Hello! I'd like to ask how they would react if reader pinned them down and started kissing them all over their face.
Hi!
Red
What are you doing?! Oh, wait. That’s kind of nice…
He goes from feisty to fully relaxed in record time
Comic
Is he dead? You don’t know but you don’t have the heart to stop
He’s having the time of his life, even if his brain is trying to cook itself from how flustered he is
Blue
You don’t even get fully on top of him before you’re flipped around
You may kiss him now. He’s waiting
Heart
Shrieks playfully and whines that you’re going to ruin his makeup
Syrah
Will not stand for the pinning!
…but he likes the kisses
Solution! He picks you up (regardless of how much taller or shorter you are than him) and sits you in his lap.
Well? He didn’t say to stop with the kisses!
Geno
Grumbling the whole time about missing his shows like he didn’t pause the minute he saw you coming
Fresh
Confused but enjoying the experience
He may try to replicate it on you later
Reaper
Lays there and soaks it up like an affection sponge
You’re less pinning him and more just holding on, considering he starts floating so his wings don’t cramp and he can continue to have your undivided attention
Plum
Flustered into silence for once
Not used to this kind of affection without someone wanting something from him
Cherrybomb
*Gasp* Kiss attacks!
You’re both wrestling and giggling and covering each others faces in kisses
It ends with you two absolutely worn out and snuggling
Dream
Oh, his poor Soul can’t take this…
He’s so flustered and keeps trying to tell you that you don’t need to for some reason, but gets so confused when you say you want to
Ink
You get bit
He just got so excited that he chomped on your cheek happily
Begging you to do it again because it was nice and he promises not to leave teeth marks on your face this time-
Swap
Kiss every scar-freckle on his face! He loves it
The best way to help him unwind when he’s stressed
Ccino
Loves it so much
The cats get jealous of all the kisses you’re giving him though
You must kiss all the babies now, not just your s/o
Nightmare
Laughs at your attempt to overpower him but lets it happen.
Spends the entire time teasing you
Killer
Flips you over and turns it back on you
You shall receive all the kisses!
Seriously, it takes a pretty dull/tired mood for him not to be playful about it
If he is in one of those moods, he kinda just lets it happen while hugging your waist
Horror
Staring at you like you’re a weirdo but seems to enjoy it
Mostly just processing the fact that he didn’t instinctively take a swing at you when you pushed him. Clearly he trusts you more than he even realized
Dust
Cackling in surprise when you pounce on him
His hood falls off so you can actually see his expression for once
Basks in it for as long as you’ll let him
Cross
Words are not wording-
He tries to speak multiple times and nothing comes out
Eventually he just gives up to wallow in his flustered emotions till you’re done with him
Error
(Assuming he’s comfortable with your touch)
His glasses have been lost and he’s growling at you but he hasn’t made a single move against you so…
The more kisses he gets the more he softens into goo, add some compliments and he’s putty in your hands
Passive
Spontaneously combusts
Literally glowing like a nightlight while you pepper him in kisses
Swad
Basks in it
Turns his face into your affection to get as much as possible and whines if he thinks you’re going to stop
Swan
Grins and says that he should get at least one kiss on the lips/teeth for sitting through your assault
Shattered
His tentacles keep curling up your legs and around your waist like he’s trying to lock you in place
Pale
Lays there and accepts his defeat
No change in expression but he strays purring like a motor so you think he probably likes it
Template
(Assuming he’s comfortable with your touch)
Giggling and whacking at your face because it feels very ticklish to him
(Justice League Various x Reader) After centuries of surviving in a world without another human in sight, you return and find the heroes you once admired to be the only interesting things around, besides beating the shit out of monsters, of course.
Implied sexual content ahead, minors DNI.
You would describe yourself to be the pinnacle of mediocrity, your life consisting of drowning in course readings and dealing with people’s bullshit in your customer service job. You existed. You may not have been wholly content, but you got by.
And, sure you, like millions of other desolate young adults, had fantasies of escapism, being strong, being someone special. But you ultimately knew your place. You were no hero; no alien or chosen human that could answer to a greater calling. You were just you, average in every way. So unlike the heroes and villains that occupy your world. You’ll never make an impact that’ll even come close to the likes of them.
The only thing you can hope to do is try to make your parent’s suffering of starting a life here worth it. That all the money and work invested in you would have some sort of pay off. Even if it means you had to traverse a path you’re still uncertain about.
You knew your limits, and maybe that rigid acceptance is what led to your own self destruction.
You find yourself in a desolate world void of humans but occupied with beasts unlike anything you have ever seen before, with sharpened talons and razored blades for teeth. No matter how much you cry and scream you do not wake up. The only communication you get comes in the form of ‘tabs’ that resemble something out of a video game. It’s gives you quests to adhere, reminders to keep things interesting, notifications you’re being watched by deities that watch your struggle like a show to tune into. Every moment, no matter how humiliating, is spectated.
You want nothing more to return to the life you had, answer the messages you never got the chance to respond to, try the things you never got to even attempt. You curse your inaction, your own spoiled thoughts from a lifetime ago, your parents for even giving birth to you if this is the reality you have to face.
Your survival hangs on a thread at first, you only being able to run away from the larger beasts. Eventually your tears dry, you fight back against the ones smaller than you. These Outergods sponsor you with a game like currency. You level up. You acquire gear better than a makeshift bone shiv. You consume. You sleep. And you do it all over again for the next couple centuries in this world. You do not age, but you grow taller, strengthened by the creatures you slaughter. Eventually, you don’t need a blade to slay them anymore. Then the beasts try to avoid you. You still kill them. They’re never ending. The least they can do is give you something to do in their infinity.
You stop feeling fear, sadness, indignation, and even hatred. You exist. You somewhat remember the life and name you had before. You don’t really feel one way about it or the other. Your family, obligations, and old identity are all null and void to you now.
Clearly your spectators grow bored as they send you back to the world you once called yours. Apparently barely a year has passed since you were taken, even if you might be the oldest human to walk Earth now.
For the first time in a long time, you’re struck with uncertainty. A world that isn’t stuck in time, one loud with the presence of people, and yet you feel no relief or sanctity in the safety of your old home. No, you’re struck with how just like in that beast world, you’re still horrifically, agonizingly bored.
Until you notice a hoard of androids terrorize the street. You can feel the blood thrumming in your veins, and you realize with renewed vigour that it wasn’t bloodshed that you had yearned for, but the thrill of battle, not knowing if you’ll live, and putting everything you had left on the line after abandoning the softness that once defined your modern life.
And so you fought. You were barely grazed with a laser, but you could appreciate the adrenaline rushing through your body, the uncertainty of a new adversary. You paid little mind to the screaming civilians trying to evacuate the streets, all you cared about was tearing about these metal beings before they could even try to do the same to you.
You’re broken from the euphoria of battle when you feel a whoosh of air behind you, and a dozen androids deactivate before you.
“Hey there, don’t think I’ve ever seen you around,” what appeared to be living electrical energy clad in crimson spoke to you, in a tone you could almost recognize as friendly. “Not that I mind the help! I’m always happy to meet—!”
You can feel your pupils dilate as every inch of your body screams that this man is dangerous. Powerful. Different from the fodder you faced before.
“—so, what do you go by?”
Summoning your broad sword, you swiftly slam it into the ground below, watching the man get tossed back by its force as the concrete crumbles beneath him.
You toss your sword to where he lands, but he quickly recovers and disappears before reappearing before you.
“Woah, what are you—“ you interrupt him by throwing a punch but he dodges again, “Can we talk about this sudden aggression—!?”
Tiring of his evasion, you recall your sword and prepare to strike the ground again before pausing as a sudden rush of memories strikes you.
“Ah,” you hum, before stretching out your hand, halting the approaching speedster that stares at you confused. “You’re that one hero…Bolt, or whatever. Speed guy.”
Yes, a hero. Not a warrior. Not a survivor. And certainly not a killer. You feel the apathy rush back as you stare at him. No, you wouldn’t get a real fight out of him. He’d sooner try to subdue you. Non-lethally. Honestly, he was way too nice.
“Flash? I mean, I’m the Flash, hero of the city you’re in!” The speedster fumbles for a second, starting at you in puzzlement.
“Yeah, let’s just call it here.” You sigh before walking away. You definitely forgot heroes were a thing for a second. And takeout.
You’re stopped in your tracks when Flash blocks your path.
“Woah there, you can’t just leave!” He protests.
“Why not?”
“You took down like hundreds of androids, attacked me, and-and you haven’t even introduced yourself!”
“Hmm, I think I forgot my name,” you reply, bring a hand up to your chin in mock contemplation.
“What-?”
“Do you want to have sex with me or something?” You ask. “Because you’re being a bit clingy, man.”
The hero states at you with his mouth agape, and you can see the red flush growing around his cowl.
“I get it, it’s pretty easy for arousal to mix with thrill in battle. I won’t say I’m not attracted to you, but I’ve got things to do, people to fight, and I doubt I can get what I need from you,” you explain nonchalantly. “But hey, keep your head up, man. There’s some charm in being the fastest man alive. I’d test it under different circumstances, really.”
You back away as Flash remains still as a statue, exposed skin now matching his suit as he blankly watched you leave.
“What just happened…?”
Honestly you don't have anything against heroes. You pity them, really. They remind you of your own inexperience once upon a time, fighting against the inevitable. But you can't deny that there are some with years beyond even yours, continuing to fight in their crusade.
Some more interesting than others.
Hawkgirl, who you recall to have been a member of the Justice Society of America, was someone that made you look like a babe in comparison to the lifetimes held in that strong body. Good fighter too. You're almost disappointed your battle was interrupted by another invasion and she apparently found you to be an ally rather than an opponent after that. You just wanted to see if those aliens were worth a damn.
Wonder Woman also stood out for the same reason, encountering her when you arrived at Themyscira for a duel with their strongest. And boy did she deliver. But sadly you could see that she adopted a non-lethal style, fighting only till first blood rather than to the death.
At least their bathhouse was luxurious even if it was communal. Diana said that it was for bonding. You think she was totally checking you out.
You could say that you were becoming increasingly familiar with the growing Justice League, encountering its members every so often.
You didn't pick a fight, aware it would be more trouble than it was worth. You doubt you'd be too satisfied either.
So when you find yourself encountering the Bat in Gotham after subduing Clayface, you're not surprised.
You're also not surprised when he recites your name and missing status.
He drones on about the circumstances of your disappearance, your return as a much stronger (and hotter) individual, and your dubious intentions.
You throw you sword at him, and he ducks out of the way, throwing you a glare just as sharp as your blade.
You explain that he's not a great speaker, and he should invest in some interpersonal communication courses. And that's coming from you. You then add you'll leave after you try the recently opened batburger.
He gives you a ride in his Batmobile.
Superman was a bit of an irritating figure. A boy scout, despite his godlike abilities. Staring at him, you wonder how much kinetic force it would take to burst the blood vessels beneath that impenetrable skin.
"We would really like for you to visit the Watchtower! We understand if you may not want to commit to being a full time member, so if we could call on you—!"
He pauses when you outstretch your hand and stare at him with a raised eyebrow. He places his hand in yours, almost as if it was instinct, blushing when you brush your thumb across his skin.
You hum in thought before departing.
"Uh, wait! Was that a yes!?"
You're pretty sure you're about to bed Green Lantern. You had come to Coast City, curious to see if any disasters would occur to alleviate your boredom, but had instead ran into a man with swoopy hair and an nice aviator jacket in a bar. He was pleasant. He seemed charmed by your Superman/Lex Luthor conspiracy theories. And he talked about flying with a passion unfamiliar to you.
So when you ended up at his place, back against his door as he kissed and nipped at your neck, you pulled him back by his brown hair to look at you.
"I'm a virgin, by the way."
He stares at you incredulously with a touch of concern. "Are you sure this is how you want your first time to go? We don't have to do this."
You doubt you'll get a fight out of him. He'd probably just trap you in a construct, but there are other ways for you to get physical.
...and you needed the experience for the next time an Amazonian propositions you.
"I like you well enough. And I've waited a long time to actually do something like this," you reply, still playing with his hair.
"You really want to do this with an older guy?"
You laugh, "I'm definitely the older one here."
His lip twitches as he shoots you an amused look, "And I'm Batman."
"Do you really want to talk about him before we-?”
The lantern silences you with another hot kiss that you grin into.
Yes, this Justice League certainly made things interesting, even if some of them were obnoxious do-gooders.
Hal: So, what's your name?
Returnee, with jumbled memories: Demonic Blade of Slaughter
Hal:
Returnee: Do you want to have sex?
Returnee: So, yeah, I was trapped in a monster world for presumably centuries with these outer world gods being the only other sentient beings and they only made contact via stream chat donations. And the only thing that even elicits any emotional or physiological response in me is violence.
Batman, internally dying:
Returnee: Don't worry, I don't fight street tiers like you.
Diana: It's been a while since l've last had such an invigorating bout, I would love to spend more time testing how far we can push each to... our limits.
Returnee, who spent the last centuries off Earth as a virgin: I hear the glory of battle calling, must be off, let's fight again soon!
Outergods: Okay, so the human has definitely cleared this world, so how about we return this bloody thirsty heathen back to their original world and see what entertainment we find in the chaos—!
Outergods: Okay, so they're just having sex with all these superpowered individuals. And is that—-Oh my god, is that Constantine!?
Outergods: Yeah, no, this is hot, I'm donating 10k coins for that.
Clearing out my drafts! I really love the whole system in ORV and I found the returnee concept so interesting. Masterlist
After the first time Freakshow escaped jail and caused the whole Reality Gauntlet fiasco, Danny has decided to keep constant tabs on him. He wasn’t going to be caught off guard by the ringmaster’s revenge plot a second time.
So when Freakshow was suddenly dragged through a glowing tear in the air, it barely took any time for Danny to arm himself and follow the magical trail after him.
He hadn’t been sure what to expect on the other side, but it certainly wasn’t this.
A huge group of creepy clown bastards facing off against a group of teens and young adults led by a man in bat costume.
Ugh, this was going to be a nightmare. He fucking hates clowns.
Danny decided he needed a vacation. He had recently gotten shapeshifting powers in his ghost form, because ectoplasm could be molded and stretched. The only thing that needed to stay the same was his core. He decided to become a puppy, and live out a few years with a good family. Unfortunately, he got involved in a dog fighting ring, and to keep his cover, had to go along with it. But that didn’t stop him from sending messages to the local bats. He’s rescued along with all of the other pups, and Batman had taken a liking to him. He’s named Ace and brought home with Batman. Bruce quickly found out that Ace (Danny) was scarily good at reading people, and after Ace had broken out of a locked cage and saved Batman more than once, that he now had a sidekick that was his dog. Danny was having his best time being a crime fighting dog.
He registers the soft swish of the vigilante's cape and the sharp little shwings of several batarangs, but keeps his focus on the pups.
They're very squiggly and squirming and the littlest one keeps getting underfoot and Danny just wants them to be okay!
Danny still hasn't gotten the hang of dog speak--he keeps mixing up his woofs and arfs--and going from bipedal to four-legged animal doesn't exactly feel fluid in his brain. It's especially hard to go from his ghost form's liquid 5’6 (He’s still banking on those Fenton genes to kick in, he’s only 16 after all!) to a warm, solid 22 inches, give or take.
The floor is dirty, he has 8 or 9 other puppies in the cage with him, and they are definitely not potty trained. They also keep banging their heads on the bars and not all of them remember what happened to the one puppy that managed to escape but Danny can see the little guy cowering under his back leg so he does what any reasonable puppy-shapeshifted halfa would do in his position: He corrals the puppies in the middle of the cage as best he can.
Danny still can't believe he's gotten himself in this position, though he maintains it's all Clockwork's fault.
Go to Gotham, he said, have fun as a street dog, he said, I'll make sure you're dropped in a reasonable shelter he said. Danny grumbles reasonable my fluffy little ass, but in his current form all it sounds like is a sorry excuse for a growl.
He was dropped off at a nice shelter on the edge of Bristol and was actually having a good time for his so-called vacation. Eating dog food was weird, and the whole bathroom and general bathing situation was also weird, but with his new tastebuds and lowered inhibitions Danny had managed it.
He was just getting his bearings on making the shape shifting a little more semi-permanent (it wouldn't do to transform back in his sleep) when two men came by his cage.
They reeked of bad juju, and Danny had growled and growled, but considering he was something like a six month old German Shepherd, well.
Next thing Danny knew he was being tossed into a cage with other puppies, front row seat to his presumed future: Dog Fighting.
Danny had sighed, then, and he sighs again now.
The pups have all settled somewhat around and under him and the grunts and loud noises seemed to have settled down. That was fast, but well, he's a full 10+ years older than when Danny started fighting his rogues, and definitely a better fighter so what else did he expect? He's just happy the blob ghosts still understood him in dog-form and that that the Bat was able to take a hint.
He makes a little bark noise, to see if Batman can find them. The cage is sort of pushed into the back corner of the presumed head honcho's office and if you don't look around the desk they could be easily missed.
He wasn't sure if it would work, but then the Dark Knight himself emerges from above the desk, and Danny can feel the puppies near him tremble a bit.
Danny carefully paws his way over to the edge of the cage to meet Batman. He sits just in front of the puppy pile and makes a happy little bark that echoes around the room.
The Batman can be stoic all he likes, Danny can feel the relief the vigilante has about finding them (perks of ghost empathy) and he can definitely see the corner of the Bat's mouth curling up slightly. Danny feels his tail wag a little bit, as the Bat opens the cage for them.
Danny gives him a little paw pat on his leg and lick on the chin as thanks, before woofing at the other puppies to be nice.
The puppies don’t fall in line, as puppies tend to be averse to such things, but they do fall over themselves to crowd the big Bat who seems to be at a loss for a split second.
Danny sits pretty and smug, very proud of himself, and his tail starts wagging a little more aggressively for it.
He’s so busy making sure the other puppies aren’t wandering off anywhere he doesn’t notice Batman eyeing him a little curiously.
===
Later, Danny is cradled in the Bat’s arms as the dogs are handed over. Batman is currently talking to Commissioner Gordan whilst Danny, having tuned them out a while ago, is watching his cage-mates be softly put into a large dog bed in the back of a large Animal Control Van.
He sees the other adult dogs in large carriers, and his tail sways a little, making little thumping noises against the Bat’s armor. He’s very happy his little stunt with the Dog Fight thugs was able to get the Bat’s attention.
And then the Commissioner starts patting his head, and Danny realizes they’re talking about him now.
“Calm little guy, isn’t he?” Gordan says, only to get a grunt in return. Danny swings his face towards the Bat, and makes a face. Now that he thinks about it, most of the conversation was The Commissioner talking, and the Bat responding in a variety of grunts and monosyllabic answers. Well, if the Bat isn’t gonna answer…
Danny does a soft little arf! in reply, sitting up a bit within the cradle the Bat has made him with his bulky arms.
“Oh? Are you answering for him?” Gordan asks, clearly joking. Danny, thinking about his conversations with Cujo, is slightly relieved that he’s not the only one who talks to dogs and responds accordingly with a soft woofwoof!
