#wolfjackle

[numinous-scribe]

Jazz didn’t care anymore about the cameras or her parents or her future. She pushed back her mask and pressed her lips to Danny as she sank to the floor. She cradled him to her chest and tried to keep from bursting into sobs, though she couldn’t stop the tears. ��I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I’m here now. You’re safe. They, they won’t ever get their hands on you again if I have anything to say about it.” Dick knelt down facing her. “Calkins, are you okay? Who are they?” Jazz shook her head, tears falling faster and clutched Danny to her. “Please, please,” she begged through her sobs. “Be okay.” “Calkins!” Tucker’s voice broke through her breakdown. “Wake him up. You know how, remember? Regrowth and Starfire are almost finished on the floor above you.” Jazz nodded, though he couldn’t see and took a few shaky breaths. “Okay, I can do this,” she said to herself. She closed her eyes and held Danny out in front of her. Again she pressed a kiss to his core. With the gesture, she shoved every feeling of safety and security she could at her brother. She wasn’t a ghost; she didn’t have any powers. But she loved her brother and she would do everything to keep him safe. And he was a ghost. Ghosts had empathy. Usually it only worked with other ghosts, but Danny was half human. And had known her his entire life. He would feel her.

++++

My final piece for @dpxdcbigbang! This scene is from ch 3 of "Behind the Fortress Walls" by @wolfjackle. If you haven't already, go check it out!

[stealingyourbones]

So, I'm new to DC. Your twin has been helping me get caught up on the basics. But from what I understand, the actual way Jason was brought back from the dead is either ignored or poorly explained. The pit came about when Talia found him after he already came back.

Now, what if when Jason died, he became a ghost and had a home island in the ghost zone. And became friends with the local reigning monarch (I like to think Danny was complaining about English and Jason heard and started tutoring him, but the how isn't very important).

Well, Jason is still caught up on his unfinished business in Gotham. The Zone doesn't have much need for a boy hero and he isn't ready to give that up. So he decides to go to Desiree and wish for his life back. She sends him back, but without his ghost core. Which is part of the reason he's so unstable. It has the side effect of him losing his memories of his time in the zone.

So Danny is in Gotham. Depending on the ship you like, he's looking at colleges for himself or Jazz. Or maybe it's a Casper High field trip and the fic is gen. And while there, Danny sees his friend Jason who disappeared into his core and hasn't been able to be helped since. All any ghost knows is that he was seeking out Desiree before whatever happened to him.

Anyway, I've no time to do anything with this. But it's an idea I had! Hope some others enjoy it.

Oh shit I’ve seen so many fics with Jason being a human with a core but having that prolonged rage because he lacks a core?! Oh that’s a fascinating concept.

Would he even be able to form another core at all? Is it unfixable? Does he have urges to, instead of brutally injuring someone, just flat out kill them instead? The reason being that he’s subconsciously trying to take the cores of the newly formed ghosts to continue living?

Oh god ok this is a completely separate idea now but I propose this: Jason is without a core and has to steal and consume ghost cores Vampire style to continue on living.

Ok back to the original idea: I absolutely adore it. Big question is how does Jason get his core back?

[suzukiblu]

Ko-fi thank-you sentences for @wolfjackle; omega!Clark wants to nurse his pups and hungry!Kon doesn't realize he counts. Cut for length.

Kon’s breathing is normal, and his heartbeat is too. No signs of bruising or cuts or burns or any internal damage. He’s definitely passed out and not asleep, because the kid sleeps light, but that's not exactly reassuring. 

Nothing about his pup being functionally unconscious is reassuring, obviously. 

It doesn't help that Kon is functionally unconscious in his arms, either, because Clark's inner omega is losing its goddamn mind right now. It wants Kon curled up safe in a pack nest and to curl up around him in turn and just not come out until the next apocalypse. 

Kon is just so small and skinny and sharp-boned, and Clark just . . . 

It's very, very hard to keep himself from letting down. Or from scenting the kid with protective pheromones. Or–

It's just hard. 

