goddamnitmahtin

[goddamnitmahtin]

Dami’s Teddy Part 5

Before Alfred could make it to the Batcave, there were already several magic users teleporting in. That was not ideal. He was hoping to speak with Master Bruce before Rachel sounded the mystical alarm bells. Alfred had known all of the magic users for a long time but he was still unsure jut how they all communicated with one another so quickly. He assumed it was some sort of magic but it made things very hard when it came to trying to keep anything from any of them.

"I see you all heard," he said, composing himself as much as possible. While he trusted these people and knew enough to know that they were going to attempt to do the right thing, he also knew that some of them were known to jump the gun when it came to certain things. Especially Constantine. Mostly Constantine.

Master Bruce gave Alfred a look, "You knew about this?"

Alfred couldn't help but stare at his employer for a moment. Of course he knew. Master Bruce also knew. He had told him several times. He made it no secret in fact. The only reason Alfred ever covered for Danyal was to not freak out Young Master Damian while he was growing up. The look of shock and betrayal on his master's face was completely unnecessary and Alfred had no sympathy for the man. Of all the things for him to conveniently forget, it had to be the things that made Alfred seem less trustworthy to the magic using allies that the family had gained after the years.

"May I remind you that I mentioned it to you several times and you always said to leave it alone." While Alfred was worried for his employment, it was only a marginal fear, something that would never come to fruition. Alfred simply knew too much. He could ruin Master Bruce if given the chance. He wouldn't. But he very much could.

Alfred was mostly worried for Danyal. After so many years, he knew enough to know that Danyal was no harm to anybody and didn't want to hurt anyone either. He seemed pretty content with the existence he was living most of the time, only ever communicating discontent while mourning whatever his life was before. But Danyal had made it clear that it wasn't something he could ever truly go back to. Not to mention Alfred knew that Danyal cared about Young Master Damian far too much to want to leave. He had watched the boy grow up. The last thing Alfred wanted was for Constantine to assume some sort of animosity and hurt Danyal.

Bruce kept quiet after that and Alfred turned his attention Constantine and Zatanna, "May we all wait to dive in at least until after Young Master Damian gets his rest. He will want to be a part of this conversation and he hasn't slept in several days."

Bruce spoke up once more, his voice softer, "Several days?"

Alfred sighed, "Sir, your son graduated the top of his class and valedictorian. He didn't do that naturally. He lost many hours of sleep to study and review. Especially this last few weeks. Now that it's all over, he's finally resting."

Bruce's brows furrowed, "I will go to his graduation."

Alfred looked down, not wanting to break it to him, "Young Master Damian attempted to invite you but you didn't accept. Young Master Dick went instead."

Bruce looked confused, "I said no?"

Alfred nodded, "I do not think you meant to sir but you know Young Master Damian doesn't handle even the slightest of rejections well from you."

Bruce went quiet once more. The magic users watched, their faces blank as possible, most likely knowing how it goes. It wasn't uncommon that when they were involved with his children, he was the one who seemed to know the least. They all became very good at keeping things from him and sometimes even when they did tell him, Master Bruce was known to prioritize Batman duties unless one of them was actually dying. He tried to be a good dad, Alfred knew that. Everyone knew that. But it was easy to get lost in all the darkness and horror that Gotham had to offer. It was easy to get so lost in wanting to protect everyone else that the people in his own home became less easy to see. Bruce's work home balance had always been abysmal.

Alfred turned to look as the titans entered, fully costumed unlike how he had seen them just 10 minutes before when he was greeting them into the home. The entire team was present but he was mainly keeping an eye on Nightwing and Raven who seemed more antsy than the rest.

"Are you sure it's safe to wait," Zatanna asked.

Alfred nodded, "Yes. I am quite certain that we would be in more danger from Young Master Damian's retired swords for waking him than anything that Danyal could do."

"Danyal?" Constantine pinched the bridge of his nose, "Have you named the entity?"

Alfred sighed, "Young Master Damian did when he was 10. He had gone by that name willingly since then."

"Alfred, your acting like you know this uh- Danyal personally," Nightwing took a step forward.

"I do. He is very good company," Alfred responded. There was no use to lie.

Raven nodded, "I'm inclined to believe you. When I briefly tried to communicate with it, the entity was very benign."

"First contact doesn't mean anything. We don't even know if what we are dealing with is actually a human spirit," Constantine snapped in response. It was the exact attitude Alfred feared he would have.

"Everything I could sense suggested it was. I told you I could exorcise it on my own, you don't even need to be here Constantine," Alfred was beginning to sense there was something else going on with Raven and the magic users that he wasn't privy to that was affecting the way this was going.

Suddenly Raven threw her hand in the air and Danyal appeared on the floor in the middle of the cave, encased in some sort of magical cube, encasing the teddy. It was definitely Raven's magic as Zatanna acted shocked at the sudden movements and John Constantine looked personally offended by it. Alfred was almost positive that there was something else going on now. It was entirely none of his business but it did make him rather prefer of there weren't quite so many of them in his master's home.

"This is Danyal?" Nightwing looked at the teddy incredulously.

Alfred nodded, "Yes."

"I THOUGHT THEY WERE ALL TALKING STUPID! YOU ACTUALLY TALK TO THE FUCKING TEDDY BEAR!?" Nightwing threw his hands in the air dramatically. The boys must have told him about Alfred's habit of speaking with the bear as if he were a person. There was no doubt that all of the bat children had seen him do so at least once but it was mostly Young Masters Tim and Jason that seemed to catch it over the years. The only one who had never really seen it was Young Master Dick as he was gone so often.

Alfred nodded, "Yes."

Next thing Alfred knew, Raven and Constantine were arguing passionately about the teddy and exorcisms. It was going to be a long night.

[goddamnitmahtin]

Cirque de Wayne

Okay so AU where instead of attending galas with Bruce, the Wayne kids all put on a circus in the park to raise money for charities on the weekend. Except that they all have alter egos so they can participate in the acts. The only one who doesn't is Bruce who plays the enthusiastic but useless ringmaster that doesn't do much but host the show. The alter egos are super obvious but they are just dumb enough that the public really truly believes that couldn't be any of the the Wayne family because in public those kids all act clueless and spoiled. Obviously nepo babies. (in this au Danny is dick's twin brother)

Dick and Danny become Rick and Manny, the Flying Baysons. Those two never really got over their need to be free flying above the ground and now Bruce has an outlet to shove his oldest twins into. The general public understand enough to know that they are a nod to the Grayson twins but the way Dick and Danny pretend to hate each other in public and they both very much make a point to make sure Danny falls over everything, the general public has decided that there is simply no possible way that the boys still retained any of their circus training from childhood.

Babs becomes Debora the sharpshooter and marksman. Even though she does absolutely nothing to look different, the public refuses to admit its her. Commissioner Gordon has even publicly stated that there's no way it could be her. But the crowd does go wild every time her chair very theatrically starts rising out of the floor. Her segment of the show where she uses her silenced firearms to hit the moving targets right between the guests get everyone on the edge of their seats. The only time anyone has ever gotten hit was when she went out of her way to hit Dick with every bb she could after he had pushed her out of her chair during a fight the night before. Bruce didn't say anything about it as Dick deserved it.

Jason becomes Mason Codd, strongman who can lift everyone else in the cast. His scar covered toned body is shown off in his costume, a stark contrast to his usual everyday wear which leans more towards conservative librarian. The stark difference is demeanor has the public laughing over the idea that they are the same person the same way that the rumors about Bruce being Batman. The internet has taken to making memes about it asking if the butts match.

Tim becomes Jim, the escape artist extraordinaire who get out of any chains, no matter how many locks. The public, while impressed with his prowess, could never guess it was Tim who has made it publicly known that he is extremely claustrophobic. There is a viral video on youtube of the Wayne family vlogging in an escape room and while the others tried and failed miserably to solve any of the clues (except for Dick who acted semi competent), Tim had started banging on the walls in a panic claiming that he could feel the walls closing in. Its become in internet meme that Tim was so spoiled that a normal sized apartment would be "too claustrophobic" for him. There's a viral tiktok video of Tim Drake entering a public restroom and then immediately running back out, his hands shaking. The video cuts to the Grayson twins fighting over who was the better brother, competing to comfort him.

Stephanie became Tiffany the contortionist. She would bend her body in odd and unnatural ways to the delight of the crowd. Her glittering purple outfit hugged her body, showing off her flexibility as she tried herself into pretzel knots. Public persona Stephanie? Well she was infamously super inflexible. At first the bit started as a way to shut down odd questions from creepy reporters that kept asking her if she was flexible, a very obvious innuendo. Steph found it rude and creepy the way they kept suggesting her body could bend so she publicly did everything in her power to look as stiff and inflexible as possible. During a game show the Wayne family did for PR, there was a racing portion and during the stretches, she made sure to not bend very far, making her look stiff as ever. Now it was just a great cover.

Cassandra became Sandy, the hoop aerial artist that also specialized in pole. It didn't take much to cover up her identity. Just the fact that in public Cass was silent and skittish was enough to throw everyone off her scent as Sandy was flamboyant and confident. There was once a person on Reddit that theorized they were the same person only for the wave of memers that had already been through the trenches with the Jason and Mason allegations to respond with comments about how it was weird that this guy on Reddit was looking to see if the butts matched. That's a lady! Get your head outta the gutter-

Damian took the "i" out of his name and calls himself Damon when he's performing as a knife thrower and a sword swallower. Bruce let Damian do the show thinking he could just throw some knives and be safe about it. Brice knew his kid could aim. But Bruce was just as surprised as everyone else when he took one of his Robin katanas and swallowed it. After that, the internet was so consumed in the idea that Damon was Robin that no even considered that it might have been Damian Wayne. Especially since Damian has very public beef with Damon on twitter.

Now the sleuths of the internet did notice one thing. Over the years as the circus got bigger, since each act seemed to be in honor of each Wayne child, they knew when Bruce was about to adopt another one because a new act was being promoted on the website. It was only a few days after Damon started swallowing swords that suddenly a ten year old Wayne was announced to the public. And now the people of Gotham were patiently awaiting the tabloids introducing the newest Wayne adoptee. The new magician Luke was really talented no doubt was a sign of another random child joining the fold.

[goddamnitmahtin]

The amount of notes in my phone of AUs that might never see the light of day because I think they are corny is… too many.

Far too many.

[goddamnitmahtin]

Damian with Danny on Damian's teddy

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSSPa8Cqy/

The way I cackled. Damn I wish dude. Danny would be so down for concealing weapons just to be a menace. It’s too bad that Damian is too self conscious to ever leave the house with him or this is exactly how it would go.

[goddamnitmahtin]

Dami's Teddy Part 4

Years passed as years tend to do. Alfred watched the boys grow into men and slowly one by one move out of the manor. Young Master Dick was forging a path of his own in Bludhaven and he was nothing but proud. Young Master Jason was still fighting but he had his own family now, youngsters under his own wing in Crime Alley. It wasn't so full of crime anymore, the alley's name now just an homage of what it once was before the young master set his mind to helping restore the area. Young Master Tim was retired from field work after a very nasty cold took out his immune system. He was however CEO of Wayne Enterprises and he was doing very well. Young Master Damian had put down his swords in favor of schooling, graduating top of his class in high school. He was on his way to university to pursue his dream of being a doctor soon.

In the same way that the boys had grown, the ladies that frequented the house had also turned out to be extraordinary women. Young Miss Barbara was now going back to school, taking night courses in technological engineering. She was doing work for Young Master Tim and he wanted to be able to legally pay her so she was finishing up some courses so she had the specks to be legally hired on at WE. Young Miss Cassandra was currently travelling in a touring production of Giselle and she sent post cards often. She seemed to be enjoying it. Young Miss Stephanie was no longer attached to the hip of Young Master Tim as she had gone through some self discovery and she was currently travelling with Young Miss Cassandra as they were romantically intertwined nowadays.

The only stagnant figures in the home were Master Bruce who seemed to have been in enough supernatural events that he seemed to have stopped aging, Alfred who looked just as much of an old man as he had before and Danyal which remained unchanged. Alfred was beyond happy to see the children growing into who they were meant to be as he saw them less as employers and more as his own grandchildren. They were the family he chose after he retired and he was beyond happy to know that they had all made their own way and were happy and healthy. Alfred was an old man now and was willing to admit that they were all very dear to his heart.

Alfred stopped seeing Danyal so often once Young Master Damian fully started to acclimate to being in the manor. Once the world around him died down enough for the boy to breathe, he didn't hide behind his own pride and started to bond with the family. He didn't need Danyal to hold anymore when he was alone. He became self assured in his place withing the home just as Alfred hoped he would. However it meant that after a while, the dynamic duo became a dynamic uno.

Danyal still came to see Alfred of days that the bear had the energy to try and move but for the sake of Young Master Damian, Alfred made sure the teddy was returned to the boy's room before he returned from school. They were still good friends but it wasn't an often occurrence that Alfred got to hear his inanimate friend's tenor voice box. They made the most of it baking together most times. If the manor suddenly had cookies or lemon squares it was most definitely because Danyal and Alfred were having one of their secret meetings to catch up. Danyal often updated Alfred on Damian's life like if he was more stressed recently or if he was dealing with a new moral quandary Danyal was helping him through. Danyal had his own place on the shelf where he sat in the young master's room and Alfred thought it fitting for such a sophisticated bear.

Today was not one of those days were Alfred was graced with the presence of his dear friend. Damian was holed up in his room, having just graduated high school. After the many sleepless nights that Danyal told him the boy had, he was most likely finally getting the rest he deserved no longer needing to worry about finals. It left Alfred alone to stew in his own thoughts as he finished up his duties for the day.

"Hello Alfred." he heard a familiar voice say as he wiped up the dining room table.

"Hello Rachel," he said in return, offering her a smile. Alfred was aware that the titans were visiting the manor for the week. It had happened before but never for very long. However Young Master Dick seemed to have a case that he and the titans wanted to work with Master Bruce on. Alfred was proud of the progress the two were making in their relationship. Young Master Dick was coming home more often and the fighting was less. It was nice.

"You don't mind having more mouths to feed for the week do you? Garfield has quite the appetite," the young woman chuckled at her own joke about her boyfriend.

Alfred gave his own chuckle in response, "After years of feeding Young Miss Cassandra, I think I can handle it."

"I was told that you knew which room he and I were allowed to use for the week?" Rachel fiddled with her fingers, a nervous tick she never seemed to have grown out of even after all this time.

