used to be would have doomed the world to ending, so he didn’t feel like the gazes were quite warranted.

“So. How about I start out with a brief backstory and then we can get into your questions?” Danny’s voice sent soft rumbles through Damian with how close he was to them. It made Damian let out another sound filled with how content he was to be right where he wanted to be.

“That would be acceptable.” Father’s voice was tense enough that Damian knew him being so close to someone Father considered an unknown probable threat wasn’t giving everyone else the same comfort it was giving him. Oh well.

Danny took in a deep breath, telling Damian which story they were going to tell before they even started. “This is not the first life we’ve lived together. At first, we didn’t really know each other. Tim and I were online friends who discussed superheroes, but we didn’t know each other irl, we didn’t want to. In those days Amity Park, my hometown, was a neighboring city to Gotham, only about an hour or so away. I was adopted at around the age of ten by the Fenton family, in that life at least. I met Jason about eight years later when a government agency picked up signs of contamination on both of us. They called us ghost scum even though the actual term coined by the species we were technically a part of is Existences. Jason and I had both died at least once, brought back at different times and in different ways, but it meant we showed up on their scanners.”

“They’re called the GIW and they’re nearly nonexistent.” Nellie sounded sleepy, but Damian refused to open his eyes to double check.

“Yes, I was getting to that, but thank you.” Danny was surely smiling at Elle, but Damian knew it would drop as soon as the story continued, this was a hard time to relive for all of them who were there and remember. “The GIW did horrible experiments on us with a secondary purpose of killing us eventually. One of the worst things they did was make us believe we were being rescued utilizing some sort of hallucinogen that would make us see and hear whatever we wanted to see and hear then pretending to break us out only to punish us for attempting to escape. It took too long for us to be found, so by the time a real breakout was actually happening-”

“Jason flinched at his own guns.” Damian interrupted, finally opening his eyes to stare at Jason as the memory of that day played in his head. “He only realized it was a real gun when he used it to save us from an agent who was sneaking up on us. The hope and fear that lit up his face at that moment will always stay with me. No one got mad at me when I started to use excessive force, mainly because they were too busy doing the same. By the time we realized Da and Pops were gone, we’d basically destroyed the entire base, leaving the crippled remnants of their agents behind.” Damian saw the horror in Jason’s eyes, and all it did was remind him of that fateful day.

Danny ran their fingers through his hair, and he let it relax him enough for his eye to drift closed, leaning into the point of contact. “We didn’t fully trust that it was actually real, so Jason and I ran to Clockwork and Frostbite, two Existences who live in the dimension all Existences can call home, the Infinite Realms. We stayed there for a couple months to a couple years, time is hard to judge around Clockwork. When we got back, we couldn’t be separated from each other for too long because that typically meant the next experiment would be absolutely awful. Jason and I lived that life to an end that was a long time coming, dying side by side in the same way we’d always lived. It was a good life. Jack and Maddie were good in that one, we managed to rescue Talia from the mind control and brainwashing she was under, and we lived a full life that was full of love and joy.”

“If only it could have lasted into the next.” Elle’s voice was so miserable that Damian scooted closer to Danny to tangle the fingers of their spare hands together, giving his precious ghoul as much comfort as he could.

“Elle is right, the next life was absolutely awful. Damian was never born because Talia died early, Tim died as a tiny child, almost everyone we knew and loved were dying left and right. A combination of having to personally see most of those deaths, Fear Toxin, Joker Venom, and being constantly dipped into the Lazarus Pit drove the Dick of that life to such insanity he eventually blew up the entire universe, forcefully making everyone in that universe move on. Jason and I remembered our first life for the entirety of our second, but I didn’t remember either life we’d lived until I reached what I think is eighteen years of mortal life and full maturity as an Existence. Existences don’t age or count maturity in the same way that mortals do, so Elle is technically my adult child even though she’s only about sixteen-ish in mortal years.”

Elle hummed. “Jack’s a piece of shit in this life though.”

