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dcxdpdabbles · 9 months

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Would it be possible to read what happened during Phantom's mating season peak in The Bakery is a Front from Tim's POV? I just think the pure baffled energy that Tim would be radiating from being taken care of so nicely by his hot kidnapper from another dimension would be hilarious. Really the whole kidnapping had to have been a better experience than some of the galas Tim has been forced to attend; at least definitely the best kidnapping he has ever experienced, 10/10 would be kidnapped again.

It happens so fast.

One second he's suffering through Danny's overdose, and the next, the dead body in his arms is leaping over Bruce and trapping Damian in an iron-clad grip.

Jason and Dick react the fastest, but it does nothing to someone who can density shift. Tim can only watch Danny sobs on top of Damian, speaking in a strange dialect. It sounded like cracking ice every time he wailed.

"Unhand me!" Damian grunts snaping a knife into Danny's side. Despite the apparent red spot growing on Danny's shirt, the other man doesn't flatter in his movements in the slightest. He squeezes harder, but it doesn't seem like he's trying to hurt Damian. If anything, it looks like he's...cradling him? Yes, it did in fact, seem like Danny is attempting to cradle Damian like a baby.

What on earth-?

"Shit! Danny put him down!" A new voice shouts. Three women and a man burst into the room. Tim has yet to learn where they come from, but Bruce wastes no time throwing a pair of Batbolas at them. It hits the target on the man and the red hair women, tangling their legs and knocking them off.

The man yelps while the woman grunts, throwing her arms in front of her in an obviously trained reaction. She can't stop herself from falling all the way, but her reflex is nothing to scoff at.

She doesn't seem to care as she shouts at the drug dealer. "Daniel Fenton, you let that boy go right now! Are you listening to me?"

"Danny is not here right now."

Tim jerks his head in his fake boss' direction watching in horror as the man's usual blue starts glowing green, and his dark hair bleeds into white. There is an unnatural glow emanating from under his skin that makes him appear so beautiful Tim loses his train of thought for a moment.

This transformation seems a bit too much to just be a meta-gene activation. Is Danny....not human?

One of the women- who looks like a younger female version of Danny- blasts him with a zap of green from her hand. It reminds him of Starfire, but while his friend's blast is nothing but heat, the green of the girl seems more light than flame.

He drops, unconscious, letting go of Damian. The newcomers relax when the goth-looking one kneels next to him and presses her hands against his neck. Danny appears returns to the human one Tim is used to in another quick blink of an eye. "No pulse!"

"Thank goodness." The red hair, one says, sitting up. It's then that Tim realizes it's Jazz. The one that talked down Jason and the rest of Danny's men not even two weeks ago. So neither left of the siblings left overseas? How had they tricked Babs? "No pulse means he's still in his mating season. Quick we have to get him quarantined again before-"

"You are not going anywhere!" Jason growls, leveling his gun at her. Jazz blinks down the barrel, then raises a brow. It reminds Tim of Alfred when the man found his hidden coffee machine- disgusted, disappointed, but most of all, unimpressed.

His brother sneers. "I want to know what is happening here and I want to know now!"

"Can you not read?" Jazz returns, speaking as if an annoying customer demands a service she can not provide. "I put up signs that clearly said Quarantine do not enter around Danny's house. Why do you think that is? Oh, maybe, it means to leave this area alone."

"You bats are lucky we got here when we did," The man says, trying to twist out his binds. It's not going too well, as a few electric mobiles slip out of his pockets. "The only way to snap the human side of Danny out of his daze is by making him deny his obsession which is something I hate doing."

What?

"I hate hitting him too" The girl with the energy blasts pouts "I makes my stomach turn."

She twists at her waist seconds before Damian's foot swings through the air, where her head was only seconds before. She sidesteps his three other attacks, face twisting into a sneer. "Hey! Back off! We don't share the same obsession!"

"Silence wrench!" Damian sneers, which makes her even angrier.

"Make me, you wannabe pirate!" the girl hisses, and it's then that Tim realizes they may even be the same age. She is doing a masterful job of barely being out of Damian's deadly reach.

"Don't hurt him, Elle!" Jazz shouts, "Things are already complicated enough-"

The goth woman screams as she is suddenly launched into the air, slamming into Bruce and cutting off the redhead. Dick rushes to the now-standing Danny, aiming a barrage of attackers that the man easily slips through. Bruce throws the woman off him, slamming her against the wall and knocking her out in the same action. The man screams as Jason shoots out his kneecaps and Tim-

Tim suddenly finds himself unable to think as large green eyes overtake his vision. Danny's eyes and hair are bleeding in and out of different colors as the man stares at him. "Mate...."

Tim's mouth dries, and his eyes are drinking in the man. He knows he should be doing something, but Tim can't remember what he should be-.

"TIM!" Dick screams, snapping him out of his daze, and....oh, Tim is falling. Danny- or whatever is pretending to be Danny- has pushed him by pressing his hands against his chest and shoving him through a portal.

Danny is watching his drop with a soft smile, that is at odds with Jason appearing at his side with guns blazing.

Tim drops onto a pile of soft snow- or what he thinks is snow. It looks like it, soft like a fresh full pillow, but it's not cold. If anything, it's the perfect temperature to nap in.....he's exhausted. When was the last time Tim slept? He can't remember.

His eyes are getting heavy. His body is going boneless.....he has never been so comfortable in his whole life....is this what it feels like to rest on a cloud...

Tim blinks, around the room trying to fight the urge to give into the darkness, and he notes that he seems to be in a castle made entirely of ice and snow...like Danny's home.....he also appears to be in a tower? The windows are shaped like one.

Tim takes note of the sky being a bright green color which is..odd, but that's all he can think clearly as he finally goes under.

_________________________________________

It feels like he only closes his eyes for a second when Tim is startled awake by a scream of rage. Jerking away, he sits up, trying to gather his bearings. He needs to find out where he is and where his gear is.

Tim pulls on the crotcheted sweater he's been stuffed into, breathing a sigh of relief when he realizes his Red Robin outfit is still on underneath. He climbs out of the bed made entirely of snow, flickering his eyes about.

He's covered head to toe in other crotchety objects- pants, sweater, socks, gloves, a scarf, and a hat- all big enough to fit comfortably against him and his vigilante costume. Raising a hand to his face, he touches the smooth leather of his trusted mask.

Right. Danny let him keep his secret identity intake. That's... something.

He glances around his surroundings again, this time for sure, that his in some type of castle covered in ice. It's beautiful, like something out of a Disney movie with shiny crystal frozen designs everywhere. He carefully makes his way to the window, looking out into a far darker green of a sky.

He squints into the distance seeing acres and acres of a vast castle and land, but on the far right, there seems to be a drop....a cliff? Or the edge of this island. For you see, he could make out flouting doors and islands in the sky.

This differently wasn't his earth.

Danny, not being human, was becoming more and more plausible.

"Release me!" A voice echo. Damian.

Tim slams the door open, sprinting down the hall toward his younger brother's distress calls. It's a castle; even if everywhere he turns, it seems to be a frozen wonderland.

There are ice sculptures of Danny between every large ice pillar. They portray him as Tim usually is used to or as a being with a tail instead of legs mid-flight. There are portraits of various people hanging on the walls- he can make out Jazz and the others that busted into Danny's apartment- but there all encased in ice.

There are no guards, so when Tim sprints down a giant stairway, he is hyper-aware of his footsteps echoing on the cracking ice. He rounds the hallway, then stumbles to a stop at the sight before him.

It was Danny. At least, he thinks so. The being had a strong resemblance to him, but his skin had a slight blueish hue, his ears were pointed, his hair was pure white, he was glowing, and most of all, he didn't have legs.

The sculptures hadn't been a artistic choice Danny in this form had a tail and he was flying around a restrain Damian.

His brother was in a gaint baby doorway jumper, encased in what looked like a snow swaddle.

Damian is also covered head to toe in crochet clothing, but his Robin costume peaks from underneath it. Danny was flying around him, placing piles of snow on the ground around the struggling child, making noises like creaking ice and purring when he came close to pat Damian.

It also looked like Danny....was nesting with Damian in the center of it.

What in the world?

"I'll have your head!" Damian sneers as Danny gently places a bear beanie on his head. " I am not a child!"

"My baby" Danny coos, then starts making more cracking noise. He rubs his head against Damian like a cat which causes the boy to grimace.

Tim needs to get him out of there. He looks around for a weapon, but his gear doesn't seem near him. The only thing he can possibly use is the ice around the walls-

"Crackle, crack, Clank, Click!" Danny suddenly says in his face. He crossed the room at the same speed Bart would have, or maybe faster since he didn't even see a blur. Tim jerks back, but the glowing figure is already reaching out-.

He places a scarf around his neck with an adorable head tilt.

"Drake! Run! He'll swaddle you!"Damian screams, but Tim can't look away. He's so beautiful. Danny's bright green eyes, sparkling with the stars of the universe, and his lips are so full, he bets they would be perfect to kiss- is someone purring? Tim could fall asleep to that sound- it must be a white noise machine-!

He snaps his eyes open, shocked to find himself back in the original room.

Tim is back in the damn nest. Confused, he blinks around the room, noticing the sky is bright again and that he's tucked into the bed with great care. He's never felt more rest, so he knows he just spends hours sleeping.

He doesn't even remember getting moded, damn it.

""Red Robi- can you- where are you- report!" Tim's eyes widened when he realized Bruce's voice. It's his communicator! He scrambles out of the bed, straining his ears. "Re-Rob-in!""

There! His earpiece is in one of the ice crystals hanging from the ceiling. Miraculously it's still working, as he can barely make out Bruce's shouts. After four kicks of the crystal, he breaks it down, shattering it on the ground.

He quickly places it back into his ear. "Batman, I'm here!"

"Thank goodness!" An unknown woman says, making Tim flatter for only a moment. "Listen to me, my name is Sam, and right now, there is only one way to escape Danny's mating season without bloodshed. See, Phantom is in control right now, which means his obsession is at its highest. What does Danny not deem important enough to protect? Himself."

" We have to snap him out of it by having those under his protection stand up to him and....hit him. Anybody attacks will confuse Phantom so much the human side of Danny will be forced to take the front." Another female voice puts it. Jazz. She sounds unhappy, as she admits. "A punch to the head, or slap or something, just one from enough people under his protection will freeze Phantom for a moment."

Tim frowns. "I have no idea what you mean. How will that help get us away?"

"Well, we have a plan for that," A man says wearily. The one with all the electronics. "You may not like it...but we must get you to sacrifice yourself for Robin's freedom."

His siblings start shouting over the communicator but Jazz silence everyone with her explanation.

A very long explanation of ghosts, cores, and obsessions, but the gist is that Phantom and Danny's balance was disruptive, so the only way was to cause his human side to get clarification was by presenting Phantom with a paradox.

Phantom will protect all. Danny will allow anyone to hurt him because of his terrible self-esteem. Hence Phantom will not know if it should defend them when it's Danny in danger but it will pull at his core because something is still under attack in front of him.

However, as ghost king, Danny is crazy strong, so they need to attack with something Phantom would never try to defend himself from. His sister and two best friends suddenly slapping or punching him? Phantom would typically react by beating them away, but that would mean hurting the beings he exists to protect.

That's just the physical aspect of it too. Tim's sacrifice would pull at Danny's human emotions while Phantom would panic about needing to save Tim from the ghost he was sacrificed to. Which would be himself.

It should snap them both by tugging them in two different directions of their instincts.

Tim wonders if it will work-

He wakes up to Phantom purring and messaging his sore muscles. To his left is a feast of all of Tim's favorites. Even though he is the elite of Gotham, he's never been so pampered in his life.

Dang, it better work. Tim is getting far too comfortable in this castle. He may never want to leave.

"Phantom if you let my brother go ill be your mate."

"!" Phantom pauses then let's out a sound that sounds like twinkling bells glowing so bright he could be a star

"Only If you accept me as a sacrifice in exchange for my brother's freedom" Tim holds his break then jumps at the sound of shattering glass that comes from Phantom's mouth.

He blinks a few moments, fighting himself, until Phantom nods determined. "Mate will bring children. I need children."

"Ugh sure pal. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal"

It's a weird Tuesday.

Damian is home ten minutes later, and within the hour, Phantom overloads from the paradox.

Tim opens a portal home that night, and Danny sleeps through the rest of his mating season, going under when Phantom and he fights about Tim's fate.

#dcxdpdabbles #dc x dp crossover #The bakery is a front #phantom and Danny can not compute different ideas of protection #Tim falls in love again #Damian was no please #Tim's pov #Part 6

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minty364 · 2 days

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DPXDC Prompt #58 Part 3

Gotham Academy High School was the sort of school where almost everyone was elite in some way or another. Some of them were from old money like Damian who held himself up to a very high standard in his academics and was the top of the class. Others from new money like Dash and the rest of his cohorts became very hateful of somebody like Danny who was given a scholarship by Bruce Wayne, in their eyes Danny was taking advantage of Damian not even knowing that Damian approached Danny for companionship two years ago.

This also meant that everyone including the teachers would compare Danny and Damian to each other even though they weren’t brothers. That didn’t matter though as Danny was associated with them so that was all the reason they needed.

Danny groaned as he sunk into the seat next to Damian. The lunchroom was filled with chatting students and Danny was glad he shared the next class with Damian, which happened to be English. Dash never bothered Danny when Damian was around, probably because Damian had threatened the jock. How he was threatened Danny didn’t know, Damian never told him what happened and he was a little scared to ask.

The guy hadn’t stopped harassing Danny since he and Jazz transferred a couple years ago. The school year had barely begun and Dash had made Danny his primary target like he was making up for lost time over the summer. Danny sighed as he dropped his paper bagged lunch on the table with a little plop. Jazz had packed for him this morning hopefully before his parents arrived and contaminated the entire kitchen.

“Dash again?” his sister asked across the table, she was seated next to Tim.

“I was paired against him in dodgeball again,” Danny lamented, his head resting on his arms that were crossed on the table.

“Danny, could you just talk to Mr. Lancer or something?” Jazz asked before she took a bite from her sandwich.

Danny sighed again and unpacked his lunch, “I have but no one will listen! They all act like I’m lying or something.” The teachers at this school probably wouldn’t listen to a charity case like him. Dash was a football player and had plans to become captain of the team. Everyone at the school loved Dash and it was precisely why everyone except maybe the four students at the table they were seated looked down and sometimes even bullied Danny.

Danny ignored it all eventually, it was better just to let the jock tire himself out.

