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Having been declared legally dead and without a cent to his name, Danny arrives in Gotham desperate for any job. So when he gets hired by a rich couple to babysit their kid while they're away (which apparently is quite often) without them even doing a background check on him, he thinks he's hit the jackpot.

Until he finds out just how neglected this kid is. Danny knows from personal experience just how that can mess a person up so he decides to shower this kid with all the love and attention he could ever dream of. And maybe figure out a way to stop him from sneaking out at night.

gender-equals-confusion

#double adoption bait #there's two now

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Danny is acting as a live in nanny, which saves him so much money. Sure he has had to learn how to cook! But, Tim is a sweet kid. Only 8 and so so used to being on his own. no, Danny won't stand for it. Tim is his family now, and he will look after him. His first few pay checks were saved up till he could buy a decent fake ID, paper trail and all. Look, Gotham is shady a fuck. Danny made himself a distant cousin of the Drakes. Was pretty easy. Of course he is looking after Tim.

Tim was very wary of him at first. It didn't help that Danny caught him sneaking out at night. Look, if he won't look after himself Danny will make him. Danny did out his foot down. Tim is not allowed out on school nights. And he has to pass a basic amount of dodging and stealth training to be allowed out for more than 2 hours.

Tim was not happy, but as Danny pointed out he was there to look out for him. And dammit he would! Tim took to his training scarily well. Kid was so damn smart. Danny still wasn't letting him out on his own though!

So, here they were, the two of them following Robin 2 who he been running off on his own more often lately. Oh well, it let Tim get some great photos. Danny was pretty damn sure Th would come back as a ghost. Boy was obsessive enough.

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Danny wasn’t expecting Tim to help him make and perfect his fake ID, but honestly he remembers Tucker at this kid’s age and it’s not all that far off

Kid knows Gotham, helps Danny pick a branch of the family, and really seems keen to have him join the fold once they’ve had a couple months together

Sure, that first time Danny caught him sneaking out led to a pretty rough patch, but Danny was a teen vigilante; he knows just how futile it is to ban the kid

So when Tim screams “you aren’t the boss of me” after Danny brings it up, Danny just nods sagely and says “yup, but I am your guardian so I’m going to guard you”

Tim: *susface* you can’t stop me sneaking out

Danny: you can’t stop me sneaking after you bitch

Tim: WHAT NO HOW DARE YOU you’ll get me caught!

Danny: I’m the one catching you, who is anyone gonna tell? But if you can beat me at hide and seek I’ll let you keep going out

Tim thinks this will be easy

No problem

Even Batman doesn’t notice him

Danny finds him in five minutes flat

Tim would be SURE Danny cheated, but Danny gives him the security footage that shows him not moving an inch and then walking right to Tim’s hiding spot

(Danny doesn’t mention that Tim’s intense emotions might as well be a homing beacon)

Tim is INTENT on finding Danny

He cannot be beaten

He knows every hiding spot in Drake Manor, and which ones Danny could fit into

He even cheats and uses the cameras once an hour has passed with no luck

He gives up The Next Day

(Danny made him dinner, rung a bell, and rehid before Tim saw him)

He’s got a lot of new respect for his minder and when Danny promises to teach Tim how to do it, Tim is ecstatic

Years later when Tim has muscled his way into being Robin, Bruce is fucking STUNNED by how little stealth training he needs

Tim is a shadow’s shadow

His hand to hand is also damn good but low on actual technique

Danny comes back from a TWO DAY vacation to visit Jazz and Tim cheerfully informs him he’s a vigilante now

Danny shadows all his patrols and commentates as punishment

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Danny has prepared for this day. He knew it was coming. So he ALREADY has his own new persona sorted. He is NOT letting Tim out with just Batman as backup. No way. That idiot already got a child killed. Well it's not happening to HIS BROTHER!

So, two days after Robin 3 hits the scene Mockingbird arrives. And seems to be following Robin 3 around and giving him tips and tricks, even as he mocks the local thugs. Batman seems to dislike him, which the thugs were pleased about. Until they realised, if Batman can't get rid of this one, no one can.

Danny takes great joy in sneaking up on the Bat himself. Thugs are now extra wary when they see the newest Robin. Look it was bad enough before. You saw the baby bird and knew Batman was probably somewhere close but you had a chance to get in and out right? And sure a lot of the time Batman would appear out of nowhere but there was only one of him! And now there is Mockingbird. Who for all his loud quips and banter is actually really freaking stealthy. Stealthier than the Bat!