"Indeed I do," Alfred said in response, finishing up the table, "I can show you if you'de like." He stood up and looked to the young woman. She had grown up well. She was more confident than she used to be but her underlying anxiety still remained. As she matured so did her power, growing within her as Young Master Dick had explained once. Alfred understood why that would give someone a great anxiety.

"Yes please," she said, following as Alfred began to walk with her to the stairs. While the dining room was on the lower level of the house, most of the bedroom occupied the second and third floors of the manor. The room that Alfred had cleared for Rachel and Garfield was on the third floor near the bedroom that Young Master Damian had moved into in order to see the stars better at Danyal's request a few years ago.

The two of them passed the young master's room quietly as to not disturb him. At least that was the original plan.

"Wait-" Alfred turned to see Rachel standing in front of Young Master Damian's door, wide eyed as she stared at the ivory handle.

"Is something the matter?" Alfred asked. He had never seen her act in such a way outside of a work environment. It was a face she made when something supernatural was happening that she herself did not do. Alfred felt his heart sink slightly.

"I can sense it- a soul," Rachel muttered as she reached for the handle of Young Master Damian's door, "It's trapped-"

Alfred held out an arm in front of the polished wood, "Please refrain from disturbing my young master's rest." He made sure to use a tone that was soft but authoritative. He knew what poor Rachel was sensing but something in Alfred didn't want to acknowledge it. Didn't want to think about it.

"I- I'm sorry, forgive my rudeness," Rachel spoke softly, seeming surprised at her own forwardness. She retracted her hand and took a step away.

"It's quite alright, though I ask it not happen again," Alfred let his tone relax once more as he finished walking the young woman to her room.

Then he went to the Batcave.

Part 3.5

[goddamnitmahtin]

MORE GROUP CHAT SHENANIGANS PLSSSSS I BEG 🙏🙏🙏

dc x dp group chat shenanigans part 4

I well when you beg like that anon, how can I refuse? Also I'm sorry.

Tim has removed Stephanie from "Sib Chat." Tim: Guys something has come up. Cass: ??? Babs: Tim, Stephanie should know about this. I'm adding her back into the group chat. Barbara has added Stephanie to "Sib Chat." Tim has removed Stephanie from "Sib Chat." Dick: What's going on, my phone is blowing up with notifs? Barbara has added Stephanie to "Sib Chat." Duke: Yeah, you guys woke me up, what is happening with Stephanie, should I be concerned? Tim has removed Stephanie from "Sib Chat." Babs: Dammit Tim, she deserves to know! Tim: Just let me talk! Babs: FINE Tim: The foster family that took in Stephanie's daughter reached out. Dick OH FUCK Cass: ??? Tim: Apparently the little girl is in the hospital and it's pretty serious. She's reacting weirdly to medication and they are trying to figure out if Steph has any medical history or allergies that might help them figure out how to move forward. Dick: Okay Jay and I are gonna end patrol early and head back to the safehouse so we can talk about this further. Babs: I still think you should tell her Tim, not letting her know isn't right. Tim: I know. But I don't think the group chat is the right way to tell her. Let's just figure out how we are gonna break it to her once she comes home. Babs: Fine. Tim: Thank you.

A few minutes later.

Dick: Okay what is happening? And why aren't we on comms about it? Babs: Bruce doesn't know. Duke: Why exactly do we know about this but they don't Tim: Babs and I have been keeping track of Steph's emails and socials while she was out of town. They reached out through email. Dick: Jay says it was a closed adoption so how would they know how to get ahold of her? Babs: My father folds under pressure very quickly. Dick: He would. Duke: How do we plan on telling her about this? We can't not tell her. Tim: Steph is on her way back to Gotham right now. Can we all be at the manor to tell her by the time she gets home? She's going to need support for this. Dick: Jay and I will be home soon. As long as we leave Dami on patrol with him, he wont suspect anything. Cass: omw Duke: Let me put on pants and I'll be there soon. Babs: Everyone keep their trackers on their person so I can make sure none of you run into her on the way. Cass:👍 Dick: Got it Duke: Heard

the next day

Steph: I'm at the hospital. I've asked to not let her see me. She's doing better now. She has my averse reaction to Benadryl. The hospital kept giving her more every time her reaction got worse which is why she wasn't getting better.

Babs: How are you feeling Steph?

Steph: Shaken up. I didn't want to ever have contact to keep her safe.

Tim: We know. Which is why we haven't told Bruce about any of this.

Steph: Thank you.

Cass: 💜💜💜

Duke: Of course Steph. Anything you need.

Jason: Do you still want me and Cass to pick you up?

Steph: Yes please.

Babs: We love you Steph

Duke: Let us know if you need anything else.

an hour later

Steph: Guys her name is Lillian.

Jason: We’re coming to get you now.

Steph: Please. I'm crying in a medical supplies closet.

Dick: Has anyone seen Damian? Does he even know?

Tim: I don’t know where he went. He packed a duffel in a hurry and ran out of the manor an hour ago. Babs is trying to find him right now on streetcams.

Dick: He found Tim’s tracker then?

Duke: Do we tell Bruce we can’t find Damian?

Dick: NO

Babs: NO

Tim: NO

Steph: NO

Jason: NO

Cass: NO

Duke: Okay then.

[goddamnitmahtin]

I recently started reading more DPxDC stuff and this might be a merging of two worlds for me rn.

Is your username a reference to The Magnus Archives?

I'm so glad you are joining the DC x DP Phamily lol. We are an odd bunch but it's still a good time. Unfortunately the idea of these two worlds colliding eats away at my very soul so I'm going to be here for a long time lol. Whether your checking in for life or your only here for a temporary suite, I hope you enjoy your stay!

Also, yes my username is a TMA reference lmao. when I first joined Tumblr, I was listening to the podcast at the time and I actually only even joined to support artists that made some amazing fanart. I still follow those blogs to this day even if some don't post TMA stuff anymore. I just love good art lol.

Either way, I think I've found my niche and I'm pretty happy in my corner of the internet. I'm glad you're here too.

[goddamnitmahtin]

Dami’s Teddy Part 3.5

(The mini adventures of Danyal and Alfred)

(These aren't in any particular order)

Alfred held the teddy in his arm as he entered the living space on the first floor to tidy up and dust. It was filthy from the last time everyone in the house decided to spend time in the same room for more than 5 minutes. They were a clean bunch individually but the moment they were all together and it wasn’t the Batcave, they fed off of one another’s chaos and the room ended up a mess.

“At least it’s not as bad as last time,” he muttered as he began to clean up. He noticed it was quiet as silence entered the space. While there was once a time where he would have been accustomed to it, he had gotten so used to the conversation the Danyal brought that it was unnerving to not hear the male tenor of the voice box.

"Is everything alright Danyal? You are awfully quiet this evening," he said while picking up the remnants of what was once a very beautiful vase. It wasn't one of any value, Alfred didn't let Bruce display the real ones around the house anymore.

There was no response from the teddy so he figured that whatever was going on, there wasn't words in the voice box that could express it. And that was okay. He wondered if changing the subject might help but before he could mention it, he finally heard the teddy once more.

"I was kidnapped by aliens, said Coraline. Coming down from outer space with ray guns but I fooled them by wearing a wig and laughing in a foreign accent and I escaped."

Alfred nodded. He had no idea what that could possibly men but he knew that it was the closest thing the teddy had to the words he wanted to express and he wasn't going to fault Danyal for the ramblings.

"I see," he simply said in response.

...

Alfred was trying a new recipe. It was a combination of a few that he was already familiar with but he was experimenting to see if he could make a perfect tart shell that tasted of citrus. All the recipes he had found for what he was trying to do weren't very good and a few didn't even have the taste he was looking for. So, He was attempting to come with one that he liked on his own. especially since Young Master Damian had mentioned that he found the flavor of lemons appealing. Alfred wanted to make sure that since the boy was opening up more, he felt like he was being heard.

He set the newest batch he had just finished onto the stove top to take a look at them.

"How do they look Danyal," he asked casually as the bear was his unofficial kitchen assistant.

"Very modern dear."

Alfred frowned. He knew they looked terrible but he didn't have to be so on the nose, "Duly noted."

...

Alfred was trying to mind his own business however he and Danyal had found themselves together in the sitting room while Young Master Jason complained very loudly about a gunshot wound that had already been stitched up. It was a light graze and while in the field, he was no doubt a man about it but the moment the young master came back to the manor, he made sure everyone knew of his plight.

"-and I don't get to take any of the good meds because Babs says that I take them too often and I'm gonna wreck my liver but honestly who gives a shit? I don't wanna limp though patrol!"

"Perhaps she would be more lenient if you didn't mix your pills with champagne when you attend the charity gala last week," Alfred offered.

"That was one time! I forgot!" the young master said while throwing his arms up to increase the dramatics, no doubt a move he learned from Young Master Dick.

"When do you go back to school?"

Alfred had to hold back a laugh after the soft tenor of Danyal's voice box basically asked when the young master was going to leave. No doubt because he was just as tired of hearing the complaints.

...

Alfred retrieved Danyal from the room as subtly as he could. Young Master Dick had finally returned from Bludhaven to speak with Master Bruce and it was going poorly so far. Alfred felt the need to help his inanimate friend escape the vicinity.

Once they were far enough away, Alfred asked the teddy if he was alright, as the conversation had been quite intense.

"They were having an argument as old and uncomfortable as an armchair. The kind of argument that no one ever really wins or loses but which can go one forever if both parties are willing."

"How very perceptive of you Danyal," Alfred said in response only for Young Master Jason to overhear.

The next moment, Alfred heard him calling to Young Master Tim who was in the library on the other side of the wall, "Tim! Alfred's talking to the fucking teddy bear again!"

Alfred simply chuckled.

...

Alfred was sweeping the main entrance hall to the manor, leaving Danyal on a small table in the corner. There was quite a bit of debris after a recent scurmish that ended up leading to Young Miss Cassandra being thrown through the door, covering the area with dust and dirt. Young Miss Cassandra was quite alright but Alfred had suggested that she and Young Miss Stephanie start having their spontaneous brawls somewhere with less noticeable to the public eye than the front yard. According to the ladies, that was the point.

"Hey Danyal," he heard Young Master Tim absent mindedly say while looking for something on the table the teddy was placed on. Ever since the poor boy's friend had died, he was paying less and less attention to how sane he looked to others. Alfred was wary that he may crack but it wasn't his place as long as the young master didn't do anything to bring harm to the household.

Alfred continued sweeping but did pay close attention to the young master as he often had to nowadays. He knew the boy was muttering to himself but he couldn't quite make out what it was as Young Master Tim was well known in the household as being able to speak faster than most humans could keep up with. Even the speedsters had trouble with it on occasion.

"We could be friends you know."

Tim didn't seem to care that the voice he just heard came from a teddy bear which concerned Alfred as just a few months ago he would have said it was crazy.

"Ya know anything about cloning?" the young master asked.

"Yes."

Not the response Alfred was excpecting.

Young master Tim had begun to walk away when the response made him swivel back and grab the bear in his haste to interrogate it for more answers.

"What do you know!" he practically shouted to the stuffed toy.

"Crazy old man."

Alfred knew that the bear was not referring to him but was curious what other old men Danyal had experienced in his life before he was a toy. Especially if this person was crazy.

"Can you take me to him!?" Young Master Tim shook the teddy violently and Alfred was very close intervening.

"Not unless you can walk through bricks dear."

Alfred did not have enough time to respond before the young master hurled Danyal across the room.

Part 3 Part 4

[goddamnitmahtin]

The Curious Case of Wes Weston

Jason stretched as he closed his computer for the night. He had to admit it. Time was right. Writing fanfiction when he was upset was really helpful. Jason was never against fanfiction he had just somehow never gotten into it. But Tim had suggested once that he would right fanfiction about throwing family members he was mad at into fictional worlds like The Incredibles or Scooby Doo. Too bad for Tim now though since he was the one Jason was mad at but instead of pushing him off of a roof, he isekaied his ass into Danny Phantom because Tim could get some of his own medicine. Not really. It wasn't like Tim was actually in Danny Phantom. He was on patrol right now.

But it still helped. And it was the best time Jason had while writing in a while but that was probably because he was imagining crazy situations to put his brother into. Replacement wasn't all that bad but sometimes that old anger would still rise up and this was definitely going to a new outlet to deal with that. Jason hadn't written much of it. He just had the main set up of the world and how Tim woke up and how he got there. He sort of had an outline of where he wanted the story to go but he wasn't going to continue it until he was mad again. That way he had an ongoing project that he could put his mind to when Tim pissed him off.

He was never going to tell Tim he did this. He didn't need to know he was right. Jason could just take it to his grave that he actually took the replacement's advice and it worked. He was about to head to his room when Babs looked up at him from her own laptop.

Normally Barbara did her Oracle work in the Batcave but Jason had just helped her move into her new place and she didn't feel like going all the way back to the manor. After moving all her stuff in, Jay had moved a few of his own things in as well including his laptop since she was gonna let him stay with her while he helped her unpack and because there was a case Jason was looking into nearby that he was planning to go undercover for and so they agreed that the new apartment could serve as his safehouse for the time being.

"Jay- I can't find Tim," she said, her voice full of alarm.

Jason went to look over her shoulder on her computer, "What do you mean you can't find him?"

"He's gone! His heat signature, his tracker, his comms have gone down- I lost Tim!" Babs looked to Jason, panic in her eyes, "Its like he vanished."

...

Tim woke up in a bed that wasn't his. At least not his that he remembered anyways. It was soft but not the material he knew the sheets in the manor were made of. He looked around. It looked like a teen's bedroom. It was slightly messy with a dresser that had clothes hanging out of it haphazardly. The walls were a baby blue that obviously hadn’t been painted since the teen had been a very small infant as the paint was chipping near the crown molding and there were scuff marks near calf level on the walls no doubt from a rowdy boy’s tennis shoes growing up.

There was a jersey hanging on the wall for a team Tim didn’t recognize and a basketball hoop on the door. Clearly whoever’s room this was, was an athlete or at least really liked basketball. He suspected athlete as the smell coming from the overflowing laundry basket was horrendous and had all the tells of clothes that had been worn while breaking a sweat. Not to mention the half open duffel bag filled with a basketball uniform and shoes.

Suddenly a knock was at his door. “Do you want a ride to school or are you taking the bus this morning? I need to know because if I’m dropping you off we have to leave soon,” said a boy’s voice on the other side of the door.

