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cheswirls · 7 months ago

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short asl thing based on @where-does-the-heart-lie's modern au :) i started this over a year ago but the beginning is all dialogue and felt more like a script to me i suppose??? which deflated my desire to work on it. anyway i checked it over recently and it's completely fine lmfao, self-confidence restored here we go !

"Yo. Aren't you usually in the middle of your shift by now?"

"I've been banned from the hospital."

"Like, for life?"

"No. For the next, uh.. Twenty-two hours."

"That's oddly specific."

"It was twenty-four, but I fell asleep after leaving the building."

"That wouldn't have to do with why they kicked you out, at all?"

"Hmmm. I'm too sleep-deprived, apparently."

"Ah. And, um, you called me because...?"

"I pressed a random number in my call log after waking up. Lucky you, I guess."

"Yeah. Right. Lucky me. And your car keys are...?"

"Confiscated."

"Ah, right, of course."

A beat of silence. Two. Three, then "Look, if you're busy, then–"

"No, no. You called me, so I'll be there. Give me twenty minutes."

"Alright. Thank–"

"Thank someone else. Also, if you fall asleep in my car, I'm taking it as express permission to drive you around wherever I want."

"Ugh, go die. I don't even know why I bothered."

"LUCKY YOU, I guess," sounds off way too loudly in his ear. "No take backs. See you in ten."

"I thought you said–" Sabo breaks off as the call ends, leaving him staring blankly at his phone's too-dim screen. He squints, turns the brightness all the way up, and still squints as the sunlight proves too strong for the display.

Ace shows up in more than ten but decidedly less than twenty minutes. Sabo doesn't waste much brain power on it, only climbing into the passenger seat and yawning into his palm while his other hand fixes the seatbelt into the buckle. Not a second too soon, too, as Ace roars the engine to life and peels away from the curb at record speed.

Ace fiddles with the radio. He turns the music up, then dial it back down to inaudible. They hit the expressway and he leans over the steering wheel, frowning with his eyes fixed on the road far ahead. Sabo yawns again and this appears to be the limit to his patience.

"Hey, so, I had a thought after you hung up on me."

Sabo grimaces. "You mean you–"

"Today's Wednesday."

He doesn't elaborate. Sabo is too tired to process. "Yes," he follows, after a second. He glances at the sky out the front window. "What time is it?"

"Oh, uh." Ace fumbles with hand placement so he can lift his watch to his face. "Nine forty."

Sabo takes a couple beats to try and process this, moves his eyes away from the skyline, and sighs as he pulls his phone out. 2:47 is what the display reads, which sounds much more believable.

"How did the minute hand get off?" he mutters to himself, chancing a look at Ace's busted wristwatch. Ace raises a brow, taking his gaze off the road to scrutinize Sabo. "No, it doesn't matter," he mutters to himself once more, sliding his phone away back on his person and out of his hands.

"My point is," Ace continues, like he hasn't just been interrupted by a whole thing. "Your timeout will be done midday Thursday. Did they switch your days off?"

"No." Sabo sighs. "They technically gave me the next thirty-six hours. Technically closer to forty. Something like that. I go back in on Friday. Sometime.” He tries to smile and it turns out very lopsided, from that he can make out in the rearview mirror. “Can you tell I’m tired?”

“I don’t think ‘tired’ is an accurate description,” Ace quips. “When did you eat a proper meal last?”

“Uh, yesterday. Maybe.”

“Maybe??”

“A ‘proper meal’ means different things to the two of us,” Sabo huffs. “On my account it was yesterday. I’ve had food since then, of course.”

“Alright, so here’s the plan,” Ace announces before absolutely whipping it around a curve. Sabo is his passenger in the passenger seat and had fully prepared to be so when he got in the vehicle, but he’d been vastly underprepared for this sudden course of action, which is how he ends up halfway out of his seat with his cheek slammed into the cold window. Ace doesn’t quite notice his brother’s terminal velocity until the car is once again on the straight and narrow, and only then it’s because of the audible thunk Sabo’s face makes when it collides with the glass.

