#danny does some Crime Shopping

[evilminji]

(O.O ) The PONDERING is back!

You know Walker?

One of the Zone's literal ACAB? We are shown in one episode, that real world items? Against The Rules(tm).

Now, that COULD just be HIM being An Asshole? But let's be real! Unlikely. Rules/Laws get made for a REASON, generally. Usually because someone ruined it for everyone by being an asshole. Taking things too far.

You start OUT with the obvious Rules. Like "Don't Tear the Zone Apart." And "No Genocide of Literally Everything Forever You Fighty Little Assholes" but over time? You have too add stuff. Like "George is Forbidden to use the fax machine and he knows why" and "Ice Lairs and Fire Lairs have to be X distance apart AND YOU KNOW WHY"

And? IS there a central Governing body, regulating the Zone Rules? Nope! Pariah's in nappy time! BUT the manic, Iron fisted, Obsessions of THE LAW across time and space are sure willing to step up and help keep order. It... KINDA works!

And they MOSTLY have the same-ish Rules!

Like NO FUCKIN LIVING WORLD STUFF. Because? To GET such contraband? You'd have to break containment of the Zone, go THROUGH a random ass natural portal, that may or may NOT be safe, may or may NOT ever RECONNECT to the Zone, to literally terrorize the unsuspecting living souls (assuming you can FIND any), on the other side, JUST to drag that shitty candy bar back home.

Leaking ectoplasm the whole time. Poisoning the air, land, and sea. Making NEW ghosts where there might not have been any. Effectively making you their deadbeat parent. Which is premeditated child abandonment. And you DEFINITELY didn't PAY for those objects. Thief.

So, NO. No Living World Shit.

BUT!

Like city states! The Area of influence each Law Man(tm) has? While wide and sprawling? Does NOT perfectly mesh together like puzzle pieces! There ARE dead zones. Lawless, "unclaimed" areas.

Which? Are not so unclaimed.

For just as The Law has it's Obsession? So too, has the Underworld. Shaddy casinos and auctions. Black markets run like street fairs. What some Ghost Weed? They can hook you up, man. Vinnie over there was a Runner during Prohibition. He knows where ALL the classy joints are.

He can hook you up with some REAL nice Living World collectibles.

From All Over.

And? I bet it's that LAST bit? That REALLY sparks Danny's interest. He saved the guy from the GIW, who may or may not have busted him trying to... uuuuh... LIBERATE, some fine scotch for the bar back Zone side. Who's to say, really? Regardless, Vinnie? Pays his debts, you here.

Beside... the feral little gremlin kinda scares him. Good quality to have, no question, but maybe cool it with the biting? You don't know where they BEEN. You'll get a disease.

Now... all you gotta do, see, is... *mutters* *map scribbling* *bad idea enabling*

Which? Constantine! League Members of your choosing! Like a field trip from hell! Some how in the SINGLE shadiest den of Obvious Criminals you ever did see. The sky is green and they aren't in their dimension anymore. Circle up! NOW. Young Justice shoved to the INSIDE of the circle, adult heros on the outside.

Constantine? Knows where they are and wishs he didn't. He... he's not sure he CAN get them back. Going to try obviously. But no one panic. Don't show fear. DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING. Start walking.

Danny? Loading up the speeder~ Christmas gifts for daaaays~~☆ Everyone is Salty but respectful, cause anti-ghost tech meant they couldn't steal it. They did TRY. But... fair play, kid. Nice ride.

Only? Right before he gets in to leave? Some vibrating blur shoots over? Talking fast and followed by an older blur? Oh hey, humans. Like... ALIVE humans. Sup?

@the-witchhunter @hdgnj @nerdpoe @hypewinter @mutable-manifestation

[sistertotheknowitall]

I love the idea of Danny being just Some Guy.

Like yes he’s Phantom, yes he has ghost powers, yes he’s the King of the Infinite Realms. But to the BatFam? That is just Some Guy. A random dude - if you will.

They are positively baffled by him. Like he’s completely normal as far as they (and the background check) can see. Yet, he. Is. EVERYWHERE. (Not actually but it sure feels like it.)

The kids have a running bingo card of where he’ll turn up. Outside a warehouse they’re raiding? Check. Stopped a mugging? He was the one being mugged. Tim’s favorite coffee shop? He was just hired as a barista.  Seriously it’s like everytime they turn around he’s there.

Which wouldn’t be such a problem if he REACTED NORMALLY. But no. He doesn’t flee in fear, stare in awe, he doesn’t even try to say thank you. This man looked Batman in the eye and called him the furry vigilante - TO HIS FACE! He casually referred to Dick as “the flying monkey one” to Red Robin while also calling Tim a literal walking Red Flag. When he crosses paths with Duke he doesn’t always speak but he does always give him a snack. (Sometimes it’s candy, sometimes it’s fruit but it’s always food. And he only gives them to Duke.)

He once told Jason that he didn’t care that he was a crime lord and built like a brick house, Danny would kick his ass and drag his “rotted milk soul” too hell if the gun fights kept going on past midnight. (He had exams in the morning damnit.)

He will only call Damian “baby ninja” no matter how many times the kid insists that his name is Robin.

Spoiler and Orphan? The only ones he’s respectful to but even they get the occasional random comment. (“It may be a Tuesday, but if the universe is gonna make me the human equivalent of a pin cushion then I have the right to keep the knife.”) (It was actually a Friday but who were they to argue with a man bleeding out in an alley.)

Eventually the Batkids start keeping score of who has had the most out of pocket thing said to them by this random white boy.

[deadsetobsessions]

Danny no longer has a haunt. So… he decides to find another one. And while he technically has a whole world (other dimensions aren’t an option because he’s going to stay near where Jazz’s grave is, damn it) there’s only a couple of other places with enough ambient ectoplasm to sustain him. Nanda Parbat, Tokyo, and Gotham.

Nanda Parbat had a weird old musty immortal that kept trying to summon him and exchange power for the ability to “take a worthy body and rain as much destruction” as he’d like. As if Danny would need a body to bring the world to its knees.

Tokyo… it’s too far from Jazz’s grave. He could ask Wulf or even open his own portal but when Danny tried it out, Tokyo was too peaceful. Obviously there’s crime, but nothing… nothing big like Danny’s used to.

Danny ends up picking Gotham, even if the sewer zombies and the weird group of rich fruit loops with an adoption problem creeps him out. So, he destroys the portal, packs up his parents’ house and sells it, and hauls ass to the cesspool calling his name. His family’s stuff is stored respectfully in a vault located on the deepest parts of his personal haunt in the Infinite Realms.

And honestly, he’s doing better. Sure, he’s got a shitty apartment near another revenant’s almost-haunt and he feels like he’s drowning all of the time, but Danny isn’t in danger of turning into Dan, he’s catching up on royal paperwork, and he’s got like a job as a barista. In his own coffee shop that paid for using his parent’s money (who, despite their hazardous everything, made a crap ton of money off of their more normal inventions).

Gotham’s got some pretty interesting local gangs, most of which respected the sanctity of Danny’s cafe. Sure, they tried blowing it up and tried extorting money from him in the form of “protection costs” but after three months of failure, they gave up.

(Really, the local gangs gave up when they saw him take three shotgun shells to the chest and continued to work.) (They didn’t know it never hit him. Intangibility is extremely useful.)

The Rogues, on the other hand, just gave Danny flashbacks. Their gimmicks are different, sure, but after years of Box Ghost, Skuller, Lunch Lady, etc., Danny’s more than done with costumed villains. They don’t bother him either. Some of the reason is probably due to Harley and Ivy, who had walked into the cafe and (because they were bruised and scratched up from a fight) triggered Danny’s mother hen tendencies. They were promptly fed and watered and caffeinated and their hyenas were also similarly taken care of. They declared the cafe under their protection and that was that.

Red Hood stops by, and begins to interrogate him. But when Danny met his… helmet eyes? The crime lord paused, paid for his coffee, and sat in a corner table of the cafe for the rest of the day.

And he kept coming back?

But Danny figures it’s because Hood was a revenant and people who had come close to death tends to feel more comfortable around him.

(Considering this is Gotham where people almost die every other day? Yeah, he’s pretty much friends with everyone. Or at least, less likely to get shot.)

(Hood does stay because of the King’s presence and the Pit calming itself, but also Danny’s hot and he’s got a sleeper build and Hood definitely did not imagine himself in the place of the heavy box he saw Danny lift effortlessly onto a table. No.)

But of course, the peace couldn’t last forever. But by then, Danny was so antsy, he welcomed the trouble with open arms.

It starts with a clown. Danny knows who he is. He knows who Danny is.

So, Danny has no idea why the clown thought it would be a good idea to aggravate the owner of Gotham’s official neutral grounds. See, Clovkwork? Danny’s learned how to gauge his own political importance!

“HAHAHAHAHA! COME OUT, DANNY-BOY! LET ME TELL YOU A JOKE!”

Danny comes out and grabs a chair, and with a flat expression, says, “you’re not funny and I hate clowns.”

And then he swings and slams the chair into the Joker’s face. Over and over again until Danny’s sure the clown won’t get back up. The thing about Gotham’s outdoor chairs is that they’re mad out of steel and are bolted down to the ground to prevent undedicated thieves (dedicated thieves can and will steal the bolted down steel chairs). The Joker’s hired muscle just watched this scrawny twenty-something year old yank the steel chair and take some of the fucking ground and the bolts with it and beat the fuck out of their boss who is the literal Joker.

They surrender on the spot and is taken to jail. Danny just smiles at the officers who come by and since he’s got pretty privilege and they don’t want to mess with the guy who, again, owns one of Gotham’s official neutral ground and also beat up Joker without breaking a sweat, the officers just lets him go with a warning.

And then the bats comes, and wow, Danny’s playing mentor to a formally dead person again!

But before that, the Red Hood asks for an autograph on the Gotham Gazette article with a picture of a tired Danny standing over Joker’s prone body. Then Hood stammers through asking Danny out (which Danny said yes to because he’s tired, not blind, and Hood is built like a brick house and HOT).

Batman interrogates him. Danny, who can tell that this man needs therapy and is Sad TM, tells Bats that Danny’s died before and that’s why he’s like this. He also calls Batman a furry, but like in a nice way. And then he kicks Batman out with a coffee and a file on Nanda Parbat.

Now, Danny’s got a date to prepare for and he realizes that maybe this is what Jazz wanted for him- to be happy and mostly safe and happy. (Or, happier, he thinks. It’s been a long time since he’s been truly happy, but this might be a good start)

[greenglowinspooks]

Thinkin about a DCxDP where Danny’s helping ghosts find peace while he’s laying low in Gotham.

Like, he moved away from Amity for whatever reason. Maybe the reveal went badly, maybe he just couldn’t stand staying any longer. For whatever reason, he’s in Gotham, because the rent is cheap and he’s nowhere near the strangest thing there so no one looks at him twice.

However, this city is cursed. Like, cursed beyond cursed. It’s actively alive with how many curses there are, and the ghosts there are extremely unhappy about it.

(Of course, that’s not a problem for Danny. His ghost side filters out the toxic smog and the chemicals in the water, and his human side gives a resistance to the rank ecto and the hexes that are actively trying to devour him.)

He doesn’t really want to do anything about it, to be honest.

He’s sick of playing hero, considering how it went last time, and he’s busy working at Waffle House or Walmart or whatever other store doesn’t bother doing a background check (in Gotham, that’s probably all of them), and maybe trying to find a way to get highschool credits that don’t immediately disqualify him from every college in existence.

Still, the ghosts know he can hear them. They know, and they keep coming for help.

So, hey, why not? He definitely can’t put this as experience in any sort of job application, but he really doesn’t have much else to do.

So, he becomes errand boy for a bunch of ghosts.

Sometimes he’s finding objects that are important to them, sometimes he’s giving evidence they collected together of their murders to the police, sometimes he’s getting them the last meal they never had, sometimes he’s just spending time with them like they’re not dead.

The ghosts don’t always move on, but they’re always more at peace. Occasionally they pay him back in charms and blessings and the locations of valuables that he can keep or pawn for cash.

Eventually, a new ghost shows up.

She looks like a shadow, like all the ghosts of Gotham, but she seems stronger than usual. She asks him for a favor that those who came before him were never able to fulfill.

She asks him to find her engagement ring, and give it to her son.

Easy enough, he thinks. It’s a bit of a pain to buy the ring from the seedy pawn shop it’s in (he would usually just steal it, but he doesn’t want to implicate her kid in anything, which she seems grateful for), but everything’s going mostly alright.

Then, she tells him who her son is, and wow, no wonder no one’s helped her yet.

He’s Red Hood. The guy who is(/was) the crime lord in charge of crime alley. The title sounds a bit stupid to Danny, but he’s still a genuine threat to a living person.

Good thing he’s not one of those.

And so, the next time he sees Red Hood out and about, he goes right up to him. The man seems mostly unbothered, but Danny does notice how his hand slightly drifts towards one of his many weapons.

He tells Red Hood outright that he’s there on behalf of the man’s mother, then just holds out his hand with the ring inside, dropping it into Red Hood’s open palm.

Then he leaves, not waiting for a response.

—

Jason has a mystery on his hands, and he might just cash in some favors from Babs and Tim to figure it out.

He’s got to find the guy who gave him his mother’s ring, and find out everything he knows.

[porcelana-r0ta]

JOYRIDE

Fandoms: Batman, Danny Phantom

Relationship: Dan Phantom/Jason Todd

Word Count: 3,823

Ao3 Link: Available only to registered users

Summary:

Dan doesn't want to join his Habitudes group for their dumb community service project, which is why he lets two idiot goons kidnap him off the streets. When said goons turn out to work for The Joker, Dan decides to do something about him, maniac to maniac.

Or: The Joker tries to live stream a ransom, but ends up live streaming his own execution.

xxXxx

When Dan Nightingale is grabbed off the streets of Gotham, he makes a half-hearted struggle, just so he can seem human. The kiddie hero business and the indiscriminate genocidal tendencies no longer call to him like they used to, and while he’s still an impatient person who is intolerant of disruptive bullshit, he needs a little excitement in his life. 

Plus, he wants an excuse to get out of his Habitudes community service project. His pretentious trust fund baby groupmates chose to volunteer at some fucking coffee shop instead of something normal, like a hospital or an animal shelter. (Dan didn’t even know a coffee shop was an option, but anything goes for wealthy elites who want to roleplay as an impoverished barista, apparently.) Well, Jay Peters wasn’t so bad, and he was just as irritated as Dan was about the others’ choice. Plus, the chill that settles into Dan’s unused lungs when the other student is around shows that he’s at least Death-touched like him, even if they’ve never acknowledged that to each other. 

So, yeah. He lets himself be kidnapped by two goons, even if he could easily break free and make their insides their outsides. It could be interesting! Enrichment in his pandimensional parole! Everyone’s got to have fun sometimes! It’s like a little joyride, as a treat! But he isn’t the one committing the crime! How quaint!

Dan is a very polite captive. He lets himself be pulled into a creeper van with minimal resistance. He lets the goons zip tie his hands. He lets them put a black bag over his head, even though it smells of weed. He doesn’t count the number of turns they take, nor does he try to talk them into letting him go. In fact, he doesn’t say anything. When they eventually park, he allows the men to pull him out of the creeper van and into some building—likely a warehouse, judging by the echo of their footsteps on the floor. And finally, he lets the goons cut off the zip ties around his wrists and then tie them to the metal arms of a chair. 

He’s a great captive. And he’s so going to be excused from that stupid Habitudes community service project!

He’s content to sit and wait. The Bats of Gotham City usually have a good response time for villain bullshit, and if they don’t, then it’s not like any Fear gas or sex pollen will affect him. Dan’s not really human anymore, even if he is capable of looking so. 

Dan does not have to wait long. The footsteps increase and then stop altogether, and then a cackle fills the air. “Camera man ready? Mics? Charges?” The voice is familiar, yet grating. Where has he heard it before? In his past future, maybe?

