Here’s a drawing for the origin of my muzzled Phantom design, a evil Dan version, and a mixed bag of angsty Danny drawings, mostly where he is rescued from the GIW before becoming full ghost.
Danny decides to be a chaos gremlin and takes a pride flag to the moon. He takes a picture then posts it on social media as the way he comes out. Most everyone who sees it thinks it was photoshop.
Except the Batfam because after checking the Watchtower security feeds they see Danny actually on the moon and the flag is still there. Thus they start investigating Danny and Amity Park.
Some fanart of @starry-bi-sky 's blood blossom prompt and fic. Featuring a bat-notyet-dad and the personification of childhood trauma. The fic is called "Late at night, when the nightingale sings".
Imagine thinking your life is bad, and then a dying child waltzes over and bleeds on you.
ALRIGHT SO my pal @kalreyno wanted help with drawing fat characters and as a fat artist i felt like i could give a bit of helpful insight on that. there’s also been a lot of complaining about “boo hoo fat characters are hard to draw so i can’t include them in my work Ever” goin on lately so if that’s your case then this is for you too!! and also just for anyone who would like help with fat bodies in general, ofc. anyway, let’s get this show on the road!!
let’s start with some common misconceptions. these are the two main attempts at chubby bodies i run into, so i’ll focus on them.
the Anime Chubby i see everywhere, and it’s just……so wrong in many ways. first of all, there is almost no additional body fat compared to your average thin character - except for where it’s added in “attractive” places (breasts, hips, thighs). the breasts are way too perky, and don’t have the realistic shape fat would give them (though how to draw accurate breasts is another tutorial all on its own lmao). there is still a thigh gap, which usually only happens in very thin people, and bones are still visible on the surface of the skin, which also rarely happens in fat people.
the Michelin Man is better in some ways, but still not that great. it’s a slightly better attempt, but basically all that’s done there is taking a thin character and blowing them up, while giving no thought to fat distribution. the thigh gap is usually still present, and they look a lot more hard than soft - and fat is very soft and pliable.
here’s a chart on how fat usually distributes (if you can’t read my messy writing, “1. next to no fat, 2. moderate amount, 3. most of the fat distribution”). basically, the more muscle an area has, the more prone it is to develop fat, such as the abdomen, thighs, and upper arms. it’s important to note that fat sits on top of muscle, and that it does distribute in different levels, and not evenly across the body as shown in the Michelin Man.
now, here’s an accurate fat body with all of that kept in mind!! notice how the fat isn’t only kept to aesthetically pleasing areas, and how it sits realistically on the character’s body. their breasts sag a lot more, which happens even in thin people with larger breasts, and the nipples are pointing more downwards than straight out. there is no thigh gap in sight, there are no bones in sight, and most importantly, they have fat rolls, which are very important in drawing a convincing fat character!! as far as i know i’ve never met a single person with no rolls at all, and everyone has them, whether thin or fat - they’re just more prominent and more consistently present in fat people. pay close attention to where they are and how they’re shaped.
here are a couple of drawings showing how fat is affected when sitting vs stretching. as seen in the first, the fat specifically on the stomach is distributed a lot more evenly and stretched out, so it becomes “flatter”. the love handles are still pretty visible, though, as well as the fat on the thighs and arms. the breasts are raised with the shoulders, and the fat on the shoulders and near the neck forms rolls as it’s being pushed together.
in the second, there is a lot less room for distribution, so the fat is all pushed together. the breasts sag and the stomach forms rolls and spills into the lap. a good analogy for the way fat works is to liken it to a water balloon, and thinking of how its shape would change when resting flat on a surface, hanging off of a ledge, held upright, etc.
here are a few extra tips i find a lot of people miss!
first on the top is the hip/pubic region. the first circle is showing the way the bellybutton is folded in fat people, as opposed to stretched out in thinner people. the second is the stomach fat spilling over onto the pubic region and creating a separation in the two areas, which is something that’s missing in a lot of art. in addition, the pubic mound also gains fat, making it round as seen in the profile drawing i did up there (i’ve heard people refer to it as fupa?). the last in the hip region is the lack of a thigh gap. i can’t stress this enough!!!! if you’re trying to draw a convincing fat character, make sure their thighs are pretty much always touching!! for reference, mine literally don’t separate until my feet are about 2ft from each other.
the bottom right is showing the double chin, which a lot of people are afraid to draw!! fat does distribute itself here too, and there’s nothing wrong with it, so don’t feel like you shouldn’t give fat characters a double chin in your work for fear of it looking like a caricature.
in the bottom middle, it’s showing how fat affects different types of breasts with the presence of more or less breast tissue.
lastly, at the very right are stretch marks with their usual locations and directions, which i also can’t stress enough!!!!! i sometimes forget to add them honestly, but they’re so important in accurately portraying fat characters, as they literally come from the skin being stretched from fat being gained (and they’re also just rlly neat lookin like why wouldn’t you lmao). some people have less and some people have more, feel free to experiment with them!
the last thing is body types!! there isn’t one single way for a person to be fat, so feel free to experiment with shapes once you’ve learned the basics!!
so there you have it, a tutorial on how to draw chubs!! now go forth and make some accurate fanart or some rad fat characters, because the world could always use more of both. hmu if you have any questions or concerns, and thanks for reading!!
EDIT: someone pointed out the bad wording in the tutorial. thank you for bringing it to my attention and sorry for offending anybody. i’ve updated the tut, so please reblog this one!
It doesn't have a title yet, sorry. Anyway, I was teasing this idea for a while, and while I'm not writing for it Right Now, I did get a good bit written so I figure I may as well share what I have over the next week or so until I'm home. <3
It needs a first part that I,,, haven't written yet, to explain the mechanics and give some lead-up to this, so be prepared to be dropped in headfirst with no explanation lol.
Edit for anyone who wasn’t following this: soulmate AU, they swap bodies when they both go to sleep the night the younger soulmate turns 15, they won’t swap back until they both go to sleep in the same bed. They can also sense the amount of danger the other is in at all times.
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The moment Damian opened his eyes, he realized that he had made a few too many assumptions in his desperate analysis of his soulmate's situation.
There was something painfully wrong with the body he now inhabited. It felt strange, as if the sensation of lightheadedness filled his entire body. A bone-deep chill seemed to originate from deep in his chest, and it seemed to struggle to draw enough breath. The left hand was half-numb, but there was a sharp pain on the opposite forearm. His ears rang as if damaged. Had his soulmate been dangerously ill all this time? They would have to find… him better care than he was currently receiving. Dangerous chronic illness could certainly explain the constant danger his soulmate lived in, as well as its frequent spikes.
When he carefully sat up, however, there were no widespread aches or trembles. There didn't seem to be any significant weakness, nor dizziness. Checking the arms revealed a bandage wrapped tightly around the left forearm, and he could feel a bandage under the pajama pants his soulmate wore.
Finally, Damian looked up and surveyed the room he found himself in, something that he normally would have done before anything else. His soulmate's bedroom was small and messy, scattered carelessly with clothes, trash, and discarded homework. They would require a firm talking-to about cleanliness, although not right away. The lack of medical equipment implied that the condition, whatever it might be, was either stable or new; Damian leaned toward the former.
He looked down. The comforter on the bed was space-patterned, and there was a wall dedicated to model spaceships, as well as several posters. Clearly, his soulmate had a primary interest.