“Aw shit. You good bro?”

“Ow,” Sabo mutters. “If I have broken bones I’m suing your ass.”

“Well, if you’re good enough to make jokes, I think you’re better than you’re letting on.” Ace keeps the wheel steady with one knee while he takes both hands away to crack his fingers. When he glances over at Sabo again, he looks even more pathetic – like he’s becoming one with the glass. “Anyway, as I was saying.

“I’m taking your ass home. You’re going straight to sleep and while you crash, I’ll make you something decent to eat and stick it in the fridge for you to heat up later. I’ll even make you two servings to eat two different times, since you clearly can’t be trusted to take care of yourself correctly.”

“Ouch.”

“I want you to conk out for as long as your body allows. We can reset your sleep schedule tomorrow, alright? Put your phone on silent; do not answer any calls. In fact, you know what, just give it to me.

Sabo glances over to see Ace’s hand held out to him, palm up. Fingers wiggling expectantly. His lips pull up into a grimace. “I’m not doing that.”

“Fine.” Ace takes his hand back. “But you will comply with everything else.”

“Wow! It’s so funny, I didn’t realize you turned into my mother overnight! Really tapped into your mom potential, huh? Anything exciting happen in your life that would cause that? I guess I wouldn’t know, since I’ve been a zombie for the past two days.”

“There’s nothing wrong with acting like your older brother, you dipshit, especially if you keep putting yourself through the wringer like this. You go home. You sleep. You wake up and eat. You go back to sleep. Then we do laundry. Does that sound agreeable?”

“That’s negotiable, at the least,” Sabo mumbles. “I will accept good food as a form of bribery.”

“Oh, nice, because I’m flat broke at the moment.”

Sabo makes a mental note of that, and then they’re pulling into the driveway. Ace lets him exit the vehicle by himself and then promptly manhandles him all the way onto the couch where it will be easier to force his body to relax than in a real bed. Ace knows this, so he calls him weird before chucking a loose blanket at his head. Sabo is almost too tired to function at this point, so he lets Ace have the last laugh in favor of finally closing his eyes.

Coming to is a surreal experience, especially since the sun is still out. He must make a noise because Ace is suddenly within view. His limbs are tangled in the blanket and still so heavy that he doesn’t bother moving. “Thought you would be gone,” he half-groans, eyes slipping shut again for a moment.

“I did leave,” Ace confirms. “I had to go pilfer some stuff to make stew with. It’s almost done, so I’ll hang here until then.”

Pilfer. That could mean any number of things. Sabo chooses to believe in the option where Ace is an upstanding citizen, and then remembers Ace saying earlier that he had no money. He frowns and squirms on the cushions enough to where it looks like he’s checking his pockets. “Where’s my wallet, Ace?” he bluffs.

“Somewhere around here,” Ace pipes up. “Your stomach will thank you for your contributions to the Portgas Household’s pantry!”

“Ugh, I got robbed,” he complains. “This sucks. ‘m going back to sleep.” He rolls over so his back is to Ace.

“Yeah, you do you, bro. Stew will still be here later. I’ll see you when you’re back in the world of the living.”

—

Luffy comes in late that night and slams the front door shut as loud as humanly possible. When he appears in the main room, he doesn’t seem to be upset, so Ace writes it off as a Luffyism. Sabo hasn’t stirred at the noise, so it’s all good.

Realizing this, Luffy pads closer to Ace’s side and looks at Sabo’s unmoving body warily. “Why is Sabo passed out like a corpse? Is he sick?”

“No, he’s not sick, he just can’t take care of himself. Which is why we are going to let him sleep for as long as possible.”

