Hey, so does anyone else notice the Persephone & Demeter undertones overtones? of Demon Twins? Like, deep familial bond between (in this case) siblings who have spent their whole lives relying on each other, keeping their heads down to avoid Zeus' their Grandfather's wrath, only to be separated - forcefully, tragically, like the shredding of one soul - as one of them is dragged into the depths of the Underworld (the Lazarus Pits). The one who survives becomes bitter and cold, lashing out at those who would dare try and call themselves 'sibling' to him, sheltering his grief and refusing to share in his brother's memory. The other does not cease to exist, but is irreversibly changed: one way or another, he comes to straddle the line between life and death. Human and ghost.
They're reunited, and the endless winter thaws, yet it can't last. They are each bound by their obligations; Damian has a duty as Robin, and Danny has found his in Phantom. They're doomed to be torn apart, again and again, every fall and reunited in the spring, divided by their states of being, God of the Harvest and Ruler of the Dead.
There’s Damian who just loves his little brother so much it hurts. There is nothing he wouldn’t do to ensure his brother is safe and happy. Danny is his little brother after all. His to protect, his to defend, his to love and cherish. Danny’s life was Damian’s birthday gift time and time again.
Then there’s Danny who adores his big brother, but yearns for freedom. Attention and admiration from the league always fell to Damian, but Damian would only ever pay attention to Danny. He was almost never left alone unless Damian got summoned by grandfather, and even then, Danny would patiently wait outside for the few minutes they were separated.
When Danny was pulled in by the Lazarus pit, Damian was furious. His heart burned in hatred and grief. His eyes were full of tears and anguish for months. He cursed at the pits for daring to take his beloved little brother. It was almost unbearable. Danny was everything to him. The one good thing he had in this world that was his and his alone.
For Danny, freedom came at the price of his life. When he woke up, he did not remember anything. Jasmine Fenton had found him. He did not speak her language fluently, but it did not matter to her. She took him back home and Danny Fenton became a part of their family.
His life as Danyal al Ghul would come back in pieces. By the time he fully remembered, Danny was unsure of what to do. Stay with his new family or go back to his old one. Stay with parents who hunt him and a sister who loves him or return to a family who will look down on him and a brother who loved him.
Danny Fenton and Danyal al Ghul were not the same person. Danny Fenton was a weak boy, nothing like the cold assassin who loved only his big brother. Danny Fenton, despite being Danny Phantom, would never be accepted for he was no longer Danyal al Ghul.
One could not live if the other survived, and Danny wanted to live, but he would miss his brother dearly. Besides, Damian might not even want Danny back, only Danyal, and Danyal is dead.
Danny couldn’t do it anymore. The death, the destruction, the manipulation. Everything about the LOA became too much. His grandfather, his mother, his brother, it was all too much. They attempted to turn him against his brother, it didn’t work. They probably tried to do the same with Damian. Danny likes to think that it wouldn’t work, that Damian was too smart and kind for that, but Danny’s the coward who ran from his brother five years his junior. He doubts Damian even deigns to remember him.
Leaving the LOA isn’t easy under normal circumstances. Trying to leave as a member of the Royal Family, unthinkable. There was no escaping his wretched family alive. So he died. Crown Prince Danyal Al Ghul, eldest son of Queen Talia Al Ghul, died.
It had been all over the news for weeks. His birth had stabilized their small country knowing they had an heir to take the throne. His death had scandalized the world. He was the crown prince that died soon after his 10th birthday and received no funeral. Even the details of his death remained obscure. Officially, this was “cleared up” by his mother stating his funeral and cause of death being private familial matters. The truth was unimportant as there was nothing his family could do about the conspiracies surrounding his death that spread across the media.
Deceiving his family into believing he was dead without a body for them to recover was incredibly difficult. But he was free now and no one knew the truth. Not his parents, not his siblings, not his friends, nobody.
Until Jason. At some point before Danny “died”, Talia had found and brought home Jason. She did not tell Danny where she got him from or why she brought him home, but Jason became his older brother either way. Talia deemed Jason too unstable to meet Damian, so he was kept away from their little brother.
In all honesty, running into him again was an accident. Danny nearly had a heart attack when Jay confronted him during one of his week-long out of state school field trips. The beautiful life he created for himself hung by a thread as Jazz, Sam, and Tucker learned of his background. The fear was suffocating but Sam and Tucker visibly reacted more to him being a prince than to him being an assassin. Being a feral gremlin child will do that apparently.
And so Jason left, sort of. The five of them stayed together for the rest of the trip and then parted ways, but they never lost contact. Jason made sure to visit Amity Park a minimum of twice a year. Danny wanted to hide Jason from their parents at first, but Jazz refused not letting her twin get to know their parents. Yes, twin. The day Jazz found out he was a natural redhead, she proclaimed them twins (even if Jay kept his hair dyed black most of the time). Although their birthdays were months apart, they were born the same year and Jack and Maddie did nothing to discourage Jazz when they finally met their “long lost son”. Poor Jay never stood a chance.
A few years later, Bruce Wayne would reveal he had a biological son named Damian, Queen Talia’s second son. Jason would be furious enough at Danny to rush in without thinking and Danny would do what he’d been trained to do all his life: he’d manipulate his way out. Because as much as Danny hated manipulation, he was pretty damn good at it. And Danny, he would ensure Jason loved him more than he loved Damian. Because love is a powerful tool. It makes people blind. Most people don’t notice they are being manipulated. Others, willingly gouge out their own eyes for you. And whether he meant to or not, Jason is one of those people.
“Danyal?” Damian almost couldn’t believe it. His dead little brother, alive, right before his eyes.
“I’m sorry, have we met before?” His confusion was palpable. Danyal did not know who Damian was, did not remember, but he could. Damian could take him back home to his father and siblings and—”
Danyal’s phone rang startling them both. He glanced down at it and quickly answered, “Hi mom—sorry—no I’m headed there right now—it’s fine, I’ll be there soon—okay—okay—bye mom, love you”.
Ah. So he already has a family.
“Sorry about that, uhh, is something wrong?”
“Apologies. You merely look like someone I once knew”. Not the truth but not a complete lie either. He and his brother have not seen each other since they were both children. They are practically strangers now.
“Oh, no worries dude! I got to go now before my mom sends out a search party to find me” he jested. How very Danyal of him. If only they had a little more time together, perhaps things could have been different.
“Yes, of course. It was nice seeing you”. Danyal gave him a hesitant smile before he ran off, but seeing it made Damian inexplicably happy.
“Why’d you let him go?” Timothy asked, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. His presence was not welcome at the moment but he supposed answering a question or two wouldn’t hurt.
“I took away my brother’s happiness once before. I will not make the same mistake again.”
So when I first read that second paragraph of the post itself, I thought it was Danny thinking that stuff about how Damian could bring him back and make him remember. And I realize now that that wasn’t what you had intended, but it still gave me the idea of Danny having partial amnesia/repressed memories, and I think that has some interesting potential.
Like, Danny doesn’t remember many solid details of his early life, but he knows that it happened and that it was bad (well probably not all bad but it certainly left some lasting scars).
He may not consciously recognize who Damian is, but some subconscious instinct buried deep in his gut does. It tells Danny that this is someone from that murky part of his past. Someone who could potentially drag him back there.
No but this is perfect. Because I wrote this in a “haha Damian thought about snatching Danny and running” because it’s written in Damian’s pov. It was a passing thought not even worth remembering. Like yes he just saw his beloved little brother again but he’s not going to drag him into vigilantism or worse, their grandfather.
But to Danny? He just had someone recognize him and give him a cold expression after finding out he made emotional connections to other people. That’s creepy as fuck. And he knows that if this guy is from his past, that’d make him incredibly dangerous regardless of his age. To think of what he could potentially do and then overhear Tim ask Damian as to why Damian let Danny go? This dangerous guy he just met thought about snatching Danny and running. Literal nightmares.
“Danyal?” Damian almost couldn’t believe it. His dead little brother, alive, right before his eyes.
“I’m sorry, have we met before?” His confusion was palpable. Danyal did not know who Damian was, did not remember, but he could. Damian could take him back home to his father and siblings and—”
Danyal’s phone rang startling them both. He glanced down at it and quickly answered, “Hi mom—sorry—no I’m headed there right now—it’s fine, I’ll be there soon—okay—okay—bye mom, love you”.
Ah. So he already has a family.
“Sorry about that, uhh, is something wrong?”
“Apologies. You merely look like someone I once knew”. Not the truth but not a complete lie either. He and his brother have not seen each other since they were both children. They are practically strangers now.
“Oh, no worries dude! I got to go now before my mom sends out a search party to find me” he jested. How very Danyal of him. If only they had a little more time together, perhaps things could have been different.
“Yes, of course. It was nice seeing you”. Danyal gave him a hesitant smile before he ran off, but seeing it made Damian inexplicably happy.
“Why’d you let him go?” Timothy asked, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. His presence was not welcome at the moment but he supposed answering a question or two wouldn’t hurt.
“I took away my brother’s happiness once before. I will not make the same mistake again.”
After their High King was crowned, he was taken in by the Ancients. He was a child with continuously growing power forced to bear the weight of the Infinite Realms and in need of guidance, who better to advise him than the almighty Ancients themselves?
At first, none could decide on who would take their young king in. Not because he was unwanted, but because he was. The Ancients nearly sent the Realms to war with their myriad of reasons and excuses as to why they should be the only ones to take the ghost child in as their own.
In the end, the Ancients came to the agreement of split custody. They would all adopt their little king, but the consequences were dire and unprecedented. With so many powerful beings claiming an even more powerful being as their own child, their little one’s power increased to an all time high nearly breaking the mortal body he resided in.
Every being dead and alive could feel the birth of a new primordial being born. Primordials, beings even more powerful than Ancients, were an extinct species. Any who existed would eventually fade into their domains and lose their sentience for all of existence.
But the Ancients did not want this. They did not want this end for their child. They would not allow it.
Instead, they planned. They traveled different worlds and planets, spreading tales of the Great King Phantom. The epithets they gave him were grand and they would not leave until their work was finished. Their child would be revered, feared, and most importantly, he would be remembered and sentient and alive.
Belief is a powerful tool. Powerful enough to keep Gods immortal, and Primordials from fading. So long as the mortals believed the Primordials were still walking among them, their child would never die. He might not understand why he had to visit his worshippers every few years, but it is for his own good.
Then came two more. Not quite Primordials, but they were certainly on their way. The girl was made in their child’s own image, a mirror. The boy was their child but different. From the moment he appeared, he was no longer outside of time, but outside of space itself.
And with them, came the human female. She was a fierce warrior. Headstrong and bold and so very protective of their little ones. She too became theirs. She too became their child. Yet she was too mortal, too fragile. They could not let this stand.
So they spread tales and created myths. Anything to ascend their mortal daughter into godhood and keep their immortal children alive. So came the legend of the Dragon. The legend of their children.
The Dragon has three heads
Jasmine, their little dragon. Three heads, one for each of her siblings. One head for each mouth she had to feed. One head for each mouth she had to teach. One head for each mouth she had to protect. Three heads for the three children she had to raise as a mere child herself.
And like a dragon, she persevered. Like a dragon, she fought with passion and power and pride. With the strength and determination of a dragon because in truth, she is a dragon. Born by fire, kissed by fire, loved by fire. None could deny the dragon blood running through her veins.
One to be a murderer who will unleash death
Daniel, their little destroyer. He who creates destruction and chaos with every step he takes. He who embodies rage and despair, love and fury, grief and sorrow. His emotions high and potent when it comes to those he loves, as well as those he hates. Having lost everyone he held so dearly, it is not a wonder as to why he is so ruthless and possessive over the family he has now.
One to be a monarch whose crown will weigh heavy
Danyal, their little savior. The assassin prince destined to defeat the tyrant and rule them for all of eternity. The boy king destined to lead and protect them for all of eternity. The holy emperor destined to ensure peace and prosperity spread throughout the Infinite Realms for all of eternity. The perfect and omnipotent God meant to be praised and worshipped for all of eternity.
And One to be mad whose ideas will change history
Danielle, their little wanderer. She who broke free from the unknowing chains that shackled her. She who bent and molded reality, forcefully rewriting the ancient laws. She who bowed to no man, no ideal, no predestined fate as she roamed and reshaped worlds. The little princess would create what she wanted, transform what she wanted, change what she wanted and none could stop her. Not when she was evolution itself.
