Night Black Owl Bat

Tim as Red Robin, staring forlornly at his broken grapple, exhaustion seeping out of him in waves: …

Danny: Hey uh… want me to fix that?

Tim, sounding near tears: Please 🙏

Danny: *quickly fixes the grapple, pulling scrap from his bag.* Here all fixed!

Tim: Here, your payment. *hands over his entire wallet and grapples away*

Danny: *stares blankly for 30 seconds* … Um?

Danny: *Silently screaming inside as he stares at Red Robin’s very civilian state ID*

But that was... not his greatest moment.

Tim quietly sighed into his coffee. Was nothing sacred? He hoped to goodness this wasn’t another techie fanboy. He wasn’t nearly caffeinated enough for that. “Depends. Who’s asking?”

He looked up and saw the guy from last night awkwardly holding out his wallet. Shit. Shit! Fuck, Tim was such an idiot! An overtired moron! Was this guy going to try to blackmail him now? Reveal his identity in the middle of this café?

“I’m, uh. Danny.” The guy said nervously. “And this is gonna sound weird but Red Robin asked me to give this back to you.

Wait. What??

At Tim’s blank stare Danny rushed to explain. “He like, found it?? I’m assuming. He didn’t really have time to explain, heroism never sleeps after all.” He joked weakly.

He didn’t know the half of it, Tim thought forlornly.

“A-anyway. He had to go do hero stuff- you know, being a good guy and all. But I’m absolutely sure he’d wanted this to get back to you. Because he didn’t steal it.”

Again. What???

As Tim was still buffering, the guy began to frown. He huffed defensively. “Vigilantes are doing their best okay? It’s a thankless job putting yourself in harms way to protect others. Just because they’re spooky doesn’t mean you should assume the worst in them! Just because he had your wallet doesn’t mean he stole it! And even if he did, it was probably mind control, because-”

Tim blinked, incredulous understanding finally washing over him. “Wait, is that what this is? You’re defending Red Robin to me? Why on earth would I think he stole my wallet?”

At some point Danny had sat down at Tim’s table, the wallet set on top of the napkin dispenser. He seemed to deflate like the wind was taken out of his sails. His mouth opened and closed a few times. “Because… because he had it?”

“You’re not from around here, are you?” Tim concluded.

Danny buried his face in his hands and groaned. “Gosh, I’m so sorry. This is so embarrassing. I thought… It’s just that back in Amity Part everyone thought Phantom was a menace even though he was just doing his best. They never let go of the thefts he committed under mind control, his actions were misinterpreted ALL THE TIME, and most of the property damage they blamed on him were from the people hunting him.”

“Your hometown hero has people hunting him?” Tim asked, alarmed. “Does he like, need help?”

Danny unburied his face to wave his hands about. “Oh. Uh- no, he’s good! Like, he left. Retired. Or something.”

Tim and Danny sat together for a moment of awkward silence.

Clearing his throat, Danny slapped his thighs and stood up. “Welp. Anyway. Glad you got your stuff back, but I should go…”

“Wait.” Tim stood as well, at last picking up the wallet. He flicked it open and pulled out some bills. Before Danny could accuse him of counting to make sure neither Danny nor Red Robin stole any- Tim shoved the cash into Danny’s hands. “A reward for your integrity in bringing this back to me. Red Robin had good judgment in giving it to you.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly-!”

“I’m not taking now for an answer Danny.” Tim interrupted. “You deserve it. For returning the wallet and whatever it is you did to get Red Robin to trust you with it.”

Danny bit his lip, looking back and forth between the money and Tim. It was insanely cute. “I- I feel like I should be refusing harder.”

“Don’t. This is Gotham. Whatever manners you were brought up with doesn’t apply here.”

“Okay.” Danny pocketed the cash and straightened his shoulders. “Then let me be rude. I think you’re really hot and I’d like to take you on a date. I recently got some money to burn after all.” Danny was blushing so hard he looked like he might faint but his eyes were steady as he held Tim’s gaze.