But not as hard as it was for Kon to keep that building from collapsing on everyone inside it, Clark's sure, so he pushes all that aside and just checks the kid over again before forcing himself to take off with him again. He hates being exposed with Kon when Kon's vulnerable like this, but staying on the roof isn't exactly ideal either. Even if the kid doesn't want to be in a nest with him, at least he can get him back to the den and into his room. Or the living room, at least, if Kon doesn't wake up by the time they get there. 

Clark stays out of Kon's room, because Kon's never invited any of them into it. They all do.

Clark has to respect that. It's not Kon's den, but it's still his. 

Clark is very, very careful of respecting things that belong to Kon, given that the kid hadn't had a damn thing but the clothes on his back when they took him in. Nothing he’d been able to keep from what little Lex had allowed him. And Clark’s gotten the impression that Lex had allowed him very, very little. 

So it's not really a surprise that Kon invests the vast majority of his allowance in clothes and consumable things, considering. Things that either won't or can't be taken away from him, statistically. 

At least it's not a surprise to Clark, anyway. 

He takes Kon back to the pack den. Kon doesn’t so much as stir for the whole flight there, which admittedly isn’t a very long flight, especially with how fast Clark takes it. The fact still makes him feel restless and uncomfortable and worried, though. 

Still makes him want to curl up in a nest and scent his pup with safe-protected-safe, and makes his chest ache. 

He lands on the balcony and ducks into the apartment with Kon in his arms, and feels a little tension go out of himself at being enveloped in the familiar scents of their home territory. Kon doesn’t relax at all, but he tries not to read into that. The kid’s functionally unconscious. It’s . . . normal, not to react to things like that in that condition. 

He wants to believe that right now, anyway. 

“Saw the news,” Lois says from the kitchen table, putting a hand on Jon’s shoulder to keep him in his seat and visibly restraining the urge to come over to them herself–to not crowd Kon while he’s vulnerable, which Clark appreciates. They’re pack, but he knows Kon just isn’t comfortable in that close to them. He wouldn’t be this close to him if he were conscious right now. “The kid okay?” 

“He just overused the TTK again,” Clark reassures her as he lays Kon on the couch with a twinge of regret. It’s not the nest, but Kon never even goes near the nest, so . . . “Kept the whole power plant in one piece so I could clear out the civilians and then passed right out.” 

“Wasn’t the power plant actively exploding?” Lois says, her eyebrows shooting up. Clark spares her a wry smile. “Jesus.” 

“Seriously?!” Jon says, looking starry-eyed and leaning forward in his seat. “That’s so cool!” 

“It was pretty cool, yeah,” Clark says with a quiet laugh, relieved that Jon isn’t worrying and giving him a quick smile as he resists the urge to scent Kon again and tries not to look too worried himself. He doesn’t drape the throw over Kon–it’d be too close to scenting him, with how much it smells like everyone else in the pack. Even laying him on the couch at all . . . well, he won’t go into the kid’s room without permission outside of an emergency, so it’s the lesser of two evils, that’s all. Much lesser, in Clark’s opinion. 

The pack’s scent doesn’t really include Kon, except in the faintest traces. Even the den’s doesn’t. And Kon himself doesn’t smell outright stray, but . . . 

Well, he smells like he’s just occasionally around a pack, more than actually part of one. And right now, with his suit and blockers on, even to Kryptonian senses he doesn’t smell like he has a pack at all. 

It’s making it a little difficult for Clark to stop worrying. 

Or . . . very difficult, at this point. 

“This kid is gonna be the death of me, I swear,” Lois says, her brow furrowing and her pheromones just barely tinged with restlessness. She’s not the type to fret unnecessarily, but bringing their unconscious pup home when he smells this close to stray . . . 

Well, of course she’d be concerned about that. 

“I was right there the whole time,” Clark promises her, stepping away from the couch before he accidentally does something like brush Kon’s hair back off his forehead or anything similarly invasive. It’s the kind of thing he’d do to Jon without even thinking, but . . . 

Well, once early on he’d lifted a hand intending to touch Kon’s cheek and the kid had outright flinched.

So it’s not something he does to Kon. 

