Danny travels through time and across the universe a lot. Mostly because he has an agreement with Clockwork and the Observants that if he does so they'll give him heads up if he's about to experience something that might drive him crazy, but also because he just likes to travel and visit alien civilizations.
As a result of his travels, he ends up learning a lot of cool things. Cool things that he doesn't realize are super big deals because he is learning them when they very much aren't. Stuff like various cultural rights and traditions of Krypton, how to construct Martian bio-ships, the origins of Themyscira... To him, they are just neat little tidbits, like people mentioning how Otters have favorite rocks. To the Justice League, and particularly to those from nearly dead species and cultures, everything he randomly drops lore on is a much bigger deal.
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It's the name of the game to get injured being Phantom. Late nights or early mornings in different friends houses or in his own bathtub, patching up injuries with hissed exhales and clenched teeth.
Tucker has seen him missing a good chunk of his shoulder. Sam's stitched up his wounds; jutting slashes of his stomach before finals. Jazz has seen the worst— the wounds inflicted by their parents— and her fingers only shook minorly while applying ecto-burn cream.
No one outside of their friend group really notices. Long-sleeved shirts are shields and his reputation is his wielded weapon.
He just... kinda assumes it's the same everywhere as it is in Amity Park.
When Danny is forced into a Wayne gala as a begrudging plus-one to Vlad, and Sam weasels into joining them through pure spite and manipulation.
It's downright miserable, especially since he and Vlad had duked it out barely minutes before they stepped through the extravagant doors. Their usual spat made him feel weak and his hands and arms were stinging like crazy, even in human form.
Sam drags him into an empty room the moment she sees him, and only then did Danny notice that he's bleeding. His clenched fists had hid it initially, but now there's red and green tinged blood spreading and smearing on his hands.
"Where am I bleeding now?" Danny questions, almost sounding like he's whining. It's deeply resigned, exasperated, and definitely frustrated.
It's not the first time where he has millions of cuts or injuries and he doesn't know where he's bleeding from.
He instinctually removes his scratchy dress shirt to see if there's more damage on his arms. Scars criss-cross around his entire upper body, and there's more serious burns and cuts than he'd assumed from the fight with Vlad, but neither of the fifteen-year-olds are disturbed.
Why would they be? He's Phantom, and they've done patch-ups everywhere, dozens of times.
It's at this moment that Bruce Wayne stepped into a distant side room to take a call and comes across one Daniel Fenton and Samantha Manson.
Bruce Wayne stares at them, his phone pressed to his ear.
Danny and Sam stare at Bruce Wayne.
There is a tiny stream of blood that Danny can feel running down his arm like a raindrop on a car window, and Sam's hands pressed against a burn scar on his rib. Guess he hadn't dodged one of Vlad's shots faster than he thought he did.
His stupid dress shirt is tossed over to the side, wrinkled on the floor and very noticeably bloodstained in the places he had been injured. The only reason nobody else had noticed was because he'd been saved by the stupid jacket he'd been forced to wear.
None of that really fuckin' matters though because Bruce freakin' Wayne is right there, staring at the two of them with a gobsmacked expression. Danny really wants to disappear right about now.
"Shit," he breathes, and bites back a wince at the way it lances a sting of pain up his lungs, "I thought you locked the door."
"So did I." Sam says, equally as faint as he. He bets they're wearing the same dumbstruck looks on their faces.
Crap. Crap. Crap. Think fast, Fenton! What can he do to get out of this?
"Do you take bribes?" He blurts out.
That portal should've killed him completely the first time around, fuck! Danny grimaces. Bribes? BRIBES?!
Sam makes a strangled noise in the back of her throat, and her nails dig into his skin tightly. Danny hisses through his teeth and suppresses the urge to flinch away. "You want to bribe Bruce Wayne!?"
"I don't know!" He twists his head around to stare at her, "How much money you got?"
Sam makes another strangled noise, and hisses: "Not that much!"
Danny turns back around and stares widely at Wayne. Wayne, who still has his phone to his ear and hasn't dropped the gobsmacked expression and-- still has the door open!
It's Danny's turn to make a noise in the back of his throat, and it's far more high pitched than Sam's, and a lot more distressed. "Close the door!" It's bad enough that one person already saw him in a pathetic state, he doesn't want the whole party to know! He can't explain this!
He starts scrambling to his feet just as his command registers in Wayne's head, and the man blinks once, twice and then turns and slams the door shut. Then the lock clicks.
Danny's not sure whether or not to feel relieved about that. Sam grabs him by the shoulder and yanks him back down to the ground.