And Mockingbird seems to pretty much exist as Robin 3's minder. They don't go out solo, they don't appear if Robin 3 doesn't. They exist to look after one dumbass teen. And well, the goons can respect that sort of care. Bat's on the other hand looks like he is losing his goddamn mind about it.

britcision

It doesn’t take the goons long to work out the rule either

Mockingbird has one job, and one clear berserk button: Robin 3

And let’s be honest, none of them enjoy the part of gooning that is “try to beat up a literal child”, even if they’ve come to terms with it and the child kicks their ass every time

(Well, some of them do, but their numbers wane EXTREMELY fast after Mockingbird’s debut. Some are found still alive but usually they seek alternate employment far, far from children

Danny doesn’t allow risks to his loved ones)

But while there was always the “fuck Robin’s here get him restrained” for 1 and 2, Robin 3… you don’t want to get your hands on Robin 3

Yeah, the Bat is also much touchier about his new boy and will go Extreme Prejudice if he’s in danger, but the Bat is the nice one

The Bat knows they’re all criminals, and gets that this is part of the vigilante thing, they’re gonna try and knock out or incapacitate his trainees. Vengeance is swift, but the Bat is merciful

This comes into clear contrast once Mockingbird joins the scene

He doesn’t stop Robin from fighting or get in the way; the kid’s as hands on as both predecessors, there’s the exact same frantic scrabble to take him down and get the weapon out of his hands so you can tie him to something

(Any rogue who wants Robin dead wants to do it personally anyway, so you double don’t want to be the one that ruins that)

But you point a gun?? At Robin 3?? Your hands are empty before you know it, and that sly, mocking voice comes from just behind your ear, where you know no one could be

“Now that’s not fair is it?”

Other things disappear too. Sometimes it’s as mild as your belt, or your shoelaces are suddenly tied together, and yeah Mockingbird will ABSOLUTELY steal your pants and you’ll never know how

If you get a shot off though? Things appear places they shouldn’t, and you realize just how nice Batman is that he only kicks your ass and restrains you for the cops

Danny doesn’t want Tim to find out about all the background stuff he does, because Tim’s a competent kid and would hate to be undermined, but now the goons are all a lot more careful about what might accidentally seriously maim a child

(Part of this is in response to Batman’s wave of violent fury after Robin 2 died. Self preservation. But finding jagged edges of ice between your toes, in your ears, up your nose?

You only fuck with that once before you start wondering where else Mockingbird could get that ice. How much bigger the chunks could be

Penguin is desperately trying to hire Mockingbird to maintain the Iceberg Lounge)

Red Hood’s return is correspondingly extremely different. Jason’s furious another kid got put in the suit, but it takes about 30 seconds to realize this kid has Protection

Serious Protection, and it ain’t from Bruce

There’s a lot more jealousy, a lot more “why does he deserve this when I didn’t”, it’s still anger and bitterness as he plans, takes heads, taunts Batman

But Danny never forgets a soul

So Jason gets a visit before Jason gets anywhere near Tim (who is very upset that Danny is definitely keeping a secret from him, but Danny will make it up to him)

Danny apologizes that he didn’t save Jason. That he and Tim were watching over him, but Danny couldn’t protect him too

It’s not what Jason wanted, it’s not even close to Bruce admitting his failure. But Danny’s so obviously relieved to see him alive, explains that dying can be a much less binary scale than people think, notices the pit

Danny won’t tell Bruce if Jason doesn’t want him to, cuz Jason gets to come out in his own time, but he offers help. Kindness. Tells him how Tim got started, got caught, and got ghost training to keep going

How much Tim worried when Jason disappeared

And he asks Jason to at least tell Tim he’s okay, because Tim thought he could stop if Jason ever came back

(Tim doesn’t fucking stop, he lied to himself and also to Danny)

And Jason asks where the Joker is, because there’s been hide nor hair of him since about a week after Robin 3 debuted

And Danny goes real quiet

Because he can tell Jason where the Joker is, but Jason won’t be able to see him. Not without one of those body finders that can see through rock

Danny doesn’t. Allow. Risks. To his loved ones.

He couldn’t save Robin 2, but he can keep Robin 3 from being anywhere near the same danger

(Jason solemnly swears never to lift a finger against Tim because holy fucking shit nope nope nope his plans are now Bruce And Bruce Only)

(He does sign one of Tim’s favourite photos of him as Robin though)

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Jason is also so relieved to know that someone saw. That someone cared enough to keep a Robin safe. And that Robin 2 was avenged. It hurts, so badly, that it wasn't Batman. But gods, Jason could come to adore Mockingbird and Robin 3. Danny admits to Tim.He is keeping a secret for someone. But, don't worry, you will know soon. They just want a bit of time first ok?