There was no note on the nightstand or desk, and the phone he found charging on the nightstand was locked. There were four notifications: two from 'Inquisitor' asking if his ears were still ringing and if she needed to come home and run interference, one from 'Sam' reminding him about an upcoming history test, and one from 'Techno-Luddite' telling him about the release date of an upcoming game.
After the nightstand and the phone, the most common place to leave a note for a soulmate was on the computer. There was a desktop in the corner of the room, in good condition but several years old. Damian got to his feet, ginger and careful, and made his way over there without incident.
It was already on, he observed. He woke it with a flick of his wrist, and the screen lit up, showing a chat window. He crossed his arms on the desk and examined it, frowning.
napstablook: ringablingblingbling
napstablook: my ears are bleeding again
TF (Too Fine): i thought the fenton phones were helping?
napstablook: they were
napstablook: until they started testing a new frequency that cuts right through them
TF (Too Fine): shit
TF (Too Fine): okay bring a pair to school with you and i'll see what i can do
napstablook: thanks tuck. i owe you one
TF (Too Fine): you owe me many
Damian made a note of the requested item, a pair of 'fenton phones,' and moved on. It was tempting to scroll up and get more context for the interaction, but not now. He minimized the window, the browser underneath, and Steam before reaching the desktop, where he was able to quickly locate the expected file.
soulmate_readme.docx
Perfect. Damian opened it and scanned the note his soulmate had left for him.
Hey, partner. You're lucky I'm older, or you would've just gotten [pleasantries and stuff] at the beginning of this.
I'm Danny Fenton! I'm 17 right now and you're in Amity Park, Illinois. I'm really passionate about space, and I also like video games and concerts. I used to want to be an astronaut but my life plans got thrown off-track a few years ago, and I'm still figuring out what to work toward instead. I'm kind of jumpy by nature, please don't take it personally if I'm like that with you at first, but I can be a bit of a gremlin too. And if it's okay, I'd really like to go stargazing with you when we meet, before we go to sleep.
I'm excited to meet you! I really am. I'm getting the idea that we have a lot in common, so I kinda geared this list in a certain direction. Hopefully I'm not misreading things too much. The rest of this is all warnings, don't skip any of it. I'm sorry, this probably won't be very fun for you.
First: I'm also a metahuman. Synthetic. My parents don't know, please do not tell them. I don't know how much of my control will stick with you through the swap (online reports are kinda inconsistent) but Sam, Tucker, and my sister Jazz should be able to help you if something happens. The main concern is phasing through things by accident, but you might also turn invisible sometimes or notice some ice slipping out, especially if you get worked up.
Second: Amity Park is not really safe. You probably know that already. There are frequent extradimensional attacks and the beings behind them are pretty strong. Avoid them if you can, but they might seek you out. You'll know when they're around because your breath will run cold.
There's two weapons in the bottom of my closet. One of them is a wristband with a plasma gun in it, the other is a lightsaber-style bo staff that splits into two if you prefer. Take both and use whichever you're more comfortable with. If you're not experienced, I recommend the blaster. The thermos is a capture device. Take the cap off, point, and shoot.
Do not go downstairs. Take the rope in the bottom of the closet and leave through the window if you can. I am so serious. My parents mean well, but as soon as they know it's you, they'll give you a bunch of stuff that may or may not be safe with my meta abilities. If they try to put a metal belt on you, do not let them. If you can't leave through the window, call Sam or Tucker. My phone's passcode is 990198.
First aid kit is under the bed if you need it. Sorry again. Drink one of the green vials if you're injured. If you're really injured, use a syringe and drink three vials.
Sam and Tucker should be able to give you the rest of the rundown, whatever info is up to date. We've been planning this for a while. Call when you can and we can talk about what travel arrangements make the most sense.
Good luck. And happy birthday.
Damian sat back, crossed his arms, and frowned at the screen.
First: it seemed his assumption about Danny being a vigilante had indeed been correct, and Danny had deduced the same about him. That was good; it meant his soulmate was intelligent. He also seemed rather excitable, given the tone of the first few paragraphs. Should Damian have included more information about himself as well? He shook the thought off impatiently.
He also went by a nickname. Using it would be Damian's first major concession to the relationship.
Second: it was unusual for non-alien metas to have more than one or two powers, and Danny had listed three. Then again, 'synthetic metahuman' was a broad category that could include any number of inciting incidents. Damian would have to inquire into the details later. At least it explained why this body felt so… strange.
Third: he clearly considered both his home and his hometown at large to be an active hazard to Damian. And since Danny was the older, he hadn't been able to arrange for Damian to wake up in a safe location. That was unfortunate but understandable. It mattered little, since Damian was more than capable of taking care of himself with the information and tools provided. Still, with the note that extradimensional beings were likely to seek him out, it would be best to rendezvous with 'Sam and Tucker' for more information.
Decisively, Damian turned away from the computer and moved toward the closet, careful not to stumble in his soulmate's altered body. His center of balance was unnaturally high; Damian would need to practice some maneuvers before attempting serious combat.
Upon opening the closet, Damian discovered that Danny had an appallingly casual sense of style. That would have to be fixed. Damian's soulmate needed to own clothes outside of jeans and t-shirts. He picked a pair of black slacks and a navy blue button-down, then turned to the bed and laid them out.
He knelt down and pulled the first aid kit out from under the bed. He opened it, then faltered at what he saw. The cold spot in his chest seemed to magnify.
Five corked vials and three capped syringes of glowing green fluid. Lazarus water. Where… how…
Damian took a deep breath and forced himself to focus. He knew of no use for Lazarus water in small quantities, despite having grown up around people that actively studied it. There were multiple things in nature that glowed bright green; radium did, after all, as well as the Green Lanterns' constructs. He picked one up and tilted it, baffled to discover that it was viscous, like honey.
Would it be better to be suspicious, possibly denying his soulmate's altered body a necessary supplement, or to trust his soulmate blindly, consuming a substance he didn't even know the name of?
He drank it. It had a peculiar taste, like a hyper-concentrated electrolyte mix, but Danny's body responded positively to the flavor and swallowed eagerly. Damian grimaced, set the vial on the nightstand, and forged on.
The injury on his soulmate's arm appeared to be a knife wound, quite deep and clumsily stitched with an odd glowing suture; it seemed likely that Danny had done it himself, with his left hand. No antibiotics or antiseptic - allergy or oversight? He rewrapped the injury and moved on. The injury on his right thigh was a second degree burn, most likely from a plasma gun judging by the uniform shape. There didn't seem to be any decreased sensation either; it was quite painful. He applied burn cream from a nearly-empty tube and rewrapped that as well.
Finally, he manually tested the sensation in his left hand, flexed it experimentally, and then decided that was enough. He dressed, fetched the three remaining implements from the bottom of the closet, and picked up the phone.
Since Bruce was… unreliable, on the topic of personal boundaries, Damian had gone to Dick for advice on this matter. Dick was very firm on his suggestions: Damian was not to go through his soulmate's messaging history, internet history, photos, or any diary or journal he might find. Under the circumstances, Damian should probably not linger too long at all and instead move on as quickly as possible.