Tim shit out of bed, trying to figure out what to do. For now he was just going to play along, “Um- I’ll take the bus.”

“Suit yourself,” he heard the voice say followed by footsteps away.

Tim let out a sigh of relief and put his finger to his ear to try to turn his comms back on but his earpiece was gone. Once he realized that, he actually took a lol at himself. He wasn’t wearing his suit. He seemed to be in pajamas. An old shirt and plaid sleep pants. Then he noticed that his skin looked different.

Tim had always been pale, he was the palest of his brothers. However, Tim had olive undertones to his skin that made him look a sickly green color when he didn’t get enough sun. The skin his arms now had was pale with pink undertones. And- were those freckles? Did his arms have freckles?

Tim scrambled to try and find a reflective surface. He found a body mirror on the inside of the closet door.

“Oh my gods-,” Tim stared at himself in horror as he realized that he not in his own body. It didn’t even look like him. He was a teen boy with red hair and green eyes. There were freckles on his face that Tim never had before. He looked kind of like a cartoon. A familiar cartoon. Tim’s eyes narrowed. Why did he know this art style?

For now, he was going to have to play along. Do whatever it was he needed to do to appear normal. He grabbed some clothes that looked clean and changed out of the pajamas. He looked around for a school bag. This kid had to be like 15 right? So he grabbed the backpack and duffel with basketball stuff. In case he had to go to practice today. Tim didn’t know this kid’s schedule.

After he did that, he ruffled though the school bag, looking for a wallet or any sort of identification that he could find to know more about his "new self." Tim did not need to be walking around, not responding to his own name. He found a small black wallet with a school id but no license which make sense because according to the birthday, he was a highschooler named Wes Weston who was 15 years old.

He left what was assuredly his new bedroom for the time being and looked around for the kitchen to try and eat something before going to catch the bus. There was a boy who looked a lot like him who looked to be about 19 sitting at a table in the corner of the kitchen nursing a coffee. He was dressed like he worked in a mechanics shop with a button up over a wife beater and a backwards cap. The name on the uniform read Easton.

“Kyle already left if that’s who you’re looking for,” the boy said.

“No no, I’m taking the bus today,” Tim said, trying to act casual. He needed to figure out as much as he could about where he was, who he was and how the fuck to get out the situation without raising any alarm bells to anyone else. The last thing he needed was for things to end up out his control more than they already were.

Kyle must have been the guy that offered him a ride. Tim guessed that it must have an older brother with a car. Judging from the age of Easton, he was also a big brother. Tim didn’t see any indicators of parents in the home so it must have just been the 3 boys in the house.

Tim opened the fridge to look for food to eat before heading out to find the bus stop. If it was like Gotham it would be in a corner somewhere. If it was a more suburban area he might be lucky enough that the bus comes to his house. He was thinking the latter but just in case he was wrong he wanted to be prepared. He grabbed a Gatorade from the fridge and shoved it into the basketball duffel just in case.

"Don't forget to eat before you head out. I've got eggs on the stove for ya. I'll be home early tonight so I'll be able to make dinner. It's Kyle's turn to do dishes tonight, remind him so he doesn't forget," Easton said while getting up from the table and putting the now empty coffee mug in the sink. Tim noticed a slight limp in the around 19 year old's left leg but didn't say anything as he seemed to be trying to cover up the injury. It was better if he pretended not to know.

"Okay I will, thanks," he said heading to the stove to eat. He watched as Easton left for work and Tim was left wondering how the hell he was gonna get out of this situation. Despite the fact that he was obviously in another world, it was at least a seemingly normal one. He was even getting used to the art style.

...

This is a choose your own adventure story!!!!

Every post in this au from here forward will be replying to an ask! It’s up to you askers to determine what should happen next! Good luck and don’t accidentally kill Tim lmao.

[goddamnitmahtin]

conversations overheard through the batkid com lines pt 2

*Damian and Jason, four hours into a stakeout*

Damian: Jay, hand me the mango pieces.

Jason: *plastic crinkling* ayyy, I’m Jason again!

Damian: *snorts*

Jason: what was with that, by the way? I just showed up in Gotham and found you referring to everyone like they’re your professor. Like, that’s not a ‘you’ thing, I don’t know why you started doing that.

*audible chewing noises*

Damian: do you want the genuine honest answer?

Jason: please god do tell

Damian: so- and you aren’t allowed to laugh. but when I first came to Gotham and I showed up at the manor, father obviously had to give me a tour of the place, right?

Jason: yeah.

Damian: and they wanted to do a DNA test to check that my mother wasn’t pulling a fast one by claiming my birthright, so the first place he showed me was the cave, which was also where Tim was.

Jason: *hums*

Damian: and you know that place- the first time you went to the cave, it was wild, right?

Jason: oh, like walking into the tardis for the first time. insane.

Damian: exactly. all high-tech and shit, and I’d just come from the desert compound I’d spent my entire life in- like, my first time going into the kitchen at the manor I saw Alfred loading the dishwasher and my first thought was ‘oh my god what the fuck kind of machine is that-‘

Jason: *abrupt cackle*

Damian: -so the fucking cave for the first time? as a little desert-boy ten year old? I was a little distracted,

Jason, chuckling slightly: ok, fair,

Damian: and so I’m zoned the fuck out, looking around this cave and not paying attention to anything father’s saying, and then I finally tune back in just to hear the words ‘-ackson drake’ while he like, tries to introduce me to Tim.

Jason: *slowly starts laughing again*

Damian, raising his voice to be heard over Jason’s increasing beats of laughter: -and so I’m fucking standing there, ten years old, no clue what this kid’s first name is, and everybody’s looking at me like I’m supposed to be the one fucking talking right now, and ALL I can think of is my mother, who before she shipped me off to Gotham completely alone kept fucking telling me ‘Damian you have to be strong and show that you deserve to be the Batman’s blood son. show no weakness and take the mantle you were born to have; show no fucking hesitance.’, so I’M panicking,

Jason, still cackling: *a clap* NO I DO- I DO REMEMBER, LIKE, BACK IN THE LEAGUE-, holy shit back in the league when your only coping mechanism for not knowing the fuck was going on around you, was literally just to pretend you knew what the fuck was going on around you and bullshit till you make it,

Damian: WELL IT WAS LIKE THE ONLY FUCKING THING MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME-

Jason, through tears: -that’s why I didn’t say shit when I came back to Gotham and found you fucking, doing all this blood son bullshit! You started calling me Todd and speaking in old english and I was just like ‘bless him he’s terrified, just leave him be’

Damian: *cackles* and I did- I did appreciate you going along with it, because back when this happened I panicked and just started calling Tim ‘Drake’ because I was too embarrassed to ask him for his first name, and then by the time I heard somebody else call him Tim in passing, everybody had just assumed this was a thing I did. and I was too socially awkward to clear it up and switch back, so I just had to stick to Drake.

Jason: *wheeze* a-and Grayson?

Damian: well at first I just went along with the surname thing out of awkwardness, but then I’d gone too deep and I had no way out- AND THEN- and then Batman fucking died-

Jason: *wheeze*

Damian: -and I went from being parented by the gymnastics version of the dark lord to being gentle-parented by fucking Nightwing-

Jason, choking: holy- holy shit-

Damian: do you know what it’s like to go from *gruff voice* ‘Damian we don’t fucking kill, give me the katana or I’ll put you in Arkham’ to *high pitched, sweet voice* ‘oh hey Dames, obviously I can’t stop you from killing but I really would appreciate it if we discussed all our options and came to a mature decision together on what’s best in this scenario-‘

Jason: *crying, silent wheezes*

Damian: so DURING all this I’m trying to subtly switch back to using peoples actual names, except it fucking backfired because people just assumed I was calling Richard Richard because we had that special parental mentor bond, and Tim had pissed off to- whatever he was doing in the desert for six months- getting a hysterectomy or whatever the fuck happened-

Jason, amused: hysterectomy- he lost a spleen, Dames

Damian: well whatever happened he wasn’t AROUND for me to shift to calling him Tim! and when father was back I’d made no progress and was back to square one, except this time I was stuck calling one brother Richard and the other Drake!

Jason, still laughing: and this is where I came in?

Damian: I felt BAD! I’d already taken Robin from the guy, I didn’t want him to feel like he was lesser of a brother to me than Richard. So I demoted you to Todd so he wouldn’t feel alone.

Jason: very thoughtful.

Jason: we should probably get you a therapist, dude. I think everybody forgets that when you showed up you were literally just a very confused immigrant child with no experience of normal social interaction apart from me at the league.

Damian: oh I was like, 60% into an anxiety attack consistently for the first two years I was in the city.

Jason: *snorts*

Damian: the first time I was left alone with Tim we were in the kitchen and he said ‘do you want wifi?’ and, y’no, coming from the league, barely any tech and the only normality was the concept of fighting to the death over everything, MY instinctual ten-year-old thought was ‘oh shit, wifi must be slang for brawl here, we’re about to fight’-

Jason: *laughter* you’re fucking kidding

Damian: -so I’m like, so be it, and I say ‘come on then’ and get ready to start punching, only for him to turn around and grab a piece of card stuck to the fridge and hold it out to me,

Jason: *cackles*

Damian: and he goes ‘here’s the password so you can connect, I’m assuming you have a phone or something’-which I fucking didn’t by the way, my mother gave me a shitty flip-phone to call her in emergencies but it didn’t use wifi-, and he’s holding it out to me and I had to like, subtly shift my posture out of the defensive position I’d been in-,

Jason, delirious from laughter: this is the fucking best. thing.

Damian: -and I take it from him, and he gives me this weird look like he has no idea how to communicate with me, and I was just like ‘shit I might have to kill this one, it’s the only way to get out of this interaction’.

Jason: *wheeze* if we go through the timeline, every murder attempt on Tim’s life has just been an occasion where you’ve felt socially awkward and didn’t see any other way out of conversation,

Damian: pretty much, yeah. I should have been on xanax for those first few years.

Jason: stories from your first years in Gotham are my favourite thing in the world.

*a few silent beats*

Tim: are you telling me I’ve been stuck as Drake for YEARS all because Damian’s fucking scared of social interaction?!

*crashing sound*

Jason: HOLY FUCK-

Damian: OH MY GOD I FORGOT WE WERE CONNECTED TO THE MAIN LINE-

[goddamnitmahtin]

dc x dp group chat shenanigans part 3

(This au is the one I fall back on everytime something else I’m trying to write makes me wanna throw my phone at a wall)

Jason has removed Tim from “Sib Chat.”

Jason: Who is Tim dating.

Dick: Steph.

Steph: Ew no we broke up.

Duke: You dated Tim? I want to be disgusted but I get it.

Babs: Excuse me?!

Damian: I believe he is in a relationship with Connor.

Babs: I thought he was dating that blond guy from the cult.

Dick: The pain cult? Oh! I remember that guy, Bernard.

Duke: Wait- which one is he dating tho

Steph: He better fucking not be dating Connor. Hes the guy he told me not to worry about.

Cass: … 🤷‍♀️

Jason: Cass. What do you know.

Cass: 😬

Cass is offline

Steph: CASS NO WAIT

A few people are typing.

That night

Stephanie has removed Tim from “Sib Chat.”

Steph: I’m gonna go stalk Tim.

Babs: Steph you two already broke up, why are you so mad about this?

Steph: I just wanna know.

Jason: I’m coming with you.

Duke: Why cant anything in this family be fucking normal.

Dick: Says the fucker that glows?!

Duke: I TOLD YOU TO STOP CRACKING MY KNUCKLES WHEN I WASNT LOOKING I CANT CONTROL IT

Jason: Shhhh glowstick. It’ll be okay.

Duke: Fuck you guys.

Steph: LMAO

Jason: I’m packing snacks for the stakeout. Do you have any requests Steph?

Steph: Ooh! Let’s get boba on the way

Jason: Hell yeah

The next morning

Tim: STOP FOLLOWING ME

Babs: I have done no such thing.

Tim: Babs don’t even. I know you were on comms the whole night.

Babs: Screw me for doing my job I guess.

Tim: MY DATE WAS RUINED

Steph: I KNEW IT WAS A FUCKING DATE

Jason: Which one were you on the date with though?

Tim: Both of them! I’m dating them both.

Jason: Oh! Okay. Good on ya

Steph: Somehow I’m less offended than I was before.

Dick: Lol yur double gay

Damian: Ah so you are the whore Stephanie was asking about the other day.

Tim: This is why I don’t tell you people anything.

Cass: ☝️

Tim: Except Cass.

Cass: ☺️

Tim: Also- that’s big talk coming from the guy who didn’t come home last night. Where were you Dami? Hm?

Damian is offline

Baarbara has removed Damian from “Sib Chat.”

Babs: I know where he was.

Dick: No-

Jason: Please tell me it’s not.

Tim: If you say he was at White Damian’s place I’m going to pull my hair out.

Babs: Well then.

Barbara is offline.

Duke: That could mean anything.

[goddamnitmahtin]

DID Bruce 🤩

Oh system Bruce my beloved. While I do have a concept for where I want All in your Head to go, I am reasonably nervous to fully flesh out the AU on my page as dissociative disorders are complex and individual. No two systems are going to function the same. Despite that, the last thing I want to do is accidentally misrepresent DID or portray it in a way that demonizes or romanticizes it.

So if I were to ever continue All in your Head, I will probably be writing him as a UDD (Unspecified Dissociative Disorder) system as that is the type of plurality I myself have and I can better write with a full understanding. If this AU is something that you would really like to see more of, do let me know but for now I am going to hold off on continuing it until I have the confidence.

Thank you for the ask and I hope my answer isn’t too disappointing lol.

[goddamnitmahtin]

[goddamnitmahtin]

Temporarily Gay

Wes: *rushes into Danny's room* DANNY! DANNY I NEED YOU TO PRETEND TO BE MY BOYFRIEND!

Danny: What-

Wes: Dude please just pretend, my brother is visiting from out of town and-

Danny: You have a brother?

Wes: YES! Pay attention! He's coming to see me and I wasn't prepared-

Danny: Wes. We aren't gay.

Wes: I know but-

Danny: And I have a girlfriend.

Wes: I know-

Danny: Who I love very much.

Wes: I KNOW SHE ALREADY SAID I COULD BORROW YOU JUST PLEASE LISTEN TO THE PLAN

Danny: SHE WHAT-

Wes: Look man- back when we were in high school Wally kept on prying into my life about dating and stuff and I got tired of him asking about it. Sam told me that the quickest way to get family members to stop asking to just say your gay because it worked for her parents so I told Wally I was gay and I didn't wanna talk about it because I was still figuring it out and I probably wasn't gonna date since I'm the only gay person in Amity Park.