Once Danny and Damian finished eating they made their way to English. Luckily it was easy to carry the material for a class that only required a small binder and whatever book they were reading, in this case it was ‘gone with the wind’. Danny didn’t really care about reading old literature like this but he did what he had to maintain the grades he had. He’d endure anything, even Dash’s bullying, to become an astronaut.

Danny could hardly concentrate today through his afternoon classes. For some reason he had a bad feeling that something was going to happen. He tried his best to ignore it, he was probably just tired or something. Soon the school day was out and Danny packed up whatever homework he had for the day and headed outside to wait with Jazz. Damian and Tim were probably wrapping up their classes. Tim had an AP class that ran an extra 30 minutes and Damian’s last class was art, they were doing a painting and it wasn’t unusual for Damian to finish up what he was working on as he found out over the last few years that he enjoyed painting.

“… Do you think it’ll work?” Jazz asked a hint of hesitation in her voice. Danny knew she was talking about the portal, the both of them had talked about it before. Danny glanced over at his sister, he could tell she was having trouble sleeping lately, her face looked tired and her posture was stiff with her arms crossed in front of her. Both of them had anxiety about the possibilities the portal possessed, and they were especially worried that their parents wouldn’t take it well if the portal didn’t work.

He was equally concerned that it would work. “I hope not…” he said eventually. It was something that brought the siblings closer as the whole of their family fell apart. How their parents managed to pull off getting the funding in the first place seemed to be a miracle. Everyone called their parents crazy and dismissed all of their science as ludicrous garbage.

Danny wondered how they even managed to stay under Batman's radar, he thought that something like this would be cause for the vigilante to look into it but maybe the thought of ghosts was just that outlandish that even the dark knight himself thought it to be crazy too. Danny himself didn’t believe in anything his parents published, some of the papers even seemed to be biased somehow, even though his parents hadn’t ever actually encountered a ghost. That last part was probably the reason no one bothered to actually investigate his parents, there wasn’t really much to investigate.

The siblings waited in silence and eventually Tim and Damian showed up after their classes and the four headed to Alfred waiting by the car.

If anyone tried to start a conversation with Danny he wasn’t paying attention. If he was being honest, his parents' portal scared him a lot. He wasn’t sure why he felt so nervous about it, both him and Jazz renounced the thought that ghosts could exist. Something deep down in his guts told him that he should turn and run, that what his parents were attempting was taboo and that his parents were tampering with forces unimaginable.

No one was going to listen to a fourteen year old though so Danny kept his feelings to himself and ignored them.

Soon they were pulled in front of their apartment and true to their word, Damian and Tim asked Alfred to park nearby. Danny and Jazz took a hesitant glance at each other as they walked into the house.

#dp x dc prompt #danny fenton #danny phantom #dp x dc #dc x dp #poor danny #Major Character Death and undeath in the next one #bad parents jack and maddie #Danny gets his powers and everyone else gets trauma #This is going to focus heavily on Danny and what he’s going through #Bulling mentioned #Danny loves space #Heavy angst in the next few chapters #Let me know who you'd like to see show up from DC #I'm also thinking of bringing in Sam and Tucker #I know exactly what I have in mind to bring them into the fray too #I'm excited to write some of this but also a little nervous lol #I have ideas #I have a little more of an idea of where I want this to go so I will be focusing on this one #I haven't forgotten the others though I find it easier to take breaks and let parts breath for a bit #I have a few books on writing that I've been meaning to read so I might give those a go #One of the things I'm struggling to figure out is showing and not just telling #my asks are open #all my prompts are free to use

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anatheapple · 3 months

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Okay, so this is an idea I’ve had floating around in my head for awhile now as a DPxDC crossover! However, I acknowledge that my DC knowledge is still a bit lacking, but hear me out though!

So, Jason was raised by Willis & Cathy/Catherine Todd, who he believed to be his birth parents, right? Unfortunately, for him, that’s only half right as his birth mother wasn’t Cathy, but a Dr. Sheila Haywood (who betrays him to Joker & gets him killed). However, while Cathy did raise Jason as her son, imagine if she actually did have a biological child with Willis, but sent him away?? And this child maybe got adopted by a pair of crazy Ghost Scientists with a child of their own already?

I imagine, in this scenario, Jason might’ve found both his and Danny’s birth certificates at the same time, instead of just his own! Gives him some more conflict during this time when Bruce has benched him as Robin & he now finds out he has a half brother somewhere out there and his bio mom is (possibly) still alive! So many fun plots to explore! Maybe he chooses to not find Danny, as he believes this life is too dangerous and doesn’t want to drag him in? Or, maybe, that’s the first person he wants to find! The last biological piece of Catherine, the mother who loved and raised him as her own! (Also, imagine the feelings Danny would feel about his birth mother giving him away but raising Jason instead??)

But even more tragically… imagine Jason and Danny both kick the bucket within a year of each other… like, Danny would have to be younger than Jason, but depending on how you have the timelines line up, they could both have their deaths happen pretty soon after each other!

The angst Jason would feel after finding out his brother died and came back like he did?? (Well, kinda, depends if you view Ectoplasm and Lazarus Water as the same/similar.) That he also is forever changed and put through hell because of their “accidents”?? Maybe he could’ve saved Danny if he tried harder to look for him. Maybe he could’ve saved them both! Imagine his conflict when being reunited!

Anyways, that’s the main details I’ve come up with for this idea, so I hope it makes sense! Don’t know if someone has already written something like this (if so, please share with me 🙏). But I don’t think I’ll actually write anything with this but I needed it out there and out of my head! (Also, I’m not on here often so idk how this app works, hope the right people find this & enjoy it. If you know me irl, no you don’t.)

#dpxdc #dp x dc prompt #maybe prompt #Danny Fenton and Jason Todd are Half Brothers #imagine they die the same exact day tho???#or Danny dies the day Jason is resurrected!!#yes I saw the February writing prompts and it reminded me of this idea I’ve had on the back burner for years now #secret long lost sibling #so much potential for silly fun times and angst #I don’t see myself actually writing for this idea though #someone take this idea and run #i hope i tagged this right

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britcision · 5 months

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So I made it 4 years without being struck down by AO3 Author Curse! But here we are. I’ll spare y’all the details but let’s just say “fuck this year” and leave it there. We’ve had the requisite Third Bad Thing and I will burn the universe down if it goes for a fourth

What this means for y’all, of course, is that there’s been a long ass break between last chapter and this one! Aaaaand this one is being broken in half because it is Longer Than Tumblr Allows

(And they’ve lessened how many paragraph breaks you get cuz this one is only about 9.5k and it made me add it in thirds, woe is me)

So, as usual, links to the first chapter, last chapter, and the link to the AO3 version is I think in BOTH, so if you can’t find it from there I can’t help you 😁

First Chapter:

Last Chapter:

And just a little recap where last we left off:

Bruce has gone to the Watchtower to debrief the Justice League about Amity Park and the Anti Ecto Acts, and been told that Jason has left the land of the living! But like, on purpose

Jason and Danny have gone to visit Frostbite and learned that they are ghost-bonded, which you should take seriously like being ghost-married, and that Jason is gonna pop out Pitty in a couple more days/weeks and have to emotionally raise a ghost-baby

Tucker, Tim, and Conner are all playing video games and hiding out from the Amity Parker/Bat Chat for Tim and Tucker’s mutual stalking ways, which Sam blew wide open by sharing Timblr, as punishment for Tucker not telling her they were all alive

(Danny’s off the hook cuz Tucker was haunting his phone with soundtracks for half the day)

And Damian’s off being Sketchy And Mysterious

————————

Well You Did Get Down On One Knee (part 1)

The evening was beginning to draw in, the sun getting low over Gotham city. Between her patrol the night before, helping Signal out with a case, and then that brief group heart attack about Jason, it had already been a really long day.

Spoiler cracked her neck a couple times and sighed, then sunk into the shadow behind a gargoyle.

It was smaller than usual… and occupied. Robin glowered up at her, leaping up to sit on the gargoyle’s head instead. He looked for all the world like he wanted to hiss at her like a cranky cat, which diffused all of Spoiler’s tension (but would only make his worse if she mentioned it. Maybe tomorrow).

Sighing philosophically she settled back against the base of the gargoyle, tipping her head back to see him.

“Hey… what are you doing out so early? Usually you lot wait until sundown to swing from the shadows,” she pointed out (rather fairly, she thought). Totally ignoring that she was 1000% usually one of “you lot”.

Robin just scowled disdainfully down at her, then twisted his head away to glare at the city instead.

“As if I needed any more reason to be out than you do,” he sniffed archly.

Spoiler grinned, puffing herself up. She did have an answer for this one, and, being generous or not, winding Robin up was always a treat.

“Hey, I was actually requested today. Signal needed a second pair of eyes on the back door of a bust. Didn’t see you there,” she added innocently, a brow rising.

It was technically possible that Robin could have suited up and left the manor in between Bruce’s message and Tim’s response. Spoiler wouldn’t put money on it though.

He’d have had to be on his way down already, and while they could all change quickly, there were no rushed or sloppy patches to her experienced eye.

His hair was even neatly slicked back into the traditional Robin spikes, one every Robin but her and Duke had used during their time as the baby bird.

Nah, he’d not rushed out in a panic, even if he was still more tense than he should have been. Every line of the kid was tight with… Spoiler cocked her head thoughtfully.

Frustration?

Definitely not unusual, Damian didn’t have Dick’s temper but he’d spent pretty much all of his first few years in Gotham unbearably frustrated with them all. It had just been a while since she’d seen it so… visibly.

And for all Steph was a gleeful little shit and loved poking at trouble, she wasn’t cruel. There was no point in pushing Robin if he was already on edge.

So she shrugged nonchalantly and looked forward instead, reaching back over her head to pat him gently on the foot. He didn’t dodge, which only cemented her decision.

“‘Course, no rule against taking a daylight run if you’re in the mood. See anything interesting?” She asked innocently.

Kid wouldn’t admit it if he had been worrying.

Silence reigned for another long moment, and then Robin huffed and dropped down to the rooftop beside her, folding himself back into the sharper shadow the waning daylight provided.

“No.” Short and sweet, unlike the kid himself.

But he also hadn’t left, and Spoiler was gonna call that a win.

“Will you be out tonight too?” She asked instead of pushing, reminding herself yet again; he’d open up in his own time.

Hypothetically.

Robin made a soft, disgusted noise, glowering at the smog filled sky. Probably even in the right direction for the Watchtower.

“I intend to be. Someone must keep an eye on things,” he grumbled, and Spoiler made an effort not to take it personally.

B had been majorly distracted with all this Amity Park business, not even breathing down their necks about the usual nightly reports. The rogues hadn’t exactly noticed yet, but the goons had.

The big Bat himself not making an appearance for a couple of nights usually attracted some comment, and an up-til-now entirely Bat-free new year?

The guys she’d helped Signal grab today had been muttering about it right until they ran into her arms. Fists.

They’d mentioned not seeing Stabby Robin either though.

Which she might as well also mention.

“Weren’t you out last night too? I saw your gear missing when I dropped by at the end of the night,” she added when he tensed again, hands wedged in her utility belt. “Didn’t hear you on comms though.”

And that was more than just rude; it was bad protocol, and Robin, for all his other faults, respected the strictness of protocol. Not being chatty was one thing, but if you were out on the town you had to call in.

He stayed silent, not looking at her. Spoiler decided he could use just a little nudge. Totally not because she was getting impatient. And nosy.

“Y’know unless you went out tech free I can just ask Oracle,” she pointed out gently, giving his shoulder a gentle bump.

It got him to glower up at her anyway.

“I was not on patrol,” he grumbled, whites of his mask narrowed before returning his glare to the city at large, “like I am not today.”

When he didn’t elaborate, Spoiler flipped a mental coin. Figured why not; they were already doing well.

Kid must be on the verge of having to, dread the thought, ask for help.

“And what would you be doing out and about if not patrolling…” she began, then stopped when a piece clicked suddenly into place.

Robin, Damian, was about as social as a feral cat. And about as friendly with anyone who got close to those he considered his.

Right now, Danny Fenton and his friends had more than half the family utterly wound up. All except Bruce in a good way, Spoiler was the first to admit, but Robin wouldn’t see it like that.

The only trick was, how to word the question.

Spoiler liked blunt. It made her stand out from the bats, who all played way too much mental and emotional chicken to be healthy. She’d always been more of a bird that way.

“Wouldn’t have anything to do with Hood’s little disappearance today, would it?” She asked instead, grinning broadly when Robin twitched.

Hit the nail on the head.

From the scowl he shot her he knew it too, and looked away quickly enough that he knew there was no taking it back. He folded his arms across his chest and sulked and fuck he was just adorable.

She’d bet anything Dick used to pout exactly like that.

Still, she tempered the grin down to a slight smile. Dropped a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently and letting go when he pulled away.

“Worried me too. Were you close enough to see anything?” Because yeah, if Robin was already at least on his way into uniform before the message arrived?

Spoiler would put easy, easy money on him having been already tailing Jason and Danny around. Last night too, probably. She and Cass had left early to take the night shift, leaving Tim and Damian with the Amity Parkers.

Damian had one hell of a dose of his father’s paranoia, and Steph considered it a solemn duty to teach him about personal boundaries to keep him from turning out just like the old bat.

Just a little friendly stalking from the rooftops didn’t really count though. Not between family.

Robin had tensed right up again too, but when she didn’t push the contact or needle at him he slowly relaxed back down. Scowled at her feet instead of his own.

“No,” he admitted bitterly, both at definitely having been busted and probably at having nothing to report, “Todd… Hood spoke to the magician. They argued, he went back inside Freeze’s place and did not reappear when his tracker went through the roof and into the sky.”

Spoiler blinked, mildly surprised.

“Hood was wearing a tracker? Didn’t think he was in the mood.”

“He wasn’t,” Robin corrected with a derisive sniff.

And… yeah, they were gonna have to do a little more work on that whole “boundaries” thing. Although the odds of Hood not noticing that he’d been tagged were lower than Robin probably thought. Keeping a tag on him that he didn’t want there?

Nah. She may not exactly trust Jason, but that was how she knew how good he was at finding and disabling rogue trackers. And sure, Damian was better than her at some things, but if Cass couldn’t sneak a tracker onto Red Hood no one could.

Kinda cute that Jason let the little guy think he’d successfully bugged him.

At least the constant mild stalking was just standard for the family.

Shaking her head, she gave him a gentle nudge with her elbow.

“That’s rough. Flying’s cheating,” she commiserated with a sly look to the sky.

