(I just had to lol) But anyway, I could see Jason using this fugly ass plushie as like, his rubber ducky or confidant and Danny feeling really conflicted because Hood doesn’t know it’s a real person he’s spilling his thoughts and feelings too. So every chance he gets Danny sort of just rolls away but then Jason gets this kicked puppy look because his abandonment issues and rejection sensitivity. Even this inanimate object doesn’t want to listen to him? Like he knows it’s nuts to feel hurt that the plushie fell off the table when he turned his back, but he was in the middle of talking about some very personal deep seated issues, okay?! The least Fatson could do is stay upright.
Danny and a few justice league members have to go undercover to investigate a new criminal organization. He decides to go human for the mission cause his hair and eyes in ghost form would give him away. Too little to late he realized at the meetup point that he forgot to tell the League he was partly human. Oh god he hopes the League members trust his word.
So Danny "I cause misunderstandings every day" Phantom, showing out of the blue looking completely human without having ever revealed he was in-fact just half-alive.
Danny Phantom, who has very explicitly stated before that he is infact a ghost.
Justice League, who have somewhat been exposed to Boston, and know he can possess people with ease.
Phantom, who speaks before thinking.
I think this is the perfect set up for "mistaken possession"
The JL is just SOOOO disappointed in him >:[ and Danny is soOOo CONFUSED??? He’s three weeks in when all of a sudden:
Danny: *gasp, slams hand over mouth* ……….oh my god…
Leaguer of your choice: ????????
Danny, still gaping: do you guys think I’m possessing someone?!
Leaguer: you’re not??
Danny: NO! WHY WOULD I DO THAT?!
Leaguer: IDK YOU’RE A GHOST
Danny: YEAH but possession is, like, super uncomfortable I can barely hold it for five minutes jfc I can’t believe you thought I’d DO that—
Leaguer: WHAT?!! THEN WHO’S THIS?!!
Danny “Didn’t Think This Through” Fenton: A MEATSUIT, LITERALLY— IT’S GOT NO ORGANS, IT’S JUST FLESH I CLONED OFF MY OLD BODY WHAT THE FUCK MAN YOU THOUGHT I’D POSSESS SOMEONE?!!
Leaguer: UHHH YEAH KINDA
Danny: oh my god I can’t believe you let me do this mission thinking I was possessing some random civilian you’re a fucking monster what the fuck
The meeting room was silent.
Batman stood at the head of the table, staring down the members arrayed before him.
He didn't speak until some members began shuffling uncomfortably, letting his heavy gaze linger on those who refused to meet it.
Behind him, Phantom floated a few inches off the ground, arms crossed and with a scowl that was much less intimidating than the Bat's, but had some promise (no one doubted that he would pick up a Bat-level scowl over time.)
"I am going to preface this by stating that I am disappointed in all of you," Batman began. "Not one of you bothered to conduct the proper research, or to question the evidence before you."
"Why would we bring it up?" Flash asked, tone vaguely desperate, "you didn't say anything."
The look Batman gave him could freeze the sun.
"And if I was compromised?"
Everyone was silent as everyone contemplated the damage that could be done if Batman was possessed... and if no one bothered to make sure he wasn't.
"Ok," Phantom broke in, stepping forward "I get it, security breach, dangerous for the team, yadda yadda."
Most people expected Batman to tell him to stand down, but the Bat simply stepped aside to let the teen speak.
"You all thought that I was possessing someone?" Phantom asked. He was no longer scowling, but instead, an expression of hurt and betrayal had overtaken him. "And you didn't even ask? Don't you all know me better than that? You could at least ask instead of thinking that poorly of me."
Aaaand there were the kicked-puppy eyes.
Every member there averted their gaze, and there was no doubt that this would not happen again. Diana, watching Batman, noted that he was watching Danny with the slightest hint of a smile pulling at his lips.
Ahh, weaponizing the puppy eyes. Diabolical, but effective.
“And even beyond how utterly insulting to my character that assumption was- what’s even worse is what it says about you!”
Lick a switch, Phantom’s kicked puppy expression flipped to fuming rage. “You’d let me take a civilian’s body- one you assumed was possessed without consent- into a potentially dangerous situation? With nothing more than a side-eye and a passive aggressive warning to be careful? WTF!”
Phantom pointed a finger at all of them. “If you’re gonna assume the worst, then at least you should actually do something about it! Don’t just stand by judgmentally- you’re heroes, not bystanders!”
Danny: Oh. *puts gun down slowly* Thanks for saving me. I'm just gonna-
Mugger: HELP ME
Danny: What you want me to do? Fight Batman? I have serious medical issues! I can't beat him.
Batman: Go home.
Danny: I'm going home.
Mugger: No! DON'T LEAVE ME! WHAT ABOUT GOTHAM UNITY!?
Danny wobbling away rapidly: I'm sorry! I have to put myself first! I only moved to this city because of Wayne's medical forgiveness program.
Batman: Is that so?
Danny: *wobbles faster* Please dont take a interest in me, sir! I have enough problems as it is!
Batman: ....
Danny rounds the corner as the screams of the mugger increase: I have to put myself first. Don't look back. He belongs to the Dark Knight now. There was nothing I could do.
Three days later:
Jazz: Danny! This is a miracle!All of your medical bills were paid!
Danny: What!? By who!?
Jazz: Bruce Wayne! Apparently, Batman told him about you.
Danny, in a low whisper of terror: Give back the money.
Jazz: What?
Danny: Give it back. I do not want Batman's attention. He's a menace. Im unarmed 90% of the time, and he will not care.
Jazz: What?????
Danny, closing the blinds: Do you think he knows where we live!?
Jazz: Are you scared of Batman?
Danny: You would be too if you saw the man burst from the shadows and beat brain damage into someone!
Oh absolutely. “Put that down or you get what he’s having” is a buckshit WILD thing to say to the disabled guy you’re trying to SAVE from a mugger. The mugger you’ve already subdued and is now just begging for mercy. No effing wonder Danny thinks Batman is a crazy monster!
I love it when an outside perspective comes in and just goes Nope! This is nuts. Very uncomfy. You are not ok sir- I’d rather you not save me if it’s all the same to you. Please go away and forget my existence. I’m begging you just like that mugger did.
Hopefully Batman gets the message. Otherwise, I guess that’s what Tim is for!
Tucker: So you don't have a valentine, and I don't have a valentine which means there is only one solution to our problem
Danny hopeful: Yeah?
Tucker: We put Phantom in the Gotham Valentines Auction, get some rich lovelies to bid high for a date with him, and then we split the money 50/50. And before you ask, yes, this is legit. It's a charity event hosted by some rich guy named Cobblepot. His lounge keeps half of the bid money, and we keep the rest.
Danny: ....
Tucker: I'll also be up for auction but I dont think I can compete with the great Ghost Hero. But it be for a good laugh right?
Danny: .....okay
Tucker: Yes! Let's go! If you fly at top speed, we can make it to Gotham with two hours to spare. We have to make ourselves look irresistible!
Danny: Okay.
Later that night:
Tucker: I can't believe I sold for only $100. With the Ice Lounge taking $50 and splitting it with you, I only make $25.
Danny: Sorry
Tucker: Hey, you okay? You've been so quiet. You don't have to do this if you don't want to.
Danny: No no no. I'm just unsure whether anyone will want to go on a date with a ghost.
Tucker: Oh, trust me, there is a large group out there excited for Phantom. Especially since you announced you're going for both teams. The group of guys in the front are especially excited and sound like they come from money. You'll have your pick.
Danny: Unless the one i want is straight
Tucker: Yeah but come on what are the chances the boy you notice tonight is straight?
Danny under his breath: Very likely given that I've been eyeing you since I was 14.
