#this could either be civilian or hero danny

[puppetmaster13u]

I have the immeasurable need for Phantom, as an adult, to bring Dan and Ellie to a bring-your-child-to-work day. And Dan to have a habit of trying to duck behind Danny whenever he gets overwhelmed with people looking at him. But while they're similar heights, Danny is far more willowy while Dan is built like a tanked up fenton fridge.

[lunamugetsu]

Danny is a house husband.

That's it, that's all it is.

As the years went on. Danny retired from being a superhero. There was no need for Phantom when the GIW were dealt with and all the ghosts were under control.

Now what's left for him to do but to just sit back, relax, and finally be able to live his life.

Sam and Tucker on the other hand....

Well, they had plenty of pent up rage, wits, and chaos inside their mind to become villains.

But they had one rule.

Never bring work home and to never involve Danny in any of their supervillain business.

Okay that's technically two rules, but they're kind of synonymous especially since Danny has been taking care of their house while also entertaining himself with trying new hobbies.

Tucker and Sam both make sure that they never bring any of their villainy home to Danny, because all they want is for Danny to enjoy his happy hero retirement.

And Danny in turn, doesn't bat an eye when watching the news and seeing that there were magical plants that were attacking sites that oil companies were digging or that somehow Lex Luthor had lost five hundred million dollars and had somehow leaked records showing he was building weapons of mass destruction.

He also doesn't bat an eye when he sees that Tucker had brought home a telescope that definitely looks like it came from some fancy lab because hey, Tucker was making him an observatory so he can look at the stars and planets. While also how they were able to make a great gaming pc with computer parts that are definitely not sold in stores, because hey at least the newest update of Doomed wasn't lagging.

Or that Sam comes home with various plants and animals that are definitely not from planet earth, but hey the three headed wolf-lizard-eagle- hybrid thing (that Danny has affectionately named Fluffy) is pretty great at keeping the pests away from his vegetable garden and likes to eat any of Danny's new food creations and is a great playmate for Cujo.

So you can imagine how the Justice League thinks when dealing with the pair of new villains: Upload (Tucker) and Sam (I could not think of a villain name that would suit her, so it's up to you what you think her villain name would be)

And how they were currently wreaking havoc in the city either by cyber warfare with robots or by magic plant monster or a Frankenstein of both approaches. The heroes had all evacuated the civilians from the battle zone and are currently fighting a losing battle. When they've been effectively captured and restrained by the two. Right before the villains could go into a monologue, they hear a person clearing their throat.

Everybody looks to see a 25 year old man wearing a sweater vest (he made it himself, thank you very much) currently holding onto the leash of a giant glowing green dog and some kind of giant animal hybrid. The man's arms were crossed and was currently not sporting a very happy look on his face.

Tucker and Sam (looking at Danny with hesitant smiles): Hi honey.

Danny (frowning): you missed our anniversary dinner.

Tucker and Sam both pale as they quickly realized what the date and time was.

The league all watch as Sam and Tucker immediately start apologizing to the man that just walked into a battle zone.

Danny (still frowning): Hmph! I guess since you two didn't want dinner you can go back to your little fight. Don't expect me to make you any lunches for the next month, and since you two are having so much fun here, you'll be sleeping by yourselves for the next couple weeks.

The league all watch as they were let go as Sam and Tucker yell as they run after Danny yelling apologies as he was walking away from them.

This is not the last they see of Danny.

When Danny is displeased with either of his partners, he'll invite a hero over to have lunch of afternoon tea.

[r3ynah]

I Can be everything and anything, at once

A 27 years old Phantom was challenged to a bet, by his co-workers at the watchtower. Green lantern stated along with the the other heroes that If he could help every single one of them at least once in a month while not using any his powers and he also had to be physically and mentally there as he helps them. the cherry on top was that he needed to use his real identity instead of his ghost form in this mission.

If Phantom successfully conceals his civilian identity, while helping them, he gets to know everyone's deepest darkest secrets.

But if he loses, he must do everyone a favor and must keep it no matter how outrageous it is.

Ofcourse Phantom agreed, because he was no bitch, okay so maybe he is, he only accepts bets like this if he knows that'll he'll win. so yeah.

Besides, having no powers for this, is really a piece of cake, if you're a raging gender fluid that knows his way around makeup and can easily change the sound of his voice, to be honest the shapeshifting parts that he got from his powers are basically just add-ons.

Well what was he waiting for? afterall he needed all the blackmail he could get, not as Phantom but as Daniel James Fucking Fenton, this was an opportunity to go batshit crazy and he was absolutely stealing it.

The very first hero Danny approached to help was Wonder Woman, who thanked Danny who was now disguised as a woman wearing a long ass Red wig, and some clothes he "borrowed" from Jazz who just joked about Danny being her twin, and wished him luck.

"Thank you, young lady for your brave actions to help me." Wonder woman sincerely thanked the boy in disguise as she held both of Danny's hands as gratitude "may I ask the name of my savior? "

"My name's El, It's a pleasure to know you." Danny smiled a little wider.

The second was Flash, which Danny found completely amusing because of the way he helped the speedy hero, who tripped while patrolling around the city.

Danny who was now in a more gothic attire( thanks to Sam's help) caught the hero's wrist before he embarrassingly fell face first on the ground.

"You okay there sir?" Danny asked, as he kept a firm grip on the man's wrist to make sure he doesn't fall.

Meanwhile Flash who thought he was in those korea tv romance dramas only blue screened for a few seconds before finally get his shit together. "yeah- um- name's Flash, and you are?"

The hero tripped on his own words, making Danny amused as fuck. "James, it was nice to finally meet you"

Okay, about like three weeks in, and Danny managed to help almost everyone in the watchtower, and only a few more to go,( he didn't get why most of the heroes he helped either started to stutter or blue screen in their spot once they talk to him. like damn is this how all of you treat every civilian who interacts with you? that's just sad) but at this time, Dan and Elle found out, and were now demanding to join, with the excuse of basically being Danny but in alternate or clone form, which Danny had no choice but to give in, I mean he wasn't breaking any rules so technically this was alright.

Danny wanted to take a break so Dan took over this time.

currently Nightwing was observing the outside of the gala, Bruce was invited to, something about a bunch of drugs being hidden within the crowd, and was now being passed around.

He intently remained focused on his observation, while also keeping a conversation with Oracle and the others on the comms, he didn't realize that he was too far off the edge of the railing he was standing on, until he missed a step.

Nightwing would never admit that he let a quiet squeal to his siblings ever as he fell, he closed his eyes and braced for impact, he would never expect to fall into the arms of a man 3x bigger than him, he stared at the man, and the man stared at him. 'holy shit' Nightwing thought.

The man, chuckled making Nightwing internally scream. "When I wished for Desiree, to make someone from above to save me from this trash party, I didn't think it would be one of the birds of gotham, to come and fall for me let alone the handsome one."

Okay Nightwing was now full on red from blushing, he was put down gently by the man on the ground, before offering a handshake, once Nightwing accepted the handshake, Dan pulled the hand closer to his mouth then gave a quick peck on the back of the hand vigilante's hand. "My name's Dan Masters, it's a pleasure to meet you."

his siblings can eat dirt on how they were teasing Nightwing Right now, but this was fucking worth it.

And the last to have gotten help from Danny was John Constantine, Danny actually had a reason on why he saved John for last, and that's because John actually knows Danny's identity, so for this mission he asked the help of his daughter Elle.

Elle had helped John by fixing a ruined summoning circle, who also helped him negotiate with a demon, and somehow all day, Elle just stuck to Constatine's side, her explanation? 'He'll die without me' fair point John thought as he took the kid, to order ice cream and to hangout in the park.

"You know kid, you remind me of someone." Constantine stated while keeping his eyes on what's infront of him, which was just a bunch of trees.

Elle who sat next to him, still eating her Ice cream looked up at him and said. "Really?"

"Yeah like you two literally have the same aura and all just a little different, but I don't know who yet." He replied and ruffled the kid's hair. making the girl laugh.

"Hey John!" Danny greeted behind them, and then all the gears inside of Constantine's head began to work. he let out a groan as he realized the girl beside him was the clone of the man behind him, well he needed to kiss that secret of his goodbye. here on this spot right now or he'll die of embarrassment if he waited any longer.

"Danny, let's go on a date." Constantine stated, not facing the Man.

this comment made the Father and Daughter choke on literal air.

[demonic0angel]

Danny: Wes, buddy

Wes: go way

Jazz: we're just- are you okay?

Wes:....

.......

Wes: Steph broke up with me

everyone: What happened?

Wes: dont know. everything was going fine. we were about to sign a lease and move in together, and then bam, she hit me with a break up

Jazz: ah Wes

Wes: T-T I still love her

Dani: Im calling Tim he'll get to the bottom of this.

*two phone calls later*

Dani: so I got some news from Tim. So you know how Steph father is a criminal?

Wes: yeah he's Cluemater, but why does that matter, Steph is no contact with him.

Dani: well he got in contact with her and threatened to put a hit out on you if she didn't come help

Jazz facepalming: so she's doing the stupid "break up with SO to keep them safe" thing

Dani: yep,

Danny: I sense much groveling from her in the future

Dani: it'll probably happen sooner than later. Steph was at Dicks place when Tim confronted her and Dan overheard the conversation and, well, he's now 'helping'

(Omg how’d you know that I was thinking ab them??