*walking to a WE meeting room where all the Waynes are sitting*

Dash: I can’t believe you talked me into this! Steph: Come on! It will be funny. It will probably work too! Dash: He doesn’t like rich people. Steph: Neither does Jason. Dash: Didn’t you say the oldest grew up in a circus?! Danny’s not a fan of the Circus. Steph: No, you said he doesn’t like clowns. Dick is an Acrobat. Totally different. And! This entire family, heck the entire city absolutely LOATHES clowns. He’ll fit right in. Dash: But! Steph: Nope! *shoves Dash into room* Go get ‘em Tiger! *barricades door shut* Bruce: You had a proposal for us, Mr. Baxter? *gestures to his family*

Dash: sooo- do you still wanna see the slide?

Minutes later Dash clicks to the last slide which has a clip art of a green post-in note

Dash: and lastly I couldn’t get a picture of it because of ghost magic or whatever, but I got a glowing omen of apocalyptic doom stuck to the inside of my diary- er, locker.

Dash: thank you for listening to Reasons Why You Should Adopt Danny Fenton. I really think the nerd is about to snap soon and tear my spine out of my mouth so please take him. I will not be taking any questions at this time.

Bruce: not even about the omen of apocalyptic doom?

Like, imagine that every major ghost attack happens exactly at the same time as world extinction events. Danny has a big fight, goes home, turns on the news and there it is, all hands on deck for major heroes because the universe is in peril.

At some point he just stops checking, he knows the drill, and besides he's handled it anyway. It's all good.

He's been hearing about all of these Gacha Gambling Games, and he gets an idea ...

^0^

The Justice League are losing their minds right now.

When JLD came up saying that a new Ghost King was crowned, they wanted to do a threat assessment despite Constantine's objections. So they did the usual summoning ... but what they were not prepared for, is how tedious it is to summon the Ghost King.

First they needed MONEY to get some kind of Ecto-Crystals which eerily look like Kryptonite - and then draw up ANOTHER Summoning Circle, because the first Circle is used to 'buy' Ecto-Crystals, and then use the Crystals to Summon the Ghost King.

Except that's not what happens.

The circle glows blue, and they are ready to do a threat assessment ... only for a bunch of junk to drop into the circle. And a single note to appear, as Batman picks it up and read - "You got junk. Roll again?"

The Young Justice instantly clock this as a GACHA GAME.

And now the Justice League have been trying to get the Ghost King for the past MONTH and they keep either getting junk, 4-Star Items and Ghosts - the most annoying one calling himself the Box Ghost - and by the time they get an actual 5-Star ...

It's not even the Ghost King.

It's one of the ANCIENTS and even they know about the Gacha Roll and are having fun with it, much to the Justice League's growing headache.

And now, it's been 3 months and even Superman can see Batman slowly losing his mind to the stupid Gacha Game.

Meanwhile, Danny?

So they keep getting Frostbite, Clockwork, Pandora, Fright Knight, etc.

There is a 100% guaranteed summon should there be an actual threat and Danny WILL show up. But he will NOT stick around for long, and just vanish before they could do thanks and stuff.

Even better? Ancients are not the only ones getting summoned.

That's right - Danny has even managed to get his NICKTOON FRIENDS to appear as 5-Star as well! They think they finally manage to get Danny, only to get what looks like a 13 year old!

He laughs in their faces and just says, "You guys wanted to summon the Ghost King?! HAHAHA, GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!" Before they could ask for clarification, he just disappears.

✨ Congratulations on making your 1000th summon! ✨

You have earned your way to Mega Sparkle Diamond Tier! As a prize for this monumental achievement, here's a highlight of where your money is going:

[||||||| ] Ghost King's College Fund

^ Your Contribution!

That's right, His Royal Majesty is planning to go to ✨COLLEGE✨! Unfortunately, he needs a large sum of local currency for that to happen; colleges don't take payment in enchanted objects (we tried!).

