After defeating Pariah, Danny finds out he's the new ghost king when his royal guard shows up and refuses to leave.
Given that the ghost king is historically not the kind of person who requires much protection the royal guard tends to be somewhere between honor guard and vanguard as well as a showcase of the king's closest allies. That doesn't mean they won't throw hands (or swords) if anyone attacks their king.
Danny's got Fright Knight representing the Ancients, one of Frostbite's warriors, one of Pandora's warriors, one of Dorathea's guards, and Cujo as the main body of his guard.
In Amity Park this is... not inconspicuous exactly, but it isn't too hard to make it a little less obvious they're protecting Danny specifically. There are plenty of ghosts around, after all, and they only get involved when someone is being attacked. Their presence makes it a lot easier to drive the GIW out of town.
But then college application time comes and Danny has to account for things like ambient ectoplasm levels and how likely an eight foot tall flaming knight is to cause a panic when he decides where he wants to go.
There's really only one choice unless he wants to go to Amity Community College and for all the advantages there (access to the portal, ghosts are normal, cheap) they don't have much in the way of engineering or astronomy classes.
Danny is going to Gotham.
(Sometimes it really is just impossible to avoid the rogue attacks. Unfortunately most ghosts don't care or understand much about Phantom and Fenton being separate identities. Fright Knight sending people to the nightmare dimension for attacking Danny Fenton is going to be hard to explain.)
There are nearly a dozen videos online specifically of Danny Fenton arguing with his inexplicable Big Scary Guards about whether the bats are spirits of some sort. One of them is a video of the yeti bringing up Red Hood in a supporting argument and Danny's face does something very complicated and then he says "resurrection is resurrection." The yeti does not appear to take this as a refutation.
The first comment is posted by Stephanie Brown and it says HELLO?????
Lmao these tags are exactly what was going through my mind while i was rambling lol Anyway since you dug me out of my grave in the tags i may as well write somethn
some things to take note of; i’m using the everything we saw was in Ghost Sight hence why Overshadowing was obvious to us as the audience and the whole “Ghosts were described as having pale skin but did not look too different from actual humans” thing for like. the humanoid guards. so. Here we go.
—
Bruce gets accosted by his children frequently. It’s not rare. What is rare is having almost all of his children, including Jason, do it. Steph is going on about this random college kid with “out-of-town” companions/bodyguards, Jason is trying to yell at Bruce for something or other, Tim is egging Jason on, Dick is trying to stop both Tim and Jason and Damian is trying to talk about “experimentation” and “Green Dogs” or “interrogation.”
Unfortunately for all of them, Bruce still has no idea what is going on.
When he does get them all quiet down and go one at a time, Steph starts, and shoves her phone into his face.
The ‘TikTok’ is paused, but it’s framed so that a black haired college student held by a largely-built white-furred person are front and centre, no matter the fact that it’s filmed from around a grocery store aisle.
Steph unpauses it and-
“-look! Batman is not a ghost, i don’t care if you’re Frosty’s second-in-command and have just as much diagnostic knowledge as Frostbite himself. Batman does not set off the ghost sense, he’s just Blessed, or Cursed. You know how it is in Gotham.”
“But Red Hood is-“
“Resurrection is Resurrection. He dug himself out of whatever fuckin’ grave he got, and that’s definitely not being a ghost. Sure it’s against the laws of the universe, but Hood’s already against laws in general-“
The TikTok cuts off when the black haired and apparently blue eyed student and the- Yeti Meta? turn to stare directly into the camera, conversation completely cut off. Bruce doesn’t talk, quietly going over the short but rather informative video.
For one thing, it is obvious that this argument has come up several times. It is odd that this civilian has proper lines and limits for what is considered a ‘ghost’ and what is considered a ‘resurrection.’ It is also obvious that he is a meta, that senses ‘ghosts’ and possibly knows more.
Steph beams at Bruce as she takes her phone away from his vision, “B, this guy’s hilarious, and has no fear! I know it’s obvious that he is close to these Metas but he rides on the shoulders of this one guy that Scarecrow has nothing on, cold turkey-“
Jason steps up, interrupting Steph. “How the fuck does this kid know that.”
The only thing Bruce can give is, “I did not even know this man existed until Steph showed me.”
Bruce only feels slightly scorned by Jason’s tch of annoyance.
Deciding to turn to Tim and Dick for answers, Bruce simply raises a brow at the two.
“Ok ok! I went digging and found out his name is Danny Fenton. He attends Gotham U as an engineering major. Despite the fact that some of this kid’s ‘guards’ look powerful and disruptive enough to be rogues, they all behave and only want to be bodyguards. And he only brings his. Uh. Dog.”
“A mixed breed, that seems to be of the main dog breeds used as guard dogs.”
“He only brings his Green Dog to Gotham U in the first place.”
Alright, now what exactly do Bruce’s kids want him to about this civilian?
Steph: right, introductions. I'm Steph, This is Tim. We've seen the viral video of you taking about whether any of the Bats are ghosts. It'd really piss off literally every single member of his family if you start dating him.
Danny: *silent with a judging face*
Tim: *barely awake, half slumped onto the library counter* Except Damian. He wants to pet the dog.
Danny: *panics because he recognises these two, now, and definitely does not want to be getting involved in Bat-level shenanigans*
Danny: I can't! Im betrothed to the King of The Infinite Realms. My parents punched a hole in reality into what was essentially their creche for new ghosts. Some of the baby ghosts came out and started fights, because that's how they communicate at that age, and then the American Government declared War on them and tried to exterminate the afterlife.
Tim: I remember Bruce saying something like that. The Justice League Dark sorted it all out years ago, though. Made a deal with the King, so they wouldn't wrote out the USA.
Danny: Yeah, the trenchcoat guy. He tried to sell his soul as the bargaining chip for is the US broke the agreement, but it was so gross! Ha ha anyway, I already had a bit of a friendship with Phantom, coz I was supplying him with tech and sabotaging my parent's inventions, so I agreed to be the go between.
Tim: I don't remember hearing about that ...
Danny: you wouldn't. It was, uh, kept off of official records, for my privacy. Anyway, these guys are my bodyguards to keep me safe until I'm ready to die properly. And in return, I help out the living with any ghost problems or call for backup if needed.
Steph: you ... probably shouldn't be telling strangers about this? I feel like this is some sort of secret identity shenanigans and should probably not be spoken of with strangers in the library?
Danny: oh, don't Spoil my fun now. Stalker here would have figured it out eventually, right?
Steph and Tim: *shocked pikachu faces*
Danny: Yeah, you know how people take secrets to their graves? The dead are big gossips. Batman's parents, especially. They may not have enough power to manifest visibly, but they slip through the holes in reality often enough to keep tabs on you guys.
Tim: I'm sorry, did you just say that Batman's parents gossip with you about me??
Danny: yes. They're very disappointed in the Bat for dropping out of me school, but Martha is impressed and overjoyed that he inherited her tendency to beat up bullies.
Steph: *whispers* this is the best day of my life.
Tucker, six cups of coffee in, drenched in sweat, and his arms covered in multiple beeping and flashing red screen PDAs: I will not be defeated! I'M UNSTOPPABLE.
Danny: Uh-huh. Care to tell me why your PDA is flashing that alarm?
Tucker: Oh I hacked the plane Bruce Wayne is on and turned it back to the direction of his next meeting. He's been trying to ignore my schedule and I. Will. Not. Let. Him.
Sam: Tucker, don't take this the wrong way, but I think you should quit your job as his personal assistant. It's way too stressful.
Tucker: No. I was hired by the Wayne Enterprise Board to get Bruce's life in order, and I will accomplish that.
Danny: Um....why do you care so much about this?
Tucker: If I fail, Wayne Enterprise will discontinue Personal Digital Assistants. I have had my PDA since I was fourteen, and I will NOT lose it. *PDA number 7 beeps loudly* Crude! They're trying to hack my hack. How DARE they.
Tucker holding PDA to his mouth practically foaming: Open voice message. Record. "ORACLE BACK THE FUCK UP. HE IS GOING TO THE MEETING. DO NOT TRY MY FIREWALLS I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL FIND YOU AND I WILL SUMMIT YOU IN PUDDING!". Send message!
Danny: Is it odd that I'm attracted to this?
Sam: Not at all. There is something alluring about his slow descent into maddness.
Danny: That's our husband.
Sam: yup
Danny: We married him. In front of people.
Sam: Sure did.
Tucker: Ha! I just blocked the Batplane. Brucie thinks he can have his boyfriend sneak him out of his responsibilities? Think again, Batman!
Imagine the Justice League having to step in just to get Tucker to back off. Like, this dude is skilled enough to keep Batman from going places, so they might need to actually tell him the secret.
Meanwhile Bruce is stressing because there's literally a world ending event about to occur that he needs to get to.
Flash comes to personally tell Tucker The Secret because he'll be fastest, but Tucker has mad beef with the Speedsters because one time they changed history while he was in the Ghost Zone, and he failed a test because of it.
If it had been anyone else, he would have let Bruce reschedule JUST THIS ONCE, but Flash got him mad and now he's stuck in the office with Tucker, who used anti-ghost tech to temporarily cut off his access to the speed force. Barry falls asleep almost immediately.
Tucker sends Danny to deal with the problem, with the promise that he'll take a weekend off for them to do something romantic later.
Danny recruits a few ghosts he's become friendly with and goes and takes care of the problem. Skulker was looking for a fight, and Johnny and Kitty were promised a romantic date. Danny told Ember that Tucker would have a short instrumental version of one of her songs from when she was alive installed as default ring tone on the next WayneTech phone that's coming out in 3 months.
Between the 5 of them, they competely neutralise the alien armada before they're even half way into the solar system. Danny pulls out a giant ribbon and gift wraps the mothership.
Bruce makes his meeting, he's only 3 minutes late.
Barry wakes up from the most restful nap he's had in years, eats until he's finally full, then refuses to hand back the anti-ghost tech to Tucker.
So! Danny was discovered pretty quickly after his first battle against the Lunch Lady. His hair turned white, and his body shape was a little different, but he largely looked very similar to his Human Form, so it was only a matter of time really.
Thankfully he was assumed to be a Metahuman.
He didn't look like any other Ghost, the closest resemblance was his hair and eye color, but even that could be explained away. Also his parents were adamant that he couldn't be a Ghost because he was still Sentient and not Evil, so he must just have powers that just looked similar to Ghost Powers esthetically. Probably as a result of the Portal Accident, which he used as an explanation for how his powers awakened.
Danny also avoided using the more obvious Ghost Powers like Intangiblity and Invisiblity, sticking mostly to the most basic Flight and Energy based Powers he got to be as generic as possible. If anybody saw otherwise, it was a trick of the light or a trick of the Ghosts.
Danny became the Hero of Amity Park, always pretending to be something else. It was his darkest secret.
Unfortunately because the public never saw a Ghost like Phantom on a positive light, their perception of Ghosts never changed. Nobody believed that Ghosts could be anything aside from Evil, and as the knowledge of Ghosts and the Ghost Zone began to spread around the world that perception became more and more commonplace.
If Danny had been revealed in the early days, it could have been salvageable, but nowadays if his secret was revealed he would have to convince the entire world that everything they knew about Ghosts was wrong. It would practically be impossible.
Even when he joined the Justice League when he became an Adult, he still had to hide his secret. Years of hiding made sure he could conceal his true Nature from the magic users on the team, but he still had to be distant from the team just to be sure.
