dcxdp-ghostlights

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

I love the idea of Danny in dc and the whole hum knowing Tim but I raise you and have him meeting Duke and Duke become ing really good friends with him although he can’t see Danny like fully because of Dukes ghost vision so like Bruce or someone will be asking about Dukes new friend and he’s just avoiding the description of Danny and they think it’s because he dosent want them knowing who Danny is and going full investigation mode on Dukes new friend but in reality Duke can’t see this friend and is like 99% sure he isn’t just a glob of ghost. He don’t know shit about his eye color hair color or anything so when Duke finally brings back a like mini Bruce looking kid to the manor to hang out with everyone is like dude you just got us another sibling really, and Duke is just confused because he doesn’t know what Danny fully looks like he just sees like dots of color around Danny like he sees Danny through a really bad prescription.

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

oooo Halloween prompts how fun!

Technically two words but how about 'Spider Webs' ,, they're spooky and halloweeny right?

Have fun with the prompts :>

"Ack!" Danny shakes his head, expression twisted up into a grimace as he swipes his hands over his face. He pulls sticky clumps of spider webs off his skin, shaking them off his fingers to let them fall onto the grimy floor. "Gross," he complains.

"You good over there?" Duke asks, the light of his flashlight sweeping over to him.

Danny nods, giving him a thumbs up. "Just eating spider webs over here, don't mind me."

He'd go intangible to avoid them if he could, but with Duke here, he can't just go around using his powers recklessly. He's only been in Gotham for two months and that's been enough time to learn that that less people know about his ghost powers, the better. His plan had been to keep his head down and quietly get his bachelor's degree in astrophysics before heading to a Master's program on the west coast, but trouble comes knocking for every unfortunate soul in the city.

Trouble, in this case, accompanied Duke Thomas, his classmate in their shared gen ed psychology class. Danny had only taken the class to fulfill one of his social sciences gen eds and because he was feeling homesick and psychology makes him think of his sister. He had expected to just take notes, write papers, do readings, and never think of the class again once the semester ended, but his professor acted stranger by the day. No one else seemed to have noticed, so Danny chalked it up to being too hyperaware and jaded from his experiences with past teachers and authority figures fucking him over.

The thing is, Duke also clocked that something was wrong with their professor.

One concerning comment in class had the two of them, sitting at neighboring tables, meet each other's eyes with the same did he really just say that kind of look.

From then on, Danny found himself swept into Duke's drive to figure out what the hell, exactly, is going on, which leads him here: the basement of the social sciences building at Gotham City University, traversing the dark, damp, abandoned halls in search of something that may explain their professor's behavior. The door to access the basement was locked and blocked by a row of filing cabinets in their professors office.

This wouldn't have been suspicious if the filing cabinet in front of the door didn't turn out to be fake, used to conceal a latch on the floor that gave them a ladder to climb down on. Danny stopped doubting himself and Duke's instincts once that opened.

But beyond the secret trap door into the basement, there's nothing else for them to take note of. Danny brings his own flashlight up to peer into another hall; no doors leading to rooms, no items out of place, just the same long stretch of concrete and pipes dripping water onto the floor. A ton of spider webs down there, too.

"I don't think there's anything down here," he tells Duke, going back to where he's looking around.

"No, no, there is," Duke insists, "Trust me."

Danny hums doubtfully, but doesn't try to dissuade him otherwise. Best to let him keep going just in case he does find something so they can finally understand what's up with their professor.

His mind is wandering when he realizes that he's hearing more than just his and Duke's breathing. There's a click, and then a whine of a hinge in desperate need of some oil. Freezing, Danny shares a panicked look with Duke as someone begins descending the ladder. He turns off his flashlight, Duke following suit a second later, and then they're pulling at each other, scrambling down the hall to hide.

He can feel himself run through more spider webs, grimacing at the feeling of the strands on his skin, but there are more pressing matters to worry about.

Behind them, another light sweeps through the hall, passing by them just as Duke pulls him and makes him sharply turn a corner he didn't see.

Duke pulls them both into a small alcove, pressed up tight in the small space as they try to silence their breathing and remain undetected as footsteps head towards them. Danny watches with wide eyes as the light approaches, then moves pass the hall they turned into to continue on. A long shadow stretches out towards them before shifting away, and he catches the sound of a mechanical whir. A secret door, maybe?

The light and the footsteps disappear. He and Duke keep as still as possible, hardly daring to breathe, as they wait to see if the person is going to come back.