She’d heard a super cross Oracle’s radar. Conner, almost certainly if Robin was still out alone.

Too bad he’d not thought to call his own Superboy, though taking flight himself wouldn’t have helped if dimensional travel followed.

Robin made another disgusted little tut, then pushed off the gargoyle and stormed away. Spoiler watched him go for a moment, then shrugged.

“Hey, go get some sleep if you’re coming back out tonight,” she called after him. Grinned when he flipped her off without turning.

If he’d been off stalking Jason and Danny two days in a row, he’d need some rest.

“And don’t forget your report,” she teased and actually laughed when he raised his other hand to flip her off with both before leaping off the edge of the roof, swinging back towards the bat cave.

Stephanie Brown had never been prouder in her life than the first day Damian had said “fuck” in front of his dad. Far be it from her to demand anyone transform into a social butterfly, but she personally was pretty damn sure that nothing was gonna help Damian out of his “raised by assassins” shell than learning some good old fashioned swearwords.

And a little teenaged rebellion. The proudest day was totally gonna be when he finally told his grandfather to fuck off (or any suitable equivalent; Steph wasn’t choosy).

Leaning back into the gargoyle’s shadow, Spoiler surveyed the city below. Technically, she’d been out as long as Damian had; if she wanted to be out tonight she’d need a quick nap too.

Or, more fun, she could nip back to the manor, kidnap Cass, and they could find and bully Tim and Tucker in person. Yeah, that was gonna be it.

Jason was feeling good, really. Actually a little surprised at how good, considering.

That crunchy little ecto-ice chip had been better than a gallon of coffee, filling him with energy like he’d actually gotten a full night’s sleep. (Not that he knew much about how that actually felt, at least not when not recovering from serious injury.)

He hadn’t actually felt this good since the night Danny slept over, which had been the night before last. Didn’t sound all that impressive, except that it had been the best he’d felt in half a decade.

Maybe the full decade. For all Robin made him magic, skipping sleep to fight crime had done a number on him in his teens. If he’d been as willing as Dickie and Tim to slack on his schoolwork, maybe…

Yeah, no, Tim was the poster child for Do Not Emulate This Sleep Schedule.

What mattered was that even after running the docks down with Black Bat for more than half the night and then getting up to get Danny, Jason felt fucking great.

Even after three separate courses of Bruce’s bullshit, both directly and through the medium of John fucking Constantine. Not so long ago, Bruce would never even dare call him, much less try and set up a bat cave ambush. That… was probably technically a good sign?

Didn’t feel like one at the moment, but Jason actually felt almost good enough to be charitable with the old bat. A little emotionally wrung out, sure, but he felt lighter for… having whatever that had been. Like the stress that had been compacting his chest had finally eased.

Jason was self aware enough to admit he’d probably had more than one breakdown owed to him. Maybe not a “take to the bed”, “trip to the sea” full Victorian lady meltdown, but he’d had a whole baby dropped on him. Except somehow worse.

He damn well deserved that freak out, and now that it was over and he’d been given what kinda felt like the ghost equivalent of speed… He felt like his brain was finally working again.

Which… meant he was fully processing that his fucking soul was vibrating in time with Danny’s. And every other ghost could just. Tell.

That was gonna make fight club… actually, Jason had no idea what the fuck it was gonna make fight club. By all accounts Danny being the Ghost King hadn’t made any of them less likely to throw down with him.

If anything, Danny had warned Jason that him being a “young” ghost would make the others more eager to fight. It was a kind of play, bonding and teaching the new baby their powers.

Sounded fucking terrifying by all accounts and Jason was just glad he had Danny to explain it to him, since apparently full ghosts just… knew it wasn’t serious. Even baby ghosts came into existence recognising the game.

Halfas didn’t.

Whiiiich meant that all the “playful” threats of dismemberment had sounded pretty fucking real to Danny, back when he’d been a baby ghost and had half the Zone flocking to “play” with him.

Pitty let out a rumbly little growl, like a sulking dog and Jason hid a snicker. Yeah, he’d also be kicking their asses that little bit harder for that given half a chance.

Actually, if they kept holding fight club, Pitty could take a chunk out of them itself.

That thought got him a contented little purr, which was weird enough that Jason was going to focus back in on Frostbite’s broader explanation. Which… he should have been doing anyway. At least this part wasn’t solely for his benefit though.

“In the sense that you have tied yourselves together, it may be somewhat like a marriage… however, it is a very different relationship. In a true love-union, your signatures would beat in time,” the yeti explained, gesturing once more to the screen.

Jason’s blob continued to pulse and blur a fraction of a beat behind Danny’s. Definitely not quite in time.

This was a relief. Yup. And Jason’s cheeks definitely weren’t any warmer than they’d been a minute ago, before he knew that, again, his fucking soul was echoing Danny’s.

Frostbite gave his tablet a couple more taps, and a pulsing blue line linked the images on the screen.

“In your case, young knight, your allegiance is marked in both your resonance and in your aura, which now carries a link to your King. In this way, even if the Great One is not beside you, all ghosts will know that you are the chosen protector of their King. His status is what defines your role as a knight, instead of a more casual bond.”

“No one’s king yet,” Danny protested, folding his arms and leaning into Jason’s side. Letting a little more of his weight rest on him.

Jason leaned in too, frowning from the screen to Frostbite.

“And all the other ghosts can just… see this?” He asked, not really sure what he was hoping to be told.

Frostbite switched from giving Danny a fond smile back to Jason, nodding brightly.

“Oh yes. Ectoplasm is very easily influenced by emotion, and bonds can form quite quickly. I presume you took an oath?” He asked, eyes sparkling in a way that made Jason pretty damn sure he’d met Clockwork.

Which, now that he thought about it…

Jason huffed out another deep breath, running a hand through his hair. As much as John Fucking Constantine specifically could ride a cactus straight to Hell… the guy mighta had the faintest inkling of a point about one thing.

“Yeah… about that.” He pulled a face, gaze tracking away from the others and down to the floor.

Would they think he was a dumbass too? Danny had been there when Clockwork made the offer and he’d been pretty against it, but Jason had thought he understood why.

It hadn’t sounded anything like Constantine’s claims of what he’d signed up for.

In the end, it was easier to address the question to Frostbite’s large hairy toes.

“I, uh… I made an oath to Clockwork, but do I have… a contract or something? The asshole magician I mentioned earlier was going on and on about eternal fucking servitude bullshit but it’d be nice to have something to shove in his face,” he added quickly, arm slipping back and almost around Danny (but with his hand still firmly on the table).

He didn’t need to wait to feel the guilt in Danny’s aura to head it off.

Jason wasn’t having second thoughts. He wasn’t sorry for what he’d signed up for, and when it came right down to it…

He didn’t think people could lie through their auras. Even when he was trying to project something like “I’m fine” and he wasn’t, he was pretty sure Danny could tell.

He could sure as hell tell when Danny was bluffing through his, which had happened maybe once total.

He trusted Danny. He trusted Frostbite. He even mostly trusted Clockwork, because for all the guy had been a little sketchy, Jason had felt his sincerity. How deeply he cared for Danny.

Keeping Danny safe forever didn’t sound like eternal servitude. Eternal babysitting, maybe, if Danny was being a pain in the ass, but he’d never top Damian at his most bratty.

Jason woulda been trying to protect Danny anyway. As far as he knew, knighthood just made that easier.

Which was another reason he’d like a look at his contract. You didn’t make it onto the streets as Robin without learning to read for loopholes, hidden clauses, and fine print. He may have already signed on the dotted line, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t find some wiggle room.

Danny, about to say something either apologetic or self deprecating, huffed out a breath as Jason’s arm slipped around him. Winded up giving him a half smile instead.

“Yeah… that’s a good point. I still need to find out if I can fire your ass.”

“Still didn’t hire me,” Jason pointed out archly, bumping his arm to knock Danny forwards a little.

The other halfa huffed a laugh this time and bumped him back.

“Yeah, and I gotta work out how to hire you so I can then immediately fire you,” he shot back.

Frostbite cut them both off with a raised hand, though he still looked fondly amused. Like they were cute little kids or something stupid.

“You will have to discuss this with Clockwork directly, young knight, but I do not believe a knighthood typically comes with a contract. It is a duty one is granted, and one that may be rescinded if you fail, but it is not a deal,” he explained patiently.

Jason’s brows furrowed a little, but at least he could feel Danny’s confusion-puzzled-not sure beside him too. He wasn’t the only one who wasn’t quite sure what that meant.

Maybe he shoulda looked a little more into magic shit while he was with the League of Assassins. That would have been the time, especially if the Lazarus Pits were the just grunged ectoplasm.

“It kinda sounded like a deal when he offered it,” he said almost as a question, glancing back at Danny for confirmation.

Danny nodded. So it wasn’t just Jason.

“He gave me a cool magic gun in exchange for keeping Danny hale and hearty. Protecting him in the living and Infinite realms,” Jason added in case the wording counted, more sure as he remembered some of the reasons.

Fuck, had that only been a week ago? It felt like it’d been a whole year.

Frostbite gave them a neutral shrug, inclining his head.

“As I said, you will need to ask Clockwork directly. All I can tell you is that it is not innate to the position; a knighthood is not usually something bought and sold,” he explained patiently.

Danny hummed an agreement, cheek resting on Jason’s shoulder again.

“It’s normally all ghost-to-ghost too, so is there a way we can check if the halfa thing has changed it?” He asked Frostbite, leaning against the table too and totally not actually putting his arm around Jason back.

Jason felt a little more tension leech back out of him. Which raised another good point, actually.

“And not related or anything, but if you gave me a buncha those ice crystals could I just chew them to get the ecto for…” he hesitated, waving his free hand at his general chest area again.

Honestly, given half a chance he’d love to get a bowl full and try and pop the pit out in one go… it’d probably be easier to train from outside his body where it wouldn’t immediately know he was so full of shit… his own aura notwithstanding.

Yeah, he was still a little worried about being anyone’s emotional guide, but if he could just get the damn thing out in the world… maybe it could have other guides too.

“To answer the simpler question first, young knight, unfortunately the energized ectoplasm is only a short term boost and will not affect either of your cores. I will provide you with a small supply to assist your emotional control whilst you stabilize, if you wish?” Frostbite offered gently, a slight smile on his face.

Jason hesitated, considering things for a moment, then nodded. Sure, it wasn’t a solid “yes here is the answer to all your problems Jason just smack it in”, but it was a concrete solution to what had actually been worrying him.

Having another one of those weird “episodes”. He’d still be waiting to get Pitty all the way out, but at least he had a backup plan until then. He could pop an ecto-crystal each morning, get some energy, and worry less about night patrols.

Shit, he’d have more energy than he’d had since he died. The others were gonna be jealous as hell, but it wasn’t like they could steal and take his ghost meds. Probably.

Jason… wasn’t quite ready to think about the panic attack itself. He felt fine now, way better, and it wasn’t like it was the first he’d had.

Just…

Just the first that he remembered. That his heart started racing, his head rushing, ears filled with rushing static and the world hadn’t just melted into a green haze of blood and violence.

His early training with the League of Assassins had involved a lot of losing himself to the Pit. He’d wake up days later, body aching with exertions he couldn’t remember, and be told how many he’d killed.

Good news: no fear of that either, apparently. Pitty wasn’t pulling for control anymore, so the green haze was all Jason’s own.

Joy.

He had a nasty feeling that Danny would notice him spiralling from anywhere in Gotham. And probably ditch class to come check on him.

Like Hell. Jason’d fucking call Harley first, put himself through some breathing exercises or whatever, he did not need an emotional support Ghost King.

He gave Frostbite a quick nod, a small smile forming almost without thinking about it. The yeti was just… so caring and helpful. Not exactly something Jason had a wealth of experience with. He’d probably be a great example for Pitty.

Frostbite returned the smile, making a quick note on his tablet.

“And of course, your ghostly parent or a mentor should also be able to assist you. Spending time with those who are important to you, especially a comforting figure will help both your control and your core formation,” the yeti added in a slightly pointed way, like he’d read Jason’s mind, and Jason had to stifle a laugh.

Frostbite might be an eight foot tall hairy yeti, but he’d get along with Alfred like a house on fire… he was even as stubborn about not using their names as Alfred was about nicknames.

And when Jason thought about someone comforting, the beacon of emotional maturity and constraint… it could only be Alfred. He was more grandparent than parent, but certainly the only mentor Jason still looked up to. And a paragon of control besides.

Alfred could help him with Pitty. Model a little actual emotional restraint and control for the both of them. The only question was if Jason could just be up front and ask him, possibly revealing the secret early, or if he’d have to come up with an excuse for them to hang out.

Stupid thought. Jason knew damn well he could just walk into the kitchen and Alfred would be more than happy to spend time together. He wouldn’t need a ruse; he wouldn’t even need an excuse.

The knowledge settled warm and soft and happy inside him, until his brain caught up with his ears and stopped him short.

Wait.

“Ghost parent?” He asked cautiously, looking from Frostbite to Danny again. Danny pulled a face but Frostbite beat him to the punch.

“Ah, yes. We did not discuss that last time either. Your ghost parent, young knight, is the second strongest bond a young ghost can have. They are the ghost who welcomes you into the Infinite Realms, who will guide your steps and protect you until your own haunt has formed.”

Brows furrowing, Jason twisted to frown more directly at Danny, not quite sure if he was looking for confirmation or asking a question of his own.

Cuz, y’know, other than the whole “protecting until his haunt formed” (and Jason certainly didn’t need protecting), that sounded a lot like what Danny had been doing. Which would totally make it weird if Jason was a knight to his own ghost-dad.

Clearly following the same lines, Danny raised both hands and shook his head, almost but not quite stepping out of reach.

“Oh no, it’s not me. You’ve had a ghost parent long before I came along,” he said emphatically, the sudden panic on his face making Jason feel better about his own response to surprise parenthood.

He magnanimously decided not to tease Danny about it, turning instead to give Frostbite a questioning look.

“Should I know who my ghost parent is? Who gets to decide?” He asked cautiously. He’d never met another ghost before Danny, but he had this awful sinking feeling that Ra’s al Ghul might have more to do with the realms than just the pits, and he was the closest proxy. Even Tallia would be better. Maybe even Bruce.

Reading his tension, Frostbite clapped a massive furry hand on Jason’s shoulder, smile and aura both full of comfort-reassurance-calm.

“Normally yes young knight, though yours is a special case. Usually when a young ghost first finds its way to the realms, one of the first ghosts they encounter will take them under their wing. It is an honour to care for a young ghost, and a halfa even more so,” he explained gently.