Tucker: What was that?
Danny: nothing. Let's do this
Host: And now we have the one, the only, Ghost Hero Phantom! We can start the bid at $10. Do I have-
Tim: $50,000!
Host: Um..okay wow, large jump. $50,000 going once, going-
Damian: $100,000
Host: Holy-
Tim: 150,000
Damian: 200,000
Tim: 250,000
Damian: 300,000
Tim: 350,000
Damian: 400,000
Jason: 1 million
Tim/Damian: What!?
Host: Sold!
Danny squinting: Jay? Is that you?
Jason: Hey Danny, long time no dead. You still in love with that Tucker boy?
Danny: Maybe. You still in love with-
Jason: SHUT UP.
Danny: COME UP HERE AND MAKE ME!
Tucker: Excuse me can we go back to the in love with Tucker thing or-?
#dcxdpdabbles#dcxdp crossover#from a fic i never wrote#Tucker/Danny#Dead on Main#Eventually will lead to Tucker/Danny/Jason#Jason and Danny met in the Ghost Zone#The Waynes were undercover#Tim and Damian got into a argument and were trying to one up eachother#Happy Valentines!#Crack taken seriously#Date Auction#Penguin is having the time of his life
The Justice League was mid-meeting when it started. Barry was rambling, as usual.
“…like that time we stopped Starro in Metropolis. You remember? He got so big he was stomping cars like Legos—”
Hal snorted. “That wasn’t in Metropolis, that was in Coast City. I was there.”
Barry blinked. “Uh, no? Superman threw him into the harbor, I was the one pulling civilians out of the wreckage.”
Clark frowned. “Barry… that happened in Metropolis. I remember it clearly.”
Voices rose around the table, half the team swearing one version of events, the other half swearing the opposite. Someone even pulled up mission logs—conflicting reports, both equally convincing.
In the corner, Danny sat slouched in his chair, chin propped on his hand, glowing eyes half-lidded. He hadn’t spoken once during the meeting, radiating the kind of exhaustion that only came from cleaning up after cosmic disasters at three in the morning.
Finally, Diana turned toward him. “Phantom,” she said evenly, “you were there as well. What do you recall?”
Danny blinked, sat up a little. “Huh? Oh. Yeah, that happened.”
Everyone relaxed—until Hal pressed, “Which one?”
Danny squinted at him. “Uh. Both.”
The table went quiet.
“Both?” Batman’s voice cut sharp across the silence.
“Yeah,” Danny said slowly, looking around at their baffled expressions. “You’re talking about Starro, right? He trashed Metropolis… and also Coast City.”
“No,” Clark said carefully. “It can’t be both. We would have known.”
Danny tilted his head, still confused by their confusion. “But it was both. I remember both.”
The silence stretched. Dozens of the most powerful beings on the planet, staring at the youngest-looking (but supposedly ancient) member of their ranks.
Then, realization flickered in Danny’s eyes. His shoulders slumped. “…Oh.”
⸻
The Infinite Realms are a strange thing. They stretch beyond dimensions, binding every universe together in a way no mortal mind was meant to comprehend. If the multiverse is a bowl of jello, the universes are its fruit—each separate, yet held in place by the same trembling, otherworldly foundation.
Danny Phantom, Ghost King, sits at the center of it all. Ruler, caretaker, janitor. His job is simple in concept, impossible in practice: keep the jello from collapsing.
But universes do collapse. They rot from within, fall apart at the seams, and bleed into others. If left unchecked, the infection spreads. Sometimes, the only cure is destruction—wiping the entire universe away before it drags its neighbors with it.
Danny is kind. He is softhearted in ways his predecessor was not. He cannot bring himself to condemn the lives still fighting to survive inside those dying worlds, even if most time they do not know their universe is about to end. So instead, he does the impossible. He relocates them.
He finds a reality compatible enough to accept them, moves them over, and patches the cracks before anyone can notice. With Clockwork freezing time to help, the process is seamless. One second, people live in a doomed reality. The next, they breathe in a new one—never realizing they are somewhere else.
But “compatible” does not mean “identical.” The details never line up perfectly. A city might stand where it once fell. A victory might occur in Coast City instead of Metropolis. A name, a date, an outcome—it all shifts in tiny, maddening ways.
And those tiny ways ripple. People argue. Records clash. Whole crowds remember things that never happened in this reality, but did happen in another. It has happened so many time people have even given it a name.
The Mandela Effect.
⸻
Danny gestured vaguely with one hand. “Clockwork stops time, I shuffle everyone over, and if I do it right, nobody notices. Life goes on. Same people, same world—almost.”
“Almost?” Diana prompted.
Danny gave her a tired half-smile. “Some small details may not line up. Different events, different memories. Small things. But enough to make people stop and say, ‘Hey, wasn’t it like this before?’”
He shrugged. “That’s what you call the Mandela Effect, right? Two different realities, same people. Just… stitched together.”
The silence afterward was absolute. Even Batman didn’t speak.
Danny leaned back in his chair, yawning. “Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t invent it. I just clean up the mess so you guys can keep having a reality to argue about.”
The implications of this are lowkey heartbreaking. This means that the Dick and Tim who live with Bruce are not his original ones, but relocated Dick and Tim who just so happened to get set up with him, which brings up the question: where are his original Tim and Dick? Are they alive? Well? The multiverse is infinite and there are a similarly infinite number of Tims and Dicks with the exact same experiences or with small variations, so realistically he will never find his original ones and even if he did he’d always feel the doubt. And he can’t even blame Danny for this because relocating all inhabitants of an universe into others that are close enough to their original one to be compatible and then patching things up is a legitimately monumental task that will inevitably result in people being separated during the infinitely complex juggling act with the only alternative being death. Even if he tried to help plan it he knew for a fact that people would be separated, especially heroes who are often in the thick of it and thus likely to survive in one world, but not others, so Danny doing his best is commendable and not something he can bring himself to nitpick about.
Also, there's no guarantee that, from an objective perspective, Tim and/or Dick are the originals and Bruce himself is the transplant. Or even that none of them are this world's original.
There is a very real possibility that the Bruce of this world died and no one ever knew. Maybe it was an accident, or bad luck, or maybe he even gave himself for the mission. And then he was just forgotten. And suddenly some other Bruce was waking up in his bed. Greeting his children. Living his life. Like he never died. But he did. And ultimately that death meant nothing.
And the thing is, that could be true of literally anyone. Heck, it's guaranteed that's true for most if not all of the heroes, given that they all have contradicting memories. So many friends, lost in ways they never knew, never honored. Practically living with ghosts, all this time.
But consider, the other way around. The other side of the argument.
All those heroes, not lost to the world, even after they sacrificed themselves. All those heroes, still there to protect people - those friends, that you don't feel the pain of loosing.
The sheer comfort of knowing that, if you die, your family won't loose what you give them. There will be another you, one that would die otherwise with a doomed world, to take your place, to protect your family, your people, your friends.
And, ultimately, does knowing change anything? It was already like that. The only difference is that now, you have peeked behind the curtain and learned one of those things that, perhaps, mortal minds are better off not knowing.
This reminds me of that time my big brother was teasing me by saying that all over the world there are invisible spots that if you touch would transport you to another identical universe and never know. I was horrified and almost scared to touch things for a while, except what’s to say the invisible spot isn’t just on the inside of your glove? It’s impossible to touch nothing. Years later I brought this up to him but he had no recollection of it. So I said “Oh, that must’ve been the other universe you that said it then.” Boy did I freak him out right back.
