A drag path, etched in the surface, as evidence I left there on purpose - DPXDC Au
i have an idea for a new batdad au.
i have an idea for a general oneshot but the gist is, after having a rough day--between school, getting another detention thanks to Dash, ghost fights, having an argument with his parents about his misbehavior that morning, and getting into a small argument with his friends-- Danny, after a ghost fight, picks a random direction and just flies. And he flies as fast as he can, burning off a bunch of ectoplasm and healing himself from his fight as a result.
But he eventually ends up in Gotham. Pretty standard premise. But he doesn't really do anything. He just picks a random rooftop to detransform and sit on. And he sits there, taking in the sights of the city and vaguely dissociating for a few hours before feeling like he's finally calmed down enough to return to Amity. He turns the location off on his phone before shutting it down, that way he doesn't have to deal with texts and calls from his parents about missing curfew. He's already going to be in trouble, so it doesn't matter how long he stays out for.
And at first he thinks it's just a one-and-done deal. He probably won't ever return to that rooftop ever again. Until he does,,,, about a month later. This time after a particularly nasty dealing with Vlad in his civilian life. He didn't feel like there was anywhere safe enough for him to go in Amity, so despite himself, he decided to dip after a few hours.
It becomes a pattern. Until eventually Danny's sitting on that rooftop at least once a week. Trying to find a slice of peace in America's most dangerous city. He has a lot of thoughts about Gotham, many of them reflective, and many of them comparative to Amity. He tries not to do it too often, especially once he catches himself feeling bitter once or twice.
And then he meets Batman.
Their first meeting is brief, inconsequential, and lasts no more than probably five minutes. Danny had never heard of the Batman prior to this, and so after meeting him,, he's kind of hyped. He leaves the man to his city, and doesn't really plan on seeking him out, but it doesn't stop him from feeling a sense of solidarity with him.
There are a few more run-ins with Batman after this. Sporadic and random, but they happen. Until eventually--Danny guesses that Batman figured out he had a pattern--Batman starts showing up often to this spot Danny's carved out for his own. Danny allows him. He knows he's encroaching on Bat's territory, and he views it as them existing in parallel to each other.
Danny's first proper conversation with Batman--the first one that lasts longer than a minute and consists more of short, awkward answers from Danny and curt responses from Batman--is when Danny, city-watching and lost in thought, tells him that he thinks Gotham is pretty.
Batman turns and looks at him, and goes: "...You do?"
Danny stumbles through an explanation after that, and somehow the conversation keeps going. And keeps going. And keeps going.
They don't always talk, and Batman doesn't always stick around for long, but Danny likes the little bouts of camaraderie they have. It reminds him of passing some of his classmates in the hallway, and they nod in greeting at each other. Sometimes, Batman lands on the roof, and then disappears a few seconds later. Danny thinks he might be checking on him.
Something interesting starts happening sometime after this. Usually, if Danny is flying to Gotham after a ghost fight, his injuries heal on the way there. Something about the rate he's burning ectoplasm that exacerbates his healing. Like cauterizing a wound.
That's been faltering lately. Danny doesn't know what's wrong. It started with a twinge in his shoulder that should've disappeared after a fight with Skulker, but lingered all the way to Gotham and up until Danny had to fly back to Amity. When he got back to his bedroom, it healed.
In any case, he didn't pay it too much to mind -- his little bumps and bruises were easy enough to hide from Batman. And they healed before he got home.
And then he shows up on their shared rooftop with a shiner that refused to heal, even when Danny tries to force it, nothing changes. It only forcibly reminds Danny that he doesn't have as much finesse over his powers as he wished he did.
He's frustrated and hurt, and on top of that, his ribs smart from a hit he took point blank. Deep breaths hurt. He pushes himself against the HVAC that's not up to code, throws up his hood, and curls into a ball.
This isn't something he can hide from Batman. A fleeting thought hits him to just leave so he doesn't have to explain himself if the man decides to stick around.
He doesn't.
And Batman, much to Danny's brief, insincere consternation, sticks around. He notices immediately that something is wrong. Danny keeps his head buried in his knees and tries to deflect.
It doesn't work.
Normally, Danny is very good at getting people to get off his back. Just be a bit prickly, a bit snappish, throw in some sarcasm, and they back off with a scoff, or they decide to scold him for that instead of pursuing their original reason for bothering him.