Damian and Danny have this thing they like to do when they really want to get out of something. it's turned into a bit of a game for them ever since they reunited.
They would start off by playing games, silly, harmless games that didn't really mean much. Things like, who could jump the furthest? Who could throw a knife harder? each time one of the twins one upped the other, it was a point in their favor. These points would later equate to something very important.
Ways to cash in a favor with one another.
Danny: remember last week how I managed to capture Killer Croc before you?
Damian: what do you want, Danyal?
Danny: I have an exam in English today and I didn't study for it, can you be me?
or
Damian: remember when you told me that you could hold your breath for thirty minutes and passed out at twenty nine?
Danny: you'll never let me live it down. What do you want?
Damian: father has asked that I attend a JLA meeting.
Danny: I'll get on the Robin suit.
No one ever notices. Years go by and the twins are never found out. No matter how crazy or weird the situation is, no matter how obvious it is to them, no one in the family can actually seem to tell them apart.
Not when Damian and Danny have an endless supply of colored contacts, not when the two were nearly identical twins who knew one another like the back of their hands. The twins simply switch places whenever they need, and no one has to know.
Bruce notices, but since they seem to be convincing everyone else he lets it go. He won't bring it up because they are proud of pulling one over on everyone else.
Jazz also knows, but she’ll wait until they’re ready to tell her. As a child, Jazz knew her parents weren’t the best at parenting. This proved to be correct when they took Danny in. Jack and Maddie can show their love and acceptance but they aren’t the best examples for anything else. This meant it was up to Jazz to teach her little brother. Or should she say little brothers. It was hard at first, but thankfully, reminders exist and work perfectly.
Damian is both incredibly fond of and incredibly annoyed of Jazz. He is forced to accept all of her affection and teachings the way Danny does, but that also means he’s forced to accept all of her nagging and parenting. She’s the female version of Richard and that immediately made her tolerable. It’s a little easier to let her get away with physical affection, but only because it’s what he’s used to when acting as Danny.
The Fenton parents are more than a little strange and yet he has no doubts on their love for him OR Danny. Which should be impossible since neither of them know that they’ve technically been raising two sons. They treat him the exact same way they would Danny but somehow, they make it seem like their love is specifically for Damian.
Danny is exactly the same with Dick as Damian is with Jazz. He loves Dick and his affection but he always has to hiss and reject said affection the same way Damian would. It’s not difficult, but sometimes he wishes he could return it. Being raised with the Fenton’s who are an incredibly warm and loving family made Danny’s love language physical touch. He may act like he doesn’t want it, but he swears he gets touch starved faster than other people. He’s just lucky that Dick has the exact same problem.
He still loves the others too but it’s just not the same. Tim and Jason don’t forcefully shove physical affection down Damian’s throat which means Danny doesn’t get any either. Steph and Barbara are their not-siblings who act in a similar way. He can bond with them but he doesn’t feel as loved with them the same way he does with Jazz and Dick. Cass is a little different. She’s always willing to cuddle, but she doesn’t cuddle with Damian so it’d be too suspicious to seek her out. And Bruce isn’t even an option.
Danny knows it’s not their fault. He just got used to receiving love this way and in turn, it’s how he shows people he loves them back. He doesn’t know if Talia’s ever loved him but he knows Damian, Jazz, and his parents do. Hell, even Dami is willing to give him a hug or two every time they see each other. But in the end, Danny supposes it doesn’t even matter since the others don’t even know Danny exists.
“I’m a twin”, Damian said one night. He could feel the narrowed eyes of his family drilling holes on his back in disbelief. Not that he could blame them. Damian had never so much as implied being raised with a companion, much less a sibling.
“I had a brother”. Damian paused to recollect himself. He had not said his brother’s name out loud in over 8 years.
“His name was… Danyal”. Damian hated the way his voice wavered, but he could not help it. Danyal was everything to him, his other half. Their heart beat as one and when one heart stopped beating, the other one died with it. At least until his family put his heart on metaphorical life support without ever realizing.
“Where is he now?” His father asked, voice filled with knowing grief and a hint of betrayal. It had in fact been 6 years since Damian first showed up on his doorstep.
“Up there”. All eyes shifted towards the specific star he was pointing to. “Right before he died, he promised me he’d guide me from the stars. Unfortunately, the stars are not visible in Gotham, so my brother is unable to be of much help unless I leave the city.”
“Your brother is Polaris, the North Star?” Tim questioned warily, most likely in attempts to not offend him. Damian was aware of how stupid it sounded, but Danyal had promised, and his brother never broke his promises.
“Yes. Danyal is with the stars now, just as he always wanted”
A few days ago Bruce had a fight with his sons, now he doesn't even remember why, it was probably something stupid that escalated and he didn't know how to stop it, it was probably his fault.
He was alone at the mansion, Damian was at Dick's house, Jason was ignoring him more than usual and Tim was on a case where he didn't want help, not from him at least, even Duke was away, it wasn't a good week for Bruce.
He grabbed a phone he had hidden and only took out before going to sleep alone in his room, hesitated for a few seconds and sent a message to the only number added.
His "thing" with the boy, Danny Fenton, had started four years ago, the boy was lost and Bruce found him when he coincidentally went for a walk as a civilian.
Danny was so charmed by Bruce (for some reason) that he gave him his hotel room number to keep talking about the universe, and later his home number.
Danny was a good, funny and witty kid, a very smart too, with parents who didn't deserve him because they didn't notice their son's brilliance.
Danny was a good boy with a not-so-good life, a strong, independent boy who wasn't always positive but didn't always let himself fall apart.
That's why when Danny answered his message with a call with him crying and asking for help, he could only go to his rescue without looking back, barely remembering to tell Alfred of his departure.
When he arrived he found only tragedy.
His family and friends had died, an explosion at an unfortunate time, Danny had no one in the world besides his godfather and Bruce, and he didn't want to fall into Vlad's clutches, so he was desperate.
He also told him about Phantom, and Bruce could only hug him and promise him that no one was going to find him.
The first thing that came to his mind was to take him to his mansion, Danny was like his son, it was the most logical action... except that Danny still looked up to him and trusted him a lot, and wasn't that a scary thought?
Bringing Danny to the mansion would involve many things, Danny would meet his children, which might make Danny see him differently, goodbye to his admiration and affection, goodbye to spending time "together" watching bad movies to criticize them, goodbye to quiet conversations and asking for advice, goodbye to trust.
Bringing Danny to the mansion would mean having him physically close but keeping him away in every other possible way.
"Danny doesn't want anyone else to know about Phantom." Bruce repeated to himself as he took Danny to a small, hidden apartment in Gotham, a cozy little place where Vlad wouldn't find Danny (and neither would Bruce's family).
The key slides easily into the keyhole, though it does need a bit of a jiggle of the doorknob to get the door to open. He enters the room with more noise than he normally would, setting his keys on the kitchen counter with a tink. He’s shucking off his coat as footsteps hurry down the hall.
“Bruce!” Danny cheers, a big smile on his face when he sees who just came in.
“Hey, pumpkin,” Bruce grins. A feeling of relief and calm washed over him when Danny skips forward to hug his middle. Bruce is happy to return the affection, messing up the kid’s hair with a chuckle. Danny tries to fix it, but the effort isn’t really there.
“I gotta show you something!”
Danny rounds the corner and runs down the hall, Bruce laughing behind him at the boy’s enthusiasm.
“Wait up, Danny,” he calls, taking his time following him.
“You’re taking forever, old man!” He hears from one of the bedrooms, the one Danny had claimed as his own.
Old man. That reminds him of Jason.
Bruce’s smile falls a little.
His second son was avoiding him like a plague, ignoring any kind of contact, threatening to shoot him if he got near. It was disheartening and no one would tell him what exactly he did wrong so he can fix it.
He could try donating more money to a charity benefiting Crime Alley, but the last time Bruce did that Jason got defensive and even more hostile.
“See? What do you think?”
Danny expectant voice pulls him from his internal troubles. Blue eyes follow the boy’s presenting hands to the puzzle laid out on the desk meant for homework. Bruce had bought this puzzle box for Danny last week and the little mastermind has already figured it out.
“Good job, pumpkin,” Bruce praises with a proud smile. Danny grins back widely, practically beaming. “Did you find what was inside?”
The grin turns into a smirk, seeping playful arrogance.
“Of course I found your thumb drive, Bruce. Are you secretly Riddler’s assistant or something?”
Bruce snorts, “I think you would know if I was.”
“True.” Danny jumps onto his bed with a galaxy blanket and folds his legs underneath him like a child. “But anyway the drive had the library location on it. So naturally I went there and didn’t find any obvious clues, but then I talked with the people working there and surprise, surprise I have a new library card in my name.”
The teen gives Bruce a look and he feigns ignorance.
“Oh really?”
Danny hums.
“Well I’m sure you can make good use of it then.”
Danny’s eyes narrow.
“Whoever set that up for you must really care about your studies.”
Danny sticks his tongue out at the man, cheeks red. Then he reaches under his pillow to pull out a decent sized book titled Moonshot: A NASA Astronaut’s Guide To Achieving The Impossible. A second book follows the first, titled Astrophysics For People In A Hurry.
Bruce hummed in contemplation, looking over the books and their brief description.
“Good choices.” Danny smiles happily, blushing with his lip between his teeth. “Have you learned anything good?”
That was the signal Danny was waiting for to launch right into a monologue of all the things he’s learned in the short time they had been apart. Bruce directs the boy out the door silently as Danny keeps chattering. Bruce listens gratefully, just happy one of his kids will share their passion with him and just talk. It’s nice. He misses this.
Bruce takes them to the small Thai spot down the street. Danny only stops his ramblings to order the same thing he always does and lets Bruce pay, but as soon as they sit down he was talking again.
“The lady at the library was super helpful though. The one in the wheelchair? She has red hair, like Jazz. She reminded me of her. You know if Jazz was a lot more chill,” Danny chuckles but Bruce can tell he was saddened by the reminder.
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Bruce offers, though silently hopeful Danny would open up and equally doubtful he would.
Danny gives him a pained smile, “Thanks but Jazz would tell me to talk about it. I just- it’s… easy to talk to you and I-… I know I’ve said it before, but thank you for taking care of me and just being there. It- it would’ve been really bad otherwise.”
Bruce straightens the napkin on the table. Why is he so awkward around his kids? Or maybe just with emotions.
“I’m just glad I could be of help,” he brushes off.
He has to look up at the snort from across the table. An amused expression is on Danny’s face.
“You really suck at this, don’t you?”
Bruce shares the smile.
“I do.”
“That’s alright. Jazz loaded me with lots of information on all the gross feelings we try to ignore. I’m sure we can figure it out together.”
Danny shrugs like it’s no big deal, but Bruce feels like an opportunity has arose. This was something none of his other kids had expressed to him. Danny was giving him a chance. A chance to at least try to be a good dad. A chance to be in his life.
“Yea. That’d be great.”
Danny smiles back, calm and relaxed in his presence.
He definitely needed this.
Meanwhile, Dick was pissed. Bruce has been ignoring his calls after he stole Dick’s case out from underneath him.
His bike skids into his spot in the Batcave, jumping off as soon as he’s able.
Tim doesn’t even look up from the screens in front of him. Damian pauses his solo training to glance over at him.
“Where’s Bruce?”
“Oh, someone’s in trouble,” Tim mumbles.
“Where?” Dick demands again.
Tim finally looks up to give him a deadpan look.
“I don’t know. Probably upstairs,” he waves off like the topic was unimportant.
“I was just up there and I couldn’t find Father,” Damian provides, furrowing his brows in thought.
“Well then where is he?”
“I… do not know.”
Dick can see the gears working in their heads.
A throat clears behind him and he sees Alfred silently step off the elevator with a cart of snacks and drinks.
“Alfred, where’s Bruce?”
Tim pushes himself out of the chair to come over and grab a cucumber sandwich. Damian rushes to shove Tim out of the way.
“Those are meant for me, Drake.”
“You should have been faster.”
“Guys,” Dick raises his voice, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I really don’t need this right now.”