I also adjusted the ask a little bc I lowkey started writing before I finished reading, and I really don’t want to change what I wrote.)

Wes put his head in his hands with a low moan of despair.

Jazz patted his back. Danny hummed, stroking his beardless chin as he then laughed to himself. “Reminds me of Val. She also broke up with me to protect me. Against myself.”

Dani kicked his shin. “Yeah, because she loved you, you asshole!” She turned to Wes and asked, “So what are you going to do now? I can ask Tim to do some more digging, but I’m pretty sure he feels like she’s right…. Probably because they’re all taught by the same crazy person.”

“Batman,” Wes, Jazz, and Danny all said in unison, sounding exasperated. Dani nodded solemnly.

Wes sighed deeply. “This is why I hate heroes.”

“Amen,” Dan smirked.

“Wes! Dan!” Jazz scolded, ever the hero-admirer.

Danny shrugged a little and offered gently, “I mean… I think you should talk to her first. As a hero, the one thing we hate more than our nemeses is our loved ones getting hurt. She was probably going to make a plan to keep you safe and get rid of Cluemaster at the same time while you two were broken up. It’s not like she knew you could defend yourself or that you had us to protect you either. It’s your choice, but honestly… cut her some slack.”

“I was going to, anyways,” Wes grumbled. “She wanted to protect me, and I won’t punish her for that. Even if she thinks I’m some sort of defenseless, stupid civilian.”

“Well….” Dani said and she and Danny shared an amused look before bursting into laughter. Wes rolled his eyes as Jazz gave an amused huff. Dan just crossed his arms and looked at Wes with a bored look.

“If you want, we could take care of Cluemaster,” Dan said. “You should talk to her and then hopefully resolve this.”

Everyone looked at him with vaguely impressed expressions. Jazz was a tad teary as she said, “Oh, Danny, I’m so proud of you! Actually offering something altruistic! Oh, you’re growing up!”

“I’m already grown up!” Dan snarled, bristling with a green tinge to his cheeks. “I’m 8 years older than you!”

“My little brother’s growing up and being nice!” Jazz gushed, pulling him into a hug as he scowled and ground his fangs together.

Danny and Dani burst into laughter again and even Wes couldn’t help but chuckle. He relaxed as the siblings all bantered and had fun, leaving him a moment of quiet amidst the oddly soothing noise to think about what to do.

Stephanie had definitely panicked and tried to handle everything on her own, but even if it pissed him off how she made that decision on her own and left him behind in the dust, he was determined to have her back. As a plan began to formulate in his head, Wes nodded to himself.

No one was going to stand in the way between him and Steph. Especially not another deadbeat dad!

[thevoidstaredback]

Okay, so, crisis averted. Both of them, really. Red Robin had not asked or attempted to get any more of Danny's drink and the World Ending Crisis was less World Ending and more World Threatening. Either way, no one is hyped up in lethal amounts of caffeine and the world is in no more pieces than it had been before.

That brings attention to a new problem, though. It's uniquely Danny's problem and Constantine and Zatanna and Deadman won't stop laughing at him. He's also pretty sure that Raven is laughing at him in the privacy of her mind, so that's making him feel worse.

The problem is that every single hero that had been at the meeting a week ago that was not a part of the JLD has been overly concerned about him.

So what if he half died when he was fourteen and therefore will never look over either fourteen or eighteen? So what if he consumes enough caffeine to kill an elephant within a few minutes? What is he gonna do, die? That's not a real threat as long as he only fights as Phantom.

Ignoring the fact that he can, in fact, get hurt to the point of near death as Phantom. It's not like anyone knows that, though! Besides, ghosts run on god rules. They can't die, only fade when forgotten. People aren't likely to forget about most ghosts, though, even if they can't remember their names.

He's not gonna share that, though. Let Batman keep his contingency that won't work because the only contingency that will work for Phantom is the one he made himself. Tried and tested! He's marked it off of his Bingo Card.

Anyway. Heros and their kids/proteges have been trying to track him down for the entire week. He can't risk even leaving the House of Mysteries because the Supers are all probably listening out for him and they can't hear him through magic. It sucks. He just wants to go get a cup of coffee as Danny. The second he leaves, though, the Supers will be on him like bloodhounds. He'd leave as Danny, but the rest of the JLD don't know what he looks like as Danny and he'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much. Being stuck as Phantom was going to start causing issues to his human half if he doesn't get to leave soon.

Should he risk it? Is coffee that won't kill him really worth risking the Supers finding out his civilian identity? Sure, they wouldn't tell anyone, but he didn't like the idea of someone being able to pick him out of a crowd when all he wanted to do was blend in. It's why he avoided Gotham and Bludhaven, actually, but that's both self explanatory and another story for another time.

"You're still here?" Zatanna sat on the couch beside him. "You're normally gone by now. You can't not be tired of us yet."

He sighed and sunk down into the couch slightly. "Believe me, I'm tired of being stuck here, but I can't leave. I can't leave as a human because you guys don't know what I look like and, no offense, but I'd like to keep it that way. I can't leave as I am now because Superman will be on my ass quicker than I can blink!" He whined this time, "I just want a cup of coffee."

"What about your special brew?" Raven asked, coming into the room.

"I want to drink coffee as a human. That stuff will kill me if I drink it as a human."

"At least you know your limits."

"That sounded like a dig at someone, Z."

"It was."

"Why don't you just go out under a protection spell?" Raven offered, "We could cast one over you and you could leave. Superman can't hear through magic, so he won't be able to tell. Neither will Superboy."

Danny thought for a second. "You're a genius, Raven! Has anyone ever told you that?"

"A few times," she blushed.

"Well, it needs to be said more!"

Zatanna laughed. "Alright, kid, let's get you outside before you drive yourself crazy."

Practically vibrating in place, Danny waited for the protection spell to settle over him. The second it did, he was out the door and wandering the streets of whatever city the House of Mysteries decided to drop him as Danny instead of Phantom.

"Who are you," was not the question or voice he wanted to hear the second he stepped into the open as himself.

"Danny," he squeaked out through his absolute panic. He didn't dare turn around.

The sound of fabric moving minutely clues him in to the second person behind him. What the hell were these two doing out? It's the middle of the day and there's no attacks going on anywhere in Gotham!

"Where did you come from?" Robin asked.

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! This was really bad! Why did the House drop him *here* of all places? Does it *want* him to die again? It was very painful the first time, thank you very much! "Illinois?"

"Was that a question or an answer?" Why is Red Robin here now?!

"An-an answer?"

"Ah, you guys are scaring the little guy!" That was Nightwing. They're surrounding him! Why is Nightwing here? This is Gotham, not Bludhaven. "Give him some room to breathe."

They did not, in fact, give him room to breathe. Maybe coming outside was a bad idea. If he gets out of this no more dead than he already was, he was going to move to the middle of nowhere and become a hermit. Smallville is a town in the middle of nowhere, right? He'll retire as Phantom and move to Smallville until the people get suspicious and burn him as a witch-!

Maybe moving to a big city would be a better idea. Or locking himself in the basement of the House of Mysteries. Yeah, yeah that's a good idea.

"-even listening?"

Oh shit. They were still talking to him! Now is not the time to panic! "Gottagobye!" And then he was running.

Good job not panicking, Danny.

Part 1 Part 3

[hypewinter]

What do you get when you combine "what do you mean my family are vigilantes?" civilian Bruce Wayne with "I refuse to acknowledge my family are vigilantes." retired hero Danny Fenton? Shenanigans, that's what.

Bruce is a well adjusted softie who really can't put two and two together that the number of vigilantes running around happens to match up almost exactly with the number of children he has along with their friends. Danny is a newly adopted Wayne who knows a headache when he sees one and chooses not to get involved. The culminates in Danny trying desperately hard to ignore all obvious signs while putting all his effort into making sure his new father doesn't notice them either.

Tim forgot case files laying out on the table? Wow bro, cool homebrew campaign.

Dick appears in almost full Nightwing gear sans mask? Danny shows up the next day in a Nightwing costume because it's Nightwing appreciation day.

On days when everyone's working on various cases in rooms all over the house? Hey pops, wanna check out a new art exhibit with me?

Bonus points if the others have it mixed up. They genuinely believe that Bruce already knows and that Danny is just dense. After all, they don't bother hiding it around Bruce. Jason and Dick were once discussing a case at the dining table right next to him! How could he not know? Meanwhile Bruce: Are they talking about a new video game? Sounds pretty violent.

On the other hand, Damian once tried to tell Danny the truth because he didn't feel like hiding anything and the guy straight up laughed. He told Damian it was an interesting dream but would never happen in real life (he sounded pretty strained when he said that. Maybe he was constipated?)

Bonus BONUS points if Alfred knows everything (because of course he does) and is just laughing into his tea.

[the-scarecrow-of-aus]

Dating life of an immortal teen

Jazz developed a liminal gift around the time of dannys accident due to exposure.

She starts to suspect since she hasn't grown as much since she was 17, it was so subtle barely anybody noticed: jazz has the gift of longevity and is not ageing as fast.

Unfortunately her parents were among the small number that started to notice and she had to leave 'for college' before they tried any 'experiments' on her (they were always far too quick in suspecting jazz of being a ghost).

