#danny just keeps doing such baffling things

[nanenna]

This Phone Call Could've Been a Text

More Sleepy King Here

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Batman moved to sit at the table in the kitchenette, his hand absently moving to adjust a cape that wasn’t there. He pulled out a tablet and brought up the camera feed for the bedroom, the audio from the bugs he’d planted in his ear. Nearby the JLD had finished agreeing on their plan and were setting it in motion, it seemed Dr. Fate was the first to go cast spells at the boy.

Diana came into the room. “The boy has several blessings.”

That caught everyone’s attention. “What kind of blessings?” Constantine asked warily.

Diana shook her head, “I couldn’t tell, I just know he has several blessings from powerful beings.”

“The boy or the king?” Raven asked.

Diana shook her head again.

“Something else for us to look into,” Zatanna said with a tired sigh. Discussion between the JLD members picked back up, kept carefully hushed, as if afraid the boy (or the king sleeping inside him) would somehow hear.

Diana came and sat down next to Batman, he changed the angle on the tablet so they could both watch. That’s all either of them could do right now, sit and watch.

Diana sighed, “He looks content.”

Batman turned his attention from Dr. Fate casting his spells to Danny, seemingly dead to the world as magic flashed over him. “He does.”

“I hope it stays that way, I hope we are able to find a solution before he wakes.”

Batman simply nodded, he hoped so as well.

Dr. Fate finished with his spells and quietly made his way back to the kitchenette. There was a brief discussion from the group, then Zatanna was taking her turn.

Their discussion continued even after the Sorceress Supreme left, Batman catching brief snatches of magical jargon. He technically knew the definitions of the words he heard, but he knew his understanding was surface level at best.

Dr. Fate approached their table. “Wonder Woman, you said the blessings were laid by powerful beings?”

Diana nodded, “Yes, quite powerful.”

“Can you describe how powerful?”

Diana’s brow furrowed as she thought the matter over, “I believe they were on par with the gods, though it didn’t feel divine.”

Dr. Fate nodded, then returned to the huddle to discuss the matter further.

Batman and Diana watched as Zatanna finished her round, then conceded to Captain Marvel. They expected him, as the champion of magic, to have the most insight, yet when he walked back into the room he looked quite disappointed as he shook his head. “I fear the wisdom of Solomon has failed me.”

“Is it perhaps the same block that has kept us from noticing Amity Park?” Diana asked, standing up to join the JLD in their huddle.

“Most likely,” Zatanna agreed. “I couldn’t even get a read on the blessings you spoke of.”

“Was there anything you could scry?” Diana asked.

While their discussion continued, debating whether it was better to figure the block out or attempt to blindly work around it given their unknown limit, Batman kept his eye on the feed of Danny’s room. Clark leaned forward, the blankets shifted, then Danny was sitting up while yawning and stretching.

“Danny’s woken up,” Batman said.

The room fell silent.

Constantine sighed and nudged Raven, “C’mon, luv, let’s get outta the way.” He waved a hand and the lights dimmed. “Remember, keep him half awake as long as possible. And try to look like you’re here for a reason, make a cuppa or something.”

There was a mild flurry in Constantine’s wake as the others bustled about making a quick cup of tea or popping off-brand toaster pastries into the provided toaster. Not a bad plan, it’ll make the room smell homier and would give the magicians an excuse to be there.

Diana placed a half full glass of water near Batman, sitting down with her own steaming mug. The kitchenette now smelled of warm tea, toasting pastries, and ozone. Batman closed out of the surveillance and switched over to a note taking app.

Clark eventually entered, gently guiding Danny along. The boy had Batman’s cape over his shoulders but it was dangerously close to slipping off one, Clark fussily rearranged the cape as the bleary eyed boy shuffled slowly into the room. Danny hadn’t even seemed to notice his audience as he slowly made his way to the table and plopped gracelessly into a chair.

Marvel handed off the quickly plated pastries to Clark, which he gently placed before Danny. Zatanna offered a steaming mug, which Clark also gently placed in front of the boy.

“There we are, Danny, you hungry?”

Danny mumbled something as he absently picked up his pastry, chocolate this time, and began nibling it.

There was an exchanging of glances between the room’s occupants, as if unsure how to proceed. Then Zatanna and Dr. Fate both lifted a hand each, inscribing runes into the air.

“How are you feeling now, champ?” Clark asked awkwardly.

“Mmm… better,” Danny mumbled, crumbs tumbling from his mouth. He followed it with a yawn, yet again moving his hand as if to cover his mouth and missing far and away too much to hide his sharp fangs.

Clark glanced down at the mug, then nudged it closer. “Have some hot cocoa.”

Danny hummed in agreement and reached for the mug, just holding it in his hands.

Batman glanced back at the magicians. It seemed Zatanna was having difficulty with whatever spell she was attempting, and from the similar expression on Marvel’s face he was in the same situation. Or perhaps all three were attempting a combined spell.

Danny slowly lifted the mug and took a careful sip. “Hmmm… s’good.”

“That’s good,” Clark said with a gentle smile. “Eat up, you’re a growing boy.”

“Still growing,” Danny mumbled, but did as he was told. He held his pastry back up and nibbled more.

Batman felt the hairs on his arms raise despite being covered head to toe, the tension from the three magicians’ combined spell clearly filling the room.

The tension broke suddenly with a gasp at the same time a faint jingle played in the room. Batman frowned, unsure what had caused that. From the wide eyed stares from Marvel and Zatanna, they weren’t sure either. Or perhaps they knew exactly what was going on and were shocked.

The jingle played again, this time Batman placing it as coming from Danny’s direction. He watched as Danny absently reached up to touch his ear, a white ear piece with a little arm and neon green mic on the end simply appeared.

There were choked gasps, Batman spared a quick glance to find all three magicians reeling back in stunned shock.

“... ‘llo?” Danny mumbled.

[jnece-maharlika]

Amity parkers are feral and insane

-Gothamites.

Somehow, someway, Casper high finds their selves in Gotham.

It could be a field trip or a ghost shoved them in a portal, doesn't matter, they're in Gotham.

As they arrive in Gotham, the Casper teachers decide to turn this into something educational and hire a tour guide from Gotham Academy (or was it Gotham university? I forgot) GA agrees and also Sends some of their students to partner up with the amity parkers as a sort "buddy" and to hopefully teacher em the ways of surviving in Gotham.

To the gothamites, the amity parkers look like children who have never been exposed to crime in their life, never been mugged, never been been kidnapped.

But the truth is, compared to the BS amity is used to, Gothams issues are like kindergarten.

First thing the tour guide hears when she greets Casper high Mr lancer telling them to, "Please don't walk into danger, please don't try and provoke the joker, I know he's a bitch but still. If you find yourself in a tricky situation, do not hesitate to punch yourself to freedom, but ABSOLUTELY NO CRITICAL HITs these are NORMAL people they're not like us or the ghosts, they will not survive. Please do not give phantom problems, He's already failing in class he doesn't need more problems"

Its important to keep in mind that:

amity parkers and ghosts are buddies now.

The Ambient ectoplasm gave them a form of super strength, also making it so that they are able to touch ghost.

They join the ghost brawls everyone in a while and has some wins.

Most, if not all are liminal in a way.

Everyone knows that Danny is phantom but have signed an NDA that says they aren't allowed to tell anyone who isn't a native amity parker who he is.

Things is, The gothamites don't know about this and take it as if Mr lancer and the students are underestimating Gotham. So as a from of pettiness, all the Gotham students decided to bring their amity partner to the most dangerous places they can think of.

Niky has lead sam into a park that poison ivy frequents. Of course, poison ivy is there but instead of running away in fear like niky expected, Sam runs up to ivy, complements her and joins the path of eco terrorism.

Tucker and his partner Vic finds himself in the middle of a riddler attack, locked in a room with no way out, a countdown timer with 20 secs remaining and a riddle in a computer.

Vic is panicking as he tries to figure it out, he looked to tucker for help. Tucker just shrugged and hacked the computer, not even bothering to solve the riddle. It worked and Vic is baffled and the riddler is frustrated.

Danny find himself in the hands of the joker, (his partner ran the moment joker was seen) hanging upside down on top of a large pool of acid, because, it's classic for joker. He is also being live streamed.

The teachers in GA are panicking, the bats are panicking.

Casper high teacher took one look at the stream and shrugged. "Eh, he'll be fine." They also called the number that joker has displayed on the screen, just to say, "Daniel Fenton, make sure your back before in GA 6 pm or else were leaving you to find the hotel on your own."

The time is 5:30 pm.

It takes 25 minutes to walk from Joker to GA.

Danny sighs, might as well start walking.

He uses intangibility to free himself and fall into the vat of acid.

The Gothamites are shocked and screaming, the bats are shocked. Amity parkes went "oh" and continued placing bets on how fast Danny will get back.

Danny then proceeds to swim out of the acid pool, punch the joker in the face, knocking him out in a single hit and then proceeds to casually squeeze out the acid from his Casper high "I am a proud amitian" shirt as if it's regular water.

All of this was done in 5 minutes.

All of this was caught on stream.

The Gothamites are passed out, the bats are questioning everything. Batman is searching up everything he can about acid side effects and about Danny but ends up with nothing.

The amity parkers just raised their bets even further.

Danny somehow makes it back 10 minutes late and Wes wins the bet.

[too-much-tma-stuff]

Finally Getting Help (prt 8)

Masterpost

The next day was less chaotic but not by much. They had to go through everything they’d taken from the Fenton’s lab, and reluctantly accepted Danny and Jazz’s help with the task because they were familiar with the tech. That was surprisingly needed since all of their gadgets were extremely obtuse and looked like household appliances. It was honestly surprising how good Danny was with all of this stuff, he knew what everything was, how to take it apart and how to put it back together to show the heroes how it worked. 

“They don’t all work for humans. Some have to be fueled with ectoplasm so they need to be constantly refueled. Dad used to wear a backpack full of the stuff ghost busters style but that’s really not practical so this one isn’t very useful to you. I can use it though,” Danny said as he screwed the last part back on the.. Whatever it was. 

“Okay, but why does it look like a blender?” Tim asked, baffled and impressed.

“Oh that’s because that’s what it was built out of,” Danny said with a crooked smile. “We repurposed a lot of household items into tech. Give me a couple toasters and a microwave and I’ll have three specter deflectors ready for you before dinner time.” He said as he pressed his hand against one of the gins and it started glowing intently green.

“Here don’t drop it,” He said tossing it to Batman, who did manage to catch it. “I fueled it with three shots, just in case Vlad shows up or another ghosts threatens you. And actually even with your charms I would feel a lot better if you all had specter deflectors since you’re all involved with me now,” He sighed and rubbed his face. 

“Well… we can get you toasters and a microwave but we can also get you more advanced parts if those will work better,” Bruce told Danny, gingerly holding the odd gun away from himself. It wasn’t a traditional gun so it wasn’t upsetting but he still didn’t like it. 

Danny looked very tempted but he shook his head. “No I’d better do it with what I know, I can get it done faster that way and they work. I’d love to play with some of those more advanced parts though. I’m sure I can come with some fun stuff.” 

Uh oh, Bruce didn’t like that look on Tim’s face, the last thing he needed was more encouragement! But Danny was the child of mad scientists, he would get along perfectly with Tim, Bruce was going to have to keep a close eye on them to make sure they didn’t accidentally make a death ray. 

“You can join me in my lab later,” Tim offered hopefully and Danny glanced up at him with a borderline feral grin. 

“That sounds great, I’m sure you have much better lab safety than my parents. Love engineering, would hate to die a second time.” He said it like a joke, just the way Jason tended to. Jazz laughed, but only to encourage her brother’s coping method, no one else did. 

“Alright, we’ll go to the nearest home appliance store and get you some toasters and microwaves,” Bruce said. 

“Hell ya, I should have been adopted by a rich family years ago,” Danny cackled. Oh dear, he’d been so traumatized yesterday Bruce hadn’t realized he was Feral. Why did this keep happening.