And then Jason comes round for dinner. And Tim lights up. His Robin is alive! He's angry, and hurt, and bitter, but he's here! And he's letting Danny help him!

Red Hood spreads the word as well. No one in his gang goes after kids, Robin 3 is included in that! "You can disarm him, and move him away from a fight, but nothing worse than a bruise. Mockingbird is not playing around. I do not want hassle with him! "

And you know what, his people get that. Boss hates hurting kids anyways. And yeah, they've seen what Mockingbird does to people who hurt Robin 3. Word spreads fast after all. Everyone knows it was probably Mockingbird who got rid of Joker. Is there any proof? No. But within a few weeks of Robin 2 dying and Robin 3 starting up Joker vanished.

Jason is slowly healing but by bit. The pit madness has been dulled, so he can control it now. He's still so angry at Bruce. But why would he involve innocents? And damn, but little Robin 3 is so smart. He's honestly a regular genius. And Jason is so glad he has someone looking out for him like the Bat should have.

And for some reason they are willing to let him into their lives? He can go over to eat, and get medical care? Mockingbird reminds him of Alfie so much it hurts at times. And then they slowly become Danny and Tim. Somewhere between fixing the pits and Timmy begging training in guns from him, they start to feel like family.

And Jason gets told what Danny did. To Joker and a number of other idiots who went to far on Tim. And yeah, he is glad he didn't go there. But, while speaking with Danny he comes to realise, wait. Talia set him up, she wound him into a rage focused on Tim. That makes her a threat to Robin 3 and he needs to be warned. This includes a pretty in depth discussion of the LoA and their ways of working. Jason won't let them be unprepared. He owes them more than he can ever repay. He won't let Ras and Talia hurt them.

When Damian arrives it is to a very different family dynamic. Jason still hasn't told Bruce he's alive. Dick has been brought in, as has Alfie. Babs knew, but kept quiet. In case he needed to be taken in. Then Danny stepped in and mediated for him. He's got his brother back, and another two as a bonus prize.

Damian tried to assert his place as the 'blood son' only to be smacked down entirely. Tim isn't Bruce's kid. He has a great guardian thankyou. Why would he need Bruce for that? And Danny won't allow that sort of behaviour to go unpunished. Yes he is a child. That is why he is not being hurt. But he will face consequences! For a start, if he can't be trusted to not attack allies, no weapons.

No Batman, he attacked my ward, I will NOT give them back until he learns. Control your son, or get out of my way. Damian, why do you believe Tim is a threat you need to dispose of?

Damian is not pleased by this, interloper! Drake is bad enough, but his older cousin? A nightmare to deal with. Nothing phases him. You can't hit him, he is more stealthy than anyone Damian has ever met! And somehow he calmed Todd from the rampage Mother tried to incite. And, on top of that, there is nothing in his background that would account for any of this! It's infuriating. And Father can't even do anything about him! He is starting to feel like perhaps Mother and Grandfather have overestimated Batman.

If this Mockingbird can flit around Gotham's skies as he pleases with no repercussions, then surely Father is not all that impressive. It is either that, or Mockingbird is indeed that powerful. Even Superman caves to Father. What does that say about this person?

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Danny’s still a little shit though

He takes all of Damian’s weapons

(ALL of them. It takes HOURS. Damian is furious)

But he won’t leave the baby high and dry, clearly Damian needs weapons as emotional support

So Danny replaces them with nerf weapons

He has Bruce’s credit cards and nerf has a lovely array of “bladed” foam weapons

Damian sulks when all his weapons disappear

DAMIAN RIOTS DAYS LATER WHEN FOAM IS FOUND IN THEIR PLACE

He rants and yells at Danny, Danny watches impassively (he’s in his 20s by now, he’s a little shit but he did grow up)

Then Danny shoots Damian in the forehead with a nerf gun, tells him his true training begins today, tosses the gun to Damian and disappears

Completely confused, Damian turns to Tim for an explanation

Tim shrugs, shoots Damian with his own nerf gun, and explains how Danny trained him before he became Robin

Bruce is just happy they’re all getting along, because that’s definitely what the screams of rage and pitched nerf battles means

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Dick adores Danny and Tim. They are not only good at the work they do. They are also good at communication. Danny will not let B do his growly bullshit. At all. He looks after Tim and Damian. Sure he seems intent on driving Damian up the wall. But honestly Damian seems to respond well to the implied challenge. The fact that Danny said he lacked the discipline to be allowed real weaons? Oh it burned at him.