Duke is the first to move, moving back as much as he can in the alcove. He reaches up and pulls strands of spider webs out of Danny's hair. He tries to ignore how his heart skips a beat at how close together they are, how gentle the motion was.

"You good?" Duke asks, voice hushed and low.

Danny nods, carefully moving out of the alcove to peek out into the hall. It's empty, just as dark and damp as it was before. If there is a secret door down here, he has no idea where it is. "That was suspicious, right?"

"Very suspicious," Duke agrees. "Do you want to head back?"

Part of him wants to leave before they get caught, but Danny didn't walk through so many spider webs for nothing. "We got this far, didn't we? Let's keep going."

Duke grins at him, relieved, and flicks his flashlight back on. They fall into step with each other, looking down the hallway to where the person disappeared. "Let's go, then."

(send me a Halloween/autumn themed word and I'll give you a ghostlights drabble!)

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

(I know it's not one word but...)

Harvest Moon!

The moment Duke heard about Smallville's Harvest Moon Festival, he knew he wanted to go with Danny. They've both been stuck in Gotham for a while and never get to leave as civilians. He's tired of most of their dates being crashed by crime and corruption, having to ditch meals out together to evacuate civilians and fight rogues who don't respect the sanctity of a day off.

Not this time, though!

Duke has the day off and a favor from Tim has him flying the Batplane out to Kansas with Danny in the co-pilot seat, humming along to the upbeat playlist they decided would accompany them on the flight. It does feel strange for the both of them to be in the Batplane as civilians instead of Signal and Phantom, but it's a nice change. 

He's sure that Bruce will scold him about using the Batplane for non-mission purposes, but Duke knows how to deal with him. All he has to do is accuse Bruce of not supporting his relationship and being homophobic, to which Bruce will reply that he's also bi, so how can he be homophobic? And then Duke and anyone else who's around will yell that Bruce is dodging the question and the man will get so tired he'll give up and leave. It's worked before, it'll work again.

"Why'd you wanna go to the festival, anyways?" Danny asks, breaking the comfortable silence that's settled between them.

Duke shrugs. "It sounded fun. And it's far from Gotham, so we won't have to worry about a rogue crashing our date again."

"Don't jinx us," Danny warns with a teasing grin, "Watch an alien warship come down just to prove you wrong."

"Don't put that out into the world! Today's our day off. If an alien warship does come down, the Supers can deal with it. I am going to have a fun night out with you and I'm not letting anything get in our way."

"How romantic," Danny say wryly, "Protecting our date. The fact that it's even gotten this bad is honestly ridiculous."

"I'm starting to think Gotham doesn't want us to date."

"Gotham can think whatever it wants. It's not going to keep me away from you."

"Sap."

"Says you!" Danny reaches over to lightly smack his arm and Duke grins, grabbing his hand to press a kiss against his palm just to watch Danny's face flush red.

They land a few minutes later in a field just behind the Kent's property. Duke makes sure the plane is cloaked, hidden from sight, before he descends with Danny. Kon waits for them, giving them a cheerful wave once they're on the ground.

"Good to see you," he greets, leading them to the Kent house. "We've got quite the spread prepared today!"

Duke blinks. "Oh, we were just going to chill until the festival started. You didn't need to include us in your dinner plans."

"If you think you can stop Ma from feeding you, you got another thing coming. Especially since she likes Danny so much." Kon winks at Danny. "Also, I made a banging sweet potato casserole and I need you two to compliment me on it, so you have to join us."

"Fair enough," Danny says. "Good thing we didn't eat before heading out, huh?"

Duke reaches out and takes Danny's hand in his. This is already looking to be better than all their other dates in Gotham. "Lucky us," he agrees, then tells Kon, "Thanks, man, for setting us up for this."

"No prob! I'm always happy to help out in the name of love. Also the festival is super fun and I need you to convince Tim to come by one of these days. If he's stuck in Gotham working on cases any longer, he's gonna start growing mushrooms outta his head."

"We'll make sure he stops by soon," Duke promises.

They emerge from the corn field to the picnic table behind the Kent house covered in a checkered table cloth and covered in a variety of dishes. The other members of the Kent family and members of Superman's side of the hero business are gathered around as well, chatting with relaxed smiles. Kon leaves them with a friendly slap on their backs and walks over to pick Jon up and toss him over his shoulder.

Sibling bickering fills the air. Danny leans against Duke with a soft smile.