[ineffableclassics]

Crowley is passing through Hamelin, Germany in 1284 when he senses disquiet in the town and decides to stick around to see if he can claim anything on a report to Hell. Turns out a rat infestation has led to major food shortages and the town's children are the ones dealing with the worst of it. He decides to interfere. And so a legend that will survive centuries is born.

Words: 24,760

Status: Complete

Rating: Teen and Up

@wolfjackle-creates

[uniasus]

Behind the Fortress Walls by Wolfjackle

33K DP x DC fic featuring Jazz x Dick

Summary: Jazz loves her boyfriend Dick Greyson, but hates lying to him about her life. When she cancels weekend plans to go save Danny from the GIW, she runs into a familiar frame also breaking into the facility.

Comments: I LOVE Jazz in here. 100% Bamf babe, working as a social worker who moonlights in helping metas escape Gotham and an online activist who goes by the name Calkins. She and Dick have no idea about their vigilante lives despite dating for a year, and the unexpected meeting during a GIW raid with Team Phantom and the Teen Titans in the background is amazing.

Slight whump, cuz it's the ghosts against GIW, but there's a lot of fluff and romantic cuteness between the sibling worry from all sides. Absolutely devoured this story.

[clockwayswrites]

I hope you're having a good day!

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

Do you know how few fics I've written? This is like a third of my volume! Right okay. In no particular order and going for things just on ao3 or finished:

Sunshine and Madness

FFXV, Noctis/Nyx. Got me back into writing after a decade or so. Thought it would be able 80K and 15 chapters... yeah, nope! 151K and 36 chapters that took me a year. It really helped me define a lot of things about what is important to me in my works.

Like Betta Fish Do

DP x DC, Danny/Jason. Have to put the current big fic here! I was a bit adrift after I finished Sunshine and Madness, and this is my writing revival. So far it's chapter count is mostly behaving.

Shadow of a Bat

DP x DC, gen. This is an odd fic in a lot of ways, as the one POV is by someone very lost, but it has been so great to write. It will be wrapping up soon and I hope everyone likes it!

Raising a Lion

FFXV, gen. This one is also a little 'experimental' since it's more of an AU character origins study, but I love the first line of it: The first man Cor Leonis ever killed was his own father.

Bleeding Out, Bleeding In

DP x DC, Danny/Jason. This was a challenge in writing something that isn't my normal vibes at all, but I really like the result of it. There's something feral about the whole thing that I love.

[skydemonizark]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers 💜💜

Video games (currently playing so much Stardew Valley and terraria, but story of seasons, rune factory, and dragon age always bring me joy)

Manga/ webtoons (mainly bl, but anything with any kind of supernatural/ fantasy/ or sci-fi elements are my jam. Also everyone needs to read from far away it's the best manga I've ever read and not enough people appreciate it)

Youtube (so many youtubers make my day better, tho rn I'm binging so much drawfee)

Dropout (kinda youtube adjacent but since they aren't on there much anymore I'm counting them as separate. My fav series they do is game changer, make some noise, and um actually)

sweets (literally anything with added sugar that doesn't give me a headache (so no dark chocolate or citrus baked goods))

[noomyz]

O H

Instead of trying to rip out Danny’s ghost half after the Nasty Burger explosion, Vlad tries to raise the dead.

[suzukiblu]

Conner is not a clone (but Match is) for WIP Wednesday, please!

So excited to see what all of these are ^.^

“Damn,” Canary says, frowning at one of the tablets. “Well, that’s not right.” 

“What isn’t right, ma’am?” Kaldur asks. 

“Sample’s contaminated,” Canary says, briefly waving the tablet. “Did someone bleed on you, Superboy?” 

Superboy frowns too, not understanding the question. 

“No,” he says. “Why?” 

“There’s human DNA in here,” Canary says. “Can you run the scans again, Tornado?” 

[yizukikhons]

Danny is Nightwings Son(Angst)

@ Two of my favorite creators @wolfsrainrules and @wolfjackle-creates

While in jail for the murder of Blockbuster, it is discovered that Catalina Flores(Tarantula) is pregnant. Even though it was only once, it only takes once. Due to the length of her sentence, the baby is put up for a closed adoption and is taken in by the Fentons. They raise Daniel as their own, and he looks enough like them, with his black hair and blue eyes, that no one questions it. Even though his unruly hair is too curly, his nose is too strong, and his skin darkens under the midwest sun to a shade none of his 'parents' have in their families.