He informed Alfred of Danny’s request and by the time they finished going over the more confusing inventions and left for lunch the appliances were waiting for Danny in the lab that he and Tim would apparently now be sharing. Danny immediately dove on the machinery starting to take them apart with practiced hands. He seemed calm and in his element but Tim stayed to supervise, both just in case something went wrong, and because it was His lab and they hadn’t talked about rules of cohabitation yet.

Bruce left them to it. Alfred had informed him that Jason had arrived and headed straight to the kitchen without saying hello to anyone else. It wasn’t a surprise, he was closest to Alfred, he’s want to help with making dinner, and get the basic scoop from his most trusted family member before having to face anyone else. Bruce knew better than to intrude on that, but God did he want to. 

Regardless of what his children thought Bruce cared deeply for all of them, and he hated that sometimes they doubted it. He wished he was better at telling and showing them, but he’d managed to convince himself it was too late for him to change so he didn’t have to face the years of mistakes and trauma he had endured and inflicted. No matter what what image he tried to project, he was still only human.

He went to his office, but he couldn’t settle to anything, he did a little bit of this, and little bit of that, and just ended up pacing the carpeted floor. He left them alone as long as he could before he gave in and went down to the kitchen.

“Sorry to interrupt, I just needed a cup of coffee,” He said as casually as he could. The looks Alfred and Jason gave him said neither of them actually believed his excuse, which was fair. “It’s good to see you Jaylad, thanks for coming.”

“Well I’m not going to miss out on a new brother am I? You gonna have this one running around in spandex too B?” He asked, raising an eyebrow, it made Bruce wince but it Was progress because he was acknowledging their familial ties. 

“I’m almost two years too late to stop him,” Bruce said regretfully. “It’s been… a lot has happened. I’m sure Alfred caught you up on most of it, but I’d like to talk to you before you meet either of the siblings.”

“Trying to make sure I won’t be a bad influence?” Jason asked and Bruce couldn’t tell if he was joking or accusing. 

“No, nothing like that,” Bruce said, holding up his hands. “I just want to talk.”

Jason hummed skeptically, scrutinizing Bruce before turning back towards Alfred. “What do you think Alfie, can you spare me?”

“I always appreciate your help master Jason, but I can manage on my own,” Alfred assured, sounding amused. 

“Alright, to your office then?” Jason asked, turning back towards Bruce. 

“Or the sitting room, whichever would be more comfortable.”

“Office,” Jason said firmly, this was the distance that he was keeping between them. They worked together now, and Jason cared for his siblings, but he kept them all at arms length. For everyone’s safety really, if they set him off he didn’t want to hurt them, and he didn’t want to be set off either. It always felt like shit. Jason followed Bruce to the office and sprawled in the soft chair across the desk from Bruce’s. He remembered being a kid, sitting properly and nervously in this chair across from Bruce hoping desperately for his approval. How times change.

“I just wanted to talk to you about the new kids” Bruce started and Jason waved him away.

“I’m really not going to corrupt them or anything, I Probably won’t be around enough to make a difference anyway.” Jason said dismissively.

Bruce took a deep breath, controlling his expression and folding his hands on the table. “That’s not it Jaylad, Alfred must have told you that the boy died and came back?” 

Jason tensed and green swirled in his vision, it was the same thing that Bruce had seen in Danny when Zatana asked about Phantom. “Ya he did.” Defensive and insecure.

“It seems like he, and his sister who was sort of a caretaker to him, know a lot more than we do about the effect that that has on a person. To help us take care of Danny she gave us a presentation about it, it… makes a lot of sense. You should probably talk to her and Danny about it really but I just wanted to apologize. 

“I’ve been trying to fix this, fix… you for a long time and I know I’ve been going about it wrong and I’ve been hurting you.”

“You got a new treatment plan in mind, old man?” Jason asked, his arms crossed and Bruce wished that mistrust wasn’t earned. 

“No,” Bruce sighed looking down. “Really Jason I don’t, I know I was wrong. This is something I just didn’t know I didn’t know about,” He hated his own ignorance, he hated to admit it! He was Batman! The way he kept up with other superheroes was always being prepared for everything and knowing more than everyone around him, but he hadn’t even known there was something there to know!

“This isn’t about that, and it’s not about you staying away from the new kids. Exactly the opposite actually, since they know more about this, and Danny might be one of the few people who really understands what it’s like to die and come back like that, I was hoping you’d spend more time here, around them. I think it might help you both.”

“Huh,” Jason sounded, blinking rapidly because that was the most sincere apology he’d gotten from Bruce and he didn’t quite know how to react to it. “Maybe… maybe.” He hadn’t met the new siblings yet after all, maybe they’d hate each other. 

“Can I meet them now?” He asked looking back up at Bruce curiously. 

“Of course, the girl's name is Jasmine Fenton, called Jazz, the boy goes by Danny. Jazz is turning 18 soon, Danny is 16.” 

Right Tim had mentioned that, so Danny was about 3 years younger than him then. That shouldn’t matter too much, and maybe Tim will be right about the sister and can tease Jason about it. He’d been single for a while and wouldn’t mind changing that.

“Of course, I think you should meet Jazz first, she’s protective of Danny and she hasn’t been very involved in all of this. I think she’d feel better being allowed to… vet you first for lack of a better word. Are you okay with that?” Bruce asked Jason politely. 

“Sure, I don’t really care what order I meet them in and… Look Bruce I know I’m mad at you, and I was really hard on Timmy when everything was still raw. But I’m never going to knowingly hurt a kid, or make life harder for them. If I can help them I will,” Jason said sincerely. 

“Jason, the girl is less than a year younger than you. You’re a kid too,” Bruce said sadly. Jason froze for a moment, Yes he was 19, his mind wasn’t fully developed yet or whatever the hell, but he hadn’t felt like a kid since his death. Even before that, the responsibility for his mother, and then the work as a hero. Bruce wanted soldiers, Jason had never gotten a chance to be a kid really.

“Whatever,” Jason scoffed, shoving his hands into his pockets and standing up, closing himself off from that sincerity. “Do you know where she is?”

“She’s in the library,” Bruce said, his lips twitching up in a smile. “She loves books almost as much as you did, though she seems to be more drawn to non-fiction.” 

Jason hummed and nodded, heading towards the door since he knew his own damn way to the library, Bruce didn’t have to lead! He did follow through, he was clearly protective of these kids so of course he would want to be there when Jason met them.

When he entered the library he saw a young woman sitting at one of the tables with some sort of text book. Her back was straight and her legs tucked under the chair with her ankles crossed. It looked like she was self consciously trying to look put together. She looked up at them, blue green eyes looking him over critically, he could practically see her picking him apart in her mind and he tried not to fidget.

“Hey, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Jason Todd,” He said, walking over and offering her his hand to shake. She was very pretty, but he was surprised by his own complete lack of attraction, she just didn’t register that way, she seemed more… maternal almost.

“Ah, the dead son,” She chuckled, getting up from the table and reaching out to shake his hand, her grip was strong and her hands were soft and cool. “It’s nice to meet you, they mentioned you. Nothing bad,” She added when she saw her face. “And I don’t mean to be rude, I know some people are sensitive about their deaths being mentioned. Danny jokes about it all the time so… I just wanted to let you know that I know, and I accept you.” Jazz said with a warm smile. 

Her easy acceptance caught him off guard and before he could help it he was baring his teeth at her in a snarl, defensive and probing, did she mean it? She grinned sharper bearing sharp fangs at him in a matching sign of… friendly aggression, something inside him settled. He chuckled and took a step back. “Well thanks, nice to meet someone who doesn’t look like they bit a lemon every time I make a death joke.”

“It’s your death, as long as it’s healthy you can own that however comes naturally to you,” Jazz promised, sitting back down at the desk. “I’d love to talk more and get to know you, but we can do that later. You really should meet Danny.”

“You don’t want to come with us,” Bruce broke in, sounding worried. Jason had almost forgotten he was there, he hadn’t realized how… all encompassing the short interaction had been.

“I’ll probably follow,” Jazz said with a shrug, her gaze turning stern as she looked at Bruce. “Remember what I said about never breaking up a fight,” She told him firmly. 

Well if that didn’t make Jason nervous he didn’t know what did. Why would he fight with Danny? Would Danny fight with him? Why? “You really think it’s a good idea for us to meet? Why would we fight?” Jason asked her sharply.

“Of course,” she agreed, her eyes softening as she looked back at him, though her expression remained a little mischievous. “It’ll be good for both of you.”

Next

[little-pondhead]

DP x DC Prompt

…

There are no more heroes.

Well, okay. Rewind a bit.

Danny has been doing the hero thing for a while now. He’s had a big reveal; everyone has accepted him (including his parents), the GIW disbanded, the Anti-Ecto acts repealed, and generally, everything is going great. Some of the A-Listers are even training as junior ghost hunters to help give him a break from his rogues! (Being Ghost King makes things hectic sometimes, and he just needs the extra help. Sue him!)

The point is, literally nothing is wrong with Danny Phantom’s afterlife.

And then Valerie Gray, the Red Huntress, disappears in front of his eyes.

Danny is baffled! She’s just…gone! Valerie just popped out of existence, like she was never there. But no matter how hard he searches in the Ghost Zone, he can’t find her soul anywhere. His core isn't broken in grief. So she’s not dead. Which is good. So then, where is she?

Some of the others come forward with ideas on how to find her. A few ghosts volunteer to go out into the mortal realm, an area Danny had declared off-limits, to see if she was out there. Danny approves it. He rounds up some of the friendlier (i.e., discreet) ghosts and Amity Parkers and demolishes the outside travel ban.

So everyone spreads out, looking for their dear frenemy and teammate. But it becomes apparent very quickly that something is wrong with the rest of the world.

There are no more heroes.

Every single living superhero on the face of the Earth has just…vanished. Villains are running amok; the countries are in chaos! Some aliens are invading Earth, mythical deities are trying to take over, and society is crumbling to the ground. Everything is on the brink of collapse.

Well, Danny was still there. And so were his people. They were pretty spread out, so could they just…take up the mantles? He also knew where to find the souls of dead heroes in the Zone; surely they wouldn't mind coming out of retirement for a little bit, especially if they couldn't die again. Oh! And that skeleton army leftover from Pariah Dark's reign might be useful in repelling those invading forces.

Honestly, there were more than enough hands to go around! And with the heroes gone, Danny didn't mind letting everyone out for a little break, as long as they followed his rules. They wouldn't stop the search for the other heroes, but hopefully, when they found them, the heroes wouldn't mind Danny's intervention too much. :)

In other words:

Someone fucks up, and all of Earth's living heroes are either wished out of existence or are whisked away to some far-off realm where Danny hasn't checked yet. In the attempt to figure out what's going on, Danny lets the dead run amok over the Earth as they search for clues. The skeleton army repels the invading armies, the souls of dead heroes deal with the world leaders, and his rogues and other Amity Parkers set up shop in place of famous heroes, trying to get the cities under control again.

Basically, they just do their best to keep everything from imploding until the Justice League and others are back.

(And why is it that Danny hasn't disappeared? Well, whatever caused everyone to go poof! only affected living heroes. Anyone heroes that were dead in the first place, or even just half-dead, stayed behind.)

[bonchobrick]

So I’ve seen some posts going around about a ‘Bruce adopts Danny and everyone thinks they’ll finally have a normal family member—Danny is very not normal’ and here’s my late night take on it.

Or

Danny batfam au where they batfam tries really hard to keep their vigilante ass-kicking nightlife a secret from danny because he is ‘the only normal one in the family’ this becomes a problem however when danny gets kidnapped.

——-

The batfam all work together in a deeply serious family meeting to save their boy. After hours of combining their brains together they come up with a plan that will effectively save danny from joker, kick joker’s ass, and also make them look really cool while doing it.