"Thanks," he says quietly, the words just for the two of them. "For everything."

"I should be saying that to you," Duke returns, leaning in to kiss Danny's cheek. "C'mon, let's go enjoy our date night."

Yeah, they're definitely coming back next year. He'll even remember to bring one of his mom's favorite dishes to the Havrest Moon Dinner the Kent's host.

(send me a Halloween/autumn themed word and I'll write you a ghostlights drabble!)

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

"Then Danny tripped his foot before he could even kick the ball-" Duke said before Danny cut him off.

"Aaargh! Why do you always commemorate my moment of shame in my school, Duke?!" Danny whined.

Damisn stiffened a laugh and Jason and Dick were laughing their asses off at the sulking Danny. Jazz along with Cass and Steph were helping Alfred with the dishes.

"You don't have to feel bad about it, Danny," Dick tried to cheer him up. "Beside, your team did win all because of your efforts, right?"

(.... I will say this now, I don't know anything about sports lmao. And I'm also making this Deadlight.)

Danny grumbled something under his breath. Duke tilted his head, grinned, and then nudged him playfully with his shoulder.

Danny looked up to give him a withering glare, before Duke surged forward and then kissed him on the cheek.

Danny immediately flushed bright red and slapped a hand over his cheek.

"?!!??!!" He soundlessly screamed.

"Awww, you're so cute!" Dick cooed. Damian meanwhile, leaned on Jason as the two of them pretended to start barfing.

"Disgusting! Cease these vile actions immediately, Thomas, or I lose all respect I had for you!"

Jason rolled his eyes and gagged. "You're both disgusting."

"Pot, meet kettle," Duke smirked, gesturing towards the kitchen where Jazz was.

Danny groaned, covering his lobster red face into his hands before burying his face in Duke's shoulder. Duke grinned as he wrapped an arm around him and looked at his siblings. "And that's how you make a ghost shut up."

"Awww!" Dick cooed again.

"Be like Romeo and Juliet and begone!" Damian hissed.

"Damian!"

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

Ghost light prompt!

Meeting the family

Gone wrong? Gone right? You decide!!!

"Do you like meatloaf?" Maddie asks as she hoists up a modified rocket launcher. Duke tries not to look too wigged out, but it's hard to keep a straight face while his boyfriend's parents deal with the hostage situation in a very strange, mad scientist/engineer way that he's never seen before.

He's starting to get why Danny didn't want his parents coming to Gotham.

"Probably?" Duke answers, hoping he can land in the general area of a good answer. "I haven't really had a lot of meatloaf before but I'm always willing to try new foods."

"That's a great attitude to have!" Jack exclaims, patting Duke on the back. His absurd strength makes Duke stumble forward a few steps. Jack quickly steadies him with a hand on his shoulder and a muttered, "Whoops!"

"I am so sorry," Danny says again, hiding his face in his hands. "I should have insisted on having them meet you some other time."

The wall before them explodes and Maddie cheers. "Alright boys, you go ahead and get to the restaurant to hold our reservation. We'll be there as soon as we clean this up! And next time, we'll skip all this mess by having you eat at home with us. Be good, boys!" She's gone before either of them can respond, Jack happily following his wife to rain holy hell down on Two Face's henchmen. Duke is left behind with Danny and the handful of other hostages gathered up to draw out Batman. If what he heard is correct, then Two Face was planning on using the hostages as a distraction to take in a large shipment of weapons from the Odessa Mob, which is a plan that has been thoroughly derailed by the Fentons.

"I knew this would be a disaster," Danny despairs, and Duke softens, lets go of his worries about the situation, and places an arm around his boyfriend's waist to draw him into a hug.

Danny leans into him, the tips of his ears red with embarrassment. "It's alright," Duke reassures, "They're making a great first impression, saving me from Two Face and all. Why don't we get the others evacuated and then head out to the restaurant?"

He nods and pulls away from Duke after a few deep breaths to settle himself. They help the other hostages get outside, following the Fenton's trail of destruction through the warehouse, and reassure them that there aren't new rogues in Gotham, just a pair of overprotective parents visiting. As Danny helps the last of them get out onto the streets, Duke takes a moment to message the Bat group chat an update with the situation.

Got kidnapped by Two Face with Danny and his parents. We're good now, his parents blew up the walls and got us out, but you might wanna swing down to save Two Face from them. He ends the messages with a peace sign emoji and puts his phone on Do Not Disturb.