Danny groaned playfully. “You’re so lucky that you can swear because you weren’t there when most of the town got soul cursed because of that stupid wish.”

“What, you gonna tell me I’m strawberry crepe grounded because you’re jealous I can say fuck?” Elle was probably smirking, if the teasing frame of voice was anything to go by. Damian just stayed floating in the void of black behind his eyes, letting the voices of his loved ones wash over him as the sense of peace rocked him to sleep so suddenly that he barely registered when it happened.

~`~`~

“I’ve never seen Demon Brat go to sleep like that before.” Jason’s voice was quiet and full of shock, managing to express himself while still making sure he didn’t wake his brother up.

“You mean you don’t remember him sleeping like this before, just like you don’t remember him ever calling you Pops before.” There was a slight smirk on Danny’s face that Jason saw in the corner of his eye as he kept staring at Damian, half expecting him to wake up because Danny hadn’t lowered their voice at all. “Don’t worry he won’t wake up.”

Dick shifted, drawing Jason’s attention to the stiff way he was sitting. “Why did he call you Da and Jason Pops?”

“Because that’s what I call them!” Nellie chirped.

Danny chuckled. “He married Nellie here in our first life, so we were his in-laws. Talia is his mother, Bruce is his father, Jason is his pops, I’m his da, and you, Dick, are his dad. He just didn’t have a chance to address you as such before falling asleep.”

“How does he remember? Is there a way that we could remember?” Tim sounded like he wanted to ask more, but Jason respected his ability to cut his questions off, staying silent because he didn’t think he could do the same.

“I think he made a deal with Clockwork to prevent the chaos of our second life, taking upon himself the burden of remembering for us. I don’t think he remembers the second, because I don’t know if he ever existed in the second. As for a way that you could remember… Jason will remember eventually, as soon as the Pit’s Influence finally leaves him behind. As for the rest of you… only if you become an Existence, of which there are many types. If you’re asking to see if you managed to solve your case before, you didn’t.” Danny looked so sad at the end there that Jason couldn’t help what blurted out of his mouth next.

“What happened to Tim with the twin case?”

Danny looked even closer to tears, and Jason felt like kicking himself at seeing that expression on their face. “He died.” Shock kept the room completely still and silent. “He didn’t share it, adding another massive project on top of his work in his civilian life and his vigilante life. The rest of you, not knowing what was bothering him and not wanting to push him too hard just tried to pick up the slack in a desperate attempt at giving him a break. It didn’t work. The more time he had off from his other obligations, the more he sunk into the twin case, but he never found anything.” The words poured out of Danny like a waterfall of agony, paralyzing everyone else in the room with the sheer depth and intensity of the feeling. “It.. It got to the point that we all tried to bench him, but he grabbed a spare suit and snuck out. On route to the Twin Case Safehouse, which is where I live now, he ran into the Joker, who killed him. We.” Danny paused, taking in a deep, fortifying breath that had Jason stiffening in fear for what would be said next. “We managed to keep Tim alive and back to the Cave. He was the right kind of personality and in the right kind of space to become an Existence after death, but he-” Tears started leaking from Danny’s eyes, as he broke off to do some calming breathing techniques. A minute of silence later, he picked the thread of the story back up again. “He said that he didn’t want to continue existing, that he didn’t deserve to, because he’d never finished his case. He said that the only solution he could come to is that his target was already dead and he refused to continue living in any way when they’d already passed into Limbo. He was the first to die.”

“Who else died to the Joker?” Bruce’s voice was quiet and fearful, yet steady, like he was horrified of the potential answers but needed to know regardless. Jason needed to know too, Danny had come home exhausted every time he’d been assigned to guard the clown. Jason needed to know how bad it was.