Luffy just nods to this, but it’s the uncomprehending Luffy-nod that means he’s just going to end up doing whatever he wants to regardless. Ace sighs, then jerks his head towards the kitchen. “He ate a little earlier, but I want him to eat again when he wakes up. There’s stew in the fridge if you want it – just leave him a little. Got it, Monkey D. Luffy?”

Luffy throws him a salute and then runs off in his socks. “Yippee! Ace made stew!”

“Think of your brother, Luffy, and make good choices!” Ace calls after him. “He’s a pathetic man who needs food to feel better or he’ll end up sleeping through Laundry Day!”

—

Sabo does not sleep through laundry day, but he does sleep for sixteen whole hours, so it’s just around noon when he forces himself up off the couch and into a warm shower.

Ace is around, which is mildly unexpected. But he’s still half-asleep, so everything is at least a little unexpected. He glances up from playing video games with Luffy to see Sabo leaving the steam-filled bathroom with his hair hanging around his shoulders. “You look like a wet cat,” he calls.

“Sabo’s awake!” Luffy cheers. “Ace thought you died at one point.”

Ace elbows Luffy in the gut, making him hunch over. “I did not!”

“He totally checked to see if your heart was still beating!”

“I’m undead, actually,” Sabo says completely seriously.

“Does that mean you don’t need to eat anymore?” Luffy questions. “Because I ate all the stew last night.”

“I saw that coming and made extra.” Ace finger-guns in Sabo’s general direction. “That’s why I bought two sets of ingredients. With your money!”

“With my money,” Sabo echoes, because it’s such a wild statement to have to deal with this early in the day. Well, early for him. “Fuck you.”

“I mean, I can tell Luffy where I hid–”

“Thank you, Ace, for agreeing to share your quarters with both of your brothers so we can all do laundry today on your dime!” Sabo raises his pitch so his voice is mockingly squeaky when he says this. He starts moving down the hall before Ace can start to argue, letting his and Luffy’s voices bleed into the background.

When he comes back out, now dressed, it smells significantly better than before. “I reheated the stew,” Ace announces, gesturing for Sabo to take a seat at the kitchen counter. “Let’s all have lunch before we head out.”

“You have to drink this too,” Luffy tells Sabo, sliding a Gatorade across the counter so it sets in front of him when he finally does take a seat. “Ace’s orders.”

“Gotta get those nutrients back somehow.”

“Aren’t we so considerate, Sabo?”

“Do you even know what ‘considerate’ means?” Sabo asks, lips quirking up into a half-smile. At Luffy’s shrug, it turns into a real smile. “Well, thanks anyway. Both of you.”

“No sweat. And look!” Ace brandishes a five dollar bill for both to see. “I found this baby for us to use on coins! It’s all on me today–”

“Where’s my wallet, Ace?!”

#writing #op #whery if i realized anything while doing this its that we need 2 get you a custom theme....#1) anyone whos not logged in will be able to see all your posts w/ no limits #2) (and the more important COUGHCOUGH) it'll be so much easier to find shit on your blog #if you want a cool blog layout lmk and i'll hook you up but for now #there are many benefits to a custom tumblr url........ being able to search /tagged for better blog organization is one of them #if there's a switch to writing style i wrote the first half of this in april 2023 so thats why!!#also lmao i jus spent the weekend w/ my brother so if its too mean-spirited thats unintentional n i'm prolly channeling is all #sighhhhhhh i love when they look after each other its so very very good #wittb has been great but i do wanna see them get up to other shenanigans later #after the comic (plot) at large i mean #little one-off side things still in the modern au #enjoy the rest of artfight month for now tho!!!#(< says someone who has been putting off af attacks to write things again)

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yoonjae20 · 1 month ago

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Batfam + Danny go on vacation [Bruce/Danny; Spirit Halloween]

Finally we are here at the Beach episode! /joking (well mostly lol). Also we get a much needed conversation between Damian and Danny.

Read on ao3. Masterpost

Previous.