So they bust in that warehouse, guns blazing, explosions fading in the background, a gust of dramatic dust covers the air

Batman steps infront of the rest of the team and demands to the blurry figure somewhere in the distance, “Where is Danny!”

The dust clears–they expect bad guys pointing weapons meancingly at them, they expect a cackle of a wicked clown amused at whatever plot he had planned coming to life, they expected a terrified boy perhaps tied somewhere likely siting in a chair that joker could present to the bats as a way of taunting them.

The dust settles–they observed their surroundings looking around and realize that, there are few new facts to be added into this ‘defeat the villain, get the bro, happy ending equation’

There is decidedly no weapons being pointed at them: In fact, all of the henchmen are already knocked out and tied up.

There is decidedly no evil laughs being echoed their way: In fact, the only noise that isnt coming from them is a light scritch scratch of a pencil

And there is decidedly no terrified little boy, there is a Danny however and he seems to be doing alright–actually scratch that.

Danny is doing wonders for the situation he’s in right now: In fact–

–Danny is sitting criss cross applesauce on-top a knocked out tied up Joker doing his algebra homework

The small blue eyed boy looks up at Batman's voice and visibly brightens, “Oh hey guys, I was wondering when you’d show up.”

Jason says with the utmost of comprehension, “...what.”

“So hi, I’m kinda new to gotham so sorry about beating these guys up, I think they’re villains? I dunno, anyways if you could take care of these guys while I call an uber home that’d be great.”

Danny sends them a blinding smile which would've been adorable if there weren’t a massive pile of bodies he were casually walking away from.

As Danny nears the exit he looks over his shoulder to the baffled group of vigilantes and blinks

“Oh yeah one last thing,” Danny rubs the back of his neck nervously, “Could you guys not tell the Waynes about this.”

Damian speaks up for the rest of his frozen family, albeit hesitantly, “I do think they have already been alerted of your kidnapping.”

“Oh no that's fine.” Danny starts nervously, “It's more about me being the… fighter… in this situation. I was just adopted by them and they seem really nice, I don’t want to scare them away being all grrrr im a scary monster boy and i love to hurt people argh.”

“I don’t think they’d think you're a monster.” Tim adds quietly

“Eh, tell that to my birth parents–they went psycho on me. Like evil scientist psycho, it was not as awesome as the movies make it sound, having scientists for parents.” Danny says bittersweet as he admits with a shrug

There is a moment of silence as the batfamily reevaluate the adoption file that states Danny’s family before they passed were very good people–albeit a bit excentric.

Dick blurts out, “Where did you learn to fight?”

Danny sends him an anxious chuckle, “I actually started when I was fourteen–my town always ran into some trouble so I had to step up. It’s part of the reason I moved here actually. I really don’t want anything to do with that hero vigilante life anymore…” The boy puts his hands together in a pleading motion, “So please don’t tell The Waynes!”

Bewildered at the situation as a whole they nod in a daze

The boys eyes widen at their easy agreement and he grins, “Thank you so so much! I’ve got to go now, it’s way past my curfew. but you’ll probably see me again next time I get kidnapped–I’ll make sure to put in a good word for you guys with my family bye!”

And just like that Danny slips off into the night leaving behind a family who were so sure they finally found a normal addition to their pack.

Jason sighs looking forlornly at the spot Danny had previously been standing, “You could just never pick the just semi-mentally healthy normal kids could you?”

Bruce groans pinching his the bridge of his nose

[takumiraine]

Once Upon A Time Chapter 2

<prev> <next>

So Danny? 100% has PTSD. I do have a vague plan for this. And most of the next chap written. The Fentons may or may not be terrible parents. You’ll have to wait and see. I do have plans to break everyone’s hearts at least once. Anyways. This is considered my like…. Audience test before Ao3. Things may change. As a reminder all I know about dc is from fandom and wiki and everything I remember about dp is prob poorly remembered.

—

Once upon a time, there had been a young boy who was happy. Once upon a time, there was a young boy who had dreams and a future. Once upon a time, there was a boy who had been alive in every sense of the word. Once upon a time, everything shattered. Once upon a time, there was a man who was filled with anger. Once upon a time, there was a man just as alive as he was dead. Once upon a time, there was a man who was haunted and hunted.

As the stabbed kid shuffled off, leaving Jason baffled, he grabbed the guy who he had slammed into the wall. His head was bleeding but his breathing was steady and Jason huffed. He knew he definitely cracked the guy’s skull, but he had survived worse.

“O, what do we know on this guy?” He asked the woman in his ear. Oracle’s answer would determine whether he took the guy in to the ER or let him roll the dice of fate.

“Rap sheet about a mile long. Pretty basic stuff. Armed robbery, possession with intent, B&Es, assault and battery, the usual.”

Jason shrugged then and dropped the guy against the wall. Rolling the dice it was. He turned away, looking towards where the kid disappeared around the corner “and what about the guy he was mugging?”

“That’s where it gets weird.” Oracle’s typing was coming through loud and clear. “It’s hard to get a clear picture of him. He has some sort of distortion on the feed. Everything else comes out clear but…. He’s a mess of pixels. Voice too. Scrambled. It’ll take time.”

“Think he’s a meta?”

“Wouldn’t surprise me, considering he got knifed and just…. Walked off with it. Wonder what his issue with B is though.”

“Couldn’t tell you. Think it might be time to update my armor if I’m being lumped in with people B and the bird brains have pissed off.” Jason took an evidence kit out of his pocket and swiped at the blood on his chest. Old habits and all. “Got a sample of the kid’s blood though.”

“Good thinking. Wonder if he’s in any databases. I’ve got a cleaned up picture now. Enough that it’s pinging in GU’s database. Dan Nightingale, Mechanical engineering major. It says he’s 19, it’s his freshman year and he’s in like every remedial class he can take, high school transcripts are mediocre at best. No other information about him really. Rogue in the making that one.” Oracle reported. Jason groaned, grapneling up to the rooftops to follow where the kid went off to.

“Someone should keep an eye on him. Ugh. This’ll be a conversation for B and the birds won’t it? Kid won’t like having a bunch of birds following him.” Jason flicked through the different visual modes on his visor, finding…. Cold moving through one of the apartment buildings. It was human shaped, but where he expected to find heat…. “Weird…. You seeing this?”

“Very weird,” Barbara agreed, tapping into his visor’s feed. “And hey, you could just…. Not tell him. You wanted a Lit degree right? Go to class, befriend him. Do some recon.” Jason knew Babs always walked the fine line between what Bruce needed to know about the rest of them and what she had to keep secret to keep helping them. He didn’t envy her position. Jason still wanted Bruce to hurt sometimes. Not as much as he used to, something about the sins of the father and all that. He just wanted Bruce to be aware that everything he had ever hoped for his boy to be was… out of both of their reaches forever.

“That sounds annoying.” He was 23. He didn’t have any interest in taking on a degree on top of his full time crime fighting and criminal empire running jobs.

“Yeah, but what other choice do you have? It’s go back to school, tell B, or wait for him to become a rogue.”

“I hate you sometimes.” He muttered, unsure of what made him suddenly so interested in that angry guy.

“Feeling’s mutual Hood,” She replied with what was definitely a fond tone. He grimaced.

—-

In the apartment, Danny was less than thrilled. That was his favorite shirt! Now not only was it covered in blood, it had a huge hole in it. His core still thrummed with the urge to fight, but he tamped it down. Slowly, as he pulled the knife out, he sealed the wound with a layer of ice, pulling his shirt off and throwing it into the bathroom sink. The knife was dropped into the kitchen sink. His keys and phone in his bedroom on the battered nightstand next to the bed.

He returned to the bathroom and turned the water on cold. He let it spray full blast before working on scrubbing the blood from his shirt. He looked up to eye himself critically in the mirror before noticing the waistband of his jeans were saturated with blood too. Damn it. He kicked off his shoes and pulled his pants off, throwing them into the now overfilled sink. The bathtub would probably be a better choice. Turning off the sink and turning on the tub Danny picked up the sopping clothes and dropped them with a wet thump into the basin of the tub. Carefully he lowered himself onto the floor, wincing at the way pain clawed through him.

He would need to actually eat food to heal from this at any reasonable speed. He thought of the two dollars he had, then the emergency stash of….he racked his brain to remember how much of the emergency cash he was left with once he got to Gotham…right. Twenty bucks…. That was all he had in the wall.

He missed the days when Sam would just throw money at him whenever his parents forgot to do things like pay rent or put food in the fridge.

As if agreeing his stomach rumbled loudly, demanding actual food to sate the expense of energy healing his injury would take. He thought about calling Sam. Seeing if she could arrange a prepaid card for him. He knew she would in a heartbeat.

Even cut off from family money she seemed to be doing better than he was. Wracking his brain, Danny thought she was working in Bludhaven as some sort of personal assistant. He wasn’t sure if it was the exhaustion that came from sustaining a human body on nothing but ecto or if he had been too distracted in the moment to pay proper attention, but he couldn’t remember if that was right. Getting the blood out of his clothes he wiped at the remaining blood on his body, getting most of it off. He grabbed the clothes and turned off the water.

Slowly, Danny pushed himself to his feet. He had survived worse, multiple times. But pain never seemed to stop being painful. It lanced through his side and he almost fell back to his knees with the way it stole his breath and doubled him over. He wished he could go back to the Zone and just… wait it out. But in order to do that without drawing attention he’d need a portal. The only ones he knew of were either destroyed or…. Compromised.

Maybe he should call Vlad. Danny shook that thought away almost immediately as he realized how silly it was. Vlad spent most of his teen years antagonizing him. Besides the GIW had probably gotten to Vlad too. If he wasn’t captured he would likely be compromised. Memories of Amity Park flooded in before Danny could stop them. Of asking for help. Over and over. Of the GIW storming in and locking everything down. Of Danny frantically telling his parents, only for their eyes to dart to the kitchen before they could stop it. Of the sound of energy. The smell of his flesh burning. Of pain.

Danny forced himself to take a breath. He focused on the wet clothes in his hands. On the tiles beneath his feet. Of the too harsh fluorescents in the bathroom that buzzed. The sounds of the people above him arguing over bills and needing better jobs.

Slowly he banished the memories back where they belonged. He’d… figure it out. He had to. Somehow. For now, sleep. Danny hung up the wet clothes over the shower bar, made sure there was a towel on the floor and shuffled into the bedroom. Double checking that his alarm was set, even though his class wasn’t until early afternoon, he didn’t want to miss it, he slid into his bed and pulled the pile of blankets up over him.

Almost instantly, he was out.

—-

“B,” Jason said in lieu of a proper greeting as he stepped into the Batcave, hood tucked under his arm.

“Jason,” Bruce looked up and turned the surprised expression into something more fond. “To what do I owe the visit?”

Jason leaned against the rock. Foot braced against the wall. “I know semester’s already started, but something came up. How hard would it be to start at GU?”

Bruce stared at him for a long moment and Jason knew it was his way of trying to figure out what buttons to press. Then he tilted his head and turned back to the computer screen. “Not too hard. It is early yet. Anything I should know?”

“Babs was lonely.” It was an out and out lie, but it seemed to soften things in Bruce further, reminding him of the two children that failed him within months of each other.

“Hm.” Bruce was silent at his computer for a long moment. Convinced that was the end of the conversation, Jason tightened his grip on the helmet he had tucked under his arm. “Either way. It is a good choice. Literature?”

The comment and question rankled Jason, the thing from the pit scratching at his carefully contained emotions. Pushing for any crack. Bruce was trying he reminded himself. Too little too late, but trying.

“Yeah. Going in in the morning.”

“Should I call ahead?”

“No. I can handle it. If not I have no business being there.”

“You will do fine.” The ‘you are a Wayne’ was left unspoken.

Jason snorted. “Right. Good talk.”

“Are you staying the night?” An olive branch. Jason wanted to burn it. He tempered the impulse to a spark.

“I have my own place.”

“Your room is still yours when you want it.”

“Yeah. The room of the worst Robin in history. Pass.” Jason turned and walked stiffly back up the steps. Hearing the soft growl of Batman behind him. The start of an argument.

