Bruce pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes. Heās usually not one for such an open sign of distress, but he feels in this case it was warranted. And he was having such a peaceful morning, too.
āDid she just write āyeti doctorā?ā
Bruceās head snaps up at Stephās voice, looking once again at the letter on the screen. āDear Mister Wayne,ā it reads, and that is where normalcy ends. āThank you so much for taking in Danny, I was so worried when he had to escape our parents.ā Which is already an extremely worrying sentence. Made even more worrisome with the fact that there is no Danny currently residing in his manor.
His family is in chaos. Tim has three screens in front of him, ranting about living firewalls to Barbara, while Dick leans over his shoulder.
Alfred has lifted a thick three-ring binder out of the care package that this Jasmine Nightingale has sent them, and is flipping through it. Apparently this binder contains all of the medical, psychological, and cultural information needed to make sure that Dannyās species can thrive. Because the missing teen that should be in his manor is not human, but some sort of human/ghost hybrid.
āFather, I think this warrants an emergency meeting with the Justice League.ā His youngest says. āThere is currently a government agency hunting Cujo and Daniel, citing laws that directly counter the Meta Human Protection Acts. This cannot stand.ā Cujo, the green glowing, 10 foot ghostdog that delivered the package and letter this morning by density shifting into the dining room during breakfast. Damian was of course attached.
āUh, Alfred?ā Duke starts form where he and Jason have been emptying the care package, āthereās a huge first aid kit here, but most of it is glowing.ā Jason, of course, is turning the high tech laser pistols over in his hands, getting a feel for the handling and grip.
Bruce letās his eyes skim over the letter again, his eyes catching on words like āGhost Kingā, āInfinite Realmsā, and āvivisectionā. āI know it takes Danny a while to open up,ā the letter reads, āso Iām beyond grateful that he feels safe enough with you.ā Except he doesnāt, because Danny is not here. Somewhere out on the streets of Gotham is a half dead teenager, hurt and alone. And Bruce didnāt know. Didnāt know any of it until his sister sent him a care package, because apparently this kid has lied to his sister that heās safe, that he found somewhere to stay.
He doesnāt notice the sudden hush behind him until Jason breaks it. āIs that fucking Lazarus Water?!ā Bruce lowers his head back into his hands.
āI will prepare a room for the young master.ā Alfred sniffs as his footsteps go towards the elevator. āIām finding this kid.ā Jason answers, leaving towards the lockers
āWait, Little Wing! Iām coming with!ā Well, at least Dick can hopefully keep Jason in line. He prays to Rao this doesnāt mean he has to deal with a half-ghost, immensely powerful teen that struggles with Pit Rage.
A small hand lands on Bruceās shoulder. He looks up into the sparkling eyes of his daughter. āNew brotherā, she grins.
From @augundy's tags: #this is very himbo of danny#I approve#though I feel like he probably made up this lie on the spot while on the phone with Jazz and feeling incredibly stressed out and/or in pain#and/or extremely tired#and then he might've forgot about it after
From @geekyrie in the notes: "Bruce's first order of business is finding the teen he's supposed to take care of. The second order of business is most likely to ground him for giving him a heart attack, probably."
---
All in all, Dannyās life is going pretty well. Sure, heās homeless on the streets of Gotham, but he hasnāt seen a white van in a few weeks, he can phase into gyms to use the showers, and he just found a coupon for a free fro-yo! So, yeah, life is great!
Which is of course when weird things start happening to him. He should have known it wouldnāt last. Heās just enjoying his fro-yo ā blueberry, hell yeah ā when a car passes him, breaks with tires squealing, and drives onto the sidewalk, coming to a stop uncomfortably close. Itās a nice car though, very sleek. Danny wonders what kind of engine it has, and if someone would notice if he took a look under the hood.
He never gets that chance. Instead a tall man with broad shoulders steps out of the car. He looks mad, and he looks specifically at Danny. Whelp, better keep moving then! Danny focuses hard on the next bite, looking down, and starts power-walking out of there.
āDaniel Thomas Nightingale-Wayne!ā
Wait, what? He looks back to the tall man in the suit, and yeah, heās still looking at Danny. More people stopped at the commotion, aaaaaaand great, here come the phone cameras. Tall man is walking towards him and Danny really doesnāt want to cause a scene, right now. Also the man is familiar. Somewhere.
āWhere have you been?ā oh, the man is still talking to him, āWeāve been looking all over for you. You canāt just disappear for six days.ā
Again, what? āIām sorry?ā He tries, āalso, I think you ha-ā
āI appreciate the apology, chum, but youāre still grounded.ā
āWha- Grounded?!ā
The man, wait ā Wayne? Bruce Wayne?! Why would billionaire and himbo Brucie Wayne think heās one of his kids? Mister Wayne crouches down, not caring about the dirty sidewalk and places his hands on Dannyās shoulders. āSweetheart,ā he starts and Danny absolutely does not melt, nope, āyour sisters have been worried sick. Jason is stress-baking, Tim hasnāt slept in three days, and Damian has been ā well you know Damian doesnāt show it, but I know heās been worried.ā
Danny is so confused. And now confused and slightly guilty. He doesnāt even know these people! Does he?
āNow come on, get in the car. I think Alfred was making one of your favorites for dinner tonight, and you can call your sister when we get to the manor.ā Wayneās hand on his shoulder is gentle and warm as he guides him, nothing like Vladās bruising grip.
āYou talked to Jazz?ā He asks as heās deposited into the passengerās side.
āOh yes,ā Wayne says, with a weird twinkle in his eye, āsheās been waiting to talk to you.ā
And oh, oh no, that does not sound good at all.
---
Meanwhile the Gothamites are having a blast. Brucie Wayne full-naming someone only happens when his kids really messed up. Like, Richard swinging from the not-enforced chandelier in Mrs. Plotnikās mega yacht messed up. Also this kid is obviously homeless. Does Bruce really get empty nest syndrome so bad that heās now picking up random kids off the streets? The Waynes are so weird.
Not to undermine the drama of the moment but Knives continually brining up Vash shooting him is honestly PEAK sibling energy. Like yeah if my sister shot me and then ditched I too would never let her live that down
Danny's found a way to dodge GIW trackers, as well as his parents.
Their equipment hunts ghosts, ghosts run on emotion; so as long as he keeps his under a tight lid and doesn't feel anything ever, they won't be able to track him.
It works!
He's able to run from them, and goes as far as New Jersey. The plan was to stow away on a ship, and go to literally any country that wasn't America. He goes to Gotham, which hosts the one harbor he knows where no one will ask any questions.
But because of how weird he acted (completely emotionless during a Joker attack), he was fingered by police immediately.
He's handed over to CPP. CPP doesn't know what to do with a teen literally so traumatized that they don't show any emotion at all, ever. He keeps just...walking out of his placements. Just leaves without a sound.
Luckily, he's always caught, due to those placement houses having quiet alarms and him refusing to run.