“So I have been thinking,” Danny starts as they are laying in bed, both of them winding down after a long day. Bruce raises an eyebrow when his husband doesn’t continue.

“Yes?” he prompts and closes the book he had been reading, settling it on the nightstand.

“I feel like we deserve a nice vacation,” Danny finally says.

Bruce knits his eyebrows together, but doesn’t disagree.

“We’ll have to coordinate the patrols, but I guess we should be able to make a trip for a few days.”

Danny exhales, shaking his head as he smiles at Bruce.

“I meant with the whole family.”

Bruce’s eyes widen and he just stares at Danny.

“Yes, that means even Duke and Alfred,” Danny adds. “Barbara and Steph too if they feel like it. They should get a chance to relax.”

Bruce presses his lips into a fine line.

“We can’t let Gotham stay unprotected.”

Danny sighs like he expected this.

“We could always ask Clark-“

Bruce bristles, narrowing his eyes as if he can’t believe what Danny just said.

“No way I’m letting him protect my city!”

Danny rolls his eyes before he pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Do you trust Clark?” he questions, staring his husband down.

Bruce squirms in his spot.

“Yes, but-“

“And if Clark asked you to protect Metropolis for him, would you deny him?” Danny interrupts.

“No of course not-“

“Then why don’t you extend him the same trust?” Danny huffs out a breath. “He’s literally your best friend Bruce, and we both know you don’t have a lot of those.”

Bruce doesn’t pout — for the record he doesn’t pout. He grunts, not meeting Danny’s eyes.

“I thought the sessions with Jazz were helping?” Danny asks as the man doesn’t answer. “You know you don’t have to keep pushing away people just because you are afraid of them getting hurt. You and I both know that if something really bad happens I can transport us back to Gotham in a blink.”

“It would be nice to have a vacation once in a while,” Bruce finally admits. “It’s just with everything going on lately… I feel uneasy.”

Danny lets out a fond huff as he kisses the man's cheek.

“See, that wasn’t so hard, right?”

“I hate that I don’t find that patronizing.”

Danny chuckles.

“The perks of being your husband, I guess,” he says cheekily before he reaches over to the lamp on his nightstand, turning it off. “I’ll bring up the idea to the rest of the family tomorrow.”

“I guess I don’t have a say in the matter,” Bruce sighs but it’s fond.

“You know the saying — Happy husband, happy life.”

“That doesn’t even rhyme.”

Danny hushes him and Bruce rolls his eyes before he also turns off his lamp.

“Danny?” he extends into the dark.

His husband hums as Bruce finds his hand under the blanket.

“I love you.”

Bruce can hear Danny’s smile in his voice.

“I love you too.”

They draw a lot of attention as they arrive at the airport despite them taking a private plane. They stop for a moment outside the Gate as Danny does a headcount — making sure nobody got lost (or more like they saw something suspicious and decided to investigate. Yes, Danny is talking about Tim or Bruce.)

Danny claps to get everyone’s attention, the squabbling and banter finally stopping.

“Does everyone have their luggage?” Danny asks. “I know we can easily replace any clothes and essentials, but I know for fact that some of you went behind my back and packed your costumes and weapons nevertheless.”

Danny’s gaze heads to Damian and Tim, the latter who doesn’t meet his eyes. Damian just stares at him with a neutral expression. Danny sighs and shakes his head.

“But I guess it’s asking too much to expect a family full of vigilantes to go anywhere without a safety blanket.”

“Not everyone can simply transform Magical Girl style,” Jason snarks.

Danny narrows his eyes.

“We both know you are the one who is the most strapped to hell,” Danny says. “Do you want me to confiscate everything?”

Jason takes it as the warning it is and shuts his mouth. Danny huffs out a breath.

“I thought so,” Danny states. “Then let’s get out here before the paparazzi flocks here. Everyone on social media must know where we are by now.”

The kids fall in line and Danny and Bruce form the final light. Bruce chuckles.