"Bruce?" A voice through the phone calls, "Is everything alright? I heard yelling."
"Hm?" Wayne goes, turning around to face them again. Danny keeps eye contact with him while Sam resumes whatever she's doing with his injuries. There's a noticeable hurriedness in her hands.
Danny gives Wayne his best pleading look.
Wayne looks away from him, his mouth pursing. Danny tries to intensify his pleading look, and sees in real time as Wayne begins to break. Like a sandstone getting soaked in water, he begins to crumble.
"Bruce?"
"...I'll call you back." Wayne says, hitting a button on the screen and ending the phone call right then and there. Danny's shoulders slump--which sends a biting pain down his side.
Wayne shoves his phone into his pocket, opens his mouth to speak, and Danny beats him to the punch before he can: "How much money do you want?"
"What?!"
"Danny!"
Screw it! He's committing to this! Danny grits his teeth and whirls back around on Sam again, "Sam! Give me your wallet!"
"I told you!" Sam says, "I don't have that much money!"
"Then give me my phone!" It's in his jacket pocket, and that's out of his reach. He'd use his telekinesis to pull it towards him, but Wayne is right there! "I'll text Vlad!" It's his fault this is even a problem!
Sam scoffs at him, and presses on his burn wound. "You think Vlad's gonna help you out here?"
"He's gonna have to!" Normally Danny's a lot more levelheaded than this, but unfortunately this is not a normal situation. "He can bribe Bruce Wayne for us!"
"You think Vlad is gonna bribe Bruce Wayne?"
"I'll bribe Vlad," He hisses, it wouldn't be that hard! It'd be embarrassingly easy, actually! He'd just have to sacrifice some of his own pride for it, but that's a cost he's willing to take if it means that this doesn't get out.
Because it just hit him that his reputation doesn't extend past Amity, and this is totally gonna get out.
"You're gonna bribe Vlad to bribe Bruce Wayne." Sam says incredulously, and Danny makes a frustrated sound through his nose. "You think that's gonna work?"
"I think you're forgetting that he's obsessed with me." He can bribe Vlad with spending time with him every weekend for a month, hell maybe even two!
"And I think you're forgetting that he's the reason you're like this at all."
"Excuse me?" Oh, Danny did not like that tone Wayne said that in. He looks back at Wayne and finds him staring the two of them down with an expression Danny can only describe as angry and vaguely protective.
Ohhh that's right, he's still there.
Wayne's brows furrow and he looks between Sam and Danny, eyes intermittently looking down to the various scars making cross stitch across his skin. And the blood smeared over him. Can't forget the blood.
"Vlad?" Wayne says, he takes a step towards them, "as in Vlad Masters? Did Vlad Masters do this?"
Uhhhhh-- Danny blinks widely.
"Do you take cash or credit?"
Bruce Wayne makes a strangled noise in the back of his throat.
“I’m not asking for details,” Bruce replies evenly. “I’m asking to understand the risk.”
Danny laughs, short and humorless. “Risk’s kinda his whole thing.”
That does not help.
Bruce’s jaw tightens.
“Does he touch you?” Bruce asks.
Danny chokes.
Sam makes a noise somewhere between a growl and a swear. “Jesus—”
“No,” Danny blurts immediately, too fast, too loud. “No! No, not— not like that! I mean— he—”
He stops.
Because explaining Vlad without explaining ghosts is impossible.
And Bruce’s eyes sharpen at the hesitation.
Incomplete denial.
Bruce has seen that too.
“So let me get this straight,” Bruce says, keeping his voice low and controlled. “This man repeatedly puts you in dangerous situations. You leave injured. You normalize it. You assume adults won’t help you. And you believe the only way to stay safe is silence.”
Danny opens his mouth.
Closes it.
“…That’s not—” he starts, then exhales sharply. “That’s not wrong, but it’s not like you think.”
Bruce nods.
That, too, is something he’s heard before.
“Does he threaten you?” Bruce asks.
“Uhh—”
“Manipulate you?”
Danny hesitates.
Sam shoots him a look.
Danny groans. “He’s… complicated.”
Bruce’s internal alarms go from blaring to screaming.
Complicated is what kids say when they don’t have the language—or permission—to say harmful.
Bruce stands.
Not abruptly. But with intent.
“Daniel,” he says, voice firm now, “I want to be very clear about something.”
Danny tenses.
“You are not in trouble,” Bruce continues. “You are not obligated to explain anything to me. And I will not force information out of you.”
Danny swallows.
“But,” Bruce adds, eyes hard, “if an adult is fixated on you in a way that results in repeated injury—intentional or not—that is something I take seriously.”