Whatever else happens is not his problem. He's got a dinner with his boyfriend's parents to get to, and he's sure it'll be just as fun as this unconventional hostage situation.

(send me a Halloween/autumn word and I'll write you a ghostlights drabble!)

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

Flufftober Day 2 - “Left. Other left!”

Danny/Duke - Driving Lessons

Danny's teaching Duke how to drive.

Duke hasn't ever needed to learn, he's got his bike and he's got his metro card and he's got his grapple, so he's just fine.

Danny thinks he's being silly and takes him out to a parking lot to practice.

Turns out Duke can't drive. Like, at all.

Danny spends the time phasing them through solid objects because Duke keeps side swiping the light posts and running over the cement blocks. He's terrible at parking and he either jerks the wheel too hard or not at all.

Reversing is a nightmare.

Afterwards, Duke asks how he did.

Danny's almost nauseated from all the jerky steering and from the panic, but he gives Duke a shaky thumbs up.

What else can he do? Duke looks so excited.

They go out for ice cream after, and Duke is all excited for his next lesson. Danny just eats his ice cream and internally screams.

Duke's lucky he loves him so much. Otherwise, there's no way Danny would ever get in a car with him ever again.

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

Ghost Of A Bright Future

Danny and Duke's son travel back to the past to find something and gain the unwanted attention of his future parents.

Danny is just trying to figure out if this ghost wanted to mess with him even after he left Amity Park.

Duke is trying to figure out the new metas that appeared.

Their son may or may not help them take their first step into being together.

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

DP x DC Prompt #2

"Red String of Fate" Soulmate AU Idea:

Ship is GhostLights / DeadLights (But you could definitely do something similar with other ships that involve Danny.)

"Strings of Fate, Sands of Time"

So we all know the red string of fate soulmate trope. Everyone is born bound to a string that only they can see. If they follow their string, it will lead them to their own true destined soulmate.

One day, while doing homework, Duke Thomas notices that most of his string just...pops out of existence? The base knot is still there, but the rest of just gone, as if someone had taken a pair of scissors to the base of it and snipped it away. It's gone for only a second, flickering in and out of his vision, before reappearing, this time pointing the complete opposite direction.

Duke blinks, utterly confused, because...what? Did his soulmate just...teleport? How did his soulmate seemingly disappear, and then reappear in the complete other direction? He chews on his pencil, trying to figure out this mystery. Was his soulmate somehow capable of teleportation? Did they have access to a Zeta Tube? Were they a meta? Were they an alien?

Over the course of a few weeks, Duke's string continues to disappear and reappear randomly. His initial theory that his soulmate was merely teleporting falls flat as one day, he finds the end of his string. It's truly a concerning sight. The end of the string, just floating midair, ending in a bright ball of glowing light. He's able to tug on it, pulling the string from seemingly nowhere.

He begins to find the end of his string in increasingly concerning places. He sees it floating midair above the Gotham Skyline like a rising sun one day while patrolling as the Signal. He sees it twisting its way up a tree at the park, the end wrapped around one of the branches, glowing and pulsing. He sees the end of it lying in a curled heap in some dark alleyway, lighting it up with a glow that only he can see.

And. It. Keeps. On. Disappearing. And. Reappearing.

One moment his string could be pointing east. The next it could be pointing west. It would disappear and then the end of his string reappear in a pile at his feet. It would flicker in and out of sight, and then get yanked up into the sky, flying off into space. He feels like he is going absolutely insane.

One day on his way to school, finally, he catches sight of the end of his string again. This time, instead of ending in some random place, it ends at a boy. The boy is black-haired and blue-eyed, with the other end of Duke's string knotted off on his pinky.

Duke surges forward to grip the boy's shoulders, his eyes wide and wild, and shouts, "YOU!"

"Where do you keep disappearing and reappearing to?!"

The boy is one Danny Fenton. A few months ago, he was in a lab accident that involved a ghost portal, which left him half-ghost. In recent weeks, he has begun to be mentored by a few older ghosts. Ghosts such as Clockwork, an ancient ghost with powers over time, and Wulf, a ghost with the ability to tear holes between the Infinite Realms, the space between dimensions.

Who knew the ability to travel through time and dimensions would mess that much with the little string? Really, it's not Danny's fault, who could have predicted that? How was Danny supposed to notice the weird things were happening with his string? It's not such a big deal, really...

"So..." Danny says, flashing a confused grin, just slightly too sharp, at Duke, "Hi?"