That seems to make even the Bat chuckle, and Danny perks up. He turns himself around to brace a paw on the Bat’s chest, looking into the vigilante’s eyes in glee. He can feel his tongue lolling out, which is weird but not un-managable, and he touches the man’s face with his other paw, elated. The Bat can smile!!!
“Well, now, isn’t that a sight.” Gordan says, breaking the mood and bringing a frown back onto the Bat’s face. He adjusts his grip on Danny so that he’s back to facing the Commissioner. Danny huffs and growls a little—miffed that the Commissioner would ruin Danny’s crowning achievement.
Lady Gotham had given him the 101 on living in Gotham as a dog, seeing as she was the leading expert and all, and the only favor she asked was to keep an eye out for her precious Dark Knight. Danny was genuinely curious about the vigilante, and Lady Gotham had obliged to his curiosity, delighted to be able to share stories of her precious Bat. And there were a lot of stories. It’s a good thing time runs wonky in the Realms, otherwise Danny would have been an adult himself by the time he got the downlow on Batman’s tragic origin story.
So sue him. Danny’s got a soft spot for the Bat. All he wants to do is help, and Danny can totally get with that! He’s here on vacation, sure, but he can look after one measly bat! Especially since he did promise Lady Gotham he’d keep a paw out for the guy.
This Commissioner guy seems unrepentant, so when he tries to pet Danny again, he bares his teeth at him and huddles closer into Batman’s arms.
Batman, ever the hero, smoothly moves Danny away. He bids the amused Gordan a goodbye, and Danny does a little hmph, satisfied.
He’s a little sad to say goodbye, but such is life. Nevermind that technically he’s only sort of alive.
He perks up a bit, seeing his cage-mates jump up excitedly in their giant bed. He’s held under his armpits (are they still called armpits in dog-anatomy?) and presented to them, but not put down. He strains his back paws a little, bracing, but only manages a tiptoe (tip-paw?). Danny makes a confused little whimper, until he hear Batman grunt behind him.
“Say goodbye, chum.” Danny looks at Batman, sure he didn’t hear right, but the Bat jostles him a little as if to emphasize.
There isn’t much else Danny can do, so he does as he is bid and barf-arf, awooo’s a little goodbye to his cage mates. They whimper and try to escape their fluffy little prison, but before any of them could succeed Danny is whisked away and the van’s doors close.
He’s put in the passenger seat of the sleek black car Batman came in, and doesn’t hide his little doggy laugh when Batman falters about whether or not to buckle him in.
Danny makes the decision for him, jumping down into the well of the seat and curling up into a little ball. The low rumble of the car lulls him into puppy sleep.
===
When Danny wakes up, he’s being jostled back into the Bat’s arms and carried into a large cavernous area. There are actual bats hanging out in the ceiling, and Danny is here for it. The man sticks to a theme, and Danny can respect that in a guy.
“Oh? And who do we have here?” An older man stands by the large computer screen that takes up almost an entire wall of the cave---it shines a bright blue and provides most of the lighting. Danny is a little overwhelmed by the new smells and sights and sounds, but he focuses most of his attention on the man in a butler suit.
Arf! He greets, as soft as he is able to. He feels more than hears Batman’s little chuckle. He’s unreasonably proud about it, and feels his tail make those little thumps again, before he’s being passed over.
Danny doesn’t like that, the Bat is one thing--his butler is another entirely. He wriggles and struggles until they put him on the floor, where he circles around to sit primly behind Batman.
That seems to amuse both of them, and they converse a little bit as the Bat sheds his armor.
“--and this little guy seemed to be the ringleader of the puppies.” Batman finishes.
“I see. Am I to assume then, Master Bruce, that we will be welcoming a new member into the Manor?” the butler says. Bruce! Batman’s name is Bruce!!
Danny, who had been following Bruce a couple steps away and sitting like a good boy, is delighted to learn the Bat’s name. Wait. New member?
And then Bruce picks him up again, scratching under his chin. Oh yeah, that’s the ticket!i
“What do you say, chum? Will you stay with me and Alfred?” Bruce is looking at Danny now, and his tiny puppy body is so happy all he can do is give Bruce lots of doggy kisses. Both men chuckle, before Danny is hoisted away at half-arm’s length, but still face to face with Bruce.
“Ace. I think we’ll call you Ace.” Bruce says after a moment. Danny feels his tail wag aggressively, a little woof in agreement.
“Ace is a fine name, Master Bruce.” Danny looks over at Alfred and gives him a little woof too.
Yeah, Ace will do just fine.
===
Three months later, Ace has broken out of the Manor 26 times, his cage (made unreasonably large for fear of trauma) 18 times, and has saved Batman's butt a whopping 32 times.
Alfred has bestowed upon him a custom harness/collar with copious amounts of pockets (filled with medical supplies because the Bat is always reckless, with a special pocket for homemade treats to be given to Ace when he finishes a job) and a large bat symbol on the armored front of it.
Bruce couldn't stop him if he tried (which he has, 20 times to be exact, before giving up completely) so now they spend Sundays and Wednesdays "training."
Ace meets Richard “Dick” Grayson on a normal, Wednesday night, which doesn’t make sense.
It doesn’t make sense because Wednesday nights are for playing training with Bruce and relaxing with some reruns of Gray Ghost to “cool down.”
Normal Wednesday nights are not nights, Ace thinks, for losing your parents and being whisked away by a billionaire furry and his half-ghost dog.
Wednesday nights are not for angry little boys who can’t cry to their parents anymore, and certainly not for something as nonsensical, as life changing as murder.
Ace thinks about this as Bruce drives them back to the Manor, after the shitshow that was the press and police showing up. He thinks about this as he lays his front paws and head down in Dick’s lap, whining, trying to comfort the little boy as best he can.
He feels tears fall onto his head, making his ears twitch down even more, and he tries his damnedest to get closer to the boy even though it’s impossible without phasing through.
Dick has been alarmingly silent, the second he got into the car. Ace had seen him, from where he sat with Bruce in the crowd, screaming when his parents fell. And then he heard laughter outside the tent, and then suddenly Dick was screaming for another reason.
Ace is drowning in Dick’s aura--the boy is so wracked with grief and anger and hatred and self-loathing that Ace wonders how the boy can even breathe.
Ace tries to lick the boys tears away, tries to snuffle his way into his arms, until finally, finally, Dick hugs him. He wraps his arms around Ace’s neck, which is a little uncomfortable but definitely manageable, and buries his face into the ruff of his fur.
He starts shaking, and Ace decides that this is it.
This is why he’s here.
Danny came to Gotham to have fun, have a Guardian of Time approved vacation so he could go back to his own dimension and time with nobody else the wiser, a little break before the weight of his responsibilities crushes him.
Ace is here for Richard “Dick” Grayson.
Dick’s cries reverberate through his bones, barely muffled by his fur.
The car stops, and Ace looks over to Bruce, whom Ace has come to think of as almost an older brother, perhaps even a father.
When their eyes meet, Ace knows with the certainty of the moon falling and rising that both of them will protect Dick Grayson for as long as they can manage it.
===
Ace is trailing after Dick, as he usually does, through the Manor when the boy sneaks into Bruce’s study.
He’s been exploring the Manor, with Ace as his dutiful companion, and trying to “get the lay of the land.”
Ace huffs a little, confused, before sitting down in front of the desk to watch as Dick goes through the study like it’s somehow interesting to him.
He’s inspecting the books first, pulling one down to look through its pages before returning it to its place. Then he’s rummaging through the desk, and then through the tchotchkes behind it.
And then he stops right in front of the clock. Not just any clock, the Grandfather clock. Ace’s ears twitch, but he doesn’t move.
Dick touches the glass pane softly, trailing his fingers into the groove of the ornate wood. He’s a little too short to reach the clock face, but that doesn’t stop him from noticing that despite the pendulum moving, the hands do not.
Dick crosses his arms and puts a chin in his hand, thinking, and it’s such a Bruce mannerism that Ace can’t help but huff out a laugh.
The sound makes the boy look over at him, which prompts Ace’s tail to wag a little. He won’t hide his amusement and if the boy figures it out he’s gonna campaign for the adults to put Dick in the advanced classes because he’s a genius. He’s not sure how, but it will happen.
Watch out, World’s Greatest Detective. He’s comin’ for you.
Dick smiles a little, before coming over to pat Ace on the head.
“What do you think he’s hiding, boy?” Ace gives him an amused little boof, and begs for scratches. Sue him, the boy has magic scratching powers.
After obliging Ace with the best scratches, Dick then drags Bruce’s chair over to the clock to stand on. It’s one of the spinny ones, but balance has never been an issue. Ace still stands to brace the chair for him with his doggy paws.
“Thanks, Ace. Now let’s see....” Dick trails of, absentmindedly, before fiddling with the hands.
It isn’t long before the clock opens to the secret passage, and Ace has to grab Dick’s shirt so he doesn’t fall through.
Once Dick is firmly on the ground he stares at the hidden staircase, a soft and low “Woah...” escaping from him.
He turns to look at Ace, sitting primly waiting for Dick to finish his mini freak out. His tail wags a little, and feels his tongue loll out as it usually does when he’s proud of his family.
“C’mon, Ace!” Contrary to his excited tone, Dick carefully makes his way down to the Cave with Ace following loyally behind him.
Once his second freak out is done, this time inside the Cave, Dick turns to him and asks “Did you know about this??”
Ace can only huff in amusement, before leading him over to the glass cases lined up against the wall. He plants himself in between two specific ones and puffs out his chest.
Behind him, to his left, is Batman’s latest kevlar suit. To his right, in the smallest case, his Bat Hound collar sits pride of place.
Dick beams.
===
Ace is starting to realize that it’s actually a Bruce thing, not a Danny thing, when it comes to losing control of his wards.
He’s lounging on the Cave floor, listening to Dick and Bruce argue their lungs out about whether or not Dick will be allowed to join patrol.
There’s arguments back and forth about age, about avenging murders, about autonomy, the works.
Personally Ace is on Bruce’s side, but he recognizes that that’s a bit hypocritical of him.
Then again, Danny didn’t really have a choice.
Ace though, definitely did.
So, he stays out of it. Alfred comes down with some tea and dog biscuits, so Ace gets up to trot to the old man to “help.”
He supervises Alfred as he finishes setting up the table, before barking for the arguing pair to come sit.
Alfred watches, endlessly amused, as they obediently make their way over without stopping their argument. Once they’re seated, Alfred hands him a biscuit (which Ace devours in 2 seconds) before taking his leave.
Ace decides this is definitely the time for a nap, and so he does.
He’s roused from his light doze when Dick exclaims excitedly with a “YES!”
The boy is jumping around the chair where Bruce is sitting, though he notices they are now at the Bat Computer and no longer at the table.
He smells the scent of tears from both of them, and feels their frustration and excitement and worry and victory all mixing together as one. Must have been a hell of an argument.
He yawns and stretches, making his way over to his boy and getting hugged within an inch of his half-life before Dick races back to the table, grabbing a pen and paper on the way.
Before Ace can follow, he hears Bruce give a weary, heartbroken sigh.
Bruce is sitting with his head in his hands, muttering to himself.
What have I done and his parents will never forgive me and what if something happens to him sounds brokenly muffled. Ace whines a little, pushing his snout through Bruce’s hands to lick at his face.
Bruce chuckles a bit, before giving Ace a hearty helping of pet love.
“You’ll help me look out for him, won’t you boy?” Bruce asks softly, eyes crinkled in worry.
Ace gives him a low woof in agreement, placing his head down on Bruce’s lap to give more comfort. He’s being crushed by Bruce’s overwhelming worry and parental love, but he can stand it. Dick is his boy, but he was Bruce’s first.
He’s about to fall asleep again like that, in the quiet heft of Bruce’s complicated feelings of love and care, the feeling of his hands combing through the fur of his head and ears, before he hears the quiet steps of hesitation behind him.
His ear twitches, before he sits up and re-situates himself beside Bruce, facing a suddenly shy looking Dick.
He’s holding something behind his back, and slowly takes closer steps when Bruce beckons to him with a quiet “Chum?” Ace tilts his head in question as well.
Dick takes a little breath, before showing them both the drawing he’s made: greens and yellows spilling all over the paper.
Bruce heaves a little sigh, amused despite himself, and Ace’s tail wags in delight.
“Since you’re Batman...he should get another winged friend, you know?” Bruce takes the paper from him, and Dick seems uncharacteristically shy so Ace boofs a little in support.
“So I was thinking...Maybe I could be your Robin?” Bruce hums a little, thoughtful. The costume is awfully bright, and Ace isn’t sure if that will be conducive to the whole I am the Night thing Bruce has going on.
“Like Robin Hood?” Bruce asks, absently, grabbing a pen to make some adjustments and notes. Dick goes a little quiet at the question, which makes both of them look up at the boy.
“....My mom, she. Well.” Dick starts, before looking away, clearly struggling. Ace goes over to give his support, feeling Dick relax a bit as he starts petting him. Bruce puts down the paper and gives his full attention, and that seems to bolster the boy enough to stand a little firmer, clearing his throat.
“My mom, she used to....she used to call me her little Robin, because I was born on the first day of Spring.” Dick finishes, voice cracking a little over the name. They both make sure not to call attention to it.
After a long silence, Bruce gets up and places a hand on his shoulder.
“I think Robin is a great name, chum.” Ace gives a little bark in agreement, and the watery smile Dick gives them still shines like the sun---a sunshower in the breezes of March.
Spring is in full swing when Ace feels a familiar aura outside the Manor.
He recognizes the signature, even after 10 years. That’s the weirdest part about this whole thing, the time.
He still feels, distantly and at once so closely, like 16 year old Danny Fenton, fresh on vacation. But he also feels all of 11 years of Ace’s old age, in his bones and in his blood.
He doesn’t know how growth works, in this kind of circumstance. Time is all about perception, but he didn’t think he understood what that meant until now. Some part of him will feel 26 years old, but even now he recalls the summer reading he never did and how it’s going to be a scramble to catch up before heading back for Junior year in High School.
Clockwork had said it would be okay, so Ace pushes it out of his mind. Frostbite had even advised it, something about mental fortitude in preparation for the throne. He’s not really sure.
He wonders if this is what CW meant when he said he would know it was time.
He lifts his head from where he was sleeping with the newest addition to the family: Damien Wayne né Al Ghul.
He swings his head back and forth, ears pricking, before realizing he’s brought someone else with him. This aura is a little less familiar, but he knows it intimately anyway.
The boy beside him grumbles a bit, but allows him to leave. Ace huffs one of his signature doggy laughs. He gives the boy a couple of licks, and urges him to follow.
Damien, though still wary (and stabby, as the others like to call him) seems to understand and gets up from his bed, more alert.
It’s a warm Sunday afternoon, and the Manor is starting to stir. Ace is loath to do so, as his wards deserve all the leisure in the world, it’s time, and he has a big round to make.
He sniffs the air, mostly for show since his aura-sensing is more accurate, and heads for the nearest occupant. Luckily, it’s a full house today for Sunday Brunch. CW probably planned that.
Ace scratches at the door, with Damien making that little tt noise before joining in with a perfunctory one-two-three. There’s a groan, and about a minute later Tim pops out, bleary eye’d and confused.
Ace presses his face to Tim’s hand, the one not rubbing at his face, and accepts the sleepy little scratches he’s given before he tugs at TIm’s PJs to follow.
They repeat the process at the next door, Tim leaning heavily on Damien much to the younger’s chagrin, before Steph and Cass swing the door open, wide eyed and bushy tailed, and full of pets and scratches.
Duke is just exiting his room, still groggy, Jason seemingly sent up to fetch him.
Soon enough, he has a trail of bats and birds behind him, some sleepy and some alert, quietly chatting and jostling each other the way siblings tend to do.
He leads them down the stairs to where his boy is sitting and chatting amicably with the lovely Barbara Gordan, who greets him with a soft chin scratch when he passes by.
Alfred has just set down a cup of tea for all of them, and he beckons Alfred for a greeting. The old man, ever astute, obliges him kindly. He gives Alfred a firm lick on the cheek and nuzzles the butler, before he’s slipped one of his homemade biscuits (Ace devours it in 2 seconds per tradition).
He rounds the table to where Dick sits, gesturing with his hands, before he spots Ace heading towards him. His smile is wide and as sunshine-y as ever, youthful, as he gives Ace a big hug.
But not the normal way, with arms around his doggy neck, no. Dick has never been normal and Ace has always, will always love that about him. Dick grabs Ace by his middle and lifts him like a teddy bear, squeezes him and spins him around.
Even though the vertigo is hard on his dog-brain, he endures it. He’ll give him this. When he’s put down, Ace presses his paws down on Dick’s legs where he’s crouched, and gives him a multitude of slobbery doggy kisses.
Dick’s laugh rings out, with the others’ echoing behind him. His heart is warm, and his soul is full. He’ll miss them.
Then he hears Bruce step in, smile soft as it always is when his children are all accounted for, and Ace gives one last nuzzle to his boy before he pivots to the head of the table.
Bruce grants him his special smile, indulgent, as he sits down. Ace usually doesn’t do this, because he doesn’t want Bruce to deal with dog hair before work, but today is a special day. Bruce will forgive him, and he shouldn’t be working on a Sunday anyway.
He levers himself up, paws on Bruce’s lap, and meets Bruce’s eyes. He remembers when Bruce first gave Danny his new name, and his heart feels like bursting.
Bruce seems to remember as well, chuckling and placing his arms under Danny’s armpits, as if holding him up. He gives Danny a couple of pats on the body, before something shifts, and he gently grabs Ace’s face, frowning a little.
Ace gives a sad, mournful little barf-arf, awooo, and Bruce must understand, must remember, because his face crumples and he closes his eyes. Bruce squeezes Ace’s face a little, slowly bring them together forehead to forehead.
The table quiets down, watching, confused. Bruce heaves a breath and leans back, so that Ace is half an arms length away, but keeps his grip on Ace’s face. They stare at each other, committing the other’s face to memory, before Bruce smiles sadly.
“...Saying goodbye, chum?” Bruce’s voice is a pin, and the silence makes the drop echo.
“What?” Dick’s voice breaks. Ace doesn’t want to break Bruce’s hold, but he also can’t help the small little whine.
Chaos erupts, the bats and birds talking over each other louder and louder. He loves them, these children, these wards of his and Bruce. He’ll miss them, and he’s sad that he didn’t get to know them longer, be there for them as much as he wanted to.
But Ace is old, and Danny is still waiting for Summer to end.
He keeps his gaze locked with Bruce’s, until Bruce finally releases him. When he follows Bruce’s shifted gaze, he finds that Dick has made his way over to them.
His boy is crying, Ace tries to lick his tears away as best he can, but it’s a fruitless endeavor.
Clockwork is waiting.
He steps down from where he was still braced on Bruce’s legs and looks over his wards a final time, ending with Damien, who looks so out of place and confused. He hasn’t been here long enough for Ace to be much of anything to him, other than a small comfort in a home he’s still uncomfortable in.