He considered it a victory that he didn’t run into any of his siblings or Alfred on the way out.

[ginnymoonbeam]

"How could anyone like--" buddy let me stop you right there. This world holds a vast diversity of opinions, tastes, and preferences. Some of them you will find completely incomprehensible. Some of them you will find disgusting. That's okay. You don't have to make sense of it and you don't have to approve of it. Unless you really do want to embark on a project of understanding, you can just say, with me and Danny Lavery, "Life is a rich tapestry."

If you do want to embark on a project of understanding, I recommend phrases like "can you tell me more about what appeals to you in that?" You don't have to mention that it's baffling or revolting to you. No one's going to feel comfortable sharing their thoughts when they already feel judged. If you really want to know, listen and try to understand. Maybe you still can't, or maybe you'll get to a place of "okay I can kind of see where this appeals to other people." Remember that they don't need your approval to keep liking the thing and you don't need their approval to keep extremely not liking it.

Whatever you do, please, please do not make up your own reasons why people like the thing. "People who are into this must be [something that is definitely inferior to me]." Have you asked? Have you actually listened? Then you don't fucking know. And you probably never will, because people won't feel able to openly express themselves around you.

And listen, sometimes your derogatory opinion might have truth in it, but "those people are different from me and I'm the better one" is a mental habit that nobody needs to be nurturing. It's dangerous. I would rather pull up every seedling of it from my heart than risk letting a wrong one take solid root. That doesn't mean I'm going to warmly embrace preferences that are alien, incomprehensible, or disgusting to me. Even understanding takes work, and it's not always worth it. That's why it's so valuable to just go "huh. Isn't human nature fascinatingly diverse" and move on.

[ladyredmoon13]

DCxDP prompt

Bubble Bubble.

Honestly, this wasn’t how Jason saw his day going, but at least it was interesting. Chained up and bound to two of his siblings while a cult surrounds them chanting was certainly not the first thing on his to-do list that day. Or any other for that matter.

Mostly he just wanted to know how these assholes got ahold of what he would describe as jellationuse Lazerus water to make a summoning circle.

The cultists keep chanting and the next thing he knows there's a green light and a splash as he hits water. Sitting up Jason sees that somehow he and his siblings have ended up a large spacious Roman bath.

Hearing a voice clear Jason looked behind him to see a gorgeous redhead with crystal blue staring at them in a mix of baffled curiosity and annoyance.

"You boys better have an amazing explanation for this." She said.

-------

Jazz was stressed. Her job increased her hours with no notice, her new roommate skipped out on rent, AGAIN; and her midterms were canceled because half the college campus were the victims of a fear Gass attack.

Her brother seeing her tence shoulders and bags under her eyes proclaimed then and there that she should have a spa day.

She was prepared to refuse till he mentioned that his castle had recently gone through renovations and he had completely upgraded the old bath. Adding in heated floors, massage chairs, and jets that basically turned the large bath into one ginormous jacuzzi.

How was she supposed to turn that down?

So she took him up on his offer and had a spa day at her brother's castle. By all means, everything was going great, fantastic really. She had a deep tissue massage and a mud mask. The servants that Danny had assigned to her for the day gave her a manicure and pedicure before serving her a delicious lunch.

She had just started to relax in the downright huge bath. Letting the jets work their magic while surrounded by mountains of bubbles. When three people appear out of thin air and land with a splash in the center of the bath.

She couldn’t have just one day, could she? Well, at least one of them was cute. Now where were the towels?

[vladdyissues]

How do you see the first year after Vlad x Danny wedding? (Let's consider, they have married when Danny was 20)

As addition, whom can Vlad invite for the wedding? I know it depends on is it the ghost or the human wedding but anyway.

Would their wedding be a secret? Or headlines would shout, "One of the richest men has married... on a guy!" ? (Alt. "Phantom and Mayor Masters' relationship is confirmed: THEY ARE GETTING MARRIED!")

🏆 Vlad is a showy guy when it comes to public opinion (e.g., bragging about his charitable works, anything that stokes his popularity), but he’s also extremely private about his personal life. For this reason, I think he’d keep his wedding to Danny secret and simple. Marriage license, officiator, small gathering of maybe five people, I do, I do, and done. Light refreshments, champagne and oysters, a small cake. Ceremony performed in his backyard or—perhaps more appropriately—Lambeau Field, home stadium of the Green Bay Packers. Maybe a few fireworks as a surprise. Nothing too wild. 

👻 Vlad doesn’t seem to have the best opinion of—or relationship with—the ghosts in the Ghost Zone, so I don’t see Skulker or the Vultures getting an invite, or a Ghost Zone wedding happening at all.

💍 Whether Jack or Maddie approve of this wedding is the big question. I honestly can’t see them ever in a million years approving of their former college friend marrying their only son—unless they were aware of both Vlad and Danny being half ghosts.

“Your son is never going to die,” Vlad tells them gently, maybe during the meeting where he asks for Jack and Maddie’s blessing to marry Danny. “Forever is a long path for Daniel to travel alone. But it doesn’t have to be. Not if you allow me to be with him. I have the means and the resources to see that he is always taken care of. I have a raft of investments locked in place that will ensure my fortune perpetuates for the next several hundred years. With me, Daniel will always have a roof over his head, a place to call home, and someone who loves him. Dearly. Until the end of the time. I mean that in the most literal sense.”

Jack and Maddie are stunned silent for several moments.

“What’s the point of asking us?” Jack finally mutters. “Once Maddie and I die, you can do whatever you want. We won’t be able to stop you.”

“It matters to Daniel. And I love him. That’s why I’m asking you.”

They still don’t like it, but facts are facts, and scientists appreciate that more than they do good intentions. Another thing they appreciate is truth, and Vlad’s soft words and earnest face have convinced them of his honesty.

Jack and Maddie share a tearful look, clasping each other’s hands, before turning to Vlad.

“Okay,” Maddie croaks. “Just—promise us he’ll stay in school.”

“At least an Associate’s degree,” Jack adds.

“Don’t turn him into a spoiled brat.”

“Trade school certificate, bare minimum.”

A baffled pause, then Vlad laughs. “You have my word. By the end of the century, Daniel will have more degrees than a thermometer.”

The Fentons release a pair of relieved sighs.

They can handle their son being an immortal entity, but not an uneducated one.

[ender-reader]

DP X DC/Marvel Prompt 1#

sooo I've had this mind obsession about giant fluffy monsters so why not jam Danny and DC/Marvel into this mess to make a cool prompt?

Summary: Danny's been sealed away in an ancient temple. someone (could be a hero or a scientist that deals with ancient stuff, i forgot what they're called) finds the entrance but cant go past that. they call Batman/Tony and/or Constanaine/Dr.strange for help(probably along with one of the batkids or Spiderman). Chaos ensues.

What exactly happened to Danny: Danny's been sealed away in an ancient temple during a a time mission from CW that caused him to go in his eldritch horror form and getting sealed away in a temple using chains and of course: Blood blossoms but not to the extent that they continually hurt him, just enough to keep him sealed away, after all: if you hurt a baby ghost, it probably wont end well.

Note: this can be ghost king danny if you want.

and i know i got the characters wrong but im trying, its been a while since i watched marvel

onto the somewhat detailed prompt:

DP/Marvel(or DC, just change who the characters are):

Wang (i think that was his name? the guy that always doubts dr.strange but helps him anyways) has picked up a strange magic signature somewhere around Egypt, after he decided to go and investigate himself, he found an entrance to a sealed ancient temple with a few dead bodies nearly hidden by sand. When he tried to enter, he felt death magic pulse through him and he quickly moved his hand away, whatever was in there, whoever put the seal on this temple wanted to either keep whatever's outside out... or whatever's inside in. he didnt like this not one bit, he does the one thing that would make sense (kinda in his deep opinion): he goes to Steven Strange.

"So your telling me, that you found an ancient temple that's radiating 'infinite realm' kind of death magic and tried to enter it ON.YOUR.OWN?" Strange said rubbing his nose bridge with a sigh. "I dont get whats wrong with that? Death magic's still magic and you two are wizards." Tony said raising a judgemental eyebrow at Strange.

"yes thats true, BUT, infinite realm magic's not like normal magic, not even normal death magic." Wang explained raising a finger at the 'but'. "so? its still magic? or does it have diffrent properties?" Peter, tired of only listening decided to start asking some questions to understand the situation better.

"to understand infinite realm magic, first you need to know what are the infinite realms" Strange countered with a heavy tone, looking at Tony and Peter.

"Strange, we are not to speak of the dead so openly" Wang hissed turning to look at Steven. "oh come on, they're gonna find out eventually and you know it, better they know or one of them gets killed trying to find out." Strange said furrowing his brows glancing around him as if expecting something to attack him. Wang only grumbled sitting on a chair that was not there before.

"the infinite realms is a realm between worlds, like a pocket dimension. it is also known as the realm of the dead, the realm of ghosts, souls, and spirits. it is neither heaven or hell, it is were the dead go when they have too strong obsessions that keep them going, it is where the dead go when they don't want to let go of their life. it has its culture, rulers, ghost types, Gods and Goddesses called Ancients, islands of different shapes and sizes. it also has: A Ghost King, one who rules all the kingdoms, tribes and all ghosts in the infinite realms. they have the title of High King. They run on a substance called ectoplasm, which can be considered the main source of infinite realm magic.

Do not mess with the dead and they will not mess with you. Don't engage with infinite realm inhabitants because the risks are far too high. The last high king was Piriah Dark, he went mad and devoured worlds, not much is known about the new High King, all we know is that he was only around 2 death years old which in on its own baffling." Strange said crossing his arm, his voice was heavy with danger and seriousness.

"so we DON'T mess with the temple?" Peter asked curiously. "..." Wang and Strange didn't know how to answer that.

i cant help but imagine this scene happening:

Danny: *giant chained eldritch horror* *narrows eyes and hisses*

Bruce/Tony, Constantane/dr.Strange and Zatanna/Wang: "..." *intimidated and are ready to fight if needed*

one of the batkids/Peter: "...omg its like a giant kitten!" *proceeds to pet said giant eldritch horror*

the adults: "..." *horrified

Danny: "..." *purrs*

if someone uses this please tag me and maybe send the link please?

[buckybarnesss]

Newer fans latching onto Theo is, like, kind of baffling to me, because the moment I saw him I was like, "This is a low-rent, generic version of season 1 Derek."

And that thought just never went away.

Admittedly, I don't like any of the new characters except for Liam (even though he is just Jackson-lite.) Mason is Diet Danny. Hayden, the white boys I can't remember (there are like three or four characters I could not pick out of a line-up if you put a gun to my fucking head), and Theo's pack are just... they're okay, but I have no opinions on them whatsoever.

I famously do not like Malia, and I'd rather watch Malia struggle with her homework than watch the baby wolves. To this day, I have not seen all of season 6A and my interest in 6B ends and begins with "Oh, Derek's back!!"

apparently it's a bit controversial to say theo was purposefully presented by the narrative to be a derek mirror.

derek's absence in season 5 is a vacuum. he was such a huge, significant part of the narrative that his absence is a black hole. like, there was a purpose to scott bringing derek up to stiles and for stiles's to get all gooey at seeing the initials DH at senior scribe.

it set up how stiles and scott are coping with derek's absence.

scott is trying but he didn't realize how much he learned from derek, how much he leaned on derek's knowledge and experience and how for granted he took derek's presence. which is realistic to their relationship.

stiles is straight up Not Dealing With It and it's Going Badly.

teen wolf loves, loves, loves to reference, reframe and repeat it's own narrative. the issue stiles and scott have with theo is exactly their whole difference of opinion about derek from s1-2 but in a shorter time frame.

theo is exactly what scott thought derek was early on: a lying, power hungry sister-killer. but scott was wrong about derek and in trying to course correct that error he is wrong about theo.

the other function theo performs narratively in season 5 is being a dark stiles mirror.

both stiles and scott in both season 5 and 6a are scared of change. they are scared of their relationships changing. their rapidly approaching adulthood is scary.

the nogitsune changed stiles and it's something neither scott or stiles have really confronted. theo is obsessed with void stiles and prods at that trauma for stiles while he presents himself as scott's long-lost bestie tapping into scott's fears about stiles and the longing for the friendship they had before all this started.

theo's doing a lot of things in season 5 tbh. he's got so many assignments lol.

theo's pack is just kind of there because for theo they were merely a means to an end. the only ones that mattered in the end were hayden and corey.

i do like corey when he's around and hayden was just wasted in my opinion.