Unfortunately, Vlad finds out about this when he tries to use Jack and Maddie's DNA to make Danny from scratch. Vlad is furious. His whole focus is on Maddie. On his need to not be the only one of his kind. And while Danny is still a halfa, he is not Maddie's son. He's now flipping between trying to kill Danny and trying to steal custody to make Danny his son and no one else's. During these events Danny's halfa status is revealed along with the fact that he's adopted. When Danny finds out he, Tuck, and Sam hack into his records and find his birth mom. Finding out his mom is a murderer is not something Danny ever wanted to know, but he does now and he flees to Bludhaven, the location of Nightwing, to ask him about his mom and hopefully find out who his Dad might be.

I don't have a lot more for this scenario, but Nightwing does not take being confronted by his son, conceived through rape after 14 years, very well.

[ailithnight]

I'm kinda curious about something, so I hope y'all don't mind...

Reblog and tag who you think are the 5 "big names" of the DPxDC fandom. The people/blogs that you see and are like

So, to me, in no particular order:

@stealingyourbones @tourettesdog @hdgnj @wolfjackle and @im-totally-not-an-alien-2

[random-sparks-98]

Of course! I could just picture the scene so clearly in my head that I absolutely had to draw it

Last piece for the @dpxdcbigbang this year! This is another one for @wolfjackle's fic Behind the Fortress Walls (scene from chapter 4)

[i-think-in-metaphors]

I can finally post this! I’ve been sitting on this piece for so long! This is my ecto implosion art and my partner was @wolfjackle and the fic is *chef kiss*

[ravenroseglaive]

Want to Hold on and Feel I Belong - Chapter 1 - Wolfjackle - Danny Phantom [Archive of Our Own]

[iguessthisisanewobsession]

IT Takes a Mob pt 4

First

previous 

Bill knew three things as he came to.

One, something squirmy just landed on his chest. Two, the apartment stunk in a way it usually didn’t. And three, for living alone, Bill’s apartment was filled with a lot of sounds that were vaguely concerning.

Primary, the cussing, and the smoke alarm.

‘Is it worth it Bill? Is waking truly worth it?’

The answer was quickly taken from his hands when as a small hand shoved itself up his nose with the sound of a happy gurgle.

“Gah-!”

Shooting up he lifted up the squealing mass into the air.

The little heathen didn’t even seem to realize how rude he had been. Kicking his little feet around and with a babble.

“Kid, first rule of my house, don’t interrupt a man’s sleep.”

“Aba ba bah..”

“You’re right, that alarm is annoying; guess we have to go yell at the nitwits.”

There was a crash from the kitchen,

~~~~

“Do I want to even know?”

“Well ah, probably not.”

What once was a small window into alleyway was now a hole in his wall.

Glancing down Bill grimaced as the dumpster continued to crackle.

“That was my good fuckin’ pan.”

“For what it’s worth, it was honestly a mistake to leave Ken to watch the stove while I fed Danny. I forgot.”

Bill wafted the towel in his hand to his old window with a scowl,

“How could you forget? Like there’s three consecutive rules throughout the safe houses and two of them are to keep Ken out of the kitchen.”

Ken ducked his head as he opened the apartment door.

Marv continued to bounce Danny, with a snort,

“Yeah, the kid has a talent man, I didn’t even know eggs could burn that fast.”

With another shake of his head Bill left to get himself ready.

~~~~~~

“So now what?”

Bill met Ken’s eyes in the mirror as he washed his face,

“Unless you’re asking about my cast iron you’re going to have to be more specific.”

He took pleasure as he watched they younger man roll his eyes.

“I meant the kid. Now what?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“Because we need a plan,”

Ken glared at Bill’s deadpan in the reflection.

“Don’t give me that look, as much as I like Marv we both know he ain’t exactly thinking at the moment.”

He gave a wince,

“I love Danny an’ shit but this isn’t something we can wing, you know? Need prep and fuck knows what else.”

