#is this wes weston x tim drake?

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC Police Officer Wes

"Excuse me, sorry, Mr. Batman, sir!"

That's definitely not a voice he knows. Bruce halts in his steps, aborting his usual retreat into the shadows, and turns back around. Commissioner Gordon, who was still in the process of wrapping up his small talk with Tim - the term 'grumpy banter' would describe their conversation more accurately at this point, but Bruce knows better than to argue with the two over semantics - also turns around, pausing in the middle of the sentence.

A ginger haired boy, wide-eyed and obviously either nervous, starstruck, or both, is staring at him from a few feet behind the Commissioner. Bruce can see a few more faces peeking from behind the half-opened door to the roof, all of them filled with anticipation. He knows two of them: detectives that work directly under Gordon, Isaiah Vasquez, and Tasha Kuznets. The third one, a black man in his forties, also looks vaguely familiar, but Bruce can't recall a name.

Yet, he knows absolutely nothing about the ginger, who hasn't blinked once since Bruce noticed him and is now biting on his lips. But he is wearing a police uniform, so, possibly, a new hire?

"Weston, get out," Jim sighs, waving a shooing hand at the boy with a look of barely concealed exasperation on his face. Definitely a new hire, then. That's the level of annoyance he reserves only for the overachieving rookies that he begrudgingly likes but never admits to.

"I-" newly named Weston starts but cuts himself off. Then, he takes a deep breath and straightens up, "Just one question, sir!"

"Weston, I swear to God," Commissioner pinches the bridge of his nose, lifting his glasses up a bit. But Tim tilts his head to the side, looking in the ginger's direction and raising his eyebrows. His domino mask hides it, but Bruce knows his menagerie of kids well enough to see that he is at least a bit curious about the boy. So he turns back around fully and inclines his head, giving Weston his attention. He doesn't mind talking with those rare few members of GCPD that Gordon likes.

Weston perks up like a very eager dog at the sight of a treat. In the contrast lighting of the BatSignal, his hair looks like it's on fire.

"If you don't mind, was the 'Smiling case' relevant to Joker in any sense?" The boy asks, loud and clear - maybe even too loud - with his unblinking gaze still glued to Bruce. Like he is afraid that if he closes his eyes for a moment, Gotham's vigilantes are going to disappear without a trace.

It's not a question Bruce expected, to be honest. The 'Smiling case' was closed just a few days ago, Gordon was still not done with the paperwork, as far as Oracle's records went. A murder of three, where all victims had some badly drawn clown makeup on them - post-mortem makeup, as it turned out, the murderer tried to deceive the investigation by trying to cover it up as Joker's doing. Only, he didn't do a good job at it, all the Bats were way too familiar with the Mad Clown's signature style. Not to mention that Joker was still securely sealed in his Arkham cell.

Bruce turns to look at Red Robin. He was the one working on the case, so Bruce gives him the choice of answering or not. Tim jerks his shoulder, looks the ginger boy up and down, and then shakes his head.

"Aside from a poor attempt at leading the investigation in the wrong direction, no, it wasn't," Tim shrugs, "The guy isn't even a Gothamite, he knew of Joker only from the rumors and media. And the clown faces were a makeshift cover-up."

Weston visibly deflates at the answer. Bruce watches in a slight amusement as Tasha nudges the other officer, one he doesn't remember the name of, in the shoulder, and stage-whispers, "Pay up." The older man huffs and disappears behind the door, followed by Isaiah.

"Thank you, Mr. Red Robin," Wesley nods politely and takes a step back, his eyes darting to Gordon. Tim snorts a laugh but doesn't correct him. Commissioner, though, gives the boy a long, dreadful sigh.

"Is that all, officer Weston?" He asks, not even bothering to hide his 'tired dad' voice.

The ginger nods again, "Yes, Commissioner Gordon."

"Then get out of my sight before I make all your shifts double," Jim commands, and Weston nearly runs back to the door with a speed that makes Bruce involuntarily think of speedsters. Must be the red hair.

Tim turns to look at the Commissioner right as the door to the roof slams shut behind both Weston and Kuznets.

"Who is he?"

Bruce is also a bit curious now. New recruits in the GCPD are nothing out of the ordinary, but Jim seems to know this one personally, and Kuznets, who is one of his trusted detectives, seems to also like the officer.

Gordon briefly huffs and stuffs his hands in the pockets of his coat. It's quite chilly today; Bruce makes a mental note to switch everyone to their more insulated suits. Scarecrow is currently out on the loose. It won't do any good if any of the Bats went down with a cold.

"Wesley Weston, fresh out of the Academy," Commissioner sighs, but, somehow, Bruce gets the impression it's not a sound of simple exasperation over a new officer eager to prove himself. Jim proves his assumptions by looking around the shoulder to make sure the door to the roof is still closed, and continuing, "Born and raised in the middle of nowhere, Illinois, but GCPD was his first choice. He explained it as having a few friends living in the city, which, unfortunately, proved to be right."

Bruce frowns and grunts, alarm bells ringing in his mind. Deliberately choosing to work in Gotham despite not being from here can be caused by many reasons, and nearly none of them are good reasons.

"Unfortunately?" Tim inquires suspiciously, also with a slight frown, but Jim waves them both off.

"No, he's got nothing to do with any of the criminals. It was the first thing I checked when he mentioned 'friends'. If anything, he's quite on the opposite; he'd make a great detective one day, what with his countless conspiracy theories, determination and the insane urge to dig up every single detail known to mankind," he laughs a bit, and Bruce notices a slight, teasing twinkle to the Commissioner's eyes behind his glasses. "On his second day here, the boy went and plain told me he knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne and that he's saying that because he knows I know and he is aware we're working together."

The alarm bells in Bruce's mind turn into sirens. They never discussed the matters of Bats' real identities with Gordon - Bruce had his suspicions that the man knew it and simply kept his status quo. In all fairness, James Gordon didn't make it to Gotham's Commissioner by sheer dumb luck, so all the Bats kind of expected him to figure it out one day.

But Jim knowing who's behind the cowl is one thing. A new, out of town officer is quite another.

"What did you answer?" Tim asks with an easy smile, but Bruce sees the barely noticeable tension in his shoulders.

Gordon nearly grins, "I didn't believe him, which turned out to be exactly what he expected. He also told me of some kind of a familial curse - he called it 'Cassandra's curse', I believe you're aware of what it means. And then, when I naturally expressed my doubts, proceeded to show it in action. Believe me, it works. Sometimes, it even works too well," the man looks to the side with an amused huff, "That's why officer Weston is strictly prohibited from voicing his opinions on any of the ongoing cases outloud. Detective Kuznets almost missed some critical evidence because of his input once."

Cassandra's curse, Bruce has heard of that saying before. Granted, he never thought it could be a real thing, and he is not intending on starting now, not before he investigates the matter thoroughly. But he does trust Jim - years and years of working together would do that to people - so he simply nods in understanding, leaving the matter of supernatural aside for now.

"What about his friends?" Red Robin asks again, and that causes Gordon to wince momentarily.

"That, I believe, was the cause of his performance just now. One of his friends runs an occult shop, and the other one loves to hang around our forensic scientists and coroners occasionally," the man waves their immediate frowns off again, "I don't go into the morgue often, but I heard he's good at finding out the causes of death by a few looks at the body. And they run a lot of bets between them three," Jim shrugs nonchalantly, "The last one was about the 'Smiling case', I take it."