They call the one foster parent they know who does.
Bruce Wayne takes in the strange, nameless kid who refuses to talk.
On paper, they gave him the filler name of 'John Doe', for lack of anything better to do.
Bruce does everything he can to make the newest arrival feel at home. Damian, for as territorial as he is, actually breaks out of his shell sooner than expected just to try to get the new kid to speak. To emote. To do something. Duke tries the open approach, then tries the 'no one will ever know, everyone thinks I'm an innocent goody-two-shoes' approach. Nada.
Tim even tries to trick him into talking, but nothing works.
Enter Dick; Dick heard about Bruce's new ward, about the situation, and decided to see if he could get the kid to open up.
Danny though. Danny's in trouble.
The Wayne Manor is weirdly secure, and he can't just walk away like he did his other placements. He can't use ghost powers or the GIW and his parents will immediately know where he is.
He really, really wants to take Bruce up on his offer and just spend the day relaxing. Respond to Damian's attempts to provoke him. Overshare about space facts with Tim.
But most of all, he really, desperately wants to get in a Pun Competition with Dick. He wants to laugh at Dick's jokes, and learn coolass gymnastic tricks!
But he can't!
If he relaxes with Bruce, he'll be content, which is an emotion. If he argues with Damian, he'll get annoyed, which is an emotion. If he sneaks out with Duke and breaks the rules, he'll get happy, which, again, emotion. If he overshares with Tim, he'll get excited, which is, yet again, an emotion!
The worst sin of all, he can't even show proper appreciation of the food the Butler keeps making him!
And now there's even more people coming over!
There's a quiet girl who keeps reading his body language and trying to get him to dance ballet, a blonde girl who keeps trying to kidnap him to take him to BatBurger, a guy with a stripe of white who wants to take him to a shooting range, and it just...he really, really wants to!
The Waynes are a multi-millionaire family who own an international companyā¦.
Now imagine that for some reason a member of the family has a mandatory trip abroad (check some offices, go to a gala, investigate something like civilians, etc.) and you decide that perhaps a tourist trip with new experiences can help your family. new brother, so they take himā¦
Danny doesn't know where they are going, only that they leave on a private jetā¦.
Now imagine the bats that accompany him seeing how an emotional switch turns on in his little brother the moment he knows they are in another countryā¦
They test this theory out a few times. Like any respectable bat, they can't go off the statistics of just a one time thing.
...
Tim has the brilliant idea of pushing and pulling Danny in and out of the American border. Danny's emotions turn on and off like a fucking light switch and Tim feels vindicated. He TOLD the others it would work.
-
Alternatively, meta collars block the ghost signals. Doesn't affect danny negatively but like maybe limits his powers a bit. The Wayne's figure this out. Somehow.
One of the bats had the theory that the lack of emotion came from a meta-gene activating during the Joker attack and decided to try the meta collars (All the lab results were inconclusive so who's to say that isn't a probability?), just in case, they needed to try everything.
Danny feels like he's ecto-signal is being blocked by the meta collar and risks letting go of his emotions, just a bit, to test it's limits, but the collar doesn't block much, and is easier to just don't feel at all than trying to control how much he feels. So the bats get to see Danny's face gain some emotion (nervousness? Anxiety? Hope? Fear?) for a fraction of a second before he goes completely emotionless once more.
- Theory one: The meta-collar isn't strong enough somehow, let's try with one more powerful. -> Danny doesn't want to risk it again, so he stays emotionless.
- Theory two: Since Danny doesn't react with stronger meta-blockers, then something about the meta-collar gave Danny an emotion strong enough to come through for a second. Maybe it brought memories of something... something before the Joker attack? Was... Was Danny a victim of meta trafficking? Did they just re-traumatize their new little brother multiple times?
Duke feels especially guilty about this because as a meta, "he should have known better". The bats are not as eager to keep experimenting after that, but Danny continues to be emotionless, so eventually they have to try something else, right?
Thereās a plate in front of him that he didnāt put there. Itās good foodāeggs and pre-cut slices of ham and, ugh, toastā
Danny clamps down on his automatic reaction. Nope. Suppress it. Toast isāfine. He canāt afford to hate it right now. It's fine. He'll choke it down.
He canāt afford to feel anythingā Not anymore.
The chair across from him scrapes against the hardwood floor. Someoneās joined him at the table for early breakfast. āMorning, John!ā they greets him cheerily. Danny refuses to look up.
ā¦He think the voice is probably Dukeās. Dannyās been trying to resist the urge to get to know anyone, but, wellā¦familiarity with the foster family comes whether he wants it to or not.
Itās whatever. It is what it is.
Duke makes one-sided conversation about his plans at school and his friend group heās headed out with later. Danny refuses to listen. If he listens, heāll miss doing the same with his own friends. If he listens, heāll want to ask if he can come too, just to break the monotony inside his head.
And he canāt.
So he just. Pushes food around with the silverware. Occasionally takes a bite.
Chews.
Swallows.
The next person to break through Dannyās carefully cultivated lack of awareness is the smallest foster sibling. Damian. He walks through every interaction as if heās the Gotham Royal his father pretends to be, and always ends up reclining at the table with a cloth napkin in his lap and impeccable posture. Meanwhile, Dannyās seen his foster father pick chips off his shirt and eat them during required movie nights.
āDoe,ā Damian greets Danny. Danny doesnāt respond. āThomas, has Doe eaten an appropriate portion of breakfast yet?ā
āAsk him, man,ā Duke lobs back lazily. Damian glares. āSay, John, have you tried the pool yet? Itās going to be summer soon; itāll be something to do that wonāt have you fried up like an apple fritter.ā
āWe will not be joining you at the pool, Thomas. I have enlisted Doe in the morning feeding routine for the barnās occupants. We are otherwise engaged for the morning.ā
āOh, those were your plans? Glad to know your afternoonās free, then. Iāll tell Alfred to have your bathing suits ready at two.ā
The kidās glare is potent enough that if he was a ghost, Danny is certain he would have already fried off most of Dukeās hair with his eye lasers.
They argue (or, well, Damian argues) about what Danny is meant to do today, but Danny has no intention of providing input. Bruce told Damian that animal therapy might be beneficial for his deeply traumatized foster sibling, and, wellā¦who is Danny to say otherwise?
ā¦Not that Danny is traumatized. This is on purpose, so itās not trauma. Itās just. What it is.
His fingers twitch. Danny specifically does not see when both of the other table occupants move their focus entirely to him in the hopes that Danny might have another reaction.
He doesnāt. He stops eating.
Someone comes up against his side. āA jacket, Master John? The report indicted that the weather is still rather chilly this morning.ā
His arm is half-slid into a sleeve. Oh. Right. Danny shrugs the rest of the jacket onāand then has to suppress the urge to be grateful that everyone is doing their best to take good care of him.
He goes limp.
