#Tim gives Danny pictures of the family

[sparkletastic-cookiedough]

It became a bit of a habit to talk to Danny.

The family had come together and created a bit of a shrine to the lost- Martha and Thomas Wayne, John and Mary Grayson, Catherine Todd, Janet Drake, Falafel the Spider, and many other faces. At the center of it all was Danny.

Danny, a brother they had never known. Damian loved him. Together, the family told stories of their lost ones. Together, they stopped ignoring the pain and started to move on.

It wasn’t an easy process. Dick couldn’t look at the pictures of his parents for weeks at first. Tim had complicated feelings about his mother. Bruce would brood until his kids dragged him out of it.

After a while, they got into the habit of sending a prayer to their lost ones, and occasionally a prayer to Danny.

After all, Danny would hear them.

—/—\—

Danny was patrolling the edges of the zone, idly listening to the conversation one of Damian’s brothers were having with his grave.

“I hope my parents are happy in the afterlife. Maybe you know them… not that every ghost knows eachother, but it would be real neat if my family got along in the afterlife. All of my family.”

Danny stopped. There wasn’t anything major he had to deal with today. Maybe it would be nice to meet his extended family.

-//-\\-

Dick opened the glowing letter addressed to him.

Hey there,

I’m bad at writing letters. Sorry in advance.

I met your parents. They taught me how to do flips and stuff. It took a while to find them, cause the infinite realms are infinite.

They’re very proud of you! They don’t know all the details about your life, but word travels around. They know you were Robin, they know how you saved people for years, and they know they love you.

They’re still acrobats too. They teach young ghosts how to fly effectively. They’re not strong, but they’re fast and slippery. Enclose the space, and target large areas. It’s nearly impossible if you use precision shots, believe me I tried. Frostbite says theyre spirits of the autumn wind. Makes sense. Sometimes they smell like pumpkin spice. Usually they Echo the circus.

I performed with them last week. They’re really impressive. It’s kinda fun to choreograph stuff ahead of time, rather than come up with plans on the spot. They got to perform with some of my friends! People really enjoyed our show. I left you the poster.

So yeah, your parents are happy.

Please tell your family not to bother me this week. I’m very busy with things. Ghost things. Important ghost things.

- Danny

Dick unrolled the poster. Bold font in a language he didn’t understand was written all over. In the center was Danny, his hands glowing green, and a menacing smile across his face.

Around it in panels were other acts: a rabbit man magician pulling a skeleton out of a hat, a guitarist with flaming hair, a genie, a teen on a motorcycle, a girl covered in tattoos, a man pulling a flaming sword out of his mouth, and an army of ghost clowns.

And, in the last corner, were two smiling figures zipping through the air- two faces that Dick recognized. The flying Graysons.

It wasn’t supposed to be a secret.

If you died while with the league, you will no longer be acknowledged to have existed, especially if you died during a mission. A disappointment will not be remembered.

The bats and birds don’t like speaking about the people they have lost, so they don’t. If someone ask about the dead, they will tell the person they don’t talk about that.

So how was Damian supposed to know that he should have told his father about his dead brother?

[nightingale-prompts]

Comforting Your Batboy

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Danny slept next to Dick for a few days after what happened. He no longer felt secure about his place here. No matter where you go you take yourself with you and Danny is the problem here yet again.

Danny didn't understand affection, at least not the kind that a parent gave. The moment Danny told Dick that his parents were scientists Richard understood. Gotham had seen dozens of scientists who pushed the boundaries of morality and there was no shortage of children used to fulfill their ambitions.

Danny still missed his parents. Regardless of how things ended, he had lived his entire life with a family unit that on paper meant life was stable. He had somewhere to go and people who at least acknowledged him as family. Parents that took care of him at least out of obligation.

This story sounded familiar. Like Jason who never stopped loving his mom despite everything or Tim who accepted his neglect as what it was. They didn't know what it was like to have parents that loved them like they should. Dick was lucky to have the parent he had.

Danny remembered quiet dinners as his parents rushed to finish the food that Jazz made or them going on long tirades about their research. For 12 years they devotedly worked on that portal. Every chance they got they'd run off to the basement. Because it was their life's work, the only thing that mattered.

When it was unveiled, Jazz only scoffed. She hated the portal. Dad looked to Danny for praise and Danny didn't know what to say.

"Isn't it just the greatest thing you've ever seen?" Dad put his hand around Danny's shoulder.

"Well...its definitely a thing." Danny laughed awkwardly.

Danny had hoped that when the portal finished it would mean he'd spend time with his parents. Maybe they'd give him more than a passing glance when he brought them his report card. He could share with them his dreams and plans to be an astronaut. Show them the stars and all his research. To prove to them that he was a scientist too.

But that didn't happen. None of that would ever happen.

Jazz warned him not to hope for too much.

"People don't change Danny." She said simply.

Danny still tried. He still hoped. That hope made him try.

That hope killed him.

Danny never told Dick the specifics, about the accident. Dick never pried, but he knew something wasn't right.

Danny would cry in his sleep some nights. Dreams of a life that was far away now. Dick couldn't do much, all he could do was hold Danny's hand and wait for the nightmare to pass in hopes that Danny would forget his dream when he opened his eyes.

Danny's body was scarred. Something he used his powers to cover but they were still there and appeared when the stress got too much. Dick only saw a small part of them.

Dick got a full view once of Danny's back once when Dick left him a change of clothes. Lichtenberg scars like feathered ferns ripped through Danny's left arm and back. Danny hated it when people saw his scars and the marks disappeared the moment he realized he was being watched.

Dick didn't mention it. Not even the faint green glow the marks gave off.

"Why does Batman hate me?" Danny asked peeking out from under his blanket. He was still shrunk down

Dick bundled the toddler up in the blanket.

"He doesn't hate you. He just...he doesn't like things he doesn't understand." Dick tried to not make that sound awful.

"He doesn't understand me." Danny sighed.

"And he doesn't have to. He won't do anything to you. Not with me around. I promise. I know you've been hurt before and you must have felt alone but you got me." Dick ruffled his little fuzzball's hair.

(Ignore small errors. Have bat picture.)

[clockwayswrites]

City Pigeons Bleed Green, Part 5

WC:1063, Masterpost

CW: dissociation, self esteem issues, (past) dehumanization, referenced torture and experimentation

Danny flinched, again.

He felt bad for it, Red Robin was being as careful as possible sliding the rubber fabric between the collar and Danny’s skin, but it was just that having hands on the collar like that freaked Danny out. He closed his eyes and mentally ran through the numbers of pi. He used to know over a hundred of them. Now he was only certain of about seventy-six or so. There were a lot of things that used to be so much clearer in his memory than they were now.

“Just the overlap now,” Red (the others just called him Red), said.

He flinched again as Red pressed lightly against his neck to overlap the fabric, but the hands pulled away after.

“Do you need a little break?” the other one, Nightwing, asked.

“No. I just want this off, please,” Danny begged. He had gotten used to begging in the last year. Years?

“We’ll get it off,” Red said confidently.

Danny tried to trust that. He kept his eyes closed.

A gloved hand slipped into Danny’s, giving him something to cling to other than the sheets. Danny recoiled at the touch at first, but when the hand started to pull away, Danny twisted their fingers together and held on tightly. He didn’t open his eyes to see who’s hand he was holding.

As Red started to work on the collar, Danny couldn’t help but tense. He’d been shocked by it so many times. He was like Pavlov’s dog, collar and all, he thought bitterly.

“Almost there,” Red warned.

Danny could tell the instant that the seal of the collar was broken. It was like moving a limb that had fallen asleep, but the pins and needles were everywhere, inside and out. It was agonizing.

It was a relief.

A damp cloth was dabbing under his nose.

He blinked rapidly and Nightwing came into focus. The hero looked so concerned.

“Wha…” Danny croaked.

“Nose bleed,” Nightwing explained. He folded the cloth and set it aside.

Moving slowly (though Danny still struggled to follow the motion) Nightwing reached out and places his hands on either side of Danny’s face. Gently, he tilted it this way and that. “You didn’t exactly lose consciousness, but you… went somewhere else.”

“I do that, I think,” Danny said. The hands started to pull away and Danny swayed after them. One returned to help keep him upright. Danny’s eyes fluttered closed. “It was easier… to be away than there.”

The thumb stroked gently across Danny’s cheek.

He could feel himself tearing up. When was the last time he had been touched with kindness? Why was he now? They didn’t know what he was, that’s why.

“You’re safe here, I promise. You don’t have to go away anymore.”

-

Jason looked up from the cutting board when Dick came out of the bedroom. Dick did his best to offer his brother a smile as he took a seat on one of the slightly rickety stools at the kitchen counter.

“How is he?” Jason asked. He had swapped his helmet for just a domino. (To Dick it was a pretty clear sign that Jason has already claimed the kid as theirs.)

“Better. The nose bleed stopped and he was fully conscious again,” Dick said. “He says he does that, goes away like that. It sounds like it was a defense mechanism for whatever those bastards put him through.”

“Fucking hell,” Jason muttered.

“Yeah. I’ll let the others know so that anyone looking over him knows to watch out for it. Especially if anyone takes him out shopping or anything…”

“Right,” Jason said with a grimace, clearly picturing how badly that could go.

Dick just gave a little nod. He dragged the table that Tim must have been using close and opened it to check on the rest of the family.

“You, me, and Cass?” Jason asked a few minutes later.

“What?”

“One of us three should always be here, right? Or Babs if we move to a different safe house.”

Dick hummed thoughtfully. “There’s something to be said for moving safe houses if the kid plans to wait awhile before wanting to see Bruce.”

This safe house was bearable, but it really was one of their worse ones. It didn’t even had a table to eat at or a television. They could deal with the one bedroom and a couch, but Dick got the feeling there would be a lot of Bats stopping by whenever possible and that it wouldn’t quite cut it.

“We can see how Kid is tomorrow after rest and food,” Jason said. “If he’s up to being in a car with us we can easily move to any of them.”

“Maybe the one on Rosserie Street?”

“Which one is that?”

“Upper East Side.”

“Ah, yeah,” Jason said with a little nod, pushing the things off his cutting board and into the large pot on the stove. “That one would work. More space and better stuff.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Dick said. It was one of their apartments set up for a long term hideout if one of them was too injured to be seen in public or supposedly out of town as cover. “And big enough beds people can share.”

Jason snorted. “I’ll stick to the couch. The demon brat kicks.”

“Do you think he’ll stop by?” Dick asked as he picked at the thick rubber case on the tablet.

With a heavy sigh, Jason crossed his arms and leaned a hip against the counter. “Yeah, I think he will. I think he’ll need to, for his own sake. I’d rather it be when you were here, you’re the only one of us who can really control him if he gets… territorial.”

“He’s been better,” Dick pointed out.

“This is different and you know it. This is blood, even if it’s green. Hell, it being green might actually make it worse.”

Dick groaned and let his head thunk onto the tablet. “Yeah… I’ll talk with him and try to get B and A to also.”

“Yeah,” Jason said and reached over to pat Dick on the back.

Why did being a the oldest have to be so exhausting? And now there was another one. Not that Dick would trade any of them away, but he could really use a vacation, a drink, and a long nap.

I no longer tag, but you can subscribe to the masterpost.

---

AN: Dick really really wants to hug Danny but is really really afraid of scaring him. Don't worry, he'll get hugs.

[moss-on-trees]

DP x DC prompt: family drama + heist au

Danny and Bruce were dating before Jason died. Bruce was about to propose, though he wanted to wait until things were less tense with his son before doing so. Jason and Danny really got along despite the teen being wary of the older man when they first met due to his own baggage. Danny loved Jason like his own son.

After his son's death, Bruce pushes Danny away out of grief. Danny, who doesn't have any reason to stay permanently in the mortal realm anymore - his sister and friends are ghosts - decides to go look for Jason in the Ghost Zone to take care of his stepson in the afterlife.

Years later, when Jason has more or less reconciled with his family though things are still tense with his dad, he has a row with Bruce over him causing Danny's disappearance which leads to Damian, Cass and Tim asking Dick about who he is.

Dick tells them about the man who made Bruce very happy and whom they know better as the Justice League hero Phantom, who has been declared MIA for four years. He left so abruptly that he didn't give them any means to contact him and they haven't heard from him since, which really didn't help Jason's abandonment issues and Bruce's... everything. They only know he is most likely in the Infinite Realms since his family is there but they have no way to go there themselves.

They ask for pictures. Upon seeing them, Damian tells them the League of Assassins has a file with his picture that details a spell meant to summon him from the Ghost Zone, which Ra's Al Ghul hasn't yet used since he hasn't found a way to control him after summoning him.

Tim, Cass, Dick and Damian plan a heist to steal the League file and get Danny back so Bruce and Jasson can get closure.