"Any reason to worry about them?" Bruce can't help but ask. It's not unusual for people to be weird in this city, and running an occult shop and hanging out with pathologists are not exactly reasons to go through background checks when they've got much more pressing issues on their plate. Namely, Scarecrow: it's been more than a week since his escape, but none of the Bats have heard anything about him yet. Oracle is already busy enough with that and the current uprise of gang activity in the Narrows, there's no point in piling even more work on her shoulders just because of some gossip that rubs Bruce the wrong way.

Gordon, thankfully, doesn't take his question lightly and pauses, scratching his chin.

"No," he finally concludes after some thought, "They are a bit strange for non-Gothamites, I'll say that, but in terms of this city? They are no stranger than my neighbors from upstairs." Gordon doesn't tell them to leave it alone, Bruce notices. However, it's probably not because of any doubts he has; the Bats just have a habit of tripplechecking everything anyways, and who would know that better than Jim Gordon?

A quick glance to Tim proves Bruce's thoughts. Red Robin, despite the mask, looks thoughtful. How many cases is he already working on, seven? Bruce makes another mental note to ask Alfred to cut his caffeine intake. It might be a bit hypocritical of him, what with his own plans to send a few messages to JLD about the 'Cassandra's curse', but Bruce excuses himself as the adult in the family.

Commissioner Gordon clears his throat.

"Do you want me to turn around so you can make your mysterious escape, or-" he starts, but both vigilantes are already gone by the time he finishes, "-or not, okay."

[demonic0angel]

Classic bat gets bride sacrifice to the ghost king 'cept:

"Damn it, you guys couldn't have waited till tomorrow to get me?" Steph glared at Tim, Bruce, and Constantine.

"You wanted us to wait on rescuing y-"

"Rescue! That wasn't a rescue! That was interrupting my date!"

"You were on a date with the ghost king."

"Wha-no. I was with Wes. The royal chancellor. He'd finally asked me out on a date, and then you happened."

Constantine stared at her. "... so you're saying that you've been on a date with... a royal chancellor… this whole time."

Red Robin, meanwhile, slowly and carefully reached into his pocket to get a tranquilizer as if he thought she was crazy.

Stephanie sighed and stood up from where they had dropped her on the ground. She dusted herself off and huffed. "No! Wes is the Ghost King's royal chancellor! I asked him out some days ago and this is our first date.”

Constantine pinched the bridge of his nose. Batman said, “So you’ve been dating a being from another dimension this entire time and didn’t tell anyone?”

“I only just found out that he was from another dimension. He’s been a great boyfriend so far.” At this, Stephanie looked at Red Robin with narrowed eyes, who sighed and relented to her scrutiny. “He didn’t tell me, but he didn’t even ask me anything suspicious either. He’s literally fine! Where did you guys put him?”

She scowled and put her hands on her hips. Batman and Constantine shut their mouths stubbornly, so it was only Red Robin who pointed down the hallway and said, “Constantine banished him back to his home world.”

Stephanie gave a frustrated scream. “Ugh! You’re all the worst! B! RR! You owe me for this!”

She pushed away both Constantine and Batman who tried to stop her, and Red Robin silently slid in place beside her, also leading her there as they both dodged the attempts of the two other adults to stop them.

They were in an abandoned building that Stephanie had picked for their first date to have a picnic, but now it was ruined. Why couldn’t the heroes in her life just mind their business for a day?? Stephanie pushed open the doors to where Wes was last and marched inside.

The ritual circle was still on the floor and Stephanie sneered before she asked, “How do I reverse it?”

“We’re not going to let you do that, you twit,” Constantine said as he and Batman followed them inside of the room.

Stephanie scowled again. “Watch me.” She looked back at the ritual circle and then thought to herself. After a moment, she began chanting softly, outwardly looking confident but inwardly sweating bricks. She was sure that Zatanna used backwards speak to do her magic, so theoretically, if she could say the incantation that Constantine used to banish him and reverse it then….

It could work?

Constantine gasped. “How does she know the incantation to summon him back?”

Score!

The ritual circle began to glow green and the building shook. The circle then began to turn dark and mist poured out, green swirls appearing within the circle.

Stephanie grinned as she continued, ducking underneath a batarang that Batman tossed at her before she finished the chant and her boyfriend was thrown out of the portal and at her feet. Wes groaned but got up with a glare at Constantine and Batman.

“Did you just fucking deport me?! On my date?! Do you know the blackmail material I had to give away to his Majesty to get back here?! Don’t think that just because you’re from another dimension that I won’t summon the King here and teach you a lesson!”

Wes tore into them and as Batman glared at Stephanie from where he was standing and being lectured, Red Robin leaned into her as she grinned broadly, loving how Wes was also defending her in the same breath as he was ripping at the two adult heroes.

“So I’m forgiven?” He whispered, reaching out a hand.

“You owe me ice cream, but you’re forgiven,” she said, shaking his hand firmly.

[bannanann]

@dcxdpdabbles

I LIVE FOR THE ALFREDS BOY STORY IT MAKES MY WHOLE DAY WHEN I READ IT :D

I made this as a gift hope you like it

Can’t wait for the next update

[astermagnolia]

stalkers and cryptids if they were youtubers:

Bernard: cooking and baking videos, reacts to food videos. Talks about theories mainly about cults or heroes (his most popular theory video is that batman/bruce/superman/Clark are in a polycule relationship (Tim randomly plays the video whenever Bruce starts to annoy him))

Wes: theorys of all kinds (similar to buzzfeed unsolved supernatural, Gametheory, superhorrorbro, etc (his most popular theory is that batman is actually a bat demon cyptid and Mothman is his mortal enemy. Bernard and Tim dared him to make a theory on it)), reacts to basketball plays talks about them.

Tim: true crime youtuber, talks about technology and how to hack, stuff about photography (Wes sometimes joins him on those videos)

Danny: space. So much space. Also talks about death and spirit culture from all kinds of cultures (people are confused about how he knows all this so intimately and how accurate he is), does some gaming videos, and reacts to shitty ghost videos.

[goddamnitmahtin]

Winner’s Choice

“I win!” Sam shouted as she laid out her cards. It was a royal flush.

“Dammit!” Danny said as he threw his cards onto the table.

Wes sighed, “I told you that you weren’t gonna win. I told you to bet low but NOOO don’t listen to Wes, he’s only the one who can count the cards.”

Sam shouted in return, pointing at Wes, “You said you would stop doing that! You prick! Just because of that I win by default.”

Danny groaned. This wasn’t going to be good. He never should have made that deal.

“Okay Sam, just like we agreed. Winner gets a favor. What do you want?” Danny asked. He should have known. Danny was a terrible gambler. But Wes wasn’t allowed to play anymore because he couldn’t help but count the cards based on patterns in the deck. All they wanted was for Sam to lend them some money…. paying rent is hard when you’re in college. And it’s not like she wasn’t rich as all hell.

Danny, Wes and Sam were meeting up for game night. They were only able to do it every few months. Ever since they all left Amity and split off in their separate ways, it was hard to meet up in person anymore. Sam moved to Gotham to live in the estate her family had there. She was working to take over the finances and was working to use the money to give back to the environment. Danny and Wes moved to Metropolis for college. They didn’t realize until they bumped into each other on campus freshman year. At the start of senior year the two of them got an apartment with 3 other guys for real cheap.

Tucker on the other hand wasn’t so close. He had moved across the country to go study at Harvard. He had big dreams of double majoring in law and computer science. From all the calls they had all had over the years, Danny could tell he was doing well. He trusted his boyfriend to kick ass when it came to pretty much anything he put his mind to. He just wished he wasn’t so far away. Could Danny have found another partner more local? Well yes, he and Tucker weren’t monogamous. That type of thing never really sat well with either of them. Besides, being so far from one another only made that decision make even more sense.