Alfred is too familiar with Dannyās tendencies to make a fuss. Damian takes Dannyās limp hand, orders Alfred to prepare lunch for their return, and trots them both out of the house towards the barn.
Danny lets himself pet the animals for exactly how long it takes to threaten to improve his mood.
He gives up on the activity right on the cusp of something that should have been contentment.
*
āIs it safe to take John out of the country?ā Dick asks, perplexed. āBarring the fact that heās still a foster, and Iām pretty sure that itās illegal to cross the borders with himā¦ā
Bruce sighs, and crosses his legs underneath his desk. āThereās nothing for it. Thereās been a direct, public threat against the manor, and everyoneās safety is at riskāespecially Johnās, considering that heās unable to defend himself. The best solution is to take the jet, publicly and visibly visit a nice resort overseas, and wait for the whole affair to blow over.ā
ā¦Dick chews on his lip. He fights the urge to pace; half the items in the office are antiques, and if he gets too heated in the momentā¦wellā¦heād been at risk for knocking items off of cluttered shelves before. āAlfred will be stuck here, though. Wonāt that destabilize Johnās routine? Thereāll be a lot of novel stimulus, and we donāt want him to shut down the way heā¦ā
The way he had been when John had arrived, Dick is careful not to say. The micro-expressions and placidity John displays now are leagues ahead of the unsettling blankness, lack of engagement, and constant attempts at elopement. The only conclusion that they can draw is that John is, if not happy and content, comfortable in the here and now.
Which means that disrupting that here and now might have long-term detriments for their teenage foster.
āNo choice,ā Bruce decides, which. Dick doesnāt know what heād expected. Batman would never pick someoneās mental health over his expectation of their operative safety. āItāll be your vacation, plus whoever you think will be available to be taken out of the public eye. Tim will be sheltering with me to maintain his work schedule, and Cass has already elected to visit Hong Kong for the remainder of the year. Pick a resort and get back to me. You leave tomorrow night.ā
Dickās salute is as sarcastic as he is bitter.
So. He packs for his upcomingā¦vacation. And he asks Alfred to pack a bag for John for a week.
And he hopes this wonāt be yet another setback for John Doe, who didnāt deserve being subjected to Batmanās whims any more than any of Bruceās other children.
But he sighs. And Dick packs.
*
Dannyās on a plane and he doesnāt know why.
Damian and Duke and Stephanie are all here, but not Tim, and not Cass? And not Jay? And Dick isā¦somewhere here? He thinks?
Thereās cards. There are even cards in a little pile for Danny, even though he isnāt super sure what theyāre playing. He points at one when prompted and tries to zone out for the rest of it.
The urge to have play along and fun is so strong. The world is surging in motion outside of their plane, and theyāre cozy inside, with soda cans and cards and chatter and laughter, andā¦
Danny goes to sit at the back of the plane. Thereās nowhere to hide from his longing. Thereās nowhere to hide from his misery.
So he just. Hides.
He curls up his legs, puts his head in his knees, and waits for the ride to be over
ā¦Thatās enough.
*
Dick gets off the plane first, and helps everyone else get down. Dannyās not really afraid of either heights nor falling, so he doesnāt let Dick touch his arm the way he touches everyone elseās.
Dickās nice, and that's the entire problem at hand.
Still, the man lets him goāand smiles, and gestures out with a hand. āAlright, everyone; this is nicest spot in the Caribbean, apparently. Welcome to Necker island!ā
Damian grumbles, as heās wont to, although Duke and Steph look suitably impressed by the greenery, andā¦
ā¦Something in Danny unfolds. Wait. Are theyā¦outside the US?
For one, Dannyās pretty sure thatās illegal. Isn't he a foster?? Holy shit.
On the other handā¦ Danny takes in more of the scenery, glancing around at lush green foliage and blue waters. Heāsā¦theyāve got their own government, right? They probably wouldnāt have any ties to the Guys in White.
So. So maybe. Maybe Dannyāsā¦safe, here.
(Heās almost too afraid to believe it.)
(Or. Maybe he is too afraid to believe it.)
They meander down the tarmac until they make it to a golf cart; Dick loads up their suitcases and makes chatty conversation with the driver as Duke and Stephanie haul themselves on board.
Damian does his level best to drag a stunned Danny up into the cart and onto a seat. Still. Dannyās a bit too perplexed. Is he safe? Is the Caribbean far enough away from the people hunting him down?
Something gets shoved into his hand. Danny looks down.
ā¦Is that a pineapple?
Anyway. Rich people are whack. Vlad might have Fuck You money, but the Waynes have Fuck You and Your Whole Neighborhood money, since it can apparently let them buy out the whole island and their staff and meals and the beach and everything else for two straight weeks.
Two straight weeks.
And. Somehow. Danny hasā¦a bathing suitā¦?
He definitely spends like twenty minutes staring at it. Itās no one elseāsāno one else wears a Menās Small, as far as he can tell. Not even Damian. Itās in white and red, like his favorite NASA tee. Just. Who bought this for him? Who knows what size he is??
āNeed any help changing?ā Duke finally asks, baffled by Dannyās bafflement, and Danny is startled all over again by the pure concept of feeling bafflement.
What a headrush. Fuck; acclimating back to the states is going to be horrible, he can already tell.
So Danny just. Goes into the bathroom. Puts on the bathing shorts.
Stares at himself in the mirror.
ā¦Puts his NASA shirt back on, because looking at the Lichtenburg lines trailing across his chest makes him nauseous.
Danny takes a deep breath in. A deep breath out.
He feelsā¦nervous. Scared. Happy. Excited for vacation. He hasnāt been excited for vacation since he was seven, he thinks. Where had they gone? Chicago? A conference?
Danny pushes himself out the bathroom. Heās scared out of his wits. Heās tired from the flight. Heās nervous to interact with people without his self-imposed emotional barrier.
And heās so, so relieved, that he doesnāt have to shove it down before he feels it.
Duke and Stephanie are already in their swimsuits at the door, teasing Damian for his full-body suit and swim shoes combo that he insists is ātactically soundā.
Dick taps Dannyās arm. āAre you ready to go?ā he asks, cheery as ever.
Danny, carefully, nods. Itās the first intentional gesture heās done for anything non-vital.
Dick beams.Ā
The giant luxury house locks behind them. Steph hauls the towels, Dick hauls a picnic basket, and Damian insists on both the umbrella and Dannyās hand.
They go down to the beach. It is a brilliant, blue afternoon.
*
Duke collapses on the towel next to Dick, which is. Fair.
āThose two give you the runaround, huh?ā Dick asks knowingly. He'd watched Marco Polo slowly turn into a death match just off the island shoreline. The exhaustion is warranted. Damian, who had insisted on the wet uniform heād worn in the League, and Steph, who would only let a twelve-year-old defeat her if she was dead, make, uhā¦formidable opponents.
Duke groans into the towel. Fair. More than fair.