(bonus: i once mentioned that liam and mason were jackson and danny but like three spaces to the left on the subreddit and people were very confused by that and i was like "....do other people not see this?" jeff notoriously keeps throwing spaghetti at the wall till it sticks)

[phantomposting]

My mind is jello please excuse spelling errors and grammar mistakes I haven't slept much lately due to issues with insomnia. Either way I hope you guys have been enjoying the silly little writing prompts I make :D I like day dreaming when I can't fall asleep. Sorry in advance this one is a bit long.

Trigger Warning: injury, dissection/vivisection

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

This is another Danny and Damian are twins au. In this AU we got the there can only be one heir thing and Damian is the one to come out on top due to how protective Danny is of his sibling. So Danny ends up in Illinois and goes down the path to becoming Phantom.

Eventually Danny's parent's discover he's Phantom and try to study and dissected him and Danny has to go on the run deeply injured physically and emotionally. His running leads to him being homeless and hiding in Gotham. He's super paranoid and trusts nobody trying to keep his distance from people so he hopefully doesn't get caught and dissected molecule by molecule.

One day Alfred is out grocery shopping when he spots the terrified injured teen in an alleyway and it's the weirdest thing. This kid looks almost exactly like Damian except his eyes are an icy blue and the poor kid is skin and bone. He looks to be about the same age as him aswell.

Alfred tries to offer the injured child some help but the kid vanishes. The whole situation is baffling but he was never one to give up that easily and he can absolutely tell the kid is in a dire situation and really needs help. So he decides the best course of action is to take it slow and try to slowly earn the kid's trust.

Every day Alfred goes "shopping" he goes to the grocery store and leaves a meal and supplies for the kid. He can't really tell the others especially Bruce due to how paranoid the bats can be. All signs point to possible league activity but Alfred can tell the kid isn’t dangerous just terrified. If he had to guess he would guess the kid was going to be used in some league plans but managed to escape. He knows Bruce would be far too harsh with the kid and that's the last thing someone so terrified needs right now.

So Alfred's secret meetings with the kid continues slowly gaining the kid's trust more and more until eventually he gets the kid to talk to him. He learns Danny's name and Danny thanks him for the help and kindness. Everyone can see Alfred is acting a little cheerier after that and nobody knows why. They won't really question it though the man is baking cookies more than he used to and well his cookies are worth staying in the dark for.

One day though Danny doesn't show up to their meeting. Alfred begins to worry something feels wrong. He decides to contact Barbra and ask her for help locating the child. He trusts her to not overreact and he knows she's the best person for the task.

Barbra can absolutely see why Alfred kept this a secret once she locates Danny. This kid's resemblance to Damian is scary the only thing that makes her believe this might possibly not be a clone is the ice blue eyes. Locating Danny reveals he's been heavily injured and Alfred rushes out to aid him.

Upon arrival he realizes this is a bit more than he himself can manage especially in some dirty Alleyway and with the possible league ties he knows he can't take the kid to the hospital so he has to give in and tell Bruce about the situation. Of course at first he just starts with a call saying to bring in Dr. Thompkins which makes Bruce anxious as hell.

Danny is brought into the batcave out cold and Bruce of course is his paranoid self. The rest of the family is quite curious about the odd child that Alfred brought in and is hovering around. Damian doesn't understand why the others are so nosy that is until he catches a glimpse of the kid and realizes it's his dead twin brother.

Damian has his guard up majorly after that. The doctor helps Danny and the Y shaped wound from his run in with his parents is discovered and its not doing so great so this kiddo is gonna need a lot of bed rest aside from the odd burns.

Turns out Danny had a run in with the GiW they located him in gotham and he barely escaped. He's out for a hot minute tho so that leaves all the family to speculate. Bruce is being super paranoid and a bit hostile with the kid but Alfred vehemently defends him.

Damian is deeply conflicted he doesn't feel his brother could possibly want to hurt him. He knows how protective Danyal had been. He knows Danyal gave his life to make sure he would live on, but there's no way Danyal can be alive without the League's involvement. Damian refuses to leave Danyal's side until he knows for sure what is going on, of things will be safe, and if Danyal will be alright.

This leads Bruce to question him and thats when everyone discovers Damian and Danyal are in fact twins. Bruce is heartbroken he never even got to know about his 2nd son and this stirs conflict between Damian and Bruce. This also makes Bruce want to believe that Danny is safe and would hopefully join the family, but this also makes him far more anxious about league involvement and makes him raise his guard.

Eventually Danny wakes up and is forced to explain things though he tries to leave the half ghost stuff out and everyone can see he's hiding something making paranoia grow within the batfam members but everyone also tries to give Danny a chance. It could just be processing trauma after all and if he was really after something he would have made a move by now right? The only one fully trusting of Danny is Alfred whom has become rather close with the child. Alfred is happy to have another grandchild to bond with.

Eventually Damian forces the whole truth out of Danny since Danny's ghostly obsession makes him desperate for family and he deeply doesn't want to risk losing Damian again. Damian promises to help keep Danny's secret but tries to reassure him that it's okay to share it with Bruce and that they'll help keep him safe but Danny's fears make it very hard for him to do so.

Eventually the truth forcibly comes out when the GiW comes knocking down the front door for Danny. Danny runs for it absolutely terrified and Alfred threatens them with a gun. We all know Alfred isn't afraid to kill in order to protect his family. Eventually the bats are able to sneak in and knock the agents out but Danny is missing.

The bats bring the Agents to the cave and interrogate them and Damian goes looking for his brother. The Agents tell the bats Danny's secret and demand they hand over the "Ecto Scum" the Bat's are pissed with the agents and now understand why Danny was so secretive.

Damian eventually locates Danny and is able to comfort him and get him to come back to the manor with him. The family doesn't tell him they know his secret. He gets to share it when he feels safe enough to. They do however work hard and get the anti ecto acts repealed.

Eventually Danny gets adopted, the Fenton's go to jail, and Jazz, Tucker, and Sam are reunited with Danny and Danny gets to have a healthy life in Gotham with his new found family. Eventually becoming a Gotham vigilante and getting back on track with things in school. Basically everyone gets a happy ending :D

[hausofmamadas]

Tell Me Sweet Little Lies

Part 2

⁂

Pairing: Danny Lyon x Kathy Cross

Word count: ≈ 4K

TWs: Allusions to infidelity, love triangles, flirting, angst. (ꔘ) indicates this comes directly from dialogue in the movie.

But whatever it is, it feels important. Like you’d regret it slipping through your fingers. So important, you don’t wanna blink. Cause when you open your eyes again it’ll be gone. Picking up right after part one (read -> here to catch up), at the bar the same night, Danny loses focus on the meeting when he gets a surprise visit from Kathy.

⁂ The ash on his joint’s nearly a half inch long when Cal’s hand waves in front of Danny’s face, knocking it off to scatter onto the barroom floor.

“Earth to Danny, come in Danny.”

“What? Oh, sorry.”

Not only has Danny barely taken a puff of his joint but Frankie was long gone, replaced in front of him now by Cal who’s made his way over from the pool tables to ask for a drag, a request to which Danny has been apparently nonverbal. Yup, too lost in the soup upstairs and now he’s second-guessing this joint he hasn’t even really smoked. Maybe he is more toasted than he thought.

“Need me to take that bud off your hands, bud?” An impeccably-timed Cal speaks to these fears. “Looks like you might’ve had one too many.”

Handing the joint over to Cal gladly, Danny cracks a smile, a real one, “Sure thing, gramps,” because for all his oddities Cal’s the only one of them that feels real and not like a character in a dream he can never fully remember. Besides Kath. “Say, remind me again, what time’s curfew? Don’t wanna be late for supper after all.”

“Well, now,” Cal tips a hat that’s not there, affecting the voice of an old southern grandpaw, “I’d certainly say by sundown, sonny.”

“The fuck’re you two doofs on about?” Brucie, characteristically cranky, looks up from his newspaper, face all pinched like he’s not here for their shenanigans. Which is funny considering the general company he keeps. If shenanigans were an occupation, every one of them including Danny would be bonafide professionals.

Cal leans over to pat him on the shoulder, “Now, now, Brucie, this is a family matter,” before taking his seat at one of the tables.

“Just my fuckin luck.” Brucie rolls his eyes like it’s just Cal being Cal, which it is, “Coupla comedians over here,” and tosses his newspaper on the bar before swiveling his stool around to address the group assembled at the tables. “Alright, alright, ladies. Pipe down, meetin’ll start in about five minutes.”

Danny snags a few crowd photos while everyone’s distracted. These usually turn out to be his favorite, catching people when they think no one’s looking because usually no one is. Scanning the room for another shot, Danny can’t help but shake his head at all the non club-affiliated patrons packed at the front of the bar by the pool tables because he’s yet to figure out why some of the meetings are conducted during business hours. This is made even more baffling given some of their other meetings were held off-hours when the Stoplight was closed and there was less noise. So it seemed no one was opposed to the idea. Why not just have them all then?

Danny grabs his pencil from where it perpetually sits behind his ear and a little notepad from his vest pocket, jotting down to ask Brucie or Kathy, the two most likely to give him a reliable answer, about it later.

“S’at my name I see you writin there? What could you be writin about silly ‘ole me, I wonder?”

“Oh shi– uh, he– hiya, Kath,” Danny jumps right out his shoes, practically three feet in the air, his voice almost as high. “I, uh, didn’t think you’d be comin tonight.”

“Yeah, well my car’s busted, so’s I had to get Benny to pick me up from work and he said he could only do it if we stopped here first ‘fore goin home.”

Danny offers his sincerest condolences with a nod and shrug.

“Boy, I am glad yer here though, I’m tellin ya,” she says, grabbing a piece of gum from her purse and popping it in her mouth. “Nice to have someone’a talk to ‘sides just dese wahoos.”

“Oh yeah? Well, uh,” searching the congregation through the cigarette smoke that’s filling the fiberglass shields around the fluorescents so it looks like everyone’s moving in a tank of dusty water, Danny spots a sleek crop of honey blonde hair seated up front and off to the side, “what about Benny?”

She waves her hand. “Please. You know better ‘an anybody, dat boy don’t talk. And I love him to death but he’s a wahoo, same’s any of ‘em. But hey, who says you can’t love a wahoo.”

“Not me,” Danny agrees, smirking privately to himself, as was the custom these days any time he talked to Kathy about well, pretty much anything. Given so many opportunities to practice, he’s become well-versed in trying not to look like he’s enjoying himself as much as he is. See, it’d be a problem if it was a problem. But it’s not. Not at all.

Bringing his camera up to snap a picture of the group gathered around Johnny, he can’t help but chuckle at how it looks like a scattered Sunday night mass if mass was held in the smokestack of a hay bale on fire. A hay bale with billiard tables and a jukebox.

Kathy leans over wanting in on the joke, “What’s so funny over dere?”

“Ah, it’s noth– it’s ju– well, it’s hard to explain.”

“Sheesh.” She shoots him a look that would’ve been withering were it not for the smile on her lips and in her eyes. “You been hangin ‘round Benny too much. I swear one’a these days, you’ll go quiet on me yet.”

“C’mon, you know I’d never,” Danny says, smiling so much he’s struggling to line his eye back up with the viewfinder.