He feels a pang in his heart, but he turns away, heading towards the garden. Alfred is there, at the door, and gives Ace a little nod. He nods back, brushing up against the old man as he walks out into the green.
The family follows, like ducklings, until they make it to the back of the garden, where the trees line the edges of the estate.
There’s a bench there, and a patch of grass framed by rose bushes frequently used as Ace’s favorite nap space. Clockwork sits leisurely on the bench, a smile on his lips.
“Hello, Danny.” Ace greets him with a soft arf before looking around, trying to spot CW’s guest, when the bushes rustle and he hears the doggy version of cursing.
Ace huffs out a series of laughs, to the confusion of his family behind, when tumbling out of the rose bushes comes Dan in the form of a small, doberman puppy.
When the puppy lands on his butt, disgruntled and clearly still trying to get used to his new form, he sends a glare over at Ace as if it’s his fault.
He glances over at Clockwork, who is now floating above the rose bushes judging by the lack of surprise and fear behind him, he must be invisible to them.
“Dan is here for community service.” Clockwork explains, Dan growling as best he can. “It’s just a bonus that it will also give our Crown Prince a little piece of mind, no?” Clockwork is smug, and yeah, okay, it’s definitely Ace’s fault. His tongue lolls out, satisfied.
He didn’t really think about what would happen to his family when he left, and Dan’s presence here is a comfort he didn’t know he needed until this moment.
He walks over and noses at the pup, using their empathy to convey as much information as possible, to communicate. Dan huffs, but not the way Ace does in laughter, he huffs in petty spite. It makes Ace smile.
Yeah, he’ll be fine.
He sits on his haunches, pushing Dan until he’s nestled within his fore-legs, and the pair of canines wait patiently for the confusion and chaos to die down from the humans in the group.
“Whose that, boy?” Dick asks. His voice is still wobbly, but judging by his and the other’s faces they seem to already know. They settle around the bench, after Alfred admonishes them for making Ace and his guest wait. It’s almost comedic, how they’re so used to weird that this barely registers beyond a few confused words.
Finally, Ace picks Dan up by the scruff, who goes limp but somehow makes it spiteful, and brings him over to Damien. He sits down again, watching as Damien holds Dan by his armpits--just like his father before him.
Ace feels that warmth again, all at once old and young.
Damien looks to his father in question, clearly not understanding.
Bruce smiles, encouraging. “Go on, son. What’s his name?”
Damien’s eyes widen, before he meets Dan’s eyes again. Dan is clearly disgruntled, but his countenance is soft.
When Damien brings Dan a little closer, he takes the opportunity to lick his nose, making everyone chuckle and giggle and laugh.
“Titus. His name shall be Titus.” Damien proclaims, and the bats applaud and cheer, trying to meet the newcomer and exclaiming greetings.
Dan still looks stern, but his tiny tail is wagging up a storm.
Ace feels a cold hand on his shoulder, and turns to look up at Clockwork, who nods at him.
He gets up silently, making his way back to his little spot, circling before laying his head down on his paws. His tail wags, thumping against the grass in tandem to the hollers and laughter of his family, and closes his eyes.
A moment later, he feels his boy holding his face, gentle as Bruce runs his fingers through the fur down his flank.
He feels tears fall down his snout, Dick’s forehead pressing into his, mirroring Bruce from earlier.
The pressure is comforting, like a blanket. He hears them whisper their goodbyes to him, as the sounds fade out.
Ace falls asleep in the midst of Spring flowers, surrounded by his family of bats and birds.
===
Danny wakes up to thundering footsteps and his two best friends slamming into his room talking over each other about how his vacation went, how long it was, and does he feel any different?
He’s jostled between his two best friends in the whole world, their eyes gleaming and excited, and feels warmth flood through him. His door clicks closed, and he looks over to see Jazz standing there with a tray of tea.
He thinks of his other family, and a tear escapes before he can even think.
He cries and smiles and laughs with his friends and sister comforting him, welcoming him back, laughing along with him ass they listen to his story as a crime-fighting dog in a city of winged vigilantes.
The talk all day--taking breaks to eat and play games and finish up that pesky summer homework they still have--and into the night, piled upon each other.
His head is in Jazz’s lap, her fingers trailing softly through his hair as she hums a tuneless melody.
Tucker is wrapped around his waist, trapping his right arm under him, snoring softly.
Sam is holding his left hand but firmly apart--the heat affecting her more than the boys--breathing low and slow.
Danny smiles, and dreams of a smoggy starless city, smudges of black and red and green jumping rooftop to rooftop, keeping the people below safe.
He dreams of a dog, jumping after them, and when he turns, the bat symbol on the collar shines.
Somehow, some way, this is definitely Clockwork’s fault.
Titus stares at the pitbull puppy, and thinks I’m definitely gonna kick that guy’s ass the next time I see him.
He’s sure Danny will agree with him, once he explains himself. Heck, dude might even pummel CW into bits. He’s strong enough, Titus knows for sure.
Because that is Dani in Dick’s arms, and she is not only freshly missing a foreleg but also bruised to all hell.
Titus feels that good old rage bubble up in the form of a growl and forcibly paces away from the sleeping pup.
Damien tries to comfort Titus, and that more than anything had him huffing out a breath to calm down. He sits on his haunches once more by Dami’s side, and uses every bit of strength within him to not go out and find those responsible and kill them right now.
It can wait. He can be patient.
He tunes back in to the tail end of Dick’s story of how he rescued Dani from a bunch of teenagers who were “having fun.” The latter is said with such sneer and anger that it takes Titus back a little bit--Danny had said Dick had latent anger issues, but the man mainly keeps to Bludhaven now, so he rarely ever witnesses it.
Dick pets Dani softly, and Titus forces himself not to look away, to examine and assess the damage.
She’s missing a leg, obviously, and though it’s fresh it’s relatively old--he can see the amputation scar just about closed up.
She’s got a couple of boot shaped bruises on her flank and one on her neck, but otherwise just a small cut above her left eye.
Titus heaves a sigh, and tries to figure out if it’ll be possible to contact Danny for that ass-whooping.
And then Dani’s eyes flutter, a sad little whimper escaping into the air. Titus leans down to lick over her cut, and tries to emit a calm aura to her.
It works, thank the Ancients, and a moment later she seems to have gotten some clarity. Before they can properly exchange information, however, Dick and Damien move into action.
It’s a blur, after that. They go to the vets to get everything checked out, papers are filled, words are had.
It’s not until a couple days later that Titus has the chance to see Dani again.
Damien brings Titus over to Dick’s apartment in Bludhaven, and he tries to restrain himself but it’s hard when her aura is right there. He could phase through easy, but he’s under strict limitations regarding his powers during his community service.
He waits.
Dick finally lets them in and Titus bee-lines towards her aura, nudging the bedroom door open and stepping up gingerly onto the bed where Dani lays there on a large cushion.
Her tail wags sluggishly, and she looks exhausted, but overall fine. Something in him finally calms.
He nuzzles at her, and she nuzzles back with a small baahf. They communicate, using their empathy, and Titus wasn’t aware of it before but suddenly he misses Danny.
It’s stupid, considering he is Danny in some sense, and foolish, since it wasn’t like they hung out. But Ace’s presence is like a giant shadow and when he looks at the stars something in him aches.
Dani, no, she’s Haley now, whines low in her throat. Apparently, she wasn’t the one that got attacked. This pup’s body was just conveniently...empty, and with Haley’s pseudo halfa-status the body survived when she was...well. Placed in it.
She’s on mandated medical leave, and her growl is both pathetic and adorable.
He tries not to think about why she was put on medical leave, but their way of communication leaves very little...wiggle room when it comes to information that’s basically packets of memories compressed into ghostspeak.
He thinks of Danny’s horrified face when he found Dani’s half-melted form floating outside his face, of Frosbite’s worry and Clockworks sorrow.
He shakes those memories away, easier to do when they’re not his, and situates himself around Haley, careful to not jostle and aggravate her injuries.
She snuffles a bit, already lost to Nocturne. The door creaks a little more open, and Dami pops his head in, with Dick popping up just above him.
Titus huffs, and Dami must recognize his mood because he grabs Dick by the ruff and closes the door--much to the man’s disappointment judging by his quiet laments.
He feels a sort of pride well up, appreciating how his boy understands him, and thinks it very typical that Haley would follow Ace’s footsteps.
Well. Bruce was always more of a cat person, and the others seemed more than content with just Ace and Titus.
Dick always was a lonely kid, according to Danny.
As Titus lays his head back down to rest with his sister, he wonders if Jazz would be willing to keep Jason or Tim company. Those two were problem children, for sure, and could definitely benefit from a dog or two.
Haley lets out a loud snore, and Titus can’t help but laugh.
Jazz isn’t sure why she’s here, if she’s being honest.
She wobbles on her paws, which is such a weird thing to have, and thinks wretched thoughts towards her siblings.
She takes in her surroundings--an apartment that’s sparsely decorated, the cushion she was laying on clearly taken from the couch, dark even though it’s only 3pm according to the wall clock---and tries to acclimate herself into her new body.
It’s not meshing well, if the slight vertigo is any indication, but Frostbite had said this was a possibility, what with her being only slightly liminal as opposed to halfas like her erstwhile siblings. He had surmised that with ghosts, and subsequently halfas, had an easier time transitioning between forms because their default state of being was already so fluid and in constant flux.
She’s not a puppy (another accommodation to her apparently inflexible almost adult liminal mind) but a teen, possibly even an adult in dog form. At least that means her situation will end a little earlier.
Speaking of situation, when she gets back from this forced “rite of passage” she’s gonna give those halfas a piece of her mind, that’s for sure.
Dani is still on forced medical leave, Dan is refusing to retire even though his community service term is completed, and Danny thought it would be fun if all the siblings served ‘Gotham’ in canine service so now she’s a dog--she’s unsure what breed she is--in a house that clearly isn’t Wayne Manor.
She hates to admit it, but Dan’s stance on beating up Clockwork is looking extremely appealing to her right now.
She breathes out a sigh, and geez, it’s so weird how that translates physically, and tries to find an occupant of this apartment. She needs to figure out her role and give support, according to Clockwork, and the sooner she can find her wayward charge, the better.
Before she can wander beyond the living room, however, keys jostle loudly off to her right. Through the kitchen she can see a small entryway off to the side, where someone is clearly struggling to open the door. In quick succession, she hears soft but urgent footsteps from her left, and out pops a little boy--no older than 8 years old--heading straight for her.
“Sparky, come!” the boy whispers urgently. Clearly, she is Sparky, but even more clearly, it is imperative she follow.
She follows.
Her body seems to retain its memories, and as she and the boy, her boy, hide themselves in the closet she mourns the loss of this body’s previous occupant.
Clockwork has assured her, when this happened for Dani, that it is impossible to take over an occupied body for long periods of time. It messes with your psyche, and slowly breaks down the original owner’s body bit by bit.
Occupying a, to put it bluntly, freshly evacuated body is only possible because of the combined efforts of Clockwork and Frostbite, with the necessary component being a specific type of ectoplasm. The kind that only halfas and liminals would have.
The memories, though, remain. Traces, Frostbite had called them.
Sitting there in the dark of a closet, held tightly within the trembling arms of Jason Todd, she quietly seethes and mourns.
She remembers, now, the bruises this body has, and the bruises her boy has, and how the stench of alcohol means danger.
She remembers when this body was a puppy, huddled under the kitchen table with Little Jay until he couldn’t really hide effectively anymore under the small table. Not with her, at least.
So now, the closet. She hears, distantly, the front door banging open. She feels, intimately, the flinch both she and the boy make.
She knows now that Sparky had given her body up willingly. That Jazz is here so that Jason won’t be alone. She sends a prayer to the Ancients, a plea for Nocturne to give her soul a lovely dream.
She nuzzles at her boy, who untenses slightly, and doesn’t think about the implications of her being here, with a young 8 year-old Jason Todd.
She doesn’t think about Danny’s pride in the 12 year-old orphan that stole Batman’s tires and made him laugh on the anniversary of his parents death.
She doesn’t think about Danny’s grief at failing 15 year-old Robin II. She doesn’t think about 19 year-old Red Hood and his pit rage. She doesn’t think about how little time she has with him--she refuses. The thoughts can wait.
GOD what a good story, its good enough to make ME cry!! im a stony bastard most of the time. This is a beautiful story even tho there were time skips, it still conveyed the emotions that the characters feel for how Danny/Ace came into their lives and how he leaves. thank you for making this
Aw, thank you! You and everyone's comments definitely give me life. I'm not done with this AU just yet, and I hope you won't mind a ton more exposition in this next part. We're in the last stretch, I think!
===
Danny is 20 years old when he realizes that he hasn’t had a break in four years.
Well, more accurately, he’s forcibly reminded by Sam and Tucker.
He’s had it rough, now that he thinks about it, and the exhaustion suddenly hits him like a bag of bricks. With a 2-ton truck swiftly following it. And maybe even a block of concrete for added measure.
He heaves a sigh and plops into the chair they’ve clearly prepared for him in the middle of their shared apartment.
Sam, Tucker, and Danny lived in California now, sharing an apartment whilst they finished up their degrees at UC.
After figuring out the finer points of Ghost Monarchy and ultimately fixing the “Ghost of the Day” issue they had in high school, Team Phantom shut down the portal and talked some sense into the Drs Fenton due to the immense efforts of Jazz and surprisingly, Vlad.
He’s been trying to be better, after some kind of incident with his parents that he refuses to tell Danny about. He has a feeling that Clockwork had a hand in it, though, so Danny tries not to think about it. Vlad has been exchanging cosmic letters with Dan and Dani, or Titus and Haley now he supposes, to middling effect. Neither of them are coming back from their respective service and leave, and it’s firmly Not His Problem so he’ll accept his wayward godfather with a huge grain of salt. At least he’s not trying to kill his dad and flirt with his mom anymore. Small mercies.
But now Danny sits in the middle of his shared apartment with Sam and Tucker looking sternly at him with arms crossed, and Danny thinks maybe he should have paid a little bit more attention.
Sam heaves a sigh, “Forget it, if he won’t listen to us, clearly we have to bring out the big guns. Tucker, if you would please?”
Tucker nods, and heads deeper into the apartment. Jazz steps out of Sam’s apartment with a soft smile. Ancients. He’s missed her.
“Jazz!” The siblings hug tightly, and Danny feels something in him break. It’s been more than a couple months since he last saw her--all four siblings keep in touch through various methods, though CW is kind enough to relay notes to the other two every month or so--but Jazz and Danny used to talk weekly. Has it really been that bad?
“Hello little brother. It’s been a while, huh?” Jazz’s smile is soft and the guilt threatens to consume him. He opens his mouth to apologize but she shushes him and gently pushes him back into his seat. Tucker clears his throat.
“So you’ve been working yourself ragged, dude. And since you were clearly zoning out I’m gonna say it again. This is an intervention!” Tuck makes some jazz hands, and Sam rolls her eyes.
“You’re going on enforced leave, and before you can say anything about anything, we’ve worked it out. It’s another CW-Approved Vacation!” Sam is as excited as she can get, and Danny doesn’t blame her. She loved hearing stories about his time as a crime-fighting dog, and has always thought it was good for him. Tucker was jealous, but after learning that he would eventually get to do his own Pharoh-related adventures from Clockwork, he’s gotten better about it.
“CW-Approved? You mean...” Danny looks over to Jazz, who nodded with a wide smile.
(After she had come back from her ‘Rite of Passage’, she’s been a little more solemn. Even though she didn’t tell them everything, Danny knows. He remembers Jason talking to him about his childhood dog, and he...well. He could fill in the blanks.
Danny didn’t leave Jazz’s side for days from the guilt. The guilt of sending her there, the guilt of thinking that when it would mean Jason would have been alone, just...guilt.
But the stories she told were so happy. It was only for a couple of years, but Danny knows Jason eventually gets his happy end, not-so-happy as it might be. He knows Jason survived, and that’s all that mattered.
“It was my only comfort, your stories. That he made it. It was the only way I was able to do my job.” Jazz had said one night. She was crying because the memories were fading. As a liminal, the memories would be more akin to nostalgia, as opposed to the picture perfect recall Danny boasted as a halfa.
When she first came back, Danny watched as she spent sleepless nights recording everything into a journal while she still remembered. Having the journal still didn’t make it any less heartbreaking when she couldn’t remember Jason’s favorite ice cream flavor without asking Danny or consulting the journal.)
“But...but Ace died. I can’t just go back--they wouldn’t just take a random--” the thoughts are whirring in his mind, and he can’t seem to articulate himself.
“Danny, calm down! Nobody said you were gonna go back as Ace. You have shapeshifting powers, dude. Just change into a different breed! Personally, I was thinking a basenji--”
“Tucker, nobody asked about your Anubis-bias--” As Sam and Tuck fell back into bickering about what type of breed Danny could shape shift into (with Tucker pulling up a variety of pictures on his PDA) he looked over to Jazz.
“Jazz? What...” She smiled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“I talked it over with Clockwork and Frostbite, Danny. There’s a dog...well. I’m a little bit more liminal now, and there’s a perfect chance for me to...to see Jason again. Give him a little support whilst he’s moonlighting as Red Hood.” Danny sucked in a breath.
Red Hood was a point of contention for Jazz. She didn’t exactly disapprove, but it hurt her to realize what happened to her boy after she left. After Ace left. Jazz is too nice to say it, but after she came back and told her what happened he’s always felt like a failure. He already felt guilty he wasn’t able to help Batman find Robin II before...well. But to find out he failed to protect Jazz’s boy?
He would never deny her the chance to see her boy again, especially since she had so little time...but Danny was a different story.
“Dick has Dani--he has Haley now. I won’t have a place there. I don’t...I don’t think I could be by Jason’s side either. Not after...” Ace had tried. But Jason refused to stay at the Manor more than necessary and Tim was too busy picking up the pieces for the Bat Hound to butt in. After Dick left, Ace was all Damien had and even that was short lived.
“What about Tim?” Sam asked. She and Tucker had apparently finished bickering.
“Yeah, you always said that boy was way too independent and self-sacrificing for his own good.”
“That sounds familiar.” Sam interrupted, but Tucker continued as if she hadn’t said anything.
“And didn’t Dan say there was a new kid? Duke, right?”
“Danny,” Jazz started, gently, as if talking to a spooked animal. “Danny, I know you feel like you could have done more, or that maybe your role is done. But, little brother, you did your best.” Danny wanted to protest, but Jazz kept talking over him.
“And doesn’t Dan always complain about how he can’t possibly live up to the Ace name? Besides, you don’t have to be Ace.”
“But I don’t know if I can be anyone else--you guys know how bad I am at lying!”
“It’s been six years dude. It’ll have only been one or two to the Waynes! You’re different now.” Tucker interjects, coming around Danny to lean his weight on his shoulders.
“And who cares if they recognize you? From what Dan and Dani’s told us, and from what you’ve told us, that family is definitely used to things weirder than their family dog coming back from the dead.” Sam rolls her eyes, before heading to the kitchen clearly done with this conversation.
He feels Jazz pat his hand again, and when he meets her eyes he already knows he’s lost.