“Yes, sir,” comes the reply from several different people. 

A pleased cackle, “Then let’s get started!”

“We are live in three… two…” 

At the silent one, the cackle echoes through the room once again. “Hello, ladies and gentlemen of Gotham City and beyond! I’m your favorite Joker, LIVE! With one of your favorite Wayne children!” 

Dan, who has been relatively chill this whole time, tenses. The Joker. That’s why he recognizes that cackle and voice. He had killed the clown before in his original timeline. Ugh, clowns. He fucking hates clowns. Hates their stupid pale makeup and their stupid dumb wigs and their exaggerated eyes and he fucking hates how they make him feel like he’s not in control. 

And what was that about a Wayne? 

Dan doesn’t think killing someone like The Joker in his original timeline should be held against him. Honestly, the guy is a megalomaniacal terrorist who abuses the guise of mental illness to get away with crimes against humanity. Dan had at least owned up to his own sanity, and never tried to hide from the law or anything like that. He just kind of… killed the law. 

….ACAB? 

A hand suddenly grips at the bag on his head, grabbing hair with fabric. “That’s right, folks! Here’s Gotham’s beloved Dick Grayson!” The bag is yanked off his head, revealing Dan in all his scowling glory. And Dan is a lot of things, but an exact Dick Grayson copy he is not, so while the goons may have mistaken him as Grayson, The Joker does not. 

He pauses, studying Dan’s face. Dan raises a mocking eyebrow, then looks around the warehouse. 

It’s empty and dimly lit, but it’s not a problem for his superior vision. The metal walls are an ugly beige and the floor is a gray cement, its color only broken by mysterious brown stains, and now the discarded black bag. Dan is up against a wall, surrounded by filming equipment. The camera in question is just a fucking iPhone 12 attached to a ring light. There’s one goon behind the camera, moderating the live stream. There is another goon holding a boom mic above Dan and The Joker, and there are four others behind the camera. All of the goons who are not handling equipment are holding toy musket guns. It is probably safe to assume that there are similarly armed goons guarding the doors that Dan cannot see from his position tied to a chair. Likely two goons per exit. In a warehouse of this size, there have to be at least six more goons that Dan isn’t seeing. 

The Joker grits his teeth. “Who brought the Grayson kid here.” It’s not a question so much as it is a demand. 

“We did, boss,” two goons pipe up proudly from behind the camera. 

“Why don’t you two come up on camera so I can congratulate you for good work?” The Joker grins beseechingly. 

One of the two goons, the blond, shuffles nervously at this, whereas the other puffs out his chest. So only one has any brain cells. 

The prideful one grabs his comrade by the arm and drags him up to the camera with Dan and The Joker. They stand in front of Dan, blocking him from the camera’s view.

“I always reward good work, you see,” he says to his henchmen. “Now, you think this is good work?” 

“Yes, sir,” says Pride, while Blond frowns. 

“Take a good look at his face.” The villain gestures angrily to Dan’s unimpressed face. “What do you see?” 

“Dick Grayson, sir,” 

Blond shuffles, “He looks like he isn’t scared.” 

“No! Wrong! This isn’t Dick Grayson! This– This is some—” The Joker takes another glance at Dan, noting the black Gotham U hoodie that hides his muscles. “This is some fucking college twink!”

“Twink?” Dan mutters to himself, disgruntled. Sure, the hoodie is baggy and he’s seated instead of standing, but do those two things add up to him looking like a twink? 

The color has drained out of even Pride’s face at The Joker’s words. “Sir, please—”

But The Joker is already pulling out a comically large toy gun that probably has real bullets, and Dan sighs. It would probably be bad for his parole if he let a bunch of humans die in front of him. 

He phases out of the ropes binding him, safe from view with the two idiots in front of him. Then, he kicks The Joker down to the floor, sending the toy gun scattering across the cement floor of the warehouse. He stands and knocks Pride and Blond’s heads together, knocking them out as The Joker screeches with rage. 

The goons behind the camera aim their guns, but Dan is already moving behind the camera. He snags the guns out of their hands, snapping them in half with strength he doesn’t even have to think about. He moves so fast that at first they don’t even realize what’s happened. By the time they connect their missing firearms to the broken bits of metal on the floor, Dan has already clobbered them over the head, knocking them unconscious. 

He takes out the cameraman, too, and the goon holding the boom mic. Then, in mere seconds, he takes out all the goons at each exit, and he’s back at the filming station by the time The Joker has staggered to his feet. His original estimate had been off by two—there were eight other goons in total. 

Dan checks the iPhone—still live streaming. On TikTok, of all the goddamn apps. The comments are going wild on what’s going on: where’s the college student, how did he kick The Joker like that, do you guys think that those two goons have brain damage now, what was that metal scraping sound, where is The Joker? 

“Hey, brat!” snarls The Joker, clutching at his ribs. “That was not part of the script.”

Dan hates clowns, and he especially hates The Joker. Sure, Dan wiped out nearly all of humanity. Who doesn’t have a bad decade of villainous activity? But he did it quickly, and he didn’t do it under the guise of insanity. He owned up to it. And if Dan’s being honest, he’s… disgusted by it all now, even if it hurts himself to admit. 

If Dan isn’t human, then neither is The Joker. 

Still off camera, Dan moves so fast he basically teleports in front of The Joker. The other man stumbles back, but Dan reaches out and grabs him by the throat. He chokes and claws at Dan, but Dan isn’t human anymore, and so his nails catch on nothing but the cloth of his hoodie. He doesn’t even feel it.

He drags The Joker to the chair in front of the still live camera and shoves him into it. While he recovers from being choked, gasping and shuddering and so fucking human , Dan forces his hands behind him and uses the ropes he’d phased out of to tie The Joker up. When he ties the last knot, Dan stands tall, staring into the camera. 

“Hello, friends and family,” he greets the audience. He gives a small smile, and he makes sure that he is perfectly, utterly human with normal blue eyes and normal black hair and normal human skin. “As you can see, things have turned around for The Joker here. Now, I’m sure his original intent was to ransom out the Wayne kid, and it would be a shame to see that hard work and planning go to waste on a mistake, wouldn’t it? So why don’t we hold a… reverse ransom? Only, I don’t need funds. I’ll accept donations. My venmo is vladsucks03. My cashapp is dannight07.”

Dan’s smile grows into a wide grin. “Feel free to donate if you like. But even not a single person donates, The Joker dies today.” 

The Joker spits out a gasping laugh, “Ha! You think you can kill me? I gotta admit, that’s a good joke. But Batman—”

“Batman what?” Dan asks, stepping off camera to grab the black bag on the floor. He shoves it halfway into his pocket. He walks to The Joker’s toy gun, the only one he hadn’t broken, and he picks it up. 

“Batman is already on his way here,” The Joker says. “He always is by this point.”

“And Batman will save you?” Dan snorts. He moves to check the live stream, comments coming in so fast that the only reason he can read them is because he’s not human anymore. 

Is this for real

fuck yeah kill that guy

💥🔫🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

extremely common gotham uni W

im donating 50$ rn

Can we vote on how joker dies

Lol does he fr think that batman would help him

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Does anyone else find this incredibly attractive or is it just me 😳

guys my joker/batman fic update is gonna slap after this

Joker’s cooked

bro is about to have ao3 level donations

Hey what’s his cashapp again

Omg i think that guy is in my bio class

I’ll donate when hes acc dead

doin god's work 🥹👍

If bro doesnt do it he’s cooked

This guy is gonna have infinite rizz if he pulls this off

The Joker scoffs, “Of course he will. He’s done it before.”

Dan yanks his gaze from the comments to The Joker’s face, “What?”

The Joker nods his head up arrogantly. “Batsy can’t live without me. He saved me after fickle-ickle Nightwing killed me.” 

“Huh.” Dan blinks consideringly, switching his gaze back to the comments. They’re all freaking out about this new information. He steps back into the camera frame, pulling the hammer back on the toy gun. “Then I’ll just have to make sure it sticks.” 

He points the gun at The Joker’s face and fires. As expected, rainbow confetti is the only thing that flies out, dusting over The Joker in celebration of what is to come. 

The Joker laughs. 

“Cute,” says Dan. He walks around The Joker to stand behind him, directly in front of the camera. He removes the black bag from his pocket and puts it over The Joker’s face. 

He shoves the muzzle of the gun into the back of The Joker’s skull. Pulling back the hammer, he asks, “Any last words?” 

He pulls the trigger before The Joker can say anything. It’s funny. As expected, the second gunshot is a real bullet. The Joker’s head and body jerks forward. Blood splatters on Dan’s face, but it’s mostly on the floor and the unconscious Blond and Pride and on The Joker himself. 

For a moment, Dan can only stare. The Joker’s body is crumbled in on itself, held up only by the bindings on his arms to a chair nailed to the ground. 

He feels big. He feels good. 

He feels… dirty.

He clears his throat. He drops the gun. He lifts up the soaking black bag up just enough to check for a pulse. After thirty seconds of nothing, he says, “Well, that’s the end of The Joker.” 

He looks up, staring into the camera lens, and he chuckles. “I missed my community service project because of this bozo. You guys think my professor will accept this as community service?”

You guys think this will affect my ghost parole? he doesn’t ask. 

He bends down to check the pockets of Blond. He finds his phone and uses Blond’s thumbprint to bypass the password. His stomach curdles at the home screen—a picture of Blond and a little girl with his eyes and his nose. His eyes burn and he calls 911, trying not to blink.

“911 dispatch. What is your emergency?”

“Yeah, uh, I killed The Joker. But he kidnapped me first, so. Turnabout.” 

“You— sorry, you what?”

“I killed The Joker. He’s dead. I checked his pulse and everything.”

“O-oh.” The woman on dispatch sounds strangled. There are muffled sounds, frantic, that the receiver only barely picks up. Dan wonders what she’s doing, Asking for verification? Trying to triangulate his location? Celebrating the fucking good news? “Do you know where you are, sir?”

“Some warehouse, I guess. Probably at the docks. Do you want me to check?”

“No, sir, please stay where you are if there are no immediate threats.”

“Got it.” He clicks his tongue. 

“Can you tell me your name, sir? Are you injured somewhere?”

“I’m Dan. Uh, Dan Nightingale. I guess he thought I was the Grayson kid. Um. Dick Grayson, I mean. And no, I’m fine. His henchmen are injured and unconscious, though.” 

“Right. Okay. Hi, Dan. I’m Claire. First responders and patrol units are on their way to your location now.”

“Well, that’s good, I guess.” He almost wants to ask if she thinks that he’ll end up in Arkham for this, but he’s pretty sure that there’s no jury on Earth that would convict him. Well, maybe not. He did ask for donations for murdering The Joker, after all. That might put a damper on his defense. 

“Dan?” asks Claire. 

“Yeah?”

“Is– is he really dead?”

Dan looks at the body and kicks a limp leg, avoiding looking at the gory black bag. Nothing. “Yep. As a doornail.” And he knows death intimately. 

She breathes a shaky, staticky sigh into the receiver. “Thank you, Dan.”  

He blinks, “Can you get fired for saying that?”

She laughs, “Honey, everyone not on break right now is listening to this. My boss just broke a bottle of tequila out from his desk.” 

He barks out his own laugh. “Oh?”

“You’re about to be very popular, Dan.”

“Well, I—” 

And seventeen minutes late to the party, the windows at the top of the warehouse shatter open. In cascades of broken glass and grappling cables, the Bats drop down to the floor. 

“Away from the body,” commands Batman as soon as his feet hit the ground. His little birdies, Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, and the newest Robin fall in line with him. Robin makes quick work of rounding up the unconscious goons and binding them. 

Dan obligingly puts the hand that isn’t holding the phone up in the air, but before moving away from the camera’s view, he says, “Just a reminder guys, my venmo is vladsucks03 and my cashapp is dannight07. Please remember that I might need a lawyer soon.”

“Okay, funny guy,” Nightwing says, entering into frame and pulling Dan away by the shoulder while Red Robin shuts down the live stream.

“It was self-defense and defense of another. A whole population, if you will,” Dan says. 

Red Hood snickers, “Only crime here was the kidnapping.” 

“Dan, are you okay?”

“Bats are here, Claire,” Dan tells her. He watches Batman lift the black bag off The Joker’s face, revealing the viscera and gray matter beneath. He’s not smiling anymore. Dan hasn’t seen that kind of gore in years. He’s the cause of it once more and he doesn’t regret that. It feels invigorating. It feels devastating. “I guess I’ll hang up now. If The Joker is mysteriously alive after this, it’s because Batman couldn’t handle not being the hero.” 

“Dan—” He hangs up as Batman’s shoulders go minutely tense at his words. The man stands fully, turning his head slightly to narrow his cowled eyes at Dan. 

“Problem, sir?” 

“You killed The Joker.” 

“I saved myself and his two idiots.” He shrugs. 

“You had him restrained.” 

He rests an offended hand against his chest. “I was frightened that he would escape, sir, just as he escapes from the very place you put him every eight to ten months.” The Bat doesn’t want to be judge, jury, and executioner. Fine. Whatever, he gets it. Dan hadn’t wanted to be that, neither as hero nor villain. He’d wanted to save, he wanted to be saved, and then he wanted everyone to feel like he did. But he’s not so prideful now to know that he wouldn’t have stopped then, not unless someone handled the job permanently. 

The Joker needed permanence. 

The Bat can play fucking judge all he wants. But he’d be just as villainous if he tried enforcing his own moral code on other people.

“You asked for donations,” Red Robin says dryly. “You were basically putting a hit out on him.”

“My art in life textbook is $300. How much do you think a lawyer is going to cost?”

“Hn.” 

“Stop giving the man a hard time for doing a public service, Batman.” Red Hood shoulder checked Nightwing away and held out a gloved hand for Dan to shake. He takes the other’s hand and firmly shakes it. The contact, while not to skin, gives Dan goosebumps and chills his lungs. 

Jay?

“Let’s hope my Habitudes professor agrees with you.”

“She will. Everyone with three brain cells to rub together will.” The man cuts a glare at Batman. 

Dan didn't say what pronouns his professor uses. 

The rumble in Red Hood’s voice is enticing. He looks at the other man, really looks, and notices his broad shoulders, how tall he is (though Dan towers over him even  disguised as a human), and his muscled arms. Arms that Dan’s pretty sure are normally hidden beneath a Gotham U hoodie, just like his own. 

He smirks as sirens sound in the distance. “Let’s hope the cops agree with you.”

“They will,” Hood says. It sounds like a promise for something entirely different. 

“Gag me,” Red Robin mutters.

Robin says, “For once I agree with you.”

Without looking away from Dan, Red Hood flips the two off, and yeah, maybe redemption can be more promising than he initially thought. 

xxXxx

A week later, Dan finally goes back to his regular schedule. His ghost parole is intact—he’d even been thanked by some Gothamite ghosts, and Danny begrudgingly told him that there were ghosts who said they’d riot if Dan was given any punishment. As for the mortal side of things, Vlad Masters had graciously sent his team of attorneys to Dan’s aid. While Dan still hates him, he has no issue about using a free team of lawyers to defend him. He’s guaranteed to walk.

Jazz had called him. It made his core unsettled and stony. She wasn’t disappointed, and he doesn’t know how that makes him feel. He doesn’t regret it—The Joker would never change. But what does that say about him and his progress? 

Jazz in general makes him uneasy now. She used to be his big sister, and now she’s younger than him, and he tried to kill her, and— she’s different from his Jazz, is all. But if she’d always known like she said, then his Jazz did, too, right? Could she still be his Jazz, a Jazz who got to grow up? Still be his sister? It would be stupid to hope so, right?

He feels bitter.

She said she’s considering Gotham University as her college of choice as she nears high school graduation. Apparently, their psych department is amazing. 

So maybe hope isn’t so bad. 