So started the continually cycling aliases of Jazz [no last name given] as she tried to live her life travelling around the country.

Occasionally she would meet someone and be happily in their life for a while, before having to move again (either forced or scheduled)

Her secret finally comes out when one of her early ex's recognises her in a photo with their younger co-worker... who then realises another co-worker is also an ex... until most of the group realise they've dated her at one point in their lives... then it gets noticed by their sister organisation who also recognise her.

Now anywhere else this could be humorous except these are no ordinary coworkers...

They're hero's.

Jazz has accidentally been 'Dating' her way through a large chunk of the the justice leagues civilian identities all across america and the world! (Not to mention JL: Dark) she has no idea they were hero's only that they were charming and she was lonely.

now the paranoid members (eg. Batman, the Question, Constantine, wonder woman) are worried she was preying on them and need to investigate.

[flwrkid14]

hey, so for your “Love, in All its Impossible Forms” can you put Tim and Danny in a scenario where Danny has to either choose the world or Tim, and everyone and I mean everyone is telling Danny that he has to choose the world while Tim is staying quiet because he believes no he knows what Danny would choose. Danny, ever the hero would choose the world he so desperately fights to keep safe. Tim is okay with being the other option, he has only ever been the other option.

But what Tim doesn’t know is that Danny has never fought to keep the world safe. No, he fights to keep his loved ones safe, he fights so his family is safe, so Tim is safe.

Now that Tim is being threatened? Well Danny has never felt sentimental about this world, he’s sure Tim could adjust to a new world. After all, what’s the point in Danny being the ghost king if he can’t even do as he pleases?

And Tim? Tim would follow Danny no matter what he chooses, because that is love. Love isn’t conditional, not like how the batfam’s feel, not like how his parent’s felt.

(Take your time!)

anon, you saw into the softest and cruelest part of this story. the part where the world calls Danny a hero, demands he live up to the myth they made of him—and the part where Tim quietly prepares to be left behind.

because that’s what love is supposed to do, right? love chooses the world. love lets go.

but Danny’s never played by those rules. and this time… he doesn’t want to.

When the world begins to end, it’s quieter than anyone expects. No fire, no screaming sky—just cold calculations. A choice. A question with only one right answer.

Danny is called to the center of it. Not as a boy. Not even as a ghost. But as a king. As the King. The one being with enough power to fix it. To rewrite entropy itself if he just agrees to the terms.

All he has to do is choose the world. The millions of people who’ve never known his name, who would never thank him. The strangers who will live because of his sacrifice.

Or—

“Or,” they never say. Because there isn’t supposed to be an “or.”

But Danny feels it.

He feels it in the silence where Tim should be begging. He feels it in the way Tim stands just behind the gathered voices, distant, steady, waiting. Not asking for anything. Not even hoping.

Because Tim’s not the kind of person who gets chosen.

He’s always been the fallback, the extra, the strategic loss. Even in his own family. Even in love. And Danny—Danny is the kind of person who saves the world.

So Tim prepares himself to be left behind. Quietly. Without resentment. Because he understands. And he’s not surprised.

But Danny is.

Because Tim doesn’t know. Doesn’t know that the only reason Danny’s ever fought at all was to protect the people he loves. He’s never been sentimental about the world. He’s never even liked it all that much.

He fought to keep his family safe. His home. His people.

And now—

Danny looks at Tim. At the boy who never asks. Who loves so deeply and quietly he assumes that love means sacrifice. Who isn’t trying to make Danny choose. Because he already thinks he’s the thing that gets left behind.

And Danny can’t. He just can’t do it.

Because what’s the point of saving the world if it means losing the reason you were saving it in the first place?

What kind of king protects an empire and lets his heart die on the battlefield?

So Danny says no.

He turns to the council of ancients, to the army of heroes, to the crying civilians and the trembling ambassadors. And he chooses Tim.

And it’s not fair.

It’s not heroic.

It’s cruel in the way all real love is cruel—because it draws a line between “everyone” and “someone,” and then crosses it without apology.

The backlash is immediate. Gasps. Rage. Horror. They call him selfish. A monster. A failure.

And maybe he is.

But he looks at Tim, and for the first time in his life, he isn’t afraid of being selfish.

Tim stares back, disbelieving. He hadn’t prepared for this part. He hadn’t prepared to be wanted more than the world.

“I don’t understand,” he breathes.

And Danny says, “You don’t have to.”

Because Tim would follow Danny anywhere. To a world that will hate them both. To a universe where no one knows their names. To an entirely new timeline where there’s no pressure, no expectation, no family holding him back. And that's exactly what Danny asks him, to follow him to a future they make themselves. One the world may never forgive them for.

Tim nods.

And that’s love, too.

Not the conditional kind. Not the kind that’s earned or tested or weighed. But the impossible kind. The cruel, human kind.

The kind that lets the world burn because one person mattered more.

[ew-selfish-art]

Dp x Dc AU: That one episode of teen titans where they all dress up as Robin + Tim being a gremlin about his legacy + Danny look alike/twin AU.

So there is that episode of Teen Titans where Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven all dress as Robin (Dick) while he's out and it's admitted that the outfit makes them feel cool. Imagine a young Tim hearing that story mentioned in passing by Dick while trying to manage what becomes Young Just-us. And then when Damain becomes Robin?? Gremlin mode activated.

Tim hosts regular 'Robin' Parties, where the idea is that you come in Robin colors, get a mask at the door and everyone gets to basically hang out in civilian clothes without the identity crises for those just getting started. "age appropriate" drinks, games, and good music are all staples. The parties become more frequent once Damian becomes Robin and he pointedly doesn't attend Tim's parties which... Neither of them are really happy about. Family is complicated, but finally, after a few years of cooling off, it's decided that Robin will actually host this years Robin party.

Meaning Tim shows up in casual clothes (MIT sweatshirt) and a mask, and Damian is actually dressed as Robin when the party is starting to get into the swing of things. The point of it is to make sure all the young heroes get to come and start to befriend each other, so there are a few people who show up and have to actually say that they're *insert alias* and this is met with basically "Dope, nice to meet you Robin" etc.

Insert Danny Twin AU (Or just look-alike fuckery) (for either brother but my brain is on Tim Twin au mode).

Danny decides to show up as his human self, grabs a mask at the door before coming in, and is slowly integrating himself into a conversation when someone grabs his arm- "Hey Red your brother is fighting with a newbie about meat products again-"

And Danny doesn't have a brother but my god has he heard this fight too many times with Sam and Tucker- He's going in and he's defusing this situation because he cannot handle the thought of this argument taking over his new friend group. He deals with it enough, okay?

Robin (like, the real one) looks at him curiously while Danny is talking down the other hero Robin (insert here), and the whole room notices when Robin doesn't take the opportunity to dismiss or belittle his older brother (Lmao because its danny). Damian cannot place his unease about Drake (again, Danny, who is not hiding his identity beyond a mask), and simply decides that this isn't worth the effort.

The party moves on but now instead of everyone calling themselves Robin, Danny is distinctly being called Red. It confuses him a bit, he didn't even know Red Robin was going to be at this party (he hasn't met the guy and doesn't know the lore), but he rolls with it because he's made fast friends with Robin (Bart), Robin (Cassie) and Robin (JON). The kid was full little bro energy and it made Danny laugh, he was so surprised when the real Robin joined them and fell into easy conversation with Robin (Jon).

Danny is playing games with a few others when someone goes to grab a broom to clean up- Turns out Red Robin and his boyfriend Kon had been making out in the closet for most of the party- and the whole room looks at Danny like he's tried to trick them. Tim is at first uneasy that so many people mistook him, but once he's in front of his dupe, puzzle pieces start to move around in his head.

"And who are you again, Robin?" Tim asks carefully, though he suspects he has his answer.

"Uh, Phantom, but you know, a lot of people were calling me Red tonight and I didn't get why until just now." Danny laughs nervously.

"Yeah I bet- Find me monday and we can see about a geneology test."

"That leaves us the whole weekend, to do what exactly? Fuck with people by pulling a parent trap style swap?"

"Nature vs. nuture and all but I don't know how you could be anything but my brother with a question like that." Tim grins and they get to scheming.

[radiance1]

DnD au where either the batfam or some mebers of the Justice League get taken into a game.

Who's the game master? Both Vlad and Ghost Writer. Ghost Writer makes the overall world while Vlad voices everything and adapts on the fly when the 'players' do things they didn't expect.

The thing that I'm thinking about here is that Danny is a Naga, and in his lore he's actually a very important and powerful person, either politically or physically. Probably physically, but he constantly plays the damsel in distress for like, no reason.

The boy just genuinely likes to play the damsel in distress even through he's actually quite powerful in the grand scheme of things.

But here's the thing.

The batfam/Justice League don't know that.

They just think he's a very unlucky monster guy who keeps landing himself into dangerous situations and calls for them to save him when he's in trouble and, them being heroes, they save him every time.

The opposite of Jazz, really.

Who is a badass character that, at the start of the entire thing, saved the players from one thing or another at times and then helped them in battle in the later game while also secretly being a very important character in the lore just like Danny.

Is Jazz also a Naga? I don't know, had me thinking that she was more of an Amazon or something like that. But she could be a Naga not gonna lie.

AnYWYAS.