Danny: You know Tucker is bi-

Wes: I know! The point I'm trying to make is that for a while it worked but then Wally somehow found out about the lgbtqia club Sam had going on senior year when she came out as a demigirl so he got really pumped that I was "meeting other gays" and I panicked and told him I got a boyfriend and when he asked for pictures i just started giving him photos of you from when I was stalking you because I had so many-

Danny: You were stalking me?!

Wes: I don't anymore! But anyways- my brother thinks I've been dating you for the past year and now he's coming into town for a work thing with some of his work buddies and I really just need you to pretend while they are here and then I can tell him we broke up in a few months.

Danny: Wha-

Wes: Look its a temporary thing okay? It's temporary. We are temporarily gay.

Danny: Fuck it- sure.

Later at Wes' apartment

Wally: Thanks for letting us crash here little bro.

Wes: It's nothing-

Danny: (trying not to look like he moved into Wes' apartment 6 hours ago) Yes, when Wes said you guys needed a place to stay, I insisted that we host.

Wes: You uh- didn't introduce your friends Wally.

Wally: Oh! Right! These are my friends. They all work together on this team I used to be on before I got promoted.

Garfield: You know you really didn't have to say it like that Wally.

Wally: *points to Garfield* That would be Garfield.

Danny: Like the cat?

Wes: *elbows Danny in the ribs as nonchalantly as possible*

Danny: Oof- Continue.

Wally: *begins pointing to the other titans* That's Victor, Roy and Rachel. Normally Dick and Kori would also be here but they got caught up with other stuff so me and Tim decided to come instead. Say hi Tim.

Tim: *pokes his head around the corner*

Wes: *knows*

Tim:*knows he knows*

Wes: *knows he knows he knows*

Tim and Wes: *death stare*

Danny and Wally: *confusedly looking between them*

Garfield: Do you guys have any snacks?

Danny: Uh yeah-

[goddamnitmahtin]

Dami’s Teddy Part 3

Damian settled into bed, holding Danyal close. Things were eventful recently. Jason had told Father who he was. And Father was reacting… like Father. While Damian was admittedly excited to see Jason again in a setting that wasn’t secret, it was hard to be anywhere near either of them right now.

Damian had started to get over the shell shock of how different Father was from Mother. He was learning to adapt. He started to have an understanding of when smiling was appropriate and when it was not. He was learning how to censor his words to be more acceptable. He was learning how to do mundane tasks he had never done before like board games.

All of this was training for a new uncover mission Father was preparing him for. He was to go to public school as a normal teenager in the hopes that his public persona would give him the chance to monitor the youth. Father said that the children writhing the school walls were the future of Gotham and that Damian had to be there in order to protect them while undercover.

Obviously Damian was skilled enough for the task. He could kill a man within seconds and had experience with schooling as he was currently enrolled in a private academy. But Father said that it was imperative that Damian act the role that he needed to play in order to not raise suspicion and that public schooling was a far different social climate. He needed all the other students to believe he was a normal boy in order to “make friends.” Damian was planning to use any bonds he developed with others to gather intel for his mission. As he was not in any need for more people in his life.

But Damian was not finished with the training yet so for now he was stuck in the manor most of the time. It was annoying. It had been bearable before but now with the way Father has been acting about Jason, Damian did not even want to be there. It felt like watching a support beam crack on the ceiling above you. Except Father was the ceiling. And the idea of Jason being dead was the support beam.

Damian watched specks of light flicker off of Danyal’s tinsel. It was calming after a day of watching Father barely hold himself together. Damian didn’t know how to feel on Father’s better days, let alone his worse ones.

On one hand, he felt ashamed of himself for ever wanting to look up to him. How could Damian ever think that a man who was so weak psychologically could be a good role model for him? Mother would have never reacted that way. Grandfather even more so. But in the other hand… Father seemed genuinely distraught and Damian wasn’t sure he was quite used to an adult caring about Jason so much yet. Damian was just so used to being the only one that saw use in his brother.

Could one person really bring a man so many emotions? Damian was always taught that was weak. That he was meant to continue the bloodline and make sure Grandfather’s perfection would continue through genetics in each generation. He was never taught to actually process what others meant to him. He hadn’t ever considered that he actually enjoyed Jason until he couldn’t see him anymore. Was that what Father felt? If so why was getting him back so sad?

Damian sighed looking at his teddy, “I wish I knew how to understand. Nothing makes any sense.” He whispered it softly, afraid of the words coming out of his own mouth. If the version of him that lived with Mother could see him now, he would laugh in his face and call him childish. He was childish. But maybe that was because he was just a child.

It’s hard to understand when you’ve never experienced it. Damian knew the teddy was silent. It was always silent. But it didn’t mean Damian didn’t understand what he had communicated. He may have been pretending that the bear was talking to him but it was the closest thing to a confidant he had.

“I do not understand why Father is so sad Jason is alive. If he cares for him as he says that he does it does not make sense,” he said.

When you lose someone important to you, you grieve and learn to move on from the loss. And that process can take a long time. Sometimes if you think you’ll never get something back and come to peace with it, it can feel like you went through all that pain and grief for nothing when you do get it back.

Damian thought about that. It seemed to make sense somewhat. Like training hard for a mission only for grandfather to give it to someone else. Experiencing pain and feeling like with wasn’t for any real reason. Pain that could have been avoided. Injury that could have been prevented. Allies that didn’t need to be lost.

But your father isn’t mad at Jason for that. It wasn’t your brother’s fault, what happened to him. But he does feel betrayed that Jason didn’t tell him until now. Danyal’s plastic bead eyes seemed to hold some sort of deep wisdom within them.

“I suppose that is a reasonable explanation,” Damian muttered. He did not want to admit that he was starting to see the issue. It made him feel bad for feeling mad about their behavior. He wanted to feel mad. He wanted to feel like he was allowed to be mad. But now he just felt guilt. Which was ridiculous.

Damian remembered how upset Jason was when he found out Father had let the Joker live. He felt like his death had not been avenged. At the time, Damian had agreed to the sentiment as the Joker was a liability to keep alive under any circumstance anyways. He had told Damian that the betrayal was inexcusable.

But then Damian met Father. He saw how easily he would snap and kill everything in his path if her were allow himself one single kill. At first he thought that Father was weak for that. And in a sense he still believed that. But perhaps it was more of a strength in the long run that Father knew his own limitations and stuck to his rules. His self control was ironclad and anyone who wished to be a great fighter was smart to try to imitate the ability.

Things were so complicated. He didn’t know which side to be on in the fight. If he had to pick a side. He did not want to. He respected his brother and cared for him in a sense. And he was learning that Father had a reason for everything he did. It was just so much. Damian didn’t want to be a part of it.

He really wanted to sleep. But it felt impossible. Before he met Father, things were so simple. The only thing he had to care about was training and his missions. Every problem that did not involve his orders was not his concern and he didn’t have to feel bad for not being concerned. He didn’t have to care about anything but gaining the respect his Mother claimed he needed to earn.

Damian rolled onto his back, staring at his ceiling. It was tall and shadows of trees outside his window were dancing on the surface. Damian used to hate that. He hated that it wasn’t dark. But he remembered the night he held Danyal close and realized that he could see the stars.

Look at the sky, the teddy had communicated. When Damian looked, he realized that the manor was high up enough on the hill that the smog of the city wasn’t as bad. He could actually see the clear sky. And in it were the stars. Damian had seen stars before but he had never gotten to stop and actually enjoy them. Now, in the manor, he could.

“Danyal, I cannot sleep,” he said, groaning as he rubbed his eyes. His mind was far too full to allow slumber. He wished to do something. He wished for something familiar. He wanted to feel like the house he resided in was’t experiencing an unspoken civil war.

We could steal Alfred’s cookies.

“Excellent plan.”

…

The next morning Damian was found perched on top of the fridge in the kitchen hiding in the shadow provided by the small cubby of space. His head was slumped onto the teddy in his arms and Coraline was softly broadcasted to the kitchen. The cookie jar was open in the boy’s lap and it was clear that a few were missing.

Alfred sighed, pity washing over him as he saw the typically prideful child crumpled in defeat. It made him think of Young Master Dick and how he used to hide in cubbies and corners that were high up when he felt himself going into verbal shutdown. Alfred suspected that was not the case for Young Master Damian and that it was instead a response to the recent stress of Master Bruce and Young Master Jason reuniting.

“Old man”

Alfred smiled at the teddy, “Good morning to you too Danyal. Let’s get the young master to bed.”

“What should I do?”

Alfred smiled as he gently got the sleeping boy down and cradled him into his arms, “Just let him sleep in. Be there for him.”

“Okay.”

Alfred then carried Young Master Damian back to his room and tucked him in once more, Danyal in the sleeping boy’s arms.

Part 2 Part 3.5

[goddamnitmahtin]

This is the ask, update your fanfic!

Ask and ye shall receive. Eventually lol.

Jason is a Teenage Dad Part 7

(Christmas Special in July)

December was rolling around. It was coming quick and once it hit all hell was going to break loose in Gotham. Flashing lights everywhere and stores screwing people’s eyes out with prices. And cold patrols. Really fucking cold. Gotham was a very rainy place but at least it was warm rain most of the year. But during December? It got so cold you could have sworn you were in a different city entirely. Snow was constantly falling and the wind was outrageous. And the worst part? The Christmas gala.

Dick had absolutely zero desire to attend but Stephanie and Bruce insisted that he at least make a small appearance. So Dick was now trying to remember how to tie a tie. He hadn’t been to a gala in years and all of his ties in Bludhaven were either pre-tied or Kori would help him so it had literally been forever since he had tied one and somehow he forgot how to do it. Which was crazy because when he was a teen, it was almost muscle memory.

Dick was about to abandon the tie thing altogether when there was a knock on the door to his childhood bedroom, “Duckie? We are going to be late.”

Dick sighed, going to the door and opening it, “Jazz I can’t remember how to tie a tie.” Dick knew he probably looked pitiful. Especially right now with his hair undone and his tie hanging around his neck abandoned. Jazz looked stunning in her gala dress. Dick couldn’t help but think that the way she had her hair reminded him of Kori, the curls tracing her face in a lovely manner.

Jazz smiled shaking her head, “Your hair is a mess too. Which I can’t help with but the tie? Commere.”

Dick took a step towards her, having given up on even attempting to do it himself. All well. It wasn’t like Jazz of all people was gonna judge him for it. Normally her mother hen attitude towards him would have been annoying but at this point he was just thankful she could help. He watched as she expertly tied his tie, making it nice and neat.

“How do you know how to do this anyways? Jason doesn’t make you tie his too does he,” Dick chuckled at his own joke, a smile curling onto his lips.

Jazz’s face, although smiling got a bit more sad, “Well sometimes,” she said, “But I learned how to do it because when Danny was 12 he had a school dance. Our Dad promised to show him how to tie a tie as like, his attempt at bonding. The dance rolled around and the night of, Mom and Dad were off fighting ghosts and completely forgot about it. So I got on YouTube and watched a tutorial and I tied Danny’s tie myself. I always tied his ties after that. I tied his tie for the gala tonight.”

Dick listened as Jazz spoke, knowing that even though she recalled the memory with a lighthearted tone in her voice, it was actually hard for her to talk about. Dick felt bad for asking but also knew that she wouldn’t have shared it if she wasn’t comfortable with it.

“Then he must look amazing,” Dick smiled, knowing that keeping the tone light was the right call. When Jazz’s smile met her eyes again, he knew she was feeling better.

“My little star looks very handsome tonight Richard. More handsome than you definitely,” she laughed.

Dick let out a dramatic scoff, pretending to be offended as he combed his hair really quickly so they could head out, “No one is more handsome than me.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Jazz shook her head at his dramatics before exiting the doorway into the hall once more.

Once Dick was done with his hair, he stepped out into the hall following Jazz down the steps into the first floor living space that Bruce told them all to meet in before heading to the gala. The man was dressed to the nines, his hair done and his makeup applied to really sell the Brucie persona. Even after all this time Dick knew the man, it was still off putting to see him in his Brucie look.

Dick looked around the room, noticing he must have been the last one to get there. Everyone looked amazing and was color coded based on what Bruce decided was the best way to present to the public. Jason, Jazz and Danny were in green themed outfits, Jazzy’s dark green silk mermaid cut gown matching Jason’s tie and Danny’s little suspenders. Stephanie, Tim and Kore were in red, Steph rocking a cherry red cocktail dress with gold accents to match Kore’s red and gold swaddle and Tim’s red tie and gold cufflinks. Sam and Tucker were wearing black and purple, Sam’s alternative lacy black gown was paired with a purple shawl pairing with Tucker’s purple tie against his all black attire. Cass was wearing a grey toned ombré dress that went from lighter at the top to darker at the bottom. Babs was rocking a silver dress that shimmered and cut off at the knees so it didn’t hang off her chair and make this hard to maneuver at the event.

Bruce was using color codes as a subtle way to cue in the public to family dynamics that he wanted them to point out. Jason, Jazz and Danny were a family unit. Tim, Steph and Kore were also functioning enough like a family unit to present it that way to the public. Sam and Tucker were their own separate entity attending the gala to represent the Manson family. Cass and Barbara were very close and continued matching with one another even though Steph had stopped dressing as a member of the “trio” for public events. And lastly, Dick matched Bruce’s sleek black tux and white shirt as they always did at galas together signifying that Dick was the eldest and the heir. Only difference was that instead of wearing a black tie like he usually did to match Bruce, he had picked an icy blue one as it reminded him of the icy landscape that surrounded King Phantom’s castle in the Ghost Zone. It also matched Dick’s eyes so.

Dick stood behind Babs, his hands resting on the handles of her chair. It had been a while but Dick promised Barbara after she lost movement in her legs that whenever they went to galas together he would be at her side to help her and push her chair if need be. By now, Babs was no doubt used to maneuvering her chair herself but Dick still stood there out of habit.

“Everyone looks their part,” B said, looking over everyone’s attire, “Now let’s do a quick review of public information.”

This may have been the first gala he had been to in a few years but he hadn’t forgotten about pre gala information meetings. He still remembered when those meeting were just Bruce holding Dick’s hand and telling him to not climb on the walls. Dick totally still did anyways but that was beside the point. Now these meeting were serious and went over everything the family could and couldn’t say.