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

fic rec! 7.3K across two one shots - DC x DP

Summary: Duke and Danny are college roommates - and secrets don't last long.

Comments: Realizing who each other is is such a small part of this series - it's really them just getting up to shenanigans. Teasing the Waynes at a family dinner. Dealing with heat waves. Fun fluff.

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

DP x DC Prompt #20

Duke hadn't believed his father when he told Duke he had his "infinite blood" or whatever. Duke wasn't an immortal. To think he would be was ridiculous.

But Damian's old and gray, mentoring the next Batman. And Duke's still young. He's still in his prime. He isn't aging. Maybe his father was right. Maybe he's immortal. But he doesn't want to be.

He's already watched too many people he care about die, he doesn't know if he'll be able to stay sane if this continues.

Turning to Doctor Fate, he asks for help in losing his immortality. He's directed to the "Infinite Realms." Specifically, to a being that has been referred to as "The Great One."

Duke looks for him hoping he can help. He wasn't prepared to find a being that was more beautiful than anyone he's met before. He can almost hear his siblings teasing him in his head.

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

Danny/Duke, Yellow, Train horn @apersond

Duke was dreaming.

He knew that he was dreaming because everything looked like before. Before his powers developed. Before he could see all the befores and all the afters. Before he knew that he wasn’t fully human. Duke liked dreaming because of that.

Seeing everything he saw was exhausting. It was more information than and human mind was supposed to handle. And, well, he wasn’t fully human, but he was still half. There were days where Duke wondered if he was really able to handle everything. (Those days were usually migraine days.) But when he was dreaming, Duke could still feel normal for a little while.

Unsure what he was dreaming about (and honestly not really caring), Duke wandered the distorted version of Gotham that his mind had made up. The major points were all there, but everything had been squished together like a city in a snow globe. Duke past a new stand full of magazine he couldn’t read in the dream, the covers full of people he knew, and found himself suddenly on Gotham U’s campus in the main quad.

The whole square was bathed in a green light. A green light that Duke knew, but he shouldn’t be seeing in his dream. His dreams were supposed to be like before. There wasn’t supposed to be the distortions here. So why did his boyfriend still light up the world around him with green?

It was almost blinding as Danny turned towards Duke. Danny’s eyes were endless pools of green.

“Help me.”

Danny’s voice echoed through the quad, bouncing off the old stonework buildings like they were in the Cave and Danny was using a megaphone.

“Help you? What’s wrong?” Duke shouted back, struggling against the sudden wind that had picked up.

“Help me.”

There was ringing under Danny’s voice now. Like the city train's whistle when the winter air caught it and made it travel further than you could normally hear it. It matched the way the earth rumbled and shuttered under Duke’s feet like a passing train car.

“I don’t know how! What’s wrong?!”

“Help me.”

The grass fell away from under Danny’s feet, breaking apart and falling into a swirling green void. Danny hung there, perfectly posed in midair for a moment before he started to drop.

Duke dashed forward, screaming Danny’s name, but the shattered hole in the earth kept getting further away and Danny kept falling and—

Duke woke with a gasp.

His clothing was soaked through with sweat. The cold aid from the ac hit him and chilled him instantly and Duke burrowed deeper into the blankets despite how good it also felt wicking the sweat away.

He’d been dreaming.

What had he been dreaming about?

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

I love the idea that Duke and Danny would be daytime patrol besties!!!! Like Danny after so many years of having to have a shitty sleep schedule Danny immediately is like, “Day time hero is an option? Yes please!!!!” And Duke and Danny just bond and become better friends!

But I also like to think that Danny tried being a night time hero but was too scary in the dark with glowing dead green eyes vs the smiling goofball in the day!!

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

ANOTHER DUKE AND DANNY PROMPT, LETS GOOOO 🔥🔥🔥

So Duke goes on a solo mission and due to some cult shit or typical accidental Danny fuck up, Danny becomes tethered to Duke via his shadow. Much like Dr Facilier, Danny is able to stretch and move around freely (as long as he's near Duke) and is able to semi influence and move objects so long as they're in the darkness/shadows. They also have a venom symbiosis-esque relationship where Danny is able to "takeover" Duke's body by going ghost and giving him toned down versions of his powers when he's in the shadow. This leads to half the Batfam thinking that Duke's developed new powers and is scared to tell them cause he's been pulling away (he's spending time with his symbiote shadow bf), while the other half (rlly just Damian and Jason) think the LOA is involved bc he's acting different and they can faintly sense the Lazarus Pit

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

Duke and Danny is a severely underrated/underutilized duo in DP X DC crossover fics and in this essay I will-

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

spreading half-light propaganda, thank you very much

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

Buried Beneath My Bed

Summay:

Duke's string of fate has always been different. So of course it starts tugging just as Talons start crawling out of the sewers and scaring all of Gotham.