“You haven’t mentioned Bruce.” Danny’s heart pangs. Dick was his boy, but Bruce...He hangs his head. Tucker, sensing Danny’s resignation, whoops in the background and shoves his PDA into his face.
Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing depends entirely on if one is Haley or if one isn’t Haley.
Since she is Haley, it will be a good day indeed.
The same, however, cannot be said for Dick.
“YEOW-CH!” Dick’s voice echoes through the room as he rolls out of bed (literally) and flops onto the floor gracelessly.
You would think an acrobat would have more grace in the morning, but then again, Haley isn’t called Bitewing for nothing.
“Good Morning Haley...” Dick mumbles as he untangles himself from the blanket. He gets up from the floor yawning, grabbing her loosely under his arm from the bed to put her down on the floor. She could get down by herself, but her boy is very protective of her and she’s in a good mood so she allows it.
Arf! Her tail is wagging and she’s so joyful she’s bouncing all over the place. Because today is the day! Danny and Jazz arrived last night, and if CW is to be believed, contact was made. That means she gets to see them!!!! If she doesn’t she might go feral and nobody’s gonna like that.
She trots after him as he goes through his morning routine, jumping back and forth and raring to go.
“Someone’s excited this morning---don’t worry girl, we’ll see Titus soon.”
WOOF! She feels her tongue lolling out as he picks her up and heads to the car.
She can’t wait.
===
Jason is having a shit day.
He woke up later than usual, burned his eggs, and couldn’t find his copy of Persuasion anywhere in his apartment.
One of his goons got caught up with some of Penguins thugs and is currently in the fucking hospital.
Dick invaded his safehouse yesterday with Babs in tow and blackmailed him into going to Sunday Brunch.
And now he’s found himself in the middle of a shootout, six to one.
He’s had worse odds, but he twisted his ankle dodging a knife to the neck and accidentally got cornered in a dead end alley with barely any space to maneuver.
Thankfully there’s only two left. It’ll hurt like a bitch, but he can manage. He reloads his guns, just about ready to jump out from behind the dumpster he’s using as cover when the shooting suddenly stops with a scream.
He peeks over with his guns facing out and shoots one of the thugs down. He switches to the other guy, only to pause.
The thug’s on the floor, getting viciously mauled by a puppy. Judging by the rips and blood the puppy bit the guy’s ankle, maybe even tore into the dude’s fucking ACL. The pup is doing its damnedest as tearing at the guy’s face, to a somewhat great success, only to be fucking slapped away into the fucking wall.
That, Jason does not fucking like. He shoots the guy in the face for that shit.
Once he’s sure all thugs are down, he races over to where the puppy landed after hitting the wall.
After a thorough checkover, the pup seems to be fine--just a little bruised and unconscious. He breathes a sigh of relief and zips up his jacket to make a pocket for her to sit in.
He stands up, collecting the guns the thugs had and tying them up, dragging them into a pile for Gotham PD to collect later.
He’s just finished up when the pup starts moving, prompting him to immediately cradle her. Her eyes flutter, and when she meets his eyes she lights up with an excited little waff!
She tries her damnedest to climb up to his face, so he brings her up by the armpits and gets rewarded with a slobber all over his mask. He chuckles, pulling her away at half-arms length.
She stares back calmly, her panting and tail wagging betrays how happy she is just to see him. To see Red Hood.
He gives her a little kiss through his mask, before putting her down.
“Go on now. I think it’s time I go home. Thanks for the save, girl.” He’s just about to shoot up a grapple when he feels a tug on his pants.
When he looks down, the feisty pup has her jaws locked on his left pant leg.
“What? You want me to take you to the vet or somethin’?” And then the damnedest thing happens: she shakes her head at him. He crouches down and thinks about it for a second--before he thinks fuck it.
“...You wanna come home with me, girl?” She jumps up to try and give him some doggy kisses, but isn’t big enough and only manages to almost kick him in the nuts.
It’s so ridiculous that he can’t help but laugh. He picks her up, and grapples home.
After they’ve settled in for the night, showered and full of good food, he turns onto his side and brings her small doggy body up to his face.
He breathes her in, feels her nuzzle on top of his head.
He falls asleep to the rhythmic thumping of her little doggy heart in his ear.
===
Titus is lightly dozing next to where his boy is enjoying the Sunday Morning painting in the garden.
Damian is doing a series of paintings on the Wayne Garden, right in the clearing where Ace passed, at varying times of day. Today, his boy woke up early to paint the garden at Dawn.
Titus, on the other hand, has been taking naps throughout the night.
Jazz and Danny arrived yesterday, and he’s been vigilant in tracking their auras.
Danny’s is a beacon, compared to Jazz’s, so it’s not that hard. He can tell they split up in the middle of the night, and whilst Jazz was a foregone conclusion, Danny’s choice surprised him.
But it’s not his business to question Danny’s choices, as long as he’s nearby. Haley being in a different city has been irksome to deal with these past 2 and a half years, and he was prepared for Jazz to have the same problem. Hopefully, having Danny close by will ease his...worry.
His ear twitches, and he raises his head to face the house. Huffing, Titus sits up and looks towards his boy. Dami is just about finishing up, so he makes a low boof noise.
“Hm?” Damian looks over at Titus before checking his watch. “Ah. Thank you, Titus.”
Titus, mortifyingly, feels his tail wag aggressively as Damian starts to gather his art supplies.
He can feel Haley on her way, and from different directions, Danny and Jazz.
Once Damian is all set, Titus grabs the folded up easel in his jaws and makes his way to the house.
Time to gather the troops.
===
Tim is, for once, the stalk-ee and not the stalk-er.
Somewhere, Bruce and Jason definitely feel vindicated for no reason, he’s sure of it.
Tim is in civvies, fresh from a date with Bernard and heading home. All night, he’s felt eyes on him, but still he does not know who is watching.
Figuring they might be waiting for a chance to get him alone, he decides to walk home instead of calling for his bike. It’s about 6 blocks from the restaurant, so there’s plenty of dark alleyways to stage a confrontation.
He’s clutching the panic button in his pocket and pretending to be busy on his phone (he’s hacking the CCTVs) when he finds the perfect alleyway. There’s a fire escape he could vault, and a dumpster he could easily use to his advantage.
He pretends to drop a coin, chasing after as it rolls into the alleyway. He makes sure to slowly crouch and feigns struggling to pick it up with his gloves on when he hears the soft taptaptaptap of...claws?
He turns around to confront his stalker, only to find a small puppy standing at the mouth of the alleyway.
“What the--” He turns, still crouching, to face the dog, flummoxed. Is this his stalker? But that can’t be--he’s been watched the majority of the night at the restaurant, and a dog can’t get into a restaurant.
But stranger things have happened.
“Can I help you...?” He tries, wary and feeling slightly stupid. His family dogs may be above average intelligence, but Tim knows better than to expect all dogs to be like that.
Woof! The pup, tail wagging, makes his way over to Tim and sits down.
Okay. So this is really happening. Sure. He heaves a sigh.
“Just give it to me straight, pup. Are you stalking me?” The dog huffs out a laugh, tongue lolling out. Tim is about to call it quits because what the fuck, the dog is laughing at him, when he realizes he can properly see the dog now, under the streetlight.
“Holy shit.”
===
Bruce makes his way down the stairs just in time to catch Dick bounding in with Haley in tow.
The pup is big now, and comes over to give Bruce a hearty hello, but thankfully leaves him slobber free.
She does not, however, leave him bite free. But, well. The entire family is used to that by now, and she doesn’t bite down or particularly hard unless you’re a sleeping Dick, so he gives her a pat on the head before letting her go.
She circles him once, twice, before bounding over through the halls, no doubt off to find Titus or some other unsuspecting victim.
He and Dick exchange hugs and small talk as they make their way into the kitchen. Dick is looking very smug, and the reason is clear: when they enter the kitchen, they find Jason helping Alfred with the Brunch menu.
His heart swells--he and Jason have been getting along a little better lately, but it’s still a pleasant surprise to see him at the Manor. Dick makes a detour, leaning on the counter right at the edge (he’s not allowed to interfere or enter the kitchen proper, but he can spectate and heckle).
The morning is soft, and warm.
“Good Morning, Master Bruce. Master Dick. Brunch will be served in 20 minutes. Might I suggest relaxing in the living room while you wait? We have guests.” Alfred’s smile is conspiratory, but Bruce cannot fathom why. Maybe Selina has stopped by with Harley and Pamela?
Dick perks up. “Guests?”
“Master Tim and Master Jason have each brought a guest,” Alfred confirms.
Bruce raises an eyebrow at Jason, but his son only gives him a smirk.
“Replacement’s guest is a real sight to see, Dickiebird. Try not to have a cow about it.” The joke clearly goes over their heads, so Jaylad rolls his eyes and shoos them out.
When he and Dick enter the living room, it’s a sight that clenches at his heart.
His children have gathered up an abundance of pillows to pile and scatter throughout the floor (Alfred will not be happy) to make a sort of pseudo nest. They’re all piled and layered over each other--Duke is stuck under Damian who has his legs trapped by Cassandra whose arm is hooked with Steph’s and so on and so forth. Even the dogs have joined in, right at the center.
Titus is curled loosely around two small fluffs, making a sort of parenthesis with Haley whose tail is smacking Harper on the leg.
The two pups are clearly the guests Alfred was talking about, and it brings a smile to his face. One of the pups, light brown mixed breed from its appearance, lifts its head to see the newcomers, and he can already see Dick melting.
“Hello there, what’s your name?” Haley perks up at Dick’s voice, but the newcomer places a paw on Haley’s flank as if to shush her. The peculiar thing is that it works. Haley huffs, gives Dick a demure little lick on his hand before laying back down.
The pup gives a little woof, which Steph helpfully translates as Dog. Red Hood apparently isn’t good at naming his companions, but the pup clearly does not care. She straightens up as if proud of her name, which causes a ripple of chuckles around the room.
The other pup, the greyish one, starts to wiggle. Dog looks over, and gives a little nudge with her snout.
“Bruce, Dick...Meet Bat Hound. He’s…well. I was thinking he could stay here since I’m always here anyway.” Bruce looks over at Tim, who is now roused from his doze and rubbing his face.
The pup has lifted his head now, but he’s facing away. Titus, who has been laying sentinel next to Bat Hound, huffs and lifts him up to turn him around.
And there, right on the side of the pup’s neck, is a patch of black fur in the shape of a bat.
Dick squeals--there’s no other way to describe the sound he makes---before picking up the pup and presenting him to Bruce.
Bruce, out of body memory, takes the pup under his armpits and stares.
“Maybe...” He starts, as the pup keeps eye contact with him in an oh-so-familiar way, “Maybe we could call him Ace."
“Are you sure? I didn’t want to...” Tim is by his side now, and he understands the hesitation. But for some reason Bruce can’t explain....it feels right.
He looks over to his eldest, who is now holding Haley in his arms.
“I think...” Dick starts, “yeah, I think Ace is the perfect name for the little guy.”
Woof! Judging by the tail wags and excessive dog kisses, Ace is in full agreement.
Just reread this and I'm still crying 😭😭😭 I need someone make like small little parodies of these. Like incorrect quotes bwysbsg I need a fanfic of a fanfic cuz my heart can't take it and needs more and I love you author and AHHHHHHH I CAN'T WORDS RIGHT NOW
Hello can u write a Dokja x Medusa!male!reader please
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR GORGON ゜゜・KIM DOKJA
'You listening, Dokja? Maybe if you followed the guides for dealing with intelligent species like this one, you wouldn't be in such a stupid mess.'
yall think aegis can be used as a different sort of barrier?!?! sorry anon this is less mythology centric than i planned icl
art by @ 1L9l2Aa8UCL0IGJ (blackbox) on x!
pairing: kim dokja + male reader
warnings: canon typical danger, mentions of self-sacrifice
wc: 2.9k
ORV MASTERLIST
MASTERLIST ・゜・NAVIGATION
There exist several unspoken rules when interacting with the particularly volatile species integrated onto Planetary System 8612. Most ‘monsters’ are unable to effectively communicate with the main intelligent species in the domes, thus are doomed for imminent slaughter. However, exceptions like the catalyst behind these reports must be treated with particular regard.
Guidelines will serve you well in the coming days, reader. If you’ve accessed these reports, it probably means the days are bleak and you’ve encountered one of these species. One thing is for certain; if you are reading this, you will survive your encounter with a gorgon.
< Observation log, section 1 > (Relative Earth time 21/◼◼/20◼◼)TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDING
‘Rule number one: if possible, do not engage with a gorgon. Though, considering your perusal of these records, it seems this was not successful on your end. Better luck next time!’
‘Sooyoung-ah, don’t be ru—’
Avoidance was always a good policy when it came to the apocalypse. It saved time, toil, and lives—much like a vaccine helped one bypass a virus. But one couldn’t rely on it entirely; neither vaccine nor evasion was infallible after all.
‘If they were, these records would not need to exist.’
And for humans, their biggest hamartia was their ignorance. Nerve cells could only do so much to detect dangerous stimuli and trigger a reflex for flight. If the hazard was less obvious, much more innocuous, then the poor human would only be wading into quicksand if they weren’t smart enough. Right before getting devoured.
‘Of course that squid was the blind one who got us into this mess.’
Just like these unspoken rules, it was de facto that Kim Dokja was unlucky. Unfortunate. Ill-destined. However you chose to put it, the man was born under a cursed star, which meant that the stranger sitting across from him in the park was naturally part of his jinx as well.
“What are you staring at?” Unlike the squid wearing his stupidly pristine coat, the man sitting on the bench facing him appeared to be a student: civilian wear and a lanyard still around your neck, like you’d frozen in time these past few months. Glasses rested on your nose, which you pushed up each time they slipped—even if they moved only minutely.
Perhaps you were nervous, but the caustic indifference in your tone suggested it was an unlikely possibility.
“Ah, sorry. I have a habit of looking at interesting people,” he laughed your question off, but the lack of information on you, coupled with the fact he didn’t recognise who you were, gave him the answer he needed. You weren’t a part of the original novel. “Uh, it’s a nice park, isn’t it? Lovely statues.”
You glanced at the reader, unimpressed. Just like that handsome bastard, there was that same impassive scowl plastered on your face. But as soon as he’d mentioned the sculptures scattered around this surprisingly lush pocket of Seoul, your face had softened somewhat.
“Art major?” he probed, for there was something about your gaze that drew words from his mouth. Or perhaps it was just how surreal this scene was: someone enjoying the park like anyone before the paid service began, just some guy taking a breather from classes with a thick, bound book beside him.
A ballpoint pen, rather than a sword or any other weapon. Blue ink, instead of bloody atrament.
You were a part of this world, yet detached from it all.
“No, chemistry,” you said. Deadpan, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I’m specialising in geochemistry. Rocks, soil, minerals. Humans do so underappreciate what goes on beneath their feet.”
Specialising. Present tense. Not specialised.
Humans: like you were utterly detached from anyone and everyone.
His breath caught in his throat.
The urging of constellations reminded him of just the situation he was in—about to run out of time in this sub-scenario, where hordes of monsters would soon swarm. Right in this very park.
“Listen, you’ll need to get out of here soon—there’s going to be swarms of insect-like creatures here in, uh, five minutes give or take. You’ll be in danger if you can’t fight,” he swallowed. A look of disdain flickered in your eyes, and his head throbbed with how much your expressions resembled that sunfish bastard’s. You’re the idiot, your brows indicated, while the set of your mouth held only one question: who said I couldn’t fight? In the same strand of thinking, the sudden curdle of your shoulders—hunched, guarded—seemed to gesture and who are you to tell me that?
‘If only you knew back then.’
In short, you could fight. You could fight, and you were absolutely terrifying to watch.
“Aegis,” you whispered, and the statues seemed to continue in susurration with you as the air warped in on itself. Dokja was thrown back by the shockwave as the space rippled—all in time for the main guests of the sub-scenario to arrive.
Insect mutations.
They crashed right into the distortions. A barrier. You’d set up an impenetrable defence in less time it took for him to draw breath, only for him to keel over behind you instead. Wow. Okay. He could still work with that.
“What are you—”
“Silence.” It would’ve stung less if you just told him to shut up instead, but from the very get-go you were never particularly nice. Kind? Somewhat, in the sense you’d viewed him as some useless, bumbling fool that would be better off behind the translucent shield you’d conjured. But nice? No, from the very beginning, you were never nice.
‘Deserved.’
That was fine. Bearable. Still in the realms of believability.
For Kim Dokja, the shock came after watching your hand raise to your face to slip your glasses off. From the back, he could no longer see the stern expression you no doubt wore. But he wasn’t focused on your face, but rather the warmth of the day instantly seeping from the molecules.
Time itself froze, and the insects did too.
No one breathed, and not a singular sound rang out—save something hissing. A tire, perhaps, but nobody was fool enough to simply drive cars during the apocalypse.
Then came the stirring of your clothes. It was a breeze only you felt, rippling and undulating until your hair moved too. Except it wasn’t the wind that hissed, nor was it the wind that wafted the coils. No, they twisted into thicker, scaly locks—snake-like, except these were snakes suddenly attached to your head. It was no longer a simile, nor was it a metaphor.
You had fucking snakes in your hair.
His breathing was shallow; in the sudden frigid climate, those puffs crystallised and condensed in small white clouds.
And what of those insects?
His eyes flicked back to the ground shakily, to where the arthropods lay crumbling. Statues, like the ones he’d complimented brief minutes ago. Pearlescent marble—no, stone. Your glasses were still grasped tight in your hand, and he knew if you turned to meet his wide-eyed stare he’d be next. But, alas—
“Who… are you?”
‘And this is how Kim Dokja put his foot in his mouth and demonstrated his exceptionally poor luck.’
< Observation log, section 2 > (Relative Earth time 24/◼◼/20◼◼)TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDING
‘Rule number two: do not stare into the eyes of a gorgon. Don’t even look, except for when there are protective measures in place. Case one: a blindfold. Case two: glasses, which he literally wears every minute of the day save for when he’s sleeping. Dokja, do not sneak up on the man when he’s sleeping.’
‘Dokja, you suck.’
It wasn’t often you let down your guard, with writhing, clawing humans nonetheless. Pointing fingers to find the monsters under their beds and threatening their cities—when in fact it was their bellicose faults that doomed them. A self-made end, a fitting conclusion for the snake that bites its own tail. If you had ever been human once, these people shared more blood with the beasts than they thought.
Point was: you didn’t particularly care for those who appeared to be like you. Bodies, soft and squishy from a life coddled in cities; smiles duplicitous and more monstrous than any snarl; and their thoughts, often more heinous than any demon. And despite their sins, they’d meander in life wrapped in the bliss of self-ignorance. Dead in their varying morals like shrouds of far-too different cloths.
In this, no human was the same. This was the philosophy that alienated yourself from your sisters.
This was also the philosophy that landed you in a warm, damp place—completely dark with something poking at your cheeks. Correction—even through the thin membrane and slightly thicker skin that covered your eyes, there appeared to be a dim redness seeping into the edges of blackness. It seemed your blood vessels were alit by some foolish beastling. Almost like the golden chariot was prancing afore your eyes, except only Aeos of the Dawn was trotting along your lash line with a proud toss of his shrunken head.