And then before anyone can say “save for later” someone else wonder’s why they’d take the substitute and the summon misinterprets.

Bruce received the report and, bored, decides to listen to the calls.

Wes Weston is performing perfectly. He's giving all the correct information, even going above and beyond, but every person he speaks with doesn't believe him.

Even Bruce, for some strange reason, feels ridicule building in his chest even as Wes solves an issue far above the man's paygrade.

He pauses.

He assesses.

He decides to dig further.

By the time he's done, he's come to the horrible realization that this new hire is cursed. Literally. The man appears to be cursed so that no one believes him when he tells them the truth.

He...could reach out to JLD, see if they could potentially break it.

Or.

Or.

He could hire the man on as his secretary.

That way, if he gets kidnapped, even if he tells the truth, no one will believe him. It's perfect corporate security.

WAIT WAIT WAIT

The curse is so strong.

That *Batman*.

The OG Bat at that.

Forgot/disbelieved he was Batman for a minute.

!!!!!!

Maybe he should reconsider that consult, just a bit...

Bruce, genuinely baffled: what are you talking about? I couldn’t… oh. Oh you’re good.

Wes:

Bruce:

Wes: so I’m right? You’re really Batman?

Bruce: What? No! …yes. Hm.

Wes: HA! I was right!

he has the ability to decide what is a "crime" to him, he is the one who decides whether people are guilty of those crimes, and he is the one who executes their punishment. the severity of the punishment doesn't matter - he is unaccountable to anyone else, and indeed is allowed to commit as many crimes as needed to reach his arbitrary ideal of "justice."

the ideal of batman is this: a man who is so fundamentally changed by an act of senseless violence that he takes it upon himself to fight back against the rot and corruption in the world. he does this not through political activism, not through ridding himself of his wealth in favor of a greater good, not through community outreach, but through an individualistic fantasy of being a hero.

and you'll say: charlie, but he does do that !!! he donates his money all the time, he funds social programs, hospitals, orphanages, gets people jobs -

and i will say this: so why don't things get better?

because here's the base of it. gotham, at its core, can't get better. no matter what bruce wayne does, there will always be more crime, more villains, more death, more people for batman to beat up in back alleys. because that's what sells.

reoffending rates don't matter in gotham, prison reform doesn't matter in gotham, what actually causes crime doesn't matter in gotham because that doesn't sell books.

and so here it is; dc has unintentionally created a world where batman can't win, but can't be wrong, and where thousands of nameless, faceless, only-created-to-die civilians must be pushed into the meat grinder that is gotham, to fuel bruce wayne's angst and vindicate his constant, tireless, noble fight against the forces of evil.

and then: a new robin, who is poor and who's parents are dead or gone because of this cycle; who is happy go-lucky and hated by editors and fans for being robin, for not being dick grayson, for being poor.

and this robin is written, unintentionally or not, to be angry at the ways in which batman's (the narrative's) idea of justice is detached from its victims. bruce seems perfectly fine to allow countless unnamed women to be at risk from garzonas in his home country, yet robin is the one who is portrayed as irrational and violent.

this robin is not detached from gotham in the way bruce wayne is: this robin is a product of gotham.

(and here's the thing. you can't punch aids. you can't fight a disease with colorful fights and nifty gadgets. and how would robin dying from aids add to batman's story; it would call into question the systemic changes that haven't been made in gotham. how does a child get aids, in batman's city?)

so robin dies, and then bruce (the narrative) spends the next couple of decades blaming it on him. it is jason's fault; he was reckless, he just ran in, he thought it was all a game. if only bruce had seen what was coming, if only he could have known that jason wasn't rich enough or smart enough or liked enough to be robin.

batman gets a little more violent, a little more self destructive. he hurts people more and almost (!!) kills a couple guys. this is bad because it's self destructive and "not who he is." it is not bad because batman should not be able to just beat people up when he's angry.