[Ao3 Link]

Duke had known he was different early on. It was because of his string. Almost everyone had a red string of fate tied around their pinky finger. The key word there was RED. Duke’s wasn’t red. In fact, it was super, super hard to see, and kind of a rainbow color? Although it tended to shine green. His parents whispered about it all the time. So did the teachers and the others in school. Duke loved it though. It was beautiful and unique. A special puzzle just for him to solve. 

Some of that sweetness and naivete went away as he got older. 

It was another reason to exclude him. To find him different. 

The string never wavered, never changed. 

Even when his world fell apart around him. It was steady in its green and rainbow beauty. It was solid beneath his fingers as he led the We Are Robin Movement. As he was taken in by Bruce Wayne. When he became the Signal. It never changed. Duke wasn’t ready yet to find what was at the end of the string. He’d know when it was time. 

The string had become easier to see, once his powers had kicked in. There was a red string underneath, but it was covered in a radiant mix of infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. That was why it had been so hard for others to see. The infrared was on top, then the visible, and finally the ultraviolet. Normally, people would just see the visible light, but as it bent and refracted around the string, it was like a mirror, reflecting back what was underneath it. 

He’d always assumed it had been his soul mate’s abilities that gave it its unique appearance, but it turned out it was his powers. Maybe once he finished college, he would go on a road trip, looking for them. That had been what his father had done. Dick had met his soulmate early in life. They’d worked together on the Teen Titans. Jason was clearly with Roy and Kori, even if he denied it. He could go on, but most of his adopted family had met and were with their soulmates. Most of them were romantic bonds. Part of him wanted that, wanted someone to come home to, to cuddle and talk to. Other times, he worried about dragging them into the insane life he led. 

Being a vigilante wasn’t easy. 

No, he’d wait.

Wait until after college. 

***

Duke grit his teeth. It was still hard at times, to bend the light to his advantage and fight at the same time. The Court of Owls was rebuilding themselves at a stupidly fast pace. They’d made some sort of new formula that let their Talons be out in the daylight. Duke hadn’t really had to deal with the previous ones, as they’d only come out at night, and he was a daylight hero. Dick had been rightfully freaked out. The last time the Court had been around, they’d kept trying to turn him into a Talon. Something something, the Gray son of Gotham. Yeah, Duke hadn’t really pushed him to explain. 

The nice thing was, that even if they could be out in the day, these new Talons were still pretty sensitive to light. It would probably only be a matter of time before that got fixed though. Seeing a Talon would freak out any born and bred citizen of Gotham. They’d all grown up on that creepy nursery rhyme about the Court of Owls and the Talons that would go out and kill. To have one out and visible during the day? Yeah, real bad. As if the morale in Gotham wasn’t bad enough, seeing Talons during the day had spooked the citizens a lot. The tiny good thing about it was that the regular muggers were less likely to commit crime right now, as they were worried about the Talons and the eyes of the Court. 

Duke knocked out the last one panting. He reached up and touched his comm. 

“Belfry, this is Signal. Just took out three Talons here. Their fighting skills are pretty abysmal, but they’re strong,” he reported. 

“Acknowledged.” He heard the weary sigh on the other end. All of these Talons were running them all ragged. 

Just as Duke was about the leave the scene after explaining everything that happened to the police officers, he felt it. There was the faintest tug on his string. Frowning, he grappled away. Once he was out of sight, he took a look at his string. It hasn’t changed. It looked the same. He waited, curious. 

No more tugs came. Sighing, Duke grappled back to the Belfry.

***

The tugging became more frequent. 

It was happening at least once a day now. Duke didn’t have time for it though. It had only taken a quick google search to find that it was because his soulmate was trying to call for him. Trying to meet him. Of course it was going to happen when Duke wasn’t ready. When he was running himself a bit ragged trying to stop the Talon scourge that was plaguing Gotham. It all came to a head as he was trying to fall asleep. The tugging was getting more and more frequent. More annoying too. Duke just wanted it to stop, so he could sleep! 

Sighing, he got up and made his way down to the Cave. 