[hello-there-neighbor]

This is my very first Tumbler post, so please forgive me for any weird formatting. @dcxdpdabbles and @rboooks have this amazing DPxDC AU called Adoptive Son; please read it, it is so great! Obviously, there will be spoileres, so ye be warned and all that jazz. Anyway, I had an idea for a scene and really wanted to share it, so here it goes:

This would take place during part 6, after Danny's arrest, but before Tim's attack. Danny gets a phone call, right? (Like that's a thing when you get arrested, you get to make one phone call?) Obviously, he calls Dick. I'm going to say because the Gotham police are mad at him, ya know, being the "child trafficker" that he is and all, they wait as long as they possibly can to let him call, but when they finally do, he calls Dick. I pictured it like this:

It had been weeks but finally, finally, they were letting him talk to Dick. Nothing else mattered to him. They could put him away, and even dismantle the company; he could escape, he'd actually need to finish and then use the portal, which he had, he was ashamed to admit, moved to be a minor priority in his actually pretty great half-life here, but he’d figure a way to make it work with Dick and Tim, and everyone else would be able to find work again... eventually. He just needed to make sure his family knew it wasn't true. That's all that mattered to him. Of course they would know in their hearts, but he couldn't let them worry like that; even a little doubt would be devastating to them, he was sure. The phone rang... and rang... and rang... ‘please’, he thought, ‘please please please, pick up! Please come o-’

"Hello?" Dicks voice was tired and hoarce, he couldn't shake the image it painted of Dick, tearstained and distraught, more sleep deprived than even Danny had ever been.

"Listen! They aren't going to give me much time." Dick remained silent on the other side, so he barroled on into the ramble he had been needing to let out for weeks. "I don't know how much you've heard, but I didn’t do this! Please, you need to believe me. I didn't do this! I don't know where they're getting evidence from, but it's not true! I swear I didn't! You know that, right? You know I could never! You know I didn't do this."

"Yes, you did." Danny's heart stopped, not that he needed it, but still. "I found it, Crowne, the journals, everything. I turned you in." Danny felt his core crack.

"What? No... No, y-you wouldn't!" Tears were falling on his cheeks now, but he didn't bother to wipe them away. "You know me! You know who I am! You know I w-" He was cut off before he could finish. "Yes, I do, and yes, you would." Diletone rang in his ears even after he had been forcibly pulled away from the receiver. His face was blank. Only one word could describe the pain and betrayal and loss he was feeling: CRACK!

So ya… thanks for humoring me! And thank you @dcxdpdabbles and @rboooks, for writing this story to begin with! You are super crazy talented and should be so proud of yourself!!!

[redflagshipwriter]

Check Yes ch 10

masterpost

“Why are you so cheerful?” Damian narrowed his eyes up at Dick, as if he could possibly intimidate his elder brother. “And why are you still here? Return to Bloodhaven at once, where someone might desire your presence.” He dropped his phone on the bench with a clack and roughly pulled his sweatshirt over his head. His hair floofed up after it, trailing with static electricity. 

Wow, someone was still holding a grudge over him spilling the beans about the elementary school art show. Why so cranky? Cass and Stephanie hadn’t done anything embarrassing, they’d just come with him and said that it was nice. Damian had done this family portrait thing where no one had eyes or hands. It was avante garde or something. Dick didn’t really get it, but the technical proficiency was really impressive.

Dick bounced on his heels a bit as he got his gloves on. He felt his hair bounce with the movement. He felt extremely light and breezy. “Because you would miss me,” he teased.

Damian grunted and looked away. He yanked open his locker and pretended that he was the only one in the changing room as he pulled off his pajama pants and started to wiggle into the Robin uniform. The leg armor squeaked as he forced it up and into place. 

Quiet footsteps padded into the room. Dick caught sight of Timmy in his locker mirror.

‘He will definitely be up for fucking with Jason and his date a little.’

“There is a little something going on tonight,” Dick said, faux casually. He cracked his neck and then started going through the double check of all the fastenings of his uniform and basic equipment. “Remember earlier, when Duke sent that odd message?”

Damian grunted.

“Well, I looked into it, and-”

“Holy shit, Jason is calling out of patrol tonight in the group chat.” Stephanie’s voice trailed faintly over the divider between the locker rooms. “Do you see this shit, Nicki Minaj?”

Dick blinked. “Nicki Min-” 

That apparently meant Tim, who lunged for his phone and unlocked it. He stared in disbelief for a moment. “Is he allowed to do that?” he asked. He scrunched his face up, clearly disturbed.

‘Makes sense, but does that mean I’m going to be chasing Jason, not Red Hood?’ Dick crinkled up his nose and thought about it. Probably not? He didn’t want to give anyone the impression that Jason’s civilian ID was being hunted by law enforcement. Jay probably just didn’t want Dick to be able to track him down too easily. Fair enough. 5 of them on patrol was quite honestly a lot more than Gotham needed on an average night.

Damian snorted. “Don’t be absurd,” he sneered. “We are all entitled to a certain number of rest days per week. Have you forgotten the holistic wellness powerpoint presentation so easily, you despicable fool?”

“Shut up, nerd.” Tim held his phone in Damian’s face.

Damian stared at it without blinking for a long few seconds. “...I was not aware this was a genre of action of which he was capable.” He looked incredibly troubled.

The expression wiped off of Dick’s face.

‘What did that little shit do?’

“Maybe it’s a sick mind game?” Stephanie suggested, voice lifting in question.

Dick yanked his locker open and dug his phone out. He unlocked it in a blur of motion, already scowling. 

Jay had sent a picture to the birdchat with a selfie of him and a man who must be Danny, the dead guy on the other end of the sacrifice contract. They were leaning together over a dinner table. Jay was cheesing for the camera, a glint in his eye that said he knew he was being a little shit. Danny looked kinda dazed, which probably meant he wasn’t quite wild enough for their life. Dick nearly felt a tinge of guilt about tagging him into their rivalry, but hey, it was just a friendly game.

The accompanying message was, “Can’t patrol tonight, I’m spending time with the boyfriend. Stay safe, losers and Steph.”

Dick huffed. He slammed his locker shut. Fine. So, he didn’t get to share the exciting news! That was fine. That was fair, even. Jay should get to launch his own relationship. It was just kinda-

Wait. He scrambled to open the locker again and looked at the selfie again. 

He knew the wall behind them. It was an Italian place where Jay laundered money from the sale of imported Dutch narcotics. 

‘They have to still be there,’ he realized, mind running through the minutes since he had confirmed with Babs via camera that the two were at the planetarium. He grinned like the Grinch and rushed out. “Bye, see you out there,” he called over his shoulder to the locker room and snatched up his helmet. He had already changed, after all! No need to wait around for the slowpokes and the old man who still wasn’t even coming down the Bat staircase yet.

Nightwing flung himself onto his motorcycle and tore off into the night. He crossed the bridge into Gotham, a flash of blue reflected off the choppy water below. It felt like minutes until he kicked out the stand for his bike and dismounted, clicking the protective tech on without stopping for a minute. He took the rickety, rust-red stairs up the outside of the building and slithered in the stairwell.

He wasn’t an amateur. He knew that Jay knew what he’d done. He was expecting Dick to come here. But that didn’t mean Dick couldn’t gain ground. Jay might still be here. Dick crept out into the restaurant through the kitchen, ducking out of sight from the line cook and bursting through the kitchen double doors in utter silence.

His gaze went unerringly to the table where the photo had been taken. A grim-faced waiter looked up, pristine white cloth in the process of wiping it down. “There’s a note for you,” he said. He indicated the receipt with a head tilt and finished his task, wiping down the salt shaker and other accoutrement.

Boo. Dick deflated. “Thank you,” he said. It was too much to expect for this to end first thing. Ah. He cheered up at the realization that this was better, actually. He was clearly only minutes behind them. The game wouldn’t be fun if it was too easy, after all. With that in mind he felt pretty chipper as he reached for the no doubt taunting note Jay would have left him on the back of the receipt. In his peripheral vision he noted the waiter picking up a short mop and running it over the floor under where Jay and Danny’s feet would have been.

…A riddle. They left him a riddle. “How does water fall onto a cranky little stormcloud?” Puzzled, he blinked. Uh, water going up? Something about condensation, about pipes, about… stormcloud? He crinkled his eyebrows and thought about Damian’s thunderous little face, chubby cheeks and all, positively sick with fury that Dick had betrayed him by attending his art show.

He had a bad feeling. He looked up. There, in the unfinished rafters, alien green eyes stared down at him predatorily from an inhumanly pale face. 

Dick froze. Jason’s boyfriend was clinging to the ceiling like goddamn Dracula climbing down the castle wall, one clawed hand wrapped around a rafter, feet braced against another in a way that made his limbs look just slightly too long and angular. The other hand was holding a bucket.

Fuck. Dick dodged in a roll and barely evaded the bulk of the splash zone.

“Loser!” Jason’s voice called out. 

Dick whipped his head over to see his brother grinning at him from the kitchen in a goddamn kitchen staff apron. “Bitch!” he said, appalled. Had he really walked past him without realizing it? No way. Just no way. He looked back up and jolted. 

Danny was gone. 

Fuck!

He looked back at the kitchen just in time to see Danny drape himself over Jason’s shoulder in a boneless way, flash a grin with teeth that were far too long, and then… and then. They both faded out of sight as Dick rushed the door. There was no hint as to where they had gone.

‘I should have gotten tactical information about Danny’s ghost abilities before I challenged them. This is on me, a little bit. I’ll have to have Babs take a look… No, not yet. They’re probably going around by one of Jason’s bikes, I can check on what’s missing and plug the license plate number into the auto search program.’’

“Excuse me.”

Disheartened, Dick blinked back at the waiter, who had already mopped up the water that Danny had dropped on him. He was impassively holding out another wet towel. 

”...Thank you,” Dick said, and dried his left shin off so he stopped leaving drips across the restaurant.

[flamingpudding]

Part 5 of Ghost Kid in Gotham

For those that ask, yes an AO3 link is in the works. I will post it once its ready. Also fair warning, I will be focusing on DPxDC Family Week now so I have no idea when the next part will be up.

<<1 Previous Next

Thrill and chirp brother

Tim sipped on his n-th cup of specially made Tim-brand-not-Alfred-approved coffee as he shuffled into the dinning room and sat down on the breakfast table. The moment he sat down he opened the laptop again and stared at its screen for a couple of seconds. The scan of the post-it note got nothing. None of the squiggles was recognised in any of the so far known languages. Hell he even ran it through the leagues recordings of interdimensional and interplanetary known languages. No hits so far. Right now he was running a picture recognition program to see if any of these had appeared before it was on 90% with nothing found so far.

Good he hoped this really was just a prank from Cass and Steph. Because if it wasn't, Bruce would go nuts and overly paranoid as well as up the entire Manors security system a third time this month. Sadly, despite his hope, Tim knew that it wasn't a prank.

A cough resounded behind him and Tim blinked two times before sighting, closing the laptop and pushing it only a couple of inches away from him as Alfred put a plate with his breakfast before him. Knowing Alfreds rules about work at the table he would better not touch it again for now.

"Replacement, you look like the dead walking. Did you even sleep last night?" He glared at his brother before he blinked taking in his surroundings before his eyes rested on little Danny.

Tim could see that all of them, despite barely knowing the kid for a couple of hours, had already become attached to Danny. It didn't help that they had discovered Lichtenberg scarring running up Danny's left arm all the way to where his heart was after the child had finally let Damien take care of him. Hell Tim wanted to know who would give a child, a once dead then revived one, scares like that. If Talia had let the kid go through some sort of experimentation…. Well Tim knew where the explosives were stored and by the looks of it he probably could count on Jason's as well as Dick's help to blow up a league facility.

Either way Damien had become very protective of the child. The scarring didn't help calming that protectiveness either. In fact he was pretty sure it steered it more in the rest of them too. Also the fact that Danny spat out glowing Lazarus Water once they managed to wrangle the kid off Jason last night wasn't calming down a different kind of worry anytime soon either. No, it was another factor next to the scarring that spoke for the League having experimented on the poor child. He probably should start investing more time into what sort of facilities the League had built or was using lately.

On a good note, thankfully Danny had let up on Jason after he spat out the green goop and thanks to the fact that he apparently recognised Damien, let said teenager manhandle -cough- take care of the little biter for the rest of the night. It also seemed like the little guys biting obsession with Jason had calmed down, for now. He didn't trust the calm, especially not with the way Danny was still focused on his second oldest brother. Though everyone except for the demon brat was still getting the hissing treatment. Considering his theory that the League probably used the revived child to experiment with Lazarus Water, it wasn't that much of a surprise. Anyone would be feral after being subjected to experiments.