Dick lets the air cool him off, perfectly happy in his place under the dying light of the beach sunset, the virgin piƱa heād ordered, and some sappy beach romance heād found on Bruceās Kindle account. Itās been pretty interesting so far, which means that it was probably one of Selinaās purchases back when they were dating.
Well. Not the first time they were dating. Maybe the. Third? Wait, which time had she moved in again??
āDick.ā Duke mumbles into the towel. āDick. What the hell. Why am I exhausted.ā
āLow stamina,ā Dick identifies correctly. He takes another sip of his smoothie, and watches Steph bodily grab Damian in the hopes of chucking him further into the sea. āGet in more cave laps and practice your endurance when we get back."
Duke grooooans, which is the luxury of being young. When you start hitting your thirties, everyone acts like a complaint about your bad shoulder is a sign you ought to think about retiring your uniform.
Dick sits, and listens to the dulcet tones of children fighting and the roar of the ocean. Still, someone has to keep an eye on John, so he resists the urge to take a nap.
John, waist deep in the water, watches the sun slowly hit the horizon.
ā¦It is a peaceful sight, if a kind of unusual way for the kid to behave. The ocean doesnāt allow for a lot of options for elopement, though, so maybe the behavior is an adaptation to his current environment.
āJohn made an expression in the house before.ā Dukeās statement comes apropos of seemingly nothing. Dick looks down from his chair to see Duke watching him watch his foster brother. āHe didnāt seem to understand why he had a bathing suit. So. You know. Stuff is firing on at least some cylinders.ā
ā¦Huh. Dick sips more overpriced smoothie. It may be the best thing heās ever tasted. There have been other micro-expressions before from their enigmatic John Doeābrief moments of lucidity in the occasional odd momentābut full on confusion? Really?
āWe should break him out of his routine more often, then,ā Dick admits. Fine. This time Bruce got lucky, and no one died or wanted to kill each other, and John didnāt immediately shut down upon yet another change in scenery. This is a success. Maybe, next time, he can get Tim and Jason to ditch work and join in.
Heās sure that forcibly dragging Cass to an island for family vacation wouldnāt work per se, but maybe, if Dick gets Tim to bring in Lady Shiva in town for another brief tĆŖte-Ć -tĆŖteā¦
ā¦Man, Dickās really desperate for family time if heās thinking about bringing in Lady Shiva into his plans. The second piƱa he orders should probably have rum in it.
So Dick watches Steph and Damian practice breath-holding exercises (carefully not retraumatizing each other by pinning the other down underwater), content with the new chill in the breeze and the spotty pinks making their debut on the horizon. Theyāll have maybe another hour outside before needing to towel off and find an outdoor shower.
Duke rolls over, taking in the last of the sunlight.
āAnd then the kid bolts upright. āDick!ā Duke hisses, eyes on the shore in front of them. Dick snaps to attention. āHoly shitālook at him!ā
Dick quickly scans the scene. Nothing wrong with Steph. Nothing wrong with Damian. Johnā
āJohn looks like some marine thing risen above pink-tinged waves, copper-green fire freckles glowing across his cheeks and exposed arms like drops of liquid flames. Thereās something in the hot vestiges of sunset that makes his hair look white where the light hits it, and John looks brightātoo bright, as if thereās no shadow being cast beside him.
He looks see-through. He looks like frosted sea glass against the surf.
But John looksā¦happy. Justā¦happy to see the sunset. Happy to listen to the sea-birds and Steph and Damianās squabbling and to run his fingers through the waist-high waves, barely buffeted even when the waves break against his chest or pull the water back down to his hips.
āHoly shit,ā Duke admires.
Dick can barely breathe. āHoly shit is right.ā
āā¦So now we get to ask why heās so comfortable here, as opposed to the manor,ā Duke rationalizes, and, augh, heās right. Dickās not looking forward to that. Still, they have two weeks to try and untangle the knot of mysteries around their John Doe, and more than enough resources to do it with.
Dick slurps the last of his smoothie down and sets it aside. āText the staff line and tell them that weāre upgrading to a completely hands-off experience, please. No staff are to be around except for scheduled cleanings and laundry service, and the occasional meal and restaurant visit.ā
Duke holds his hand out for Dickās phone, which, fair. Dick supervises the text, and his foster brother shoots it off into the atmosphere when prompted. And Duke gets up, brushes the sand off his shorts, and darts back off to the shorelineāalready glowing faintly in the fading light.
Dick snorts with a smile.
John, at least, takes to Dukeās suddenly-brightly-lit appearance with little more than clear surprise. Duke hops under the water, his light giving away a clear locationāand swims around John once or twice before John carefully lowers himself in after him.
There is, thankfully, no need to play lifeguard for his siblings. Dick watches them anyway. John takes to the water with a sort of placid playfulness, and Duke follows his lead; as soon as Damian notices that John is actually paying Duke real attention, swimming becomes a real free-for-all.
The sun tucks itself away until the sky is red and weeping. Dick will call them all into dinner for a minute. For now, though, he watches his sibling get along, and he wishes it could be this easy for them forever.
It won't be. But for now, Dick can appreciate his vacation.
Why the hell would Danny allow them to take him back to the US? If he actually is safe when heās out and away, heād be literally fighting for his life to stay
And all heād have to do is tell them the States are dangerous for him
So clearly itās angst time š
**
Danny felt the pit falling out of his stomach, a dread he still habitually almost squashed. Maybe he should squash this one.
Two weeks hadnāt been enough to fully break through the walls heād built up, to get him used to feeling anything at all again, but heād almost been feeling human. Almost been feeling like a person.
And then, just to be sure (because obviously he was working up to how to explain to his new foster āfamilyā that he just. Couldnāt go back to America with them. Heād even dared hope that since they cared so muchā¦ theyād let him without question)ā¦ heād looked up extradition treaties.
Of course the US had an extradition treaty with Bermuda, Antigua, every bloody island government he could have been hiding out with. Of course the GIW could still get him.
All he could do was hope that the sheer distance, the unlikeliness of them having global scans out just for him rather than focusing on the States, had meant they hadnāt triangulated him yet. That he hadnāt accidentally outed himself by just daring to feel, for once.
The disappointment on his siblingsā faces when he came down for dinner his blank and emotionless self would have hurt, if he let himself feel anything.
Heād dared to smile at them these last few days, dared to offer more than just a few words to conversation. Dared to greet them with a nod or a wave.
No more of that now.
Althoughā¦ it was the Waynes. There was, just maybe, the smallest possible chance that theyād let him choose the next vacation. And they were still far enough from the mainland US.
Dick could be, well, a dick when he wanted to, but he was the oldest. Indisputably in charge of this excursion and the responsible one even if it was largely against his will.
So once the concerned flapping and attempts to coax him to do more than blink had finally subsided in the rush to pack the car, Danny stole off to one side and took Dick with him, by dint of a simple brush on the back of his wrist.
(Ancients, they were so kind. So considerate, so caringā¦ why did he only have this when he couldnāt let any of it matter?)
