#Danny is going to mother that child so hard

[5sospenguinqueen]

But I Love Him | Oscar Piastri x Reader

Summary: Oscar Piastri’s girlfriend is Danny Ric’s biggest fan. When Oscar announces he’s signing for McLaren, she’s not sure how to react. 

Warnings: Fluff. Crack fic

Only a small one. Inspired by Nicole Piastri’s hilarious podcast appearance. Did I push back my scheduled posts in favour of this sudden smau? Yes

20233-2023 season

F1 Masterlist

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2021

mclaren just posted

liked by yn_ln, landonorris and others

mclaren what a race 🏆 an amazing drive from our honey badger

10,333 comments

landonorris great race, mate

yn_ln that’s my driver! 

→ oscarpiastri love you too

→ yn_ln shush, daniel might see this and then think we’re dating

→ oscarpiastri we are dating

→ yn_ln you’re ruining my chances

markwebber skills

→ yn_ln lovely, wonderful, talented mark. fancy spoiling a girl and getting her danny ric merch?

→ oscarpiastri you don’t talk like that to me

→ yn_ln because i have to deal with you leaving your wet towels on the bed

→  yn_ln plus all your merch is alpine

→ user1 she's so real for that tho

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2022

yn_ln welp, there go my chances of meeting danny ric if you’re not going to be an f1 driver

→ danielricciardo i’m sure we’ll both be in aus at the same time in the future ;)

→ yn_ln omg he talked to me. oscar, he talked to me! 

→ oscarpiastri yup, i can see that

→ yn_ln why don’t you care?! 

logansargeant that’s one way to break the news 

→ yn_ln he’s so dramatic isn’t he

→ user2 why is oscar still with her? she’s so mean to him

→ user3 it's called banter. try it some time, babe

aussiegrit never a dull day with you 

→ yn_ln at least you get to hear about this beforehand. the alpine announcement shook me

→ oscarpiastri um, it shook me too? 

→ yn_ln do you need me to stroke your hair again? 

→ aussiegrit @/yn_ln you're no better

nicolepiastri your girlfriend is distraught that you didn’t consult her before being a drama queen. i raised you better than this 

→ yn_ln 🤍🤍

→ oscarpiastri beaten for #1 child by my own girlfriend

oscarpiastri just posted

liked by yn_ln, logansargeant and others

oscarpiastri it’s official 

6,981 comments

yn_ln but i love daniel…

→ oscarpiastri i know. everyone does

→ yn_ln but i love him the most 

→ oscarpiastri i know

→ user4 bit weird that you’re not congratulating him

fernandoalo_official amazing news. can’t wait to see you on track 

user5 mclaren are so messy for using an alpine pic

user6 okay but hello mr piastri. i was not familiar with your game

→ user7 yn saw the vision when she fell for him years ago

→ yn_ln c’mon guys, he was cute before 

→ oscarpiastri i’m still cute now!

→ yn_ln no, now you’re hot

→ oscarpiastri oh 🤭

→ landonorris fuck me, is this what i have to deal with now?

→ logansargeant yes

→ arthur_leclerc yes

→ frederikvestiofficial yes

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2023

yn_ln just posted

liked by oscarpiastri, frederikvestiofficial and others 

yn_ln hubby’s first f1 race weekend (but more importantly, i met THE daniel ricciardo. and he was wearing his best colours)

3,813 comments

oscarpiastri i thought this was going to be a really sweet post and then

→ landonorris i actually watched his smile fall 

→ yn_ln he’s in love with you now. it’s your responsibility to brush his hair and promise him he’s special 

→ oscarpiastri between you and my mother, i don’t think i’ll ever have a comfortable day on the internet 

danielricciardo i took really nice photos with you, and you post this one? 

→ yn_ln please don’t be mad at me. i cry easily 

oscarpiastri it’s bad enough that the world knows daniel is your favourite driver. can you at least pretend mclaren is your favourite team?

→ yn_ln go papaya! 

→ yn_ln love you, pookie 

→ oscarpiastri love you too, sweetheart

→ user8 the fact that no matter how hard she bullies him, he can never NOT say i love you back

aussiegrit proud of our boy 

→ yn_ln me too! 

→ oscarpiastri say it to my face, you coward

→ user9 how is oscar so sweet and introverted in interviews but then we see him like this on his girlfriend’s insta

→ oscarpiastri she brings out the demon in me

danielricciardo just posted

liked by landonorris, maxverstappen1 and others 

danielricciardo stole my seat so i stole your girl tagged: oscarpiastri, yn_ln

4,303 comments 

arthur_leclerc i bet he’s crying in his driver’s room

logansargeant i joked about stealing her once and he hit me with a wrench 

frederikvestiofficial i made her laugh once and he bit me 

landonorris @/mclaren are you seeing this? i think i want a new teammate 

user10 pr are screaming

→ user11 they do anytime yn comments on things

oscarpiastri keep her

→ yn_ln oi! 

→ yn_ln i mean… he did give you permission 

→ logansargeant where was this treatment for us?

→ oscarpiastri i’m fed up of her now. i still had hope back then

maxverstappen1 i thought we were forever 

→ yn_ln you can’t beat my devotion to him

→ maxverstappen1 no but i can beat your devotion to your boyfriend 

→ yn_ln eh

oscarpiastri just posted

liked by arthur_leclerc, aussiegrit and others

oscarpiastri she loves me really

4,811 comments

yn_ln my whole 💕

→ oscarpiastri i love you lots  

→ yn_ln you know you’re my favourite guy forever

landonorris can confirm that they are disgustingly in love around the paddock 

→ yn_ln you’re just jealous because you keep trying to steal him

danielricciardo i was stood next to them once and she didn’t even glance at me because oscar was making her laugh 

→ nicolepiastri he’s not even funny 

→ yn_ln don’t say these things. you’ll ruin my reputation as danny ric stan #1

user12 he’s not beating the orange cat allegations 

→ user13 not with all the comments over the years of her stroking his hair to make him feel better

logansargeant bro relax. no one’s going to take her from you 

→ oscarpiastri daniel’s rejoined red bull. her favourite driver is back with her favourite team. i have to stake my claim 

→ yn_ln when he gets possessive 😍

→ arthur_leclerc 🤮🤮

frederikvestiofficial i thought not being in f1 meant i could escape this. get it off my fyp

[long-live-astronerd-ghost-king]

DPXDC prompt: Spiritual Siblings

Bruce: My assassin kid can't be that normal!

Damian: Well, I’m completely emotionally stable by Amity Park standards. The problem is with you. Obviously.

~~~~~

Damian had long found peace and home in Amity, so he did not worry that the new family and Gotham might not accept him.

Sure, Al Ghul had lived without any contact with his biological father all these years but he could safely say that he had a happy childhood. First years were hard and he was raised more as a weapon than a human being. Even so, after that a ghost who decided to become his brother appeared and everything changed.

Damian still does not know what Ra's owes Phantom but Danny has a right to take him, without prior notification, to live with Fentons, to visit Aunt Alicia at her farm, and to make Vlad’s weekends much less calm and boring. Danny jokes that he just steals him as a hostage when Al Ghul does not pay taxes for using Lazarus Pits. Whatever the reason, he already has a family that loves him.

However, he still wanted to make an effort to fit in this one too. The model of conduct certainly was his older brother. No, not the oldest, of course. To be honest Dan wasn’t the kind of a man that could charm you from the first minute. But Danny, in Damian’s experience, had a calming effect on people. So he tried to act like him.

And, yeah, for lack of experience, he was more fun!Danny at home and super!Danny on patrol but he also really tried not to get any of his own assassin personality in his new-self and was tired of it. He couldn’t get a 100% match. Fine. Still doesn’t look like anyone in this house really likes him, so whatever.

Damian understood why Bruce didn't like his company. Jazz had long ago explained to him the importance of voluntary consent. His mother did a terrible thing. Al Ghul was not a child and therefore he was ready to admit it. However, he also understood that children were not responsible for the actions of their parents.

As a biosocial being, he wanted to be more than just a painful reminder of what had happened to Bruce. Wayne's ignoring of his existence was rude. But Damian wouldn't force this man to spend time with him just because he was legally obligated to take care of his well-being. He wasn't going to prove anything to Batman, and he definitely didn't need his attention. The care of his real family is enough.

But Damian really tried to get along with new potential siblings. He even shared Sam's and Danny’s special jokes with some of adopted kids 'cause he didn’t want them to feel like he put himself above them. He wasn't good at showing emotions but he was as open as the assassin could afford to be to strangers.

But they all obviously expected something from him. And it reminded him of the League in an unpleasant way. It was easier with Fentons. Almost everyone in Amity Park was saying what they thought, and Damian didn’t have to waste time decoding potential conspiracies.

Damian missed movie marathon nights with Sam, Tucker, and Danny. And he hoped Dani had time to bother Vlad in his absence.

It was so weird here. When Danny and Valerie were fighting, they would gather at the dinner table anyway. When Damian wanted to have combat training with Drake here, he was forced to stay in his room. A very strange punishment. And undeserved one too.

Al Ghul felt quite calm and fine sitting at his easel and painting the people he left behind. An unusual subject for his paintings. But, Ancients, he missed Amity.

He missed Jack's bone breaking hugs, Maddie's Ecto-Contaminated food, arguments of Sam and Tucker, cozy art class with Mr. Baxter and even Vlad's done look. He missed Danny telling him about the stars. He also missed sword practice with Dan's boyfriend Fright Knight and he missed Dan's stories about his other youth. He missed literary evenings with Mr. Lancer, Clockwork and Ghost Writer. He even missed the hours-long Jazz lectures. He missed the dance of death and life. He missed being looked at without expecting anything from him. He missed the crowd. In the league, he was never at one with himself and in Amity he was always surrounded by people who were not afraid of his fate as the heir to the said League. This Manor was full of people, but for the first time in his life he felt lonely. Damian has to admit that he felt left behind. Of course, he understood that people needed time to build relationships, but he could have sworn that even he didn't need that much time to connect with Fentons. Maybe this is one of the tricks of the Clockwork? Then this one is not funny at all.

~~~~~Phone call~~~~ Damian: Mom, I want to go home. Maddie: I'm so sorry to hear that, sweetheart. What happened? Damian: Just…Nobody likes me. Why was I sent here? I'm not weak. And my brothers are quite capable of protecting me from Raas. I don't need Batman for this. Maddie: We'll figure it out, champ. Moms love you, remember? I'll talk to Talia, okay? Your brothers and sisters are already on edge and ready to steal you right during the patrol. Damian: It would be nice, but it would put a bat on their tails. So lock them in thermoses if they bother you too much. Maddie: But that won't stop Jazz. Damian: I missed the part where that's my problem. Maddie: Well, it will be your problem if she comes to your doorstep with your childhood photos and moralizing.

~~~~~~~~

It's his birthday. And he was always excited about it. But now, looking at the pile of gifts, he realizes that these people don't know him at all.

And this is the family of the best detective in the world? Maybe yes, but none of them bothered to really find info about him or ask him about his likes. Damian's a stranger here, and that's obvious.

The lunch container, which he will obviously give to the Boxing Lunch when he's in the right time interval, tennis rackets that Youngblood might like, The Graveyard Book…

Valerie had already read it to him and Dani before it was published. Thanks to Clockwork for his little miracles. The book reminded him of home.

Obviously this one is from Jason. And well, Damian doesn't think it was a pun on his life in Amity, more like Hood's inside joke about death but Dami will definitely leave this thing in the room at the Manor and maybe take it with him to the GZ or Amity Park.

~~~~~~~

When they gather at the festive table, Damian realizes that he has to make some kind of speech. He tries to be as brief as possible in his report.

Damian: Todd, your gift is appreciated. And I found a potential use for items that were given by others, Bruce.

Damian never called Batman his father. With Maddie and Talia, calling both moms wasn't weird, especially when Jazz explained to his biological mom that he wasn't trying to replace her. But with Wayne, it was different. Both women took care of him, they deserved this title. Wayne provided for his needs, but his core heart didn't feel like they were close. Surely there's nothing wrong if they're just Bruce and Damian? Obviously, they both don't enjoy each other's company.

Jason: So, do you like books, little demon? Damian: Sometimes reading is quite relaxing, I should point out. I'm not indifferent to Stephen King and Lovecraft. Jason: Personal recommendations? Damian: Cujo is one of my favorites. Jason: Not a common opinion, huh. Damian: It reminds me of my family. Damian tries to smile like Danny does, but Jason's twitching eye clearly indicates that he screwed it up.

~~~~Dick and Jason synchronously drop their forks as an excuse for a conference under the table.~~~~ Dick*whispers*: How's the situation? Jason*whispers back*: If the boy asks for a dog, don't be fooled. He will be happy to dance on our graves.

~~~~Cass knocks over their heads, urging them to return to their seats.~~~~

Damian: So how good you are at fading and sliding,Todd? Jason: Why did you ask? I can't, of course. Damian: Because you're dead. It seemed to me that this was a completely understandable interest. Jason: Wow, what a jerk. Damian: I wonder why your own incompetence makes me a jerk? Even my sister could do this when she wasn't dead for even a month.

Jason, for some reason, looks awkward, although he has never been embarrassed before by the idea that a girl could be stronger than him.

Jason: Your sister? How old was she when... So it's all about age. Damian rolls his eyes.

Damian: We're the same age. It seems like it was four or five years ago. To be honest, I don't remember. I wasn't around then. I'll ask Danielle the next time I go to the cemetery to visit her. Dick: I'm so sorry, Dami. Where is she buried? We can take you. Damian: There's no need. She has no grave, as there was nothing to bury. Bruce sighs loudly and covers his eyes with his hands. Damian: It's just easier to contact the afterlife in places like this, you now? Duke: We are very sorry, dude. Damian: Don't be. People come and go, and then come back if they haven't finished annoying you. There's no point in regretting the past. Her creation was not the most ethical thing but everything is going as it should. At least that's what Grandpa says. Considering that the old man is older than time, I prefer to believe him. No one plays with fate without his permission unless they want to get hit by the clock. Tim now looks like he's going to throw up and Damian hurries to move his plate closer to him. Jason: Yes, Bruce, this is definitely your son. Damian: Did I say something wrong? Dick smiles faintly at him but still doesn't find anything to say. Damian shrugs and goes back to eating asparagus. People outside of Amity are so weird.

Signal looks at Damian suspiciously as he carefully rearranges the plate of soy sausages away from himself. Did he take him for an idiot? Everyone knows that even vegetarian sausage bite and fight no worse than those with meat when they come back to life. It's not Damian's fault that he doesn't have an ectoblast with him and wants to have extra distance from the opponent.

~~~At the same time, in the walls of Wayne Manor~~~ Dani: The operation codenamed "Get Haunted Idiot" is declared open. Danny and Dan *salute*.