“Yea, because everything is about you,” Tim scoffs, taking a glass of lemonade as he walks back to the computer.
Dick has to bite his tongue to not say anything in retort.
“Alfred,” he repeats with a restrained, quiet voice.
“I must confess I don’t quite know where Master Bruce has run off too,” Dick rubs his chin in thought, anger falling into a simmer, “but I can say he has been more absent as of late.”
Dick thinks about it for a moment and then gets an idea.
“Do you- You don’t think he’s been with Jason, right?”
“I haven’t talked to him,” Tim answers.
Dick sends him a look. Tim rolls his eyes.
“Nor have I,” Damian adds.
Truthfully, neither had Dick.
“Have you seen Jason lately?” He asks Alfred.
“About a week ago we had tea together. The topic of Master Bruce was carefully avoided, however.”
Dick hums and pulls out his phone. He’s a little embarrassed to say he had to scroll a bit to find Jason’s name.
“What do you want, Dickface? I’m busy,” Jason answers.
Dick doesn’t waste time beating around the bush.
“Do you know where Bruce is? Is he with you?”
“Why would I be with that bitch? Why are you even asking me, you know he can’t stand me?”
Dick huffs, “He does not hate you, Jason. He loves you. How many times do I have to say it?”
“Zero, but you keep doing it. Why are you calling me anyway? Seriously. Wouldn’t he be with the pretender or the demon brat?”
“Well they’re both here with me and Bruce isn’t here nor is he upstairs. Even Alfred doesn’t know where he went. I thought maybe he went to go talk to you.”
“Well he didn’t. Check his location.”
Dick was already walking to the computers and putting Jason on speaker.
“Tim, check his-“
“Way ahead of you,” the teen interrupts. “His tracker says… the subway?”
“That doesn’t make sense. Did he mention going undercover to anyone?”
There was a chorus of negatives.
“Maybe he was visiting Babs?”
“No, see, he’s on a train that going toward the docks. That’s nowhere near the library or the clock tower,” Tim points out.
“Are we even sure this tracker is reliable?” Damian inquires.
“I guess he could have planted to tracker to fool anyone looking for him, but that begs the question what is he trying to hide? Even from us?”
There is silence as Tim checks the trackers data and determines Damian was in fact right and this tracker was a decoy. He switches programs to start a facial recognition run for Bruce’s face.
“Maybe he’s with a chick,” Jason suddenly suggests.
“Ew,” Tim cringes.
“Gross,” Damian agrees.
“Jason, be serious.”
“I am! I heard the old man and Selena are on a break. It’s possible.”
“Then why didn’t he- okay, never mind. So he’s seeing someone. Maybe. Do we have any other theories?” Dick asks the crowd hopefully.
“A private mission?” Damian offers.
“He would have told at least one of us if it was night work,” Tim reminds.
“He could be meeting with another hero? He could be just chatting with Clark.”
“Except Superman is currently rescuing some pedestrians from a burning building,” Jason debunked. “Face it, the old man has a new lover. She probably doesn’t know about his double life and he doesn’t want us interfering.”
“I vote interfere,” Tim shrugs, looking for something to break up the monotony.
“I second the motion,” Damian adds, just wanting to break up whoever thought they were better than his mother.
“Third!” Jason yells over the phone, because he wants to mess with Bruce.
Dick sighs, but silently agrees they need to get involved. Also, he’s a nosey bitch.
“Do we even know where he is?”
“According to this he was spotted going into the planetarium about an hour ago,” Tim concludes, typing away to try to find a better angle but failing. “His credit card says he bought two tickets and before that was Thai food for two. Okay, this is sounding like a date. Bruce is totally on a date right now.”
“I need to confront this woman,” Damian decides, fully prepared to going into battle with this potential civilian woman.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now,” Dick tries to calm them down.
“I’ll meet you there,” Jason says, the sound of a motorbike starting in the background.
Tim and Damian are on their feet in seconds, running toward their own bikes to catch up with their older brother. Dick sighs and follows after.
“Please do not give Master Bruce a hard time, Master Richard. I have seen an improvement in his mood and would hate for him to regress to a darker disposition,” Alfred adds before he leaves.
Dick nods and follows the others out of the cave and into the light, feeling the chilly rush of the wind compared to the burning anger in his chest.
Bruce is always keeping something from him- from them without thinking about how they’ll take it when they found out. There are always secrets around the man and yet Bruce gets mad at Dick for finding them out. It’s hypocritical and frustrating. Yet another secret has been revealed and Dick has to be the one to take responsibility. Not only that but keeping this person a secret was indirectly telling Dick he couldn’t be trusted with this information. He didn’t trust Dick with his secret, but expects Dick to share his own secrets.
He uses his breathing techniques to calm himself back down to a simmer. In public isn’t the place to blow up at Bruce.
Jason is waiting for them when they arrive, smoking a cigarette and leaning against his bike.
“Took you long enough.”
“Yeah, yeah, have you spotted them yet?” Tim gets to the point.
Jason drops his cigarette and smushes it with the toe of his boot. He grunts in a negative.
“Been waiting on you losers.”
“Aw, you shouldn’t have.”
“Now I regret my decision.”
They all walk into the large building, purchasing their tickets for entrance on the way in. However after ten minutes of looking around the entire building, no sign of Bruce.
“Are you sure this is where he was spotted last?” Dick clarifies to Tim.
He pulls out his phone with a scowl.
“Positive. Maybe he could have left before we got here.”
“Hey, what about that?” Jason interjects.
He waves a hand to the sign saying ‘Dark Observatory’.
“Huh. I guess,” says Dick.
Tim shoves Damian forward.
“Go check.”
Damian turns with a snarl.
“Why would I listen to you? You go.”
“I don’t want to see Bruce making out with some lady in the back of the theater, thank you very much.”
“What makes you think I would?”
“You’re a little murder gremlin. How am I supposed to know what fetishes you have?”
Damian literally growls and Dick places himself between the two to prevent an all out brawl where everyone can see.
“Stop fighting,” he whisper yells.
Damian throws a hand out to point at Tim.
“He started it!”
“Oh, cry me a river,” Tim rolls his eyes.
Dick has to physically restrain Damian.
“Tim. Knock it off,” Dick commands.
“Quit it, the session let out,” Jason interrupts, shoving the other three behind the corner so they can peek out.
It’s toward the end of the line of people coming out where they find Bruce. He’s dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, a plain windbreaker over top. He wears a hat to hide his face from cameras, but no one around him recognizes the billionaire.
Whoever comes out next would have to be his date. The siblings wait in anticipation, on their toes to see who it is. They were not prepared for Bruce to smile so genuinely to the teenage boy that appears by his side.
A black-haired, blue-eyed boy who beams back at Bruce like he hung the stars they were just learning about.
“That is a child,” Dick blinks, not quite understanding what he was seeing. It’s like his brain was performing a reboot. Glancing at the others, they were also going through their own internal battles.
“What-“ Tim mumbles to no one.
Bruce wraps an arm around the teen’s shoulders as the kid talks enthusiastically with his hands, letting the man guide him toward the front doors. They look so… relaxed together, so at ease in each other’s presence. Dick doesn’t quite remember the last time he felt that calm around Bruce.
They are slowly closing the gap between the two and the siblings on their way out the door, making it easier to eavesdrop on the father-son duo.
“…and NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer, or ACE for short, collects data from all these little particles and analyses it so we can know more about the sun. Isn’t that cool?”
“Sure is, pumpkin,” Bruce agrees easily, using a sickening sweet nickname so naturally. It almost gave Dick vertigo how genuine he was being with this random kid, who might not be so random.
Pumpkin looks up at Bruce with the brightest smile Dick almost feels guilty for secretly wishing he’d trip over his own feet and fall on his face.
“Do we have time? Can we stop by the ice cream shop on the way back?”
The kid bites his lip in anticipation as if Bruce wouldn’t say yes to that.
“Are you going to try something new?” Bruce teases. Gosh, wasn’t that a feeling of nostalgia. He hasn’t been this playful with any of them for years.
The boy makes a point to think about it, humming in thought.
“That’s a solid maybe. So can we? Please?”
Bruce checks his watch over the boy’s head.
“We should have enough time.”
Danny skips with joy for a moment.
“Thanks, Dad!”
Bruce chokes. Dick winces. Jason swears under his breath.
“Are you okay?” Pumpkin asks, expression of actual concern.
“I’m fine,” Bruce waves off, trying to gain his composure. “I just wasn’t prepared for…”
The teen’s brows furrow in confusion until it clicks. His eyes go wide and cheeks turn a rosy pink. He ducks his head down in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Sorry, yea, it just slipped out. I’ve kinda been calling you that in my head for a while now so- but I’ll totally stop if you don’t like it!”
Bruce sets a hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“It’s more than okay, Danny. You don’t have to stop. I’m honored, really.”
“Yea?”
Jason turns and walks away, jaw clenched so tight Dick was concerned for his teeth. Damian follows him, eyes wet and expression murderous.
“Yea, kiddo. I… like it,” Bruce uncharacteristically confesses.
Dick is shocked by the effort. He didn’t even know Bruce had the capacity for what just happened.
Danny smirks, amused.
He pokes the man’s side.
“You’re just a big softy on the inside, aren’t you?”
Bruce chuckles and rubs at the kid’s hair roughly, throwing him off balance and needing to lean into Bruce’s side for stability.
“Tell no one.”
“No promises.”
And then they leave.
“What just happened?” Tim asks, sounding completely stumped.
“Bruce has a new son. A new son he didn’t want us knowing about,” Dick answers just as bamboozled.
“That kid’s a civilian! What is he thinking?”
“I don’t know, Tim, but he isn’t ready for the consequences.”
Tim pauses and then groans into his hands.
“Damian is totally gonna try to kill this kid too. At least I could fight back.”
“And I have no idea what Jason will do.”
Dick runs a hand through his hair, feeling a little flat-footed and not knowing what to do.
“I’m gonna call Babs.”
“You do that. I’m staying out of it for once,” Tim washes his hands of the whole thing and leaves Dick behind to mull over his thoughts.
Omg yes!! And then they find out that Danny literally can’t live in the Manor because of actual legit trauma. Or that it was Danny who requested prolonging the sibling introductions because he wasn’t ready to be around so many nosey and pushy bat-detective siblings who wouldn’t give him any privacy. Like half of what they’re blaming Bruce for are things Danny specifically asked for/needed.
And honestly, after 2 years, Danny and Bruce sort of liked the dynamic they had. Danny knew Bruce had other kids, but he was selfish and he wasn’t ready to share their dad during their one-on-one bonding time or have more family. The pain of the ones he lost are still there and he can’t bare to think he replaced them. The only exception being Bruce because they had met before the explosion.
As for the batkids, they are hurt. For Dick, it has been a long time since Bruce had treated him that way. Jason hates Danny because Bruce chose to have a good relationship with the new kid than to bother repairing the relationship he had with him. Damian also hates Danny because Bruce has never treated him the way he treats Danny.
The hurt and betrayal runs deep but the more they analyze the relationship Danny has with Bruce, the more they notice just how different they react. Bruce will fuck up and Danny will tell him what he did wrong before forgiving him. Anyone else would have lashed out and gone no contact with B for at least a few days until he figured it out himself. Danny though, he does everything a son should do, everything the batkids don’t do. Danny was the perfect civilian son, Bruce’s favorite, and they hated how Bruce hid Danny as if saying they would find a way to ruin Danny.
It's been a handful of years and Ellie has joined the YJL
The YJL has the misunderstanding that her dad is dead
Which you know not exactly wrong but why do they think this?
Cuz Ellie and Danny are both little gremlin shits that found out they could speak to each other and hear each other no matter the distance or dimension,
So like I said little shits TM that they are decides to make it look like a prayer while speaking
So every time she says
"Oh yea let me just go tell my dad"
and then proceeds to put her hands together very obviously in a prayer.
This only somewhat stops when the heroes are in a rather tight spot and need some help, and Ellie goes "let me call my dad" in her usual prayer form and then the air beside her gets ripped open and this twink of a man who barely looks any older than her pops out like
" Yo I'm here to help!"
Now they think Ellie is a demi-human and Danny some sort of God.
Ohhhhhhh I so wanna combine this with my hc that Conner has at something had an existential crisis over wether or not he has a soul, and who would know better the answer to that question than a god, the only issue now is how to ask Wrathe if he can ask her father something......