Your fingers twitched inside your sleeping bag, but you forced a deep breath in before you could hear any hissing.
Actually, you knew exactly who was prodding at your cheek with a frigid index finger; the faint brush of his scent gave him away almost instantaneously.
“Kim Dokja. Are you an idiot?” you ground out, eyes still tightly shut to avoid turning this fool to stone. “I’ve already agreed to travelling with your circus, so I’d prefer you refrain from getting petrified.”
“You really do sound like him when you’re irritated,” he let out with a suppressed snort.
“Aegis,” you whispered, and the impertinent hand ceased its movements.
The barrier was not, in fact, activated.
“Gave me a bit of a fright there,” he swallowed. “I just wanted to say, it’s fine if you open your eyes.”
“No,” you deadpanned. Though you couldn’t see the expression, you could feel your facial muscles twitch into an impassive wall. “Don’t involve me with your stupid plans to kill yourself off.”
“That’s not what I mean,” he corrected himself. Were all humans like this when you lived as one? “It just won’t work on me. Me alone, which is why I locked the door so no one could come in.”
“Why?” He was a fool like the rest of them—risking peril for a glimpse of cursed eyes. Like all of man, his hubris rested heavy on his shoulders.
“I just want to see your smug face without any glasses.”
“You’re looking at it presently,” you argued. Though your ire was evident with your furrowed brows, he didn’t relent. Where was that puny man who’d trembled behind you at the sight of insects? More importantly, how had he changed so quickly?
“With your eyes open,” he clarified. He was more insane than anyone you’d ever met.
“Does it really make a difference?” you stalled. “How can you be sure you won’t suffer the effects as every other human and beast does?”
“You care about me that much?”
It was a quiet question. A tentative venture into teasing, yet strangely vulnerable.
“You worried?” he echoed. It was a weak aegis of his own, already prepared to accept your scoff and firm no.
“Fool.” Both the skin eyelids and the thin membrane unsheathed haunting irises. You already knew what you’d see in them—a milky sort of quality to their natural colouring, even without the extra membrane. Slit pupils dilated minutely at the sight of him, and his breath caught in his throat as you gazed upwards, unblinking.
Fool. The word echoed in his mind, an answer to his question but not at the same time.
I’m not worried.
Peering, your claws gently grazed his face: almost a kiss, if a kiss left a slight sting behind.
“I’m always worried about you, Kim Dokja,” you murmured, and it was perhaps then that his heartbeat grew erratic. Staring into those pretty eyes of yours with your thumb tenderly swiping across his flushed cheekbones, it was no wonder he could taste his very pulse. “Remember our first meeting?”
“How could I forget?”
A back facing his hunched form, more dependable than the shield spreading and curling beneath your mighty palms. Snakes coiling down your back, but there was nothing scary about how they swayed like ribbons in the sunset. And finally those eyes, directly protecting him from the swarms of insects.
No, perhaps it was then when the thrum of the organ grew somewhat more rapid.
‘Glad you realised.’
< Observation log, section 3 > (Relative Earth time 03/◼◼/20◼◼)TRANSCRIPTION OF RECORDING
‘Rule number three: do not feed the snakes. Do not feed the snakes, Dokja. DO NOT FEED THE GODDAMN SNAKES.’
“Is Kim Dokja a masochist?”
The question, like most questions, came out of the blue. Such an innocuous, casual tone veiled your usual clipped syllables that Han Sooyoung found herself seriously internalising your words, before—
“What— koff— huh?” she spluttered against the sudden taste of her lemon candy, expression turning troubled, then incredulous.
“Does he take pleasure in torturing himself?” you clarified, as though it were a matter of comprehension rather than tact.
‘I knew what a masochist was! Why would he ask that?’
“If it’s Dokja, probably,” she coughed finally. Honestly, she’d pondered this very question herself—staring deadpan at the numerous deaths he’d experienced by his own plans. “Uh, just so we’re clear, why do you ask?”
“Is it normal to try to feed my snakes?” Definitely not.
“That… idiot did what?” she stared at the resident gorgon with quite the perplexed expression, but soon regained her composure. “No, not particularly. Are they… venomous?”
“Yes. Very much so. Please tell him to quit.”
Yet, despite all the half-hearted chidings of you and Sooyoung alike, your little snakes were beginning to grow fat and affectionate towards the man. You could feel something fundamental begin to shift, and it wasn’t a particularly pleasant feeling.
< Observation log, section 4 > (Relative Earth time 14/◼◼/20◼◼)TRANSCRIPTION OF RECORDING
‘Rule number four: gorgon venom should not be ingested. If you are Kim Dokja, this applies perhaps most poignantly to you. You may be immune to its effects for whatever reason, but the venom is a nightmare to get out of clothing. Thanks.’
“An experiment?”
Kim Dokja’s face didn’t change from his usual, vaguely blurred visage; but it wasn’t like snakes had particularly good eyesight regardless. “Yes. Would you be up for it?”
You’d agreed on a whim. Why the experiment was to take place in a closed room, you didn’t particularly know. Maybe humans encountering an apocalypse had special customs to adhere to. “I am familiar with experimental protocol in laboratories and practicals.”
“Would you like to help me upgrade my poison-immunity skill?”
You’d initially refused outright—struck dumb at how recklessly he treated his life. Every time you thought he was a fool, he proved himself even more foolish—a crazed endeavour if you ever saw it.
Gorgon poison. Released in more diluted doses from the snakes on you, concentrated particularly in the bone-white fangs in your mouth. Like a vampire, Yoo Sangah had excitedly noted: much too excitedly for your liking.
Bite me, he asked you.
A pale wrist was held out cautiously in front of him. The air was no longer mere air, but an ancient altar dedicated to this sacrifice. Thus, you were the priest for this rite once more, but this time the ram carried the bronze knife itself.
He’s an idiot, you seethed, yet you were too.
For you suggested a less painful way of transferring venom, but he agreed. For you gently clasped his chin with razor sharp talons skimming the dermis of his throat, but he melted pliantly in your hands. For you leaned in with softened eyes, but his own simply fluttered shut in anticipation.
You surged, pressing him against the cold cement of the wall. Air was robbed from his lungs as he gasped, but rather than pulling back his warm, human hands merely wrapped around your nape to meld your body against his.
Why did his hands shake so? Was this not just an experimental procedure dedicated to strengthening a human?
Despite your analytical mind, your eyes closed too—both membrane and skin—and you savoured the lingering taste of the meaty dinner he’d eaten, and the underlying flavour of him. Hot blood pumped beneath his fragile oral mucosa; your greedy, long tongue prodded his own to find just where his pulse thrummed the strongest.
Ah, fuck, he thought dumbly; sloppily making out with you in a forgotten room was not how he’d envisioned this night, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop.
Even as he winced with sharp pain when your fangs cut his lips, he couldn’t pull back—objective achieved but long forgotten. Those pesky, wandering hands of his clung onto your body when his head canted: deepening the kiss rather than wrapping up his poison exposure.
Iron tainted his mouth. Dripping past the seams of desperate lips was the crimson mixture of blood and venom, dripping onto his sweater and corroding the very threads—yet Kim Dokja both did not notice and did not particularly care.
But all good things came to an end. The two of you were met with an extremely exasperated Han Sooyoung at the door as she gave you a look, one that implied I expected better from you. For Dokja, the reserved expression was I expected this, to be honest.
‘PDA is not appreciated during the apocalypse. Take that shit elsewhere.’
‘Thus, these reports can be summarily concluded in two points of advice:
1. Unless you are Kim Dokja, do not attempt any of these activities with a gorgon.
Treat for @flowerparrish
Relationship: Tim Drake/Danny Fenton
Length: 00:01:14 | Danny is listening to his boyfriend talk about his work.
[Podfic of] Love at First Pun, fic by ziazippy5379
Treat for @flowerparrish
Relationship: Danny Fenton/Dick Grayson
Length: 00:06:38 | Danny started falling the moment he met his new husband.
[Podfic of] In the Pits, fic by Firecat23
Treat for @flowerparrish
Relationship: Danny Fenton & Jason Todd
Length: 00:08:43 | Jazz could use another brother, right? And it's not like their parents were going to notice another unknown kid popping in and out.
[Podfic of] Paradise Is In Your Words, fic by EmeraldsAndAmethyst
Treat for @flowerparrish
Relationship: Danny Fenton/Jason Todd
Length: 00:29:32 | Danny meets a ghost in his local branch of the Gotham Public Library.
Jason gets free books and is confused.
[Podfic of] +Who are these people in your house?! -There's people in my house!?, fic by itallcomesbacktoandreil
Treat for @flowerparrish & ChaosKiro
Relationship: Danny Fenton/Jason Todd
Length: 00:10:29 | Amity Park is Weird. Tim wants to be a detective about it.
a dpxdc fic by @tencitizens and @afathomedinsmoni for @patrol-partners-batphandom
Chapters: 2/15
Summary:
“You’re…” he trailed off, trying to make sense of the intrinsic knowledge that warred with all of his training. “You aren’t human.”
Eyes, bright green, seemed to dig into his very being. “Are you?” the boy asked in a mere whisper, an echo of surety immediately knocking Jason off balance.
Or: Danny gets dimensionally yeeted and leaves Team Phantom panicking in his wake. Meanwhile, Jason’s pit rage was under control—until something showed up in his Alley that calmed it. And now there’s a shit ton of League assassins in town. What the hell, Talia?
Fandom: Danny Phantom x Batman (All Media Types)
Rating: T
Pairings: Danny Phantom/Jason Todd, eventual Bernard Dowd/Tim Drake/Wesley "Wes" Weston, Jack Fenton/Maddie Fenton
My favorite DPxDC posts on tumblr (as I find them)
Eco-Ecto-Scientist Danny (I recommend going through all the reblogs of this one, they go in all sorts of beautiful directions, but you will get sucked in for a good two hours)
Danny and Sam are Thomas and Martha reincarnated
Dead on Main singer!Danny au song
Crime Lord Danny
Everlasting Insomniacs - Tim goes to Arkham
Danny and Danielle hostages in Gotham with moving walls
Tucker is a Streamer Danny is his cryptid roommate
Jazz is Arkham's new entertainment version 1
Jazz is Arkham's new entertainment version 2
Team Phantom knocks out Nightwing
Son of Themyscira: Danny's Grave
Danny works at a diner front
Team Phantom is Young Justice Dark
Batman buys Constantine's soul
Constantine's Interns
CADMUS Danny and Match
Danny is a training villain art
Danny's Bowery Daycare (with fic link)
VVV These two start with the same prompt but go in wildly different directions. VVV
Escalation au
Instincts au
Thermos/Urn Misunderstandings
Drink mix-up and Weston family curse
That's all I can find for now, my eyes are burning and I've been at this for 3.5 hours.
All the dabbles I have posted on my DC x DP account. Under a read more due to how long it is. Broken into three categories:
Multi-parts - Dabbles that have more than one part written.
One-shots- Dabbles with only one part written.
Requests- Dabbles written for the requests of readers. (Note: If a request is for a continuation of the other two categories, they will be filed in Milti-parts)
(Updated as of 06/10/2024: Stop on Request: Big Brother does not approve Part 1
Multi-Parts
Cave Boy: Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3 , part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 6.1, Part 6.2 Part 7 part 8 part 9 Part 10
Cass the Halfa: Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3
Danny's Grill: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
Freelance Inventor: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
I wrote up dpxdc fics based off of prompts I happened to see in the last day to add to the reading pile for anyone who didn't prep for the archive down time today.
EDIT
The idea for Danny as a cat came from @shycorvid, thank you so much for correcting me and letting me play in your sandbox!
Snitches the cat comes from @garbagewith-a-cherryontop (I think??? I couldn't find a definite first post!) but the fantastic linked post is the one with how I think Snitches the cat looks here.
Word count is 1053.
Tumblr reference
masterpost for my AO3 downtime fics
“Ugh- that's not- did we just summon a demon cat?”
“It's so messed up looking. Ew.”
Danny blinked and swayed on his feet. He'd had a tail a minute ago, speeding across the GZ to check in on Walker. There had been an unpleasant lurch in his stomach. And now he was on his feet. All four of them.
Wait, what?
“You fucked this up.”
His ears twitched at the sound of a slap. Danny swiveled towards the sound and then got distracted by the feeling of his ears swiveling back. Whaaaaat?
He looked down at his precious little feeties. They were adorable paws.
“Oh, you motherfuckers,” he said. It came out as a conversational yowl.
The humans looked at him from about ten feet away and five feet up. “Annoying…”
He was pretty sure they were high schoolers. There were five of them, two girls and three boys. They were all bigger than him. High schoolers were usually bigger than he was, but this was just ridiculous.
“Count yourself lucky, dimwits,” one of the older kids said. He took a step towards Danny. Danny pressed his ears flat against his head and hissed at the approach. “If you managed to sacrifice Patches to a demon, your Mom would straight up murder you.” He laughed when he said it, like anything about that was remotely funny.
Uh- what now?
Only now, Danny noticed a very distressed calico cat underneath a laundry basket on the other side of the room. There was a stack of textbooks weighing the basket down. A large rug had been rolled up and- he sneezed rapidly, eyes watering. Chalk! They'd drawn on the floor with chalk!
‘This is some incompetent summoning,’ Danny realized, way too late. ‘Did they- how did they turn me into a cat?’ He looked at his unfortunate brethren under the laundry basket. Her ears were flat against her skull and she looked scared.
He remembered the word “sacrifice” and his blood flushed hit with fury. They'd wanted him to eat her! They'd wanted something to eat miss Patches!
The teenagers froze and looked at him, aghast at the angry sounds that were coming out of his throat.
“Shut up!” One hissed. She took off her shoe and threw it at him. Danny dodged and then threw his head back to yowl even louder. Sonic attack! Aural damage, you big jerks!
“The neighbors are going to- make it shut up!”
Danny had to run, dashing over furniture and tearing his way across a crowded table to avoid being grabbed. He screamed the whole time, eager to alert whoever they were so afraid of. Someone should see!
The window burst in.
Danny stopped running, shocked. He hadn't actually expected-
Someone snatched him up from behind and smacked him on the face with a palm. His jaw exploded with pain. It cut off his yowling.
Stunned. He was still for a moment and then he struggled for his life. The grip on his ribs was way too tight-
He looked over at the sound of a sword being pulled from a sheath. Holy shit, that was bomb as hell. His eyes went wide at the sight of a heavily armored small child crouched on the windowsill. The boy's eyes were covered, but Danny could still see him look at Danny and the poor calico under the laundry basket. He sneered.
“Unhand the cat or lose your hands at the wrist, you wretch.”
Danny loved him.
The teenager dropped him. Danny caught himself with a stumble. He let out a sad mraow before he could stop himself.
Fight club baby was enraged. “What have you done to this animal?” He hopped down into the room, revealing he was at least a foot shorter than the smallest girl in the room.
Danny trotted to him and started winding around his ankles admiringly. What a good kid! He purred.
“I will be taking both of your cats with me. If you ever harm an animal again, it will be your head that is found in a chalk-”
“Robin.” A hugeass grown man squeezed himself through the window that the kid had broken. Danny craned his head up, up, up, to see him case the joint.
The older man radiated incredible judgment. “I see that you require education on animal welfare and demonic summoning. Go on, Robin.”
“That's my Mom's cat!” One of the teenagers protested. “You can't take her!”
Robin growled at her. Danny jumped in his skin at the sound.
“Then we shall return it to your Mother and her alone, when we explain what you've done.” Danny let murder baby scoop him up and purred at full volume. Hell yeah. He looked at the cowering teenagers with condescension.
“Not that fugly thing.”
Danny blinked. He ended up making an inquisitive mraow. Why was a finger being pointed at him? He was baby.
“That thing showed up, you can get rid of it. But Patches is Mom's cat, and you can't steal a cat because-”
“Batman can steal any cat!” Robin bit out, gathered up Patches, and jumped out the window with both cats in an expert grip.
That didn't sound right, but Danny just enjoyed the night air as a line pulled Robin up to where yet another masked vigilante was waiting, cackling himself to tears.
“Batman can steal any cat,” he wheezed. “Brilliant. Good detour, Robin. Can I hold one?” He held out his blue-striped palms expectantly.
He faltered when he saw Danny, visibly surprised.
Danny… was starting to feel bad. He curled into Robin, hurt. He wasn't ugly. Why did people keep reacting to him weird?
“No,” Robin said curtly. “You have damaged his pride, and Patches is still reeling from her shock.”
The man let out a sigh but let the topic go. “That's Patches, and this is…?”
Robin hesitated. “He is the Snitch.”
That unlocked cooing. “Snitches? Snitchy Snitch Sni- ow!”
Danny snapped at the hand that came way too close and he let out a warning growl. No baby talk!
Robin seemed very pleased. He rubbed behind Danny's ears. “Snitch… I suppose that Snitches will suffice. We are taking him home.”
“....Maybe, just for fun, we should take him to get treated for mange first!” The guy made jazz hands to go with his statement.
In Tucker's defense, he thought he was doing someone a favor. A life saving favor, in fact.
"What the fuck-!” The red helmeted guy yelped as a deceptively strong Tucker yanked him onto the bike and sped away. Before Tucker could explain, the GIW agents behind them got in a lucky shot and hit the helmeted liminal with a strong blast to the head.
Clearly, his gear wasn’t equipped with anti-ecto protections, because the guy slumped over on Tucker’s arms. This was bad, because Tucker now had to maneuver about 230 pounds of Gotham muscle while speeding away from government agents. He flicked on the jammer so they couldn’t track his and red helmets’s ecto signature.
“STOP!”
“Ah, shit.” Tucker cursed as he somehow managed to gather up red-helmet’s body and stabilize the bike. “C’mon, Tuck, you can do this.”
Blasts of anti-ecto tech slammed into buildings around him. Luckily, Gotham was used to this kind of shit so people just moved out of the way before going back to their day. Tucker wove around traffic, trying to lure the agents into slamming face first into some signposts.
“Stop damaging the local infrastructure!” Tucker yelled back at them, speeding up.
“WELL REIMBURSE THE PEOPLE AND THE CITY LATER! TELL US WHERE PHANTOM IS!!”
“Over my dead body, you jerks!” Tucker took a sharp right, catching red helmet before the man could slip off. He sped up and took the ramp downwards, heart beating loudly in his ears as he strained his senses to figure out- ah, they took the ramp upwards. Good. Now, all he has to do is bring red helmet back to home base.
“Oh my god. I kidnapped him,” Tucker groaned, slapping at his face before quickly placing his hands back on the handle bar once the bike teetered over with red helmet’s weight. “I’m a criminal. Oh my god.”
Then, as he found his way back, “…Well, it’s not like I wasn’t a criminal before, with the whole resisting arrest thing.”
——
Tucker dumped the red helmet liminal onto the couch of their shared apartment and went to take a shower. When he got out ten minutes later, he found Danny and Sam staring at the helmet guy. Tucker pushed up his glasses (after letting them defog from the shower) and greeted them.