and then he gets a shiny new robin - who is all the things jason "wasn't": rich and smart and rational and he doesn't put who batman is into question. batman and robin are partners, and jason is a grave and a cautionary tale, and (crucially here) never right.

the joker kills thousands and it doesn't matter because they were written to be killed.

batman beats up thousands and it doesn't matter because they were written to be criminals.

and then jason comes back, and nothing has changed. there is a batman and a (shiny! rich!) robin and the joker kills thousands. (because it sells)

and jason is angry - he has been left unavenged - his death has meant nothing, just as willis' had, just as catherine's had, just as gloria's had, just as -

thousands. ten of thousands. hundreds of thousands. written to be killed.

but one of them gets to come back.

and he is angry - not only at the joker, but at bruce (the narrative) - because why is the joker still alive (when thousands-)

here is the thing - jason todd is right. not because the death penalty is good, not because criminals deserve to die, not because of everything he says -

but because of what he calls into question. why is the joker alive?

because he sells books.

and dc has written a masterful character, through no fault of their own, because jason knows what is wrong, and he knows who is at fault - batman. (the narrative)

so the argument that bruce can't kill because he's not judge jury and executioner; the argument that jason is a cop or that jason is insane or that jason is in the wrong here; they hold no weight.

batman can't kill the joker because the joker sells comic books.

and jason can't kill the joker because the joker sells comic books.

so he will beg and plead and grovel - he will betray everything that is himself, he will forsake his family and his city and kill himself - just so that bruce (the narrative) will let the joker die.

he was condemned to death by an audience, and after he came back he has spent his whole life looking us in the eyes and screaming, asking, pleading; why is the joker still alive?

why are thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands (the number doesn't matter, see, because they're just a number. not people. not real.) why are we expendable for his story? why did i have to die just for nothing to change?

and the answer is money. and the answer is the batman can never be wrong. and the answer is shitty writing. and the answer is -

nothing jason can ever change.

Okay so now my mind is spinning with this fanfic opportunity. The idea of Jason knowing he is in a comic book- what if he knows because for a while he escaped it. What if after Jason died he was reborn or transported into our world on the exact date his comic death was published. And he lived here. For decades.

All the real world time that passed between his published death and resurrection, Jason experienced. He came to terms with the fact that his life before was a story and his death was decided by the votes of an audience. What could he do! Jason moved on. He grew up, he built a life. One that actually meant something.

And then his life was ripped away again as the comic writers resurrected him for their own monetary gain. All those years and years he lived, discarded like it was nothing. All the ways he’s changed and grown, just to end up back here. Forced into a younger body, into an assassin cult, tossed about by the whims of the plot. Nothing but a tool to the narrative. No fukin wonder he’s furious.

What’s it even matter anymore? The people he kills are not people, they are ink on a page. Fellow cogs in this machine. And yet he cannot help but hope and fight and rail against the story, beat his fists and scream in the vain attempt to scrounge up some kind of a change. Even as he knows it is futile.

Just.

Augh. The desolation. The alienation. No one else could possibly understand. They have no idea. They have no clue that Jason even knows something they don’t. That their world is just a comic book. He came back changed, but they never bother to ask why.

Would he be able to find camaraderie with Constantine who also ages in line with the passage of our real world time? Who has directly interacted with the comic writers? Or would the plot fight to keep them apart? Honestly the fact that this would be a fanfic instead of a comic kinda messes with my brain regarding having the meta be part of the plot/world.

The way OP describes the comic narrative itself as a character- as an adversary is so evocative. I think it would keep Jason and John from finding solace in their similar situations because that’s not what the genre calls for. But as a fanfic it would be so interesting. So maybe the fanfic narrative is a character too, one that is on Jason’s side in combatting canon. Because that’s what it is, isn’t it?

Jason is just chilling in a safe house at home when an ominous swirling green portal opens in the middle of his living room and several beings with giant eyeballs for heads pull a trussed up teen through.