Add in the need weapon training, pranks as tactics nd evasion drills? Well Dick has never been so entertained while keeping up his training. The fact that Danny is making it so Damian has to play to train as well seems to be helping the baby bat.

Damian can admit that he respects the interloper. He does not like him, or Drake. But he can respect their skills. Daniel is more than happy to train his skills, in weapons and in tactics. That he uses juvenile methods does not matter when the results speak for themselves.

And, privately, he can admit that perhaps he should have relied less on his Mothers knowledge. It was clearly outdated. He overheard Daniel and Drake discussing the Robin title the other day. Robin was deemed a training title. Once Drake felt ready he could take on a new name. Had he known that sooner he would have been less likely to attack Drake.

Daniel has been slowly allowing him access to his weapons for training again. Until g proves himself tempered enough however they 're kept locked away. Apparently he can not yet be trusted. It burns, but also made him realise something. While he was allowed to harm any when with Mother and Grandfather such behaviour is deemed barbaric in Gotham.

His Mothers family means less than nothing in this city. His Fathers legacy is important. But for very different reasons. Daniel is making him speak with his sister. She can be trusted to keep anything he says confidential. She works with many heroes apparently. And the children of heroes. Father still refuses to go, which Daniel called a weakness. Failing to meet ones own demons and fight them head on. Damian can reluctantly understand Daniel's viewpoint. It is why he agreed. She will appear you be able to explain how people expect him to behave. Which should be useful.

He has already made mistakes basing his behaviour on Mother and Grandfather. He will take as much Intel as he can get so he can ensure he makes no more.

Mother foolishly discounted Pennyworth as beneath attention. any who know the truth know he is the true patriarch of the house. How his Mother missed that he shall never know.

At least his skills are being tested and expanded here. Richard has taken to joining them as well. He and Daniel between them have a wealth of knowledge he can put to good use. Now, he will figure out how to trap one of them. These pranks are indeed juvenile, but Daniel insists they are good for training tactical thinking and spatial awareness. He plans to test Daniel and Richard. It only seems fair. Perhaps Drake would help. It might ensure their continued acquaintance is pleasant.

vixen-uchiha

Danny being there is going to take on a way different twist of Bruce's time lost in the past

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Danny would help Tim with every power and friend at his disposal. It would take, at least a month less, Tim would NOT lose a spleen and Ra's Al Ghul would have a FEAR of Red Robin and his Mockingbird.

Tim; I swear, I'm NOT insane! Bruce is just lost in the time stream?

Dick; Have you considered grief counselling?

Danny; Ok honey, take your time. Lay it out for me. What do you need my help with? Dick, go make sure Damian doesn't get himself killed I have this.

Dick; feeding his obsession won't help him?

Danny; Who says I don't believe him? Tim is probably the smartest person I have ever met. If he says B is temporally dislocated, he probably is!'

Tim; God I love you so much Danny! Here is my ideas!

Danny; Ok, counterpoint, I don't leave your side at ALL. The LoA ARE NOT SAFE! So I am going with to put the fear of ME into the Demon's Head. Ok? ok.

Tim; Ok, So here's where we start!

Danny; Good to know. Now what are your back up plans? How do we do this without losing body parts? What tools do we need? Come on love, you have to have your backup plans. You know I'm with you 100% but still. An ounce of prevention...

Tim; Yes yes yes, a pound of cure. FINE!

tiredwriter2003

Imagine after all this goes down they meet the canon version of themselves. The Jason taht tried to murder Tim, the Tim who never had a Danny, The Bruce who was never called out and forced to communicate, the spoilt brat which was the original Damien. They meet Feral-chaotic-unhinged Tim, his overprotective-enabling-babysitter-brother Danny, Semi-stable-slightly weary of tf is wrong with them-secretly alive but unknown Jason, Calming down-getting along with Tim Damien. Just the babysitter world being stuck in canon for a while. And the other family having to see what could have been. Tim sees how he could have been with support. Just to add some angst for flavour.

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#Just wait until Danny finds out Joker is still alive#Guess he has a murder to plan#Babysitter verse Bruce finding out Jason is alive and has been avoiding him#Whereas feral Tim and damien look into what happened to this worlds danny#and are not pleased#So they have a kidnapping to plan and they're keeping him#this dimension doesnt need him and they clearly werent tkaing very good care of him#He's theres now#new brother#dp x dc#dc x dp#dcxdp#dpxdc#danny fenton#batfam#shenanigans#tim drake#red robin#nanny danny#batman

Why you hide in the tags? But yes. Babysitter verse feral ass kids just going. No. You do not get to do this. We are gonna steal you all away. Ours now. You lost having child privilege! You don't look after them well enough to deserve then!

tiredwriter2003

They manage to take them all back to their universe and now the Justice League needs to stage both a rescue mission for the Batkids + Kon, who Tim decided can join his Kon and stay with him, and an intervention becasue obvoiusly avoiding therapy was not going well for Bruce.