Thankfully it looked that whatever Pit Madness had overcome the child last night was not reacting towards them. But as he watched Dick trying really hard not to pout at Damien who had Danny in his lap in a protective hold, he wondered how long that would hold. Jason sat as far away from Danny and Damien as he could, probably because of the way the child was watching him with glowing blue eyes while munching on whatever food Damien gave to the little biter.

He could also see the reason for Dick's pouting as the elder reached out to attempt to ruffle Danny's hair but the child instantly snapped his head in their eldest brother's direction, hissing, bearing his teeth and even snapping at the air until Dick withdrew said hand again. A pout very evidently on his face. Like a switch flipped the child's focus would then redirect to watching Jason like a hawk again and munching on the food the Demon brat gave him.

At least he was the bitey type that would hiss as warning and not the stabby kind without warning like Damien.

"Yo, anyone at home up there?"

Turning his focus back to his second oldest brother Tim glared at him once more. "If you have to know. Yes I did sleep last night."

"More than one hour?" Dick asked next and Tim refused to look at the eldest. He was not going to answer that. He had coffee, who needed sleep when you have coffee. Besides, he was a perfectly functioning human being even with minimal amounts of sleep. He had not face planted his breakfast for three days now.

"What got you so obsessed that you didn't sleep, Drake? Another case? Or did you try to find out more from the League in regards to Danyal's scars?"

"That too but mostly the post-it note." He finally answered after stewing a little longer under the stares of his siblings. "Neither our nor the JL's language recognition programs got a hit and right now I am running a picture recognition to see if there ever was any kind of writing like that found before but it ran up to 90% before I came down and hadn't found anything like that before. And-"

"Slow down there Timber. I thought that's just a prank from Cass and Steph?" Dick interrupted him and Tim suppressed a groan.

"It couldn't be. I wish it was but both of them weren't in the Manor last night and I don't think Duke would do something like this so-"

"Hold up." Jason cut in and Tim glowered at them for getting interrupted again.

"What do you mean no language recognition program got a hit?"

"It means that there is no languages to translate-"

"Why would you need that? Yea its cryptic as fuck but its clearly written out!"

"Jason what are you talking about?" He opened his laptop again, turning the screen so it was facing Jason. "These are squiggles! How is it readable?!"

"The fuck you talking about?! Don't tell me your sleep deprived mind doesn't know how to read anymore?"

"Jason what does it say in your eyes?" Dick carefully cut in before Tim could question the other any more.

"'The daylight knight will tell the truth with eyes that see the light'. See cryptic as fuck." The older gesticulated towards Tim's laptop screen while Damien raised an eyebrow at him.

"The what now, will tell what?" Dick asked confusedly while Tim turned the laptop back towards him noting down what Jason just said. He was confused as to why Jason was able to read the squiggles but at least that gave him some kind of hint about the post-it. Aside from adding more questions to the already growing pile.

Suddenly a thrilling noise echoed in the room and the four looked at Danny. The child's now green eyes were focused on Jason. Tim could see Damiens hold tightening and Dick tensing when they noticed the green. Danny repeated the same nose he made earlier, still intensely staring at Jason.

"Who the fuck is clockwork?"

The green fated and Danny made a similar noise to chirping, his head tilting in confusion.

"The fuck you mean you don't know? You just said that Clockwork wrote the note?!"

"Todd. Did you just understand the noise Danyal was making?"

Once again the three of them stared at Jason who looked at them confused. "You didn't?"

They shake their heads and Jason let out a frustrated groan as he sat back down his head in his hands. "What did you assholes hear just now?"

"Danyal made some kind of thrilling, then chirping noise."

"Well I heard him say that someone named Clockwork wrote the note and then he said all confused that he doesn't know who Clockwork is." He looked at them frustrated. "Why do I hear the kid speak and you guys don't. You're his fucking twin, right? Shouldn't you know what the brat is saying?"

Damien glowered at their brother offended but didn't retort anything. Tim did see a hint of frustration with their formerly youngest and he could guess. Damien was most likely frustrated about the fact that Jason understood his twin's noises and he didn't. The only thing stopping him from possibly hurling the breakfast knife at Jasons, was most likely his hold on Danny.

Tim also thought about the fact for a while until it suddenly hit him. He looked up and made eye contact with Dick who most likely came to the same conclusion. The two turned towards their siblings.

"The Lazarus Water." Tim carefully offered, watching Jason and Damien tensed slightly.

"What about it?" The second oldest scoffed, turning his attention towards them.

"That's what you two have in common. Both of you got revived and came back through a Lazarus Pit. You still have the Pit in your mind right? And Danny most likely also has a lot of it in his system. It even mixed with his DNA."

After a beat of silence Jason let out a hearty groan. "Fuck. So because of the Pit I understand thrill and chirps now? Just fucking great!"

"Probably can speak it too if you try. That would be pretty cute. Come on, say something in a chirp!" Leave it to Dick to try to lighten the mood, though the glare Jason sent the eldest did make Tim hide a chuckle. He had to admit imaging Jason talking in chirps was a funny image. Should his brother ever do that he would need to make sure to take a video for his black mail folder.

"I will fucking not!"

"Come on, don't you want to communicate properly with our little teethling here?"

"Fuck off Dick!"

"You have to try it Jaybird! For little teethling!"

"Richard." Damien warned but Tim could only snicker as he watched Dick reach out to pat the kids head carelessly, apparently not hearing the warning nor hissing as the elder was too engrossed in convincing Jason to talk in chirp.

Dick let out a shriek of pain.

"Ha! Not so fun getting bitten is it now?" Jason laughed gloating with the fact that for once he was not the biting target.

Tim winched the moment he saw Danny clamp down with his sharp teeth on Dick's hand. Damien was instantly scowling both of them but the little biter refused to let go. He saw Alfred approaching the three and instantly stood up from his chair with a warning on the tip of his tongue as the butler reached out towards Danny.

"Master Danyal." Stunned and frozen the four brothers watched how the butler fearlessly patted the child's head who only let out a small hiss in acknowledgement, teeth still digging into the eldest brother's hand. "I request you let go of Master Dick's hand. I fear it will not taste as well as this snack I have prepared for you."

In an instant Danny let go and chirped, turning his attention towards Alfred who was still patting the child's head without getting hissed at or being in risk of getting bitten. Damien even let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you Pennyworth."

Dick was now cradling his hand, pouting and mumbling something about unfairness at the three as Jason laughed. Tim too couldn't help but chuckle, of course Alfred somehow became an exception towards Danny's biteyness.

It was at that moment that Duke entered the room, took one look at them, blinked, rubbed his eyes and then turned around and left again muttering something about it being too bright and early for any of this.

[long-live-astronerd-ghost-king]

Haunting Heroes DPxDC. December 18: Gift Exchange.

Damian knew for a long time that his family was full of hyperactive idiots. They planned to exchange gifts properly at home. Their plans never went well. This time, Robin was stabbed in the back by an older bird.

Grayson announced at the end of the patrol that some of his gifts were meant for their alterego, which means he has to give them now. Of course, this led news reporters to now broadcast live a fight between Red Hood and Phantom. Of course, Richard gave them a pair of "Dead Outside but it Xmas"/"Dead Inside but it Xmas" sweaters without explaining which one belongs to whom.

