WRITTEN IN THE STARS, BEFORE WE WERE EVEN BORN - betrothal au :
Light and Time met at the beginning of existence and made a deal. To make sure the other wouldn't back out and take everything, they invested in a collateral. Two of their kin to be born, will be wed. Betrothal contracts were not what Duke or Danny wanted for breakfast.
Written Together In The Stars, Before We Were Even Born
Betrothal AU
A long long time ago Time and Light met on the third hour of existence as they know it, and made a deal. They each wanted something from the other, the few sparks greed that Reality had. They could have traded these wants but they both know that the other would try and take the traded things back. So they decided to meet in the middle, Time for saw a few decades when two beings of their own would be the same age and most compatible and they both decided the two would be wed. That way neither would do anything to each other without the risk of endangering their kin. So Time now has infinite knowledge of the past and Light now has infinite knowledge of all future possibilities. Supereons into the future the time had come.
Duke and Danny wake up one morning, just turned 17, to find out they apparently have a fiance who they've never met or heard of before.
Gnomon shows up at Wayne manor during breakfast with the written contract to tell Duke about the betrothal. Duke, who hasn’t seen his bio-dad for almost a year now, is understandably suspicious. But after Gnomon thoroughly explains what’s going on and shows the very old contract, Duke can’t really deny it anymore.
Danny on the other hand was woken up by the contract falling on his head via Clockwork bullshit. His first reaction was to burst into Jazz’s room and scream about it, then Jazz called Sam and Tucker. They all went over the contract multiple times before they decided that Danny at least needed to find his betrothed.
The contract came with only a first name, with a home city written as well, just to make it a little easier for everyone
Danny’s the one who goes out to find Duke
The Batfam end up searching for Danny like the stalkers they are
It gets kinda ridiculous with all the things they find, [does anyone else know about the purple back gorillas Danny saved from extinction?] what with him being Vlad Masters’ godson and apparently almost died when he was fourteen
None of Danny’s pictures look right because of the whole ghostly thing, the ones with him younger are kinda visible if a bit blurry [Jazz & Danny being mildly liminal since birth is a little headcanon of mine]
BUt because they were before puberty and before he started taking testosterone [all i can hear is past pronunciation], those old pics look wildly different from what Danny looks like now
Duke decides to take a break and just go to his favorite bookstore/cafe, he mainly goes there for peace and quiet and to write his stories and poems
The Eclipse is a bookstore/library/lounge combo, with a warm tone dark academia jazz/painter aesthetic
The Eclipse is probs gonna become recurring now that I think about it [Add On: Just finished building it in the Sims this place is staying]
The three floors above ground are the library got little reading nooks, and study areas
The basement is the lounge area with a corner where the owners keep their own things/activities and drink bar on a wall
The owners are twins, Sarah and Edward Sulaiman, Sarah plays string instruments, jazz mainly, Edward paints people, still, and landscapes
It was midday but you wouldn’t be able to tell from the water heavy clouds and smog covering the Gotham sky like a blanket on top of a pillow fort.
A teenage boy walks the streets of Gotham, there’s nothing awfully unusual about that. He’s Filipino, average height a bit on the taller side, muscle hidden under his clothes loose with a visible silhouette. His fluffy black hair bounces with each step and his eyes, they’re a… wrong shade of blue, let's say that. His eyes scan the streets looking for someone he’d never seen before, never even heard of before this morning. He’d been doing so for hours now.
A heavy drop of rain hit the boy square on the top of his head, the boy recoiled into himself like a cat, clutching his wooden staff in surprise. He looks up to the sky, eyes wide as the sky seems to dump an ocean onto the earth.
The boy runs, looking up and down the street for cover, until he sees a store front with a covered porch. Ducking underneath the roof he stares out into the street where the pouring rain curtains everything.
Sighing, the boy turned to the door of the store, looking at the sign all it said was The Eclipse. The water drops from his body like he was never drenched.
Pushing the double door open a soft jingle sounded through the building, he looked around a checkout desk was to his right another kid behind the counter. The two stared at each other before the kid behind the counter set down their book.
“Welcome to The Eclipse bookstore and lounge, the lounge is in the basement, this floor is the bookstore, the two upper floors are a library. Need anything else?”
The boy shook his head, “Nah, I’m good.”
The kid nodded and went back to their book.