“Jason and I in our second life, Bruce, Tim, Dick, Duke, and Steph in our first life. He ordered the bomb set that killed Jazz, Tuck, Sam, and Jack in that first life as well. He was at least involved in the situations that killed most of you in the second life as well. He blinded Dick only a month before he killed him, so there’s that. He baited Scarecrow into the attack that killed Alfred. He tortured Jon into silence and a near coma, and he was at least part of a lot of the hero deaths that occurred in that first life, although most of those weren’t the most well known of heroes. Every time I see him, I refuse to give him any satisfaction, locking my emotions and feelings deep inside to present a blank mask to him all the while fighting back my natural instincts to kill him,” Danny’s face and voice were as dark as the topic, “To torture him and show him just what he put my family through in a life he no longer remembers, to show him what true fear really is, to make him the focus of every joke he once pulled, to-” Danny cut off when Damian stirred in his sleep, automatically brightening as he turned a little more towards Damian to pass their fingers through his hair again, muttering things that Jason couldn’t hear that caused Damian to sigh and relax back into sleep.

“We’re movin on from this topic. You guys can go discuss whatever ya want to in another room, but I’m gonna set this couch up inta the bed it can become and Ma, Damian, n I will be takin a nap. Don’t disturb us for your own safety, now shoo.” Nellie glared at them while flapping her hands until everyone had left and closed the door.

Jason was worried for Danny, that was a heavy topic and a heavy burden to carry. He was worried for Damian too, carrying the same weight for so long must have been exhausting. Talia was waiting for them in the sitting room that everyone settled into for the post questioning discussion. She took one look at their faces and gave them all an understanding smile.

“I remember everything too. Jason and Danny both needed a stand in to take the burden of remembering everything in order for this whole thing to work. Ask all your remaining questions to me, I’ll answer what I can.” At the disbelieving looks she received, she let out a short bark of laughter. “I swear on my loyalty to High King Phantom that I will not lie to any of you for this discussion.” The words sent a feeling of power through the room. “Believe me now?”

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#ttac(wygiaf)#Damian Wayne #Jason Todd #danny fenton #danielle fenton #Talia al Ghul #bruce wayne #Tim Drake #dick grayson #we finally got some backstory in #DeadOnMain #dcxdp #dpxdc #jason todd x danny fenton #i've been wanting to do a chapter or segment from damian's perspective for a while #it finally felt like it fit #Reincarnation AU #we get some insight into why danny hates the joker so much #i don't blame him #danny definitely glossed over a lot of important details #he didn't really want to answer questions about it #i mean #who tells your family that doesn't remember you like you remember them that you aren't fully alive and that you are a king of the afterlife #that isn't quite the casual news he was trying to make his life out to be #poor damian had to be touch starved of his own choice this life #because clockwork told him it would kill the world if done at incorrect times

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avelnfear · 9 months

Text

Chapter Twelve

Masterlist

When Jason arrived at Wayne Manor, the last place he’d thought to check, he knew that Danny was there. An invisible hand was wrapped around the source of the odd feelings and instincts in his chest, and it was gently tugging him towards the backyard. He followed it with a single minded focus, not even noticing when he gained a trail of the sibling still at the Manor. The question still burned within the orb that was wrapped in the hand, making it hard to focus on anything else.

The burning never seemed to ease or stop, at least it hadn’t for the hour or two it had taken him to find Danny. Every step felt like it took an eternity as it was weighed down with a weight so heavy he couldn’t find a comparison for it. Every breath was like one taken by someone on the brink of dying of thirst while in a desert, hot and raspy. He would have been worried that all of this was some odd sensation added to his usual fits with the Pit, but he could hear the Pit screaming at him to run away, trying to pull him away from the cold hand guiding his fire to the one person who could help.

The spiral of conflicting instincts fell quiet as he saw the scene he’d walked in on. Talia stood guard several feet away from where Danny, Nellie, and Damian were all curled up around one another. It brought an intense wave of belonging-happy-love-pride-mine-mine-mine crashing over him from that burning orb in his chest. It brought him up short and stole his breath in one smooth movement.

Jason stared at the scene before him, a boulder sinking through his stomach at the thought that he’d have to interrupt this even as a slicing wind seemed to demand that he join the cuddle pile. He took a step forward and Talia’s eyes snapped to his, carrying with them a knowledge-filled look that also seemed to be giving him permission. Like that was all he was waiting for, he stepped closer, stopping at some invisible barrier that he knew would be the point-of-no-return.