And of course, after seven minutes of fighting Red Hood wins the second sweater and with a ridiculous villainous laugh escapes.

~~~~

Jason is still sitting in two sweaters and his leather jacket when a couple of hours later Phantom sends a photo to the group chat:

"3:2, Hood. Nightmare Before Christmas wins >:)"

There’s a picture of ghost trio in stupid holiday sweaters near Vlad's manor: Levitating Dan wears a "Your Prospects for a New Year Are Ghosting You" one, Dani demonstrate hoodie with "The ghost of your past promises to be successful in the new year" inscription. Camera also caught Jazz trying to take "I spent this year being the ghost of myself" sweater off Danny.

Damian rolls his eyes. What a childish behavior.

The boy’s father, who comes to the chair, distracts him from reading comments from other birds and bats.

Bruce: Damian, Alfred asked me to ask you if you needed his collection of Japanese knives as Christmas decorations for your room or if he could use traditional ornaments.

Damian: Don’t touch! I’ll decorate Christmas tree on my own.

Bruce: Also, Tim, hiding coffee beans in Christmas tree balls was smart and interesting, but no.

Tim: :(

Bruce: So, now the big question. We all now Danny’s knitting is bad, so who made the sweaters? Keep in mind that I don't even want to imagine Dan with sharp needles in his hand. His mother nailed a ghost fly to the wall by throwing a table knife when we were visiting them last time.

Jason nods and agrees: Beautiful talented woman.

[too-much-tma-stuff]

In the Light of Day (part 9)

Previous | Masterpost | Next

In the two weeks since the raid on the GIW base Jason and Danny had been receiving regular updates from Tim about how Ellie was doing with the Teen Titans. She seemed like she was settling in well, and recovering from everything that she had been through slowly but surely. In a way Danny was really glad she hadn’t been entirely stable, the GIW hadn’t been able to do much to her before she started destabilizing. It was bad enough of course, and she had plenty of lingering trauma, but she hadn’t been broken in the same way he had. She hadn’t reached out yet, but just knowing that she was out there and she was okay soothed his broken edges tremendously. 

She was getting along well with Superboy, they were supporting each other well and Superboy had taken on an almost brotherly role with her. She was getting into chaos with Impulse, and generally… having a good time. Danny had even seen some pictures of her which had made him cry again while Jason held him.

Tim had also used a secure line to ask Danny some clarifying questions about the information on the USB he’d given him. Danny had been as open about everything as he could without sending himself into a panic, and didn’t hear back from Tim for a few more days before he suddenly showed up in crime alley one night dressed as Robin. 

“Your family has a habit of unscheduled visits huh?” Danny commented to Jason over the coms as he headed to intercept Tim. Jason couldn’t do it because was finishing up his work, and waiting to hear what Tim wanted to see if he actually needed to leave early or not.

“Ya,” Jason agreed with a slightly sheepish laugh. “Boundaries are not something this family has ever been good at. We can try to enforce them more if it’s bothering you?”

“No, that’s alright. I’m glad you have a better relationship with them now and I like them well enough too,” Danny assured before launching himself off one rooftop, flying across the gap between buildings and half tackling Tim making him yelp. They rolled across the roof as Danny gave a play growl and Tim grappled with him for a few moments. 

It had spooked Tim the first time Danny had done this, because he thought Danny was actually mad at him, but now he understood that it was just in play. Indulging it made Danny happy so Tim didn’t really mind, it was part of the way he bonded apparently. If Danny was actually mad Tim didn’t like his chances honestly.

“So, what do you need?” Danny asked once Tim had tapped out (he rarely won these little wrestles, and when he did it felt distinctly like Danny had let him win).

“I want to talk to you and Red Hood about something serious,” Robin told Danny with a little frown. “Do you have time tonight, or I can come back later.”

“Hood? Can you get away tonight?” Danny asked, tapping into the com.

“Ya, give me an hour. Take the baby bird home and put the kettle on, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Jason confirmed. Danny passed the message along and Tim nodded distractedly, following Danny home and accepting a cup of tea which he didn’t actually drink.

He was quiet as they waited for Jason to get home. Tim had a way of sitting unnervingly still in moments like this, it was almost like he was on pause. He didn’t start moving again until Jason arrived and had been handed a fresh cup of tea by Danny. 

“So, what did you want to talk about Tim?” Jason asked and Tim unpaused with a blink and a little shake. 

“I’m working on a presentation for the Justice League about the atrocities committed by the GIW and the anti-ecto acts that enable them,” Tim said bluntly. 

Jason put down his mug abruptly with a clatter and Danny let out a startled snarl. They shared a look of concern and suspicion and then looked back at Tim. They were willing to hear him out, even if it was an uncomfortable topic.

“I would appreciate it if you would look over the presentation, or maybe let me practice it on you, before I give it to them to make sure it’s accurate and respectful. I would also consider it a personal favour if you would come to the meeting yourselves, as representatives of the people who’ve been affected by these laws. Obviously, you don’t have to, but Ellie already agreed to come with us and I thought you might want to be there for her.” 

“I’ll go,” Danny said immediately. He hadn’t wanted to, but if Ellie was going then he wasn’t going to leave her to face this alone. She was a very brave and capable girl, but she was technically only about five years old, and Vlad hadn’t exactly done a perfect job cloning her so her knowledge and capabilities could be... patchy. He wasn’t going to leave her to face this alone, even if going to this meeting and facing the Justice League was the last thing he wanted to do.

“Well, I guess if he’s going I have to too,” Jason sighed begrudgingly with a shrug. “You and Big Wing will be there?” Jason asked Tim, who nodded. “Good, where will the meeting take place?” 

“Probably the Watchtower,” Tim admitted with a little shrug. 

“Is that the one that’s in space?” Danny demanded excitedly. The abrupt change of tone took Tim off guard but he nodded. “Awesome! Are there observation rooms? If there are, I demand time there if we’re going to see! I want to see SPACE!” 

Tim gaped at Danny a little and Jason laughed fondly. Danny seemed to realize he’d gotten a little too excited and blushed a little, smiling sheepishly at them. 

“Sure, I can probably arrange that,” Tim agreed with a little shrug. 

“Great, let us know as soon as you have a date for that. I want as much time as possible to prepare for it, and I refuse to agree to anything besides a non-aggression pact beforehand,” Jason told Tim firmly who just nodded absently. 

“Ya no worries, you don’t have to agree to anything, Dick and I are planning to smuggle you both in anyway,” Tim said, nodding absently. 

“Better to ask forgiveness than permission?” Jason asked with a snort of amusement. Tim gave him a conspiratorial smirk and nodded, making Jason laugh properly. “You know, if you’d lead with the fact this would piss off Bruce I would have agreed right away,” Jason joked and Danny cackled.

“But that’s not the purpose, that’s just a bonus,” Tim said with an impish smile.

“I like you kid. Ya, we’ll be there to support you,” Jason confirmed without hesitation this time.

----------

Danny had corrected a few things in Tim’s presentation for him, mostly about ghosts, or ecto-entity’s, behaviour and culture. He obviously wasn’t telling Tim everything that he knew, but it was enough that if the Justice League came into contact with them through all this they wouldn’t cause terrible offense or get themselves killed. Tim questioned how Danny knew all this but he had just given an enigmatic smile and refused to answer the questions. Tim had sighed and accepted the secrecy, hoping he could get Ellie to tell him later.

Only once both Elie and Danny had approved the presentation did Tim go ahead with requesting a meeting with the full JL about something urgent, but not so urgent it couldn’t be worked into peoples schedules in a week or so. As soon as he knew when it would be (Thursday at 3 pm) Tim told Jason and Danny, just like they’d asked.

They found out that knowing was a double edged sword. On one hand it was more time to prepare, on the other it was more time to panic, and Jason could tell Danny was panicking. Jason wasn’t looking forward to it either, but he was not freaking out the way that Danny was, so he set his own nerves aside and focused on helping his boyfriend. Including calming him down from three panic attacks! 

Jason was fairly used to Danny’s panic attacks, and knew they ranged from sobbing, trembling breakdowns to violent outbursts. His outbursts were more controlled then Jason’s at least, he would hate to see what true pit madness would look like with Danny’s power. Just the taste from facing the GIW was more than enough.

Jason had learned how to deal with all of Danny’s episodes over the course of their relationship, but three in a week was more than he’d ever seen Danny have and Jason didn’t know how to help. He knew how to get Danny through his panic attacks themselves of course, but he had no idea what to say to actually make Danny feel better and stop having panic attacks. It seemed like this was something they just needed to weather, though Jason wasn’t happy about it.

He understood completely why Danny was scared of course. He was going to have to face a lot of traumas in this, and ones he couldn't just smash, kill, and blow up like the GIW, complicated ones. At least they wouldn’t be alone, and being reminded Dick, Tim, and Ellie would be there to back them up if needed did seem to make Danny feel a little better at least. 

The night before the meeting they were laying in bed together with Jason half sprawled on top of Danny like a weighted blanket. Jason had bought him an actual weighted blanket, but he still preferred Jason when he was available. Maybe because Danny produced very little body heat on his own and Jason was a walking furnace, but probably just because he loved Jason. 

“So, are you ready for tomorrow?” Jason murmured, nuzzling into Danny’s neck and breathing in his scent, like freshly fallen snow and lighting infused air. 

“No, but I’ll manage,” Danny sighed back, carding his fingers through Jason’s hair. 

“Is there anything I need to know before the meeting?” 

“Maybe,” Danny conceded. He didn’t continue right away so Jason stayed quiet, giving Danny the time he needed to arrange his thoughts before sharing them. “I don’t think it will come up, but just in case… I’m technically the crown prince of the Infinite Realms.” He sounded almost sheepish. 

It took Jason a moment to process what Danny had said and then he sat up abruptly, looking down at Danny in disbelief. He gave Jason a nervous smile, looking a little ashamed of himself. “I’m sorry, what?” Jason tried not to snap at Danny, he winced anyway.

“Ya, the crown of the Infinite Realms is passed through Trial by Combat. The previous king Pariah is an asshole who was bound in the coffin of Forever Sleep ages ago, but all the ancients had to work together to do it so they couldn’t actually take the crown. Since it has to be single combat, you know? When I was 16 my late bastard of a godfather released Pariah from the coffin and I defeated him one on one. I escaped taking the crown by a technicality because I forced him back into the coffin instead of ending him, but everyone expects that when I’m older and more stable I’ll go back and defeat him properly and take the crown.

“Like, there’s a prophecy about it, that the true king would be a halfa? That’s why Pariah killed them all in the first place. I’m not king technically, but plenty of ghosts already swear loyalty to me whether I want them to or not.” Danny looked sad, and scared, Jason took pity on him and lay back down with him, pulling him close. 

“You don’t have to be king then, right?” Jason questioned, since it was obvious Danny didn’t want this. “You still have a choice.”

“Not really,” Danny admitted with a sigh, looking away. “Someone will let Pariah out of his coffin again eventually, and when he does I’ll be the only one able to defeat him. So when that time comes my options will be to beat him myself or let him take over the world again. I guess I could force him back into the coffin again to try and delay it further, but the Council would probably start getting antsy and let him out themselves to try and force the issue and I’d still only be delaying the inevitable. It’s very unlikely that anyone as strong as me will come along in the next… millennia.”

“Damn…” Jason breathed, turning that over in his head for a moment before he let out an incredulous little laugh. “Well that’s one hell of a trump card to have in your back pocket if anyone tries to give you trouble. I mean you probably have diplomatic immunity or some shit.” 

The comment startled a laugh out of Danny as well. “Ya, I guess so! I hadn’t thought about that. Well, I still won’t say anything if I can help it but I guess that’s a card I can keep up my sleeve if we need it,” Danny allowed with a half smile. 

“I know you said you’re not ready for the meeting, but I know that you are. It’s going to be hard, but you are ready, and I’ll be there with you. You can do this for us, can’t you?” Jason asked, knowing that Danny was more inclined to push through if he wasn’t just doing something for himself. 

“Ya, I can do that,” Danny promised, nuzzling into Jason’s hair. He seemed more relaxed now thankfully. 

“Good, now get some sleep,” Jason directed and smiled a little when Danny snuggled closer and closed his slightly luminescent blue eyes. “Sweet dreams Moonlight, I love you.”

“You got it Boss. I love you too,” Danny sighed contentedly.

The next morning was an early one for them. Mostly because once they woke up neither of them could get back to sleep, so even though they hadn’t gone to bed until almost 2 am (thank you vigilante schedule) they were both up by seven. Brewing strong coffee in the kitchen and making scrambled eggs and toast since Jason couldn’t be bothered with anything fancy. 

With several hours till the meeting and nothing to do, they settled for rewatching some of their favourite movies and comfort eating some junk food. It was too early to go out and cause any real mayhem anyway. Finally it was time to suit up and go meet Dick and Tim so they could smuggle Red Hood and Hyena into The Watchtower. It was easy enough, Batman had gone in early and Hood already knew exactly where the Batcave was, so they just met up there and used the zeta-tube.

It had been a long time since Jason had been on one of those things and Danny never had, so they approached it with some trepidation. Danny in particular was eyeing the machine with wariness bordering on fear. Jason heard him mutter; “Cool, ya, I’ll just get into the giant metal tube, as if that didn’t kill me last time,” so he could guess the zeta-tube resembled whatever had killed him before, good to know. 

Dick went first, cheerfully saying it was to make sure the coast was clear, though Jason suspected it was really because he had noticed Hyena’s nerves and wanted to prove it was safe. Once he’d texted Tim that everything was fine Jason grabbed Danny’s hand and walked with him into the tube confidently. Danny was reluctant, but he let Jason tug him along, and since he could have easily stopped them both, that was good enough consent.

Jason felt a familiar swoop in his just as they were swept away in the beam, and caught Danny when their feet hit the floor again and he stumbled. “See? Not dead,” Jason joked to his partner as he held Danny close, feeling his slight trembling subside quickly. 

“Are you sure?” Danny joked weakly, looking a little paler than usual. 

“You’re not going to be sick are you?” Jason asked worriedly. 

Danny took a deep breath and shook his head; “No, I’ll be fine.”

“Good, then let’s get out of the way so Robin can Zeta in,” Jason promoted. 

Reminded that they were still in the tube Danny practically dragged Jason out. To his surprise it wasn’t just Nightwing waiting for them, but all of the Teen Titans, including their newest member. 

“Little Star,” Danny breathed, his eyes wide above his mask. Phantasm looked shy, shifting from foot to foot with barely contained nervous energy. Danny smiled behind his mask and lifted his arms, which she threw herself into immediately, clinging desperately to her template. Danny hugged her back just as tightly, squeezing his eyes shut as he clutched her to his chest.

“Why didn’t you come to visit me? I missed you,” Phantasm questioned tearfully. 

“I missed you too, I just wasn’t sure you’d want to know me like I am now,” Danny explained softly. 

“Of course I do! We’re family,” Ellie said, burying her face in his shoulder.

“Then you’re always welcome where I am Starlight. I still can’t take care of you properly, and I think you should stay with them. But come visit me whenever you want, whatever you need,” Danny promised her gently.

“I will,” Phantasm agreed, finally letting go of Danny so she could wipe the tears from her face, sniffling a little. “I know you can’t have me stay with you right now. I can feel…” She trailed off, glancing around them, remembering they had an audience and reconsidering what she was going to say. Danny appreciated that since he was pretty sure she was about to bring up his cracked core. “I know you have a lot of healing to do too, so you can’t be worrying about me all the time.” 

“I’ll always worry about you, Phantasm, you’re basically my daughter,” Danny laughed, and let her lightly wack his arm for it. “I just can’t… support you right now.”

“I understand, it’s okay,” Phantasm reassured him with a sad little smile. 

“Great, are you guys ready for the meeting now?” Tim butted in a little callously, earning a glare from Dick. “We’re a bit late so everyone else should be there by now.” 

“Sure, let’s do this,” Danny agreed, grabbing Jason’s hand again tightly. "It's time to get all this shit out in the light of day."

[aliteralchicken]

i had an idea for one of those Tim never joins the family aus but it involved two of my fav robin 1993 chracters Danny and Dana

Tim’s not Robin so his mom dies in Haiti as normal and his dad goes into a coma, but rather than living dies very shortly after

Three things happen that will become inportant later:

Dana was supposed to be Jacks physiotherapist before he passed away

she had registered to become an adoptive parent but, being so young, expected it to happen a few years down the line or get a much younger child

Tim is put with Dana, this is completely coincidental and unrelated to her would be connection to his dad

The Drakes company gets sold on and Tim will inherit this most of this money when he turns eighteen

Tim and Dana get along great as per canon but Tim does eventually end up going to boarding school, Brentwood academy, and there meeting Danny temple

because he’s not Robin in this timeline things go a little differently, Danny goes back to finish school with Tim before joining the cult of the cobra as a leader officially, and Tim goes with him

Tim moves in with the cult because he and Danny fell in love at high school, cult and homophobia be damned and move in together at a cult base, he still calls Dana frequently, they both still care about each other very much, Tim just moved out young

now cut to the bats:

Dick is looking though his old pictures and finds the one and that had been taken the last night of the flying Graysons, as per canon the family with them in the picture (the Drakes) had sent it to him and he wants to see if he can find out who they are, so after all these years he can thank them in person

Bruce recognizes them as the Drakes who sadly passed away a few years ago, but according to a quick search by Oracle their son Tim should still be alive

should being there operative word

Tim hasn’t been seen in Gotham since he was seventeen, seven years ago, and any records of moving away are sketchy at best

they talk to some of the last people who should’ve seen him, his old Brentwood classmates and skater friends, who are very closed off about any questions asked (Kip, Wes and Buzz are just trying not to out Tim and Danny because why else would anyone be asking about their time at Brentwood?)

Steph tries a similar approach with Tim’s best friend Ives, she thought she’d have better luck since they went to school together, but is getting the same very vague and cold responses (Ives is also under a similar impression as Kip, Wes and Buzz)

so armed with the knowledge that

No one is giving any information on Tim Drake or his new family

Tim would’ve had access to a lot of money on his next birthday, that until then would be held with his only next of kin

Dana Winters who was supposed to be the caregiver of Jack Drake, who passed not shortly before, ended up adopting his son despite no previous experience with adoption

the bats, being detectives but not omniscient come to the very wrong conclusion that rather than having sketchy moving documents because of his involvement with the cult of the cobra, Tim is a missing persons case, presumed dead

their main suspect, Dana Winters

motive, the Drake fortune

and well you can’t just start investigating and accusing the mother in law of a leader of the cult of the cobra of a heinous crime without a few snakes catching wind of that, and god forbid what will happen if you make her cry

[robinsegghead]

Danny's Daycare Part 8

[Master List]

“And that’s pretty much it.” Danny ended their tour in his office. “Any questions?”

Duke shook his head. “I’m excited to start.”

Danny showed him back out into the main area filled with kids which Mia and Ember had been taking care of while Duke learned about the daycare, the schedule, and what was expected of him. It seemed pretty simple- though he knew kids would always create unpredictable problems, but the job itself would be fine. The things he did for Tim.

“Finally!” Mia shouted, picking up a crying kid beside her and carrying her towards Danny and Duke. “Clara’s been asking for you for a while!” She passed the crying blonde child off to Danny before pointing back towards the kids. “C’mon Duke, the kids are coloring for now.”

They left Danny to handle Clara’s tantrum and watch the rest of the kids. Duke settled down next to a group of five kids, all coloring different pictures of Gotham vigilantes. He settled next to a little blonde girl who was coloring a picture of Robin with only shades of purple.

“Whatcha coloring?” He asked.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, assessing. “Robin.”

“That’s cool- why’s he purple?”

The girl sighed dramatically, like Duke had asked a stupid question. Apparently he had because nothing would have prepared him for the lecture he was about to get. “Not him- her. Robin was a girl and she was the coolest Robin ever! How can you not know that? Everyone knows that girl Robin is the coolest one! But since she’s gone, Spoiler's my favorite! So I thought- how cool would it be if girl Robin and Spoiler were the same person and now I’m coloring robin purple!”

“Oh.” Duke managed to respond.

“Boys.” She sighed, rolling her eyes and turning back to her coloring project.

He’d have to tell Steph about her little fan the next time he saw her. “Spoiler’s one of my favorites too.” He offers, hoping she’ll un-shun him. 

It works, she turns back with excitement on her face. “She’s so cool! I wanna be just like her when I get older!”

The day went by quickly. Mia left much earlier than Duke did so the last three hours of his shift were just him and Danny and the kids. Somebody named Ember popped in briefly in the evening to drop off food for Danny and Duke. Her aura was… strange- but not as strange as Danny’s. 

When Duke first met Danny he didn’t know what to think. No one had ever been as… bright as Danny. Duke figured he was some kind of meta and filed away the information for later. After meeting Ember, however briefly, he wasn’t so sure anymore. She was the same as Danny. They kind of… glowed and it was so similar- like how Clark, Connor, and Jon all had a similar aura. If that was true, then Danny and Ember were likely aliens.

He hadn’t told Tim that yet.

Tim had been busy lately and if Duke hadn’t taken this task off his hands we would be even busier. Truth be told, Duke didn’t understand Tim’s fascination with Danny. Sure, it was strange that someone willingly moved to Gotham and chose to use their, apparently very large, inheritance to help the people of a city they weren’t even from as a favor to someone else, but if Duke couldn’t believe in the goodness in people then what could he believe in?

Besides, there was no proof that Danny was doing anything nefarious. None of the kids had gone missing, he didn’t have any strange or large sums of money being added to any of his accounts, nothing seemed amiss. So Duke agreed to apply for a job at the daycare and keep an eye on the situation for the summer. Just to make sure Danny really was a good guy.

Spending more time with Mia was a plus. With school and his extracurriculars Duke hardly had time to hang out with any of his non-family friends. Tim definitely owed him one for giving up his summer vacation to work at the daycare.

“Thanks for all your hard work today, Duke.” Danny approached having just sent the last kid off with their parents. “I’ll see you on Wednesday.”

Duke nodded, putting away the books he had in hand. “You need any help cleaning up?”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I’ve got a couple of guys who will be here shortly to help me clean the place up.” Danny smiled softly.

Did he have a cleaning crew? If so, why did he seem so happy about it? “Cleaning crew?” Duke asked nonchalantly.

Shaking his head, Danny fell back into a rolling desk chair that had been brought out earlier in the day. “Just a couple of street kids who need some money and won’t let me give it to them without doing something to ‘earn it’ so…” Danny closed his eyes, slouching in the chair, and rested his head against the backrest. “I’ll let them work for an hour or so, overpay them, and get out of here.”

That was… not exactly what Duke had expected. Just one more thing he could use to prove Danny was a good guy and get Tim off his back about this whole ordeal. Maybe he’d even convince Tim to take a day off. That was probably hoping for too much.

“Well, have a good night, Danny.” Duke waved, grabbed his things, and left. There was still a bit of daylight but despite originally planning on going out as Signal, he’d decided against it. Kids were exhausting.

How Danny managed to run the daycare every day for twelve hours without passing out from exhaustion was beyond Duke.

