My friend’s little brother (non-verbal) used to hide people’s shoes if he liked the person, because it meant they had to stay longer. The more difficult it was to find your shoes, the more he liked you.
One day my cousin came over, and she was a bitch. When it was time to leave, my friend’s brother handed her shoes directly to her and she went on and on about how he must have a crush on her because he only “helped” her.
Danny didn’t mean for this to happen! He swears! Tim was the one who wanted to see him play a horror game on the oculus. And Damian was the one who walked to close to him when he obviously couldn’t see him. Danny didn’t mean to punch Damian in the face. And isn’t this kid supposed to be Robin!? Couldn’t he have dodged or something!?
Danny had nightmares. How could he not with the fucked up life he’s had? He could deal with them though, he knew he could. But nightmares combined with powers he can’t always control is a recipe for disaster.
And to make matters worse the family he’s with right now doesn’t know he has powers. Yes he could just say he’s a meta and be protected under the meta protection act but if the GIW gets even a hint of his ghostliness he wouldn’t be protected. Legally his foster family has to hand him over.
Although Danny is kind of regretting not informing any one of any of his powers when he wakes up from a bad nightmare with his wail on his lips.
This isn’t going to be fun to explain.
———
After the death of his family Danny was sent into foster care after Vlad was deemed unfit to care for a child.
He’s trying to keep his ghost status under wraps but his trauma isn’t making it easy for him.
Okay so it wasn’t actually jail because he doesn’t think being held in a cell by the GIW counts as jail. He technically didn’t even do anything illegal! … other than exist he guesses but he can’t exactly help that.
But here he was bored out of his mind sitting in a GIW facility waiting for his “enrichment time”. That’s when he gets 20 minutes to roam the halls to stretch his legs. He might be escorted by several heavily armored guards but he’ll take what he can get.
Hey he worked hard for enrichment time! He’s been on his best behavior and he hasn’t even tried to escape! Well with the GIW people knowing that is.
Back to the problem at hand: Danny is bored as fuck sitting in his cell.
He was debating whether or not to start singing really loudly and off key when there was an explosion a few halls down.
Maybe today won’t be so boring
———
Young Justice wasn’t expected to find a kid around their age sitting in a cell at the illegal facility they broke into.
Danny really should stop messing around with the specter speeder without permission.
He was just so close to finishing the upgrades he wanted to add and fixing whatever mess his parents made when they also tried to update it. He loves his parents, he thinks they are geniuses in their own right, and they can pull off the impossible if they tried, but they’re fucking idiots.
He wasn’t in his usual clothes, he was in his mechanic jumpsuit and a tank top. The top half of the jumpsuit was tied around his waist as he worked. Usually, he didn’t mind getting his clothes dirty but he’s been washing his own clothes lately and he thinks he’s going to have an aneurysm if he has to wash any more grease stains out of his white t-shirt.
He just finished fixing up the wiring and mechanical underside of the speeder when he noticed how late it’s gotten. You can’t tell time in the lab due to there being no windows and the clock that usually hangs on the wall was broken a few days ago.
Looking at his phone shows that it’s well past midnight and he could feel it. His eyes were tired and his body felt heavy. He was ready to fall into bed and not wake up till midday tomorrow or when a ghost attack hits, whatever happens first.
Danny climbed into the speeder to make sure everything was in working order before he went to bed. He powered everything up and got to making diagnostic tests. Nothing seemed out of order and all the upgrades were running smoothly. Nothing was being rejected either so he knew the speeder wasn’t about to blow up or something.
The new upgrades made it easier to get in and out of the Ghost Zone. The speeder is now able to create its own portals and jump from dimension to dimension. This will also be useful if he was to be sucked into a natural portal. He could just put in the coordinates for his universe and get home immediately.
Tomorrow he’ll have to bring Tucker and Sam with him to test it out. He has full confidence that it won’t explode when trying to make a portal… well he has enough confidence. It’ll be fine! Probably… most likely.
Danny was so caught up in his thinking that he didn’t even notice the faint red light that was blinking on the control panel signaling that something was wrong. He was pressing a few more buttons when the speeder started to shake. He tried to press the emergency power-down button but it didn’t do anything. He tried to open the speeder so he could get out but it was stuck. Cursing as he tried to stop it, Danny was thrown back into his seat when the speeder suddenly took off into a portal.
All around him was bright green and the portal seemed to go on forever. It was starting to look more like a wormhole than a portal. Danny tried to steer to take some control of the situation but it wasn’t responsive. He made a hard jerk left with the steering wheel which finally made the speeder move. He was almost blinded by a bang of light only to be thrown into darkness. The speeder was still moving as it was banged around by whatever place he was in now.