~~~Several Days Later~~~

Damian: So, this is Dan. Danny says we keep him as a GIW repeller. Dick: And Danny and Dan are.. Jazz: His brothers. I'm Jazz by the way. Elle and I are his sisters. Damian: I feat the criteria to participate in their name cult, so they took me. Dan, Danny, Dani and Dami. Dan *ruffles Damian's hair* : I prefer to call this biting threat Damn, to be honest. Dami: Shut up, DaNtE, they almost wrote Dark in your passport, you idiot. I can't believe I thought I missed you. Danny: Wow. Rude. Your grandpa would be disappointed. Great job, lil one.

~~~Several years later~~~

[luxaofhesperides]

the beginning - danny

0.

The Lazarus Pit brings Danny back.

The child who went into them, however, is gone forever.

Danyal al Ghul is the soul who should reside in this body. Danyal has a life still to live and Danny died ages ago, old and surrounded by loved ones, ready to spend the rest of his forever in the Infinite Realms.

Something's gone terrible wrong, he thinks rather wryly, squinting through the cold green water that surrounds him. An ache echoes through his body and he brings a hand—small, a child's hand that shouldn't belong to him— to his stomach, where he can feel a large wound slowly pull itself together.

Did I get stabbed?

He means to continue the thought, but a sharp pain hits his head, making him curl up. He gasps and air bursts from his lungs, water rushing to fill in the empty space. Danny chokes, panicking, as memories slide into place, the lives of Danyal al Ghul and Danny Fenton fighting for dominance in his head. His lungs burn, throat working futilely to push water out, but there's nothing to be done.

Danny is a child again, and just like last time, he dies young.

1. So.

Assassins.

Danny honestly can't tell if this is a step up or a step down from mad scientist parents. On the one hand: he knows they loved him, as clumsy as it was, even though they loved their work more. On the other hand: assassin cult sounds like something out of a fairy tale, and while cool, is definitely not safe for kids.

And Danny, somehow, is a child again.

This really wasn't what he expected when he woke up on the sandy bottom of the pit. He's in ghost form, which is an unpleasant shock, but at least its familiar.

He is also, if his memory as Danyal serves him correctly, nine years old.

Kinda sucks that he died so young this time round. Didn't even make it to the double digits before he was taken out of the running.

He can't remember what it was like being so small in his last life. He can't imagine how anyone would look at a child and run them through with a sword. It's a cruel world he's woken up in. It's made worse by the fact that he's alone.

At least being down here without needing to breathe is giving him valuable time to think.

Danny has lived a full life already. He didn't really need or want another one, content to be a full ghost in the Infinite Realms. But going back isn't really an option, now that he's in a new body. The kid he could have been deserves to live fully, and the least Danny can do is live that life for them.

It'll be hard, but Danny's sure he can manage a decent life for himself.

Being presumed dead will make his escape from the assassins easier, though he'll miss getting the chance to meet his new mother; assassin as she is, Danyal knows her not by her blades but by her soft lullabies and jasmine-scented hair. The loss of her child must be hurting her deeply, but it's necessary. If Danny wants any semblance of a normal life, he has to leave her behind.

Besides, he's seen enough death. He doesn't want to ever be the cause of it.

So, he needs a plan for this new life.

Step one: get out of dodge.

The rest he'll figure out on the way.

2.

Turns out assassins weren't the most shocking thing in this new life.

No, that honor goes to superheroes.

Genuine, honest to God superheroes! With powers and everything!

To think that Danny once called himself a superhero. Ha! As if! He's nothing compared to the likes of Superman or the Flash or even Green Lantern. They're in another league. Literally. They're part of the Justice League, which has a whole slew of other heroes, and Danny is possibly their biggest fan.

Not like that's weird; most people in this world are huge fans of superheroes. Makes sense, since they're the ones who rely on their protection the most.

It does suck to know that his background belongs to that of a villain. Assassins aren't known for saving people, after all.

Part of him contemplates becoming a hero again, taking up the role of Phantom and joining the ranks of Superman. But he's had many years to come to terms with the loss of his teenage years and the bitterness that came with it. That experience, that life once lived, helps him decide each time that being a civilian is the gift this life owes him.

At thirteen, Danny lives in a foster home with six other kids. He's the oldest and has his hands full taking care of everyone else while their foster parents work three jobs between them to keep them all afloat.

When his younger siblings play superheroes, he gladly takes the role of the villain, swooping in with a blanket to kidnap away an innocent bystander that has to be rescued. He falls over dramatically at the end of each fight and praises his siblings' strength and teamwork, making them puff up with pride.

It's all fun and games so long as it only stays fun and games.

Superpowers are cool and all, but his came at the cost of his life, his health, his future. He knows, better than anyone, the price of being a hero. He knows that even Superman carries heavy losses on his shoulders, struggles under burdens no one can see.

He's lucky that the small town he ended up in—Luray, Virginia—has no heroes or villains. Too small a place to be on anyone's radar, apparently.

His classmates often complain about how they wish they could live in a big city where there's more to do, more to see, superheroes flying through the streets to protect them.

Danny is happy where he is. It's quiet, and small, and nothing like what he's used to, but it's safe.

That's all he really wants.

3.

Here's something that stays the same no matter what world he's in: Danny is a magnet for trouble.

If the trouble stopped at bullies, everything would have been fine. Danny could handle Dash, and he could handle Justin just as easily.

But the universe loves to escalate with Danny, specifically, which is why Danny had to reveal his powers when some villain-wannabe school shooter attacked his high school.

And to think he felt bad for Jackson when he didn't make it onto the track team.

Luray does not have a meta population. They're too small to have much of a population at all, and much of it is white which made him, half-Iranian, stand out even before he threw out a barrier of ice to protect his classmates a second before the gunfire began.

"Danny?!" his seatmate, Clarrissa, cries out in alarm.

"Everyone get out the window and run for it!" he orders, "I hold him back as much as I can!"

"You can't stay here!"

"Don't worry," Danny says, offering her a tight smile. "He couldn't kill me even if he tried. Now go!"

His classmates hadn't wasted any more time, sending him shocked looks as they escaped the classroom. A glimpse of his reflection in the window revealed glowing green eyes and blue mist wafting out of his mouth.

Looks like his time in Luray is up. He hopes his foster siblings won't be too mad at him for running away.

The gunfire stops, and Danny takes his chance to leap through his ice, intangible, and tackle Jackson, easily knocking the gun away from him.

"Monster!" Jackson spits at him, and Danny laughs.

"Bold of you to say that. I'm not to one trying to kill people."

He doesn't want to hear anything else that comes out of Jackson's mouth, so he knocks the guy out with a solid hit to a pressure point on his neck. Hopefully that'll keep him down long enough for the cops to get him.

Danny stands and means to leave, but something hits the back of his head hard and he's out before he realizes what's happened.

When he wakes up, he's strapped down to a table in what is undeniably a lab, and sighs.

At least he made it to sixteen before he went into another lab. Maybe in his next life he might even get all the way up to twenty before he's pulled back down here.

4. Though he has all his powers and a ghost form, that doesn't mean he is a ghost in this life.

No, he's fully a meta, which means meta-suppressing cuffs work on him.

It's not exactly a discovery he was hoping to have while locked up in a lab, but it's what he's got, so he has to roll with it. The cuffs are heavy on his wrists and around his throat, keeping him from escaping as a group of people in masks and lab coats bustle around, ignoring him.

His head is still foggy, though likely more from the drugs than the hit he took to his head.

He doesn't bothering talking to any of them; they don't see him as human, and Danny's dealt with enough of that in his past life.

Mad scientists love to talk though, so he still hears the gist of their plans: recreating the meta gene for normal people, making a profit from selling powers, getting rich and famous from their accomplishments. They had been using Jackson to get corpses for human testing, but they got Danny instead — someone they can harvest bio material for, a much better find than a couple dead kids.

If he had the energy to rage, Danny would have killed everyone in the room already. They planned to kill his classmates just for test subjects.

He doesn't want to be an assassin, but he'd gladly lean into those old lessons to make sure they never hurt anyone again.

But the cuffs and drugs do a good job of keeping him docile, barely able to think, as they transport him around to different locations and cut him open.

He's not sure how long it's been when they ease up on the drugs a bit. It still takes time for his body to work through everything, and he comes too with a throat that's dry and a stomach that hasn't had anything in it for quite some time.

The first thing Danny does when they start asking him questions is throw up on them.

If they wanted cooperation, they should have treated him better. This is fully on them.

It makes for a convincing argument for food and water and a bathroom break, at least, so he gets what he demands and takes care of his human body under the cold gazes of three scientists.

"You guys suck," he says conversationally. "Keeping test subjects alive is like basic knowledge. No wonder y'all suck at your jobs."

"Your comments aren't needed," one of the scientists says primly. "Get up. We need to study how using your powers affects your body."

They hook a bunch of different things onto him, then lock him in a glass cage and use the cuff around his throat to send jolts of electricity through him when he doesn't do anything. He throws a chunk of ice at them, watching as it breaks apart into small pieces when it hits the glass. The scientists scribble in their notepads, and when they look at him again, he flips them off.

He gets shocked again, but it's worth it.

The process repeats for another few hours, then he's pulled out of the cage, gets an IV stuck in his arm, and drops off into drugged oblivion before he has time to start throwing hands.

5.

It must have been months. Danny's not sure; it's hard to keep track of time when locked in isolation.

He knows he's fed at least once a day. He's been getting a tray of bland food at random times, but he's counted over 50 trays sliding through the little slot on the bottom of his cell door.

Turns out insulting scientists and their procedures is a bad idea, especially when he has the language to really bruise their egos.

So.

Isolation sucks.

But at least they don't drug him anymore!

The cuffs do their job of keeping him in place, and if he didn't have memories of another life to keep him company, he definitely would have lost his mind long ago.

There's other people in here, other metas. He's heard them screaming and begging for mercy. He's heard them go chillingly quiet. He wonders why there are so many superheroes in this world when not a single one has come to save them.

Surely at least one would notice metas disappearing and would investigate?

But no.

No one ever comes to save them.

So Danny needs to figure out a way past the cuffs, and then he can be Phantom again long enough to free the other metas and make every scientist involve pay for their crimes.

He just needs to wait.

He just needs—

6.

When Danny wakes up, the alarms are ringing. It makes his head pound, throbbing with each piercing sound.

He stumbles up, using the wall to keep his balance, and freezes when he sees that the door to his cell is open.

…Huh.

The hallway is bathed in red light when he steps out. No one's around. He wanders around the facility, searching for answers and only finds more questions.

There are other cells, also empty. Certain rooms have blood splattered across the walls and the floor, but no bodies. Labs are destroyed, broken glass on the floor. But every room is empty.

He wanders until he finds what must be a security room. There's a strange device dangling off a keychain on a rack, and Danny eyes it curiously. He runs his fingers around the cuff on his throat, feels the little depression where the collar comes together, and takes the rounded device. If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work.

But if it does work…

The cuff pops open easily, as if it hasn't been his greatest foe these past few months.

All at once, his strength returns to him. He has forgotten what it was like to breathe easily, to feel his powers come to his call so easily, to be reassured that he can take care of himself.

It's almost like coming back to life.

He transforms, settling back into his ghost form with relief, and flies through the facility in search of any other metas that may need help. He finds no one, but he does catch a glimpse of the outside.

The sky is so blue it almost hurts to look at. Part of the facility has been blown apart; rubble surrounds the place and the surrounding forest has been flattened. It looks as though a fight has moved through the area.

Maybe a superhero did come to save them? Rude of them to leave only Danny, though.

He continues his search, poking his head into different rooms and hallways. He finds a staircase going down and follows it into the basement. More labs greet him, and the glow of computers and strange vials of liquid leave him unsettled.

There's a green glow coming around the corner than reminds him of the Lazarus Pit he flew out of, once upon a time many years ago, and that's what draws him forward.

Tucked away in that familiar glow is a small body, floating in a tube of liquid. There's an oxygen mask attached to her face, but that doesn't stop Danny from recognizing her.

"Ellie?"

7.

Just like in one life, Danny is cloned. The difference is that this time, there's no reason for it, no insane godfather trying to recreate a version of him that will choose him.

No, this time it's from a group of scientists who should have known better, who decided to mess around with his genes, and brought his once little sister now daughter into such a cruel, dangerous world.

Danny barely remembers breaking the glass to get her out of there. He doesn't know where he found the coat to bundle her up in, flying out of the facility as fast as he could. He feels sick, knowing it's his fault that she's here now, forced into a painful, terrifying existence because he wasn't strong enough to save himself.

He's a runaway meta victim of mad science. He can't take care of her.

"I'm sorry, Ellie," he whispers to her, pressing a kiss against her head. "I'm so sorry."

She small in his arms. She barely weighs anything.

Danny blinks back tears and tries to find some place he can stop and rest, somewhere safe he can gather his thoughts and figure out his next steps.

This isn't like when he first woke up in this world, with both sets of memories.

This is Ellie.

She deserves more than just a wish and a half-baked plan for a better life.

She deserves a family that wants her, that can care for her, that can protect her. She deserves to grow up normally and not worry about destabalizing or being a replacement for him or being hunted down.

She deserves one life to be a kid and grow up safe and be whoever she wants to be.

Danny will never be able to give her that.

But maybe he can give her to someone who can.

8.

Danyal grew up with an assassin mother and a cruel grandfather who expected far too much from a child. He was taught to kill and be more weapon than child. He was taught the world was something for him to take, to protect, to water with blood.

Danyal was meant to be the next Demon Head, and the next Bat.

Danny knows he can't go to his mother. If they're both lucky, he will never have to see her again. Knowing his luck, he's already planning explanations for why he never went back to her.

Danny's father, on the other hand…

It didn't take much to put the pieces together. The notorious Bat is Batman, Gotham's vigilante and one of the founders of the Justice League. While a child would have been left confused by the many comments his mother made about his father, it was simple enough for Danny to line them up with what he learned about the heroes of this world and realize, oh, that's my dad.

It takes a few weeks of research, using public libraries with Ellie tucked securely in a wrap to his chest, but he's able to learn more about Batman.

The most important thing being that he has kids.

Of course, none of this is officially acknowledged, but everyone knows that the Robins are his kids. Current Robin, especially, likes to remind people that he's 'the son of Batman'.

Okay. Cool.

Danny has siblings.

Awesome.

He's… not looking forward to those conversations.

At least it means more people to look after Ellie. Assuming they take her in, which Danny's really hoping for.

But it's the best he can do, so Danny sets course for Gotham and hopes that just this once, everything will work out.

9.

Meeting the Bats of Gotham is a lot harder than he expected.

A week in the city and he's barely caught more than a glimpse of them. He can't dedicate a lot of time to tracking them down either, needing to break into grocery stores to get food for him and Ellie.

She's so quiet as a baby, and it terrifies him. She's only cried twice the entire time he's had her, and Danny spends every day begging her to hold on.

Time during the day is spent catching naps and researching common vigilante spotting areas in Gotham. He's got a map of Gotham taken from a library and has been steadily marking it up, putting stars in the best places to find a Bat. There are places all over the city, and Danny has no idea how to know which ones are the best.