How are Danny and Jazz important? Well, I would like to think that they are actually royalty. Like, full blown very important royals from a very big and powerful kingdom or empire.

Danny would be a Naga prince, and depending on if Jazz is a Naga or Amazon she could be either a queen or princess.

Whatever the case, the two of them would make comments about each other. Danny's comments being about how, maybe when starting out, the players aren't his usual savior and stuff like that, with Jazz's comments being that saving the players quite reminds her of a specific little Naga she constantly has to save.

Maybe Vlad sees this and decides that Danny and Jazz become a link to give the players something that they, well, missed (Low chance if Batman is there, but then again that's gonna depend on if the Batfam are in their hero or civilian personas). Like maybe a comment here, a clue there, an item given.

Stuff like that.

I feel like Danny curls his tail around whoever saves him and leans heavily into the damsel in distress act, going on and on about "Oh my hero!" and all that. Some might think there would be a problem with that, but Danny weighs absolutely nothing, carrying him is literally like holding a feather.

Which is concerning because he has both a long and beefy tail that should make him weigh waaaaay more than he actually does.

Jazz definitely carries everyone in a princess carry, regardless of gender and regardless of who it is. Has a modified carry for Danny in regards to his tail but that's really it.

Maybe the players get sneak peaks that there's something more in regard to their constant damsel and randomly spawning ally. Maybe knowing them gives them access to stuff they, reasonably, shouldn't and when they're present with the group, their presence changes some things.

This was honestly just an excuse for Danny to be a damsel in distress, not gonna lie.

[1mlei]

Demon Twin Au Thoughts

I've been thinking a lot about Demon Twin AUs lately.

I've read nearly all of the ones on ao3 (Please do send recs my way <3), and I adore the different interpretations of this concept. I will always love the version of this where Danny and Damian are reunited after Danny ends up in Gotham, or Damian in Amity.

I love this classic take on the AU, but I've been thinking about fun ways to spice it up. My favorite idea so far is the idea that the twins reunite after Damian temporarily dies.

Imagine Danny just minding his business in the Zone and he randomly sees his twin, who is supposed to be alive. Damian would be happy to be reunited, he's been under the assumption that Danny was dead since they were kids so he's just glad to see his twin again. Meanwhile Danny is freaking out because he literally faked his death and ran away so Damian could live, what the fuck is this?

You could add a touch of Sam and Tucker being confused on the side. I always imagine that Danny never told them about where he came from or his brother. (What can I say? I love the drama that secrets bring.) You could either have Damian look like his civilian self as a ghost, and have Sam and Tucker be confused af about this random ghost that looks just like Danny. They might think it's a weird duplicate or something, but then why is Danny so freaked out? You could also have Damian be in his Robin costume, I imagine Sam and Tucker would be shocked to randomly see the ghost of Robin in the Zone, but it's far from the weirdest thing they've seen in there. Again, Danny has never been a huge fan of other heroes or vigilantes, so why is he so freaked out about this one being dead? Of course, though Danny has stayed away from Gotham for various reasons he is aware that his twin brother has become Robin after moving in with their father, so he knows that this new ghost can only be one person.

Now moving away from the idea of the twins just randomly running into each other :)

You could try turning it into a twin telepathy type thing, where Danny senses Damian dying, or at least that something happens to him and goes to investigate.

Or, something that I feel is quite in character for Damian, he might hunt down Danny himself the moment he realizes where he is.

You could turn this in different directions again depending on whether Damian is in civilian clothes or his Robin costume. Either way, I imagine him questioning some other random ghost (maybe one of Danny's rouges for fun?) and regardless of how he's dressed they'll point him towards Danny.

"Oh you're looking for your brother? Idk man, go ask Phantom or something."

OR

"Your brother? You look fucking identical to Phantom so you might wanna start there."

Either way Damian tracks down Phantom and concludes that yes, that is his brother. Dramatic reunion ensues.

Last little thought I had on this, Damian doesn't think Danny is a ghost, he assumes he moved on, or maybe he somehow knows he faked his death and thinks he's alive? Regardless, Damian is a man on a mission the moment he arrives in the Zone, he refuses to stay in this pathetic realm and decides that whether he's dead or alive he will make his way back to Earth. Best way to get there? Damian goes to talk to the king of course, to negotiate (or fight if necessary) about going back to Earth. If not that, he just happens to hear about a certain half-human, half-ghost hybrid and tracks him down for help. A hybrid sounds like someone who would know how to go back and forth between the realms after all.

---

All this to say, I want more of the Demon Twins reuniting in the Ghost Zone. If anyone has recommendations or ends up writing a story of this please do send a link my way, it would be most appreciated <3

+ Bonus points will be added if there is a scene where Damian is resurrected and Danny decided to tag along. Cue confused batfam freaking out because oh god there's two of them now how did that happen.

[audliminal]

Survivability Bias Pt 8

Masterpost - Ao3

“Oh, hey!” Superboy says, hours later when the last of the pizza is long-since finished, and their excited chatter has settled into a slow roll of conversation. “Now that you have a whole civilian identity and everything, I figured I should introduce myself!” Danny blinks as his friend grins over at him. It’s not hard to realize what Superboy’s implying, but...

“You don’t have to do that,” Danny says, shaking his head. “I’m not- you shouldn’t compromise yourself like that.”

“I mean sure,” Superboy says, looking confused. “But what good is a secret identity if you don’t get to use it to hang out with your friends? It’d be a compromise to your identity if we’re showing up here all the time in costume.”

“Yeah but we can still hang out elsewhere, right?” Danny points out, voice cracking on the echoes of dread. Identities -names- are important; and it’s not like Danny has really told them anything about himself. “Like you can just text me and I can meet you wherever in my own costume!”

“So what,” Superboy says, voice rising in volume, as he begins floating just above the couch. “We both know your entire identity, and you don’t know either of ours? That hardly seems fair! Besides, you’re like half the reason I even got a civilian identity!”

“You don’t-” Danny cuts himself off abruptly. He can’t explain himself. Not without risking everything, and Danny’s not ready. He can’t go back to being on the run yet. His brain cycles on what they’ve said, desperate for a solution, but then he really processes Superboy’s last sentence, and he freezes. “Wait, what the fuck do you mean I’m the reason you have a civilian identity?” Danny can’t quite keep the sheer horror of that revelation out of his voice, and Superboy flinches, eyes going slightly wild as he stares at Danny.

“Shit, no,” Superboy pleads. “It’s not like that!”

“Not like what?” Danny says slowly.

“It’s not- I wasn’t trying to be weird or like, controlling or anything! It’s...” Superboy sighs. “So when I brought the whole identity thing up to Robin, at first he thought I was talking about making one for me? And then later I started thinking about it more, and I thought you would maybe like to have a friend who you could hang out with outside of costume, and then I realized that maybe it would actually be kind of nice to go places without getting recognized and it’s not- you don’t have to. I can keep it to myself if you want.”

Danny stares as Superboy stammers to a stop, the constant movement of his shoulders betraying his fast, sharp breaths. A glance to the side shows that Robin is watching them both that same intense, emotionless gaze. He stares for a moment, before leaning forward to place a hand on Superboy’s shoulder, and Danny can actually see the instantaneous effect as Superboy’s shoulders freeze and his panicked eyes snap shut.

“Deep breaths,” Robin murmurs, waiting silently as Superboy fights to get his breathing under control. “Danny, perhaps you could explain what upset you just now?” Danny blinks, staring at the two, throat coated with an icy barrier of misery and loneliness. Whatever is happening right now is something he doesn’t understand, and it’s been so long. His friends, Sam and Tucker - he doesn’t think he’d ever realized quite how lucky he was to have friends so old that he just understood them. 

“I wasn’t,” Danny begins, words slipping out around the ice and ending up far too small, too silent. He swallows, tries again, but his voice remains choked and quiet, so he takes a deep breath and forces himself to continue anyways. “I just. You’ve been a hero for ages according to the internet, so I kind of feel like you not having an identity is fucking concerning, you know?”

Superboy stares at him as he speaks, and no understanding materializes on his face. Danny doesn’t think he’s wrong. This world has so many heroes. Surely they would be more aware of the necessity for anonymity than Danny himself is. But he also isn’t from here. Danny glances over to Robin, but his expression is still unreadable.

“He’s not wrong,” Robin says, quiet but firm, eyes fixed on Superboy. “It was understandable that they didn’t want to just drop you into the normal world at first, but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have a legal identity by now.”

“So that’s not the norm, then?” Danny presses, as calmly as he can. Maybe it would be better to keep his mouth shut, let the two friends have the moment, but he needs to know. “Like you and the other heroes have normal identities?”

“For the most part,” Robin answers steadily. “However, most people are generally civilians first and only become heroes later, so it is typically not in the Justice League’s hands to provide such documentation. Still, they have provided such assistance before, on occasion.”

“So why didn’t-”

“Superboy joined the Justice League organization in unique circumstances that are his to disclose,” Robin cuts him off. “While I would defend the existence of the Justice League to my last breath, they are as fallible as any other group, and have certainly been responsible for their fair share of mistakes. In Superboy’s case, I am of the opinion that they have dropped the ball on his behalf quite significantly.”

“Yeah, I guess it would be unfair to expect them to be perfect...” Danny murmurs.

“I didn’t ask, though,” Superboy says, drawing their attention back towards him. “That’s hardly their fault.”