Unfortunately--Danny should've seen this coming, considering Batman's occupation--Batman sees right through him. He sticks around, verbally prodding at him, and when Danny snaps at him, he falls silent and just. waits. And perches patiently from a distance away. Which stings in a cathartic way.
Danny's resolve crumbles in minutes. Eventually, he silently turns his head and rests his cheek on his knee. He doesn't say anything, just hopes that maybe the light pollution in the city is bright enough to show off the bruise circling around his eye. Or it isn't bright enough, and hides it.
Batman is quiet for a beat. Then calmly and flatly asks who hit him. Danny stays stubbornly silent, and refuses to meet his eyes. When it becomes apparent he won't respond, Batman stares, and then reaches for a pocket on his utility belt.
He pulls out an icepack, and holds it out to Danny.
Danny is flabbergasted.
And then feels immediately fragile for reasons he can't articulate or understand.
Quietly, he takes it, and mutters "thank you". It's the kindest thing he's said all night.
Batman nods, and when he has to leave, it's with great reluctance.
This keeps happening. Danny shows up occasionally injured, mostly bruised and scratched up, thankfully. Batman appears, and notices, and quietly prods. Danny sometimes throws out an excuse--he fell, he tripped, he made some other clumsy mistake--and Batman doesn't believe him, but he doesn't pry. He quietly hands off to him something that could help. A bandaid or an icepack. Or just his quiet company.
The bruises increase; Batman gets just a little bit tenser each time. And then it plateaus.
And then it comes to a head after a nasty, ugly fight with Plasmius that included his favorite physical pastime: strangulation. Danny books it to Gotham the moment he thinks the coast is clear, and is furious upon landing to find that the bruising refuses to heal.
He's not fast enough to leave before Batman shows up, seemingly having pinpointed the time of Danny's arrivals by now. He whirls around on his foot when he hears him landing, and isn't fast enough to slam his hand over his throat and duck before Batman sees it.
And Batman sees it.
And Batman is very calm, and very furious when he says; "Who did that?"
Danny, despite his flawless deflections all the other times, falters and panics. Caught off guard by his arrival and already running on adrenaline, he stammers out an inconsistent slurry of excuses.
"Nobody. Nobody! It was nobody-- just my, just my uncle--" Danny's eye twitches in panic, "Just- nobody. Nobody important. Nobody did anything."
It's too late to take back anything.
"Your uncle?"
Danny refuses eye contact, staring off over the edge of the roof widely, "No! No-- nobody. Nothing. Nothing happened." His ruined voice says otherwise.
"Is he the one that's been hurting you?" Batman sounds very resolute as he says this.
Danny isn't quite sure how he managed to get out of that conversation-- it ends up being a total blur--but he does know that he gets out of it with his secret identity intact.
He doesn't return back to Gotham for almost a month; he regrets it every time he misses the days he goes and visits. The passing time presses down on him. He feels increasingly flighty and on edge; his temper shorter.
When he returns, Batman is waiting for him already. He doesn't say anything, and for a -- disappointing? -- moment, Danny thinks they're just not going to acknowledge Danny's freakout the last time he was there.
But.
Batman is waiting for him.
And with a burner phone for him.
There's only one number on it: his own.
He doesn't need to say anything for Danny to catch his meaning, or what his intentions are.
Danny stares at it dumbly for who knows how long, his eyes stinging suspiciously, before he looks up at Batman. He's gawking.
The first thing out of his mouth: "Are you sure?" it's croaky.
Batman grunts affirmatively at him. Holds it out closer to him: "For emergencies."
"You don't have to do this." Danny says, but he's reaching out for the phone anyways, snatching it out of Batman's hands, and cradling it preciously to himself. He's so cognizant of his hand and the weight of the phone against it.
Batman says nothing; it means everything to Danny.
"And you're sure?" He repeats, and sniffs conspicuously. He hates how fragile his voice sounds. He knows how monumental this is, not just to Danny, but to Batman as well. That solidarity in heroism coming back to bite him as Danny knows, intimately, how important it is to allow someone access to you personally. "You-- you're sure? You're sure." He sounds like a broken record.
Batman nods curtly.
