#Eldritch!Danny

[clockwaysarts]

Poor Danny is just trying to do well at his job at WE! But annoyingly, they frown on him working late. Sent home, once again by well meaning security and still caught up in design thoughts, Danny gets hit by cuddle pollen.

Suddenly he must keep all the little liminals safe! They're so bitty! They don't even have full cores! He has to protect them! Goes eldritch horror and stuffs them in his plumage to carry around like those water birds.

Poor Batman is just so done.

Jason and Damian keep trying to escape. It does not work. Eventually they get this thing to the Cave and make it a nest to keep it there. Tim asleep before they mange, followed by Duke (look, it's late for him, okay?) and Steph.

When they wake up in the morning, in one big cuddle pile, there's a strange man among them and from the way it looks, and Damian isn't sure if he's got a new pet or if Father has a date.

[faithblob-says-things]

Dp x Dc prompt 3

(probs Eldritch and or Ghost King! Danny. whatever suits your taste)

Danny goes on vacation to the dc universe, only to vibe and do nothing else. He'll let the heroes in this universe deal with whatever. He doesn't plan on doing any hero work or getting involved in any of their nonsense. Every magic user however is scrambling and panicking over the overwhelming amount of death magic that just entered their universe and is just sitting there menacingly.

[nanaarchy]

okay, so can we all agree that @zillychu's fire core au is spectacularly zetsy? it's now in my brain rent-free. I have so many thoughts. so many questions. I am going to be normal about it for so long

danny died in the 1920's... so so many thoughts. little crechure is such a gentleman !!!

on instagram below!

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[entity-of-the-rift]

Large Feathered Boy - Eldritch Danny Phantom

[clockwayswrites]

Shadow of a Bat - Starting Snippet

Other Part, (set further after this when they get to the Watchtower) WC: 1263 Synonymous: Captured by the GWI, Phantom was a mere shadow of the thing (no, person, he had to remember he was a person) that he used to be. He thought he would never be freed from the bright white room. Not until what seemed like a mass of living shadow swept into the lab and Phantom suddenly, for the first time in a very long time, felt safe.

When Batman swept back out of the seemingly empty lab, he was none the wiser for the eldritch Phantom stowed away in his shadow.

At least not at first.

-----

For Batman, it started when he caught Nightwing off guard.

As Batman, Bruce was used to startling people. It was a tool he used ruthlessly. Startling his children, however, was a rare occurrence. As the oldest, Dick was immune to the tricks of the trade even at his most relaxed; it’s what made him so good with Damian and Cassandra. When Dick was started on the job as Nightwing, something was truly off kilter.

Bruce’s initial assumption was that that Dick was under the weather or had a case from work on his mind. That was quickly disproved; Nightwing performed exceptionally as always while they took down the joint drug ring operating across the Gotham and Blüdhaven boarder.

So Bruce started to pay attention. He paid attention to the way that the shadows seemed to cling a little closer to him, that the element of surprises always on his side, that the criminals seemed more afraid than normal.

It was all circumstantial, of course. But circumstances could turn dangerous in an instant, and so Bruce started to pay attention to the darkness surrounding him.

It was always little things, things that couldn’t be conclusive on their own but started to build a pattern. A henchman would stumble on nothing and the shot would go wide. A punch on an attacker would land harder than expected, knocking them out of the fight. Perusers would run right past whoever he was trying to protect. And in the cave, whatever he needed seemed always nearby.

Something— someone— was watching over him.

-

For the bat brood, it started with things being just a step off normal.

Dick was startled when Bruce actually got the drop on him. From that night on, Batman seemed to blend deeper into the shadows.

Jason noticed when he got the feeling around Batman that the other was hurt. He dropped some subtle questions to his siblings, even reached out to Oracle, but none of them brought up Bruce being injured. The feeling didn’t go away. Something still… called to him; though it slowly got less intense. But it still bothered him.