Beside Jason, Danny snorted loudly.

“Oh, yeah, they totally come running to play happy families. Super wholesome,” he grumbled, arms folded as he leaned back into Jason’s weight.

Honestly, Jason could kinda spot common threads between what Frostbite just said and what Danny had told him about Fight Club; the play fighting was supposed to be about sharing powers, right? Just, y’know, between people with shit verbal communication to actually check in that everyone was on the same page.

The yeti sighed fondly, his hand moving from Jason’s shoulder to rest proudly on Danny’s. Given the width of Danny’s shoulders respective to the hand, the last two fingers were back on Jason’s other shoulder.

“Again, Great One, your circumstances were also exceptional. You did not explore the Ghost Zone until after you had established yourself to many as a competent fighter and protector of your haunt, which along with certain… adventures led most to believe you were far older than you are,” Frostbite explained patiently, with just the faintest hint that they’d been through this before.

Danny rolled his eyes and shot Jason double finger guns.

“Yyyyup, which is why I don’t have to deal with any of this “ghost parent” business,” he agreed brightly, tipping Jason a smirk, “get good.”

Jason flipped him off, but there was something… not in his aura, Frostbite’s was still very carefully toned back all calm medical professional, but in the creasing of the yeti’s eyes. Now, ghost yetis were definitely a new species and Batman drilled them all on the dangers of extrapolating body language on new species, but Jason had done his time on alien planets.

Something in the change, something in the shift, a little quirk of the brow Jason had noted when the yeti was amused. There was something funny here, and it wasn’t Danny’s quip.

Putting his suspicions aside for now, Jason settled on the more pressing matter.

“So who is my ghost parent? When do I get to meet them?” He asked cautiously, still not entirely convinced he hadn’t accidentally imprinted on Ra’s or Tallia. Cuz he hadn’t been in the Zone before Danny either.

Danny himself, much less concerned, waved a hand vaguely.

“Oh, we’ll deal with that on the way home. Go do a proper meet and greet, that sort of thing,” he said nonchalantly, and Jason’s shoulders settled a little.

“They’re in the Zone then?” He prodded a little further, not fully willing to let the matter just drop. If he had to ghost-emancipate himself, he’d rather be ready sooner than later.

Danny grinned toothily at him.

“Usually. We’ll see if she’s around, but it might have to be another day. Gotta deal with our other list first, like if our whole halfa deal is gonna do anything to the knight thing, or your core coming in,” he added, looking expectantly at Frostbite.

Jason almost missed what he said next as his heart skipped a beat, a possibility he’d never even considered slamming home.

She.

Someone dead, if they were in the Ghost Zone.

Someone who’d claimed him as her son long ago, guided him as best she could. Someone he’d never expected to see again, not even having died and returned to life himself.

No chance, he told himself quickly, hurriedly refocusing on the conversation at hand. About his bond with Danny, about their shared fucked biology, about his whole undead future.

There was no point dredging up the past until he actually knew.

Frostbite was back in his familiar role of teacher, that same proud/warm/fond smile crinkling the corners of his eyes as he looked at Danny.

“For your bond, Great One, I am not sure what I would even test for. The young knight presently has no ghost form, yet the bond is present exactly as if he had. I am afraid we have no records of former halfas, so any problems which occurred before are long lost.”

The yeti gave the tablet another few careful claw strokes, pulling up lines and lines of scrolling numbers and data beside each of their silhouettes on the wall screen. Forcing himself to the present, Jason scanned them quickly.

Unsurprisingly, he couldn’t actually make heads or tails of it; ghost vitals couldn’t really include things like heartbeat, blood oxygenation, or anything they’d test for in the med bay.

Not until Bruce found out about all this crap anyway - Jason wouldn’t put it past him to try and buy out everything the Far Frozen had in his latest snit of paranoia. The second he got over his “oh no Jason is going somewhere I can’t supervise him”, obviously.

Frostbite clearly knew what it all meant though, highlighting a couple of different areas where Danny’s numbers were very different from Jason’s and giving him that reassuring smile.

“After your first transformation I would expect some of these to change, and it is likely that any differences in your particular bond would show then as well. Your ghost form will of course be entirely ectoplasmic, so the bond will be more present than it is even now.”

That snapped Jason from his internal flailing, and he grimaced at the reminder.

Because… yeah. They’d talked a lot about his first transformation, he and Danny. But the only thing Danny hadn’t really known was when to expect it.

“Yeah… about that. I know the basics, inversion of my moment of death crap, I’ll be able to change it eventually, yadda yadda,” and that was its own sword of Damacles hanging with the mistletoe, “but… when will it happen? Like, will it just… happen? Or will I… yeah.”

Even wording the question made him feel like the whole thing was just too complicated. He wasn’t even sure what he wanted to ask; what to look for? Would there be symptoms? Would he just un-die again in the street?

Luckily Frostbite seemed much more comfortable, hitting a few buttons on his tablet. Jason’s scan took over the full screen once more, zoomed in on the two orbs in his chest.

They were pulsing too, growing brighter and dimmer along with the more defined throb of the ectoplasm. Which was actually when he noticed that both cores were throbbing, so… was Pitty also a knight?

That was going on the list of questions for Clockwork like, yesterday. If he could get it its own little fear gun…

“As you can see, your core is still fuzzy around the edges and incompletely formed; once these edges have smoothed out, you will hypothetically be able to transform at any time,” Frostbite explained, blissfully aware of Jason’s new train of thought.

Probably for the best. Jason reluctantly refocused on the screen, tabling the idea of Sir Pitty for now. Nice to have something actually positive to look forward to.

He didn’t really remember seeing much of the screen during his last appointment, but he had seen the perfect sphere of Danny’s core, and his looked… well, like Frostbite said, smaller and kinda fuzzy. Like a ball of dough after it started sticking to your hands and losing its shape.

He frowned and nodded, looking back to Frostbite and then glancing around at Danny.

“So not until the next appointment, probably? Will it just… happen out of nowhere? Or will I need to trigger it?” It kinda helped, narrowing the scope. Dealing with it one step at a time.

Danny gave a helpless shrug.

“My powers started activating randomly, but I didn’t actually transform until I was in danger. Not like, life threatening danger,” he added with a roll of his eyes, like he’d heard Pitty’s growl… or maybe Jason had echoed it. “It was just Lunch Lady, she was never gonna really hurt us. She just made a mess and tried to feed everyone meat.”

Jason privately added Lunch Lady to his “asses to kick” list. On principle.

Frostbite gave a thoughtful nod, a large hand clapping down on Jason’s shoulder a lot harder than he’d probably intended. He didn’t flinch, but before his pit-growth-spurt it might have knocked him over.

“We can experiment more once your core is complete here in the Zone, and I would recommend waiting until Pitty has been expelled, if possible. Of course, any other changes in your knighthood bond will likely make themselves known with your first change as well,” the yeti mused, quite pleased with the idea.

Jason hesitated before agreeing, worry twisting through him again before he tamped it back down.

He wasn’t that scared little boy anymore; not inside. Besides, the bond was already firmly in place.

His soul was resonating a pace behind Danny’s.

It wasn’t like that little trip back to the moment of his death was gonna make Danny suddenly reject him.

The poor guy was probably stuck with Jason for life anyway at this point, which for a pair of halfas meant pretty much forever.

There was not a single thing on Earth or the Watchtower that he wanted less than to stop and talk to John Fucking Constantine and Diana after the meeting.

To be completely fair, Constantine clearly didn’t want to have that conversation any more either; Bruce had not been wrong about how well the magician would take the news that the United States had declared war on an entire dimension.

He was visibly green, had actually ground an unlit cigarette into a grainy mess against the table in lieu of lighting up, and looked about ready to lick up the tobacco.

Diana did not look happy either, but she never had. Her face was as stony and grave as Bruce had ever seen it, concern writ large even as she caught his eye.

The sure knowledge that her lasso would follow if he tried to leave was the only thing that kept him from ignoring her.

But since the only thing he wanted in the world at this moment was to have his son in his arms, and there was no chance of that happening until they were in the same dimension once more…

Bruce shot a quick, questioning look at Clark as the traitor made his way to the exit along with the rest of the Justice League. The Kryptonian at least had the grace to look a little guilty as he shook his head, stepping quickly out the door.

Wonder Woman hadn’t specifically told everyone else to get the fuck out. She had simply molded herself into an immovable force, concluded the meeting, and instructed Bruce alone to remain and discuss these… complications.

Bruce considered making an argument for Superman’s inclusion. They were the original three, and they’d probably need at least his and Aquaman’s help to handle the diplomatic situation.

Possibly the Oa, and Bruce was quite sure Green Lantern wasn’t looking forward to that possibility any more than he was. Hal Jordan talked a good game, always far too flippant, but he’d been pale enough by the end of the lecture that his suit made him look frankly unwell.

Unpleasant times would be in all of their futures it seemed. It was no real comfort as he slipped into a seat across from Wonder Woman and the slumped form of John Constantine.

The magician didn’t even look up, but clearly noticed.

“Didn’t fuckin’ think anyone’d fuck this up worse’n you, Bats,” he groaned, face still pressed into the table.

Bruce grunted, uninterested in his judgement.

“There are new complications we should focus on.” A vain hope, and one Diana instantly crushed.

“One that makes the contents of our discussion all the more vital,” she corrected sharply, piercing blue eyes narrowed as she watched his face. “It seems we have already caused unintentional offence.”

Which was an extremely light way to phrase the declared genocide, but Bruce didn’t bother arguing that position. Not when Constantine would do it for him.

But the mage just let out a long, hearty groan.

“Offence. Yeah. Maybe if we saw off the United States and toss it through a portal the rest of us will be fine,” he snarked, raising his head just enough to bang it off the table. Repeatedly.

By the third bang Diana gripped the back of his head, holding him in place against the table.

“Whatever the situation,” she growled, her tone daring either of them to comment, “we must deal with it as it is. You believe we would have noticed any countermeasures from the former Ghost King?”

She released her grip a moment later, and Constantine rolled his head just enough to glare at her through one eye.

“Pariah Dark? Sister, it wouldn’ta been a single town bein’ pulled off the map. We’d have lost the continent, and probably the world. You wouldn’t miss it,” he added with a bitter laugh, clearly considering banging his head off the table again.

Diana placed a hand on the table. Constantine set his head back down gently.

“And the new king?” She prodded, all icy control.

Bruce had to admit, even he felt calmer watching her.

He knew all the follies and foibles of gods, had no delusions about the limits of her power. He also knew her strengths. Her wisdom. Her ability to cut through complex issues with sword or words.

Whatever he missed, she was removed enough from this mess to catch.

Constantine shrugged, still not rising.

“No fuckin’ clue. All I know is they’re better’n Pariah, which is the lowest damn bar I ever saw. They call them Balance, and we’re not gonna fuckin’ like when the scales come due.”

Bruce’s brows furrowed. What could be a sufficient counterweight for demanding a whole people be hunted and experimented on until extinction?

The dead always vastly outnumbered the living.

Diana cut across his thoughts, her tone as sharp as her blade.

“So you believe we’d notice.”

Constantine sighed heavily and flopped back in his seat hard enough that he nearly toppled over. Diana steadied the chair with one hand, eyebrow rising archly.

Constantine stopped flailing, went to fold his arms, and instead stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“Probably’d be pretty hard to miss too,” he agreed gruffly. Diana nodded, having received the answer she wanted, and interlaced her fingers.

“Then we have time to rectify matters before word reaches his ears.” She paused, brow furrowing as she recounted John’s words. “Do we not know if the King is a man?”

Constantine shrugged again, pulling something unidentifiable from his pocket before hastily shoving it back in, coming out again with a lighter. He spun it between his fingers, eyes fixed on the metal lid.

“Nah. “King” is just a loose translation to living tongues, for what yer used to. Easier to say than “Supreme High Ruler, Core of the Realms”. Not even likely that they were ever human; not even the Ancients could take Pariah solo to take the crown, so a human ghost wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Huffing out a mighty breath, Constantine looked from the lighter to Bruce, his gaze somehow immeasurably more tired. Bruce had imagined that talking about Amity Park made the man look ancient.

He looked haggard enough to be an ancient ghost himself now.

Raising his other hand, he began counting off points on his fingers.

“We know they’re young. Everything agrees on that. Could be any time in the past few centuries, but it’s still a timeline. We know they’re tougher’n Hell and all its demons put together, cuz they put Pariah down single handed. Had to to get the throne. Might not have Ended him, the Casket of Eternal Slumber’s not turned up looking for a new occupant.”

The magician stared at his two fingers for a moment, then sighed and raised a third.

“And we know ghosts like them. They’re less scared, though most of ‘em never knew shit about Pariah. Didn’t even react to him waking, which had to happen for the change in power. That or it all went down too fast for the shockwaves to reach us here; not bloody likely. Wouldn’t take more than a day, and ghosts fight for decades on a whim.”

He hesitated for a moment, considering that last finger. Finally he sighed and shook his head.

“Can’t rule it out though. Pariah waking up’d be as much an emergency for them as it’d be for us, putting his ass back down is an all hands on deck situation on either side of the veil. If this new king is Balance, Pariah’d be their opposite,” he finished gruffly, glaring at all three digits before stuffing both hands into his pockets.

Bruce nodded, drawing a deep, calming breath in through his nose and then out through his mouth. Even this much discussion had something itching in the back of his mind, a building tension that he had to Get Away.

He was in control of it though. Could tell the difference between his own unease and the burning ember of the oath.

Turn and run right away his ass. Magic could never hold out against cool, calm logic.

“And this new king, Balance, has stamped a damn mark on Jason.”

And his breath hitched.

Sharp, white hot panic flared behind his eyes, every muscle clenching with the effort of not leaping straight from the table. The only reason he didn’t was because he had no idea where to go.

What would he even do? Run to Jason’s side? The boy was in another dimension, far beyond Bruce’s reach.

Again.

He was losing Jason again. Losing him to this Ghost King, this Balance, this-

Diana’s hand clamped firmly over his, the amazon’s grip immovable steel. Bruce felt his bones grinding together before he even noticed he’d stopped breathing, before he managed to look up enough to meet her eyes.

Stern, determined, brilliant blue locked with his. Her grip tightened a little further, the ribbing on his gloves creaking with the pressure.

She wouldn’t break them… probably. They were designed to hold up against any of the supers the League dealt with. Prolonged contact was another thing entirely though.