The only thing he can do is wait at a different rooftop each night, clinging to Ellie, wondering if this is the last night he has with her.

On the ninth night, someone finally arrives.

"Step away from the edge," a voice demands.

Danny turns to see Robin approaching, hands held out as if to catch him. He's bigger than Danny was expecting. Which makes sense; most of the stories Danny got online are from when Robin was a kid, and it's been a few years since then. He must be a teenager now. Older, but still young.

"Robin," he manages to say, his throat tightening. It feels almost like there's a noose around it. It feels like that meta-suppressing cuff has clicked back into place, leaving him helpless.

"Step away from the edge," Robin repeats. "There is no need for this to be your last resort."

"But it is," Danny whispers.

Robin darts forward and wraps a hand around Danny's wrist, yanking him towards the center of the roof. "Why on Earth would you come up here? Surely you must have known that someone would stop you."

"Batman," he gets out. "I need to speak to Batman."

"What for?"

"I'm… I was told, once, that I'm his son."

10. Robin stares at him for a long moment.

Then he takes off his mask.

Danny knows those eyes: he sees them every time he looks in a mirror.

"Danyal," Robin breathes. "You died before I was born."

"I did. Are you…?"

"Mother told me about you."

So he has a little brother. If only he hadn't left first chance he got, he could have known his little brother, gotten away from that place before it hurt him too. Danny has made many mistakes since he arrived in this world. Missing a little brother is perhaps the worst of them.

"Mother…" Danny repeats. "She put me in the Lazarus Pit. I remember that. She didn't want me to die."

"I was born to replace you."

Just like Ellie.

So many mistakes repeating. He's never felt like more of a failure.

"Batman. Our father. He treats you well? You are safe with him?"

Robins brows furrow, but he nods, which is enough for Danny. "Yes. Of course. Isn't that why you're here now?"

"I'm not asking for me." Danny carefully, gently, unwraps Ellie. "I'm asking for her. Please, take care of her. She deserves more than I can give her. Ellie… she'd be your niece."

Robin's eyes are wide. He's frozen until Danny pushes Ellie against his chest, forcing him to lift his arms to hold her.

"Wait, what about—?"

When Robin looks up, Danny's already gone.

It's for the best.

(masterpost for all parts)

[demonic0angel]

Things that happened at Thanksgiving today, but I make it DPxDC

Damian: … Richard? What are you doing?

Dick: *standing on the lawn and staring into the distance* I’ve been watching Danny try and struggle to park for the past fifteen minutes.

Damian: Oh. *also stops to watch* Have you seen Danielle and Jasmine come in?

Dick: Tbh, no. I’ve been watching Danny this entire time. And oh— oh! He stopped. Ooh, he turned around. He’s leaving. Damn, he gave up entirely and decided to park on the grass. Oh, he ran over Alfred’s bushes.

Damian:

Dick:

Damian: He won’t make it past the gates without Alfred sniping him.

Dick: Damn, you’re right.

————

Damian: *after Jason did something* what do you think you’re doing, Todd?

Jason: Lol, your mom

Damian: Actually, my mom only used you for her own goals. In fact, your mom abandoned you. Twice.

Jason:

Dick: Now, Damian, that’s not—

Damian: People who have had their mothers die in front of them should not speak.

Dick:

Damian: *pointing at Tim* And you! You may have had two parents at one point, but they definitely don’t consider you as their child! That’s why you had to stay with your neighbors so long! You’re an inconvenience!

Tim:

Stephanie: Hey now—

Damian: I don’t even want to hear you. Does your mother know you go out and fight crime? Does she even care?

Stephanie:

Damian: *looking at Cass* You too, Cassandra! But mommy issues wouldn’t be the least of your problems with your daddy issues as well!

Cass:

Damian: *turning around to Danny* And I didn’t forget about you, Fenton! No wonder you fit right in, your abandonment issues, raging teenage angst, and appearance makes you just at home, doesn’t it?!

Danny:

Tim: …. What about Jazz?

Jazz: *who’s been silent the entire time*

Damian:

Jazz:

Everybody else:

Damian: No, she’s a guest here. Why would I do that?

————

Dani: Pfft— Tim, Tim, can I— *can’t breathe from laughing too hard* can I touch your hair? It just looks so soft! *still laughing*

Tim: …?

Jazz and Danny: *also laughing their guts out*

Dani: *tries to reach for Tim but she keeps laughing and can’t focus on asking him* Your hair looks so soft— keheheh! C-Can I touch it??

Dani: *eventually swipes her finger under Tim’s nose and falls off of her chair from cackling so loud*

Tim: …..

Jason: *also bursting out in laughter* YOUR FACE!! BWAHAHAHAH

*Dani then proceeded to do this four more separate times with other people*

————

Dick: You know how Harley is back together with the Joker?

Dan: Yeah?

Dick: He cheated on Harley again.

Danny: *whirling around, flabbergasted* HUH?!

————

Dick: *carrying several bottles* Alright! Time for alcohol!

Jazz: Uhhh, Dick? Damian is right there—

Dick: He’s getting drunk tonight too!!

Everyone: ????

Damian: Yes! Alcoholism! *takes a plastic cup and takes a big gulp*

Dan: *looking at the bottle* This says sparkling apple cider?

Dick: Shhhh, just watch the show.

————

*dramatic screaming from other room*

Bruce: ….? What’s that?

Dick: Is that Jason? He sounds like he’s in pain

Bruce: *standing up* is he okay? Does he need help? Should I go and help him?! What’s happening—

Tim: Jason is playing ping pong with Dan and Danny. And losing really badly while Jazz is watching.

Bruce:

Dick:

Tim:

Bruce: oh.

[novelistwriter]

Ruthless Heir

DP x DC Prompt

I've seen many Demon Twins concepts, and I thought that I'd shake things up a bit for the idea

The twins, Danyal and Damian, have been training hard to meet their father. Their mother, Talia al Ghul, has told them that they need to earn the right to see their father, so that's what they do, and they push themselves past their limits, they play less, and they stop being kids.

They were close to being strong enough to meet their father, and then a rebellion in the League happened, led by Deathstroke. The twins fought Deathstroke together and sent him away, but Danyal was too injured and needed to be put in the Lazarus Pit to heal. Danyal never resurfaced.

Danyal had appeared in a different dimension, where he lived a mostly happy life but missed the warmth of his mother's embrace and the twin who was by his side for as long as he remembered.

Damian had gone to their father, grieving his brother, thinking that he is dead. Damian has another brother, but not by blood, Duke Thomas, the boy their father took in. He doesn't want another brother. He just wants Danyal back.

The events of Danny Phantom happened without much change, but with Danny training to become the Ghost King, when Danny reveals his Ghost Half to his parents, he is attacked and given to the GIW. He is tortured by experiments and cut open to be studied. But when Jazz and his best friends save him, they are taken out one by one until its just him and Jazz. She managed to get him to the Fenton Portal before collapsing at the bottom of the stairs. The last thing Danny remembers is Jazz telling him to keep going, so he does so, even with his weak body and damaged core.

While Danny was floating in the Infinite Realms, Clockwork had picked him up. He hadn't anticipated this happening. He thought that the timeline would be alright if he didn't interfere with anything in it. He should have interfered, then Danny wouldn't be like this.

As Clockwork prepares to send Danny back to his original dimension, he puts Danny's core into a 'Suppressed State', a state only for Halfa's that allow their cores to heal faster than normal Ghosts, but that state also suppresses their emotions and makes them viable to changes in their behavior and obsessions while they are suppressed. He sends Danny back to the Lazarus Pit he never resurfaced from when he was a child.

Danny resurfaced in the Lazarus Pit as Ra's was about to leave the cave it was in. His initial shock was quickly forgotten. His second heir had returned, and he will use his teenage heir to get to his adult heir. He never sent word to Talia, who was on a long mission, about her son's return.

Talia did return and had seen her other son in the big open training area, killing rebels ruthlessly, who decided to attack while Ra's was away. She rushed to his aid. And when the battle was over, she turned her attention to her son, the one who was always so much like his father, with Green Eyes like Damian, a face void of any emotion, and nothing like the little boy she loved.

She heads to Gotham to tell Damian and Bruce about Danyal's return. She couldn't get Danyal to come with her, as he vanished after telling her that Ra's told him to remain in his home. She hopes that Damian will be the person to get the old Danyal back. Her attempts to do so had failed.

[unfortunatelyphoenix]

So I had another idea that I wanna share, btw I still know barely anything about either fandom and am going off fanfics for info. Also I'm really tired rn so don't expect everything to make sense.

After a nasty accident the portal blew up with the explosion being so big it would've destroyed the entire planet and Ghost Zone if Danny hadn't managed to absorb the majority of the blast, but with how much power it had been Danny wasn't able to completely stop the destruction and was sent into a centuries long coma to heal with Clockwork and Frostbite putting the energy (both his and everything he was able to absorb from the blast) into a large pearl-like object and storing it into some ancient ruins to help protect him. But despite having taken so much of the force humanity was pretty much given a hard reset in advancements and created metas.

Now, centuries later, the JL hear of a villain (idk who) having pinpointed the location of an extremely dangerous magic artifact that could send everything back by centuries if not outright destroy the planet and obviously go to stop them, with a 10 year old Damien who is determined to become Robin managing to catch a ride and sneak along with them. Somehow Damien ends up in a position where he's between the villain and the artifact and is severely hurt, but he refuses to give up and the fighting makes a ruckus, enough of a ruckus that Danny wakes up.

Danny, who has absorbed all of the energy into is own being and now looks like some sort of animal-like creature, wakes up to see an adult hurting a kid so badly it looks like their gonna kill him and immediately goes into hero mode to save the child. Thanks to pretty much having the power of several Tsar Bombs now, easily finishes the fight and quickly starts panicking over the small injured child and does his best to use his powers to heal the kid whose barely even conscious.

At some point of Danny's frantic mother-hen-ing one of the JL members, who is also really injured, manages to get to the room to stop the villain only to find the villain unconscious, what looks to be a brand new Robin barely conscious, the artifact missing, and some sort of monster that looks to be made of space, shadows, and ice panicking over the small child and quickly getting protective once noticing the other person and putting itself between the JL member and the hurt kid to protect him, seemingly shape-shifting to appear more dangerous.

After somehow calming the thing down (which was pretty difficult due to a language barrier) the JL and JLD come to the conclusion that somehow the magic artifact must've reacted to Damien and bonded with him since it's refusing to leave his side.

Danny on the other hand thinks he's been out for maybe a month max and was transported to a different universe thanks to the existence of powers, superheroes, and the very prominent language barrier between them. He just hopes that this strangely stabby child calms down soon so he can find his way into the Ghost Zone so he can return to his family and haunt.

[evilminji]

You know what I would kill to see?

Nedzu, in the Zone.

He IS a registered Hero, after all. He probably gets calls for missions. Failing that, he's still legal allowed to intervene. Like, say, if some poor four year old were losing their shit? Got separated from their mommy, their headache, which has been getting Ochier ALL DAY has finally gotten Really REALLY bad... and they... they just CAN'T! So they melt down.

Whoops. Four year old with portals.

In a crowd.

Luckily he, Mr. Principle, is a "cute" looking sort of Hero. And as an educator, well trained in de-escala-*CRASH!* Some jackass glory chasing young thing, with no care for innocent lives around them, smashes onto the scene. Terrifying the poor child. Which obviously makes their non-existent control WORSE.

Starts throwing the word "villian" around.

Nedzu is going to EAT his license in front of him.

The poor thing is hyperventilating, crying, clinging desperately to Nedzus suit. Things are being flung from portals. Sucked into portals. He's seen no less then 53 SEPERATE dimensions on the other side of those rifts. At least two were to the open void of space.

He narrowly dodges a portal straight into the heart of a volcano. Can feel the blistering heat singe his fur. Alumni from HIS school, at least, have arrived to actually SAVE people. Get the crowd away from the danger zone.

And to think, all he wanted was some tea.

How this MORON doesn't recognize him, he has no idea. His graduates are actively SHOUTING his identity, for heavens sake. Yet the glory hound continues to chase his so called "villians" at the expense of everyone around him.

He's about to throw the boy to a near by police officer, to get to safety, when the worst occurs. The tract of land he was about to push off of disappears beneath them. The boy's mother screams. He activates High Specs, world slowing as his mind rushs. Twisting, he throws the boy high.

The portal closes before he can see if it is Eraserhead or Cementoss who will be the one to catch him. The odds were 68.3% in Eraserhead's favor. He hopes... Aizawa, does so take these things quite hard, he hope he will not blame himself.

There was no way to catch him in time.

He was already gone.

Gravity arrests, slowing to a drifting meander. The air thick with something the burns his sensitive nose. Green. Everything is a very peculiar green. This is not a planets or if it is, it is countless times larger then Earth. A gas giant of some sort? There does not appear to be a horizon.

In the distance, an almost stereotypical spaceship changes destinations. Now aiming right for him. It seems aid might be on the way. With nothing better to do, he waits. They slow to a stop, a hatch opens, and... oh? A young Hero student! Hello there young man! I am Mr. Principle of the illustrious UA!

And just? Danny? Trying to return this small furry alien guy back to his alien hero school? Getting the run around and "hmmmm, let me look that uuuup *takes forever* yeeeeah, soooorry. You're in the wrong department. You'll have to fly like three days to this OTHER department, fill out 260 forms, and dance for our amusement. Byeeeee~"

Like? He just wants to get this guy HOME! Why are you all LIKE THIS!?

All while Nedzu is " :) My, this is FASCINATING. I am learning new things, battling wits, learning new languages, AND guiding a promising young mind towards a future of Better Heroics? Delightful! This is practically a vacation!"

He even stops by the Fentons for dinner. Some fudge. A little light destruction of Goverment branches on the side. Just? A Grand ol adventure of Nedzu.

Danny suffers through bureaucratic hell. But Nedzu? The most mentally stimulated he's been in years. His crops are watered and his fur is groomed. Thriving! New toys!

Then?? He just... shows back up to work.

How did he return? Where has he been?? Who is this glowing green Hero Child groaning face down on his very expensive carpet? *sips tea* wouldn't YOU like to know, weather boy! *maniacal Nedzu laughter*

@hdgnj @babbling-babull @lolottes @nerdpoe @the-witchhunter @hypewinter @spidori

[starshideurfics]

A Mother’s Love

Omega Benny who was part of the MKUltra experiment in college. They took his baby, said he died, but Benny knows in his heart that he would have felt that. He moved to Hawkins after he found out Brenner worked there, hoping to be near his pup.

But with his build he’ll never make it past security.

So he waits, gathers information, and when Terry Ives comes to him with her plan, he asks her to look for his boy.

She’s so focused on finding Jane, Terry doesn’t even have a chance to notice that none of the pups there could be Benny’s boy.

Because he’s already been smuggled out.

The Harringtons aren’t the kind of family to go to a diner, so the first time Benny sees Steve the boy is in middle school, out with his friends. 13-years-old, still unpresented, and his scent makes Benny’s heart ache.

He’s found his pup.

🫂🫂🫂

Steve was a sensitive child. His mother always said so, that he couldn’t stand to see anyone in pain.

He’s grown out of it, or learned to control it now, hides it by fitting in with the popular kids, does his best to get Tommy not to be a dick.

But maybe that’s why.

Why he feels compelled to open the door back to the kitchen while he’s waiting to pay, and finds Mr. Hammond crying.

“Is something wrong?” he asks softly, letting the door close behind him.

“Oh, no…” Mr. Hammond says, wiping at his eyes. “Not wrong. Very right. I got some good news just now.”

“Oh,” Steve says, nodding. “That’s good. Still, are you gonna be alright?”

“Yeah, that’s very kind of you…?”

“Steve. Harrington.”

His face twitches at Steve’s name, but settles into a smile. “Thank you, Steve. Your mother must be proud of you.”

“I dunno about that.” Steve blushes. His mother worked hard to make sure he could get along alright, but she would be upset with him for being nosy. For being noticeable.

“Well, I’ll be out in a minute. Meet you at the register.” He slaps his thighs and gets to his feet, and Steve slips from the backroom.

🫂🫂🫂

Benny doesn’t push. Not that first time. After what happened to Terry, he knows to be careful. But now he knows it. Remembers Marsha Harrington from the lab, one of the kinder nurses.

She must have gotten Steve out, but clearly not very far. Brenner might still know where he is.

But his boy is free.

And closer than he thought.