Tim dismissed it, at first, as needing more sleep. He’d shown up to a board meeting at Wayne enterprises and, for a moment, Bruce’s shadow and seemed off. It had seemed smaller than it should have been. The problem was, Tim kept noticing things from with the shadow. A moment where there were too many arms, where the tips were missing from the cowl, where the cape flared in shadow but not in reality…

Steph wasn’t around as much. She might have not caught onto anything if it wasn’t for Cass. Cass who had started humming (softly, soothingly) when it was too quiet in the Cave while researching a case. Steph swore the shadows sometimes rippled in response. She didn’t ask Cass, and Cass didn’t offer any explanation either. She didn’t think asking would get more than enigmatic smile.

Damian felt the hair on the nape of his neck stand on end whenever he got too close to Bruce. There was a ripple of energy around his father now that there hadn’t been before. It was the same feeling that the Lazarus Pits had given off, just softer (kinder).

Duke swore that sometimes Batman’s shadow seemed to glow green. On double take, it never was, not even to his powers.

Alfred was on edge because his family was on edge, though he hid it behind his unflappable demeanor.

Something had changed about Bruce.

Something that made them alert.

Tim was the one to finally broach the subject in their group chat. He needed to know if he was going crazy or not.

-

For the Justice League, it started when Batman sent the founding seven, plus Constantine, an encoded message. He stated that there was an entity of some sort that had attached itself to him. So far it was not only non-hostile, but seemed to be actively helping, on occasion. Batman was clear to remind them all that meant no grantee the entity would remain an ally.

He disclosed that none of the instruments in the Cave had been able to pick up on the entity— not in any distinct way. The closest factual data was the occasional cold spot drifting near Batman or around the cave and the resonate vibration that sometimes echoed the song that Black Bat was humming.

Batman was confident that the entity was around, though, as were the rest of his people, and so Batman was purposing to bring the entity to the Watchtower. There it could be analyzed with other types of passive technology as well as the powers of members such as J’onn and Constantine.

Based on the timing and the being’s nature, the hypothesis was that it had come from the lab.

None of the League had to ask what lab. For those who had been on the mission, it wasn’t someplace they would soon forget. Even those spared the mission hadn’t been able to avoid hearing about the horrors that the GIW lab had held.

The organization had gone to ground after the bills protecting metahumans had passed, taking the unethical Anti-Ecto Acts off the table with it. Operating on the other side of legality didn’t seem to have slowed down their work any. Batman suspected it made them all the more fevered— all the more dedicated to prove that they had been right about ghosts.

All the more willing to cross unspeakable lines.

There were obvious signs of imprisonment, torture, and dissection. There were remains— all carefully labeled and stored— to corroborate that. Later, from the tapes, they would learn that vivisection was far more accurate a term.

The only living— as much as the term could even be used— entities found in the lab were three green blob like creatures.

The entity with Batman gave them hope that maybe they had least gotten there in time to save one soul. Despite the risks, that hope made them start to plan the visit to the Watchtower.

-

For Phantom, it started weeks earlier when he felt a presence in the bowels of the GIW facility.

He barely felt anything any more.

There was barely any of him left to feel things, not after the scientists had pulled him apart again and again and again.

But when what seemed like a mass of living shadow had swept into the lab he was kept in, a wave of safety had washed over him. Safety was, perhaps, the wrong word for the feeling. Most people wouldn’t feel safe around the wave of emotions. It was a swirl of all encompassing rage. But under that rage was an aching sorrow and the driving chant of protect protect protect—

For Phantom it sang of safety. This being— person?— was enraged by the lab. It threatened to consume them. They were everything the cold scientists weren’t. This being felt things.

Phantom felt things too.

Or he thought he used to.

He wanted to remember what that was like, to feel something other than numb terror.

So when the seal of his containment was cracked open, Phantom seeped free of the box he had been kept in and towards the being. The shadows shrouding them made space for him, welcomed him. It was like slipping into a hug. He was too weak to talk to them, to talk to the being that was robed in them; he couldn’t let them know he was there with them. He could only curl up in the cocoon of the feelings.