But back to the post. I love Danny’s quiet little “oh.” When he realized what’s going on. Just the weight on his shoulders- how he knows he’s going to break their minds by admitting the truth. It’s almost cruel to tell them even, but also Danny is so clearly tired of carrying this weight all on his own. Every instance of the effect is evidence of a lost reality- of the need for universal refugees, of lives cut too soon and the empty slot given to an alternate in need. And Danny alone has known that. Resigned himself to it. To the point where the tragedy of it is but a dull ache.
So yes, maybe it would be kinder to keep it to himself. Spare the heroes the metaphysical dread of knowing that you don’t know if you even belong here, if your loved ones are the same ones you’ve always loved. Knowing changes everything. Knowing changes nothing. Danny knows everything- all realities. And still he’s here. Seeking connection. Understanding.
"Hey mister, are you dead?" was the first thing Danny heard as he found his way back to consciousness. His body vehemently protested the move by alighting every single one of his nerve ending on fire and Danny groaned.
"Mister?"
Danny's ribs were killing him, or at least they felt like they were, and he would know. He cracked his eyes open to find a small boy crouching over him with his hands on his knees and his blue eyes wide in curiosity.
"Who-" Danny croaked.
"My name's Johnatan like grandpa, but everyone calls me Jon," the kid started babbling. "I live in Metropolis, do you know Metropolis? It's the biggest city in the world. My parents work there, they're reporters but now it's summer break so I'm with Grandma and Grandpa. You fell through the old barn from the sky. Are you an alien, like Superman?"
"Ugh," Danny said as he closed his eyes again.
"Mr. Alien, are you dead again now?"
"Yes," Danny said as he put his arm over his face, wishing he could just Not Exist.
"You're lying," the kid stated confidently. "Dead people don't talk."
"They do too," Danny mumbled as he raised his head off the floor to look at the kid properly.
"Do not!"
"Do too."
"I'm telling Grandma you're a liar," the kid sing-longed before bolting out of Danny's field of vision.
With a thud, Danny let his head fall back down. Welp, it wasn't like he was going anywhere, why not invite more people over to witness this absolute embarrassment.
Also they’ve known each other for maybe five minutes and they’re already acting like siblings. Clark is gonna have to ask Bruce if he can have ‘the guy’s’ number.
(Also this thought just popped in my head. But what if Clark is on league business right now and he literally just teased Bruce about his adoption habits. Then he comes to pick up Jon, meets Danny, and then has to sheepishly call Bruce)
Jon told Kon. Kon texted Tim. Tim looked at the text and promptly told the whole fam at brunch with a casual "New Kent just dropped." Bruce had almost had an aneurysm thinking there was yet another Super clone out there.
Kid already has a Bat-made identity as Bruce is just waiting for Clark to actually ask before pushing the rest of the paperwork through. Bruce is going to make Clark ask. Turn about's fair play for Clark teasing Bruce for the children's tendency to spontaneously multiply.
New Kent just dropped indeed! Dropped from the sky. I love picturing Danny lying in his little rubble crater in a barn while this little kid pokes him with a stick. Metaphorically. Verbally. Because Jon has better manners than actually poking him with a stick.
You may not need a new fic idea, but I need the Lore.
The horns. The star speckled skin/fur? (Is that fur? It looks soft enough it could be.) The glow. The green zingy around his arm. The little fanged grin! Oh my gosh the EARS! The ear tag!
He looks like if the sacrificial lamb became part wolf.
I love him and he's beautiful and I need to know everything about him.
I was trapped in airport hell for about 28 hours trying to get home.
So we're a little ㄟ( ▔, ▔ )ㄏ, but that said, yes! Much of him is covered in like a peach fuzz sort of fur that gets into proper fur in his lower half. Also I adore 'the sacrificial lamb became part wolf' because that fits perfectly. (Frick... Sacrificial Wolf would be a damn good title if I were to write it...)
What I do know...
The JL and JLD make a raid on what, on the books, is a minor, out of the way government facility focusing on supernatural research. Their sources say it is nothing so benign. When they arrive though, the facility is already burning and perched on the wires outside of it is something... someone.
See, Danny is really something quite special. Something quite other to be able to be living and dead. The experiment worked (and far better than expected). While the GIW may focus on ghosts in Amity, their overarching branch is interested in far more than that. Demons, magic, ghosts, they study it all. And some important people are interested in what else Danny can become.
How many more ways can he be split.
They'll regret what they made him.
Where does it go from there? Idk! Batpham? Dadentine? My go to of dead on main? Bring in the monsterfucker Constantine for what he's best at? So many options...
So what you're saying, if my reading comprehension is on par, is that they took our standard ghost boi and added part demon (and possibly part other things) into the mix?
If so, that is an incredibly cool and unique idea!
I would think Dadentine would be good direction to go from there because who better to teach Danny how to control his new demon side than the Hellblazer with demon's blood. (Maybe could also become Dead on Main too, because Dead on Main is awesome and I think it would be funny to make Constantine Bruce's co-father-in-law.)
Ooh this reminds me when I was a tiny little child pretending to be a half mermaid, half fairy, half angel, half unicorn, half dragon, half elf princess! The idea of the GIW being like that, wanting it all, and just adding and adding- completely disregarding fractions in immature hubris- of course they’d end up with something more something greater than a whole. It’s comical in a wonderfully horrifying way.
Everyone does this whole 'Jason sees Ghost King!Danny and immediately feels 'this is my king' ' and it's all awesome
But I think we can agree that Jason has... a small problem with authority figures.
So Hood meets Phantom -- maybe a summoning, a Justice League thing, what ever.
And gets that 'this is my king' feeling.
Jason, who has been fighting the pits for years and now suddenly has ANOTHER 'lets magically fuck with Jason's emotions' thing, is not going to be easily overwhelmed by a need to bow down and is not going to take this calmly.
Everyone is stunned into silence when, in the middle of whatever thing they are gathered to deal with, Hood stalks up to Phantom, punches him in the face saying "I don't have a fucking king." and walks out.
If we go with 'Fighting is just a part of ghost culture' and 'prove yourself by combat' stuff
To Danny this is just a normal, even friendly, greeting. It's like Jason (baby ghost) just said "Hi! I'm strong and brave enough to challenge you! Be my friend?"
Who does Constantine hear 'One of the bats punched the ghost king' from and how much gibbering happens?
So Danny tracks Hood down later and gives a ghostly 'Hey Buddy, want to hang out?' This cannot go well because Danny is assuming Jason knows ghost culture and Jason is freaking out about /the fucking Ghost King is trying to force Jason to submit!/ Just how Hatfield+McCoy does this get and how long does it take Jason to figure out Danny's just being friendly?
What if we actually have Constantine be the one who understands at least enough about ghost culture to realize that what Jason did was the ghostly equivalent of Kindergartners deciding they're best friends 5 minutes after meeting each other. So it's less panicked sputtering and more holding back hysterical laughter trying to explain that Jason just asked the Ghost King to be his friend.
Especially good if Danny gives the appropriate ghost response and throws his own punch back, obviously scaled to Jason's power level cause Danny doesn't want to break the baby. He matches the energy just right that in Ghost culture it would read as "Yes! You are so strong! I'm strong too! We are friends now!"
Obviously this upsets any present Bats, which definitely confuses Danny because 'He [Jason] instigated???'
So now Constantine gets to explain to a bunch of defensive Bats that not only did Jason ask the Ghost King to be friends like a toddler, the Ghost King accepted.
AND/OR: Imagine if Hood yelling “you’re not my king!” combined with actually laying Danny out by taking him by surprise is enough to kinda sorta count as defeating him in single combat?
Just Danny pulling an uno reverse card and going “You’re right! I’m not your king, you’re MY king! So long, sucka!!” And just dipping out of there. Danny be thinking, hey, I was a baby when I accidentally took the crown from the last guy. Fair’s fair!