Sam crosses her arms. “You don’t get to.”
Bruce meets her stare without flinching. “I do when it happens under my roof.”
Silence.
Heavy.
Danny shifts, uncomfortable, guilt creeping in. “He’s not— he’s not doing what you’re thinking.”
Bruce exhales slowly. “Then help me understand what he is doing.”
Danny opens his mouth.
Nothing comes out.
Because every safe explanation requires the word ghost.
Wow, he wants to think, the unbeatable tongue of Daniel Fenton has been defeated.
All he can grasp is fear at the moment, short and blinding, his inhales becoming sharper and more increased. It tugs at the injury— he should've dodged better, this was his fault now— and he presses a hand to it despite Sam's increasingly loud noises of disagreement.
"He's— Vlad. He just."
He waved his free hand wildly. It's not like he wants to defend the fruitloop, but what can he do right now?
Tell the truth?
Then what? 'Yeah, I'm just an illegal vigilante in an unknown town fighting evil ghosts. Vlad sometimes beats me up because he wants to marry my mom.'
Whoops. Here he goes to the psych ward! Thanks, Bruce Wayne! I always wanted a new pair of grippy socks!
Yeah. Snowballs chance in Hell.
Danny grabs his coat, ignoring how weird he's going to look without his shirt, and just books it to the windowsill.
"Fuck my— Danny!" Sam shouts, racing after him as he pops open the window. The goth is trying to stuff her medical items back into her bag as she runs.
The boy wriggles out, almost falling into a rosebush as he starts to run in any direction, really.
Sam is right next to him, and he hears his named called in the distance— which must've been Bruce Wayne— but they dart through a forest. Sam has abandoned her dress shoes (which wasn't really all that bad, they were terribly gaudy and useless anyway) and he almost runs into a tree.
A branch hits him in the face and he finally decides to dart behind a large trunk, his friend following.
She looks ticked, with leaves in her hair and footprints in the dress she had been tripping over.
"Danny! What were you thinking?!" She asked, sharply, tugging his jacket back off of him. They both hissed in tandem; him at the fabric being removed from the wounds, and her at the sight of his injuries. "Looks like you made it bigger and bleed more."
"Oh, joy, thanks, I was really looking forward to learning that—"
"I'm sorry, Phantom, you look like a piece of flesh was removed from your side! How dare I point it out, that your arms look like a demon cat went at them—"
Despite feeling like the trees were closing in, yet, he feels himself laugh. It pulls uncomfortably at his ribcage, but his demented (or 'traumatized', as Jazz would say) mind imagined Vlad with cat ears and a collar.
Sam just stops talking for a bit to press gauze to his side, pausing her argument to concentrate, beginning to wrap bandages, and tugs to tighten until he gives another hiss.
The reality of the situation was coming in as the adrenaline wore off, his head thunking to the rough bark. "Ohh fuck. How are we going to deal with Bruce Wayne of all people."
"I don't think bribery is going to work." Sam grumbles, continuing to unspool the bandage roll.
"Wow, I couldn't tell." He exhaled, wincing at the sting. The pain was really starting to set in now. It felt like his whole left side was on fire, and his arms didn't feel much better. "Maybe we can convince him he was hallucinating all of it."
"Um, no the fuck we can't!"
"Why not?"
"I don't know, maybe the bloody shirt in his room?!"
Before he could get out another word, he slapped a hand over Sam's mouth as he heard a rustle in the distance. She made a muffled noise of outrage before he sent her a look.
Danny almost thought he had started hallucinating, dropping his hand from Sam's mouth.
"Daniel."
Fuck. His. Life.
Plasmius loomed over the both of them, wrenching Sam away so hard she fell and stumbled into the dirt.
Looks like he was still pissed from their little spat earlier.
"Where in Gods name have you been? And where is your shirt? I paid hundreds of dollars for that."
"Well, that's your fault, you fruitloop, I said I could've just gotten it from GoodWill."
"Answer the question." He growled, red eyes flaring in the shade of the tree.
Sam sat up, looking furious. "Get away from him! You've already done enough damage, if you couldn't tell, Vlad."
Bands of ectoplasm shot out, attaching Sam to a tree as she gave a shout of anger and surprise. "Do not call me that, little girl."
Danny immediately straightened, pushing off from the tree, his own rage quickly rising. "Put her down. Now."
"Answer the question. I won't ask again, Daniel."
"Look, Bruce Wayne walked in—"
"You revealed our status to Bruce Wayne?!"
Uh oh, was all Danny could think, and then were was a steel hand at his throat, pinning him back to the tree. Plasmius looked downright murderous.