He was safe.

-----

AN: I debated posting more of this or not since I’ll prob stick the finished thing up next week on ao3, but I’m a ball of pain and agony today (fuck you weather!) so have a little treat for me. I’m not sure if we’ll go into the horrors of the lab more than what I’ve already written- this may get a little darker but I’m still feeling out the mood as this is more, er, experimental(?) than I usually write as Danny tries to remember what it’s like to be a person and not just a test subject.

Oh, and Jason, Tim, Cass, and Damian are more sensitive to Danny’s presence because of their exposure to the Lazarus Pits, was my thinking. Bruce is a bit oblivious at first, because how often does one pay attention to their own shadow?

Itty bitty tag list: @vehan-tikkun-olam-and-stuff​ | @idfk-man10​ | @lazy-bouqet​ | @meira-3919​ | @illusionwolfwriter24r8

[ghostlyglimmer]

@ectoberhaunt Day 10: Creepy

Decided on doing an eldritch Phantom which is one of my favorite AU's. Love a scary monster boy who just wants to help people, but people are absolutely mortified of what he looks like/has become. So tasty yummy!

[little-pondhead]

Hi can anyone tell me what the FUCK happened here??? This was supposed to be an eldritch!Danny design. I don't think this is Danny.

[jaewritesfic]

The Batclan respond to the Bat Signal to a harried Gordon and a hissing shadow creature with Lazarus green eyes.

It's been cornered in an alley and nobody can get close for fear of those claws and the horrifying teeth set in an otherwise featureless face.

They are of course talking strategy to deal with an angry, terrifying unknown threat - up until Black Bat arrives and takes all of five seconds to proclaim, "Scared, not angry. Hurt."

Part of what freezes them is what Cass being able to read the creature at all means - as animalistic as it seems to them, its mannerisms are human enough for Cassandra Cain to recognize.

(Does the night perhaps end with an eldritch Thing in the batcave managing to look like it might cry when Cass offers it some of her post patrol watermelon? Yes.

Does the night definitely end with an eldritch Thing in the batcave definitely crying when Alfred brings it a plate of watermelon all of its own? Definitely yes.

Is everyone else mentally and verbally swearing up a storm at how fucking hard it is to get a hold of Constantine when you need him??? Obviously.)

This now has a tag (melon!au) and a beginning drabble here:

[zealouswitchwerewolf]

Has anyone seen/written any fics where Danny is so used to being an overpowered menace that danger doesn't even register the same for him anymore. Like he's gone against the likes of undergrowth and vortex, he's obviously not going to be intimidated by a middle aged man with sweaty hands pointing a gun at him.

It's all fine until he leaves Amity and starts being put in mildly dangerous situations that don't bother him at all but everyone around him looks super freaked out? And it can range from like being mugged or one of the DC superheroes facing one of their supervillains while all the civilians run away and Danny just keeps going full on ignoring cause not his circus, not his monkeys, but still.

And then he realizes that his reaction is abnormal and people are starting to stare and he doesn't need the extra attention on him but knows he can't act for shit so he just goes for the most deadpan sarcasm he can muster and goes all "oh, nooooo. This is so bad. I am SO scared." And it just makes the stares worse but by then he's committed to the bit and will throw gradually more concerning stuff about his past in conversations with the most dead expression just to see how far he can take it until someone confronts him about it.

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC "Pick Me Up"

The stream goes live on the first day of the school year. It's the usual song and dance - mad laughing, threats, poor jokes, terror, and about thirty kids huddled together in a classroom behind Joker's back. Tim recognizes it as one of the Gotham Academy classrooms. Dick can't imagine the horror those kids' parents must be feeling right now. Jason jokes about middle school traumatic experiences. Damian is feeling very justified for skipping classes today.

Bruce, all suited up in his Batman garb, is making his way to the Academy as fast as he possibly can. Those are kids.