He calls Wayne Munson, asks to come over that night. Benny needs to make a plan.

🫂🫂🫂

Benny brings burgers and fries over to Wayne’s after he closes up at 10. Wayne’s out smoking on his tiny porch, and immediately pulls him into an apple-cinnamon hug.

He lets himself cry again, being held by his closest friend. Wayne lets him cry, holds off on asking questions.

Once Benny’s cried himself out, they go inside, Wayne grabs a couple beers, and they sit at the kitchen table. “So,” Wayne starts, “Tell me what happened.”

Benny does.

“And you’re sure it’s him?”

“Yeah. It ain’t just that it feels right. It’s Marsha Harrington.”

Benny takes a deep breath. Wayne already knows the basics of what happened, about the weird experiments and the drugs, about the isolation and giving birth too doped up to know up from down. About Terry and Claire, Danny and Paula, the other omegas in the program. His friends.

But he doesn’t know as much about the doctors and nurses that surrounded them. The scientists.

Benny’s talked about Brenner, but not this. He blows out his held breath.

“I always hoped I’d get Marsha’s rotation for blood draws. Could barely feel the needle go in when she did it. She was gentle.”

He tells more, neglecting his food, how Marsha held him after Brenner said the pup didn’t make it. “Too small, such bullshit, I could feel him inside me; my family has big babies.” Wayne smiles at that, looking up. “But Marsha was kind, said to hold him in my heart. That a mother knows…”

And he did. He does. He knows his boy, and now he’s seen him, Benny feels a mix of joy-pain-terror over it all. “Maybe she still works there, or maybe she started to lose faith then. Somehow, she got him out of there.”

“She must know you live in Hawkins now.”

“Probably.”

“Do you think she’d talk to you?”

“I dunno.”

“So, what do you want to do?” Wayne takes a swig of his beer, his food mostly eaten, while Benny’s is practically untouched.

“I wanna hold him.” Benny rubs at the tears in his eyes. “But I don’t want to scare him. He’s half-grown as it is.”

Wayne gets up, goes to put his arms around Benny, puts a wrist by his nose to calm him. “Want me to ask Eddie about him? They’re close enough in age he must know some things.”

“I… Yeah, please. God, Eddie probably hates him.” Even keeping his distance, Benny knows the Harringtons are rich as sin.

“Far as I can tell, the only thing Eddie bothers hating is the hospital. And sometimes his daddy, when he ain’t idolizing him.” Wayne steps back, wraps up Benny’s untouched burger, and puts it in the fridge. “A lot happened today. You should rest; hopefully it will all be clearer in the morning.”

Benny nods, happy to follow Wayne to his nest, to be held like he’s precious as he falls asleep.

🫂🫂🫂

Eddie’s cutting math class, hanging at the Hawkins High smoking patio, when one of the Hawkins Middle side doors opens. He recognizes Harrington from his hair, even fluffier than normal because he keeps running his hands through it and rubbing at his neck.

His polo is darkened with patches of sweat.

Eddie drops his half-smoked cigarette, grinding it out with his heel. He runs over to the younger boy—still a pup, but it looks like that won’t be true much longer—hands held up to show he may be an alpha but he’s not a threat. “Hey, you okay there?”

“No,” Harrington whines, tugs at his shirt. “Think m’dying.”

Taking a quick sniff, Eddie picks out the honey-sweetness of omega, and grins. “Not dying, presenting. Want me to take you to the nurse? Have her call home?”

Harrington shakes his head. “Dad’s out of town, and my mom has some lunch thing… Nobody’s home.”

At least he’s with it enough to know that.

“I could still take you to the nurse, she’ll have… stuff to help—”

“No! Please, don’t take me back in there.” Harrington looks about to cry, only to double over in pain, like he’s been punched in the stomach.

Eddie reaches out on instinct, squeezes his shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay,” he soothes.

It’s like saying it makes it true, triggers the perfect thing to do in his brain. Harrington is still pretty short, just clearing five feet tall. “Do you think you could balance on my handlebars? So I can get you somewhere better than this? Somewhere comfortable.”

Harrington nods, and Eddie smiles.

He guides him to the bike rack, pulls out his own bike and holds it steady as Harrington gets situated. Biking with the extra weight is hard, but it doesn’t take long for Eddie to get them to the omega he trusts most in the world: his Uncle Wayne.

“What the hell, Ed?” Wayne asks from the doorway.

“No one at home,” Eddie pants, still catching his breath. “You wouldn’t wanna have your first heat at school either. Told Harrington I’d take him somewhere safe.”

“Harrington?” Wayne looks startled. Eddie starts to worry.

“You can call me Steve,” Harrington says with a pout as he gets off the bike.

Wayne nods. “Steve, come on in. We’ll get you comfortable, but you’re gonna want something from your mom’s nest, the scent will help.”

“Mom doesn’t have a nest, she’s a beta.”

“Oh. Then we’ll get you set up in mine. D’you wanna shower? Deal with the… mess?” Eddie knows Wayne is being delicate.

That he doesn’t want to say that Harrington’s underwear is full of the aftermath of his pussy opening up. It might not be yet, Eddie’s not sure. They don’t go too in-depth on the timeline in health class.

The grimace on Harrington’s face, the quick nod, says it’s already happened.

Wayne gets a hand on Harrington’s back, helps him inside as he stares at Eddie. “Head back to school. Stop in the middle school office to let them know Steve went home.”

Eddie digs his toe into the ground. “Okay…”

“And stop skipping Algebra! You wanna graduate, don’t ya?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

Eddie watches as Wayne’s attention turns fully to Steve, feels a spike of jealousy, then pushes it away as he turns to bike back to school.

🫂🫂🫂

Steve feels better after the shower, and Munson’s uncle left him baggy sweatpants and a t-shirt. His skin still feels too hot. Itchy. He pulls on the sweats and tightens the drawstring, but leaves the shirt as he wanders from the tiny bathroom.

“Hey, kiddo, let’s get you settled.”

“Thank you, Mr. Munson.”

“Wayne is fine. Ya thirsty?”

Steve nods, suddenly aware of how dry his tongue is.

“Yep, your body is gonna run through fluids pretty hard for the next day or so. C’mon, pup.” Wayne places a hand between Steve’s shoulder blades and guides hin to a cozy nest of blankets.

There are shirts and pillowcases tucked into the sides. The whole room smells warm, like cinnamon rolls with sticky glaze. The homemade kind, spicier and sweeter than the ones from the tube that his mom makes on the weekends. Or… Used to make. They don’t do family meals much anymore.

Wayne helps Steve into the nest, makes a shushing sound when Steve whines at being left alone. “Just getting you that water, pup.”

Steve nods again, wriggles down in the nest, and breathes deep. He feels better almost instantly, his nose pressed against a plain, white undershirt. Right there, the scent of apples cuts through the cinnamon, and Steve relaxes, melts against the blankets. He feels safe here, protected. Like he’s being held.

He wants to be held. Wants his mother.

Steve wishes he was little again, that he could be wrapped in a blanket and held in her lap.

His mother hadn’t held him like that since he started school. Since he stopped going to the daycare with the colorful playroom.

His mother is not a cuddler.

Steve wants to be cuddled. Desperately.

Wayne comes back with his water, and Steve sits up. His skin drags on the blankets, sweaty. Wet.

He drains the glass and Wayne sets it aside. He sits in the nest with Steve, pets his hair. “How are ya feelin’, kid?”

“Okay. Better. It’s nice here.”

“Good. That’s good. Do ya know when your mother should be home? So I can give her a call. Let her know where you are.”

“Four. I think?”

“Okay. Until then you rest.” Wayne pushes back Steve’s hair from his forehead.

Nodding, Steve nuzzles back against the apple-y shirt again, and starts to purr.

part 2

[charlietheepicwriter7]

Teen Villain Alliance Chapter 6

When Fenton had given Damian his task of attending classes and picking a team, he hadn’t expected to start enjoying it. 

Which was a miscalculation on Damian’s part. Damian had always enjoyed learning; his mother had been indulgent with what he learned as a child, sending tutors in everything that caught his interest, from art to world history to veterinary medicine. It wasn’t until his education in assassination began in earnest–around his 7th birthday–that his interests were stifled. And when he’d been sent to live with Father, it ground to a halt.

It took months for Father to deem him “tamed” enough to introduce him to the public, and even then he was  not allowed an education. While Damian was grateful that he wouldn’t endure public schooling, Father didn’t even allow tutors on the premises. Instead, Damian attended “online school” which consisted of video lectures and multiple choice quizzes on topics he’d covered years ago. In addition to the online school, he had daily lectures on “ethics” and “societal norms” from either Pennyworth or Grayson, neither of which were experts in the area. He’d asked. 

The TVA was different. Better, if he were honest, but he’d never admit it aloud. The teachers were ghosts, experts in their fields. Who else could say that they learned chemistry from Maria Skłodowska-Curie, or battle tactics from the first Amazonian, Pandora? The ghosts around him were not stuck in the past, nor apathetic to life on earth; instead, they kept learning, kept evolving, with a careful eye on the world outside the Infinite Realms. 

And despite himself, Damian even enjoyed having classmates. No class was large–most didn’t have more than 10 students per teacher–and many classes involved a debate aspect that allowed them to get to know each other. Just the other day, Damian had spent over an hour discussing the methods for creating a locked door murder with Shadowblade, a 14-year-old ninja from Japan. 

There was no competition, with the exception of combat classes. In the League, and at Wanye Manor, he was always competing. To be the best so he wouldn’t be replaced, to be strong to live up to the name of Al Ghul. Competing for Father’s attention, his approval, over the ingrates that make claims to a birthright that is not their own. With Grayson, Todd, Cain, Drake; each of them stronger, faster, better trained, better behaved. 

Trusted. 

Was it any wonder that Damian had jumped at the chance to prove himself?

Dr. Fenton–Danny, the man had insisted–trusted him. He wanted Damian to lead his team in the field. In his hand was a list of all the members he would work with, and the paper was tacky with sweat. Taking a deep breath, Damian knocked on the door to Fenton’s lab. 

After a few minutes, Fenton opened the door. He looked frazzled, hair astray and lab-coat half on. “Damian!” He said, smiling brightly. “I wasn’t expecting you, come in! I just reached a good stopping point for my latest project.” He invited Damian into the lab. “What can I help you with?”

Damian held out his list. “These are the four members of the TVA that I thought will work best as your infiltration squad.” He’d thought long and hard about who had the skills to join and, more importantly, who he could tolerate working directly under him. 

Fenton smiled. “That’s great! Have you started talking to them? Making friends?”

“...Some,” Damian decided on, thinking back to Shadowblade. “Everyone on that list has skills or abilities that would enable easy information gathering. I have yet to approach them though; I thought you’d prefer to determine if I’ve made the right choice.”

“Fantastic! I’ll give them to Jazz in a bit, see if there’ll be any conflicts. How’s everything going for you? Have you enjoyed all your classes?”

Damian nodded, but looked away. There was another reason why he was here. “May I… ask you something? I’ve encountered a conundrum that I could use advice for.”

“Of course! I’m always willing to ask. But if I may ask, why don’t you ask Jazz? She’s mentioned that she hasn’t seen you in her office once, and she gives fantastic advice.”

Damian made a face. “I see no reason to submit myself to brainwashing when I am already a loyal member of this organization. There’s no need for me to attend.”

Danny’s eyebrows rose. “Okay, we’ll come back to that eventually. But what’s bugging you, Damian?”

Damian swallowed. Suddenly, all the anger from the thought of therapy drained out of him and he sagged. “Is it… bad? That I am happier now than I was before?”

“What do you mean?” Danny asked, leading Damian over to a couch near the entrance of the lab. It was clearly a recreational space, with a gaming system in front of a TV. Damian sat beside him as he considered his words. 

“I… enjoy my time here. I like it more than I’ve liked anywhere else. And I should not. I shouldn’t be enjoying this life while leaving the people who raised me behind. My mother, my grandfather—this feels like a betrayal.” His father would be so disappointed in him if he learned how affected these villains made Damian. 

Danny’s face softened. He took in a deep breath, turning in his seat to face him. “I can understand that. Did something similar to my folks when I joined Phantom, you know.”

“...Really?” No one knew about the Wolves' pasts. Many of his fellows speculated, but no one knew for sure. The top theory for Fenton was that he was a mad scientist on the run from the government. 

“Yeah.” Danny nodded, glancing down for a moment before meeting Damian’s gaze. “When I was your age, I... betrayed my parents too. Not in the same way as you, but... my parents were ghost hunters. They spent their lives teaching me and my sister that ghosts were dangerous, evil. And for a long time, I believed them. But then they built a portal to the Ghost Zone, and ghosts starting coming through, and Phantom happened, and…” He looked away, swallowing. “I realized how wrong they were.”

He paused, gauging Damian’s reaction. The boy was listening, quiet but intense.

“I ended up siding with the very things they want to destroy,” Danny continued. “They want to indiscriminately massacre an entire species. They even co-authored a law that makes it legal to experiment and execute ghosts in American territory.” 

“What?” Damian couldn’t believe what he was saying. There couldn’t be a law that so blatantly breaks the Metahumans Protection Act, right? The Justice League–Father–would never stand for it. 

“It’s true,” Fenton said, as if to counter Damian’s thoughts. Damian boosted his mental shields just in case Fenton was a telepath. “There’s a whole government organization dedicated to ‘researching’ ghosts. Of course, they’re more interested in dissecting them.” Damian shuttered. “See? It’s clear that they’re in the wrong in this instance. That helps me some, when I keep thinking about how I betrayed my parents. But even knowing I was doing the right thing, it still hurts. Sometimes the people who are supposed to protect us and put us first end up hurting us the worst.”

Fenton placed a hand on Damian’s shoulder. “You’re a good kid. You’re so smart, and you have so much potential. But what your grandfather did to you was wrong. What your mother did was wrong. And you have every right to distance yourself from any situation where you feel unsafe.”

Damian looked away. “They were just trying to make me stronger,” he muttered. 

“Would you ever do what they did to someone else? Even to make them stronger?”

Damian’s lips pressed into a thin line, his mind swirling with memories of training, the endless demands for perfection, the blood on his hands. He thought about how much he had been shaped by the League, how much he had been forced to be something he hadn’t chosen. And then there was his father. He had felt so out of place, constantly trying to meet expectations he didn’t fully understand, let alone agree with.

“No,” Damian whispered, the answer clear. “I wouldn’t.”

“Then there’s your answer,” Danny said, smiling gently. “It doesn’t matter what they wanted for you. You’re not betraying them by living a better life or by choosing a path they wouldn’t have chosen for you.”

Damian stayed quiet for a moment, absorbing Danny’s words. A small weight lifted from his chest. He didn’t need to feel guilty for enjoying this life—this better life—away from the constant pressure of the League, or from the expectations of his father.

Danny leaned back again, folding his arms behind his head, the familiar goofy grin returning. “And hey, for what it’s worth, I think you’re doing pretty awesome here. You kicked butt in those combat drills last week.”

Damian flushed, suddenly embarrassed. “You saw those?”

“Yup,” Danny popped his lips, grinning smugly. “Sam and Phantom are so jealous you’re on my team instead of theirs. They’re planning to poach you, but I trust that you’ll dismiss their bribes.”

A small, rare smile tugged at Damian’s lips.

[rabbitwitch2poems]

Part 6 based off a prompt by @ready-to-read7

I'm going to keep posting on here as well as AO3, but if y'all think a preview plus a link may be better let me know ^^

  It was a cave... A wet, echoey cave with huge platforms filled with tech and random things Danny's baby mind just didn't have the processing power to deal with. Overwhelming was an understatement to what the child was feeling. But hey, at least there was a cool dinosaur and a giant penny...and a creepy puppet in the back that looked like a mobster... (Danny looked a little closer and noticed some ectoplasm glowing from within but ignored it; that was future Danny's problem)        

 

     "Father, why have you returned so early with Superman, Wonder Woman, and a baby in tow?" The voice was hard to pinpoint for Danny seeing as the giant cave made all noises echo outwards. Thankfully the source of the voice made its presents known by the squeaking of a chair by the giant computer (Danny for a moment wondered why a hero with all the technology batman had would have a squeaky chair, he had to figure it was cause of the cave)          

 

    "I really hope you didn't have another fling" the small boy in a red and black costume said hopping down from the squeaky chair. Whoever this boy was, danger seemed to follow him. This was Danny's first impression based on two things,

1. the kid in a mask had a large sword and what looked to Danny like a thousands knives all over his person.

2. the amount of ectoplasm that this kid was expelling could feed an entire army of ghosts.      

 