Dan sits down at his 10:00 am Habitudes class. Everyone already in the room stares at him. Before they can offer any congrats or thanks or swarm him, Jay sits down next to him. 

Dan looks at Jay’s mostly black hair and his tuft of white at his front bangs. He’s wearing his usual Gotham U hoodie, a hoodie that likely hides muscled arms. A chill builds in his lungs like it did when speaking with Red Hood, like it has every other time he’s talked with Jay Peters. 

…Hm. A hoodie that definitely hides muscled arms. 

“Hey,” says Jay with a grin. “Crazy week, I hear?”

“You’re a Gothamite. I’m sure you’re aware of exactly how crazy it’s been.” 

“You should tell me about it sometime.”

“Sure. After class? We can grab an early lunch. Make it a date, maybe.”

Jay smiles, cute and small. His eyes flash green—a baby Death-touched soul, still can’t control his spooky abilities, how adorable—and he says, “That sounds perfect.”

[demonic0angel]

Dan being forced to go to anger management therapy hosted by Harley Quinn.

(I refuse to believe that Dan would be forced into anything, so this is a Dan in Arkham AU lmao)

Wraith huffed angrily. “And that’s why he deserves pain and suffering.”

Harley stared at him in fascination, tapping a finger on her lips. It had been weeks after their breakout from Arkham, and Wraith was quickly becoming a good friend of the Sirens. It had reached a point where now, he was spilling his secrets over a glass of wine (stolen from a Bruce Wayne-endorsed party), about a boy he used to be and the timeline he came from.

It wasn’t the weirdest thing ever, since this was Gotham after all, but it was still both disturbing and thralling.

Harley could not help but stare as Wraith grumbled to himself, blue eyes flashing crimson and sharp fangs being bared in a snarl. Then she asked, “Did your sister ever say anything about this?”

Wraith huffed and swirled his wine lightly. “She said it’s a form of self-hatred. Because I blame myself for our family’s deaths, I blame Danny too. But I don’t care. We are the same person but we are not the same. He is still human, while I have transcended past mankind to be something greater.” His fingers clenched on the stem of the wine glass. “It’s not fair how he gets to be happy, but I can’t.”

A god complex, a superiority complex, and an inferiority complex, all born from the loss of family and self-identity. His psyche was absolutely damaged by his previous experiences, and trauma had made him into something very, very twisted. It was probably true that he was not human anymore, but it was so interesting how he had abandoned his humanity so thoroughly and thrown it aside.

“You can’t?” Harley asked. “Or you won’t?”

Wraith’s expression twisted. “I can’t.”

That didn’t seem right.

He was happy when eating red meat and drinking expensive wine. He was rather happy when they went shopping and included him in their jokes and games. He was plenty happy when he talked about his sisters. He was very happy when interacting with Nightwing, who seemed to effortlessly peel away his layers to reveal a playful, gentle personality that did not seem to be a facade.

“You seem happy around Nightwing,” Harley said. “And us. What do you think of that?”

Wraith glared at her lightly, but he didn’t seem angry, not like how he was when he talked about his little brother, his other self. The venom in his voice and eyes when he talked about his younger self would’ve been better deserved if he was talking about the Anti-Christ, but Harley didn’t voice this.

“Nightwing has the purest soul in this world. It’s strong and beautiful because of how kind it is. It should be a crime to be cruel to it, not when he’s so… good.” His expression gentled and he swirled his wine again before taking a sip. “And you and the others are… nice to me. I don’t want to spoil your fun.”

Harley beamed. “Aww, we like you too, Wraith-y poo!”

Wraith rolled his eyes and took another sip. Harley poured him some more without him asking, and they drank their wine in silence.

Eventually, Harley said, “It’s not healthy to hate yourself so much, y’know? Maybe you don’t want advice, but I think your sister would agree with me. You should let go of the past and live in the present. That timeline doesn’t exist anymore, does it?”

Wraith scowled. “It may not exist anymore, but I came from that timeline. I am who I am because of my family’s deaths and because of Danny.” The hatred in his voice was deep and potent, making Harley shiver. “It can never let me go and I can never let it go either. The past shaped me in ways that cannot be undone.”

Harley took a sip of wine to think. Then she said, “Well. No matter what, me and the girls are here for you. And I think Nightwing really likes you too! Really!”

Wraith hummed, eyes half lidded before he turned and looked at her with a quirk to his lips like a small, genuine smile. “Yes, I know. Thank you, Harley.”

She grinned. “No problem!”

They continued drinking together in companionable silence.

[luxaofhesperides]

greener on the other side

Danny makes a habit out of hopping into portals and exploring he places he ends up. It just so happens that this time, he ends up in Gotham right as the Signal begins his patrol. Duke meets the strangest, funniest, cutest guy on the roof of the Gotham City Public Library. He knows Batman would not approve of literally anything he's doing, but sue him, he wants a meta friend and this guy seems to up for it. -- OR: how Duke and Danny got together despite having secret identities and living different dimensions.

chapter one: how it starts - 8.2k

also available on ao3! . . .

Sam would like Gotham is the first thing Danny thinks when he arrives. 

The city is dark and gloomy, the sky overcast and the chill of the wind indicates an oncoming storm. Dark buildings rise out of the ground, all dramatic shapes and ledges and honest-to-God gargoyles. Everything about Gotham is right up Sam’s alley, minus all the crime which Danny can hear from his perch on Gotham City Public Library. 

He never knows where his portals will spit him out, but all things considered, this is one of the nicer places he’s ended up. 

At least he didn’t walk out into the middle of an alley full of gun wielding gang members. Or into another cult hideout. Those are always unpleasant. 

Danny squints up at the sky, wondering what time it is. Usually, he can get a good idea based on the position of the sun, but with all the clouds, he can’t tell. It can’t be night yet; it’s not that dark out and the streets are a rush of activity that only comes about during the day. But it doesn’t seem like the afternoon, either. For a city this big, it would be a lot busier.

Maybe he dropped in during the morning rush? 

And if he did, that means he has an entire day to wander Gotham and scope out places that Sam and Tucker would like. 

im gonna be out all day, he texts to their group chat. It was barely noon when he left, sticking around long enough to eat and double check that his parents were going to be out all day for some biology conference. How they keep getting invited despite their own field of research, he’ll never know, but if it gets them out of the house, he’s certainly not going to complain.

Good or bad? Sam replies immediately.

Danny casts a look around again; dark and dreary city, a drug deal going down directly below him behind the library, distant yells and the occasional gunshot far off in the distance, barely audible unless he strains his hearing. 

good, he texts, gonna check out the rest of this place then bring u both to visit later.

Send pics!

He sends a thumbs up and a smiley face, then pockets his phone and stands up. Tucker’s probably still asleep, having knocked out at some ungodly hour of the night, so there’s no point in waiting for him to respond. He’ll just save all his thoughts about Gotham to share in person.

The library is located solidly in a busy part of the city. Danny could go anywhere from there, but without any knowledge of where anything is, he’s stuck, debating on where to go first and if he should risk outing himself as a tourist by asking random people on the streets questions. He leans forward, looking around the street below him to see what it holds; a few office buildings, two restaurants, three coffee shops and a bakery, and what looks like an occult store. 

Definitely one he’s going to avoid. 

There’s probably nothing in it that’s real, but on the off chance something does react to him…

Better not to try his luck and hope there are no ghost hunters in this dimension. After all, there’s no guarantee that his dimension is the only one with the Guys In White. There could always be another version of them waiting for him on the other side of his portals across the Infinite Realms. 

Just as Danny starts singing eenie-meenie-minie-moe under his breath, trying to choose which street to follow, he hears the soft thud of someone landing on the roof. 

The roof Danny is currently on, that regular people shouldn’t be able to access. 

He whips around immediately, tense and ready for a fight. He’ll have to hold back while he’s in human form, but not as much as he did in Amity Park. Perks of not existing in this dimension: if Danny wants to disappear completely, he can. 

“Hey, you good?” calls the… person? Whoever it is wears yellow armor. Not medieval or ancient armor, but something that resembles what he’d expect to see in a sci-fi action movie. Or maybe Power Rangers. There’s a bat figure spanning across their chest, like an emblem, which probably identifies whoever this is, but Danny is lacks any and all context and knowledge to know who, exactly, is joining him on the roof of the library.

“Yeah?” he responds hesitantly. “I’m good. Why are you asking?”

The yellow armored person walks closer, steps careful and measured. “I saw you all the way up here and got worried. This isn’t a place people usually hang out, you know?”

What? Did he—

Oh. 

The pieces click into place and Danny shakes his head.

“I’m good! Really! Sorry about worrying you, I wasn’t about to jump or anything. I just like being up high.”

“Alright, cool. Good to know.”

“So… who are you?” 

They start, look down at themselves, then look back at Danny. “You don’t know me? Sorry, you wouldn’t ask if you did. I’m the Signal.”

“The Signal? That’s… kinda a weird name. No offense or anything!”

Signal laughs. “Nah, I get it. Comes with the territory though, you know? Though people are pretty used to it these days.”

Danny very much did not know, but wisely chooses not to admit it. “So what’s with the get up?”

“It… keeps me safe? I’m not going to be patrolling in my pajamas, as much as I would like to. Safety first, and all.”

Patrol? Danny looks closer at the Signal, taking in the armor, the bat emblem, the helmet and how his eyes are covered. He’s hiding his identity, not just dressing up for fun. He probably should have figured that out sooner.

“You’re a hero!” Danny says, pointing at him. 

“Yeah, I am,” Signal confirms, bemused smile on his face. “Are you not from around here? I get that I’m not very well known outside of Gotham, but most people are able to clock me as a hero pretty quickly.”

Danny laughs nervously. “Haha, yeah, something like that. Don’t really have heroes back home. So do you have powers or something?”

On the outside, he’s keeping cool. He’s being so chill and normal. 

On the inside? Danny is close to freaking out. A hero! An actual hero! Who came to check up on him because he’s probably saved other people who have tried jumping! Danny is meeting his first legitimate hero who saves people; there are no heroes in Amity Park, and Danny himself barely counts, because the focus there is to fight ghosts more than it is to save people. 

But the Signal is here to help people. As a hero.

That’s so fucking cool. Danny needs a selfie with him immediately to have proof to show once he tells Sam and Tucker about this.

“Oh, this and that,” Signal answers, “I can’t really give out the details for my own safety. Sorry about that.”

“That’s fine dude, I should have thought of that before I asked.”

“I will say that I can see more things than the average person. Comes with being a meta, I guess.”

There’s a word Danny doesn’t know. Asking would probably raise some red flags about him and Danny does not want to ruin his first official meeting with an official hero by asking strange questions. The casualness with which Signal had said meta points to it being common knowledge in this dimension. 

Danny can figure it out with context clues. Probably.

“Oh, cool.”

“Yeah, so can I ask you something?”

He tenses without meaning to. He’s ready to run. Questions are never anything good, not in his experiences, and if he goes now, he can probably avoid Signal for the next few hours while he explores. 

“Sure,” he says, against his better judgment.

“Are you a meta? Because you’ve got this sort of… glow. It’s really bright actually, which is how I found you.”

Danny looks down at himself to check that he isn’t partially ghostly. He is just as human as he was at the start of the conversation. No unusual glowing happening at all. 

“A glow?” he repeats.

Signal nods, looking him over. “Yeah. And it kinda looks like there’s two of you. Like someone took a negative of you and overlaid it on your body. Your hair is white and your eyes keep changing between green and blue. So: meta?”

He can’t answer. His throat is closing up. Panic is beginning to build. 

Danny has gone so long without people discovering his identity as Phantom and Signal can just see it?! 

“Woah, hey, calm down man. I’m not gonna out you or anything,” Signal tries to reassure. “I just wanna make sure you’re alright. Are you running from someone?”

No. Not as long as his parents never find out about him. He forces a shaky smile on his face, taking a step back. “Nah, I’m fine. And, sorry, but I can’t tell you why you’re seeing that. You understand how important secrets are.”

“I do. Okay, one last question: what are you doing in Gotham?”

“Honestly? Sightseeing. I’m looking for good places to bring my friends to when they come visit.”

“I can help with that.”

“Don’t you need to fight crime or something?”

Signal shrugs. “I can multitask.” 

The casual answer startles a laugh out of Danny, and he relaxes. Despite all the questions, despite all the ways things can go wrong by associating with a hero that can see Phantom in him, he can’t help but trust the Signal. He’s been chill so far and isn’t pushing for answers. And Danny could use a guide to show him around Gotham.

“Yeah, alright,” Danny decides, “Lead the way, Signal.” . . .

They cross a good portion of Gotham by grapple. Meaning the Signal is carrying Danny as they swing between buildings, occasionally stopping for the Signal to either help someone on the street or point out a place Danny can take his friends to. 

It’s fun the first few times, then Danny starts getting uncomfortable with how each movement jostles him. Feeling the wind rushing past him while relying entirely on someone else to move is beyond strange and he finds that he doesn't like the feeling much.

I don’t exist here, he thinks to himself, I can just leave before I deal with any serious consequences. 

This is reckless, but Danny wants to be reckless. He wants to go all out and have fun traversing Gotham with the Signal. This isn’t his dimension and he’s spent his entire life since dying trying to stay safe despite everything going wrong, so he can be a little reckless. As a treat.

“Not that this isn’t fun or anything,” Danny says the next time they land on a roof, “But is it cool if I just fly?”

Signal stops from where he had been pointing out a new cat cafe that opened. “You can fly?”

Danny grins and floats up, just a few inches. The rush of weightlessness almost feels like fear, but he refuses to acknowledge it as such and shoves it deep into his chest where he’ll never have to deal with it again. 

“You can fly,” Signal says blankly. “Sure. Why not. People are going to notice and go looking for you, so…”

Danny goes invisible, then pops back into the visible spectrum after a few seconds. “I got it covered. Just lead the way, I’ll be right behind you.”

“This might as well just happen,” Signal mutters, then shakes his head. “Alright. Let’s head to Wayne Tower. If your friends are into STEM, that’s the place to go. They give free tours for the public too.”

Which sounds like the perfect place for Tucker. Danny makes a mental note to visit Wayne Tower first so Tucker can geek out to his heart’s content. 

The Signal jumps off the building, grapple shooting through the air. Danny lets invisibility wash over him then follows after, taking in the sight of the city below him. 

To think the Signal takes care of all of this… Gotham is way larger than Amity Park, and that invites a lot more problems. Ghosts are one thing, but human criminals are another entirely. The Signal’s got to be strong to be a hero in this city.

He’s going to comment on it when someone below them screams, “Signal!”

Immediately, they both change course and drop to the street, where a woman is pulled into a bus by her hair. Other passengers are looking out the windows, terrified and holding themselves carefully still as a group of people with extreme facepaint and guns take control of the bus.

“You ain’t getting us today, Signal!” one of them jeers, and the doors close just as the bus tears off down the street, knocking off side mirrors of parked cars and wearing between traffic dangerously. 

“Shit,” Signal hisses, and aims his grapple gun high. 

He might be a hero with powers, but it’ll be impossible to catch up with a speeding bus with just a grapple. Danny isn’t a hero here, he’s a tourist who should know better than to butt into other people’s business, but seeing people in need of help, people in danger, there really isn’t any other choice he could make.

“Come on,” he says, “I’ll give you a lift.” And he picks up the Signal before he can respond, covering him with invisibility as well to get a drop on the criminals, then takes off. He pushes himself, keeping a tight grip on the Signal’s armor so he doesn’t fall, and closes the distance between them and the bus in no time. 

“You good if I drop out on top of the bus?” he shouts over the wind in his ears and the frantic honking of cars on the road, dodging the bus. 

“Yeah, I can take it from here!”

Danny bites his tongue to keep from protesting. The Signal is clearly intending to stop the bus and save the passengers on his own, and he probably won’t appreciate Danny getting involved. Which is exactly why Danny isn’t asking for permission and is just going to jump into the fray while the Signal is distracted. 