Exiting to the hall Bill gave a snort,

“You got that right, as far as I can see it, we need to sit down and strategize, need a list of everybody on roster. Separate the names of trustworthy players from the average goon before starting to sort out who can and would take in the bugger. After that we need a rotation an-“

A cry broke out as they rounded into the living room on a frazzled Marv.

“Shhh shhh. You’re alright, shhh. Oh, great timing guys! Not it!!”

Bill barely had time to grab hold of the crying tike before Marv backed up.

“Jesus Christ what’s gotten into yo-“

The stench reached his nose.

Ken gagged and took a step back,

“Ah man, not it!”

“You-! Fine, where’s the bag with the diapers?”

Hoodlums:

@reinluna,@confused-moose-child,@mimilikey,@emeraudesfateandfandoms, @dolfay, @boredomfarie, @aconitewolfsbane, @withoutcontxt, @onyxlightdragon, @satanicrutialspecialist, @phoenixdemonqueen, @vixen-uchiha, @skulld3mort-1fan, @bytheoldwillowtree, @illusionwolfwriter24r8, @thewondersoflebanon, @vipower001, @autumnwulf, @alice-hazelwood, @fisticuffsatapplebees, @f4nd0m-fun, @markus209,  @dolfay, @basilf1res, @jotaroslooseeyebrowhair, @skirter01, @bun-fish, @ascetic-orange, @thegatorsgoose, @sunflowershine03, @ladythugs, @firegirl108, @glitchedchaos, @rangerhorsetug, @mimilikey, @booberrylizard, @wolfjackle,  @lehana37, @dragongoblet, @flamey-comet, @mandyne-1001, @starscreamlover, @moonfirearc, @bae-graphomaniac, @mewzaque, @wolfeyedwitch, @idfk-man10, @demon-cat-goes-woof, @undead-essence, @jaguarthecat, @scythegal, @dolfay, @boo-ghosties, @8-29pm, @alixanterm, @aria7silver, @cyber-geist, @alice-hazelwood, @littlefeather345, @terzatheunderscorerima, @raspberry-muffin

[hailsatanacab]

Hey. It's been two days and I am STILL SCREAMING OVER THIS!! I finally have enough time to sit down and be coherent enough for a comment and instead I reread it, get major goose pimples, lose any and all thoughts I had, and so I must simply scream

HOLY SHIT IT'S SO GOOD!! The emotions are just 😚👌 perfection, poor Danny getting lost in his memories is so so sad, Danny FLYING OVER to Bruce and just bursting into tears must have been 1) so very awkward for everyone but also 2) so heartbreaking for Danny. He's got to teach Bruce how to hug all over again 🥺

ALSO I'm sorry but the line about Bruce being alive and not "cold and stiff in death" like... did Danny sit with him after he died? It takes at least a couple of hours for rigor mortis to set in and now I'm breaking down over Danny finishing whatever battle with Dan and crawling/limping/falling over to Bruce's body and just collapsing next to him, going to hold his hand only to find it stiff and unmoveable

Damian forgiving Danny before he leaves??? Are you trying to kill me???

When I read this the first time, I couldn't stop imaging Jazz being brought in and her quietly thanking Bruce for everything he did for Danny in the future.

"He barely tells me anything about it, but he was always smiling when he spoke of you. Thank you, Mr. Wayne, for helping him. Thank you for being the dad he never got at home."

But now I'm thinking of how unsettling it would be, sometimes, with Danny in the house. How every now and then he'll get lost in his memories and a batfam member will look up to see him smiling softly, with his eyes shining in the light. He won't stop apologising, but he'll never say what for. He'll laugh at odd times and he'll bring up in-jokes that no one ever gets and they can see the realisation hit him when he realises they're not the person he thought he was laughing with.

It's worse with Bruce.

They all know that the future-that-isn't was bad. Of course it was bad, he wouldn't have been sent there to stop it if it wasn't!

But it was worse for Bruce.

Danny's so, so happy to see them all, to be a part of the family, but there's a sadness that clings to him just as tightly as he clings to Bruce.

Family Dinners - dpxdc

"Holy shit, you're Bruce Wayne!" Danny gaped, jabbing a finger at the man sitting at the head of the table.

