#danny is basically death's little brother

[sleepy-writes-stuff]

SHORT DP X MCU WRITING PROMPT #1

How I imagine the interaction between Danny and MCU Death went before he went to go wreck Thanos here.

✦

Danny: There's an upstart somewhere around here who's in desperate need of a shave. I know this is your turf and you can take care of yourself, but-

Death: No, no. Go ahead.

Danny: Wha- Huh? You're sure?

Death: You heard me.

*Danny stares at her in delighted surprise.*

Death: I'm tired of the Mad Titan's feelings of entitlement over me. So as my immortal lover would say, "Fuck him up."

*Danny grins impossibly wide as his toxic green eyes brighten in intensity.*

Danny: Yes, ma'am.

[randomfandomisuppose]

I just had a DPxDC crossover idea that I thought was funny.

What if every time John Constantine sold his soul he was basically agreeing to being “adopted” by the entity he was selling his soul to.

He thinks all of the entities he sold his soul to are leaving him alone because they’re too busy fighting/have a truce to not fight as long as none of them claim his soul, meanwhile he’s got like a dozen or so ghost/demon parents ready to go to court to fight for custody when he finally dies.

Danny, having been taken in as a ward by an older ghost since he technically counts as a baby ghost until he’s 100 or something, meets Constantine for the first time and is like: “Why are you 1/15th my brother?”

Bonus points if Danny is technically the big brother in ghost terms because he’s been a ghost the longest. Sure Constantine may be a little liminal but that doesn’t count he doesn’t even have a death day yet.

Like:

Danny (Certified little shit): “Baby brother why do you never come to dinner? :(”

Constantine, too sober for this: “The fuck did you just call me?”

Constantine vehemently denies any relation but they bicker like siblings.

[memetic-trigger-hazard]

Trope blender strikes again!

Since the formation of the Justice League Dark to deal with supernatural threats, Diana had been acting as the team's 'Superman' for lack of a better term.

It was, however, not a position she was entirely suited to, as ironically enough when engaging supernatural threats she was better suited to the same role that Batman played in the Justice League, engaging with superior training, tactics and specialised tools while also acting as battlefield tactical command.

With the lack of any other candidates however, she made do. But not for long.

Thanks to a wandering little girl, Diana had gained a new cousin and uncle who were refreshingly free of the hubris of the Greek pantheon, as well as an unexpected (and terrifying) meeting with her Grandfather who was far different from the stories, she supposed death and a few millennia would calm someone down. She was pleased however to add some paternal family members she could enjoy calm moments with.

Her Uncle was willing to help, however his backlog from the previous King in addition to the repairs and ongoing negotiations for reparations with the United States government made her feel guilt for placing further demands on him.

Her younger cousin however was more than happy to "get out of the house", her Father's comments about the expansiveness of a TARDIS castle completely ignored.

Ellie was already training with her old friend Pandora (So many happy reunions) so Diana was more than willing to take her to Themascerya for an initiation to the Sisterhood of Amazon's. Danny was ecstatic that his daughter was making friends.

Now Ellie as Banshee is JLD's front line fighter and Diana is the tactician, a dynamic duo of their own. Diana is so proud of her little cousin.

Which is why today was very..... Strange.

~

Basically the JLD have to head to the Watchtower for some threat, Ellie is super pumped because SPACE and Diana is excited to take her smol bean cousin to the Watchtower for the first time.

Batman and Co arrive and Drama TM occurs because "Holy shit that little girl looks like a Talia with blue eyes", Damian starts accusing and mouthing off, Ellie freaks because her Dad has warned her about the League of Assassins, so she freaks and bails.

Diana is explaining who Ellie is, how they're related when Uncanny Valley Danny in human form comes out of a portal in his "Royal Casual" work attire. Loose jeans,button up with vest, fluffy slippers with a coffee mug in hand. He's facing Diana, paying 0 attention to who else is there beyond "cool space station".

"Hey niece, why is my daughter running through my castle screaming about killer birds?"

"Ah, I believe she is referring to Robin being a former member of the League of Assassins." Diana replies.

Batman and the rest of the Justice League are tense, assessing this possible ally who RADIATES power and death. Anyone affected by death can feel it like static in their teeth during a lightning storm. Those who have been into the Lazarus Pits feel safe yet the overwhelming urge to KNEEL BEFORE YOUR KING.

"Well shit, someone actually escaped from the Fruit Loop Supreme? Anyone who gets away from my asshole grandfather is alright by me." Danny replies as he turns to look at the various heros, taking a sip from his mug.

"Danyal?" A faint hopeful whisper as Damian takes his mask off to look at his Brother (HOW, HOW? HE LOST HIM HE'S HERE HOW?) His dead twin somehow here and changed so much.

*Slurp*

"Well shit, didn't expect this."

This entire time Bruce's brain is making crunching noises.

It's not the extra son that's apparently God of the Afterlives. It's not the granddaughter.

Diana is his son's niece. Bruce had sex with his grand niece. Barbara is right, he needs therapy.

[clockwayswrites]

City Pigeons Bleed Green : Part 23

The cheerful bell rang a familiar chime as Damian opened the door to his favorite animal shelter. The scent of fur, pet food, and antiseptic was as comforting as it was potent. Damian watched Danny closely out of the corner of his eye. The other boy’s nose wrinkled, but he looked around the front room curiously.

“Damian! I wasn’t expecting you today,” Ms. Lacey said as she popped out of the back room, summoned by the chime.

‘Ms. Lacey’ was their compromise. Damian had refused to simply refer to the woman by her first name and in turn, Ms. Lacey refused to give Damian her last name. It had been supremely frustrating. Now it was almost akin to game or inside joke between them. It was nice.

She brushed the riot of curls (blue this month) out of her face and looked at the group that had entered the shelter curiously.

Damian knew they were a bit of a sight. Danny was still swathed in a number of bandages and, now out of the apartment, looked a moment away from running. Because of that, Jason basically loomed over Danny and Damian as if he could keep the world at bay.

(He might just be able to manage to.)

“No. It is not one of my normal service days, however, I am not here to volunteer,” Damian said, his tone almost apologetic. “I have brought Daniel—”

“Danny.”

“—to see if there is a pet that would suit him.”

“Hi, Danny,” Ms. Lacey said and leaned forward onto the counter.

Danny shied back into Jason’s space. He clutched a little tighter at the backpack that his bear was safely stashed in. Cass had thought it might be good for Danny to be able to take the bear discreetly with him as he seemed rather attached to it. Considering the tracker in the bear, everyone quickly helped make that happen.

“Hi Lacey,” Danny replied softly.

Ms. Lacey leaned back, her smiled now twinged with just a little bit of sadness. Damian had seen her look abused animals the same way. “Do you know what type of animal you might be interested in, Danny?”

“I was thinking a cat or dog?” The words were more a question than a statement. “Someone that can sit with me.”

“That’s a good start. That could also be rabbits, but if they’re going to be living at the manor,” Ms. Lacey glanced briefly at Damian for a confirming nod, “then a rabbit might not work the best. A cat has the advantage that it would be indoors and doesn’t need as much effort depending on the animal’s age. But you might want a dog to walk! Why don’t we get you into the kitten room to start, because that’s a great time no matter what.”

When Danny glanced from Ms. Lacey to Damian to Todd, Todd gave a little nod. Danny tightened the hold on his backpack, took a breath, and gave a little nod.

-

“Okay, this is pretty great,” Danny said as he pried a tiny orange and white ball of fluff off his shoulder and set the little guy back down with his siblings.

Immediately the kitten was pounced by the black kitten and had his ears chewed on.

“Kittens might be too much energy for me though,” Danny admitted. He had a feeling he’d never have the type of energy he used to again. He wasn’t sure if that was from his death or… everything else.

“They are a great deal of work,” Damian agreed. His own lap was full of peacefully sleeping kittens.

Danny was a little jealous. He caught the grey kitten who looked more like a a dust bunny as it romped past.

“What if I don’t find a pet today?”

“Then we will go somewhere else. This is not the only shelter in the city,” Damian said.

The straightforward certainty that Damian had about the world was something Danny had come to appreciate over the last several days of knowing Damian. The fear was still there. Danny didn’t know if it would ever go away, but he could ignore it now. Sometimes it was hardly even background noise.

Danny was used to having a brain full of static.

“It will be fine, Brother,” Damian said when Danny didn’t respond.

Brother. Damian insisted on using that instead of his name, but Danny figure that was because Damian didn’t have a last name to call him like all the others. Bruce was simply ‘Father’ too. Maybe it was about Wayne then? But Danny wasn’t Daniel Wayne. He was just Danny… no one.

“Yeah,” Danny made himself respond so that Damian didn’t get worried. For all that Damian tried to be aloof he really was worse than even Dick.

“If a kitten would be too much, what do you think of an adult cat?”

Danny looked down at the little slip of a kitten in his hands. It was so tiny. “I think let’s start with dogs. Something not so small and… breakable.”

Damian nodded and started to divest himself of cats. “I have heard the vets ‘joke’ that kittens will heal from anything. One could toss a kitten and its missing foot in a cage and it would reattach. I suggest we do not try it.”

“No,” Danny said in horror. “We are very much not trying that, what the hell.”

“What is what I said.” Despite having to deal with many more kittens, Damian was up first and offering Danny his hand. “Come, Brother.”

Danny took the hand, stood, and still had one last kitten to pull off of of his jeans where it clung with this sharp, sharp claws.

---

AN: I was able to give this a read through finally, so have the first bit of this chapter! Because who doesn't want Danny and Damian surrounded by adorable kittens?

[radiance1]

So, Ghost Prince Danny. Except that he also, ALSO, is Damian's younger twin brother who was sent to keep an eye on the Fentons because of their discovery of a substance that looked like Lazarus Water yet isn't Lazarus water.

In truth, it was really just Talia's way of getting Danny out of the way because he lost against Damian in the battle of heirs (No Danny did not hold back, Damian was just better than him) and she didn't want him dead so that was the next best thing.

Danny does pop up in the League at odd times, mostly to report about the research done by the Fentons. When he became half dead he's around a lot more, mostly to be monitored for his unique condition (somehow someway they don't know about Vlad) and because Danny can just come and go as he pleases cause ghost powers.

So, Danny gives Damian a flute that he handcrafted himself as a birthday present because really, what can he buy that Damian himself couldn't? Also, because he didn't actually want to spend money on his older brother.

They're brothers, but they don't have the most cordial relationship. They don't hate each other, but they don't like each other either.