While all this was going on in the Living Realm, his adventures in the Ghost Zone still happened as normal. He saved Pandora and the Acropolis, dethroned the Tyrant King Aragon, managed to defeat Pariah Dark in Single combat, and even became recognized as a Great Warrior by the Far Frozen.
After years of hiding, he actually felt more at home in the Ghost Zone than in the Human Realm. There he could be his true self without having to hide a huge part of his identity, and people accepted him for who he was. Sure he had enemies there, but he also had more real friends outside of Tucker and Sam.
He was content with his double life, acting as a Hero to the Public while hiding his true self, and secretly going to the Ghost Zone to be himself among his friends and even his enemies.
Of course it all came crashing down when he Anti Ecto Acts finally passed.
Now there was a Legal Path for Humans to enter and profit off of the Ghost Zone. Beyond just being able to legally kill and experiment on Ghosts, the Acts also allowed Humans to claim parts of the Ghost Zone as their own Property, enslaving the Ghosts residing there, and destroying the Ecosystem of the Zone because there were no laws preventing it.
And now Danny had a choice.
He could either side with the Humans to which he was a Hero, allowing them to destroy the Ghost Zone and Enslave the denizens living there with the full support of the Government, or he could side with the Ghost Zone, betraying Humanity and the people he had been protecting for years, but trying to save those who had accepted him for his true self years ago.
"Before we start the meeting," Superman said, "Is there anything anyone would like to address first?"
Phantom stood up, chair rolling softly against the carpet as it was pushed back. "Yes, actually," He reached into his utility belt and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "This is my resignation from the Justice League,"
A beat of silence.
"Oh," Wonder Woman said. "Has something occurred in your personal life?"
"Yeah, I guess you could call it that," Phantom snorted, sounding remarkably bitter, a stark difference from the cheerful young man they knew.
"Is there nothing we could do to help you?"
"No. There isn't. Because it happened ten years ago,"
"Is there something wrong with your powers?" Flash, who was very quick at mental math and quickly aligned it to a fourteen year old metahuman gene activation, said.
"Yes. There is something wrong with me," Was the meeting room getting colder? "Because I'm not a metahuman. I'm a ghost,"
Incomprehension flitted across many Justice Leaguers' faces, while a dawning horror alighted on others.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Green Lantern, freshly back from a trip to Oa and in no way up to date on recent politics, asked.
"Why. Didn't I. Tell anyone?" Phantom said softly, and yes, the room was definitely getting colder. "I don't know. Why didn't I, fourteen and freshly dead, tell anyone about what killed me? Why didn't I, the son of ghost hunters, tell my parents I was what they hated most? Why didn't I, the hero of my hometown, tell people I was the same kind of 'thing' that attacked the town on the regular. Why didn't I, in an increasingly hostile environment, tell people I was the same kind of being they made effigies of to burn and laugh at. Why didn't I, the person whose existence was just made illegal, tell anyone?"
Silence. Their breaths wafted in front of their faces. There was frost spiralling up the wall behind Phantom like an aura of dread.
"Because. I. Was. Scared. I was scared of exactly what's happening now with the Anti-Ecto acts. I was scared of being hated. Of being treated like a monster. Of being held down by my parents, my town, the government, and ripped apart molecule by molecule just like they said I should be,"
Phantom breathed in deeply and exhaled, temperature slowly rising and icy crystals dissolving.
"I became a hero to defend humans from invading ghosts. And now the roles are switched. Humans are the ones invading ghost towns, their homes, kidnapping and enslaving them, sneering and laughing all the while. I am half human. And I am half ghost. I am a hero to the people that need me. Not just in name or words or membership cards," Phantom waved a hand to the paper he had put on the table, "But in deeds. I am not a metahuman. I am not a human hero. I am not human. And I would not be a hero at all if I didn't do what was right,"
Phantom planted his feet on the carpet, shoulders rolled back and head held high. His bearing was regal. They had never seen Phantom like this before. "The Justice League is beholden to the governments of this mortal world. But as someone who has known you, fought beside you, and prevented you from becoming part of my Realms too soon, I hope you are first and foremost beholden to your conciouncess,"
And without another word, Phantom turned, clawed a hand through the air, a portal ripping into existence at his fingertips, and stepped through. The swirling green portal closed behind him, like he was never there.
A beat of silence.
"First on the agenda-," Batman began.
"What the fuck?!" Green Arrow snapped. "Bats, you are not telling me we are just going to ignore-,"
"-we will discuss the Anti-Ecto acts and how we will best prevent the egregious sentient rights violation the United States Government has passed into law," Batman continued.
"We were planning to bring this up even before Phantom revealed himself," Superman interceded peaceably.
"You knew, didn't you," Wonder Woman said accusingly, gaze fixed on Batman.
"Yes," Batman said. "It was obvious if you were looking,"
"Well then why didn't you tell any of us?!" Green Lantern demanded.
Batman fixed a flat stare on Green Lantern. "It has been made expressly clear to me," He said slowly, "On multiple occasions, that sharing my knowledge of others' secret identities, up to and including the sources of other people's powers and/or training, was expressly forbidden as an invasion of privacy. Including revealing my knowledge to the individual in question as it was 'creepy' and 'honestly better off not knowing you knew',"
The Realms were infinite and vast as the name implied. The Justice League were all there, in the jet, with a precaution, belts that would prevent overshadowing. That was all.
Which surprised those who knew Batman.
What didn't surprise them, were the armored forces that were waiting for them to land.
At the head, a towering knight, a purple cloak of flames attached to his spiked armor. A sword at his belt.
"Justice League." His voice boomed, echoing around them, Bruce took the lead.
"My name is-"
"Batman, I'm aware, his highness told us you might be visiting soon. Please, resting your apprehension will make it more difficult than needs be."
Batman nodded, allowing various beams to strip him of his weapons, the League followed in suit. And were led to into what they assumed was a domain. Various nebulas and stars swirled around them as they were marched to a large double door.
The league almost choked when they saw Phantom sitting on the throne. A large cloak of stars surrounding him, a crown of northern lights drifting in the air above his head, he looked every bit the king they had sought.
His eyes softened just the slightest, but he didn't greet them.
"Phantom-"
"You will address his highness by his proper titles."
"Fright Knight, please, they're friends."
"They are allied with the government bent on our doom." the knight protested.
"They aren't otherwise we'd be having a very different conversation. Leave us."
"My leige-"
"Fright KNight, Leave."
"...Very well."
The imposing figure left and Phantom smiled sadly at them.
So, for whatever reason, the Justice League are fighting Phantom, thinking he's evil or suspicious and trying to bring him to the watchtower or whatever, but of course Phantom isn't cooperating, either not trusting the JL/being bitter they didnt show up to help Amity Park/whatever
UNTIL... One of Clockworks' notes show up, and Phantom pauses to read it, before surrendering to the JL, saying he'll follow them.
Now obviously, the JL are confused and suspicious, but eventually come to the (wrong) conclusion that Phantom is just a lackey or something, and that the person who wrote the note is the real mastermind manipulating this poor innocent super-powered teenager.
Danny finds this all either hilarious, or stupid. Probably both.
Phantom swiftly avoids yet another attempt from Wonder Woman to get him in her lasso. He doesn't think it would work on ghosts, but he's not willing to try his luck here. He low-key would like to send all of them flying. They hadn't been around for any of the crazy shit that has gone down in the last year, and now that they finally show up they want to take him in?
He knew he should have let Technus destroy all the digital news declaring him a public enemy. It must be why the absent heroes decided to come and take him down. If only the ghost wasn’t also trying to take over the school news site just when Sam was publishing her own article on plant-based meal alternatives, he would have.
“Son, I suggest you surrender yourself before we are obligated to escalate things,” Superman says.
“You're not obligated to do anything, you asshole!" Phantom screeches, sending a wall of ectoplasm their way to force them to take a step back.
A batarang makes its way around the wall, damn its boomerang properties, but Phantom simply turns intangible and glares at Batman, who only narrows his eyes in return. The dull object eventually passes through Phantom and back into its owner's hand. This is ridiculous.
Phantom was halfway to opening his mouth to tell the heroes to leave him alone again when the note appeared. It somehow managed to stop the heroes in their tracks as well. Everyone looked confused at the floating Post-it note. Phantom grabbed the Post-it, mostly annoyed.
“They'll take you to space. Also, destroy this note. :)” Phantom stared for a minute at what was probably the most direct instruction he had ever received from the Ancient.
He groaned. “Whatever.” He crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it into his mouth. The piece of paper quickly dissolved into tasteless ectoplasm. He placed his hands over his head and then said, “All right, I'm all yours.” Clocky better be right about the space thing, or he's mauling him.
The heroes looked to one another, unsure. Then Martian Manhunter flew closer to him, taking cuffs from a compartment in his suit that shouldn't have been able to hold them. A bit over a year ago Danny would have been delighted to meet the man, and a part of him was still amazed by the alien, but he felt mostly annoyed right now.
“Please bring your hands to the front, young one,” the Martian said, softer than Phantom thought he would be for someone they perceived as a villain.
He raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn't it be behind my back?” he asked, slowly bringing his hands to the front anyway.
“If you're coming willingly, I see no reason not to offer you the most comfortable option,” Martian Manhunter stated simply as the cuffs clicked shut.
“I believe the most comfortable option would be without cuffs,” Phantom scoffed in return. He probably shouldn't be poking at the leniency he was being shown for some reason, but he still hated the whole situation.
“We can discuss options depending on your behavior,” Batman said before Martian Manhunter could say anything else.
-------
Martian Manhunter glanced at the teen who was glaring daggers at the Javelin's window. They had tried to ask about the note that had appeared out of nowhere, but the teen had simply looked away with pursed lips, refusing to speak a word from the moment they boarded the aircraft.
More often than not, young villains tended to be misdirected or acting out from pain. Powers rarely came without grievances, and even less so those that were visually notable. It didn't justify their actions, but it did mean that a push in the right direction and some support were often enough to help them leave villainy behind. And Martian Manhunter, despite being unable to read Phantom's mind, could feel a great deal of anger and sadness coming from him.
But what had once seemed to be a normal intervention became far more worrying once the note appeared. A teen lashing out on his own is one thing. A teen receiving directions from someone is something entirely different. Powered minors are especially vulnerable to being groomed into a life of villainy.
What's even more worrying is how readily this person not only asked Phantom to give himself up, but how easily the teen agreed. They'll have to consider whether this person holds blackmail over the kid's head, or if the kid is mentally that deep under their control.
It also raises the question of why this person would want Phantom to surrender himself. Are they hiding something bigger and using Phantom as a distraction? Or are they hoping to use Phantom to acquire information about them?
The mode of communication is also deeply troubling. None of them had been able to detect where the note had come from, or that it would appear at all. Even if none of them practiced magic, they had been around it often enough to usually be able to pinpoint it, but there had been nothing there.
Martian Manhunter sighed mentally. He's sure Batman would remain paranoid about this person spying on them, or gaining information through Phantom, until they proved that wasn't the case. He can't even blame him for this one.
”Who wrote the note?” Wonder Woman’s lasso was around the teens wrist and the teen just looked up and tilted his head.
“Noneya.”
“…noneya?”
“none ya buisness. “
Danny watch her eyebrow twitch. The lasso as it turned out, only mildly stung him for not telling the truth and honestly? His parent’s guns hurt more. “Hey can you tell your friend to stop trying to get into my mind? It’s kinda annoying.”
Wonder Woman left the interrogation room leaving Danny to his own devices. There were cameras in every corner each pointed at him with a red dot on.
if Clockwork sent another note, Danny doubted he’d be able to read it and then eat it again.
They’d pounce.