Danny is a clone; his parents had closely monitored and tracked his DNA donor carefully, until they were able to get ahold of some hair and blood.
He's a clone of Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman only finds out after Danny donates his blood for a medical experiment for extra cash, and the genetic testing they do on it pings one of Batman's many, many programs.
Loving parents did not stop Wonder Woman from becoming their mother. Is she more than a little upset her DNA was stolen? Yes, who wouldn’t be? Does that mean she’ll reject her clone kids (or their adopted sister) because they’re clones? No! She learned from Kal-El’s past mistakes. She’ll be a good template mom from the getgo.
Besides, it wasn’t like she was conceived in a normal way either. She was quite literally molded out of clay. She’s not gonna judge. (Her kids at least. Their adopted parents are a different story. She’s holding a little grudge but she’s not gonna hurt them or anything. She just needs to find a good way to co-parent without drawing her blades.)
The first time she went to go meet her son (yes son! How exciting), she only expected to see his adopted sister Jasmine. Except she didn’t end up meeting two, but instead four! Her son’s parents not only took in her son’s clone (what a precious girl) but also an alternate version of him that is slightly evil yet mostly redeemed(he’s such a sweetheart). Somehow, Diana found herself becoming a mother of four seemingly overnight. (Yes she does mean four. The redhead may not be hers by blood but if the Dr Fentons can steal her DNA without permission, she’ll steal theirs too in the form of their daughter.)
Diana wanted at least partial custody over Danny, Dani, and Dan. She let them know she was willing to take them to court if necessary. Only, they don’t put up a fight when she says this. They tell her the kids are hers on weekends and that she’s free to visit them on weekdays whenever she wants. That they’ll figure out how to split holidays soon but for now “school is too important and they will not tolerate ditching”. Their words not hers.
Who does that? They don’t even know her. For all they know she could be a terrible person. She could’ve been a meta with a shapeshifting ability. They didn’t even take any precautions! No tests to ensure she was who she said she was! Is this some form of neglect? Were her kids neglec- oh. They’re not entirely human.
Or “baseline human” (whatever that means). This town they live in communes with the dead on the regular making the humans that live here “liminal”. So not only can they can feel her unique godly presence, but Lady Pandora has also spoken very well about her. Lord Kronos had also somehow warned them of her arrival ensuring the two doctors that they could trust her with their kids. All four of them. (Did she think these doctors insane for putting their trust in Kronos? Yes, but if that means she can have the kids on weekends she’ll take it.)
She is still amazed she was allowed to take Jazz on the weekends as well. The Dannies she understood, but Jazz? She was in no way entitled to her in any sort of custody agreement and yet they agreed anyways. The girl was a few months shy of being 18. She could have easily said no and yet she packed her belongings every Friday to go to “mama’s house”.
Diana had never been more grateful she was given the chance to love and care for her sweet darling Jazz. If the Justice League hadn’t tested her DNA to ensure she was truly Jack and Maddie’s, she would’ve thought she had been stolen straight off of Themyscira. Diana knew for a fact that Jasmine had the heart and soul of an Amazon warrior.
Diana also knew she was being petty. She knew she showed up at the worst times to visit her kids yet Jack and Maddie never told her to leave. She came randomly for the sole purpose of bothering the married couple but they only ever greeted her with smiles and offers of fudge. She wanted just a tiny little bit of revenge. Just a smudge but it never worked. Jack and Maddie were either too dense or too kind for that sort of thing.
The two never hesitated on including her with the family business. They invited her on all family outings. They let her know when the kids would have field trips or even picture days. And when they had nothing to tell her when it came to their kids, they spoke about their newest inventions. They always took the time to explain them to her in depth. They never failed to light up when she asked questions on something that remotely intrigued her nor did they ever fail to answer.
Some days, after a long day of heroing, she couldn’t help but smile knowing she had a family to return to. Her roommates(?) and their kids had become a big part of her daily life. Diana still remembers that one time she had come back home injured after a fight only to be thoroughly coddled by Jack and Maddie until she had been back to full health. After that, they gifted her a special suit to protect her more efficiently.
And to think, she would have never had this in her life if her two dumb geniuses didn’t steal her DNA.
Damian Wayne was like a duckling. A violent, stab-happy, danger-prone duckling, yes, but a duckling all the same. Which means when Danny almost got stabbed by a sleepy, instinct driven Damian, he was able to wave it off with a laugh. Damian, on the other hand, stared in horror at the butter knife firmly lodged in Danny’s arm.
“PENNYWORTH!” Danny jerked back at Damian’s scream. “RICHARD! FATHER!”
God damn, the kid had a pair of lungs on him. Danny’s wince was interpreted as pain to Damian, who gently grabbed his injured arm and started to pull him towards the kitchen’s marble island.
Danny blinked, non plussed as his hearing picked up a thundering of feet as the present family members scrambled towards Damian’s distress call.
“Wait, Damian, I’m fine. It’s-”
“You have been impaled, you imbecile! Had it been any of the other simpletons, they would have-!”
“Ouch.” Danny put his other hand in mock hurt over his slow-beating heart. He literally doesn’t care about the butter knife. He’s just impressed there was enough force in there to impale him. “Are you calling me names now? After- gasp- stabbing me?”
Before Damian could reply, the beginnings of regret, remorse, and guilt on his face, Alfred, Dick, and Bruce burst into the kitchen.
“What happened?!”
“My word, master Danny!”
“What is it?!”
“I’m fine. It’s like a small stab. Not even a big stab. I’m good.”
Dick paled, seeing Danny’s arm clutched in Damian’s hand.
“That’s- that’s a knife. In your arm. How is that ‘fine’?!”
“What happened.” Bruce asked Damian, gently removing Danny’s arm from Damian’s death clutch.
“I- I did not mean to,” Damian starts, guilt coloring his voice.
“He didn’t,” Danny cuts in. “I startled him and got stabbed for being dumb. I won’t fault him for having a defense mechanism like that, ancient knows what I might do if you guys startled me.”
The awkward silence that settled at his words made Danny twitch awkwardly.
“Uh, so, can I add this knife to my collection? Even if I didn’t get mugged?”
“Danny.”
“Bruce.” Danny stared stubbornly back. With his uninsured hand, he patted Damian on the head. He was going to enjoy the fluffiness before Damian’s guilt was no longer enough to hold him back from snapping at Danny’s hand like a grumpy alligator. Bruce loses, obviously. He’s a teenager who was also an ex-vigilante. Batman’s got nothing on a determined halfa.
“Master Danny, I must insist you refrain from getting stabbed. There is only so much gauze and antiseptic cream in the house.” Alfred returned- huh, when did he leave?- with a med kit.
Danny called bullshit because he knows there’s a whole ass medical bay beneath the manor.
“Sorry.”
“No need to apologize.” Alfred said, promptly beginning the extraction of the butter knife.
“Are you okay?” Dick asked, hovering worriedly. “He- are you…?”
Damian was allowing Danny to ruffle his hair, so…
“Yep, I’m good. This isn’t even on my top thirty most painful stabbings,” and it really wasn’t. That honor was given to the GIW and that one time Jazz accidentally stabbed him with her earrings. “That was pretty impressive, actually. It’s like, a butter knife. The other ones had pointy ends.”
“Do not clump me with those pathetic wastes of spaces. I am naturally superior and would… would never harm you on purpose.” Damian said, getting quiet at the end like he was trying to plead to Danny to believe him.
“Of course not. But- if you want help me keep the knife, you can hit me with a mug, it would technically be a mugging.”
The pun got the desired effect. Damian leaned away with a disgruntled look and Dick stopped hovering as close in order to let out a small cackle.
“Done.”
“You should go get changed, kiddo. We’re going to see Tim’s photography at the Gotham Gallery today.”
“Oh, for real?” Danny patted Damian’s fluffy hair one last time, pushing away from the counter. “Oh, I’ll clean up here first and-”
“That will not be necessary,” Alfred scolded, a mop somehow already in his hands. “Please see to it you are prepared for the day.”
“Thanks, Alfred. Can I keep the knife.”
“Very well.”
“Sweet. See you guys later?” Danny pranced off after seeing the nods.
——
“He’s… he got stabbed a lot. Before us, I mean.” Dick tapped a furious rhythm onto the counter. “Not that we’ve stabbed him until now but even once is concerning for a civilian.”
“He was used to it.” Bruce replied.
“Perhaps we should join Todd in his endeavor and ensure that his worthless tormentors are permanently out of the picture.”
“God, he said top thirty. He was counting.”
Damian silently withdrew a kitchen knife.
“No murder with my quality chef’s knives, Master Damian.”
“Tt.”
“Master Jason follows the same rules. Now, out of the kitchen. I may be old, but I remember the last time master Bruce and master Dick stepped foot in here and I will not have a repeat.”
They all thought he was joking about the ‘what I would do if you snuck up opn me’ comment. They tried it after all, he jumped, exhaled in shock, then laughed like most people, they didn’t know that Danny could feel when a member of his ‘friad got close to him.
Once Danny was incredibly sleep deprived and the Bats had just got some new stealth gear, the rest watched from recording software as Tim snuck up on Danny.
“BOO!” what they did not expect was for Danny to fly up then raise clawed hands and bare sharp teeth, with glowing green eyes that stared stright into you soul and growl which souned like a million screams, like bones breaking. The death quickly drained from his face and he fell to the ground, regained normal body language
“TIM! I nearly cursed you! Don’t do that!” he yelled “You, You didn’t see anything did you?”
Imagine Danny not even asking Tim if he saw anything and instead just going on with his day as if Danny’s reaction was normal. Which to him it might be, if this is a Liminal Amity Park Au AND an unaware but still liminal Batfam Au.
If this is the case, Danny was adopted thinking the Batfam knew of their own liminality and Danny’s halfa status. So he’s not mincing his words or hiding anything on purpose. Like he genuinely thinks the Batfam knows what’s up when in reality they don’t know shit.
And the Batfam only grow more and more concerned until this happens and Tim’s like “Danny’s not human?!?!!?!”. Which makes more and more sense when they think about it but it also doesn’t because he acts way too human (though that could be explained with him being raised as a human with humans by (maybe) humans).
Being a meta was ruled out almost immediately because he tested negative for the metagene AND Tim described Danny’s other form as feeling and looking otherworldly. Leading up to the conclusion of Danny being not human or at least not fully human. Alien possibly but there are of course other possibilities they cannot rule out quite yet.
This goes on and on, trying to figure out what Danny is without letting him know they’re onto him so that he doesn’t panic and run. Only they start to realize Danny isn’t keeping secrets from them on purpose. He isn’t even hiding his other form. They just didn’t notice before because the combination of Danny acting normally and them growing far too used to his eccentricities practically gaslit everyone into thinking nothing was out of the ordinary.
And most importantly, they soon realize he truly believes they know. They haven’t even told Danny about them being vigilantes. Why would he assume they know he’s not human if he hadn’t told them?? Who just assumes normal people would know if the family member they adopted wasn’t human?
Danny legit saw them for the first time and thought “Oh, they’re liminal! They want to help me heal and form new fraid bonds. How thoughtful! I accept your adoption request.” Not thinking twice that they might not know they’re liminal or that he’s half dead.
Just thinking about the Batfamily communicating through their bonds without knowing and Danny responding but not realizing they don’t know what they’re doing makes me sad. Danny’s just doing his best to not keep secrets from his family this time around but he’s not very good at it yet.
a dark, mouldy basement somewhere in gotham. about 12 people are sat on the floor, their hands and feet bound, their mouths gagged - apart from one teenager. Danny Fenton, age 15, has his mouth ungagged and his hands untied. he is holding a shitty old cell phone, and shakily types in a phone number - although he does it from memory, it takes him a while to recall each digit.
one man towers over danny as he makes the call. two other men are positioned next to the only door in the basement. each man is holding a gun
sounds of an outgoing call end as it is picked up
Danny: (takes a shaky breath) Hey
Vlad: Daniel. To what do I owe the the displeasure?
Danny: Well - I'm in a bit of a situation here. A hostage situation, to be precise
Vlad: And how is that my problem?