Damian hesitated, then unlocked the phone and checked the notes first. There was another copy of the readme there - useful. Several other notes included a short review of first-aid procedures, a list of locations where a local organization would perform stake-outs, a list of locations where his soulmate had stashed go-bags (making heavy use of his meta abilities, it seemed), and some computer game-related notes.
Finally, Damian went to the browser, and searched 'Amity Park vigilantes.' No relevant results were returned.
He searched 'Amity Park.' There were several cities by that name, none in Illinois.
He left Google, and performed the same searches on Bing, DuckDuckGo, AOL, YouTube, X, and Bluesky. None of the search results indicated that a town called Amity Park existed in Illinois, nor did one with any known vigilante activity.
Amity Park, it seemed, had been delisted from everything.
Well. This was a problem that could be addressed later. Damian pocketed the phone, took the rope from the bottom of the closet, and fastened one end to a curtain bracket above the window.
The rope was knotted, as to facilitate cautious descent and easier climbing. Damian made the decision not to be offended by this, and swung out the window, dropping down a few knots at a time.
Hopefully, Danny was having a somewhat easier time than this. Though given that he was facing the scrutiny of Damian's family, Damian doubted it.
Danny woke up, and had to immediately stop himself from panicking.
His body felt heavy and hot; the cold spot in his chest was gone, and he was warm through for the first time in years. He was breathing hard, and his heart was racing. His ribs were cracked, aggravated by his heaving breaths, and he was sure they hadn't been last night. His shoulder ached like he’d wrenched it, and he could feel something like road rash on his cheek. That usually healed overnight; it was odd to wake up to the sensation. But the painful burn on his thigh was gone, and the knife wound on his arm.
He opened his eyes to a room he'd never seen before, and far too late, it clicked.
His soulmate had finally turned fifteen, and they'd swapped bodies.
Okay. That was… fine. That was great, even - he was starting to worry. Most soulmates were born within three years of each other. Apparently he and his soulmate were at about two and a half. Good to know.
He'd apparently forgotten what it felt like to have a normal human body. That was also fine. It would probably never matter again after today, because he didn't have one of those.
And his parents weren't working on anything too awful! The frequency weapon was aggravating, but even if his soulmate got caught in range of it, he wouldn't get seriously hurt or anything. That was good.
…They really needed to meet up, like, as soon as possible.
Danny pushed himself upright with a wince and finally took in the room. It was huge, he realized - at least as big as Sam's room, maybe even bigger, and just as richly decorated. There were swords on the walls, some paintings, a couple of bookshelves, and some massive windows. Apparently his soulmate was from a wealthy family. Weird.
There was a notebook on the nightstand, flipped open to a simple note.
Bonded.
I am Damian Wayne. I expect you to be normal about this.
Refresh yourself in the bathroom in the northwest corner. My phone's passcode changes on the hour, the key is underneath the top drawer of the nightstand. Wear any clothes you like.
Whatever your own circumstances, you are in no danger in this home. I have a father and an appalling number of siblings, listed below in order of seniority with some notes. All of them save Todd are likely to be present, as they are extraordinarily nosy. Father and Richard should be waiting for you in the living room downstairs. Head there when you are ready and you will be given breakfast.
When you are ready to make arrangements, call. If you do not, I will do so myself.
Bruce Wayne - My father. Despite what he shows the public, Father is a sharply intelligent and goal-oriented man. Be respectful of him.
Richard Grayson - I would advise you to stick close to Richard, as he is the most sane and will do his best to protect you from my siblings' nonsense.
Jason Todd - Can be temperamental. Put space between yourself and him if necessary.
Cassandra Cain - Semiverbal but extremely observant. She communicates primarily in ASL.
Timothy Drake-Wayne - No notes.
Stephanie Brown - Intentionally annoying.
Duke Thomas - Enhanced vision.
Danny lifted a hand to his mouth, stifling an incredulous laugh. Okay, so Damian was kind of funny - super formal, clearly, and his exasperation with his siblings bled clearly through the page. He was a little disappointed that he hadn't written more about himself, but that was okay. They'd have time to talk, probably, if Damian forgave him for the situation he woke up in.
Anxiety bit at him again. He hoped Damian made it out alright. He'd been so sure, with the levels of danger that Damian regularly got into, that his soulmate had to be a vigilante. But the Waynes were in direct danger all the time, weren't they? Because of rogues and stuff. Heck.
And that was the other thing: Danny had to admit, he was sort of uncomfortable with the idea of being in the Wayne family's orbit. Not that they seemed like bad people or anything, but he just didn't need that much attention on him.
Well. Not like he was getting out of it now. He'd figure something out one way or another, right? And he and Damian had to be soulmates for a reason. Even if they didn't click romantically, they'd probably be good friends. Hopefully.
Danny did his best to shake off the creeping anxiety and followed Damian's instructions, going to the bathroom before he went to check out the closet. It was, like Damian's writing, really, really formal. He picked out a polo shirt and a dark pair of jeans, wincing at the creak of cracked ribs.
The sharp spike of pain made him pause. Cracked ribs. Why would a random rich kid have cracked ribs? He silently put the vigilante hypothesis back on the table.
Finally, he dug the passcode key out of Damian's nightstand and worked it out, unlocking Damian's phone after almost five minutes. He wanted to text Sam and Tucker, but hesitated - Damian probably wouldn't want Danny giving his number to people he didn't know, right? That was the sort of thing public figures worried about; Vlad was pissed when Danny gave out his number (which happened pretty regularly.) But Discord used two-factor authentication, and he didn't have his phone.
He sighed, went to email instead, and logged in one of his accounts. He wrote a quick email to Tucker, explaining what had happened and asking him to stay on standby and go to Fentonworks at eleven if he hadn't heard from Damian by then. Then he emailed Jazz to let her know too, and ask her to come home soon if she could. Then Valerie, asking her to cover.
After a moment of thought, he opened Chrome and Googled each of the names on Damian's list. It wouldn't hurt to recognize them once he saw them. They were public enough figures that they probably expected him to.
He put the phone and the passcode key in his pocket, took a deep breath, and tried to shake the nervous tension out of his shoulders. With all of that done, there wasn't anything left to do but go and talk to Damian's family. Right? And he'd talked about this part with his sister before too. Before he knew it was the Waynes.
Danny exhaled harshly, then pushed himself forward and out the door.
The Waynes were more understated about their wealth than Vlad was. The wall trimmings were simpler and more elegant, the furniture Danny could see was more well-made than opulent, no gold anywhere. That wasn't a huge surprise; Vlad liked to show off.
He was worried he was going to get lost trying to find his way downstairs, but luckily it only took two turns before he could see the loft. He made his way over there and leaned against the railing to look around. The loft overlooked some kind of ballroom; an expensive-looking chandelier hung from the ceiling, there was a fountain in the center of the room, and the walls were edged with elegant carvings that looked difficult to keep clean.
"Need some help?"
Danny jumped a mile and instinctively jerked away from the unexpected voice, turning to face him as he took a few steps away. It took him a moment to place the face of the man in front of him - Richard Grayson, giving him a friendly smile that looked… not fake, but rehearsed. He didn't move any closer, letting Danny put space between them.
It took Danny a moment to process what Richard had said, and then he ducked his head uncomfortably. "Yeah, if that's okay. Um, I'm Danny." Luckily, since Damian was younger, they were probably ready for this to happen. Even his parents had taken the day off when he and Jazz each turned fifteen.