He puts on a final burst of speed and throws the Signal at the bus. He stays in the air just long enough to make sure the Signal lands safely, startling every person in the bus. Two criminals shove open their windows and lean their upper bodies out of the bus, aiming their guns at where the Signal is trying to get onto the side of the bus to force his way in.

Without thinking, Danny moves, yanking the guns out of their hands, then grabbing the backs of their shirts to lift them fully out of the window. He ignores their startled yells and the gasps of the hostages as they watch two of their captors dangle in midair, seemingly held by nothing. He takes a moment to look around, then spots a pile of trash bags that will cushion their fall. 

Then he throws them at it and tosses the guns onto the roof of the building where the Signal can pick them up later. 

Two threats taken care of, Danny flies back to the bus, which is moving even more erratically down the road as the Signal tries to take control of it without getting any of the hostages hurt. 

“Get flashbanged!” Danny hears right before a large flash of light blinds him for a moment. 

Another face painted criminal goes falling out of the bus, rolling onto the street, rubbing their eyes. The bus door remains open; broken, based on how it moves wildly back and forth as the bus continues its chaotic journey down the road. 

The Signal is struggling. He’s holding off well on his own, but he’s one person trying to save a bus full of people. Danny phases in through the back of the bus, landing silently. He sees the Signal lift a hand and has just enough time to turn his face away before there’s another blinding flash of light. 

It distracts the first criminal in front of him, who’s hanging back from the fight. This one has a machete instead of a gun, which is good because a gun would have been way more dangerous in such close quarters. 

Danny knocks them out with a solid punch to the head, then kicks the machete under a seat. 

He makes his way up the bus, quickly taking out anyone in face paint, then grabs the gun of the last one and freezes it into a block of ice. The Signal doesn’t waste any time in shoving the unconscious body of the driver out of the seat and taking control, carefully pulling the bus over to the side of the road, flicking on the hazard lights, then puts on the brakes and cuts the engine. 

“Everyone alright?” he asks, standing to look over the passengers. 

They’re all pale and tense, but far more composed than Danny was expecting from a group of hostages. 

“We’re fine,” a woman says, who Danny recognizes as the one who called out for the Signal. “Thank you for coming for us. I’m so glad the Bats have you active during the day.”

“It’s what I’m here for,” Signal replies. “Go on out. The GCPD will be here soon.”

The passengers begin to file off, most stopping to give the Signal a quick thanks. It’s nice to see, though it leaves a bitter taste in Danny’s mouth.

He rarely ever gets thanks as Phantom. He’s given up his teenage years to keep ghosts from harming people and people from harming ghosts, taking responsibility for the pain his parents’ portal have caused Amity Park, and all he really gets is people insulting him or seeing him as just as bad as the ghosts he fights. Never any thanks, not from the town he saves.

It sucks to see how people can be nice to heroes in this dimension, but in his own they blame him for everything. 

The bus is empty when the Signal look at him. He looks directly at Danny while he’s invisible.

That’s… not great. It’s a good thing the Signal isn’t his enemy, or Danny would be a lot worse off, having to dodge someone he can’t hide from. 

“Thanks for the help man,” Signal says, “You get hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

“Let’s get out of the street. Follow me.”

He walks off the bus and waves to the passengers one last time, then shoots his grapple. Danny hesitates for a moment, considers escaping, then follows the Signal up to the rooftops because he really does want to see Wayne Tower so he can bring Tucker over. 

The Signal is watching him approach when he gets to the roof. It’s unnerving, which is saying something considering the fact that his life is now a sci-fi horror story on bad days. And he’s had a lot of bad days. 

“Can you actually see me?” is the first thing he asks, unable to keep the question to himself.

“Kind of. It’s more like I can see a very blurry light moving around.”

“Huh.”

“Can you go back to being visible, though? I don’t want to be squinting at you while we talk.”

Danny looks at him. “I wouldn’t even be able to tell that you’re squinting, with the helmet and all.”

“Okay, fair, but I’d still feel better if I could see you properly.”

Well, there’s really no reason to refuse the Signal. He’s been nice so far, and he’s not even yelling at Danny for being irresponsible or reckless or anything. It’s already a decent start to the conversation. He owes the Signal this much, at least.

He lets his invisibility fade away, joining the visible spectrum once more.

The Signal looks him over, stepping closer to spin Danny around, checking him over for any injuries. Then he steps back, satisfied, and nods. “Sorry about that, I just had to double check to make sure you’re not hiding any injuries. Do you want to rest up here for a bit?”

Huh. No reprimand at all. 

“I was expecting you to yell at me for getting involved, honestly,” Danny admits.

The Signal laughs. “Oh, buddy, I absolutely do not have a leg to stand on when it comes to that. No yelling rights at all. You clearly had a plan in mind, have good control of your powers, and you never once impeded me. Everything got taken care of easily thanks to you. Besides, I’m not one to turn down help from someone who knows what they’re doing.”

Now that implies a hell of a story that Danny probably won’t ever get to hear. Which is a shame, because honestly? Danny wants to know as much as he can about the Signal. This guy is his new number one hero and Danny is ready to be his biggest fan.

“Glad I could help,” Danny says with a bashful smile. 

“Sorry you had to get caught up in all that, though. Still up for seeing Wayne Tower?”

“Are you sure you have time for this? This place is filled with crime.”

The Signal shrugs. “That’s just Gotham, man. I’ll help were I can, but I also want to play tour guide. It’s nice being able to show someone the good parts of Gotham.”

This place is a disaster, full of smog and smoke and Danny keeps hearing gunshots that he tries very hard to ignore. But it’s clear that the Signal loves his city. It’s nice to see; Danny’s been wanting to escape Amity Park for years now, even before the Accident, and though he gives as much as he can to keep it safe, he doesn’t really love it. 

His parents have made things difficult for him with their reputation, and then with their constant attempts to hunt him down for experimentation. He’s tired of being around the same people, stuck with kids he grew up with and has too much history with. Sam and Tucker are the obvious exceptions, but he knows that one day they’ll all go their separate ways to learn what life is like without ghosts and Amity bogging them down. They’ll find their way to each other again, but they all know leaving is inevitable.

They don’t talk about it much, not out loud, but the itch to run away from Amity Park and experience the rest of the world is obvious. It’s why Sam looks at international volunteering opportunities, making resumes and cover letters for environmental organizations that are cleaning up pollution, or replanting forests, or creating buildings from recycled material. It’s why Tucker takes online class after online class to get certifications in as many things as he can before applying for universities all over the country, looking into scholarships and internships and job opportunities so he can support himself when the time comes.

It’s why Danny spends more and more time hopping through natural portals and exploring the Ghost Zone and stubbornly refusing to go home at all on the weekends. 

“Well,” he says with a shrug, “I’m down if you’re down.”

The Signal grins and claps a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Good to hear. Keep up if you can!” And then he’s throwing himself off the building in such a reckless maneuver than Danny feels his half-dead heart stop before hears the Signal’s laughter and the sound of a grapple line being reeled in.

“Oh, it’s on!” Danny doesn’t waste another second and leaps into the air, his stomach dropping for just a moment before gravity looses its hold on him. Then he’s shooting through the sky after the Signal, eyes fixed on the yellow-clad hero. 

He only just manages to remember to go invisible, most of his focus on watching the Signal swing between buildings, heading towards a large building. From where they are, moving above the rooftops, Danny can see the ocean, the dark waters stretching out past the horizon. 

The Signal glances back to make sure Danny’s still following, and Danny takes the chance to put on a burst of speed so that he’s flying besides the Signal. 

“Are you sure you can keep up with me?” Danny teases, his grin sharp. Without having to worry about anyone seeing him, it’s easy to let go of some of his control and let his fangs sharpen until they’re easily visible. 

“Man, this is not a game you’re going to win,” the Signal replies. A sly smirk crosses his face, one that promises fun and trouble, and then he swings into the shadow of a church spire and disappears.

Danny stops short and blinks a few times, wondering if his eyes glitched out somehow. The Signal was literally right in front of him. Where did he go?

He squints and looks around, floating up idly to try and get a better look at everything around him. 

“Catch me if you can!” 

Danny spins, trying to pinpoint where the Signal’s voice came from. He flies up higher and strains his hearing, listening past the honking cars, the multiple conversations happening beneath him, the train in the distance going to its next stop…

He hears a click and the sound of a body moving quickly through the air. Danny follows it, flying around buildings. He closes his eyes, focusing only on what he hears, and chases after the Signal. The closer he gets, the easier it is to hear the mechanical whir of the grapple gun, his heartbeat, his footsteps against the rooftops and the sides of buildings as he keeps moving. 

It’s fun, this chase. Danny’s never experienced something like this before. There are no stakes, no dangers, no fear or panic. This is just two people dashing through a city for fun, using their abilities to blow off stress instead of fighting for their lives or the lives of others. 

The Signal is close. Danny cracks open his eyes and frowns when he still can’t see the hero. He listens closely and the Signal should be off to his right, just out of reach. 

No one is there when he looks, but who’s to say that Danny’s the only one who can go invisible? The Signal certainly didn’t share his powers, so maybe…

Danny veers to the right suddenly and reaches out to where the Signal’s heartbeat is loudest. He hears the hero yelp in surprise as Danny tackles him out of the air. It’s only his tight grip on the Signal, arms wrapped around his waist, that keep him from falling, but taking on the weight of an entire person—one who’s heavily armored, at that��leaves Danny off balance as he flies. It takes a few moments to correct it, then he’s flying up, heading towards the large building that, now that he’s close enough to see it, has WAYNE written across the side near the very top. 

He picks up speed and flies them up to the roof, circling around it once to make sure no one else is out there. With the coast clear, Danny carefully sets the Signal down and drops his invisibility.

“Got you,” he declares, a little breathless from the chase. He grins at the Signal and only remembers his clearly visible fangs after a long minute where there’s no response. “Oh, sorry. I know it’s kinda freaky.” He brings a hand up to hide his mouth, and the Signal snaps out of his daze to grab Danny’s wrist and pull his hand down.

“No, no, you’re good! Sorry, I was just caught off guard. No one’s ever caught me while I used shadows.”

“Shadows and light? You have some really cool powers.”

The Signal gives him a rueful smile. “You say that because you haven’t seen me struggle to figure out how to use them yet.”

Oh, isn’t that familiar? Danny can relate. He was a disaster after the Accident when his powers first kicked in. “Trust me, I know how hard it can be and I can guarantee that you’ll never do worse that I did.”

“Bet.”

“I can go intangible,” Danny says, leaning closer to the Signal. “I could not control when or where I went intangible for the longest time. I fell through my bed, the floor, my entire house and also once got my arm stuck inside a wall in the middle of a conversation and had to act like nothing was wrong. Man, I was sweating while we were talking. Spent the entire time trying to casually pull my arm out of the wall. Pretty sure they think I have uncontrollable muscle spasms now.”

The Signal bursts out laughing and it’s infectious. He can’t help but laugh with him, remember the disastrous first few weeks with his powers, desperately trying to play it cool and failing miserably while he and his friends panicked. It was awful, don’t get him wrong, but it’s also very funny now that he’s looking back at it.

“Oh man, I don’t think I have one as good as that. I mean, the closest thing I have to that is that I once accidentally blinded myself trying to change a lightbulb and fell off the ladder. My uncle thought it was hilarious that I lost a fight to a single lightbulb.”

“That’s the one thing no one ever tells you about having powers: how ridiculously embarrassing it is 90% of the time.”

“Cheers, bro, I’ll drink to that.”

He feels a little dizzy with how much fun he’s having, still trying to catch his breath from the chase and all the laughter that followed. Danny tilts forward, leaning his weight on the Signal who takes it easily, holding him up like this is normal. 

“Okay, okay,” the Signal says, taking a deep breath to compose himself. “Let’s get back to the tour of Gotham. Welcome to Wayne Tower. You can just go inside and sign up for a free tour, they have one every hour.”

“And the tour has a STEM focus?”

“Oh, yeah. Some of it is just the basic history of what Wayne Enterprises has done, how they’ve grown, what industries they’re involved in, that sort of thing. But they also have a visit to one of the R&D labs to show some of the new tech they’re working on. Right now I think the focus is on prosthetics and wheelchairs and walkers. And there’s also a lab for astronomy and space flight—”

“A lab for WHAT?” Danny yells, looking up so quickly he accidentally slams the top of his head into the Signal’s chin, making them both tumble away from each other, hissing in pain. “Oh, shoot, I’m so sorry. I just love space and I got too excited and I can not be normal about space—”

A hand comes up and two fingers press against his lips, cutting his embarrassed rambling short. Danny really hopes the Signal can’t see the blush growing on his cheeks as an actual, real life hero who is standing with barely two inches between their bodies, puts his fingers on Danny’s lips. 

It’s a good thing Danny’s already had his bi panic two years ago or else he’d be dying for real this time around. 

“Chill, dude,” the Signal says with an easy smile, “It’s all good. I can take a harder hit. And if you like space, well…”

“Well?”

“Pollution in Gotham is really bad, so you can’t see any stars until you leave the city, but the university’s got a pretty good planetarium. They’re recently gotten new holograms to show off 3-D projections of different galaxies.”

Forget Signal and how attractive he is, this planetary is all Danny cares about now. 

Tucker can have the Wayne Tower tour, and he’ll find something good for Sam too, but the planetarium is for Danny specifically. It was made with him in mind. He is going to be so unwell about it once he goes to visit. He might just move in and refuse to leave. 

“No way,” Danny breathes, and distantly notes how the Signal shivers when his lips moves against his gloved fingers. “Signal, dude, we need to go to the planetarium. Please. I will get on my knees and beg if that’s what it takes.”

“Woah, no need! I was going to take you there anyways, and if you come back maybe next week, I can get tickets for you. No need to go on your knees at all.”

The phrasing makes Danny pause. That was incredibly suggestive, but since Signal’s not bringing it up and moving right along, Danny will go with it and pretend he didn’t actually say that.

“Okay, okay. Maybe we can make that our last stop? If we go now, I am not going to leave for like two days. Is there like, a nice park or something to do with plants in Gotham?”

The Signal tilts his head and makes a considering noise. “There is the botanical gardens, but Poison Ivy tends to take it over when she’s not at Robinson park.”

“Poison Ivy?” Danny repeats. That’s a Rogue’s name if he’s ever heard one, but seeing as most of his Rogues are other ghosts he’s fairly friendly with these days or government agents, he’s sure that his expectations for Rogues is pretty skewed. 

“Yeah, she controls plants and used to do a lot of robberies, property destruction, and murder in order to protect the environments. She’s gotten a bit better over the last few years, but she’ll still tear down the buildings of companies who are polluting the river and shit.”

Murder aside, Danny can kind of respect it. Sometimes the best way to fight back against the government and morally corrupt companies is to burn everything down. Sam would definitely approve; he puts the botanical gardens and Robinson Park on his list of spots to visit with her.

“Can we go check it out?”

“You know what? Sure. If Ivy is around, I’m sure we can handle it.” The Signal steps away from Danny and heads to the edge of the roof. “Ready?”

Danny follows him and lets his feet lift up off the roof, hovering just over the edge. “Ready,” he answers, prepared to take off.

The Signal jumps, grapple gun reappearing in his hand from where he placed it before, and then he’s off, moving through the open air easily as if he’s the one with the ability to fly. Danny chases after him, going invisible again as they weave between the buildings, heading away from the absurdly tall buildings that make up what must be the busier downtown area of Gotham. They go over the train tracks and the Signal grapples onto a water tank just to jump off of it again, gaining way more air than a normal person would be capable of. 

It’s beyond fun, flying through the city with the Signal. The clouds block out most of the sky, but every so often a weak stream of sunlight breaks through and illuminates a few sections of the city. It’s nothing at all like Amity Park, far darker and ornate and dangerous, but he can’t help but be fascinated by it, wanting to spend more and more time exploring Gotham. 