Danny: Theres a lot of people here - a bunch of victims plus the kidnappers. I cant- I mean, I'm in Gotham. there isnt much I can do, so (he closes his eyes to steady himself) I need you to pay $5 million to set us all free, or otherwise these assholes will put a bullet through my brain.
Vlad: (silence) Right. (another beat of silence) Well, it's been nice talking to you badger, but I'm afraid I have other matters to take care of-
Danny: Wait wait wait, no don't go! Please listen. Do you- (glances at kidnappers, then at the other hostages) remember Pariah Dark?
Kidnapper 1: Kid this is taking too long-
Danny: Just wait, you'll get your money I swear!
Vlad: (more interested in this convo now) What about him
Danny: I defeated him in single combat
Vlad: (scoffs) I'm not sure i would call it that
Danny: Well the Observants- (one of the men tries taking the phone from him, he's more panicked now) Look, it's in your best interest to pay that money. Once I die, that which has already began will come to pass. Do you understand? His position will be filled in, amd YOU will have to answer to ME. (moment of silence) Please tell me you understand.
Vlad: ...I will call my bank right now
Kidnapper: Enough with this! You think you can outsmart us, huh? You think you can stall until the Bats arrive and we won't realise? (he smacks the phone out of danny's hand) Haven't you heard of Gotham's number 1 rule? (points gun) Never try to scam a guy with a gun.
Danny: Wait, did you not hear what he said?? He'll get you your money, I-
As soon as the gun went off, all of hell broke loose from its restraints. There were cries and screams of horror coming from the victims along with several loud gunshots attempting to make them quiet down. The arrival of notably angry bats that had appeared just as the young boy’s body hit the ground, only served to create more pandemonium. Nothing could stop the sheer terror coursing through all those inside the building.
They had all felt the weight of the boy’s fear and panic as soon as the bullet went through his skull. It was unnatural. Yet still, the fight continued undisturbed until the bats held full control over the area. It couldn’t have been more than 5 minutes since the child’s death when someone pointed out the physical changes slowly overtaking his body.
The boy’s black hair changed color from the roots to its tips. It became a bright glowing white, as if the sun were here to shine upon freshly fallen snow. His skin turned from a healthy tan to a beautiful shade of blue as if his skin had just sped ran the symptoms of death by hypothermia and not a gun shot to the head. The tense atmosphere worsened as they noticed his pointed ears and sharp claws emerged.
Green eyes snapped open. Green eyes snapped open. The boy did not have green eyes before his sudden death. His body slowly rose, feet not touching the floor, as he floated above ground. He glanced around looking for his target before stopping when he found it. The man who killed him. The kidnapper paled as he saw the boy he had just murdered coldly gaze down at him.
The boy gently stepped onto solid ground before stalking past the freed victims and towards the captured men only to be blocked by the bat and his birds. The boy did not blink as his eyes bore through them. The boy’s chest did not move, did not breathe, like the rest of them. The boy did not hesitate walking through them, leaving a shivering and weak bird to fall on it’s knees for it’s King.
Just as it looked like he would strike his murderer down, did the boy stop for a mere moment. At first, they thought he would give in to the pleading cries for mercy by the shaking killer, only to reject the idea after the man’s body stopped shaking while his tears froze and body shattered as if he were made of ice.
The bat tensed as the clearly dead boy turned his head to look at the moronic little creature touching his recently deceased body. The littlest bird froze at the harsh glare being directed to him. In the eyes of the boy, Robin clearly had a death wish for touching what didn’t belong to him. With a newfound target, the King began walking over to deliver judgment. Robin may not have killed him, but this attempt at trying to defile his body would not go unpunished.
Danny Fenton was tired. He was also annoyed, just a little bit angry and disappointed, but mainly he was tired.
Tired of the excuses, of the missed dates, of the nights he waited for Dick to come home only for him to show up in the morning with a sheepish smile and an excuse.
He tried to be understanding, he tried to ignore the instincts that screamed that Dick was leaving him, that he was finally getting tired of him and had found someone else.
The problem was that ghosts were beings of emotion. They loved with all their core, they also hated with the same passion, but Danny ignored that. If their partner was not as dedicated, the ghost suffered, their core tried to reach out, form and maintain the bond all alone. Some ghosts even ended up with cracked or shattered cores because they fell for the wrong person.
Danny foolishly thought he would be spared this, he was still half human after all. He was forced to let go of that illusion today. This evening was his and Dick's anniversary dinner. They had planned this months in advance and Dick never even showed up.
Danny felt his core crack on the way home. Not a big break, just a little barely noticeable nick, but given time it could grow deeper and shatter him. So Danny made the decision and packed his things, left a note letting Dick know and left.
buy what if instead of going back to amity after his core cracks, he tries to stay(because he’s stubborn like that) but obviously this is a horrible idea, and when dick comes after that day he finds that something in his boyfriend has changed,
he’s colder, quieter and seems to be in a daze most of the day, and on the ghost side of things danny is glitching, his surroundings become colder occasionally, the shadows are darker around him, there’s an eerie silence whenever he is around his reflection sometimes either disappears or shows phantom but the phantom in the reflection is horrifying, his face cracked and bleedind, mouth pulled into an agonizing scream,
and the more dick lies to danny the worse his(danny) symptoms become, dick is not around enough for him to notice these changes, danny tries to calm himself down by doing relaxing things like going on walks, but this end up becoming a rumor about a ghost of a young man that walks around at night saying things like ‘where is he’ ‘why is he doing this to me’ ‘ it hurts’, which brings the attention of the batfam which means mire late night patrols, meaning dick staying out late more wich in turn hurts danny more , turning into a vicious cycle for danny,
until one day his core can’t take it, and all his love for dick become hate, turning him into a mindless or unstable ghost that is hellbent on hurting dick and nightwing(the reason he was gaslite), dick doesn’t know this because by morning danny is his normal if a bit strange self and by night he is a ghost that wants revenge for the pain he experienced, dick doesn’t know danny is a halfa so he can’t make the connection, and the batfam are worried because this ghost is olny focasef on targeting nightwing and even when other bats are around he ignores them and heads straight for nightwing, they(batfam) trying to find a reason for the attacks but have no clue
i think thats it for now, feel free to add on whatever you want
I am invested into this prompt, and will come back to haunt it like a ghost (ha).
That being said, I love!! Ur idea, but what if instead of hating dick, Danny's core can't take it, and just... Blocks dick irl.
Like Danny isn't capable of remembering dick, and he can't see/smell/anything dick. Like if dick were to touch him, either his intangibility activated, or he'd just be freaked the fuck out bc what just touched him.
But!! Because Danny still has the memories (he just can't access them), he feels like something is missing. He has no idea what, but he just has this need to either stay in that strange apartment he apparently lives in now, or go walk around Gotham and just... Search for it.
The second thing often happens when he's asleep > thus the night ghost rumor spreads (bc i LOVE that idea, like the perpetual circle ugh!). Throughout the day, Danny stays in the apartment.
Where dick sometimes also resides. Now it's been a rough couple of weeks ok? Rogues broke out of Arkham, the cells there permanently damaged, so now the batclan is scrambling to put something together to act like their residence for the time of repairs. Jason seems to be getting closer to the family, but dick feels pretty anxious when he meets the family without him being there, bc even if they don't have the best relationship, it's definitely better than what Jason has w Bruce or Tim. Also Damian seems to be getting jealous of the amount of time.he spends w Jason, so he also needs to spend some time w him too. There's also his civilian job and...... Ugh, it's just.. a lot.
Thankfully, Danny has been so understanding and supportive through out all of this. Dick can see it's taking a toll on him (the circles under his eyes are getting darker and darker, and he's even more skinny than before), but..... Dick just can't put any more on his plate than he has now. He just can't.
So... Dick is gonna do the healthy thing for now, and wait until some of the things settle, and than have a proper conversation with his boyfriend. (And sure, he could let him know he has a lot on his plate now, but these days he's too tired to shower sometimes, he sure doesn't have energy to think of the lies, to replace the crazy parts of his life, to tell to his boyfriend).
(Danny might not greet him in the morning sometimes, but that's because he's tired right? He still leaves him notes! Like just yesterday it was 'dont forget to take out the trash' and the day before 'monday - spaghetti, Tuesday - ????, Wednesday - garlic bread' I mean seriously, how nice of Danny to let him know what food he's planning to make. Sometimes dick even suprises him by making the food for him!)
Btw if someone asks Danny how many kids Bruce Wayne officially has, he'd say 5, which is the usual response, but others aren't counting Jason, and he's not counting dick.
Oh btw Danny remembers Nightwish and the first Robin, since his core only targets 'Richard Grayson'.
Idk what this is. It's probs not coherent, I'm a lil sick rn, buttttttttttttttbyea. U're all so cool btw. This prompt is so col. Yey👍
Dick only realized what was going on when Danny (who started feeling better after forgetting Dick) decided to start dating again after feeling a bit too lonely one day. He met someone he thinks he might really enjoy spending his life with.
The Batfam are furious with Danny because how dare he cheat on Dick, but Danny is thoroughly confused throughout the entire confrontation. They realized something was wrong when the confusion was genuine. Well that and Danny couldn’t see or hear Dick. Worse, Dick couldn’t even touch Danny to prove he was real.
Dick is distraught and believes Danny was cursed to forget him. He feels terrible to not have noticed earlier because he lives with Danny and he’s a fucking vigilante, he’s supposed to notice these things. How long has Danny been like this? How often did Dick neglect his relationship that Danny could just move on with his life not even noticing they were still sharing the same bed?
Consider, Clockwork is screaming with them "Baby Son" and while everyone is trying to figure out what's happening Zues goes "DAD NO. DONT EAT THE BABY"
Clockwork: All babies need to be eaten Zeus!! It’s good for their development!! This is why you are…like that. You didn’t let me eat you, and now you have issues as an adult.
Clockwork: it’s not unusual for the males of our species to incubate our young. It helps them grow stronger as they can directly absorb their father’s energy. Why do you think all my children were powerhouses compared to their cousins. Most of my brothers chose not to do it because they couldn’t handle birthing pain.
Zeus:… what?
Clockwork: what do you mean what? You gave birth to Athena and Dionysus the same way. You ate them and then gave birth to them. And look how they turned out. Athena became one of the most influential goddesses in all of Greece and Dionysus was able to ascend to divinity in his lifetime. Maybe if you bothered to eat your other kids they wouldn’t cause so much trouble in the mortal realms.
I don't think he's ready yet, to be that is...and he's still stronger than many already, a baby powerhouse. Maybe after like a little bit more than hundred...but not sooner
What does being eaten entail when it comes to ghosts? Because I’m thinking it’s the swallowing of their child’s core and the body just follows where the core goes (inside the parent) or dissolves until it’s ready to reform.
Does this mean that all Danny needed to do to fully stabilize Ellie was eat her? Could he have done this with his other clones (or did they not have cores he could swallow)? Did Danny eat his mirror children in this AU?
Also, Kronos ate his children immediately after they were born. Danny technically should have been eaten already. It’s not that he’s not ready, it’s just that no one wants to give Danny more power than he already has.
If anything, it’s more likely that Clockwork already ate and gave birth to Danny without Danny knowing and maybe that’s why he’s so powerful. Clocky learned from his previous birthing experiences that children don’t appreciate being eaten as they don’t comprehend what’s happening because they haven’t fully developed yet.
Danny would probably find out and understand (maybe) after he’s been eaten and would definitely be more accepting of eating Ellie to save her.
Dpxdc AU: Damian decides that it’s time to go collect his brother from his assignment. Danny is starting to sniff out some non-ghostly bullshit for once.
Damian knew his twin had been exiled from the age of seven, banished to travel and observe how scientists around the world engaged with Lazarus water. The only word that Damian received that his spare was still alive were the letters of lab reports and findings that were sent back to base. As the Heir, he’s pushed to be better lest he himself be exiled or simply executed. Danny becomes a fleeting thought and then once Damian arrived in Gotham, a none existent thought.
They weren’t raised to be friends or even friendly. The were not taught codependency or allotted time to bond. The could have been perfect strangers if not for their appearance and the stories of Danny’s shortcomings becoming Damian’s praise.
It’s only once Tim informs him of an intercepted letter, one sent and saved from years prior, that Damian recalls Danny enough to care. Tim prompts him to share more, especially given the coup recently committed by Deathstroke (Slade) and Talia gone into hiding with her zealots.