“I want you two to go to the charity gala this weekend so I don’t have to. My family is being so annoying about it and honestly? I had plans anyways,” Sam said. She had a lighthearted and mischievous tone but Danny has known Sam long enough to know she wasn’t joking.

Danny whined, “Oh come on Sam! That’s a HUGE favor!”

Sam simply shrugged, “It wouldn’t have been so bad if Wes hadn’t tried to help you by cheating. Again!”

Okay. Touché touché.

“Well… I guess we are going to a party,” Wes sighed as he finished off his drink.

What neither of them knew was that after that night, neither of their lives would be the same. And it was all because of a boy named Tim Drake. Fuck you Tim (not really).

[fandom-lover-extra]

DP X DC Prompt: Conspiracy Cryptids - Soultouch

Soulmate bonds were looked upon as a blessing. For they were rare and few and far between.

With the added presence of extraterrestrial lifeforms, there was a guarantee that it made it even more difficult to find any potential Soulmate that someone might have. 

And of course, not all Soulmate bonds were the same, most differing in variety. The point being, it was very difficult to find one's soulmate if one did have them. 

However, the media stated that it was always worth the effort. Soulmate bonds always worked out, either that be platonically or romantically, soulmates would be with each other for life.

So, what exactly did one do if their soulmate kept dying over and over again?

Tim, Bernard, Danny, and Wes all shared a soulmate bond. A touch-bond based Soulbond. They could feel anything their soulmate physically came into contact with. Skin on skin. And they could also feel any injuries their soulmate acquired.

Which, wasn't inherently an issue.

At first, the group couldn't actually tell how many soulmates they had once they realized what the soulbond was. The general consensus amongst them all was that they at least had more than one soulmate.

Danny didn't look to deeply into it. Wes and Bernard had been curious but had also left the detail alone. And Tim was the one that had been the one that had actually spent hours upon hours of sleepless nights trying to figure out just how many he had.

(He had even learned morse code in the hopes of communicating with his soulmates, but not being able to actually get his soulmates to do the same thing had more or less ruined the point.)

Everything, other than that, had been fine for the most part. Besides the general occasional scraps and bruises, everything had been fine. That was a normal occurrence amongst a touch-bond based Soulbond.

And then, Tim Drake became Robin at thirteen years old. And the injuries got a bit more severe. They were much more serious. 

This started Bernard down the path of looking into Gotham's vigilante's. It was no secret that Batman took on Young prodigies, that other heroes at times would do the same. With the injuries his soulmate was receiving, Bernard began his search.

Danny and Wes had considered that their soulmate might be apart of an abusive household. But besides hugging themselves, they couldn't add much for comfort.

And then, Danny died when he was fourteen. His end of the bond going quiet. Tim, Bernard, and Wes all assumed one of their soulmates had died. That was until Danny's end of the bond came back as if nothing had happened. Sometimes with even more bruises they didn't feel happen originally, or completely unharmed.

Tim and Bernard assumed their soulmate was in the hospital, going in-between life and death. Tim doing more than a few illegal things in an attempt to find one of his soulmates. Wes had thought the same until he had saw Phantom bleed once. Noticed how Phantom always appeared when that end of the bond went quiet and was nowhere to be seen when it came back. He drove himself insane looking for Phantom.

Danny decidedly, did not in fact know of the frenzy he was putting his soulmates through. Or the fact that he was apart of making his soulmates as insane as they are about their conspiracy theories.

[knowledgeablegnat]

Dp x Dc: Bernard is Wes Weston

Because of all the stuff happening in Amity (ghost attacks, then the GIW coming in), Wes's parents decide to leave for Gotham, changing their names to make sure that everything stays behind them. Wes, now going by Bernard, starts at Louis E. Grieve Memorial High School in his sophomore year, meaning that he is pretty much settled in by the time Tim Drake comes in Junior year.

Things go as they did in the comics, but then sometime after Tim and Wes/Bernard reconnect and start dating, Wes/Bernard's past starts catching up with him when there starts being issues with ghosts in Gotham.

[connorsbonez]

Stalkers and Cryptids Memes

[rey-129-fan]

Gotham-Amity Co-op AU Part 3

Part 1 | Previous | Next

“Hola beauties, and welcome back to Fashionable History, I’m Paulina,”

“And I’m Star, and on this channel, we teach you how to be at the height of fashion, no matter what time period you find yourself in.”

“Now for our long-time viewers who missed our community posts, you might be wondering about the change in location.  Well, we are moving up in the world.  That’s right, fam, we are officially-

“College girlies!” The two shouted into the camera.

“Ah, such a big step,” ‘Star’ sighed.

“Indeed it is.  And to celebrate, let us dress up like we’re going to meet the queen of fashion herself: Marie Antoinette!”

***

“So you would think it would be hard to demonstrate Amity Park’s weirdness while no longer living there, but you would be wrong,” a black man said into the camera while walking down a hallway, his glasses fallen ever so slightly down his nose.  There were voices in the background progressively getting louder.  “You see, Danny’s mentor popped by this morning, and apparently, he decided that the perfect way to tutor Danny and piss off his bosses at the same time was to allow a bunch of college kids to summon a historical figure of their choosing to discuss their area of expertise.  Once a week.

“Jazz got to go first.”

The black man stopped in a doorway.  Much clearer in the background was a woman’s even voice.  “And Jazz, being the future psychologist that she is, picked the most sex-obsessed man in history.”

The camera flipped to show a young red-head sitting across an older man with a white beard in a blue three piece suit.  In the background was a younger man, his blue eyes glazed over as he sat there sipping from his mug, his head of black hair bobbing as he fought to stay awake.  Really, it wouldn’t gather a second glance, except for the tiny detail that the older man’s skin was as green as a sunburnt person’s was red.

“-indeed homosexuality is not an illness, and in fact the only link between it and mental health has been observed to be caused by familial and community reactions.”

“That is good to hear.  Indeed, many people throughout history were homosexual, and a lot of them did not show any other signs of mental illnesses.”

“It is.  However, with the recent pushes for public acceptance of those not heterosexual, many have come forward with sexual orientations beyond just hetero and homosexuality, including those that are attracted to both men and women at the same time, as well as those who experience no sexual attraction or are completely repulsed by the idea of anything sexual.”

The camera flipped back to the first man.  “She is explaining how psychology has developed in the last 100 years without trying to rip apart Freud’s work.

“This isn’t even the first time something like this has happened.  Occasionally, we’d get guest speakers that would turn out to be some famous author or pioneer in their field.  It’s how our English teacher got his copy of the Tempest signed by the original author.  I think this might be the first one that won’t end in a raid by government idiots in white, though.

“So yeah, we occasionally get to talk to dead celebrities and don’t bat an eye at it.  Amity Park is very weird.”

***

“Danny!  You left your cups in the sink again!”

“How can you tell it’s mine?”

“They’re glowing green and you’re the only one that drinks ectoplasm!  Now take care of them before you bring the food to life again!”

“Fine…”

The camera pans over to a goth woman giving the camera a flat look.  On screen, there’s some text that reads: ‘When your boyfriend forgets to clean off his dishes after his mildly radioactive smoothies.’

***

“Urgh!” Just die you stupid, lazy skeleton!”

“How long is this attack going to be!”

“I don’t care, because when it’s finally my turn, I am going to stab the dust out of this depressed sack of bones!”

On screen was a couch, and on that couch sat 3 young adults, two women and one man.  One of the women was Valarie Gray, US National Taekwondo Silver Medalist, was jabbing her thumb down on the d-pad of her controller, lips pulled back in a snarl.  The other was Samantha Manson, more known for the TikTok channel Our Strange Lives.  The man was a muscular blond.  All three were focusing on the screen, their eyes emitting faint light and Valarie’s teeth seemed to be getting sharper.