Gotham is once again anxiously kept on the edge of their seats, watching as Joker decides to interview the kids on their learning experience so far. Something about leaving a good first impression on the new generation or some other bullshit. Most kids stutter over their words - it's true that Gothamites are way more composed when facing life-threatening events, but those kids are only fourteen or fifteen for the most part. They are not old enough to keep their cool in the face of a murder clown.

That is, until Joker points his camera at one of the girls. Black hair in a high ponytail, blue eyes without a trace of fear, a slightly displeased, even bored expression on her face. She looks straight into the camera, not even waiting for the laughing madman to finish his question, and deadpans:

"I don't think I like school. Pick me up, please."

Joker sputters.

"Not so scared, I see," he sneers, and, in the next moment, a comically large gun painted in purples and greens is pointed to the girl's forehead, "How about now?"

The girl scrunches her nose and makes a so-so gesture.

"It's kinda meh," she admits, "Like, yeah, points for style, but you know, size doesn't matter. It's all in the technique."

Dick snorts over the comms. It's a bad time for laughing, sure, but the phrase caught him off-guard. This is not what you'd expect to hear from a teen, and definitely not something you'd expect anyone to say to the Joker. Jason's comms are muted, but Barbara knows he also laughed a little.

"Technique, you say?" Joker hisses, pressing the gun closer to the girl's head, and she winces, leaning away from it, almost as if she is disgusted by the touch.

"Yeah, I mean, guns are not that scary anyway. What are you gonna do with them, blast my brains all over the floor? Been there, done that," the girl shrugs, "Kinda nasty, but overall, it's just like slime, only sticky." She pauses and looks to the side, seemingly lost in thought, "Huh, maybe we should have added Borax to it. Or was it baking soda?.."

"Listen here, you little brat," Joker's fingers catch the girl's chin, and his voice becomes sickeningly menacing. Bruce is almost there, just two more minutes. Tim is already grappling onto the wall.

But none of them get to finish.

"Put your dirty fingers away from my sister," a low, cold, and even in a way that speaks of barely contained fury, voice comes from out of the screen.

The camera spins, like whoever is holding it turned really fast, and everyone watching the stream sees a fairly normal guy standing by the window - a turtleneck and ripped jeans, same black hair as the girl, same blue eyes... Wait, they are not blue.

And that's not a guy.

The camera falls down to the floor, and there are a lot of panicked screams coming from the broadcast now, but none of them sound like children's voices. It's the screams of adults, of grown-ass men, and later, someone even claimed they heard Joker's scream among them, too. The picture on camera glitches a few times, and the angle is awkward, but everyone still gets to see how shadows in the room morph into eyes, wide open and green, and how the darkness grows sharp teeth, countless grinning mouths that don't belong to any faces.

Screams turn into gargling and then to quiet whispers, filling the ears of all those listening with countless words in languages they don't know.

Red Robin turns off the recording and looks to that same guy from the levestream, sitting across him on the couch. The guy - Daniel, or Danny, as he introduced himself - looks him in the eyes and raises an eyebrow.

"Okay, and?"

"How did you do it?" Tim asks for the third time this evening. Danny blinks.

"Did what?" He asks, completely incomprehending. Tim groans. He's been trying to get his answers, any answers at this point, from the guy for thirty fucking minutes already. So far, he's got nothing. Danny, whoever the fuck he is, proves to be the most annoying human being on Earth.

"Seven people in a coma, including Joker himself, with no physical injuries and none of the children remember a thing! How?!" He demands, and a girl's face peeks from around the corner:

"I remember!"

Tim snaps his head at her, "What do you remember?"

The girl pauses, blinks, and looks to Danny. Then shrugs, "My brother picked me up from school."

Tim drops his head down and breathes out in frustration. He can't force the information out of civilians, he is a vigilante, not a mafia.

"Would it make you feel better if I promise not to do it again?" Danny asks, and his voice is way too innocent for Tim to believe him. He raises his head to look the guy in his shameless, amused eyes.

"I hate you."

"Thanks," Danny grins.

[lunamugetsu]

Imagine...

It's late one night and Batman is running on one hour of sleep for the past week.