Bruce pointed around the room addressing what their public personas have been up to recently.

He pointed first to Cass who had just flown home from a case outside the country. Dick didn’t know much about it but knew it went well and she only returned with minor injury.

“You just got back from your vacation in France. Everyone in the family is very supportive of your traveling as always.” Bruce's words were met with a thumbs up from Cass and nods from the rest of the family.

Bruce then pointed to Jason and Jazz. “The fake dating thing you two have going on in public is working really well. Just keep doing that,” then Bruce looked to Danny, “Remember what to say to the fruitloops bud?”

Danny smiled in response, “Jazzy is my word for mommy.”

Bruce nodded, “Excellent.”

Ah. That must have been what they were telling the public. Dick knew the story about Danny and Jazz but it made sense to just tell the public that Jazz was Danny’s mother and they were raising him together because they are dating.

Next Bruce pointed to Tim, “Acknowledge that you did steal the company but gave it back.”

Tim rolled his eyes, “I said I was sorry.”

Bruce’s eyes narrowed slightly “And I’m still trying to regain respect from my suppliers. Stephanie, stick to your guns when people try to pressure you into feeling shame about Kore. Tim will be there to back you up all night.”

Tim nodded dutifully as Stephanie held the now 4 month old close to her chest.

Bruce then turned to Dick and Barbara, “Dick, you’re staying in Gotham for now because your place in Bludhaven is under renovation. Babs? No notes.”

Dick raised an eyebrow, “Are you actually renovating my house?”

Bruce shrugged, “I figure if we have construction going on, it’ll help explain your absence from Bludhaven during the time you spent in the Ghost Zone and now spending here. Don’t worry, I’ve hired the contractors to go in your house and then leave without actually doing anything. So it’ll only look like renovations. I know you don’t like your property getting messed with.”

Dick nodded, surprised by Bruce’s respect for his boundaries. He was fully expecting to have to fight with him about renovating his house without his knowledge. The old Bruce would have done that in an instant. It confused Dick more than he could admit.

“Oh. Thanks,” he was able to mutter in his surprise.

Bruce nodded in response before making his “let’s go” gesture which meant it was time to face the public.

…

Bruce wasn’t wrong about the people. They were immediately nasty to Steph. They were used to the young energetic Steph who acted stupider than she was in public but now she was more reserved and tending to Kore’s needs the entire time which was her right as a mother. Tim was helping every moment he could. He was currently chatting up some stupid rich guy who was being rude, backing up Steph’s honor while she tended to Kore.

“Teen pregnancy is scandalous no? Surely the Wayne family has more class,” the man said.

Tim just smiled, “Actually a lot of us in the family are from low income families or were orphans. Stephanie was in the foster system before she became Bruce’s ward. I was almost in the system too. Besides, what’s to you what she does with her body? Kore is a beautiful kid and we all love her. Besides, with Bruce’s money, we can give her everything she could ever want,” Tim raised an eyebrow, “Would you rather we had sent Kore into the system?”

The man sputtered, knowing the foster system’s reputation for neglect and abuse, “N-no! Not at all! I didn’t think-“

Tim shook his head with a look of pity, “No you didn’t.”

Tim could hear Sam approach on his left to stand next to him, “Besides, Jazz would have been about the same age when she had Danny but I suppose that’s okay because she’s got Jason to back her up.”

The man sputtered out more apologies before fleeing to talk to someone less terrifying.

Tim turned to Sam with an impressed smile, “Nice one Sam.”

She shrugged in response, “I’ve known that guy for years. He talks a lot but gives up the moment he’s challenged. He’s no real threat.”

Tim nodded in agreement. Tim never got his name but he could already tell he was not one to worry about seriously. He was surprised to see a face at the gala he wasn’t familiar with and he had assumed the guy was someone new but if Sam knew him then that must have meant he just hadn’t been attending the galas for a few years.

While Sam was raised to converse with all the other adults from a young age, Tim had never been allowed to be anywhere near the adults at galas while his parents were alive. He was sanctioned off to a kids room to entertain himself since no one else was ever actually in the room. Tim assumed that it was because no one wanted to deal with him. Which was kind of true in a way looking back on it.

Sam sighed, no doubt from boredom of the event, “I really wish coming to these wasn’t important for networking. I really appreciate Bruce and his work but these parties have always been stuffy.”

Tim chuckled, shrugging, “At least you aren’t being forced to show off by your dad anymore. I still remember the time you hid in the kids room just so you didn’t have to do it.”

Sam cringed at the memory, “He was always so annoying about that! He thought because he put me in voice lessons I’de suddenly become Chip Skylark or something.”

Tim could remember her sitting with him in the kids room, hiding from her father. He remembered having a conversation with her about it. She had said something that really stuck with him at the time and it was that she said didn’t not enjoy singing. She just hated being a display for her dad’s friends to gawk at. At the time, Tim thought that made perfect sense as it was always really inconvenient when his parents gave him attention because they always wanted something. It still made sense, Tim just now also knew how fucked up it was.

Tim smiled, “Chip Skylark wasn’t even that good. He has one single that blew up and then all of his music flopped after that.”

Sam gasped, “I know right!!?!! Tucker used to be obsessed with Chip Skylark and I never once understood it.”

Tim smirked knowingly, “Where is Tucker by the way? Isn’t he supposed to be your date for the evening?”

Tim watched as Sam’s cheeks took on a pink hue, “No! Not a date! He’s… I asked him to be my plus one for the gala tonight. He went to go find a server that has drinks that aren’t alcoholic.”

Tim nodded, “Yeah I’ve learned to just give up on that. Rich people really like to get drunk and like to forget that not all of us can do that.”

Sam sighed, “I told him the same thing but he had his heart set on it.” A small smile heaved her lips thinking about him and Tim knew what she was thinking about. Her feelings for Tucker were no mystery to anyone who knew them.

Tim was about to respond when he heard Tucker’s voice approaching, “Hey what is up with rich people not believing in water?”

Sam sighed, her face painfully smitten in a way that came from complete comfortability and safety with him, “I told you that it was no use Tuck. This is why I don’t typically ask you to come… I didn’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

Tucker smiled in response and Tim had to watch the romantic tension thicken in front of his face.

“I don’t mind being here as long as I’m with you,” he said while Tim’s eye twitched in irritation at their complete and utter cluelessness.

Sam’s cheeks obviously tinged pink at this which caused Tucker to fret, thinking she was getting too hot. Tim decided to just, leave the conversation once Tucker cupped Sam’s cheeks in his hands to feel if she was warm. The tension was so thick, Alfred's kitchen knives would shatter trying to cut it.

Tim decided to check on Stephanie. She had gone to the bathroom to breastfeed after some rich couple made her feel bad for bringing formula to the gala. Tim had tried to tell Stephanie to ignore the assholes and that how she raised Kore wasn’t their business but she got all nervous that maybe formula wasn’t as healthy as breast milk and so when Kore got hungry an hour later, she fled to the bathroom to breastfeed.

It wasn’t like Stephanie didn’t also give Kore breast milk, Tim has seen her do it before. It was just that for the gala, Stephanie didn’t want to have to excuse herself more than necessary and she had run out of pre pumped bottles. Tim knew there was nothing wrong with the formula she was using. He had done the research and picked it out himself. But that didn’t stop the worry from creeping over Stephanie’s shoulders.

Tim gave the bathroom door a little bit of a knock, “Steph?”

“Yeah I’m in here,” he heard her sigh as if disgruntled.

“How are you doing?” Tim rested his forehead on the door, worried for her. He didn’t like when she was upset. He may have had a crush on her before but ever since Kore was born, he had been so focused on helping with the baby that his own romantic feelings took a back burner. If they were even still burning. Tim was worried in the moment because Stephanie was still his good friend and kinda sister. And she didn’t deserve to feel so beat up about the mean words of some asshole rich people.

“I’m fine….” Steph said softly.

“Steph…” Tim knew her better than that.

He heard the doorknob jostle slightly and Steph pulled the door open as she stepped out with Kore.

“We can leave early if you want to,” he couldn’t help but want to at least get her out of the situation if he couldn’t cheer her up.

Stephanie passed Kore into his arms and straightened her dress, “I’ll be okay. I’m just going to get some food from the snack table. Watch her for me?”

Tim held Kore close to his heart, “Of course. Go take care of yourself.”

After Stephanie left to find food, Tim stayed away from the main room where most of the socialites were conversing. He had noticed Kore’s eyes were sleepy and he wanted to be in a quieter spot. The baby was currently curled up on his chest, fighting sleep and failing. Tim watched as every time she blinked, it took longer and longer to open her eyes again. Until eventually she didn’t open them again, her breathing becoming deeper as she fell asleep to the sound of his heart beat.

Tim was admiring her face as she slept. Tim didn’t normally like babies. But Stephanie seemed to make the most beautiful child in the world and he felt so lucky to be holding her. Even if she wasn’t his, he knew he would end the world if she asked him to. Little Kore would only get the best, Tim would make sure of that.

He smiled as he watched the baby let out a little yawn and curled her face towards his chest in her slumber. She was so perfect. A precious little gift to the world that he was so lucky to get to hold. Tim may have been a little crazy for thinking that but he couldn’t help it. There was something in him that felt so protective of this child that weighed almost nothing, curled in his arms against his chest.

Tim was so engrossed in watching little Kore that it actually caught him off guard when a camera flashed. He looked up to see a reporter that made it past security. Now normally, security knew to let a few through on days that Bruce wanted to make a drunken scene to keep up his persona. But this was not planned.

“You aren’t supposed to be here,” Tim said, his voice cold and low, not wanting to wake Kore.

The reporter, although nervous from Tim’s demeanor, didn’t waver, “Care to make a statement? Is that your baby?”

Tim’s eyes bore into his soul, anger seething through him at the violation of privacy and lack of respect for those in attendance at the gala, including himself and Kore. Especially Kore since Stephanie didn’t want to plaster her child all over the internet for possible weirdos and predators to see.

“Get out,” he said.

The reporter tried to argue, “Mr Drake please- just one statem-”

Tim’s eyes widened, his face contorting in anger in a way not many people saw outside of the Robin suit, “Out.”

And out the reporter went. Once he was gone, Tim returned Kore to Stephanie and hunted down security. And let them know that they fucked up. Verbally of course. But that didn't mean it wasn't colorfully graphic.

…

Tucker knew the party was gonna be lame when he agreed to come but he trusted Sam to show him how to get through it. And she did. She told him some of the rules like how the button on his coat needed to be unbuttoned and rebuttoned every time he stood up and sat down. She also told him about etiquette when it came to holding drinks. He wasn’t supposed to approach people holding their champagne glasses in their right hand because it meant they didn’t want to talk to people. Which who knew.

It was a cool learning experience but he quickly found that he hated talking to literally anybody except for Sam and Danny’s family. So he stuck close to Sam for the entirety of the gala. She talked to a few other people because they were socialites connected to her family and then retreated to the bar where most of the Waynes were hiding out for most of the evening. While most of them couldn’t drink, it seemed to bring them joy when they blocked the way of those who could.

Jason and Jazz seemed to be pretty happy in their self contained bubble, Jazz hanging all over Jason dramatically for effect. They always seemed really comfortable with each other and Jazz was often making physical contact with Jason like leaning on him or laying her head on his lap while he was reading in the library but it was more in the way that Cass laid on everyone like a cat and less like how a lover would seek physical intimacy from their partner in day to day activities. Danny was sitting on the bar counter, stacking champagne glasses into a pyramid.

Tucker had to admit. He really missed Danny being the way he used to be sometimes. He knew it was selfish and Sam was the only one who really understood. The two of them had talked about it several times, mourning the loss of the friend they could rely on as a peer. It wasn’t like he was any more dead than he used to be but it definitely wasn’t the same anymore. For the most part it seemed like Danny only knew bits and pieces of his old life, the fighting and constant fear of his own parents being something he didn’t recall. But every once in a while… Tucker saw it is his eyes. That tiredness from the fighting and the surviving. But Tucker was too afraid to ask.

Babs was behind the bar, mixing her own drink after kicking the bartender out of the way for not knowing how to make an Amaretto Sour properly. She said something about him using oranges instead of grenadine and that it was barbaric. Her chair was on its tallest setting so she could reach everything as she worked.

Dick and Cass were perched on the bar like cats, laying on each other like the two of them hadn’t just pretended to have a fight in the middle of the event center in complete asl. It was apparently something they did sometimes when Bruce needed a lil drama that wasn’t his own doing. From the way Dick and Cass were huddled close, Tucker guessed he had gone into verbal shutdown for the evening. The two of them had gotten closer since Dick came back to Gotham and had bonded over their shared struggles with verbal communication. Tucker understood that. Having a person who understands really helps when there's a lot going on all the time.

Steph and was sitting on a stool in front of the bar, leaning on Cass’ legs while she played with Kore who had started babbling. It had been a long night for a good portion of it, she had been in the bathroom crying. Obviously Tucker and the others were all ready to defend her honor but Tim said he had it handled and that all of them crowding around to defend her could have been overwhelming. But it seemed like everything as okay as of now since Tim was now helping Tucker take apart a thermostat they found in the wall while Sam watched.

It was a digital thermostat with a screen and they were trying to connect it to the internet because after Tim joked that “where there is a screen, we will access ao3,” Jason bet 100 dollars it couldn’t be done. So obviously Tucker and Tim took that personally and started taking it apart just enough to hack into the small device.

It was pretty simple mechanism and screen display. Tucker smiled while he worked to rewrite it the way he wanted. It was always so much fun when Tim asked him to do technological stuff. Tucker had even become Tim’s beta reader for all of his fanfiction on ao3. He couldn’t help but notice how a new one about Bruce or Batman always seemed to appear after he and B had a fight but Tucker thought it was brilliantly devious and he was nothing if not an enabler.

“How are you doing that so fast,” Sam asked, hovering over Tucker’s shoulder. He could feel her breath on his ear and the way it made his skin tingle was slightly distracting. It must have been some sort of sensory thing. He felt his cheeks get warm with embarrassment.

“Oh it’s not like I haven’t hacked a thermostat before. When we moved into our place, I had to reset them all because your parents kept controlling the house temp from their phones and freezing us out remember?” Tucker could smell Sam’s light perfume mixed with the body wash they both shared. It smelled better on her than it did on him.