Freaky eyeball: "Congratulations, revenant, you have been chosen to be the abom- I mean... the halfa's new guardian."

Jason: the fuck did he just call this kid?!

The eyeballs then promptly leave, the teen still trussed up in the middle of his living room. Jason unties the kid and sets about interrogating the kid because wtf. Jason finds out:

Kid's name is Danny

He's 15

He has no family or home to return to

He is a half ghost and has all the ghost powers that come with that.

Jason had an older brother once, his name was Danny, he was 15 when he died. Jason looks at Danny: black hair, blue eyes, simmering rage, gaunt corpse-like features. Yeah, this could work.

"Roy! I need a favor. I need you to hire someone to dig up my brother's coffin and transport it out of Gotham and, this is important, it needs to be super obvious until it's out of Gotham. Then Batman needs to lose all trace. Got it? Good. Okay kid, you need to turn invisible and stay invisible while I go steal a plane."

Cut to Batfam PoV, where Jason suddenly leaves town with no explanation, then the next day his older brother's corpse gets stolen ("Jason had an older brother?!") which Bruce fears is a sign their IDs have been compromised. They try to figure out what's going on but the corpse trail goes cold outside Gotham and Jason isn't answering any calls. He's all over Eurasia, fighting all kinds of people, even ending up in a few LoA bases. He finally stops at Nanda Parbat (to intro Danny to the remnants of the All Caste, but the batfam doesn't know that) before stealing yet another plane and heading back to Gotham.

For narrative purposes, assuming the end goal of this story would be for the rest of the Bats to learn the truth, there needs to be 'complications.' Cracks in the story that the Bats can question. Clues.

And even if each crack on it's own has an explanation, just having a lot of them pile up over time will steadily weaken the cover story. Until a shift in perspective allows all those ill fitting pieces to snap into place, the lies fall away, and the big picture resolve into truth.

The first crack is actually the inciting incident. Who dug up Danny Todd's coffin? Jason comes back with someone he claims is Danny and never explains it. If the Bats were able to track Jason's rampage around Eurasia there wouldn't seem to be anything connecting the various places and people he trashed. Whoever is the current Head of the Demon called up Bruce upset one of his kids invaded a couple of their bases (Bruce reminds them he has no control of Jason and hasn't since they threw him in a Pit).

I like the vague clues of it all. How it could be ambiguous whether Jason went nuts himself and decided to steal a corpse and fight his way to a Lazarus pit to resurrect his own elder brother— or whether he went on a rampage because he found out someone else stole his brother’s corpse in order to revive him and use him for some nefarious purpose and Jason was too late to stop the resurrection.

Maybe the bats can be split on which they think it is.

Other bits: DC Danny died from falling off a fire escape I think? So DP Danny could use head trauma as an excuse for amnesia maybe.

Dpxdc

Do you all remember that prompt where Danny gets mistaken for a vampire and decides to play along?

When you think about it, ghosts and vampires actually have quite a few things in common. Not culturally, obviously, but in terms of powers and the whole “technically undead” situation. Which naturally made me think about our favorite wannabe vampire: Vlad.

So what if vampires aren’t actually a real species?

What if the entire concept of vampires exists because Vlad once tried to take over the world by traveling back in time? Danny managed to stop him before he could achieve his goal, but he couldn’t undo all the consequences of Vlad’s actions.

Imagine Vlad showing up centuries in the past with ghost powers, flight, super strength, mind control, ectoplasm, glowing eyes, an obsession with dramatic capes, and a tendency to bite people when he’s feeling particularly unhinged. The locals see this and go, “Ah yes, clearly this is a vampire.”

Danny eventually fixes the timeline enough to stop Vlad’s scheme, but he can’t erase the stories. The legends spread. People keep adding details over the centuries until an entire vampire mythology exists.

Fast forward to the present.

Danny gets mistaken for a vampire.