At family dinner that night Damian supplies: “I suppose I should be the one to bereave my twin of his assignment. His reports will certainly go unread.”
Chaos in the Batfam ensues- meanwhile across the country- Danny sneezes and finishes writing his yearly report: “No major discoveries aside from public record patents (attached), No assistance required. -Spare”. He doesn’t know why he bothers, he hasn’t received any contact from his mother or grandfather since he was 10ish and certainly hasnt thought about his twin. But, if there’s a chance (even an itty bitty one) that his reports are being read and are holding off his reassignment, he’d rather keep assassins out of Amity Park.
Little does he know that this letter is about to be intercepted by Pru, former assassin and friend of Tim Drake. He hadn’t expected his twin to suddenly arrive and tell him that his job was done. And certainly, seeing a plane filled with an uncomfortable looking ‘family’ that requested he join them and get to know Gotham and his birth father, was not on his bingo list.
Danny does his best to let them down gently- and they seem to be accepting that he’s acclimated to this weird little town and will leave him be- when Danny suddenly has to transform into Phantom in front of them to handle a rocket sent by Skulker.
They are less willing to accept his appeal to be left alone after that… Damian is trying to “bond” with him and all the others are trying to “help” in their own way.
Sam and Tucker howl with laughter at Danny’s suddenly very large family- all while secretly working with the Wayne’s to get Danny the fuck away from the Fentons before the scientists do something they can’t undo.
Nature vs nurture: a question regarding behavior; is it genetics or environment that shapes a person's personality? Identical twins, two people with identical genetics, are often thought to be the answer to solving such a question. However, in this case, identical twins with near identical upbringings... How could they be so different?
One 6 year old met every challenge with ferocity, he could defend against opponents 4 times his age, he hit his targets with deadly precision... but his brother... At best he could be considered average. With every challenge, the gaps between them increased, identical twins becoming easy to differentiate by their manor... with the elder (as far as they could tell, but surely the heir was the elder) taking pity on the younger, mischief began to blossom.
A solution was needed. Killing the younger
would be a waste, and might seed disent in the older. Returning one to their father without the other... it would only give him the knowledge to steal both children. The threat of pain and the promise of reward did nothing for the child's capabilities.
Then one lesson led to a question.
"How does it work?" The younger had asked about waters that raised the dead to life.
And their teacher remembered.
Madeline Walker had been a researcher, a soon-to-be scientist. Several years ago she had reached out to the Shadows to propose a solution to a different problem. They had tested her and her capabilities and eventually traded a vile of liquid for the results of the proposed experiment.
Unknown to them, the vile had been swapped out in a moment of carelessness. The experiment failed, and the results failed to be of use.
Madeline had not given up, and had managed to recreate a small amount of the tainted waters, she'd dubbed it ectoplasm.
Her research was too important to harm her, and her own and her husband's ramblings about the afterlife kept anyone credible from sponsoring them.
It had been assumed their association with such hazardous material would destroy them. But years later, they still walked the same path.
So when the child asked "How does it work?"
They responded, "How would you like to find out?"
---
Danny didn't bother with the hazmat suit. The sixteen year old rarely did anymore, and his parents had stopped pushing the issue after he'd called it "ranch 2" and dipped his tater-tots on one fateful 3am morning.
He swirled the glowing green flask, watching as the impurities collected at the bottom. He'd filter them out, then dilute the energized ectoplasm until it was at human safe levels. Then, he would pass it on to Tucker for his battery project.
He would record the steps for Tucker, and he would not pass them along to the League.
What he would pass on to the League remained a question. 2 years ago he'd sat in front of this portal with a pen in a quivering hand and wrote the biggest lie of his life on a page that was sent on and probably read then burned. They probably read his updates, right?
At this rate it was probably better if they didn't. That lie had compounded. The league could be building supersoldiers and superweapons and superfoods and probably could be vacationing in the afterlife if he'd written a third of what had happened in the past 2 years. It was stupid of him. He didn't regret it.
Maybe if they'd bothered to say 'hi' in the 10 years he'd been away he'd feel more guilty about the betrayal. He snorted. Betrayal. It was what they'd call it, he was sure. But there would've had to be some loyalty owed now wouldn't there?
"You're up early," his mom moved to her workstation. It was 8:23 am on a Saturday. It was way too early.
"Report day," That was supposed to be a secret, but he'd missed one of the monthly reports when he was 8, and no one had come for him. He'd been a little distraught at the time.
"Oh, have you decided what you're going to tell them?"
"Ideally, nothing... but that will be a mess when someone checks in." When, eventually, someone checks in. Because they had too eventually right? But they wouldn't. They hadn't when monthly reports became bi-monthly, then quarterly, then biannually... he was at yearly reports now, he wasn't willing to push that boundary. Pain if they checked and different pain if they didn't. Mom lowered her goggles to give him a knowing look.
Danny sighed.
"Maybe tell them some progress was made and don't specify?"
"Because they'd expect me to specify if it was important... it'd look like I was fishing for a follow up." It wasn’t like he hadn’t done that before. "That could work,"
She gave him a sad smile. "Pizza for dinner? Sam and Tucker could come over?"
"Sure... thanks Mom,"
---
"Damian."
"Drake. What do you want?" He might've said that with more venom than necessary, but he was clearly busy. Finepoint ink drawings were tedious, but well worth the effort.
"I intercepted a League missive. Looks like an older code, figured it be faster to let you look at it."
Ah, a lovely backhanded compliment; an older code, implying that the newer codes would be too difficult for him to crack while genuinely respecting that Damian's knowledge of older League codes is better. He sighs and reaches for it, if only to give his eyes a break from the thin lines.
He recognizes the code immediately. "Tt."
"Well?"
"It has occurred to me that I should have thought to bring this up much sooner."
Drake's eyebrows went up, and Damian frantically searched for a more tactful way to start this conversation. If there was, his mind did not find it in time.
"My twin brother."
---
They had booked the flight to Illinois before Damian had finished explaining. He hadn’t known enough to fill the drive to the airfield, guilt and hollow sorrow on his face.
"I don't know how I forgot him..." his son had whispered, and Bruce had to fight down emotions of his own. Damian had been six years old, it had likely been traumatic and if there'd been orders not to speak of him Ras would've been ruthless about enforcing such a rule. It wasn't Damian's fault, and Bruce would not let himself blame him.
"You remembered now. That's what's important."
Damian nodded, but clearly didn't feel any less guilty. Bruce didn't think there was anything he could say that would help right now. And fortunately Tim had found a suitable distraction.
"I've got our cover story. So FentonWork's apparently has..."
---
Danny ducked upstairs after giving his best friend supportive thumbs up. The Wayne's were about Tucker's battery, and he was going to do great!
Danny... technically didn't need to be hiding, but attention from famous people was probably bad for his cover, and he had no idea if the murdered family members still cared about that. Besides, Tucker had done most of the work, Danny had mostly just dealt with the extra-dimensional hazards to prevent potential lab accidents.
This was a perfect opportunity to work on some out of lab projects. He picked a wall in the upstairs hallway and grabbed a knife that was definitely not designed for cutting boxes. He would never intentionally harm a box that is just the name of the type of blade, he has no idea why they call it that so go away Boxey! And sets to work.
It's maybe about 10 minutes before someone starts up the stairs. Danny tries not to sigh. People get nosey about FentonWorks, they have a saucer on their roof, he gets it. But they really could just wait until after his friend's presentation and ask.
They stopped at the top of the stairs, gasping quietly, then just staring at him.
"Hi." Danny deadpanned, not bothering to look at the person.
"Hello... what are you doing?"
"Carving weird pictures into the drywall." He wasn't concerned about them seeing the protective symbols. They wouldn't be of any use without ectoplasmic material and he was going to wait until these guys left to use the Fenton Plaster.
"...why?"
"Ghosts." Danny answered, 84% truthful. It would also help keep unwanted eyes off of the building, assuming his Grandfather didn't have some magical counter.
"...Danny?"
Danny rolled his eyes at the wall before turning to look at the guy, why his parents had to introduce— He froze. His own face stared back at him. He shifted his grip on the cutter very carefully. "Damian."
1st and 2nd mistakes. It was one of many rules that had been drilled into him before he had been allowed to go on assignment. Damian was the heir, he was not. He was not to address his brother by name, only by title and with proper respect. He'd been careful in every letter, but he'd already been flippant and—
Damian smiled; not the cruel smile of someone justified to cause harm, but the soft sad smile of someone who'd missed him. "Danny... I... we're here to retrieve you..."
"Oh." Oh no. "For any particular purpose?"
"The Fenton's have had ten years without progress... there's no reason you need to stay if..."
Don't panic. Don't panic. This is good. They have no reason to suspect the battery is ectoplasmic, they'd locked down the sensitive projects as soon as they'd realized they'd have visitors. Damian and... his team? Were the Wayne's in Grandfather's pocket? There was no way they would know about the portal. It was locked and hidden behind the false wall. Damian was here to get him because they'd realized the mission was pointless. That was... that was fine. His cover, to their knowledge, was intact. There was no reason to hurt his friends or family(His "family." Remember the quotes around the biological relatives and their allies) If he played along it would protect them.
"Are... am I to inform the Fenton's?" He'd tuck his phone between his lung and ribcage. He'd tell them when it was safe too.
---
Damian should've gone about this a different way. Danny was waiting for orders and he didn’t know how to backtrack. He'd meant it to be a rescue, but Danny was holding the box-knife like a lifeline. "Informing them or not... that is your decision... We'll be heading to Gotham."
Danny nodded and slowly got to his feet. He should've offered a hand to help him up! Damian did not think of it until his brother was already too close to standing for it to be of use.
"Do you have anything you would like to pack?" his little brother, who he hasn't seen in a decade, asks with an affected hesitance.
A test. But when isn't it with the League?
He remembers that well enough, tests upon tests upon tests. Every breathe a test, every step an evaluation, every blink a quiz and he failed and failed and failed until they cast him aside like yesterday's garbage.
But Danny had planned for this eventuality. Had planned and planned and planned until his back-up plans had back-up plans, with his parents - the ones that had actually cared for him - and his sister throwing in suggestions and revisions along the way.
With the acquisition of his ghost powers the plans got all the simpler.
It would only take a short time back with the League to get a lay of the land and chose a primary plan. A quick text to his mirror-born and she'd have a fake body ready to swap with him at the drop of a hat.
So he pasted on a stoic expression and gave a simple "No."
'Aren't I a good little soldier,' he let his body language scream for him. 'Look how well I've avoided making any attachments! Look how eternal my loyalty to the League burns, that a decade with a loving family has not swayed me in the slightest. I'll leave all behind, o' Demon's Heir, for I am at your command. Nothing has changed. There is no need to be alarmed. I am just another League asset ready for reassignment.'
His brother's gaze flicked to the box cutter and Danny swiftly closed and stowed in on his person in a way that, to Damian, must have screamed "I haven't kept up with my weapons practice since I got here and would still lose to 6-year-old you."
He swallowed back the conflicted feelings - humiliation at how he must look, jealousy at his brother's prowess that had undoubtedly only improved in their time apart, relief that he hadn't had to keep up with said practice, warring joy and fear that the League had finally come back for him, grief and anticipation that this was likely the last time he'd ever see his brother or any of the League ever again - and kept vicious hold of his neutral expression.
His brother nodded, an awkward expression Danny couldn't place the purpose of marring his face as he turned back down the stairs.
Like a loyal dog shadow, Danny followed.
---
It was quite the struggle for Danny to keep his emotions in check upon seeing the entirety of the Wayne family sat in his living room.
There was shock, sure, but primarily disappointment. First Lex, then Vlad, and now even Brucie Wayne. Danny would appreciate it if billionaires could stop being genuinely evil for five seconds, thanks.
Every single one of them glance up at the pair as they enter the living room, and Tucker pauses his speech to look over his shoulder.
Danny lets his expression return to normal before Tucker can see him - he loves his friends, but they'd all agreed that Sam and Tucker didn't have the emotional control to avoid giving anything away, and given that Danny left at six, any kind of attempt at a code phrase was just as likely to give away the game.
When and if the League came for him, they'd decided, Danny would disappear on his own, and text them when Operation: Death 2 (the two was added after his first death) was complete and he was on his way home.