Danny, on the run, learns shapeshifting and proceeds to pull an Amorpho to eat. Ie, finds family having a big meal, waits for everyone to go to bed, turn into one of the family members, and breaks in to eat their leftovers. If he's caught, he just has to pretend to be whoever he's shapeshifted in to up for a midnight snack long enough to get away.
It works especially well on larger families with strong resemblance to each other. Tired people in the dark will rationalize away any idiosyncrasies. And as long as he doesn't linger long enough for rumors to pop up, the risk is negligible.
The trick has served him well as he's made his way steadily east (bigger cities, denser populations, easier to hide). Well enough he's completely confident in his next choice of targets. The Wayne Family should see him well fed enough, he might even make it out of the country on his next migration.
Oh this plays into some HCs I haven't really had a chance to talk about!
Danny is a mimic. He very much is the epitome of monkey see monkey do, once he sees a power (or even better: feels it) he can, with enough practice, copy and use that same power. So him "pulling an Amorpho" is very reasonable.
Phantom as a ghost disguised as a human. This is more of my own preference for having the transformation mean something, so one of them is all his Looney Tunes physics body morphing doesn't apply to his human body. What this can lead to is Danny in ghost form disguised as a human detransforming into regular Danny and causing all kinds of confusion. Especially if he looks remarkably like one of the Waynes (Tim usually).
I know for fics where Danny infiltrates the Waynes to eat the fandom likes to have the Waynes figure out the basics of what's going on immediately and deciding to adopt him (gremlin!Wayne agenda hell yeah!), however! Consider the paranoia they'd have if it were something that was stealing their faces. Danny as Danny inserting himself into the crowd? Harmless, cute even. Some unknown supernatural creature wearing their faces? Horrifying!
I think the thing that would give him away would be Danny not doing enough observing before going in. Disguised as Damian and eating meat, or disguised as Tim but Tim wasn't over that day (the only people who actually live at the manor are Bruce, Alfred, and Damian). And most telling of all: sneaking around and just finishing his meal right as the family is returning from patrol.
GASP! What if when Danny first spied on the Waynes before trying to sneak their food it was when the Kents were over for a visit? That's double the black haired blued eyed unreasonably buff people milling around for Danny to mimic. Imagine Bruce heading down to the kitchen and he sees Clark rummaging through his fridge.
"Consider the paranoia they'd have if it were something that was stealing their faces. Danny as Danny inserting himself into the crowd? Harmless, cute even. Some unknown supernatural creature wearing their faces? Horrifying!"
I think this depends on how quickly he's found out.
Something impersonates your son(s) once or twice, and you know nothing about it and don't know what it wants and what the fuck??! Horrifying!
Something has been repeatedly impersonating your children, and it got away with it for weeks even though you're all vigilantes, but (after the initial horror and fear) you've all compared stories and scrubbed through the available security footage, and... in every case, the impersonator just raids their kitchen, eats, and then leaves. And they always look freaked out when they're interrupted. They sneak around, trying to avoid people, but don't attack when surprised. So... Not quite so horrifying. May not be hostile.
Still something that might make their skin crawl a bit, or make them jumpy, since they still don't really know anything about the impersonator, but they've had plenty of opportunities to attack them and haven't, and I think that's enough to make them think past any reflexive "oh my god it stole my face" type reaction. And they're just taking food... How did they end up here? Are they starving/getting all the nutrients they need? Maybe this is another Clark Kent-style alien scenario? Or just a homeless meta kid? Or maybe it's a demon that will eat them next, as soon as they relax. But but what if it isn't a demon though...
So if Danny gets away with it long enough, it can be a "batfamily carefully adopts cryptid interloper they're still kinda scared of" story.
Because even knowing the interloper is probably safe, It would still induce a constant level of paranoia as you’d never be sure of who they’re talking to is the imposter or not at first glance. Every interaction would involve second guessing and subtly verifying each other’s identity. And I don’t think they’d use something like passwords because that would let the entity know they were onto them. So far the face stealer only wants food, but just the fact that you can never know for sure where and who it is? If you are talking to a trusted family member or an imposter? And being treated to the same suspicion in return because they can’t know you also aren’t the imposter? All of that makes for a very tense and uncomfortable living situation. Especially in a place meant to mean home and safety.
So I can see it being quite conflicting. Because the entity sure does act like a starving runaway. But the way they are going about it is also making living in the manor a horrible nightmare. But on the other hand, maybe they can’t help it? Maybe they don’t even have a form of their own and can only take the shape of others. Maybe they’re hungry because they don’t have a face!
Danny and Jason knew each other as kids and did a little kiddie wedding as children like to do- playing at getting married. They didn’t like the traditional vow of “till death do us part” so they changed it. Only it is Gotham and somehow their little ceremony ends up being actually magically binding.
Years later life has separated them the way Death no longer can. Danny’s family moved away. Jason got adopted. They drift apart. Emails becoming shorter and less frequent until the media blackout around Amity Park stops them altogether. Friends fall out of touch. It happens.
Then Death comes for one of them. Because of their vows however, it doesn’t stick. Then the same goes for the other one. They go together or not at all. Death won’t part them. But maybe, just maybe, bound by a destiny carved by the dreams of children, Death can bring them back together.
They meet as little kids in Gotham and have their puppy love romance until life drifts them apart. Then Jason dies and Death lures Danny into the portal to have the accident so they can meet again as ghosts.
Phantom and ghost Robin have a whirlwind romance- maybe even deciding to ghost elope until for some reason the portal gets shut down with Jaybin stuck in the realms. Danny is heart broken but eventually tries to move on. But unbeknownst to him, the portal closing means Death had to let Jason go back to life because Death cannot be what parts them.
Danny somehow ends up back in Gotham and he and Red Hood get together. But then Danny sees Damian Robin and mistakes him for Jaybin and decides he needs to get a ghost divorce so he can pop the question to Hood. Jason doesn’t remember his time as a ghost so there’s shenanigans as Phantom is seen as a crazy new rogue calling himself Robin’s ghost husband.
I just love the idea of Danny thinking he’s truly loved three people in his life: Jason, Robin and Red Hood, only in actuality they’re all the same person. And Jason is all like “damn, my childhood bestie grew up to be a hottie and I love him so much but he doesn’t know I’m his childhood bestie because of my secret identity. And if that Phantom weirdo doesn’t stop creeping on Robin imma find a way to kill the bastard twice.”
Jason has been doing this fake dating/marriage scheme for a while now, and it’s actually been going pretty well. He was suspicious as hell when the nonhuman- Danny- first approached him claiming he could cure Lazarus pit side effects in exchange for a year and a day of this farce but the results spoke for themselves.
And living with Danny- pretending to date him- doing the whole married life thing, it was surprisingly nice. Maybe sometimes too nice. Danny was nice. And sweet, and handsome, and understanding. And open. The only things he asked Jason not to pry into, as part of their deal even, was what kind of being Danny actually was, and why he needed the fake relationship in the first place.
But Jason couldn’t help that Danny slipped up some times. Jason couldn’t help that he was curious. He was a detective, or at least raised by one. And really, what’s a boundary to a bat? And when he came to his conclusion, oh how his heart ached for Danny. He wanted to offer solace. To let him know he understood. So he did.
Jason broke the taboo and admits he knows Danny is dead. But here is the fun angsty part. Because Danny wasn’t fully dead, but since Jason pushed? Now he will be.
(Turns out Danny had done a ritual to close the portal and keep all the ghosts on the other side. Only he didn’t account for the fact that he is also part ghost- the spell will drag him into the infinite realms and trap him there until his living half withers and he is as dead as the rest of them. Unless he breaks the curse through fairytale trial: he must exist in ghost form for a year and a day without his spouse finding out what he is.)