At first he tries to correct people, but then someone mentions that Batman has a file on “possible metahuman vampire activity” and suddenly it becomes way too funny to stop.

So Danny commits.

“Am I the vampire!? Seriously!?! How dare you! I am nothing like him! That pretentious, egotistical fruitloop with delusions of grandeur? Eugh, screw you. Seriously, never talk to me again. The freaking vampire. Honestly.”

1

At the beginning of Bruce's senior year, he got to experience what it's like to be a teenage parent. Though not in the traditional way on becoming a parent.

There was an assembly held only for the seniors in the advanced classes. Apparently that year in Gotham more than twice the number of babies were abandoned in the hospital. The orphanage was too full to take care of the orphaned babies. (Reminder to build more orphanages or donate more money to them).

The principal has volunteered his students to take care of the ones that the orphanage couldn't take. Is that even legal? How is leaving teenagers to take care of living breathing humans a good idea?

It wasn't up for discussion this project was 30% of their grades. Bruce would like to have his straight A's in the future but taking care of someone is hard work. There was no right answer to go about doing this. All he could do was hope for the best. After all have no help from anyone other than your partner? Yeah, he is hoping for the best.

His assigned partner was Danny Fenton. He really doesn't interact with his classmates so not much is known about him. But he needs to get his idea about living arrangements across.

Buying an apartment near the school so both of them can take care of the baby evenly. The hard part is convincing Danny and his parents to let Danny stay at the apartment for however long this project would last.

2

Bruce didn't think this through. Two teenagers and a baby have to take care of cleaning, cooking, shopping, and the baby. How are they going to survive? He looked at the questions they had to answer about the baby. It was basically a profile in hopes the baby would get adopted.

"I can be the primary caretaker of the baby I have some experience." Danny started. They were currently talking about what role they would have. Bruce was really at a disadvantage. Alfred took care of all the things one needs to be independent. He couldn’t clean well he is banned from stepping in the kitchen and he has no experience with babies.

He explained this to Danny.

"I'm sure we'll figure it out for now let's just shop for the baby and buy some basic groceries. The only problem is money." Danny said with a sigh.

"That won't be a problem buy whatever you think we need," Bruce said with a proud smile.

Danny looked at him with a deadpan look, " you know you really shouldn't be proud that the only thing you can offer is money."

Bruce had to admit that hurt.

3

Bruce wanted to admit that they did figure it out but it was only a matter of time before Danny cracks.

Danny cleans the apartment ( Bruce picks up after himself but still leaves a little mess), cooks for them and takes care of the baby when they are in the apartment. Bruce takes the baby during school and feeds her through the night.

So when he gets sit down by Danny he really thought this is about the lack of effort he is showing.

"Ok, we need to talk about giving the baby a name." Huh. He didn't expect that?

"Do you have any ideas already?" Bruce asked in an unsure tone.

"I'm afraid if I name her it's going to be a star name. But to be specific I like the name Aurora." Danny admit. Bruce like the name.

"I like it. We should name her that. But can I decide her middle name?"

Danny shrugged, "sure be my guest."

Bruce wants the middle name to be his mother's name. But it's not his child should he be giving it to a child that's not his own?

"What about the last name?" Bruce asked.

"I think her last name should be both ours."

"So Aurora Martha Fenton-Wayne?"

Danny thought about it before agreeing.

Bruce smiles.

4

Danny smiles at his daughter. He knows this was just temporary but he couldn’t help but get attached.

He would adopt her if he could but this project made him realize that it wasn't possible right now. Though he felt like a single parent in this he couldn’t fault Bruce.

Bruce was one of the people who protested this. Danny didn't mind. So he tries to do the majority of the work because Bruce didn't sign up for this. He signed up for it. Sigh. At least money wasn't a problem.

He couldn’t help but buy outfits for Aurora. She just looked so cute in them! She was his special little girl after all!

5

"What makes her special?"

Danny was caught off guard with this question. Was he really asking that?