“I never thought I would miss your bossy side,” he says. “You used to nag me constantly.”

Danny raises an eyebrow.

“Are you sure you want to stir that hornets’ nest?”

Bruce laughs as he puts a hand around Danny’s waist as they walk.

“Of course not — it’s more amusing to not be at the end of it.”

“Well Alfred told me quite some interesting stories-“

Bruce leaves his side and quickly hurries with long strides to catch up with his kids. Danny shakes his head with a smile while Alfred looks at him and Bruce with a knowing smirk. I guess some things never change, Danny thinks to himself fondly.

They arrive at their rented penthouse, all of them going to their assigned rooms to sleep off the jet lag until dinner. Danny pulls out something more comfortable to wear from his suitcase when he sees Bruce settled on the balcony, anxiously staring at his phone.

He lets out a sigh, abandoning the clothes as he steps out. He snatches his husband’s phone, ignoring his protests.

“I told you no social media or reading business emails while we are on vacation,” Danny chides. “Clark will be fine. Steph and Barbara stayed behind as well. Stop catastrophizing.”

Danny glances at the news headlines for Gotham, snickering when he sees the prank Jason and him did on Joker. The graffiti almost looks even better than during the night. It had been quite a rush job to make sure they would have enough time until the flight, but somehow they managed. (It might have helped that Danny used some doppelgängers too.)

They are hoping to draw the rogue out of hiding. He’s been suspiciously quiet the last few months.

“I should have known it was you,” Bruce sighs, “Did it have to be on the Wayne Enterprises building?”

Danny shrugs with a fake innocent smile.

“How can I deny our son?”

Bruce shakes his head, but his lips perk up into a fond smile as he hums.

“Our son,” he murmurs. “I quite like that.”

Danny snorts.

“Of course you would,” he teases before shooing the man inside their room again. “Now let’s go take a nap — I know you are tired too, you can’t fool me.”

“I changed my mind,” Bruce banters. “I don’t like your bossy side.”

“Too late,” Danny says as he pushes him onto the bed, caging the man inside his arms as he smiles.

His core purrs under his chest as Bruce looks at him with obvious adoration. He leans down and kisses the man, sleep quickly forgotten.

Danny sits down on the pier next to Damian who has his knees tucked under his chin.

“Not enjoying the vacation?” Danny asks softly.

Damian doesn’t really react to hearing his voice other than his eyebrows crinkling and Danny has to hold back a coo at the sight of it — he could never be angry at Damian despite what Ra’s did, the boy was just too much like his father. He hums, contemplating if he should give the boy space or push through his obvious discomfort.

He decides to do the former — Danny doesn’t know the boy long enough to truly understand him. While he might act similar to Bruce, there is no 28 year old relationship between them. No unbroken trust. He also has a feeling that Damian would find it patronizing if he treated him a child — no matter that he is one. (And how much anger Danny feels at the fact that he grew up having no real childhood.)

He moves to stand but before he can Damian catches his wrist. Danny freezes, but the boy still doesn’t look him in the eyes as he obviously tries to collect himself.

“Aren’t you angry?” Damian questions. “At what Mother and Grandfather did? At me?”

“I’m angry about a lot of things,” Danny says, keeping his voice calm. “You’ll have to specify on what.”

Damian frowns, dropping his wrist as he pulls his legs even closer.

“I should have never existed,” he says, voice monotone. “How can I call myself the heir of Father’s mantle, when, if it weren’t for Grandfather’s meddling, I would have never been created?”

Danny takes a deep breath, suppressing the rage welling up in him.

“I know for a fact that your father never regretted taking you in,” Danny says. “He always wanted biological children — yes what your grandfather did was despicable, but you know that Bruce doesn’t blame you, right?”

Damian gulps audibly.