Just picture this scene- a domestic moment between the two. They’ve become closer through this arrangement, feelings have begun to bloom. They’ve shared moments of emotional intimacy, quiet understanding. And then
Jason looks at Danny, at his glowing green eyes and says “You’re dead, aren’t you?”
And Danny- suddenly his hair is black and his feet are on the ground- he’s breathing harshly and there’s a look of panic and utter heartbreak on his face. “No, no- I just wanted to live.”
And Jason is confused because it looks like Danny just revived, shouldn’t he be happy?
But Danny isn’t looking at him. He’s staring at something behind Jason with utter terror. “I just wanted to have a life free from being a hero! Please just let me live!”
Jason turns and sees an eldritch rip in reality- a gaping maw full of teeth and grasping hands and tendrils and it speaks with a thousand voices- “You’ve already died little Halfa. You’ve borrowed enough time amongst the living. Come now to be whole.”
And Jason tries but he can do nothing as Danny is dragged through the hole, begging for his life- “Please, I don’t want to be dead.”
And a feathery tendril wipes his tears and the whispers croon “So? You’re not special. But I will be kind. Sleep now. Sleep through your living half joining the rest of you. You’re in for a slow second death, so sleep.” And Danny does. He’s pulled through and the tear in reality closes.
And Jason, just like the lady of the fairytale, decides to go save Danny from his fate. It is a quest through the ghost zone gathering ghostly allies, trinkets and favors until he makes it to the castle where he must use all he’s learned to wake Danny from his sleep and break him free of his curse.
How? I don’t know. But I’ve seen so many stories where Danny teaches Jason to be a halfa, maybe we need a bit of the reverse. Jason helping Danny to become less of a halfa and more like him; a true mix of living and dead.
However it happens that they escape, Danny comes out of it changed. Emaciated from starving in the ghost zone, his two halves mixed together, or maybe Phantom was left behind in the realms, waiting for Danny to rejoin him at the end of his natural lifespan. And Jason will be there to help Danny through those changes.
I know, right?? This idea has just been haunting me. There’s another aspect of the fairytale I forgot that fits the Bats so perfectly- in the story it is the bride’s mother who convinces her not to trust him and to disobey the no peeking rule.
Like?? Tell me that doesn’t sound just like Batman. The strange meta who cured your pit rage in exchange for fake dating asked you not to look into his past? He’s really sweet and you like him? Suspicious!! If it’s too good then it must be a trap. He’s tricking you. You must betray his trust and learn everything about him.
Augh, the tension! The slow burn! The conflicted feelings as Jason wavers between wanting to trust this guy he’s falling in love with and the bat-instilled paranoia that everything good is actually out to get you. Well, probably not entirely bat-instilled. At least half of that paranoia is Jason Todd original.
And then the guilt and horror- like Orpheus looking back to see if Eurydice is still with him and by doing so dooming her forever. Like, good job Jason, you’ve confirmed Danny has been nothing but truthful and open to the extent that he can. Congratulations, you can finally trust him enough to allow your feelings for him to the surface. Only it’s too late. You blew it. If only you had respected his boundaries for the allotted period, the curse would’ve been broken and you could’ve been together with no secrets between you!
I just love and hate when the Hero has that moment of utter “Oh no, what have I done?”
And when Jason decides fuck it, I fucked it up and now it’s my job to fix it? How do the other Bats react? Do they say it’s too late, too dangerous? Does Jason tell them he’s going to save Danny and there’s nothing they can do to stop him? Or do they recognize their part in all this from pushing their suspicions? Do they help set up the rescue mission? Prepare the med bay for his hopeful return?
And the quest itself has so much potential as Jason interacts with other ghosts from the show, getting more context and exposition from each of them. Ooh, here’s another idea. What if Danny in the beginning had his own guilt and internal conflict about forcing the ghosts back to the zone? Then during Jason’s quest we can see how the ghosts don’t actually blame him after all and are actually helping Jason to save him. The feels! Especially when Jason tells him this as he’s recovering after the rescue.
Man, if I weren’t absolutely trash at writing romance and long fics I’d write it myself. Alas I can only yeet these partially formed ideas into the universe for others to find
This mini fic was inspired by the anon prompt to @faeriekit linked here and all the development that Faeriekit did for the idea. This fic is perilously regional. I half expect angry yelling from other areas of the Midwest.
Original post
Word count: 2718
Masterpost of my Archive Down Fics is here.
Jason came to with cream cheese stuck under his fingernails and in the creases of his fingers. He looked around the room wildly, trying to understand the situation he was in. The kitchen smelled fucking weird. He sniffed the air. Meat? Like, ham and also vinegar?
He washed his hands really well, grimacing at the greasy texture. Then he reconstructed what must have happened by the debris. This was not his first post-blackout rodeo, but usually he was reconstructing a literal crime scene.
There was an empty pickle jar on the countertop. There were packets of deli meat in the trash.
There was some kind of abomination on his nicest plate, which was obviously made of cream cheese wrapped around pickles, blanketed by the meat, and sliced thin like sushi rolls. It was lovingly protected by a perfect sheet of cling wrap.
“The fuck?” Jason said, a little scared and pissed off.
He paced the kitchen for a while and then went to pace on the balcony, because he needed a smoke to process this culinary abomination but something in his gut wailed at the tragedy of ruining it with cigarette smoke. Which was absurd, partly because the plate was in the refrigerator. He sensed in his bones that it needed to cool until the cream cheese was as hard as it would get, so that he could safely transport it. Transport it fucking where? Was this an assassination attempt against Batman? That sappy motherfucker was probably the only man in the world who would choke that down to make Jason happy.
He had a long drag on his cigarette and tried to ignore the way his fingers shook.
“Okay,” he said, squeezing his free hand shut and opening it. Maybe stimming would prompt his brain to go brr and explain this. “Did I have a stroke? Maybe I was possessed?”
It was hard to tell. He ground out his cigarette and tossed the butt in the tray before venturing back inside. He was calm. He was more centered. He flicked on the kitchen fan to clear out the pickle stink and then he went and put on his coat and grabbed the plate.
Why was he doing that?
The compulsion led him three blocks before he realized where he was going.
Not far away from the safehouse he was in, some college freshman had wasted the Joker when the clown tried to drag him into a van. He had called the police, crying the whole time in shock about being a murderer.
Jason had not been on the scene. He had only heard through comms. He had been out of town when the Joker got out. He had been rushing back on his bike, heart pounding and sick with nerves at the thought of his family out there without him.
And then the fucker had failed to secure the first victim for whatever sick play he’d had in mind, and the poor out of town kid who had apparently never heard of the Joker was breathing a sigh of relief that ‘oh, this wasn’t like, a birthday clown? Whew, that’s alright then,’ previous guilt over ending a life all gone.
Jason liked that. It was hugely undignified that the Joker had been got by someone who didn’t even know who he was. If he’d known, it would have killed his ego. As it was, Jason had laughed himself nearly sick before barricading himself inside to read the file Timmers put together on Danny Fenton.
Well. If his gut said that he should deliver this horrific dish to Fenton as thanks for the murder, well…
Jason grimaced. He just wouldn’t be seen doing it. If Fenton thought it was an assassination attempt and called the cops, Jason would never fess up.
He broke into Fenton’s apartment, very glad that the guy was in class at the moment. He mourned the loss of his plate but honestly, this was the least destructive black out he’d had, so it was whatever. He put the pickle rolls in the fridge, looked around, and then left. He was done. He’d thanked Fenton, or whatever (maybe he’d attacked him, honestly, Jason didn’t know how he would react to finding that trash in his fridge.)
It could end now.