Danny's vision wobbles. His next words come out in a broken, horrifically fragile, barely-there whisper: "What if- what if I just, just want to talk? Uh-- text. N' it's not an emergency."
Batman thinks for a moment. "…You can do that," he says after a beat, "Call if its an emergency."
"Really?" Danny doesn't know why it hurts so much to say that. He sounds pathetically squeaky.
"Yes."
Batman is a man of few words; Danny quite likes that about him. He's surprised by it himself.
The dam ends up breaking; Danny's tears spill over and his shoulders convulse. When he cries, it's entirely silent, he doesn't want to draw attention to himself. He makes short, choked-off breathing sounds, and begins to curl into himself. He's not sure why he's reacting this way; it's just a phone.
He still ends up tilting in towards Batman, and collapsing into him. Batman catches him, and sinks them both to the ground, and lets Danny smear tears into the armor plating of his suit.
-----
I dug my heels into the gravel
As evidence for you to unravel
A drag path etched in the surface
Can you find me?
Soulmate body swap au where Danny swaps with his soulmate (in my mind its damian or maybe cass) while they’re in the middle of a fight.
Like, a big fight. Parademons, alien invasion, full arkham breakout kind of fight. All hands on deck, no backup, all in kind of fight.
And then comms just come on and Danny is there in a hero’s body like “hey, soo… is now a bad time to be soul switched?”
And every listening hero has this sudden stomach dropping horrified reaction, because oh my god, this is almost certainly a civilian, on the battlefield, where are they, who were they fighting last, they’re gonna die, oh no, who’s closest go save them NOW.
And then danny’s like “oh cool a sword i kinda know what to do with this.” (Canonically he has fought with a katana before)
Okay, hes got some training, just keep yourself safe we’re coming
And then ten minutes later Dany’s back on comms like “Great news guys! Some of my power is attached to my soul so I can use it even in this body! Fun.” (If its a hero who has been in contact with laz water he’s draining it to fuel his ectoblasts)
Another two minutes go by and now its just “oh, who’s a big eldritch soul-eating puppy dog? You are! Yes you are, good boy!”
The hero in danny’s body is having a full blown panic attack, trying to contact their team, trying to figure out where their soulmate is, if they’re okay, how to help them, and when they finally get eyes on the situation danny is just-
Charging into battle on Cujo’s back, weapon raised, manic glee and lazarus glow in his eyes and a war cry on his lips as he completely crushes anything in his way.
listening to a man break up with his partner on the train and the first sentence I heard was "I just don't appreciate you cheating on me six different times, once with my own father."
Soulmate body swap au where Danny swaps with his soulmate (in my mind its damian or maybe cass) in the middle of a fight.
Like, a big fight. Parademons, alien invasion, full arkham breakout kind of fight. All hands on deck, no backup, all in kind of fight.
And then comms just come on and Danny is there in a hero’s body like “hey, soo… is now a bad time to be soul switched?”
And every listening hero has this sudden stomach dropping horrified reaction, because oh my god, this is almost certainly a civilian, on the battlefield, where are they, who were they fighting last, they’re gonna die, oh no, who’s closest go save them NOW.
And then danny’s like “oh cool a sword i kinda know what to do with this.” (Canonically he has fought with a katana before)
Okay, hes got some training, just keep yourself safe we’re coming
And then ten minutes later Dany’s back on comms like “Great news guys! Some of my power is attached to my soul so I can use it even in this body! Fun.” (If its a hero who has been in contact with laz water he’s draining it to fuel his ectoblasts)
Another two minutes go by and now its just “oh, who’s a big eldritch soul-eating puppy dog? You are! Yes you are, good boy!”
The hero in danny’s body is having a full blown panic attack, trying to contact their team, trying to figure out where their soulmate is, if they’re okay, how to help them, and when they finally get eyes on the situation danny is just-
Charging into battle on Cujo’s back, weapon raised, manic glee and lazarus glow in his eyes and a war cry on his lips as he completely crushes anything in his way.
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Danny doesn't have the best spatial awareness, you'd think he would given his bout as a vigilante, but his rogues all had the convenient ability of setting off his ghost sense and letting him know when to turn on his awareness.
So when he was taken in by Bruce Wayne in Gotham, far away from any ghosts or portals, he just didn't have any reason to be on guard. It worked well for him since his vigilante days were over and he could put all his focus on school again.