"Hey, Danny. Call me Dick." Richard - Dick - held out his hand, and Danny hesitated before scooting closer to shake it. Dick let go after a moment, still smiling amiably. "Let's head downstairs. It's just Bruce and Alfred for now, so we should have some time to talk before the others can't help themselves anymore." Danny smiled a little and followed him toward the stairs, a few steps back. Dick half-turned to face him without missing a beat. "So, do you have any questions you want to start with? I know this must be a bit of a shock for you."
Danny could see why Damian had instructed him to stick close to Dick; it was obvious he'd been assigned the role of settling Danny in. He thought about it for a moment and then shrugged.
"I don't know how this stuff gets handled with high-profile people," he admitted. "All the examples I can think of are like, child stars and stuff." He'd seen some stories in passing, and most of them talked about arranging a meeting through their agents, which wouldn't be the case here. Right?
Dick gave him a smile that looked genuinely pleased, so apparently Danny had said something right. "We'll talk about that soon," he promised. They turned down the stairs, but Dick kept facing Danny, not missing a step. "Okay, is there anything you want us to know up front? Any warnings, concerns, special circumstances?"
Danny reached up and ran his thumb along the line of his jaw without thinking. Damian's jaw felt different from his. Sharper. "Um…" He grimaced. "We should probably go get Damian soon."
"You're not safe at home, right?"
Danny froze. Dick took a few more steps down before turning to face him completely, raising one eyebrow without faltering.
"You don't have to hide it," Dick said, when Danny didn't respond. "Damian's been keeping track. And that's why you're worried, isn't it? Because he's swapping into the circumstances that you've been living in?"
Dick's eyes were too sharp, too observant. Danny looked away, crossing his arms tightly, and continued walking down without answering. Dick didn't push, turning to continue the walk downstairs in relative silence. They hit the marble floor, and Dick directed them toward a side door.
"Don't worry," Dick said at last, pausing just outside the door to meet Danny's eyes. "Damian is pretty good at taking care of himself. He'll be alright."
Shows what you know, Danny wanted to say. He held his tongue.
Dick maintained eye contact for a moment longer, then turned away and pushed through the door.
Going down the hall led to a living room that looked almost normal. It was big, sure, and richly decorated, but it had couches and armchairs and a television, a coffee table, some bookshelves, a large high window. It was nice. By the coffee table, Bruce Wayne was on one of the couches, using a tablet. An older man, like, retirement age for sure, hovered nearby, already looking their way. Danny smiled fleetingly when their eyes met, then dropped his gaze again.
"This is Danny!" Dick announced as they came in, drawing Bruce's attention up to them. "He's a bit jumpy so go easy on him, and he also wants to know how we're planning to handle this process since he knows it'll be different from the norm."
"I see," Bruce said, and gave Danny a warm smile, gesturing to the couch across from him. "Take a seat anywhere and we can talk things over. Are you hungry?"
After considering his options for a moment, Danny sat in one of the closer armchairs instead, then drew his feet up and crossed his legs. He grabbed the hem of one leg and rubbed it between his fingers, braced his elbow on that knee to ease the weight on Damian’s cracked ribs, then shook his head. He felt more than saw Dick and Bruce exchange a look.
"Something small, then," the older man cut in, approaching with a kind smile. Damian's family seemed really nice, Danny thought distractedly. "Does anything sound palatable?"
"Oh, um…" Danny glanced up, startled, and met the man's eyes. Alfred, he realized belatedly. Dick said Bruce and Alfred were waiting for them. "Fruit is okay, I guess. Thanks."
"Of course," Alfred said warmly. "I'll be back in just a tick, then."
Danny smiled briefly, then looked back at Bruce. Dick had sat on the couch across from him, leaving Danny slightly more on Dick's side than Bruce's, but both of them a comfortable speaking distance away. Almost as soon as it registered, though, Danny frowned again, looking down to pick at the hem again.
"Really though," he said after a moment. "We should go get Damian soon."
"About that," Dick said, and when Danny glanced up he wasn't smiling anymore, though he didn't look angry either. "What exactly are you worried is going to happen?"
Oh, that was… a bad question, but fair. Danny grimaced. If they weren't going to believe him until he explained, though… "Well… I guess the first thing is the house." He bit his cheek, trying to decide how to explain, then stopped quickly. Not his body. He rubbed the cuff of Damian's jeans harder. "I'm… a meta. And my parents are inventors. And they keep making stuff that hurts me by accident. And Damian doesn't know what's safe for me to handle and what's not, so he really shouldn't be in there, in my body, by himself." He shrugged uncomfortably. "I told him to leave through the window instead of going downstairs, but I don't know if he'll take me seriously."
There was a heavy pause. Danny squirmed. This really wasn't a great start.
"You told him to climb out the window rather than risk coming into contact with these inventions?" Bruce asked, with a dangerous edge to his voice that made Danny flinch.
"Sorry!" he yelped, scooting back, away from him. He clamped his hands around his elbows, squeezing tightly. "I, I didn't know when it would happen, so I wasn't sure what they'd be working on when it did! And I guess it's just the frequency weapon, and that wasn't that bad, but I was worried it'd be one of the aerosols, because those always make me really sick, or one of the auto-targeting weapons and he doesn't know to look out for those, or, or…"
"Easy, Danny," Dick cut in, low and soothing enough that Danny blinked, glancing up in confusion. Dick wasn't smiling, his eyes dark, but his tone was carefully modulated. "Bruce isn't mad at you. Damian won't have any trouble climbing out a window, and he knew he was walking into a dangerous situation, so I'm sure he looked hard for any notes you left him. It's just very concerning that you're in regular contact with something so dangerous for you."
"Oh- it's okay." Danny tried to relax, but ended up just squirming backward some more. He let out a shaky breath, wincing as his ribs protested, and eased over enough to take the weight on his elbow again. "I mean, I do know what would hurt me, so I can usually avoid it."
"I'm sure you can," Bruce agreed, more calmly. "So, assuming he escaped your home unscathed, what else are you concerned about?"
"Well…" Danny loosened his death grip enough to pluck at his shirt. "Rogue attacks, I guess. The Red Huntress should be out on patrol today, but they’re still frequent enough to be a concern.”
"He'll be fine," Dick said, firmer than Danny would have expected. Huh. Did that mean Damian's family knew what he, maybe, did? Danny relaxed a little, letting out a soft breath, and nodded. Dick continued, "Rogue attacks, huh? Where do you live?"
"Amity Park, Illinois," Danny said, settling enough to go back to rubbing the cuff of Damian's jeans. "Don't bother looking it up though. It's been delisted from pretty much everything. Even the mail goes through a relay now. Every time I look on Google Maps I'm surprised it's still there." The following pause was so heavy it made him look up. "What?"
Both of them were frowning again. Danny cocked his head, uncomfortable.
"…Do you know why that is?" Bruce asked at last. Danny's mind flashed back to Damian's note.
Despite what he shows the public, Father is a sharply intelligent and goal-oriented man.
Instead of scoffing outright, Danny huffed softly and pulled his knees closer, tucking his feet under him. He spared a moment to be glad that Damian seemed to have a similar build to him. "The GIW doesn't want the Justice League catching wind of what they're doing, probably."
"I can make that happen." Bruce's gaze was intense. It occurred to Danny that actually… he probably could. Even Vlad wouldn't be able to do anything about it until it was too late.