The next morning, Jason scrubbed away a yawn and realized that he had just scraped a mess of chopped snickers bars into a bowl that already had clouds of something white and -
He took out a piece and bit into it to confirm that it was perfectly cubed green apple.
“I am possessed,” Jason said in horror, looking around the counter to see what the Pit Madness had cooked up this time. Why did the fucking Lazarus Pit know these recipes?
The white shit was a mix of cool whip and vanilla pudding, apparently. There was an untouched bottle of caramel sauce waiting innocently.
“...Does that go in?” Jason wondered, vaguely horrified.
Well, maybe an evil witch was doing this to him. Bottoms up. He poured caramel in until it felt right, guided by what had to be someone else’s goddamn ancestors, and then mixed it all up with a spoon.
This looked a lot better than the last thing. Jason scraped it into a bowl and then stole a spoonful of it to try.
“Holy shit. It’s like eating a caramel apple,” he said, muffled around the food. He swallowed and genuinely considered taking more.
Nope! His gut said nope. This was another offering for–
“Hold up, offering?” Jason put it in the fridge, clingwrap on top, and let his mind be blown. He put his face in his hands and just reeled. He was making offerings for this motherfucker now. He opened his phone, intending to search the things he’d been blackout making and froze.
His lock screen was Danny Fenton’s police intake photo, looking pretty relaxed after he'd been told the booking was a formality.
“I don’t remember doing that!” Jason frantically changed it back to his old lock screen, a grimy alleyway with a hilariously shaped filth puddle and one of his favorite rats.
He snuck this dessert thing into Fenton’s fridge, collected his clean plate with some relief, and left. He didn't know if Fenton had eaten that shit or if he'd thrown it away, but at least he'd washed the plate.
“That was the last time,” Jason told himself, pacing around his room. He wasn’t– that was two days in a row now that he had a normal day, went out on patrol, went to bed, and woke up in his kitchen. It wasn’t going to happen again.
He chainsmoked all day to such a degree that Stephanie Brown saw him, whined “Dude,” in disbelief, and jumped off a building while holding her nose to get away from him. It was a fair reaction. He had a shower before patrol so that no one could make a connection between Jason, stinkiest man in Gotham today, and the Red Hood, a guy who owned a shower.
Patrol went fine. He caught himself veering past Fenton’s shitty apartment building twice but no one was nearby enough to call him out for it.
He went to bed and got a jumpscare because at some point of his most recent fugue state he'd gone out and bought a bunch of wedding magazines and made them into a nest. He made a roar of frustration and pushed them off the bed with only a twinge of interest in what that swan centerpiece was made of.
Jason went the fuck to sleep, determined to walk this off.
He woke up the next morning in his kitchen. “Cream cheese, again,” Jason complained. He gave the bowl he was mixing a furious stir and then shoved it in the fridge.
Cream cheese, chopped meat, and chopped green onion. He searched the internet to identify the fucker. This was a cheeseball.
…He frowned, thinking of the fugly mess in the bowl.
It was the larval form of a cheeseball, he amended.
Why did he know this shitty recipe.
Stomach tight with dread, he looked up the other things. Day one was a pickle roll. Day two was snickers salad.
These were all real Midwestern potluck dishes. He hadn't made them up. Why did the pit know these recipes?
The Snickers salad offended him as a concept and he bitterly regretted finding it delicious.
“Salad,” Jason repeated in aggrieved disbelief. It was good but it was no goddamn salad. “I could just make him a real salad. Will this end if I bring Fenton good food?”
It wasn't the worst idea. He put a pin in it.
Grimly, as if he was going off to war, Jason researched how to shape the ball. If he was doing this, which apparently he was for no goddamn reason, he was going to do it to perfection. When he was done he wrapped it up tight, got an assortment of crackers, and left it at Danny Fenton’s apartment with a sort of tired resignation that this might as well be happening.
This time was different. This time, Fenton was home.
Jason barely avoided being seen by rushing out the window over the sink and hiding from the immediate line of sight. He was, however, close enough to hear–
“Holy shit, is that a cheeseball? Who loves me?” and then some truly ghastly, wet crunching as Fenton tore through the crackers and cheeseball like a wild beast. It felt like being in a horror film. Jason very badly wanted to leave. Jason very badly wanted to crawl back inside and present himself for a scrap of Fenton’s approval.
What the fuck? What the fuck!
He fled. And this time, he decided to take action. He was going get out of this sick mind trap and-
“Nothing wrong with you, it's not a curse,” Zatanna said, bored about it. “Whatever is going on is safe, sane, consensual, and none of my business.” She portalled away before Jason could argue that it did not feel sane. He was having an entirely new category of mental breakdown and when one of the Bats found out about it, he was going to be a case study.
Fine. He gritted his jaw. New plan. Maybe he could beat the curse by showing it up.
He called out of crime for the day and ignored the confused commentary in the background of his phone call– can he do that? Of course he can, he’s the friggin’ boss– and spent it furiously researching. He needed a crowning achievement. He needed to find out what was sacred in this culinary tradition, master it, and then tell the compulsion to suck on bricks.
Casserole. The answer was a casserole.
Jason scrolled through dozens of recipes, scowling fiercely. That was no good. That offended his senses. He just knew that would be bland. He-
“Do I want to make that?” Jason asked aloud, puzzled by his fixation on the old-fashioned goulash casserole recipe. Worcestershire sauce– he didn’t have that in this safe house for sure. Beef, pasta, tomatoes… yeah, okay. This was the one. For no fucking reason at all, this was the one.
He went out shopping like he usually went on life-or-death missions, full of grim purpose.
He got back and assembled his ingredients. It was not exactly a challenge to follow the recipe. Jason turned off the stove top and froze in place. “I don’t have an ancestral pan,” he said, horrified. Holy fuck. How could he dare to give it in a regular baking pan- he had to get one. Where the fuck does one acquire an ancestral casserole pan on short notice?
Panicked, he called the Manor, hands shaking as he packed the whole thing up and stuffed it in the fridge to keep it food safe until he could bake it.
Bruce answered, sounding a little choked up. “Hello, Jason, so glad-”
He hung up. He texted Tim. “I need you to steal something for me from the Manor.”
“You’re allowed in, you gigantic freak,” Tim wrote back.
Jason did some meditative breathing and resorted to outright pleading immediately. “What do you want? I will give you whatever you want. I just need an ancestral casserole pan.”
“I am NOT stealing from Alfred’s kitchen,” Tim wrote back. Which was fair. “Drake ancestral pan alright?”
Jason thought about it. It was still a family pan, sorta. By the transitive property, and that was a perfectly good property. He sent back a thumbs up, his GPS pin, and the word “Hurry.”
A while later, Tim dropped off a glass dish, loudly said “I don’t wanna know,” and slammed Jason’s door shut.
Fine. He was already moving his stuff from the now-cold frying pan into the casserole dish. It went into the oven from there. Jason spent the bake time trying to think of new coping mechanisms, because apparently smoking wasn’t up to this level of mental fuckery.
He waited out the bake time. He let it cool enough to be safe to travel with but hot enough to deliver warm. Jason grappled to Danny Fenton's apartment for the fourth time in four days, let himself in, and nearly jumped out of his boots when he realized that Fenton was in the kitchen watching him.
“Hey,” Fenton said. He was sitting on his counter in his pajamas, eating ice cream out of the bucket with a spoon. He was certifiable. Jason wanted to cross the room and kiss whatever Fenton would let him. Hands, face, feet, whatever.
Wow, weird.
“...Hey,” Jason said, way too late.
Fenton crunched down on his ice cream. “...That a casserole?” He said.
Jason nodded wordlessly, feeling very grateful that he had his hood on. He put the casserole down on the counter. He took a step backwards to flee.
Fenton pointed at Jason with the spoon, wholly unintimidated by the heavily armed man who'd broken into his house. “This is a proposal.”