So, Damian takes this flute and is like: "Fuck you gimmie this for I don't need this shit."

And then Danny is like: "Just take the gift you stupid ahh fruitloop."

So, Damian takes it while berating that Danny would give him something as stupid as this, but then does a full one 180 by keeping the thing on his person at all times.

Not that Danny knows that, really.

So, cut forth to Damian being known by Batman and taken in. Trying to kill Tim and being an overall little shit, I can see one of the Batfam coming across this flute just, randomly really, and then Damian is fucking pissed that they dared to touch it and then takes it back.

Leaving basically everyone stumped over the significance this random ahh wooden flute has but decides not to touch that landmine.

So then the Batfam don't know that Damian has a half sibling (Danny came from Jack and Talia, so he isn't blood related to Bruce but is to Damian) running around out there and Damian isn't gonna say anything and you already know Talia isn't since Danny AIN'T his kid.

Plus, he got a job to do that being with Bruce Wayne would make harder.

So then Damian becomes robin an allat, then the entire Batfam pull up to the Justice League for some big threat and then both Constantine and Zatanna are like: Yo why do you kid carry round an item drenched heavily in death energy to the extreme

Batman is obviously like: Excuse me?

Damian, meanwhile, just does not give a fuck about the flute given to him by his half-brother on his birthday is apparently drenched in death energy to the extreme because that is his and he isn't going to just give it up.

So then one way or another Damian ends up playing it, maybe he was told to play it by both Batman and Constantine just to make sure it isn't actually anything dangerous or whatever and also because Damian wouldn't let anyone else hold it, let alone play it.

Which Damian smirks at because he's played it before and literally nothing happened aside from very good music, but Damian hasn't played it since he came to the Wayne household and has missed it. So he reminisces over how he got it, thinking of his half-brother and their relationship.

He plays it, but this time, since he genuinely thought about Danny death energy just condenses in waves. Damian couldn't see it since he was too focused on playing and reminiscing, everyone isn't really that calm and tries to get him to stop but the death energy blocks them.

Then a summoning circle appears in front of Damian and Constantine recognizes it as being from the Infinite Realms category and it seemed to be a high-level summon circle too so he's like: Well fuck.

Then, contrary to their expectations of some eldritch abomination, it's just Danny. Who, fun fact, was in the middle of his coronation as prince and such, dripped out in royal wear.

Safe to say, Constatine goes: Well double fuck.

The tension is just broken, as all Danny does is cry. Like, genuinely, he just cries because Damian still kept his flute that he made, he genuinely thought the guy just threw it away since he hated it so much.

Danny: Ancients, my big brother actually liked what I made this is making me emotional.

Damian: Why the hell are you crying this thing is still trash btw.

Danny: Yea whatever you say big bro, you love it.

Batman: What do you mean big brother?

Danny: Who in the hell is that-

Damian: Right, I never told him about you.

[versias]

Demon Twins AU

- Maddie was trained by the League of Assassins and was sent back to America to pursue her theory that Lazarus water was ectoplasmic residue. She joined the only paranormal studies course in the country and met likeminded scientists Jack Fenton and Vlad Masters.

- Maddie fell in love with Jack and they pursued their research together, attempting to break into the “ghost zone”, the hypothetical in-between where the energy of death collected in order to collect pure ectoplasm samples. (And possibly capture a ghost for study.)

- They Sort-Of succeeded (sorry Vlad but science marches on) and Maddie proved ectoplasm and Lazarus water were related. LoA allowed her to stay and continue her research, providing her with funding so long as she sent reports. Occasionally she had to do a mission since she was in the area, but it was usually simple and low stakes.

- Then, when Jazz is 2 years old, Maddie is called back to the League to witness the birth of the Demon’s Heirs. The babies were grown in LW using her data so she basically has to become a physician for the babies.

- The younger twin’s heart stopped when he was pulled out of the water. She rushed to save him, using pure ectoplasm from her research and it worked. Even though Danyal is deemed the inferior twin, he’s kept alive and trained to act as a benchmark/motivation for the true heir Damian.

- Maddie falls in love with the little boy whose health she’s in charge of. Talia notes that this researcher cares for her child as if it was her own.

- When Ra’s decides to have Danny and Damian duel as a sort of initiation and trial to prove his worth as the heir (something that leaves psychological scars on both Danny and Damian, thanks Ra’s.), Damian kills Danny and Maddie is devastated over the body.

- Talia grabs her and the body and sneaks them into the Lazarus pits to bring her child back. Then she hands Danny to Maddie and tells her to raise him as her own, protect him as her own, and she will erase Maddie’s debt to the league.

- Maddie runs with her new son back to America and tells her family that the job she had is completed and “hey Jack sorry I forgot to mention our son I was so caught up in my work! Yeah, whenever I visited five years ago I got pregnant and forgot to mention it! Whoopsie daisy!”

- Jack believes this because he’s forgetful sometimes and also why would his lovely, beautiful, brilliant wife lie to him. He welcomes five year old Danny into his life as his son despite him only superficially looking like him and for some reason having much darker skin. Who knows, genetics isn’t his area of expertise!

- Besides even if Maddie lied to him she probably had a good reason! He’s always wanted a son anyway!!

- Jazz is far more suspicious of this but she’s all of seven and also this poor kid looks terrified and traumatized so. She’ll let it go. And also help him settle in, as is right for a Big Sister.

- Danny has psychological and physical scars but grows up loved and cared for. He misses his brother, but he wasn’t worthy to stand beside him—grandfather said so and it must be so. He didn’t want to be a weight on his brother’s neck, dragging him down

- He makes friends with Tucker and then Sam who don’t judge him for strange mannerisms and who like him for who he is.

- Maybe it’s not the life he would have chosen for himself, but it is a good life. He decides he can be happy here in Amity Park, secure in the knowledge that his brother was off conquering and thriving.

- Then Maddie and Jack finish the Portal, which would theoretically allow travel into the Ghost Zone to continue their work. The pinhole fractures they can now reliably create to power weapons and technology prove the theory and this is the next step!

- Danny Dies In The Portal and a hole is ripped open between worlds. DP series takes place as normal!

- Mixed Reveal since Maddie and Jack are researchers first and foremost. They don’t want to hurt their children but they want to study! They capture a different ghost so they can learn more about how the anatomy works, because they need to take care of their half-ghost son.

- Danny is appalled and horrified to find them dissecting some struggling specter. They are so fucking earnest about it, trying to tell him that they want to make sure they understand how he’s put together so if he gets hurt they can help and it’s not like they can Kill ghosts so it’s only a temporary necessity in pursuit of knowledge!!

- Danny releases the ghost and later, steals their research and destroys the portal. He flees. He knows they won’t hurt him but he thought they wouldn’t Do That either and they did so he’s terrified.

- Danny’s friends help him escape and set up a fake id and passport. His plan is to get to Gotham and find the Bat who will hopefully be able to Adult this situation. He’s not expecting to be welcomed as his son; by all accounts the Batman has no idea Talia even made children with his DNA so he isn’t even going to mention being his son.

- Meanwhile Damian has been Robin for four years and slowly adjusting to his new normal. He doesn’t think about his dead brother; he isn’t allowed to, and though he’s left the league, the league has not left him entirely.

- He is patrolling with his father when an unknown teenager flags them down. Batman is suspicious of course but the kid seems to be earnestly calling for help. He has Robin hang back out of caution and approaches the unknown himself.

- Holy Fuck He Looks Like Damian

- He doesn’t act like a clone or anything. He has an impressively obvious midwestern accent and uses slang like a typical teen. He tells him, a little hysterically, about his parents being scientists and the fucking portal to hell they opened in their basement, about finding them experimenting on an inter-dimensional being that may or may not be an actual human spirit, and briefly details taking his sisters car across four states in a manic road trip to find the Batman.

- Batman is like, why me? There are closer heroes. Why not call the justice league hotline?

- “Hoo boy Mr. Batman see the thing is Amity Park is Dangerous and full of ghosts so I didn’t want metas showing up where they’d get overshadowed and I’d have to? Like? Fight a possessed Superman or something.”

- Why would you be the one fighting??

- Danny is impressively bad at keeping his mouth shut about secrets but to be fair, he’s meeting his father for the first time and the Batman is super cool and intimidating and also he’s remembering his mom and his brother and that’s reminding him of his new family and how everything has probably irreparably fallen apart and oh no

- Oh no he’s crying in front of Batman. Oh fuck, he’s sobbing in front of his father and this is his first impression. Oh ancients he’s never gonna want anything to do with Danny after this mess and it’s not like he was going to say anything but apparently there was this small hope at the bottom of his heart that he’d be welcomed and loved. That somehow his Father would just know this was his son and hug him and make everything better.

- Batman is awkwardly trying to decide if he wants to risk hugging a dangerous unknown, unstable possible-meta-adjacent teenager while he’s having a breakdown on a rooftop when Robin lands next to him and says something that freezes the blood in Bruce’s veins:

- “Brother?”

[bluerosefox]

The (Not) Normal One...

So

I LOVE the stories where Danny is deaged and later found by one of the bats and taken in as a son or he's Bruce's bio son and is either Damian's twin or half brother or little/big brother BUT I don't see a lot of reborn/reincarnated Danny into the batfamily (I can think of two but one of them he is Dick's son?clone?somewhat clone? And the other is an amazing story where Danny is reborn as Jazz and Jason's kid and I love it to bits)

So let's change that a bit and have some fun.

Here's the idea

Danny, either from finally aging to his death (it was slow and long aging but he is still partly human too don't forget that) or dying at the hands of GIW (or by his parents if we go the Bad!Fentons route), is reborn into the batfamily.

He could either be Bruce and Selina's kid after they finally tie the knot, or be a one more attempt by Ra's or Talia to get the heir they want but is immediately found out when Tim notices certain labs active and they find baby Danny. OR Danny can be an oops baby to Bruce's one night stands OR one of the batboys baby. EITHER WAY, Danny is reborn into the family from the start.

And he has his memories. (He has little hints of his powers btw, they dont fully come in until his 14th bday)

And his new family all swear to give him a proper and happy childhood (as best as they can seeing how it's Gotham)

Only I want Danny milking being a baby then toddler/kid and later a teen for all its worth. He's going to enjoy this new life with everything he gots.

Like imagine the chaos and shenanigans he gets into as a toddler. He's the king of hide-and-seek. He uses his tears to get away from whoever annoys him. He's mastered the puppy dog look to get away with things (it holds no effect on Alfred though, man is immune to all tricks).