     Also, what did he mean by fling? Did this man have more kids? Did he think he was going to adopt Danny? Well he wouldn't allow that! Sure the man seemed like he would make a decent father (he was intelligent, knew what he was doing, and focused on helping people so Danny assumed that transferred towards parentage as well) but if he had to choose a father he would rather Superman be his dad and he would fight anyone who tried to take him away from momma!

 

      "And now the child's eyes are glowing like the Lazarus pits grandfather watches over," this was said so bluntly that it took a few seconds for Danny to even realize all eyes were on him. He tried his best to play it off by smiling wide but he had forgotten how his teeth get when his ghostly attributes take over only causing his mother's frown to deepin. Danny frowned "sowwy momma, will exwain as bewst I can." With a deep breath and a kiss on the childs forehead his mother nodded.       

 

     The time has come for Danny to tell his mother what exactly was going on. He started with the basic of how he chose this world to be in, how he admired the three immensely and thanks to Clockwork (who he explained was basically time itself given a form) he was able to be reborn into this world, though even he didn't understand how or why he was in his core and in the possession of Luthor. He told them how Clockwork watches over the timelines within the multiverse and how he makes sure no deviations that could cause either that universe or the entire multiverse to unravel.   

 

   "So...he is kronos?" His mother asked causing Danny to pause for a second, "huh...kindwa? Nevew awskd... Wait dwos dat mean kwolcwork is my..." His mother confirmed with a nod, "great grandfather, yes my little one; seeing as my mother is Athena." Danny jaw dropped at that, oh he was so going to call CW gramps as soon as he could. Somewhere within the ghost realm CW shivered and turned to look at his mirror he used to check on Danny glaring at it.      

 

    Superman was in full attention to the little child's words while Batman was focusing both on the words and on quickly typing things into his small wrist computer to send to the main computer for later; only briefly stopping to ask questions. "So this realm you come from connects all worlds and multiverse together?" He asked and Danny nodded in answer, "baswiclly." Batman nodded at Danny, his emotions were starting to show more (it seems he allows himself to show emotions more when he is relaxed; as far as Danny could tell) curiosity and some kind of obsession floated around the man like tiny bats of different colours... One of them looked like a bat wearing a disco costume which puzzled the young boy.   

 

     More and more questions were asked, mainly about the ghost realm and how it worked which Danny couldn't really tell them in detail cause even he didn't know. They asked him if he had a name beyond what wonder woman had given him and he confirmed that Danny was his name,   "Last name?," batman asked bluntly, Danny pointed at his mother "hew wast name," it was an obvious answer to Daniel but the smiles on everyone's faces (even batman was slightly smiling though Danny could tell from his emotions floating around he was genuinely pleased) his mother hugged him close and kissed the top of his head causing the child to giggle happily.     

 

   Then came the tough questions, of where he used to live, he didn't remember much still, he remembered a crazy rich guy chasing him and wanting him to be his son, (this caused everyone including the child in red and black to laugh hysterically as Batman scrunched in on himself only to be hugged by superman, calming him down), he remembered a clone of himself that the rich man made to replace him (this caused Superman's emotions to flare with sadness and understanding which made Danny think he had an experience similar to him). They asked if that clone would be a problem and he shook his head, "she twavels a wot and hewps othwers," superman seemed to calm at his words confirming Danny's suspicions.  

 

      "Constantine called you  quote "your highness" what did he mean by that?" Danny sighed, he knew that question was going to come sooner or later. So he explained, he explained how the ghost zone had a rule of battle, where one owns what their opponent had upon defeat and how the last king of the realms, who basically kept order in the entire multiverse, was a tyrannical monster who was sealed away only to be brought back by worshippers. He explained the fight that almost killed him, that through some way and will he kept fighting (he knew it was to protect peopled he cared for, he just couldn't remember who, it was starting to make him slightly mad but he figured if they needed to be remembered they will) and eventually bested the king, sealing him away forever.      

 

     Superman and his momma where trying to absorb all the info but Batman seemed to already figured everything out, "so your people just let you come here?," the man asked and Danny paused thinking how to respond. " Well, yes and no,  vey wanted me to take the trone immedwiantly bwut CW swaid dis was fow da bwest, so fwostbit took ovew as my we...veasion?" His mother patted his head and corrected him "liaison," and Danny looked up at his mother pointing at her with a smile, "what momma swaid."       

 

     After all the questions we're finally asked momma let Danny down to explore, reminding him to be careful of the edges of the platform, "even if you can fly I'd rather you not risk it okay little one? Now go with Damian and let him show you around while I and my friends discuss everything." Danny nodded and turned around slowly marching up to the larger kid. Damian, the kid who had a bird symbol on the right side of his  chest and a red hoodie, looked down at Danny with apprehension, Danny looked at Damian, wearing a cute superman onesie his momma got him, with unblinking, semi glowing eyes and smiled impossibly wide at him.        

 

     The dinosaur was even cooler up close! It looked like one out of the movies and it was robotic. Danny could see some bent parts and wires sticking out of the joints, he wondered if the Batman one day would let him repair it, It would make a great security device, could even make it scare people in the shadows like the hero himself.

 

     The penny was bigger than Danny expected it to be and gave him an off feeling; like it was waiting for him to turn his back so the giant piece of metal could flatten him like a cartoon. Danny stayed away from the mobster puppet, but just over to the side of it were broken apart metal teeth and a strange looking ball with a strange green liquid in it. It wasn't ectoplasm, that Danny was sure; but it was eerie looking.    

 

    The entire time the young child was looking with awe at all the cave had to offer, Damian was watching him (it creeped Danny out) his emotions were as hidden as his father's, but every so often light waves of curiosity and suspicion would make it's way out. After looking at a hat that looked like it came directly out of Alice in wonderland Danny got annoyed at the quiet kid,     

 

   "Why are yew stawing at me?" Danny finally asked staring up at the slightly taller boy his eyes knitted together. The hooded kid looked down at him, "you feel like my grandfather and suddenly appear with one of fathers friends, I do not trust you for now and feel you shouldn't be allowed here so I am keeping an eye on you to make sure you to not plant anything." Danny was confused by every word beyond not trusting him. He huffed, "imma be a hewo like momma! I wuldt dawe to pwant things, even if I cwould thews no diwt to pwant them!" Danny was slightly floating up glaring back at Damian's scowl before being shocked back by a laugh.      

 

   "You remind me of Jon, I will trust you, for now," the red hooded child responded after finishing his laugh. Danny was starting to suspect that anyone related to the batman was as batty (heh pun) as the man was. This suspicion was confirmed when he heard a squeal coming from the elevator located near where his momma and her friends were talking.       

 

  "Superman you had another kid! And didn't tell me!" A girl wearing a purple hoodie (Danny began wondering if everyone here wore hoodies but then figured they were in a cave, was probably a smart thing to do) and basic jeans was quickly walking up to him before scooping him up from the air. "He is such a cutie pie! Hello there small child, I'm Stephanie and I'll be your honorary auntie ok?"       

 

     Danny didn't know how to react, on one hand the emotions of this woman where of compassion and kindness and love. On the other hand a random stranger was holding him and pinching his cheek. Naturally Danny whined, "stawwwwp." Funny enough the person did stop, mainly because another person grabbed her hand. He expected it to be momma or even superman but instead it was another girl who was wearing a black mask shaped like a bat like batman, but with the mouth piece covered with leather lazily stitched over.      

 

   The woman who grabbed Stephanie's hand made a few hand signals Danny didn't understand before walking back. Waves of embarrassment and sadness came from the purple woman holding him; what was her name again? Stephanie? Danny was sure that's what she called herself. "Sorry, I tend to go overboard, thank you Cassie." Stephanie put Danny down and turned to the adults, all of whom had made their way over.     

 

     Danny's mother scooped him up and hugged him, "we will need to work on your freeze instinct but you kept calm, very good my little warrior," she kissed the top of his head as Damian nodded from behind everyone in agreement. Stephanie looked on with wide eyes, "ohhh he's your kid WW? Sorry for being so... Quick to judge..just the onesie... and the floating..." The girl was stopped with a wave of Diana's hand and a small smile, "it's ok, it was a natural conclusion to come to," she responded quelling Stephanie's worry, "though touch him again without his consent and you will be on the floor," and the worry was back again, Danny sighed, his mother could be a tad overprotective, but then again he was a baby so that was understandable.     

 

    To quench his mother rising anger he hugged her neck, "it okay momma, just supwized." That thankfully seemed to help as love radiated from his mother and the worry stopped from Stephanie, replaced by adoration from the display of affection.    

 

   The reving of an engine turned everyone's gaze to the red motorcycle currently parking next to the batmobile as a man wearing a large red helmet got off. Danny's eyes were wide, if the kid in the hoodie had ecto oozing out of him for an army this man was exploding with the stuff and it felt like it was rotting! He wiggled out of his mother's arms and ran up to the man patting his leg, "yew, yew fiwed with bad ecto, I hewp." The man with the helmet looked down at him, one of the eyebrows of the helmet raising (Danny had no time for confusion on how that could work) and crouched down and booped his nose before looking at the adults staring on with their jaws dropped.    

 

    "Who's the brat and what does he mean by bad ecto?," the man said causing Danny to pout and punch him (it actually hurt red a little which shocked him but he made sure not to show it) "not a bwat! Bad ecto from ghost wealm, wotten gween, wepwace!" Danny emphasized this by patting the mans chest and pushing some clean ecto into him. The reaction from hood was not what Danny expected, he was hoping for calmness, mabey joy, or even shock. He did not expect the man in the helmet to fall to his knees and vomit.       

 

     The three main heros acted instantly,  Batman ran over to the mans side expertly taking the helmet off. Superman was gone in a second and by the next had an old butler with water and a box with a plus symbol on it. His mother scooped him up and looked at him with furrowed brows, "Danny Prince you will explain right now what you just did." He had never seen his mom's anger pointed to himself before, it scared him and the child started to cry,  

 

       "I...I ju...juwst w...was hewping, hewmet man had b..bad ecto, ghost enewgy, I wepwace wif good ecto, did nowt get aww, shouwd feew bettew soon."         

 

       His momma patted his back holding him close and humming a tune, "there, there, little one, thank you for explaining, but know now not to do so without asking first, all actions have consequences, what was meant to be good caused a mess to need to be cleaned up, now once red hood feels better you will apologize and we will head upstairs to Bruce's home and have a moment to relax... I think we all need it"

 

*********

 

    Jason's head hurt and he felt like he just had fourth degree burns quenched with water from a glacier mixed with electricity; overall not how he expect his day to end, that was for certain. It had been an overall annoying day to begin with, first he wakes up early from a nightmare about that damn clown only to find out his safe house was out of cereal and coffee.     

 

   His afternoon was  decent, he stopped by some of the non profits he kept safe from bandits and assholes to check if all was going well and to donate some cash (which he may or may not have gotten from a drug den he busted up for dealing to kids) and was then off to the gym where he worked out for a few hours.     

 

     Wasn't till late into his nightly activities that shit went sideways, first black masks goons thought it would be a good idea to try and kidnap some homeless kids on his alley. Then a new crime boss tried taking over his territory so obviously Jason had to hunt him down and take out his goons. And now he is kneeling on a metal platform, dizzy as fuck, his skin both burning and freezing, and his stomach doing more flips than Dick during training.      

 

     When the world finally wasn't upside down he was alone with Alfred holding a glass cup of fizzing water.   "Its ginger ale master Todd, young Daniel recommended it to help with the... 'ecto sickness' as the young one calls it. Apparently whatever helped bring you back to us caused something to stick around."

 

     Jason drank the beverage with gusto as he slowly stood up. Making sure he wouldn't faceplant getting up was dear Alfred by his side. "do you need a moment to yourself? Everyone else will be waiting for you at the dining room area," Jason gave a short nod as he walked over to the batcomputer and sat down heavily, -man Bruce has to get a new chair- he thought to himself as he tried to make sense of whatever the fuck just happened.  

 

**********

 

     Danny had to admit, the house was far better than the cave below it. It was huuuge! A mansion to be certain, one that Danny was sure that if he had a chance to explore; would probably take him days to see it all. Currently they were in the dining room, a giant area with ornate carvings along the corners of the ceiling and a giant chandelier situated above the very long table currently filled with six inhabitants.   

 

     His mother had just finished a long lecture to him about asking before doing anything to anyone for any reason (unless of course they were super villains then all was fair game which caused Danny's prankster of a mind to be riddled with ideas) and the butler (who Danny learned was named Alfred) had just put down the last plate of dinner. Danny was nonchalantly eating a rib, bone and all, when the man he helped walked in.    

 

    He stopped and took in the sight, everyone was watching Danny with worry (besides his mother she had gotten use to this long ago) and coughed , "so .....what's the deal with the kid?" Everyone's head swiveled to look at the man as well as Danny; who stopped mid bite. Bruce gestured to a seat and explained what was going on as Jason went to sit down. "Danny here is a being from a different reality, one that connects all realities, after events that happened to him he chose this world to start a new in. Diana found him as a crystal and when he appeared as a baby decided to become his mother and take care of him"      

 

    Jason looked at Bruce, his eyebrow raised and a snort exiting his being, "well...at least he isn't another one of your forgotten children I suppose, we will have a deeper chat about what it is he did to me, for now I'm hungry and tired." Everyone around him nodded as they all went back to eating.     

 

    After the dinner was finished Danny got to explore the mansion, with supervision of course, red hood took up the task at hand not knowing how hard it would be. Within the first few minutes Danny was alone wandering giant halls filled with paintings and suits of armor. It honestly reminded him a bit of the palace in the ghost zone just less...colourful.       

 

     This mansion had pretty much everything, giant gym in the basement, theater in a side room that could be it's own house, even a room for playing bowling! Daniel realized rich people were a little weird when he entered a room covered in animal heads (a relic long since abandoned by Bruce and family it's still well kept and dusted regularly by Alfred); Danny didn't like that room and so moved on.    Honestly this place has everything a person could need to live a secret life which Daniel guessed was accurate seeing as who's house it was.

 

     Only thing missing was a arca... -holy crap they have an arcade!- Daniel thought to himself and it was huge! It had a vr setup with moving floor, arcade machines of old and new types, and DDR! Daniel was so preoccupied staring at all the machines he didn't hear the man come up to him and screeched when a hand touched his shoulder. Turning around he saw a large man with short black hair that looked like it took hours to get to look right.

 

     "Whoops! Sorry little guy, I guessed you would have gotten mesmerized by this place, Stephanie just loves her games and bruce loves indulging us sometimes," the man said, worry emanating off the man calming Danny slightly (but man, if he wasn't use to having his heart stop as a ghost he would have had a heart attack!)

 

     Slowly he breathed in, his mother taught him some techniques after a hectic tantrum over a toy. "Deep breath in, hold, slowly out" she would say, repeating it like a mantra to calm him down.  The man saw Danny breath deeply and cocked his head, "ya know...for someone who is barely a toddler you are very intelligent young man," Daniel giggled at that and the man smiled, "there we go all calm? Okay well I'm Tim, one of Bruce's kids it's nice to meet you."

 