Oh. Oh, motherfucking shitsocks. Jason felt weak through the knees. It was. Why was- why was he proposing??
Fenton took in his shock with a detached air. “Huh,” he said, like he'd learned something from this. “Um, it's nice of you and all. Have you been like, fixated on me for a while or- ohhh. I avenged you, didn't I?” He dropped the spoon in his ice cream carton and slapped both his palms down on the countertop. “He killed you? That sucks, man,” Fenton empathized. “I get it. I think if someone smashed the portal with a hammer I'd be down on one knee.”
Jason's brain was simply not running any program any longer. He gaped. He wasn't coherent enough to ask why Danny knew he'd been murdered by the Joker, but he had his shit together well enough to be fixated on the point.
“Um, it's not usually me being chased,” Fenton said. He made a face. “I… huh, I think I'm flattered.” He very obviously gave Jason a once-over. “I suppose this is your way of showing that you're a provider.” He heaved himself off the counter and went to investigate the casserole, sniffing and lifting the lid. “Oh, fuuuuuuck,” Danny groaned. He sniffed appreciatively. “Good demonstration of your husband material, t-b-h.”
Jason resisted the urge to tackle him to the ground.
“That's the good stuff.” Fenton closed it back up, but not before giving his ice cream spoon a considering look.
Oh, yuck. This guy was so grungly. Jason needed him badly. He shuddered.
Fenton looked at him.
Jason looked back.
“Do you wanna try moving in and see how we get on?” Fenton offered. “Take it slow, no wedding just yet.”
“Absolutely.” Jason full-body twitched with just how eager he was. “How do you feel about swans?”
“Neutral,” Danny said, after a brief moment of consideration. “I like stars, though.”
Okay, so that would be their wedding theme.
Jason only realized he'd said that aloud when Fenton's eyebrows shot up. Mortified and really wondering what was wrong with him, Jason offered a weak smile.
Fenton made a considering noise. He crossed his arms. He looked Jason up and down. “...Can you grill?” He asked. “Like, beer chicken?”
Now to be fair? We don't KNOW that? We just know Red Robin had Tim Drake's wallet. Did he rob him? For get to give it back? Find it? These are valid questions. And Tim better think fast!
But that was... not his greatest moment.
If all else fails? No. That was NOT Red Robin. That was Tim Drake's cosplay of Red Robin.
Tim quietly sighed into his coffee. Was nothing sacred? He hoped to goodness this wasn’t another techie fanboy. He wasn’t nearly caffeinated enough for that. “Depends. Who’s asking?”
He looked up and saw the guy from last night awkwardly holding out his wallet. Shit. Shit! Fuck, Tim was such an idiot! An overtired moron! Was this guy going to try to blackmail him now? Reveal his identity in the middle of this café?
“I’m, uh. Danny.” The guy said nervously. “And this is gonna sound weird but Red Robin asked me to give this back to you.
Wait. What??
At Tim’s blank stare Danny rushed to explain. “He like, found it?? I’m assuming. He didn’t really have time to explain, heroism never sleeps after all.” He joked weakly.
He didn’t know the half of it, Tim thought forlornly.
“A-anyway. He had to go do hero stuff- you know, being a good guy and all. But I’m absolutely sure he’d wanted this to get back to you. Because he didn’t steal it.”
Again. What???
As Tim was still buffering, the guy began to frown. He huffed defensively. “Vigilantes are doing their best okay? It’s a thankless job putting yourself in harms way to protect others. Just because they’re spooky doesn’t mean you should assume the worst in them! Just because he had your wallet doesn’t mean he stole it! And even if he did, it was probably mind control, because-”
Tim blinked, incredulous understanding finally washing over him. “Wait, is that what this is? You’re defending Red Robin to me? Why on earth would I think he stole my wallet?”
At some point Danny had sat down at Tim’s table, the wallet set on top of the napkin dispenser. He seemed to deflate like the wind was taken out of his sails. His mouth opened and closed a few times. “Because… because he had it?”
“You’re not from around here, are you?” Tim concluded.
Danny buried his face in his hands and groaned. “Gosh, I’m so sorry. This is so embarrassing. I thought… It’s just that back in Amity Part everyone thought Phantom was a menace even though he was just doing his best. They never let go of the thefts he committed under mind control, his actions were misinterpreted ALL THE TIME, and most of the property damage they blamed on him were from the people hunting him.”
“Your hometown hero has people hunting him?” Tim asked, alarmed. “Does he like, need help?”
Danny unburied his face to wave his hands about. “Oh. Uh- no, he’s good! Like, he left. Retired. Or something.”
Tim and Danny sat together for a moment of awkward silence.
Clearing his throat, Danny slapped his thighs and stood up. “Welp. Anyway. Glad you got your stuff back, but I should go…”
“Wait.” Tim stood as well, at last picking up the wallet. He flicked it open and pulled out some bills. Before Danny could accuse him of counting to make sure neither Danny nor Red Robin stole any- Tim shoved the cash into Danny’s hands. “A reward for your integrity in bringing this back to me. Red Robin had good judgment in giving it to you.”
“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly-!”
“I’m not taking now for an answer Danny.” Tim interrupted. “You deserve it. For returning the wallet and whatever it is you did to get Red Robin to trust you with it.”
Danny bit his lip, looking back and forth between the money and Tim. It was insanely cute. “I- I feel like I should be refusing harder.”
“Don’t. This is Gotham. Whatever manners you were brought up with doesn’t apply here.”
“Okay.” Danny pocketed the cash and straightened his shoulders. “Then let me be rude. I think you’re really hot and I’d like to take you on a date. I recently got some money to burn after all.” Danny was blushing so hard he looked like he might faint but his eyes were steady as he held Tim’s gaze.
Jason has been doing this fake dating/marriage scheme for a while now, and it’s actually been going pretty well. He was suspicious as hell when the nonhuman- Danny- first approached him claiming he could cure Lazarus pit side effects in exchange for a year and a day of this farce but the results spoke for themselves.
And living with Danny- pretending to date him- doing the whole married life thing, it was surprisingly nice. Maybe sometimes too nice. Danny was nice. And sweet, and handsome, and understanding. And open. The only things he asked Jason not to pry into, as part of their deal even, was what kind of being Danny actually was, and why he needed the fake relationship in the first place.
But Jason couldn’t help that Danny slipped up some times. Jason couldn’t help that he was curious. He was a detective, or at least raised by one. And really, what’s a boundary to a bat? And when he came to his conclusion, oh how his heart ached for Danny. He wanted to offer solace. To let him know he understood. So he did.
Jason broke the taboo and admits he knows Danny is dead. But here is the fun angsty part. Because Danny wasn’t fully dead, but since Jason pushed? Now he will be.
(Turns out Danny had done a ritual to close the portal and keep all the ghosts on the other side. Only he didn’t account for the fact that he is also part ghost- the spell will drag him into the infinite realms and trap him there until his living half withers and he is as dead as the rest of them. Unless he breaks the curse through fairytale trial: he must exist in ghost form for a year and a day without his spouse finding out what he is.)
Just picture this scene- a domestic moment between the two. They’ve become closer through this arrangement, feelings have begun to bloom. They’ve shared moments of emotional intimacy, quiet understanding. And then
Jason looks at Danny, at his glowing green eyes and says “You’re dead, aren’t you?”
And Danny- suddenly his hair is black and his feet are on the ground- he’s breathing harshly and there’s a look of panic and utter heartbreak on his face. “No, no- I just wanted to live.”
And Jason is confused because it looks like Danny just revived, shouldn’t he be happy?
But Danny isn’t looking at him. He’s staring at something behind Jason with utter terror. “I just wanted to have a life free from being a hero! Please just let me live!”