“Oooh I thought it was broken. I assumed you had just gotten a new thermostat,” Sam said, smiling. Tucker smiled at that, liking when she was impressed with his work. It was nice to be appreciated.

“Uh y-yeah! I uh- well we didn’t have full access to your inheritance at the time and your parents were having that streak where they didn't want to send you money so I figured it would be easier to just hack and reprogram the whole system,” Tucker didn’t know why he was stuttering. He wasn’t nervous. He had no fears of Sam not liking what he had done. He trusted her fully and she felt the same. So why was he so flustered by the questioning???

Tim shot an impatient look at Tucker, “You two done?”

Oh shit, “Yeah! Yeah let’s finish this up,” Tucker looked back down to the thermostat which was in several pieces, ignoring the warmth radiating off of Sam’s body which was hovering oh so close to his.

Tim thought it would be hilarious if they just put back on the wall still programmed to ao3 so Tucker reinstalled it to the wall and made sure to pull up a Commissioner Gordon/Brucie Wayne Dead Dove Do Not Eat fic for someone to inevitably find later. And considering it was the fic Tucker beta read for Tim when he was writing it, he knew it was going to be absolutely shell shocking for the fruitloop that found it.

After that, Bruce went to the bar to collect his gaggle of children, grandchildren and family friends. Tucker liked to think that he and Sam were considered part of the family but they seemed to be the only ones that didn’t really have any connection other than they used to know Danny once upon a time… so they were just really good friends that lived a few doors down. Which was fine. They were technically tied to the Manson family more.

The moment Sam had turned 18, she fought with her father to take over the family fortune as all he was doing was spending it. She was able to reinvest and was a shareholder for Wayne Enterprises with the help of Bruce. Now Bruce’s company typically only dealt with investors and shareholders were a liability if they bought too much of the company. But Sam agreed to stay out of the affairs of the company and let Bruce run things the way he liked and in return she was getting paid regularly for his excellent business prowess. The company her great grandfather had started was all but sputtering out and once her father gave up and gave it to her, she was planning on signing it over to Bruce for more regular payment.

This of course gave Tucker plenty of cushion to go to college without any worry. He was taking online courses for Computer Science and Database Administration. It was going quite well and Tucker was glad he had found out a lot of the stuff on his own when he was a bored middle schooler because it was making it easier to balance his school with the hectic schedule of helping the Waynes cover up their crimes. They may have been vigilantes, but it was still technically a lot of crime.

Tucker offered his arm to Sam, something he had recently learned was a customary gesture and she took it, preparing to politely make their leave. They walked behind the rest of the gaggle, letting them lead the way out. Bruce would have looked like the leader of a small army of teenagers had he been walking on his own. Instead he had thrown himself onto Jason dramatically, pretending to be drunk. Tucker had never seen this Brucie side of B before and was nearly caught off guard at how well he played it. If he hadn’t been told ahead of time that he was going to leave acting like he was drunk, Tucker would have really truly thought the man was utterly sloshed.

Once they made it out of the building, they piled into their cars. There were so many of them that it took two vehicles to get everyone home to the manor. Bruce, Dick, Babs, Tim, Stephanie and Kore were able to fit into the long limousine Alfred was driving while Cass, Jason, Jazz and Danny piled into the one with Sam and Tucker’s driver Dorian. The two cars followed one another to the manor and dropped everyone off at the front entrance.

Everyone except Sam and Tucker. They stayed in the limousine, telling Jason and Jazz that they would meet up again for the Christmas party but they had to retrieve some things from their own place. Which was true. But Sam and Tucker also had a bit of a surprise planned.

Once they were left alone, Dorian shot them both a knowing look, “Master Tucker, Miss Sam, shall I take you to the manor first or to the summoning location?”

Tucker smiled, “Go ahead and drop us off and the location and drive home to fill up the car while we do the summoning.”

“Excellent Master Tucker.”

…

Jason was glad to get out of the stuffy gala clothes, especially after Bruce made a point to drool on his shoulder just to make his drunken stupor more realistic. He traded his suit with a pair of pajama pants with Christmas trees on them that Jazz picked out last year and an oversized black sweater. Which was hard to find considering Jason, despite not being an active vigilante anymore, was still massive and his body was in peak physical condition even when he didn’t work out. It was really odd to say the least but he attributed it to being in the Lazarus as Danny was also very physically strong. But it did bring about the problem that his shoulders were huge and it was hard to find a sweater that didn’t feel too snug. Luckily Jazz had gotten into knitting a couple years ago and had made him a few that fit loosely like he wanted.

After he changed his clothes he gave Danny’s door a slight knock, his way of asking if he was done changing. Something that was interesting about Danny was that he didn’t like changing in front of people and was very self sufficient in washing and cleaning himself. Which these skills did make sense for a 7 year old but Danny had been this way since Jason had found him years ago. Danny was very persistent about his privacy and panicked when he wasn’t covered. Jason knew there was definitely something behind that reaction but Jason couldn’t force Danny to tell him about it. The only person in the household that had ever seen Danny without a shirt on was Jazz and Jason remembered the shell shocked look on her face afterwards. He wanted to ask but he could tell by her eyes that it wasn’t a good idea. All she ever said about it was that it was healed and that was all that mattered.

“You ready to go my star?” Jason asked.

“In a second Daddy,” he heard in response.

“Alright, do you want me to wait for you in here or are you okay?” Jason asked.

“I’m okay,” Danny said in response.

Jason nodded, giving the door a pat, “Alright, I’m gonna go help Jazz with the presents. Remember that the sitting room is off limits until after dinner okay?”

“Okay! Love you!” Danny called. His voice wasn’t strained or upset and Jason didn’t feel a tug in his chest so he must have just been taking a little longer since there were so many pieces on his gala outfit. Suspenders were hard to remove with little fingers.

“Love you too bud,” Jason smiled, before heading to the sitting room which they had decorated for Christmas. The furniture was all moved to one side of the room in a semi circle around the tree and the growing mountains of presents that hid half of it. Most of them were admittedly for Danny and Kore, the rest of the family tending to only get one or two things for one another. They used to buy a lot for Tim every year but he had kinda aged out of the childlike wonder of the holiday after he had started helping Steph with her pregnancy. He had asked that all the funds that normally went to his presents would go to Kore instead.

Sam and Tucker had just come back from their place, piles of presents in tow. Dorian and Alfred were loading them into the room with the help of Sam, Tucker and Jazz. He was about to offer to help as well but it seemed they were finishing up right when he came in.

“That’s the last of it,” Jazz said, setting a pile of boxes wrapped in festive paper down on the floor, “You guys really went all out this year.”

Sam shrugged, “Since Bruce and I are working together now, I felt like it would only fair if I spoiled you all.” Tucker nodded in agreement, a smile on his face.

“You know you didn’t have to do that,” Jason said chuckling.

Tucker’s smile only got wider, a knowing glint in his eyes as if he had something special planned, “We wanted to.”

Jason walked up right next to Jazz’ side, placing a hand on her shoulder. It was a comfortable gesture that they shared often. Sometimes it was to get each other’s attention but most of the time it was just nice to be near someone they were so comfortable with. She smiled in response to the contact.

“Have the presents we bought been set out? I can’t tell. I feel like B filled the entire room with his gifts,” Jason chuckled. Bruce didn’t say it often, but he was secretly thrilled about having grandchildren in his house. He and Danny were very close.

Jazz nodded, “Alfred and I set them under the tree before they got smothered by Bruce’s stuff.”

“Danny is still changing, I told him this room is off limits until after dinner,” Jason said, knowing he was going to have to make up for the fact that he didn’t help with that. Not that he literally had to but he felt obligated because Jazz deserved good things.

A look of worry shot across her face, “He’s still changing?”

Jason squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, “I talked to him before I came out here. He’s in a good mood so he should be okay.”

Jazz nodded, still biting her lip in worry. Whenever Danny started to panic because he couldn’t find a shirt, she was the only one who could calm him. It was the only thing Jason didn’t seem to be any help for. The two of them didn’t know what exactly happened to Danny. He only told Jazz the barest bones explanation but Jason could still remember the day Jazz broke down crying because she had seen Danny’s chest and back. She had said that it was brutal and probably happened when Danny was missing before Jason had found him.

“Should I- should I just go up and be there just in case?” she asked.

Jason knew that it was probably a good idea even if it was just to ease her own nerves. He nodded, “I’ll help Alfred set up dinner while you wait for Danny. Our little star will be okay.”

Jazz nodded, giving him a hug. Jason wrapped his arms around her, squeezing enough to help her center herself before going. It was something Jazz had taught him that helped her when she was having big feelings.

Jazz looked up at him once more after letting go, “I’ll see you at dinner.”

Jason nodded.

…

Stephanie held her baby girl close to her chest, feeling the tiny heartbeat against her own. Kore was asleep which meant she wouldn’t be aware while opening presents but she was very young anyways. And that was okay. Stephanie was just very happy to be with her family.

Dinner had been amazing. Alfred had made the entire meal from scratch and had worked on it most of the day. Several times other people in the house offered to help but Alfred was insistent. And he was right. His skills in the kitchen were unmatched and Stephanie was currently trying to push past her food coma so she could watch everyone open their presents.

Bruce was in his armchair that had been moved from in front of the fireplace to next to the Christmas tree so he could pass out the boxes. Behind him stood Alfred who always enjoyed being a part of the fun. Everyone always got him a little something for Christmas. The two were there with matching smiles, as they were the closest things to parents most of the family had.

Jason was sitting next to Dick on the sofa, Jazz sitting on the floor in front of him, leaning on his legs. Danny was on the floor as well, antsy to open his presents. Cass was draped over the back of the sofa like a cat, her fingers playing with Barbara’s hair. Dick had helped her onto the sofa next to him on the end so she didn’t have to sit in her chair all night.

Steph was currently curled up on the love seat, her head on Tim’s lap while Kore slept on her chest. Tim was so helpful. He had been there for everything and was still her biggest supporter. He was everything Steph needed and he was so responsible. She would have considered maybe dating him if it weren’t for the fact that she was so emotionally exhausted all the time and it wasn’t something that either of them had ever really discussed seriously. She used to think he was cute sure but after getting to know him, the allure of him being Robin and all that didn’t really feel the same. Steph was mature enough to admit that her crush on him had been shallow. She was also mature enough to know that probably wasn’t in the cards for them. But she was glad he was her best friend.

Tucker and Sam were sitting together on the loveseat and the tension was palpable. Nobody was looking at them because it was just insane. Tucker literally had a pillow on his lap and Sam’s face looked redder than a cherry tomato. It was so cute it was gross. Steph really needed them to bone. For her own sanity. Please gods. Please kiss. Steph was seriously considering locking them in a closet together.

“Is everyone here,” B said. He was probably looking to get the ball rolling.

Nods came from all over the room and Bruce happily began passing around wrapped boxes. First was a gift for Danny, his eyes wide with excitement. Steph smiled as she watched him rip open the paper and Jazz helped him with the box. Inside was a set of glowing stars that he could stick to his ceiling. Steph remembered how he had mentioned that once at dinner how he wanted to put stars on the ceiling and walls according to real constellations. He seemed excited when he saw them which was good because Jason had mentioned before how Danny preferred the pitch dark when he was upset. Steph hoped that meant that Danny was getting better with that. The gift was from Bruce who smiled in relief when Danny reacted well.

Next gift was for Jason from Jazz. It was a leather bound copy of the Iliad and the Odyssey in the original Greek with several translations from different time periods. He loved it and Steph could tell because his eyes were glowing.

Glowing eyes kind of became a staple of the family. Herself and Tim both had glowing eyes every once in a while when they felt strong emotions. It was a side effect of whatever ghost surgery Danny had performed while she was unconscious after giving birth to Kore. Jazz had said that after the operations, the ecto that Danny used to heal them both had made them liminal. Which meant that they weren’t dying or dead but they were close to death in a very good friend way. Dick was also liminal after spending so long in the Ghost Zone. His eyes glowed brighter than hers and Tim’s but it wasn’t nearly as bright as Danny and Jason. Cass had become liminal as well but Steph didn’t know how it happened. It was before they had met. Same with Jazz, Tucker and Sam. But the three of them mentioned that most people from Amity Park left it liminal.

Jason scooped Jazz into a tight hug and she laughed in surprise from the sudden action. Steph still thought there was something there but she was starting to think that maybe it was just more similar to what she had with Tim. But deeper. It was almost like the two were soulmates in every way except physical or romantic. The way they interacted with one another was easy to mistake for romantic or sexual love when really it was just the strongest platonic and familial love Steph had ever seen. She didn’t really understand it before but now she thought she did at least a little bit.

Then Cass opened her present from Dick, a set of throwing knives with carvings of things from ballets that Cass had been in before on the blades. They were gorgeous and Steph was a little jealous as they were so beautifully made. There was one with a swan, one with a nutcracker, one with a fae and there were several others that Steph didn’t recognize right away. The gift made Cass smile and wrap her arms around Dick in a slight hug before rolling back to where she was across the back of the couch.

Next was a gift for Kore. No one recognized the wrapping paper and it was labeled with a post it. Clockwork. He had been kind of like a long distance uncle to the family for years now. He always sent a present or two for Danny for Christmas, most of the time it was just large containers of clean ecto that he and Jason could live off of for the year. Clockwork must have wanted to send something for little Kore as well. It was sweet.

“Tim can you open it,” Steph said as she was currently both lying down and had a baby on her chest.

Tim smiled and nodded, opening the small box. Inside was a small plush in the shape of a pomegranate that had been cut in half. Steph obviously didn’t know how to feel about that. It seemed a little random other than maybe it was a nod to Kore’s namesake. But it was cute little toy.

While Stephanie and Tim were looking at it, Kore seemed to wake up from her nap. Not fully, she was just stirring a little.

“Hello love,” she said softly, “Look what uncle Clockwork got you baby.”

She and Tim smiled as Kore let out a small yawn and made a grabby motion with her fingers. Tim set the stuffy next to Kore’s hand and let her go ahead and have it. The baby seemed to enjoy the pomegranate, weakly pulling it closer before ultimately falling asleep again on Stephanie’s chest.

Next was another gift for Danny from Cass. She rolled herself off of the back of the couch and helped Bruce grab it. It seemed to be a massive box that looked quite heavy. Cass helped Danny get it open and inside was a giant piece of metal with some sort of paint on the side. Stephanie didn’t know what it was.

“A PART OF APOLLO 13?!” Danny went full ghost and flew straight up through the ceiling into the next floor of the house out of pure excitement. The shout made Steph check on Kore but she was still curled up peacefully with her pomegranate.