Danny was thrown around inside the speeder due to not having time to buckle himself in before it took off. He was flung out of his seat and hit his face on the control panel causing his nose to bleed. He then hit the ceiling of the speeder, almost knocking the wind out of him. When he was flung to the ground and off to the side he acquired more bumps and bruises. He thinks he would be struggling to breathe if he had to at all.
He finally rolled to a stop as the speeder lost power. The only light now was the flashing red lights of the warning system. Apparently, a lot of things are now broken. Trying the hatch one more time Danny was relieved to find that it now opens. Letting out a sigh of relief and clutching his injured ribs, he climbed out taking in his surroundings. He found himself in a dark cave-like place. It would have been pitch black if it wasn’t for the speeder giving off light. Sparks were flying around the speeder and Danny was already mourning all the hard work he put into it.
There was no point in staying around here just looking at the mess of the speeder. He had to figure out where he landed and how he was going to get the materials to fix his only way back home.
He picked a random direction and started walking. Danny was lucky he could see in the dark or else he would be screwed. He held his nose as it bled knowing it was better not to keep the blood in or else it could make him sick. He used his tank top to keep the blood from going everywhere. Eventually, the bleeding stopped but now he looked like he killed someone with his face.
In the distance, he heard the faint buzz of electronics and decided that was his best bet. As he walked closer to the sound he started to see light and knew he made the right call. He soon found himself in what he would call nerd paradise.
There was a ginormous monitor screen and other tech that would make Tucker drool. There were fany and intimidating-looking cars and bikes along with different costumes lining the walls. The thing that stood out the most though was the giant penny and a statue of a t-rex. Danny was looking around in awe not paying attention to his surroundings when he heard a voice from behind him.
“What are you doing here?”
He whipped around to find a man- teen? He was wearing a costume that sort of looked like the ones lining the wall in cases.
“I don’t know dude,” Danny casually stuck his hands into his pockets as he talked, “I’m just as confused as you are.”
“How’d you get in here?” The guy continued to interrogate him. Danny just pointed from where he came not really wanting to reveal exactly how he came to be in this place. He heard something behind him but wasn’t fast enough to react.
Danny was met with darkness and left with a voice saying, “Well you didn’t need to do that.”
Based off of this post by @hello-eden it’s a really cool concept and I recommend reading it before this
Damian always wondered why the version of his mother he was told about from his father was so different from the version of her that lives in his memories. Father talks about Mother like she is cold like she isn’t as warm as the sun and stars she talked so fondly of. Damian’s mother is ruthless and merciless, but not to him, never to him. She was all soft touches and softer whispers of Habibi. She trained him hard but only because she had to. He wouldn’t have survived if she didn’t.
Talia Al Ghul was a protector and a mother first and everything else second. She trained him so he could protect himself when she wouldn’t be able to. But after every grueling training session, she was always there to pick him up and nurse his wounds. And some days in the privacy of her bedroom where there was no one else to see or hear she would laugh. Mother had a laugh so loud she had to cover her mouth to try to calm herself. Her shoulders would shake and she would throw her head back.
Damian loved making his mother laugh like that.
So no he doesn’t recognize the women from Father’s stories. And he doesn’t appreciate how his brothers talk about her. She isn’t cold and she isn’t heartless and if it was up to her he would have never seen a sword or experienced any type of pain.
But he won’t tell. The Mother of his memories is just for him. He will sit quietly at dinner knowing his father's side has no clue how big his family truly is.
They’ve never seen the way Mother acts around his Auntie Sam and Uncle Tucker or his older sister Ellie. It wasn’t often but Damian suspects that the version of his mother he sees when it’s just the five of them is the real Mother.
He feels a notification coming from his phone.
Uncle Tucker: we’re kidnapping you for the weekend
Danny didn’t know this, because no one tells him anything about his powers until it’s too late, but due to his status as an ancient he is able to give blessings. He might be a god, but only a little bit!
Danny has a habit of picking up rocks. Any type of rock really. He doesn’t care if it’s particularly pretty or shiny or smooth. If he sees a rock he’s going to pick it up and carry it around in his pocket.
He doesn’t just horde these rocks either. He doesn’t have a rock collection, okay he does but it’s small, he doesn’t really have any real use for these rocks. So he… gives them away. He mainly gives them to his friends. Everyone has a rock collection now due to Danny.
Now that he’s in Gotham for university he’s been making a lot of new friends. Apparently he’s cool or something? So he’s been having a lot of new people to give rocks too.