Quietly a blond woman walked on screen, a backpack slung over her shoulder.  The woman was Star Strong from Fashionable History.

“You guys are still streaming?”

“This boss is stupid difficult and Manson and Gray are the only ones willing to play.”

“What happened to the guys?”

“Fowley, Wes, Singh all had work.  Fenton got to the first boss and then lost it because ‘Goat Mom just wanted to protect us’ before getting a call from his lil sis asking for help.  Kwan is working on a lab with a guy from his chem class, and Kyle passed out a couple hours ago.”

“Stop dodging!”

“Wanna play?”

“Can’t.  Going to the library to study for a calc exam I have coming up.  See you guys later.”

“Later.”

“FUC-”

***

“And so, with this polaroid image, we have evidence to prove that-”

“Hey, Wes, do you have something I can use for a collage?  Oh sweet, thanks bro!”

“What?  No!  Kyle!  Get back with that! That was the proof I was going to use to prove the existence of Yetis!”

“Oh damn.  This is some nice creature work!  Danny, your friend has an incredible costume, man!”

“Thanks, Kyle!  I’ll pass it on!”

***

Tim paused the video right as Wesley Weston stood to chase his older brother.

There.

The red-head’s eyes had a slight glow to them.  Tim clicked over to the other images he had gathered of the Amity Park teens, all with their eyes glowing or other signs of something inhuman.

Tim had been introduced to this group by Stephanie when she found a martial arts demonstration Gray did that involved breaking multiple boards, all several feet above her head.  Stephanie had meant it as a ‘check out his cool person doing what we’re doing,’ but Tim noticed something.  All the boards were being held by seemingly the same person- or at least people dressed very similarly.  And not in a way where they’re sitting on a ledge above Gray and are switching out the board each time she broke one.  More that there were multiple companies of the same white glove all holding a board and all floating several feet above where they should have been.  That was already a little weird, but it could’ve been some special effects or just a uniform.

No, what caught Tim’s attention was the quick glimpse of the face of one of the board holders.  It was youthful- late teens- but with paper white hair that showed no signs of bleaching.  Now these features would have been a thing to cement the mysterious person in Tim’s mind.  But it wasn’t that.

No, what got Tim to do some digging to find out about a previously unknown supposed hero from a small town that has been blacked-out by the US government, was his eyes.

His calm, glowing Lazarus green eyes.

***

So we finally get a taste for the shenanigans our liminals are up to. Sam, Tucker, and Danny all share a TikTok where they show off how weird the other two are and how weird their town is. Wes is trying to prove cryptids exist, which Kyle ruins. Dash has a gaming stream that most often Kwan joins in on, and Paulina and Star do dress history. Oh, and Valarie is a national taekwondo because karate has only been an event for one Olympic games, but taekwondo has been an event since 2000 and Val seems more like a kicker than a thrower. Plus, I actually took taekwondo when I was younger.

We do get another Bat showing up at the end. There is absolutely no plot, however, so who knows where this is going. Certainly not me!

I'm still looking for names (please, I need them). As for majors:

Jazz-Psych (obviously)

Kyle- Liberal Arts (I wanna put him in accounting, but Liberal Arts works for now)

Tuck- Comp Sci

Danny- Poly Sci, minor in Astronomy

Sam- Double Poly Sci and Environmental Science

Val- Criminal Justice

Dash- Undecided (both me and him)

Kwan- Pre-Med for now, though he wants to do Child Development/Education

Paulina- Fashion Marketing

Star- Sports Science

Mikey- Music

Wes- Journalism

[porcelana-r0ta]

I literally never planned to do anything more with my one shot of Wes being a Wayne Enterprises intern but the thought of Tim Drake and Wes Weston being friends (if not boyfriends) scratches my brain so perfectly like they could really be out here being stalker buddies 💙

Like,,

Tim, looking at a surveillance pic of a masked villain who robbed WE: (trying to be unsuspicious) the Bats really need to figure out who this new villain is and take him down >:(

Wes, who saw the villain's civilian persona for 0.5 seconds while on a Batbucks run: oh yeah I know him his name is Darry and he likes mocha fraps with a chocolate wall but also his card declined so that was sad :/ wonder he's robbing Wayne Enterprises

Tim, under his breath: I love you and I'll always make sure you get home safely after your shift

Wes: what?

Tim: I said that as my intern I need you to get me a Death Wish coffee

[cubeofanhilation]

How I think dpxdc would go

The whole gang graduated high school, and one of them got an invite to Wayne gala (idk which yet) and they decide to make a whole trip out of it. So they all decide to sight see in the second most fucked up city, attempts to get her hands on fear toxin, Tucker tries to track down Oracle, Danny ends up accedentily fight crime,

Danny: *finishing up with some random mugging, and see’s Jason* yo why tf you dead

Jason, taken aback by the comment: *shoots him in the kneecap, and it goes right through Danny*

Danny: …

Jason: …

Danny: I'm going to take this as my que to leave *yeets outta there*

Jason: wtf

and Wes?He takes this as a fucking challenge, he tries to figure out who the batfamily is, so he purposely gets himself kidnapped so he can get a better look, and he immediately figures everything out, (they're bad at hiding it, and Wes is batshit insane, we love him for that). He meets Bernard around then, probably fresh out of kiddnapping (see previous post) Then they head to Wes’s uncle's house, and everyone

sees the E. Nygma on the mailbox and then Wes then casually reveals The Riddler is his uncle, and he's married to the penguin and everyones like “wow that explains a lot” then they end up playing some stupid game like clue or something, until it turns out the Quinnzels were coming for dinner. That includes, Harley Quinn Poison Ivy, Bud & Lou, and Tempest (long story as to why they're there, can elaborate if anyone's interested) Wes then proceeds to tell everyone he figured out all the bat identities (previously telling his friends, Danny first because he's in love), and the Riddler and the penguin start feeling awkward because now they're the only ones who don't know who batman is.

Then it's the next day, Tucker and Sam check out the sketchiest places because, it's fun, and surprises everyone (maybe including some of the batfamily) with how prepared they are to deal with this shit.

Danny and Wes go on a date because they're adorable. They end up getting lunch, then going out and stalking two-face, because Danny hates evil, and Wes doesn't trust politician. They easily stop him from robbing a bank or whatever, and th n the batfamily shows up and Wes is like “nope! Not being interrogated again!” Picks up Danny bridal style and runs away

Then comes the gala, first off

Babs: how would you know that I'm Oracle?

Tucker: my best friend is a mad lad, anyways-

*Cut to Wes hovering over Tim like “I k n o w w h a t y o u a r e!”*

Chaos breaks, shenanigans ensue, by the end the ghost gang ends up in the bat cave and they clear everything up, and maybe start an alliance, also Danny is like “dude the ectoplasm that resurrected you is not completely out of you're system in a healthy way yet! You gotta do something” and throws supplements at Jason.

[echoing-gravity]

Danny would totally wear this as an inside joke

im just picturing a scene with Danny(as Fenton) in the green hoodie, and he's with his parents and they're in a meeting with Bruce Wayne World greatest detective, who Danny knows is batman somehow, and he's just.. sweating.

"It's a lie! I'm not a ghost"

Is on repeat in his head or somethin.

Or like a scene where Bruce is like, being shown around Casper high, cuz their investigating the giw, and the ghosties and what not so Bruce decided to have tim go to school there undercover.

AND WES BEING WES, SEES DAnnys hoodie and goes off. No one from amity takes him seriously. He is mocked by dash.