“You shouldn’t have had to ask.” Robin responds immediately. “You are, functionally still a minor. The second they accepted responsibility for you that should mean ensuring that your human rights are respected. Realistically after pulling you from the lab, they should have immediately instigated paperwork to ensure you legally exist.”

“But I don’t need to legally exist? Like the Justice League takes care of everything for me so it’s fine.”

“But if it wasn’t fine,” Danny says, desperately. “If the Justice League isn’t good, or if it got corrupted or, like, taken over by a force that hated you? If the people who control your legal existence decide they want you dead, you’re kind of fucked.”

“It’s about control,” Robin adds. “If you don’t exist outside the Justice League, then you don’t have resources to enable you to leave, were you to decide that you didn’t want to be a hero. As long as you don’t have a legal identity, you remain reliant upon the Justice League alone.”

“And that’s... bad.” Superboy says quietly, frowning.

“Yes.” 

“Okay.” Superboy says, still looking confused.

“Um,” Danny says, instead of pushing the topic any harder. “If you still want to share your identity with me, you can. I just, like, didn’t want you to feel like you had to.”

“Yeah?” Superboy asks, then at Danny’s nod he pulls his posture back into his usual facsimile of cool confidence.

“It’s nice to meet you Danny,” Superboy says, offering his hand. “I’m Conner Lee.” Danny reaches out to meet Conner’s hand.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Conner.”

The next morning, Danny finds himself waking slowly, awash in the warm comfort of a real bed. It feels almost absurd how pleasant the experience seems now, compared to how normal it used to be. Still, the calm silence of his apartment makes for a stark difference to the way things were back home. There’s no distant shouting from his parents, and certainly none of the constant shift of machinery, or the sudden and unexpected arrival of a ghostly threat pulling him out of sleep.

Instead, Danny blinks heavily eyelids and presses himself even further into the cocoon of blankets wrapped around him. Warm and sleepy, he marvels at the notion that he could just spend the entire day in bed if he wanted to. It’s a thought that’s almost intoxicating. Sure he’s got to eventually start on his schoolwork and get a job, but right now, in this moment, he has no absolutely no responsibilities.

It doesn’t take long for Danny to find his thoughts drifting back towards last night. The day had been, resoundingly, a lot. The sudden acquisition of a real home is obvious and feels absolutely incredible, but really Danny can’t stop thinking about the revelations regarding his friend. Knowing Conner’s name is sort of terrifying, and Danny knows he won’t feel truly comfortable with it anytime soon, but it clearly meant a lot to Conner, and fuck if he’s not willing to suffer discomfort for the sake of a friend.

Besides, he can’t deny that it feels a lot more natural to think of him as Conner than Superboy. Based on everything else that was said yesterday, he has to imagine that Superboy wasn’t a name Conner had chosen for himself. It’s not really a name that can comfortably follow him into adulthood, after all, and really, he’s already old enough that it would probably grate against most people. Danny can’t imagine many teenagers he’s met appreciating a name with ‘boy’ in it. Of course, the connotation of the term could always be different here, and it is probably the closest analog to Superman that they could get. But then, Robin isn’t called Batboy. Though that may just be that the particular combination sounds awful in and of itself.

Really, it reminds him of Dani, and the way she’d strained against her position in his life. He’d cared for the girl very much ー had felt horrible about how she’d been created and used by Vlad, just to fuck with him, and he’d understood when she’d been desperate to get out of Amity. He’d missed her, of course, but not for one second would he have begrudged her that freedom. Jazz had pointed out, pretty early on, how it was probably better for her to be off somewhere she could be something other than somebody’s clone. And sure, Conner’s situation is obviously going to be different than the particular brand of fuckery Danny has going on, but he wonders if the other boy has ever started to chafe against the clear comparisons people seem to be making between him and Superman. After all, from everything Danny’s read, it’s a hell of a legacy to live up to. But then again, if he’d felt so comfortable as Superboy that he’d never bothered to push for his own name, maybe he doesn’t feel that way at all.

Maybe one day they’ll be close enough for Danny to ask. After the stress of last night, it probably shouldn’t be anytime soon, though. For now Danny basks, in the slowly strengthening light of early morning. Outside, birds call out to each other ー birds that have served as Danny’s alarm clock for weeks. He listens to their conversations, pulling the comforter tighter around him, but as he does so, a sensation of wrongness washes over him. The comforter, heavy and solid, begins to slip through his fingers, and at his shoulders the tension in the fabric starts to lessen.

“What?” Danny mutters, frowning in confusion. The sensation in his hands feels like his intangibility, but he knows he didn’t instigate it himself. Danny frowns, trying to remember the last time he’d lost control of his powers. There had, of course, been some aftereffects the last time he’d gotten captured. The GIW had picked up Vlad’s habit of shocking him and ran hard with it, to the point that Danny hadn’t felt normal again for more than a week after his friends had gotten him out. But that had been a unique circumstance, and Danny’s pretty damn certain he hasn’t been shocked any time recently. Having his powers act up on their own is something Danny hasn’t struggled with since those early months after the portal incident.

“No.” Danny chokes out, as he feels the intangibility spreading up his arms to his shoulders. He’s free. He’s safe. This can’t be happening now. He’s been so fucking careful, he can’t lose his chance at being normal to a stupid fucking rogue power. But Danny can feel the intangibility sinking into his back, slipping Danny into that space where he can’t quite touch anything. The once-cozy folds of the comforter slowly fall through him, as Danny loses the last remnant of his tangibility.

Frantically, Danny launches himself up from the bed. He has to get out of here. Has to find somewhere to hide, can’t risk his brand new normal life because of this bullshit. But instead of slipping through to the sky above, Danny feels the crack of his skull against the solid mass of the ceiling, and he crashes back down to the bed below.

“Fuck, ow, ow, ow.” Danny mutters, curling in on himself to cradle his throbbing head. Pain lances up and down in steady pulses, erasing any other sensations from his awareness as he whines. He counts the prime numbers carefully in his head, as the best distraction he can manage from the pulsing pain, until it begins to dull. His newly acquired headache will undoubtedly be with him all day, but at least he shouldn’t need a doctor. Accelerated healing is occasionally useful.

By the time Danny feels steady enough to get up, the sunlight filtering into his room is full-strength and the clock on his nightstand informs him that it’s nearly seven thirty. Panic sets in very briefly as the blinking red numbers trigger a long-ingrained fear of being late, and Danny’s halfway through his scramble to get dressed before he remembers he has nowhere to be. Robin had said he could start his coursework whenever he was ready ー apparently all his assignments were due at the end of the semester and in the meantime he could just progress as he liked. It sounded like an extremely impractical setup to Danny; he can just imagine how many of his classmates would have taken the opportunity to slack off and ended up never turning anything in, but then, he supposes the consequences of that would have rung true when they failed the class. It’s a trade-off, he supposes. Exceptional freedom, in exchange for a hell of a lot of personal responsibility. Kind of fitting, considering his now-emancipated status.

So, Danny has all the time in the world. But if he intends to hold to his determination to do well, he probably should at least look at the workload today, and start making up a schedule for getting it all done. Still, he’s not in a rush. He has time for breakfast, at the very least.

Danny plods to the kitchen, doing his best to think around the ache in his head. Robin had definitely mentioned stocking the kitchen with essentials, though Danny has no clue what the other boy would have considered essentials. Robin seems like a frighteningly competent kind of person, so who’s to say whether he prepared for Danny’s absolutely tragic levels of incompetence in the kitchen. He’s actually a little bit excited at the prospect of being able to actually learn to cook, but at the moment he thinks he’d prefer literally anything pre-made.

Still, it’s probably good to know what his options are so he heads over to explore his refrigerator. The shelves are neatly organized (hardly surprising) but Danny realizes as he observes the contents, that he really has no clue what normal people should have in their fridge. Milk, Danny’s used to, since you need it for cereal, and it’s not dead enough to be likely to come back to life, but his family’s ever-present fare of hotdogs are notably missing from the lineup. Instead he finds a carton of eggs, and a couple jars of jam, which both seem logical enough, but Danny has no clue what Robin’s expectations are of the handful of myriad fruits and vegetables he sees. There’s two apples and three lemons on the top shelf, and Danny’s pretty sure he sees some potatoes in one of the drawers. A closer glance reveals that he’s not only got potatoes, but also a handful of carrots, two onions, and a couple of yellow and green cucumbers.

Danny considers them with acute bemusement. He can imagine Jazz praising Robin’s choices, though Danny has absolutely no clue what to do with yellow cucumbers, since he didn’t even know they existed. After a moment's consideration, Danny decides to check the freezer too, and is surprised to find a box of frozen waffles, some sausage patties, and a couple bags of frozen fruit chunks.

The cupboards are a bit slower to go through, but he quickly decides the review was well worth it when he discovers a cabinet that contains some simple first aid equipment. He may burn through painkillers faster than he used to, but with any luck by the time they wear off, Danny’s headache will be down to easily ignorable margins.