His attention now locked on her face, Bruce managed a deep breath in along with her. Held it when she did. Let it out.

She didn’t release him for another few repetitions, until he was breathing mostly on his own again. Then she returned her attention to Constantine.

“What.” It wasn’t aggressive. Just a completely flat, completely toneless statement.

Constantine gave her an entirely hopeless smile, pulling his hands from his pockets to give her jazz hands.

“And that’s what he’s not ready to hear yet. Your boy, Jason, Red Hood, has gotten himself personally warded by the Ghost King. He’s the next thing to invulnerable right now,” he added bitterly, as if that made any of it better.

An icy hand clenched in Bruce’s chest again, but he forced himself to still. To breathe through it. To not turn and run, run until he found his child and tore him away from whatever influence had him.

The Ghost King had a hold of Jason. Jason who’d all but ordered Bruce to let him go.

“And Jason must have been in direct contact with the King to receive these wards?” Diana asked sharply, and Bruce’s head snapped back to her.

It was a good question. Important, obvious, there was a connection there that he should be making, but he couldn’t think. His head was spinning, heart pounding, and every shadow seemed black as pitch.

Constantine grunted an agreement, shooting Bruce an almost sympathetic look.

Could. Could this be the oath? Not his own instinctive, natural panic?

Bruce couldn’t tell, he’d been so afraid for so long, ever since he held Jason’s broken body in his arms. Ever since he buried his son.

It felt the same. But he had mastered that fear long ago, so this would not control him now. He had to be better.

Frowning at Diana, he leaned forward.

“Explain.” She’d probably assumed that he’d made the same connection. He probably should have.

There was just a brief flash of surprise on her face before her expression softened, her hand gentling over his.

“Jason was the one who told you of these Anti Ecto Acts, was he not?” She asked pointedly, a dark brow arching delicately.

Bruce about managed a grunt of agreement, his jaw clenched too tightly to speak. She waited a moment longer, watching his face, and then sighed.

“Then is it not likely that either he has told Balance of these Acts, or that Balance was the one that told him?”

Constantine jerked and got halfway through a bellowed curse before she cut him off with a glare. Her tone brooked no argument as she continued with a firm, frosted patience.

“Jason is a principled young man, even if not of the exact principles you prefer. Either he has warned you because he believes we have time to fix this, or because the King would prefer we handle it,” she said bluntly.

It sounded so simple, put like that. Far too simple. Bruce shook his head, leaning in.

“We can’t know for sure-”

“Batman.” There was nothing harsh in her tone. Nothing so overtly aggressive as the glare she kept giving Constantine. Just a calm, cool statement that sucked the air from his lungs.

The weight of her own mantle, the Amazon princess who would one day be Queen. Not his friend Diana; Wonder Woman.

Once she was sure he wouldn’t continue, she fixed him with a sapphire stare.

“Do you believe Jason Todd would condone the end of the world?” She asked simply, and that at least was that plain.

“No.” It didn’t even require thought; whatever he feared ever since his son took his first life, Bruce knew that.

Jason was fundamentally a good boy. So kind, so giving, ironically he had been the most well adjusted boy Bruce had ever given the mantle to.

Which was what made what he’d become so painful. It was everything he never should have been.

Wonder Woman nodded as if that solved all the rest.

“And yet you called the meeting, not him. He has known for several days already and did nothing to alert any of us. Therefore, he does not believe this is an urgent threat.”

It sounded good, and Bruce almost believed it before Constantine snorted.

“Yeah, great, except the kid has no fuckin’ clue what he’s dealing with. Didn’t even know he’d been fuckin’ marked or that sellin’ his fuckin’ service was the dumbest fuckin’ thing he coulda done,” he grumbled and Bruce’s heart fell.

Wonder Woman was not so easily swayed. She raised an eyebrow slowly at the magician.

“And could those protective marks have been placed on Jason against his will?” She asked pointedly, like she knew the first thing about magic.

Constantine hesitated. Frowned a little, thinking hard. Finally he threw both hands in the air and leaned back in his chair, scrubbing them down his face.

“Technically, yes, alright? But I can’t think of a damn reason why they’d bother. Like I told the old Bat, it’s technically a good thing; I couldn’t even get a basic diagnostic spell off, he’s completely fuckin’ magic proof an’ anythin’ that can read that ward will run like fuck.”

Something in Bruce’s chest flickered hopefully. Wonder Woman nodded firmly, then redirected her stare to him.

“Then until we have reason not to, we assume that Jason Todd has control of this situation. He has assigned us to deal with these Acts, either before his king discovers them or on their behalf. You, Batman, will defer to his experience along with that of our experts,” she declared with all the ringing command she was capable of.

It chafed. And yet… he could hear the echo of Harley’s words in her voice.

What if Jason was wrong? It was the kind of thing he always thought about, the kind of thing he couldn’t stop thinking about. The kind of thing that had the Batman able to stand and go toe to toe with gods.

But what if Jason was right? What if Harley, Diana, Constantine were right, and his usual measures would spell disaster?

He had a dozen contingency plans that any member of the League could use to take him down. He was painfully aware that the first one, the one he’d already shown to Superman and Wonder Woman, only had two words in it.

Diana’s Judgement.

She hadn’t technically invoked it yet. Had never bothered asking exactly what he meant by it; she wasn’t one to back down from hard subjects, which meant she’d also never bothered hiding how little she thought of his contingency plans.

His League-specific ones, anyway. She liked the ones he had for the rogues and various end of the world crises.

It meant moments like this, where she would give him her honest, simple judgement and reign him in.

(Technically it also meant that he trusted her to decide when she needed to snap his neck, but Martian Manhunter always looked at him with disappointment when he thought about that side too much.)

Looking back to her face, he managed to meet her eyes and nod once. It went against every instinct he had, every year of experience and loss, but…

If he couldn’t do things he didn’t like, he’d never have become Batman.

Head spinning with a plethora of new information, bag of ecto candies in hand, Jason deliberately slowed down to let Danny precede him out of Frostbite’s office.

That little suspicion had been growing, kindling the more they discussed halfa anatomy and bonds, and honestly? Yes, he had been using it as an excuse to think about something other than his own problems.

Danny seemed not to notice, disappearing past the doorway as Jason looked up at Frostbite. Figured fuck it; he didn’t know how much time he had. Best be blunt.

“You’re Danny’s ghost parent, aren’t you?” He asked, knowing from the yeti’s face as he did that he was right.

The way it froze for just a moment, eyes flicking to the door Danny had just left through. Then the smile that spread, knowing and secretive as he bent down for the first time to put his face on Jason’s level.

“He takes such pleasure in believing he does not have one; the Great One values his independence highly, and his history with parental figures is… complex. It can be our secret, yes?” The yeti winked.

Jason hesitated for a moment, thinking back to all he knew about Danny’s home life. It wasn’t actually all that much; Danny probably actually knew more about Jason’s, after the last week.

That wasn’t just a rarity, it was practically unheard of for any of the former Robins, and Jason knew exactly how Dick and Harley would react to that information.

They’d accuse him of growth. Gross. They couldn’t be told.

And yeah, maybe Jason had a bit of a personal understanding of why Danny wouldn’t want an overabundance of parental figures around. Their situations weren’t exactly the same, not really, but Jason knew enough verses of the song.

All teen heroes tended to have certain things in common, the biggest of which was whatever parental figure they had failing to protect them. Failing to keep them from the darkness, forcing a kid to take on a mantle and burdens that they never should have.

He’d wanted to pound Bruce’s bones to pulp for putting another kid in his cape. Wound up nearly pounding Tim’s instead, however the pit and Tallia had twisted things to make that seem like the same thing.

And Danny hadn’t just picked up the mantle of Teen Hero. He’d picked up a crown, a whole realm of responsibilities and rulership over the dead.

Personally, Jason thought Danny was missing out on an easy dodge of king duties by not finding his ghost parent; Clockwork was his regent but still apparently bothered him for work.

A parent ruling until the child was of age was behind most of the most brutal regicides in any monarchic system; the dead had to know about it.

But that’d mean Clockwork bothering Frostbite at all hours, possibly. Or Clockwork finding new excuses to keep checking on a crown prince Jason had already seen was a handful.

Yeah, he could see why no one really challenged Danny’s assertion that he didn’t have a ghost parent.

Jason spared a moment wondering about his own again.

He knew better than to hope, he really did. Catherine Todd deserved much better than an afterlife of watching over his many mistakes. If there was any justice to death, she’d moved straight past the realms and into the most perfect of paradises.

He liked to think she’d be proud of him. Of the work he’d done, the good he’d spread through the Alley even if it was on the end of a gun.

So long as it wasn’t any form of al Ghul whatsoever, Jason was pretty sure he could handle any other ghost parent the multiverse could throw at him.

Danny’s head poked back around the corner, grinning in a very worried way between the two of them.

“Everything okay back here?” He asked with some of the worst overhyped cheer Jason had ever heard.

Alright, maybe Danny would actually also have been a problem for ghost parent. Because Jason thought he was hot. Because he was an awful mother hen even as a friend.

Jason raised his bag of ecto candies.

“Just checking how many of these I can safely have in a day,” he said innocently, and kinda hoped Danny didn’t actually feel the wash of Frostbite’s approval as the yeti straightened.

That would give the game away.

“They are not a substitute for sleep or nutrition for your human form,” Frostbite told him, as if that was what they’d been talking about.

Jason sighed heavily, doing his best impression of Tim being handed decaf.

“Listen, a guy can hope?”

“Oh you’re not gonna win that one,” Danny snickered, brightening with the distraction and all but skipping in to take Jason’s arm, “let’s scram before he gets the powerpoints.”

Frostbite gave them a cheerful wave on the way out the door, and Jason managed a mostly sincere smile as Danny began regaling him on some of his teenaged attempts to persuade Frostbite to let him give up sleep for finals week.

Yeah, he might add the Fenton parents to the butt-kicking list. Below the ghosts, obviously, for whom butt-kicking was a social courtesy.

But, y’know. If he ever got the chance to have a quiet word about taking care of your damn kids.

———————

And here we have Part 1! Imma just yeet it up so you can all get started while I edit Part 2, because again, this is a Girthy One without an easier breakpoint 👀

I’ll still try and get Part 2 done tonight, but I’ve kept y’all waiting long enough

Tag List: @welcometosasakiworld @kyrianclawraith @someonebored0100 @stealingyourbones @starkcravingmad @frostedthroughghost @akikkobara @rainbowbunny0159 @littlefeather345 @violet-catsarelife @serasvictoria02 @wolfjackle @blacksea21090 @secretdestinywerewolf @anime-hipster-the-amazing @undead-essence @skitscratched @blackroserelina @snoodly-boop @mayoota-blog @xysidhe @little-apricot-the-writer @chaoticmistake @the-legal-shipper @bun-fish @aroranorth-west @demon-cat-goes-woof f @perfectwastelandcreation @onyxlightdragon @larks-and-katydids @peachesandcreamfemboy @jesus-camp-the-sequel @may-rbi @mothman-the-mothman87 @viyatrix @stargirl1331 @idfk-man10 @thedepressedrobin @skulld3mort-1fan @rootsmudge @ravenshadow17 @cankoking @phantom-dc @mentalcarebear @magic-pincushion @redamancyardor @lyra689 @itsparadoxlacuna @alcorbearson @asphyxia778 8 @why-must-i-be-like-this @tkiesai i @greenpyrowolf @frivolous-pastel @honeysuckletook @adorkable1291

Part Two:

#dp x dc #dpxdc #dc x dp #dcxdp #danny fenton dead and loving it #chapter 17 i bet #well you did get down on one knee #dead on main ship #danny x jason #slowest burn we burn so slow it looks like rust

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wolfjackle-creates · 1 year

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Ghost!Robin Part 8

Look at you lucky ducks! Two WIP Wednesday excerpts today! I'm afraid you won't be able to get used to it. Going forward I may update each fic on alternating weeks. I have a busy few months coming up if everything goes to plan and could use the buffer in case I can't get much writing done. We'll see, though.

I'm going to start leaving a fic summary at the beginning of every excerpt in case people find this in the wild and want to know what they're getting into.

Summary: Danny is finally going to meet Jazz's boyfriend Jason. At Jason's family's mansion. He spent weeks making sure he could have an evening off of any Ghost King business. But when he meets Jason on the steps of the mansion, he can barely pay attention to the guy because his focus is on the ghost of the dead Robin hanging off his shoulders. Who is very happy to find someone who can actually see him.

Word Count: 1.4k

First, Previous

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“Right. Um… Well, I do just kinda do whatever is necessary or find someone who can. Because, um, well, I’m… kinda the High King of the Infinite Realms? There’s a bunch more titles after that but I refuse to memorize them because ugh.”

Danny looked down at his plate, not wanting to see everyone’s reactions. Jazz must’ve made sure he got a piece of pie because it sat in front of him. It looked so good. Did they even know about the Infinite Realms? Justice League Dark members did, but did Batman? Jazz reached over and took his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Tim and Barbara’s typing seemed to get faster. And then a pair of pixie boots and legs settled on the table next to his plate. He looked up and met Robin’s eyes.

Robin reached out an poked Danny on the nose. He gave a little trill of safe, friends drawing a smile out of Danny.

At the same time, Duke exclaimed, “That’s why you have a crown!”

And Steph said, “Okay, I may be out of the loop, but what the hell are the Infinite Realms?”

Damian snorted. “Aren’t you too young to be a king of anything?”

Danny half stood. “Look, do you want to go spar or something? Is that why you keep picking fights? Because we can do that. Fighting is good for young liminals. But I really don’t think this is the time or place.”

Jazz groaned and dragged him back into his seat. “Stop it, Danny. You’re on Earth right now.” Speaking over Danny’s protests, she explained to Damian, “We wish. Managed to get them to delay until he turned eighteen at least, but his grandfather wouldn’t let us wait any longer than that.”

Danny let the fight drop, but he did notice how Damian’s grip on his spoon tightened. Looked like they would be having that spar tonight if Damian had anything to say about it. Still, Jazz was right and he had to follow human customs on Earth so he bumped his sister’s shoulder and spoke to her instead. “You know as well as I do that he would’ve if it was possible. But thanks to Pariah, there are things that haven’t been done in a thousand years and it’s been causing so many problems.”

“Steph,” said Barbara. “The Infinite Realms are the spaces between universes according to Constantine. His documentation states that the Realm’s inhabitants are all incredibly overpowered and should not be approached under any circumstances. Just one being can evade all methods of capture with standard supplies.”