"Why do you need a reason?"

Bruce looked caught off guard before explaining that it was an answer they had to respond to. It was not something they could avoid.

"Why does she need a reason to be special? Look how cute she is! It doesn't matter what she grows up to be. She doesn't need to prove to anyone why she deserves to be adopted! After she is already special for being born into this kind of world," said Danny while cuddling with Aurora.

Danny looked up to see Bruce looking conflicted with something.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just that I never thought about it that way."

Danny smiled.

6

Danny wanted to smile. He knew this day would come but it still hurts. His daughter would go and be someone else's daughter. While he would just go back to being a regular high school student.

He was packing all of the baby's toys, clothes, and diapers. He covered his mouth to try and keep his sobs quiet. He couldn’t help but cry. He sat there in a room he personally decorated just for his little girl. Memory that he holds so dear in his core. He doesn't think he could see her off.

He curled himself up beside the crib that is empty.

7

He looked around the empty apartment that was once filled with laughter. She was gone. Bruce now had free time that he didn't know what to do with.

He has a relationship with Danny Fenton that revolves around the baby. Now that Aurora was gone was there even a relationship? Danny didn't come to say goodbye to her.

He was angry. He didn't know why but he felt unexpected anger.

The door opened. He turned around to see Danny who looked like shit.

"Why didn't you come and see her off?" He said calmly.

"I don't think I could have held it together. It feels like she was ripped away from me. I can't let her see me like that," Danny mumbles while looking at the floor.

"You're going to regret this you know that? You're going to regret not saying goodbye!" He didn't understand why he was angry. He didn't want to blame Danny but here he was putting him down.

"I don't get you! You never once relax while living here! You're always tense like you're expecting something to come and ruin everything! I see the way you look at me!" Danny was yelling and Bruce let him.

"It's like you're expecting me to fight you on everything! It's like you were just being useless just to see if I disagree with you!" Danny was right he was expecting them to fight. He read that it could help strengthen bonds. If you can overcome it.

Danny looked down before yelling, "Dammit Bruce, why was that the only way you except for us to get along?" Danny was sobbing now.

What does he do? He was never good at comforting people.

"I hope we never see each other again."

Bruce quickly looked up and met Danny's swollen eyes.

"I don't want to remember this. This was just an elaborate dream." Danny looked up while saying this like he was praying for it to be true.

"I'm sorry I pushed you to this." Bruce felt ashamed.

"Goodbye Bruce," said Danny as he walked pass him.

To forget this? He doesn't forget things. This will follow him whether he likes it or not.

8

Disconnect.

That's how he feels.

A family of his own sounds like a dream. He can go to college and lead a party life like all the other students are doing. But he stays in his dorm looking out the windows imagining his daughter. Jazz said that it wasn't healthy the way he was processing his loss. Closure she said was better than believing he abandoned her.

But didn't he? They were strangers. Strangers who went through multiple screenings. Bruce was the one who approved of them.

That hurt.

How could he let her go? It doesn't matter really.

After all none of it was real. It was an illusion.

Let the family suddenly hit financial struggle and putting her up for adoption again and Danny jumping into adopting her officially let my man adopt his precious aurora. Let him be a dad mom let him be a parent to the baby damn it! 😭

Give me 20 something year old Danny framing every test making photo albums aurora and crying every single time aurora makes him a gift.

And years later when Aurora is more grown and Bruce takes in Dick Grayson? Have Danny march up to his door and- look, I think Danny would be just the tiniest bit furious. Bruce was a disaster during their project together and what he’s seen in the news of his exploits hasn’t inspired much more confidence. So to find out he’s taken in another kid? That he intends to raise on his own? Not okay. Not cool. So Danny decides then and there he’s going to be Dick’s nanny too. No, Bruce doesn’t get any say in the matter.