But you see, when he was first taken in, it was just him and his foster brother Tim staying at the manor.
Fast forward to now, Danny gets home from school to find not only Bruce waiting at the table for dinner, but a kid who looks surprisingly like Bruce??? The kid is small, rude and trying to be threatening in a way Danny doesn't really see as such, like the kid is like 8 how much could they really do???
Turns out a lot.
After Danny and Tim sat down and the introductions were made, Bruce filled them in on the situation that was Damian. Tim seemed to take it as a new puzzle, looking to Damian and Bruce periodically as if he could get answers simply by staring. Danny took it in stride, it isn't that unusually for a rich guy to have secret flings that result in children down the line.
Dinner was in full swing when it happened, there had been some bantering the entire time and many threats of bodily harm coming from Damian which weren't met with as many reprimands as Danny assumed it should. A distinct thunk sound was heard after a particularly harsh threat and Danny looked over to see a knife now embedded in Tim's chair where his head once was.
Before he could react, Bruce was standing with a sharp reprimand and Danny collided harshly with his chair as a new knife embedded itself in his shoulder. He cried out in shock, it has been over a year since his last ghost fight and honestly he forgot how much that hurts!
Aka, Bruce and Dick are forced to take Damian's threats more seriously when the civilian Danny is in the crossfire instead of just the trained vigilante Tim.
Timothy Drake has been missing for three months, and Damian is the one who has finally located him.
I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS OR THEIR WORLDS. I DO NOT INTEND TO MAKE MONEY WITH THIS POST. IF THIS POST IS ON TIKTOK, INSTAGRAM, YOUTUBE, OR ANYTHING OTHER THAN TUMBLR I DID NOT CONSENT TO THAT. IF THIS DISCLAIMER IS MISSING THEN THE POST WAS EDITED TO NEGATE IT.
Unfortunately, it was due to Damian being captured by the same people who had caught Timothy.
They were in the same cell, which normally would have been a mistake on their captor's part, but Timothy...Timothy wasn't in any shape to escape, on his own or with help.
They'd stripped him of his uniform, 'gifted' him a hospital gown, and tortured him. Him. Timothy Drake, Damian's brother, for however much they antagonized each other.
Timothy was nearly skeletal, and though his eyes were open, he wasn't present. Nothing Damian did brought about any form of awareness. He'd already, against his pride, shouted for Jon, Kon, Kal, Kara; any of the Supers, any at all, and there'd been no response.
Mostly, his shouts for them had been born of desperation; he knew full well that, if Kon hadn't shredded Timothy's prison to get to him, then the prison was sound-proofed.
Which led to option two.
Damian would have to orchestrate an escape for them both, without Timothy's help.
First step, steal either a gurney or a wheelchair.
Or; Damian is captured by the GIW, and placed in the same cell as Danny. Except that Danny is Tim's long lost identical twin, and unresponsive due to medical torture, so Damian assumes Danny to be Tim.
Tim, meanwhile, is currently in the Philippines, in the middle of a blackout mission he deliberately didn't tell anyone about.
Kon would be deviated that "Tim" trusted him so little that even at the final stage where his mind was slipping he didn't call for him.
I can just imagine Damien getting part way through the building after successfully planning his escape all for the superpowered punk who can't follow plans when emotionally compromised (he can barely follow them when hes doing fine) and has to completely change tactics.
Tim showing up a month or so later to find some poor kid in his bed, presumably kidnapped by the batman to replace him. Maybe he leaves, if all they needed in his spot was a mute dark haired kid then why would he bother staying. He'd do a bit of reconasace for sure. And seeing them call him Tim and being super nice to the guy.
So Tim decides to find out more about him from before... but he finds maybe too much (as always with this guy)
I mean, if Danny is his long lost twin, Tim will see the resemblance and rather than think he’s being replaced by Batman he might just think he’s being replaced in general. Specifically that either the ‘Tim’ in bed is a clone or he himself is.
Tim doesn’t think he’s the clone… but at the same time capturing the original and releasing the clone on a supposed ‘blackout mission’ would be a good cover story. Tim can’t detect any gaps in his memory but he could be conditioned to not. Welp time to take a blood sample from himself and the other Tim to check the results. Maybe also lock himself up and have a 3rd trusted party check the results
He finds someone to sedate him and place him in containment til they can determine what is going on.