     Tim gently ruffled the toddlers head, "let's get you back to the adults ok? They are a little worried about you...cept Diana but that's just her normal state of being," Tim stated and Danny nodded, "momma best wawwior." Daniel giggled at the man who picked him up with wide eyes.

*******

       It had been a fun day in Danny's opinion, he got to go to space, met momma's friends, answer some questions, and see a giant house that a man dressed as a bat lived in; Overall a good day. Sure he had to deal with his mom lecturing him again and yeah he felt embarrassed that he got caught, but hey for someone only turning one in a couple days he has had a lot of fun. He was sure he had made the right decision in living here. 

       After dinner his other tucked him into bed and read him a story about a boy who was the child of a god (his mother chuckled as she read it). After finishing the chapter and putting the book back Diana sat on the edge of Danny's bed and petted his head,

 

    "know this little one, no matter your situation , no matter your past, you are my ward, my child, I love you and will always be there for you, anyone who dares to harm you will answer to me."

 

     Daniel smiled wide, tears in his eyes as he held his mother close a warm spreading from both. Slowly the two separated, his mother tucking him back in and slowly  exiting leaving the door open just a crack after turning off the light. Danny slowly drifted away to dreams of his new life to come. 

[animeredhead101]

Dad Hood DP x DC Crossover

Completed

The Devil Wore a T-Shirt by DisillusionedDanny :

After a one-night stand, Danny finds himself pregnant with Red Hood's kid. Now he finds himself as a dad to a small child with an important decision to make. Does he tell Red Hood he has a child? Or does Danny raise the kid by himself? Word Count: 24,778 Completed

Nothing But The Dead And Dying (back in my little town) by Umei_no_Mai :

Dan has just been rescued and is feeling a bit shorter than usual. Jason Todd has just been petitioned like he's a feudal warlord, which has never happened before but he could maybe get used to. They can probably make this work so long as Batman doesn't stick his nose in. Yeah, like that'll happen. Word Count: 123,925 Completed

my boy, my son by DisillusionedDanny :

In desperate need of a vacation, Danny has Clockwork turn him into a five year old so that he can have the childhood he never got. Soon, five year old Danny finds himself running wild in Gotham only to be kidnapped by some weird teenager in a costume who decides that Danny is going to be his son. What's Danny to do but accept this new weird guy as his new dad and become a super cool crime fighting vigilante with his new adopted family who have no clue he's a two thousand year old ghost king? Word Count: 18,210

Dad Hood by JaxinKH :

After a wish gone wrong, Danny has reverted to a child and sent to Gotham. Jason doesn't know how the kid ended up in his appartement, but he is now stuck looking after him. How hard could it be?

Word Count: 18,236

On-going

It's Not Sugar by ConspiracyCrows :

Ellie is destabilized and nearly killed by Vlad while trying to make another, "better", clone of Danny. In order to stabilize her she was de-aged to about 7, and now has chronic issues balancing her ecto the same way a type one diabetic has issues balancing blood sugars. In fact that's the cover story the pair use when Danny enrolls Ellie at Gotham Academy. The one favor he will allow Vlad to do for them. While Vlad seems to have finally come to his senses about Ellie, Danny won't let him anywhere near her ever again. Which is why they moved to Gotham in the first place, Vlad won't step foot there. It also helps that Lady Gotham is more than happy to have the Realms' Ambassador to the Living in her streets. They settle into Crime Alley, and Danny may or may not have forgotten to introduce himself to the Haunt owner, assuming Gotham would handle the niceties as he gets Ellie settled, and handles the pressing issues of the negotiations between the city, the realms, and those denizens of both who want or need one thing or other. Word Count: 23,052 On-going

Imprint by Hashtag_DriveBy :

He screwed his eyes shut, held his breath, desperately wished that he was back in his safehouse, alone and blissfully unaware. But the weight in his hands remained, and when he opened his eyes, it was to the bean-shaped 'fuck you' the Lazarus Pit had kindly bestowed upon him, arms and legs folded up against his front beneath off-white muslin while tiny lips smacked softly.

What the fuck.

What the hell was Jason supposed to do now?

Word Count: 119,791 On-going

If you find a vigilante in the dumpster by lunamugetsu :

The plan was simple, Jazz and her now de aged brother would go lay low in Gotham, act as a mother-son duo. Wait as Danny heals up by absorbing the ambient ectoplasm leaking from the city and Vlad gives the green light that he has a safe place they could stay. Plus with the blessing from the Ghost of Gotham and knowing that even the GIW wouldn't dare to encroach on Batman's territory, it was a pretty safe plan. That was until a certain vigilante just keeps on finding himself in their dumpster. / / It was a normal night of patrol for Jason. Beating up a bunch of criminals. Shooting them with bullets (they're rubber bullets Bruce! Calm down!) Get stabbed by them. Pass out from blood loss in the place he was taking refuge in Wake up in an apartment, his wounds bandaged and all. And to a black haired blue eyed kid staring at him. "I found you in the garbage!" Word Count: 120,002 On-going

Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away by FearlessHades :

After escaping from the GIW, Danny crash lands in Gotham. He's six years old, his entire life has burned behind him, and one of the Gotham vigilantes is running around with a stifled Core. What's a kid to do?

A Jason Adopts Danny fic featuring De-aged!Danny, family feels, and Jason's Grand Master Plan going completely off the rails.

Word Count: 53,233

The (Un)Living Weapon by Anonymous :

They had only planned on raiding the facility. They hadn't expected it to be barren. Apart from a kid, chained and muzzled. With eyes of Lazarus water. Jason didn't intend on getting a kid out of the whole ordeal, but unlike Bruce, he is ready to kill to keep him safe. Word Count: 47,483

Mending a Family by Katelover98 :

Sequel to Creating a Family.

I decided to write this after getting such a good response on that fic. However, I wrote this new fic here instead of updating it in case anyone liked the open ending and didn't want more to spoil the way I left it. There won't be an overarching plot but a bunch of one-shots that show how Jason went from no family to a family that would kill and die for him.

This fic won't have a set schedule so I'll update when inspiration hits. That means one week I might update daily and other times it might take a while. It'll depend

Fair warning, I don't know much about Roy Harper, but I've done a bit of research so when he shows up, hopefully, he'll be well-written.

Word Count: 45,852

Visitant Lights by Shynnohwen for Cielle_Noire, AcesAndSpades72, foldingfacets :

After a run in with Vlad that left the entire Fenton family turned into little children and a subsequential kidnapping by what they think are ninjas the Fenton family escape to Gotham to lay low and figure out how to reverse their ages as Sam and Tucker help where they can, growing sense of dread as months goes by and they are no closer to fixing this. Danny, frustrated at lack of progress and tiny body, runs into the Red Hood while stealing his wheel to replace the one he broke. This results in Jason and the Pit Madness co-parenting, Dick mistaken for a stripper, Tucker unknowingly becoming Oracle's archnemesis, Sam believing the local coffee addict is a serial killer, Damian taking on an apprentice, various members of the Rogue Gallery becoming self-appointed uncles and aunts, Amity Park becoming a hellhole full of supernaturally powerful people trying to survive, Damian trying to get a certain Fenton adopted into his family, and Joker developing severe and crippling phasmophobia. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now has a TV Tropes! https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/VisitantLights Word Count : 82,890

[therealslimshakespeare]

Gone Presley || chap. 5

Sarge 2nd Generation. || An early chapter from the memoirs of Bee DeWitt Presley, wife of Danny Presley. (I have such fun making these “extra” materials to go with this universe, things like tabloids or memoirs, etc.) So here’s Sarge’s daughter-in-law’s memoir pictured above.

Warnings: fluffy, based loosely on Brooke Shields’s harrowing time as a child actress so there’s mentions of awfulness on set and bad relations with her mother, a thirteen year old crushing hard on a sixteen year old. Elvis being an awesome dad, Shiloh having a led foot on Marie’s golf cart, studio lot shenanigans, the day that Bee met the Presleys…terrible descriptors of studio lots. Marie is a director by now, a lá Sofia Coppola

🏷️ Taglist: I used my old one since it’s been so long, let me know if you’d like to be added or removed!

Circa: 1993

Chapter Five:

It’s a matter of course that in a life, unless that life is entirely stagnant which is only achieved by death, you can often look back and point to a single moment where everything changed.

Some of us have a series of those days, for others they come all in a rush in the early years, for some they are inconsequential little blasts of fate until the end, for others it’s a great crescendo up until the small slide of hours and years that make up their life.

And for me, by 13 years old, I thought I had had quite enough of them to last a lifetime. Until I met the Presleys, and everything, quite literally and metaphorically, changed for me.

All these previous little changes that had me so bored and no doubt had my readers in a similar predicament these past few chapters had me occupied most rigorously one day on Lot B in the Warner Brothers studio, filming my fifth take on my twentieth day of shooting my seventh film, a bit of a raunchy coming of age flick with the working name of Pretty Baby. Seeing as how the oldest age this coming of age film featured was thirteen, the studio sagaciously renamed it Carmella upon release and I won a golden globe nomination for my performance of childhood sex work.

I also finished ninth grade grammar that year, precocious regarding literature but hopeless in chemistry. Which is perhaps why I’d never managed to be particularly rebellious outside of reading material, I could dress however I pleased with my mother’s indifferent standards and my behavior was moderately subdued as might be expected from an overtaxed child performer- how very different was this outlook compared to that of the vivacious little hellion who drove her big sister’s green painted golf cart onto my set and asked if I could I play.

It will show you just how very domesticated and subdued a child I was that upon seeing a fellow preteen driving like mad on the studio lot, I did not so much envy the fact she had a golf cart or her father’s stupidly perfect face but rather, the freedom to play about at 1:45 in the afternoon of a weekday. What kind of carefree existence was that?

Unthinkable! Off putting, dangerous, irritating.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hate her for assuming I could play, or give her a benediction and beg her to enjoy good ole thirteen for me.

I’m Shiloh Presley, she’d told me in that simple way of kids meeting kids. Shiloh had long legs, a confidant grin and the easy way of a very loved kid. She still acted like we were five year olds and everlasting affection could be gained by swapping a toy, sharing a shiny bit or bob, offering food. If she’d been any less devasting I might have stayed on that stupid studio lot filming a dubious film and never met the family who changed my life.

I know who you are, I told her, probably coldly and as vinegary as a jaded thirteen year old could manage, I’ve seen you around with Marie.

I’d have given my left foot, my front two teeth, my prized Tiffany locket, everything but my doggie Beau for the chance of being directed by Marie Presley. I just knew she’d give me a fabulous part where I could cry and scream and smile to great effect and it would be like those therapy couches my mother spent our money on…only, successful at making me feel something..

We’re all here to visit her, she didn’t come for Easter and Daddy is put out by it, Shiloh informed me though I didn’t ask.

In fact I was on a five minute break, standing by the water cooler near the huge studio lot door and that’s why I’d seen her at all when she rolled in. I was bored and ruining takes, she then said, and-Daddy told me to go run off the energy and grab you if I was so bored”.

I had to take a minute to process the fact Elvis Presley knew I existed and sent his daughter to grab me as a playmate. It was rather thrilling. With only thirty seconds left on that water break I made a decisive move to climb into the green golf cart and let Shiloh Presley drive me off in a tailspin of poor gear shifting. I mostly did it because if Elvis Presley knew I existed, I didn’t want his only firsthand report of me to be that I was a boring goody two shoes who was too straight laced to leave her job and have some fun.

I was starting to care about my reputation, you see.

It didn’t take long before, gratefully and as it should have been, the mythic Elvis Presley and my frazzled teenage fame were dwindled down to a static roar in the back of girlish screeching and an outright tipping golf cart. We careened about the place for over an hour, vaguely aware of the terror we were producing in what was essentially an overly glamorized workplace. Blurry figures sent to fetch me whirled past as we took another turn and clipped a pile of pallets, we ended up extras in the background of another film which gratfully was set in the present times so our appearance was not ruinously anachronistic.

I’m not sure we said more than twenty words that first hour of friendship, Shiloh and I, but you learn a lot about somebody when you’re whooping and hollering and vulnerably happy. What I learned from her was how to be sweetly impossible and to be sure of what you wanted, something I hadn’t had a break to figure out for myself as yet. She wanted to spend her time having fun and she went after it with a blithe tenacity that was foreign to me. We picked up another kid, one of the few times Shiloh braked for anything. I never did get his name but I think his mother was a stan- in extra and he was bored of all the waiting between takes.

Suddenly in the shimmering road ahead of us appeared the figure of a man somehow out glowing the sun with his magnetism. He was older, heavier, graying, and every bit as devastating as he had been when he’d first cuckolded the entire male world in 1956 -and he was waving us to a screeching stop with his jeweled fingers acting like reflectors on the end of a traffic conductor’s wands.

Shiloh brakes for him. It’s her father after all. All I can see is Elvis Presley leaning into our space, ducked under the fringe canopy of the cart and perspiring from the heat and what might be effort to catch up to us. He helps himself into the cart next to me, I’m suddenly in the middle before remembering having scooted over for him. The gear shift bumps my shins when Shiloh engages it again.

Go faster, her father tells her and his famous voice gave me a shudder. It was so thrilling and uncanny to hear it close— Go faster. her mama’s bouncer fella is after us.

Her. That’s me. I realize. He’s playing hooky with us. I love him madly. My fate is sealed. Shiloh shifts again, my shin is going to be bruised.

Elvis Presley then held a conversion with me while his daughter floored it back towards Marie’s set. We went through all the usual junk we’d gone through on the way here, makeshift wardrobes and caterers and shade tents for directors, some sound equipment and we barely skirted a pen set up for a braying, real life, genuine camel. Elvis held the conversation, I gasped out nothing but muffled shrieks pertaining to the driving.

He asked if wanted to come to dinner, he hoped I would, his missus had been longing to get a good, hearty meal into me since she met me last week. I’d never had a father, I’d never had someone want to feed me. My mother hadn’t either. She was more interested in scales. Elaine Presley knew I existed and wanted to feed me.

I fell in love again.

Elaine Presley wanted to feed me.

I adored Elaine Presley and had specifically incorporated more orange into my wardrobe because of her Vogue cover of last fall despite the fact my complexion didn’t suit it like her. I had torn apart a complimentary bouquet and scattered it in my bathtub to mimic her Bazaar photo shoot. I had perfected my southern drawl. I had crafted a ring the size of her re-marriage diamond out of costume rhinestones.

I’d do anything to be the next Elaine Presley

I couldn’t find my voice to say any of that. Thankfully. I couldn’t even find it to give Elvis a proper thank you for the invite.

Or, crucially, to cite my mother as cause and decline.

Fate had other plans, took the trajectory right out of mine, and like most scary things it ended up being something good for me in the long run. We’d turned at the corner that has the queer blue hydrant when something large and curly headed splattered on our hood.

A whole boy, in fact. Spread eagle, gripping the top of the cart’s dash panel with long, tanned fingers that brushed against the dials, his back shiny under the sun and his legs going on so long past the headlights his bare toes almost drug against the cement as his sister hadn’t paused in her pressure on the gas.

Floor it Shi!- he told her in a wheeze, the impact had affected him but only in the lungs, his face was unrepentantly cheeky and his eyes utterly innocent- I’ve gotta get off this damn lot, all the producers want their money back for the rock candy.

Something about his face told me it was actual rocks. That he’d sold as candy. And that they’d bought it. And that he’d made a lot off them for it. And that he was the sorta guy to manage that. And right when he needed it, his sister's golf cart would come in and play the getaway driver for him. And I was a cynical thirteen year old but sue me, I actually laughed till I cried at the notion that all those high and mighty executives who had made me feel so low and small had bitten into rocks they’d paid for before questioning if they were being had by a Presley child.