Danny hummed the cuff s clearly weren’t designed for a ghost, his obligations for staying here no longer existed, he had seen space, Batman had actually allowed him to stand and stare out one of the large windows for hours, and now he had no reason to stay here.
his eyes glowed green as he went intangible, the cuffs hit the the table with a soft clink. The lights on the camera turn green, and the door slid open as Danny floated up and lazily drifted around in the room. Batman and Superman stood, Martian Manhunter beside them both staring up. Danny smiled flipped them off, and then vanished, fazing through the floor and shooting through space back to earth.
he reached amity in about a minute flat, and went invisible by Nasty Burger, none of the cameras in town were thermal, so Danny should’ve been fine. He went intangible and entered his room, turning human before turning the invisibility off.
Danny grumbled as he stretched and tromped downstairs. Amateurs he smirked as he opened the fridge to find…nothing. Great, ordering out it was. He called Sam up.
“hey, yeah, I’m fine, no, I’m not going to talk about it, whatever I’m ordering out you want anything?”
a heavy pounding came from the door. Danny thought maybe it was police, ever since the JLA had taken down the Anti-Ecto acts, and is mantled the GiW and put his parents behind bars, Danny had been checked on seven ways to Sunday every day.
“Sorry Sam, police are here, gotta go. “ he hung up after another moment and with a sigh went to the door. “ Honestly officers you were….here yesterday.” Danny swallowed. “You’re not the cops.”
Batman stood at the door with Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman beside him.
“no we aren’t “
Danny(23) owns a petting zoo/animal rescue a few miles outside of Gotham. he has some animals from all walks of life; reputable breeders, other rescues, kill shelters, hoarding situations, breeding mills, ect. Be it dogs, to sheep, to goats, to snakes, to lizards, ro hamsters, to chinchillas, and much more- hes got a little bit of eveything. He makes sure they all have the right set ups, and can live as idealy as possible.
Damian(9) hears about this place and of course needs to check it out. Obviously, he needs to make sure the animals are taken care of and nothing else. And Damian just, immediately falls in love with the place. All the animals are so happy and healthy and the information packets are so well put together and accurate! He is disappointed that nobody is allowed to meet the animals in recovery, but he also knows its for the animals health and safety, which he appreciates. Hes impressed, and decides Danny just has to be his new father.
Bruce(34) thought taking Damian to the petting zoo/rescue would be a nice father/son bonding thing- he did not expect his 9 year old to then try and wingman him to the petting zoo owner, who, might Bruce add, is 10 years his junior!
Basically: Damian is trying to hook his father up with Danny because he wants unlimited animal cuddles. Bruce is unimpressed, Danny's equal parts amused and confused.
Danny watches this tiny little animal lover trying to hook him up with his dad. "Listen, Damian, I am not ready for fatherhood, and I am not ready for any type of romantic relationship, but I am always down to be the Fun Uncle."
Damian pauses and thinks it over, " I acknowledge your compromise and accept." Damian turns to Bruce, "Father, quickly adopt Daniel as your brother."
You ever see something innocuous, minding its own business on the clearance shelf at Michael’s and before you know it, it takes over your life for a few weeks?
So it was with this desktop greenhouse.
I took it home and after taking an appropriate time to “season” my idea in my mind (read: a month or two) I set to make my vision of a mini botanical garden a reality.
I started by removing the heavy glass panels and building a raised floor above the latch. I wanted to use the base as a foundation on the building.
I wrapped the foundation in plastic stone textured flooring (meant for Christmas villages) and built a pond at one end of the same. I then gave it a more realistic paint job and designed a rough layout for my plants and displays.
I also knew I wanted to make the ironwork significantly more intricate, but I wasn’t sure how just yet…
Up next - PLANTS! I went wild making all kinds of plants. Some were specific species and some were more conceptual.
I made several trees with polymer clay and moss, cacti out of beads and flocking, cattails out of raffia, hot glue and coffee grounds, and giant monstera leaves out of paper and wire.
This part should have taken me a long time, but it really came together fast. I loved finding ways to replicate natural shapes and patterns using bits of this and that.
I did make adjustments to my plans as I went like eliminating benches in favor of a simpler overall design.
Then I needed to fill my pond with water. For this I used resin. Lily pads were added to the top layer, and I wired in simple LED fairy lights. The batteries are kept in the box under the foundation.
In a weekend frenzy I added more plants, metal (paper) steps, new (plexi)glass windows, a roof, wrought-iron vines (paper again), doors that open, and a hose reel disguising the latch. Suddenly, a project I thought would take months was finished…
I love my desktop botanical garden. Right now it sits on a simple lazy Susan in my office. But I’d love to get it a proper display box to protect from dust.
Thank you for coming on this little journey with me. This piece packs a lot of joy into a tiny space. I always love building miniatures, and I’ll be doing more in the future I’m sure.
Thinking about the untapped comedic potential of the Batfam explaining to new hero in Gotham & literal ghost Phantom that they don't kill people.
And Danny, professional menace, responding with "What? You guys have a problem with dead people or something?" In the most serious, insulted voice he can manage just to watch them squirm.
Danny: I mean, do you only respect people who live near you and deny others? I mean the gothamites have the reputation of denying the people of metropolis but still
Duke, fellow menace, sees what Danny is up to and decides to choose violence.
Duke, sliding in: Actually Metas aren't allowed in Gotham. B makes them leave.
(It’s a total misconstrued take on the situation, but the betrayed look on Bruce's face as Danny gives a dramatic gasp is *so* worth the lecture he's gonna get later)
Danny: It would miss that you are a middle-aged white man of the privileged class who feels morally superior and imposes his "superior" moral virginity on all who do not benefit from all these advantages of birth
They are all very aware that this is just Danny and Duke being little shots by this point. But, they also are aware this will be a thing of they don't manage to smooth it over. It will forever and always be a point Danny uses to deflect an argument of they can't give him a reasonable excuse.
Danny then turns to Duke and Jason. Serious expression on his face.
Danny: do you guys need help escaping him? I can help. Being the token dead boy or meta can't be easy!
Danny grabs Jason and Duke in a way they know they can eacape. Sniffs haughtily.
"I'm taking these poor abused minorities away with me! They deserve so much more! I can treat you right I swear!"
Duke and Jason cackle at the dramatics and then Danny turns them all invisible and sinks through the roof. Once they are on the street he turns them visible again.
Danny: So! Bat burger?
Duke: It's like you read my mind!
Jason: Fuck yes! I'll pay.
Batman is just stood staring into the distance. Nightwing is caught between glee and horror. Black Bat and Spoiler? Sharing popcorn and giggling.
Fun fact: I was in a house with my boss and her son with whom I was about to go on a date (long story) and they have Great Pyrenees. BIG dog. One of them figures out right quick that I'm a sucker and keeps standing in front of me, using his Large Horizontal Nature to block the door. The guy and my boss start tugging him away, chastising him, and I say, "No, no - watch this."
I slowly rotate. The dog, anticipating forward motion, walks around to block me. I step backwards through the door and the dog is left standing, shocked at my escape. They (dog owners) had apparently never thought of that.
When Batman dies he comes back as a ghost nearly immediately. He soon finds a stable portal to cross through, intending to find Gotham as soon as possible.
What he finds is a teen hero in desperate need of help. He can help.
Ah, Danny now has a hero mentor. This would be better if his main antagonists weren't ghost hunters. Danny is trying to keep Batman in the Realms... It isn't going too well.
It's the escape artist training, Dad Shaping, and unethical use of Logic(tm). Which is a crime against him, Danny, specifically. This dad shaped man is bullying him! With earnest concern and offers to help and support him!
Is clearly terrified for his family and city but REFUSES to "abandon" Danny! D:> Stop being everything Danny's been praying for! This feels like a TRAAAAAP! He's gonna get attached then something BAD WILL HAPPEN!
*awkward BatHug deployed* its going to be Okay, Danny.
Nooooooooo T^T *is imprinting so hard you can see it from space*
Bruce probably starts guarding the inside of the portal. Sets up traps using Fenton tech. Makes sure no ghosts cause trouble during school. Well, for the ones he can stop any way. Danny hasn't had this much rest since he died! Batman is so nice. 10/10. Teaches him stuff, without being creepy!
Consider, the Ghost Baby Off-limits headcanon is at play, so even though this is a veteran Batman, he's seen as a baby. And when he explains why he's guarding the portal? It's seen as a baby being taken care of by a even babier baby.
Imagine Danny's rogues having their meltdown about being beaten by a baby. In front of Bruce. Who is like... How did you not understand that he was freshly dead? Power levels are not always indicative of age people!!
Bruce drops his head thinking for a moment. Ok, understandable. But! Natural portals can do that! You have a time ghost! You could have asked! Phantom isn't even two years dead! Now go say sorry! Says the two month dead ghost. At least he died an adult, and therefore will be respected. More so than still a teen, baby ghost.
Jason gets a call one day from a random number and theres a kid on the other end saying Jasons Dad told him to call.
Obviously Bruce has been dead for a bit so Jason is sus until the kid says one of the batcodes
The whole family is wondering if Bruce is actually dead or if this is more of a lost in time thing again (hes very dead but he does not care. Hes Batman.)
Given that the code is about a new family member needing training? Jason might just laugh himself sick. Look, B is dead, and somehow still adopted. What the fuck B!? He is absolutely tying off loose ends and getting himself to Amity Park. He can't wait to see what the fuck is happening. If he is taking a camera along? Well that's between him and Babs.
Batman of corse returns to Gotham and crime fighting. No one knows batman was/is dead.
Cue the justice league having to summon or fight someone from the GZ/Infinte realms. They take one look at Batman and just start parenting/baby talking/treating him like a child.
And Batman doesn’t do anything about it! His core is humming happily because he is a baby ghost despite being a adult human.
Batman has to have not known this was the magic users plans. Or he would have just called Danny. Which, let's be real? As soon as he knew this was the plan? Danny got a text off his ghost bestie/hero mentor. Promptly dives through the phone and pops up just behind him.
Danny: Why is Lady Pandora here?
Batman: Realms issue came up. As Earth's resident Realms wrangler? I thought it time to introduce you to JLD. As they didn't even explain that it was a Realms issue until they summoned Lady Pandora.
Zatanna: How do you even know about the Infinite Realms?!
Danny: Cause he's Batman. Duh.
Batman: This is Phantom. The hero of Amity Park. He babysits a permanent portal between the Realms and Earth.
Danny: Urgh. Babysits is right. So! Who are we fighting this time!
Zatanna: Batman? Are you sure? The being running around isn't an everyday spirit! The Ancient of Dreams isn't something for a teen to fight!
Danny: Wait! Nocturn got out again!?! Urgh! What's he doing this time?!
Batman: Phantom has previously fought Nocturn, Undergrowth, Fright Knight, Pariah Dark and Plasmius.
Danny: I've fought more than that! But they were the most powerful yeah.
I’m still imagining an eldritch being cooing over The Batman.
Eldritch being: *gasp* A BABY!! Coochie coo! Coochie Coochie coo! Hello little one!! 😍
The Batman, slightly tilting his head back so the eldritch being can gently tickle his chin with their huge fuckin claws: *deadpan* Hello. It is very nice to meet you. I know that I am a very cute baby, but my associates have summoned you for assistance. Please focus.
Love that the League summoned an (probably known to be extremely powerful) eldritch entity for help, only for said entity to do absolutely nothing helpful and this "random" Midwestern teen to show up and upstage them all.