This happens. Infront of batman. Worlds greatest detective. Tim is there too. (Becuz I am in braindead hell. And there's less than 100 braindead fics in existence and that's not okay.)

Tim is thinking "not another fucking conspiracy theorist"

This could have soooo many identity potential reveals shenanigans.

Danny's a dumbass. This would totally happen. Someone who isn't me write it, or draw it. He would absolutely wear this. Tucker and/or sam sees it in some hot/topic esk store and gets it as a gag gift. Danny wears it unironiclly. They regret their life choices.

Someone in the comments said Jason would totally want to wear it to annnd

Now I'm just picturing Jason and Danny being all twinsies and just fucking with Wes even more.

Wes is like who? The fuck? Is that? And he goes in the complete wrong direction for once and: "OMFG DANNY'S PARENTS CLONED HIM!!!!" Says wes probably.

"Okay whatever wes" says dash.

"Those mad scientists are making a fucking army" wes whispers harshly.

Tim hear this. No context. He has just walked around the corner. Misunderstandings about the investigation insue.

Also I've decided that Jason is also there at Casper undercover, and they hate working together tim and Jason, but like never go undercover alone. Always have backup.

Maybe it's a love triangle? Them fighting over Danny. Sam is completely aware of this, and Hates every second they are near Danny. Who is a known bisexual

Tucker is oblivious and is like "How tf do u not like Timothy drake-wayne!!!! Do you know how much high tech nerd tech EXISTS because of him?! Wtf sam"

Sam is having a bad week.

[demonic0angel]

Can we have more Tim thinks Danny is a vampire please?

Part 1, part 2, part 4

(Man, two people asked me this lmao)

Tim was silent as he walked through the college campus. Stephanie was by his side, trying to search through her tote bag while walking at the same time. “I’m so glad you’re back, Timmy!” Steph said when she found her lip balm, looking up with a light, fake smile. “Is college treating you well?”

Code for: ‘Why the fuck did you make me do this, are you happy???’

Tim nodded and returned the smile, though actually genuine. He was actually rather pleased that Stephanie was willing to help him hack into the college database and get another copy of Danny’s schedule, since most of his classes had been able to be switched around since he had discovered Tim’s observation.

“Thanks for showing me around,” Tim said. “I’m glad to be back.”

Stephanie snorted and then leaned in. “By the way, I hate you for this, but I did a thing for you. I made friends with the tall redhead that you said was named Wes.”

Tim inhaled sharply. “Seriously?” For a moment, he was extremely thankful that Stephanie was such a good friend that would put herself in danger for him. “Thank you!”

Stephanie nodded. “He didn’t seem very… vampiric to me, but yeah, we had a few classes together. His name is Wes and he’s sweet.”

“He could be dangerous,” Tim warned, before adding, “like Danny.”

Stephanie gave him a strange look before nodding slowly. Then she said, “You’re paying for me.”

Tim blinked in confusion but then Stephanie pulled him into a coffee shop situated on the campus. Inside, Tim gasped at the sight of Danny and this ‘Wes’ guy sitting together, silently doing their assignments. Tim quickly tore his gaze away, giving an alarmed look to Steph, who just smirked.

She pulled him by the arm over to them and plopped them both down on the seat. Danny looked up with wide eyes, but Wes didn’t even twitch. “Valerie, since you’re here, can you tell this bitch that I wish he’d drop dead?”

Danny covered his mouth to hide a smile, just as Stephanie grinned and said, “I’m not Valerie.”

Wes looked up with wide eyes. “Steph! I mean— I—! I didn’t—!”

Danny burst out laughing and Tim watched him carefully. To check for fangs, of course. His laugh was light and carefree, pleasant to the ear and cheerful enough to make Tim want to smile too. He was still snickering while Wes stammered and stuttered to an amused looking Steph.

Danny finally settled enough to look at Tim. There was still laughter in his bright blue eyes as he smiled. He put out a hand and said, “Are you Steph’s friend? Sorry for that asshole, he’s usually nice. The name’s Danny.”

Tim eyed his hand. Calloused, solid, with short fingers that told a story of art and hard work.

Tim shook it firmly. “Tim. I’m new.” He was colder than Tim’s hands, and he fit so nicely in his palms.

Danny grinned. “Welcome to Gotham University then, Tim!”

Tim returned the smile and nodded. He silently thanked Steph again. After all, without her, how would he have been able to interact with Danny in person?

[astermagnolia]

Stalkers and Cryptids Soumate Au

I mentioned in another post about ideas for Danny's tattoo and I think I got it.

What do yall think? Think there's too much going on? (Hope y'all can understand mz handwriting💀)

Edit: I may change Bernard's to a pin since, now that I think about, I don't think I've seen him with anything camera related.

+their height hehheeh🤭

[goddamnitmahtin]

Seabreeze or Amaretto Sour

And so the plot continues as we dissect my weird ass dream. This post is the sequel of the post called Damian’s Babysitter and part 3 of the Fuck You Tim (Not Really) AU.

Danny heard a voice he recognized coming from Wes’ laptop. It was his dashing boyfriend across the country doing smart people things. It had been a while since he had heard his voice since Danny had gotten totally swamped with his final dissertation for his astrophysics major and his final project for his aerospace engineering major. It was around finals every semester that he cried himself to sleep for deciding to double major. Even now at this gala, Danny really should have been working on his dissertation. It was a miracle Wes had been able to pull him away from his computer for game night with Sam.

“Oh hey Tucker!” Danny said excitedly. He wasn’t looking at the computer but he still said hi. Danny was trying to mentally figure out where the platter Damian got his in the head with came from. All he could really see was a room full of children so he couldn’t tell which one could have thrown it.

“Oh hey Danny! You two are both at the gala then? Sam told me about the bet,” Danny heard Tucker say. He turned his attention to the discord call, hoping Tuck’s cam was on. It wasn’t.

“Oh uh- yeah. We are both here,” Wes said in a sheepish tone that Danny had never heard before. It made him look at his cousin a bit closer. He was blushing. Oh. OHHHH- Of course Tucker would not only seduce him but also his own cousin. Massive respect.

“Who is that?” Damian asked, almost as if he were trying to gather intel rather than make conversation.

“That’s my boyfriend Tucker. He’s in school at Harvard,” Danny said, smiling. Wes continued talking to Tuck with a dreamy look in his eye. It was hilarious.

The child huffed with a nod, “I see. I would like to speak with him.”

Danny chuckled, “Okay but let’s give Wes a minute to wrap his conversation first okay? I’m gonna go get a drink from the bar.” He then got up off the sofa to make his way to the bar he saw in the main room. It was really fancy. Way fancier than any dive bar he and Wes would go to on the weekends. It was like a legit setup and all the barstools were fully intact.

“Could I get a seabreeze?” Danny asked, already ruffling his pockets for his wallet.

“No,” the bartender said curtly.

“Hold on I have my id. And you’re right I should probably do something lighter. How about an amaretto sour,” Danny found his wallet and got his id out to show the bartender.

The bartender didn’t even look at it, “I will not be fooled by your forgeries again Mister Drake-Wayne.”

Danny was confused, “No- my name is Danny Fenton, look at my id. I’m 21.”

The bartender let out a very pompous sigh and proceeded to look at his id very dramatically, “You did very well forging it this time. Unfortunately for you, I recognize your face sir. I know that you are Tim Drake and not-” the bartend read the id card, “Daniel Fenton. Now run along. I do not wish to be on the bad side of your brother, Mister Grayson.”

Danny couldn’t fucking believe it. What did he mean that he recognized his face?! Danny had never even been here before! What the fuck?! Apparently some Tim guy was trying to get drinks? Did this bartender REALLY mistake him for some fucking kid? Whoever this Tim guy was just ruined Danny’s chances of getting a drink for the rest of the entire night which meant he had to be SOBER for an ENTIRE GALA. Honestly? Fuck you Tim (not really).