With a deep, fortifying breath, he stepped over the line, watching as Danny’s eyes snapped open and to his. Confusion was like a fog in front of them until it was washed away in understanding and a little bit of fear. Not a word was spoken, but the wind sang between them of the fact that nothing would ever be the same again. By the time he managed to tear his eyes from the magnetic pull of Danny's, the two others in the pile were awake and watching him with buried hope in their lives.

“You have a question.” Danny’s voice was soft and as quiet as ever yet there was something hard in it, like an ice that would never melt. It was clearly, to Jason at least, intended as a question that had failed to lift itself enough at the end.

A soft smile graced Jason’s lips, a smile that had been there since he saw the cuddle puddle earlier, and it didn’t fade as he said, “I do.”

Silence sat over the group for a few long minutes before Damian piped up with a sharp, “Are you going to ask it?”

The question was sharp, but Jason couldn’t shake the thought that it was only so sharp because of impatience. The sharpness was different from the usual brutal edge to Damian’s snark, it was more of a normal axe swing instead of the usual of an executioner's axe. Jason went to ask his own question when there was a flaring of fire from the orb.

“I- I don’t-” Jason broke off with a jagged sigh as he raked his hand through his hair. This should not be this hard.

Danny tilted his head. “You aren’t ready. Rest first. Question later.” That seemed to be all the talking energy Danny had for the day as he immediately laid back down, prompting Damian and Nellie to snuggle up once again, not that they’d drifted very far from each other in the first place.

“What just happened?” Tim’s voice was tense, like he was still waiting for something else to happen. Jason looked over at him to see that it wasn’t just Tim’s voice that was tense.

“Danny just told Jason to cool off before asking his question. There have already been too many big revelations for you all. You all need to process before we move on to the next big thing. You don’t have to be so tense, Tim, no one is going to blow up at each other.” Talia’s voice was cool, even, and oddly disappointed. Jason didn’t know what to think about it.

He took a deep breath, chest expanding and fire dimming slightly. “Okay. Process. Right.” His brain was a mass of mush in his head. The world around him was dimmer and brighter than it should have been, telling him that he was far too out of it to ask the question he needed to ask. “I can do that.” He would do that because he would have to. Things would be okay.

~`~`~

Things were not okay. It had been several months since the conversation in the garden that fall day, and he wasn’t quite sure that he’d processed everything. The burning in his chest was a near constant these days, growing and waning like it had a mind of its own. He’d started to hack up the dark green stuff from that one day in the Cave somewhat frequently. That was a double edged sword, good because it gave him more of his mind back, but bad because it gave him more clarity on the awful things he’d done.

There were some things he didn’t regret, but there were also a lot that he did. He’d felt bad about what he did to Tim before, but now it was like he’d never known what guilt felt like before. Jason’d started talking to Harley about all the crazy shit in his head, and she’d been a big help, even though he couldn’t tell her everything.

The worst part was the dreams. While before his dreams had been filled with what he’d done wrong or how others had failed him, now it was like those few odd dreams were all he could have. He could never remember all of it, but he had flashes, flashes that kept getting longer and more intense. They always started out with a feeling of intense comfort-belonging-hope-love, but they rarely stayed that way, causing him to try to avoid sleep until Harley had bashed him over the head, both literally and figuratively, to get him to realize what he was doing wrong.

Beside all the crazy stuff happening, he and the other Bats had settled into a good rhythm with each other, becoming more and more like the family they all had always claimed to be, like the family he was finally admitting they could be. He’d even settled into a good pattern of days with the Nightingales. They traded who would make dinner or breakfast, telling stories about their lives to each other. Jason got to see more of the days when Danny couldn’t speak, realizing that he must have been really close to them in the past because of how well he could understand them even when speaking wasn’t an option.