But then of course there's the... odd things that happen around him. Sometimes they catch him talking to no one. Sometimes they spot a ball or a toy rolling to Danny despite him not touching it. Sometimes they think they see or hear someone in the room with Danny only to go busting in to find nothing. (One time someone busted his nursery door down they heard on his baby/toddler monitor the distorted voice of a woman singing him a lullaby (it was Martha who was soothing him to sleep after a tiny nightmare, boy was Bruce not ready for one of his kids to hum the tune in the morning)).

Danny asking for an extra drink and the newspaper after Bruce is done before he runs off to one of the many sitting rooms the manor has. There he leaves the drink and the newspaper near a chair, hops into another chair nearby and chats to someone (they all think its his imaginary friend but that honestly doesn't explain why the drink seems to slowly disappear without anyone touching it. (btw its Thomas, Danny is talking to they like chatting in the morning)

OR when Danny gives hints to cases his family is working on, how he knows? No one knows. Sometimes they chalk it up to a kid randomly saying stuff or seeing it from a different simple outlook but sometimes it seems a little too on the nose and they think Danny might know about their night jobs... (He does know, but he gets some info from Lady Gotham who visits him and gives him little hints to pass onto her fav Knights)

Basically what I want is a reborn Danny trying to get a decent childhood/teenage years before his powers kick in full swing, his family trying the same but they got no idea about the powers (maybe), and ghosts like to visit Danny. The shenanigans that follow will be amazing.

[aprocessionofthoughts]

Explanations

part 4 of MM ao3

Danny winced, overwhelmed for a moment at the emotions Hood was projecting. A flurry of fear, anger, not again, pain being shoved at him as forcefully as if someone were screaming in his ear. 

Danny raised his hands in surrender. “Look, we don’t mean any harm. I honestly have no idea what pits you’re talking about, but I do know a lot about the being dead thing.”

Hood didn’t move, just kept glaring at him.

Danny took a chance and projected peace, want to help, it’s ok. 

Hood’s angry aura faded and he stumbled back a step.

“What was that?” Hood growled and Danny gulped as Hood’s aura flared again with anger, confusion, fear.

“Sorry.” Danny said. “I forget that new liminals aren’t used to projecting, but it’s just another form of talking. And you don’t need to worry, I’m also dead adjacent. “Though,” Danny paused, “I don’t know what the lazarus pits are.”

Hood was still tense but his aura had pulled back a little. “The Lazarus Pits are lakes of glowing green goo.”

“Huh.” Danny gleaned at Jazz. “We call the green goo Ectoplasm. But if these pits are what brought you back, I think they might be rancid. You stink.”

“Excuse me?” Hood took a step back as his aura flared with indignation.

Jazz cleared her throat.

“What my brother means is that the ectoplasm that brought you back may have been polluted. He can tell because he also has ectoplasm in his system which allows him to sense other sources of ectoplasm.”

“Explain.” 

“Look,” Jazz said, “Why don’t we all sit down and I’ll make some tea and then Danny can explain better.” she sent a pointed look in his direction.

“Fine.”

Jazz nodded and turned and walked toward the kitchen where there was a table and some chairs. Danny followed her and so did Hood.

Danny fiddled with his hands as Jazz was making tea. Honestly, Danny was trying not to comment on the fact that the fully dressed vigilante looked kind of ridiculous sitting at their kitchen table.

“Would you like some tea?” Jazz said, looking toward Hood.

Hood paused before responding. “No thanks.” 

Jazz nodded then turned back toward the kettle.

“Soooo….” Danny started. “Before we go on, i do need to know if you actually died, or if you just encountered some green goo.”

Hood didn’t say anything.

Danny sighed. “If it helps, I actually died and was brought back to life via green glowy stuff.”

Danny waited and was about to give up and wait for Jazz to lead the conversation when Hood finally spoke.

“I died, I’m not sure what brought me back. But then I was dumped in a Lazarus Pit.”

“Huh.” There weren’t a lot of things that could bring people back from the dead as far as Danny knew, but with all the craziness he’d already experienced in his own life, he wasn’t surprised. Though it was interesting that Hood had been exposed to ectoplasm afterward. What would that make Hood? A liminal, or a halfa like him? But as much as Danny would like someone else like him, since it wasn't ectoplasm that brought Hood back the man was probably just a liminal.

“Here you go, Danny.” Jazz said, setting a mug in front of him and then taking a seat next to him.

Danny inhaled the warm scent of spices and then looked at Hood. “So, how do you want to do this? I can do a quick info dump and then you ask questions, or you can just ask questions and I’ll answer them?”

“Info first, then I’ll ask questions.”

Danny nodded.

“First of all, ghosts are real.” he paused, but when Hood didn't say anything he continued. “They live in an alternate dimension and are fueled by and made of ectoplasm, the green glowy stuff. There are various things that can make a ghost, but we don’t need to get into that now. This is just the basics. When a human has a near death experience, or is exposed to ectoplasm they have the chance of becoming what we call liminal. That just means that they lean a little toward the ghostly side.” he glanced at Jazz, his gaze questioning and she nodded. “That’s what me and Jazz are. And that’s what I think you are.”  Danny waited for a moment, clasping his hands together in front of him. “Any questions.”

“How did you heal me?”

“Oh, yeah.” Danny shrugged and sat back. “As liminals we actually need some ectoplasm to survive and it can help heal us. Usually, the ectoplasm in our bodies heps us heal ourselves, but I think yours can’t since,” Danny wrinkled his nose, “whatever source you got yours from is obviously rank.”

“What does that even mean?” Hood said, but he sounded tired not angry.

Jazz smiled gently at him. “Ectoplasm that stays too long in the Living Realm, here, can absorb pollutants. Think of it like,” she hummed and tapped her finger against the table, “like air in an improperly ventilated area. If air isn’t allowed to move and flow it can become stale. The same with ectoplasm. It’s a form of energy that needs to flow and be filtered in the Infinite Realms, where the ghosts are, or it needs to be filtered by ghosts. But if it’s allowed to just sit in one area and build up, continually absorbing energy, but unable to filter or release it then it grows rank.”

“It’s complicated.” Danny said. “And neither of us is the greatest at explaining since we’re still learning. But yeah, ectoplasm is a form of energy that flows between dimensions.

Danny smiled at Hood, there were faint feelings of confusion, disbelief, denial, no true, not true, I’m alive. But Danny did his best not to push anything toward the other liminal. He didn’t want to scare the man.

“I need to go.” Hood said, standing abruptly. 

Danny startled, but nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

Jazz stood. “You’re welcome back here anytime if you have questions.” Jazz smiled. 

Danny felt the briefest glimmer of attraction come from Hood and while Jazz was good at not projecting, Danny could tell from her face that she was feeling similarly toward Hood.

Danny smirked. This would be fun.

[charlietheepicwriter7]

Always a man, a city, and a lighthouse...

"Robin, Red Robin, stay back for a minute," Batman said as he dismissed everyone for patrol. "I have a new mission for you. Dozens of civilians have gone missing around the decommissioned Gotham City Lighthouse." A few clicks and the Batcomputer displayed a map of the Upper West Side, a highlight on the lighthouse. "I want you both to investigate the building. Everyone who's gone missing entered the lighthouse, but nothing has been found by the police. I suspect that the lighthouse is being used for gun smuggling, but we need more information.

"That's where you two come in."

Or, I've been reading too much of @virgamsysxvolumes 's Lucky Rush AU, and wanted a true Bioshock AU for dc x dp.

Underneath the city, in the vast and endless caverns beneith Gotham, lies the subterranean city of Amity. Amity was the pet project of the mad scientist couple, the Drs. Fenton, to investigate the effects of ectoplasm on humans, but with the help of their best friend, Vlad Masters, they transformed Amity into a Technocracy City filled with scientists, and completely lacking in morals.

Or at least, that's how it was ten years ago, before the creation of Plasm (the Adam replacement), a neon green goo that's basically meth that gives you superpowers. Everyone from the top scientists to the lower working class starting doping on Plasm, which gave people the ability to control fire, create hallucinogenic spores, summon bats, etc. Vlad, the mayor, was deposed in a cue let by the Fentons and the city descended into anarchy, with people from the surface getting lured down from the lighthouse so they can continue their experiments.

The Fentons are 100% not good people in this. Jack is in charge of all the technological advances in Amity, while Maddie has created human/ghost hybrids--the Little Sisters of the story--that can naturally harvest ectoplasm from dead bodies to use for experiments. Once everyone's hooked on Plasm, the Little Sisters are in danger from acting Splicers, so she creates Big Daddies to protect them.

Danny is the only Little Brother, and Jazz is the only Big Sister. Vlad turned them both into monsters as revenge against the Fentons for the cue, but the couple didn't really care, with Jack barely acknowledging he has children, and Maddie acting like they were never turned into monsters to begin with. Not sure about ages... Jazz is probably the same as her canon age, but if Danny is still 14, he looks 10, tiny and malnourished and pale.

Tim and Damian are trapped in Amity after an automatic system determines them as good test subjects. The AI filters out any cops, so that's why the police never found anything. The elavator brings them down into the city, showing a sweeping shot of neon in the darkness of the caves, and the boys figure out pretty quickly something is blocking their calls.

Tim gets super injured early on. I think, a Jack Fenton booby trap (that exclaims that it's a Jack Fenton Booby Trap moments before activating, which should be funny, but isn't when death lasers are being launched at him.). Damian gets captured, and that's when Tim is contacted by Vlad, who is our Atlas stand in for the game, only Tim immediately realizes that this man is sketchy af.

But unfortunately, in order to rescue Damian, Tim has to splice himself with Plasm. Maybe its for fire-wielding, or telekinesis but Tim can't get to wherever Damian is being held and, while torn, splices himself to save Damian.

Damian was kidnapped because his exposure to Lazirus Waters made a Big Daddy think he was a Little Sister, so it brought him back to the Casper Academy, which is where Little Sisters drop their harvests off in the care of William Lancer. Lancer looks after the girls because Maddie Fenton is too busy, but it's against his will despite him caring for them all. He's trapped in the building, can't leave or he dies. He's actually relieved to know that Vlad is still alive and trusts him, because to Lancer he was just a good mayor who was overthrown and the Fentons are the real bad guys, just look what they did to their kids!