“Robin is my favorite superhero,” Danny mutters, swallowing the pills, and considering his options. There’d been a large assortment of canned goods, which Danny hadn’t bothered to really look through yet, as well as peanut butter, syrup, and some other unopened sauces in the cupboards. Danny had also managed to identify where most of his dishes were, and a surprising number of cooking utensils. The pans had come with a little note warning him to not use metal on their nonstick surfaces ‘lest you invoke the wrath of my grandfather.’ The warning was ominous but also kind of adorable. Robin had shown no inclination to reveal his own identity to Danny, but he had no doubts that this mention of his family was an intentional move on his part. Danny can certainly understand the other boy wanting to protect his family from hero stuff, though Danny hopes for Robin’s sake, they at least know about his work.

He carefully transfers the sticky note to the fridge, but decides not to brave the stove just yet. As nice an addition as eggs would be, for today Danny will happily settle with waffles and sausage. He gets the waffles started in the toaster, and follows the simple instruction on the sausage bag, to reheat them in the microwave, but as the waffles toast, Danny glances back over at the freezer. He’s never tried making a smoothie before, but how hard could it be? He’d found a little personal-sized blender in one of the cupboards - the kind that’s specifically designed for smoothies, and between the fruit and the milk, he can probably make something tolerable.

By the time Danny is satisfied with his smoothie, the waffles are ready too, and Danny carefully adds them to the plate with the sausage, and then gleefully smothers the lot in syrup and digs in. Eventually, he’s consumed the last of his sausage, and Danny carries the plate to the sink, and drops it in. He should probably put it in the dishwasher now, but the folder Robin had left him has been staring him down the entire time he was eating, and Danny’s desperate to examine the contents, so instead just walks away, grabbing the folder and opening it, sitting himself at the stool he wasn’t just eating at.

Just as Robin had told him, the left side of the folder contains a number of important documents, from a birth certificate, to an emancipation order, and tucked in the front is his very own US Passport. Danny stares at it for a long moment, his own face gazing back at him from the photo Robin had taken a couple weeks ago. He picks it up and cradles it in his hands, before setting it carefully to the side. 

On the right side of the folder, Danny pulls out a thick document that must be his lease. Paper-clipped to the front of it is a separate page that seems to be explaining the terms and conditions in much simpler terms, probably courtesy of Robin, again. He certainly appreciates the simple run-down of what he is and isn’t allowed to do, because Danny hadn’t even thought about that aspect of renting. He reads through it, then takes it over to the fridge to attach it with one of the magnets.

Beneath the lease, Danny finds more paperwork with an attached sticky note. This is the necessary paperwork to set up a bank account for yourself. Just sign and initial in the highlighted locations, mail it to the listed address, and you should get confirmation in a few days.

The next paper, Danny quickly discovers, is a compiled list of possible workplaces in Concord, with notes about how well they treat their employees. That will definitely be useful soon enough. The idea of an actual job is a little scary, but Danny’s determined to earn his own money, and he certainly doesn’t know the first thing about how to recognize a good workplace.

The rest of the papers are similar notes of useful locations in the city, as well as some possible resources for anything he needs help with, including the names and contact info for a couple organizations that defend meta rights. Danny will probably have to look them up later, but for now, he reorganizes the paperwork all back into the folder, and takes it to his office. He doesn’t want to leave all this important stuff out on the counter, but he’s definitely got work to do.

He takes the time to sign the bank paperwork first, and once he’s got it in the pre-addressed envelope Robin had left him, he takes it off to find the mailbox. Luckily for Danny, it’s very visible from the front entrance to his building, but once he’s slipped the envelope through the slot, Danny takes a deep breath. It’s a nice day outside, and it feels a little weird to have spent so long inside today, so instead of heading back in Danny, decides to wander over to the park. His head is still throbbing enough that he probably shouldn’t do any running, but walking is still kind of nice, and the crisp fall air feels good. 

Once he’s back home, Danny opens his laptop carefully, the planner Robin had gifted him carefully nestled in his lap. Danny’s school login is carefully noted on the front page, and soon Danny is clicking around the website familiarizing himself with the layout. It seems pretty straightforward and intuitive, which is a huge relief. He finds the syllabus page, and quickly copies out the important details into the notes section of his planner. The contact info for his teacher is useful and kind of surprising, though Danny supposes it makes a lot more sense in an online learning environment. After all, there’s always the chance of the website crashing.

He’s pleasantly surprised to discover his teachers do include a suggested timeline for his work. He’d been assuming he’d have to work up a schedule for getting it done reasonably, but instead, he flips to the calendar section and notes down the various dates his teachers have listed. He’ll still have to fudge it to account for the month and a half they already are into the semester, but the suggested dates offer Danny a starting point that accounts for how long his teachers expect different assignments to take him.

A couple hours later, Danny finally finishes filling out the last week of the semester. He’s got two final projects so-to-speak and three tests, though Danny is still reeling at the discovery that all his tests are intended to be open book. He supposes that’s easier than trying to monitor online students for cheating, but the idea is still bemusing to him.

With a deep breath, Danny flips back to the current week, and reviews his list of work to get done. Deciding to start himself off easy, he picks one of the science assignments, and locates the corresponding document on the website. There is, after all, no time like the present. So Danny settles in to read the instructions, ready to prove that he really can succeed at school, when he doesn’t have to worry about ghost attacks.

[sparkletastic-cookiedough]

I’ve seen a number of imagines where due to interdimensional shenanigans or being liminal, Danny Phantom is more durable than most people in the dc dimension.

And those are cool and fine and all, but imagine if it was the opposite?

Danny Fenton gets punched twice and dies.

Which is fun on its own, but Danny is half ghost. He’s cursed to an existence where he can never truly be alive or dead for all eternity. Meaning that after a little while, Danny is back at it again, on the streets of Gotham in the same fleshy body he just died in.

He has to turn into ghost form first, but he can turn invisible as a ghost, so it’s fine, no one sees him glowing before he heads into an inconspicuous alleyway to return to life.

The blood stains would be a problem, but it’s Gotham so no one bats an eye.

Except for the bats.

(Warning: some death, corpses, and gore ahead)

—————

It always haunts Duke when he fails to save someone. He’s a hero now, and that’s part of the gig, but still.

He keeps wondering if maybe he had been faster, or stronger, or just a moment sooner, maybe then the civilian would’ve lived.

He sees the corpse in his nightmares, a reminder that he wasn’t good enough. It’s not rational, but Duke can’t get the image of the dead teen out of his head- the lifeless blue eyes, the dark hair, the…

… is that him?

No, it can’t be. It looks a lot like the kid, but his mind must be playing tricks on him or something. Because he saw that kid die. This kid, across the street, they must be someone else. Maybe they’re related?

Duke hears a commotion down a nearby alley, and leaves the mystery for later.

—————

Cass is concerned about this dead body.

In her line of work, it’s normal to see a lot of corpses. What’s strange about this one is that it makes no sense.

It’s splattered on the ground like it fell from a skyscraper. The tallest building in the area is five stories high.

The body is too fresh to have been from a while ago. It doesn’t show signs of having been moved. There weren’t any helicopters in the area recently it might’ve fallen from.

She surveys the area again. Perhaps this is a trap?

No security cameras or bad guys in sight.

She turns back to the body-

It’s gone. Only a pool of blood remains, undisturbed.

No one could have snuck past her. Something strange is going on.

—————

The bullet Jason shot shouldn’t have done this much damage.

The teenager was accidentally hit in a hostage situation. Usually Jason doesn’t miss like that, but the bullet should have just nicked him. A bandaid should have done the trick.

But this kid is leaking blood like a fire hose. It’s absolutely gushing out.

You never realize how much blood a human body has in it until you see it spread out all over the floor.

Jason puts pressure on the wound, damn the bad guys he is not having a dead civilian on his hands if he can help it.

He grabs a tourniquet from the first aid pack he carries. Fastens it around the kids arm-

- and the kid’s arm flops off. Not normal. Either Jason has just gotten Superman-levels of strength, or something is wrong with the kid.

The kid’s rapid breaths devolve into quick gasps. The blood from his wound slows to a trickle. Jason feels the kids heart go from pounding to nothing-

Fuck.

Instinct driving Jason more than any sense of reason, he puts the kid on his back to do chest compressions.

Jason pushes down. He hears a loud Squelch. His hands go through the kid’s torso.

Double fuck. Jason might know CPR, but he doesn’t know how to deal with this. His panicked-brain remembers he’s in a fight right now, and Jason turns towards the people who held the kid hostage.

They immediately surrender.

[op-sys-chaos]

DPxDC Prompt: the Demon Twins were never separated

Most demon twins aus have them be separated, by circumstance or shenaniganery or death. But what if they were never separated?

Madeline Fenton has a secret. Her real name is Talia al Ghul, and she’s been undercover for years, trying to see if ectoplasm has any connection to the Lazarus Pits by studying it with a scientist she fell in love with along the way. Yes, Jasmine Fenton is really her kid. The red hair comes from a recessive gene from Jack’s side, though Talia’s red wig makes people think Jazz gets it from her. People assume that Maddie is just abnormally tan for a redhead, despite most redheads being pale af. However, when on a mission as Talia (framed as a girls trip with an old friend when telling Jack where she was going), she fell in love with Bruce and ended up getting pregnant with twins. Jack Fenton doesn’t know any better. In fact, he doesn’t even realize his son isn’t his son.

And he has no clue that his son is a twin.

Talia left one son with Ra’s for training and kept one for the Fentons, telling her father it was needed for her cover. However, she didn’t want either of her sons to fall behind on their socialization or their assassin training. So, every other month, they switched places.

