#dead serious

Dpxdc

Danny is in Gotham (yes, that Gotham, different universe, long story) to finish his education before moving on with his life—or afterlife—and eventually ascending to High King status. It’s a good reveal AU. He still has his parents. He still has his friends. Clockwork just strongly suggested that if he wanted to rule the Infinite Realms one day, maybe he should get some cross-dimensional academic experience first.

So now he’s here.

The problem? Everyone is rich. Not “my dad owns a company” rich. More like “we have generational trauma and private islands” rich. Danny tries being friendly. Smiles. Makes conversation. Offers help with homework. It does absolutely nothing. These people only care about connections.

Which would be funny—if it weren’t so isolating—because they have no idea he is, objectively, the single most powerful networking opportunity in the multiverse.

So yeah. He’s a little lonely.

Enter Damian.

One of Damian’s brothers (who will not be named but absolutely thinks he’s hilarious) jokes that Damian has never had a normal civilian friendship in his life. That if he had to, he wouldn’t even know where to start. He offhandedly gestures at Danny like, there, that one looks harmless.

It’s a joke.

Unfortunately, Damian takes it as a challenge.

Not because Danny is a “target.” He isn’t. Damian just fully decides he will prove he can form a normal, healthy, civilian friendship. Out of spite.

There are misunderstandings, but somehow, despite everything, they start… getting along.

And Damian, internally victorious, decides to present Danny to his family as evidence that he can, in fact, maintain a normal friendship.

Danny is delightful.

He charms Alfred. He debates with Tim. He listens to Bruce. He somehow gets Jason to laugh. He and Dick vibe immediately. He treats Damian like an equal without even trying.

For months, the consensus is clear:

Danny is the only normal person at this table.

And then they find his admission essay.

Titled:

“Why Clowns Are Not to Be Given Human Rights.”

Danny, has ball python sized snake coiled around his hands and arm: Basilisk.

Damian: Tsk, a Basilisk is a breed of lizard, not a breed of snake.

Danny, sighing: I know. This is a mythical snake known as a Basilisk, she hatched two days ago so shes tiny, and non-lethal to humans- so long as they're relitively healthy and don't breath in her toxic breath.

Damian, barely hiding his excitement: Mythical beasts are real?

Danny, looking at him like hes stupid: Of course they are. She shouldn't be in this dimension, but some stupid magic user summoned her egg, luckily I got her before she hatched and got away. She has no predators in this dimension, so if she grew even half size it would ruin this world's ecosystem.

Damian, eyes narrowing: What will you do with her now? Cull her?

Danny: Don't be stupid, I'm taking her back to her proper dimension. I only haven't done it yet because I want to get a few feedings in her first, make sure she can hunt and that the residual magic didn't harm her.

Damian: ...may I hold her?

Danny: Huh? Oh, yeah! They were all donated to me by some of my subjects after my coronation.

Damian: You sit on a throne... Of charitably donated bones?

Danny: Yeah? Where else would I get a bunch of bones?

Damian: The cliche is usually a throne made out of the bones of one's enemies, is it not?

Danny:

Alfred: Right away sir.

Bruce: Hang on son.

Barbara from the Bat- computer screen: Is he going to be alright?

Bruce: Yes, once we get him some blood.

Barbara: Do you think he can give a description of the ghost he was fighting? I can start tracking him down so the others can avenge Damian.

Bruce: Let me check. Dami? What did that ghost look like?

Damian in a slurring voice: Sexy. White hair. Green eyes. Sexy

Bruce: It's no good. He's delirious.

Barbara typing rapidly: No, no, no. That's a good description. According to Amity Park's Top 10 Sexy Ghosts, we might be looking for number 1: Danny Phantom.

Bruce: Why the hell does a list like that exist?

Barbara: You shouldn't be surprised by what's on the internet, Bruce. Show Damian this picture to see if that's the right one.