He didnāt even want to risk the words, to risk how his voice would break and heart would ache to speak it. So he typed out the words, turned them towards Dick, watched his eyes widen and hope relight his face as he read.
āCan I pick the next vacation spotā
Of course, Dick immediately began assuring Danny a hundred ways that they could totally stay on the island longer, theyād buy it out for the rest of the month, the year if he didnāt want to return to Gotham that badly, but that wouldnāt work.
Danny knew about the extradition treaty now. The island, which had seemed like a paradiseā¦ wasnāt.
But Dick had already been so enthusiastic.
So he chanced a shake of his head, raised the phone again, even pointed to ānextā. And Dick fell over himself promising to take Danny wherever the hell he wanted to, on Earth or off it.
(and. That. That nearly broke him. He knew the Waynes were richer than any six gods you cared to name, but Dick offering to fly him to space? How could that be a real offer?
But Dick looked so completely certain. So sincere.)
Clamping down firmly on the nugget of hope, Danny left as quickly as possible so Dick couldnāt wear him down. The guy had already begun to suspect Danny actually did like his puns, and since the very first time heād let his lips twitch in a smileā¦
He thought Dick made a lot of puns before, but if Damian was to be believed thereād been a defined exponential growth in the number heād been making every day since.
Danny couldnāt risk enjoying himself. He had a lot of research to do on extradition treaties with the US.
I would like to point out, there's no way the Bats aren't hyper-vigilantly monitoring Danny. For even the tiniest clues of what he might want or need or like. So there's no way they don't notice the research Danny is suddenly doing. And it's probably not enough to actually answer even one of their questions about John Doe. But it's a lead. Their first genuine lead.
Of course, now they have to wonder; what did John do (or think he did) that he needs (or think he needs) to flee the States?
Dick, Duke, Damian, and Stephanie are going to debrief everyone on what happened on the island.
But, before that, everyone who wasn't on the island is going to panic, when they come back and it seems Danny regressed. Especially Bruce. He's kicking himself that his new kid, 'John', is no longer even doing micro expressions!
When they do do the debrief, they get questioned why they didn't just text anyone and stay longer? The four deadpan at the others, then say it's because they knew the others would come to the island and overwhelm the boy when he was just getting out of his shell.
Duke brings up that when John showed emotions his powers reacted. John wasn't afraid of his own powers, nor was he afraid to use them around the Wayne's. But he was afraid to use them in Gotham.
Dick brings up Danny's research of the US territories. When he found out the island was a territory, he stopped showing as much emotion. So maybe he's afraid to use his powers in the US in general?
Tim blurts out that maybe John's powers are traceable and that's why he hides his emotions. If he is a trafficking victim, knows that he's still being hunted after escaping, then maybe John is more afraid of these traffickers than he feels safe in the Manor? He doesn't trust that the Wayne's are able to protect him.
Damian brings up that John's powers being activated felt like the Lazarus Pits. Everyone goes stock still.
Duke brings up that John's eyes has glowed green when he was showing emotions. So Damian continues on that line of thinking. John has scars all over his torso that looks like Lichtenburg scars. Which wouldn't make sense cause those are supposed to fade away after a while.
If you survive.
Which brings up that he must have been thrown into a Pit or was given the water. Ra's wouldn't have done this, unless John had been an amazing assassin or something. So, they either have an enemy in their home, or someone else found a Pit and used John as an experiment. š§Ŗ
I did, like, five minutes of research into this, but lets GO!
---
Danny was on a plane. Another plane. This time to a country he got to pick.
Kind of.
Most of the countries with non-extradition treaties to the US had their own issues. Countries like North Korea were an absolute no. Jason had looked horrified at the mention of Ethiopia, so Danny tossed out most of Africa just to be safe. The Middle East also seemed to have everyone worried, even as Damian was from there?
If Danny could emote, he'd have sighed in relief when Cass had mentioned Hong Kong. The family had a rather large penthouse there, as it was one of the major hubs for the various Wayne Enterprise and subsidiaries. Tim and Bruce agreed that an in-person walkthrough would probably be well overdo.
There was then some sort of side organization going on as the rest of the extended family seemed to decide who was going, though Danny hadn't even had to ask. Alfred was already helping prepare Danny's suitcase.
Danny also asked about his passport. He somehow had one with the John Doe name, which, huh. The Waynes must have pulled some strings being Richer than Six Gods.
Anyway, Danny was in the air on the Wayne Enterprise jet towards the back once more. The ride was long - nearly sixteen hours in the air, direct - so everyone was in various states of activity as they reached the mid-way point.
Cass, obviously, with the most knowledge of Hong Kong was along for the ride. She was in the front of the craft with Jason and Dick, who were all huddled around a table - because this jet was so big and spacious that it had tables, benches, and full lay down beds for the occupants - and were seemingly playing Poker.
Tim was a little farther back and in his own table section, typing away at his computer like a mad man. He'd seemingly clonked out for all of twenty minutes about an hour prior before shooting up, looking like he'd suddenly cracked a major code, and now was on his computer chatting with Barbara over something Danny couldn't quite make out unless he wanted to use some of his ghost powers or move closer, neither which felt right.
Damian and Duke had claimed two of the laydown chairs after playing some racing game on Duke's Switch, and both seemed to be passed out. Bruce was the closest to Danny in one of the more normal seats that could be converted to a bed across the aisle from the teen, the reading light above him on as he wore a pair of spectacles, seemingly perusing something on the tablet he held.
Danny had been mostly staring out the window the whole flight, bouncing back and forth between observation, listening to whoever tried to engage him (he'd been pulled up to the table to eat and play Uno at some point, though he'd only eaten the food and watched, and Duke had sat next to him for a good portion of the early flight so they would watch a movie - the movie was atrocious in that way a bad movie could swing around to being hilarious, but Danny had held in his laughter even as Duke was snorting and pointing out all the plot holes), or looking down at the tablet he'd brought with him.
He'd been looking again and again at the US extradition laws and Hong Kong's stance on various entities.
China wasn't the paragon of human rights, but, after a debacle between the Chinese Ministry of Self-Reliance trying to form a "Justice League of China," that League clashing with the actual Justice League, and the eventual absorption of some of the members into the League, China had been forced to adopt some of the League Doctrine in relation to metahuman and non-human beings.
And, for some reason, they had specified in their examples of acceptable entities including ghosts, amongst other beings like demonic and deity, as those that fell under the acts.
In accordance with Chinese Law, a ghost on their soil, so long as it abided by the other laws placed by the government, would be treated like any other human under the same circumstance.
Granted, there was still some hinky stuff kept under wraps, with the media control and how some speculated that the Ministry of Self-Reliance had just gone underground, but, well, that was a different story. Hong Kong, while part of China, was also constantly fighting with its oversight, seeking more freedom and, in fact, had further local rulings that would protect those seeking asylum.
The GIW, his parents, the US government... none of them could touch him there.