Vlad. Shit, Vlad. Danny's fading anxiety clamped down on him again, and he sat up. "We should go get Damian first," he said again, feeling embarrassingly like a broken record.
He craned his neck to find Alfred bringing a massive plate of fruit over, like, way too much. Danny thought for a moment that he was going to put it on the coffee table for everyone, but he set it on the arm of Danny's chair, and Danny automatically reached up to balance it.
"Um, thank you," he said awkwardly, looking up to give Alfred a nervous smile. "Alfred, right?"
"That's right," Alfred confirmed with clear warmth, and then pushed a glass of water into Danny’s hands as well. “Master Damian had an accident recently; I assume you’re feeling sore this morning.”
Startled, Danny looked down at the plate, and found two aspirin sitting on the edge. “Oh. Thanks.”
It had been a while since he bothered taking painkillers; they barely worked on his human form. He swallowed both, then downed the rest of the glass of water as Alfred addressed Bruce and Dick.
"I think that's enough business for now, isn't it?” Alfred said, subtly pointed. “I do believe both of you agreed to ask the young man about himself, not his circumstances."
Both men looked rather sheepish at that. Danny ducked his head to hide a smile and looked down at his plate - slices of peach and orange, strawberries cut in half, some blueberries and blackberries. It seemed like a lot for a vague request for some fruit. He picked up some blueberries and started eating.
"We did get a bit sidetracked, didn't we?" Dick chuckled, seemingly embarrassed. "So, Danny, how old are you?"
Danny hesitated, shifting uncertainly. The berries were perfect, but his stomach churned nervously. "I really think we should go," he tried again. They didn't know the full extent of what was at stake, after all. 'Rogue attacks' didn't exactly cover it.
"Did you direct Damian to somewhere safe?" Dick asked. Danny nodded. "Where did you have him go?”
“…To my friends,” he admitted, embarrassed not to have anything better for them. “They’ll be able to catch him up on anything I couldn’t put in my note.”
“Then he'll be fine for a little while,” Dick insisted. “Alfred can get the plane ready and we can head out after you eat, alright?"
"…Okay." Danny went back to eating and tried to reassure himself as Alfred headed back out. Sam and Tucker would keep Damian out of harm's way until they met up, he was sure.
Dick smiled at him. It was nice. "Then let's start with an easy one. How old are you?"
Danny swallowed his food and played with the pile of berries with his thumb. "Seventeen." He thought of the obvious problem and winced. "Um, and closer to 'just seventeen' than 'eighteen."
"That's good to know," Dick said amiably, not seeming bothered by the slight age jump. "What are your career plans?" Danny hesitated, and Dick added, "It's fine if they're still loose, nothing wrong with that."
Danny relaxed a little and shrugged again, picking through the berries to avoid looking up. "They're… yeah." He sighed. "I wanted to be an astronaut, but I had a major accident about three years ago that really threw things off, and I'm kind of still… figuring things out. I'll do engineering, probably, since I'm okay at it."
Dick hummed in surprise. "Hang on… three years ago?" When Danny glanced up in question, Dick was looking at his phone, scrolling for something. "…August second?"
What? Danny blinked, and then winced with the realization. "Oh. That was probably pretty hard on Damian, huh? Sorry." The whole lead-up to that, with Danny approaching the plugged-in portal and then actually going inside, like an idiot, must’ve been horrific from Damian’s side. He couldn’t even imagine what Damian had felt while Danny was actually dying.
Then again, he was certain that Damian had at least come close a few times himself.
"It was the most worked up I've ever seen him," Dick agreed, not seeming upset. "An accident, you said?"
Danny shrugged and nodded, biting into a peach. "I got a pretty bad shock from one of my parents' machines. It put me in the hospital for a few days and there were some, um, lasting effects." He paused. "That wouldn't happen to Damian. I did something stupid."
Dick hummed noncommittally. "Is that how you got your meta abilities?"
Danny flinched so badly that he jostled his ribs again, and had to hold his breath for a moment before he could respond. "Y-yeah. But it's… complicated. I don't really want to talk about it. Um, can you tell me how this is going to work?"
Bruce and Dick exchanged a look, and Danny looked away, wrapping an arm around his torso.
"That depends on a few things," Bruce said at last, shifting his focus to Danny. "You know that it isn't uncommon for abused children to move in with their soulmate's family after the switch, yes?"
Danny went still, a cold weight falling over his shoulders.
"Sorry. I should've been clearer." His voice came out wooden. "My parents aren't abusive. They would never hurt me on purpose. There's just… a lot of accidents."
It sounded lame, and he wanted to snap and insist to them that it was true, there was nothing wrong with his parents, it was just that Danny was such a mess- but it would sound like a lie. They’d understand later, he promised himself. When they met.
Bruce studied him for a moment, and Danny squirmed under the scrutiny, fixing his gaze on the coffee table.
"You would prefer to stay with your family?" Bruce clarified after a moment. Danny nodded, hard. "Alright. I understand. In that case, I would like to stay for a few days and speak with your parents before finalizing any arrangements. Do you think they'll be amenable to that?"
Danny let out a relieved breath and nodded. "Yeah. There shouldn't be any problems once I'm the one in my body. They're really very nice." Of course, then he'd have to explain to them why he didn't want Damian around them in his body, but it wasn't like they could deny how often accidents happened.
Bruce hummed. "Most likely, the two of you will stay in your separate cities for the moment. We'll arrange for a set number of in-person visits every month as well as any online or phone communication you agree on. From there it will be up to the two of you."
Danny smiled a little, quietly pleased by the image Bruce painted.
"That sounds good to me," he said, picking at the fruit again.
The sound of footsteps made him look back up, and he only jumped a little as more people emerged from the hallway - Damian’s other siblings, Danny realized. Tim, Stephanie, Duke, and Cassandra. Tim had a laptop under his arm, Stephanie looked avidly curious, and Cassandra lagged a few steps behind, her eyes already set on Danny. Duke’s eyes were intense, boring into Danny, and he looked away quickly, flustered.
“So who’s your favorite Gotham vigilante?” Stephanie asked him, as soon as their eyes met.
“Um…” The question felt oddly like a trap. Was this a Gotham thing, like asking people to pick between Phantom and the Red Huntress? He cast a wary glance across everyone, but they just looked expectant, and he shrugged uncomfortably. “I don’t know. I mean, at this point they’re all really experienced and good at what they do. Nightwing, I guess? He does a really good job of balancing being competent and friendly, and it makes him a great point of contact between the Bats and, you know, everyone else.”
Their expressions quickly shifted from expectant to appraising, which was, if anything, even more uncomfortable. Dick’s eyebrows rose, and Bruce’s eyes gained a calculating edge. Danny ducked his head away from all of them, picked up his plate, and leaned forward to set it on the table. By the time he sat up again, their expressions had cleared.
“You’re interested in heroes, Danny?” Bruce prompted, amiable again. Danny instinctively distrusted it, and he wished he could turn that off. It wasn’t helpful right now.
What was it Jazz had said? His soulmate’s family wouldn’t be looking for reasons to separate them. They were just making conversation, getting to know him. Something something optimism.