The Signal stops his journey a few times to drop down onto the street to stop carjackers and muggers, leaving them bound and awaiting police pick up. The victims, the few who stick around, always thank him and see him off with a wave.

Jealousy is an ugly feeling and Danny’s feeling a little too much of it, watching how the Signal interacts with the citizens of the city he protects. It’s no surprise that Danny’s completely burned out on heroing these days, preferring to use his powers for mundane tasks or just for fun. He was certainly never as good a hero as the Signal is. 

But then the Signal grapples back up into the sky and gives Danny a smile and all his ire fades away. 

It’s better this way; Danny’s been ready to retire from the hero business for a year and a half now, and the Signal deserves all the love he’s shown and more. 

They cross what feels like half of Gotham before the Signal comes to a stop across the street from a building with a large glass dome on the top.

“Here it is,” he announces, “The botanical garden. The inside is where you can pay for entering, and then it goes straight to a display of local plants and insects, with an indoor garden, and then the outside is where the actual gardens are. There’s also a greenhouse in there but it belongs solely to Ivy now. She’s got an agreement with the owner of the garden to keep the place safe so long as she can use the greenhouse as she pleased.”

Danny pulls out his phone to snap a picture and texts it to Sam.

She replies with a string of exclamation marks.

We’ll visit it together next week! he sends, and Sam sends back a thumbs up and a green and black heart. 

“Okay, this is absolutely a place I’m visiting with my friends,” Danny says, sending Jazz a ghost emoji when her check-in let me know you’re okay text comes in, right on the hour. 

“We got places for your friends, so it’s time to show you the planetarium, right? You need a place you want to visit too.”

“Just point it out to me, because I can promise that as soon as I’m inside, I am not coming back out.” Actually, it’s highly probable that Danny will straight up lose all grasp on time and reality and just spend an entire week staring at holographic projections of stars. And seeing how he promised to have dinner with Sam and Tucker so they can all catch up on what they’ve been doing over the summer, he shouldn’t risk disappearing into the depths of the planetarium.

“Actually,” Danny says, “Can we skip the planetarium for today? I don’t want to lose track of time since I am going back home once the sun sets.”

“Sure, if that’s what you want. Any other things you want to see in Gotham?”

“How about best places to eat?”

The Signal goes to reply, and judging by his smile, he’s fully on board with the idea of scoping out Gotham’s hottest food spots, when he falters and turns away slightly. What little Danny can see of his face smooths out into something neutral.

“I’m being called back,” he says after a minute of silence. Danny cocks his head, wondering how he missed hearing someone calling for the Signal. Unless it was like a phone call, but wired through his helmet, which somehow blocked Danny’s hearing…?

Not a rabbit hole he wants to go down. He forcibly puts the thought out of his mind. 

“Everything alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, the other bats just want to talk to me.”

Bats. Bats?

Danny’s confusion must be visible because the Signal cracks a smile and says, “Man, where the hell are you from that you don’t know about the bats?”

Honestly, hell is a pretty decent description of where he’s from, but Danny’s not about to admit that. 

“Batman, the first vigilante in Gotham,” the Signal continues, “And he’s taken in a lot of others, including me. We’re all Gotham based but a few of us go and help out in other places, or start our own teams.”

“So you’re not the only hero here?”

“Not even close,” the Signal says, “I am the only one on the day shift, though.”

A day shift! Like a job! It’s so far from Danny’s own experience in trying to be a hero that he can be anything but impressed. “You’re the coolest of them,” he says, words tumbling out of his mouth before he’s properly aware of what he’s saying.

“Thanks, man. Even if you’re clearly biased since you’ve only met me.”

“I’ll stand by what I said even after I meet the others. Though I’m not sure I will, since I won’t be here at night.”

“Ah, well,” the Signal shrugs, “That just means I don’t have to share you.”

Danny feels like screaming. He wants to go out into space, scream, and burrow into an asteroid because he doesn’t know how else to process his feelings upon hearing that. Like, holy shit? Is this hero flirting with him? Is he into Danny? 

He needs back up ASAP. He needs Tucker and Sam and look over his interactions with the Signal and give him the verdict. 

“If you like my company so much, would you be up for doing this again tomorrow?” Danny asks, pushing his luck. If he can survive asking Paulina out as his partner to a dance even after his pants fell down in front of her, he can definitely flirt with the Signal. 

He’s got this.

“As if I would say no after how much fun we’ve had today. Come find me tomorrow and I’ll treat you to some of the street food you’ve ever had.”

“Cool! Tomorrow then.” The urge to say it’s a date is strong but Danny is stronger. For now. “You should get going before any of those ‘bats’ come to get you.”

The Signal offers a little two fingered salute, vividly reminding Danny of the fact that those fingers were on his lips, and then he’s swinging away, leaving Danny on the rooftop across from the botanical gardens. 

As soon as the Signal is out of sight and Danny can’t hear his heartbeat, he sinks down to his knees, hiding his face in his hands, and lets out an overwhelmed keen. 

He takes a minute to freak out over 1) meeting a hero 2) helping a hero save people 3) flirting with a hero! 4) securing a not-date with a hero. And then he pulls out his phone and frantically opens up the group chat to yell at Sam and Tucker.

danny: i think i died again bc WHAT THE HELL WAS THAAAAAAT

sam: It’s been two hours danny. What could you have possibly done

sam: Actually hang on you def do way worse in less time

danny: where’s tucker i want to talk to someone who WONT BULLY ME IN MY TIME OF NEED

tucker: can i pls eat lunch in peace

sam: No ♥️

danny: lol no

danny: anyways i met a hero and we flirted? i think?? i am fully prepared to marry this guy and idek his real name

tucker: do i need to give u another lecture on stranger danger

danny: no!!!! 

sam: How old even is this guy? If hes actually like 15 years older than you i Will decapitate him for going after you 🙂

tucker: dude just come back. U can tell us all abt this and let us laugh at u before dinner

danny: and then youll help me?

sam: Ofc danny, as if you’d be able to do anything without us

tucker: 🔼 😀

danny: be there soon!!

. . .

As much as they’ve had their rough patches over the years, Danny can say one thing with certainty: Sam and Tucker always tell him the truth. After everything they’ve gone through together over the past few years, from bullies to family troubles to ghosts and governments, they’ve learned to rely on each other and be as honest as possible. 

Which means that when they laugh at him, he knows they mean it.

“Seriously, guys,” Danny whines, hiding his face in Tucker’s pillow, “I am in distress! Help me!”

“I mean, it seems like you’re doing just fine,” Sam says.

“He had his fingers on your mouth.” Tucker cackles. “It’s so over for you.”

“At least this Signal guy is nicer that Valerie. I’m still not going to let him date you without meeting him first.”

“Sam!” Danny says, “Do not shovel talk a hero from another dimension. Don’t do that to me.”

She casually checks her nails, kept short but still fully capable of digging into flesh deep enough to draw blood. “Please, Danny, you know you can’t stop me.”

“Tuck?” he tries, hopefully.

“Nah, I’m with Sam on this one. We gotta meet him first, make sure he’s good for you, and then we’ll stop hovering and let you date in peace.”

Danny collapses back, bringing up the pillow to cover his face. He briefly considers suffocation as a reasonable way to escape this conversation, then decides that it would take too much time and they could always just take the pillow away from him anyways. “You really think I have a chance?”

He’s said it quietly, and with how the pillow muffles his words, he expects his moment of insecurity to fly by unnoticed.

The pillow is yanked away from him. Sam grabs his wrists and hauls him up to sit, and then Tucker whacks him on the head with his reclaimed pillow. 

“Hey! What the hell?”

“He should be grateful that you’re even giving him the time of day,” Sam says, a fire in her eyes. 

Next to her, Tucker nods so strongly Danny worries his glasses are going to fall off. “Based on what you’ve told us, he is absolutely into you. Neither of you have to do anything about it, since you’re from different dimensions, but he’d been stupid to say no if you ask him out.”

“Besides, you just met today. Give it some time. Crush all you want, but start as friends and see how that goes, okay?”

That’s… sound advice. 

Danny jumped straight to struggling with his very sudden crush on the Signal. But, as Sam said, it’s been one day. He’s got plenty of time to get to know the Signal and see if this crush is any deeper than just hero-worship and admiration. 

He won’t deny that he’s weak to someone strong being gentle with him, but honestly, if he wanted to swoon over buff people, he’d just go to a gym and ask if anyone would be available to help him. It’s worked in the past, it’ll work again. Even if the person who helps him ends up being Dash or someone else on the football team. 

That was a weird day. He’d totally do it again.

He sighs. “You’re right, Sam.”

“I always am.”

“Tucker, if you would.” With a grin, Tucker salutes him then biffs Sam over the head with his pillow.

They both ignore her offended shriek and Danny continues speaking. “I probably shouldn’t even be  thinking of a relationship right now. We’re about to go into senior year and send out college apps and all that. I can figure this whole thing out later. We probably won’t even see each other all that often.”

“But if there’s a chance, and if he makes you happy, promise you’ll go for it.”

“I don’t know…”

“Promise, Danny,” Tucker demands. One of his hands inch closer to Danny’s waist and he watches it with a wary glare. He knows Tucker isn’t above playing dirty via tickling to get Danny to do as he’s told. “Danny. Promise.”

“Okay, okay! I promise!” 

Tucker’s hand pulls away and Danny lets out a sigh of relief. It’s immediately followed by a yelp and his entire body flailing and falling off the bed as Sam, the traitor, jabs him in the side while he’s distracted.

“Just for that, I’m not taking you to the botanical garden in Gotham next week.”

“Wait, wait, wait, I’m sorry. I’ll stop bullying you.” Sam eyes him, consideringly. “For now.”

“I am suffering from feelings and all you two do is laugh at me.”

Shaking her head, Sam reaches down to pat Danny’s shoulder. “There, there. You’ll survive this.”

“Besides,” Tucker adds, “No matter what happens, you’ve got us.”

“Yeah, I guess I do.” He doesn’t bother hiding his smile, knowing they can hear it in his voice anyways. 

Thinking over his time with the Signal doesn’t feel as overwhelming anymore. He’s gotten it off his chest, had his two best friends analyze it to the best of their abilities, found a new rhythm he can work with. His cheeks still flush red when he thinks about the Signal a little too long, but it’s a nice warmth, a promise that there’s something there, that he can see something that makes him happy outside of Amity Park.

He can figure out everything else later. He can get flustered over their not-date to various Gotham food trucks tomorrow, but that’s an issue for later. 

For now, he has a dinner to make with Sam and Tucker. For now, he’s got a quiet day in Amity Park where he can enjoy being with the two people most precious to him, and he can cherish every minute they spend together while the future draws closer with the promise to send them down different paths. 

They have now. They have summer and a visit to Gotham and a certainty that no matter what, they’ll be there for each other. 

And if Sam and Tucker tease him throughout dinner, citing his slow growing skills in making food that’s actually edible for normal humans, well, it’s not like he hasn’t earned it.

It’s not like he’ll need to cook much in Gotham. The Signal will make sure they don’t starve with his knowledge of the best food in the city. 

That’s just what heroes do, after all.

[dw-flagler]

something that always bothered me about the worm fanfic scene is that they always try to cram everyone together. There's always the scene where taylor meets lisa in a coffee shop or whatever. I get it, it's a fanfic, you can't just make up a character for her to meet.

But one of the things i always liked about worm was that it stayed away from the comic trope of making everyone connected. Like, if Worm was a comic book, Armsmaster would be her teacher, She'd end up being friends with Kid Win, Cherie would attend Winslow, Annette would end up being still alive and a secret agent for Cauldron but with amnesia or something, over-the-top soap opera shit, right?

What I always liked was that in Worm, Taylor's just some girl. She only knows one hero out of costume, and it's the girl who ruined her life. Her dad's just the head of hiring for the union. Her mom was just a college professor. If you asked the mayor about Danny Hebert, he'd say "who?" A lot of fanfics have him be like seinfeldian rivals with the mayor, but like he just writes petitions. If you asked Lustrum about Annette Hebert, she'd have no clue who you're talking about, because Annette was just like a member of her organization.

What I'm trying to stress, is that in superhero comics, everything's connected. Everyone knows everyone. Everyone's a super genius, or met at The Science Expo, or their dad was a famous crime fighter. Comics have all these sorts of big dramatic irony reveals. In comic books, there is never a character who's just some guy.

This sort of thing is great for making everything feel connected, and it's good for keeping out extraneous exposition.

But Worm doesn't do that. It's all just like. They're just regular ass people. Of course they don't know each other. They live in a city with 300 thousand people, none of them would have ever met each other if it weren't for capeshit.

And, I mean, it does remove a lot of the potential for shenanigans but it really does a lot to make everything feel more real.

There's also something there about capeshit being a metaphor for shared trauma where like these people would not know each-other were it not for shared trauma.

The undersiders, the great team, the bestest friend team, they don't meet if not for capeshit. They have no connection to eachother outside this. These are kids who would have never met, they would never have come within 20 degrees of separation were it not for the fact they have powers. This is integral to worm's worldbuilding. It's maybe the closest you ever get to a positive aspect of gaining powers, and yet for so many capes there is no undersiders, just the fighting and loneliness and eventual violent death.

[disneytva]

November 2024 Programming Highlights

Friday, Nov. 1 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior and Disney Channel Pupstruction “Petsgiving at PawPaw’s/Chilly Dogs” (2-15) (7:30-8:00 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior/8:00-8:30 a.m. EDT on Disney Channel) “Petsgiving at PawPaw’s” – When PawPaw hosts a Petsgiving feast at his farm, he needs the Pups to help harvest more veggies. *Craig T. Nelson (“The Incredibles”) guest stars as PawPaw.

“Chilly Dogs” – Pupstruction lends a paw when a truck slides onto a frozen pond. TV-Y

Friday, Nov. 8 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior and Disney Channel Disney Jr.’s Ariel “The Lost Dogfish/Swim Scouts” (1-18) (9:00-9:30 a.m. EST on Disney Junior/10:00-10:30 a.m. EST on Disney Channel) “The Lost Dogfish” – Ariel really wants to keep a lost dogfish that she finds.

“Swim Scouts” – A visiting mer-boy joins Ariel and friends on a Swim Scouts field trip. *TV personality and science communicator Danni Washington guest stars as marine biologist Tantie Chantale. TV-Y

Saturday, Nov. 9 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD ZOMBIES: The Re-Animated Series “Waved and Confused/Abandon Zip” (1-18) (11:00-11:30 a.m. EST) “Waved and Confused” – Zed gets tutored by a Debate Bot. Addison and Willa debate the importance of waving.

“Abandon Zip” – When a dangerous sinkhole forms in the hallway, Zed and Addison build a zipline to zip over it. TV-G

Friday, Nov. 15 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior and Disney Channel Marvel’s Spidey and his Amazing Friends “Moon Girl and the Dino Dilemma/Hulk’s Squirrley Switch” (3-26) (7:30-8:00 a.m. EST on Disney Junior/8:30-9:00 a.m. EST on Disney Channel) “Moon Girl and the Dino Dilemma” – The Spideys team up with Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur to stop Green Goblin’s dino-mech.

“Hulk’s Squirrley Switch” – When Doc Ock swaps Hulk into the body of a squirrel, hero Squirrel Girl helps save him. TV-Y

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior and Disney Channel Kindergarten: The Musical “Meet Me in Santo Domingo/Some Enchanted Second Grader” (1-18) (8:00-8:30 a.m. EST on Disney Junior/11:00-11:30 a.m. EST on Disney Channel) “Meet Me in Santo Domingo” – Berti is excited to visit her aunt in Santo Domingo until she learns she’ll miss Fun Friday.

“Some Enchanted Second Grader” – Kat copies every single thing second grader Carly says and does. TV-Y

Saturday, Nov. 16 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD ZOMBIES: The Re-Animated Series “Crazy, Stupid, Crush/Ready Player Wynter” (1-19) (11:00-11:30 a.m. EST) “Crazy, Stupid, Crush” – Eliza and Wyatt both want to ask the other to the school dance, but mishaps keep getting in their way.