The Ancient would absolutely help once the babies went to battle. Just in case. They would do that thing. You enter the fight as well, just in case. Watch every move. So you can jump in if needed, but let the kids figure it out. If not needed? You can then coo and praise them. If needed to help? You coo and reassure.
Ancient: It’s like watching their first steps once they stop holding your hand. You stay close enough to catch, but really you are just there to be a cheer section.
You know after Diana and Clark at the very least are going to demand answers. Bruce just sighs. And clicks a button on his wrist. The magic users/sensitive in the league all turn to him in shock. What the fuck! Batman! Since when!
Bruce: I died six months ago. As is protocol it wasn't announced. Since many of us return, one way of another. This time I came back as a ghost. Phantom is the protector of Amity Park's permanent portal. I stayed for a while to mentor him. But had him contact my children. They turned up to help. And likely to ensure I was still myself.
Marvel: Uh, question Mr Batman. How did you damper your aura like that?!?
Bruce: Phantom created the device. It users electromagnetic fields manipulation to scramble and hide Ecto signatures.
Zatanna: Wait! The kid?!?! How?!
Bruce: He is incredibly intelligent. And the son of mad scientists. He used their work on reading Ecto signatures to work it out.
Clark: Why did you hide it from us?
Bruce: Why would I mention it? I am still here. Changed yes. But not gone. It would have caused unnecessary distress.
Fsssssffffffx ‘unnecessary distress’. That is so in-character.
On the other hand, you know who would have been in real distress? His kids, for those two months or so between his death and Danny’s phone call.
Bruce died as Batman, from an injury in the field. He was still alive when he was brought back to the Cave and died in the presence of his family. Though he didn’t regain consciousness and they didn’t get to say goodbye, there was no chance for the body to be swapped; there is no doubt that Bruce is dead.
They all get very drunk for a night or two. Even Jarro, who, as a telepath, is basically getting drunk by proxy.
They had a drawn-out knock-down fight over what to do about Bruce. Tim and Damian were in favour of attempting a resurrection (Pit or Apokalips). Dick and Jason and Cass were very much not. They’ve reached a compromise; they are not actively working on it but the body is in frozen storage with a lot of alarms on it.
Jason, who’s doing a lot better these days, took the cowl. Cass will take over eventually, but for the moment Jason is the best at maintaining the illusion of continuity. They have a cover story ready to go for Bruce Wayne’s death.
And then Jason receives the phone call, to his Oracle-secured batphone from an unknown number.
That usually means one of the other Bats on a burner, which usually means trouble, so he answers.
“Um, hi?” Not a voice he recognises, at all. “Is this Jason?”
Young. Male. Midwestern. Asking for Jason on the Batphone. Could be real trouble. “No, this is Mark,” he says. “You’ve got the wrong number.”
“He said you’d say that. Um, Jason? I have a message from your dad.”
Jason gets angry and breaks code. “My dad is dead.”
“I know,” says the voice. “He says, recognition code bee zero one, whisky delta india hotel mike… no, sorry, hotel sierra mike kilo, circumference, um… flange, uh… requirement? Requirement.”
Jason can’t say a word. Can’t breathe. It’s B’s code all right, no coercion, not compromised, and he felt the need to specify no time travel. But what he really can’t get over is the way it sounds like the kid is listening to someone prompting and correcting him, someone who’s standing there with him.
“And he says, contingency four two seven gee and… three one five? Yeah, three one five bee.”
Jason doesn’t know these from the top of his head. He rouses enough to drop Tim a quick text. Tim knows all the contingencies, the little freak.
Jason: contingencies 427g and 315b
Tim: !!!!!!!!!
Jason: what are they?
Tim: holy shit
Tim: moving to group chat
Jason swipes over to the batchat group.
Tim: jason just texted
Tim: b’s come back as a ghost
Tim: and he’s adopted again
“Jason?” says his phone. “Jason? …are you still there?”
Jason is, of course, somewhat overwhelmed by this new knowledge. Relief and grief mixing together. because his Dad is back! But.. His Dad is a ghost. Still dead, changed forever. But, has adopted again? So still the same man they all know and love. His newest baby brother sounds so young and unsure. Clearly B's only just found him. Not had enough time to train him properly. He needs a minute, but his new baby (probably a ghost, oh fuck, B's ghost has adopted a dead teen.) brother is still on the line. So he has to push it to the side and get his shot together.
Jason: Yeah, yeah I'm still here. So, B's a ghost huh? How'd you meet him?
Danny: Oh, um, there's a portal? To the Infinite Realms in my city. It's um, it's in my basement? My, my parents built it. I accidentally turned it on. So, so it's my job to keep everyone safe. Batman heard about it. He wanted to get back to Gotham. Um, but he um, he felt I needed help. But, I'm not, not always there. So...
Jason: Its ok kid. Take your time. Sounds like B has his hands full over there. He asking for Justice League backup?
Jason heard the muttering start again. Why wasn't B using the phone? Maybe it was a ghost thing? Something to ask the kid.
Danny: No. Batman wants you to come visit. And help train me? Batman can't leave until we figure out a way for him to have a believable human form. And figure out how to get him enough Ecto to feed off.
I can't help but imagine the sigh the leaves Frostbite when he sees; the Great One, the Batman, the Red Hood and Batman's corpse being brought to him. And when he asks why? Gets told they want to know if Batman can use it as a way to pass as a human. If his old corpse will be able to sustain such.
(Also, side note, but do colour inversion rules work here? Because B? Probably not best pleased if he is bright white.)
Okay, I see your white Batman suit, and raise you he's Eyesearingly Neon Pink. You know the color, the one that seems to dlow in the dark.
And let's say for angst, that no. He cannot use the preserved body BECAUSE it is preserved. The preservatives have filled in enough of the body so it no longer counts as "Bruce" to his ectoplasm
Look, we all know Tim would hear that and cackle gleefully. He gets to use his cloning knowledge for good you say? It'll take a few months for the best to be ready. Just you wait. *gleeful evil laughter*
The reason I was going with white? Was mainly the pun-tential. He's no longer the Dark Knight. But the Light Knight. (Because nite lite).
How about mostly white with eye-searingly pink Bat symbol/belt.
Or maybe a neon green suit with the eye-searingly pink symbol/belt. Which would obviously be irritating for him in the human world. Neon green and pink are very attention grabbing. But then in the realms he would retain his nature and ability to slip into the "shadows". The shadows here more or less just being the ambient environment which Ghost Batman still blends in to.
In a way, it would be like the Universe itself telling Batman, "No, you don't belong to this world any more. Batman belongs to the Infinite Realms now. Go back to the new shadows you fit into." Not that Bruce is going to heed that message.
As for the body, it's at least still good for a dna sample. From there, Tim can work with the Yetis to grow Bruce a ghost compatible, empty human body. Although I don't think it should be quite that simple or easy. There needs to be some kind of counter-balance. A price to pay for the luxury of returning to and passing freely in the human world.
Ecto green with neon pink belt and symbol is perfect. Yeah, the universe can say what it wants. It allowed him to continue his existence. The universe should have known better than to think he wouldn't go home.
Oh absolutely. I'm thinking corpse au shenanigans? If Bruce wants to use his ghost powers he has to drop his body off at the cave. Whoch, let's be real, would cause some serious psychic damage to his family the first few times.
Maybe there's a grace period. That can be extended by putting the body on life support/in suspension. Not at all further traumatizing his kids. Right up till they are numb to it and begin making jokes. Bruce coming back to find them play acting "sad about Dad in a coma". Or his face being covered in doodles.
There’s a grace period where the body will keep breathing on its own, AND of course, sometimes there’s ghost emergencies where he doesn’t have time to get it back to the batcave. So he has to drop it off somewhere and call someone to pick it up.
Which generally leads to Bruce’s body getting “weekend at Bernie’s”-ed by his children.
They get a whole scrapbook’s worth of embarrassing pics they posed him for, a few of which have his ghost in the background smirking. This technically counts as family bonding time right?
Of course, now the rest of the Justice League know about this? He can traumatise them as well! Just, leave his body to stretch out properly and then get back in. In full view of the team. Who are now included in the emergency body pick up plans. They also get to see him in all his green and pink glory. Danny of course is not at all fazed when Batman drops his body. Ever. As far as he is concerned? The body is essentially a coat. This only re-inforces the fact that this is a dead teen. The fact he also has his living form? Doesn't matter here. He's dead enough for that to be nothing important.
Imagine that for his Brucie persona, he says that he has suddenly and spontaneously developed narcolepsy to explain why his body just suddenly ‘faints’ for long periods of time out of nowhere. Bruce just turns invisible before exiting the body so he can be in a hotel, meeting, gala, or car and the body looks like it just goes slack (but is still breathing). So while Bruce is often unconscious during villain attacks he can also do this to respond to SOS messages from the other bats. (does he use this ‘fainting’ to get out of meetings? Oh yes he does.)
(Or even better. He hires a blob to ‘take the wheels’ for a bit whenever he has to go Batman. This shall be Alfred the Blob).
Maybe he offers Deadman the chance. since he is a colleague he can trust. Like, I have a two week mission. where ghost powers would be best. If you could over shadow my corpse and make a few public appearances? Give you a chance to eat something for a change.
First time letting Boston “Deadman” Brand have the driver’s seat, Batman gives him a list of ground rules, things not to do, etc. ending in “and don’t shoot anyone this time!”
Also, what with him being a trapeze artist in life, I imagine Boston would move a LOT like Dick. Up to and including causing a few moments of“wait, Nightwing? Where did you come from? I thought that was you in the Batsuit?!?”
(Last but not least, I really want them to get to hang out and bitch about having died in-costume and being stuck in those for the rest of their afterlives)
(Danny’s gonna get a laugh about the whole “died while in zombie makeup” thing.)
Danny puts up with a lot of stress, okay.
His coping mechanism is....okay, it's a little weird, he's not gonna lie.
It is widely known that he has a human form and a ghost form; it is not widely known that his ghost form can do pretty much whatever he wants it to.
This includes making it smaller. Changing the ghost tail to a fish one. Making the suit be scales instead of a suit.
He does it so many times he now officially has three forms, and one of them is purely for himself and no one else.
His stress relief is to go to the aquarium, switch to the tiny merman form, and hide in the rocks of his favorite exhibit; the shark exhibit.
He stays in the back, away from the people visiting it's sight, and just vibes. He's even made a small cave the sharks can't fit into a tiny little nest.
No one would expect him there. No one would be looking for him there. He was free to just...take a moment.
Well, so he thought.
Because the humans visiting did see him. Multiple times.
They took pictures.
Now the Amity Park Aquarium is in some deep shit with Atlantis, because there's documented proof that they're keeping a literal baby mer in there as a spectacle.
Consider: Perhaps mers naturally grow to the size befitting their environment. They don't really have distinct species, they simply adapt to the space and food availability around them. The same mer that only gets to about humanoid size in a river could grow massive if moved to a lake or ocean with abundant food.
So when Aquaman catches these pictures and discovers they date back several months and the supposed-to-be-fast-growing mer baby isn't so much as an inch bigger, he concludes that the Aquarium is keeping the baby underfed and confined to a tiny area to keep it small and "cute".
Realizing the infant is in a tank with sharks, predators that would gladly eat something the size of a baby mer, only stokes his rage.
I’m just imagining the idea that Danny himself has NO IDEA that Aquaman and his entourage are even coming fast into Amity Park because he’s just so focused on everything else in his (unfortunate) teenage life.
Aquaman? Yeah he knows WHO the guy is, who wouldn’t know who the Justice League members are, but is he keeping up with that news? No.