The bustling dining room goes silent as everyone turns to look at him.

"Danny, who did you think was going to be here?" Tim asks, disbelief plain in his voice and Danny feels his face flush red.

"Sorry, I, uh, I guess I just never put it together. Tim Drake-Wayne. Wayne Manor. It, uh, makes sense now." He laughs sheepishly and scrubs at his neck before slumping back down into his chair.

"Well," Tim says with an indulgent sigh, "at least I know you're not just friends with me for my connections."

"Yeah, I'm really sorry, I just never thought about it, I guess."

Danny sinks lower as everyone around him laughs. Come to dinner, he said, the food is the best, he said, ignore the family, he said. Danny really wishes he'd listened to Tim and just ignored them—almost as much as he's regretting accepting the offer in the first place—but... he's having dinner with Batman.

Ancients, that's so weird!

The last time he saw Batman was in the future and, suffice it to say, it was not going well. There hadn't really been time for family dinners there.

Wait. Family dinners?

He peers around the table, openly gawking at everyone as it all clicks into place.

"Everything alright, Danny? Now realising who everyone else is?" Tim asks with a roll of his eyes.

"Uh... something like that..." Danny mumbles as everyone laughs again.

From further down the table, the smallest Wayne scoffs and clicks his tongue.

"I thought you said he was smart, Drake?"

"So, you all do it, too, then?" he asks, ignoring the jibe. Danny's only a little bit jealous as he thinks of how much easier they must have it, how much easier it'd be if his family had been on his side, too. "You all work together?"

"Nah," Dick says from across the table with a brilliant grin. "Tim's the only one that works with Bruce, we all have different jobs. I'm a police officer in Bludhaven."

"Disgusting." Danny blurts out without thinking—because seriously, what kind of self-respecting vigilante would also be a police officer?—before clapping a hand over his mouth. "Sorry."

The whole table laughs again, the loudest being the blonde girl a few spaces down from Dick. Look, Danny wasn't really paying attention to names when they were all paraded in front of him. Dick only gets remembered because his name is a joke.

Come on, Danny, recover!

"That's, uh, not what I meant, though."

"Oh?" Dick asks, cocking his head slightly to the side. Is it Danny's imagination or does his smile tense slightly?

"Yeah, I mean like, you know, in costume. It must make it so much easier to have everyone together like this."

"Costume? What do you mean?"

Yeah, Danny's not imagining it, everyone tenses up at that. It's really only now that he's realising that this probably isn't how he should bring up that he knows about their... night time activities. In fact, he probably shouldn't be bringing it up at all.

"Uuhhh..." Danny looks wildly around the table as he continues making his stupid noise. Think, think, think! There must be a way out of this!

"Danny?" Tim asks, looking concerned.

"Oh, Ancients, this isn't how I wanted it to go at all," he mutters, slipping even further into his chair. He's almost on the floor now and he so, so wishes it could just swallow him up.

His real first meeting with Batman was meant to be cool! He had planned to be Phantom, maybe save them from a tight spot, prove his worth as a mysterious and powerful ally as thanks for the help Batman gave him in the future.

"Danny, what are you talking about?" Tim starts tugging on his sleeve in an attempt to pull him back up from his pit of despair.

Eventually, Danny relents and sits up straighter, hiding his face in his hands and whining all the while.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't expect him to be here and it threw me off so now I look stupid and it's so embarrassing!" he wails, flailing his arms wide. "Why wouldn't you warn me that Batman was your adopted dad, Tim? Couldn't you have let me know?"

"I'm sorry, what? Danny are you alright? There's no way Bruce can be Batman, look at him!"

"Yeah," the blonde girl laughs from the bottom of the table, "look at him! That's a wet noodle of a man! Batman can actually do things, B is incapable of pretty much everything."

"Thank you, Stephanie," Bruce sighs, massaging his forehead.

It's... Those are the first words Danny's heard Batman say since everything went down and it's enough to knock him out of his embarrassment.

It's really good to hear his voice again. Especially now, when it's strong and healthy and full of personality—even if that personality is little more than a tired father right now—far better than how it had been, at the end.