Jason raised an eyebrow, “How did you get a part of Apollo 13?”

Cass shrugged and signed, “I got bored one day and stole it.”

Bruce sighed, “Which museum…. because I’m going to need to make a very large donation.”

Cass shrugged once more.

Then Danny fell through the ceiling again and landed on top of Cass, sending them both crashing to the floor, “Thank you Cass! I love youuuu!” The boy hugged his aunt tight, their eyes both glowing from mutual appreciation of the moment.

Cass sat on the floor with Danny, signing to him about how she had stolen it from a very prestigious museum she didn’t remember the name of and he was so engrossed in the story, the rest of the room decided to move on with the gifts, several being opened including a membership to a shooting range for Alfred from Steph and Tim, a book for Babs from Jason and Jazz, a cruise for Sam and Tucker from Bruce (even he wanted them to just get it together).

After gushing about their gift, the energy shifted from Sam and Tuck. They looked to each other and smiled knowingly. A look that everyone in the family knew meant something was about to happen. Those two were brilliant planners but were horrible at surprises. Their faces always gave it away. They were both smiling and staring at Dick.

“Okay- you guys are making me nervous,” Dick said half jokingly. Steph stayed silent and gave Tim a look to do the same. She wanted to see what was about to play out.

“Well Dick, we have a present for you but uh… it’s not in a box,” Sam said, smiling wide.

“You see we had trouble figuring out what to get you but then uncle Clockwork dropped us a post it note,” Tucker said, standing up and walking over to Dick, “I just think your really gonna like it.”

Dick shuffled in his seat nervously before Tucker gave him an envelope. Dick opened it and inside was a ring with some sort of crest on it.

“Thank you, it’s very classy,” Dick said, relief washing over his face. He put it on his ring finger, examining it.

Tucker sat back down next to Sam as she smiled mischievously, “Go ahead and give the crest a little tap.”

Dick did so and then a green swirling portal opened behind the couch he was sitting on. Everyone saw it except Dick who apparently thought nothing happened. Stephanie had to cover her mouth not to gasp. She didn’t wanna ruin whatever surprise this was for Dick.

Out of the portal walked a man with dark hair and bright eyes. He looked like no one Stephanie had ever seen before. Well that was a lie. He looked exactly like Danny if he were an adult. But he looked like a perfect mix of when the Danny she knew was human and when he was ghost. His hair was black like Danny’s but there were specks of white that glittered like stars in that shiny spectral glow that Danny’s hair had when he was full ghost. The man’s eyes were two different colors. One the bright blue of Danny’s and the other the Lazarus green that most of the family’s eyes tended to glow from time to time.

Stephanie noticed he seemed to be wearing some kind of kingly regalia. It was a cloak that looked as if it was woven from the dark of space and the light of twinkling stars that were light years away. Underneath that though seemed to be normal human looking pajamas. The top seemed to a baggy t shirt that Steph could have sworn used to be Dick’s and the bottoms were black pajama pants with lil ghosts on them.

Despite looking like he had Danny’s face, this man definitely wasn’t him. His face was slightly more angular giving Stephanie a sense of uncanny valley. When he began to smile as he creeped toward the back of Dick’s head Stephanie notice that his teeth were a little too sharp. They were slightly too bright. His limbs as he began to reach for Dick’s shoulders seemed to bend just slightly wrong. As if the elbows went both ways. Stephanie would have been frighted by this but she had seen weirder shit.

The next moment, the man touched Dick’s shoulders and Stephanie’s eldest brother’s reflexes kicked in, sending him straight for the ceiling, holding into the light fixture for dear life as he looked down to see what had touched him.

“Well now I’m offended,” the voice that came from the otherworldly man was dual toned, a high tenor voice with an underlying bass like growl that rested underneath, “I thought you’de be happier than that to see me Birdy.”

The moment Stephanie heard the nick name she realized that she was staring at High King Phantom, Ruler of the Ghost Zone and King of the Dead. Dick had told her all about him. Actually he told her far too much about him. He never said it outright but Steph knew. Oh she very much knew. Especially after she watched Dick’s eyes widen in pure glee realizing that it was infact him. They had even begun to glow, matching the excited glow coming from King Phantom’s own eyes.

“Holy shit- is that you?!” Dick practically yelled.

“I’m pretty sure I’de know if it wasn’t,” Phantom chuckled, opening his arms and shedding his cloak, tossing it back through the portal which closed promptly after. Dick launched himself at the king, who caught him easily pulling him into a hug.

Sam smiled, “Danny you look different from the last time we saw you.”

King Phantom laughed, “I leveled up.”

Danny peeked his head out from behind Cass, curious as to why his name as called, “Huh?”

King Phantom smiled, releasing Dick from the hug, “Don’t worry kid. My name is Danny too. Except while I’m here, I go by Niel. It’s to cause less confusion.”

Dick sat back down on the couch, his disposition much happier than before, “Niel huh? Sounds sophisticated.” His laugh was more full than Steph had heard it in a long time.

Niel sat down next to Dick, having to squeeze to fit next to Jason and Babs, “Listen Birdy, I can only stay for tonight. My realm needs me back in it soon.”

Dick nodded, leaning on the ghost king, “I figured. But I’m glad to have you here.”

Tucker piped up once more, clearly amused by the scene unfolding, “That ring is a summoning ring. Niel and I worked together on it. The ring can tie him to our universe without a summoning circle for longer periods of time so instead of him being here for a few hours he can stay for up to a full day.”

Niel nodded, “But it’s only for holidays and emergencies. I can’t spend all my time here or I won’t get any work done.”

Dick sighed, “But what if I need your help with stuff for the Anti Ecto Acts?”

Niel gave Dick a smirk, “Then you come to see me.”

After that Stephanie tuned them both out. They practically on top of each other and they watched Danny open more if his presents. Steph had seen weird shit before but it was a new level of weird. She was watching a grown version of her nephew from another universe watch her nephew open Christmas presents. To be fair though, Stephanie didn’t come from a normal background either. Just take a look at her dad.

The evening was nice. Kore got plenty more presents. Mostly clothes since Bruce had spliced and bought anything and everything Kore could have needed furniture and product wise. Stephanie was drowning in diapers and everyone knew that so all the gifts Kore got were luxury items rather than necessities.

Steph had gotten a few presents of her own. A necklace from Tim that said Mom on it. Cass got her a new mask for her Spoiler suit. She got an audiobook from Jason and Jazz that she could listen to on patrols. Bruce got her a dress she had pointed out in a store a few weeks ago. Babs gave her the pair of shoes she’d been eyeing from her closet for months. Alfred made Steph her favorite cookies. Dick gave her an expensive purple hair clip in the shape of a butterfly with dangle pieces hanging from the wings.

Christmas this year was good. And Stephanie was very happy to spend it with her chosen family.

…

A lot had changed since Jazz first found out Danny was missing all those years ago. Sam and Tucker had run to her crying, talking about how Danny had been caught by the GIW and was being shipped off in one of their trucks. Jazz thought she was going to die from the heartbreak of losing him right then and there.

But she didn’t. She had poured herself into finding him. Even after Mom and Dad had stopped trying to look. Once they found out he was taken because he was a half ghost, they had little love left for him and it made Jazz sick.

Months had gone by and no matter what she tried or how many firewalls Tucker got past, they couldn’t find him. He was utterly gone. She thought that maybe then was when the heartbreak would get to her. Her chest would finally let go of the pain and her breathing would slow into a stop as her heart shattered from the inside.

But again she survived. Sam and Tucker can running to her again. Told her that they summoned Ghost King. He knew where Danny was. It was a city called Gotham. It was states away but it was worth the move, if Danny was there that was all she cared about. She packed up what little she had and Sam’s family threw money at them willingly, not realizing why they wanted it. They flew overnight and made it there by morning, barging into the address on the sticky note the Ghost King gave them.

Then it happened again. A singular moment that Jazz thought might actually shatter her heart for good. It was Danny, deaged and scared. He was happy to see her sure but he looked like he had been through utter hell. He was malnourished and paler than she had ever seen. His hair had started to grey at the roots just slightly even though he was a child. He looked closer to death than Jazz had ever seen him. And she had seen Danny dead before. She thought that sight would kill her from heartbreak.

But it didn’t. Somehow it didn’t. Somehow she kept herself on her feet as this new horrible thing had been done to her brother against his will. He had been through so much and only she knew the half of it. Things he would never tell Sam or Tucker. And now another thing was stripped from him. First it was his childhood, then his life, then his autonomy, and now his future. Daniel Fenton had nothing left. And his eyes were tired. And Jazz couldn’t bear it.

She thought she was going to die once more when she caught Danny without a shirt on while he was having a panic attack. He hadn’t been able to find a shirt before he saw himself in his mirror and he panicked. Jazmine had never seen something so gut wrenching. She really thought her heart broke for good and that she was going to finally pass away from the pain in her chest. She had fallen to the floor, hand over her mouth trying not to vomit as Danny did the same from his flashbacks.

But then…. things weren’t so bad. Jazz felt like maybe her heart was healing a little bit as she watched Danny grow once more. She had raised him as best she could when he first came. But she had only been almost 3 back then and she was trying her best based on the very little that Mom and Dad had done for her. She had tried to raise him to be a respectable young man and she thought maybe she had done an okay enough job. But she never had the resources to help him when he struggled.

This time around? She had Jason to help her give Danny everything he had always deserved but she had never been able to give him. She could try and fix whatever damage she had done the first time. She knew that she wasn’t a good mom the first time. She was also a child and every time she tried to help him, Mom would get so upset that Jazz was “playing mom” but when she left it alone Danny would go hungry or get left behind at school when their parents forgot him.

This time, Mom and Dad weren’t here to tell her she couldn’t help him. They couldn’t stop her from picking him up from school or brushing his hair or putting bandaids on his wounds (not that she needed to anymore). She wanted to believe that this could really be a new start for Danny. She had to believe it. She had to believe that he, despite the flashbacks and pain, was really 3 again. That she could do this over. She could be a good mother. She could be.

Jazz was glad that Jason found Danny. With just how much crazy stuff happened in Gotham, she feared what could have happened to her brother if he had been found by anyone else. The League of Assassins, one of the villains, or god forbid Lex Luthor, that parasite of a man. Jazz had met him on several occasions at galas and he was horrible man with no sense of personal space. The way he eyed that poor reporter from the Daily Planet made her want find the old creep stick and beat him with it.

Jason was kind and gentle. He had that look in his eyes that told her he knew what Danny was going through to some extent. He loved to read and would scrunch his nose in a certain way when he was trying to hold back a laugh. He was private but was willing to talk about the hard things and give Danny the experiences he deserved. He was a good father. And Jazz loved him for it.

She did. Jazz was not afraid to admit she loved Jason so much. But she wasn’t in love with him. She couldn’t really describe what type of affection it was she had towards him as it wasn’t a protective, motherly one she had for Danny and Ducky. It wasn’t a romantic one that she felt she needed to act on with physical intimacy. It was more like a pure respect and trust and this underlying knowledge that she might not make it without him anymore. She loved him too much. Her heart might break.

Jazz knew that was probably not very good as it was a classic case of codependency. But when it came to Jason, she didn’t really care. She just wanted to be around him and live and laugh with him. Raise Danny with him. Be a family. A real family. A family she could defend and protect once she finished her training.

Jazz laid lazily against Jason’s legs as the night started to wing down after hour and hours of presents for Danny. Even Niel had brought a number of things for him. The pile was high and Danny was flying around in ghost mode excitedly looking at everything. All the gifts had been opened and now nobody wanted to move because it meant that it would be time to start cleaning it all up so putting it away somewhere. Where was a mystery but it was gonna go somewhere.

“I’m surprised he still has so much energy,” she said lazily, yawning and leaning into Jason’s thigh to use as a pillow.

“Well he had some ecto cookies from Alfred earlier,” Jason sighed.

“Ah,” Jazz looked to the butler who was standing at the ready with various gift bags and presents from the rest of the family hanging off of him, “Alfred, from now on can we not give Danny cookies after 8 pm?”

Alfred gave a small nod, “My apologies Young Miss Jazz. I had baked them for tomorrow you see and I had my back turned for too long. I will try by best to defend the baking in the future.” He said it calmly but Jazz knew he was hiding a small smile behind his bow.

Jazz smiled, about to tell Danny to not use his powers to steal Alfred’s cookies again when an envelope appeared on her lap with a post it note attached. It was addressed to her and she knew it was from Clockwork.

“Ah I was wondering when that would appear tonight,” Niel said, giving a toothy smile that was slightly too sharp as he sat with Ducky, “Consider this a Christmas gift from us ancient beings and gods.”

Jazz raised an eyebrow and opened the envelope and began to read the very official looking paperwork inside.

“Oh shit-” she hopped to her feet, “OH SHIT!”

Jason looked at her with concern before he realized Jazz had a massive grin on her face.

“DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD!” she cried happily, practically dancing.

At this Sam and Tucker stirred in excitement.

“You mean- it finally happened?” Tucker asked.

“He’s finally gone?!” Sam was clearly trying not to get too excited before confirmation.

“THE FRUITLOOP IS GONE! HUZZAH!” Jazz exclaimed as she threw her hands up in the air to thank the ancients for their gift. In her hand was a notice of his death and the very real will of Vlad Masters. Deceased.

Sam and Tucker got up from their loveseat and tackled Jazz into a massive hug. The three of them were crying no doubt. Their biggest fear was dead. Without him, the Fentons would never get the funding to come looking for them. They were free. From him and his experiments and his obsession with Danny. He couldn’t hurt them anymore.

Jazz heard Danny stop mid flight and gasp at the news. She didn’t know how much he remembered of Vlad but given her reaction to the news he knew this was a very good piece of news. And it was. It was fantastic.

Once Jazz, Sam and Tucker let go of one another, Jazz found herself scooped up into Jason’s arms. She had told him all about Vlad and what he had done to her family. He knew this was the best news she could have possibly ever gotten. And she knew he was excited for her. She hugged him so tightly, crying in joy into his shoulder.

“I can’t believe it,” Tucker exclaimed, lifting Sam above his head happily as she blushed and laughed in response.

“I of course did nothing to alter the timeline of his death. I simply thought that we should deliver you the news personally. Keep reading the document,” Jazz heard Niel say though it was muffled by how hard she was crying.