~~~

Danny was exhausted.

Along with the Daycare, taking care of Miguel and Santiago, and his usual Kingly duties, Clockwork had been on his ass recently. Something about taking his job more seriously- what part of doing a favor for a prominent city spirit wasn’t taking his job seriously? Apparently Danny was also supposed to find and appoint his own Fright Knight- which would have been awesome to know a long time ago but whatever-

Could he just get ONE night of sleep? Please.

He’d canceled on his friends for three weeks straight, unable to find the time or energy to even video call and catch up. They’d started asking if he was okay, Jazz had started threatening to show up and force him to rest but she had her hands full between school and her internship so he wasn’t convinced she’d actually do anything.

Duke had been great, having the extra help at the daycare was really great and the days he didn’t work were much more difficult. Ember had agreed to come back regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a little while, but she really wanted to get back to touring and playing music and he couldn’t really fault her for that.

It was the Thursday night after Duke’s first day when she showed up.

“Danny- how the hell am I supposed to know this?” Miguel groaned.

“You’re gonna have to be more specific, kid.” Danny called back, serving the steaming bowls of paprikash. Dani got lots of souvenirs from her travels and while Danny had certainly not thought he’d ever need to use the recipes, he was grateful for them now. 

There was a shuffling sound and only a moment later Danny found Miguel standing beside him, pointing at a chemistry equation. “This. This is bullshit!”

Sensing Miguel’s rising frustration, Danny tried to placate him. “How about we take a break from studying for dinner? Afterwards I can explain it to you and anything else you’re confused about.”

“Except English.” Santiago muttered bitterly.

In the short time Danny had known the boys he’d learned a lot about their learning styles, their strong suits, what they liked and disliked, and what kind of smart they were. Santiago was a lot like Danny, scientifically minded- Danny had already caught him taking apart the toaster and the TV just to figure out how they worked. Which meant, while catching him up on STEM classes was relatively easy, they struggled much more with the arts.

Miguel, on the other hand, was competent. He was street smart. Although he wasn’t dumb by any stretch of the imagination, he struggled with learning anything from a book. Despite all of that, he really tried. He’d been keeping up with the worksheets Danny had gotten him and helped Santiago with anything he could, but he hated it and it showed.

Suffice it to say, the boys were struggling- all three of them.

“Dinner. Then we can figure it out.” Danny repeated, placing down the bowls and grabbing drinks.

Miguel left briefly to feed the cats, before joining them at the table.

“You know,” Danny started casually. “I was thinking about the cats.” Miguel tensed up. “It’s a lot of cats in my small apartment and I’m gone all day. I was thinking- if you had wanted- that you boys could have one of them.”

Like always, Danny spoke casually. He’d learned quickly that they didn’t respond well when Danny spoke too decisively. It was like they thought he was trying to tell them what to do, so in general, he made sure it was clear that he was only suggesting ideas.

He also knew that Miguel had taken a liking to the cats- especially Curiosity, and he wanted to find a way to give Miguel stability. 

“You…” Miguel swallowed. “You mean it? Really?”

Danny nodded. “Of course. We can go shopping for everything this weekend. You remember Damian- from the mall?” Miguel nodded, confused. “He taught me everything I’d need to know about owning cats. I’ll give him a call and see if he’d be willing to come over and teach you what he knows.”

Santiago opened his mouth but was cut off by a rapid knocking on Danny’s front door. The three exchanged looks, no one really sure who it could be but all prepared for the worst because of their upbringing. 

“Probably a neighbor or something.” Danny shrugged, hiding his own concerns as he moved away from the dining room towards the front door. Technically, they did have one neighbor on the floor in the apartment across from Danny’s and next to the boys but they kept to themselves. It was not likely to be the neighbor.

He didn’t see anyone when he looked through the peephole, saw nothing, and opened the door slowly.

“BOO!” A voice shouted only moments before a girl appeared out of thin air and lunged at him. Danny grabbed an outstretched hand, spun the body around, and slammed it into the nearest wall. “OW! Ancients dammit, Danny!” She shouted, phasing out of his grip.

“Dani?”

“Holy shit, Danny, that was badass! Maybe try not to slam me so hard next time though?” She chided goodnaturedly.

He let out a deep breath, calming his racing heart (Racing being a relative term because it was probably only beating as fast as a normal completely living human heart would). “Ancients fuck Dani, don’t do that!”

“Danny?” Miguel’s wary voice sounded.

Dragging his sister towards where he’d left the boys, Danny composed himself. “Sorry guys, this is my sister- Dani.”

“Danny?” Santiago squinted.

He shook his head. “She’s Dani with an ‘i�� and I’m Danny with a ‘y’. I know, it’s confusing. Dani, this is Miguel and Santiago.” Danny gave his sister a pointed look. “Have a seat, I’ll get you a bowl.

Dani plopped into the seat across from Santiago and waited for Danny to deliver the food. “So this is why you’ve been so busy?”

Returning with the food, Danny rolled his eyes. “No, I have been busy with everything else. Miguel and Santiago take up barely any of my time and I like having them around.”

“You two ever seen this man sleep?” She asked conspiratorially. They shook their heads slowly, looking between Danny and Dani. “Exactly. He’s been neglecting sleeping and eating because he’s a moron!”

“Dani.” All eyes landed on Danny who was rubbing a tired hand down his face. “I’ve been sleeping and eating- can we move on to why you’re here?”

Taking a big bite of food, Dani rolled her eyes. “Can’t a sister visit her brother?” She pointed at him and looked at the boys. “Can you believe this guy? Don’t ever treat your little brother as badly as Danny treats me, you hear?” She directed at Miguel who nodded in confusion.

Danny smacked his sister’s leg, which she’d propped up on his chair, and took his seat again. “I treat you just fine! You just don’t drop by that often- it’s been nine months since I saw you in person last and that was because you needed a favor!”

Dani cackled, shoveling down the food quickly and kicking her feet up onto her brothers’ lap. He rolled his eyes but let them remain as he finished his own food.

“I didn’t know you had another sister.” Santiago observed.

“You don’t talk about me? I’m hurt!” She gasped mockingly.

Miguel brought his and his brothers’ bowls to the sink and started washing them while everyone else chatted. “Miguel- I’ll do the dishes, don’t worry about it.”

“It’s fine, I’m almost done already.” It was just two bowls and spoons after all, but Danny still didn’t want them to do dishes when he’d cooked the meal. He wanted them to focus on school and making friends and forget about everything else- at least while they were at his apartment.

Santiago squinted between the two of them. “You look really similar.” He noted, suspiciously.

Danny offered a nonchalant shrug. “We’re siblings.”

“So’s Jazz but you two look nothing alike!” He exclaimed.

Miguel put a hang on his brother’s shoulder calmingly. “I think we’ll just head back to ours for the night.” He glanced at Dani a bit uncomfortably. 

“If that’s what you guys want, but you don’t have to. I promise she won't bite- probably.” Danny chuckled. 

The older boy shook his head. “We’ll let you two catch up and come back to do more school stuff tomorrow- if that’s all right?” Danny nodded and the boys left quickly.

“Awwww- I wanted to get to know your kids!” Dani pouted.

He sighed, grabbing his and his sister’s plates and carrying them to the kitchen sink. “Miguel’s pretty skittish- you scared him off. Not your fault really, but he doesn’t like new people, a skill that has kept him and his brother alive for the last three years.” Drying his hands on a towel, Danny leaned against the counter facing his sister and met her eyes. “But you didn’t come here for that, you didn’t even know about them. So what brought you here?”

She looked at the cup of water he’d given her and fidgeted with the condensation on the glass. Sheepishly, she looked at him before looking away again. Gathering her courage it seemed. “I… I want to get my GED… and go to GU.”

Although it seemed out of left field, Danny schooled his expression. She was always more in tune with emotions than even he was (whether that was because he’d been human before becoming a halfa and she’d only ever known life as a halfa or just because that was her personality, he didn’t know) and he knew that his opinion meant something to her- even if she pretended it didn’t.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” She squinted.

“Well,” He sat across from her, hands on the table. “Are you just telling me that, or are you asking for my help?”