He’s barely even awake in school to process the news from other teenagers and teachers. He’s deliberately blocking out all the chatter just to take standy-uppy cat naps. He doesn’t have the time or brain capacity to handle you.
Going little baby man mer is his time to really relax. To unwind, laze about, and curl in his little nest with all his little possessions like a fish dragon and just rest.
So of course after a treacherous day AND night, Danny simply slips his way into the Aquarium and into his favorite water tank with the sharks where he has to avoid their curious nipping so he can unwind in his little enclosure.
It’s only going to be a little while after all.
Just a little moment to stretch out, rake his claws across the walls to make some doodles; maybe even watch the cold night outside before a short decided nap.
Just… a little… nap.
Sleep takes Danny fast and swift, and Danny stays at the Aquarium far longer than anticipated.
But Danny is so tired, and it isn’t like it’s the first time he’s overslept to the gentle sound of shark fins swimming through the artificial currents and was rocked to sleep by the gentle waves in the tank.
So what if he sleeps there longer than intended?
No one has ever seen him before, and Danny has never minded the light of the rising sun when it brings the sharks to wakefulness, or the building noise of a slowly waking Aquarium building.
It is all familiar noise to sleep to.
He only slightly minds it when he hears static — electricity — zapping outside, making his sleepy little self jerk and whine before he curls himself deeper into his tail.
It’s silent.
It’s so blissfully silent for a very long time that Danny’s tension flows right out of him.
An ear fin twitches at the sudden change in the waters currents, something bigger having entered, but nothing the sharks seemed to be worrying over. Danny thus pays little mind as he drifts away to sleep once more.
But maybe he should have tried being a little more awake, a little more alert. Surely then he would have noticed the sharks gurgling, would have noticed the tip of a sharks nose pressing against the hidden opening of his nest. Surely Danny would have noticed a very human-like hand reaching through the entrance to fish him out.
Arthur managed to gently remove the infant without waking them up.
Their tail, black with white tipped scales, wrapped around his wrist loosely.
They were small, defenseless, left in a tank full of sharks, and completely trusting as they tried to burrow into his chest, hiding their face from the world.
It took everything he had not to think back to the last baby he'd held.
The son he'd lost, trapped and unable to breathe, in a small container while a predator circled around-
Arthur stopped that train of thought, focusing on securing the small, definitely underweight infant.
The sharks circled, concerned in the limited capacity that they had.
'Little Biter does not eat,' one says.
'Little Biter tastes weird, you will fix.' another orders.
Oh, he'd fix it.
The water shifted as Mera gracefully stepped in, carrying with her a an incubator. Inside was relatively bare, but soft and full of water for the child to breathe as they transported them to Atlantis, where a team of doctors was already prepared and waiting.
He gently unwound the tail from his wrist, taking the blanket from Mera and swaddling the little one with a muscle memory he was sure he'd forgotten.
That done, and the child safely in the incubator, he turned to look at the owner of the Aquarium.
The man was crying, swearing up and down he had no idea how the kid had gotten in there.
Arthur would find out if that was the truth soon enough; J'onn was already on his way.
Also, poor Atlantean doctors are in for a heart attack and a half when they start checking vitals.
At least J'onn is coming to confirm that the Aquarium owner and staff are not at fault here. Danny would feel real bad if he got innocent people in trouble just because he wanted to chill in the shark tank.
Looking at this art again and wondering, if a mer's tail is long and flexible enough, d'ya think a lonely baby might hug theirs while they sleep? For lack of any parents, siblings, or stuffies to cuddle instead.
I can only imagine Danny having to make a choice when he starts to realize what’s going on. By then, he’s already half way to Atlantis, curled up in an incubator with such soothing water and his tail hugged in his arms.
He can clear everything up and go back home, sure, but…does he really want to? In the past few hours, he’s gotten more care and attention from adults than he’s gotten from his parents in the last year. They’re treating him like a child in a way he never got to be, and all he can think about is that it feels nice.
Aquaman keeps fussing over him, checking on him, giving him things to snack on. They feel good to gnaw on with his growing fangs, alleviating an ache he hadn’t realized was present.
Whatever mixture they keep putting into the incubator’s water to keep his strength up has a soothing effect on the bruises and scars he got from ghost fighting.
So…he lays back and enjoys the treatment. He feels lighter, and not just because of the weightlessness of the water. No stress. No school work. No lives to be saved right now.
-
When Arthur gets to the Atlantis medical center, the baby stirs as he’s moved. He yawns, showing off tiny fangs. The doctors move him to a shallow water tank at the center of the room. The infant mer’s tail splashes, now fully awake as he swivels bright green eyes in every direction, looking panicked and afraid.
“It’s alright, little one,” Arthur says gently. “We are here to help you.”
He only seems slightly calmed by the reassurance, tiny chest fluttering up and down in frantic breaths. He’s staring at a doctor, who’s preparing a mere thermometer. He supposed that it might look like something else from the mer baby’s view.
Arthur frowns. Medical trauma? It does not solve the issue of how the mer got into the shark tank, but that can be resolved later. For now, they need to help the infant mer recover in size and strength.
I remember a strange fact about fish, I don't remember the species, but supposedly when they are stressed or in a bad environment they usually turn very dark colors or completely black.
So imagine that among the studies they do on Danny, in addition to finding a lot of wounds and scars, they discover that his coloration is due to high levels of stress…
Okay, but he's adorable even without the galaxy tail.
Also I made his freckles glow brighter when happy (I also used the galaxy image for the freckles, so they are constellations.) I imagine that he is a bioluminescent mer.
Also, yes his fins are slightly transparent.
Picture without shading under the cut for more accuracy
I might have made him more toddler age and less infant age, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ima need an explanation because half of those reblogs don't exist, I read all the reblogs, so where did those come from??? I would have known if I saw them theorizing that he was an experiment, so where???
That is very odd. Is it possible you have anyone in the threads blocked? Or maybe that they have you blocked?
There's a lot of branches and overlapping threads here, but I think I've got all of them and I can say these all show up fine for me. So if you follow a link and it shows you nothing there, I'd guess that someone has you blocked.
Also definitely some weirdness in here with timestamps cause these were not listed in the reblogs in the expected order.
So, Danny ends up being adopted/fostered by Bruce just months before Damian arrives at the manor, the how and why is your choice, but the GIW is still a threat.
Now, Danny catches Damian attacking Tim the first time and instead of telling the rest of the family or scolding Damian, he went lik:
“You haven't even defeated me, and you think you have a right to attack Tim? Get in line, kid.”
And so Damian understands that to get the right to fight against Tim, he needs to get rid of Danny first. Climb the power pyramid, if you will. And so, Damian starts his assassination attempts against Danny.
But here's the thing: Danny is making absolutely no effort to stop him, he just takes the attempts. The first time, Damian successfully stabs Danny, and goes to announce his victory over Danny to his father. Bruce rushes to Danny, worried for his safety, and finds him just chilling there, not a single drop of blood or injury. Damian is gapping.
“Oh yeah, the kid beat me in a round of hide and seek. He’s pretty good.”
Bruce is relieved and pats Damian’s head, not noticing his utter confusion. And so a cartoon-like montage starts: Damian attacks Danny and claims victory, but Danny is completely fine, and says Damian won at some random game. Everyone thinks the two are super close, and that Damian’s excitement about winning is super cute.
Eventually, positive enforcement wears Damian down, because everyone congratulates him and gives him affection for winning the “stupid things” Danny comes up with. He gradually calms down and integrates pretty well. Danny does end up being his closest sibling because he’s the only one that actually knows all of Damian. The only one Damian could attack with zero restraint and still be treated the same.
But the important thing here is: Danny becomes an invincible figure in Damians mind. He could be stabbed, decapitated, poisoned, and still come back like nothing happened.
So surely, when Phantom is shot out of the sky by a Blood Blossom, surely he’ll just stand back up in a minute like always. Surely, he’s just waiting to get back to the cave to pretend like he always did for Damian. Surely, he’s just putting on a show on the medbay.
But hours go by, and he’s still pretending. Still looking pale. Still keeping his eyes closed.
Damian doesn’t understand why he hasn’t bounced back yet. He should be okay by now. Alfred is moving around, changing the IV,dabbing Danny’s head with a damp cloth. There’s commotion outside as everyone is trying to get an antidote.
But this shouldn’t be happening.
Danny is invincible.
Danny should be back to normal already.
So Damian starts shaking Danny. Screaming to stop pretending and tell them he was beaten in some stupid game again. To open his eyes already.
Father is pulling him away, trying to calm him down, but he keeps struggling in his arms, because he’s getting Danny to wake up.
And he doesn’t notice the tears falling down his face until he runs out of energy, and all that’s left is hiccuping in his father’s arms.
...
So… yeah, that’s what my mind supplied today while on the bus :)
Maybe one day I'll write it, but I don't have time, so I would love to see someone else's take on it.
(This is my first time writing for either DP or DC but you know, I loved the prompt so much I wanted to give it a crack!)
“You haven't even defeated me, and you think you have a right to attack Tim? Get in line, kid.”
The words echoed in his mind, mocking and sarcastic, burning with derision, but Damian was forced to admit that he had been… hasty. Reckless, even. Whilst eliminating Drake would certainly help establish himself as Father's true and only heir, there was clearly a hierarchy to things.
Although he was the blood son - the true son! - in terms of age and seniority, it was clear there was a pecking order. And as the youngest, and the newest to the family - technically speaking - he was at the bottom. In the League, killing Drake would allow him to take his position in the hierarchy by demonstrating that he was superior to him.
Clearly that was not the case here. Clearly, if he wanted to assume his rightful place, he would have to work his way up. He could work with that.
Fenton wasn't even a vigilante, like Father or the others. He had managed to stop him from striking Drake with surprising swiftness and ease - embarrassing him by scruffing him like a cat, no less - but it's not like he was a Robin or even a Bat of some kind.
It should be simple. He knew his schedule after studying him, knew his favoured hobbies and haunts. He was trained since birth to be the Heir to the Demon's Head.
So whilst Fenton was setting up his game console to waste his time playing video games, Damian demonstrated why he should've been studying the blade by piercing him right through the heart with a knife. No sense using his blade when he'd have to remove it and get blood everywhere and cause a greater mess that Pennyworth would have to clean up.
"I win," he whispered into Fenton's ear as he twitched and struggled, his death throes. Wide blue eyes met his gaze for a moment but Damian melted away, triumphant and proud. One pretender dealt with. It was time to announce his success to Father.
------------------------------
Father… did not take his triumph like he had expected. If it had been Grandfather, he would've simply nodded, because success was expected, and Damian had always excelled.
But rather than be satisfied - or, as he dared to hope, proud - he had been horrified. Furious. Desperate to save Fenton, tearing through the hallways to the gaming room, with Damian trailing behind, confused as to where he had mis-stepped. Had he gone about it wrong? Should he have instead challenged Fenton to a duel? Announced his intentions prior?
"Danny! Danny just-Danny…?" Father shouted, fear and panic and then confusion on his face as his voice petered out.
"Oh hey Bruce," Fenton replied, looking away from the screen. The fact that he still did not call Father by an appropriate title burned at him, but the indignation was swallowed by the shock of seeing him… perfectly fine. Healthy.
Damian had stabbed him in the heart. He was certain of it. There should be blood. He should've died in seconds. He absolutely should not be sitting there, calm, relaxed and playing whatever vapid game he had loaded!
"... Damian said he had… attacked you," Father asked, voice tight and brow furrowed.