Jason turns and sees an eldritch rip in reality- a gaping maw full of teeth and grasping hands and tendrils and it speaks with a thousand voices- “You’ve already died little Halfa. You’ve borrowed enough time amongst the living. Come now to be whole.”
And Jason tries but he can do nothing as Danny is dragged through the hole, begging for his life- “Please, I don’t want to be dead.”
And a feathery tendril wipes his tears and the whispers croon “So? You’re not special. But I will be kind. Sleep now. Sleep through your living half joining the rest of you. You’re in for a slow second death, so sleep.” And Danny does. He’s pulled through and the tear in reality closes.
And Jason, just like the lady of the fairytale, decides to go save Danny from his fate. It is a quest through the ghost zone gathering ghostly allies, trinkets and favors until he makes it to the castle where he must use all he’s learned to wake Danny from his sleep and break him free of his curse.
How? I don’t know. But I’ve seen so many stories where Danny teaches Jason to be a halfa, maybe we need a bit of the reverse. Jason helping Danny to become less of a halfa and more like him; a true mix of living and dead.
However it happens that they escape, Danny comes out of it changed. Emaciated from starving in the ghost zone, his two halves mixed together, or maybe Phantom was left behind in the realms, waiting for Danny to rejoin him at the end of his natural lifespan. And Jason will be there to help Danny through those changes.
The challenge was who could invite the best detective to Danny’s “Solve a Ghost’s Murder Mystery party”. Jazz doesn’t understand why everyone is looking at her so weird for bringing Batman
Possible reasons they’re looking at you weird Jazz:
-They meant dead detectives; it’s a ghost party
-They meant fictional detectives; it’s a costume party
-They meant willing detectives; Batman is clearly tied up and slung over your shoulder
Bruce, directly after Death In The Family, has a complete breakdown and clones Jason all while he's in denial.
Danny, who reincarnates in the clone, wakes up after Bruce's shady operation is revealed by a shocked Dick Grayson. Bruce is forced to shut down the pod for good.
Danny is born into this new world with a Dick that doesn't know what to do with him, a Bruce that is both clingy and also avoiding him and an Alfred that has high expectations of him (that he can't ever hope to meet).
If Danny had his powers he would have left within a week.
As it was, he wasn't used to this small body and he couldn't hope to sneak out past Alfred (the only one around consistently enough to actually stop him).
It changed when Danny told them he wasn't Jason. Anger and pain and frustration finally hit a boiling point. Danny was tired of Bruce looking at him like he was a ghost. Of Dick switching between holding him close and running as far as he could after another fight with Bruce. Of Alfred always expecting Danny to know something.
Danny was surprised it took this so called family of detectives so long to figure out something was wrong, but they never actually looked and constantly made excuses for the obvious parts.
Danny knew from the start, of course. He was Danny, not Jason. But this also wasn't the body and life of Danny Fenton, so was he still Danny anyway? But every interaction just drove the point home. Danny wasn't Jason.
He was a bit... under cooked. Younger than Jason should have been. Best estimates put him around ten years old. But Jason's clothes from when he first moved in weren't too far off. Danny was taller, wider, a healthier than Jason ever was. He didn't have the history of malnourishment that Jason did.
The Bats first assumed that they had miscalculated Danny's age, but Danny was clearly still prepubescent. They did eventually figure out that being a clone meant a different medical history, but they still didn't think about what that actually meant.
Luckily they noticed Danny's clumsy attempts to use this new body and didn't bother with training yet. Hadn't even offered. Which was great because as much as Danny wanted to help people, the bloody suit in the case and the cloned body said a lot about what had happened last time. He died when he was fourteen in his first life. Jason was fifteen. Jason didn't come back.
They did assume is was also a cloning thing. Which is correct. Like a growth spurt in reverse, if Danny was being honest. But still. Somehow they didn't think that might mean anything.
Then there was Alfred.
He tried his best. He was the most understanding out of them, and that made his little assumptions hurt so much more.
He made his (Jason's) favorites for dinner.
He asked Danny if he wanted to help in the kitchen, picking up where his lessons with Jason left off. (But Danny didn't know those lessons.)
He reminded him gently of rules Danny had never been told.
He told Danny the Dick or Bruce was waiting for him in one room or another, but Danny didn't know where that was.
He got new books to keep Danny from getting bored while he wasn't working with Dick and Bruce. (Like the food, to Jason's tastes not Danny's.)
Danny hated it every time he had to say he didn't know or remember something. He hated it even more because the other three didn't stop to think about what it meant that Danny didn't know any of it.
Tim was the only one that seemed to get it, once he started showing up, but Danny wasn't sure how much of that was him noticing and how much was him having never actually talked to Jason before.
"I'm not Jason," he finally said. "I'm not Jason and it would be better for everyone if you all stopped pretending I was. Jason is gone."
Bruce flinched and opened his mouth.
"I get it," Danny interrupted before he could speak. "Grief fucking sucks. And I'm not putting money in the swear jar for this one, the swearing is justified. You need to actually hear me."
Alfred seemed to think for a moment, but he didn't argue the point.
Good. If he agreed with Danny this would go much smoother.
"Jason is gone. I'm not him. I can't offer you forgiveness. I can't fix this."
"Little wing," Dick started.
"That is his name," Danny spat, "not mine."
All of them flinched this time. "Right," he said. "Sorry. I. Is there something you want to be called?"
Was there? He could be Danny, but was he still Danny? "Ask me again later," he said. He was Danny, but this was a new life. Maybe a new name would be a good idea.
"Okay, I don't doubt you. You know yourself better than anyone, but can you explain? Please?"
Danny rolled his eyes. "For people that are so smart, you are so dumb," he said. "You didn't have his memories. I might be his clone, but he and I are completely different minds. Completely different people. I don't know how he grew up. I don't know how he felt when he came here. I don't know anything about him.
"And you don't know anything about me because you've constantly been assuming I'm him."
His words hung in the air. "I must apologize, Young Master," Alfred said. "I should have known better. We all should have. When you have decided on a name, please tell us."
"Of course!" Dick agreed. "I'm sorry you put up with this for so long, we'll try to do better. Actually get to know you, now that we're aware."
Bruce nodded numbly, not saying anything.
Danny nodded, now that it was over he felt incredibly awkward. "I'll," he glanced at Bruce. "I'll leave you to process that. Um. Could I have a different room?"
Alfred nodded. "Of course, Young Master. Please, come with me and we can start getting you settled."
Danny glanced over his shoulder once as he followed Alfred out of the room. Dick had a conflicted look on his face, but it was better than Bruce who seemed to have completely shut down.
Either way, Danny had said he was going to leave them to it and he would.
"This is going to set off another fight, isn't it?" Danny said with a sigh after they had walked a small distance down the hallway.
"Almost certainly," Alfred agreed. "But I do not believe that is something for you to worry about, Young Master. You are a child and they are the adults here. Leave them to sort out their own baggage."
That was an odd feeling for Danny. The idea of leaving things to adults. Of not trying to fix everything. Sure this particular problem was more Jazz's area of expertise, but Danny could be just as much of a busibody when it came down to it.
Alfred was right though. Growing up the way Danny did in his first life screwed up a lot for both him and Jazz. If he was a kid here, he needed to work on not trying to be the responsible adult.
Maybe things could go better for him this time around.
If Tim was here for that confrontation I could just imagine him quietly nodding along to all of Danny’s points. When Bruce or Dick turn to him of knowing all along he’d shrug and say something like “it only makes logical sense. Of course a clone isn’t the same person as the original. But how could I say anything when I never knew Jason? If I said he wasn’t him you’d tell me I didn’t know what I was talking about.”