Danny realized that someone was approaching him. He flicked his tablet to the home screen as Bruce approached, having gotten out of his seat to go talk to the elder Wayne Children at the front. He had a blanket and pillows in hand.
"You should probably get some sleep, too, before we land." He pointed out. Danny glanced forward, seeing Dick having disappeared into the bathroom while Cass was having what looked like a staring contest with Tim. Jason simply flopped down on one of the sofas while kicking off his boots, getting comfortable for some sleep. "Do you need help with the chair? They're a bit older style, so some of the controls can be a mess." Bruce expressed sincerely, his voice soft.
Danny shrugged and stood, opening his arms to accept the items Bruce had brought over. Bruce smiled as Danny held his own things - Danny may not know how these stupid chairs worked, but he wasn't going to not help - as Bruce got the chair to lie flat. Danny was able to take the rest from there, shaking his head when Bruce offered further.
Danny huddled himself into the corner of the chair, back to the window so that he could keep eyes on the other occupants. He checked his tablet's app that kept track of their flight.
Estimated time of arrival: 7 hours and 23 minutes.
Danny felt his emotions simmer under the icy glass walls he'd placed around his heart, his mind, his core.
He dozed off, praying that the Fenton Luck wouldn't rear its ugly head.
---
It wasn't all fun and games as the Wayne Family packed up for Hong Kong. Tim and Bruce did have to actually attend to Wayne Enterprise while there, and Cass was enlisting Damian to help with a smuggling operation - it would be impossible to take them down and out in the Chinese ports, but the two were planning on doing a lot of intel, planting trackers, and freeing any endangered species should need call.
Jason had largely come with as he'd missed out on John's opening up on the last trip, and, well, once he'd pointed out how John might have had his own dip into a Lazarus Pit, he'd been insistent on coming, claiming something along the lines of "us undead guys gotta stick together."
Dick, having been the one to organize this, had also been a no-brainer.
And Duke? Well, Duke had pointed out that, as the only (known) meta in the family, he also had some unique insight into what that meant and how that could weigh on a person.
Steph had complained about not coming, but she was also swamped in cases. Barbara was had been offered an invite, but she, too, had too much on her plate to come along.
Bruce had been hesitant to leave Gotham, as he always was, but, really, if he needed to be back, the Zeta in Hong Kong could have them back across the world in minutes, not the hours it took for them to fly traditionally.
The plane had a variety of sitting areas, some with tables or chairs facing one another, two sections with couches, and a set of seats near the rear that wouldn't be uncommon on a first-class commercial flight, with one large seat to one side of the row and two on the other. There were nine chairs in this back section with plenty of walking space so that, even if all beds were laid flat, no one would be walking over another.
John had claimed the single in the furthest back row, so Bruce had settled in opposite, hoping to keep an eye on the whole lot from there while also not intruding on the foster's space.
Bruce had made sure to sleep some at the beginning of the flight, not wanting all of them to be out at the same time. While he had staff onboard and trusted his pilots, it was always good to have Bat eyes and ears in case of emergency. With everyone settling down for the last part of the flight to alleviate jet lag, he made sure to stay sentinel.
A body dropped into the seat next to him. Bruce, ever aware, was glancing over as Dick popped his head onto Bruce's shoulder. Bruce had once been a person who had shied away from touch when given the choice, having few who he felt comfortable having in his personal space bubble (though he faked otherwise well), but, well, Dick had always shown a lot of love through physical affection. The young man whom had swung from his antique chandeliers (and still, sometimes, to this day - there was a reason he'd either replaced or reinforced them all to hold human weight) and tried to run around Gotham in a aerialist's unitard (Bruce thanked whoever blessed him with Alfred, because Bruce certainly had trouble convincing his young ward that pants with Kevlar or some other light-weight armor was a requirement to be in the field) was always welcome in Bruce's bubble, as were his other kids.
"You should get some rest, chum." Bruce said, looking back at the tablet in his hands. He was reading over the Budget Report for the Watchtower, something that would be both shocking (the amount of money spent on rare herbs and volcanic ash, while not exorbitant compared to some of the other costs, would certainly cause questions if it wasn't for the fact that they had magic users and, therefore, needed magical defenses) and mundane (three new Speedsters had fallen out of the multiverse/timeline/whatever in the past year, and the food budget was in need of adjustment as they were brought on to various teams).
"Hm." Dick hummed. He was an adult now, well on his way to thirty, but there was something about setting his head on Bruce's shoulder that still made him relax just a bit. He could be fiercely independent, but he also had moments where he would just regress back to being nine, and Bruce's larger than life persona would shield him from the worst of the world for a little bit. "You think this is going to work?"
"I hope so." Bruce returned. "Any luck on finding out more details about John?" Bruce added, but he shifted to Romani so that, even if John woke and somehow overheard their conversation, he'd have, hopefully, no clue on what they were saying.
"He's a ghost." Dick returned in his first tongue, so much smoother than Bruce's accent. "Oracle found some traces of his path to Gotham, but his tracking was all over the place. We've tried using face ID, but we haven't found a match yet."
Bruce sighed through his nose. "I'll keep an ear out for updates from Oracle, then. We will also need to keep an eye on him to make sure that he doesn't bolt when we land."
Dick nodded before pulling out his phone. He switched back to English. "Want to video call Haly and Alfred with me?"
Bruce couldn't help but smile. "You call your kiddo, chum."
"She's the cutest little baby, and you can't convince me otherwise."
"Wasn't going to, Chum."
---
Danny's passing through customs was a bit of a blur. They'd landed at a private landing strip before being whisked away by a half a dozen local passport control agents. Danny kept close to the Waynes, still, because, well, he still felt like he couldn't break.
But the longer he was there, he could feel it.
The ice melting.
Cass had taken the lead once they'd settled in, showing them around her favorite haunts of the city and having Danny try much of the local food. Before the Waynes, he'd never been able to really travel and just be a tourist. Sure, there was one memory of him and Jazz in Toronto when they were very little, and he'd gone to freaking space to stop Technus, but he'd always been too young or in Hero Mode otherwise.
Bruce and Tim had taken him around Wayne Enterprise's main headquarters there the following day, though Jason and Duke had later "broken him out" to go to a local market and laugh at all the poorly worded shirts with bogus English on them.
Danny had cracked a snort when he saw a particularly bad shirt. He still didn't want to allow too much to spill, what with so many people around, but, well, the ASSA shirt with a poor man's Nasa logo had nearly broken him.
He wasn't really allowed to be alone outside of the Wayne Penthouse, where everyone got their own rooms for the trip, but Danny didn't mind. Everyone seemed to have a much better understanding of Cantonese compared to him (which was pretty much anything as Danny spoke none of the language, not that he felt secure enough to speak much anyway), so having everyone else translate was a blessing.
But then, about two weeks in, Danny finally felt the last of his ice break away.
Because Duke had asked him if he wanted to climb out to the rooftop deck, a telescope in hand, and try to find stars through the Hong Kong light polution.