Danny, his father addressed him as we passed F Lot and careened into safer territory, into Marie’s set for They Come Softly and its old west props of cacti and wagons, Danny you spend too much time with Jack, his father observed.

Daddy, Danny had said back, I spend all my time with you.

Now that’s not true, Elvis responded, you spend plenty with your mother and she teaches you better than this.

Daddy, Danny was smirking by now and I was in love, she just says to me to be like you but smarter.

When the golf cart stopped, Elvis helped me out and I about fell over into his arms- from dizziness. Honest. That night I did go to dinner with them. Afterwards I was so sure I’d be in immense trouble by the time I got home to mother. Turns out she had been pacified somehow by Elaine Presley before the dumpster fire of our relationship could fully implode from this episode. Mother asked if I’d like to spend my nights with them at their Palm Springs house sometimes when she was in Vegas. Such times I was usually alone at the house in the canyon so I jumped at the chance. To be with such nice people, to have a friend in Shiloh, to get away from the producers, to watch Danny Presley in all his sixteen gloriously ripe years, bake himself on a pool floatie.

I’m not sure if he noticed me then. He isn’t either, even now. He was very busy being sixteen. I was his kid sister’s friend. Worlds apart, someone for me to watch during dinner and spy on at the beach showers. Someone to ask about homework questions because Elaine made sure I kept up with school.

I never learned much from him even though he was impressively patient and very smart, even then. His mature voice had come in and it turned me to goo, hearing it in my ear as he talked equations. I mostly just stared at the way he held a pencil.

That was the happiest summer of my life up to that point.

I learned how to be young.

In doing so, I became too young for the first thing I’d ever wanted all on my own volition.

Taglist:

@prompted-wordsmith

@powerofelvis

@crash-and-cure

@elvisabutler

@heartbrake-hotel

@stylespresleyhearted

@thatbanditqueen

@crazymadpassionatelove

@myradiaz

@ash-omalley

@steph-speaks

@burningloverdoll

@angelface-555

@lookingforrainbows

@missmaywemeetagain

@coolgirl462

@kingdomforapony

@18lkpeters

@richardslady121

@from-memphis-with-love

@lillypink

@artlover8992

@pennyroyalcreep

@notstefaniepresley

@ellie-24

@waiting4brucewayne2adoptme

@presleyenterprise

@marriedtopresley

————————-

@dkayfixates

@vampireindistress

@ashtag6887

@i-r-i-n-a-a

@obsessedvibee

@peskybedtime

@goth-cowgirl-03

@stephthestallion

@fav-fanficssss

@loving-elvis

—-

@honeyorangess

@soloangel

@xenaspace3-blog

@60svintage

@dragonkingsdaughter

@presleysgirl6

@that-hotdog

@mydarlingelvis

@presleysweetheart

@50sexyshadesfashionista

@sexystarfish

@whatstruthgottodowithit

@suraemoon

@lialocklear

@elvispresleywife

@presleysgirl6

@ipostwhtifeel

@jaqueline19997

@queenheartz

@starryschoolgirl

@elvisalltheway101

@azzypog

@ab4eva

@possessedmarshmellow

[over-powered-reader-insert]

Two Kings and a Heir

Ghost king Nico Di Angelo meets Ghost king Danny Fenton who meets Damain Wayne after some how being launched in to the dc univers ( Nico and Danny that is)

Danny needed a safe place as his univers is nolonger ( reaveal gone wrong)

Nico isn't sure how he got into the dc universe but he's knows that he's not in his new work any more ( takes place before the trils of Apollo)

Because ghost work diifertly in the dc universe Danny would have relearn how to use his powers: ie control over his ice core, intangibility, invisibility, ghostly wail, eco blast ect. His ghost sense is going haywire, half going off. There's no puff of mist leaving his mouth, but is has his entire body tense. Danny learns quickly that the ghost of this world works differently, no one but him can see them, and even then it's hard for him the see them half the time. ( it's just a slivery after image in hisn periphery but they disappear when he tries to look at them head on.)

Hunger still affects Danny, not as much as before the accident, but he's still half human and he still need to eat. Something cheep and greasy. There were no nasty burger here, just a place called bat burger where he clocks an nother kid around his age as being something more then a laminar but close to a halfa like him, developing core maybe?

Nico new that he wasn't in New York anymore when he woke up, and he's quick to learn that he's in jersey, in a city call gotham. A place that didn't exist before. he's half scared that he was placed in the lotus casino again, he knows that's impossable. but the fear lingers. ( it happens once but who's to say that it won't happen again?) Nico needed information, he don't know where he is, when he is , so he plans to summon a ghost. But first he needs a happy meal.

The clost thing to a mc' Donald's is a place called bat burger. There Nico meets Danny, and they both clock each other as pooled who has an extremely association with death, and the underworld. Another child of hades? Maybe.

Silent communication passed he tween the two of them. The cashier clears her throat, and Danny orders first before stepping to the side and lingering awkwardly behind the other boy as he places his order, a kids meal. The kid walks to a booth at the back, one shrouded in shadows. Danny is half compiled to follow, every time he meets a halfa they tried to kill him first and get to know him second. But so far this was going great. He joins the kid at the booth.

Silence lingers between then the boy stared out the window at the few passing cars, Danny decided to pick at napickn, a black stylized bat decorated the corner. How was she supposed to go about this with out fist flying? He's not at his strongest at the moment. He's been doing good so far at ignoring the ach of the vivisection wound. Hastily stitched half healed, sleeping and eating would heald the thing faster, he just need a place to sleep, and stock up kn canned food and granola bars. Maybe he could break into one of the abandon buildings.

" Nico." The boys said suddenly.

Um

What?

Name, name, names. That was his name. He should-

" Danny! Yeah... call me Danny."

This was a good start, names are good. It doesn't matter that he's on the sudden verg of panic, or that he was getting a migraine from the constant half use of his ghost sense.

" son of hades?" Nico asked tentatively as I'd he was sharing a secret.

" what? No my dad isn't-"

" Hecate then, she's your mother right? Your too old not to know who your godly parent is, and you can't be unclaimed." Nico said in a rapid wishper, his eyes darting around the room as if expecting someone to attack.

" No wait, dude calm down, I think I know what's going on." But before he could answer they were called to get food. Looking over his shoulder the cashier looked unimpressed. Right food, the original reason why he's here.

Part two later

[star-anise]

reading supercut: disability, body image, and trauma

A glimpse into the clothes thrashing around in the washing machine of my mind, with apologies that it is still a wet lump and not an actual synthesis of ideas.

From Easy Beauty: A Memoir by Chloé Cooper Jones:

[This event] embedded a damaging idea in me, one I’d recognize deeply when I read Scarry years later: beauty was a matter of particulars aligning correctly. My body put me in a bracketed, undercredited sense of beauty. But if I could get the particulars lined up just right, I could be re-seen, discovered like the palm tree is discovered. To be deserving of the whole range of human desires, I had to be extraordinary in all other aspects. In this new light, I started to see my work, my intellect, my skills, my moments of humor or goodness, not as valuable in themselves, but as ways of easing the impact of my ugliness. If only I could pile up enough good qualities, they could obscure my unacceptable body. [...] accepting the argument that beauty was malleable came, for me, with a cost. The Platonian view rejected me cleanly, but Hume and Scarry left a door ajar and I’ve spent a lifetime trying to contort my form to see if I could pass through it.

From Til We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by CS Lewis:

I now determined that I would go always veiled. I have kept this rule, within doors and without, ever since. It is a sort of treaty made with my ugliness. There had been a time in childhood when I didn't yet know I was ugly. Then there was a time (for in this book I must hide none of my shames or follies) when I believed, as girls do — and as Batta was always telling me — that I could make it more tolerable by this or that done to my clothes or my hair. Now, I chose to be veiled.

From Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy of Borderline Personality Disorder by Marsha Linehan:

Inhibited grieving is understandable among borderline patients. People can only stay with a very painful process or experience if they are confident that it will end some day, some time—that they can "work through it," so to speak. It is not uncommon to hear borderline patients say they feel that if they ever do cry, they will never stop Indeed, that is their common experience—the experience of not being able to control or modulate their own emotional experiences. [...] In the face of such helplessness and lack of control, inhibition and avoidance of cues associated with grieving are not only understandable, bur perhaps wise at times. Inhibition, however, has its costs. [...] Volkan (1983) describes an interesting phenomenon, "established pathological mourning", which is similar to the pattern I am describing. In established pathological mourning, the individual wishes to complete mourning, but at the same time persistently attempts to undo the reality of the loss.

From How to Respond to Criticism by Danny Lavery:

Apologize, but don’t really mean it, and plant a seed of secret resentment so deep in your own heart that years later you can’t even remember that you’re the one who nurtured it and made it grow, it seems that much like a native part of you.

From Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed:

[After learning that state child protective services had made a budgetary decision to only intervene with children under 12, to one of the teenagers that regularly shared stories of abuse at home] I told her it was not okay, that it was unacceptable, that it was illegal and that I would call and report this latest, horrible thing. But I did not tell her it would stop. I did not promise that anyone would intervene. I told her it would likely go on and she’d have to survive it. That she’d have to find a way within herself to not only escape the shit, but to transcend it [...] I told her that escaping the shit would be hard, but that if she wanted to not make her mother’s life her destiny, she had to be the one to make it happen. She had to do more than hold on. She had to reach. She had to want it more than she’d ever wanted anything. She had to grab like a drowning girl for every good thing that came her way and she had to swim like fuck away from every bad thing. She had to count the years and let them roll by, to grow up and then run as far as she could in the direction of her best and happiest dreams across the bridge that was built by her own desire to heal.

From Essays in Aesthetics by Jean-Paul Sartre:

Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you.

From "I Know What You Think of Me" by Tim Kreider:

if we want the rewards of being loved we have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known.

[mickriccenergy]

Shiver

Chapter Three - You Came, You Called

♡ Mick Schumacher x Reader, Best friend!Danny Ricc x reader

♡ TW: Swearing, inaccurate timeline of F1/F2/F3, NOT CURRENT/ACCURATE representation of 2024 Grid, badly translated German using Google, HEAVY ANGST, hurt, inebriation via alcohol, talking about being drunk, MENTIONS OF CHILD ABUSE, not proofread, a lot of crying, arguing, yelling, etc. idk i think i got everything

♡ She/Her pronouns are used, nothing descriptive about reader except that her hair is long enough to pull back into a ponytail or braid, no reader insert, timeline skips. ALSO: WARNING!!!! I will barely be mentioning Michael Schumacher. I do not presume to know what he is thinking, or would say in these fictional scenarios. I am trying to be respectful of their privacy and not make any assumptions!!!!!! He will be mentioned here and there, but I do not believe any dialogue will be associated with him. If you do not like that, then do not read it. :)

♡ 4k words

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

based on the song “you should probably leave” by chris stapleton

There was something about being in the Mercedes paddock during a dominating season. Lewis Hamilton was consistently winning races, and Mick was consistently scoring points. Nick hadn’t gotten a podium yet, but you had a gut feeling that he was due soon and by soon, you really felt it was going to be this race.

It was the Miami Grand Prix (GP) and there were rumors everywhere about this GP being the GP that Mick will get onto the podium. He qualified P4, and Lewis was going to be starting from the pole position. You were clad in your Mercedes gear, prepared to watch the race from the comfort of your own team’s garage. You didn’t have your own Formula Two race this weekend, so naturally you were asked (more like demanded) to show up and support your teammates. And of course, you had no objections.

The race continued on, and you remained watchful as you sat in the garage. Lewis was easily defending his first place finish, while Mick struggled to get past Checo Perez in front of him. You couldn’t lie either - You desperately wanted Mick to overtake him and take the podium. He had worked so hard to make sure that he made a name for himself, and that his efforts and success were his. You couldn’t imagine the pressure he was under as he carried the legendary last name, while continually also having to defend it. Who were you? You weren’t anybody. Sure, you were the first female reserve driver (ever) for Mercedes, and had fought tooth and nail for where you were today… But you didn’t have any added pressure, or expectation set by literally every single person and their mothers in motorsports. You were just you. And the just you was watching with bated breath as Mick fought for a spot on the podium.

“SCHUMACHER TRYING HIS HARDEST TO OVERTAKE PEREZ”

“PEREZ IN THE RED BULL IS NOT GIVING UP”

“SCHUMACHER IS DOING HIS BEST TO INTIMIDATE THE RED BULL IN FRONT OF HIM”

“PEREZ SEEMS TO BE HOLDING HIM OFF FOR NOW”

“PRESSURE FROM SCHUMACHER SEEMS TO BE GETTING TO PEREZ”

“CAN SCHUMACHER OVERTAKE THE RED BULL ON THIS NEXT TURN?”

“IT LOOKS LIKE…”

“PEREZ REALLY HAS NO OTHER CHOICE…”

“AND SCHUMACHER OVERTAKES PEREZ COMING OUT OF TURN 11 - SECURING HIS THIRD PLACE”

The Mercedes garage was going absolutely mad. There were cheers and applause everywhere you looked and listened. You couldn’t help but join into the celebrations yourself. You excitedly punched the air, a grin taking over your entire face. The camera panned to you as you were caught doing a celebratory mini-dance, but you certainly couldn’t care less. If anyone deserved this, it was Mick.

After things seemed to calm down, the garage realized there were still fifteen laps to go. Lewis was still leading, and Daniel Ricciardo was doing his best to close into Hamilton.

You had gotten quite close to Daniel in the last few months. He was sunshine personified, and for some reason… People like that always seemed to navigate their way towards you. You loved his accent, and the lightheartedness he brought to such a demanding sport. He was truly like the older brother you desperately wish you still had. It was bittersweet, really. There were so many of your brother’s qualities you saw in Daniel. The passing and fainting good memories you had of your brother were so similiar to the great memories you were currently making with Daniel that you honestly wanted to make sure you saved them for a rainy day.

“RICCIARDO SEEMS TO BE HAVING AN ISSUE FENDING OFF SCHUMACHER”

“MUCH LIKE THIS FATHER BEFORE HIM, SCHUMACHER IS SHOWING SOME OF THE BEST, MOST SKILLED, BUT ABSOLUTELY RELENTLESS DRIVING TODAY”

“COULD SCHUMACHER POSSIBLY OVERTAKE RICCIARDO AS WELL IN THE LAST TEN LAPS?”

“SCHUMACHER - PRESSING RICCIARDO AS THEY MAKE THEIR ROUNDS COMING INTO LAP EIGHT…”

“RICCIARDO IS DOING HIS BEST TO WATCH THOSE CORNERS”

“SCHUMACHER IS DRIVING THE BEST HE HAS EVER TODAY”

“RICCIARDO AND SCHUMACHER COMING AROUND THE SAME TURN THAT SCHUMACHER OVERTOOK PEREZ”

“CAN HE DO IT…”

“DENIED! THIS IS SOME OF THE MOST BRILLIANT DRIVING WE HAVE SEEN FROM RICCIARDO AS HE DENIES SCHUMACHER THE OVERTAKE”

You knew that Mick would be happy with third and a spot on the podium. After such a horrendous last season at Haas, he’s doing an amazing job showcasing his talent - Something you always knew he had; Something that was never tied to his last name and something that he worked for and earned on his own.

“AND THATS THE MIAMI GRAND PRIX! HAMILTON TAKES FIRST, RICCIARDO SECOND, AND BY SOME OF THE BEST DRIVING WE’VE EVER SEEN FROM HIM, SCHUMACHER IN THIRD!”

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

You were exhausted. You couldn’t lie. The shower steam was finally dissipating as you made your way into the bedroom to get ready for bed. The race was one of the best ones you had ever seen, and even better got to witness in person. The podium celebrations were high in excitement and emotion. How could you not be emotional? Your two teammates made it onto the podium, and one of your best friends did too. And sure, it was Miami, so of course you knew the boys would go out to celebrate. You expected nothing less, and wanted nothing less for them either. Putting on your pajamas pants and T-shirt, you moseyed on over to your bed, thrilled to be able to get comfortable and watch some truly bad television. You loved hotels and their comfy beds. You always loved being tucked in so tightly it felt like you were being mummified. And as you climbed into bed, turning the tv on for some auditory comfort, you realized you were a lot more exhausted than you thought.

Sleep must have overtaken you soon thereafter, because you were abruptly awoken by someone viciously slamming their fists on the hotel door. Groggily, you made your way to the door and opened it. Using Daniel’s shoulder as support, Mick was clearly drunk as Daniel grinned his famous smile at you. He was also probably drunk, but you knew for a fact that Daniel could definitely hold his liquor better than Mick.

“I think… this belongs… to you!” Daniel trudged through between hiccups.