“Oh, does’at mean you’re like me, then, huh? Not enough, whats’a word–” She snaps her fingers in an attempt to summon it, which she does. “Discipline. Not enough discipline to be dat stoic.”

“It’s not that so much as,” he flashes a cheeky grin, “I’m just not cut out for that kinda commitment.”

“Y’know,” Kathy crosses her arms, shakes her head, and just to have something to do, starts kicking the leg of the unoccupied barstool in front of her. “I used to think you Brooklyn boys were aaall trouble. Just– y’know, on account of all’sa movies I seen, right. Buncha meatheads, mobsters, criminals n’ such. But you Danny Lyon, you’re just a doll, aren’t ya?”

“Am I?” The blood’s warming his cheeks already and he falls back on some well-worn sarcasm to save face. “Well, don’t go blowin my cover or these guys’ll boot me out on the street and I’ll have nothing to show for the last six months.”

Smiling, she drags her thumb and her forefinger across her lips, locks and throws away the key.

Danny turns his attention back to the meeting that’s started, trying to make like he’s been industriously picking out shots and listening. Not that it mattered if he wasn’t. His club membership was little more than ceremonial, a kid’s costume. Sure, he had colors now and his own bike, a junker Cal chopped together because he got sick of Danny piggy backing on his all the time. He joked about it when he gifted it to Danny. Much as it’s been a treat chauffeurin you around, if we do it much longer people’ll start to think we’re going steady. Now, I’m all for broadening your horizons but I’d hate to be the one to compromise your journalistic integrity, y’know, being with a respectable lady like myself.

But neither of those things made him integral to the day-to-day goings on of the club. Although tonight they’re talking about whether to approve the formation of a St. Louis chapter, so it’s more than the usual shop talk, even if the answer is a likely yes since Johnny’d already given the go-ahead to Milwaukee last year. Kathy had told him a guy named Fat Jack, or Big Jack, or Big Fat Jack(ꔘ) had to battle it out with Johnny for that one. Whether that’d be the price of admission for St. Louis remained to be seen.

“Say, I gotta question.” Kathy makes a move to claim Danny’s undivided attention again, the subject of an apparent tug-of-war between herself and the club. “I been wonderin, how d’you know when to take the picture?”

She’s yet to win that war on the Benny front but she’s well ahead on this one, what with Danny all-too-happily taking the bait. “Hm? What d’you mean?”

“Y’know like how d’ya know what’s gonna make a good photo? And do they all come out lookin how they look when you’re peekin,” Kathy points her index finger, retracting and extending it a few times at the viewfinder, “through that thing, er what?”

The camera in his hands comes down slow with the steadiness of an elevator dropping from floor to floor and he fidgets with the camera strap like he’s uncomfortable with the question. He might be. There’s something intimate about it. What’s more though is he doesn’t have a great answer. There’s no easy way to summarize what he’s devoted the last seven-some-odd years perfecting. The even more embarrassing part is that he’s never really given it a lot of thought. Not conscious thought, at least. He just sorta knows. But that seems like a cop out somehow and he doesn’t want to give her that kind of answer. Because nothing’s worse than questions met with answers that don’t really answer anything at all.

“Heck, I didn’t expect that to be such a stumper.”

“Oh–?” Danny snaps to, summoning a gentle smile to reassure her the dead air response isn’t because he’s bent out of shape about it. “Oh, no. I don’t– I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to– it’s just, to tell you the truth, it’s not something I think about.”

“Well now,” she elbows him lightly, “I find that hard to believe.”

“I guess– well, do you mean in a technical sense, as in how do I frame a shot? Or how do I find something I wanna take a picture of in the first place?”

“Mmm, the second one,” Kathy chuckles. “I think.”

Thumbing the advance lever, Danny’s gaze is now stuck on all the club members seated in front of them, “Hmm, well–” trying to find a way to break down what’s been, for all these years, as good as muscle memory. “I guess it’s a gut feeling more than anything. Like if you’ve ever been in the middle of somethin– the thick of a scene, and then stopped a second to look around, right?”

Eyes narrowed like she’s thinking intently on what he’s saying, Kathy bobs her head up and down.

“And something about it– doesn’t even have to be anything grand, y’know. Might just be, you like the lighting. Or the gestures people are makin, having a conversation. Or the look on someone’s face when they’re concentratin on something. But whatever it is, it feels important. Like you’d regret it slipping through your fingers. So important, you don’t wanna blink. Cause when you open your eyes again it’ll be gone. Not gone gone, y’know, just arranged a little different than it was, right. Cause the moment’s different. And you wish you could sustain it somehow, bottle it like a ship so you can see it any time you want. What it feels, looks like, sounds like. I guess– well yeah, anyway.” Danny’s voice drifts off with the smoke and the bar chatter and the music from the jukebox. “When I get to feelin like that, that’s how I know.”

“Wow.” The word tumbles out slow and for a second, it rings out like she’s the only person speaking in the whole bar before getting swallowed back up in the cacophony. “Seems like a lot for somethin you claim ya never thought about.”

Danny’s mouth twists off to the side in a self-effacing smirk and he hangs his head, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well alright then, Mr. Poet, so what’s so special ‘bout all’a this,” Kathy sidles up closer to him, gesturing in front of them, hand limp at the end of her wrist like she can’t be bothered. “What could be so important here?”

Head swiveling from Kathy, to the meeting, then back to Kathy, Danny gets an idea. He ducks, lifting the camera strap over his neck and hands it to her. She meets this with a blank look like he’s just presented her a dead fish.

“C’mon, set your bag down,” Danny laughs. “I’ll show ya.”

There’s a reserved smile as she uncrosses her arms, slides her purse off her shoulder, flopping it on the table next to them, and holds her hands out to accept the camera with some hesitation. “How’m I gonna know if I’m holdin it right? I don’t wanna drop it. Then you’ll really have a reason to not talk to me.”

“Well, you’re in luck cause,” Danny holds the strap open like he’s awarding her an Olympic medal, “that’s what this is for.”

She grabs the camera to keep it from swinging too much as he guides the strap over her head and lays it gently around her neck. “Gosh, this is heavier’n it looks.” Once it’s on, she starts pulling her hair out from underneath it.

Danny shrugs, “Guess I’m used to it,” helping to smooth the collar of her denim jacket that’s gotten flipped up, thanks to the weight of the camera. Then he turns back to the group, waving her over to stand in front of him. “Alright, so what feels important about this. Or I dunno, what I like, I guess, is–”

Kathy keeps glancing back at him over her shoulder as she steps in front, hanging on every word like she might miss something crucial.

“–is the lighting here.” From behind her, Danny gestures at the camera. “Go ahead, take a look. See how smoky this part of the bar is, how it’s accumulating under the hoods of the fixtures, reflectin the light? But then all the space in between is real dark, right. S’cool, I was thinkin it looked like a buncha little lightning storms over everyone’s heads.”

“Oh yeah,” he can hear the smile in her voice, “lookit that. Could be like lil’ lighthouses, them.”

“Go ahead, take a couple.”

“What, me?” She’s incredulous and he could kick and drag himself across the pavement on the street right outside for thinking it’s as adorable as it is. “Didn’t you just take some?”

“Sure, but people have shifted around in their chairs, the smoke’s hangin a little differently now. Could be your shot’s better than mine. Go for it.”

“Huh, alright. So what do I do. Press this here, den?” Her finger taps the shutter button.

“Yup, press that and then–“ he reaches over her shoulder to place her thumb on the advance lever, “pull this. Yeah, press, then pull. Just like that.”

Stifling a giggle of pure joy so as not to disrupt the meeting, she nabs a few photos, “Say, this is a gas. I see why you wanna do this all’a time,” before breaking away to note with some skepticism, “the chattin, though. Y’know, with the microphone an’ tape deck ya cart around practically half yer size. That, not so much.”

“Really?” Danny says, sticking his hands in the pockets of his vest because without a camera, he doesn’t really know what to do with them. “See, I would’ve thought that’d be your favorite part.”

“Oh? Why’s dat?”

“Cause you sure like talkin.”

Conceding with a wry smile to cushion the blow of the accompanying eyeroll, she turns back to snap a couple more.

At the front of the assembly Benny tips his chair to lean on the back legs, his head hanging over the top rail, cigarette dangling from his mouth, looking bored yet untroubled in his boredom, when he spots Kathy with the camera.

“Please tell me you’re gonna get–”

A click sound answers Danny’s question before he can finish asking as Kathy pulls the lever to take another one. “Aaaaalready on it, Mr. Lyon. Dontcha worry.”

There’s no possible way he can hear them over the noise, but Benny, in a stroke of luck or genius or divine intervention, winks at Kath, baiting her to take another one because he knows it’ll make for a better shot. This time Danny doesn’t even have to open his mouth because Kathy’s finger beats him to the punch. Click.

“See. Told ya, yours could turn out better than mine.”

Kathy turns back around, face lit with a smile so bright, one he’s not sure he’s seen since in months, not since their first interview at the laundromat. “Boy, you weren’t kiddin none, I’ll tell ya,” she says, pulling the strap over her head to return the camera tentatively like she might be sad to part with it. “Hey, maybe one’a these days I’ll have yer job, huh?”

“Look at you,” Danny accepts the camera, as she passes it back with one hand and smoothes her hair with the other, “masterminding my retirement. If I were any wiser, I might think you were tryin to get rid of me. And after all that back-n-forth about me not talkin to ya.”

Her eyes get real wide. “Oh, I don’t think so, mister.” Even as she’s laughing while she says it, she’s also gripping Danny’s arm, holding him in place before he might get the chance to dissolve before her, float right up to the ceiling fans, and diffuse into the air completely. “I take it back, ya hear me, I take it back!”

But he’s got her on the hook now, “You sure?” so he keeps going, “I mean, I know where the door is, I can always just–” skipping his index and middle fingers to the front of the bar, a sneak preview of his supposed exit.

“So help me,” hand on her hip, Kathy wags her finger at him, eyebrows halfway up her forehead, “Dann– Daniel Llll-Louis Lyon, if you go anywhere–”

“Louis??” Danny starts cracking up so hard, he nearly drops the camera. “Who’s Louis?? That’s not even my middle name!”

She smiles, all cat that caught the canary. “Oh, I know. But it sounds scarier, don’t it? Y’know put the fear’a God in ya. An’ all that.”

Still laughing, “Sure,” Danny mimes the sign of the cross, shoulders shaking on every beat of Father, Son, Holy Ghost. “Put the fear of I-don’t-know-what, anyway.”

The sound of chair legs screeching across the checkered tile floor marks the end of the meeting and Danny hasn’t been paying a lick of attention. He'll have to ask Cal about the club’s verdict on St. Louis later, or else eavesdrop on Brucie and Johnny in one of their many little barside confabs of mumbles and grumbles. When Benny starts making his way back to them slowly, taking his time as he stops to shake a couple guys’ hands, loans a cigarette to another who’d run out, Danny starts to sweat, suddenly all too aware that Kathy’s hand has slid down his forearm and is holding his wrist now.

“Heya, Kath?”

“Huh?” she says, absently, smiling at Benny from across the room.

“You uh– you out to take hostages, here? Or—?”

“What’s ‘at, now?”

Danny gestures at his wrist with an index finger.

“Oh lord, I’m sorry.” She shakes her head and drops her hand, taking a step back toward the table where she’d set down her purse. “Silly me.”

His eyes dart over to Benny to see if he’d noticed the exchange but he’s too busy dodging a conversational trap with Cockroach, gearing up, no doubt, to regale him with some loony story. Probably waxing poetic about bugs. The tension in Danny’s shoulders melts away as he sighs pure relief. By the time Benny makes it over to them, Kathy’s got her purse back on her shoulder and her hands in her pockets like she and Danny are less than strangers, just making small talk.

A tender kiss lands on her cheek as Benny slings an arm over her shoulder. “So? The kid’s teachin’ camera classes now?”