Damian and Danny grew up constantly keeping in touch. Talia had given them secret communicators, so whichever one was in Amity reported back to the one in Nanda Parbat. This way, they both knew exactly what was going on in their shared life at all times. (Ra’s knew about the twins and just did the training sessions twice, once per kid, so they didn’t have to worry about pretending in Nanda Parbat.)

Eventually, Danny and Damian got sick of Nanda Parbat. They both loved having a civilian life. But they couldn’t do that in Amity, since a sudden appearance of a twin would raise all kinds of questions. So they had to decide. Which one would stay in Amity, and which one would go to Gotham to live with their father?

Before they could pick, the decision was made for them, when Danny died in the portal in front of Sam and Tucker. Damian couldn’t fake that no matter how hard he tried, and the experiment was not replicable.

(They didn’t tell Talia this, of course. She didn’t know about Phantom and between her dubiously ethical studies of ectoplasm and ghosts and her assassin background, she was not to be trusted with that information. They told her they decided it with rock paper scissors.)

And so, Damian went to Gotham, and Danny stayed in Amity. They kept in touch constantly. Danny was jealous he’d never get to meet his father and the rest of his siblings, and Damian very much missed his friends Sam and Tucker. So they constantly give each other updates on their lives on their secret communicators.

Eventually, after a few years apart, they reunite. The JL needs Phantom for something so Dami calls him in and Danny’s so hyped about finally getting to meet the heroes he’s heard so much about for years. After the problem is handled, since the cat’s out of the bag, Danny brings Jazz, Ellie, Sam, and Tucker with him to visit his brother at Wayne Manor. Jazz, the one person who’d always been able to tell the pair apart (even if she never mentioned it to her parents, she talked to her siblings about knowing which was which and helping them form their own individual wants and desires separately from each other), had been trying to get them to reunite for years and was ecstatic to see her other little brother again. Danny and Damian are of course thrilled to see each other. Ellie is excited to meet her template’s twin, having heard so much about him from Danny. And Sam and Tucker, who could always tell that something was different between the two but thought it was closer to a mood disorder rather than a secret twin swap, are shocked to realize that Damian is a different person but thrilled to see him nonetheless. Now that they know, it’s obvious in hindsight.

Meanwhile, the batfamily is losing their shit. How the hell did Damian keep an entire half of his life - and a whole twin that he talked to all time - from all of them? Weren’t they supposed to be detectives? How did they miss this??

Cue all kinds of place swapping shenanigans from the twins who spent their whole childhoods doing it. Further infuriating the bats when they can’t tell them apart and the Amity folks can, even if it’s a struggle. (Sam and Tucker guess right about 80% of the time because they’ve known them for so long, even if they didn’t know it was two separate people at the time. Jazz gets it right 100% of the time, she just knows her brothers so well. Ellie cheats and senses Danny with her ghost sense so she’s always right without guessing.) Bruce nearly has a mental breakdown upon learning that he has another son who he can’t tell apart from the son he knew about half the time. Tim’s the only bat who can pick up on which twin is which, and that’s mostly because Danny’s a lot more chill around him than Damian is. Damian, in order to better swap places with Danny, backs off the Tim murder plans. It’s a win win for Tim. (I should note that they’re not constantly swapping. They do it for fun and to cover for each other but they do it maybe 5% of their time in the manor. Most of the figuring out which is which happens at the start of the day when they all sit down for breakfast together. The bats are consistent with that. It’s the “have they swapped or not” incidents that get to them.)

Also, Danny comes to live with them half the time, splitting his time between Gotham and Amity. He always brings Jazz and Ellie with him so they’re just honorary Wayne kids now too, a bit like Steph. Damian also starts spending time in Amity every once in a while when Danny’s in Gotham. He does miss Talia and Jack, after all. He’s usually not there long, though, and most of his visits are spent with Sam and Tucker anyway. Yes, he sees them in Gotham all the time since Danny drags them over a lot, but it’s nice to hang out with them in his hometown. Their hometown. It’s fun to revisit his memories of his childhood with some of his best friends.

[wandixx]

Ghost of fries and Hero of cookies part 2

All work words count: 14 593

Words in this part: 1 794

Summary of whole work: Duke wasn't expecting to wake up from his quick rooftop nap to some meta kid with fries. He also wasn't expecting kid to stay Or Danny asked Dani to stay safe while she was in Gotham. Where would she be safer than under the wing of local hero? And he looked like he needed bad day combo anyway

This part summary: Of new names and teasing

Beta read by @audhumla-sailor though English is second language for both of us, so proceed with this in mind. I also know all of the charaters through fics alone, so probably ooc. Stay catious if it's something you don't like

First part

Duke knew that Dani was in their agreed meeting point, he even vaguely knew where she was floating but not much more. She used her invisibility, which was weird since she knew it didn't work correctly on him. It was fifth time they met, of course they knew. 

"Hey Signal, remember how you said that I need a codename if we're going to hang out in future and that all my previous ideas were horrible names?" a disembodied girly voice asked. Duke smiled. Ever since he raised the idea, the girl would come up with ridiculous names to be called, proposing them with absolutely straight face. It was expected from someone who thought Dani Phantom was a good alias. It didn't make her ideas any less amusing.

"Of course I do. Whatcha got for me today?"

"Alright, since you don't let me be a name stealer, I decided to take a sheet from local nightlife's notebook–"

"You mean take a leaf from their book?" He was sure she was rolling her eyes on him, but it didn't stop him. No one could maim English language like that with him around.

"Whatever. I chose to steal their idea and became a bird. It's only fair since I can actually fly!"

"Can't exactly disagree. So, what did you get this time?"

"You'll like that, I promise. But now, I introduce to you…"

Duke got ready to shut down every Robin iteration and all Birdgirls he could think of.

"HOOPOE!" Dani yelled, popping back to the visible spectrum. She was covered in bright orange cape with weirdly shaped hood and flimsy mask "I even did some costume changes to fit the name better–" in all honesty, one, yeah, he wasn't blind he realized, two, he needed a moment to remember how these birds looked (his first thought was 'wait it's a thing?!'). But then he got it and yeah, those were funny little creatures, just like Dani. It fitted her "–so even if you don't like it, it doesn't matter," she added, sticking her tongue out.

Duke patted her on the head. He was there, he knew it mattered.

"It's a great name Hoopoe"

Dani visibly though probably unconsciously, relaxed. Her mouth curved into a proud grin and her aura brightened. Normal auras didn't do that. He got used to Dani surprising him like that sometimes.

"Of course it's great, I made it."

Duke chose to not remind her about almost two dozen times she came up with absolutely not great names or about the fact that technically she didn't quite make this one either. He wasn't in such a petty mood. Maybe in future if he needed blackmail.

Oh, it was such a Bat thing, wasn't it? He needed to spend some more time with his civilian to get it out of himself, he liked his ability to interact with normal people in a healthy way. 

*

"Wait, is your mask a paper?"

"What else could it be, titanium?"

"If you stop three muggings on the next three patrols each I'll get you a better one, okay?"

"Hey, my mask is perfectly fine"

"Yeah, but it can tear too easily. I can get you a mask that is more sturdy."

"Aha."

"It's the same material every Robin and Nightwing wear…"

"Don't care, my mask is flawless"

"..."

"Okay, better mask would be cool"

***

On the third patrol Dani joined, about a week and a half ago, they exchanged numbers. Duke knew how hard it was to come to terms with new powers on one's own and God strike him with a lightning or something if he ever lets anyone go through similar bullshit. Especially since she didn't seem to have anyone taking care of her. Girl her age shouldn't be able to hang out or respond to messages within ten minutes at any given time. Only twice she didn't do that, because she was on a celebrity hunt for autographs as she later explained. He would be teased endlessly if any Wayne or their associate learned about it, but he considered introducing Dani to Bruce. She needed help, okay?! He didn't inherit adoption tendencies.

But he hadn't done that, partially because he didn't want to scare Dani off and partially because of fear of teasing. And bet. Because of course in the meantime somehow there happened a bet. 

He smirked at the video Dani sent as a response to the hydration check. She was tossing a coin and playing an elimination game to pick one juice from eight drinks she had. Steph jumped over the back of the couch to join him. At the start she was in front of him so to do that she had to run around the furniture but such minor inconveniences couldn't even wish to stop her dramatics.

"You're smiling at your phone ergo you either text your secret girlfriend/boyfriend/enbyfriend or watch memes. Show me the memes," she demanded, nudging him in the arm. Duke chuckled.

"Wrong guess. I'm texting my sidekick," they agreed it would be a funny way to introduce Dani to people who asked. Duke tried his best at this whole having sidekick thing anyway. As well as he could without help from other Bats because of this damn bet.

Steph froze for a moment.

"Your what–"

"And the lucky winner is… an apple with mint juice! Damn I really hoped it would be lemonade,"  Dani from the video announced cheerfully before opening the bottle" Shame it didn't make it past semi-finals. Happy hydration break. I'm going on an autograph hunt so I may not respond for the next two hours or so. Wish me luck, bye~"

Duke paused the video before it replayed. He glanced at Steph who finally rebooted.

"How come you got a kid and I learned about it just now?"