“Hey, guys! I found him while I was running away from Agent L and J.”
“You okay?” Danny asked, eyes immediately flicking over Tucker for injuries.
“Yeah, I’m good. They’re horrible shots.”
“I thought Danny was the one who brought home strays but you…?” Sam commented, arms crossed and a purple painted nail tapping at her arm. “Wait. Isn’t this… that crime lord? What was his name?”
“Red Hood?” Danny offered, turning back to look at the guy on their couch.
Tucker paled. “Oh, no.”
Guns? Check.
Red Helmet? Check.
Bat-Symbol? Check.
Shit.
They collectively stared at the guy in silence.
“…Tucker,” Sam slowly said. “Did you accidentally kidnap a crime lord?”
“Hey, I didn’t want him to get killed! He’s liminal! Even more than us, except for Danny.” Tucker grumbled. “Man, this is why I leave the hero-ing to Danny. I do one good thing and suddenly I have a crime lord on my couch.”
“My couch,” Sam corrected, as she was the one that furnished their apartment.
“What do we do now?”
“Eat dinner,” Tucker said. “I’m famished.”
Sam nodded. “Wait for him to wake up and hope he doesn’t shoot us the moment he wakes up. Then, we explain.”
Danny grabbed all the visible guns he could see. Tucker went to start dinner. Sam supervised, because her boys were idiots and now she had a crime lord in her apartment.
——
Jason groaned, head swimming in a sea of dull throbbing pain as his eyes fluttered open.
Then he remembered he was abducted, and bolted up right. He paused as a series of quick observations made its way to his consciousness.
One. He’s not tied up. Weird, because everyone knows that he’s a weapon even without his weapons.
Two. His weapons were right there, just in reach.
Three. He was surrounded by teenagers and/or young adults who were all scrolling along on their phones.
“Oh, hey, he’s awake! Hi!” The Wayne bait said, electric blue eyes fixing itself on Jason. “Were you aware you died?”
Jason went rigid, hundreds of way to-
“Danny!” A scolding tone cut of Jason’s immediate panic. Two couch pillows slammed into Danny’s face, courtesy of goth girl and nerdy but strong.
“Dude, why do you start with that? Why are you like this?” His… possible kidnapper? asked, exasperatedly flinging his hands into the air as he rolled his eyes.
After a reveal gone right to the town (redeemed Vlad included) and the townspeople finding out that they were ecto-contaminated enough for the GIW to apprehend them, the parents send the kids over to their sister city so they can be out of the way while they throw a coup against the GIW.
They end up staying at Drake Manor as Tim basically only uses it as storage at this point and was willing to rent out the large house. He notices weird quirks among the kids. He notices that they seemed to stay in their own little cliques for the most part, but had a sort of antagonistic sibling relationship with members of other groups. He noticed they still all spent time with each other and seemed to have each other's backs. He showed up early one Saturday and found them all in neat rows practicing martial arts, led by one of the kids. They were all working together. He knew there was something going on with them, but hadn't had a chance to figure it out yet.
Danny clocked pretty early on in their interactions that Tim was a vigilante, he knew the signs. He didn't say anything at first, not until Tim arrived at the Manor at 2:30 in the morning, obvious signs he hadn't slept in a few days, rambling to himself about someone being alive and stuck in time. Now, Danny wasn't going to expose himself, but hearing that he realizes he can help. So Danny talks to Tim, find out what he knows, and Tim is so relived that someone believes him that he ends up crying, sobbing because he's still just a kid who's father figure is missing and nobody else believes him and finally, finally he has someone who is listening.
Just, I want Tim being accepted by these chaotic children and them helping him find Bruce in time.
The wail isn't the only thing Danny can do with his voice.
He finds this out when he is hanging out on a date with his new friend soon-to-boyfriend Jason, and the cafe they're in gets fear-gassed.
Jason and everyone else in the cafe start to lose their shit and Danny doesn't know what to do. Most of his powers were locked away because Gramps wanted him to enjoy a normal-ish college life!
On the verge of tears, Danny remembers a time when Ellie was having a nightmare, and he found that singing to her soothed her.
And in a desperate attempt, Danny began to sing.
It was a soft soothing melody, so soft that realistic speaking, no one should have heard it. But the entirety of Gotham did.
In those few moments, the effects of the fear gas disappeared, and whatever anger, fear, helplessness, emptiness, loneliness, whatever negative emotion was being felt at that time dissipated as well.
For once, Gotham air didn't feel so heavy.
And Danny was sure he scored himself a second date.
Lmao, you're absolutely right that this would kickstart a cult about him! It'd be hilarious if this ends up making him more powerful due to all of that fervent worshipping of him lol. It'd be even more funny if Danny could bypass his Gramps' limiter on his powers, go ghost, and answer any cries for help he hears in his head, which makes the cult grow even more! And Danny, finally realising he has people worshipping him as a god of mercy/protection, is both flustered and flabbergasted. After being dehumanized most of his life by most of Amity, he just can't comprehend the fact that people are actually joining a cult about him/worshipping him.
Also, another thought on the worshippers.. I bet Grampa Clocky has a hand in this, and thus ends up making sure they get legit worship altars, which leads to several shenanigans on Danny's end. Just, any offering that's set on the altar with the right phrase/activation sequence ends up sending/teleporting the offering to wherever Danny's at, at the time. Can you imagine the most random shit he has to hide suddenly having while at work?? Going out to eat? At school?! On a date with Jason?!? That'd be so funny, omg.. xD You bet Sam & Tuck will tease the hell outta him for it, lol.
Idea popped into my head, what if this combined with cleansing the ectopasma in Jason, curing the pit rage in the process? Maybe even slush in the Priest!Jason AU I keep seeing flying around and have him head the cult now that he's free thinking and feeling better
I originally wanted to make the post longer explaining how he 'cured' Jason's pit madness, but I rounded it off on him getting a second date.
But yeah I wouldn't say that he cured it but silenced it. And in that moment of absolute peace, he realized how beautiful the world is, how beautiful Danny is, simply because his feelings are no longer tainted with the ever-present rage.
The pit madness still comes about from time to time, as it's a part of his afterlife that came back with him to the mortal realm and can not leave. But knowing that it can be subdued with Danny's presence...
Okay but Bruce unironically has the Batmobile, the Batcave, the Batcomputer. Batarangs. He’d probably just deadpan go with it. Pulls something out in a justice league meeting. It’s got a label on it. “Yes, this is a batsnack.” He tells a bemused (and hungry) Flash. Batmace. Bat-tery. Batbucket. He doesn’t give a shit. He thinks it’s hilarious. He would religiously refer to everything they labeled as bat-thing. To the point where either even the kids would get tired of it, or they would gleefully double down.
Pig latin but it’s bat speak where every noun has “bat” in front of it. They’re looking commissioner Gordon dead in the eyes and telling him the batscanner has picked up traces of batevidence from the batwheels of the batcriminals batcar indicating some trace amount of batcocaine. Gordon exhausively turns to Batman. “What’s going on.”
So we all know the classic angst trope in Tim Drake fics where Dick wants/wanted to put Tim in Arkham bc he thinks Tims crazy and a danger to himself/the family for thinking Bruce was still alive. Dick actually does that here, bro puts Tim in Arkham
While wrongfully stuck in Arkham Tim finds himself befriending 3 fellow inmates who seem a lot less intense than most Arkham inmates. Classic "what're you in for" conversation (doesn't really matter how or why the everlasting trio got in Arkham, maybe they're antiheros, maybe they're just treating it like an elaborate escape room, who knows) and when Tim tells a semi-less detailed version of his scenario and his fellow inmates are just like "aw what, that's bogus >:0" and "bro thats not even that crazy of a theory 😒"
Next thing Tim knows his new friends are like "we'll help u find ur dad bro :)" (Tims lowkey glad his new meta friends offered to help cause his first choice was the LoA and that probably wouldn't have ended well) and they plan their breakout, which lucky for them Joker and a bunch of rogues break out a week later and they sneak away in the frey
Alfred: You had Master Tim committed to Arkham? When there are other far more reputable places? And are surprised he staged an escape and went on the run?
Alfred has not been this disappointed in any of his charges in a long while. Dick will be getting passive aggressive British pissed off a lot in the future. The water is always just a touch too hot or cold. Food absolutely not his favourites. No more snacks he likes in the house. His room will somehow always have a draft etc.
Meanwhile Tim is having the best time? These guys are a riot! Who gets thrown into Arkham because it will be like a giant escape room? His new date mates that's who. And they are just the right brand of bonkers! Danny can match him in engineering! Tucker is a whizz with coding and hacking. Sam has all the knowledge on poisons and cures! And she can use magic!
And! They helped him destroy the Lazarus pits. Take down a large amount of the LoA. And find B? If he could marry them legally he would!
And now, he gets to go on another hero trip? Cause they need help to take down an illegal operation pretending to be government agents? They sure know how to woo a guy!
Tim just having the time of his fucking life, Jason on the side just being a general nuisance to anybody looking for Tim bc "fuck the golden child very specifically rn."
Plus, Idk, maybe Tim tells the trio about Jason's pit rage and Danny is like "well. i can probably fix that."
Like. Imagine? the possibilities?? Jason's all in for Timbo and his datemates. with new clarity he realizes he probably owes him for the attempted murder anyway--and it's always fun fucking with Dick.
Jason quietly tells Alfie all about it. Alfie doesn't deserve the stress. So Jason keeps him in the loop. He owes Timmers that much at the least. And if He is actively hindering their search for him? They deserve it. Alfie approves and Timmers is happy. Jason is having fun being a nuisance. All is good.
The four trouble makers? Are having a wild summer! First, they rescued Batman from the time stream! After fighting assassins in a death cult. Danny had to banish a pool of rank ecto. And Tim laughed so hard he cried about it? And then they had to deal with the energy bomb situation.
And now? Tim is showing his datemates how you take down a corrupt government organisation. Tucker is having a blast with all the new tech! Sam is having fun learning how to blackmail politicians. And Danny? Is getting the hang of scary guard dog boyfriend. He's enjoying playing dumb brute.
Alfred is very glad to learn Master Tim is thriving in his exile. And very pleased to know he has found good partners. That they knew how to aid Master Jason? He owes them more than he can say. And they recently sent Master Bruce home! And if all he can do right now is help Master Jason hinder the rests attempts at finding Master Tim? Then he shall.
Master Dick shan't be getting any favours from him any time soon! The absolute nerve of him! And he ensured the rest found out about his actions. Miss Steph and Miss Cass were most displeased. And Master Bruce once he returned? Was ever so disappointed in him.
While the date mates are taking down the GIW. Bruce has been sent home with information on them and the laws. So Bruce doesn't complain too much about Tim going off and refusing to come home. His boy saved him. With his new partners who are all very competent.
Who he met while trapped in Arkham. By Dick. Bruce gets home and states down an already guilty feeling Dick.
Bruce: Arkham? Really?
Dick:... Tim was right? Oh no!
Alfred: Master Bruce! Let me get you fed first. I'm sure you haven't been eating well!
Bruce: Actually Tim's new date mates fed me up a bit on the way back. Tucker and Sam know how to cook decently well. And Danny is a good hunter.
Dick: Date mates?
Bruce: They helped him break out of Arkham. And then helped him retrieve me from the time stream. You know how he is about competence. And now they are destroying a corrupt government organisation. If he doesn't propose when they are done I'd be surprised.
Dick: Where is he?
Bruce: Perfectly well and safe. And very angry with you. So I shan't be telling you. Anyway. I have work to do. I'll have lunch then be off to the watchtower.
Bruce: Kal. I need your wife to publicise these laws. Massive sentient rights violations are happening. Red Robin is helping Team Phantom take down the agency reaponsible. But the laws have got to go!
Clark:..../ How did you learn about this?
Bruce: Phantom is now dating Red Robin along with Pharoh and Nightshade. They helped him escape Arkham, and save me from the time stream.
Diana:... why were they in Arkham?
Bruce sighs heavily and looks like such a tired Dad they know this will be a he'll of an answer.
Bruce: Bored teens during summer break. The three of them falsified documents to get sent there. So they could treat it like an escape room.
Diana:... I like them already. So these laws? I can approach the UN.
The entire time Dick is just wallowing in guilt. Everyone but Damian is blaming him for Tim's Rumspringa and he is also blaming himself. It is not a good time and friendly intervention necessary before he needs to be committed to an asylum.
Damian definitely worries me a bit.
Most of this seems to be written with his later characterization in mind. However, the Damian that existed at the time of Bruce’s disappearance is not the still-stuffy-but-genuinely-caring little brother we know and love.
This was Damian al Ghul, the young assassin who viewed Tim with condescending disdain at best and murderous envy at worst.
How is he responding to all this attention on a Tim who isn't even here?
Drake isn't present to take away his Father's attention, and yet all his focus is on Drake's actions.
Drake who rescued Father with no aid from the family. Who went so far as to galavant through time itself to complete his mission. Who has become lovers with three of the most powerful beings on the planet.
Damian has taken his rightful place as Robin, yet it seems as if Drake is still 12 steps ahead of him.
At first Damian had exulted in Drake's downfall. The interloper was gone. Disgraced and removed. Now? He has not only escaped his confinement but also found allies which have enabled him to earn more respect from the wider hero community. Not to mention rescuing his Father. Drake stol his duty. And did so in a way which weakened his Mother's family. Weakened his Grandfather.
He has since swanned off to perform covert operations with his paramours to take down corrupted government facilities. Earning even greater acknowledgement. As a hero in his own right even. It is galling to see how far he rose. Above and beyond the Robin mantle. His confinement has also earned Richard great disapproval and his Father seems greatly disappointed in both of them. Damian has gained his Father's disapproval for not speaking out. How is he to fix this?
Okay, so idea? That eventually ties in with the whole envious Damian thing.
Without Tim around for a long period of time, the patrols in Gotham are probs a bit harder (and while I do know that they all are trained to pick up for each other when stuff like that happens and have backups).
What if, a little bit after Bruce gets back, Tim and the other three cross paths with a rather bored Ellie. Who’s planning on checking out Gotham soon already. A little after Tim mentioning being concerned at how well the family is adjusting.
Leading to one of them suggesting that Ellie could try and fill in for him, since she’d probably find it fun to tour Gotham with Gotham’s famed vigilantes. She definitely has some experience fighting and, with just a little bit of practice time, could help make things easier.
So, off she goes with a coded letter from Tim to hand to Bruce about how she’s gonna stay in Gotham for a bit a help out.
Now, with the ages of the characters, the one that Ellie would probably focus on first is Damian. Then he’d keep her attention with his attitude. She’d adore breaking that attitude. It’s close enough to Vlad’s to be cathartic but far enough from Vlad’s to not be… yeah. Learning that the easiest way to get his respect is through competing and winning? She’ll go all in and goad him into competing with her on various things (as long as it doesn’t actually make things more dangerous-). She’s got a board now of how many wins they both have.
(The idea is basically that Ellie is keeping Damian too annoyed and on his toes to worry about being envious of Tim. Tim is in for a shocker when he returns and see how effective that is)
Ellie is bound and determined to beat the arrogance out of Damian. And it's working. Slowly but surely she is proving the lack of truth in his Grandfather's teachings. Bruce is more impressed.
Bruce is also impressed With Ellie in general. Heading her life story? And how well she has done for herself. Despite everything in her background? He can't help but like her. That she came to help them simply because Tim is dating her brother? And he asked her politely? He is going to take her to the junior heroes team. She deserves the support.
Bruce is probably one day away from asking to adopt her. Thankfully Tim saw the possibility of that. And set Ellie up in one of his safe houses. So she can avoid him when he gets all parental.
Bruce having to restrain himself from adopting that adoption bait that is Ellie. Beautiful.
I think Ellie has some experience with the whole indoctrination from birth situation considering that she sorta experienced that in her small time with Vlad. I think her seeing Damian and realizing where that attitude mostly comes from would hurt a bit, because that’s what she could’ve become. She knows that that’s not exactly how she could’ve turned out, but it might’ve been close. She’s so so thankful that she was shown the truth early enough to escape Vlad. It would only make her more determined to break down Damian’s arrogance (and insecurities and complexes and so much more), because he’s a flip-side of the coin that she’s on, or rather another side of the dice that she finds herself on.
Rationally, she knows that Damian could be so much worse. But… I think she’d see herself in Damian. I think she’d admit that to Damian if he asked her why she’s so determined to disprove so much of what he believes. Just, “I could’ve been you. I could’ve been so much like you and that scares me. I hate that someone is having to experience all that comes with that. I’d do it for anyone. It helps that I’ve started to enjoy your company though!” Like, honest and earnest moving into a more joking tone (while still being honest).
Ellie getting to have one of Tim’s safe houses to escape the whole adoption problem Bruce has is get. I’d love to imagine her one day yelling, “My brother is literally dating your son! Do you want the press to be singing Sweet Home Alabama? Is adopting me worth that?” Like, she’s ready to weaponize the fact that Tim is dating Danny (and Sam and Tucker). Sam and Tim would probably laugh at hearing about that, Danny would have a moment of exasperation, and Tucker… he recorded it and has that at the ready to anonymously post on the internet at any given moment.
Ellie: You are so much more than the weapon you're fruitloop Grandfather wanted you to be!
Damian: Baffled noises!!!!
Ellie sure as heck would say that. Bruce is just so conflicted. And resolved to treat her like Steph. Basically but not legally his child.
Meanwhile Tim, Danny ,Sam and Tucker have found themselves at a loose end.... So they really want to head to Gotham and have to deal with adults right now? Like... They finished blowing up the GIW. They crippled the LoA. They reached the Bat..... They've managed a few more chaotic heroic deeds.
Danny: Do.. Do you guys want to go on an actual holiday?
Sam: I mean.. We've earned it right?
Tucker: Beach holiday? Or activity holiday?
Tim: I feel like activity holiday. We would be bored to tears....
Bruce gets a message about them going off for a few weeks backpacking somewhere. He isn't best pleased. Bruce is pretty sure they are going to end up neck deep in something. But he can't force them home... Dammit.
Dick of course is still moping and drowning himself in guilt. Alfred made the decision to call in Wally and Kori. Surely they can drag him out of his funk and back to functionality.
Bruce having a .exe has stopped working moment there. So yeah, Ellie is a Steph situation.
Ellie and Damian having the emotional drama happen while Tim, Danny, Sam, and Tucker are sledding through a cult base on a mountain that they accidentally found, full chaos and screaming. Panels switch between both scenes.
Like, I imagine Bruce doesn’t like the idea of those four taking a vacation because 1- they all attract some form of trouble to an almost cursed degree and 2- they’re admittedly scary together as they’re all the same type of “could become a villain at the drop of a hat if someone snapped a single moral” and remarkably skilled.
He’s not surprised to learn that they’re time on a mountain had them accidentally encountering “this one weird cult a lot” but that there’s “no need to worry about it, we had a fun time over all, got to experiment with Fenton physics as well”. He’s chosen to… not look into all of that no matter how much he wants to know what that means.