It didn’t feel like that. It felt like something else. But maybe Damian’s family was just… intense. He’d implied that in his note, hadn’t he? Without meaning to, he glanced at Dick pleadingly, and Dick gave him a kind smile that made Danny’s shoulders loosen.
“That was just a very thoughtful remark,” Dick explained, loose and relaxed. “Most people don’t think about how heroes present themselves.”
Well, most people weren’t heroes. Danny’s mouth twitched, and he leaned back again, forcing himself to settle.
“A bit,” he conceded at last, carefully. “Amity Park has a couple of heroes that manage its rogue activity too, but it’s only been a couple of years, so they’re both really inexperienced compared to Gotham’s. The Bats are old guard, you know?”
He shrugged again, hyperaware of everyone’s eyes on him. There was something he was missing here - weight to this conversation he didn’t understand the meaning of. Weren’t there rumors about Bruce Wayne and the Justice League? Some connection? He wished he knew.
“That’s understandable,” Dick said agreeably, also not acknowledging the elephant Danny couldn’t see. “People that live around heroes do tend to regard them a bit differently.”
The others settled down around the room, picking armchairs and couch spots.
“What are the heroes in your town like, then?” Tim asked, his eyes too intense. The calculating edge had never left them, Danny realized, assessing Danny for some reason or another.
“So weird to see Damian squirm like this,” Stephanie muttered, and got elbowed by Cass.
“Well, there’s two,” Danny said, slow and careful. How could he even talk about this without bringing up ghosts directly, or explaining the portal his parents had built? Damn it, how was he supposed to explain the portal? “Phantom and the Red Huntress. They work together now, although they didn’t always. The Red Huntress is human, and Phantom is the same… kind of meta as the rogues.”
“It’s an alien situation,” Tim concluded immediately, making Danny flinch. “Did something happen?”
Danny was saved from answering when Damian’s phone rang.
To be a true batman fan you must simultaneously believe that batman is a middle aged man loser with mental issues, an eldritch monstrosity who is human in all the long suffering torturous wrong ways, and an cunt-serving diva with a face card so lethal it's a partial reason for inter-galaxy peace.
AKA "Alfred Pennyworth hires an interim butler while he recuperates from a Rogue attack. Who better than adoption bait Danny Fenton?" prompt!!
Okay, so imagine Danny moves to Gotham to pursue astrophysics at Gotham-U but he's having a surprisingly difficult time keeping a job. Every time he gets hired, the place gets burned down or blown up by Rogues; it's like he's catnip for trouble. Somehow, he's always in the wrong place at the wrong time.
And Alfred Pennyworth also happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. He's at the Gotham Market Co-op, where Danny's been recently hired, and suddenly it's gassed by Scarecrow's Fear Toxin. All the employees and customers scramble to put on their gas masks, but Danny's new enough that he has no idea what's happening. He's suddenly seeing Fright Knight, Dark Pariah, and the GIW. So, he Goes Ghost, defeats all of Scarecrow's goonies, and saves the day! If only his boss would think so, too.
Uh, no. Apparently Danny's now on a Wanted List as an undocumented meta?? And his boss can't be investigated by the GCPD (he's, like, four years behind on taxes and has been dodging the IRS for longer), so he regretfully has to let Danny go. But, hey! Maybe if he becomes a documented meta, he can get hired back. Except Danny can't because the GIW can access the meta registration database and he'll be found out faster than he can leave Gotham.
So, Danny's fired again.
And Alfred "Pride & Honor" Pennyworth?? He's not gonna let the child who saved him (because Scarecrow absolutely was going to snatch the Wayne's butler, who better to take hostage than a billionaire's publicly beloved Father Figure??) possibly become homeless. It's clear the kid is a college student and is barely scraping by, probably paying way too much for room and board at Gotham-U. And... maybe his wrist hurts a bit from a fall. He's older now, it's not impossible that he'd get a sprain or a broken bone. (Plus, Alfred knows the look. The same one as Dick, Jason, Tim, even Bruce. There's an immense grief in those small shoulders, fear and loneliness.)
Cue Alfred hiring Danny on as an interim butler while he recuperates (oh, he's terribly injured, thank you so much for helping me, my boy-). And Danny can't say no. I mean, this old man got injured during the Rogue attack he was apart of! And he's asking for help! And it's also nice to have some money. And a bed and... oh, God, he's working for a billionaire frootloop. Uh-oh.
(Alfred absolutely doesn't tell Bruce about his new son apprentice. It's worth it to see Bruce's eyes glaze over as sees a black-haired teenager standing in the kitchen with Alfred, then doing a double take when he realizes it isn't Jason. And the others are banned from the kitchen, so who is this child in his house?? It's not Kon or Jon either??)
Meanwhile, Danny is actually having a great time with Mr. Pennyworth!! The older man is kind, soft-spoken, and really knows his stuff. Danny really enjoys learning how to cook, especially because none of the food comes alive to fight him. Eventually the Batfam just become used to seeing Danny in the kitchens, gardens, around the house with Alfred. He's a cute kid, always smiling and talking about his college classes. He has effortless sarcastic banter with both Damian and Jason, bonds with Tim about some kind of difficult mechanical mathematics or something, trades dad jokes with Dick. He even manages to win over Cass, Steph, Duke, and Babs.
The only one Danny doesn't truly seem to like is Bruce Wayne, although he never outright disrespects him, since he pays the bills and Danny's midwestern manners kick in. Bruce is confused and very concerned because why is this kid literally glaring daggers at him all the time?? Is he going to poison Bruce's coffee?? Danny's just trying to figure out if Bruce Wayne is a "collects vintage dentures" or "keeps teenagers locked in his basement" type of billionaire frootloop. (He'd kinda prefer the kidnapping, Danny does not want to go looking for a wine cellar and find an entire basement of old teeth.)
Bonus if Bruce tries to subtly win the boy over and Danny's just like, squinting at him, white-knuckling a frying pan and muttering, "That's exactly what someone who collects teeth would say..."
AKA "Danny knows about Bruce Wayne's little adoption habit, so he actively fights back by making digs at the older man's age. He doesn't realize he essentially adopted himself by calling Bruce 'grandpa'!" prompt idea!!
Okay, so 19-year-old Jazz moves to Gotham because Arkham has an psychiatrist internship that guarantees a job after graduation from Gotham-U. She takes a 12-13 year old Danny with because the "ghost attacks" (i.e., her parents are getting very obsessed with dissecting Phantom and it's genuinely worrying) are getting worse. Now Danny's in Gotham Prep... along with Damian Wayne.
They do not get along.
Damian stabs Danny with a pencil, Danny bites Damian so hard that he needs stitches, and the detentions only increase their bloodthirst because, "He started it!!" It comes to a head when Damian shoves Danny down the stairs (he wasn't really meaning to, he just pushed too hard), and Danny goes down hard. As in not-getting-back-up kind of hard. And Damian realizes he just killed a civilian. He's running through contingency plans, trying to figure out whether he can hide the body or if he should confess to Father, when the Fenton boy's broken neck... becomes un-broken?? And he sits up??
So, 13-year-old Damian makes a logical decision. Daniel Fenton is clearly his Arch Nemesis. He's undeniably a meta (perhaps with super-healing abilities?) so he can withstand Damian's too-enthusiastic violence. And Danny's like, this fucker just killed me. I'm going to beat his ass. Except Damian has a really high pain tolerance and is literally the heir to the League of Assassins. Long story short, Damian and Danny have "play dates" where they spend the entire time trying to kill/beat each other up. Jazz is just happy that Danny seems to have made a friend.