He's tired. His kids are tired. They are all going home early to catch up on sleep. No questions.

So he gathers everyone into the Batmobile and heads straight to the Batcave. It's when he tells everyone to go get some rest that something unexpected happens.

"Okay Daddy."

That wasn't any one of his kids

Bruce turns to see a little girl rubbing her drowsy eyes while letting out a yawn.

Right next to her, holding her hand, is a boy that looks to be a couple years older than her and equally as tired as his companion. They both had black hair and blue eyes.

All of the batfamily are now wide awake and staring at the kids.

"B, do you want to tell us something." Jason asks.

"Father," Damian is giving him an accusatory stare.

The girl then blinks a bit before looking straight at Batman.

"You're not Daddy." She then starts tugging on the boy's hand. "Dan! That's not Daddy!"

The boy (who they now now as Dan) immediately snaps to attention and pushes the girl to stand behind him. He's glaring at them now.

"I knew you had a adoption tendency, B. I didn't think you'd kidnap your next pair of kids." Jason says

"We've been kidnapped!" the girl yells. If it was possible, Dan starts glaring at them even harder.

Meanwhile

Knock! Knock!

Alfred opens the door to see that the visitor is an eldritch shadow-like being with glowing green eyes that was towering over him.

"Sorry for disturbing you so late at night, but I believe my children are in your house."

Basically Danny is taking care of de-aged Ellie and Dan. He's in his eldritch form when meeting the batfamily.

Batman in turn thinks that Danny is evil and most likely a very bad father. (granted, how many eldritch beings of immense powers turn out to be good fathers in the DC universe?)

But is immediately proven wrong when the two kids immediately snuggle up against Danny with not sense of fear at all.

Meanwhile since Batman took them there, Ellie and Dan take it as an open invitation to come over. So they just pop up in the mansion whenever they want.

[manapeer]

I'll call my dad

The justice league was in disaray. They had failed to stop the summoning, and already the demon was stepping out of the portal. The last standing heros didn't have the manpower to stop a whole thrall army and the magic users certainly hadn't the power to deal with the demon himself. They needed a plan, or a miracle, or the earth was doomed.

Suddenly, Constantine braced himself, and strode right to the beast.

"Don't step further, or I'll have to call my dad."

The heros were baffled. The demon too.

"Your... dad ?"

"That's right," he was sweating bullets but he continued "I'm John Constantine and Phantom is my dad. He cares a lot about Earth. He will not take kindly your little invading stunt."

"Who is Phantom ?" wispered Flash to Zatana.

"I don't know."

The league didn't know if he was bluffing or not. Zatana had recently heard rumors about Constantine's father, but it was all vague, shrouded in secrecy.

The surprised past, the demon laught.

"Alright," he mocked, "Let see what your 'dad' think of that."

Constantine took a deep breath and reluctantly put out a piece of paper form his inner pocket. As he put it in fire with a spell, the cave they were in was breifly plunged in freezing cold and supernatural darkness. A thunderous ice crack resoned, that they could feel in their chest as much as they heard. The shadows sleethed into the form of a titanesque being, and suddenly big, bright, lazarus green eyes opened. And they didn't look happy.

"John."

He gulped.

"Hi dad."

"It's a school night."

"I know," the magician cringed, "I swear I have a good reason."

Now the being looked downright pissed.

"Damn, I would hope so ! Do you have any idea what time it is ?"

"He wants to destroy the Earth !" defended Constantine almost petulantly, waving at the confused demon.

The green eyes looked at the demonic being, then the leaguers in various states of injuries, then the demon again. The demon didn't seem like he wanted to be here anymore. He was proved right when he received a monstruous fist in the face.

The entity grabbed him by an ankle, threw him back to hell, then slammed the portal shut as if it was a door. Constantine visibly relaxed.

"Thanks a lot."

"Don't mention it," grumbled the being. "Anything else you need ?"

"No. And I'm really sorry, I know it's late."

"Just don't make it an habit. See you on sunday."