“Ready Player Wynter” – Feeling pressured to plan her future, Wynter uses VR to find her dream job. TV-G

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD Big City Greens “Turkey Trouble/Hard Bargain” (4-11) (8:00-8:30 p.m. EST) “Turkey Trouble” – Bill begrudgingly joins Cricket to cover up a (turkey) crime on Thanksgiving.

“Hard Bargain” – The Greens get into crazy hijinks in a Smalton antique shop. TV-Y7 

Friday, Nov. 22 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior and Disney Channel Kindergarten: The Musical “Do You Hear the Students Sing?/Hello, Dino Dolly!” (1-14) (8:00-8:30 a.m. EST on Disney Junior/11:00-11:30 a.m. EST on Disney Channel) “Do You Hear the Students Sing?” – The kindergarteners write a song and sing it for the whole school.

“Hello, Dino Dolly!” – Tej brings his favorite dinosaur toy to school but doesn’t want his friends to play with it. TV-Y

Saturday, Nov. 23 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD ZOMBIES: The Re-Animated Series “I Wanna Dance with SomeZombie” (1-20) (11:00-11:30 a.m. EST) Addison uses advanced alien powers that she’s not ready for yet and inadvertently causes destruction at the big school dance. TV-G

Friday, Nov. 29 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior and Disney Channel Kindergarten: The Musical “Squish in Boots/Take Me or Leaf Me” (1-13) (8:00-8:30 a.m. EST on Disney Junior/9:00-9:30 a.m. EST on Disney Channel) “Squish in Boots” – Radish is afraid to tell Jamil his Boot-brella invention doesn’t work.

“Take Me or Leaf Me” – All of the kids are trading fruit erasers, but Radish wants them to play with his leaf collection. TV-Y

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior and Disney Channel Disney Jr.’s Ariel “Daddy Daughter Adventure Day/Rainbow Sea Caves” (1-19) (9:00-9:30 a.m. EST on Disney Junior/9:30-10:00 a.m. EST on Disney Channel) “Daddy Daughter Adventure Day” – Ariel and Triton spend Daddy Daughter Adventure Day together.

“Rainbow Sea Caves” – Ariel and her friends explore the Rainbow Sea Caves. TV-Y

[madametamma]

A while ago, I posed the question ‘Where do fans stand on Danny having an obsession?’  With different answers all around. 

Some said they don’t like the idea that Danny has an obsession because it takes away his agency and makes his choices less meaningful if he’s forced to do what he does.

Some said they loved Danny with an obsession because that can lead to angst potential.

Others said it depended on the story.

What about all of the above?

Danny seems to be slacking off in ghost hunting lately, at first it was just, “I haven't gotten a full night’s sleep in a while, let me take a break.” But that was quite a few days ago and his sleep schedule has gotten back on track so there’s no excuse for him to be cutting patrolling short tonight, or for him to ignore what could possibly be a villainous plot going on in town, Sam insists!

Tucker points out that said villainous plot is just a new hot dog shop opening up in town which she waves off.  She insists Danny could be doing more.

Danny replies that if his ghost sense goes off, he’ll do his job, but it’s nice to take a few days off.

Sam leaves Danny and Tucker to play games while she hops on her scooter to patrol the city by herself. As she zooms through the streets she mutters “I wish the one with actual superpowers on this team was more obsessed with with doing this job than me.”

When the friends meet up the next day, Danny is much more vigilant.  Sam’s pleased although Tucker is bummed that Danny doesn’t want to see a new movie after school in favor of patrolling the city. 

For a little while, everything is good.  Danny is taking his job as a hero seriously, ghosts are getting beaten and taken back to the ghost zone, crime is noticeably going down in Amity.

Tucker points out to his friend that he might want to do something about those bruises on his face and Danny waves him off.  Hazards of the job. Sometimes the ghosts get a few good shots in.  He’ll just say it was Dash, if anyone asks.

By next week, Danny was noticeably skipping more classes than usual.  His excuse being ‘ghost fighting’ and Sam warns that he should be more careful.  Even his clueless parents are going to notice.

Later that night, Sam’s house gets a call from Jazz.  She thinks she knows what the conversation is going to be about and prepares some excuses on Danny’s behalf, but is thrown off when she confronts her about not seeing Danny since Yesterday.”

“He staggered home at 2:00 AM last night, looking like he got run over by a truck! me, mom and dad tried to talk to him but he looked so exhausted, the only thing we could think to do was send him to bed, thinking we would talk again in the morning but he was gone when we woke up.  We haven’t seen him since then! Sam, what is going on?!” Jazz cries.

At that moment Danny flies in through her window, ectoplasm seeping through an an enormous gash on his abdomen. 

“Can I get a patchwork?”, he mutters, groggily. Sam hangs up the phone in shock.

She goes to work, stitching up his wounds.  Danny murmurs some explanation of why it’s not that bad and how he’ll just need a minute before he’s ready to keep going, as his eyes droop and head nods in his exhaustion.  She tells him that he can just take a nap here until he’s well enough to go home but he disappears the instant she’s finished.

[am-i-sans]

dnd adventures 45

IM BACK BITCHES

somehow were back on the dragon i dunno why. dess stretches and comments she feels so stiff, like shes been standing still for 5 months. where are we? cam comments we killed a snake and now werre on a dragon. cam offers dess birdseed and frog and dans take some lol. frog says there was no snake.

theres a town! landing! theres tree stumps everywhere. dont tell me its the lorax. fuck you. dess looks down and goes "is that fucking kneedville?" dans asks how she knows this place and she says she gets around a lot. she can show us around!

the land is dead. susie just fucks off. were all following her lol. we see the sneeds, awful fashion. undyne wants one to hold the baby lol. dans wants one too lol. cam is aghast how awful it looks lol.

those trees look so weird and fluffy. cam is trying to climb it lol. cam got up nice! dess checks if the tree is magical, their not its just like that. cam yanks out a piece of fluff! dans asks if tori wants to talk to the trees.

tori and frog leave to talk to a tree dans is babysitting suzy. inferno is who knows! no chicken place in town for suzy DX tori says hi to cam and asks the tree whats going on around here. cam keeps trying to get the tree to eat birdseed. tree says they've been being harvested.

cam jumps off the tree and dess catches them, holding them like burger. tori asks the tree whos in charge of killing them. cam tries to get away and dess just tosses them over her shoulder lol. tree says they have to ask the lorax for details. tree tells tori they want a non violent way to end this but their not opposed if she kills him.

undyne asks a local where they can buy a sneed. in the shop theres so many sneeds for sale. dans messages undyne to get him one too. 100 gold what a ripoff. undyne swaddles the temmie in it, it starts crying xD cam and dess show up nice. cam is distressed that undyne and dans are dressed badly lol. dans pays undyne back for the sneed lol.

dess walks up to undyne so cam can see the sneed lol. cam tries to get dans to help them get out of dess's grip and dans laughs and tells dess to take cam into the sneed store xD cam falls on their face and scramble over to undyne wtf. dess takes suzy to the sneed store lol.

shes hiding a sneed in another to steal one lol. she succeeds and forces the pink one on cam lol. they toss it off and keep looking for inferno. inferno falls out of eeby deeby right on cam lol. the void egg landed on his head!

cam wants to do crimes with inferno wtf. they really wanna burn down the sneed shop and steal the money back. cam pays inferno wtf. inferno lies in wait xD

suzy smells meat and goes running off so dans follows her. fuck yeah meat! its someones barbeque and she demands dans gets her some meat! arbys run by dr seuss! shes hungy and chows down. dans says hes on a strict diet.

back to toriel asking about the lorax! dess and cam are independently going to the tree. gotta find the lorax! tori headed there earlier so dess and cam see her in the distance and rush to catch up.

as they walk cam gets tired and climbs up tori. someone tied a sneed to cam without them noticing and they scream and spike it. inferno goes eeby deeby for a bit damn. frog laughs and asks what their looking for. toris looking for the lorax! cam trips over a rock and goes eeby deeby.

frog starts calling out for the lorax. he shows up and somehow they all know he sounds like danny devito despite him not existing here. theres a stump now suddenly he can sit on. how. it turned into a log wtf. dans elsewhere comments he thinks his ex showed up.

dess asks the lorax, calling him devito, if hes dated dans xD inferno escapes eeby deeby! tori said he didnt have to answer that lol. he tells us about the onceler and what an asshole he is. (dans starts humming that one song to himself lol)

"does he say how ba-a-ad can i be?" dess how do you know that. lorax wants to avoid murder this is the wrong group for that xD they hear an explosion! that was frog the little shit. dess mentions gamercave ffs xD she speaks to tori in sylvain they might need to kill the onceler forgetting lorax is fey lol. she calls it a situationship! dess comments on god hating her xD

inferno calls the sneeds ugly in front of the shopkeeper. fireball directly at the sneeds and shopkeepers! yeah their dead lol. inferno takes 17 damage. he robs the register nice. time to book it!

[piece-of-pierce]

It started because Danny stopped on the street to talk shop with Jason and knew his shit, and Jason just so happened to have never encountered someone who could read an engine like him.

So, naturally, he stalks the guy, finds out he works at a good-for-skill, bad-for-reputation shop in Crime Alley, and decides to test him with an extra Red Hood bike. (Not his main bike, obviously. One of the others that he keeps around in case the main one gets blown up or something.)

He doesn't expect much but Danny manages to not only fix the issue Hood had hidden deep in the throes of the engine but also find a few things that could be optimized and left the extra bike running as well as, if not better than, Hood's main one. Obviously, Hood hires him on the spot.

Things build from there. Danny is skilled in all mechanics, not just vehicles, so Hood lets him take a look at his more complex weapons to see if there are any things he could make happen there. What's the worst that could happen?

It might not be the worst, but Tim, of all people, manages to notice the change in Hood's gear and starts pestering, which only leads to Hood asking if Danny would be willing to quit his legally recognized employment and exclusively work for him. The guy was skilled enough that Hood didn't want to risk losing him, anyway.

Danny hummed and hawed about it as a joke, then Hood settled on a 50% pay raise without giving Danny a chance to say anything and that was that. Hood is just happy that Danny will be harder for Tim to find.

Then it's finals season and Danny's exhausted but the boy's got a hyperfocus on this gas canister design for Hood and he ends up asleep at his work desk in the main warehouse Hood works out of. It's his own quarter of the warehouse and, for all he argued against it, Hood just said that the other guys didn't make good enough use of the space to keep it. Danny would've kept arguing if the other 2 guys who worked in that warehouse (the only people Hood kept on a private 'contract' with him because they were too good to let go to someone else) weren't both laughing.

[Mike and Giorno were both cool and complete geniuses regarding chemistry and software, respectively. Hood couldn't take any risks with them or Danny. If any one of the three took a turn into being a Rogue, that would be it for Gotham. They get on like a house on fire.]

So, Danny falls asleep at his desk and it isn't the first time but he usually wakes up within a few minutes. This time, after about an hour, Hood carries him over to a couch in the corner and Danny wakes up just enough to know he's being held and cared for and, comforted ball of trauma that he is, he gets a grip on Hood's shirt and won't let go even in his sleep. Eventually, Hood relents and has Mike bring him his laptop so he can keep working from the floor.

This happens almost every night for a week and, by day 6, Hood just shoves Danny on the couch as soon as he shows up and tells him to 'get some f-ing sleep. You need it.'

Danny finally figures out Hood's identity because he walks past Jason on the street and does a double-take because he made that multi-tool. Why does this random civilian have the multi-tool that Danny equipped with everything from a bottle opener to a mini flamethrower?

So, of course, as soon as he sees Hood that night he starts talking a mile a minute because "I think you got robbed or something, man! There was this guy about your height, your build, and your demeanor and he had the thing that I made for you and- oh shit... If it helps, I have no clue who you are as a civilian."

Another story prompt. Dead on main, this time.

***

Danny stared into the emotionless red helmet as the wrench he was twirling clattered to the concrete floor. "What?"

Red Hood tilted his head "You should come work for me. Name your price. I'll even let you keep working here."

Danny swallowed. Swallowed again. Gotham U tuition wasn't cheap, even with a partial scholarship. And it didn't cover books. Added onto the bills and rent that were overdue. Danny added all of it up together and multiplied the number by 5. He half expected Hood to shoot him on the spot, but the man just nodded.

"Done. You start tomorrow. I'll pick you up here at closing time." The man turned and started walking toward the door.

"That's an insane amount of money you just agreed to!" He called out.

"You could have asked for more." Hood said, and the door slammed behind him.

Danny let out a Shakey breath and picked up the fallen wrench. Red Hoods mechanic, huh? What even was his life?

[deadsetobsessions]

Alley Drunk! Danny AU- Pt. 4

[Pt.1] [Pt.2] [Pt.3]

Danny blinked down at the cart, where a red hoodie and pants with red stripes along the side laid over the lip of the cart. Considering they’re in this universe’s brand of Marget- seriously, who names a store Target? If anything in Amity Park was named that, Skulker would have wrecked it in five seconds flat- it’s hilariously on brand. Though, to be fair, this was Gotham’s version too, which meant a lot of security guards (who definitely doubled as goons for the Rogues, Danny was sure) and the vibes were spooky.

“I’m guessing red’s your favorite color.”

Instead of the humorous way he meant the sentence, Jason looked up anxiously and Danny immediately hated himself a little bit more.

“Sh- I can put it back..?” Jason hunched in on himself.

Danny tracked the movement with clearer eyes than he’s had in a long while and ancients, does it remind him of how Dani was in front of Vlad all those years ago. And Danny has spent his entire half life being not like Vlad, so he’s not going to start now.

“Nah, you should definitely add some more stuff. This is no where near enough clothes.”

It really wasn’t. Danny had taken Jason to the store to pick out clothes- “Ther’s a second hand store down the stree’, ya know,” Jason had mumbled when they went through the doors- but the kid had only tentatively put in a small red hoodie and some pants in the cart. Now he had to put this in a way that’ll wipe the stubbornly hesitant look on Jason’s face off.

“Think about it this way, then. You’re repping me now, and while I might be the alley drunk, I’m not the poorly dressed alley drunk, yeah?”

“Oh. Tha’ makes sense.” Jason nodded to himself determinedly, and the kid strode over to the t-shirt section. For all of his confidence, he still glanced back to see if it was okay with Danny.

Well, Dani was the same way before she found her confidence (when she knew Danny wouldn’t abandon her or hurt her) so Danny just gave him a thumbs up before reaching into the rack and sweeping an armful of clothing straight into the cart. Then, he strode over to the jackets and grabbed the ones in Jason’s size and slightly bigger. Oh, he has to grab shoes. He’ll leave that for later, but Danny was going to get those ratty trainers off of Jason’s feet and into the nearest trash can if it was the last thing he does.

The halfa hummed, pausing at the first decidedly not miserable sound he’s made in a while. Dammit, if that wasn’t a sign of Danny’s attachment to Jason, he doesn’t know what would be. To be fair… Danny already committed murder for the kid, which was pretty much something he thought he’d never do, so in for a penny out for a pound or whatever.

He put a significant amount of the budget aside for the section labeled “JASON” so Danny shopped without a worry. Charlie’s ill-gotten assets were a good monetary compensation for his crime of existing near Jason or existing, period.

He picked up toiletries, toothbrushes and the like, when Jason came back sans t-shirt. Instead of a shirt- Danny had actually hoped that Jason would try to get multiple shirts- Jason was clutching a book.

Before he could even voice anything, Danny plucked the book out of his grip and put it into the cart with a disarming smile.

“Oh, good idea. We should get you books too. Wanna go pick out some more?”

“Uh- y’re just gonna get a book, just like that?”

“More than one book, I should hope. You are going to school, right?”