The League would simply see it as him playing along to maintain cover until they were well and truly gone.
"Wow, I already thought you guys looked a lot alike but seeing you standing side-by-side is way trippy," Tucker says, eyes flicking between them.
Danny could practically hear the unspoken "Did Bruce Wayne also decide to clone you???"
For his part, Danny just snorts.
"Everyone in the world has, like, 7 look-a-likes Tuck. Sometimes they meet."
"It be like that sometimes," Tucker nods sagely.
"It really do," Danny grins back, before turning to the other guests. "Anyway, sorry for interrupting your little expo here, I'm just headed out to the shed, don't mind me."
"I shall assist," Damian says. It isn't unexpected, he doubts the Demon's Heir cares about a battery - not when he doesn't know it's made of Lazarus water, at least.
"I'd appreciate it, if it's not too much trouble," Danny smiles, all midwestern charm as he nods and opens the door for the both of them.
His expression drops back to complete neutrality once the door is closed, and voices pick up again inside. Luckily, the curtains are shut, so Tucker won't see him ignore the shed completely and return his empty gaze to his brother, just another drone awaiting orders.
His brother freezes as he turns to catch the expression.
"The shed?" he asks.
Danny doesn't hesitate, though he doesn't understand why Damian asks when he should know.
"An excuse, keeping Foley in the dark will allow more time for exfiltration. Given you are here as a civilian, it is important to confuse the timeframes."
Left unsaid is that they could just kill Tucker, but that would be even more suspicious.
He lets his eyes flick to the dark car parked on the curb leadingly.
Damian finally moves to the vehicle. They spend the next 20 minutes in stoic, awkward silence hidden behind tinted windows. He honestly can't believe it's taking them this long to give an excuse to leave.
---
The first thing Tim notices about Damian 2 - Danny, he reminds himself - is the eyes. If the two of them wore the same clothes, it would be the eyes alone that distinguished them, the vibrant blue a stark contrast to Damian's own dark green.
The next thing he notices is the emotion. Or rather, the lack thereof.
When Damian first came to the Wayne's he was a vicious thing, primary emotions being: fury and stabby.
Danny just look dead. A statue wouldn't been more lifelike stood next to him.
Then, as the young inventor they'd used as a cover story began to turn, he melted to life, all charming smiles and amused quirks of the lips and friendly banter. It would've been a relief to see him turn out so normal if not for that empty, empty expression he'd had not moments before.
Instead, they saw the interaction for what it was - Danny had grow up a spy, and just like Damian had thrown his all into murder, Danny had throw his all into spying, until everything he was - his expressions, his emotions, his body language, every aspect of communication down to the last detail - was exactly what he wanted it to be.
Meeting in any other circumstance, Tim would've taken him for just another Clark-type in the making. He was the perfect actor.
How long had he waited here, Tim wondered, molding himself into this for just a scrap of attention from the League? And after a full decade, how much of the real Danny was left?
---
As it turned out, Tucker Foley's design actually had quite a lot of promise. It made Tim feel less bad about using him as an excuse to be in the area, at least, and they swiftly scheduled a second meeting with him before returning to the car.
The awkward, intense silence that greeted them was honestly exactly was Tim would expect from putting two Damians in the same room - well, if you forbade stabbing first.
Speaking of which -
"So, like, you aren't going to try to stab and/or murder me are you?" Tim asks once they're all filed in and on their way to the airport.
"Tim." Bruce reprimands.
"Come on, that's totally a fair question. I have a right to know if I need to start sleeping with two eyes open again."
"As if you sleep in the first place, Drake," Damian rolls his eyes.
"He's got ya there Timmy," Dick chimes in, the traitor.
"Sleep is for the weak," he retorts, before turning back to Danny. "Seriously though, stabbing?"
In lieu of an answer, Danny looks to Damian.
Damian grimaces.
"No stabbing," he says, and Danny just nods before returning his eyes to a point somewhere over Dick's shoulder, right where he'd been looking before they entered the limo.
A beat passes.
"Also no murder," Damian spits out, in what Tim would very nearly call a panicked afterthought.
Danny blinks, a look of sheer confusion washing over his face before it's shoved back away and he looks over and nods once mor, tacking on a dull "Understood."
The uneasy silence returned, and Bruce seemed preoccupied simply staring at his new son.
"So!" Dick clapped, evidently deciding he'd had enough. "It's nice to finally meet you, Danny - can I call you Danny? - I'm your oldest brother, Richard Grayson! But just call me Dick."
"I have no brothers," Danny said, eyes chips of ice.
---
Danny was having a bad time.
Anyone in Amity Park could tell you Danny Fenton? Can't lie for shit.
The one thing he can do is keep his mouth shut and pray that's sufficient.
Keeping a straight face is a battle for a variety of reasons, and The best luck he's already had to leave about a dozen puns unsaid in the course of the car ride thus far.
Not only is he struggling not to pun, he's struggling to understand.
Why does this Tim guy think Danny would stab him? Why is Damian telling him not to stab him?? Why is Damian forbidding murder???
It's not that Danny has problem with the lack of stabbing and murder - quite the opposite - it's just that... it's Damian. Damian, here to personally exfiltrate him. Damian, Demon's Heir. Whose entourage, then, must be composed of League members. Which, of course he wouldn't stab them (outside of training) so why does it need to be said?
He would think they just think that poorly of him, if not for the fact that these others don't read as League members at all.
Calculated movements, highly aware of their surroundings, suspiciously muscular? Yeah, sure.
But they're acting like they're trying to make casual conversation.
He would think it's all a test - and of course it must be - except...what is the point of claiming to be his brother when he only has a single brother: the twin he isn't allowed to acknowledge as his brother.
When he says he doesn't have a brother, out of the corner of his eye, he almost thinks Damian looks hurt.
He brushes it off as his imagination.
"Daniel," Bruce Wayne calls him, and he can't fully suppress his reaction. He knows everyone of them must see the clenched jaw, the seat squishing between clenched fingers, and the look of utter hatred and disdain that washes over him for a split second before he can squash it back down.
"Danny," the man corrects, and name doesn't sound like a reprimand, but he hears one anyway. "You may not remember all of the details as you were... young. when you left the League of Assassins. But Damian is your twin brother."
"I recall our biological connection. That does not make him my brother, he is the Heir."
This, at least, he doesn't need to act to say in a dead voice. This is a just quote, beaten into his brain until it echoed around and around at every errant thought of his brother, a constant background static even after all of his time away.
"I am your brother," Damian says, voice firm, "heir or not."
"The Demon's Head has changed his mind on the matter, then?"
The question is absent, Danny doesn't really care about the answer, he just cares about blending in long enough to pull off his plan, except-
"Grandfather is dead."
---
"Grandfather is dead."
Damian watches as his brother's eyes sharpen for perhaps the first time the whole car ride.
"And the Pits didn't work?"
"He was not afforded the use of the pits, given that it was a coup. Grandfather is dead, mother has gone into hiding, and I... have been living with our father for a few years now."
He gestures with his eyes - uncertain how much his brother knows - and watches on as he and Father enter a brief staring competition.
"Hello," Father says, only slightly less stunned silent than he'd been when he had first met Damian.
"Hello," Danny returns, voice hollow rather than the more neutral-lilt it had adopted previously.
"So if the League has been... overtaken... my new assignment-"
"There is no new assignment," Father cuts in, voice gentle but sure.
"What."
"Even if the League weren't disbanded there would be no new assignment, your only duty now is to try and enjoy what childhood you have left. I...was unaware that I had children with Talia until she left Damian with me six years ago. And-"
"And we didn't find out about you until Timmers interrupted one of your reports the other day!" Dick interrupted, ruffling Tim's hair and indirectly throwing Damian under and 18-wheeler in the process.
His brother - his twin - looked at him. His face was once again blank, but Damian could sense the askance all the same.
"I... forgot you."
Damian did not know his brother well - at all, really - but he felt that the lack of change in expression might've been the worst possible outcome.
"Then you are not here to exfiltrate me on behalf of the League."
It wasn't a question, but...
"No."
"And you aren't here to ask my help in finding mother or undoing to coup?"
"No," he answers just in time for the car to pull to a stop at the airport.
"Perhaps we should wait to continue this conversation until we are in the privacy of the jet."
Danny had a plan. And he was going to stick to it. He was going to go with Damian, figure out the lay of the land, and then fake his death. The fact that Damian was taking him to Gotham to live with what was (apparently) his new family instead of the League shifted things slightly, but the plan remained the same.
Danny managed to keep with the plan with minimal mistakes. Sure he was a shit liar, but he was decent at acting blank as long as he didn't need to talk. So he just...didn't talk. As much as possible. The Wayne-family wasn't making it easy though. They kept trying to get him to engage. Asking him what he wanted, setting up 'his room' based off of what they seemed to think he might like (considering they based it somewhat off of him room back home it wasn't completely wrong). But Danny wasn't buying it. This had to be a test of some sort.
Finding the hidden basement under the manor only made things worse. Though not in the way he'd originally thought it would. At first it was just, yay. Another fruitloop billionaire with a secret lab/base under his mansion. But then Danny realized that this was the Bat Cave. As in Bruce Wayne was Batman, and his kids were the various birds (he owned Tucker money now, great). And that. That wasn't good. The Bats and Birds were well known for their deduction skills, so it was just a matter of time before they realized he was faking things. And he'd have to make his death way more convincing. Plus Batman was a well-known meta-disliker. So Danny needed to make sure to keep all of his abilities completely under wraps. Pairing that with the fact that Batman's Justice League had regularly ignored Amity Park's call for help? Well, let's just say Danny was far from impressed. He was sticking to his plan and getting out of this place as soon as he could.
So, of course, nothing went according to plan. Danny had been doing so well too! But then they'd gone and decided to introduce him to the last member of their 'family', Jason. According to the rest of the 'family' Jason had been out of town for the last two weeks he'd been in Gotham, but since Danny had been hearing news about Red hood out and about he was pretty sure that was bullshit (observing the rest in the cave and narrowing things down had led Danny to be pretty sure that Jason was Red Hood. Through the process of elimination). He rather got the impression that they were worried how well him meeting Jason would go so they'd put it off until he'd 'had more time to settle in'.
So they'd finally decided it was time for him to meet Jason, and took the time to warn him that Jason had a temper and came across as abrasive most of the time (but he was a good guy really!) before the day of the meet came around. It was dinner time (because apparently Jason rarely came over outside of joining them for occasional dinners) and they'd all gathered to eat by the time Jason arrived, making his way into the dining room with outward ease even as his eyes scanned over Danny in a way Danny could only categorize as analyzing.
And Danny? Danny froze. Because that? That right there. That man wasn't alive. Not fully at least. Danny could hear his heart beating, but he could also see a core pulsing along with his heartbeat. A very, very unhealthy-looking core.
"Fuck."
---
"Fuck." Damian could only watch in confusion as the cool blankness that Danny tended to radiate disappeared, replaced with boiling frustration. Across the room, Jason froze in his path to approach the table, frowning at Damian's brother, but Damian barely spared him a glance as Danny shot to his feet and threw his hands in the air.
"Fuck this! Fuck all of this! Fucking Vlad and Pariah making this my problem!" Icy blue eyes should not look like flames, but Danny's certainly made a good try at it as he scowled over the family at the table. "And fuck you lot for dragging me into this situation without ever asking if I wanted to be here!" Danny spun away again to glare at the ceiling. "And fuck you too Clockwork! Don't think I don't notice how bloody convenient all this timing is! I know you had a hand in this!"
Damian was stumped. Who was Vlad and Pariah? Or Clockwork for that fact? Well. Vlad could mean Vlad Masters, the mayor of Amity Park, but that still didn't explain what Danny was ranting about here. And....not asking if he wanted to be here? Why would-? What was that supposed to mean?....at least Daniel was showing more personality?
"Danny? If you just calm down for a moment I'm sure we can-" Bruce started, slowly getting up from his chair, but Danny cut him off, spinning to fix him with a glare.
"No. Shut up and sit down. You brought me here. Without so much as a by-your-leave or the smallest question to see if I wanted to leave the home I'd been living in for the last ten years of my life. So now you've made this mess my problem! So you're going to sit there and let me fix this. This is your one-one!-chance to prove to me that you're not like the League. That you haven't been lying out of your ass for the two weeks I've been here. And that you're better than your fucking useless Justice League Batman!"