He hadn't phrased it like that, of course, but he hadn't been shy of describing his triumph over Fenton. Prematurely, apparently, given he was… somehow unharmed. No blood. No stab wound. No knife, even. He was definitely missing one, however, so he hadn't just… hallucinated it somehow.
Fenton just blinked and laughed. "Oh, that? Yeah, we were playing hide and seek, and he got a little enthusiastic. But hey, he won, so, congratulations buddy."
… Hide and seek? As if he would indulge something so… puerile!
Father studied them both, clearly confused and thrown, but… considering. "I… see," he said slowly, and although he certainly sounded assured, Damian was willing to bet he did not see. "I'm glad you're both getting along then. It's nice to see you're making an effort, Damian."
He was making an effort, but not to get along! He was still too shocked to react to Father ruffling his hair like a child, moving to leave both of them in the ensuing silence with only a parting request that they don't 'rough house too much in the manor'.
He wasn't sure whether that was a coded request not to assassinate within the manor or not, but with Father gone… "I killed you." It was a factual statement, even if he did sound almost accusatory.
"Did you?" Fenton drawled, a lazy smirk playing at his lips. Mocking. "I must've missed it."
Grinding his teeth was not a healthy response, although it was nigh on impossible to stop. "I do not know what tricks you used, Fenton… but I will triumph."
"Mmhm." Without any of the appropriate level of fear and wariness, Fenton turned back to his game.
He was tempted to try and strike him again, but he would do this properly, not impulsively. He would try again after.
"Oh, before I forget." He reached beside him, pulling out the knife he'd been stabbed with. "Here. You forgot this."
"You will live to regret this, Fenton," he seethed, cheeks burning with embarrassment and shame, "But no longer."
"Sure, sure. Better luck next time, buddy."
------------------------------
Stabbing had failed, so his next attempt was something grander. He waited until Fenton was in the manor gardens late one night, with his telescope. The perfect situation.
His steps were silent, his sword was drawn. He brought it down and he felt the resistance of flesh and bone as he carved straight through Fenton's spine. "I win," he hissed, watching the pretender let out a cry of pain and fall to the ground.
He wasn't taking chances this time either, and buried his blade through the back of Fenton's skull. And then he watched for a few minutes to confirm there was no trick. He checked for a pulse and found nothing.
Fenton was dead.
This time, when he declared his triumph the next morning to Father over breakfast, he didn't seem as concerned as before. Perhaps he was right to do so outside the manor itself? Grayson seemed more concerned, but he didn't seem eager to do anything given Father's calm reaction.
"I am sure Pennyworth will be able to confirm my victory, for Fenton should still be-" he continued, but found he couldn't finish his sentence as his eyes registered something impossible.
Fenton. Walking into the kitchen with a yawn. Unharmed. Again. No sign of the grievous wounds he should've received, no sign of anything except perhaps staying up a little too late. "Morning Bruce, morning Dick, morning Damian," he greeted, blinking sleepily, "Is there coffee? I'm dead tired this morning." His gaze flicked to Damian for just a moment, and there was a quirk to his lips that suggested he was making a joke.
He didn't see the humour in it, personally.
"Morning Danny," Grayson returned cheerfully, looking about far more awake than Fenton, but his gaze was nonetheless alert and assessing. "Damian said he 'triumphed' over you last night?"
"Oh yeah. We were playing tag. He's pretty fast and nimble, you know?" he lied, as easy as breathing. An infuriating thing to notice, given he shouldn't be breathing at all. "Good way to burn some energy."
Father sipped his coffee with a pensive grunt, but just nodded. "So long as you're not staying up too late, boys. I know it's the weekend, but do try to think about your routines."
There was a muffled snort from Grayson and even Fenton looked like he was about to call Father out on the hypocrisy there in a light, joking way.
"Tt." Vexing. Back to planning, it seemed.
"Let me know if you want to play again, Damian," Fenton said cheerfully, sipping his coffee as he passed him, "I'm always down to hang."
He dared to go to ruffle his hair like Father had, and if Damian had his sword on him, Fenton would be sans a hand.
------------------------------
He watched, careful, as Fenton drank the coffee he'd prepared for him - laced with fast acting poison, of course. The lout burped, pat his stomach, and made eye contact with him.
"Hey, thanks for the coffee, Dami. That was really thoughtful of you."
Thoughtful? That should've-"Tt!"
"Why don't you ever bring me coffee?" Drake whined, like the idiot he was. "I'm jealous now."
"It's because I play with him - maybe if you weren't so busy?"
Ugh. That's the last thing he needs, Drake occupying his time-
------------------------------
He garroted Fenton, holding the wire so tight it cut into his neck, and watched the corpse for a full hour, until the flesh had gone cold. Father just nodded along when he announced this time, he was surely victorious.
And then Fenton had been sitting at the table for dinner like nothing had happened, and cheerfully congratulated him at winning their game of chess by getting him in a chokehold.
He bashed his brains out with a rock in the barn - brutal and barbaric - and Pennyworth had thanked him for 'assisting Master Danny with his chores'. Fenton claimed he was going to sleep like a rock that night, and if he thought it would actually work, he would've smothered him with his pillow.
He decided he must be overthinking it, and went back to using swords and knives, ambushing Fenton wherever he could. He stabbed him in various places, striking vital organs and at least one time severing Fenton into multiple pieces. He had even considered claiming the pretender's head for certain proof of his demise to present to Father.
He'd held up a pumpkin instead. He has no idea when Fenton made the switch, but he'd come up with some ridiculous story about practicing for Halloween.
In July.
Despite the obvious ridiculousness, Father had ruffled his hair, praised him for getting along with Fenton so well and he couldn't even bring himself to be annoyed by it anymore.
"... I will triumph, Fenton," he hissed, glaring at the smugly grinning face of his greatest nemesis.
Fenton reached out to ruffle his hair again, pulling back with a light laugh as he went to impale the hand for his temerity. "Of course you will," he agreed, without even bothering to sound like he believed the words, "Better luck next time?"
"Tt."
------------------------------
At some point, he stopped bothering to announce his triumphs over Fenton, if only because none of them were triumphs. Inevitably, Fenton would be fine, like nothing had happened, and he would make some playful knowing comment hinting about what Damian had actually done, but nobody would ever notice or call him on it.
Damian refused to admit defeat, however, so he kept trying, but it was growing increasingly difficult to become convinced anything would actually succeed. Even burying the corpse didn't seem to change anything - there wasn't even any evidence that Fenton had climbed out of his grave, which just left him wondering what he had buried, if anything.
Fenton was sitting in the gardens, on one of the old, worn stone benches, enjoying a small lunch of Pennyworth's cucumber sandwiches.
"Not going to try and kill me again?" he quipped, voice just loud enough to reach Damian clearly from where he was observing him from behind some bushes.
Observing. Not stalking, as Brown had derisively suggested, and he was not just trying to spend more time with Fenton as Grayson cooed. It was observing. Reconnaissance!
… Although he did emerge, grumbling silently now that it was clear stealth had failed. "I am still attempting to draft a plan with a greater chance of success." Simply attempting to stab Fenton was simple enough. He rarely fought back, but it never stuck. He'd tried everything he could conceive of, short of electrocution and shooting him.
"Well, you'll think of something," Fenton said simply, offering him a sandwich.
He narrowed his eyes, but he grudgingly joined him on the bench and took one. It was, of course, superlative. He'd briefly considered whether it might've been poisoned, but Fenton had never attempted to retaliate. He found it doubtful he'd suddenly decide now.
He could, of course, have planned to get him to lower his guard… but then, Damian had watched Pennyworth hand him the lunch earlier. The benefits of reconnaissance, of course.
"You are clearly more skilled than the others believe," Damian said after a long silence, broken only by the sound of sandwich consumption, "Why have you not usurped the others, or at least demonstrated this competence?"
Fenton grinned at him, infuriatingly friendly and unbothered even now. "Wow, I'm competent now? I can't wait to rub that in Tim's face."
He scowled. "Tt. You are… surprisingly incapable of dying."
There was a snort at that, and Damian's eyes narrowed. The humour seemed… genuine, but he failed to find the joke. "And for the record, Dami, I'm not really all that eager to put on the spandex and gallivant about at night. I get why Bruce is doing it, and I fully support him - and Dick, Tim, and Steph - but I mean. Can you imagine me in a Robin outfit?" He shook his head with a laugh.
Fenton doesn't look that different from Grayson… and Drake. And himself. And Father. So yes, it is quite easy to imagine him in the costume although it is one that rightly belongs to Damian.
"... If you relinquish your claim, I will accept your surrender."
That merely got him a raised eyebrow. "Nuh-uh. You want my place, you've got to pry it from my cold dead fingers like God intended."
He's pretty certain no God had a hand in this, but he'll concede the point. "Very well. But I must ask - are you at all capable of fighting back, or do your talents simply lay with refusing to die?"
"Oh, you want to actually throw down with me? Sure, we can do that. I don't have to tell you not to hold back do I?"
"Tt. Of course not."
------------------------------
Fenton fought well, unsurprisingly. It hadn't stopped Damian from pinning him and snapping his neck, but all it takes is turning his back on him for a moment for Fenton to be standing up like nothing happened - save for perhaps the way he gingerly stretches his neck.
"You really don't pull your punches, huh?" he said, and a part of Damian notes this is the first time Fenton actually acknowledged being affected by what Damian had done. He'd always playfully hinted at it, obviously, but he never seemed sore after being stabbed or beaten, his voice wasn't hoarse when he strangled him, and there was never any sign of distress when he tried poisoning him.
"And I see you are not even pretending to care now," he shot back, although he was surprised to realise he didn't feel any animosity. Barely even any annoyance.
Fenton just shrugged. "Don't really see the point. You already know it's not going to stick."
He narrowed his eyes briefly, studying Fenton for a moment. "Does Father know you are a Meta?" There is a persistent rumour that Batman does not like Meta's in Gotham. It is a lie - Father has nothing against them, provided they follow the rules and don't disrupt the system. But powerful figures invite powerful opponents. There are those who attack Metropolis purely because Superman is there.
Father does not want the same happening in Gotham if it can be helped.
"He does," Fenton admitted freely, "It's actually part of why he's taking care of me. My situation is… complicated." His expression turns darker there, seeming serious for perhaps the first time Damian has ever seen him. Somber, even.
"Tt. I do not think he knows that well. He seemed… distraught when I first hold him I killed you."
There was a bark of laughter at that, filled with something sardonic. "Bruce worries. He's already lost one son, so he doesn't want to lose another. Fortunately for him, you can't get rid of me that easily."
"Tt. I'll figure it out eventually."
Another laugh. "I'm sure you will. How about round two?"
------------------------------
He never really stopped trying to kill Fenton - when they sparred, he gave it his all, confident that there was no need to hold back. He just… stopped trying to ambush him, or surprise him. Stopped trying to assassinate him. His time with Father and his… rival claimants made it clear that such things weren't tolerated. Wouldn't be looked well upon. Father's fear and concern had been genuinely fear that he had killed Fenton - as though Fenton could die.
If he had gone through with his attack on Drake… he doubted they would be so kind and welcoming to him now, not the way Fenton was. Fenton, who didn't seem to mind whenever he had tried to kill him, because he was, for all intents and purposes, immortal.
("I figured it was enrichment," he'd said, as though Damian were a zoo animal. He'd stabbed him for that comment, but he hadn't expected it to stick. It hadn't.)
And slowly, Fenton revealed more of his own abilities. The transformation, the ice, the phasing. The flying. He called it 'going ghost' because despite being Damian's senior by age, he was by far his junior by maturity. He learned about the Federal Anti-Ecto Acts, the situation that had led to him being adopted by Father, a situation that Father - and the Justice League - were working to unravel so he could return to being himself, safe and true.