“…Yeah!” Danny couldn’t fathom ever being excited at the thought of school, but as Jason bounced away to peruse the admittedly poor selection of books, Danny couldn’t help but think that maybe he should give this education thing another try. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be less stressful now that he’s not Phantom.

Danny walked to the aisle next to the books and promptly proceeded to shove every single piece of stationary he thought was nice- pens, gel pens, cooling pens and pencils, a thick stack of notebooks, flash cards, etcetera- into the rapidly getting full cart.

Jason came back with three more books- nice, the classics- and froze at the sight of the cart.

“Oh, hey. Getting all of those?”

“Wha’- wha’s wit’ the stuff?”

“School supplies! Quality education starts with quality supplies, you know!” Danny said, a sliver of the grin that used to come so easily to him making an appearance on his face. "Don't worry, I budgeted. See?"

Danny handed Jason a piece of paper, confident that the kid would know if it was good or not.

"Where'd... ya get all of this?"

"Hmm... here and there."

Jason looked up at him, squinting suspiciously. "I hear' Charlie's gone poofed up."

Danny shrugged and put a calculator in the cart. "Oh, I'm sure he's busy."

Yeah, Danny thought vindictively. Busy being dead.

"Ya sound like a walking con," Jason said as he visibly decided to give up fighting against Danny's spending. "We nee' food."

"Gotcha. Well, if you need anything else, just bring it into the cart."

"I want veggies. Frozen, 's cheaper."

Danny nodded, resisting the urge to ruffle Jason's hair.

----

"Hey, you's the Alley Drunk, right? 'Bout that boy you've been toting ar-"

Danny punched the guy in the face, dropping him like a stone. He looked up slowly and swayed.

"Any of you ask about my kid brother again, and I won't bother with being drunk when I hit you."

Rapid nods. Danny shuffled away, satisfied.

----

Two weeks later, after a school day, Danny finds Jason heading to the bathroom with a box of...

"Hair-dye?"

Jason, who was marginally more relaxed and assured that Danny wasn't going to kick him out, nodded.

"Dye's fadin' n' I dun wanna get nabbed on the streets for having red hair."

Danny blinked. "You have red hair?"

"Sure do. See? Roots are showin' again." Jason pointed at his scalp where Danny could see the hair was getting lighter.

"Right. Well- I'll leave you to it. Let me know if you need help, kiddo." Danny said, desperately hoping he hid how off kilter he was feeling well.

"I don't need help, ah've been doing this for ages." The kid went into the bathroom and closed the door harshly. When the lock clicked and the faucet began running, Danny let himself slide down the wall into a crouch, hands cradling his head.

Red hair. Blue eyes. Tan skin. The facial features. The intelligence and empathy.

Danny chuckled hysterically under his breath.

Was Jason this universe's version of Jazz?

"Fuck."

[tourettesdog]

DP x DC prompt/story where, after falling through a portal in the Ghost Zone, Danny winds up in the heart of Gotham.

Danny knows right away that he’s in a different universe. The air feels... different. There’s some ectoplasm, but it feels foreign and wrong. Like hearing your voice through a recording.

Danny quickly tries to figure out how different this universe is to his own. He finds a newspaper and the articles he reads make his brows furrow together in puzzlement. Apparently superheroes and vigilantes are commonplace in this world. This city. He’s not sure how to feel about that.

He learns the city is called Gotham-- and quickly realizes just how dangerous it is. Danny has been in the city for less than thirty minutes when a man tries to mug him. He manages to slip away uninjured, but Danny is exhausted from exploring the GZ earlier that day. He finds an abandoned building to hunker down in for the night. 

It’s not until the next day when Danny’s predicament really settles in. He is lost in a dangerous city-- in a different universe-- and he has no idea how to get home... or if he even can.

If only to keep his mind from wandering, Danny sets about procuring supplies. If he has any hopes of surviving, he needs food, water, and warmer clothes. He reluctantly steals what he needs, trying his best to take from larger establishments. 

Danny also starts looking for work so he can make some money and keep his stealing to a minimum.

Using overshadowing to manage the hiring process without documentation, Danny winds up working at a small coffee shop. It’s a simple enough job, and one he’s done before back in Amity Park. 

When Danny isn’t working, he spends his free time exploring Gotham. He keeps moving locations, trying to find a more comfortable spot to sleep at night as fall slowly turns into winter. The cold doesn’t bother him as Phantom, but it’s another story when he’s curled up at night as a human.

It doesn’t take long for Danny to cave and start trying to help as Phantom. There’s so much crime in Gotham, and it seems like the vigilantes can’t keep up with it. It bothers him to hear the gunshots and screams, and he does what he can when he can. 

Unfortunately, fighting humans is much more difficult than fighting ghosts. Humans are much more fragile than the enemies he’s used to, and more than once Danny almost accidentally kills a robber trying to stop a simple assault.

He also quickly learns that Batman is very suspicious of Phantom and does not want him in his territory. Danny keeps his distance from the vigilantes, but he knows they want to learn more about him-- and might try and capture him for interrogation if they could only figure out how.

It’s frustrating for Danny. Helping out as Phantom is the one thing he can do that reminds him of home, and even that is a struggle. His Obsession suffers for it, as he slogs through the days, trying to figure out how long he can keep this up before breaking under the strain.

One thing that brightens Danny’s days is seeing his favorite regular at the coffee shop. A cute guy around his age, who he feels immediate affection for after watching him down a latte with 6 shots of espresso in it like it was nothing. The guy’s name is Tim.

Danny develops a nice rapport with Tim. He comes by almost every day, and never once looks well-rested. Danny is reluctant to make friends-- still holding onto the thin hope that a portal might open up and let him head home any day-- but it’s hard to resist Tim’s charm. He reminds Danny of Sam and Tucker in ways-- with his dark sense of humor, and his love for technology. He’s also a giant nerd and Danny swiftly learns a host of new universe memes from him (some of them being eerily similar to his own world’s).

At some point Danny realizes they’re flirting. He’s not sure when that started-- he’s always been an awkward mess at it-- but they’re both flirting and Danny is falling hard.

Danny winds up meeting some of Tim’s siblings not through Tim introducing them, but through them finding him. It’s a bit weird, but funny. He’s not sure how many siblings Tim has; it seems like he says a new name every time he mentions them. 

Danny tries his best to skirt around his own home life, but he can tell Tim is curious. Danny has a shitty little apartment now, but it’s hardly much of a life. 

Tim and Danny wind up going on a few dates and he is absolutely smitten. The hope of returning home has slowly been dying in Danny’s chest. More and more he clings to his work at the coffee shop and those instances where Tim walks through the door. It feels like the only thing he has to live for at the moment. 

One night Danny hears a loud commotion while he is flying as Phantom. He follows the source of the noise and finds one of the Gotham vigilantes, Red Robin, bleeding out. He’s a mess-- half-buried under rubble with a gunshot in his side and blood dripping from his mouth. Danny tries to perform triage on him, but realizes that the man is dying. 

It’s while holding the vigilante, trying to ease his suffering with ice as he passes, that Danny realizes he seems familiar. The hair, the lilt to his voice as he tries to speak... Danny can’t help but remove the domino mask, spurned on by a horrifying suspicion coiling in his chest. He screams when he sees Tim’s familiar, wide eyes staring back at him. They’re growing dim.

Danny acts purely on instinct. He’s not sure what drives him to do it-- what instinctual knowledge takes over-- but Danny fills the wound in Tim’s side with ectoplasm. Too much ectoplasm. His hands spark with the material, and Tim’s body jerks-- he screams and Danny isn’t even sure if what he’s doing is right.

When Danny pulls his shaking hands away, Tim lies still. Ectoplasm seeps from his wound-- his mouth. He’s not even breathing. Danny watches on in horror, wondering if all he did was make Tim’s last moments pure agony.

Tim’s eyes flutter open, briefly flashing green. A familiar ring of light sparks to life at his naval, but it splutters away as Tim groans, staring up at Danny with tired eyes, and passes out. He’s breathing, agonizingly slowly. His heartbeat, once steady as any human’s, is hardly there. It’s all too familiar for Danny.

Danny reaches to scoop Tim up, not knowing if he will thank Danny for what he’s done once he’s lucid. Before his hands can touch him, Danny feels a malignant presence behind him and hears the telltale click of a gun.

“What the fuck did you do to him?”

[gremlin-bot]

This is based off this prompt from @stealingyourbones! Now this does have Hanahaki disease in it as well as blood and things to do with the lungs if y'all don't like that! this is also my first time writing for DC. 

Edit: Here is the ao3 link

Blooming Death, Please Love Me

Danny never thought he would get Hanahaki disease after the accident. He was too busy with ghosts and general survival. He sees that he is wrong now, with burning lungs and the taste of iron on his tongue. Small red petals cupped in now bloody hands. Most would think it was a rose in his lungs, but Danny can feel they are not. His core hurts, lungs burn, and blood blossoms bloom in his lungs.

Danny sighs. He'll have to deal with this later, his break is almost up and he still has half of his shift left. He just hopes Tim doesn't come in while he's working, his lungs and core wouldn't be able to take it.

Danny usually works nights in a 24/7 coffee shop next to the Gotham University campus. It pays well enough for his shitty crime alley apartment, plus he can go there straight after his classes. He didn't expect to see any vigilantes during his working hours, but Red Robin's coffee addiction won't rest (much like the vigilante himself).

Now vigilantes aren't the only high profile people to tumble in during Danny's shifts. The Wayne family, for some ungodly reason, tends to stop in. According to his co-workers, they mostly stop in only during his shift. Danny thinks they are liars. Why would they only come during his shift, it's not like he does anything that would catch their attention. He's mostly retired from the hero gig and keeps invisible during his ghostly flights.  

Danny is just a normal tired college student trying to get through his shifts. Really he should have known that could never happen. The thing with being a barista is that you get really good at recognizing voices. So, when Red Robin came in a couple hours after Tim Drake with the same tired but steady voice, well Danny didn't tell a soul.

It's a Friday night and his lungs burn. Danny is trying his best to stay calm. Fixing the mess his heart got him into might turn his half-life into a bigger tragedy than it already was. To think his second death was blooming in his lungs over a hot, too smart for his own good, vigilante. Danny coughs, petals brush and burn his throat. They sit on the tip of his tongue, like the words he has yet to say. Blood blossoms, the only damn flower he couldn't live through. He was going to die from the burning of his chest and core. Spitting out the poison of his heart's creation, Danny gets back to work.

It was a slow night, not surprising considering Gotham is still recovering from a break out at Arkham. The chances of Tim showing up should be high but Red Robin hasn't been seen in the streets lately. Danny really should stop thinking about him, his core aches, but he really can't help but worry. 

___________

Tim was tired of not being able to take a full breath. He never had Hanahaki disease before. Never fell this hard for someone. This unexpected event put him out of commission for anything related to the bats and the birds. He hated it but couldn't blame them, not when he let it get this bad.

Tim's petals didn't start with the first time he saw Danny but damn was it close. A cute guy that doesn't even blink at the amount of espresso shots he asked for, isn't what kept Tim drawn to Danny. No it was his snark and brain. Tim often sees him working on some engineering project. If he has time, Tim will get Danny to ramble on what he's doing. Danny was brilliant. If he wasn't a full time student, Tim would have tried to snatch him for Wayne Enterprises.

He really hoped that the rest of his family didn't catch on to his crush, but hope can only take you so far. It was Dick that called him out on it. He is also the one to text it to the sibling group chat, like the trader he is. They make bets to find the person that has Tim looking like a love sick puppy. The first petal is coughed up, unnoticed by the family of great detectives, hidden under tongue and deflective words. 

Tim didn't look at the first petal, or the second or third. He refused to believe that his heart was gone this quick, before his family even had a chance to look for the boy who wanted to touch the stars. Another cough, more petals.

Jason is the one to find Danny first, surprisingly. He wasn't even trying to look either, but hey he'll take winnings anyway. Since then the rest of his siblings stalked the coffee shop for the boy to make sure he was good for Tim. Honestly Tim wouldn't be surprised if Bruce knew what was happening and was helping them. 

The commotion of his siblings hid his flowering lungs well, but at this point denial was useless. Tim fell hard for Danny, a cute boy with a brilliant mind to match. Tim coughs hard. Lungs rattling as a whole handful of petals fall from his mouth to his dinner plate past his poorly cupped hands. Everyone stops around him, it's silent. Tim for the first time looked at the petals from his lungs, white Chrysanthemums are the flowers suffocating him. Concerned chaos enraptured him.

Bruce pulls him from patrol, even after Arkum's break out. Everyone is walking on eggshells around him, well almost everyone. Jason doesn't feel the irrational guilt of worsting Tim's flower with teasing and the like. Tim may hate the situation he got himself into but at least someone is being sensible about it, (unlike himself). 

It's around the time he would stop in to see Danny as Red Robin, when Jason checks in on him. Tim is coughing up whole flower heads, their roots pulling at the inside of his lungs with a long stinging sensation that turns into a stab with each convulsion. Hands hold him upright as the petals stop falling from his mouth. 

Jason looks worried before sighing, his face shifting to a shit eating smirk. "It's been a week and here I thought you are smart enough to confess" 

"You just saw me cough up a garden and that's what you say to me? Unbelievable!" Tim flat start is barely held as he fights a slightly hysterical laugh.

"Really living life here, Timbo. How's those flowers tasting? Not good I assume but clearly you like them enough to keep them so fucking long"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. I should confess and shit, but I'm on mandatory bed rest. If Alfred catches me going out, I think I'll die from the disappointment."

Jason smirks turns smug "Good thing I already told him I was taking you out so you can take care of your sad love life. Come on let's go before your boy toy’s shift ends"

This sends Tim into a panic. He is nowhere near ready to go outside the manor least of all talk to Danny, but Jason doesn't care. He throws Tim over his shoulder and turns to walk out of Tim's room.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!!" Tim pleads "I'm not even sure if Danny likes guys and I'm not meeting him looking like I've been dying the past week!"

"The dying thing is true and you know it but I guess you can get changed." Jason relents, setting Tim down. "Be out by my bike in 10 or I'm hunting you down"

Tim scurries to his closet. Okay, he's doing this. To think that out of all of his siblings it would be Jason that finally gets him to confess. Tim is going to make him pay for his coffee when this is all over.

___________

Danny's shift is almost over, and there is still no sign of Red Robin. Not seeing him for a week shouldn't worry him this much, Tim could be on a business trip for all Danny knows. Actually he would know, Tim has a habit of complaining about having to leave for them.

His core burns as a red vapor starts to trickle up his throat. Hanahaki disease shouldn't be taking over his lungs this fast, but life decided to deal him a bad hand. Danny painfully swallows the vapor. He just has to make it to the end of his shift, he'll call Jazz for help then.

He is resting his head on the counter with his eyes closed, trying to manage the blooming pain. He is the only one here tonight besides his manager Anna. The bell above the door rings out into the quiet shop. He stands up from his resting position putting on his customer service smile. 

Tim is standing just in the door. Their blue eyes meet and red vapor fills his burning lungs. Danny is going to drown in petals and green flaked blood. Danny starts coughing hard, not even trying to hide the bloody petals falling from his lips, nor the vapor rolling up into the air. 

Tim rushes to the counter, his own petals starting to fall from him. At the same time Danny's manager walks out from the back, stopping him from vaulting over the counter. She looks startled before seeing their collection of petals. 

"Danny, you can take the rest of your shift off. I'll cover the rest just to figure your shit out before you come in next okay." She says while helping Danny up.

He glances at Tim then back at her before nodding. "Okay, I'll clean the mess-"

"No. I got it, plus I think that you'll only make it worse at the moment." She gives him a small smile, while shoo-ing to the back so he can grab his things.

"Well, since you are waiting for him, is there anything I can get you?" She asked.

Oh right Tim forgot Jason was there. His brain shut off when he saw Danny crumple from a familiar cough. The red vapor and amount of blood mixed with the petals was concerning but hopefully that will be fixed after this. Petals fill his mouth as he orders him and Danny coffee. Pushing Jason to the counter to pay as they discussed (argued) on the way there.