Jazz nodded. “And our parents dedicated their lives to building a portal to the Infinite Realms, or the Ghost Zone as they call it, and destroying all ghosts.”

“By ‘ghosts,’” asked Bruce, “Do you mean beings from these Infinite Realms?”

Jazz nodded. “Yes. Most beings from the Infinite Realms come into being when a living creature dies in a traumatic way, with a lot of emotion, or near a large source of ectoplasm. Usually some combination of all three.”

Both Tim and Bruce tried to ask further questions, but Jason’s voice cut in over theirs. “Jazz, when you say your parents wanted to ‘destroy all ghosts,’ did they stop after Danny’s accident?” Jason’s question did, at least, cause silence to fall as everyone stared at the two siblings.

Jazz looked down and gripped the tablecloth tightly, jaw clenched. Now it was Danny’s turn to lay a comforting hand over hers.

“No,” Danny said. “They didn’t. They didn’t know what happened for several years and when they found out… Well, there��s a reason I can’t use their last name and Jazz won’t call them ‘Mom’ or ‘Dad’ anymore. But”—Danny clapped his hands—“this is a great segway into what is actually important. Does the Justice League know about the Guys in White? More formally known as the Ghost Investigation Ward? Or even just GIW?”

“That name is unfamiliar to me,” said Bruce.

Tim agreed. “Babs and I aren’t seeing anything in the JL databases.”

Even Robin just shrugged.

Danny didn’t expect the jolt of pain that sent through his chest and Jazz turned their hands around until they were gripping each other’s hands with more force than any baseline human would’ve been able to.

“I told you, Danny. They didn’t know. They didn’t know.” Her eyes were wet, but she forced a shaky smile. “You could’ve had help.”

Danny just shook his head. “Even if I had believed they didn’t know… Without meeting them, without knowing how many of their own were in danger, I would’ve never trusted them. Too many people rely on me for me to risk it.”

“Care to enlighten the rest of us?” asked Dick. His posture was relaxed, but his voice had an edge that hadn’t been there earlier.

Robin nodded from where he sat staring at Danny. He sent out a questioning Danger? pulse at Danny.

“Yeah, danger,” agreed Danny. “Barbara, Tim, if I give you a law code number, can you pull up the law I’m referring to?”

“Of course,” agreed Barbara. “Just a moment… And shoot.”

Danny gave them the code for the Anti-Ecto Acts. “The Guys in White are the government agency responsible for enforcing the Anti-Ecto Acts which classify all ‘ectoplasmic entities’”—he made the air quotes—“as non-sentient and non-sapient and excludes us from the metahuman protection acts.”

“What the fuck!” shouted Duke.

Next to Danny, Dick suddenly was sitting up tense. “That’s impossible.”

“The league would’ve noticed such an act being passed,” said Damian, though he didn’t look as sure as his words would seem.

Cass merely tilted her head and looked at him while Steph choked on her drink.

Bruce looked to Tim and Barbara. “Is this true?” he asked them.

Robin pointed to himself and mouthed the word ‘Me?’ at Danny.

“I’m afraid so. And Bruce, Cass, Steph, and Damian as well.”

Dick’s spluttering got louder. “How are they all in danger?” he demanded to know.

Before Danny could reply, Tim was speaking. “It’s all true. And far worse than Danny implied. Not only are ecto-entities not protected by the metahuman protection laws, but they are to be actively hunted and turned over to the GIW for experimentation and extermination and anyone who assists them is declared guilty of treason.”

“When did they pass?” asked Bruce.

“Four years ago,” said Barbara. “While Luthor was president. They were hidden in some laws about green energy.”

“Ghost are made of ectoplasm,” explained Jazz. “Ectoplasm is a fantastic energy source.”

“It happened a few months after I defeated the previous king but before my coronation,” added Danny.

“Why do you think myself, Damian, Cass, Stephanie, and Jason will be targeted by this Ghost Investigation Ward?”

“It’ll be easier to show you.” Danny reached down and pulled up his bag. The thing was made in Pandora’s realm and was bigger on the inside. Once open, it took him a moment to find what he was looking for. He could see Robin signing to the group next to him. “Here we are,” Danny said as he pulled out three devices. “These are all different ectoplasm detection devices. One is my own design, one is the Guys in White’s design, and one is my parent’s design. I’ll show you mine first because it’s the best.”

“Might be a dumb question,” started Dick, “but what the hell is ectoplasm?”

“So you know how all the elements in this universe came about from nuclear fusion of hydrogen in the cores of stars?” asked Danny. When most everyone nodded, he continued, “In the Infinite Realms, that base element is ectoplasm. But there’s no need for a star to transform it into anything else. It will mold to the shape any consciousness that interacts with it wants. When sentient creatures slip through, either by a portal or through death or any other means, they shape the part of the Realm they’re in to their will. The stronger the ghost, the larger the area they control.” Holding out his hands, Danny called forth a ball of ectoplasm, shaping it into a glowing-green ice duck. “Something like this,” he commented grinning around the table.

Only to be met with horrified looks as most of the table were staring at his hands with distrust. Damian had his knife out again. Jason, his gun with the other arm held protectively in front of Jazz. Bruce was standing and Cass tense.

“What’s wrong?” asked Danny. “It’s just an ice duck sculpture. Completely harmless.”

Jason’s voice was low and threatening. “It’s an ice duck made of Lazarus water.”

More alarming than his voice was the way his eyes glowed ecto-green and the fear-anger that filled the room.

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Challenge: Stay on one topic for more than two sentences.

Outcome: Failed.

They keep getting side tracked with more questions. And Danny still hasn't had a bite of his pie. This evening will never be over.

Tag List Part 1

@addie-lover-of-stories, @justwannabecat, @gin2212, @amercurio, @regonold, @overtherose, @readerzj, @sjrose1216, @echoednonny, @deeterzz, @blu-lilac, @number-one-jew, @rowanaway-fromthisbs, @vythika96, @tired-yet-awaken, @themirrorghost, @emeraldcorpral, @all-mights-asscheeks, @darkhinauniverse, @blep-23, @phandomhyperfixationblog, @larkcoe1, @thegatorsgoose, @job-ross-the-second, @britcision, @lenacraft, @bubblemixer, @androgynouslordofescapism, @purefrickingspite, @leftmiraclechaos, @lizisipancardo, @starlight-sparks, @miraculousandmore, @gildedphoenix, @sometimesthingsfallapart, @letmesayfuxk, @phoenixcatch7, @skulld3mort-1fan, @abaowo, @dhampir-princess, @idkmrpianoman, @sarina-elais, @ballzfrog-blog, @undead-essence, @spookytragedyshark, @flyingpansaurus, @akintoabitch, @marivictal, @8-29pm, @justreadingthefanfics, @happybear135, @kisatamao, @spoopyspoony, @adorablechaos, @sara0055, @screamingtofillthevoid

Looks like 50 is the limit for active user tags in a post. Good to know

#dpxdc #danny fenton #jazz fenton #jason todd #Ghost!Robin #anger management #my writing #every sentence out of danny's or jazz's mouths leads to more questions #they will never be able to get through them all #but more importantly!#will danny ever get to eat his pie?#even he's forgotten about it #and its sitting right in front of him #but so is a ghost so...

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amaramizuki666 · 1 year

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Shared sensation part.1

Dp x DC crossover

So rejected soulmate au and clone tim au mix.

Danny had a soulmate, just like the rest of the worlds population. His soulbond type was shared sense. To explain, when a soul pair has this type of bond they end up sharing a sense, they could share their hearing, sight. Taste, smell. In danny and his partners case they shared touch.

Danny and his soulmate felt everything the other felt, including pain. Danny had always loved his soulmate even while not knowing them, he just wanted the best for them. That's why he always tried his best to stay out of trouble though it was hard to do that when your parents are the town wackos.

Danny was pretty mature for a 10 year old. So when he started to feel his soulmate getting hurt more frequently he was worried.

Danny grew up learning to hide bruises that he gained on his own and from his soulmate. He loved his soulmate so much and when he would find them he would protect them no matter what.

Then danny turned 13, for his birthday his parents and jazz decided to take him to Gotham to celebrate. Gotham isn't exactly festive but his parents what to get ectoplasm samples or whatever.

They ended up leaving danny and jazz in a small cafe while they whent out to look for ghosts. Then he saw him. A boy with black hair and beautiful blue eyes that set his stomach into a flutter. Who also had the same matching bruise on his neck.

Danny couldn't help himself he knew as soon as he saw him, danny just knew. "H-hay!" Danny yelled over to the boy, his gaze flicked over danny the same realization in his eyes. There was another boy next to him who watched the two interact with curiosity at the sidelines with jazz.

"Hi" the other boy says quietly almost as if whispering. Danny's smile was wide as he strutted over to his soulmate "hi I'm danny it's a pleasure to meet you" he says sticking out his hand excitingly.

This is it after so many years of waiting, he finally has his other half. Then in a flash Danny's hand is slapped away. The expression on Danny's face drops into one of confusion. His soulmate glared at him with cold eyes.

"W-why did you-" Danny asks put was promptly cut off by his soulmates harsh voice "I reject you" . Those 3 words, the 3 forbidding words you must never say to your soulmate. The worst thing you could ever possibly do to your other half, brake your bond.

Danny's, jazz's, and the other boys face all shared a look of horror. Danny and his soulmate quickly drop to the ground. Danny is clutching his chest dry gagging as he feels the bond he has so tenderly loved being ripped to shreds.

Danny let out a silent pained scream as he feels his whole body go numb before he passed out. Leaving his soulmate an opening to grab his brother and bolt out the door.

-------------------------------

Tim was curled up in his bed hyperventilating. What had he done. Why would he do that to his other half. Danny was his name. He just destroyed himself and another.

But, as much as tim regrets it, he knows it's for the best. Bruce would have never let tim become Robin knowing what type of soulbond he had. The bond that let him experience everything his soulmate did.

Tim loved his soulmate but not to the same accord as he did batman and robin. Tim was just trying to protect his soulmate, protect danny. Being a vigilante is painfull. He didnt want him to have experience it not the same way he did.

Severing their bond was the right decision. Tim knew it was best to let go.

______________________

part. 2

#writing prompt #writing #danny phantom #dialogue prompt #danny fenton #dc x dp #dc #dc comics #batfam #clone tim #soulmates #ghost king danny #danny x red robin #danny x tim

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immortallylightbird · 7 months

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Prompt #12

(SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: ENDGAME)

Three different pairs of eyes snap open in tandem, each during different points in time. But all equally confused on what was going on.

————

Danny Fenton awoke with a gasp, phantom pains shooting up his arm. The halfa looked around frantically before sighing in relief at the sight of his room. He grabbed his phone to see what ungodly hour he woke up at, only to stare in bewilderment at the date that was displayed on the screen.

'That couldn't be right.' He thought to himself, frowning. Last he checked it was not 20XX. Nor was it two months before the portal accident. After a bit of contemplating he groaned, getting out of bed and starting to get ready for the day while internally cursing Clockwork. He couldn't even visit the time ghost to yell at him! Danny then spluttered as a bright green sticky note was slapped onto his face.

'Have fun living.'

————

Jason Todd didn't immediately open his eyes, that'd be stupid and would against any and all training he got from Bruce. He could just tell that something was *off* though. He felt different, he couldn't place exactly what was different but it was definitely something. He carefully listened to his surroundings, trying to see what kinda place he was being kept in. After assessing the room for any potential threats he slowly opened his eyes. His brow furrowed as he looked around what seemed to be his room as a teen when he was living in the manor. Jason slowly sat up and got off the bed. He quickly gauged that his height was immensely different as he walked over to a mirror, he immediately stared in shock. A good description of his reaction would be 'what the actual fuck'. He was a teen again. Like, around the age he stole the batmobile tires. How the hell was that possible? Did Flash fuck up the timeline again?? His gaze drifted to a bright green sticky note.

'Enjoy your time living.'

————

As Peter Parker woke up sitting upright while gasping for air, his first thought was: 'I should be dead.'

But no, he was in his and May's apartment, very much not dust floating through space. He looked around at the many Star Wars Legos and other very distinct things that made up his room. Nothing was changed, and his spidey-sense wasn't going off, but there was definitely something wrong here. Peter looked down at himself, trying to find any evidence that was dusted away before grabbing his phone off his nightstand and looking at the date, 3 months before the snap. How was that possible? He should be dead- no, he WAS dead. He got up and walked around his room slowly, trying to look for anything that signaled that he was dreaming. There was nothing. It wasn't a hallucination either. Just as he turned around to walk out the door, he spotted a strange bright green sticky note stuck to the door.

'Use your time wisely.'

————

In another realm during a different moment in time, a deity smiled, shifting between forms. He would probably be getting in trouble for this later, but it would be worth it in the end. Afterall, he knew these kids would make the best of the time they had now that they knew of future events.

Well, hopefully. Nothing ever goes according to plan with time.

#dp x dc x mcu #dpxdcxmcu #mcuxdcxdp #dp x mcu #mcu x dp #mcu x dc x dp #dc x dp #dp x dc #dpxdc #dcxdp #hi yes I am alive #very much inspired by Die Young - Kesha #don't expect me to suddenly start posting again #i just got a random burst of writing motivation and decided to post this

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channajen · 1 year

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This is an older story of mine. It's called "Learning to Fly". It's a Jason/Danny story that I wrote before "Dead on Main" was a thing. Since that's getting popular now, I decided to share it with you guys. Enjoy the story!

Summary: The contamination from the Lazarus pit was slowly killing Jason—halfway. Batman finds someone to help him though the transition into halfa life. Time marches on, Jason finds love, and the Bats find their place in legend.

Story teaser below the cut

Jason stared down at the city below him. Everything was well-lit and small businesses lined the streets. There was even a children’s park, bright in the moonlight. A few police cars patrolled the area to maintain the level of peace that had come over the place that used to have the name “Crime Alley”.

It had taken years to complete the clean-up and ensure that this would be a safe place in Gotham. Jason had poured much of his life/after-life into the project. He had started the project while he was still human, and at times he had even gotten help of the Bat-kind. That had changed when Danny came into his life. His now-husband had given him the tools necessary to make the incredible change possible.

He smiled then, at the thought of his husband, who was likely doing a nightly run to survey his own city. And although the cities were not close, the distance between them was negated by simply using portals to zip back and forth between the two. The cities’ locations didn’t really matter, though, as the pair actually made their home elsewhere…in the Zone. But there was no one left alive who would know that. All the people who mattered now resided happily in the Zone close to them.