"I think that's Sirius? The dog star?" Duke said as he pointed to a spot in the sky. Only the brightest stars could pierce the night shadow, much like with Gotham on its rare cloudless nights.
"You're pointed at Vega."
Danny was almost shocked as his own voice seemed to claw its way out of his throat.
Duke jumped, swirling back on the younger teen, before seemingly pulling himself together. He looked back at the night sky. Playing calm, Duke added, "Huh. You know your stars?"
"It's the brightest star..." Danny trailed off. He tried to keep his small joy down, his face contorting, but... he was so tired of keeping even his littlest delights down. Of keeping his interests at bay. Of crushing Danny. "...in the constellation Lyra."
"You want to take the bad boy for a spin?" Duke gestured to the telescope.
Hesitantly, Danny approached. He looked into the telescope, adjusting his knowledge based on where they were in the world.
Danny felt himself just... lighten. He could feel his ecto energy rise from his Core for the first time in so long, and he didn't have as much fear. Even if he somehow spiked Ecto now, he was an ocean and continent away from the people looking for him. He was somewhere that would treat him like any other tourist.
He could just... be.
Danny had gotten so caught up in the moment turning to minutes, dropping stifled facts about the stars that he'd always loved, that he forgot about his situation as he looked back, staring at the sky without the telescope.
The ecto flooded his eyes, and the darkness dispersed, revealing the cosmos overhead.
And, then, he noticed the white, floating hair in his perifery.
Danny grasped the hair, and he felt the tug on his head.
And he crashed back into himself.
He'd been glowing. His hair had turned white.
Duke was right there.
Danny tried to clamp down on his emotions, try to think, but the panic rose, his eyes no doubt flashing green, as he turned back to the teenager who was staring right at him.
---
Duke had played calm when John had spoken, desperately hoping not to scare the boy off.
And Duke had somehow hit the jackpot, it seemed, because the boy began to, hesitantly, speak facts about the stars as they looked into the night sky.
If Duke was honest, he didn't need the telescope to see past the darkened sky. His powers allowed him to manipulate the light and shadows around him, and it took barely anything to swipe away the darkness in his own vision to bring the stunning galaxies into focus. He could do the same for others, but, well, he didn't know how John would react if he had done so.
Still, as John took on that eerie glow again, that lightness in his body that seemed to give him a sense of antigravity, his hair turning almost celestial as white dots glowed into white bands, Duke tried not to stare.
But, this time, it seemed that John had become aware of what was happening.
It happened in a blink. One second, John was looking into the night sky, readying the telescope to show Duke another cluster of some kind, but then he stopped. He tugged his own hair, realizing the color shift, and spun on Duke.
Duke had half expected John to shut down, but, this time, it seemed that the walls had fallen away, because John was going into a full-blown panic attack.
John's eyes were the same eerie green, his clothes and hair floating with that unearthly glow and his eyes flickering - sky blue, toxic green, icy blue, and back - and, worse, the ground around John's feet was turning to ice.
"Oh shit." Duke threw, throwing up his hands. "John! John, it's ok. It's fine. I get it."
John looked down, up, down, a hand going to his chest like he was having a heart attack. The air around him seemed to spark and simmer with some kind of energy.
"Look, it's going to be ok. You're not alone."
Duke had lead the We Are Robins movement back in the day, and he had his fair share of helping kids through panic attacks now and through today. He'd learned a lot with Bruce, but patience was one of them.
"No one here is going to hurt you." Duke tried to assure, but the young man before him kept panicking. "Just..." Duke got an idea.
He pulled his powers, using broad body strokes. He didn't need to, but the act both helped him focus on what he was doing and project his movements for John to see.
John looked up as Duke wiped the darkness away from the sky, the galaxies now appearing to them like it did in the areas of the world where light pollution was a distant nightmare.
"I have powers, too. The family knows, and they have helped me through a lot of stuff." Duke reassured. Duke kept an eye on the ice that had been forming at John's feet. It had been seemingly climbing up his legs, across the rooftop (thank goodness that they had glass protectors around with the tall protective bars - they both acted to prevent people from scaling up there - ha, really, because all the kids could jump them - and create barriers that stopped anyone staring at the roof from seeing anything clearly; to an observer with a telescope, they would just see random lights on a penthouse rooftop). "You're safe here."
---
Danny felt his heart stop. Full stop. In his ghost form, he still had one, but it was sluggish and, of course, inhumanly slow. He could stop it like holding one's breathe, but that had never happened in his human form before.
But the shock must have done him in.
Because the sky was so beautiful, and Danny didn't have to fight anything to see it.
Duke was doing it.
Duke was a meta.
Did... did that mean the Waynes would help him? He'd been thinking about how and what he'd do when they planned to load up back to Gotham. They had only planned to be there for three weeks, though Tim had been talking about staying longer and inviting the others to do so if they had the time.
Could they just... help him stay? Cass had her own apartment in the city. She lived here. Could he stay with her?
Wasn't that aiding and abetting? Wouldn't they get in trouble?
Then again, Richer than Six Gods Combined.
Danny felt his heart clench, beating once more.
"I'm going to approach you, ok?"
Danny looked down at the ice then back at Duke.
He didn't want the other teen hurt.
Duke took a step forward and, looking at the ice and Danny's worry, he used wide strokes, once more, as his shadow reached out over the ice.
Danny watched as Duke stepped over the ice, like he was creating his own little Shadow Bridge.
He was like Johnny, in a way.
Heh, and they thought I was the John here. Danny thought vaguely.
Duke made it to Danny without touching the ice. "Can you breathe with me, dude?"
Danny did. He forced his breathing to match Duke's, watching as the other teen breathed in, held, and breathed out.
Danny felt his powers, trapped in a cage of his own making, slowly come back under his control, though bits stayed at the surface with his emotions. He wasn't sure how he'd fix that, but at least he wasn't freezing the floor anymore and managed to dismiss the ice he'd been forming. His glow settled some, and his hair had white mixed in with his black. While Danny couldn't see it, one eye was green while the other was his human blue.
"You feeling more grounded?" Duke questioned.
Danny, feeling like he just flew from Wisconsin to Amity and back, nodded, but he felt wiped.
"Can I take your hand? You look unsteady."
Danny hesitated, looking Duke up and down.
Danny wasn't like Duke. He wasn't sure what Duke was, but Ghosts were not part of the Metahuman protections. He'd looked, and the laws hadn't allowed it. It was the small loophole that the GIW and his parents worked through.
But, as he looked at the other teen, and with what he'd learned about the Waynes, he hardly thought any of them would truly distinguish it.
Danny took the hand offered to him.
And then he stumbled.
"Woah!" Duke rushed forward, grabbing Danny before he could hit the ground. "I think you should lay down. You're freezing, man."
"That's... normal... ish." Danny mumbled. Then, because he hadn't in oh, so long, he added, "I'm... a pretty... chill... guy..."