Dick was nervously suiting up with the others. They all hated it, but he was going to go out and try to be bait. The Court did always love him. In a totally creepy and unhealthy way. Duke made his way over and tiredly leaned against Dick. He was tired. He just wanted to sleep. 

“Duke? What’s up? Why aren’t you in bed?” Might as well spill. He needed help anyway. 

“My soulmate keeps tugging at our string and I can’t fall asleep because of it,” he complained. Dick hummed. 

“Well. Do you want me to come out tonight with me and try to follow your string?” Duke looked up, surprised. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be bait tonight?” he asked tiredly. Dick smiled nervously. 

“Yeah, I’m supposed to patrol alone, with the others not far from me. I’d rather help you search for your soulmate though. The others can still follow us, from a distance. It would keep my mind off it. Plus, it might seem less suspicious, since I usually have a partner when I’m here in Gotham,” he explained. Duke blinked sleepily at him, ignoring the next insistent tug on the iridescent string.

“Signal is daytime though,” he protested. 

“True. But you’ve already done a few night shifts this past week to help out. It wouldn’t be too weird. Plus, you’d help me stand out even more with your suit.” 

True. Not seeing any reason to say ‘No’, he nodded and meandered over to his locker. Duke dressed quickly and efficiently in his bright yellow suit. Once dressed, he hopped behind Dick on his Nightcycle. They drove into the center of Gotham, stashing the bike behind a dumpster and some trash before grappling up to the rooftops. 

“Lead the way, Signal!” Dick teased. His heart wasn’t really in it. Duke could tell he was still tense. 

Holding up his hand, Duke closed his eyes, trying to feel inside himself where the string was trying to lead him. He opened his eyes and began running across the rooftops. Sure, this would have been easier on a bike, but they were also trying to show Dick running around the city. Besides, once they got to the edge of Gotham in whatever direction his soulmate was in, then they’d head back and make note of it. That way Duke could head that way in the morning. He wasn’t going to be very helpful if he couldn’t sleep. 

They made it to a section of old Gotham, on the edges of the financial district, when the string just went… down. Duke hesitated. 

“Signal?” Dick questioned, coming to a halt behind him. 

“It - the string. It goes down?” Duke questioned rhetorically. Dick put his hand on his shoulder. 

“Then down we go. Seems like they might be right here in Gotham!” 

Duke hesitated. He wasn’t sure if he was ready. His soulmate was. And they were making it his problem. He had to admire their tenacity. Taking a deep breath, he grappled down onto the street. The string bent and curved around the back of the brick apartment building. It led to the back alley and to a vent? 

“This is getting weird. You see it too, right?” Duke asked. 

“Yeah, I can see it glimmering. I’ll call for some back up. It’s possible… your soulmate has been calling for help,” Dick admitted. Guilt churned in Duke’s gut. He should have thought of that. His soulmate had never tugged before. Never been this insistent. 

“Hey. I know that look. Don’t blame yourself. You’ve been busy and it hasn’t been a high priority. Let’s save your soulmate, okay?” Dick encouraged. “Yeah, let’s… let’s do that.” 

Dick commed the others for help. Tim arrived silently. Bruce and Damian were just minutes away, dealing with some Talons that had shown up. Silently, they opened up the vent and began to crawl through it. For being vents in an old building, they were surprisingly clean and free of dust and cobwebs. Once inside, the string led them to a grate in the floor. It moved easily. In the dim light, they could see stairs leading underground. One by one, they climbed down into the damp and cold tunnel. It was the sewers. 

Their feet sloshed through the muck until they reached a wall. There were faint carvings on it. Carvings that looked like a bird in flight. Not just any bird. An owl. Duke’s soulmate had been captured by the Court. His heart leapt into his throat. The Court tended to kill those they captured. Or make them Talons. Dread filled him. What would he find below. He vaguely heard Dick calling for even more back up, informing the others that Duke’s soul string was leading them into the Owl’s Nest. 

“I can’t wait. I need to get to them now,” Duke voiced. Tim nodded. 

“We’ll all go now. Nightwing’s called for the others, so they won’t be too far behind. We’ll need to be cautious. Our highest priority will be getting your soulmate out. Then we’ll focus on destroying the Court.” 

Reassured by Tim’s words, he pushed on the wall, causing it to swing forward silently. This was obviously a well used entrance. They needed to be careful. Signaling with his hands, Duke directed them around corners. His string was leading them deep into the caverns and tunnels below the city. Some of them looked ancient. Others looked brand new. It seemed the Talons were also being used for manual labor, to build the Court a labrinth beneath the city. Dick sucked in a breath as they were led to the cryo sleep containers that held hundreds of Talons. 