This is where the batkids first learn about Danny and Jazz, although they don't meet them until a while after this. Danny actually ends up being the one leaving Plasm out for Tim every time he rescues a Little Sister. (Sidenote, they end up killing people while in Amity. While both do have death counts, the problem with Amity is that they have to use stronger and stronger levels of force to get people to go down, leading them to escalating and killing quite a few).

Lancer points them to communications to get their comms working again, and that area is run by Damon Grey.

At some point after comms are back on, the two learn that Red Hood actually came in after them after hours of no communication and has been captured by Maddie Fenton, who intends to turn him into a Big Daddy.

In late story, it's revealed that Jack Fenton was murdered before the cue even happened, and that the Jack Fenton they'd been communicating with the entire time was an AI assistant created by living Jack to keep his work going. The cue was actually retaliation from Maddie and the Jack AI for murdering Jack.

The story would eventually end with Tim, Damian, and Jason freeing all the Little Sisters along with Danny and Jazz.

[sleepy-writes-stuff]

DP X MCU WRITING PROMPT

Okay, I guess we're doing this. This post is a result of a brief mention I made of the Avengers in this dp x dc prompt here and I can't stop thinking about it. For even more context, you might wanna start here where the reaper of heroes au started. Or not. Up to you, really.

This is completely up for grabs if anyone wants to flesh it out a bit more/continue it!

(Btw, I'm going mostly by MCU movies and only what little info I know of the comics. Sorry, not sorry.)

(#) = Notes at the end of post

(*) = building off of other ideas

✦

Reaper of Heroes

Needless to say, Danny did not realize that his responsibility as the reaper of heroes souls would extend past his dimension and into others. In hindsight, he probably should've considering that he was the ruler of the Infinite Realms, a dimension between dimensions that eventually all would join, so therefore his responsibility would be just as all encompassing. He does not realize any of this until it's literally shoved in his face in the form of half the universe from a single dimension being spirited away into the Infinite Realms almost all at once.

Quite a few heroes blip on his radar in the swirling mass of souls that were harvested way before their time was due. He looks upon the horde of souls in utter agony and despair and can feel only one thing: Anger. Danny was unequivocally pissed. With the help of Clockwork, he pinpoints the dimension the influx of souls originated from and he suits up in full battle armor and heads there immediately.

What he finds only feeds the fire of his white hot rage, so much to the point his white hair briefly flickers like a burning flame before settling back to it's usual tussled state. With permission from this dimension's personification of Death(1), he begins a hunt for the one responsible for the disruption of not only his regular reaper duties, but the balance of life and death itself. It doesn't take him long to find Thanos, he just has to follow the familiar powerful aura of the Soul stone.

What he finds is the end of the first battle against Thanos (Infinity War. Ha) where Thanos had just snapped half the universe away and all the people were still in the process of crumbling into dust/being sent to the Infinite Realms. Before Thanos can teleport away from all the carnage he'd caused or snap his fingers once again when he senses another threat approaching, Phantom disrupts the energy from the gauntlet and has him pinned to the ground by his throat away from Thor. He uses a conjured sword of ghost ice in the other hand to sever the arm that wears the infinity stones from the shoulder down. In the end, he's so close to the purple alien the green glow of his eyes turns Thanos' rapidly paling complexion a sickening shade.

"That's enough of that. Wouldn't be very sporting of you to turn tail and run from the consequences of your actions, now would it?" He practically growls.

Thanos stares up at this newcomer with a mix of confusion and fear. "Who are you? How were you able to stop me from leaving? The Infinity gauntlet is supposed to be infallible!"

"Ha! You mean this little toy of yours?" He asks derisively with a fang-barring smirk and a brief glance at the gauntlet itself. "After using it to rewrite reality a time or two, you learn a couple of things. Did you really think you were the first to have the idea to gather reality's most ancient artifacts and fashion them into a wearable device? Sorry, but somebody already won that race. The first place ribbon goes to a creepy ringmaster by the name of Freakshow."(2)

Seeing the look of shock, frustration, and offense on the alien's face, Phantom snickered and leaned back, releasing his captive's throat only to put an armored boot against his chest to keep him down on the ground. Thanos briefly struggles against it but finds it impossible to move.

"As for who I am," Phantom says, no longer smiling and with Thanos along with the few left on the battlefield's attention.

"I am Phantom, High King of the Infinite Realms. Lord of the dead, undying, and neverborn. Reaper of the souls of heroes and protector of the balance between life and death. And you," Phantom's eyes narrow to slits as he grinds his armored heel into the already deep wound on Thanos' chest, causing the alien to squirm in pain. "have made me very angry. How dare you disrupt the natural order and lay waste to so many innocent lives?"

Despite the obvious pain he was in and the growing fear of facing Phantom's wrath, Thanos still seemed to have plenty of courage to speak.

"Are-" He licks his lips nervously before continuing. "Are you Death?"(3)

Dark amusement dances in Phantom's eyes as he considers how to answer. He didn't need to think on it for very long though before he gave a wide, fanged grin and spoke.

"No. I did, however, meet with her before making my way over here, just to make sure I wasn't stepping on her toes by thrashing you myself. I gotta say, she's quite the conversationalist and her humor is to die for. Funny thing is though," He watches as a spark of awe, curiosity, and hope flashed in Thanos' eyes before dealing the final blow with glee. "she didn't have anything to say about you."

He watched as the alien's face took on a look of shock that quickly morphed into a combination of denial and anger. Phantom doubled down on the pressure he'd been exerting on Thanos' chest, causing the man to cry out in agony before continuing to assault his ego.

"In fact," he said conversationally. "she barely gave it a second thought when I asked to be the one to snap your chains and rip the soul from your body." He stopped there, humming curiously as he gracefully drew the ice sword he'd previously used to sever the man's arm and lodged deep into the soil.

"I wonder though." He mused as he held the point of the sword over Thanos' throat. The alien renewed his struggle, desperation written plain across his face as his eyes traveled along the sharp blade. He locked eyes with Phantom as a slow, gleeful smile spread across the ghost king's face.

"What will she say if I bring it to her in pieces?" He said before bringing the sword down and striking true.

✦

What's this? Actual dialogue??

Well, that was unexpected. I didn't plan on Danny being so unhinged/sword-happy, but I think it kinda fits with the context of it being in response to what happened in Infinity War i.e.- the insurmountable loss of life. I really enjoyed writing this tho. Just thinking about how I portrayed Danny in this has boss music blaring through my head.

Notes:

(1) Although most of them have never actually met, the embodiments of Death from every dimension more or less treat/view each other as siblings regardless of blood relation. Phantom and Death's relationship here will be/is basically the same as Danny and Jazz, i.e.- big sister, little brother. Shovel talk anyone?

(*) Let's have all the death characters from different fandoms gather around a table and have tea/coffee together. It'll be fun.

(2) I know chronologically (marvel comics vs dp show) that this isn't true, but shhh. Let's pretend it is in this case.

(3) Can't remember if it's mentioned or not, but does Thanos still have a creepy crush/infatuation with Death in the MCU? If not, I'm changing it. It's basically what this part of the conversation between Phantom and Thanos is referring to. His gift of so many souls to death being unappreciated stings, but not as much as getting his head lopped off and his soul torn to shreds.

Danny's interaction with Death

_

@mynameisnotlaura

How's this for talking about it? Look what you made me do! /lh/j

[anonymousangstmonster]

Prompt #27

The Fentons had two children, Jazz who was one and a half, and Nate who was six months at the time. They were planning on adding a third child to the group, ‘planning’ as in ‘this is the twelfth attempt and I’m sick of them dying every time’.

They had theoretically constructed the genetics for a human-ghost hybrid, and were hoping to raise it as their son along with their other two kids. They had modeled the human genes off of their son Nathaniel, black hair, blue eyes, freckles. The difficult part was getting it to mix with the ectoplasm without dying in the incubator or coming out malformed or tearing itself to shreds on week one.

They were at take twenty six and it looked pretty promising so far, no imploding, no three extra eyes, no melting, and it was already two months into gestation!

A nerve-wracking seven months later the little supposedly-half-ghost baby boy came out of the artificial womb crying his tiny little lungs out. And he already had a name, ‘Daniel’ or ‘Danny’ for short.

The legal process of getting Danny a birth certificate and at the same time being legal property of FentonWorks as an experiment was a mess.

The Fentons loved their strange new son with all their hearts, but always kept in mind that he was an experiment, a specimen, a creature made for scientific purposes. They chipped him, planning on doing more when he got older, such as adding a failsafe to make him fall asleep in emergencies, and a brand to make sure others new who he belonged to. Though they had to wait until he was at least fourteen to do all that, ‘something something ethics something something we will come after you for human experimentation if you don’t wait something something’.

When Danny turned two the parents cut him open to see how his insides were faring(asleep and without breaking any bones of course), and again when he was six.

He got to go to school and make friends, even though the Fentons knew he would never go to college or get a job.

Nate grew up with a lab rat for a little brother, and he could never ask for more. Though as he grew to love ectobiology and Jazz grew more towards human psychology, it was looking like Nate would be the one to take over FentonWorks someday. So that’s what Jack and Maddie kept telling him, “When you take over, you’ll be in charge of what to do with Danny.”

When Danny turned ten and Nate eleven, Danny was having another vivisection(heavily drugged and this time they were going to cut out his ribs to see his heart and lungs) and Nate got to watch! Apparently his brother had a strong core, something that only ghosts with a particularly traumatizing death had, strange. The parents spoke to Nate again, “One day when you’re older, you’ll be doing this, all on your own.”

The day after Danny turned fourteen was the day his parents could forget about ethics and do whatever they wanted to permanently alter his body, and that’s what they did. It was basically a vivisection day but so much more.

Danny was kept awake and aware the entire time, and Nate helped with a lot, passing tools to his parents, drawing with a sterile marker where the incision lines were going to be, placing the rubber gag in his brothers mouth to prevent him from hurting himself.

They put a hot brand on his right shoulder blade that read:

PROPERTY OF FENTONWORKS #01|0352|026

They inked into the left of his skull and one of his right ribs ‘PROPERTY OF FENTONWORKS’. They implanted a small device right next to his heart connected to a remote that only Jack, Maddie or Nate could activate, which would inject a solution into his bloodstream that would paralyze or kill him for emergencies.

Jazz could very faintly hear her adopted brothers screams from the kitchen.

Another four years later and it’s Nate who’s leading the operation, with his parents assisting. His gloves covered in his brothers ecto-blood, speaking his observations into the recording device in his dad’s hand.