Bruce: Damian, who is this? *holds up tablet with blurry image of Phantom*

Damian points to it: ITS SEXY!

Barbara: Okay, we got our target. I'll start tracking him.

Damian slurring: We'll have a Autum wedding.

Bruce: Barbara I don't mean to rush you but I need this ghost to be killed as soon as possible.

Damian: I'm gonna be the father of his children

Bruce darkly: He needs to die before daybreak, Barbara.

Maybe I'll paint it again.

So, Danny has found a good part-time job, and he really likes this man with a tragic backstory and ICE.

But the GIW keeps track of news about anything that looks like ghosts. Even if his ectoplasmic signature can get lost in Gotham, his appearance is really a problem.

So he asks Sam and Tucker for help, and their grins should really have alerted him.

Sam chooses winter fairy because "fairy is cool, you can borrow my book on medieval mythology to make sure." Tucker is working on the technological aspects. So.

(let's be honest, the main reason is that Ellie recently started watching Winx. They're sure she's going to fucking love it.)

Wings mask the ability to fly. The warm clothes are thick enough to fit inside a special fabric that holds back most of the ghost core's energy signature. The half mask hides the green glow of the eyes. Among other things, the colors are far from the usual black and white, so as not to be associated with an old suit.

Simply put, this costume is a monstrous combination of technology and magic. According to Sam and Tucker, how well Danny's ass stands out is just a nice bonus.

It works, and Danny looks like a perfectly ordinary meta-henchman of Mr. Freeze. Now it would be really nice if literally all the fucking Batman kids would stop staring at his ass.

(optional: Strangely enough, in THIS transformation of a magical girl, literally all the inhabitants of Amity recognize him. Apparently, the blocking of ecto in the mask was overdone? Now everyone at home knows that he's a supervillain's henchman, lol)

(Mr. Lancer lets out a very long, drawn-out sigh)

(besides, I've never been able to choose between dead on main, dead tired or dead serious)

(well, damn it, choose for yourself)

By the way, the next part

One moment Danny was sitting with Sam and Tucker at the Nasty Burger, and the next he found himself being knocked to the ground. Landing hard on his back, which only added to the disorientated feeling.

Despite his head being shaken he knew what this was. A soulmate body switch. It was something that happened randomly in a person's life—some never even get it at all—with no warning, and lasted for a couple hours. The only visible change that anything is even happening is the fact that the eyes will turn a vibrant white while the two are in each other's bodies.

With his eyes closed Danny tried to take a moment to get his bearings. It was hard to do though when a worried voice suddenly yelled out, "Damian!"

It seems his soulmate's name is Damian, Danny thinks as a thud sounds out next to him, and hands appear on his face and shoulder. Finally opening his eyes he sees a, surprisingly, familiar face. The face of no one other than Dick Grayson. Which is the last person he expected to see.

Wait. Damian? As in Damian Wayne?

Dick, who looked as shocked as Danny feels right now, makes a move that looks like he's going to cover Danny's eyes. Before he can though Danny is breaking free from his grip rolling away from Dick to finally take in the area around him.

Which is a cave. Why is he in a cave? A cave with a frankly massive looking computer? A cave with at least one Batman symbol in every direction he looks? The Batcave? The Batcave.

Oh no.

Looking at Dick, Nightwing his thoughts whisper, looking at him with a strange mix of panic and acceptance. Knowing that there is nothing he can do right now to stop Danny from putting the pieces together.

Danny has watched My Little Pony - loved the show, he still does. Jazz loves it too, even his parents. So, as Danny being the Ghost King, he was curious if he could shapeshift into an Alicorn.

And he did! It looked generic, so every tiem Danny had Free-Time, he would go and practice his shapeshifting. He was effectively making his own Ponysona in real time. And by then, he really looked like a King of the Dead in Alicorn Form.

And as he was busy admiring himself, he felt a pull of a summoning.

Well, shit.