Danny's mind must be a mess if he hasn't cleared anything up.
....
Wait wouldn't the Bats have attempted to confirm Danny was Tim when they brought him home? Maybe the minute differences, minus the Lazarus water in his blood, aren't enough to differentiate the two.
That Lazarus adjacent material is probably pretty worrisome.
....
Anyway there's 2 Tims and neither registers as a clone.
Tim has all the identity confirmation codes and clears the telepathic scan, so it turns into a mystery of who the Tim Damien found is.
....
At least Kon knows it wasn't Tkm who didn't call for him.
I'm imagining a comedy of errors around Unidentified on Main(Plus others, give it a second) Omegaverse, turning into a fic that's just post-heat Jason trying to figure out who's fuckin kid this is.
I have no idea how this would be set up, this is still in the 'Idea I had at 2 am' stage.
But for some reason or other, Jason ends up in a house with Danny, Wes, Roy, -and y'know what fuck it. Let's throw in Kyle Rayner, just to fuck shit up even more- and goes into heat.
3-5 awesome, confusing days later, Jay realises they may have made a mistake.
This is doubly confirmed when he gets a positive pregnancy test.
He goes to Bruce to try and do an in-utero DNA test, because he'd rather know who to badger for child support, only to find out that since he's ecto-contaminated to shit at this point, the DNA sample basically fucking melts before they can analyse it.
Fast-forward nine months, and this group of guys is trying to tell based on looks and genetic health conditions WHO IS THE FUCKING FATHER?
Only instead of actually resembling any one of them? The kid is like, blond or something. Where did blond come from? Well the only source they can think of is Sheila Fucking Haywood, and she's on JASON'S side, so that still gives zero indication. Unless fucking somehow Stephanie Brown is the father, despite her not even being there.
So essentially this kid just has like five dads, because by the end of this they've all gotten emotionally attached to the little brat. And now Jason has to navigate this fucking bizarre polycule/harem crap. And Damian looks at Bruce, Dick, Tim, and now Jason dealing with their fucking bizarre polyamorous bullshit that keeps blowing up in their faces, and swears to only ever have one partner at a time.
Tim takes it as a personal challenge to have a weirder polycule drama.
and he's not used to the amount of the toxic ectoplasm in the environment... gotham doesn't have a very good filtration system, and the lady is overworked.. but that's ok! frostbite got him! as long as keeps a healthy halfa diet, his core will filter the ectoplasm around him! and he's a powerful halfa so-
other then that, gotham is great, he doesn't know how it earned that "doom and gloom" reputation really, the sun is shining, birds are chirping, and there are many butterflies around! everyone is so nice, he has not even encountered a single villain yet!
unless you count doctor pamela, wich he doesn't because she was so nice, even gave him tips on how to take care of his ghost plants!
aka danny is working as a filtration system for gotham, and lady gotham make sure he is treated like the fucking disney princess that he is, gotham recognize him as a good effect on her, and she is NOT letting anything/anyone touch him
aka danny is broadcasting whimsy and good vibes in gotham
aka dannys time in gotham is sunshine and rainbows(literally)
aka everyone in gotham is so sus, especially the bats
he is in Arkham, and it is strangely, much more difficult to escape then its usually is, a competent gaurd who doesn't take bribes is hired, a big storm hit (only the asylum?) and no one can step a foot outside, and then Red Hood somehow knew exactly when he attempted to escape and punched him back in there?
when he FINALLY get to escape, weird things kneep happening to him, as all the bad luck of the city was directed at him, as if gotham herself had a grudge, he keeps on tripping and breaking his bones, winds keep on slapping things on his face, and his plans keep on failing from the first stage... he can't even come up with a good joke lately...
he gets it, he's the crime prince, people are scared of him yada yada ya, and no one in gotham has a sense of humor anymore, everyone is just so angsty, no one appreciate a good old deadly joke...
until he meet this young fella, who actually laugh at his jokes! and exchange puns with him!
Joker had had a really bad couple of months.. but this one guy had made his day, so he'd avoid him in his next show.
dededos
blakekathryn
areudirty
janainaart
snowghoul