[helloilikepurple]

DC X DP - Danny Drake

Tim's parents didn't intend to have another child. One was plenty. And then an one drunken night resulted in Janet getting pregnant. It's a bit of a predicament, seeing as neither of them want another child (who will need to be fed and raised and stuff) but are also both generally against abortion. So, she rides out the pregnancy, limiting public appearances so it remains secret. She doesn't want to deal with the publicity her being pregnant would get her. It's too much drama. So she keeps it secret from everyone but her husband, and gives birth in a private hospital.

She refuses to sign the birth certificate. She doesn't want this baby tied to her. She doesn't even bother thinking of a name. She gives him away as soon as he's out. A yet-to-be-named newborn Danny is handed off to an orphanage as soon as he can be. The Drake parents go through medical procedures to ensure another pregnancy won't happen.

He stays there for a only a few weeks before an over-eager, excitable couple comes by with their young daughter, in search of a son to teach all their ghostly hunting ways to because for all Jazz, even so young, is smart, she has no interest in their research. Also, Maddie doesn't want to go through another pregnancy since her first one wasn't very enjoyable (she was in a lot of pain for most of those 9 months, basically unable to work on her research).

They see Danny and are quick to adopt him (well, as quick as you can be, but, with it being a Gotham orphanage, it's a lot quicker than it should be). Jack claims he can see the ghost hunter potential in him and Maddie thinks he's adorable. She's excited to have a little baby again to take care of and hold. She'd always wanted a big family, and while 2 children isn't really a lot, it's enough for someone as busy as her. Jazz is excited to have a little brother, and takes to reading books about babies and parenting to better take care of him. She loves holding him, and brags to all her friends about her baby brother, who's undeniably the cutest baby ever.

Danny grows up with the Fentons, not knowing he's adopted. Everything happens as it does in the show. And then, when Danny is 15, his parents take him to Gotham for a ghost hunter convention, Jazz busy with university hunting. Going to Gotham should've been a nice vacation for him. No ghost attacks for a good two weeks. Just Danny in Gotham - with free reign of the most crime ridden city in the world. Yeah this wasn't gonna' go well.

Gotham is dark. The air smells like sewage, death and bitter hope. The people feel like candles flickering in a storm, stubbornly refusing to go out. Danny decides he likes it. The hotel his parents choose is fancy (paid for by Vlad at the insistence that Maddie couldn't stay in some random, run down place after catching wind of their trip). Danny thought it suspicious but figured he'd deal with it when he needed to.

Anyway, Danny has his own room right across the hall from his parents. It's got a queen sized bed, full sized bathroom with a jacuzzi bathtub, a walk-in closet, a tv and a balcony. It's very nice. Danny sets his bags down and collapses onto his bed with a huff. He lays there for a minute, and then reaches for his phone to text Jazz, Sam and Tucker that he made it to the hotel safe (something they insisted on).

And then he stews.

Mum and Dad, for all their brilliance, can be forgetful when it comes to their children. Danny basically has free reign to do whatever for most of the 2 weeks they'll be in Gotham (which is his whole winter break and a little of the first week back).

Vlad's invited the Fentons to a few galas he's attending, insisting they'll be able to show off their inventions to a bunch of people. Danny knows its an excuse for Vlad to spend time with Maddie, make digs at Jack, and show him off as if he was his son. He's not looking forward to it, but the offer came with free, great hotel rooms so it could be worse.

(Plus, with Vlad paying he can spurge on room services and bleed him dry.)

Besides, Danny could do whatever he wanted the rest of the time. He could go to the planetarium and stuff. All he had to do was not out himself as a meta-adjacent person in a meta-hating city. Easy peasy.

All in all, what better time for all this to happen than on Christmas?

Honestly, even with the galas, the garish Christmas decorations all over the place, the music, and Vlad, this is seeming like a better Christmas than usual.

[seenoversundown]

For Death Or Glory : Chapter Fourteen

Jake Kiszka x Charlotte (Fem OC)

Warnings: PG-13 (not smut but heavy petting), drinking / alcohol, smoking, anxiety mentions, light mentions of grief, fluff, Jake being a sweet little man, and descriptions of Elder Emo culture.

Word Count: 4k

Summary: Charlotte gets swindled into hanging out with Jake, really had to twist her arm. Which turns into long night of getting to know each other.

Author's Note: I have a wildly strong attachment to this chapter. Maybe because it’s how I don’t my early adult years or because it feels like a true New England chapter in my head, either way— I love this chapter a disgusting amount. It also sets up next week.. perfectly 😏😘

Crush - Tessa Violet "You make it difficult to not overthink, And when I'm with you I turn all shades of pink, I wanna touch you but don't wanna be weird."

“What are the odds I can sweet talk you into going to this show with me?” his voice rings through my phone. “As friends… obviously.” His sweet little laugh fills the air.

“Mmm, what kind of show are we talking about?” The smirk on my face would be undeniable if he could see me right now. I’m supposed to be doing some work, but instead, I’m pacing the house. 

“Some of the bar regulars kinda have a band and gave me tickets to go see them,” he tells me.

“Your brothers don’t want to go with you?” I ask. Seems odd that they wouldn’t want to go with him, especially if it’s people they also probably know.  

“Well.. Josh has to work and I don’t think Sam would come,” his voice trailing off a bit. 

“Danny?” 

“He’s also working– I can’t leave Josh completely alone there,” he tells me, making me laugh at the idea of him being afraid to leave Josh at the bar alone. 

“Well then,” I say, through a sigh, “I suppose..” 

“I mean, if you don’t want to come hang out with me…” overdramatizing his sad tone, which I can’t say didn’t make me chuckle at him. 

“Oh, stop,” I quip back. “What time do I need to be ready?”

“Doors are at 8 p.m., but it’s within walking distance of the bar, so if you want to meet me there… Well, here.” 

“Alright, but you have to supply me a drink if they’re going to start screaming.”

I can hear the smile on his face when he says, “Sounds like a deal.”  ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

As we walk up to the venue, everybody is in tight black skinny jeans and beanies. Oh no, it’s gonna be all heavy music, isn’t it? I just follow him closely, staying just behind him as we get closer to the doors. I just look around, taking in the atmosphere and trying not to look paranoid. 

He glances over at me for a second before talking to the person at the doors. We only stood there for a second before we were let in. Pulling open the door and letting me through, the venue is small, and there’s a fair amount of people here. 

“Should I just buy you a drink now?” his lips basically grazing my ear to ask.

“Considering the crowd, I’m going to say yes, please,” I try to speak up so he can hear me, making him laugh.

“A deal is a deal, come on,” he says, holding out his hand. My fingers intertwine with his as he leads the way over to the bar. His grip on me is strong, which I’m grateful for, considering the amount of people we’re weaving through. 

“What are you feeling tonight?” he asks. “I don’t think I’ve seen you drink a beer, so I’m sorry in advance.” 

“Whatever they have for Downeast works for me,” I look over at him as he's reading the list of options. Finding it difficult not just to admire him; his side profile really is something to write home about. 

He walks up to the small bar that they have, getting the bartender's attention quickly and ordering. He looks back over at me, pulling his eyebrows together for a split second as I stand there, probably looking a little lost. I mimic him, scowling at him. I don’t know what kind of conversation we’re having right now, but the corners of his lips start to creep upward as we stare at each other. That must be the smile Quinn was talking about. He slightly bobs his head back and forth to the song playing through the speakers, and I can’t stop myself from laughing at him. My laugh pulled the full smile out of him, teeth showing and all. He really is cute. 

After grabbing our drinks, he comes back to me, holding my drink out to me. Excitedly, I took it from him before pushing him in front of me to lead the way. I stay as close to him as I can, hooking one finger into his back pocket so he can’t get too far away. 

He finds a spot off to the side for us, not too close to the stage, as the first band starts. The first scream into the microphone makes me jump; candidly, this isn’t my genre. I can hear him giggling next to me as he sips on his beer. Shooting him a look, even though I can’t hold it for very long before I’m laughing with him. 

“Am I supposed to know what he’s saying?” I say, leaning into him. 

“Absolutely not,” he says, taking another sip. It’s wild to see him drink at all, especially just a beer. Seeing him act so normal outside of the bar is almost refreshing. It’s nice to see him be a person and not be worried about whatever is going on in that building. Maybe we have more in common than I thought. 

People were still filtering in while the first band played, and now we’re watching as the next one is about to go on. It’s funny to watch them have to soundcheck their own stuff, but I haven’t been to many shows this small. 

The lights go back out, and the band loudly announces their presence. This time, I was a little more prepared for it, but what I wasn’t expecting was the crowd. 

I hear the singer say something about a “pit,” and before I know it, everybody is thrashing around. What the fuck? I’m sure I look terrified, never having been to a show like this. I can’t take my eyes off the slew of people basically just throwing punches and shoving each other. It spreads like wildfire as more and more people start joining. 

Very suddenly, Jacob’s arm wraps around me pulling me back to him. His chest rose and fell against me, his arm still wrapped around my waist, his hand resting against my stomach.  Oh okay. 

His face leans closer to my ear, “I should have warned you.” 

I tilt my head back against his chest so he can lean towards me, “It’s okay. It’s mesmerizing,” I giggle, knowing it sounds silly. 

His other arm wrapped around me, carefully holding his drink still. My heart flutters when he does it. I let myself relax against him, and his arms tighten slightly. This is making being here worth it. 

We stayed like that through most of that band's set. He would keep moving us further from everyone, which I appreciated—but never moving his arms from around me except for the occasional sip of his beer.  ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

“Jake!” startles me as the two regulars from the bar approach us. They all do that one boy handshake that will never make sense to me before one of them turns to me. 

“Oh! I’m sorry I didn’t know you came with someone,” one of them says. 

“She was gracious enough to come keep me company,” Jake says, glancing over at me.  

I stand there listening to them and sipping on my drink when I feel something brush against my thigh. Without being obvious, I look down, seeing his hand suspiciously close to my leg. He taps me a few more times as he talks. Does he not realize what he’s doing? 

I occasionally chime in but mostly just listen as they go on about the other bands that are going to be playing. Watching as he would laugh with them and really just take him on while he was out in the wild. His free hand settled on my lower back, just softly scratching, which was weirdly comforting. 

“Wanna go outside for a minute?” one of the boys asked loudly. Jacob looked at me wide-eyed, but I just nodded at him. 

“Yeah, for sure.” He tells them. His hand quickly found mine before we made our way through the venue. He kept squeezing gently until I would do it back.