It should bother Danny, Benny calling him ‘kid’ given the two of them are pretty close in age. But for some reason, coming from Benny he doesn’t mind. “Wasn’t much teachin to speak of. You won’t believe the coupla ace photos she took.”

Benny’s brows scrunch together like he’s already forgotten his own role in staging the perfect shot.

“Yeah, she’s regular Cam-Jam over here. Caught two of you when you were leaning back in the chair. I’d put money on ‘em bein the best of this roll.”

“Beg yer parden? Cam-Jam? Don’t go pokin fun at me just cause yer envious’a my natural talent.”

Danny laughs. “Nonono, it’s a compliment. Means you’re jammy with the camera. I used to get called it back in college. It’s kinda like, uh— what d’ya call— beginner’s luck. Only your luck don’t run out.”

“Hear that, babe.” Benny kisses Kathy on the nose and she giggles, playfully swatting him away, an exchange so tender and sweet it actually smarts. “Think he’s sayin you got ‘the eye.’”

“Yeah.” Danny lights up with recognition. “Exactly right.”

“Ah, so yer sayin I gotta future in this business of yers. Well okay, whats’a next lesson, Mr. Poet-Professor-Danny?”

“Hmm. I’ll have to go over the curriculum and get back to ya on that.”

Fishing around for a cigarette in his jacket pocket, Benny’s got that far away look in his eye like they’ve already lost him. Which makes it all the more surprising when he opts to prolong the conversation by asking Danny, “So, St. Louis?”

“Uh, yeah.” Having found the cigarette but looking lost for his lighter, Danny flicks his own out to light Benny’s smoke, remarking cautiously, “So Johnny’s gonna do like they did with Milwaukee.”

It’s statement enough to sound like an answer to the question but question enough that Benny still has to confirm. Danny wouldn’t have to ask Cal what happened in the meeting after all.

“Mm-hm. Probly go the same way but–” Benny looks over, blowing a funnel of smoke in the direction of Johnny. “They got heart to show first. So, you in?”

“Goin down this weekend?”

Benny nods.

“Mm, guess it depends.”

“What,” arm still over her shoulder, Benny uses it to give Kathy a little jostle, “need Ms. Cam-Jam to help with your book report?”

“Nah, it’s more, I was actually wonderin—”

Brows scrunched again, the closest Benny ever comes to looking confused is just Marlon Brando.

“—how likely you are to put your fist through another car window,” Danny says, grinning.

Rolling her eyes, Kathy pops the gum in her mouth with manifest disapproval.

“Mm,” Benny appraises the odds, ignoring all five-feet, four-inches of reproach brewing right next to him, “likely as any other day.”

“In that case, ‘course I’m in.”

“Oh not you too, Danny.” Kathy smacks him in the shoulder before crossing her arms. “You know he don’t need any more encouragement, getting inna trouble. I thought you were s’posed t’be the grown up in the room.”

Benny’s quick to Danny’s defense. “S’okay, hun. I’ll have him back in time for camera class.”

So Danny tacks on, “Yeah, and I’ll have him back in one piece for– I dunno, detention.”

Looking at both of them like she could bonk their heads together right there, Kathy just sighs. “I’ll say, if this isn’t the most cracked school I ever heard of, lemme tell ya.”

“Hey,” hit with some kind of revelation, Benny snaps to, almost animated - or animated as Benny gets, “how long’s it take to make the pictures… y’know, pictures?”

“Not long. I’ll probably develop these when I get home tonight, maybe tomorrow mornin. Why?”

“Next time you stop by the house, bring the ones our girl here took.”

“If they turn out to be any good,” Kathy mumbles, blushing.

“I don’t need to develop ‘em to know they’re good. I mean, there’s always a chance the film got overexposed or I s’pose I could fuck up developin them. But, barring major snafus, those ones’ll be printworthy.”

“Yeah? I hope so. Aright, c’mon Benny, take me home. My feet’re achin somethin awful n’ I been lookin forward all day to dat pint of mint chocolate chip we got inna freezer.”

Eyes cast off in the direction of the door, Benny plants a kiss of compliance on her forehead. And with that, the two take their leave, delayed only by Kathy’s turning back every so often to toss a few fretful glances Danny’s way. It’s strange, the look she’s got on her face as she disappears out the front doors of the Stoplight.

The more he’s thinking about it, the more he feels the rope tangled around his heart gets pulled taut by the eighty-pound anchor in his stomach. A feeling not unlike being crushed by a boa constrictor.

Yeah. Miss you too, Kath.

It’d be a problem if it was a problem. But it’s not. Not at all.

═

taglist: @narcolini, @drabbles-mc, @ashlingiswriting, @tofuwildcard, @cositapreciosa, @axreliono, @bellinitini, @complete-nonsequitur, @when-did-this-become-difficult, @ladygoatee (tagged everyone I previewed this to in wc but no pressure to read bc I know not everyone is in this fandom)

[hugsandchaos]

Friendship Is Haunting

Prologue Part Two

2,543 words

When Danny started to come around, he was surprised to notice that he was laying on the unmistakable feeling of wood. His head was spinning and sore, but he didn’t think he was anywhere near a wooden floor when he passed out. He also felt something small under him. It wasn’t enough to cause real discomfort, but a small part of him couldn’t help but wonder what it was. His eyelids felt a little heavy, but he had little trouble opening them. To his surprise, there was no light above him. No lampposts, no blinding lights for cutting him open, no regular ceiling light, not even the stars were visible. For a second, Danny thought his eyes weren’t actually open, but then he noticed that there was actually light in the room. It was weak, but enough for him to see the overhead lamp that was indeed there, just turned off, and the small shadow it cast. This definitely wasn’t where he was last. In fact, if the little light he had indicated anything, then he was in someone’s house.

The possible scenarios of why he was in a stranger’s house and what would happen was like a firework setting off in his mind, but they had one thing in common. They all led to him getting hurt. Danny could feel his heart pick up for a second and moved his arms. He tried to push himself up, but a sharp pain shot through his right side. The young halfa cried out in pain and briefly froze, aside from his right arm instinctively lifting up to grab at the site and his eyes squeezing shut. For some reason, probably out of a growing habit, he resisted actually grabbing it. He opened his eyes again and glanced down at the site. He really wished he hadn’t. Two deep cuts trailed diagonally from the bottom of his ribcage down to his right side, just above his waist. A mixture of blood and ectoplasm spilled through the open wound and was already starting to seep into his hazmat suit. The hazmat suit was pretty torn at the wound, but Danny could see some of the swelling and quickly placed his right hand onto the wound to apply pressure. He groaned again as doing so made it sting even more, but it had to be done. He didn’t know how long he’d been out, but he had to fix this as soon as he could. Before it got any worse. Danny gathered up his energy and started moving again. His body felt slightly heavier as he tried to get up, and the sight of a stool made him stop almost immediately. That’s when he realized that it wasn’t a floor he was sitting on, it was a table.

Regardless of this, the new task of fixing up his wound was more important. Danny looked next to him and swung his legs to the side. Surprisingly, he could almost touch the floor already. That made standing up a bit easier when he nudged himself to plant his feet down. His legs were pretty sore, either with exhaustion or the scrapes and bruises he definitely had, likely both. The halfa could still stand, though. Thanks to the multiple fights he’s been in and gym class, he was a bit used to walking with aching legs. Danny firmly placed his left hand on the table and used it for support as his stood up. He stumbled a little bit, but quickly regained himself. Now that he was standing, he could see the room a bit easier.

The table was in the middle of the room, and the little light had been from the moon outside the window. For some reason, the sky wasn’t black. It was purple. Danny looked at it confused. How was this possible? Why was the sky purple? He shook his head to keep himself from getting distracted by the baffling sight. He turned to his left and saw a doorway leading to another room. There weren’t any drawers or anything in this room to hide a first aid kit, so he began to walk towards the next room. Blood and ectoplasm dripped once or twice onto the carpet as he walked. His hand covered the majority of the injury and putting pressure helped, but it would only work for a short while. He had to find supplies to fix it in that time or things would get even worse for him. Danny’s legs had small explosions of pain every time he took a step and put his full weight on one of them, but he still managed even with the slight limp. He grabbed onto the doorway when he got close enough and gripped it incase he suddenly stumbled. He pulled it a little to lessen the pressure on his legs, then scanned the next room.

There was a window letting some light into the very dim room, and it was enough for him to notice that the room took a turn to the right. Danny also thought he could make out the shape of a small side table and a flashlight on top of it. He slowly released his grip on the doorframe as he walked towards it. Once he crossed the room, he picked up the flashlight with his left hand. Danny fumbled with it for a moment with his one free hand to find the switch, but once he did, he had to squint a little bit because the light that came from it was much brighter than the dark his eyes had been very slowly adapting to. Now that he had a better source of light, the young halfa shone it across the room. There was a red, green, and yellow carpet right next to him and a brown couch next to the side table. The opposite wall was decorated with framed pictures, but he didn’t take the time to look at them and completely missed how there were p instead of humans.

On the other side of the room, there were two doorframes. One in the wall opposite of him and another in the left wall. Considering he had to fix the wound as soon as he could, he began trying to run over to the other side of the room. Danny only managed a rushed limp, however, but it was enough to quickly cross the room. He peered into the room on the left first, and was very pleased to see that it was a bathroom. Bathrooms typically had first aid kits, which was exactly what he needed right now. When he placed his left hand on the doorframe, he could feel something on the opposite wall. He thought it was a light switch and felt around it until his hand brushed up against it and turned the light on. He walked inside and grabbed onto the counter for support. He slowly lowered himself down and put the flashlight on the counter so he could use that hand to open the cabinets. Once they were open, Danny looked inside. By now, he could feel the blood and ectoplasm starting to clot. Luckily, he spotted the familiar red and white box with the cross and practically snatched it out.

He placed it next to himself and opened it. One of the first things Danny noticed was the writing. It looked off. He picked up one of the smaller boxes inside and held it closer to his face to read it.”What?” He asked himself. The writing looked like something a doctor would practically scribble something onto a note and hand it to him or his parents to take to get a prescription, and the workers would somehow know what the writing meant and get it. He turned it this way and that to see if he could find an English translation, but couldn’t. Either way, the shape of the box and the picture that showed the wipe being applied to a wound was convincing enough for him to open it and take out one of the wipes.

The wipe stung a little against the cuts, but Danny managed to prevent himself from stopping until he was sure that the site was clean. After that, he took a good look at it. He remembered the big three things he had to look out for to see if he needed stitches, and he definitely thought that with how deep and long the wound was, he’d need them. Danny double checked the first aid kit. The standard kit didn’t usually have the needle or string necessary for stitches since they were mostly trusted with being done by professionals, but his hope was reignited when he spotted a clear box with a needle and string. Danny quickly grabbed it and opened it. He wasn’t a professional, but he’s seen Frostbite do it many times and even learned from him, so he was positive that he’d at least do good enough for it to work right.

He began the process of stitching his wound together with a groan and a squeamish feeling when the needle entered his skin. Whenever Frostbite did this, Danny would have the option to think about something other than the needle poking into his flesh and string being sewn inside it. He hated thinking about it, and not thinking about it helped a little, but now he had to focus. Danny worked very carefully on the task, remembering all the times he’d practiced on a dummy with Frostbite and the dos and don’ts about it, until he was done. After it was over, he breathed out a sigh of relief and reached for one of the roll of bandages. The bandages were oddly smaller, but still worked. He just had to roll them around himself a few extra times to cover up the wound. Once that was done as well, it felt like a weight was lifted off of Danny’s shoulders as he put it all back into the first aid kit. The sense of urgency was gone, and he could finally calm down. The bathroom was rather small, so he could lean back against the opposite wall he was facing and let his eyes close. He just wanted a few seconds before checking the rest of his tired, aching body for anything else that needed treatment.

Click-Click

Creeeak

The unmistakable sound of a door open sent Danny’s relief out the window. He shot up and turned to the doorframe. He couldn’t see anyone, but it was the direction he had heard the door open from.