He didn't quite understand why it was necessary for Fenton - he was, after all, immortal.
"You know I still feel pain, Dami," he'd said, light and conversational, and he didn't want to acknowledge the twisting feeling.
"You never complained," he'd replied, and it wasn't an accusation but it was in some ways.
Fenton had just shrugged and said "I've had worse." and ruffled his hair and Damian had let him, as his mind replayed the countless deaths he'd inflicted on his immortal brother.
Immortal, but not unfeeling.
He would not apologise for it, however. It wasn't his fault Fenton hadn't done the sensible thing and died. Everyone else did it when you stabbed them in the heart.
------------------------------
"Are you coming out on patrol with us now, Fenton?" Damian asked, already suited up as Robin. Father had finally acquiesced to allowing him to take his place at his side, donning the mantle that was rightfully his after Drake 'graciously' allowed it to pass as he became 'Red Robin'.
With the Anti-Ecto Acts rightfully repealed, Fenton was now free to resume his own mantle as 'Phantom' once again, and Damian would grudgingly admit that having his assistance was… not insubstantial. He was a powerful Meta, even if he restricted himself greatly.
And he was the only one who consistently returned to the manor without injuries, by virtue of fact that nothing done to him stuck and so was Alfred's favorite. Which was just unfair, in Damian's opinion.
"Yup," he said cheerfully, stretching a little, "Bruce's assigned me with you tonight - we're heading along the Boulevard, near the docks. Supposed to be some activity by Penguin."
Smuggling of some kind, doubtless. "Take to the skies then. We will scout the area and keep an eye out for his men."
"Aye aye, cap'n!"
He rolled his eyes, but he always appreciated that Fenton never pushed back, or accused Robin of being too young, too junior to take lead. Phantom had been active for a few years, but Damian had been taking missions for longer.
There was a bright flash, and Daniel Fenton-Wayne was replaced with Phantom, legs trailing off into that ghostly tail. "After you, boss."
"Tt."
A routine scout and patrol. Standard operating procedure was only engage if lives were being threatened - even if a crime was being committed, so long as nobody was actively in danger, Father preferred they avoided active engagements. He could, grudgingly, see the logic that was present even beyond Father's desire to coddle and protect them.
Stop a drug shipment, and you got all those drugs certainly, and put away the criminals who were smuggling it. Follow that shipment, and you learned more about the logistics chain, the transportation, the storage.
So they would watch, Robin carefully hidden in the shadows on a roof, and Phantom above, invisible.
"Robin, Phantom, I've got some kind of activity heading your way. White vans, no plates."
Damian narrowed his eyes behind the domino mask. Another gang? "Which direction?"
"Coming in from the north."
"Too much to hope for a quiet night, eh?" Phantom said breezily, "I think I see them. Is that-do they have a radar? Wait." There was an element of… something in his voice then. A quiver. A note of… fear? Concern?
"Phantom?" he muttered. Did he turn his attention to the vans? Phantom had a visual, but if he was concerned, then something could be happening, but if he turned, then he would abandon the vigil on Penguin's men.
No, Phantom could handle himself fine. He was functionally invincible.
"They're still around?!" he squawked, and there was anger there as well.
A voice, shouted distantly, too far for Robin to hear the words intelligibly. He glanced up to where he knew Phantom was hovering - or the rough area - just in time to hear his panicked shout… as a rocket rushed up and exploded into a cloud of dark, crimson red.
There was a scream of pain, and Damian was moving before he had the wherewithal to recognise, consciously, that it was Daniel screaming. He'd never screamed no matter what Damian put him through.
"Oracle! Reinforcements! Phantom's down, they hit him with something, I'm engaging-" There was a flurry of responses over the comms, alarmed replies from his other siblings, Father himself, but none of it mattered because Phantom was falling out of the sky, streaking through the lingering cloud like a falling star.
He'll survive impact his mind supplied, and so he swept down to engage his brother's attackers.
"Stand down Robin," one of them snarled, tall and dressed in a ridiculous white suit. How it stayed clean was beyond Damian, but also, not important. "Don't fall for the ghost boy's ridiculous-oof!"
Damian was already moving. It was only Father's abhorrence of killing that prevented him from drawing his blades on them, but he had no time for anything even resembling banter. They'd dared to shoot his brother.
His favourite brother even.
"He's overshadowed! Shoot!" one of them shouted, and suddenly there were blasts of green scorching the ground and walls, but their aim was mediocre at best. He had learned to dodge live fire years ago by better marksmen.
But if he hit them harder now that they were fighting back, he's certain nobody would bring it up.
Once Drake and Father arrived, what had started as a relatively one-sided fight turned into the bloodless and nonlethal equivalent of a slaughter. "Robin. Phantom?" Father asked, brusque and to the point as always.
He nodded immediately, grappling to the nearest roof. Fenton had fallen not far from here, although why he hadn't simply gotten back up was beyond Damian. A test? Another game? A poor time for it, certainly, but he had shrugged off worse than a little poison.
"Phantom!" he called, swinging onto the roof he had landed on. "This is no time to be fooling around!"
Fenton didn't respond, unless one counted the pained cry as a response - it didn't seem directed at Damian, however, merely at his situation
"Fine then," he snapped, arms folded over his chest, annoyance clear in his tone, "Play it like that. If you wanted to ride back to the manor, you just had to say so."
"What happened?" Father growled, rushing over, already protective and concerned in his own way, checking over Fenton as he writhed.
His annoyance bled out as he snapped into a more serious demeanour. "Those men down there fired some kind of missile at Phantom; it burst into some kind of gas, and he fell." Then his face scrunched up in annoyance. "I do not see why we are indulging him like this."
"Robin." There was a furious warning to Father's tone, and Damian couldn't help flinching.
"What?" he blustered, defensive, "It's not as though he won't recover! This is nothing-"
"Enough. We're returning. Oracle, inform Agent A to prep the medbay for potential poisoning."
Poisoning?! Ridiculous! Damian had tried several varieties, including both batrachotoxin and tetrodotoxin and the only thing Fenton had said about them was that they gave the sauce a nice kick!
"Fine," he muttered, annoyed, glaring at his brother. "Waste of time. He's fine. He always is."
------------------------------
He glared at Fenton the entire way home, and didn't shy away from proclaiming the fact that Fenton was just pretending for some ridiculous reason. He expected him to get up in the medbay, laugh it off and ruffle his hair again, make a joke about no longer being the only one who returned uninjured.
Damian had returned uninjured, but he didn't get a plate of cookies as a reward from Alfred because he was busy fussing over Fenton. Who, again, was pretending.
"... Have I annoyed you in some way?" he asked, scowling at where Fenton was still groaning and whimpering in bed - he hadn't stopped the entire way, presumably because he did not actually need to breathe. "Is there a reason you're insisting on this… farce?"
Outside, he could hear his siblings rushing around, Drake furiously analysing the files and research, Grayson and Father arguing over whether to contact the League. Even Alfred was panicking, although in a quiet, controlled way, given how swiftly he'd prepared tea and quickly dabbed at Fenton's forehead when he came in, but they seemed content to leave Damian to watch over him, even if they had scolded him for proclaiming the truth.
"I'm sorry for attacking you so often. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Fenton just whimpered. Not a real response. "... And I'm sorry I stole the last cookie. You were too slow, but… it was unfair of me to deny you it. I am not sorry about eating it in front of you. It was motivation to get better. And I'm sorry I told Grayson where you kept the last of your froot loops. I didn't eat them, he did, but it was my fault he did. Go ahead and tell me I won whatever stupid game you came up with this time."
He frowned a little, still staring right at Fenton's pained grimace. "Fine. You win, instead. You won weeks ago. I gave up trying to take your place, it was clear I wasn't going to succeed. I admit defeat. You bested me! So you can stop now!" His voice was raising despite himself, a sense of desperation he wouldn't admit bubbling up inside of him.
"Fenton! This isn't funny! It's over, the game's over, open your eyes and stop-" His hands reached out to seize him by the shoulders and Fenton had always been cold to the touch, but never clammy like this, and his skin was bordering on translucent to the point he could see the veins, pulsing sluggishly, and he was shaking him now, furious and desperate. "Stop pretending already! You're not-you can't-"
"Damian!" Father shouted, broad hands seizing him by his own arms, trying to pry him away, but he refused to be separated now, struggling and kicking.
"Wake up you idiot!" he howled, furious as something hot begin to sting at his eyes, "Stop playing dead! You can't die! You can't!"
"Damian, sport, it's okay, we're working on a cure," Father soothed, pulling him away with his infuriating gentle strength, still insisting on this childish charade.
"He doesn't need a cure!" he screamed, "He's fine! He's always fine! I cut off your head, Daniel, this is nothing so stop pretending-!"
Father's arms bound him tighter, turning him around to bury his face against his bulk, and his struggling, flailing hands seized the fabric of his batsuit. "It's okay," Father murmured, "He'll recover, we can fix this."
"He's fine," Damian whispered, voice hoarse from screaming, trembling with emotions he refused to acknowledge, "He's fine, he's always fine…"
Daniel's continued pained whimpers said otherwise, but he had to be fine.
When Damian woke up the next day after crying himself to sleep, he immediately went down to the cave, not caring to change from the clothing that he was changed into last night. He didn't care. The only thought on his mind was that Daniel could be hurt. When he got down to the cave, he saw some members of the JL and JLD there, but he just moved past them and into the med bay, not caring to answer anyone who called his name. He had his sword with him so some of the people sounded panicked but he didn't acknowledge them.
He entered and went next to Daniel and stayed on his left. Daniel had trouble with his left arm more so that was his weaker side, it was where he needed more protection so that is where he stayed. He sat against the wall with his sword in hand on the ground. He glared at everyone who came in. His father and Richard looked confused at first before taking on sad expressions.
Why they made that face was unknown to him, he was just adding to Daniel's protection. He was weak right now and damian was going to make sure no one could hurt him now that he was vulnerable. Damian stayed when Alfred came in to change ivs and check on Daniel, he threatened Richard when he came in and tried to get damian to leave Daniel's side. Damian just swung his sword at him, cutting him on his arm. He wanted him to leave Daniel! Outrageous!
Richard left the room after that, sighing as he went and got his cut taken care off. Damian simply sat back down on the ground, pulling his legs up to his chest. Once Daniel recovers he will make sure that those people will never hurt his brother again. He does not care about breaking father's rule. He will break it to protect Daniel.
Father had brought him some sandwiches, he tried talking to damian but he didn't listen, he simply ate his food in silence. Glaring at people when they entered and went near Daniel. When they did go near Daniel he would stand up, sword in hand as he watched their every move. He didn't trust these people. He did not care who they were, if they made Daniel's condition worse then he would kill them where they stood.
This was the process over the hours that passes, damain would stay by Daniel and refuse to leave. Daniel seemed to be getting a bit better over time, some of his scars and veins didn't glow as bright as before. They were a dim red now. They didn't find an immediate cure, just one to help flush his system slowly. It wasn't until 3 days later when they actually got a cure.
On the third night he had fallen asleep on the floor again, sword in hand but when he woke up he was being held by someone, he heard his father and other siblings talking to the person holding him, he was to tired to tell who it was at the moment. As the person responded he woke up more, looking up at who was holding him. "Aww, my tiny protector is awake." Damian blinked. Daniel. Daniel was awake. He was sitting up and holding damian. He was okay. "Your awake..." damain sniffles, moving and wrapping his arms around Daniel's neck, hugging him tightly. He was okay! He was talking! Damain knew he was crying, he felt the tears going down his face but he didn't care, his brother was okay and damian was gonna make sure that an incident like this never happens again.