Once making it outside, the few guys who had been talking to him all started lighting cigarettes, Jacob included—keeping it as far away from me as possible when he wasn’t actively inhaling and breathing the smoke straight up to try and not have it near me. I had never said anything about him smoking or even in general, but it’s ..nice that he doesn’t want to force it on me. 

Although I usually find smoking to be a little less than pleasant, for some reason, watching him is different. Maybe my cider just hit harder than I expected, but how it sits on his lip and how he casually holds it between his index and middle finger. Why is it… hot? 

As we stood there, I continued to listen from inside, not really knowing what to say. I stood close to him and occasionally peeked at my phone, but the people-watching here was a little too good that I practically forgot I had it with me. I don’t know if he was worried about me or if he needed comfort, but he was subtly holding my hand, only our ring and pinky fingers intertwined. 

“Do you wanna head back to the bar?”

I look over at him, “If you want to,” not wanting to feel like I’m making him leave. 

“I was mostly here for them,” he whispers, “plus we can make Josh give us better drinks that way.” 

“Are you trying to get me drunk again?” I tease him quietly. 

“I would never dream of it,” he says with a little wink before turning back to the little group that’s formed. He said his goodbyes with the weird handshake hug again, and they all waved at me as we walked off. 

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

We sat at the end of the bar for a while, watching Josh make drinks. Just talking about the show and how he feels terrible for making me go through it. 

“It wasn’t that bad,” I admit, “watching everybody was fun.” 

“It’s a special kind of crowd, isn’t it?” His smile sneaks out with that one. He sips on the last of his drink, sliding it over for Josh to grab. Tapping on his phone screen and looking back over to me. 

“I may let him leave since it’s calmed down,” he starts, “are you going to head home? I can escort you to your car before I relieve him.” 

What if I don’t want to go home? What are you talking about? The most relaxed I’ve felt has been when I have basically fallen asleep on the phone with him.. What if I just.. stay? 

“I think I should probably stay here, don’t you?” I ask him. “Just since I’ve been drinking and whatnot.” Something possesses me when I bat my eyelashes at him a few times before sliding my hand onto his thigh. His cheeks flush instantly at gestures. 

“You’re so right,” he chokes out. “You can stay with me.” The excited nerves flow through my body when he says it. 

“I’ll just keep you company while you close,” I tell him, “it’ll be like last weekend!” Smiling at me as he stands up, he quickly glances over to see Josh fully invested in a conversation with someone when he moves around the bar, standing in front of me. He holds a hand out towards me; instinctually, I reach my hand out to him. He pulls it to him, pressing his lips against my knuckles for a second, giving me a slow wink as he lets go gently. 

I said ‘goodnight’ to Josh after he was able to head out for the night, and then there I sat. I was just having little conversations with Jake when I could and scrolling on my phone when he was busy. I was intensely ignoring the email my boss had sitting in my inbox.  ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

Finally, we hustle up the stairs to his apartment once the bar is closed. He quickly unlocks the door, peeking in first. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into his room faster than I would have expected. 

“Make yourself comfortable,” he whispers, “I have to go say hi to Josh but I’ll be right back.” He lingers for a second before letting go of me and disappearing into the dark hall. 

I crawl into his bed, mostly sober this time. Remembering how comfortable it was and the way it smelled like his cologne. He finally wanders back in after talking to Josh for a few minutes. 

“Well, don’t you look cozy,” he says quietly, giggling to himself as he sets his stuff on his nightstand. I nod a few times, curling the blankets up around me. 

“Are you tired? I can go so you can sleep,” his voice more timid this time. My eyebrows pull together. Is he really trying to still give me space? I silently shake my head at him for a second, trying not to laugh. 

“No, come here.” I reach my arms out towards him; seeing his smile when he realizes that I want him to stay is priceless. 

“Uh.. I feel like this is a dumb question,” his sweet face slowly turns red, “Can I just .. not wear these?” he asks, tugging on the belt loop on his pants. 

“I think it’s safe to say we’re past that, Jacob.” 

He laughs to himself, “Right.”  

It’s so cute how he’s so nervous—watching him slide his jeans off and toss them into his dirty laundry. I can’t help but check him out as he goes to turn the light off. Why does he have a nicer ass than me? 

He lifts the comforter a little to let himself in but also lets the cool air in. 

“Hurry, it’s already warm in here,” I giggle as he quickly pulls the blanket back down over the two of us. My heart starts to beat a little harder now that he’s next to me. He’s so warm. Instinctively moving close to him, my hands have a mind of their own. Grabbing his arm and lifting it up, I curl myself up into him. 

My face is tucked into his neck as his hand draws little shapes on my side. Without thinking, I press a few little pecks into the side of his neck. 

“What made you want to stay here tonight?” he breaks the silence. 

I can’t tell him yet. My throat was instantly tight at the thought of telling him why. 

“I didn’t want to drive after I drank. Just wanted to be responsible or whatever,” I lie. 

His hand grabs mine from its place on his chest, bringing it up and placing a kiss on my palm before bringing it back to its spot. 

“It’s cute when you try to dodge the truth. Try again,” his taunting tone makes me smile into him. 

“I just..didn’t want to be alone tonight,” I admit, hoping he doesn’t press further. I’ll tell him at some point, but just.. not right now. I know I have to come out with it eventually, but I still haven’t said it out loud to anyone. 

His arm pulls me against him as he presses a kiss onto my forehead, letting his lips just rest against me. Feeling him just breathe for a second against my skin. 

“I’m sorry, hun,” he mumbles against me, “I’m happy you’re here.” My eyes start to well up; he’s too much.. I prop myself up on my elbow so I can look at him. 

“Me too,” I squeak out. My finger tracing his jawline as we look at each other. My eyes move to his cheekbone, letting my hand cup his jaw and my thumb gently run over his soft lips while he just watches me. I don’t know how I’ve gotten here. Laying in bed with this man who looks at me like I’m the reason the sun comes out in the morning. 

He kisses my thumb as it grazes over him again, pulling me out of my thoughts.  The corners of his mouth are slightly curving up. He reaches up and tucks some of my hair behind my ear. 

“You're pretty cute,” he winks at me. His eyes look more tired than I’m used to, but maybe it’s just because he’s comfortable. 

I lean towards him, placing a small kiss on his nose. Then, peppering his face with little pecks as his smile widens, followed by giggling as I sneak some under his jaw.

“Did you tell Josh that I’m here?” 

He shakes his head, “Nope.”

“Why not?” 

“Just wanted to keep you to myself for a little longer,” he tells me, making my heart flutter a little at the thought that he’s savoring our time together. “Plus, if he knows, he’ll insist on talking to you for hours, and then I wouldn’t get to enjoy this.” 

“As fun as that sounds,” I managed to get out, “This is pretty nice.” I gently pat his chest a few times. 

“I can go get him at any point if I’m boring you,” his smile on full display, “He’s like a toddler; just endless energy.” 

“Jacob,” I try to sound serious but am failing by the second. “I listened to you tell me about pirates for hours the other night. You’re far from boring.” 

“And you,” he says, holding the side of my face with his hand, “are an angel for listening to me.” At this moment, I would listen to him all day long, telling me about absolutely anything. 

We lay there for a while, talking about mindless things as he occasionally ran his hand down the back of my head. He tells me about how he worked at the Shipyard with Danny and how his parents dipped out of Maine the second Sam went off to college. I offer stories of living in the middle of nowhere and ridiculous situations with work.  

Reaching over and tapping his phone screen, holy shit, it’s 5:00 am. 

“I didn’t mean to keep you up so late,” I try to hide my embarrassment, just thankful that it’s dark so he can’t see my face flush a little. 

“Did you already forget what my job is?” his question laced with a laugh, “I’m always up this late.” I drop my head onto his chest, laughing at myself. As if we hadn’t spent a handful of nights talking until the sun was about to come up. 

“It’s late and I’m tired, alright?” 

“Why don’t you try to sleep then?” his voice sounds so sweet. 

I sit back up, my hands on either side of him; we just stare at each other for a second. His lips parted as I ghosted mine over him. Feeling his hands grip my sides as the kiss deepens. My body warms when he pulls my leg over his waist, feeling his body beneath me. I found my hands sliding up into his hair; his heartbeat was strong enough that I could feel it over my own nerves. His hip bones pressing into my ass has my mind wandering to dangerous places. 

He pushes us up, so I’m sitting on his lap with one hand holding me to him. I don’t know what possessed me to lift the bottom of his shirt, sliding my hands around his waist. His skin is so warm and soft, and I just want to kiss every inch of his body. Breaking away from the kiss, he pulls his shirt off in one quick motion—well, that’s hot—tossing it to the side before coming back to me. 

“Wait,” I whisper. Grabbing the hem of my shirt, pulling it off, and revealing my bralette. I can see his eyes light up, even in the dark, as he glances down at the plunging neckline. “It's only fair.” 

His jaw goes slack as we’re both sat there in just our underwear. Timidly, his hands find their place on my waist, and I slowly drape my arms around his neck. It’s hard to believe that we didn’t knock our teeth together, smiling into every kiss. The little noises coming from both of us, every breathy almost moan, making me more intoxicated with him.   

His grip on me tightens, tugging me closer to him if that’s even possible. My hips have a mind of their own, subtly pushing down into him. The smallest amount of friction sends shivers through me. He didn’t move away.. So maybe he doesn’t mind? Deciding to test the waters, I push myself up on my knees slightly, definitely not on purpose, putting some pressure against his subtly hard cock– making him moan into me. His hands pulled me back down, hard against him this time. This tortuous game we’re playing makes every kiss a bit hotter, feeling like a teenager again as I randomly grind my hips into him. 

“Are you trying to kill me?” he whispers, the sound of his raspy voice alone, almost making me moan at this point. 

Letting out a small ‘mmm’ against his lips, “Is it working?” I ask quietly. 

“I swear to god,” he starts, in between kisses, “if Josh wasn’t down the hall..” 

My heart races at the thought, my mouth moving faster than my brain can filter, “What if we’re quiet?” 

His sweet laugh against me, “Mmm, as tempting as that is,” stopped to press a few kisses into me. “I wanna be able to hear all the pretty sounds you’ll make.”

“Jacob,” I moan into his mouth. I’m not entirely proud of how that snuck out, but he is so hot sometimes. We spend another minute with my hands tangled in his hair and his hands slowly making their way down to my ass as he smiles into the kiss when he grabs a handful. 