With that in mind, he decided to call it a night, and Gotham’s cryptid, Jason Todd, opened a portal and stepped into the Ghost Zone. He had deliberately entered the Zone a bit further from home than usual. He wanted time to think and remember everything that had brought him this far. Some days were just like that.

Way back in the time when the Bat clan roamed the streets, Jason had died and been resurrected. That was probably one of his most painful memories. No one liked reliving their death—especially the dead themselves. Then there was the Pit madness, his rampage as Red Hood, his eventual reconciliation with his family, and after several years, the painful ecto-sickness that turned him into a halfa.

It had been a harrowing time. Bruce didn’t know what to do, and no one knew how to treat him. At the time, the Anti-Ecto Acts were still in place, so there was nowhere to legally turn for help. That didn’t stop the Bat from bringing all his resources to bear. It was the Replacement, of all people, who found the answers that they needed. Tim had found a small town in Amity Park, Illinois that was targeted by the Ghost Investigation Ward—the same organization that was rumored to be after Jason.

The Bat clan went into full research mode and so much of what they found, both legally and illegally, brought light to Jason’s situation. He wasn’t dying—not completely anyway—he was changing into something rare. He was becoming a half-ghost. A lot of technical details about the process had been hacked by Oracle from one man’s computers: Vlad Masters, billionaire, mayor, and apparent half-ghost himself. The man had thoroughly outlined the process in which he had become a halfa. It took the man twenty agonizing years to complete his transformation.

There was not much that could be done during Vlad’s time to speed up that process, at least not in Vlad’s early personal records. Master’s eventually had hypothesized that ectoplasm exposure would speed up the transformation, and finally ended his suffering by proving it. He had injected himself with ectoplasm repeatedly on a daily basis, and his twenty-years of “ecto-illness” was finally cured by the formation of a ghost core. That process completed his transition from extremely ill human to healthy half-ghost.

Vlad had also studied another halfa in detail. One Daniel J. Fenton, also known as the town hero/antihero Danny Phantom. This Phantom person had become a halfa in literally moments through exposure to high amounts of electricity and ectoplasm at the same time. He had been the town’s protector for almost ten years at the time of Jason’s illness.

Batman considered all of the information available and refused to let his son suffer for however long the process would take for him. After long talks with Jason about the potential side-effects of transition, the Bat secretly bought a large amount of ectoplasm and began Jason’s injection series. It very quickly turned the tide of the young man’s illness. They were confident that Vlad’s treatment would work for Jason, but that still left the issue of the ghost powers that the man would develop. He would need training.

Master’s information also had another extremely helpful tool—key to Jason’s training—the information on one Daniel J. Fenton/Phantom. Nightwing was the one tasked with making contact with the halfa in hopes of gaining more information about life as a halfa superhero—and possible help with teaching Jason the basics of living a halfa-life. Initially the half-ghost was wary, but Dick had a way of warming people up and getting their secrets. In the space of a few weeks, Dick had completely gained Danny’s trust and cooperation in the matter of helping Jason....

(continued at A03)

#jason todd #danny phantom #dead on main #dp x dc #romantic fluff #happy feels #ghost king danny

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xysidhequeen · 1 year

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im kinda curious if in your king and red knight au your tags says that theres possibly going to be Dick/Jazz? because i dont think i have seen that written yet but sounds great! though it made me think since Danny and Jason are possibly adopting/kidnapping Tim that since Dick basically raised Damian while batman was gone its possible going to be co parenting Damian with Jazz in this au if you get that far along in your series.

So I'd like to say the tags are only possible things but I've somehow stuck close to every unhinged tag I've written for this series. So there is a high chance of Dick/Jazz (I just think they'd work well together? Dick has a Thing for strong red heads. And i really adore rare pairs)

I do plan on having Damian show up eventually! So if Dick and Jazz get together there's probably going to be a 3 way custody battle between Jason and Danny, Jazz and Dick, and Bruce over the demon prince.

However Bruce taking a vacation in time is something I'm not sure if I'll include (it would be...too easy for Clockwork to just...fish him back out?)

#xy answers #dp x dc #danny phantom #dc x dp #dp x dc crossover #dpxdc #danny phantom au #the king and his red knight #the king and his red knight au #tkahrk #tkahrk au #Dead On Main #Jazz Fenton x Dick Grayson #maybe??#they need to meet first so we can see if they have the chemistry im hoping they will #Jazz would be really good for Dick though #shed make sure he ate something more than cereal

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luxaofhesperides · 1 year

Text

those who serve.

CHAPTER FIVE: a mission.

read the previous chapters here or read the whole fic on ao3.

surprise! it's time for an alfred pov. 5k words of it, in fact.

. . .

“Robbery two blocks away, due west from you, Nightwing,” Alfred reports, eyes flicking over the map of Gotham. Different spots are lighting up as calls come in about disturbances or crimes. Alarms go off and known criminal hideouts blink rapidly, demanding attention as Oracle’s system automatically updates from her network of cameras.

It’s a busy night as usual, running comms for the Bats. He can only be grateful that all they’ve run into so far is petty crime; no rogues are striking out, which means plans are still being made, but that’s a problem for later.

For now, Alfred is glad his wards are as safe as they can be, swinging around Gotham to fight crime.

“On it!” Nightwing replies, and his marker on the map moves through the streets quickly.

The others are scattered around the city, working in pairs, save for Nightwing who flits to and fro, joining everyone for a few streets before going off on his own again. They rarely split up from each other and always return to each other before Alfred can berate them. It’s a nice night. Long, as they always are, but he can’t rest until he sees everyone back safe and sound.

The years are heavy on him, weighing him down. Danny’s assistance around the manor has been wonderful, but there’s only so much work he can delegate when his most difficult responsibilities involve their night life, a responsibility that Danny had firmly refused to do anything with.

Alfred can’t begrudge him. He often wishes Bruce would hang up the cowl, but his crusade to save Gotham from itself is never ending and he’s never been one to give up. All his children are equally stubborn.

“Quiet night, isn’t it?” Spoiler comments. She and Black Bat have been sitting at the same corner for the past five minutes; they likely stopped for a snack break, buying from corner stores even though Alfred always makes sure they take high calorie, healthy snacks with them before they leave.

“Let’s hope it lasts,” Red Hood says, “Quiet’s never a good thing in this city.”

“It does always lead up to something bad,” Red Robin agrees. “Seen any sign of Venom out on the streets yet?”

“Not yet, but my men have been hearing rumors about the Venom gang getting real bold lately. They’re going for bigger targets to steal funds. Still don’t know where they’re getting their Venom.”

“Think they’ll go after the Wayne Charity Gala next week?”

“I will be prepared for all possibilities,” Alfred cuts in. “Movement of an illegal arms shipment has been called in near the ferry in West End.”

“We’re on it,” Batman says.

The comms go quiet for a minute as everyone moves around the city, hunting down petty criminals to protect civilians and investigating their own ongoing cases. Alfred scans the map once more, but there’s nothing more for him to take note of. Such is the pace of quiet nights.

If he’s lucky, they’ll call it an early night and return to the manor (or their own safehouses) before 4AM.

“So,” Nightwing says, carefully casual, “Danny.”

The comms erupt with noise as everyone chimes in with various replies of Danny! Has anyone found out more about him? Tell me you have some fun stories about him!

Alfred clears his throat loudly and is pleased when they all settle down.

“Danny is settling in well,” he says.

“Any chance of him joining us on patrol soon?” Spoiler asks.

Robin scoffs. “As if. He has no training and will not be able to keep up with us. Even keeping him on comms is unthinkable.” And, quieter, “He has no desire to be a part of this, in any case. He made that very clear.”

Nightwing whistles. “Yeah, those conditions. He sure is something, isn’t he? So are we thinking human experimentation or something else?”

“I considered the possibility, alongside cults,” Batman says. “Red Hood, have the Outlaws heard about either of those things lately? With Danny having the powers he does, I wouldn’t be surprised if people were searching for him.”

“I haven’t heard anything yet,” Red Hood answers after a long pause. “Don’t even know where the kid could have come from.”

“Agent A, you said he saved you from a mugger, right?” Nightwing asks. “Wait, give me a minute. Carjacking in progressed just down the street.”

“Powers?” Black Bat asks. Batman only replies with a grunt.

“Back!” Nightwing says before Black Bat can decide if she needs to go hunt down Batman for a proper answer. Alfred would have given her his location if she did, but the conversation is enough to distract her. “So. Danny saved you, yeah?”

Alfred thinks back to that night, after spending so many dawns walking with Danny, talking to him quietly. He didn’t get a response often, but as Danny began to open up more, he would close the distance between them, listening intently to everything Alfred said. He’d even ask questions from things Alfred had discussed previously and it was clear from there that Danny was a kind, attentive young man doing his best in a bad situation.

Looking at Danny, hunched into himself in a dirty hoodie and stained jeans, tired and gaunt, had reminded Alfred of Jason. Admittedly, he had met Jason as a child and had cared for him until his was murdered as a teenager, but they had the same aura about them. The same distrust, the drive to survive, the kindness despite it all.

Danny isn’t Jason. He’s his own person, unique from anyone else in the family, but that was the initial reason Alfred kept seeking him out.

He’s glad he did. Now Danny is in the manor, under his care, slowly learning to trust him and the others of the family enough to use his powers.

It is clear, from Nightwing’s questions, that he too had experienced Danny’s protectiveness.

Whatever was done to him had stripped his humanity from him. There is no other way to describe him as monstrous in that moment when he ran back to Alfred; the snarl, the sharp teeth, the glowing eyes, everything about him screamed not human. But he only used it to protect, to scare away the man seeking to harm Alfred, and he had come back quickly, hiding that part of him away.

Alfred isn’t scared of Danny. He had seen the control Danny had over that aspect of him, saw the way he curled into himself, awaiting judgment as Alfred checked him over for injuries. Changed as he may be, Danny is his apprentice. He is not a threat, but a protector.

He believes that the others will understand that, but he also knows that they are just as protective of him as Danny is. Should they try to keep Danny away, Alfred will show them exactly why he’s been the sole and strongest guard for the manor all these years.

“Yes,” he says, “Danny did indeed defend me before I was able to convince him to return to the manor with me.”

“Did you see how he fought? Or what he looked like?”

“I take it Danny reacted similarly when you were in danger.”

Nightwing laughs. “Boy, did he! He’s small for his age, but he’s crazy strong. Maybe not Superman levels, but he knocked down a guy twice his height and four times his weight like it was nothing.”

“He also growled at me,” Red Hood adds thoughtfully. “We really gotta find out who had him, because if they’re to artificially enhance people, they’re doing a pretty terrifying job of it.”

“Do you think he could be an alien trying to blend in?” Red Robin muses.

“Shit. Add it to the list.”

“Red Hood,” Alfred warns.

“Sorry, A.”

“There is something strange about him, beyond his powers,” Robin comments thoughtfully.

Red Hood makes a noise of agreement. “Yeah, no kidding. Something about him sets me on edge. I know he’s just a kid trying to survive, but he’s got some sort of bad vibe.”

“Hood!” Spoiler berates, “That’s so rude! He’s an abused kid trying to find someplace safe. Is that any way to talk about him?”

He sputters, trying to defend himself. Alfred stays quiet; Red Hood did this to himself, and should know well enough by now that his words have consequences just as actions do.

“Wait! Hood, get over here, I think I got something!” Red Robin says, cutting off everyone’s attempts to guilt Red Hood even more, and on the map, Alfred can see him stop in an alley, Red Hood just a street behind him. He manages to hear the beginning of a sentence, then both of them turn off their comms.

This is nothing unusual. They often need a moment to think without any distractions, or need to have a private conversation to sort something out. Batman never likes it, always fearing the worst, but Alfred is content with just monitoring their locations and vitals. As long as they can be found and their hearts are beating steadily, he allows them to have their silence as needed.

“Man,” Nightwing says, breaking the silence, “I’m beat. Think I’m gonna call it night and head back to the manor if everyone else has things covered.”

The rest of the bats respond with a chorus of reassurances and good nights, and Alfred is pleased to see Nightwing’s marker moved towards the manor. He swings across a few streets, then stays on the road, likely having called his motorcycle to cut down travel time.

“It’s good that you aren’t pushing yourself, Nightwing,” he says, both happy Dick is taking care of himself and pointedly ignoring everyone else not doing the same thing. “I will see you soon.”

“Wonder what the Reds found,” Spoiler says, quickly distracting everyone from the shame Alfred is trying to make them feel.

Red Robin’s comm goes back online as soon as she finishes talking. “Got some info on Venom distribution. Good news: it’s not Bane. Bad news: it’s a copy who has a grudge, so we can expect whoever it is to do something big and stupid soon.”

Batman grunts in acknowledgement. “Red Hood?”

There’s no answer. His comm stays off, but Alfred can see his marker following after Red Robin; being questioned too much by Batman always leaves him in a bad mood, and ignoring him is a better option than going after him, guns out.

An alert pops up on the map, flashing. “Spoiler and Black Bat, there appears to be a situation unfolding in the brewery on Johnson Street. Do be careful.”

“You got it, Agent A!”

Spoiler and Black Bat move quickly, ending their snack break to go right back into crime fighting.

Though she refuses to stay and always moves between the Bats and Oracle, Stephanie is a welcome presence. Her start as a vigilante was rough, as were her relationships to others, but Alfred is glad she preserved and stuck around despite it all; her cheer and stubborn optimism is a welcome change from Batman’s severe demeanor. Her sense of justice is strong, and her experiences in the rougher areas of Gotham provide a much needed perspective that was lost with Jason.

He does hope she agrees to spend her birthday at the manor just so he can spoil her a little. Pun not intended.

The others go back to focusing on their own patrol routes around Gotham, keeping an eye on the streets for anyone who may need their help. It’s a routine patrol, though it’ll likely end early once Alfred makes a few comments about the late hour and convinces everyone to return to get some sleep before sunrise.

Nightwing is only ten minutes out when Alfred suddenly becomes aware of a shift in the air.

He’s alone in the Batcave. And though he may be getting on in the years, he prides himself in his situational awareness; war and years spend in the secret service have given him instincts that cannot be buried deeply, no matter how many years he spends pushing them aside to tend to the Wayne family.

Those instincts tell him he’s no longer alone.

Alfred smoothly takes off the headset and sets the comm system onto the Batcomputer to take advantage of the powerful microphone it uses. He can’t alert anyone to his situation, not without giving away his awareness of the intruder, but once the altercation begins—and there will be an altercation—they will be able to hear it and know that they need to return to the Batcave immediately.