Bruce, on the other hand, takes one look at a scrawny, black-haired, blue-eyed kid who clearly has some childhood trauma, and mentally becomes Bat Dad. He tried to approach the subject once. Bruce carefully, tentatively asked, "Do you have a place to stay, son? We have plenty of rooms." To which Danny replied, "I'm not your son, I have a dad!! Why don't you go sit down before you break a hip, grandpa!!" (Tim choked on his tea, Damian nearly climbed across the table to strangle Danny, and Dick - who doesn't even live at the manor, he was just dropping off a case from Bludhaven PD - laughed so hard he cried.)
Except... Danny keeps coming over to the Wayne Manor (since Damian refuses to 'spar' at Jazz's one bedroom apartment, as it lacks a personal gymnasium). And Bruce is still kind, no matter how many times Danny makes fun of him for wearing bifocals or turtlenecks, or when he just straight up calls Bruce an old man. Plus, Damian's kind of mellowed out, too. He's teaching Danny actual sparring techniques, hand-to-hand combat, and explains different types of weapons/how to use them. Alfred brings the boys snacks. Occasionally Dick and Jason will visit for dinner, ruffling the boy's hair and joking about something or another. He's even introduced to Steph, Cass, and Barbara.
It dawns on Danny one evening, when Alfred is readying the car to take him back to his and Jazz's apartment. Bruce is scraping leftovers into a plastic container for Jazz to re-heat when he gets home and Danny's debating quietly with Damian about whether octopi are smarter than Superman. (Damian says yes, octopi are definitely smarter; he's seen Superman mutter to himself "lefty loosey, righty tighty" when trying to unscrew a water bottle cap.)
Then Bruce is handing Danny the leftovers, and Danny distractedly gives Bruce a side-hug, saying, "Thanks, grandpa."
Totally unironically. Danny's internal monologue is just what the fuck did I just say as Bruce slips him a $20 ("For a treat on the way home.") and escorts him to the front door. He thinks about it as Alfred drives him home. Thinks about it when he and Jazz curl up to watch a movie that night. Danny belatedly realizes that he's been unintentionally thinking of Bruce "Serial Adopter" Wayne as his grandfather??? For months now?? How could this happen??
Back at the Wayne Manor, Bruce is still in the kitchen, listening to Damian continue to debate Superman's intelligence while Tim scrolls on his work tablet. He'll probably take the kids, including the newest edition to the family, to the zoo this weekend.
Danny kicks open the door: Bruce! Explain yourself!
Bruce: Hello, Daniel. How are you? How are things in accounting?
Danny: Don't try to use socialized manners to distract me! I want an explanation for these accounts! *slams folders on Bruce's desk*
Bruce: Hmm? These are personal accounts.
Danny: I'm aware! What I want to know is why you have so much money being transferred to "Barry's food budget", "Clark's furniture replacement fund," and "Diana's art purchases grant!"
Bruce: I believe the names of the accounts are self-explanatory.
Danny: Who are these people!? Why are you funding thier lives?! You have four other accounts with similar titles!.... Bruce, do you have a secret family? Illegitimate children?
Bruce: Yes, because I adopted a dozen children as a single father, but refused to actually provide for my own. That makes perfect sense. Wow, you caught me.
Danny: Ugh, I hate when you use sarcasm. The whole world thinks you're an airhead with no thoughts, but I know the truth. You're a sarcastic, emotionally broken mess that somehow is the most clever mastermind alive!
Bruce: Thank you
Danny: Uggghhhhh! If we weren't best friends, I would have quit by now! I made enough money to retire early!
Bruce: But you won't~🎶
Danny: Aghhhhh! I won't! If I do, I know you'll mess up all the financial systems I set up and run this company into the ground!
Bruce: You're the reason we aren't sinking.
Danny: Damn right I am! *Agressively sits down and crosses his arms and ankles* Alright, if they aren't your children, then who are these people?
Bruce with the straightest face ever: They're my sugar babies.
Danny: .....What?
Bruce pulls out pictures of the Justice League's civilian IDs: Look at them.
Danny: Wow
Bruce: Yeah
Danny: Okay, I guess it makes sense why you would want to fund them. But Bruce, you can't just-
Bruce: Do you want to be one of my sugar babies?
Danny: I would rather be ripped monicule by monicule than be your sugar baby.
Bruce: What if I made you my Splenda nephew?
Danny: What does that entail?
Bruce: I give you money, but you don't give me any sugar. You just spend time with me.
Danny: No kissing, no sex, no romance? Just friends spending time together?
Bruce: Exactly.
Danny: *Narrows eyes* Bruce Wayne, are you bribing me to turn a blind eye to you toeing the line of embazelement?
Bruce: Yes
Danny: Great! Cause I am totally willing to turn a blind eye to your sugar babies! How much are you willing to give Uncle Bruce?
Bruce: This is why we're best friends.
AKA "There's a problem, so Jason Todd does the whole 'I know a guy' routine except his guy is Danny Fenton. And Danny literally just stands around and yaps while Jason fixes the problem. The Batfam are like??? Who the hell is this guy??" prompt idea! Lowkey dead on main but can be read as friends! :)
This literally won't leave my brain! I just imagine how hilarious it would be if one of the Batfam had a problem, maybe their bike got messed up while on patrol, and Jason's just like don't worry about it. I know a guy. He calls up some guy named Danny and asks for a favor.
Danny shows up in civvies - just an old NASA hoodie, ripped jeans, and ratty Converse. Dick expects Danny to be a mechanic or something because he's brought a bag of tools, but instead he just deadass starts talking about his day?? And Jason takes the bag, kneels down next to Dick's bike, and works on it while Danny orbits around him yapping nonstop.
Dick's just like?? Why did you even call this guy, he's not even helping???
("Jay, what-," Dick interrupts Danny's rant about his chemistry professor's obsession with Scarecrow, only to be silenced by Jason's murderous glare from beside the motorcycle. Jason nods at Danny to continue and the guy offers a sunny smile before giving a in-depth analysis of why fear toxin is just bad weed. Dick watches from afar as Danny's monologue forces several abrupt, snorting laughs from Jason. It's a sound Dick hasn't heard for years.)
The next time it happens is at the Manor. Jason is helping Alfred cook breakfast in the kitchen; Alfred opens the pantry door and pauses.
"What?" Jason leans around Alfred to peer at the curiously empty glass jar of what was probably flour.
"We seem to have some wayward flour on our hands. How odd, as I restocked it Tuesday." Alfred's tone made it clear he knew exactly who it was (Dick, who's just visited the manor the other day to 'see his siblings', AKA to raid the pantry since he didn't want to go grocery shopping) and there would be consequences.
Jason brushes sugar off his hands and reaches for his phone, almost smiling when he says, "Don't sweat it, Alfie. I know a guy."
Twelve minutes later, Daniel Fenton knocks on the door of Wayne Manor with a bag of flour in hand and coffee from the little cafe near Jason's apartment. Tim and Steph stumble into the kitchen bleary-eyed from late night patrol about two hours later. Only to find Danny sitting at the kitchen island chatting with Alfred and Jason about the English pre-war printing processes. Jason's smile is so wide that his dimples pop against his cheeks. (Tim stares, feeling some sort of... not nostalgia exactly, but something like it. Jason looks younger, grinning wryly at Danny, a streak of flour on his chin. He looks like the old Robin, the one Tim used to take pictures of and quietly idolize. Jason looks... happy.)