“Don’t make me say it.” She groaned.

With a smirk, he shook his head. “Okay, so you want my help?” She didn’t respond and he took that as a yes. “You can join the boys and I when we work on school stuff, I can help with getting your GED and putting together the application to GU as soon as that’s done. Do you need a place to stay?”

She wrinkled her face. “I’m not living with you.”

“Hey! I resent that! Besides, I own this building and most of it’s just empty apartments.” 

Dani’s eyes widened. “Are you offering me an apartment?”

“Are you asking for an apartment?” He challenged, smirk on his face once again.

“I swear this is why everyone likes me better- I’m literally the better version of you!” She shouted, landing her forehead on the table and groaning at her brother’s silence. He remained silent while she continued to avoid looking at him. They were at a stalemate.

“Fine!” She shouted. “Can I have one of your apartments?”

He tilted his head to show he was still waiting for something.

“...Please?” She gritted out.

It was going to be nice having his sister around more often.

~~~

Turns out, tutoring kids who haven’t been in school for three years and one who has never been in school was a lot harder than Danny had anticipated. He didn’t know how to teach certain subjects (curse the arts) and was struggling to get Miguel and Dani to understand what he was saying when it came to math and sciences. He’d finally had the brilliant idea to go to the library and pick up a bunch more books.

Danny had left a clone to finish up at the daycare for the last couple of hours and made his way to the library. He’d need a couple of textbooks, a GED study book that was highly recommended, and a bunch of different literature books. Probably. He thought. Who knew really? He certainly didn’t.

He noted the library was pretty empty, the only patron was leaning over the front counter talking to the front desk girl. Danny didn’t pay them much mind as he moved throughout the library collecting books- though he was sure he felt their eyes on him any time he passed by the front desk.

Eventually, he had a stack of books that would keep his three ‘students’ busy for a while. Hopefully a long while, he was kind of out of ideas after this round of books. 

Dropping them onto the front desk, the side opposite where the man was still standing, Danny sighed. 

“That’s quite the collection.” The man noted.

Finally, Danny actually looked at the man. He hadn’t been expecting the most beautiful man he’d ever seen to be casually checking out his stack of books. He had short black hair that was slightly longer at the top with a shock of white right at the center of his forehead. His eyes were blue with a hint of green around the edges and he was built like a brick house. 

He was wearing a red t-shirt, brown leather jacket that hugged his body nicely, and tight black pants which Danny refused to see how they hugged him. 

With a shrug, Danny leaned against the counter, the front desk girl nowhere to be seen. “Yeah, they’re not for me.”

“Who’re they for?” The man asked casually. 

“I’m helping a couple of kids get back on track in school but they haven’t gone in three years so there’s a lot to catch up on. I’ll admit,” Danny chuckled. “I’m only really built for STEM… the English side of things is… not my forte.”

The man nodded slowly. “Yeah you’ve got quite a collection of works there.” There was amusement in his voice.

Groaning, Danny rubbed a hand down his face. “I’m just going to have to hire a tutor in Literature or something. I barely have the time to teach what I know- I almost failed literature in high school.”

The man -Danny really needed to get his name- watched Danny closely for a moment. “Who are these kids to you? Why do you have to get them into school?”

“I said I would.” Danny shrugged.

“They family? Friends of yours?” The man probed.

Danny shook his head. “Just a couple of street kids who needed help and were willing to let me give it.”

The man squinted. “So you’re trying to help a couple of kids you barely know?” Danny nodded slowly, unsure if the man was judging him or not. “Well, if they get in- great. But if they don’t- at least you tried, right?”

Something about the way he said it set Danny on edge. “Excuse me?”

“They’re just some street kids, who cares, right?”

“What the fucks that supposed to mean?” Danny asked, voice rising. He didn’t give the man a chance to answer, anger already overflowing. “I promised I’d help them cause I have the means so I’m going to. And the reason Gotham’s such a shithole is because of people like you who think the homeless population are worthless good-for-nothings instead of the intelligent and down-on-their-luck people I know they are. Ancients- this whole city is fucked!”

The man began chuckling, setting off Danny’s anger even more. “What are you laughing about now, asshole?”

Offering a genuine smile that took Danny completely off guard, the man offered him a hand to shake. “I’m Jason, former street kid, it’s nice to meet someone who actually cares.”

Stupefied and completely confused, Danny shook his hand without meaning to. “Danny- did you say all of that shit to test me or something?”

The man- Jason- shrugged. “Had to make sure you weren’t some kind of creep.”

“What the fuck?” Danny breathed trying to reign in the anger he’d let seep out before (he had years worth of repressed rage and nowhere to put it, he’d thought he might finally have someone to unleash the anger on). 

“Well, if I haven’t completely scared you off with that little stunt,” Jason smirked, grabbing one of those flower pens libraries always seemed to have and scribbled something down. “Literature was my best subject in high school. I’d be more than happy to help you tutor a couple of street kids in need.”

Jason slid the piece of paper to Danny. It was a phone number. People were giving him their number a lot recently- what was that about? As a teenager Danny could count on two hands how many contacts he had in his phone, after… the incident, he could count on one hand how many contacts he had. After moving to Gotham he’d slowly begun collecting numbers from apparently the entire city.

“What was that yelling about?” A woman’s voice cut through the silence Danny hadn’t realized was there.

Waving his hand casually, Jason smiled. “Just me being an asshole and Danny here defending his people. I’ll see you at brunch?” He directed the question at the red headed librarian who nodded suspiciously. “Nice to meet you Danny, think about my offer.”

He didn’t mean to track Jason’s movements as he left but he couldn’t help it. He also didn’t realize he was doing it until the librarian cleared her throat. “Ah, right, sorry.” Danny pushed the books towards her sheepishly. 

She began scanning the books, typing something in the computer between each one. “Danny was it?” He nodded. “I’m Barbara, sorry about Jason, he can really get under people’s skin if he wants to.”

“Nah he’s fine.” Danny sighed. “I probably would have done the same thing.”

She eyed him curiously. “What did he do?”

“Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t some asshole who was just using some street kids I’m helping.” He paused, offering his library card to Barbara. “I’m not- for the record. Just trying to help them get into school again.”

Barbara bagged up his books during his explanation. When he was finished she handed him the bag. “Jason really is one of the smartest people I know- if you’re considering letting him help you with that…. You won’t be sorry.”

He hesitated, unsure if he wanted to accept the stranger’s help. “I’ll think about it, thanks.”

~~~

When Danny left the library Babs immediately pulled out her phone and texted Jason. She hadn’t seen him smile like that since before he’d died, there was no world in which she let him let Danny get away. Whether that boy knew it or not, he was going to be a part of the family. It was like fate- he even looked the part, black hair, blue eyes, completely exhausted, going out of his way to help people he barely knew- he was perfect.

Now to strategize getting them together- she’d need Dick’s help. He’d be more than excited for the task at hand.

If she closed the library a little early in order to find everything she can on Danny Nightingale- the man Tim had been low-key convinced would become a rogue and had begun obsessing over for the past couple of months- and find a way to orchestrate is integration into the family then who could blame her?

Prev. Next

[amaramizuki666]

Shared sensation part.2

Danny had felt so numb, ever since his soulmate rejected him, without even telling danny his name, he just hasn't felt anything. Their was always this tingling under his skin but he just couldn't feel anymore. He couldn't feel pain, he couldn't feel the cold, he could feel the heat, it was just nothing.

But danny pushed forward if his soulmate didn't want him, if his soulmate didn't even want to give him a chance. Then that was on him not Danny.

After a few years and danny was 14 he got used to the no feeling thing, he moved on with his life trying to ignore the aches in his chest calling out for a bond that was no longer there. He made freinds with sam and tucker two very unlikely soulmates, they had a platonic type bond very rare but it makes sense considering that both where aromantic . They butted heads a lot but they cared for eachother nun the less.

So when sam and tucker came over and Sam wanted to see the broken portal his parents tried to create in his basement, he was somewhat reluctant to show them but caved after a bit of convincing. then sam wantented a picture of him in the portal. danny was once again reluctant but sam convinced him saying that if he wore a safety suit he would be fine. so he put one on, sam removed the insignia of his dads face then walked into the portal.

sam took her photos and danny shook his head at his friend. danny goes to walk out of the portal when he tripped over some cabling. he caught himself on the inner wall of the machine. danny sighed in relief when he heard a low hum, the low hum of the portal powering up, danny didn't even have a moment to process that his hand was placed on a big red button that said 'on'.

the only thing danny could focus on was the sudden feeling of pain coursing through his body, the first thing he's felt in 4 years. so much pain. danny cant help but scream as he felt himself being ripped apart for the second time.

-----------------------------------------------------

Tim fell to ground screaming in pain, his mug shattered on the kitchen floor. Tim's muscles contracting painfully causing tim to curl in on himself. "TIM!!" He heard dick yell as he and who he assumes to be Bruce running over to him.

They say something to him but tim isnt paying attention, he is in so much pain. This is the first thing he has felt since destroying his bond with his soulmate. The contractions stop but tim dosnt in curl himself, his legs are to his chest and his hands are clutching his shirt right over where his heart should be.

Tim was gagging he felt the coffee he was drinking in the back of his throat. Tears streaming down his cheeks. He felt himself being pulled into someone's arms.

Tim didnt understand what was happening, it didnt register what just occurred. Not until the pain finally stopped and his chest was filled with an overwhelming emptiness. A cold chill wrapping about his soul and body.

"No-" tim mumbles in a strained voice, horror seeping into his tone. He pushed away from the person who was holding onto him, shooting up off the ground. "Tim?" Bruce's voice registered in his mind.

Tim looked at his family more tears flowed down his cheeks. "Babybird what's wrong?" Dick asks taking a small step forward. Tim looked at him speechless, in shock. He felt dick place a hand on his shoulder, tim looked him in the eyes, dick saw how blood shot Tim's pupils where.

"He's dead" tim mumbles barely audible. "What-" bruce was cut off "MY SOULMATE, DANNY. I CANT FEEL HIM, EVEN AFTER OUR BOND WAS SEVERED I COULD STILL FEEL HIM, BUT NOW HE'S GONE, I FELT IT HES DEAD!" Tim cried collapsing back to the floor not bothered with how the shards of ceramic glass cut his legs.

Tim couldnt feel Danny, tim knows what that means, what all that pain ment, danny was dead, Tim's soulmate was dead. Tim's soulmate died in so much pain. This was his fault, he should have been there. This was all Tim's fault.

part.1

part. 3

[gremlin-bot]

One (1) New Reply

I finally wrote my prompt I sent to @stealingyourbones back in November! well part of it. This is just chapter 1, so this gets a summary @dpxdcshipweek

Edit: forgot to say that I got help with the usernames from the wonderful @tourettesdog and @half-dead-ham! (If I'm wrong it's bc I'm not at home rn to look at my notes)

Ao3 link: Here Master List: Here

Summary: Danny has always had more internet access than a child really should have had. He tended to spend that time on game forums and different websites dedicated to space. Everyone once in a while he'd venture onto one about heroes and villains. That's how he met Tim Drake-Wayne or BatShadow as was his username back then.

Chapter 1: Blorbo Supplier

Danny just wanted to see uncommon pictures of Superman. It really shouldn't have been this hard. He's an alien, there should be a lot of pictures of him. Frustrated with his lack of results he resorts to looking for the pictures through unpopular social media websites that should have new pictures. His first look didn't meet his goal, and before he could even think of trying again he was distracted by a post. It was a picture of a figure swinging between skyscrapers, backlit by neon light all against a smog filled sky. It was stunning and made all the more captivating by the identity of the subject in the photo. A picture of Batman, The Batman, taken in a way that you couldn't deny it was him. That was impressive on its own, but the quality is what made it shine. Danny had to see if the account had more pictures of Batman, or even other heroes. Looking at the blog, hoping it wasn't a deactivated user, he finds the posts of BatShadow. 

The blog is a gold mine of pictures of Batman and Robin with some villains the duo we're fighting. All with stunning quality, with each subject undeniable as who they were but still giving a sense of privacy. Sadly, Danny couldn't find any other heroes pictured, but Danny could live with that. Batman was his third favorite hero, he blames Sam and all her knowledge on the edgy and obscure. She would be ecstatic about these photos, too bad he wasn't going to tell her. He was being petty. Sam should have known better than to say he couldn't keep a secret, so this is his secret now! Pettiness aside, Danny was going to message BatShadow to see if they had pictures of other heroes they hadn't posted.

Messages begins with BatShadow

(04-17-20xx)

ConstellationCruiser:

Hey, sorry to bother ya

I just saw your posts and was wondering if you have any pics of superman

BatShadow:

I don't know. I would have to look. I don't usually go to an area with him in it much, so no promises.