“Why wouldn’t he regret it?” he questions. “I’m feral, angry and violent. I can’t read social cues and I don’t trust people. I treated Drake and the rest horribly…” His voice breaks. “I’d rather call people by their surnames than admit that they are important to me.”

“You didn’t call me by my surname,” Danny interjects gently.

Damian finally looks up, struggling to keep his composure and the expression in his eyes is something Danny is way too familiar with. He lets out a sigh as he projects his movements, giving Damian enough time to draw back if he doesn’t want to be touched. When he doesn’t even twitch, Danny crouches down and tucks his head into his chest.

“You don’t have to feel guilty,” Danny soothes as the boy breaks down. “No matter what you think you did, I forgive you.”

Damian clutches Danny’s shirt — for the first actually crying and letting it all out.

“He cried himself out,” Danny whispers as he leans at the door frame, looking at Bruce who strokes through the boy’s hair, where he is settled on their bed. Bruce trembles with barely suppressed fury.

“I should have confronted Ra’s and Talia when I took him in.”

Danny sighs as he crosses his arms.

“You know that wouldn’t have changed a thing,” he says, walking over to the man and Damian, rubbing Bruce’s shoulder. “Damian would have taken it as an attack on his honor.”

“Then after this vacation-” Bruce's voice rises.

“Bruce,” Bruce closes his mouth at Danny’s tone. “He has made so much progress. Do you really want to set him back?”

Bruce presses his lips together.

“You can accompany him if he wants to do it himself,” Danny adds. “But what he really needs right now is you.”

Bruce lets out a heavy sigh.

“I know,” he accepts. “It's just not fair” He squeezes his eyes close. “Not only did they take away the chance of having my first biological child, but they didn’t even tell me about him until it was almost too late. I never saw his first steps. I never heard his first words. I never held him in my arms when he was a baby.”

Bruce balls his left hand into a fist, gritting his teeth. Danny takes his hand, slowly prying it open and holding it before he can hurt himself, carefully brushing over crescent shaped indents.

“You saw him making friends for the first time. You heard his first real, happy laugh. You held him, showing him that touch can be something other than violence,” Danny counters. “We can always make new memories.”

Bruce turns, hugging his stomach as he buries his head in it.

“What did I do without you for 22 years?” the man asks and Danny chuckles, blinking back tears.

“I wonder the same.”

They are relaxing on the beach loungers watching over the rest of their family goofing off in the water, splashing each other as they laugh when Danny gets the alert. He frowns as he looks at the contents. Instantly Bruce notices, looking away from Damian who for once also participates — him and Tim teaming up against the rest — knitting his eyebrows together.

“What’s wrong?”

Danny sighs before he forces a smile on his lips.

“Kingly duty calls,” he lies. “I’ll try to be quick.”

He gives Bruce a quick peck on his lips before he opens a portal, disappearing in it.

It’s only later that the rest of the family realizes that Jason disappeared after he excused himself to get himself a cold glass of water too.

Both of them only return a day later, covered in blood.

Bruce’s hands had shook when he saw them, trembling over their forms when he checked them for any injuries. It was only when Danny gave him a smile that he relaxed.

“It’s not either of our blood,” Danny explains, “Or did you forget that both our blood is contaminated by ectoplasm?”

He grasps Bruce’s both hands, settling one of them over his heart and the other over Jason’s — who surprisingly doesn’t even protest.

“We are fine, Bruce.”

Bruce still clutches both of them close. (He knows what they did, but the only important thing to him is that they are safe.)

“Group hug!” Dick exclaims and runs up to them, quickly forming a cuddle pile as the rest join.

Danny ruffles Damian’s hair when the boy leans against him. Yes, they are safe. (And nobody will be able to change that — Danny will make sure of it.)

#dc x dp crossover #dp x dc #dc x dp #dc #danny phantom #danny fenton #bruce/danny #spirit halloween ship #spirit halloween #batfamily #batfam #damian wayne #batfamily shenanigans #yoonjae20 #yoonjae20 writing

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