His newest victims have been the Wayne’s. After making fast friend of Duke he just seemed to click with them. They’re definitely shady and Danny swears they’re connected to the Bats but he doesn’t care enough to connect any dots himself.
Danny didn’t know that giving rocks were him giving blessings. Don’t get him wrong he’s not going to stop now that he knows because if he can improve someone’s day or week due to a literal rock he’s gonna do it.
He just wished he knew before he was being confronted about it by the Bats(maybe the Wayne’s?) and some loser British guy in a trench coat.
There is a new Wayne Family fan account. Which wouldn't be too out of the ordinary if it weren't for the account talking about things they should have no way of knowing.
Danny can't do anything about Vlad now that he's both become mayor and wormed his way back into his parents lives. But he can at least piss him off. He does that via multiple fan accounts that point out how much better other billionaires are compared to him. Though in hindsight, maybe he shouldn't have relied on ghosts to get him information.
@starry-rivers you are absolutely correct. Thomas and Martha would absolutely love an excuse to talk about their precious baby boy and their adorable grandkids.
They tell Danny about embarrassing stories from when Bruce was a kid. They tell embarrassing stories like that time Thomas snuck up on Alfred, and the butler ended up flipping him onto the table. The poor man wouldn’t stop apologizing for a week afterward.
They talk about how Damian has been adjusting so well, and Dick actually got him to let Tim give the boy a hug without threatening to stab him! They talk about how even when Bruce first got Jason, he had the kind of gumption that earned Thomas a few black eyes and many pats on the back when Thomas was a young man. Dick’s gymnastics antics from old Galas are always fondly told. Tim actually got six hours of sleep last night! He had to be hounded on and given the Raised Eybrow by Alfred, but he did it!
There is a new Wayne Family fan account. Which wouldn't be too out of the ordinary if it weren't for the account talking about things they should have no way of knowing.
Danny can't do anything about Vlad now that he's both become mayor and wormed his way back into his parents lives. But he can at least piss him off. He does that via multiple fan accounts that point out how much better other billionaires are compared to him. Though in hindsight, maybe he shouldn't have relied on ghosts to get him information.
@starry-rivers you are absolutely correct. Thomas and Martha would absolutely love an excuse to talk about their precious baby boy and their adorable grandkids.
They tell Danny about embarrassing stories from when Bruce was a kid. They tell embarrassing stories like that time Thomas snuck up on Alfred, and the butler ended up flipping him onto the table. The poor man wouldn’t stop apologizing for a week afterward.
They talk about how Damian has been adjusting so well, and Dick actually got him to let Tim give the boy a hug without threatening to stab him! They talk about how even when Bruce first got Jason, he had the kind of gumption that earned Thomas a few black eyes and many pats on the back when Thomas was a young man. Dick’s gymnastics antics from old Galas are always fondly told. Tim actually got six hours of sleep last night! He had to be hounded on and given the Raised Eybrow by Alfred, but he did it!
Danny was on Doomed again without Sam or Tucker. His two friends had something else to do tonight so Danny was content to play by himself. Or at least he would have been playing alone if he hadn't noticed that his online friend, Tim, was on. Tim was really good at video games. It was one of his favorite pastimes along with skateboarding.
Tim was cool, Danny liked Tim, Tim talked(more like complained) about his siblings a lot. He had two older brothers, an older sister, and a little brother. They had a complicated family dynamic due to almost all of them being adopted other than the youngest. And even then they apparently didn't know about the youngest until a couple months ago when he came to live with them.
The youngest had a habit of violence and picking fights with Tim. Danny found it adorable. The baby obviously wanted to play and Danny didn't understand why Tim didn't seem to get it.
"I mean to me it sounds like he really likes you."
"Have you not been listening to anything I have been saying? He threw a knife at my head when we were eating dinner."
"Well did you throw it back? It just sounds like he's trying to play!"
"Danny, in what world does that count as playing?"
"You really aren't good with kids, are you? My little sister has shot me in the back, punched, kicked, and bit me all within our first few times hanging out with each other. Even now two years later I still play with her cause she's my little sister ya know? A little bloodshed is fine, it's bonding, healthy even!"
"Danny... you're... not human... are you?"
"Fuck."
"Imma take that as a no."
"How the hell did you know?!"
"Normal people don't act like that."
"Act like what?"
"Okay, so I'm gonna teach you human 101 so you don't accidentally kill someone for 'bonding'."
------
How does this keep on happening to Tim? Not even his online friends were normal. He didn't bother asking Danny in what way he wasn't human but his guess was alien that is more sturdy than a regular human. Because there is no other way for something like bloodshed to be a normal bonding activity between friends and family. From the way Danny described it, fighting was something cultural and important between people who care for one another.