[robinsegghead]

Danny's Daycare Part 11

[Master List]

Dragging himself off the couch (where he’d actually gotten a few hours of sleep- how’s that for ‘not normal’ Red Hood?), Danny checked his phone. He had a missed call from an unknown number two texts, one from Damian one from Tim, and a reminder that Damian was coming over sometime after noon.

Tim: No worries, Danny. I hope everything’s all right?

Danny decided to respond to that later when he heard the bedroom door open and remembered he needed to get breakfast started. Hopping up, he moved to the kitchen, feeling lighter than he had in weeks, and started searching for food.

“‘Morning.” Santi murmured, taking a seat on the stools across the island from Danny. “Wha’s t’eat?”

He’d learned early on that the boys’ Gotham accent was even thicker after waking up and had to keep himself from cooing at how adorable it was. You’re not their dad, chill.

“Looks like….” Danny pulled out the container Red Hood had left the night before and read the little note he also included. Gallo Pinto, make some eggs and toast to go with it- there’s plenty so actually eat it, Danny. -Red Hood “Something called Gallo Pinto. I just have to make some eggs.” He ignored the pointed remark about eating the food and he definitely ignored the part about toast.

Santi sighed and placed his head against the counter. 

“You okay, kid?” 

The boy nodded. “‘M tired. Miguel’sa bed hog.”

Danny laughed. “Looks like you and I have something in common.” Santi looked up, questioningly. “Older siblings who hog the bed. I bet he steals the covers too, huh?” When the boy nodded Danny chuckled again. “Yeahhh…. They always use the ‘I’m bigger’ arguement too.”

“‘F I had a younger siblin’ I’d do it to ‘em too.” Santi sighed. “Did you do it ta Dani?”

“No I… I never had the opportunity.”

Santi tilted his head. “How come?”

He hadn’t told the boys much about himself, though he never held back information it usually just didn’t come up. He wondered though… if they outright asked him about certain things, Phantom, ghosts, Jack and Maddie, would he tell them? “We didn’t grow up together really.”

“But she’s yer sister.”

“Yes, well… I… didn’t meet her until I was fifteen and she was twelve and even after that we didn’t spend much time together. She spent her teenage years traveling and I- well I didn’t.” He let out a puff of air, Santiago was clearly very interested in this topic so he continued. “Dani’s a free spirit, she’s always come and gone as she pleased and well… I couldn’t be happier that shes’s decided to stay here for a little while. Don’t tell her but I kind of missed her.” He stage whispered the last sentence as if she would overhear him.

Speak of the devil and she shall appear. His door opened and closed without so much as a knock and then a very familiar face walked around the corner. “What’s to eat? I'm starving!” She exclaimed obnoxiously.

~~~

“So this friend of yours…” Miguel trailed off, Danny waited in silence for him to finish his sentence. “So your friend….” Danny nodded. “You have friends?”

Dani cackled while Danny huffed, exasperated. “Of course I have friends!” Miguel and Santiago shared doubting looks. “Listen, I just don’t have a lot of time to hang out with people. But there’s Sam and Tucker, we’ve been friends forever, and then Valerie joined the group- oh and Wes is definitely a friend too. We became friends towards the end of high school though so we don’t keep up as much. But yeah, I have friends.”

“Dude.” Santiago breathed. “That’s like… four people.”

“I’m pretty sure every friend is canceled out by an enemy so you’re at net 0 brother.” Dani laughed. “The negatives even.”

Miguel frowned. “You have enemies?”

Danny’s rebuttal was cut off by the knocking at their door- saved by the bell, well, sort of. Metaphorically. Damian was on the other side of the door, wearing slacks and a nice sweater (why was the kid always so dressed up?) and had a bag in one hand weighed down by (theoretically) cat stuff.

“Hi Damian!” Danny greeted. “Come on in!” He’d noticed throughout the time he’d known Damian that the boy was rather proper. He was always dressed nicely, always spoke politely, his posture was perfect, and he had an air about himself… like he knew his importance. He supposed it was good that the kid had that much confidence- maybe it would rub off on Miguel a bit.

Leading Damian to the dining room (which was really just a table in the kitchen), Danny started introduction. “I know you guys met briefly at the store-”

“You’re that guy whose brother goes by dick!” Santiago laughed.

Damian quirked an eyebrow. “Yes, Richard insists on going by it which I think is absurd.”

Santiago quirked his head. “Why you talk like that, man?”

“OKAY!” Danny clapped his hands together. “Let’s not be rude to my friend who is here to do us a favor and teach you boys about owning a cat, capeesh?” The boys nodded, Santiago sheepishly, and Damian untensed slightly. “Miguel, Santi, why don’t you show Damian your apartment and he can answer any of your questions.”

The boys nodded and Damian followed them without a word. The second they were out of earshot Dani gave him a Look. 

“What?” Danny asked defensively.

“Oh my Ancients.” She breathed, her eyes widened as if she’d just realized something.

Danny looked between where Damian had disappeared and his freaking-out sister. “What?”

“Nothing. You’re a dumbass.” She stood up and stretched. “This has been fun but I’ve got some things to see to, people to visit, you know…” She trailed off.

Pursing his lips, Danny tried not to ask. He’d suspected for a while that she was hiding something from him, but he didn’t know what or why. And he didn’t want to know. She was free to keep things to herself, he didn’t need to know everything she was doing at all times. “Okay- don’t forget, tutoring with Jason starts a week from tomorrow and you might learn a thing or two from him.”

“Pffff.” She waved a hand at him dismissively. “I’m already great at English!”

He deadpanned her. “You remember who you’re made from, right?”

~~~

“Do either of you have any questions?” Damian asked, looking between the two boys who’d been listening to his instructions without interruption for the past thirty minutes. When he’d met them- or, re-met them, he’d thought they would be incapable of listening to his expertise without butting in constantly, but he’d been wrong.

Miguel and Santiago shared looks, the older one was the first to speak up. “I don’t think so. Guess we can always ask Danny if we think of anythin’ later on.” He shrugged.

Knowing that Danny was not only new to owning cats but also incredibly busy, Damian hesitantly offered his own number. “If you ever have questions that Nightingale cannot answer or is not around to answer… you may… call or text me.”

“Oh shit man, really?” Santiago blurted out.

Miguel smacked him upside the head but it seemed to be more of a brotherly affection than anything else. “Manners, man.”

“Right, uh. Sorry.” Santiago offered. “Just excited I guess, we never got a pet before.”

Damian knew the feeling. When father had first agreed to letting him get a cat he’d been ecstatic. One cat, dog, and cow later and Damian was still excited any time he rescued a new animal or was able to get another one himself. “That is understandable, I too was excited to get my first pet.” Checking his watch, he stood. He still had homework to do before patrol tonight. “I should be going, but let me know how things are going once you’ve gotten all of the necessary supplies and have fallen into a routine.”