If Tim adopts that habit non-answer/cause-more-questions answers of the Everlasting Trio? Well, let’s just say that Bruce dreads those fours’ vacations together even more.
On the vacation, I imagine that they were trekking throughout a mountain trying to figure out the best spots for activities and just kept finding bases for what they’re certain is the same fucking cult. Like, they’re on vacation, they don’t WANT to investigate a cult. They want to sled down different areas of the mountain. But no! Apparently some cult has claimed all the good spots on this mountain and keeps getting aggressive with them!
On the other hand, this cult is frantically trying to keep their operations steady because there should be no one this far up on this mountain! It’s too dangerous for a normal person! Let alone four civilians on vacation! Who are these people really?! How do they keep preventing them from doing their summonings that they’ve prepared years for!? Like, utter bafflement, desperation, and confusion from these cultists who chose their locations because reasonable people wouldn’t go that far up on a dangerous area of a mountain and then some supposed tourist keep bumbling into their bases and messing everything up. By the time Everlasting Insomnia finish their vacation, they’ve accidentally turned purposefully (you can only get attacked some many times while on vacation before you get petty) dismantled this cult.
Also, Alfred grabbing Dick’s (outside of the Gotham) redheads is great. Just sends them off on some sort of journey like, please stop moping. You did something bad, yes, but please stop punishing yourself so much Master Dick, you’ll have an opportunity to apologize and make it up later just please stop moping.
Dick gets dragged off on a space trip with his red heads. By the time he gets back he has figured out how to grovel properly. If course By the time he's back? Tim is over it for the most part! Tim has been having the best time. He was no longer avoiding going home to avoid Dick! He was busy! Dick of course has to accept that and move on. Kori and Wally help with that.
The cult they kept running into? Was trying to summon and control Vortex. Danny when he found out? Nearly laughed himself sick. Evening they'd succeeded? He would have souped him quick. But still. Ruining their plot was fun! It was a fantastic way to stretch their skills! Making it look accidental? That took skills! The four of them had a great holiday!? With minimal injuries! Look Mr Batman sir! Isn't Tim the picture of health! Aren't we great romantic partners to your son!
Bruce of course has to agree, that yes. Tim does look healthier than normal. Yes he does look well rested and happy. Yes I suppose I do have to accept you all as his partners....
Ellie of course has been getting the help of Jarro to deprogram Damian. And they have very much advanced his healing. Bruce is highly impressed. But not as impressed as Alfred. Alfred wants to adopt her now. Ellie can live with that actually. Alfred can teach her to cook!
Dick preparing his apology throughout a space trip only to come home and find out that Tim no longer actually cares about that whole situation is hilarious.
Also, the four actively making their cult busting look like an accident? Beautiful. Vortex being the one the cult is trying to summon? Fantastic. Cult busting as a vacation is just so fun for those four. Then Danny, Sam, and Tucker showing just how well Tim is and being like “See? See? We’re great partners for your son! Right?” With Bruce acquiescing that they are indeed. He’s dreading the Galas that he brings Tim along for now.
Ellie and Jarro team up against Damian’s LoA background! Mwah! Alfred taking Ellie as AT LEAST an apprentice? I’m vibrating and want to see this SO BADLY- like, does Ellie become known as Agent E (like how Alfred is Agent A) to the JL? Do she only learn the butler skills or does Alfred teach her the secret agent stuff as well?
Dick would be so stressed out to not get the closure he needed. But Tim? He's over it. It's whatever. It was a dick move man. But I got awesome date mates from it. So whatever. Plus I've defeated two cults and a government agency since then? And saved Bruce from the time stream? As well as going on dates? I'm just... Over it. While Dick? He needs to apologise. To grovel and make it up to Tim. BUt Tim? Won't let him. Alfred has to send him off with Kori and Wally again.
They went out as civilians. So they had to make it look accidental. Doing it that way also made the cult feel so stupid. Four teens on holiday fouled their plans! And then! Then! The little bastard had the audacity to summon Vortex for a chat? Danny and Sam taught Tucker and Tim how to do a summons. And got Vortex over. Tim has never had so much fun! Vortex also got to do a bit of posturing in front of the cult. They thought to bind him! Really! Foolish mortals!
Ellie and Jarro are slowly turning Damian away from physical violence to psychological. Bruce hated it. But it's technically an improvement. And not actually wrong per say. Just deeply disturbing. Damian greatly enjoys making his unsuspecting victims cry without having to touch them.
Alfred is teaching her everything. Ellie is still heroing as Phasma. So that's how the JL know her. But she is also getting taught secret agent things. To the horror and dismay of everyone around her.
She has also made fast friends with Cass and Steph. They adore the feral gremlin. New sister? Oh yes. Babs invites her to girls nights. She can't have wine with them. But grape juice is good enough. And she can give them all the dirt. They four of them laugh about the men in their lives. Once the fearsome foursome arrive in town? Sam will be invited. And it will be so much fun!
Bruce admits he like them. They are good potential in laws. But they are chaos incarnate. However he is pretty sure he can use them to help him distract people at galas if he needs to go Batman. As well as the fact they are feral enough to just throw down with villains in civilian attire. Alfred of course loves them. They get Master Tim to sleep and eat regularly? And they broke him out of Arkham and provided proper support and enrichment? They cured Master Jason of the pit? Yes they are worthy indeed.
Jason has been meeting with Jazz for therapy sessions. And getting himself into a healthy state post pit. He knows he will need a proper therapist at some point. But this is good for now. And he has decisions to make. He is still going to be a crime Lord vigilante. Crime Alley needs him. But he thinks he needs a new name. He's gonna talk it over with Tim. And apologise properly.
(Sorry for taking a bit longer than planned. I was gonna respond and then I got side tracker with compiling some stuff into a doc-)
Dick’s just having a time™, ya know, as he does (Dick’s been through a lot throughout his comics history). I’d like to think that he’d eventually get an opportunity to give closure to the whole situation through helping Tim set something up for an Everlasting Insomnia outing.
Vortex working with four “civilians” to bust a cult that wanted to bind him is great. The cult’s just infuriated but so broken up that there’s no recovering from what happened. And with the gossipy nature of the Infinite Realms? Their shame is basically be broadcasted to the entire supernatural community. Their reputation is in shambles.
Ellie and Damian would team up and absolutely shatter people with words. Jarro is in the background cheering them on (he’s too nice to psychologically hurt someone… to the degree that Ellie and Damian would-). Bruce is honestly probably happy to see Damian switching from physically violent to psychologically violent. Like, you can’t tell me that Bruce wouldn’t live for seeing people he dislikes at Galas being verbally eviscerated (even if he sometimes has to scold Damian in public for it, he does treat Damian to a petting zoo or zoo trip afterwards though).
Alfred teaching Ellie secret agent stuff and the JL just knowing that Phasma is now being equipped to cause so much more chaos & dreading that is great. Phasma is now on the list of heroes that can be entrusted to infiltrate (I also imagine that Ellie has really good shapeshifting, which makes it easier, even if she doesn’t need it with Alfred’s training). The real threat though is when she picks up Alfred’s disappointed, raised eyebrow look.
Babs, Cass, Steph, Ellie, and Sam being let loose on Gotham for a girls’ night sounds like a recipe for some people getting new traumas. Especially if they start sometimes inviting the Sirens to the girls’ nights.
I love the idea of everyone having to check if the Everlasting Insomnia four are at a Gala. The press? Have to be behaved (Vicki learnt this the hard way). Gala attendees? Have to be cautious of what they say and do because those four seem to sense when they do something that warrants their ire. Rogues? They get chucked out if they attack while those four are at a Gala. People outside of Galas though? Love hearing all the drama the four cause. Their such Gothamite Gothamites, even if three of them only came to Gotham because they wanted to treat Arkham Asylum like an escape room vacation. They’re crazy enough to stand out in Gotham, but in a good way, and- by the spirit of goddamn Lady Gotham- the Gothamites swear that they’ll do anything to keep those four.
Jason working up to getting a therapist with the help of Jazz is great. He’s got so many problems to sort through and things to decide. Him just working towards reaching a future that he thinks he’ll be happy with is just so feel good feels.
(I often take much longer to respond! Don't worry.)
Dick is having to face up to lots of things. And his friends are helping him realise that yeah. He fucked up. But look. He doesn't hate you. You are allowed to Fuck up! It's fine! He's clearly thriving so you didn't cause him harm. Yes he was angry. And the rest were disappointed. But you know you don't have to drown yourself in guilt every time you Fuck up right? You are allowed to just... Say sorry and move on. Unless they ask for more. The weight of this doesn't always have to rest on you alone? You bats need to learn to talk to each other!,
Bruce is mostly horrified because of how good they are at it. He approved when it's used appropriately. But Damian! You did not need to go that far with your teacher! They didn't deserve that! Yes I agree that the American school system isn't perfect! But take it out on the school board! Not the poor bastard trying their best!
The Justice League are confronted with 5 very very good teen heroes. Red Robin, Phantom, Phasma, Pharoh and Nightshade. And one of them is being taught by ex special forces? Well.... You know what? We don't want to monitor them too closely right? No one wants to see the combination. Especially not when Kon and Bart come back. With Cassie as well. Just... Nah. Don't break too many laws please?
Gotham love these new kids. They are a riot. Tim Drake-Wayne was always a fun one. Now he's even better! His little polycule are fantastic! Did you hear? The Wayne bait one! Punched the Joker! Broke his jaw! It's been wired shit and he has to drink through a straw! The vegan? She talked down Ivy from an attack! Managed to redirect her to a company not the public! And the beret wearing lad? Managed to get enough dirt on a corrupt judge to destroy his reputation!
Jason is doing well! Jazz is very proud of him! And he's trying his best to mend fences with the rest. Alfred absolutely approves of him going to therapy. The fact that he isn't quite there yet? But is trying? Is very good. He owes Ms Fenton something nice. She is clearly a wonderful person!
Girls night will be hilarious. And then Jazz joins too. With her being Jason's friend and Danny's sister. All the gossip. And they don't invite the Sirens. They just turn up. They are wonderfully chaotic mix. And Ivy and Sam? Absolutely plot out which companies Ivy should be after. Harley? Takes Jazz under her wing. Jazz is studying medicine in general, but also doing Physchology so she can help her people. Harley likes her! Selina would adore Ellie. A natural thief if she's ever seen one! Are you sure you don't want to switch sides darling?
(Ya know when you check your reblogs and something misses your notice and then you randomly find it outside of your reblogs? Yeah. So sorry for literally not responding to this for days.)
Dick’s just having a good ol’ therapy-esc adventures. I feel like this was just something that had been building and building and finally snapped. Just the accumulation of things that Dick has done that he couldn’t let go funneling into this guilt spiral (even if the guilt was focused on the whole putting Tim in Arkham Asylum thing).
Also, that makes more sense. I can indeed see Damian unleashing the psychological violence on a teacher before being educated on the complexities of who’s actually to blame for the various criticisms that Damian has with his schooling. Ellie, I imagine, would accidentally reveal her complete lack of schooling (minus Alfred teaching her things) when she tries to tease him for getting scolded (caught).
Competent, hero teens who view rules as guidelines more often than not… yeah the JL would prefer to not touch that scenario in front of them, even with a ten foot pole. They’ll take action if necessary, they really hope that it’ll never be necessary.
(Me realizing I left this stuff in my draft for days: Huh. Thought I finished and posted this. Guess not. Time to continue)
Danny “On Sight for Ringmasters” Fenton makes an appearance yet again! I imagine that like, the Joker wasn’t even enacting any of his plans yet (I imagine some set up is needed). So, he’s just getting things moving in a warehouse when this Wayne bait straight up appears out of nowhere. Joker being Joker obviously threatens him, seeing the opportunity to get a hostage to use for his upcoming plot. Then he wakes up in the hospital with a broken jaw, finding out that that Wayne bait kid broke his jaw, and that said Wayne bait had apparently been in Arkham and escaped it with Tim Drake and two others who are making a name for themselves in Gotham. Well, he has quite a bit of time to plot with this new information.
Also, Sam and Tucker causing the corrupt of Gotham so many problems. They’ve got the “On Sight” vibes, but in a different tone from Danny’s. Sam is fully ready to send Poison Ivy info packets on different companies that are causing environmental problems at a moments notice. She absolutely would love seeing those companies find out after fucking around for so long. Also, Tucker digging up dirt on people, absolutely. Love that for him.
Jason getting Jazz a thank you gift? Beautiful. But, I raise you one better. Every time Jazz gets one of the bats to consider therapy for longer than a a normal Bat time, Alfred brings her a gift. Small ones, but she’s so close to getting them to acquiesce to getting therapy, or at least informal therapy.
That girls night would be terrifying for a bystander to witness once they realized who was there. Sam and Ivy plotting, Jazz and Harley comparing notes, Ellie and Selena having a back and forth about Ellie’s thieving skills (she’s absolutely down to steal from time to time, she just enjoys arguing), and Steph+Cass+Barbara getting to watch the chaos of the Team Phantom girls hanging with the Gotham Sirens, joining in at times and eating popcorn at others.
Its a wonderful chaotic mix. And then the Fenton parents get involved. I like the idea of them being good parents. And immediately changing tracks once Danny gets outed as Phantom. Thus meaning they want to meet the new boyfriend who helped him. The one who taught him how to take down corrupt organisations. The lad obviously deserves a custom weapon of his own!
Which of course means they end up meeting Batman and the batclan as a whole. They were very amused by the kiddos getting sent to Arkham as an extreme escape room game. They absolutely aided and abetted on that one. That the three met Tim there? Well clearly he was there by mistake? Or for a similar reason. And anyway! Look how good he is at engineering?
So the batclan? Get to the the Fenton parents. And experience the delight and chaos they cause. Jason of course adores them. They make him non lethal weapons when he asks about them. He didn't even ask for one! They were just so pleased he was interested!
Tim now totally gets why Danny is the way he is. Ah, that's where the mad science came from! Can I join lab time? Please? Bruce is horrified. His new in laws are mad scientists, stuck up socialites and the saving grace. The totally normal, caring lovely Foley's.
The rest of the clan? Are enjoying the chaos. Alfred finds them just delightful. Look at how loving they are! His grandchildren are all getting love. And custom weapons! Well love does show itself uniquely Master Bruce.
Dick gets back from his therapy mission to more chaos than he left behind. And wow, these guys are nuts! It's great! He's finally learning how to deal with all the emotions he's been repressing and internalising. And then the Fenton's appear. And wow. That's a lot of affection. He didn't want any of it. But iT's nice. So he won't say no.
Bruce is running himself ragged to keep them away from his rogues. He does not want to know what would happen if they made friends with any of them. He just knows that would be horrendous. Not even Harley thanks!
I imagine the way that Danny announced his parents coming down was a week ahead with him just saying, “Oh, btw, parents are coming to town” and not elaborating or talking about it further. So some people are completely blindsided by the Fenton parents. Like, imagine expecting someone who at least seems normalish on the outside and then getting the vibrantly mad science that embodies the Fenton parents.
The Fenton parents’ immediate approval of Tim and presentation of a custom weapon will genuinely stagger him for a bit because he was (at least subconsciously) prepared to show that he was a good partner for Danny. But, he genuinely fits in way too well with his future Fenton in-laws (he enjoys the Foley ones and… he can tolerate the required time with the Manson parents. Ida is quite interesting for a grandma in-law though).
Jason’s just been applauding Tim for managing to pull the Eternal Trio when he was in Arkham (and after). Straight up saying that Tim has the best taste in partners out of the entire family for this alone. He adores each and every one of the Fentons. He loves the weapons they make as well, each one is a crazy curveball, even if he questions how on some of them.
Tim’s understanding of why Danny is as he is upon meeting the Fenton parents is great. Bruce despairing over his in laws is even better (another plus point in Jason’s “Tim has the best taste in partners” claim, according to Jason).
Alfred’s absolutely inviting the Fenton parents out to the shooting range for some time to bond and let the two test weapons. They’re intelligent, caring, chaotic, and all around delights.
Dick returning to be met with chaos is amazing. The Fenton parents just sweep him into the tornado of their presence and he’s left with no explanation until someone says something that hints at their relation to Danny. Afterwards, Dick is absolutely down to just vibe with their extreme affection.
Bruce playing interference between the whirlwind of (unrestrained) mad science and affection that is the Fenton parents and his rogues. Amazing. Lovely.
Just imagine the chaos that would happen if they met Harley. She would be fucking delighted by all of their everything. And everyone else would suffer. She already like the kiddos! And the parents are just as fun! Bruce? Does not want that to become reality.
Nana Ida approves. And she's the one Sam cares about approving. So it's fine. Nana Ida scares them all somewhat. None of them are sure why. Until they see her and Alfred chatting. And they get on far too well. They talk like equals. And that sends a shiver down Bruce's spine.
The entire family enjoy how genuine the Fenton parents are. They don't lie, or hide how they feel. They are loud, affectionate and proud of their very beloved kids. Absolutely insane. But loving and warm. It's something they don't get to see often. It's a shock, but a good one.
Alfred really likes some of their weapons. The wrist Ray that looks like a watch? He would like one very much. It would make keeping his family safe ever so much easier! When they catch on that he wants one but won't ask? Thinking it's rude? Well, they have to make him one special!
Alfred on one of his many small excursions to present Jazz with a gift to thank her for getting the bats to consider therapy meets the Fenton parents there again.
They all had last met when his new in-laws came to Gotham and their discreet home protection weaponry was truly extraordinary. Even with a lot of modern techniques it was still hard to find anything that was so small, yet could pack such a punch.
After a nice afternoon tea, Alfred was happy to make his way back to the manor, but stopped as the Fenton parents Held out a gift of their own.
"Jack and I saw how interested you were. It's understandable to want some extra protection with a family like yours." Her tone left it unclear if she meant his family as the Waynes or if ahe knew about their nightly activities. He would guess both, considering heir own son had been a vigilante as well. The package was small and Alfred was very pleased to open the case and Find a quite intricate wristwatch and a small manual at the bottom of the box.
"Mads here did a lot of the detailing and trying to get as much functionality as this one has into one watch was a great challenge for the both of us!" Jack's grin went from ear to ear. An inventor through and through.
Lucius would have fun bouncing ideas around with some new people once they agreed to it.
Bruce didn't think much of the new watch when Alfred came back from the Fenton's. He really really should have. Considering said watch just knocked out the three goons who tried to attack when they were out getting lunch. Alfred looked incredibly pleased with himself.
Bruce "Alfred.... Please tell me that's not what I think it it?"
Alfred smirked at his boy, enjoying the concerned look on his face. " I shall have to ruin your day Master Bruce. The Fenton's created it especially for my use. And they are incredible inventors."
Bruce just sighed in resignation. They really were. He could just tell this was going to end up in the news. A reporter was already on scene after all. They looked excited about it for some reason.
Reporter: You wouldn't happen to mean the Fenton's from Amity Park sir?
Alfred: Of course! Since their son began to date our Tim? Well, they gifted us some personal protection items.
Reporter: I'm not surprised! I grew up in Amity. I remember the things they made for their kids! Incredible if, ah, eccentric!