Tim hates to admit it but as of late, he has been taking Danny's advice. When Damian threw a knife at him Tim dodged and threw it back with just as much deadly aim. The first few times he did this in front of Dick or Bruce he was pulled aside, much like Damian in the beginning, and told that he shouldn't be fighting like this. After a while, both seemed to give up and let them try to tear each other to pieces.
Damian... calmed down after a while. He wasn't making attempts on his life as frequently anymore. They dwindled down to almost nothing in the past few weeks. Damian also seemed to be calmer, just like Danny said he would be.
"Are we sure Damian is human?"
"What?" Bruce spit out his coffee and turned around in his seat in front of the batcomputer. "Why do you believe Damian isn't human?"
"I met this guy online," Tim started his explanation, "and we were talking about our younger siblings and their behavior. I mentioned how Damian has been trying to kill me."
"He wasn't trying to kill-"
"He was trying to kill me, Bruce, don't try to defend the little demon. Anyways, my online friend told me that it sounded like he was just trying to play. He told me about how Damian sounded like his little sister and that all the threats and violence were just him trying to bond. Obviously, my friend isn't human, he later confirmed this."
"Obviously."
"Yep. So I have come to the conclusion that Damian isn't human."
"And he is part whatever your friend is? And how is your friend now human?"
"I don't know Bruce! Unlike you, I don't investigate my friends to find out all of their secrets." Tim folded his arms over his chest but immediately broke when Bruce raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay, so I started investigating and didn't find anything. I tried to back hack into his gaming ID but didn't find anything I couldn't even trace what email he used and I'm kinda pissed about it."
"I can assure you that Damian is 100% human."
"How would you know that?"
"From the amount of DNA tests I did on him when he first came to live with us."
He hated how he tried to ruffle his hair and call him Dami.
He hated how he said that they were brothers.
Damian Al Ghul-Wayne hated Richard Grayson.
Richard Grayson reminds Damian Al Ghul-Wayne of his older brother, Danyal Al Ghul.
Danyal Al Ghul died at age ten when he was ordered to kill his baby brother. Damian Al Ghul-Wayne lost his big brother when he was eight years old. Danyal would rather run himself through with his own blade than hurt his baby brother. Damian initially saw it as a weakness, but that weakness was also proof of love. It was proof that Danyal loved Damian more than anyone in either of their lives loved them.
It was the type of brotherly affection and love that Damian didn't want after his brother died. And it was the type of love he wouldn't get until his mother shipped him off to Gotham and he met Richard Grayson.
Damian didn't speak of Danyal, he had no brother to speak of. No matter how many times Father spoke of siblings that were made through a piece of paper that had the words 'adoption' on it. Damian had no siblings and he didn't want any if he couldn't have Danyal.
It is too bad for him that Richard Grayson is persistent in his quest for another brother.
Everything was going great, Bruce was introducing Danny to the rest of his kids. Danny was the newest member of the family. He was a street kid that had a habit of getting into too much trouble for someone who wasn’t native to Gotham. Dick, as Nightwing, was able to finally convince the kid to except their help.
The night time heroes grew attached to the kid, even Damian seemed to like him.
Most of the bats already met Danny but just in their uniforms. The only one who hasn’t met Danny was Duke. Danny was only active during the night. They could never find him during the day so Duke had no reason to have met him before.
Everything was going to good.
Danny and Duke were introducing themselves, handshakes and everything, when Dukes eyes seemed to go wide and distant. Like he was seeing something he shouldn’t be. He was staring just above, or maybe behind, Danny slack jawed. He started to shake.
Danny quickly reached his hands up to cover Dukes eyes. His hands kept his eyes tightly shut as he talked in a panicked voice,
“You can see past the veil but you can’t comprehend. Don’t look too closely or you’ll drive yourself mad. Okay?”
He didn’t take his hands off Duke until Duke gave a small nod.
Duke kept his eyes down, looking intensely at Danny’s shoes.
Danny gave the rest of the people in the room a sheepish smile as the only explanation.
"Well, I might only be two years old but I wasn't born yesterday."
Complete. And utter. Silence.
"Phantom," Bruce pinches the bridge of his nose taking a deep breath in, "What do you mean you're only two years old?"
Phantom was floating in the air on his back with his hands behind his head, he looked like he was lounging on a coach. "Huh? I mean exactly what I said!"
"You're two?!" Flash yells in disbelief. Most of the other JL members have a similar look of disbelief.