After saying goodbye to Danny and heading out Damian couldn’t help but hope the boys would text him. He pushed the sentiment away quickly. They either would or would not message him and it did not matter either way.

~~~

  “So Danny’s like- not human, right?” And wasn’t that a crazy way to start a conversation?

“Hi Santi, what happened to hi? Hello? How are you? My name is?” Miguel joked back, not taking his eyes off the textbook in front of him.

His younger brother groaned. “Come ooooon! There’s somethin’ weird ‘bout him! He’s gotta be a meta, right?” 

Spinning his pencil, Miguel responded absentmindedly. “What makes you say that?”

“‘Member when he was having a long day last week and accidentally ripped the handle off the fridge ‘cause it wouldn’t open? Or how ‘bout when I left some stuff here the other day and came ta get it while he was at work an’ he was also here? And at dinner that night I asked ‘im how work was and he said it was good?”

Miguel hummed. “Maybe he took that day off and didn’t want us to think he was bein’ a helicopter parent.”

“AH HA!” Santiago shouted, jumping to his feet and pointing. “You called him a parent!”

The older boy groaned. “Santi- I didn’t mean- look, he’s like five years older than me! At most he’s like an older brother and even then-”

“Tell me again how ‘e chased down your kidnappers and kicked their asses? Or how safe you felt when he moved you out of the way of danger? Or how he checked on us a buncha times at night and got you anythin’ you asked for?”

Miguel groaned, completely forgetting about the textbook as his brother listed off more times Danny was ‘meta like’ or ‘dad shaped’. It wasn’t untrue- but Miguel had said he didn’t want Danny to play parent and he meant it. He’d had parents, he knew how that song and dance went, and he wasn’t looking to suffering it again. 

Danny was cool, he fed them, helped them with school stuff, took care of them, all the things a parent did, but he didn’t get on them about curfew, or eating their vegetables, or grades, or any of that bullshit parents got upset about. He was cool. And safe.

He didn’t remember a lot from his kidnapping- Danny said that was probably for the best- but he remembered a lot of loud noises at one point and how badly he wanted them to stop. And all at once they did. After that there was a voice, it was comforting, calming, and gentle hands that held him close. Danny had told him after the fact that he’d moved Miguel away from the danger and had Red Robin take him home.

Because apparently Danny wasn’t done. Miguel had no idea how many guys Danny took out, but any amount was too much. After the way Miguel had treated him, the way he’d yelled at Danny and got mad at him for just trying to help- Miguel didn’t deserve Danny’s help.

“Are you even listenin’?” Santiago asked, leaning close.

“So what if he ain’t human? Meta’s’re cool.” Miguel argued.

Santiago looked at him like he’d said something stupid. “Obviously. But Batman hates ‘em! What if he finds out ‘n kicks Danny outta Gotham!” 

Anxiety clawed at Miguel’s insides but he pushed it down in favor of quelling his brothers’. “That aint’ gonna happen dumbass. Batman don’t care ‘bout Danny bein’ a upstandin’ citizen.”

“Hey guys,” Danny knocked on the door and leaned into Miguel’s room. “Dani wants to go out for a couple of hours this afternoon, go shopping, get food, stuff like that. You guys want to come?”

The boys looked at each other, knowing why Dani was trying to get him out of the apartment. “Nah, got work to do.” Miguel answered casually. 

“Okay… Santi?” 

Miguel froze.

“‘M good, gonna stay with Mick.” Santi answered, unperturbed.

Danny shrugged and left them to their work. When Miguel was sure he was gone he whipped around to Santiago. “You let him call you Santi? Since when?”

His brother bit his bottom lip nervously. “Uh… when… he called me that when I… when you were…”

Right. That made sense. High stress moments make people form bonds or whatever. Jazz said something about that the last time she’d swung by. She was never around for long, just enough to ask the boys about themselves and make sure Danny was eating and sleeping (he wasn’t). “Do you… want ‘im to call you that?”

Up until this point, Miguel had been the only person allowed to call him that nickname.

“I mean… I kind of… like it?” Santi mumbled. “He’s just so nice and he takes care of us and- and I- I… he’s okay- okay?”

Feeling a twinge of guilt and jealousy, Miguel shrugged. “You can let anyone call you whatever you want, Santi.” The two worked in silence for a moment before Miguel’s phone buzzed. “Dani says they’ll be gone for at least three hours ‘n that we can get to work now.”

“I still can’t believe he didn’t tell us ‘bout his birthday.” Santiago huffed as he stood up and followed his brother out of their apartment and to Danny’s.

Miguel shrugged. “He don’t know ours. Maybe he don’t like it?”

They could both understand that a bit. Birthdays were a touchy subject for them, maybe that was the case for Danny?

~~~

Danny was kind of oblivious a lot of the time, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know why his younger sister had dragged him out of his apartment for a multi-hour shopping trip on his birthday after very obviously not mentioning his birthday. He tried not to think too much about what the boys might have been dragged into back home while his sister buys anything she sees and likes.

To be fair, she really did need some stuff for her apartment, she’d furnished it almost immediately after moving in, but she lacked decorations. Dani was a maximalist, she liked displaying her knick knacks from her trips around the world, covering every piece of furniture in pillows and blankets, and making the place feel overall, homey. Something Danny wasn’t as good at.

(Where the hell did she get that from? It certainly wasn’t him. His and the boy’s apartments were  true testament to his lack of decorating skills and although he’d offered the boys many times to take them shopping for decorations and whatnot it seemed they felt similarly about the subject.)

“Danny come on!” Dani sighed dramatically. “You’ve been dragging your feet all dayyyy!”

With a scoff, Danny picked up the pace. Luckily they’d already been shopping for a few hours and she had promised this was the last store. He froze when he saw the store. “I am not going in there with you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be such a boy. It’s just bras.”

“It’s not the bras- it’s shopping for bras for my sister. Not happening.” He was putting his foot down on this one. Dani shrugged and disappeared into the store for way longer than he’d expected. Finding a nearby bench to sit down on, Danny pulled out his phone.

Tim: Astronomy, huh? 

Danny: Yeah its like the only thing Im good at

Danny: After science that is

Tim: And running a daycare apparently

Danny: In my defense I didnt know Id be good at that until I did it

Tim: You’re telling me you just kind of…. Did it?

Tim: No thoughts?

Danny: Something like that

Tim: Dude. What the fuck

Danny: Okay, your turn. Hobbies?

The two had been talking on and off for the last week since Danny had reached out but they were both incredibly busy and often only sent a couple of texts a day. Dani’s impromptu shopping trip gave him a good excuse.

Tim: Skateboarding and photography

Danny: Thats so cool! I remember you said you were going skateboarding with your boyfriend?

Tim: Yeah one of them

One of them? Danny looked up for a moment, his brain rebooting to understand- what the fuck? He couldn’t even get one partner and Tim had two?! How was that fair? Shaking his head, Danny responded.

Danny: Thats cool, does the other one not skateboard?

Tim didn’t respond quickly enough before Dani came rushing out of the store with a large pink bag and a big smile. Danny put his phone away and picked up the myriad of of bags he’d been tasked with carrying throughout their shopping spree. 

“Is that everything?” He asked, trying to keep the whine out of his voice.

She rolled her eyes, carrying only the bag from the last shop they’d been to. “Yes, Danny. We can go home now Ancients, you’re so impatient!”

“I don’t know where you got your love of shopping from but it was not me!” He was just grateful they could fly home invisible and intangible and it wouldn’t take long although it would take a bit longer than if he weren’t weighed down by a dozen shopping bags.

They got to the apartment building a few minutes later, stopping in Dani’s apartment first to drop off the bags- he hadn’t bought anything after all. 

Dani set everything down then gave her brother a thoughtful look. “I wanna say hi to the boys.”

“O…kay?” Since when did she need his permission to say hi to the boys? Before he could ask she’d grabbed his hand and dragged him from her apartment to his. She made a lot of noise trying to open the door instead of phasing through which was strange but Danny was tired.

As the door opened he noted that the lights were all off- maybe the boys were in their apartment? Now that he was thinking about it- hadn’t they been at their place when he and Dani had left earlier? Why did she assume they’d bein his-

“SURPRISE!” The lights flickered on as a chorus of voices shouted at him.