Mick grinned a toothy grin at you, his cheeks pink with inebriation. You tilted your head and exhaled.

“He has his own room, Dan.” You crossed your arms over your chest trying not to laugh at the two clumsy idiots in front of you. “And where’s Lewis? Hopefully you didn’t ditch him.”

“Lew-Lewis is… Around. I think he’s with a lady.” Daniel shrugged. “And Mick was begging me to b-bring him to his lady! So here we are.”

Your eyes darted from one boy to the other as you contemplated taking in your drunk friend. Rubbing a hand over your face, you conceded and opened your hotel door wider.

“Just… Uh, put him on the couch. I’ll grab him some water…”

“Wait! The mini bar. Don’t touch anything there, they’ll charge you sooooooo much!” Daniel placed Mick on the couch, Mick giggling to himself and mumbling in German.

“Dan, it’s cute that you think I’ll be paying for anything in this minibar after having to care of……… that.” You motioned with your hand towards the entity that was Mick Schumacher sprawled out on your couch now.

“Ha, yeah, that’s true.” Daniel ruffled his curly hair and made sure Mick was fully on the couch before making his way back towards the door. “He’s gonna be hungover, ya know.”

“Yeah, it’s okay though. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve taken care of him while he’s drunk.” You shrugged your shoulders, grabbing a water and Gatorade from the minibar.

Walking over to where Daniel stood at the doorway, you placed a chaste kiss to his cheek and thanked him for watching out for your friend.

“Will you be okay making it to your room on your own?”

“Yeah, I’m not as blasted as he is. I’ll be right.” Daniel smiled again, giving you a hug and making his way out of the door. He made a mental note to possibly use Mick’s drunken state as ammunition for a good joke later.

You and the Aussie driver exchanged goodbyes and soon enough you were left to take care of Mick. You took a deep breath, and exhaled, making your way over to the couch. You stood in front of the couch and smiled softly.

“Maus, du musst dieses Wasser trinken. (Mouse, you need to drink this water)”

“I like it when you call me that…”

Mick hummed famously, as he tried his best to sit up from his current horizontal position. His hair was tussled and his cheeks still flushed. Doing your best to help him with one arm, you finally got him to sit up and hold the water bottle.

“How much did you have to drink, Mickey?” You watched him carefully to make sure he was actually drinking the water.

“Deutsch…” Mick mumbled into the water bottle that was pressed against his lips.

“That’s not a quantity, Mickey.” You chuckled softly as you continued to look at him drink water.

“No… No… I like it when you speak German… It makes me feel all… Warm inside…” Mick drunkenly pointed to his stomach, his eyelids heavy with intoxication.

“I know you do, but I’m afraid if I speak in German, you’ll respond in a very drunken German stupor, and that I won’t be able to understand you.” You scooted next to him on the couch, resting your head on his shoulder.

“That’s fa-fair…” Mick hiccuped.

Silence again loomed in between you, as he rested his head on yours. You could hear him humming to himself.

“I’m really proud of you, Mickey. You were amazing out there today.”

“I know, I saw the footage, Schätzen.” Mick grinned again, his tone of pure pride and happiness engulfing you. “It was cute when you celebrated for me.”

“I’ll always celebrate for you, Mickey.” You moved your head out from under his and lifted it. “I’m so glad I got to be there to see it in person.”

A soft smile appeared across his face as he sat up and turned to face you. Rubbing his eyes, he took a deep breath and met his baby blues with yours.

“Marry me.”

Suddenly, your face fell and you felt as though the four walls that surrounded you were going to eat you alive. You were no longer maintaining eye contact as you did your best to stop yourself from getting emotional. Your eyes fell down and landed onto your fidgeting hands. “He was drunk, in fact he was very drunk… He doesn’t know what he’s saying,” you kept repeating yourself in your head, looking for a plausible reply while the only other audible thing was Mick’s steady breathing.

“We can’t do that, and you know that.” You finally croaked out, refusing still to make eye contact.

“I love you, though. And you love me. What more is there to it?” Mick moved your chin up with his index finger, the pad of his thumb gentle caressing your chin.

“I can’t marry you, Mick.”

“Can’t or won’t?” You could tell he was trying to ease the tension by wiggling his eyebrows, but you honestly felt as though you had been run over by a semi truck and all the air in your lungs was sucked out of you.

“Mick, I’m serious.”

“Und du glaubst nicht, dass ich es bin? (And you don’t think I am?)”

“I know that you are and that’s what the scary part is!”

You jumped up and off of the couch. You were pacing. It was never a good sign when you’d begin to pace. Glancing at the hotel’s microwave you could see that it was almost three in the morning.

“We have been friends since we were 7 and 8 years old Schätzen, and I have known I have loved you since. Why will you not marry me?” Mick’s voice was tense, his anger becoming apparent.

“You’re drunk, and you’re way too drunk to have this conversation.” You rebutted as quickly as he did.

“Drunk or not, I still love you!”

You were facing away from him now. You could hear him getting up from the couch, and stepping towards you.

Do not cry. You’re not allowed to cry. Crying is for little girls and you are not a little girl.

You continually repeated that in your head as you could hear him approaching you.

“What do I have to do to get you to see that this is real for me? Do I have to get down on one knee? Do I have to give up everything just to show you how serious I am? Because I will! Whatever you say, I will do, and you know that.”

Slowly, you turned around and saw Mick was standing just a few feet away from you. He had tears in the corners of his eyes and his hands were shaking. He was doing his best to calm down as you saw him take a few deep breaths. You didn’t have the wherewithal to deal with this right now, and frankly it was getting too late as well. You were exhausted, you were sure as drunk as he was, he was even more tired than you were. But pleadingly, he stepped slowly towards you, closing the gap. You refused to look up, knowing that if you saw him as he was you would break down. And he knew that. He would never force you to look at him, or do anything you were uncomfortable with doing.

“Smidge… Please, I know that you have been hurt before, by someone you thought would protect you… But I am here now, and have been here. And you know I would protect you with everything I am. Please… Just give me a chance… Give us a chance.”

His voice was cracking as he knelt down in front of you. His arms were around your waist and his head was pressed up against your stomach. Instinctively, you moved your hands to his head took a deep breath. He was just a little boy in this moment, so small and in himself as he gripped onto your shirt with dear life. He knew what it was like firsthand to have someone within arm’s reach, yet never being able to touch them. And yet, you remained stoic and your eyes affixed to the wall behind him. You couldn’t allow yourself to feel the way you wanted to towards him. You made yourself promise that a long time ago.

“I think you should go back to your own room, Mick.” You spoke above barely a whisper as you separated yourself physically from him.

Stepping back, Mick hand landed on the floor as he remained crouched down. You could hear him begin to cry and nothing broke your heart more than that.

“Smidge… Please…” Mick begged as he looked up at you from the floor. You had never seen him look so tiny, so vulnerable.

“I think it would be best if we got some space from each other.”

“W-What?…”

You didn’t respond, but Mick could hear your breath hitch in your chest. You were trying to stifle your upcoming tears. Mick stood to his feet, and ran an anxious hand through his hair.

“I think we should just… Get some space from each other. I won’t be at the next race, but I’ll be at the one after that. We should take this time to just… live our lives, ya know?”

Mick cocked his head to the side while his eyebrows pulled into a tight line. You could see he was clearly clenching his jaw.

“I am sorry, I do not understand. Why the fuck would we need to do that?” Mick was floored as he tried to go through reasons in his own head for a break.

“We’re just… always together, Mick… I think it would be good if we got some… space.” You shrugged your shoulders, trying to play it off as best as you could.

And just like that Mick started… laughing? Maybe it was the alcohol and it was making him delirious, but he genuinely could not believe the words that were coming out of your mouth.

“Give me one good reason, and it better be a damn good FUCKING reason, why we should take space from each other?” Mick wasn’t yelling at you, no he’d never do that, but he was definitely yelling now. “We have been inseparable since age eight, and now you want some space because you cannot admit that you love me too? When has that ever stopped you from being in my life, Schätzen?”

“That’s why! That is exactly why, Mick!” God, now you were yelling. “I… I don’t… I can’t… I can’t love you. Yet, every time I call you, you come. Every time I need something, you’re there! I just… I need to be a big kid and… and… And not rely on you to fix all my problems!”

“But I do those things, because I want to. Can’t you see? Can’t you see how much I want to do those things and how much I would give up just for you to admit that you love me too?”

You couldn’t hold your emotions back any more. Your breath was catching as you began to sob. There was something wrong with you, there had to be - you thought over and over again. He loves you and has loved you since the day you sat next to him at lunch. He was consistently there for you, while he was going through a multitude of his own problems. Why couldn’t you just admit it? Why couldn’t you take the leap and admit that you too loved the boy who has loved you since you were just kids.

“You shouldn’t be with someone that you have to convince to love you back, Mick. You deserve a lot more than that.” You finally replied calmly.

“I do not want anyone else.”

“You deserve it, though.”

There was a painstaking, and deafening quiet that wafted between you two now. It seemed like it was hours that had gone by before one of you had moved from the spots you two were standing.

Mick made his way silently over to you, wiping the tears from his cheeks as he did so. Taking your face in his hands, you looked up at him with an emotion you couldn’t quite place…

“Du hältst mein Herz in deinen Händen (You hold my heart in your hands).” Mick spike barley above a whisper as he pressed his forehead to yours.

“Ich weiß, dass ich es tue (I know I do).” You closed your eyes and hoped that this was just a bad dream.

“Und ich werde eine Ewigkeit warten, um dein Herz in meinen Händen zu halten (And I will wait an eternity to hold your heart in my hands).”

Soon enough, his soft lips met your trembling ones and with the gentlest of movements, he pulled away and kept his eyes closed. You had a feeling he was going to save this moment for a rainy day.

Moments later, he had left you in your hotel room alone, respecting your wishes for space…. for now. And as you stood alone in your hotel room, trying to find the words to describe the night or some semblance of comfort in the emptiness of the room now… All you could hear in the back of your head was the terrifying and gnawing sound of your own self esteem issues. He was right. You were too afraid to admit you loved him. You were too afraid of relationships in general. Mick was one of your first friends when you moved to Germany, and now he was one of your best friends. And you knew you had feelings for him, maybe even loved him. But there was a deep seated problem and the part of you that never allowed you feel vulnerable ever again, would always take over and win.

It was the voice of your father, always nagging at you and reminding yourself that you would never be good enough for anyone. Fuck, you weren’t even good enough for your own father. Emotionally, mentally, and physically he would beat you into submission - into making yourself believe that you were never going to amount to anything or be a good enough person for anyone to love. He reminded you day in and day out that you were just his offspring, and nothing that you could say or do would make him feel differently about you.

So why… Why the fuck would anyone else in the world be different?

Why would anyone want someone who can’t even seem to want themselves? Maybe YOU were the stupid one… God. This was going to be a very long two weeks.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

The next week went by, and you and Mick did your best to keep your distance from each other. Geography certainly helped. And of course, he’d always text you once in the mornings and once at night to make sure you were still alive. It was one of his best qualities… To be able to actually listen and respect your wants. He was mad at the time when you said you wanted space, but he always respected your feelings and validated them through actions and words.

INCOMING CALL: Mickey 🐭

You sighed heavily, as you ignored the call.

You: I’m in a team meeting, can I call you back later?

Mickey 🐭: Sorry! Yes, call back whenever. But I just wanted to tell you that for Silverstone, we will be racing together!

Soon, every ounce of resentment and anger you may have been feeling, disappeared. Your dream had come true. Unfortunately, Lewis was going to be unable to race his home race due to personal matters, and so naturally the job went to you.

You and Mick had always dreamed of getting to Formula One together, and more so, racing together. So in four races, you’ll be the one in the driver’s seat, right next to the boy you’ve grown up with and dreamed about that moment with for your entire childhood.

Maybe this was the universe trying to tell you take a chance, on Mick… On everything. Yet, there was still that nagging feeling of it being too good to true. The fact that you were just a reserve driver, and Hamilton was at the top of his game…. There had to be a catch.

Soon after your meeting, you dialed your best friend and excitedly awaited his response.

“We did it, Smidge! We did it!” Mick’s voice was giddy, and you could tell that he was just as - maybe even more excited than you.

“It’s crazy, Mickey. This is crazy. We’ll get to race together!” You responded, trying to gather your things and head towards the elevator. “Is Lewis okay, though? I’m sure this is a major bummer.”

“He definitely is having a tough time with it, but there are more important matters he needs to tend to. I do not think he would give up a race, let alone his home race if it were not dire.” Mick’s tone was reassuring as he hummed waiting for your response.

You got into the elevator and pressed the ‘Garage’ floor button.

“I guess I should start training then. Hopefully it’s not going to rain.” You joked, waiting for the doors to open to the garage.

“Smidge, it is Great Britain. Of course, it is going to rain.” Mick laughed to himself.

Finally, the doors opened and you made your way to your own vehicle. Getting comfortable and switching to bluetooth, you took a deep breath and grinned. This was everything you could’ve wished for and more.

“Well, if it’s between P1 and P2, make sure you make room for me, Mickey.” You joked.

With one more breath as you started your car, you could practically feel Mick smiling back at you. Maybe he was right. Maybe this was your chance to make a change in your life.

“Just a smidge. You get just a smidge.”

“And that’s all I could ever ask of you.”

[cjsmalley]

Wished Away 8:

“Mom, Dad, help,” Dean said, holding a baby out.

A whirlwind of activity followed.

“He is Nephilim,” Castiel declared, having inspected the boy, “though I cannot tell his true parentage. It is being…hidden from me.”

The pediatricians took over as soon as the angel stepped back.

“Nephilim,” Danny said slowly, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, “isn’t that half-angel or something?”

“Precisely,” Castiel said just as slowly, measuring his words like they were his last rations, “They are…it is Forbidden for angels to lay with mortals. The creation of Nephilim is even more taboo as the first, the original, were monsters more often than not. It is an intentional act, to create Nephilim; the angelic parent must give a portion of their own Grace to the child during conception.”

“So they purposely knocked someone up then ding-dong ditched the kid,” Dean growled.

“Perhaps they heard that we are romantically involved, Dean,” Castiel offered, “and hoped we would take in the child as our own.”

“Well, of course we are,” Dean huffed, rolling his eyes at his angel who shook his head fondly, “I’ve already picked out a name too. A good human name.”

“Oh?”

“Jack, after Grandpa Jack. Unless, you have a name?”

“Perhaps…James, after James Novak?”

“Hmm…Jack James…James Jack…JJ…no, definitely Jack James. I like it, Cas.”

“Well, little Jack is healthy as far as we can tell,” Doctor Peterson joined the little huddle, “every scan we can perform came up normal, perfectly within range for his age group.”

Both Dean and Castiel visibly relaxed.

“We’ll get you set up,” Sam promised her son and might-as-well-be son-in-law.

A servant brought David’s old wrap and Sam showed Dean and Castiel how to wind it around their bodies to carry little Jack close to their hearts.

“Does the heart even beat?” Danny asked Castiel with interest, referring to his Vessel.

“Yes, I have kept all systems functioning as intended,” Castiel confirmed.

“Good. Because babies this young are used to heartbeats,” Danny explained as Sam worked with Dean, “they just spent nine months with their mom’s in their ears.”

“I see,” Castiel nodded, “well, Dean has assured me that I have a perfectly human sounding heartbeat.”

“What’s the likelihood that his mom was the human?” Danny asked next.

“Oh, quite likely…angels with female vessels most often shutdown the reproductive system. It would also be quite hard to hide the evidence of the gestating Nephilim. His mother likely died in childbirth; her body finally unable to handle his Angelic self.”

Danny winced; that would be a horrid way to die and he fried like a French fry.

Within hours, little Jack was all ready to go home.

Over the next few days, a room in the Bunker became a nursery and supplies loaded in.