And just like that, he was gone. Wally had to sit down.

"What the fuck."

---

Hi everyone ! I was reminded of that post a while ago where Danny inherited of Connie's soul and decided it counts as adoption (can't find it now) and this is what came to my brain.

[blueboybot]

Fish Are Friends Not Abominations

The entire Justice League have been on edge lately watching as a giant creature the size of planet dart around the Milky Way galaxy in an almost panicked state. Despite it's very appearent size it hasn't done anything harmful, passing through planets and stars with intangibility.

Constantine on the other hand was freaking the fuck out. There was a giant realms being with a crazy amount of power searching for something and it felt like the universe itself was holding its breath. He was honestly at his witts end when he felt it.

"YOU! What do you have?" He stopped his pacing to look at Batman's traffic light child.

"That's none of your concern." Robin snapped back.

"Robin." Batman's voice cut through their little conversation. By now every JL memeber was watching them.

"It's nothing–"

"Oh yes it is, now let me see it."

As if on que a tiny glowing humanoid creature popped into view ontop of Robin's head cooing and making warbled noises.

Constantine paled.

Robin took the being from his head and held it in his arms, pulling out a batarang and giving it to the thing which then began to bite it.

"Robin." Batman started, voice firm but sounding tired.

"This one found me first." He countered.

"It doesn't matter how you found it, we need to–" Constantine's words were cut off as the large creature released a noise that sounded almost like a whale but something like warbled speech mixed into it. What happened next sent his heartbeat into a marathon and his stomach to a deep trench.

Robin's little creature stopped chewing on its toy and responded with a cry of its own.

Welp they were fucked now.

The large creature's head snapped to their direction, eyes directly on the watchtower as if it could perfectly see them from such a distance and sped towards their location.

[stars-obsession-pit]

Uncanny Danny

I’ve often seen “Eldritch Danny” as like a fully inhuman form distinct from his humanoid ghost form. But what if that doesn’t happen?

What if he gradually looks less human but it never actually diverges into a separate monster form. He only has the one ghost form and one human form, both of which no longer look entirely human.

He may pass as one at first glance, but then an unsettling feeling prods at the back of your mind, whispering that there’s something wrong with him. Something uncanny. Your instincts scream at you to run, to not fall for this thing’s attempt to blend in.

But the thing is, Danny doesn’t know about any of this. The changes were gradual; all his friends and family in had plenty of time to get used to him. Yeah he’s a little freaky but he’s still just their dude. It’s kinda hard to be terrified of the dork you grew up with and often see infodumping about space.

So he’s just vibing while all the outsiders are glancing at him in mute terror.

Because to them? He reads as an eldritch monster pretending to be a human. They can tell he’s powerful but have no idea what he is or what his goals are. Heck, it sometimes feels like he’s playing with them, openly flaunting his inhuman aspects as if to say, “So what? What are you gonna do about it?”

[entity-of-the-rift]

So this Eldritch!Danny was inspired by this but could be for any Eldritch Danny prompt:

He did have a crown but it was too much and I may add it in on a future drawing. Added a no background cause I like it. If anyone writes about this one could i get a heads up pls? I wanna read it!! Also NO STEALING, NO REPOSTING

[clockwayswrites]

Shadow of a Bat Ch. 3 Snippet

WC: 915 CW: Vivisection, Implied/Referenced Torture, Aftermath of Torture, Off Screen Character Death, GIW, Bad Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton Danny Fenton, Panic Attacks

Their little shadow was showing themselves more. Dick’s nickname seemed to have stuck with the family occasionally actively addressing the entity by some variation of ‘little shadow’ in various languages. They still didn’t know the exact identity of the being, but Bruce had his suspicions.

Trusting his gut was something that was always hard for Bruce, what with his need to know. He would rather trust research and facts. But right then his gut was telling him that their little shadow was the boy who had been coldly labeled as the entity FBA-P_01. The boy who had bled red like a human when the scientists cut into him before it ran green. But Bruce also knew that he couldn’t be objective, not when the boy had looked so much like Jason had laid out on the autopsy table.