Damian probably shouldn't be surprised that Danny figured out who Bruce was, he was league-trained after all, but after watching Danny be so complacent and uncaring about snooping for the last two weeks. Well. He was. And, judging by their expressions, the rest of the family was too. But before any of them had time to try and react Danny was storming around the table to march over to a very on-guard Jason.
"You!" Danny jabbed a finger at Jason as he drew closer. "You look like a complete mess! Your core is weak. The only ectoplasm that you have feels like it came out of a sewer-lazarus water is my guess-and it's clear you never got your revenge! How the fuck are you anything close to sane right now?!
Okay time to throw my two cents in for some alternative shenanigans that no one asked for, featuring Gray Ghost, Deaged Dani, trans Danny, the trope that Danny took Dani's core into himself to stablize her which means a doctor can prove that yes this sixteen y/o child gave birth, and the trope that a ghost can't survive long without finding on Ectoplasm, all along with the misunderstanding that Danny's eyes turning green when he's mad is Pit Madness.
Danny was not having a great time. First his twin showed up at his home with the Fentons giving him a heart attack about the thought that he was going to be taken back to the LOA, then finding out his arrival with his family - the Waynes - actually came there on a "rescue mission" to get him out thinking that he was still loyal to the league and the within the first two days of him staying in the Wayne Manor found the Batcave beneath the manor and that his brother's family are the bats. That last discovery hurts him the most, his pride mostly, because it means that he owes both Tucker and Wes oh so much money.
Even after finding out about the real reason for them retrieving him the plan remained the same as it has always been. Soon he would be faking his death and considering that this is Gotham he could easily blame his death on a random rogue attack. Just thinking about rogue attacks makes him worried about what if a ghost attack happened while he was gone. Logically he knew Valerie could easily handle but seeing as that she was taking care of both Ellie and Cujo in his absence, well she was mostly taking care of Cujo since his parents and Valerie's dad would be handling all the childcare stuff so she can focus on her jobs and school. Even knowing that Valerie was fully capable of defending Amity in his absence didn't stop him from worry, the fact that Dora could turn into a dragon didn't stop him from worrying when she disappeared for a few days then later reappeared claiming that her and Killer Croc were courting, especially since Killer Croc turned out to be his dad's, the ghost hunter one, cousin.
Right now Danny stood in front of the full length mirror in the bedroom that the Wanyes had given him upon his arrival. Today was a lot of things it was going to be the day that he finally met the last member of the Wanye family, the last day that he's going to make the Wanyes think they last saw him alive and most importantly bad dysmorpha day too appeartly.
He stood in front of the mirror running a hand down his chest to remind him that it was flat now thanks to the ghost top surgery that Frostbite preformed. But it was not his chest that bothered him the most, it was the long c shaped scar that ran across his abdomen just above his pelvis from when Frostbite had to preform a c section on him to remove Dani's core after he took it into himself to save her from completely destablilizing. Logically he knew in his head that it wasn't actually child birth but by the ancients did it feel like it and if a regular human doctor would check over him they would be able to comfirm that he had been pregnant.
Danny felt like he wanted to crawl out of his own skin with how uncomfortable he felt, as much as he would like to do bottom surgery he was way too afraid of it going wrong to actually do it. The lack of Ectoplasm in his diet recently has also added onto his foil mode. When coming up with Operation Death 2: the electric boogaloo he had realized that like how the living was completely dependent on food and water to survive ghosts were dependent on Ectoplasm to survive as well, thus meaning that he would have to smuggle ectoplasm into the league to be able to make it through however long he was going to be there for because there was no way in the Realms was he going to use the Ectoplasm that made up the Lazarus Pits, but unfortunately for him his dear old twin arrived when it was the one time he didn't have a flask of ectoplasm on his person.
Soon Danny had enough self pity and reached over to grab his shirt. Unfortunately for him before he can put on his shirt his door flung open making him jump. Danny prayed that it wasn't Damien that threw the door open because he would never hear the end of it with how "unbecoming of someone who was raised to be an assassin it was". Danny turned to see who it was to see Steph was the one who threw open his door and she was staring at his bare chest, specifically at his c section scar.
"Why do you have a c section scar too?" asked Steph.
"That's non of you're bus- wait too?" Danny was ready to go on the defense and possibly gaslight her into thinking that she saw wrong but then he realized that she said "too" which left him confused.
Steph looked surprised at what she said. Danny could tell that she didn't mean to say what she had said.
"I wouldn't tell as long as you don't"said Danny.
"The others already know about mine, but I wouldn't tell them unless you want to tell them" replied Steph.
Pure relief washed over him knowing that his secret was safe. Well it was more so an open secret, everyone at Casper High knew that he had disappeared for a few months then mysteriously came back with a newborn baby that looked a little too much like him and that he and Valerie called the baby their daughter, but there were no official records of him giving birth or being pregnant, on official documents Dani was stated as being his younger sister and he was also extra careful online when making posts about his family to say that she was his sister in case the league came across his social media account which was unlikely thanks to Tucker and Technus. He will forever be afraid about the league finding out about his daughter/clone and now with another person knowing has put him on edge even more. After an awkward pause he quickly put on his shirt.
"Why are you here?" Danny asked Steph.
"To tell you that lunch is ready and that Jason would be arriving soon," replied the blond girl.
Danny nodded in response still tense about a whole new person who he doesn't know that much about knowing that he had a child and since this was a family of detectives they would easily put together the dots of his c section scar and Dani's mysterious appearance.
Danny followed Steph out the door and followed her down to the dinning room. Danny didn't think he could relax with her knowing about his scar. When he entered he definitely noticed that Cass immediately noticed how tense he was and how shifty that Steph seemed as well.
The lunch was going fine with barely anyone talk that was until Jason finally arrived. As soon as Danny layed eyes on him he felt his blood pressure rise and the headache forming. Jason's whole ass soul was being held together with the dirty and tainted Lazarus water and his core,,, oh dear ancients his core was barely formed. It reminded him of how Dani's core felt just before he took it into himself. Just feeling the energy of his barely formed ghost half made him want to cry.
"What the fuck," Danny was unable to keep his kneejerk reaction from slipping.
Out of pure want to get this over and done with he grabbed the nearest knife and stood up. Being the crowned prince of the Infinite Realms has it's perks and one of them is the ablitiy to know what a ghost's obsession is and Jason's is the need to be avenged.
"Alright how the fuck are you sane right, with your obsession being neglected that fucking badly and having not taken in any new ectoplasm since your ghost half first formed!" Danny yelled as he pointed the knife at him eyes now glowing Lazarus green of his ghost form.
"Seriously colour me fucking impressed that you haven't kneed over as yet because I have been without ecto for just a week and I feel like I might kill at the next person who looks at him wrong".
Everyone stared at Danny in shock with most not being able to keep their eyes off the sickenly green glow his eyes now gave off. The ones who were staring at his now green eyes the most were his biological father, brother and Jason.
"Ectoplasm? Isn't that what the Drs. Fenton call Lazarus water?" Tim piped up.
Suddenly the Wanyes expressions morphed from confusion and surprise to concern. Dick cleared his throat.
"Danny, do you have an addiction to Lazarus water?" Dick asked hesitately.
No matter how much he wished to panic over Dick’s assumption, Danny ignored him and focused on Jason. He couldn’t afford to lose any more time when it came to this ecto- and obsession neglected halfa who could snap at any moment at even the slightest offense.
Has he hurt anyone yet? Has he killed anyone yet? Worse, has he ended anyone yet?
By the Ancients, it was times like this that made him loathe being the Crown Prince. It was his duty to help and protect all of his citizens, even the ones who didn’t know they were considered his.
Helping Jason was his duty by law. Danny is his Crown Prince. He is to be Jason’s future King for the rest of time. But the cost of Jason’s wellbeing was the price of his own.
He knew that Jason’s improvement was necessary. He knew ignoring this now would only lead to more trouble. He knew what he had to do, truly he did, but how he wished this wasn’t his problem to deal with.
Even after knowing his world (his realm, his friends, his family because they are his entire world) might shatter into a billion tiny pieces never to be whole again, did Danny fulfill his duty.
“I will not ask again. How are you still sane?”
Neither he nor the Waynes miss the way Jason answered immediately as he shuffled back ever so slightly. Not that it mattered to Danny. No, his only current concern was Jason the Neglected. Jason the Hurting Halfa. One of the five in existence.
“I don’t fucking know what you’re talking about!”
Danny stayed silent for a moment contemplating every action he could possible take. There were hundreds upon hundreds of options, but he knew the best option for Jason, was possibly the worst one for himself.
He would introduce Jason to Frostbite and leave his health in the hands of a professional. The consequence would be giving the Bats more information on him and his people than he would like. Jason has every right to know about his… condition, but the rest? That is up to Jason.
With the Anti Ecto Acts still going around, not only would Jason be affected, but letting the Bats know is essentially the same as letting the Justice League know. Given how helpful they’ve been in the past couple years regarding these laws tells Danny exactly where they stand on the matter. If Danny’s lucky, they’ll love Jason enough to switch over to his side.
He could always order Jason to silence regarding his halfa status and everything relating to the Realms, but Danny refuses to take away someone’s possible support system. Let it be known that refusing to be a ruthless dictator is not the same as refusing to make ruthless decisions.
Danny is going to regret not making the ruthless decision, he can feel it.
Well, more like he was mistaken for someone and then dragged off to who the hell knows where because of said mistaken identity.
Where to?
The Wayne Mansion.
Unfortunately for him, they never noticed until said person he was mistaken for just walked into the room, looking like they just got out of bed and was questioning if they should go back or not.
He got to stay, at the very least, introduced to wonderful cooking, and is given a closed-door view of the Wayne family up close.
He has so MUCH to tell Vlad when he gets back, well, he'll have to kick the man in his shins before that since he somehow FORGOT to pick up him.
Either that, or Vlad was running late because it's Gotham and he's rich and got held up by a mugging or something and then he was kidnapped before he got there.
He took out his phone to check the news because he was bored.
Oh. Vlad's been kidnapped and held for ransom.
Well there went his plans of being picked up for the evening.
Demon Twin AU only Damian never had a blood son phase and has “biological siblings” (how absurd):
Damian would like to start by saying he is not at fault for this… miscommunication. Truly, how was he to know sharing the same blood as Jasmine and Danyal would make them “siblings”? Not once has anyone mentioned such absurd claims. He has never and will never treat either of the two the way he would Richard or any of his other siblings, but apparently sharing the same donors when being created automatically makes people siblings.
Worse, father is upset at him and mother for “hiding away” two of his “children” from him. Richard and Thomas will not stop staring at him. Todd, Brown, and Drake will not stop laughing. Cassandra has not stopped looking at his body language since this whole encounter started. Alfred is giving him his patented disappointed face he oh so hates but what is he to do?
Damian was not hiding anything or anyone. Jasmine and Danyal have not nor will they ever be his siblings. They are the children of Jack and Maddie Fenton just as Richard and the rest of them are Bruce’s children. Blood has nothing to do with family. They are at best “god-siblings” or “cousins” if father refuses to believe they are simply childhood companions.
There is barely a hint of emotion as father purses his lips while his siblings continue looking on at him in disbelief. Damian is not understanding why they are having trouble comprehending such simple logic. It is common sense to know that siblings are the children at least one of your parents have raised other than yourself. Parents are the people who raise you. Talia raised him therefore she is his mother. He lives with Bruce who is now raising him and therefore he is his father.
Neither Talia nor Bruce raised Jasmine or Danyal, therefore they are not siblings. It is merely coincidence that he shared blood with both Bruce and Talia. After all, every time he’s visited Amity Park, most children look nothing like their parents. How can it not be coincidence when it is clearly far more normal to raise children who don’t share an ounce of blood with you, than those who do.
How can it not be normal when Jack Fenton took Jasmine in so easily knowing he didn’t share any dna with her? Even more so with Danyal who doesn’t share even a drop of blood with either Jack or Maddie. Look at yourself father. Out of all your children, only one shares your dna. Do not try and pin this on Damian for being the only sensible person in this family. Blood siblings, ha, don’t make him laugh.