The containers were stacked vertically along the walls. In the center was a beautiful and ornate glass coffin. The frost along it’s edges was the only hint that it was also one of the cryosleep containers. Duke’s string went to it. It ended there, at the glass coffin. 

Reverently, he walked up to it, ignoring the hissed out warnings from the others. 

He needed to see. 

He needed to see his soulmate. To see if he’d been forced to become a Talon. 

Duke let out his breath in relief when he didn’t see gray skin or clawed hands. The young adult underneath the glass had a light brown complexion. It looked like he never got any sun. The freckles along his nose and cheeks were faded. He had inky black hair and beautiful long lashes and lush lips. Duke was struck with the urge to open the case and kiss the sleeping man, Snow White style. 

That wouldn’t be right though. 

“It’s him. This is him. We need to get him out,” Duke voiced to the others. If he hadn’t been through so many chaotic and stressful situations, Duke was sure he’d be panicking. For now, he was doing his best to keep himself calm. It wouldn’t do his soulmate any good to freak out. He needed to keep his head level. 

“On it,” Tim answered. “Nighting, you focus on trying to find instructions on how to get Signal’s person out. I’m going to download everything I can and try to find out what’s going on here.” Dick searched and found the instructions, bringing them up on the computer on his arm. 

“Okay. Here are the instructions. Looks like they bring him out about once a day to feed him and to… extract his blood. Oh. It looks like… his blood is a major component of the new Talon serum.” 

With that knowledge hanging over them, it became even more important to get his soulmate out. The files that Dick had found called his soulmate ‘The Source’. It was creepy and disturbing. The Court was basically planning on keeping his soulmate forever, and using his blood to make an army of Talons to complete whatever their goals were. They were able to safely turn off the cryomachine pull him out. Duke wanted to be the one to carry his soulmate out. 

The others had arrived by this point. 

That left Duke and Dick free to leave. Duke carried him out of the tunnels and into the frigid Gotham air. They brought him to Dr. Thompson’s clinic. Duke’s soulmate was gaining a bit more color in his cheeks. After assessing him, Dr. Thompson confirmed he’d likely wake up in a few hours. Reluctantly, Duke left him. He needed to help the others clear out the Court of Owls. 

The soulmate was gone by the time he got back to check on him. 

***

Danny Fenton. 

He was supposed to have started at Gotham University that fall, but had never made it. He’d moved into his apartment, then been declared missing just two days before the semester started. The Court had had Danny for almost four months. From the footage they’d found, Danny had displayed some super strength in front of a Court Member. They’d had the few Talons that remained kidnap Danny and tested his blood. They’d been overjoyed by what they’d found and then used his soulmate like a pin cushion and eventually the source to create their new Talon serum. 

Danny was supposed to have had Duke’s English class with him. If the Court hadn’t intervened, Duke would have met Danny all those months ago. Now… now Duke would meet him today, in class. He knew their first meeting was coming. Danny didn’t. Not that it was their first meeting, but it would be the first one Danny remembered. The first one he knew about. 

Squaring his shoulders and taking a deep breath, Duke walked into the classroom and sat down next to a familiar mop of black hair. Danny turned to greet him. His eyes widened and a brilliant smile spread across his face. It lit up Duke’s entire world. 

“Hi there. Nice to meet you. I’m Danny. I think you’re my soulmate.” 

Notes: 

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY OWL

The title is based on a lyric from the Crane Wives song The Garden from their album Foxlore. I really hope you like it @thewritingowl! I tried to include things I know you like <3

Thank you, as always, to the wonderful Harthic for betaing my fic!

[dcxdp-ghostlights]

the thing i love most about duke/danny is that they both have Just Some Guy energy. like if you just passed by them on the street, you wouldnt think anything about them. theyre Just Some Guys! they seem totally normal!

and then you get to know them and its like. oh. theyre Not Normal. this isnt even about the powers or the lives they live, theyre just Not Normal and thats very fun.

put them together? you get a couple of the most chill, normal looking guys doing things like making a Gotham Ghost Gang to protect witnesses and their families from criminals looking for revenge, or overthrowing an underground meta fighting ring that they infiltrated by purposefully getting kidnapped and then pit against each other. this is happening both in and out of mask.

i love these guys and i think they can make each other both worse and better :)