The weird flashes of another person like the one he’d gotten when they were leaving the League of Assassins kept cropping up at weird times that didn’t make sense. The long black hair that he was used to sometimes appeared to be white and braided instead of in a ponytail or loose. The red duck earrings changed to snowflakes obscured by an odd mist, kinda like the kind that surrounds dry ice. Blue eyes were covered by black and white goggles or a blue veil with green snowflakes. He didn’t even want to get into the hero suit or fancy clothes that suddenly would swap in.

The whole Bat Family had learned that Danny hated Christmas, or, more accurately, he hated being forced to celebrate Christmas. He’d given them all gifts, amazing ones, but it was not in any way because of Christmas. It was apparently some trauma left over from his awful parents, and Jason respected that completely. He himself never really got into the Christmas spirit because of how many rogues decided to do Christmas themed heists and/or just had issues with the holiday itself.

Danny had continued to not give the Joker any satisfaction through making sure they didn’t show any emotion around him. This had the interesting effect of the longest stay the Joker had ever had in Arkham because he didn’t want to leave before making Danny react to him. Jason joined Ellie and Damian in providing comfort on days like that.

One interesting thing to happen over the months was when Danny introduced them all to Khuzbu, which was the human way of saying whatever its name was in Existence Speak. Khuzbu was a spherical treat with a hard outside, many different options for the inside, and a truly insane amount of flavor options. Dick had tried to joke by asking for the feeling of flying freely through the air only for Danny to deliver exactly that. The way Danny flavored the little spheres was by tossing it up and then catching it in a specific pattern, which was odd and kind of impossible until one considered that these were magic treats.

Jason would say that he’d had a lot of fun between the chaos of these months, if only the burning and howling wind-fire in his chest would have left him alone. It was hard to focus enough to even get out of bed some days, so he would lay there, paralyzed by snippets of memories and emotions that ebbed and flowed as if pulled by the invisible force of some moon. Those days were the ones where he would lose track of time only to come back to being taken care of by one of his siblings.

The ups and downs were fine, just intense. The summer heat only seemed to make everything worse for Jason, but he managed to find ways to keep steady despite everything that was happening. There were some days when he felt lava flowing through his veins, others when he felt like a windstorm screamed through him, and still others when he felt calm.

Today was a day in July, getting kind of close to Tim’s birthday, and the whole gang was gathered together in the backyard of the Manor. He felt as calm as he could considering all the other factors, but he also felt oddly restless, like something big was about to happen or something massive was about to change. He felt oddly calm, now that he thought about it.

“Did I have a Lair?” The question finally burst from his lips, suddenly everything was silent, from the elements inside him to the people around him.

“Yes.” The simple word carried so much weight as it fell from Danny’s lips.

“Will you please take me there?” He didn’t fully know where that question came from, that was an absolute lie because he knew it came from the orb in his chest, but he was glad that it was out in the open. It just felt right in a way that he wasn’t sure it was possible to define with human words.

“Sure.” While the other word had carried a massive amount of weight, this one sounded like the wind was snatching it away, like it was being forced from lips that didn’t want to form the word, like it was a form of damnation to speak the word aloud.

Jason felt a sense of comfort and peace wash over him at the idea of going somewhere that he felt so connected to without even knowing if he’d seen it this life. He was going to a place that felt closer to home than he’d been in a long time. It was a feeling that somehow washed away some of the guilt that he felt over some of his actions in the past. The restless feeling also settled down some, like the massive thing was already set in motion.

He was so far in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the discussion going on around him, nor the fact that there was a betting pool and that several of his siblings were going to come along. He didn’t notice the strange looks he was getting from Talia, Damian, and Nellie, looks that were an odd mix of finally watching someone do something you’ve been waiting on and wondering what took so long. He was only drawn from his thoughts by Danny bumping shoulders with him.

“When?” Danny’s voice was quiet and soft, like always, but it felt somehow more there, more intense.

“Soon.” He offered a smile to cover his nerves as he answered the soft question.

“Tomorrow?” Danny offered a half smile of his own even as an indecipherable mix of emotions swirled in his eyes.

“Okay.” Jason could hardly wait.

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