The boy decided to just go to the third floor, see what they had. The soft murmurs he could hear coming from the basement gave him enough reason to avoid all the people.
There weren’t many people on the upper floors, just more books and a couple lounge chairs. On the top floor he saw a curtain over an open entrance in the back.
Danny sighed in relief, a small cubby to relax in would be nice. Gliding over feet barely touching the ground as he mimed walking.
He moved aside the yellow curtain with his staff, and came face to face with another boy who had taken over the desk on the opposite wall.
The boy looked up from his papers and turned to Danny. The ghost was taken aback by how pretty the other boy was.
“Oh hey, you can sit here if you want,” The boy said, motioning to the small couch on the far wall.
Danny nodded, and went over to the couch, plopping down, his eyes glanced over to the other boy.
“So um, my names Danny by the way,”
Duke looked over to the cute boy on the couch. He’d come to The Eclipse to escape all the talk about his betrothed, it didn't hurt to talk to someone new, who might share a name with his fiance.
“I’m Duke, are you new to The Eclipse? I’ve never seen you around before.”
Danny nodded, “Just recently got to the city, I’m looking for a- a friend.”
Duke raised an eyebrow, “You don’t sound so sure about that.”
“Well I haven’t met them yet – Danny rubbed the back of his neck – All I got is a name.”
Danny blinked then looked at Duke with eyes wide, “You two actually have the same name.”
The two starred, and Duke got a sinking feeling that they were looking for each other.
Duke groaned, leaning back in his chair, “Daniel right?”
Danny nodded, still staring wide eyed, “Daniel Fenton-Phantom.”
He stood up walking over to Danny and sitting down next to him, the other pulled in his legs staring at Duke.
“Duke Thomas-Wayne,” He offered up his hand, Danny shook it.
“So we’re betrothed,” Danny said kinda breathless.
“Yeah, it seems so,” Duke said, looking to the ceiling.
They sat there, almost shoulder to shoulder.
“Twenty questions?” Danny asked.
Duke looked at him again, “Yeah sure why not.”
They chat for a bit, just talking getting to know each other
They get along swimmingly, and Duke says Danny could come with him to Wayne Manor latter to meet his family
Danny invites Duke to come over to Amity and met his sister and friends
The small room on top of The Eclipse, Bookstore and Lounge, has a few tall bookshelves, a couch on the far wall and a desk opposite to the entrance.
Today its giant bay window, by the couch, is being hit by heavy drops or rain, the room lit by a soft yellow light from a simple chandelier on the ceiling. A couple paintings made by one of the owners.
Blankets kept under the couch that had been pulled out and draped over the sleeping boy. Books pulled off the shelves and opened on the desk presented to the boy writing in his many notebooks and papers.
It was quiet with only white noise, it was nice, familiar even.
Two being too big to be perceived by the mortal mind, watched with fond emotions as their plans fell into perfect place.
Gnomon and Bruce end up going out to look for Duke at The Eclipse
I don’t know these two relationship but I’m getting reluctant co-parents with benefits, so ya know
Anyway they end up finding Duke, who’s fallen asleep
Danny had woken up at some point and moved Duke to the couch and gave him a blanket, Danny himself is on the floor asleep leaning on the couch
The dads coo over their boy a bit cause this is adorable
When Gnomon gets closer Danny’s ghost sense goes off and is immediately on his feet and guarding Duke, who’s starting to wake up
Bruce and Gnomon blinked at the teenage boy brandishing his staff at them, standing protectively in front of their son.
Bruce takes a tentative step forward, the boy immediately turns his staff to the man.
“Stay back,” He growled.
Gnomon raised an eyebrow, and Bruce frowned at the kid. But neither moved
Duke groaned, waking up slowly taking in the scene around him, before quickly sitting up, “B, Uba? What are you doing here?”
The boy looked between the fathers and their son.
“You know them?” He asked.
Duke stood up, “Yeah they’re my dads.”
Both men would deny that they preened from the title their child had given them.
“Oh – The boy’s face fell and he immediately pulled into himself, awkwardly shuffled to Duke’s side – Sorry about that Sirs.”
“No need to worry, your worry for Duke is understandable,” Bruce said, smiling softly.
Gnomon nodded, “But we must ask, who are you child?”
Duke and the boy shared a glance.
The boy stepped forward, reaching out a hand, “Daniel Fenton-Phantom, Duke’s betrothed.”