Danny sits up, back straight, and grins. He's got this. He remembers it perfectly. Some people count sheep to fall asleep, Danny repeats his mantra to be certain that he'll never forget it.

"Gamma alpha upsilon tau iota mu epsilon, 42, 63, 28, 1 colon 65 dash 9."

Once again, the whole table falls into silence.

"Holy shit..." breathes the other D name (Duke? Danny's pretty sure he's Signal) from opposite Stephanie. "Isn't that...?"

"The time travelling code." The littlest Wayne says stiffly. "We have met in the future?"

"That's not just the time travelling code, Dami." Dick says, looking between Danny and Bruce. "That's the family time travelling code."

Danny's grin freezes in place.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"1 colon 65 dash 9." Dick explains, still flicking between him and Bruce. "It means you've been adopted into the family and we should all treat you as such, no questions asked."

"Tell you what, I'm about to ask a question." Danny says, dumbstruck. "You just told me it was a code to identify time travellers, not anything about being adopted! What the hell, B?"

Bruce looks about as shellshocked as Danny feels.

"We must have been close," he says finally, after opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water a few times.

"No! Not that close!" Danny reels back, taking a deep breath ready to refute it all, but... "Well, I mean, you found me when I first got stuck, and you helped me get better despite being... And then we fought together against the, uh, bad guy, before he, um, he... before you couldn't."

An uncomfortable beat passes while they all pick up on what Danny tried so hard not to say.

"So, you're not from the future, then, you travelled there and came back?" Tim asks, breaking the tension and leaning forward with a glint in his eye.

"Yeah, it was a whole end of the world thing, but don't worry about it," Danny says with a hand wave, "It's all kosher now, won't ever happen."

"What did happen?"

"Seriously, don't worry about it, we cool."

"How long in the future was it?"

"About ten years? You were pretty spry for an old man, B," Danny laughs, wishing they'd get off the topic of what happened and get back to the adoption bit.

Everyone shares degrees of a cautious smile as they relax out of the shock, and Dick—whose grin is the biggest—says, "No wonder you got the family code, you're already riffing on him like one of us. How long were you there for?"

"A week, before I managed to get back to my present and stop him then."

"A week? Jeez, B, that has to set some kind of record, seriously."

"Oh!" Danny says, sitting bolt upright and blinking in surprise before pointing at Dick and bouncing in his seat. "You're Nightwing!"

"What?"

"That's exactly what Nightwing said when Batman told me the code! Makes so much more sense now."

Dick laughs and claps his hands, delighted.

"You were not formally adopted?" The grumpy small one—Dami?—asks, his face pinched.

"I didn't even know I was informally adopted."

"And your parents? Are they alive or dead?"

"Damian, stop—"

"They were dead in the future, but they're alive now." Danny says, looking down. He fiddles with the tablecloth, twisting the fabric around his fingers as he fights down the pang of sadness that he always feels when he thinks of them now. He forces a bright smile on his face and hopes it doesn’t look too strained. "I just, uh, can't talk to them much, anymore."

"Damian," Dick warns, "1 colon 65 dash 9. Treat them as family, no questions asked."

"This is Damian treating him as family, the little turd has no manners." Tim scoffs, rolling his eyes, but he gently bumps shoulders with Danny to knock him out of his funk. Danny can't help but send him a watery smile.

"I have the most exemplary manners, Drake, unlike some people." Damian spits, crossing his arms with a pout. "I was merely ascertaining his status to see how he could possibly fit into the family."

"I know this is all a bit sudden, Danny," Bruce smiles, ignoring Damian and reaching out to lay a warm hand on his arm, "for all of us. But if I felt strongly enough to give you that code after spending a week with you in the future, then you are more than welcome in this family, if you so choose it. I think I can speak for all of us when I say we'd like to get to know you a bit more."

"I know a threat when I hear it, Bruce." Danny snorts. "But, yeah, I get it. I'm sorry this is all so weird, it really wasn't how I wanted to find you again, but... I'm glad I did."

"So are we, Danny." Dick says, with a warm smile. "And formally or not, 1 colon 65 dash 9 means you're family. Welcome to the fun house! No take backs or refunds, sorry. You're stuck with us."