Startling slightly, Danny gained his bearings. Standing in his living room were the boys, Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Valerie, and Wes, all wearing party hats and smiling widely at him. He hadn’t spent his birthday with anyone in a few years so he hadn’t expected anything like this. He probably should have.

“Happy birthday, little brother!” Jazz exclaimed, pulling him into a tight hug.

“Dude! You should have seen the look on your face!” Tucker laughed, joining in the hug Jazz had started. Sam joined too and for a moment Danny felt completely at peace.

Someone shoved through the tangle of limbs and bodies. “Yeah yeah, happy birthday Nightingale.” Valerie scoffed.

“Man you didn’t tell us you had kids!” Wes shouted from the couch.

Danny made his way into the living room and collapsed into an armchair, exhausted from the shopping. “That’s because I don’t.” He thought he caught a frown flit across Miguel’s face but he pressed on. “But they’re good kids and I’m happy to talk about them. Is there food? I’m starving?” He hoped getting the focus off of the boys would help them feel a bit more comfortable.

He wasn’t exactly unhappy that everyone was visiting- he was incredibly grateful they’d taken the time to come all this way and spend his birthday with him but he was worried. The boys had been forced to socialize with people they didn’t know without anyone they knew there to act as a buffer. Sure they’d met Jazz a few times, but they were more comfortable around Dani than they were around her.

Miguel especially didn’t like when there was a lot of attention put on him.

“Of course there is! I brought a meat platter-” Tucker started.

“And I brought a veggie platter and vegan dip.” Sam cut in.

Valerie rolled her eyes. “I ordered pizzas- meat lovers and vegan.”

“I brought drinks!” Jazz offered.

Wes looked around. “Well shit- no one told me to bring anything! Besides I just got off a double shift at the Planet and drove her right after! I haven’t even showered in two days!”

“So that’s what that smell is.” Danny smirked.

Overall, it was a success. The boys seemed to loosen up once everyone started eating and relaxing, Valerie played with the kittens (who were getting quite big at this point) while catching up with Jazz, and Wes was ranting about work.

“I mean- the guy “gets a few interviews with superman” and suddenly he’s like the go to guy! He’s literally superman! That isn’t investigative journalism! It’s an autobiography!” Wes shouts, finishing his rant by stuffing the rest of the pizza in his mouth.

Sam snorts. “Wes, come on, Clark Kent is not Superman.”

Wes gave her a Look. “This is high school all over again! I told everyone I knew who Phantom was- and I was right!” Danny gave him a pointed look before glancing at the boys. “I know who Superman is, I’m ninety-eight percent sure I know who each of the Gotham vigilantes are, I’ve got the Flashes figured out, and no one believes me!”

Miguel tilted his head. “Who’s Phantom?”

Now you’ve done it. Danny glares at his friend. “Small town hero from our hometown. No one’s seen him in years though so you couldn’t possibly know who he is.”

Looking between the curious teenager and the possibly enraged eldritch being that could tear him apart with the snap of his fingers, Wes chose life. “Yeah… you’re probably right.” 

Tucker and Sam laughed as Wes slunk to the kitchen to get more food. “Don’t worry Wes! I’m sure the Planet will recognize your brilliance soon and you can score your own interview with Clark Kent- sorry- Superman.” 

~~~

Turns out, Dani had only bought a bra so she could disguise her gift for Danny in a bag she knew he wouldn’t carry for her. He hadn’t expected gifts but upon opening them he couldn’t have been more grateful. Jazz’s gift had been a yearly pass to the planetarium and observatory in downtown Gotham. She mentioned that he was allowed to bring one free guest with him every visit.

Sam, Tucker, and Valerie had gotten him a bunch of new space themed clothes, blankets, and books- including a new book he’d been debating getting for a while.

Wes promised his gift was coming but ‘it was a bit sensitive and he’d understand when it arrived’. That only worried Danny a lot.

Dani had gotten him the newest model of the Celestron telescope. There was no way a store was just carrying one of those, she’d have to have ordered it specially. Turning it over he found his name engraved into it along with his favorite constellation. He almost cried.

(He did).

The cake was delicious, Miguel and Santiago ate more than Danny thought they should have (but he wasn’t their dad and wasn’t going to tell them to slow down) and ended up in a sugar coma for the rest of the evening. He moved them to his bed and closed the door so he and his friends wouldn���t wake them (What? He didn’t have to be their dad to take care of them like one).

“So Danny,” Wes started. He was on one side of the couch, his legs on top of Tucker and Sam’s laps who were leaning against each other. Jazz had taken his armchair from earlier with Dani sitting on the arm which left the spot next to Valerie on the loveseat. Ironic. “You didn’t tell us you had kids.” He repeated from earlier.

Sighing, Danny closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the headrest. “Like I said, they aren’t my kids. I didn’t just say that for their benefit or something.”

Everyone nodded slowly, giving each other looks, but Tucker spoke up. “Sure, but like… you house them, clothe them, feed them, tutor them, love them, protect them… That’s kind of like a dad, no?”

“Not my dad.” Danny shot back nonchalantly. 

Jazz winced. “But like a dad should be.” She added quietly.

He thought about it for a moment. “I’m only five years older than Miguel-”

“Does that really matter?” Valerie snorted.

Shooting her a look, Danny started again. “I’m only five years older than Miguel and nine years older than Santi but if I could legally adopt them and call them mine, I would. It’s not like anything would change if I did, really. I wouldn’t suddenly be overbearing or whatever, but I promised Miguel when he agreed to let me help them that I would not try to parent them. So I’m not. 

“I’m doing what I said I would. Clothing, feeding, housing them, that’s easy, loving and protecting them is something I was going to do whether or not they agreed to let me help. But I’m not going to call them my kids,” not out loud anyway. “I’m not going to… tell them they can’t have more cake than they should or give them a curfew or ground them or- I… I’m not going to parent them unless they outright ask for it.” He finished with a shrug.

The room was quiet for a moment.

“Who would’ve guessed C+ average Nightingale would be the first with a prominent career and kids?” Valerie joked, elbowing Danny in the ribs.

The room erupted in laughter as everyone started bringing up different ideas of where they thought he’d be at twenty-two (twenty-three now) and it was definitely not ‘Daycare owner in Gotham with two pseudo kids���.

Once everyone had calmed down, Danny asked the question he’d been afraid of asking all afternoon. “When do you guys head out?” It had been so nice seeing his friends again, he hadn’t realized how badly he’d missed them since moving to Gotham.

“Well- about that.” Sam chuckled. “I actually got a job under a prominent scientist I’ve been obsessed with since like- forever- so I’ll be moving to Gotham soon.”

“What? Sam that’s- that’s great!” Danny spluttered.

Tucker nodded. “Obviously I’m moving here too and I’ve got a job interview lined up with Wayne Industries.”

“You’re joking.” 

His friends grinned, shaking their heads. 

“You mean, you two are going to live in Gotham?” They nodded. “Jazz and Dani are already here, and Wes is just in Metropolis,” He turned to Valerie. “What do I have to do to get you out here?”

Raising an eyebrow, Valerie scoffed. “As if I’d move all the way to Gotham city New Jersey to be near you weirdos. I’m only friends with you because my life was boring before.”

“So you’re saying we’re exciting?” Dani chimed in.

“I’m saying there’s never a dull moment with you weirdos.”

Danny shrugged, leaning into Valerie much to her dismay. “Four out of six isn’t bad- plus Wes is within driving distance. But I’ll find a way to get you guys here. Just watch, I’ll climb the social ladder, own this city, and bribe you here with crazy good jobs.”

They all laughed. After all, that was a ridiculous notion.

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