“In my defense I'm like 60% sure you're the second person in the family to learn about her. Depends if Tim got his ‘I have to know everything, gotta check body cams’ paranoid spree in the last two weeks or not. There was no teasing from Babs or anyone else if I'm being honest and no lecture from B, so they have no idea.”

“First was Alfred?”

“First was Alfred. I still don't know how.”

“That's our grandtler for you. You are forgiven but you have to tell me everything about her,” Steph demanded excitedly. “And show me the photos''

Duke snorted.

“She goes by Hoopoe and is about Damian's age. She can tell you her real name when B inevitably finds out and tries to interrogate her.”

“What if Spoiler drops by during the day?”

“You can try but give it another week and a day, okay?”

“Why?”

“We have bet that I'll hide her from B for three weeks. Tomorrow is the end of the second week. We both know how he is, he'll have questions if you randomly show up during the day."

"Stakes?"

"Speedster worth of winners favorite Batburger meal, 2 quarts of chosen drink and cookies"

"Valid. I ain't snitch, but I want to know more. Is she a meta?”

"Yeah. Powers I know of are invisibility, intangibility, superspeed, enhanced hearing and flight. Probably more. I think she already had some training with it because she has quite amazing control over this stuff. Like, it comes naturally to her. But her hand to hand is atrocious."

"Are you jealous?"

"No."

"Omg, you totally are! Don't be, she is just a baby with a better idea of what's going on with her powers than you have with yours. There is nothing to be mad about Duke, it's okay Duke–"

"Keep going and I won't tell you anything about her," he dared, trying not to snort. 

"Sorry, sorry, you're doing great, please continue," she nudged his arm again "Don't be such softie, dude" He stared at her at the comment, disbelief clear on his face. Steph at least then looked a little ashamed "Okay, sorry. You're honestly doing far better than any of us would. Excluding Cass and Alfred."

"Excluding Cass and Alfred," he agreed easily enough.

"So, you think your kid has some training with her powers," she recalled eagerly.

"Yeah, probably from when she was helping her cousin. He is a hero in Amity Park, Illinois, his name is Phantom. It took very little digging even though Hoopoe does her best to stay mysterious. I swear this kid has no brain-mouth filter. But! I got my second shovel talk from her cousin!”

“The what?”

“After a week of hanging out with her, I got message on Signal’s twitter from Phantom that basically read as ‘I have nothing against you, really dude I’m a fan but here is list of my most powerful enemies, and let me tell you, there were some scarily powerful guys there, I won with all of them, if something bad happens to Hoopoe I can and will destroy you.’ After some research, yes, I think he could try and have considerable chance of success. Even if he didn’t fight would be painful enough to be a lesson. He and Hoopoe have the same powers and she worked with him for some time. She most likely learned then. She was called Dani Phantom, boy went by Danny Phantom then”

“Dear gods, their aliases were so horrible, who even let them go with it?! Are those their first names?!” Steph sounded genuinely offended by it.

“I don’t know,” Yeah, he knew, but he preferred to keep at least this secret to himself ”In boy's defense, because Hoopoe came much later,  he was fourteen and Amity went to shit really fast, so alias was probably not his first concern. And it’s much better than Invioso-bill, name he was given by the press. And he uses some intense gaslighting to make people believe it’s just Phantom now. And allegedly they’re both ghosts. Apparently ghosts don’t exactly have secret identity”

“You doubt it”

“You would too. She eats, she breathes and she is tangible by default. From what I know, ghosts don’t do that”

“They don’t, I checked. I went on a research spree when I first learned about Deadman. I just thought it was so cool you know. Ghosts being real and all,” Steph leaned towards him, almost vibrating with anticipation.

“Really?” he asked, knowing what he was getting into.

“Yeah, you see…”

And on she went, releasing expected infodump as if she waited for this opportunity ever since she first read about it.

********

Some additional name getting shenanigans

Signal: I won't call you Dani in the field

Dani: Why?

Signal: Ever heard of secret identity? Name is, like, half of it. Disguise is other half but it can be exchanged with lore. Superman made it work. Just make up enough lore for people to not question it.

Dani: Oh, okay *gremlin^2 mode activated*

Random they just rescued: And who are you little one?

Dani: *looking them dead in the eyes* I am clone of dead child hero, travelling around the world to find identity separated from my template befre mistakes made during my creation make me turn into puddle of primordal liquid and my conciousness fades forever

Random: *petrified* What?

Signal: *internally* I have miscalculated

Dani: Kid Signal

Signal: No.

Dani: It works in Central

Signal: We're not in Central

Dani: Signalgirl

Dani: I mean, Batgirl exists

Signal: No.

Dani: Monochromatic Signal. Y'know, Red Robin route?

Signal: ...

Signal: Just no. Don't make my name part of your name

Next part

Do you want to see some Hoopoe doodles I made? There were redesigns!!!

[tomboy014]

Dun Dun Dunnn!!! Arkham Security Guard Danny's Epic Backstory! with Dick Grayson

I fell in love with the Arkham Guard AU by @xy-is-i and like most projects I work on, rather than starting where the story starts, I end up going backwards and delve into the backstory.  And I mean waaay into the backstory.

Because while the stories might start when the Bats run into Danny and Jazz working at Arkham Asylum isn’t where they first met.

Long, long ago, through shenanigans unknown, Robin and Phantom became friends, and honestly, they both really needed it. 

Dick Grayson, age 16, has been Robin for a while, but this is so early in the day that there just aren’t many teen heroes or sidekicks yet.  He’s basically pioneering the field of child heroes.

For Danny, 14, Sam and Tucker are great, but there are just some parts of superhero-ing that they just don’t get when you don’t have to hide a secret identity. 

Batman, for his part, does not approve of the friendship.  He’s already not a fan of metas in his city, but when the two of them get together, the chaos twin energy between Dick and Danny multiplies.  Worse, it brings about the pun-pocalypse, and there are only so many puns Bruce can take.  And then there’s the sibling discourse…

After all the stories Danny has told about his family, Dick is desperate to have a little sibling of his own, and the two repeatedly gang up on Batman to adopt another kid.  Their acting may be stilted, but the efforts are constant.

It never works.  Bruce doesn’t have empty nest syndrome yet, and tiny, homicidal Dick was already more than he could handle while he was trying to figure out how to adult, but he also can’t stand that he’s disappointing Dick.  Alfred isn’t helping either; he wants more grandkids.

And there’s no way in HELL that he’s adopting Phantom.

But for Robin and Phantom, they finally have someone they can talk to who gets it.  They can vent about their rogues, get help with homework, bitch about balancing their vigilantism with going to school, talk about whatever TV they’ve been watching, anything and everything.  It’s not uncommon to see them hanging off the Gotham gargoyles or grabbing a bite on top of the Nasty Burger.

There’s an unspoken rule between them that neither pries into the other’s personal life or secret identity, but as they get more comfortable with each other, little things slip out.  Then more.  Numbers are swapped, bits and pieces about their families come out. 

Later on, homes and secret hideouts are visited and they know each other’s first names.  It’s not a problem for Dick to go to the Fenton’s, but technically, Danny isn’t allowed in the Bat Cave or the Manor.  Those visits happen behind Batman’s back, and they were almost caught when they hid in the chandelier before Danny remembered he could turn them invisible. (Alfred encourages the friendship and bakes extra cookies once when he finds out Danny is over.) 

And eventually the relationship grows until they’re comfortable enough to swap full names.  No more secrets.

Dick likes going over to Danny’s place since it’s a chance to feel a lot more normal, even if they have to be very careful and either stay in civilian clothes in the shared areas or stay locked in Danny’s room if they’re in uniform.  Danny also goes out of his way to keep Dick from ever meeting his sister, Jazz (Danny knows he has a type).  It doesn’t stop them from swapping their numbers under the door.  (Jazz will unofficially be Dick’s therapist for years after this)

But being this close, Dick can also see just how stressed Danny is trying to maintain this lifestyle.  Doesn’t help either he has to listen to Danny’s parents go on and on about wanting to rip their own son apart, molecule by molecule.  Sure, Danny has a couple friends to help him, but he doesn’t have the same mentor or support system Dick has.  For a kid his age to be anything other than a sidekick is practically unheard of in this day and age.  Superheroes are still fairly few and far between, but Batman helped start a group called the Justice League a couple years ago with the idea that heroes could help each other.  Maybe there’s something there…

So, Dick starts the Teen Titan.  He had originally intended for Danny to join him as one of the founding members, but are you kidding?  Jump City is on the opposite side of the country!  He has school! and parents! (That’s the point, Danny. We’re trying to get you away from the parents that want to dissect you) He can’t just up and leave home and run halfway across the country!

So, Dick found the other iconic members and still joined the Titans, but Danny will always have an open invitation to join them and a room at the Tower, something Danny does occasionally take advantage of.  Jump City doesn’t spawn as many natural portals as Gotham, but he visits whenever he can and basically haunts the tower the entire month of December to get away from his family.

Still, the distance and growing up are hard on Dick and Danny, and they grow more distant over the years, but they’ll always have each other’s backs in an emergency.  Dick was there when Danny thought he was turning into a monster (it was just ghost puberty).  Danny stole the Spectre Speeder so they could scour the Ghost Zone after Jason died.  And Danny would eventually become godfather to Dick’s daughter, Mar’i. 

But things cooled down between them… at least until a panicked Danny called because his sister just took a job at Arkham…

Next>>