Alfred smiled fondly at the description. It suited them all too well. He would have to update them on how it functioned. He was sure it would be a massive hit. Perhaps they would consent to allowing them to purchase a number as gifts for friends? Hmm there was a thought.
Alfred gives the Fenton all the good press, it's the least we can do after this thoughtful sweet gift.
When we see the red hood also equipped with custom Fenton weapon...
The Fentons are quickly making a name for themselves in Gotham, the press eats it, plus they're so open to saying a few words even to strangers on the street, and they're so cute when he talks so proudly about their child.
Bruce has to scramble to get them to not well them to this list of people please? These people are criminals! And if course the Fenton parents would never knowingly sell to criminals! They probably end up working a deal to work with WE to sell in Gotham.
Lucius Fox loves them. They are insane yes, but brilliant! He absolutely keeps trying to get them to just work for the company. It won't work because they like working at home to be near the kids! But they will happily licence the company to sell their designs.
Alfred of course keeps being supplied with a range of weapons. The Justice League eventually cotton on and start to bother them. Weapons that can do that? Yes please!
Meanwhile the polycule have been having too much fun with their fellow junior heroes. The Justice League didn't realise they had access to the Infinite Realms! Danny is happily taking them round to get training and learn and have fun. Young Justice are having the best learning trip!
The license for WE to sell Fenton design stuff is likely a pretty good deal. The Fenton’s won’t have to worry about sorting out a blacklist or proper marketing and WE would get a cut of the profits from inventions that are likely to be popular (especially after Danny and Tim helped the Fenton parents cut out unnecessary bulk from the invention designs- they’re a little too used to having to bulk it up to keep it together due to the majority of their inventions being made with scrap materials).
Lucius swears that, if their home location ever happens to change to Gotham, he’ll absolutely snatch them up for WE’s R&D department. The insanity is worth it. He can deal with the Bat Family’s vigilante craziness, he can deal with two scientists who regularly forget OSHA protocols.
Alfred and the JL stocking up on Fenton weaponry is great. There’s probably field-tested efficiency rating charts for each (with notes from the testers and the test targets) that can be reviewed (Danny’s rogues are happy that the Fenton parents aren’t really hunting them anymore, even if being chased down for questions or requests for testing help can get a little annoying).
YJ+Team Phantom doing Infinite Realms adventures- wonderful! The stories are gonna be really weird, especially if reality is more of a suggestion than law in the IR. Like-
Bruce: You met an Eldritch sea monster at an other worldly place who gave you enough clues to solve a crime?
Tim: No, I don’t think they were Eldritch. Big, lot of swirling stuff, but not Eldritch. Everything else though is pretty much correct.
Bruce: Does this happen to have anything to do with-
Tim: My date mates? Yes.
Bruce: Hn.
Also, to touch on some things.
Previously, in the whole “Jason working up to getting an actual therapist” thing, it was mentioned that he’d possibly get a new vigilante name? Or was at least thinking about it?
Also also, Everlasting Insomniacs have firsthand accounts and experiences of the corruption in Arkham possibly. And they get enough interaction with reporters, especially Vicki. So… if they let slip a few tidbits of info… well-
I mean, Skulker would probably love to build weapons with the Fenton's. And test them. They are hunters, he is a hunter. What could possibly go wrong with their friendship they think. As Danny sobs in the bathroom.
Young Justice likely also help test out the weapons. It's a great bonding activity! Like paintball but with more adrenaline! And they get to test then in the Realms too! Tis a dangerous place! Gotta be protected!
Gotham? Goes nuts over the new self defence line from WE. This is perfect! And so many are sold at discount to students! School has never been safer for the kids! The rogues hate it of course. Even if they are impressed.
Jason finally getting a therapist and working through his issues? Is going slowly, but well. Obviously the lack of pit rage helps. And well, he took Red Hood from Joker. So.... It's time to set that aside. I would love of he took the name Shrike (Butcherbird). Because it still fits not violence and desire to Fuck with Bruce.
Meanwhile? The polycule are travelling, training. Saving people. Having cute dates. Causing chaos and kicking ass!
Ever since Penguin had found that street rat and offered him a job his life had been on easy street.
The young man had been wearing a bandana over the bottom half of his face while cleaning the floors of one of his establishments when the bats came crashing in through a skylight, showering both of them in glass.
The fight began quickly after that, the man in his confusion threw one of the bats away from him, which turned out to be a mistake. They now saw him as a goon and began attacking him too.
Panicking, Danny didn't want to lose his job. He didn't want to go back to living on the streets...so he made a decision. He used his intangibility to run through one of the bats and grabbed penguin who was already handcuffed and subdued.
Then they were gone.
The bats checked their thermals, checked for energy readings, everything, but the two were gone.
Penguins new goon was a meta who could teleport. Worse. He may have just become the Penguins private bodyguard.
They were right of course. Penguin took care of his own and Danny adored being cared for. Cobblepot gave him whatever he wanted and the ghost felt he was in to deep to tell his boss no when it came to most jobs. He always did have a problem with giving his loyalty to people who didn't deserve it. His own parents were a testament to that...to think his death hadn't actually been an accident...
This continues with the bats trying to stop Penguins plots and trying to find a way to stop or investigate this new meta and coming up with nothing cause "Ghost" isn't even from thier multiverse.
This all changes though when Catwoman informs them that Phantom has a massive crush on Red Hood.
Everyone looks to Jason who refuses to play around with some guys heart. He's done a lot of messed up things but hes not that scummy. The others protest saying that's not what they wanted and Hood does eventually agree to meeting with the guy and is caught off guard by how excited the guy is to meet him.
He treats him like an actual hero. He insists that he is one. Danny then drops some of his own tragic backstory about his insane mad scientists parents who experimented on him and his sister thier whole lives with this green glowing death water and how it didn't do much until they murdered him and led him to believe it was an accident.
They thought he survived.
He didn't. Its one of the things he liked about Red Hood. He wasn't actually revived either.
Jason demanded to know what he meant, but Danny only responded, "You're one of us." Before vanishing again.
Why isn’t danny in the Infinite realms or what happened to Amity Park?
Why not have it be Amity was blown off the map in an alien attack… when it was Dan—not Danny but Dan Phantom who pulled Amity and maybe Elmerton into the Infinite Realms during a fight against the GIW?
Danny was captured, Jazz was killed in-front of him during the struggle (her ghost bothers Dan and handles Amity’s adjustment now). Sam is leading a revolt against Undergrowth and angling to take his role as supreme plant deity to plants in a bid to be able to save Danny. Tucker is Dulaman now, and organizing his subjects to help Danny escape.
Meanwhile Danny is experimented on by the GIW and his parents are consultants.
Danny manages to escape. He’s not the only ghost to. Technus wipes everyone from Amity and Elmerton put of digital memory by absorbing or eating all that info and leaving the internet. He’s intent on conquering the world still, but now he knows he needs allies ans wants vengeance.
JL only know of a “ghost child” the technomancer once fought and was experimented on beside.
Danny escapes before his friends can find him. He got out and ran to Gotham. Someone without any proof of existence, homeless and probably 17 at the time.
Danny can’t find any trace of hometown, friends, or anything. He feels like he’s going crazy until this city spirit pushes in one direction. He can feel a pull but runs into someone else instead: the Penguin in need of a new janitor at a fledgling club.
Penguin gets Danny his papers, new identity and only asks once why he’s on the streets in Gotham when he’s not from there. Danny tells him Gotham was the only safe alternative.
Penguin sees the red flag that is and decides to keep the kid as far from the Night Life as possible. If Gotham is safer than where the homeless teen with a number of concerning scars came from well. Not the first one he’s helped find their footing, and he doubts it will be the last.
A year or so passes before Danny is caught up in the Night Life. Before it was getting Danny his GED, and debating the merits of a Wayne Scholarship for college later down the line. Danny’s scars were lighter, he didn’t flinch as hard at flashlights, shiny pens or butterknives anymore.
Then Batman crashes the building Danny was cleaning. Penguin had been visiting Danny to check-in on the kid after a Night Life deal gone well without Bat interference.
Then Robin burst in, followed by Spoiler and Red Robin arguing over something. (Who’s case this is. Robin is of the opinion he found Panguin, his case now. Spoiler is all for sharing. Red Robin is now done with Robin stealing his last seven cases).
Red Robin is thrown off Penguin by a panicked Danny, only for Robin to grab his sword and start fighting him. Danny—having had every reason to hide his ghostliness before—dodges too well for Robin to deem a civilian.
Spoiler and Red Robin cuff Penguin.
Danny didn’t want the life he’d built gone. And Penguin listened to his concerns and didn’t judge him for his random triggers or trauma responses. Penguin was the first person to take a chance on him and not expect anything beyond non-goon labor. Penguin made him a new identity, kept him safe, and didn’t dock him for housing. If Danny’s triggers were worse that day and he tried to come in, Penguin and his supervisor had him stay in the safe room for his shift, grabbed him something to eat and would check in.
So Danny went intangible for the first time in well over a year, ran through the three bats, grabbed Penguin and bolted. He missed the invisibility until they were at one of the other places Danny tended to keep clean. A safehouse, he thinks.
Penguin puts together former meta human experiment and doubles down on keeping Danny as one of his people.
Danny is given a way to track Penguin and told to keep on doing what he’s doing. Danny asks if its okay if Penguin stays nearby before having a fullblown panic attack.
Once he calms down, Danny tells Penguin bits and pieces.
Penguin may or may not let it leak to the more… volatile and reactive elements that a few gov facilities experimented on meta kids. And if this info made its way to the Outlaws? Well. Penguin was fine letting the prison population sort out the killing.
Now Dan, is still pissed. His little brother and little sister (Dani) are trapped in the mortal realm.
Wulf may or may not appear during a fight with the bats and punt one of the Bats for aiming a weapon at his “frateto” while Danny gets Penguin out.
At this point, Danny explains a bit more and Penguin is now Danny’s Uncle. Upside: Danny is not living alone or with roomies now. Downside: his uncle is prone to being a helicopter parent now, good at listening but absolutely parenting now and Danny is still confused about his various parental traumas.
Wulf absolutely lets Dan and co know Danny’s settled in Gotham, while Dani is now besties with Billy Batson.
Danny absolutely has hero-worship for Red Hood since he stands up to abusers of all stripes, puts the victims’ longterm feeling of safety first and yes, he’s also a dead guy so Danny feels Seen and Heard when he hears news about Red Hood.
Danny has not transformed into Phantom at all during this time. He’s afraid to.
Wulf now visits on the reg, and Technus may have shown Penguin what was done to Danny in private at some point.
Jason POV of events above minus flirting as i love danny being in hero worship mode and trying to play it cool, and he remembers the phantom cult paulina started (idk if that’s just 100% fan or not at this point)
Accidentally posted this under wring blog before so sorry for double notifications
Dp drabble cont.
Jason didn’t like this plan. At all.
Apparently his estranged family fucked up a meta experiment escapee’s second chance royally. A very scarred kid (with scars fading and darkening somehow) worked as one of penguin’s janitor’s and was now Penguin’s bodyguard. He’d been taken off the streets with mo discernible background beforehand… whether this is a superboy situation or ‘erase the kid’s existence’ or a batbrat deal, they don’t know.
What they do know, is the kid’s name is Danny, and his powers look like a variation of a martian’s. So far they’d seen phasing, invisibility, possible shapeshifting and elongation of limbs (openly disputed between everyone which one the kid’s arms stretching and looking more like something you’d expect from Plastic Man or Elongated Man). They’d seen the kid show superhuman strength, take hits that should take someone out and yes, for some reason the kid is immune to fear gas and joker venom’s usual affects… but his “super breath” is more like Black Canary’s cry, and he’s doesn’t have any physic powers from what they’ve seen.
If anything, Jason’s money is on meta human-green martian hybrid, probably a test tube baby.
But then? Then Jason met the kid. as a civilian. Asking about motorcycle modifications at Roy’s garage in Gotham.
“So here’s the guy’s current schematics—and here’s what I’m working on adding to it for his death day.”
“You mean birthday?”
“No. Once you’re called dead but come back, the day they declared you dead is your deathday, and when you came back is your Remaking and its a major deal so we celebrate each others’. I just wanted to go over the attachments for this part here and here, since his model is a lot older.”
Jason blanked out at that bit of information. The kid has died. And come back. So had a friend of his.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
He threw his helmet on as green took over. Then sent that tidbit to the group chat.
No one like the implications of that.
Like me ran circles in his head. Kori texted him a lead on a group she found revolting. Some screwy “Ghost Investigation Ward” that should, should be JLD territory but.
But they had legal rights—a government license—to “discover” what made “ecto” entities work.
Babs hacked into it and Jason understood why the kid was celebrating the death day and “remaking” or whatever they were calling their escape.
Jason saw an old video of the kid on the table. Younger. The Y surgery cuts only stapled “for easy access”. The kid screaming at two people on there—“mom dad! Please! I’m your son! I’m real and its me please!” Only to be dismissed with a stiff “subject continues to try tricking us into believing its sentience. Our son would stay dead. Ecto scum.”
Jason tapped out as green ate him up. He came back to himself a few days later, after taking out a trafficking ring according to plan.
The outlaws assembled, Roy and himself on destruction while Kori and Bizarro helped the victims escape.
Jason ran into Danny again as Red Hood helping a “ghost” only Bizarro could see, but they all saw the affects of.
Convincing the kid they’d take him to Danny and get him “back to the Zone” was not something Jason thought he’d be doing.
It was late at one of penguin’s clubs, but on Danny’s normal rotation for cleanup.
Red Hood walked in with Bizarro at his side.
“Hey, i think this kid might be one of yours friends?”
Seeing a kid that stopped a building from falling on penguin before be thrown back by the unseen child was… unnerving.
“Youngblood! Oh shi—shoot! I meant shoot. I
Thought you were in the—fuuudge. White bastards?” Danny’s voice was soft, and he cradled the air where the child had to be.
“Language,” Jason teased.
“Oh shut up, he’s from the victorian era—yes i know the whole—because bringing up pre-death stuff is rude? I think? Look, we both know the portal messed me up beyond molecular level shenanigans and i missed the “everyone knows” stuff… no we don’t use that as medicine anymore. I am not counting the self-medicating… i may be able to get ghost nip though for the anxiety… do i want to know what happened to—and crying uh, shiii—can you tell my super i have a crying ghost kid i need to binge a western with unless they want a poltergeist sitch? Thanks!”
Bizarro and Red Hood visited again, only to find the ghost visible (and hiding behind Danny) while a girl that looked like Danny and another kid argued about astronauts.
Danny was visibly holding himself back from jumping in.
“Hey,” jason greeted as Bizarro ran off to Youngblood and the kids.
“Hey—uh, aren’t you supposed to be Night Life only outside of the Alley?”
Jason shrugged. “Big guy was worried.”
Danny accepted that easily enough. “Thanks, for well,” Danny gestured to Young Blood floating with the two Bruce Baits. “Last time i asked for help it. It didn’t end well.”
Jason grit his teeth as the video flickered in his mind.
“Got any names?”
The kid laughed at that. A bitter, tired laugh. “We called the whole justice league who knows how often when it began. Some blonde with a minibot said it was “out of their hands” and that was that.”
Jason twitched with that tidbit. Booster Gold was a dead man, or very nearly dead man by the time Babs was through.
“It isn’t right.”
“I had to stop trying to worry about that long before all… all that began.”
Jason knew it wasn’t a pretty story. And not one the kid had to tell; him or anyone else.
“Kid going back?”
“He’s transient like me and Dani with an I. His spirit doesn’t settle, he just needs to play with other kids his dead age.”
“Not living?”
“That goes from birth on. Death ages… stick.”
Jason frowned at that, but didn’t press.
“I’ll guess you didn’t get the death knows info either?”
Jason paused at that. “The what.”
“Uh, its rude to talk about especially as its a trigger for most people but uh, i can tell you had a trip to the great whatever and somehow got dropkicked back too.”
Jason kept his mouth shut at that.
“And uh, thanks, for getting one of their facilities. Its… a lot harder to stop them since Amity vanished from this realm.”
Jason nodded, burning that into his memory. amity—facility, cult, religion, town, city, or person. He’d bother John during their weekly meet up.
“Original!” Bruce bait number two yelled. “Get over here and help me defend Yuri Gagarin from this slander!”
“Look, Neil made it to the moon and had the best line, he wins best astronaut.” Prime bruce bait argued.
“Oh shush you, hadsfeild is better. You heard the song,” Youngblood huffed.
“You only know about him because of Ember!” Bruce bait 2 argued.
“Nuh uh, danny’s been teaching me!”
“Original!”
“Well what else was i supposed to do? And i am not settling this, i am adding fuel to the fire. I raise you three Sally Ride and her work space safety and Mae Jemison who needs no further introduction.”
“Traitor.”
“Wait hold up, i need to look them up,” bruce bait one held out his hand.
Danny readily handed over his phone. “As one of your big brothers, i am not a traitor, i have opinions and you keep trying to turn it i to competitions.”
“Someone has to win. And it should not be Neil—Jazz would agree with me!”
Jason grabbed the group food from bat burger while the debate continued bizarro reading over prime Bruce bait’s shoulder. He sent babs what he found, and updated the file on Danny.
Older brother. One of at least two. Someone named Jazz is important to both. Dani with a i is a thing and likely a clone, and Danny sees her as family. Dani with an I has a friend who is Bruce Bait-y and so is Dani with an I, so keeping Bruce away from them is a good idea.
Medium to high chance if Danny taking them in… and Danny confirmed having died and come back before.
Uncertain what an ecto entity is, but definitely minority, can be mixed species(? Race? Hell if Jason knows) with their own culture and common courtesies. Either way, ecto entities may or may not be ghosts, and have been tortured by a branch of the US government. An escalation that may have been avoided if the League got involved sooner.
Booster was on his shitlist.
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Random DC x DP thought. Ghosts from Danny's dimension are rare. Clockwork knew the future king was going to come from there so he protected it from any destructive spirits that might alter the "Good Timeline" by killing an ancestor or something. The absence of existing ghosts hanging around meant very little ectoplasm and fewer new ghosts. The ghosts that exist close to the location in the Realms that will become the Fenton Portal exit are from other universes.... mostly DC. They're the ghosts of people who in Danny's world never existed.
So, when he brings Jason a book at some point and is like "This is a Ghost Writer original but he signed it with his human name idk why." Jason reads Charles Dickens and passes the fuck out.
"One of my ex-rogues Technus wants to visit the museum with his ashes in it? Can I get your approval for that? I promise I'll make sure he doesn't disturb anyone.... The name of the museum? That's the Nikola Tesla Museum. Are you ok, Tim? Do you need to sit down, Tim?"
"Hi bats, can my two rouges look for their son in mortal realm. What is their name, you ask? Johnny and Kitty, but when they were alive they went by Thomas and Martha Wank or something. Bats? Why are you crying Batman?
This totally works but ALSO maybe they came back as their adult selves but were unable to find "their" Bruce out of all the universes and got more and more upset and powerful until Clockwork just deaged them to save lives.