^-^

When Danny finally gets summoned, he instantly recognized the usual Cultists asking for the end of the world, or something. Honestly, he's more surprised there was a Cult summoning. He got summoned every day, and he hasn't been summoned for like, 2 months.

Although, he recognized a few figures wearing costumes and he's been summoned in front of Batman and Robin.

... okay, he can work with this.

Danny deals with the Cultists with ease, before turning to Batman and Robin. Batman shifted, seemingly ready to fight. Danny was ready to pretty much flee and then disappear, only to be stopped by Robin.

"Father, I desire to bring the Alicorn home."

... okay, that was not what he was expecting. But, Danny "Little Shit" Fenton sees an opportunity to screw with the Batman. And well, he liked Robin. He may as well have fun with this!

(Inspired by https://archiveofourown.org/works/63013747?view_adult=true )

Danny moved to Gotham with his sister after their parents disowned Danny but decided to help him financially so he went to Gotham with his sister who was attending Gotham university.

He got into Gotham academy with a scholarship and after looking around the place decided not to be the same loser boy he was in Amity park. He wanted to be the chill dude that students would just nod at and continue with their day.

He decided to become friends with the Gotham academy nerds and losers and teach them many things. Such as to curse people in the most creative way possible. One example being Danny teaching them to insult someone by calling them ketchup pickle or something else to get them confused.

Eventually they stopped using curse words entirely deciding to express frustration through graphic descriptions of weird things. Danny was proud of himself for that

He talked to his classmates and he actually got along with them! The rogue attacks weren't as bad either. When scarecrow attacked he just simply snuck behind him and knocked him out with a bat he found.

Really he didn't understand how these guys were a threat.

On a more positive note he and Jazz sometimes went shopping on weekends and he started getting a glow up through the tips he learned online. Yeah life was chill the ghost attacks are being handled by Sam and Tucker well he's getting his life together and started getting good grades again!

---

Gotham academy was not prepared for the absolute wrecking ball that was Daniel Jackson Nightingale.

That is what the students of Gotham academy would say.

Daniel at first glance seemed like an ordinary boy who barely got into Gotham academy. Everyone expected him to run away at the end of the week except he didn't.

The first week he didn't even care he just walked around talked to everyone became friends with a nerds and was acing his classes. It's a second week that got interesting. All of a sudden the nerds who got bullied started standing up for themselves and insult people in unique ways.

One of the top students after getting scolded by the teacher again for not trying hard enough snapped and called her a caterpillar who would never know the sky as a radiant butterfly.

They started standing up for themselves and admittedly... Destroying the staff with their own rules and knowledge to the point of starting a rebellion when the teachers tried to retaliate. When the school board asked where they learned that from they just pointed at Danny who was sipping from his juice box while talking to some classmates.

Then a rogue attack happened. While everyone was screaming and running for their lives Daniel just took one look at the rogue snuck up on him and knocked him out and continued with his day like nothing happened.

He started making jokes about nothing beating Amity park to which students were progressively getting more concerned after even more rogue attacks one of them being led by the Joker only for them to be dismantled by Daniel.

At one point two rogues cried hugging Daniel as they poured out their life story. What does Daniel do? Fix their problems. Mr freezes wife gets cured. The Riddler has a TV show with people participating to solve riddles or escape rooms. No one knows how he did it.

He even started correcting teachers and even going out of school for a week to get proof that hes correct. Danny found a skeleton belonging to the empress of an empire that doesn't exist anymore. He even started talking about god's liking knew them personally. At this point it became a game to see how many things Daniel would uncover to prove his point.

Daniel dragged DAMIEN WAYNE to the cafeteria got him food shoved him some vegetarian milkshake got back to class patted his head and said don't be cranky anymore. He literally scruffed Damien and he went limp as he got him to sit with his friends. He looks like hes questioning his existence which to be fair they don't blame him for that.

But there's a few things for certain they are never going to the place called Amity park and Daniel is a deity reborn. Their own urban legend.