Duke stopped, startled, before staring at Danny for too long.
Danny thought he'd made the wrong move.
Then, Duke spoke, "Oh my gods, we have another Dick."
Danny couldn't help it. A small, wheezing laugh shook loose of his lungs.
Duke slung the offered arm over his shoulder, hefting most of Danny's weight onto him. "You need to eat more, dude. You're light AF."
Danny shrugged as best he could, feeling his exhaustion stomp down on what emotions he had allowed out. He felt his glow waver.
"Hey, I know you're tired, and, like, panic attacks suck, but, also, glowing? Seriously, are you gonna be ok? Do you need a doctor?" Duke questioned.
"Mm... fine..." Danny ground out. "Sleep."
Danny was out like a light before they got off the roof.
Animal crossing x mairuma characters, I have a lot more that Iām still working on, but here is page one ^^ if youāre upset by my animal picks, please pick a fight with me. Or any other suggestions are cool as well, but I do have plenty picked out already.
On one hand youāre 100% correct about Lied being and monkey, one the other hand I love Lied but am terrified of monkeys so Iām feeling rather conflicted
Can we take a moment to appreciate how fucking insane it is that Baek Saheon took a guys eye out using the edge of a smartphone. I donāt mean this in a moral āoh how could he do such a thingā sense. Iām talking the absolute skill that must have taken. Eyes do not want to leave the head, theyāre stuck in there with a a bunch stringy nerves and shit so to be able to pop that sucker out with a blunt object in under a few minutes is wild
Can we take a moment to appreciate how fucking insane it is that Baek Saheon took a guys eye out using the edge of a smartphone. I donāt mean this in a moral āoh how could he do such a thingā sense. Iām talking the absolute skill that must have taken. Eyes do not want to leave the head, theyāre stuck in there with a a bunch stringy nerves and shit so to be able to pop that sucker out with a blunt object in under a few minutes is wild
Aizawa is a terrible teacher. I love Aizawa, but I love the fanon version of Aizawa. Even when he's a bad teacher in the fanfics, he's still better than the canon. But what made me realise what a crap teacher Aizawa is was Kalego. After watching Iruma-kun and starting to read the manga, I realised that Kalego, the uptight, grumpy, tired and kind of sadistic teacher who gives his students extra work just because he can, is everything Aizawa tries to be, but isn't. Because Kalego cares about his students in a way canon!Aizawa would never. Like, yeah, Aizawa would die for his students, but that is not due to the fact that his a good teacher. It is because he is a hero and that is what heroes do. While Kalego would also die protecting his students and even kill for them, he also pays attention to their needs as students. Half of the 1-A need help with their regular grades and the other half need help finding ways to use their quirks without hurting themselves. We all joke about Midoriya and his bone juice, but why does nobody think about giving that kid some extra help? Why didn't his homeroom teacher try to find a way for him to use his quirk without blowing himself? Or a way for Kamimari to use his quirk without frying his brain? Aizawa ignores de most basic things about his students' needs, like finding ways for them to use their quirks without damaging their bodies and health. Or the way Midoriya is around Bakugou, who tried to attack him on the first day and almost killed him on the second day. Kalego-sensei, on the other hand, took his time to make a personal notebook for each of his students and worried about finding ways to utilise their strengths regardless of how seemingly meaningless or nonsensical they may be and so many other things. Kalego-sensei cares about his class, about their growth and their future and is trying to find the best alternative for them. Everyone talks about what a bad teacher All Might is, but All Might is a rookie teacher with less than a year on the job (and nobody knows if he has a teacher's licence or not) while Aizawa is believed to be one of the oldest people on Nedzu's payroll. I am comparing Aizawa to Kalego because when I first saw Kallego, I thought he was the demon version of Aizawa. I now realise that if Aizawa were a third of the teacher that Kalego is, maybe these child soldiers would have a chance. When Iruma tried to do everything by himself/messed up, Kalego scolded him, obviously, but he made it clear that if Iruma had another problem, he could ask for help. Because Kalego is his teacher, and he's there to help him in any way he needs. But when Midoriya messed up/did everything by himself, well, they just yelled at him and made him feel guilty, and think that the solution isn't to ask for help or trust the adults next time, but to find a way not to get caught. Aizawa should spend a few days with Kalego and learn to be a real professional and a teacher who does what's best for the students.
I feel like this is because BNHA takes place in a world where children are the āfutureā only in a legacy sense. They are meant to pick up the torch of those who came before them and maintain the status quo, therefore students are viewed as assets (because thatās what heroās are) and treated accordingly. Iruma is set in a world that views children as the āfutureā because they embody hopes, dreams, and most importantly change. Student are directly stated to be treasures meant to be protected and nourished so that they may find their own path in life and fulfill their desires. Looking at the sports vs harvest festival is a good example of this. In BNHA the sports festival is a public event put on for entertainment where all the students are thrown into a colosseum and made to fight for attention. The whole thing also only really rewards athletics. The harvest festival on the other hand is a private event where every student is monitored and encourages each student to find the method that works best for them, be it fighting, intelligence, charm, or anything else. Lastly look at how the winners are treated
Literally chained to a podium to the jeering public and then sent home
Called the āyoung kingsā and celebrated, plus a party thrown for all the students
A Master Study featuring Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. In which Link hangs out with the two Zeldas post-game (Who do you think became the Queen of Hyrule?)
This was a difficult piece, but Iām happy with it!
its funny to think of debut or die and gsgw taking place in the same universe. yes because it means the DoD cast could fall into a ghost story at any moment, but also because it means stat powerups do exist but only for idol trainees
I love the way they did this. It feels so much more like cass is getting to personally and heās being more affected by it..... they didnāt do thus version where cass pushes him with her own hands because heās still a kid..., and they couldnāt really put something like that in a kid show. Because it would be seen as child abuse. Also we see him almost panicking as she closes the cage around him.. and we see his reaction to that he couldnāt get through to her.... poor Varian š„ŗš
Would also like to point out how much more visually obvious it is that cage are literally her hands (which I never noticed in the official version before)
Like how a lot of isekai protags are lowkey changelings. So many stories are based around a moment where your real friend/child/lover gets whisked away and replaced by something other. Theyāre literally wearing the skin of someone else and walking around playing a character in order to trick others into believing they are the original
Netflixās version of case closed is so fucking weird to me. Instead of having seasons or something that would make sense they have two ācollectionsā the first one is called vs. the black organization which seems to be all of the episodes they deemed central to the main story which I guess is a way of watching the show if thatās all you care about. But while Conan does technically have a main story, it really is a murder of the weak whodunit. Then thereās the second collection which is literally just a random assortment of episodes whose biggest mystery is who chose those episodes and why??? In both cases the animation randomly changes because theyāre picking episodes that came out years apart from each other
Just rewatched Secret of the Omnitrix for the first time and was genuinely shocked to see that Azmuth was in fact not an alcoholic even though I coulda swore that he was
izzy806
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