“Hold on to me,” he mumbles into me before turning us over. Carefully setting me against his pillows, hovering for a second, I can’t help but glance down. His chest and stomach are on display, and god, is he gorgeous. When I thought seeing him in just sweatpants was bad, I had no idea how much worse it would be when I could see the outline of his hard dick on top of that. It is a mouthwatering sight if I can say so myself.

He looks down at my barely clothed body, taking a deep breath before looking back up at me, “I mean this in the most respectful way possible, okay?” My eyebrows pull together, trying to figure out where he’s going with this.

“Okay..”  

He lets his head fall back a bit before finally breathing out, “You’re so fucking hot, my god.”

“Oh, stop,” I whine; my face feels warm instantly as his eyes rake over me. 

“I’m sorry, I don't think I can,” he says, pressing a kiss into the top of my shoulder. “Have you seen yourself?” he asks, carefully brushing some loose hairs out of my face. How he went from being a typical boy to suddenly his normal sweet self is beyond me. 

“Jaaaake—“ 

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop. But I’m not happy about it.” Flopping down next to me with a little grin on his face, he lifts his arm for me to join him. 

He ends up pulling me into him, my head finding a comfortable spot tucked into his chest. We tangle ourselves together, my leg thrown over his hips with his hand immediately staking a claim on my thigh. I slide my free hand up his chest and neck, gently holding the side of his face, and tilt my head up to place one more kiss on his cheek before settling into sleep. 

Breathing him in and relishing in the warmth of this extraordinary man. I’m a breath away from falling asleep when I feel him pressing his lips against my forehead and mumbling, “Sweet dreams, honey.”

Chapter Thirteen  

Chapter Fifteen

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[samgirl98]

Forgotten Demon Twin 4/?

Prev | Next

Damian crossed his arms. A part of him wanted to be angry at Danyal. How dare he lie to them? They wanted to ensure he was fine, and here he was, not telling them the whole truth.

Then, the guilt set in.

Damian wouldn’t have to have asked if he had checked up on his brother if he had remembered he had a brother. Why was he so angry? They were strangers to Danyal. Of course, he would keep his secrets close to his chest. He had lied to the League, knowing that it could result in his death. Lying to the famous ‘no killing allowed’ Batman must’ve been easier.

Danyal sat in midair, his legs crossed.

It was difficult to see Danyal as, was he a ghost? Was his brother dead?

“How did you gain powers,” Richard asked, “Neither Talia nor Bruce have the metagene.”

Danyal shrugged but didn’t answer.

“Listen, I appreciate that you guys care enough to come and visit me, even if it is years later,” he mumbled the last part. It still made the family flinch, “But I don’t owe you guys anything. I don’t have to explain the ifs, whys, and buts. Just because you guys feel guilty, you can’t just uproot my whole life and claim to care and want to take me away from the only loving family I have ever known.”

“I’m not in any danger here—”

“You’re a child hero without adult supervision,” Bruce said.

“—And I have everything under control.”

“You shouldn’t have to have everything under control, Danny. I understand the need to help, but you’re young. You deserve to have some help.”

“What makes you think I don’t have help?”

“Really, do your parents know you’re Phantom?”

Danyal said nothing.

“We want to help, Danyal,” Damian said.

A look of anger marred Danyal’s face.

“Help? Like when you said you would help me train, shoved a sword through my shoulder, and then pushed me from a tower?”

Damian flinched and ignored Tim’s judgmental look.

“That was wrong of me. I apologize for everything I’ve done to you.”

Danny was about to say something before stopping. He still wasn’t one hundred percent sure this wasn’t a trap and didn’t want to give Damian a reason to take him back. So far, it looked like the League was no longer involved, but Batman and his…children were an unknown factor. If he could convince them to leave…

“Daniel James Fenton, you are in big trouble, young man!”

Uh-oh. Irate older sister alert.

Every member of the Batfamily was surprised that an angry teenage red-haired girl had snuck up on them.

She was carrying a green and white baseball bat, and her eyes seemed to glow.

Duke noticed she had a weird aura around her, too. It wasn’t as strong as Danny’s, but still there.

“Who are you people? Why is a group of mostly adults meeting my younger brother in the middle of the night in a desolate park?”

The girl looked at everyone at them and gave a double take when she spotted Damian. She turned to Danny.

“Why are they here,” she asked loudly.

“Jazz, this is Bruce and Damian Wayne. They are my biological father and twin brother. Oh, and everyone else is Bruce’s adopted kids, I guess.”

Wow, he had Damian’s introduction skills.

She turned around and crossed her arms. The bat was still in her hands.

“I’ll ask again: why are you here?”

“I just found out about Danny and wanted to meet him?”

Jazz walked up to Bruce and, without hesitation, poked Bruce’s chest with the baseball bat.

“Oh, and you couldn’t have waited until morning and talked to our parents first? You just had to lure my baby brother away from the safety of his home and basically ambush him?”

“Jazz,” Danny whined, embarrassed.

“I’m just saying it how I see it, little brother.”

“There were some outside circumstances that would’ve made meeting,” Jazz interrupted Bruce by banging the end of the baseball bat on the floor. It left a crater.

“I don’t care about you’re ‘outside circumstances.’ Most of you are adults, and you have a minor with you at night without his legal guardian’s knowledge. If you want to talk to Danny, meet our parents first and set up a meeting like a normal person.”

“Jazz, you don’t understand who they are—”

“I don’t care if they’re the president. Rules exist for a reason. Now come, Danny, we’re going home. Tucker and Sam are worried.”

Danny detransformed and followed Jazz. The last thing he heard was the butler say, “I like her.”

He sighed. It was going to be a long ride back home.

____

Tim had yet to learn what happened.

One minute, he was introduced to the Demon Brat’s twin brother (who seemed more mellow than Damian). The next, they had been attacked by some creature that Danny beat in under ten seconds.

He knew Danny had been lying when he opened his mouth, and Cass had confirmed it. He hadn’t had time to interrogate the kid, though, before an angry red-hair, who reminded him a bit of Barbara, showed up and chewed Bruce out while holding nothing more than a baseball bat.

“Well, that was…interesting,” Duke said.

“I like her,” Jason said, “She stood up to Bruce.”

Bruce glared at Jason. It wasn’t often he got chewed out, and it had never been from a teenage girl. He didn’t like it.

“So, next course of action,” Tim asked.

“Tt, obviously we get Danyal out of this…situation. He shouldn’t have to deal with all of this alone.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, baby bat.”

“Why not?”

“Danny seems to be attached to his adoptive family. He’s suffered a lot in the League. Don’t you think we should consider his feelings?”

The brat thought about it before deflating a little but said nothing.

“So, I repeat: what now?”

Bruce said nothing, not sure what to do.

Suddenly, the smell of earl grey tea was heavy in the air, and he felt the phantom hand of his late surrogate father.

He took a deep breath and said, “It’s time to meet the Fenton.”

[cursedzucchini]

DC x DP prompt

So i have seen the Damian and Danny are twins and Danny's fave bat is Red Hood and threw them in blender and this is what I got lmao.

It's basically the same, Damian and Danny are twins, but this time? This time they are tied when it comes to power/standing in the League.

Danny might be a little faster on his feet, but Damian doesn't hesitate in life or death situations, Danny might be a little better at first aid, but Damian obeys their Grandfather's every word. Like overall Danny is tiny bit better than Damian, but it doesn't matter bc he doesn't kill.

Anyway long story short, they both are send on different missions to kill some guys. Damian kills the guy, Danny doesn't. And Danny really tries but he just can't. Danny knows this would be death sentence if he returned, so he runs away. (He can meet jezz and she just goes, ok this guys my new bro, and the fentons just accepting it)

Idk how but somehow the league thinks he's dead, and it somehow works out the same as before, but now Damian has ✨brother Complex✨.

Anyway time skip few years and Damian is in Gotham, Danny is half dead and all that stuff. But something happens (could be the fentons finding out about Phantom, or just some ghost king stuff) and Danny needs to go to Gotham. He already knows Abt the bats and especially Abt red hood.

Now allow me to explain more Abt Danny's weird relationship w red hood. Bc Danny grew up in the environment he did, he really blamed himself for being too weak to kill some random guy. And one day he learns about red hood, who kills (or killed) the people he deems as irredeemable (or just bad, but it could be specifically misinformation like this). And Danny, the literal king of ghosts (like he can appreciate it from the revenge side of thing), a child who was taught murder was okay and sometimes needed, but also not able to kill someone himself, Danny really loves this guy, but also really hates himself for not being able to be like him.

Tbh i think this is more of a background or a story than a prompt itself but i hope it can count. My thought process also went to Bruce and overall his reaction to another kid who also desperately wishes to be like his (most fucked up? Murderous? Idk how to describe this) other kid, even though he (Danny) is more like Bruce (w the whole no killing thing).

Like it just seems like such a beautiful fuckery, like I'd love to read it lol

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Highway Home

Jazz and Kyle have a little chat about their brothers after the brothers in question leave the two of them stranded on the freeway and forced to walk home.

Based on the prompts: Jazz and Kyle are stuck wandering the freeway after their brothers show up and steal Kyle's car. [from @camels-pen], and “So how do you feel about the fact that ‘that Fenton kid’ always refers to your little brother, whose infamy has made him far more well-known in the school than you?” ...Maybe Jazz wants some crazy rumors too. [from @dragonsdomain]

Read also on AO3

[Warning for death threats (to siblings), and a creepy guy showing up for a hot minutes, but thankfully Jazz and Kyle aren't stupid]

"Well that just happened," Kyle Weston said flatly as his car drove away with his brother and that Fenton kid inside, apparently chasing after something, although Kyle hadn't seen what.

He looked to his side where the other Fenton kid was standing with her arms crossed, looking only mildly annoyed, given the circumstances. She had been catching a ride with him back from the academic decathlon team victory party—they'd kicked Elmerton Central High's ass, and Jackie Calloway threw a huge party at his fancy house in Polter Heights to celebrate.

The party had been awesome, but Kyle wasn't really a night owl, so when Jazz—the team's MVP—said she was gonna head home early, and then her parents wouldn't pick up the phone, Kyle offered to give her a ride.

Now the two of them were standing on the side of the freeway as it grew steadily colder and darker. Which was... significantly less awesome than hanging out at Jackie Calloway's party.

Even so, the two of them knew their respective brothers well enough that a circumstance such as this was all but expected at this point.

"Guess we're walking home," Jazz said with a sigh.

Kyle groaned, but didn't outright complain as the two started to walk along the side of the freeway toward home. The cars on the road passed them at frighting speeds, throwing gusts of wind their way that did nothing to combat the rapidly cooling evening air.