Whereas the Babysitter verse knows they can't keep them forever, their universe's Gotham needs someone to take care of it, but they can help them in the meantime. Look how thin they are, how big are those eyebages?

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The Justice League arrive into alt Gotham and meet Babysitter verse. And just... wow. OK, we can see why you stole the kids now... How is he so well adjusted? I see... So, this was more to give them a break? You had no real intention of keeping them? You just saw our B needed a push to go to therapy. What convinced yours? A snarky teen calling him weak for avoiding it? Well that's certainly one way of doing it...

absolutely-esme

Canon Damian has a crisis over seeing this other version of him being valued the way he has always wanted seemingly without doing anything to earn it.

Damian can only understand regard as earned through combat prowess and proving oneself the more useful option, and he fully believes that to earn a place in a group you have to kick someone out of theirs. No one's ever done much to contradict the idea. Sure, he had to learn how the Bats fight differently from the League of Assassins, but he was ultimately proven correct that making himself useful to the cause was how he earned acknowledgement, and displacing Tim as was how he secured his place.

Now this other version of him doesn't seem to have done any of that work, and is somehow more favorably regarded?! It's not fair!

Also, his other is mocking him!

"What, you still haven't figured out that Mother's intel was extremely out of date? How embarrassing. She hadn't even spoken to Father since before we were born."

"Obviously, in this system people are expected to create their own places. Trying to fill a role that's already filled instead of making your own role that no one else can just makes you look pathetic. What's more you decided to steal the place of someone who didn't even have a place of his own yet. Congratulations, you successfully usurped the title of generic trainee who isn't yet ready to be an independent operative. What a magnificent coup."

"Honestly, it's no wonder they are as reluctant to rely on you as they are given that you still haven't figured out how to properly function in this system. What use is a resource that sabotages your other resources and leaves you with less means at your disposal to achieve success."

Babysitter-verse Damian is really letting Canon Damian have it. He might be channeling some bitterness about his early upbringing into the burns he's dealing. One of the others from Babysitter-verse pulls him aside to talk because he's saying some worrying things.

Babysitter-verse Damian explains that Canon Damian isn't going to shift his worldview all at once, and the fact that they didn't correct him in the transitional period is going to make him even more resistant. They have to start him off with something close enough to what he knows that he won't reject it wholesale.

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Danny straight up purges the pits from Canon Jason and yeets him at their Jay. Shoves Canon Dick at Jazz. Canon Tim and Kon are left to his brother. And he is going to focus on Canon Damian with his. They are going to drive the poor boy up the wall between them.

Danny: Once Damian learned how things worked here, of course he earned my regard. Your upbringing is not your fault! Your inability to let go of failed teachings however? Very much is! So! Both of you can spar. No fatal moves or I will intervene!

Canon Damian sees this softer version of himself and assumed he has it in the bag. Which wrong move buddy. Babysitter verse Damian? Is twice as feral. And has fought against stronger and faster goes repeatedly. He has gone beyond the basic training Canon Damian is allowed due to his issues. Canon Damian is repeatedly ground into the dirt. And Danny just grins. Takes his weapons to replace them with nerf ones. And gets everyone involved in training.

regonold

Babysitter verse all grin because the nerf war has become a sort of family training/bonding that every one can join in even alfred so cannon verse get the absolutely terrifying image of every batfam member grinning batman included ready to absolutely destroy the cannon verse

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Canon verse? Get absolutely crushed. How are they this good? Because they have to put up with Danny. That's why. They have homes their senses far beyond what is normally necessary. Danny made damn sure of it. He was not risking his little brother.

Canon Tim? Is thoroughly impressed by his counterpart and wants to know how this came to be. And how he can change his training to fix it!

absolutely-esme

Canon Batman: I hate dealing with the supernatural.

BV Batman: Sounds like a skill issue. Get good, scrub.

Canon Batman: >:(

Canon Jason: *laughs hysterically*

Canon Dick: *laughs hysterically*

Canon Steph: *laughs hysterically*

Canon Cass: *smirks because she was the only one to keep up*

Canon Tim: *lies serenely where he has been bundled into a blanket burrito and burried in a cuddle puddle since he got captured early in the game*