Sam screamed at him to stop, until a rope went around her mouth. Danny did his best to try kicking him off, and yet, he couldn't concentrate on going ghost. Or going intangible. His entire side and arms felt agonized and sticky as he clawed at the ghost.
"No— ack— I did'n—"
"I am not a patient man. First you insult and demean my authority, then you cause a useless fight and make us to be late, and now you're risking our identities?"
Danny's vision was getting black spots as he could barely breathe, lungs on fire.
I'm so dead, was all he thought, seeing Sam's terrified eyes and thrashing figure. Maybe I should've stuck with Bruce Wayne for a little longer.
There was a flash of something in his peripherals, and he was released from Vlad's grip with a watery gasp.
There were large, warm hands grasping at him, and he lashed out again, trying to kick them away.
His ears ringing lessened, and he pried his eyes back open, only to see Bruce fucking Wayne over his crumpled and pathetic self.
"Lad. Daniel. Breathe," He instructed, gently prying his own hands away from his neck to survey the damage.
There was a smack sound next to him, and he turned his head momentarily to see Sam, flushed with fury and holding a large branch over Plas— wait, Vlad's body.
She hit him again, until Bruce Wayne reached out a hand and grabbed the stick, yet his gaze didn't stray from Danny. The man's tie is loosened and he looks so concerned that it hurts to the boy who grew up rifling for bandages since he was ten.
Creepy. Comforting. Danny think he hit his head too hard this time.
"What," he rasped out, his voice sounding ruined (great, wonderful, lovely), "the hell is going on?"
If you want the silly, you have Bruce shout to the entire party: “Guys!! I think Vlad Masters is Batman!! Robin and Batgirl are changing in my bathroom!!!”
Cue entire party swarming him and allowing Bruce to secretly get Sam and Danny out while they freak the fuck out.
If you want the serious: Bruce fucking calls the bat-backup and fucks Vlad’s shit up while the rest of the Bat Brigade swarm the premises.
Bruce and Vlad freaking hate eachother. Its a known, very public fact. Bruce doesn't even slip into his Brucie persona to deal with Vlad, thats how much they hate eachother.
Danny is Vlad's heir, mostly against his will. Danny only says mostly because he did eventually agree to the situation, but only after Vlad threatened to make Dani his heir, which would tie her down and steal her freedom. So now, Danny has the "fun" job of learning how to run a company, and invest.
Tim is Bruce's CoCEO, and its pretty well known hes more than likely going to take over the company at some point. He already did at one point, he was already a CEO, he had a large quantity of WE's shares, and Damian, as he grew and matured, seemed less and less interested in being CEO once he saw all the paperwork, and morons Tim and his Father had to deal with daily.
Do Danny and Tim share the VladCo vs WE feud? No, its quite the opposite in fact. Everyone with eyes can see how fond the two young men are of eachother. As much fun as the Bruce v Vlad verbal brawls are to watch, watching Danny and Tim dance around eachother like twitterpated sparrows is even more fun to experience.
But, Bruce and Vlad are quick to yank the two young men away from eachother. And its heartbreaking for everyone to witness, and or read as the two young men are kept apart by their stubborn bosses.
Basically, Romeo and Juliet but if it was Corporate, Gay, and the dead guy is only half dead.
Tim: Sure who? *sees a younger girl version of Danny who looks like the same age as Damian*
Dani: Hi Dani with an i! I’m a clone that Vlad made of Danny when he was 14 and they were on WORSE TERMS, I like to travel, have powers, and I love My Template cuz even when I betrayed him because Vlad lied to me about saving me Danny never gave up on me being my own person!
Kon who came out of nowhere: If you don’t marry him I will!
Tim: nice to meet me you Dani. What kind of relationship do you and Danny have?
Dani: depends sometimes he’s my annoying brother, sometimes we’re cousins, and sometimes he’s the closest thing I have to a dad that I didn’t need therapy for. He let’s me pick and just asks that I stay in touch cuz he worries. I wasn’t made stable at first so I had a melting into goo problems in the beginning, we fixed by and I have a dedicated doc to look after me and my weird biology.
Tim continues talking and makes a good impression on his clone that she looks at Danny and says I like him. He can be my stepdad/in law any day!
Danny is the son of Talia Al Ghul, however he is NOT the son of Bruce Wayne. Ra’s has had his eyes on various people across the world that have either impressed him or show a unique skill set that he’d like to have. One such person was under the both categories and he got Talia to collect a DNA sample and as a result Danny was born.