"At least it's only one more exit," Jazz pointed out optimistically.

That one more exit was over a mile away, and they would have to walk the whole way like this. Kyle hadn't even had the chance to grab his jacket when Wes forced him out of his own car, yelling that it was some kind of emergency.

"Wes doesn't even have his driver's license yet," Kyle grumbled. Wes only had. a learner's permit because he spent all his time screwing around with Danny Fenton instead of doing driving lessons with Dad. "If he wrecks my car, I swear I'll kill him."

"I wonder what all the rush was," Jazz said thoughtfully. "They didn't exactly explain much when they kicked us out. I hope they'll be okay."

Kyle really didn't understand what Wes' deal was with the Fenton kid. It seemed like Wes hated him one day, but they were buddies the next, and then enemies again a week later. He hoped they either made out, or broke up, or whatever needed to happen to make the two of them chill out.

He looked over at Jazz again, and reminded himself for the second time that she was a Fenton kid, too. He wondered if it ever made her self-conscious, that even though she'd been going to Casper High for tree years compared to her brother's one, his reputation was so much more significant than hers.

Sure, pretty much everyone knew Jazz Fenton. Her tutoring list was substantial, so a lot of students even knew her personally, but if they didn't, most still knew of her. Kind, helpful, in line to be valedictorian, highest scorer ever on the CAT exam. But people knew Jazz in the back of their minds, whereas what they knew of her brother was front-and-center. His reputation spread far and wide, so basically everyone in town knew of him.

The passing cars had been too loud to let them carry a conversation, but when there was a lull in traffic, Kyle figured he might as well take the opportunity to ask while it was just the two of them.

"So hey... does it ever, like, bother you that when people say 'that Fenton kid', it always refers to your little brother?" he asked. "I mean like, how does it feel that his infamous reputation has made him way more well-known around school than you are?"

Jazz side eyed him, pulling her cardigan closer around her.

"I'd think of all people, you'd know," she replied. "Aren't you basically in the same situation with Wes? I don't think I've ever heard anyone say 'that Weston kid' and mean you."

"Fair point." He shrugged. "But still, I'm curious. Same situation, different people right. Maybe you feel differently about it than I do."

"Alright, I'll bite," she relented. "But you've gotta tell me your feelings on the matter so we can compare. Otherwise, it's not very scientific."

"Deal," Kyle agreed immediately.

Another car drove passed, and they paused their conversation until the Doppler effect had faded enough for them to be hear.

"So how do you feel about it?" Kyle prompted once it was gone.

Jazz looked into the distance, her lips pursed in consideration, and then she shook her head.

"I don't know really," she said. "I guess mostly I'm just concerned for my brother, you know? What if this reputation he's developed as a weirdo and a troublemaker follows him into college and his future career? What if it prevents him from being able to network with people, and make new friends? But also...."

"Yeah?" Kyle encouraged, sensing that this 'also' was gonna be pretty juicy.

"Well... maybe I want some crazy rumors too, you know?"

A car drove by right as she started to reply, and she had to yell to be heard.

Kyle put on an incredibly satisfied grin at that. He was right. That was a juicy 'also'.

She waited for the noise to fade before continuing.

"I mean, there are people at our school who genuinely, unironically believe that my brother's bladder can predict ghost attacks," she said. "How nuts is that? Your brother swears up and down that Danny is a ghost himself. And ever since all that pirate stuff, the entire freshman class thinks he's some kind of ghost hunting badass, even though he still gets bullied by the football players.

"There are people on the academic decathlon team—some of the smartest, most logical kids in school—who are completely convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Danny is some kind of bad luck charm, because of a series of total coincidences that happened when he sat in on one of our practices. None of them were even remotely his fault, he was just waiting around so I could give him a ride home from school because he sprained his ankle.

"Obviously, I don't want people thinking I'm bad luck, but maybe something just a little weird going around about me would be fun," she finished. "Or make me seem like a little less of a goody-two-shoes at least."

"You want some kind of bad girl reputation?" Kyle teased.

"Well... no," Jazz said, half-shrugging and half nodding. "I like being a goody-two-shoes, but that's not all I am, you know? I can be just as creepy, and badass, and mysterious as Danny can." She punctuated her statement with a pout that was neither creepy, nor badass, nor mysterious.

Kyle shook his head and chuckled.

"To be honest, I don't get what the deal is with our school's obsessive ghost superstition," he said. "I've got a lot of friends online in gaming groups and I've never met anyone as adamant about the existence of ghosts as our classmates at school. I don't know if it's a gimmick, or some cultural thing I missed out on, or what, but it's so over the top."

Jazz laughed out loud, although, for the life of him, he couldn't tell if she was laughing with him or at him. She didn't say anything though.

He knew that she used to be just as much of a staunch skeptic as he was, but at some point in the last year, public opinion on the existence of ghosts had shifted dramatically, and he wasn't sure if her opinion had shifted with it or not. Even if she did believe in ghosts, at least she wasn't as much of a fanatic about it as everyone else was. At least she never spent an hour trying, unsuccessfully, to convince Kyle that ghosts were real.

"Alright, I've said my piece," she told him with a smile like she was humoring him. "Your turn. How do you feel about your brother being so much better-known around school than you are."

"Hmm...."

Kyle thought about it for a moment, his brows furrowed under the edge of his baseball cap. He probably should have thought about it before. It wasn't like he didn't know this was coming.

"I would have to say... I guess I'm like, half annoyed, and half relieved."

"Interesting," Jazz replied. "Elaborate."

Another car drove by, and they both shivered in the wind it blew their way. It was fully dark now, and Kyle was really regretting the fact that he hadn't thought to grab his Jacket when they got stranded.

When the chill passed, and the sound of the engine faded, Kyle chuckled to himself.

"Alright, sure," he allowed. "I'm annoyed because most of the people I talk to, when I mention Wes, they immediately recognize his name, and then they say they didn't even know he had a twin brother. So like, at least people know you exist, even if your brother's more well-known than you are.

"And I'm relieved because have you heard Wes' reputation?" Kyle all but snorted. "People think he's a total nut-case, some kind of raving mad conspiracy theorist. I'm much happier to wallow in anonymity than be the target of constant mockery. He's got such a reputation that people won't even believe him when he says something objectively cool.

"In computer class one time, a girl remarked that she hadn't seen any ducks at the pond in the park lately, and Wes said that was because they migrate south for the winter. Common knowledge, right? Except because it was Wes that said it, she opened a new tab and googled it right in front of him."

Jazz busted up with laughter. "Oh my god, really?"

"I swear to god," Kyle confirmed. "So yeah, if my choice is between obscurity and whatever Wes has got going on, I think I have the better end of the deal, honestly."

"Okay, I can see your point. At least for as wild a reputation as Danny has, his credibility is still pretty high."

"He did get featured in Genius Magazine," he remembered. "Some... gorilla thing, right? That'll boost anybody's credibility."

"Ha! Fair enough, yeah," she agreed. "Somehow, I always forget about that."

"Too bad my brother's just a doofus and not a genius," Kyle joked.

But Jazz didn't laugh at that, only smiled in such a way that was knowing as much as it was amused.

"I don't know," she said, and Kyle didn't like her tone as she said it. It wasn't... mocking exactly, but she spoke as if she knew something he didn't, and that bothered him. "Maybe he's just misunderstood."

"Maybe he's just a pain in the rear," he retorted with a scoff.

Another car came by, but this one slowed when it got close to them.

Kyle saw Jazz tense up, and he put himself between her and the strange vehicle, just in case.

A man leaned out the driver's side window to talk to them. "You kids need a ride?" he asked.

"No thanks," Kyle told him, smiling politely. "We haven't got much farther to go."

"Just the same, it's gettin' late," the man insisted. "I don't like the idea of two kids wandering the highway in the dark for any distance."

"And you like the idea of two kids climbing into a stranger's car any better?" Kyle raised an eyebrow. "If it's all the same to you, we'd rather take a mode of transportation that's guaranteed to get us where we want to go, instead of landing us dead and buried in the woods."

The man scowled. "Is that anyway to talk to a good Samaritan just trying to help?"

"What did you expect?" Jazz pitched. "You're a total stranger trying to pick us up off the side of the road even though we didn't indicate in any way that we were looking for a ride? You can't seriously be worried about us running into a creeper and not realize that you're acting like one, can you?"

Kyle glanced back at her and her thoroughly derisive look, impressed for a moment, before fixing his gaze back on the man, who scowled at the both of them, but pulled his head back in his car and drove off, grumbling the whole time. They waited until the man was a long way down the freeway before they started moving again.

"Damn, you sure told that guy," Kyle commended. "You can be badass."

Jazz flipped her hair for effect and rolled back her shoulders. "I did tell you, didn't I?"

"That you did."

"Now, come on. Our exit's just up ahead, let's take it before another creep drives by that we can only hope takes 'no' for an answer."

"Good call."

Their conversation faded as the two of them started to run ahead to the downtown Amity Park exit where they could finally get off the free way and onto the much safer surface roads.

Once they were back in town, they struck up a conversation about academic decathlon, and the computer camp Kyle went to, and the colleges Jazz had been touring lately as she chose where to apply.

Kyle's apartment was much closer than Jazz's place, but since it was already well after dark, he offered to walk her all the way home if she wanted. She thanked him, but politely declined, assuring him she could handle herself for a few blocks, and it wasn't a dangerous neighborhood. All the same, he asked her to shoot him a text when she got home so he wouldn't have to worry about her, and that, she did agree to.

He was just logging into his favorite online game, about ten minutes later, when the text came in from her, letting Kyle know she hadn't died on the way home.

It turned out Wes wasn't as stupid as Kyle thought he was, because he brought Kyle's car back in the same condition he'd taken it, and he'd even filled the tank. After examining it for scratches and dents, Kyle decided that his brother could live another day.

He asked Wes why he had taken it in the first place, of course. But Wes had replied with a long, convoluted story about the Fenton kid losing his powers and they needed it to chase after some evil, uber powerful ghost. After a couple of minutes, Kyle just cut him off and said he didn't need an elaborate lie and if Wes wanted it kept private so bad, he could just say so.

That, of course, made Wes irrationally angry, which was hilarious, and made the whole ordeal worth it in Kyle's opinion. He got to see his brother seethe, and he had a nice conversation with Jazz Fenton, so all in all, he couldn't even find it in him to be that mad about his car being stolen.