#Raven and Zatara came willingly to help search

[dclovesdanny]

3/5

Dcxdp trope twist

Listen, Danny adored his new dads. He did! And he had planned on eventually telling them about the whole reincarnation “I was originally the ghost king but I needed more stable familial bonds to avoid going crazy so Clockwork yeeted me into this body so I could have a family” talk, eventually.

However, disappearing from his dad’s arms and reappearing in a summoning circle, surrounded by confused cultists was not how he planned to introduce them to this.

[zhelin-thames]

Danny had been enjoying the peace and warmth of being Tim and Kon's son. His new life, filled with affection and stability, was leagues better than the solitary weight of being the Ghost King. Clockwork’s idea to reincarnate him into a human body so he could form meaningful familial bonds had been genius. Danny had even started to feel... normal. Almost.

He’d planned to tell his dads about his past life eventually. They were both detectives, after all. They were bound to notice something was up. But he wanted to wait until he could explain it properly. With charts, maybe. And definitely when the timing didn't involve high-stakes magical nonsense.

Unfortunately, fate—or possibly Clockwork—had other ideas.

One moment, Danny was lounging on the couch between Tim and Kon, basking in the warmth of a rare quiet evening. The next, he was yanked away by a burst of cold air and a gut-wrenching pull.

Danny blinked. The familiar symbols of a summoning circle etched themselves into his vision. Around him, a group of robed cultists gawked. The leader, a wiry figure with a crooked staff, was holding what looked like an old, very wrong grimoire.

“Oh great and powerful King of Ghosts,” the leader began, “we beseech you to—”

Danny groaned, interrupting him. “Okay, seriously? I’m off the clock! Can't you people bother someone else for a change?”

The cultists froze, clearly not expecting sass.

Before they could recover, another voice cut in.

“Danny?”

Danny whipped around just in time to see Tim and Kon barreling into the room. Tim's expression was calculating but worried, while Kon looked ready to punch the cult leader into next week.

“Okay, uh, hi, dads!” Danny said, trying for casual and failing spectacularly. “So, um... funny story…”

Kon's eyes flicked from Danny to the summoning circle and then to the cultists. “Cultists? Really?”

Tim raised a hand, cutting Kon off before he could advance. “Danny. Explain. Now.”

Danny scratched the back of his head nervously. “Uh, yeah, so... remember how I said I was kind of adopted? Well, I might have left out the part where I used to be a super-powerful ghost king before Clockwork—my mentor-slash-guardian—decided I needed a normal life and reincarnated me. And, uh, I guess these guys figured that out and decided to bring me back.”

The cult leader chose that moment to pipe up. “You dare explain away your majesty like some trivial—”

Kon grabbed the staff and snapped it in two, glaring. “Not now.”

Tim pinched the bridge of his nose. “Danny. We’re going to have a very long talk about this when we get home.”

“Yeah, fair,” Danny admitted, sheepish. “But, uh... can we maybe deal with them first?”

Tim sighed, pulling out a collapsible bo staff. “Kon, you’ve got the leader. I’ll take the left. Danny, stay behind us.”

As Kon cracked his knuckles and Tim moved forward with precision, Danny watched them in action.

Maybe his dads weren’t ghost royalty, but they sure were amazing. And as the cultists scrambled in panic, Danny felt a small, warm certainty settle in his chest: this was his real family. And nothing, not even some overly ambitious necromancers, was going to take it away.

3/5

Dcxdp trope twist

Listen, Danny adored his new dads. He did! And he had planned on eventually telling them about the whole reincarnation “I was originally the ghost king but I needed more stable familial bonds to avoid going crazy so Clockwork yeeted me into this body so I could have a family” talk, eventually.

However, disappearing from his dad’s arms and reappearing in a summoning circle, surrounded by confused cultists was not how he planned to introduce them to this.