“Alright, we’ll go together so you can see for yourself that nothing’s here.” A woman’s voice said, somewhere in the house. Danny’s heartbeat picked up again as he remembered that he was in a stranger’s house, most likely uninvited and going to be arrested if he was seen. Or worse. He reached up and grabbed onto the counter. He pulled himself up as two — no, more — pairs of footsteps began walking into the house. He looked over at the window (which was weird because who has a window in a bathroom?) and practically lunged for it. He nearly tripped over the kit he left on the floor and got the bright idea to take it with him. It was theft, sure, but Danny was hardly thinking about that. Then he heard the footsteps getting closer and lost care for it. He just cared about escaping right now with his safety. He turned back to the window and pushed against it. Surprisingly, it opened easily and he was able to climb through. The ground was very close, so it wasn’t much of a drop, either.

Danny stumbled when he had climbed out, but he caught himself with his hands before he could fall on his face. He pulled himself together and stood up before taking off into a sprint away from the house. It was dark, but somehow not as dark as it was inside. The moon shone down and was able to give him more light, so it was clear to see some ways across the field. Up ahead was the large, bundled up silhouette of a forest. Forests meant bushes and trees. Forests meant places to hide. As he changed his direction slightly, Danny suddenly remembered that he was in his ghost form. The next step he took was more of a leap, and his legs merged into a long, black tail. The exhaustion made it difficult to gain height and keep the speed, but the new pump of adrenaline made it a bit easier to keep going. Fueled by anxiety of what would happen to him if he was caught, the young halfa flew off towards the forest.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A few minutes after he had reached the forest, Danny finally stopped and barely managed to land without falling over himself. Above the trees, the moon and the abnormal purple sky had the canopy illuminated enough for him to tell the difference between one tree and another, but down on the ground, most of the moonlight was obscured by the canopy. He nearly hit several branches during his descent and reverted back to his human form out of exhaustion once he had his feet on the ground. Danny landed with heavy, fast breathing and scanned the area around him for anything or anyone. His eyes were still slowly adapting to the dark, so he couldn’t see very well, but no one was there from what he could tell. Still, the anxiety that someone was there, waiting to pounce, was real enough. He tried taking deep breaths and covered his mouth a little to muffle his breathing to hear his surroundings. There was nothing but the crickets chirping. When an owl let out a “hoot” nearby, it nearby scared his living half dead. He turned his head around to see an owl looking at him. Call him crazy, but he could swear that with the little light there was, he could tell that the owl was confused and curious. Other than that, he was practically alone. No ghosts, no humans.

The young halfa continued trying to take deep breaths to calm down, but it felt as if he couldn’t breathe when he did that. Danny yawned and despised the dry feeling in his mouth and throat. His eyelids were becoming heavier, and so was the rest of his body. He remembered something he had seen under the glimpses of moonlight through the canopy when he looked around and turned to the right.

A cave.

Danny limped the whole way towards it. Every step was tiring and hurt, and with every one he kept telling himself “just one more step” to keep going. He almost tripped over a log he hadn’t noticed, but his reflexes were fast enough that he grabbed onto a nearby tree. He waited a few seconds until the dizziness left to continue walking. Finally, he made it inside. Danny lost his balance sitting down against the cave wall a few steps inside and fell onto his behind, but he got what he wanted in the end. It wasn’t the comfiest in the world, but it wasn’t long before he had fallen asleep.

[rana-temporaria]

Anyone wanna hear my Tucker Foley headcanons? Yes? No? I’m putting them out here cause he deserves more love

After all the Ghost attacks started he actually got quite a bit of anxiety, tends to happen when, your, your friends, and everyone you knows lives are in danger. Not to mention he’s on the front lines! 

He watches a lot of like super comforting, cute shows. think like fun funky comfort cartoons. They really relax him. But he can’t sit still watching anything, always gotta be doing something (Not my ADHD ass projecting) 

So he sketches a lot, he’s into graphic design too! 

He collects keychains, for when he gets a car. really cute ones! He’s got a lilo and stitch one.

his parents are wonderful and he feels so, so guilty when he comes home at three after hacking skulkers armor. They worry about him, he knows. He could tell them he’s ghost hunting. Wouldn’t even have explain the his-best-friends-a-half-ghost thing! Danny’s a fenton, which tuck could use as explanation. But. He’d have to lie either way, right? And he’d rather his mom and dad don’t have to think about him risking his life

He was really good at tech shit before ghost shit started but nowhere near his skill level now. Like, he figured how to use ECTOPLASM in tech! Trying to hack him? Get Haunted! And he fuckin hacked a GHOST! Tucker is baffling and terrifying Anyone With A Job In Tech

Everybody knows theres a hacker working with Phantom. No one knows WHO. Tuck finds this absolutely hilarious, he starts a social media account for ‘The Mystery Hacker’ he also keeps spreading fake clues

He’ll be unstoppable when he gets a car. He WILL run over assholes, no hesitation

He and Sam agree on this

He loves his friends very much, ok? Just like I love him. Give Tuck more love <3

[fascinatedscrawls]

Phic Phight Prompt: The Box Ghost, aka the most un-frightening pathetic nuisance ever, is actually incredibly powerful compared to the average ghost.

Word Count: 1425

For @phantomphangphucker

Summary: There are a lot of different kinds of power. Some are easy to see and others - others take a little more perspective to understand. Of course, realizing that the Box Ghost was both feared and respected within the Ghost Zone is still a bit baffling even after Danny gets to see it first hand.

"Wait, wait, wait." Danny held up a hand to stop Ember before reconsidering and putting it to his own forehead in an attempt to drive off the headache he could feel building there. "Can you repeat that?"

"What am I, a wind up doll?" Her look of disgust made way for an eye roll when Danny dragged his hand further down his face to glare at her over his fingertips. "The Box Ghost will have what we need."

Hand now over his mouth, Danny wondered if he needed to get his ears checked. When she clicked her tongue at him and went to keep moving, Danny quickly followed her gesturing wildly.

"The Box Ghost? Really? As in, the guy who comes to Amity just to grab cardboard boxes and crates? The one who won't stop introducing himself and screaming 'Beware!' - that guy?" Actually, a thought occurred to him and he narrowed his eyes trying to fly ahead of Ember to try and read the truth of it off her face. "Hang on, does he introduce himself because he's trying to use some other ghost's reputation? Is there another Box Ghost out there?"

Ember sped up shaking her head as she sped through the Zone.

"Of course not, anyone would be able to tell that the imposter was lying. Or, well," she winced a little, "no one would believe that guy when he lied. I mean, he's not the best actor. Not everyone's meant for the stage, obviously."

"Obviously." Danny repeated, voice and expression flat before he remembered that he was here to ask Ember for help. Pasting on a friendly smile when she sent him a warning look, he tried for a little more clarification hoping that she wouldn't change her mind. "But how did he become the ghost to see?"

"I'm the ghost everyone wants to see." She reminded him instantly, striking a pose like she was getting photographed before waving off his fumbled response to that. "I know what you meant. For this type of thing it's more that it just falls into his domain."

"Like, a kingdom?" The Box Ghost had a whole realm like Dorothea and Frostbite? Danny almost breathed a sigh of relief when Ember shook her head.

"No, more like a website."

Danny wasn't aware that he could stumble while flying, but he managed it anyway. "Excuse me?"

"No."

Ugh. Ember was sometimes all the parts of Jazz Danny couldn't stand - a big sister without any of the care that made Jazz one of Danny's favorite people. At his groan Ember came to an abrupt stop and reached for her guitar. Danny almost brought ecto to his hands before he realized she was holding it out instead of readying an attack.

"Look, everyone has what they're good at, right? Like I'm amazing at singing and playing my guitar so when I play I can do things through my performance."

"Right." Danny drew out the vowel a bit, following but not really sure where this was going.

"It also means that things pertaining to my domain of Rock Star Sensation are more likely to find their way to me even inside the Infinite Realms." Flicking her fingers, she rolled a guitar pick down her knuckles in a practiced move. "That's why my guitar is always in tune and I usually have all the things I need to play it. Strings, picks, if they fall into the realms there's a good chance I'll find them."

So ghosts frequently found things that related to their obsession. Danny wasn't sure how true that was - that things find their way to the ghosts that wanted them rather than most ghosts only paying attention to things they were personally obsessed with, but the Ghost Zone didn't exactly run on any logic he truly understood so he was going to roll with it for now.

"And the box ghost-"

"Finds boxes." Ember finished his sentence, swinging her guitar back over her shoulder and starting forward once more, more noticeably following the path of a few other ghosts Danny could see in the distance. "And other packages, though he doesn't like those quite so much."

"He finds boxes and keeps them no matter what's inside, got it." Which explained why she was leading him to the Box Ghost for those supplies Frostbite was looking for. "How often does he find more boxes?"

Just how likely was it that Danny would find the laundry list of things Frostbite was looking for?

"Oh," Ember didn't even knock before pushing a double wide set of swinging doors open so they could step inside what Danny now saw was their destination. "Almost constantly, I think."

Goggling at the ghostly equivalent of a big box warehouse complete with rows and rows of aisles that practically scrapped the almost cavernous ceiling, Danny didn't even care that Ember was absolutely snickering at his reaction. "Where do they even come from?"

"They're every package that gets lost in the mail, I think." Ember answered, grabbing his arm and pulling him further into the store. "And there are a lot of lost packages these days."

They passed huge piles of boxes, each stacked higher than the Fenton Works Ops Center, many of which baring familiar logos from various online retailers. Danny snorted before his eye caught on a ghost reaching through the cardboard to triumphantly pull something (hedge trimmers?) from a box only to very quickly place whatever was in his other hand into the box in its place. Looking around at other ghosts who were sifting through the madness or bargaining between themselves Danny noticed something.

"Does everyone bring their own stuff?"

"Money doesn't really mean much here, so like everywhere else in the Realms this place runs on trades." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a few CDs some of which Danny vaguely recognized as being popular a few years ago, all of which wouldn't have fit in her pocket if she weren't a ghost. "The Box Ghost doesn't care about what's in the boxes so long as something is inside the box."

Danny's next question was forgotten as the Box Ghost himself burst intangibly through the boxes on the next aisle over, hands raised with a loud, "I am the Box Ghost!"

After months of being warned by the same ghost with nothing resulting from it other than maybe a few hours of annoyance as he chased the Box Ghost around town before capturing him, Danny watched incredulous as the smaller ghost the owner of this 'store' was threatening cowered, literally tripping over themselves as they searched their pockets for something to put into the box they'd left empty a few minutes before.

Around them the other ghosts scattered as the Box Ghost yanked the offender up by their collar, eyes burning bright and an surprisingly impressive wave of energy rolling off him that even Danny could fee,l before a figurine (in mint condition) was held up in shaky hands as an offering.

There was a pause as the Box Ghost blinked away his rage to inspect it. Then he snatched it from their hands and put it ever so gently back into the temporarily empty box. Giving it a satisfied pat, he then threw out a practiced "Beware!" before vanishing back to wherever he came from.

Danny watched the ghost he dropped snatch up their prize and shoot out the double doors before giving a knowing Ember a wide eyed look.

"Never mess with a ghost over their obsession on their own turf, especially not a guy who gets all his power from the ecto people give off his his warehouse." She warned him.

"But - he's so-" Danny struggled to put it in words. "He never does anything like that in Amity?"

"Not his turf is it?" The pointed look met its mark even before she followed it with, "Besides, you've got his kryptonite."

Baffled, Danny pointed at himself. Ember helpfully pointed at him too. Following her finger, Danny unhooked the thermos from his belt.

"For a guy who is all about boxes and other things cubic, the only thing worse for him would be a sphere."

Aaand there was the Infinite Realm's 'logic' catching Danny off guard again.

"I guess it doesn't matter how powerful he is if I'm always fighting him with the perfect weapon."

"Yep, now get searching. I don't have all day and this place doesn't have any sort of organization."

With a groan, Danny snatched the CDs from her hand and got to work.