... if damain glared at anyone that wore a bit to much white and kept Daniel away from them then that was someone else's problem. So what if he clung to danny and didn't leave his side alone for the first few weeks. No one complained...
(I ain't good at writing lol, someone wanna write them more detailed go ahead man)
"Great!" Danny says, clapping his hands together to get everyone's attention. The dinner table falls silent as everyone looks towards him. It's a full house today and, honestly, Danny's a little nervous. "I'm sure you're all wondering why I gathered you here today."
"It's dinnertime. In our house." Duke mutters, while doing a very bad job of concealing his yawn. He holds his fork poised over the braised beef, but, just like everyone else, still looks towards Danny before tucking in. It's intriguing enough to wait.
"Yeah, no one misses Alfie's dinner." Dick says, with a brilliant smile that Danny can't help but return.
"Precisely! What better time to talk to you all than when you're all actually here!"
"Wait, I thought you came round to work on our English essays?" Tim asks, blinking owlishly.
"I'm afraid I've lured you here under false pretences, Tim."
"This is where I live."
"I would still really appreciate help on that essay though, I mean, what the hell is Hamlet even about? I just don't get that old time-y language, like 'Hark! A ghost hath killed me!' - absolute rubbish, what does that even mean?"
"The ghost never kills anyone in Hamlet, he's there to tell Hamlet that he was murdered. Have you actually read it?"
"No, but it sounds like you have. Tim, I want this guy to help me with my essay instead. I know for a fact that you haven't read Hamlet, either."
"So? We don't need Jason, I've read the Sparknotes."
"Hi Jason, I'm Danny, pleasure to meet you, summarise Hamlet in three sentences or less."
"Am I auditioning to help you write your essays? I can't believe you’ve gone through your whole school life without reading it, it’s good!"
"Hamlet, along with a number of other classics, was banned in our house because it portrayed ghosts as intelligent and sympathetic beings rather than evil, animalistic beasts. I didn’t even get to see The Muppet's Christmas Carol until last year with Tim! But we're getting off topic. I—"
"No, no, please go back to that, because what the fu—"
"Boys, please." Bruce interrupts, looking to the world as if he wants to hang his head in his hands. "Danny, you were about to say something?"
"Oh, yeah, Mr. Wayne! Thanks!"
"Please, call me Bruce."
"Well, that very succinctly brings me to my point, because I'd actually really like to call you dad."
Nobody says a word. Nobody even blinks, all as shocked as the other, watching open-mouthed as Danny pulls his laptop out from beside his chair.
"Before you say anything, I've prepared a 69 slide PowerPoint presentation on why you, Bruce Wayne, should adopt me, Danny Last-Name-Pending. Please save your questions, comments, and verdict until the end, thank you."
"Well, Danny, that was an incredibly persuasive and almost scarily well-researched argument. Welcome to the family."
Bruce can't help the smile on his face as Danny whoops, jumping into the air with joy.
"Thanks, Dad, you're the best!"
Everyone claps and laughs and Bruce can feel his ears go warm as something like delight squirms in his belly. It's been a long time since any of his kids called him Dad. To hear it shouted so happily is something else entirely.
"When would you like to collect your things? I can send someone round to pick them up."
"Oh, don't worry about it! I have all of it here."
"But you just brought a bag?"
"Yeah! Well, technically, I've been homeless ever since my parents kicked me out. They didn't really give me enough time to pack anything, so all I have with me is my laptop, my spare phone, a change of clothes and the money my friend hid in one of the pockets."
"You're homeless?" Dick asks, his face scrunching up in concern. "Why wasn't this in the PowerPoint?"
"I didn't want you to call child services if you said no. Creepy Uncle Vlad would find me if I ever got put in the system and I didn't want to risk that. He once orchestrated a plane crash so that me and my bio-mom would be trapped with him for a week in a remote mountain lodge in an attempt to make her 'see the truth' about how they should be together and how we should be a family."
Again, there's complete silence at the table, where everyone just sits and processes. More than one of them look over to Cass, who nods her head. He's telling the truth.
"I hacked the school system so I could join without a guardian having to show up and sign my paperwork." Danny says, with an awkward grin.
Jason reaches over to pat him on the shoulder. "You're gonna fit in so well here, kid."
I'm just imagining Danny all light and confident as he merrily chatters about his pros. Oblivious (or at least feigning it) to the awkward tension in the room as he all but spells out that he knows the Wayne's biggest and most closely guarded secret. Then he gets to his con and pauses there for a long moment to make serious eye contact with everyone.
Then just moves right on, bouncing straight back to relaxed and chipper as he jumps into his next point about how Bruce won't need to worry about him getting kidnapped because Danny is very experienced in not letting that happen even in very public situations.
1. Absolutely love this, it's gold - Danny staring them all down, really hammering that point home, and then flipping straight back into his confident and happy presentation as easily as clicking the button for the next slide
2. Ur tags my friend ur tags!!!
Danny being so oblivious because that's just life for him and the Waynes watching on in dawning horror because what the actual hell has this child been through?? And he's smiling still??
"Danny, why is you having experience being kidnapped a good thing?"
"Please, no questions until the end, but I think you'll find that it states I have ample experience not being kidnapped, which is infinitely more valuable. You won't have to worry about me being held for ransom or hurt or anything like that because I am very difficult to capture."
For a second, Danny looks sheepish as he clicks onto the next slide. A large, three figure number counts down, rapidly cycling until it stops on the number 6. The first three figure number slowly materialises until the screen reads 6/137. Yes, the PowerPoint has animations, yes there are sound effects. Danny worked very hard on it.
"That being said, I have been successfully kidnapped and held against my will a grand total of six times, by several different people, entities, and organisations. No, Dick, I won't go into specifics—you have to be several levels higher in my friendship to unlock that particular trauma—but I will say that I escaped through my own skills, physical ability, and quick-thinking, all while keeping a smile on my face. You don't have to worry about me, as you can see my successful–to–failed escape ratio is very high. So, whether it's talking myself out of dangerous situations where propriety must be upheld, or physically fighting my way out, I'll be fine!"
"If anything, I'm going to worry about him more, now," Jason says, murmuring to the others so he doesn't get called out for interrupting him again.
Danny clicks onto the next slide, which has a blurry picture of him grinning and giving the camera a thumbs up. There's blood everywhere.
Alfred gets a half second glimpse of this title slide and, already knowing exactly how this is going to go, heads upstairs to begin setting up Danny's room. By the time Danny gets through all 69 slides, the room across from Damian's is freshened up and a couple things from Bruce's own astronomy phase when he was young have been pulled out. An old poster and an old but well cared for blanket with a Milky Way design.
Danny will, of course, have the chance to fill up the room with as much new Space paraphernalia as his heart desires. No doubt Bruce and several of Danny's soon to be big brothers are already planning the shopping spree. But even Bruce Wayne's money can't make the malls and shops be open this late at night. So that will have to wait at least until tomorrow. The things Alfred brings out of storage are to make Danny feel welcome and cared for tonight.
And it is exactly because of that intent that that poster and blanket become Danny's favorite things in the whole world.
Danny: "Now, since the PowerPoint was well received, I've taken the liberty to already prepare the adoption paperwork."
Bruce: "Danny? Why are there three kids listed on these forms?"
Danny: "My evil future self would be sad if I got adopted and he didn't. Which I'm usually in favor of because he's an asshole, but I feel like that would go against the spirit of my earlier presentation."
Bruce: "..."
Danny: "My clone sister wouldn't be sad because she's a free spirit, so I suggest we just don't tell her and let her find out the natural way; having her profile come up under a new last name the next time she gets arrested."
That last line absolutely destroys any sense of cohesion in the room. Future evil alt was bad enough. Clone sister who we have to stealth adopt? And will be arrested. Not if. When?!?! And that's how he wants her to find out!? It's an immediate argument for and against. Half of them love the idea of the chaos and trouble and mischief. Half want to find her now and bundle her up. Maybe force her to not be arrested! (Tim: Don't be hypocrites. Who here hasn't been arrested at least once!) (Danny: Me actually! I'm really good at evading the police!)
okay so, guy at work, who i find out afterwards is famous at this place for being a sex pest, comes up and starts with what i also learn is his favorite opener to conversations where he’s going to be a sex pest, namely: “Do you know where the term ‘blow job’ comes from?”
and here he made his first fatal error. his moment of hubristic sex pesting. because of course i know where the term blow job comes from, i love learning about sex and the history of sexual terms! i know so much about oral sex that i could write a book on it!
his second error: approaching a little autistic freak with what he intended to be an uncomfortable sex question that would make me feel weird and gross. Friends, Romans, Countrymen, I Have Never Misjudged A Man’s Intentions So Incredibly In My Life. because i did not realize he was trying to harass me. because i love talking about sex facts, albeit not usually at work. unless. someone prompts me. my coworkers are the kind of people who are generally online enough to know terms, but not exactly what they mean, and they realized they could ask me a while back and get good answers without the resulting awkwardness because i do not experience shame. i am primed to answer questions like the one he has proposed.
So I Answered It.
and well, really, what happened is that I began answering it, then realized the answer required a bit more context. I mean, you can’t just say “oh, well, the term first appears in writing in the 1940s” without first explaining that ‘blow’ by itself already had sexual connotations for centuries, and then, really, are we talking about the origin of the term or the origin of the act. and well we have a ton of literature and art depicting fellatio throughout human history, did you know a lot of it was men performing it on other men? oh, that reminds me, there are a multitude of latin words for oral sex performed on penises, and hold on let me quote you the entirety of catullus 16 from memory and explain it’s fascinating insights into the roman world of homosexuality-
i do not know how to turn any of this ^ off, by the way. i’m sure some people out there have a switch that disables their infodumping mid-speech. i do not. and i also didn’t realize he wasn’t looking for a real answer until my other coworker explained so hours later. he could not excuse himself from the conversation he started, and i made a conservative man at least 30 years older than me to listen to my catullus recitation. i will sodomize and facefuck you, indeed.
anyway, i think i got a bad grade in being sexually harassed. my pro tip is maybe don’t start with what a very autistic individual will misconstrue as you earnestly asking them to explain sex to you. the special interest shield will cause splashback damage.
when i was a tiny baby queer (aka a 24-year-old), i went to my first pride festival probably three months after i kicked ex-gay therapy to the curb and came out to my parents. being the people they are, my parents came with me. they weren’t really sure about this whole gay thing, but they loved me and wanted me to be safe and happy and wanted to be involved in what was important to me, so they came along. (i also think my mother still might have thought i might get drugged or murdered or beaten by a protester of which there were plenty.)
anyway i wanted a memento of my first pride, you know, and this one vendor was selling keyrings, and i liked it, so i bought one. do you remember those italian charm bracelets that were all the rage like 10-15 years ago? it was a keychain like that, and it had a rainbow rooster, a rainbow cat, and then just a rainbow, and so I bought it.
i run into my mom a couple of vendors over and she goes oh you bought something? what’d you get? so i showed her, and i was like, “I’m not sure why it’s a rooster and a cat. Seems kind of random. But I liked the rainbows.”
and my mom, who was some form of minister’s wife for most of my childhood and teenagerhood, stares at me like she thinks i’m joking.
“What?” i say.
“…it’s a cock and a pussy, Jules,” she says flatly, and that is the story of how i died at the age of 24 while attending my first pride festival.