It becomes a well-known habit. Sink's broken? Cat stuck in a tree? It gets to a point where the Batfam know that Jason will call Danny for increasingly ridiculous stuff.
Damian: Todd, I require assistance-
Jason: Sure, I know a guy.
Damian: Is it Daniel?
Jason:
Jason: Do you want my help or not, brat?
Except one time it's serious. End-of-the-world, intergalactic crisis, tell-your-kids-you-love-them kind of serious. Jason's hand goes to his phone even as his siblings, his father Batman, and several of the Justice League grimly debate the world's fate. Nightwing notices Jason typing at his phone before the rest do.
"Hood, you can't be serious. You can't involve a civilian in this!"
Jason ignores him and the subsequent outcries of his family, the confusion of Batman and the JL, to press the phone to his ear. This time, however, he doesn't ask for Danny. When the familiar cheeky voice calls out what's cookin', good lookin'? from the phone, Jason's voice is grim when he says, "Phantom, I need a favor."
There's silence. Then, it's almost like an abrupt change in air pressure or the undeniable crush of tectonic plates grinding together. When a green portal pulls apart the fabric of reality, Danny doesn't step out. It's Phantom, High King of Infinite Realms, Space, and Heir to Father Time, clad in regal attire with a crown of white-hot flames nestled into his hair. His steps are sure when he walks past the tense crowd of superheroes.
"You called?" Phantom asks. His unnatural Lazarus-green eyes burn into Jason, but there's a midwestern twang in his voice that's so reminiscent of Danny that Jason can't help a small huffing laugh.
Jason turns back to his family and the JL, gesturing to Danny. His family have already made the connection. Likely because Danny's accent, the subtle similarities between Danny's human appearance and his Realms appearance, and the fact that there's only one person Jason ever calls. Danny turns to the League with a bright smile and introduces himself as, "Danny Phantom, but you can call me Phantom."
(And then they kiss!! Just kidding. But Danny probably saves the world and then they go back to the Manor, much to the confusion of the batfam. The batfam are all like, wtf, Jason?? You didn't tell us the guy you've been hanging out with all the time was the freakin' King of Infinite Realms?? And Jason just shrugs, and is like, well... I guess living with him kinda desensitizes you to all the ghostly shit? That's how the batfam find out Jason and Danny are living together. Are they boyfriends?? Maybe, maybe not. But it seems suspicious that Jason's always calling Danny, seemingly just because he likes being around him, hm? ;))
So I’ve been binging a bunch of DPxDC crossover fics cause they’re hella fun. And I wanted to make some fanart for a handful of the fics I’ve been reading just to show how vastly different Danny gets portrayed. It’s really fun!! I love when ppl make Danny get Jack’s tall ass gene’s, but it’s also funny to see him as a scrawny lil guy. He’s a pretty moldable character
Anywho, it’s just been fun, so here’s some fanart. Thanks to the authors for writing them 🙏
Fics in order of art:
Like Beta Fish Do by @clockwayswrites
Ghost in the Morgue by @the-witchhunter
Secretary Danny by @deathlysilent13
If You Give a Bat a Burger by @noir-renard
If you give any of these a read, just make sure you mind the tags/ratings
AKA "De-aged Danny finds himself in Crime Alley, Gotham City. It's actually not been super bad, he doesn't know why it has such a bad reputation! (Red Hood could probably tell you.)" DPxDC prompt idea!
Red Hood takes care of Crime Alley kids. He makes sure they aren't being used as drug runners, soup kitchens are always available to them, the community center offers toxin-free water bottles, and he's siphoned a ton of money from Bruce's accounts into making shelters at least tolerable. It's an open secret that you mess with alley kids, you mess with Red Hood (and get a couple of bullets to make the lesson stick). But there are a few that Red Hood knows personally - his goons' kids, his little brothers and sisters' friends, etc. - that get special treatment.
A blood red emblem of a bat stitched into their jacket.
This kid - maybe nine or ten, messy black hair, and bright blue eyes - doesn't have an emblem. He has Red Hood's jacket. It's recognizable enough to make regular civilians do a double take, goons scratch their heads in confusion ("Did Boss mention having a kid?" "No, but they do look pretty similar..."), and get other alley kids jealous. It's more than protection, it's a status symbol. Whoever this kid is, he's important.
...Not that Danny knows that. All he knows is he's suddenly smaller, alone, and needs to contact his parents to pick him up. Unfortunately, he gets his parent's voicemail. Again and again and again. (If he thinks about it too much, his face and throat burn. So he doesn't think about it. Just keeps calling and hopes somebody picks up this time.) But for all that Gotham is supposedly unsafe and super duper crime ridden, Danny's been pretty... unscathed? Like, obviously nobody's helping him, but nobody's hurting him either. He hasn't gotten shot once which is way less times than in Amity. He even found a dope leather jacket left on a railing while walking around downtown.
The only time he gets worried is when he's walking around Gotham (for lack of anything better to do. It helps him think, sue him) and these... costumed people... follow him. Danny doesn't know anything about Gotham, hasn't been able to talk with anybody to get information, so he doesn't know if these are good guys or bad guys. Just that they seem to be following him, watching him with a hawk's eye. And the last couple of days, they've been getting closer and closer until one - a big, dark, incredibly intimidating pointy-eared guy - literally tries to kidnap him off the streets.
Danny runs (or flew, really, screw being discrete, he can be discrete when he's... well, not dead). He realizes pretty quickly that these guys must have some kind of sensor or something because they have no problem seeing through his invisibility. And then Danny's crashing straight into something solid, semi-squishy, and not-quite-human but human-shaped. The kinda-human in question... is wearing a red motorcycle helmet and something like black armor, blood red bat on his chest, and guns strapped to his side. And he's looking straight at Danny.
Oh... shoot.
((+1. Jason notices his leather jacket is nicked maybe 3 or 4 minutes after accidentally dropping it off the roof. The jacket itself isn't super important but the fact somebody was willing to steal Red Hood's jacket while in Crime Alley means there's some "re-education" that needs to happen. He days following a trail of rumors about a young kid wearing his jacket. Which. He's not going apeshit on a kid, but he is going to replace his with a kid-friendly jacket. Jason's pretty sure he left a knife or two in his old one.
Issue is the kid's like a ghost. Appearing one moment and disappearing the next. Jason doesn't expect to nearly be knocked off his feet by the suddenly appearing, quite literally, in his arms... with bright Lazarus green eyes and a shock of white streaking his hair. The sight twists something in his chest. Something that chants same and different in the same breadth. Jason almost doesn't realize the kid is being chased by somebody... and that somebody is Bruce, cowl obscuring squinting suspicious eyes, stiff frown, and tense posture.
Jason's lips tick up in a half-snarling smile. It's well-known Red Hood protects alley kids. As he coaxes the Lazarus-kid behind him, hand over the familiar leather of his jacket, Jason faces Bruce and thinks well... it's a good day for a reminder. Because this kid is definitely his now.))
Commence the Red Hood vs. Batman Adoption Face-Off lol
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