Danny comes out the same time their order is done. Tim grabs the drinks and walks up to the cause of the flowers blooming in his lungs. Danny looks nervous, but smiles at Tim with slightly bloody teeth anyway. That shouldn't be hot. Tim blushes as he holds back the worst of his coughs. Petals puff out of his mouth like the first fallen leaves in autumn caught in the wind. Danny giggles as his own bloody petals fall.

"Man, I guess we got each other huh." Danny sighs

"Yeah, wanna talk about it? It's a little late to take you out for dinner, unless you want Batburger?" Tim leads Danny out of the coffee shop, leaving Jason behind.

"Batburger for a first date doesn't sound too bad." Danny grins, and the pull in his lungs disappears. The last of the Chrysanthemums petals leave his mouth. He looks at Danny hoping to see the same, but Danny looks anxious and in pain still.

"But, before that there's something I have to tell you. If we are doing this it would be unfair for you to not know" Danny takes a deep breath and turns to look at Tim. He really shouldn't tell Tim but he'll have to trust him. 

"I'm half ghost. I had a lab accident when I was younger that killed me but brought me back… mostly. Now I can turn into a ghost and have ghost power. Also fangs but that's less important and I'm rambling now. Please say something."  

Tim blinked "Well that wasn't what I was expecting but at this point, it could be worse. I believe and accept you. We can talk more about that later in a different place." Tim said, looking hopefully at Danny. 

The burning in Danny's lungs stopped with one last drag of red vapor and bloody petals fall from his lips. He relaxes and takes Tim's hand.

"Good, because the flowers that were in my lungs are like one of the only thing that can kill ghosts and they fucking burned. Anyway, where is the nearest Batburger?" Danny says, casual as ever.

"Wait, WHAT!!" 

[inthememetime]

DP × DC but it's a tired and burnt out Danny that makes landfall in Gotham, in this AU Danny is a halfa but it is his sister that plays the role he does in Canon and he only got his powers via ectoplasm contamination. He got burnt out acting as his sisters occasionally sidekick and her alibi in regards to their parents, so after he finally graduated from Casper High he opted to find himself while Jazz joined the Justice League.

So here we have a severely overtired and burnt out Daniel Fenton working at a local Lexbucks Coffee Shop when out of the blue he gets involved in the usual Gotham drama that results in a drive-by shooting wherein Danny gets shot. Danny, being a Halfa, gets up despite having been visibly shot in locations that would be fatal to anyone else but for him it's nothing and he goes back to work.

So begins the interest in Gotham's newest criptid; The Undead Barrista.

👀👀👀

(Lmk if you'd like to read this on my A03, and/or a version from his coworkers POV!) Ok so I did a fic!

Length: short boi. Save about 10-15 minutes.

Summary: see ask above. PLUS Danny sasses Gotham's Rogues Gallery into submission and finds out he really wasn't as useless as he felt.

Danny was second; he was the second child. The second smartest child. The second best as dealing with people. The second one to DIE and get superpowers.

At first, it was exciting! Phantom and Wraith, superhero duo of Amity Park! But Jazz- or Wraith, when she was in ghost form- had the ability to make people feel safe. To calm down situations before they ever started.

Danny had the ability to tear enemies to shreds, destroy infrastructure, and scare people.

Even Sam and Tucker agreed, although not in so many words. They didn't need to; after Dan, after they knew what he'd probably become, things really changed. He was watched, less to make sure he was safe, and more to make sure he didn't become Dan.

When he started sympathizing with that Fruitloop, Vlad, he knew something had to change.

So he flew up, up, into Earth's orbit, so he could look at the planet below. He didn't know how long he stayed there, but when he saw the sun set over the Himalayas, he felt something in him... settle, somehow. And he came to the realization he needed to leave.

It wasn't their fault- his sister, Sam, Tucker. He was the worse liar, so their parents suspected him of everything. He dealt with ghosts better than people, so Wraith was more trusted. As they aged, and Wraith looked the same but older and Phantom started looking like Dan- well. It wasn't the people of Amity Park's fault, either. Besieged by monsters, who would want to rely on one?

He got his things and left. He left a note saying he needed a fresh start, and then took off. He didn't leave the name of the city he was moving to. He didn't know.

That was how he became a barista at a Lexbucks in Gotham with a tiny loft apartment. And for the first time since he was 15, he was happy. Really, truly happy. He made friends in an astronomy club, and got together every other Friday withe people to watch old movies.

He was about to start a management program at Lexbucks. He would be 'needed' by Clockwork every Monday for an unknown amount of time (it was hard to tell time when CW paised as needed. Sometimes Monday lasted weeks, if he thought it was warranted.)

Clockwork being Clockwork, that sometimes meant he needed to solve some ghost issue, or fix a paradox, or come over for dinner, or take a vacation. (Was there a portal in his closet? Yes. Yes there was.)

He saw Frostbite once a week too, Gotham being closer to the Far Frozen, and was learning Greek- both ancient and modern- from Pandora.

He was finally going to ask out Eduardo from the bookstore across the street today.

That meant, of course, he was shot right outside his apartment. Danny left for work around 3 AM; his apartment was pretty close to the edge of Crime Alley, he was the store opener and they started serving customers at 4 AM. A match made in hell.

He heard the gunshots before he felt them, and reflexively turned invisible to change into Phantom. The drive by shooting ended as quickly as it began, leaving Danny to curse and change his shirt. Dammit.

Ah well. Gotta love Tuesdays, right?

Next Tuesday was when Condiment Man walked into the Lexbucks. Probably to try and rob it, but it was difficult to understand over all the giggling from his regulars.

"Bring Gotham to-"

"Sir, this is a Lexbucks. Please just order your coffee, tea, other drink, or something to eat."

Condiment Man gaped for a moment. "I- I don't want coffee. I want villainy."

He nodded. "Fair. But this is a Lexbucks. No villainy, just coffee, tea, sodas, food. No evil available except the evil inherent in corporations."

"I. Um. Ok?"

After a moment, Danny cleared his throat. "So about your order?"

"Um. Well. Can I order you to join me in my quest to bring Gotham to its knees?" He asked nervously.

"Kinky." He said, and Condiment Man sputtered. "But no." His calm demeanor changed in the blink of an eye. "Get your hand off the trigger for that mustard right now, or you'll be cleaning every inch of this place with a toothbrush until it sparkles!"

Condiment Man yelped and left. The locals- regulars and newbies- started laughing. He was pretty sure somebody started crying. His tips were glorious.

Maybe Tuesdays weren't so bad after all.

XxXxXx

"I got a hit on Danny!"

Jazz spun around. "Really? You're sure, Tuck?"

"About 50%, the video is pretty grainy. But you tell me somebody else who deescalates villains with sass."

"Where?"

"That's the problem. They were using a VPN. It's somewhere in the US, probably Gotham, Metropolis, or League City- Gotham Rogues get around sometimes."

Jazz's face started to fall. "Tucker, thank you, but- it's been 5 years. Are we sure his face didn't totally change? I mean, remember Vlad's before and after?"

He sighed heavily. "Jazz, we failed him. I failed my best friend. I missed that he was hurting for 3 years before he ran. No matter what that note said, I was probably part of the problem. Give up on him of you want. But I'm gonna keep looking."

God, those notes had been like kicks in the teeth. If it was Vlad, he'd say it was orchestrated. But it was Danny. He very much did not blame them. He didn't want to go. And what was carefully not said, but pieced together when they compared the note left for him, Sam, Jazz, and the elder Fentons was they were the biggest reason he left.

XxXxXx

"I, the Baffler, will bring chaos and confusion to Gotham's streets with your assistance, Undead Coffee Person!"

That was, oddly enough, better than Inviso-Bill. Still. "Hey man, this is a Lexbucks. And I have a name."

He seemed delighted. "Wonderful! What is your villain name?"

"No, no, no villain name. I'm not a villain. Just a barista. My name's Jack. What's your order?"

The baffler seemed. Well. Baffled. "But aren't you going to join me in my life of crime?"

Danny sighed heavily. "Dude. I just wanna pay my bills. Coffee, tea, what do you want?"

"You can pay your bills with crime!"

The Baffler seemed so honestly pleased it was hard to get angry. Just a big guy in a dumb costume, and Ancients he missed his dad. But then he shot the cash register. "See? Crime!"

Danny snarled and, quick as a blink, The Baffler's hamds were frozen to the counter. "You have ice powers?!"

"And you have dumbass powers, you knockoff Riddler. I'm calling the cops."

XxXxXx

"You must be truly desperate to come to me for help," Vlad said with amusement plain on his face.

Sam narrowed her eyes, and Tucker scowled. "Yeah, well, we need untraceable cash, and you're the kind of guy to keep that on hand."

"And why do you need it?"

Sam grit her teeth, but replied, "let's just say if we find what we're looking for, the number of halfas might be back up to 4."

His eyes flashed brightly. "Well, then. How much do you need?"

XxXxXx

"Together, we will bring Gotham into the next ice age!" Mr. Freeze roared.

Danny narrowed his eyes. "Doctor, this is a Lexbucks. What do you want to order?"

"You, too have powers of ice! Together, we can bring Gotham into the cold!"

He sighed. "Ok. So frozen. Small, medium, or large?"

"I- I am ordering destruction, not coffee!"

Danny pointed to the menu. "Do you see destruction on the menu here? No. No, you don't. Your order?"

He gaped. "Chai latte? Mocha cappuccino? You seem like a smoothie kind of guy, want one of those?"

Mr. Freeze cleared his throat. "What kind of smoothies do you have?"

XxXxXx

"Are you seriously going behind my back with Plasmius?"

Wraith stood, arms crossed with a scowl. "Oh back off, you're nowhere near as scary as Phantom. Or even Skulker." He snapped.

Batman cleared his throat. "I'm told you have information about an incredibly dangerous illegal meta in Gotham?"

Sam shook her head. "I wish I could say I couldn't believe this. He's your brother."

Jazz swallowed. "You don't even know for sure if this is Phantom. This could be a legitimate threat."

"Every time I start to wonder why he left, all I have to do is remind myself about-"

"Sam."

"He's our best friend, Tucker! And she just might've gotten him thrown into Arkham, because Batman doesn't believe in rehabilitation!"

And another argument began.

XxXxXx

"I'm so sorry, Jack. I really like you, I do! It's just..." Eduardo trailed off, shaking underneath Danny's jacket.

"It's ok. You didn't sign up for getting kidnapped by the Penguin in a sick job offer."

He smiled a little shakily, and Danny hugged him tightly. "I'll see you around, ok?"

"Thanks, Jack."

Why the hell was he so broken up over a guy who didn't even know his real name?

XxXxXx

Thursday began at the sight of the Joker prowling around. Danny let his jaws drop and released a hiss that made fully grown ghosts back the hell up, following it by the unearthly rattle he learned from Fright Knight.

The Joker backed up. Swallowed. Put on his trademark grin, and stepped back in. Albeit a little further from the front counter. "Now, now, kid, I'm a clown! Kids love clowns, yeah?"

Another hellish hiss echoed from behind the Joker. He paled, then stiffened as a massive blue hand was on his shoulder. "Perhaps this isn't the best place for you."

The Joker laughed shakily. "Hey, pal, I'm-"

Plasmius' glowing eyes flashed, and the Joker's started glowing red. The clown's face fell slack. "This isn't the best place for you."

"This...isn't the...best...place....for me." The Joker slurred.

"Leave." Commanded the vampire ghost.

The Joker staggered out drunkenly. Plasmius turned his attention to the counter. "Can I get a large black coffee? With a shot of espresso, please."

Danny cocked his head and tried not to laugh at Kristen's face when the fruitloop sat next to her. "Sure. Kristen?"

She looked at him, wide-eyed. "He's not going to hurt or overshadow you. Right, Plasmius?"

"Of course," he agreed magnanimously.

Plasmius drank his coffee at the store. He bought a blueberry donut. Gave him a $500 tip. "The number hasn't changed. Call me, and we'll see about moving you before Batman and his friends crash the place."

"I can fly, you know."

"He has multiple jets. And besides, from what I've heard, Wraith is helping him track down the big, scary meta."

"Thanks for the warning, Plasmius. I'll think about it."

The elder halfa nodded and left, phasing through the door.

Jazz was hunting him. Jazz was hunting him. His sister was- it wasn't fair. He left her the entire territory of Amity Park. She had the undivided love and attention of everyone in Amity Park. Inside the roll of $100 bills was a business card.

He pocketed it, and yet another super came in. Plasmius was right. They were hunting him. Red Robin frowned at the menu.

"Hey, do you still have the mint hot chocolate?"

"Yeah," he said quietly. "Small, medium, or large?"

"Large, please." Red Robin waited in silence while his drink was prepared. "So, Jack Walker isn't your real name."

Danny shook his head. "Nah. If you're going to arrest me, might as well just call me Danny."

He observed him carefully, then nodded. "I'll see you around, Jack. Try to keep out of trouble."

XxXxXx

"He isn't a threat!" Tim snapped.

"You deliberately disobeyed me! We agreed not to approach the person who can use mind control!"

"You agreed, B. Wraith, just leave him alone, ok? He just wants to make his coffee and leave every day."

"Is he my brother or not?"

"Does it matter? He left." Tim snapped. "That guy is just trying to make a living. He's not going to hurt anyone who doesn't start trouble."

Jazz embraced both Sam and Tucker, feeling real, true hope for the first time in years. "It's Danny! Guys it's Danny, we can bring him home!"

"None of you are leaving until we can bring him in for questioning."

Jazz's face hardened, then she agreed. That was alright. She had a secret weapon. Two of them, actually.

XxXxXx

"Jack, you've got people asking for you."

Danny groaned.

"Sorry Jack, you're the one who made the rule about people in weird suits with guns."

"Yeah, fair. Thanks."

He stepped out behind the counter, and froze. "Danny?"

He swallowed. Blinked to make sure he was seeing what he thought. "Mom? Dad?"

For the first time in 5 years, he was embraced by his parents. He didn't feel bad about the tears. He couldn't. "Let's go home, baby. Let's go home."

"I can't. I- I'm not..."

"It's ok, Danny. We know now. About Phantom."

"I'm so sorry we made you feel your only recourse was running away."

XxXxXx

He had started to get the idea Jazz might be hunting him in a violent way. The only violent thing was the force of her hug, and the way her nails dug into his shoulder to keep him close.

Danny couldn't quite understand her over the blubbering, but that was fine; he had always been a sympathetic crier. Although the way all of the bats, Constantine, and Superman were shifting awkwardly, trying not to watch them while watching them, was pretty funny. It got worse when Sam kicked Batman in the knee and joined them. Then there was Tucker, and his mom, and- his dad was squeezing them tight enough to pick them up a few inches.

It took a ridiculous amount of time to get them all to stop crying- and Danny included himself. He had a good 5 years of believing he did nothing but harm to his human(ish) family to cry over.

"So just to be clear. You are not a villain."

"Yep. Used to be in the hero game, even."

"And you're not going to start being a villain."

He chuckled. "No, I won't."

"For now, your stay in Gotham is fine, though you should start using your legal name. If you don't like Danny Fenton, you can always legally change it. Can we call on you if we get a ghostly threat closer to home?"

"Absolutely."

"Wait! Danny, you're going home, though, right? With us?" Jazz asked hopefully.

"I'd like to visit," he said quietly, "but Jazz- I scare humans. Pretty badly."

"The ghosts negotiate with you, they listen to you! And people- look, now that Phantom's not there stopping fights by talking to ghosts before they start, or helping the new dead solve their murders- well. Phantom has been missed."

"Jazz, you do all that too. And you calm humans down way better than I ever have, so-"

"Danny," Tucker interrupted, "please, buddy. You don't have to stay, just come for a week. Things are different now. Promise."

And. Well. Even if they were wrong, he missed them. So much. "I can do a week."