A security breach of this severity is rare.

Rare is not impossible, and Alfred has dealt with all such breaches in the same way: with a shotgun.

There’s one in a weapons case just on the other side of the Batcave. If he can get to it, he can go after the intruder and have better chance of taking them down. The problem is if he can keep the intruder from taking that chance to attack him.

Well. No point in wasting any time.

Alfred stands and prepares to make his way to the weapons case.

And Danny stumbles into the Batcave from one of the side passages and says, “What the fuck did I just wake up to?”

“Language!” Alfred scolds reflexively, because the rest of him is reeling. He knows this cave system very well. He is the one who explored it with Bruce when they were first converting it into the Batcave, a base of operations for the Batman during his second year as the Dark Knight. He knows that the passage Danny walked out of is a dead end, that there is no way into it other than from the main cavern itself, and Alfred would have seen Danny pass him if he had been down here.

So the question remains: how did Danny get into the Batcave?

The Batcomputer is suspiciously quiet. He’s sure that everyone is listening in, keeping silent to avoid alerting Danny to the fact that they are there.

“A whole cave?” Danny asks, incredulous. “I thought a basement was bad enough, but an entire cave?”

“Danny,” Alfred says, hoping to cut in before Danny could properly get started on his rant. He’s taken care of enough teenagers to know that once they get started, it’s incredibly hard to stop them.

“A cave!”

“Danny, how did you get down here?”

The question makes Danny stop. He closes his mouth and his expression shutters into something neutral. His shoulders are tense, and Alfred can see how his eyes dart around as if seeking an escape route.

“I will not be angry no matter what the answer is,” Alfred hurries to reassure. “I just want to know how you got here and if you are alright.”

Danny stays silent for a long moment, then mumbles something beneath his breath.

“Pardon?”

“...Fell,” he mutters.

That’s not a great answer to hear, though Alfred still doesn’t see how it explains his sudden presence in the Batcave. “Would you mind speaking up, Danny? My ears aren’t quite what they used to be.”

Danny takes a deep breath, then walks closer to Alfred so he’s only a few feet away, carefully staying out of reaching distance. It makes his heart hurt, the clear apprehension in each movement; he would never hurt Danny, but it’s clear that others have not held the same sentiments. If only he could find them and ensure that they would never be able to hurt Danny again…

“I fell,” Danny says, keeping his gaze fixed on the floor.

“You fell,” Alfred repeats.

“Through the floor. And my bed.”

“You fell into the Batcave? Are you quite alright, my boy?”

He hears a small sound from the Batcomputer, a slight catch of breath. Danny must hear it too, for his eyes flick towards the monitors, then back to Alfred.

“It’s fine,” he says, as if falling from his room into the Batcave, a considerable distance to say nothing of the stone and hardwood he had to go through, isn’t a big deal at all. “I didn’t break anything.”

That is not at all what Alfred is concerned about. “Are you injured? Come, we have a med bay just over here and I am a trained field medic.”

Danny tenses immediately and stumbled back a few steps. There’s a wild look in his eyes that reminds him of cornered animals, ready to lash out in fear. “No!” he yells, “No. No examinations, no nothing. Don’t touch me. Please.”

The possibility of human experimentation looks more and more likely.

He raises his hands, trying to calm Danny down. He carefully doesn’t move any more than that. “Alright,” he says, “I will not touch you. But please let me know if you are injured from your fall.”

“No, I’m… I’m fine. I was having a nightmare and went intangible and just… sank through the floor until I got here.”

Alfred didn’t know that Danny could make himself intangible, but that’s not important right now. He files the information away for later, and makes a note to forbid anyone from questioning Danny without his permission or presence. “That’s good. I am glad you’re unharmed.”

The sincerity of his words much come through; Danny relaxes, just slightly, and the hunted look on his face fades. He glances around the cave again, eyes catching on the giant penny and the cases lining the wall, filled with various suits.

“I imagine you have questions.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Danny scoffs. “Like, I expected something shady since you’re working for a crime family, but this is on another level.”

A crime family? Alfred has to bite back a laugh; they are the opposite of a crime family. They’re a crime-fighting family, if anything.

“Seriously, why would you need a giant penny? Some sort of intimidation tactic while you’re having meetings down here to keep underlings in line? And the dinosaur. That’s just excessive. Couldn’t you just have a torture room instead and call it a day?”

“Oh my God,” Spoiler laughs, her voice ringing out from the Batcomputer. Multiple comms unmute themselves then to frantically shush her, but the damage is done. “This is the best thing I’ve ever heard. Danny, you’re the best. I’m going to hold this over their heads forever.”

“Guess that means I can come in now,” Nightwing says. The distant rumble of an engine echoes through the cave as he enters the tunnel that leads off from the road. It’s barely a minute before Nightwing reaches the main cavern and smoothly comes to a stop, the engine cutting off.

Danny moves then, placing himself between Alfred and Nightwing. It’s unnecessary, but Alfred can’t help but by touched that despite Danny’s clear upset upon discovering the Batcave, he won’t let his emotions stop him from caring.

“Hey,” Nightwing says and carefully peels off his mask. “I guess I should introduce myself again, huh? I’m Dick, and at night I go fight crime as Nightwing.”

“You fight crime?” Danny repeats, doubt coloring his tone.

“Yeah. All of us do. Gotham’s the most crime-ridden city in the world and most of the cops are corrupt, so someone has to protect people.”

“And that’s you.”

“And that’s me,” Dick confirms with a bright smile. “Well, me and everyone else.”

Danny stares at him for a few moments, then steps back, looking between him and Alfred. “So you’re all Gotham’s heroes?”

“Yep.”

“I thought you killed people.”

“Woah, what? We don’t kill people!”

Red Hood scoffs very loudly, the sound ringing out clearly from the Batcomputer’s speakers. Dick winces. “Alright, so we try not to kill people. Most of us, at least.”

“That’s not an answer that inspires a lot of confidence.”

All Dick could offer was a weak shrug, a look of what can you do? on his face.

In return, Danny raised an eyebrow and stared him down, unimpressed. It didn’t take long for Dick to falter under that gaze and shrink into himself, fidgeting slightly. The sight is unexpected but Alfred can’t help but smile; Danny certainly picked that up quickly.

Instilling a sense of shame into the members of the Wayne families is one of the most important skills required for this job, after all.

“I do believe this is a conversation better saved for the morning,” he cuts in smoothly, stepping out from behind Danny to reach Dick and fuss over him. “Any injuries?”

“Just a few scrapes and bruises. Nothing too serious tonight.”

“I’ll be the judge of that, Master Richard.” He ushers Dick off towards the changing room, then busies himself with prepping the med bay for a check up. Without any serious injuries to tend to, the work is done fast. There’s only bandages, salves for bruises, and painkillers necessary for now, though he keeps the heavy medical kit nearby just in case anyone else has a more severe injury.

Through it all, Danny watches with sharp eyes, keeping his distance but still drifting closer towards Alfred. At some point, his feet lift off the ground, leaving him to hover in midair, observing everything Alfred does.

The sight of Danny floating makes him pause for a moment before he carries on as if nothing is out of place.

It’s a relief to know that, despite having their night business found out so suddenly, Danny still trusts Alfred enough to use his powers around him rather than hide them away. Admittedly, the flying is unexpected.

Could he be another clone with Kryptonian DNA?

His black hair and blue eyes could come from Clark, but the same could be said for Bruce and his children. It’s a surface level comparison anyway; the rest of his features are too different to come from Clark. He’s met Conner enough times to know that well enough.

“I understand that you do not wish to have any part of this,” Alfred begins, tidying up his workspace needlessly, only to have Danny cut him off.

“You said you’re a trained medic, right?”

His eyes are strangely intense as his floats a little closer to Alfred. Then they drift to the side and look over all the medical supplies he’s prepared for Dick.

Alfred stops his fussing to turn his full attention to Danny; he has a feeling that this is an important moment. He only hopes he doesn’t mess it up.

“Yes. I was proficient in first aid before I came to work for the Waynes, and their nightly activities have only giving me more incentive to better my skills to help them.”

“Can you—” Danny hesitates for a moment, drawing into himself. It’s not quite insecurity as it is defensive. Alfred hopes he’ll be able to find the people who taught Danny to be so fearful, always expecting pain and violence, so he can give them a piece of his mind. “Can you teach me? It’s just—I’ve never learned, not really, and you can only trust the internet so much when it comes to medical stuff so what I know is mostly from trial and error when I tried to patch myself up.”

Alfred feels his blood run cold. He presses his hands flat against the metal cart carrying the medical supplies and fights to keep his composure. It takes a few breaths before he can speak without sounding murderous.

“You have had to tend to yourself,” he says, not quite a question.

Danny hesitates, before he quietly answers, “Yes.”

“And there was no one who could help you.”

“There were… No. Not really. It’s not their fault though, they were kids too.”

More kids. More children who had to learn to patch themselves and each other up because no one else would help them. Because the people who should have helped them were the ones hurting them instead.

He does hope they can find where Danny came from soon. He’s even willing to lend Jason one of his guns.

The lack of a response has Danny wringing his hands, beginning to babble to fill the silence. “None of it was ever too bad!” he reassures, “And I heal fast so it’s fine. But sometimes I had to stitch myself up and that was never fun, and it’s hard to set dislocated joints by yourself, and I didn’t have a lot of supplies to work with.”

“Danny,” Alfred says, cutting him off firmly. He holds onto his composure by a single thread. “I would be happy to teach you. I do not expect you to add medical assistance to your duties, however. We have a doctor who can help us for more severe injuries and I am more than capable of handling everything else myself.”

“...Okay,” Danny nods after a long pause. “Okay. Thank you.”

The conversation is over for now. Alfred doesn’t want to distress Danny any further after such a hectic night; any questions he has can wait until later.

Dick, who has more than likely eavesdropped for the entire conversation, finally emerges from the changing room. He’s much more relaxed outside of Nightwing’s suit, wearing an old college t-shirt he stole from Bruce when he was a teenager and a pair of sweatpants. He also doesn’t react at all to seeing Danny slightly curled up in the air, knees drawn toward his chest, five feet off the ground.

“I promise I’m totally fine, Alfred,” he says, “We can skip the check up tonight!”

“Absolutely not, Master Richard. Sit down.”

Sighing, Dick does as he’s told, giving Danny a small smile as he does. It doesn’t falter even as Danny drifts back from him, staying out of grabbing distance.

The check up goes quickly. For once, Dick isn’t lying about not being hurt. He doesn’t need any bandages or painkillers, just a little salve on his left shoulder and his right hip. As soon as Alfred leans back and begins to clean up, Dick hops off the bed and says, “See? I’m right as rain. Why don’t you take a break, Alfred? I can run comms until everyone turns in for the night.”

“No need,” Alfred reassures, “You go and get some rest. You as well, Danny. We’ll be up bright and early tomorrow.”

Danny casts his gaze around the Batcave once more, then looks over Alfred, assessing him for something. There’s an unreadable expression on his face that makes concern rise up in him, but Alfred doesn’t get a chance to ask what’s wrong before Danny nods and flies up through the ceiling of the Batcave.

He’s seen a lot over the course of his life, but seeing a teenager silently pass through solid stone is up there with some of the more startling things he’s witnessed.

“Man,” Dick says after beat, “What a night, huh?”

Immediately, the comms explode with noise as everyone rushes to speak, talking over each other.

Alfred lets them, taking the time to put his own thoughts in order. They all settle down soon enough, though it takes Batman pointedly clearing his throat a few times.

Dick grabs a spare seat and pulls it over to the Batcomputer, sitting in it halfway there to roll the rest of the way to where Alfred sits back into the main chair. He looks over the map as Dick spins in his chair next to him, making note of where everyone is and any new crimes that may have popped up.

Nothing new catches his attention, nothing that isn’t immediately taken care of by the vigilantes still out.

“Agent A,” Batman says, “How is Danny.”

Alfred sighs. “Shocked, but he took it much better than I was expecting. He appeared to be more tired and stressed than outright fearful. I do believe our identities will be safe with him.”

“Who would he even tell?” Robin mutters.

“Everything he says has me so concerned,” Red Robin adds.

Dick shoots out a hand to grab onto the desk, stopping his lazy spin. “Guys,” he says, very seriously, “Danny can fly.”

“Superman clone?” Red Robin asks. “If no cloning was one of his conditions for employment…”

“Actually. He can go intangible. And remember how he was super excited to hear about Martian Manhunter?” There’s a grin stretching across Dick’s face, one that promises only trouble.

Alfred knows what he’s angling towards, what new idea he has about Danny’ background. Worst of all, Alfred can’t deny that it makes sense to some degree. It takes the rest of the family another second to connect the dots and reach the conclusion Dick wants them to see.

“No way,” Spoiler gasps, “You think he’s a clone of Martian Manhunter?!”

“Or!” Dick says, “He was made with Martian DNA and human DNA and was kept from the outside world so he couldn’t find anyone who could help him.”

“We’ll consider it as a possibility,” Batman says, which is as good as confirming that Dick is on the right path.

As much as any of them can be, considering how little they truly know about Danny.

“I suggest you all return to the Batcave,” Alfred says, “It’s time for a family meeting.”

Red Hood whistles lowly, his way of saying oh shit without actually saying it. “Good luck to all of you,” he says solemnly.

“That includes you, Red Hood.”

Spoiler snickers as Red Hood sighs. “Right. Of course. See you soon, A.”

Dick pushes away from the desk slightly. “We having the meeting down here?”

“I believe that would be best. I shall go get everyone’s post-patrol snacks while we wait.”

“I’ll help!” Dick stands and kicks the chair away. He walks away before Alfred can insist on doing it himself and can only fondly shake his head as he follows Dick up to the manor. He had thought he had convinced them to let him handle most of his duties on his own over the past few years. Apparently Danny’s insistence on helping has sparked that fire again.

The need to investigate Danny to better protect him has also brought the family together; it’s rare to get Jason to return to the manor more than once every three months.

Truly, Danny is a gift to them all and Alfred fully intends to protect him as thoroughly as possible.

Having Batman in his corner is a good start. But Alfred’s got firearms and doesn’t keep to a no killing code.

No one’s hurting another hair on Danny’s head. Not if he’s got anything to say about it.

#dc x dp #dc x dp fic #dp x dc #dp x dc fanfic #butler danny au #alfred's apprentice au #my writing #love putting danny in situations so much.#he tries to avoid their big secret? guess what ghost boy ur waking up in the cave now :)

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