She pulled away from Jason’s shoulder to see Danny floating in front of her, his glowing eyes full of concern, “Jazzy why are you crying-”

Jazz couldn’t help but let out a choked laugh, tears still streaming down her face, “These are happy tears baby. Very happy tears. I’ll be okay.” She wiped her eyes before opening her arms to let him into the hug as well.

Jason held both Jazz and Danny in his arms and Jazz could not imagine what could possibly make this better than it already was. After a few moments she finally let go and looked at the document of the will and began to read the now slightly crumpled paper in her hands.

“All of my worldly possessions will be left in the hands of Madeline Fenton is she chooses to accept it. If she refuses, the funds of my bank accounts, my properties and my experiments will this be turned over to her children. Jasmine and Daniel Fenton. Wait-”

Niel cut her off before she could freak out, “I may or may not have intercepted your mail and forged a document stating that your mother refuses the assets.”

“So- I get all of his stuff?!” Jazz asked, practically yelling.

“Since Danny is technically missing, yes,” the ghost king smiled, causing Dick to stare the slightest bit.

Jazz looked down at the list of assets in his will and scanned all of it. He had several properties all around the United States. The mansion that she and Danny remembered, a beach house in Florida, a villa in California, and a manor right in Gotham. And the address looked familiar.

“Hey isn’t this the address of your neighbor’s house?” Jazz looked to Sam and Tucker quizzically.

“Let me see-” Tucker took the paper and began to read it, “Oh that’s just gross.”

Sam gasped, “Don’t tell me we’ve been living right next to the fruitloop for 3 years and didn’t know.”

Tucker shook his head, “I’m not going to lie to you Sammy. His house was the one with the creepy gate in the front, right next to our place.”

Sam gagged. Jazz cringed. Tucker groaned. That wasn’t a pleasant thought.

“At least he’s dead now,” Tim offered, trying to be supportive. It helped. A little. At least he was dead now.

Part 6

[goddamnitmahtin]

Hi! I just discovered your account and already love your writing, it perfectly fits the characters!

When you have time and inspiration, can you continue Dami's Teddy? it was so good that I'm already obsessed with it! I can't wait to read how their first meeting will be! Plus I wanted to ask if Danny will be limited to using quotes/ mixing the audio from Coraline cause that would be really creapy cool

I want to make it clear I am beyond excited that I got this ask! I’m glad people are interested in this AU because this might be one of my more favorite ones I’ve come up with.

Dami’s Teddy Part 2

At first? Alfred was pleased to see that Master Bruce and Young Master Damian had been able to do a bonding activity together and both came back from it unscathed. The young boy had only recently joined the household and was having a hard time adjusting to life in the manor. The only thing Master Bruce had been able to get Young Master Damian to agree to before their trip to Amity Park was training and field work. But now…. there was Danyal.

Yes. The teddy. It was a problem. Not a big problem at the moment but it was something that Alfred was keeping an eye on. It wasn't much at first. Alfred was getting on in age and he knew that his senses weren't as sharp as they once were. He knew that eventually his mind was going to slip as well. At first he thought that maybe that day had finally come.

The teddy was always attached to Young Master Damian's hip when he thought nobody else was home. The boy only seemed to trust Alfred to see him with his new friend that he had lovingly named Danyal. For all the pride within the young master, he was still a young boy who had never been given the chance at a normal existence. Alfred knew that better than anyone. He recognized it in the young master’s eyes. He was scared and hardened. He had seen things no child should. Things he didn't fully understand when he started doing them in turn.

Now that he wasn't doing them anymore, he seemed to need something to hold onto. Danyal seemed to be that thing. Alfred knew better than to say anything about it. He wanted Young Master Damian to be as comfortable as possible in this new place with new rules and new people he had to learn to get long with at the very least. If Danyal was that thing that made the transition even the slightest bit easier then Alfred was glad that Young Master Damian felt comfortable enough with him to let himself be vulnerable and hold the teddy in his presence.

He would come to eat breakfast on his own, as it often was nowadays. The others all had their day jobs. Master Bruce would spend his day making a fool of himself for the press to see. Young Master Dick was off in Bludhaven most of the time now, hardly ever coming to visit lest Bruce wanted to buy a new window. Young Master Jason was still with the league (Alfred was well aware that the boy was alive once more as he had snuck into the Batcave on occasion only to be mistaken for a hallucination by Young Master Dick and Young Master Tim on several occasions). Young Miss Cassandra came and went as she pleased, not eating with others often. Young Miss Barbara spent her days in the local library. While Young Miss Stephanie was not one of Master Bruce's children, she was often in the manor in the evening to see Young Master Tim. Although she spent her mornings sleeping in. Thus, breakfast before school was a perfect opportunity for Young Master Damian to hug his teddy as he came down the stairs and into the kitchen as nobody was home by that time.

Young Master Damian did this every morning. Most days, Alfred asked if the young master had slept well and most days he got a glare in response. That was quite alright. He had plenty of time to wear the child down. Alfred knew that it was going to be a slow process. Young Master Damian was like his father in that sense. Alfred could still remember how it had taken a month for Miss Martha to convince Young Master Bruce make friends with one of the children he went to school with at the time. He had attempted it after she begged but Alfred never saw the boy again after the young master simply became... the master.

Sometimes while Young Master Damian ate his food, he would speak with Danyal, as if the teddy knew what he was saying. At first Alfred thought it was Young Master Damian embracing his young age in a rare moment of vulnerability. But after the events Alfred had started observing from the teddy, he began to think that maybe it did understand. Even if it was just the slightest bit.

It started with small things. Alfred would catch movement in the corner of his eye and when he went to look, Danyal would be sitting just as it was before but it was leaning a bit more than before, sometimes as if it were trying to cock its head to the side in confusion. Sometimes it was as if it were leaning to try and get a better look at something Alfred was standing in front of. The first few instances of this were far enough apart that Alfred had almost forgotten it had happened before. It was enough to make any normal person think that it was a one off, the bear leaning as gravity slowly pulled it down from it's position. Unfortunately for Danyal, Alfred was the farthest thing from normal so he had started to notice the pattern.

As time went on, Young Master Damian would often leave Danyal with Alfred for the day, claiming the bear had told him that it liked the butler very much and wanted to spend the day with him while Young Master Damian was at school or on patrol. So, Danyal became Alfred's little pal, coming along in Alfred's arm as he did his duties for the day, often setting him down nearby when he needed both hands. This was when Danyal began to do more than just lean.

On several occasions, Alfred would look away after placing Danyal on a surface to do some work only to turn around once more to find that the teddy had moved to another surface in the room. It was a curious habit for a stuffed bear to have. Curious indeed. Alfred made note of it. As long as the behavior, while strange, was no threat, he felt comfortable letting it continue for the sake of Young Master Damian who had grown oh so attached to it. For months, things went on this way.

Until, that is, when Danyal started talking. It made Alfred whip his head around the first time he heard it, thinking someone was in the house but all he saw was the teddy sitting there, staring back at him.

“The mice do not like the mist.”

While the message seemed to be quite random, the tone had that of an audiobook or somebody attempting to sound soothing while reading aloud. The voice seemed to be of a young man. The accent was slightly different from those in the household. Not a Gothamite to be sure. When Alfred took a better look, he realized that the sound came from a small voice box in the hand of the teddy.

Alfred thought maybe the toy was malfunctioning for a moment but at this point it had gone too far and he had seen to many things for him to not at least suspect that it was somewhat intelligent. He simply had to inform Master Bruce.

He did try to at least. He had told his master that the teddy was simply unnatural. Something must have been wrong with Danyal, if it was really a teddy bear at all. Alfred suspected that it was far too intelligent to only be a stuffed toy.

“Alfred, I can’t take Danyal from him,” Master Bruce had said, “He loves that bear and I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong end of his swords if it were to go missing.” While Master Bruce was more than capable beating his son in combat, he felt it would be best if he didn’t do something to cause his son to want to fight in the first place, given he was still trying to gain his trust.

While he knew his master had a point, Alfred was still not entirely sure whether or not the teddy was any sort of threat. It hadn’t been so far but who was he to know the motives of a stuffed toy?

So after Young Master Damian left for school and the house was empty, Alfred placed Danyal on the table and stared at it for a long while before sitting down in front of the bear, and staring at it some more.

“What are you…” he mumbled mostly to himself. Alfred didn’t have much of a plan when it came to figuring out the answer to his little question.

“I’m me.”

Alfred watched the Danyal lean the slightest bit to the right.

“Ah yes. That was very helpful thank you.” Alfred rolled his eyes the slightest bit in response. That was until he realized he was talking to a stuffed teddy.

“I’m sorry.”

Alfred blinked. This was definitely a development. There was still the slightest bit of a chance that he was finally getting to that point in his age that he was simply hearing things. And while that chance did exist, Alfred rather thought it smarter to make sure that Danyal meant no harm anyways just in case the voice he was hearing was infact real.

“That’s quite alright. I assume you can only repeat things already saved in your voice box,” he said.

“Yes.”

Alfred nodded, “I will try and understand you the best I can.”

“Thank you.”

Alfred decided to start with his own questions, “Why are you here?”

“She has our hearts in her keeping.”

Alfred frowned, “I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you mean by that. Um… how about- do you wish us harm?”

“No.”

He could live with that at least. He could get used to Danyal in the home as long as it meant everyone was going to be safe.

A thought occurred to Alfred, “Are you- a boy? Like your voice box? What pronouns do you prefer?”

“I believe I was once a boy.”

“He/him pronouns then,” Alfred said, “I’ll try to respect that as long as you are here with us. Do you ever talk to Young Master Damian like you are talking to me?”

“She has our hearts in her keeping.”

Alfred furrowed his brow in thought. He still didn’t know what that meant but it must have been very important to the teddy if he kept on repeating it. He decided to try something else.

“Were you always a teddy bear,” he asked.

“No.”

“What were you then,” Alfred stood from his seat, realizing he was behind schedule on his daily duties due to the conversation. He lifted Danyal into his arms and began to head to the stairs.

A long pause.

“Phantom.”

Another pause.

“It comes to me that I certainly was a boy, now I do think on it.”

Alfred did not fully understand it. But he knew enough to be saddened by this answer. The only thing he could really guess was that it was ghost that was tethered to the bear in some way. Like the Annabelle doll two of his friends once found while they were traveling the country. While their charade was a scam, he still remembered how real that doll turned out to be.

“Are you… happy here? With Young Master Damian?”

“I suppose…. Interesting.”

Alfred nodded, heading up to Master Bruce’s room to tidy up, Danyal in tow.

“Bruce.”

Alfred’s eyes widened. He hadn’t excepted that name to be in the voice box or for the bear to recognize who was who in the home other than maybe himself and Young Master Damian, “Yes I usually go to his room first to check for laundry and tidy the bed.”

“Father.”

“Yes, Master Bruce is Young Master Damian’s father. He is also my employer,” said Alfred.

He found himself explaining more to the bear as they went about Alfred’s day. Telling him which rooms were whose and who everyone was to one another. There were lots of names in the voice box. And Danyal seemed to find one to replace the ones he couldn’t say when referring to each member of the house. Alfred was referred to as “old man” which he didn’t take offense to. He knew his age.

Master Bruce was still Bruce. Young Miss Barbara was Miriam. Young Master Dick was Jock. Young Miss Cassandra was Ophelia. Young Master Jason was Angus. Young Master Tim was Hamish. Young Miss Stephanie was April. Young Master Damian was Andrew. Danyal referred to himself as Phantom.

Speaking with the sentient teddy seemed to pass the time rather well, making the long days feel not as such when he was all by himself in the manor. The bear became a great listener when he wanted to speak about his frustrations on the few occasions he could not sit silently about them. The two of them became quite the duo when nobody else was home, the others no doubt noticing but no one ever made a negative comment about it with any real malice.

Just as Alfred had suspected, the toy would never speak around Young Master Damian but Alfred was starting to see why. When Danyal and Young Master Damian were together, Young Master Damian seemed to have an understanding with the teddy. He would talk to him and as if he were talking back and seemed to know when Danyal wanted to stay downstairs for the day rather than go back to his bedroom. On those days, the young master would shuffle to Alfred with a glare, telling him Danyal wanted to spend the day with him, handing over the bear.

Once again, Alfred found himself becoming quite the duo with Danyal, often having him around when the young master was busy. He didn’t mind it. It actually was quite fun. Especially since no one else understood why he was so respectful to the toy. Sometimes, the voice box would start to play while others were around but not within earshot which only made the everyone more confused when Alfred was the only one who could hear it and respond.

On more than one occasion, Master Bruce had tried to tell Alfred that perhaps a doctor’s visit was in order to which the old man could only laugh as he had tried to tell him several times that the bear was a peculiar little thing. On one occasion in particular, Alfred had seen Young Master Jason sneak into the manor to see Young Master Damian and the poor boy stared at Alfred as he conversed with Danyal while preparing the dough for some tarts he was planning on baking. Alfred had pretended not to notice Young Master Jason so he wouldn’t have to fetch Master Bruce and cause a very awkward family reunion neither of them were prepared for.

“Out of curiosity, is Danyal the name you had before you were a bear or was the name chosen by young Master Damian,” he had asked while prepping the ingredients. He had sat Danyal on the countertop, leaning against the tile on the wall while he worked.

"It's Coraline. Not Caroline. Coraline."

By now Alfred was getting better at understanding what the teddy was trying say despite the obvious limitations, "Ah. So your old name was similar but not the same."

"Yes."

"Interesting. Well I hope that the new name is comfortable for you,” Alfred said as began to mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.

“It is.”

He smiled, “I’m glad to hear that.”

The bear suddenly shifted the slightest bit, leaning as if looking over Alfred’s shoulder, “Angus.”

A laugh fell onto the old man’s lips as the teddy was just as perceptive as ever. Alfred had also noticed Young Master Jason standing there in the doorway to the kitchen. He was doing his best to ignore it, as the boy was only here to see Young Master Damian and he knew it wasn’t his place.

“Yes, he drops by from time to time. I must say you have quite the eye Danyal,” Alfred said, turning away from the baffled look in the doorway. Danyal’s speaker box was quiet so it most definitely looked as though he was talking to an inanimate object. He paid no mind to that simply continued mixing ingredients.

“Anyways, your tinsel looks very good today. Did Young Master Damian have you dry cleaned?”

Alfred mostly said that part to spook Young Master Jason into going where he had intended to. Alfred knew Danyal had been dry cleaned. He did it himself after the teddy had asked for a wash.

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