Danny and Jason knew each other as kids and did a little kiddie wedding as children like to do- playing at getting married. They didn’t like the traditional vow of “till death do us part” so they changed it. Only it is Gotham and somehow their little ceremony ends up being actually magically binding.

Years later life has separated them the way Death no longer can. Danny’s family moved away. Jason got adopted. They drift apart. Emails becoming shorter and less frequent until the media blackout around Amity Park stops them altogether. Friends fall out of touch. It happens.

They meet as little kids in Gotham and have their puppy love romance until life drifts them apart. Then Jason dies and Death lures Danny into the portal to have the accident so they can meet again as ghosts.

Phantom and ghost Robin have a whirlwind romance- maybe even deciding to ghost elope until for some reason the portal gets shut down with Jaybin stuck in the realms. Danny is heart broken but eventually tries to move on. But unbeknownst to him, the portal closing means Death had to let Jason go back to life because Death cannot be what parts them.

Danny somehow ends up back in Gotham and he and Red Hood get together. But then Danny sees Damian Robin and mistakes him for Jaybin and decides he needs to get a ghost divorce so he can pop the question to Hood. Jason doesn’t remember his time as a ghost so there’s shenanigans as Phantom is seen as a crazy new rogue calling himself Robin’s ghost husband.

Also I kinda want to mention that Danny would be in a different world, where time there moves faster than DC, cuz otherwise Jason would be 30 by the time Danny was 15 and my brain can't imagine Jason as older than 24 lol, especially since that would make Bruce in his mid 50s 😬

Broken Things

...

The place is bright. Jason swings on a vine from the upper branches of the massive fruit tree, rolling onto the deck of his tree house. He pulls out a pomegranate from his pocket, cracking it open as he approaches the library and settles in for to do some reading.

The doorbell rings. Jason grins, greeting the being. He throws on a jacket, taking its hand as they walk along bridge. The world is getting bri-

The bridge shakes and it almost feels like he's being pulled as he's suddenly dangling over the edge of the bridge. Fear spikes in his chest, a cry passing his lips as the being maintains a firm grip on his arm.

Pressure builds on both sides. His flesh is tearing and stretching. His bones crack under the strain.

Something gives.

Something falls.

Someone rises.

Someone cries.

Someone lives.

Someone dies.

...

Danny was always a little odd, always felt like something was missing. Jazz blamed it on their parents. Said it would be different when they left this town.

But no. Danny knew he was missing something.

Sometimes Danny would dream. He dreamed of flying. He dreamed of fighting monsters. He dreamed of a kind eyes holding out a hand.

He dreamed of laughter that made him wake up sweating.

...

Jason clutches his head, laughter and crying and screaming voices drowning out the gasping last breaths of the bloody bodies scattered around him. Talia is arguing with Ras, sword drawn, as she injects him with a sedative.

...

Danny is burning, being torn apart again, being reborn again.

He drags himself out of the swirling green, into the empty lab. A faint tug on somewhere in his being settled in the back of his mind.

...

Jason stares at the broken body of his latest tutor. I'm a monster, so I'll kill the other monsters.

...

Danny floats above amity, exhausted, rhe burning of his latest injury from the house security makes him want to cry in frustration. He wants to leave Amity, leave Phantom. It's not like he has anything to lose. His grades are fucked. His only friends are staying with him out of guilt and pushing him to "take responsibility" for the consequences of his death.

...

Jason is clutches his throat, hot blood spirting through his fingers. The joker falls Jason's ears ringing with the unintentional shot. He sinks over the body, darkness spotting his vision, as the building shakes with explosions.

...

Danny runs through the house, barely dodging blasts. With a cry of relief he throws himself into the lab, sealing the door behind him running for the portal. His go bag is pulled through the floor, a long hidden control panel manipulated for a second before he jumps through the portal into the realms.

...

Roy gives Jason his signature grin as the traffickers hotel burns.

...

Clockwork pats Danny on the head motioning towards the natural rift.

...

Jason can't sleep. Something tugs incessantly inside his chest.

...