ConstellationCruiser: 

Thanks!! And that's fine really, it's just that your pics are amazing

BatShadow:

Thanks! Sorry, I have nothing for Supes.

ConstellationCruiser:

Damn

It's fine 

I wasn't really expecting much

I'm just surprised at the quality and quantity ya got there

BatShadow: 

It's super hard to get them without being caught but so worth it!

Danny continued talking to BatShadow about pictures and superheroes. Eventually switching to personal interest. Danny learns that BatShadow skateboards and in turn he tells them all about the stars. By the end of their conversation it was well into the night, Jazz wasn't going to be pleased. It was worth it though.

—-----

Danny ended up messaging again the next day, and the day after that. The other user was interesting and he was just so broad. Especially during these long summer days where Sam was off at some gala trip and Tucker was on vacation with his family. His parents being busy in the Lab at all hours and Jazz working a summer job didn't help. Even with Jazz trying to get him out of the house but it never really was worth it. Not with Dash and his gaggle out. Not without his friends there.

It's not like anyone besides Jazz would care about what he was doing online. Their parents were too caught up in drawing out plans and blueprints for a ghost portal or something. He doesn't care, it's more of the same for him. Don't get him wrong, he loved his parents and they loved him. They just pay more attention to their inventions, and this one happens to be one Danny can't help out with.

He's getting distracted. Danny was supposed to be cleaning the lab, not thinking of long gone days. It was taking way longer than he thought it would. His parents really aren't as careful with their samples as they really should be. After cleaning spilled ectoplasm from the vent grates he will finally be done, then he can get on the computer and add BatShadow on Steam. They were going to play Portal 2 together later.

—----

Tim didn't think he would still be talking to ConstellationCruiser. It was unexpected, but not unwelcome. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, (if there was anyone to talk to in the first place), but he was lonely. So, sue him if he got attached to the other kid with too much free time on their hands. They may not have told each other their ages but it wasn't hard to figure out, they talked too similar.

It was nice to really connect with someone his age. ConstellationCruiser was smart like him, just in different areas. He had learned more about the stars and space travel in the last handful of months than he ever had in his 12 years of life. He knows he wasn't any better, going on about hacking and maybe the new murder mystery that came out. It was fun, learning about the other's interests and different things than what's normal for them. 

ConstellationCruiser's parents seem to have some type of lab in the basement of their house, which was cool in concept but concerning in practice. There have been times where they had to stop in the middle of a game they were playing together to check on an explosion they heard. It happened more than Tim was comfortable with but there's nothing he can really do about it. It's not like he was anyone better about certain aspects of his life either. He avoided the topic of food as much as possible, though it seems ConstellationCruiser is doing the same thing with the topic.

Tim just hopes the other won't worry over him not responding the next couple of days. He probably should warn them but this is time sensitive. Batman needs a Robin. The man is running himself into the ground. His new found grief choking him and by extension Gotham. He has to convince Nightwing to come back, no matter what it takes.

[anonymous-existences]

Chapter 6 : Phantom Luck

Double Update is so crazy of me frfr

[𝙶𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚖 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢, 𝙶𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚖 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚄𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚢, 7:00 𝙰𝙼]

Danny was filling applications with Dante's and Valerie's Help, "Okay so Dash is planning to get into is... Law? Wow— ambitious as always Dash." Valerie chuckles "is that a Compliment or an Insult." Dash tilts his head "give or take see it as you see it." Valerie waved her hand. "Danny and Dante are taking Aerospace Engineering, that makes so much sense considering their obsession with space and stuff. Tucker is getting IT Management which also makes sense and I'll be getting into Criminology." Valerie says happily. "Ambitious Are we Valerie." Dash says sarcastically and Valerie glared at him with daggers.

"Yeah but atleast I have the talent for it." Valerie rolls her eyes and Dash just frowns "I have talent for law too." Now both are glaring at each other. "Aerospace Engineering is so cool..." Tucker states as he looks up what Aerospace Engineering is. Danny smiles and Dante just eating some candy beside Danny. "Me and Danny are gonna go out for a while you guys can stay here, call us if you need." Dante stands up and Danny nods. "stay Safe Danny.." Dash muttered meekly but It made Danny Giggle, "Cya later Dudes." Tucker waves just slightly, "I better see your ass later Dante." Valerie winks. "Ew." Dante glared at her and pushed Danny's Wheelchair away whilst Danny was Laughing.

As Danny and Dante went through the Crowd they accidentally Bumped into someone and Their things fell on Danny's Lap, "Oops, Sorry!" The Person says and Danny just laughs it off, "it's no worries!" Danny waves his hand dismissively and looked up at the person and gives him back his fallen items and Oh my God it's Tim Drake-Wayne, "Oh!" Danny stared at him and he also looks surprised. "You're Danny! From the Technology Geeks Channel—" He says almost excitedly, "You're Tim Drake!" Danny also says Excitedly, "Can I get your Autograph?" They both said in unison and Both Nearly jumping in surprised before Danny laughed.

"And a picture too." Dante added as he pulled out his phone. "Ofcourse! As long as I get an Autograph from The Danny. Aka the you should ask Danny, if things aren't going your way Guy."(Ref to "you should ask Danny." fic by corkinavoid) Tim Quotes One of Sam's Past Sayings which Made Danny's heart warm up and smile widely. Dante took a photo of the two and they exchanged Autographs with each other. "Me and Some of my family members are really big fans of you guys, can I get your number so they can meet you all too?" Tim asks politely which made Danny Excited and Both exchanging Numbers as well. "My friends would love to meet you as well— I mean if you saw the "I'd propose to him I get a chance" videos and clips then you'd know." Danny and Tim both Chuckled.

"I'll see you around Sir Danny and Sir Dante." Tim bows his head slightly and walks off, Danny waving goodbye... "He took a bit of my hair didn't he?" Danny sighs and Dante nods laughing. "I hate this fucking Phantom Luck." Dante groans. "Please come back negative." Danny says. "I don't wanna be another frootloop's son, atleast Ellie can make them soft with her cuteness but me? I'm not cute? I'm just a nerd." Danny just groaning with Dante. "I'm gonna go insane Before I even finish college.." Danny sighs and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Atleast I got an autograph and his number... It's still... Feels like a set up." Danny closes his eyes in agony.

"I know that Damian Wayne likes you because he was one of your first subscribers along with CoffeeAddict smth smth forgot that guy's name." Dante yawns. "Yes, he says he loves our Eco-Advocacy— which I mean— Sam could've been an Eco-Terrorist if she was still alive and in Gotham. She'd probably be excited if she met Ivy..." Danny mutters and leans his head to the resting pillow on his Wheelchair as Dante just Nods. "Let's just get this over With and go Home to rest yeah?" Dante looks down at Danny and Danny Nods.

They headed back to the Baxter Manor to let Danny rest. Hopefully to get more peaceful sleep if possible, he deserves it... He truly does.

Dante combs Danny's hair gently as Danny Promptly fell asleep as soon as he laid down, "Oh Ancients... When will we ever have some Normalcy in our life.", Dante says with a pained expression. He wanted to cry in fear for the future that's so mysterious and Cryptid. He wanted to destroy everyone who had hurt his family. He wanted to Get Revenge on Maddie Fenton and the GIW for killing his sister and his friends. For killing the innocent. But for now he swore to himself that he'll let Danny settle down and get comfortable in the new city before he does any of that, for now he can't leave his dear Brother's side. Not when Danny is obviously struggling to fit in and settle down his Anxiety.

He still catches Danny Trembling in the sight of The color White, It's so sickening and Sad that he had to suffer like this, that he had to be afraid of the color white. That he had to... He had to be afraid of people in general. It made Dante's core tremble in grief. Dante tried the "What Would Jazz Do?" Or WWJD in short Method... Yeah. What would Jazz do? She will comfort and console the two who's cores are bonded and connected. She knows both are suffering if one is in pain as well. What would she do? Especially when she's no longer with them... What should he do? What should Dante do now? He's scared too. He misses her so much too.

Why did she have to be the one to die? Maybe if she was behind Jazz she would have never gotten shot, Maybe if—.... Jazz would be upset if she ever found out I am thinking like this... Jazz would comfort him and cuddle them both into a tight mama bear hug. She felt warmer than the embrace of their own mother, Maddie. She was more of a mother anyone else could ever be for Dante. They miss her so much. What would... Jazz do right now? .

Dante stood up and gently closed the door behind him as he left, he greeted the two elders outside who was just watching Cujo playing with the other dogs and Dante left not without saying a proper "I'll be back later" goodbye to the Elders and Riding off with his bike with his helmet on. He kept riding. He took off his plates. He went invisible and Intangible and he sped off hoping to let out some steam through going 100+mph with his Unnaturally Fast Bike. He kept riding until he ran out of gas in the middle of the road near back Wayne Manor. It was a very odd Coincidence... This couldn't be a coincidence.

Soon his invisibility faded off and he stares at the Manor with Those Blue eyes that Had Red Rimmings before his emotions took over him again and it became a Piercing blood Red Once More. He then promptly filled his Bike with Ectoplasmic Gas that came through his chest, not realizing that his Ecto Being's Exhaustion is allowing the cameras to see him, he filled his gas and went back invisible before speeding off again silently. He wanted to escape the current mind set of his. Jazz would scold him if she found out he did something reckless. He stopped by a tree with that thought and lit an ecto-cigarette instead, he took a deep breathe before speaking to himself.

"Right... Jazz would be mad... I should do the things Jazz would be Happy about for now.. even things that just won't make her mad... Goddamit. I miss her so much." he wipes the tears that dare fall down his cheeks. "Fuck.." he couldn't stop them from falling and eventually he just curled up under the tree to sob in silence with his Ecto-Cigarette. "I'm sorry jazz... I don't think I can always follow your morals, I hope you're not disappointed in me... I miss you so much." He just sobs with broken voices as he felt his Heart shatter and more tears fell as he stared into a picture of him, Ellie, Vlad, Danny and Jazz before everything went to Tragedy Massacre.

"I'll make sure to avenge you. Truly I'll avenge you. I'll dismantle The Ghost Investigation Ward and Kill Fucking Maddie Fenton. I'll make sure of it. I'm so sorry for what I'm gonna do." He sobs out as he kisses the picture. Goddamit. He misses his Older Sister so much... So much. They're gonna pay for what they've done to the people of Amity Park and Jazz. One day Dante will be the one to Kill Maddie Fenton with his Own Hands. he'll the one to tear her soul apart and let it suffer in the Nightmare realms. He'll do anything to dismantle and Get revenge on those who have wronged him.

But for now he needed to act into the Normalcy part of his and Danny's new life... Dante puts his Unlit Cigarettes in his pocket so he wouldn't litter and put on back his helmet. He drove off with his bike at a normal speed and with the Plate Back to not get himself pulled over. He doesn't wanna bother the Baxter Elders. They've done so much for the people they're not even related to, even going as far as Having installed a Wheelchair Elevator for the stairs for Danny because they don't know he could float. Dante uses that elevator when Danny is asleep in his chair and he doesn't want to wake up his little brother.

He wonders how Ellie is doing. She's been out in the Himalayas and having fun last he heard from her. Vlad and Clockwork are still smitten with each other, Clockwork going as far as calling Vlad his Husband by Ghost Culture Laws. "So embarrassing.." he mutters under his breathe as he thought about Vlad and Clockwork's Zesty Gay Relationship. "Why must they always be so flirty Infront of me... I do not need to see Live Action Older Men Boy's Love." Dante groans and focused on the road.

Dante planned to go home to the Baxters for now. Ancients Please don't give them more hardships. He's too tired for that Shit... Especially that Jazz isn't there by the twin's side, it's an even harder task to keep sane.

"Fuck this Life and Fuck this Phantom Luck" Dante scoffs under his breathe as he drove off back to the Baxter's Mansion not knowing that Tim was already getting DNA tests out of paranoia that he and Danny might be Another set of Biological Children to Bruce or Maybe Separated Clones of Bruce. It could be both but one is better than the other.

Oh Paranoid Tim Drake-Wayne. He who is digging their past and biological Mother and everything. Dante could never know for now that their bio family gets a bit crazy... Maybe too crazy sometimes.

Normalcy was never an Option for the Phantoms.

[dcxdpdabbles]

Is there any way I could request more of Danny's Grill? I keep re reading it and it's so great!

Danny's mansion amazed Tim, which said a lot given that he had lived in the Drake and Wayne Manors. It seemed almost like a castle, with its four floors and a few towers (four at each corner of the fenced-off stone. Danny had his property enclosed. )

Everything screamed old money and was well taken care of. He also was surprised to find that the whole place had a lot of natural light.

The drive out of Gotham got them away from the dark cloudy skies to wide blue, and the mansion had plenty of strategically placed windows that caught the sun to light up the rooms.