The Justice League had been working their way through more of the encryption on the files and making their own database from the information. FBA: full body apparition. It was a title for the ghosts who took on a humanoid form that could be fully interacted with. The GIW considered these the most important test subjects. Unlike the A-E classes, which had multiple files, the P was a classification had only been used twice. Once for the boy and once for a FBA-P_02, who was listed as ‘unsuitable for long term study’ and marked as terminated. ‘Phantom’ had come up in once in a file connected to FBA-P_01, leading them to believe that was was the origin of the P marker. Reports from Amity Park— the city that had brought the Anti-Ecto Acts to light— cited Phantom as their town’s hero.

The boy had been a vigilante. Another black haired, blue eyed teen hero that had died; that might have stayed dead.

Bruce pushed himself away from the computer after locking it down. He knew he needed to brief his children on the information the Justice League was finding— they had a right to know what with the little shadow becoming part of their home— but Bruce didn’t know how to broach it. He wanted a few more answers first, a few more certainties.

Besides, the children had been doing so well at making them feel more at home. Now that they were showing themselves more, made it easier to try and meet their needs. Bruce was sure that when he made it upstairs for lunch there would be a place at the table set for their newest member also.

It was never a full plate, but Alfred had started being sure to set out a little bit of what the family was having for the little shadow. It had started with Jason and the other children slipping bits under the table, but Alfred soon declared that unacceptable behavior— their shadow was not a dog— and so a place at the table with a small plate had been set. The food only ever disappeared when no one was looking, but it seemed to be enjoyed if the noises the shadow made was an indication.

Sure enough, there was an empty plate other than Bruce’s. It was a rather full table for a weekend lunch— Damian, Tim, Cass, Duke, and Dick were all gathered. Another thing that the little shadow had brought Bruce: more time with his children.

-

Phantom watched the family at the meal. Watched Bruce (not Batman, the man tried so hard be Bruce around his children) ask Dick (golden and smiling) about his day. Watched Tim and Cass fight (play fighting, not real) over the last piece of garlic bread on the serving plate.

He had a little piece of garlic bread too. He waited, carefully, until no one was looking to pull it down under the edge of the table. Oh, it was good. Of course it was, everything that Alfred made was good, but this was very good. This was almost cookie level good. Phantom trilled happily at the taste. When he peered back over the edge of the table, there was another piece on his small plate!

Phantom looked up. Duke was smiling down at him.

Phantom shrunk back. He didn’t mean to. He knew (part of him knew) that the plate was for him and so the others must know he was there, but he still felt so seen when one of them looked at where he was. Being seen was dangerous.

Being seen meant tests and blades and being cut cut cut.

The sound of the table quieted suddenly.

Oh, he must have made a noise.

“I do hope the silence is due to everyone simply being too busy eating,” Alfred said as he swept into the room, breaking the tension of the moment. “Though heavens knows that a full mouth has never kept any of you from talking.”

“I would never,” Damian said with a haughty sniff.

Conversation surged again, picking back up as people defended themselves or called others out. Without looking, attention seemingly on the new argument, Duke nudged the plate towards Phantom. Phantom… not breathed, he didn’t need to breath, but he… relaxed, like all the air had gone out of lungs he didn’t have in a sudden relieved whoosh.

He was safe here. He was safe with Batman Bruce. He was safe with Bruce’s family. He knew that, he knew that, he knew that.

Sometimes, still, the fear choked at him; made him feel like he couldn’t breath.

(He wondered what it was like to breath.)

(He used to breath, he thought.)

-----

AN: Getting back into writing both Bruce and this version of Phantom has been a task! But I think it's getting there. Our poor little shadow...

First two chapters are up on ao3 here:

I hope to have this chapter done and up in a week or two! As always, sorry for any typos in this first draft version, I'm suffering from the after effects of a sensory induced migraine still and my vision is a bit doubled. This is why I beg Moku to beta things for me lol