It was likely that way since the place was obviously built before electricity. Even the air felt lighter, sweater, and caused ease to rest in his bones. Tim found himself strolling through the place, oddly at peace with the silence.

He had taken a dip in Danny's pool, adoring how it was designed to resemble a natural river, complete with a waterfall. It was still a pool, with the proper level of chlorine and tile floor, but there were rocks and multiple plants all around that really sold it to him.

The waterfall was made from unevenly stacked rocks as if carved out of a cliffside. He enjoyed sitting near it, flouting in in the rippling water and listening to the falling water.

Tim found a makeshift bench from the stacked rocks right under the waterfall, where he could comfortably sit down and have the water reach his shoulders. He found himself in that same spot often over the week since he came to stay with Danny.

He was in a fluffy red bathrobe- and nothing else- having just finished a shower to wash off the pool's chlorine. His bare feet patted against the tile floor as Tim once more appreciated the artistic white and gold wallpaper.

He loved that it had leaf-like designs that weren't all over but small enough to give the place a pop of color.

He was still thinking of a destination, wandering about the large building while waiting for Danny to return.

Danny has also been a gracious host. After the first night, he had made him some food and offered him a room across from his, just as large as the master room. It was a lovely white with gold trimming, matching the rest of the mansion but left room to decorate the walls to his hearts content.

Tim hasn't, but Danny seemed rather insistent that he could if he would like to. That Tim had the option open to him. Danny, he came to find, was all about giving people choices.

What did they want to eat? Whatever Tim was in the mood for.

What should they do? If Tim was okay with being around people, they would go out and take pictures. If he was having an overwhelmed day, then Tim could find his own little corner to sit.

Was it okay if Danny gave him friendly hugs or pats? Only if he asked Tim before going in for a hug.

Could Tim walk around in nothing but a bathrobe? Of course! If it made him feel better, Danny could even avoid the entire west side of the mansion so he wouldn't have to see him if he thought like clothes were a bother.

It was enjoyable but also baffling.

Tim has never met someone who gave him as much attention as Danny did but also respected all his boundaries. He enjoyed talking about them, setting them, and even seemed to glow whenever Tim carefully tested the waters, by placing some that would have upset his past friends and family.

Another thing that needed to be clarified about Danny was that he plainly didn't make any sense at all. Tim had always assumed Danny was middle class- maybe high middle- since he ran his own food truck and all but it was obvious by his house that he didn't need it.

Danny's family- from what Tim had been able to uncover- had always been low, middle class up until Danny had been fifteen. Then their luck turned when a rich distant relative by the name of Pariah Dark willed Danny all his fortunes.

Who was Pariah Dark? What happened to him? Why was Danny the only one he left his money to and not all of the Fentons? Why did this property sit for years without any record of usage yet still look brand new?

There was also the question of whether Danny was human.

Tim is sharp when finding small details that lead to clues that lead to answers.

It's both a curse and a blessing.

In this case, he noticed little things about Danny; his tendency to not notice the cold weather, his slight winces when loud noises were near, his graceful steps that were sometimes a tad bit off of gravity, his eyes seemed to change color- blue and green- and the way he would stare into shadows, gaze following something that Tim could not see.

Tim could have assumed Danny had some mental issues- who didn't at this point?- but he felt that wasn't the real reason or not all of it.

He couldn't explain it, but Danny felt like more. Especially when he returns from Gotham because the air feels aware of his arrival. Like it got excited that Danny was back.

Was the mansion sentient like the House of Mystery? Or was it an extension of Danny himself?

Tim had accompanied Danny on a few of his food truck runs. Mostly as a chasier but Danny had beamed when he asked if he could join him three days into his stay.

He did to observe how Danny interacted with the people of Gotham. Just like the air gane a certain something, whenever Danny sold his ware and the people thanked him, he seemed to puff up in strength.

Not the pride in his work kind of puff up but an actual burst of energy as if though he had taken an energy drink. This was doubly so when he gave the street kids free meals. Helping them seemed almost like a drug to Danny.

It begged the question of whether it was, in a sense, a drug. Because Tim could see all the tiny hints that helping people seemed to do much more for his friend. He had dilated pupils, a droopy smile, and random bursts of energy, and he even got a bit snappy when he went too long helping.

Tim could even claim that it was as if Danny was making Deals, and he did not dismiss his hypothesis because Tim had already dealt with aliens, demons, and gods as Red Robin.

Fae or other magical creatures wouldn't be as far-fetched as he once thought.

Did that mean Danny Fenton was never fully human or that something had happened to him that changed him?

There were many questions. Not enough answers.

Yet despite all of that, Tim couldn't find it in himself to think Danny was dangerous. If anything he could only safely conclude Danny lived and breath to protect others.

Tim, the sole attention to his protective tendencies due to proxy, was all but wrapped in a blanket of affection and respect. It could drive a guy to do something silly, like hang up his cowl, resign from WE and live the rest of his life as a pampered prince awaiting for his King.

How odd.

Tim never wanted to do any of those things, but he felt he would if Danny asked. The best part? He knew Danny would never ask that of him which made him want to stay even more.

It's too bad all good things have an end. Tim thinks wistfully. He would much rather spend his days here, but his family was anxious about the lack of check-in.

Tim didn't want them to find out about Danny and had chosen to send a delayed message from the Nest, letting them know he was undercover, infiltrating a possible new magical court. The Bats knew not to risk his cover but they also wanted some proof he was doing alright.

He had asked Danny if he could go to Gotham for a quick trip, and despit the saddness in his blue eyes, Danny always let him. He even gave him the keys to a his car, walking him to the gate with a promise the gates were always opoen to Tim.

Tim would use those visits to catch up on WE work and deposit information packages at Bat checkpoints. He would also pick up coded folders from other family members who wanted to keep him in the loop should their cases overlap.

It's been three weeks since he came here; in that time, Jason had cracked down on pimps and working people. The family was helping him, as Jason was attempting to fulfill a favor that someone had cashed in and was struggling to find the working boy his contact was worried about.

Apparently, the guy was regularly getting roughed up and was underage to boot. Tim hopes Jason finds the jerks hurting him. He would love to help but he had to figure out Danny Fenton first.

The air brighten, snapping Tim out of his thoughts.

Danny was home.

He turned towards the main gate, scurrying to make it to the front door before Danny could finish driving up the drive way and park his car under neeath the shadow parking spots.

His heart fluttered as he barely slide into the main hall way and the wood of the door swung open. Danny steps in, still wearing his black t-shirt and jeans that he favored when working his truck.

"Welcome home!" Tim tells him, watching Danny's whole face break into a wide grin. It was like dawn breaking over the horizion and it made him feel all sorts of warm.

Danny was definitely beautiful enough to be otherworldly.

"I'm home, Alvin." Danny pauses and then gestures to his robe, his smile turning warm and fond. "Another late swim?"

"I like the water. It helps my bones," He says, shrugging his shoulders.

Danny hums. "I could ask a friend of mine to install a hot watered pool for you."

Tim considers it. He wants to say no but he just knows the mansion will rat him out. Danny seemed to always know when a lie is spoken here. Another check in the Fae theory.

"If....if it's not a bother, that would be nice." He says suddenly overcome with shyness. The feeling vanishes at the utter delight and green eyes of Danny.

"It's never a bother! The east wing has a smaller pool that rarely gets used. I'll make some calls and have it turn into an artificially hot spring for you." Danny chirps. "It would help me relax too. You would not belive the fight I had with Robin today."

Tim stills. "You fought Robin?"

"Not physically." Danny corrected but still shook his head sadly. "We disagreed on the case he's helping Red Hood with."

"What case?" Are Damian and Jason working together on the working boy's case? Or was it something else? And more importantly did he try Danny's food?!

He may come back for more if he did, and Tim's personal cheat truck was no longer his own!

"I'm not sure of the details, but they are trying to map out all the working girl's corners. He was upset when I told him I would not release that information to a child." Danny sighs. "I know he's Robin, but I could sense how uncomfortable it made him feel, you know? It made my core ache, but Robin took it as me not wanting to respect him as a hero. It was a whole thing."

Tim has so many questions he feels like he might just burst. It's only years of training that had him clamping down on all but one. "You're helping the Bats catch prostitutes?"

Danny's eyes widen "No! No! Not the employees themselves, just their sick pimps. I would never rat them out."

Tim nods once. "Okay."

"I mean it, Alvin. I would never"

And the blue eyes have flickered to green again. Interesting.

But he can't help but relax smiling at Danny. "I know. Thank you for helping them though."

Danny's face flushes, and then he hastily looks away. Coughing into his fist, he mutters, "Are you hungry? I still have some leftover Pizza from today's menu."

"Starved. Want to watch a moive while we eat?"

"Yeah, sounds good-are you-I mean, will you be-um" Danny fumbles over his words gesturing at him. Tim tilts his head in confusion, wondering why he sounds so nervous, until Danny finally blurts. "Is that all you're going to wear?"

"Yeah. It's soft." He says playing with the robe's sleeves and Danny swallows.

"Alright. Okay. I um I'll get the pizza. Will you go pick the moive and get it ready?"

Tim beams, twisting on his heel to do just that and catching the reflection of Danny clutching his chest and screaming silently into a closed fist in a nearby wall mirror. His face is redder than before, and the house ripples with excitement, glee, warmth, and happiness.

Interesting indeed.

[pokelolmc]

One of my new favourite Hazbin Hotel fic AUs is this weird crossover niche of "Alastor is/was a character from another fandom, before he snapped and became who he is today" AUs, eg. "Harry Potter becomes Alastor", and one random "Tim Drake becomes Alastor" fic I found on AO3. Because I find it interesting to try and figure out how to meld the other character's backstory, powers or personality with his.

And that inevitably led my traitorous brain to the idea of "Danny Fenton becomes Alastor" (because now DP and DC are forever associated in my lizard brain, curse you Phandom!).

Which is just...the weirdest thing ever, because they're just so different—like, how the fuck do you set up Danny to become Alastor, of all people?! It feels like the most unfitting character to do this with...

And that's exactly what my brain has decided to see it as a challenge.

Added caveat: this is an AU!Danny specifically from a generic angsty dissection fic scenario, where he's been traumatised by his parents and fucked over by the world (and he has no healthy way to cope)—then he's sent back in time, lost and completely alone

-Danny falls through a natural portal to 1900's Louisiana with no way back (something something, Clockwork's-out-of-the-picture, something something)

-Alastor being a mama's boy? Danny gets taken in by a loving mother figure after getting lost in time—a kind woman familiar with the supernatural who accepts his ghost half right off the bat. He sees her as his family. After a year or so, though, she dies. He spirals again. He dyes his hair brown and starts wearing glasses when he runs away to New Orleans to change himself and cover his tracks.

-Alastor feels like an interesting name for Danny to choose because it means "the avenger", and can also mean "defender of the people" (a meaning more apparent in the Scottish version "Alasdair/Alastair"), but could also have a negative connotation of "persecutor"; the character symbolism writes itself

-the normally tech-savvy Danny who finds old-timey stuff boring would be forced to find something to entertain himself in the 1900's. So he gravitates towards radio, with it being the closest thing he's got to modern tech. Give him several years or so to grow attached to it and enjoy the idea of working in it. He goes from fantasising of radio comms at NASA to a public radio host, playing with all the fancy knobs and dials.

-his ghost half is the reason Alastor's powers/magic in Hell is green

(also I heard someone say the typical human!Alastor design has the "Timmy Turner hairstyle", which I can't unsee now. And it's Danny's hairstyle too. Because we know how well Butch Hartman and originality mix. Male protagonist? There's only one hairstyle for that!)

-he becomes a serial killer because he's snapped over the years after all the shit that's happened to him; he's developed a bitter, cynical and self-aggrandised ego and thirst for justice and revenge, and he's all alone with no one to keep him out of the dark echo chamber leading to villainy

-a serial killer with ghost powers plays cat-and-mouse with cops, and never leaves a trace; before he starts killing, he's already made deals with and intimidated the ghosts that come to New Orleans through other natural portals (it's a portal hotspot) under a new ghostly persona. He has both sides of the city fearing or respecting his power. Every ghost who goes to New Orleans knows whose territory it is. They just never link the ghost and human together. He becomes like an even worse Plasmius. It sets him up for Overlord stuff in Hell from the getgo

-the cannibalism was a...happy accident. On a whim, he decided one guy's crime was too insufferable to die without torment, so he took the guy back and...tortured him the way his ol' folks knew best. He starts cutting people open as if trying to relive what his parents did to him, but from the other end—as the person with all the power. Taste-testing what he cut up came incidentally, but he decided he didn't mind it and made it a routine.

I can imagine a villain!Danny with more narcissistic tendencies, but my main trouble is where the overblown confidence and charming/manipulative skills come from. After all, Danny's pretty socially awkward. How exactly does he grow into that?