This was before Bruce’s time with the League by a few years, but very quickly Danny was not meeting expectations. And by the time Bruce did show up Ra’s had lost all interest in Danny, moving on to better things.
Talia always hated Danny because she was forced to have him with a man who she never liked in the first place. Furthermore, because his skillset was lacking she found that even more reason for her distain. In her eyes, he wasn’t worth even considering her blood.
Danny, knowing that he was doomed if he didn’t make an escape, left the league sometime around when Bruce was moving up the ranks and was making waves within the organization. Perfect timing honestly, any attention he might have had was quickly gone when this prodigy showed up.
Danny escaped the League and went into hiding quickly after, settling on a rural area of the United States after bouncing around countries for a few months. This was mainly because Jasmine Fenton saw a young boy pick pocketing strangers while her family was visiting Chicago and scolded him. Her mother and father saw the boy and also lectured him to which Danny responded it was his only option (he was trying to get this loud family off his back so he could sneak away). Eventually the Fentons decide that if he has nowhere to go he might as well go with us, and Danny decides blending in with a Nuclear Family is the best way to ensure that his peaceful life away from the League stays that way. Oh how little did he know.
Flash forward a few years, Talia, who was visiting Gotham to check on Damian, sees a glimpse of a boy (now man) she thought she had forgotten. Her blood runs cold, if this abomination is in Gotham then her son is likely in danger and she would never let anything happen to Damian.
Danny had been in Gotham scouting for colleges, Gotham University wasn't half bad if you got past the fact that the physic's teacher was a villain on the side, and the Headmaster was sort of insane.
He had felt a glare burn into his back, and hadn't thought much of it until he had been wandering a fairly empty park.
"Danyal."
He sighed, and counted backwards inpig latin, searching for the illusive feeling of patience.
"Talia."
Not mother, never mother.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed, Danny turned finally, staring at the woman he used to think hung the stars in the sky.
"Collage. Might go here." he said in the most nonchalant voice he could summon. "Then again, I do have a full ride at a few other places, so it's really just looking."
"I don't how you found out about Damian but I will not let you harm him-"
Danny blinked, then blinked again. He took a deep breath, then exhaled.
"Who?"
talia cut off mid rant her eyes wide and oh would you look at that, Robin and Batman were hovering at the edge of the park how nice.
When Talia didn't say anything, still staring dumbly at Danny. And he sighed, Maddie, who in his mind, was his actual mother was beginning to approach from behind.
Danny might not be considered and Al Ghul, but he still knew how to read a situation.
Why else would Talia be in Gotham if not to visit her beloved and their child?
"He's your son isn't he?"
Talia tensed as if he had spat at her.
And Danny just felt tired. He didn't hold anything against Damian, but he dispised the woman in front of him with a passion that rivaled obsession.
Maddie was closer now, and so was Batman and Robin.
"Look Talia, I don't give two flying fucks about you, who ever you slept with, or whatever brat you had. I stopped giving any shits about you or what you do in your free time when you kicked me out and told me to 'fend do yourself you abomination.' So kindly, get the hell out of my life, I'm not some vengeful-"
"Dan-o!" Maddie's voice cut through the tension like a knife, and Danny smiled wide and warm.
"Oh, hey mom, thought you were still in the car." he commented, leaning into the tight side hug he was given.
"Well you were taking forever, and I could've sworn the ecto-detectors went up!" his mother chirped, before she caught sight of Talia, and finally seemed to read how tense Danny was. "Danny whose this?"
Danny looked his birth giver dead in the eyes.
"No one important." he said in a dead tone. Turning around he began to slink away. "I"m skipping Gotham University, to many unpleasant figures, to little learning."
Madide blinked then smiled.
"Ah, well, Star City is much better, want to head there next?"
"Yeah, that'd be great."
_____________________________
Talia blinked after the boy and the redhead.
He had called her mom.
She had been 'no one important.'
Didn't her boy once look at her like she had hung the very sky?
She had ruined that, hadn't she.
but why was he calling that woman mom?
She was his mother.
She was.
"Talia." Danny's voice called. She hadn't seen him turn back, nor the way the woman paused. "Kindly stay at least 100 miles from my Family. I don't need you ruining that too."
Kind of want no one to know who Danny's bio dad is (only Ra's but he doesn't count). It doesn't truly matter to the parties involved, Talia hates that she didn't choose him or even know him, Danny already has a dad and has no need for another, Ra's won't tell. All in all, this just makes Bruce more convinced that he is in fact the father. The less proof of the contrary the more he believes it. After all, if it wasn't him, why would they waste so much time trying to hide it?
It would all be easier if Danny would let them take a quick blood sample to do a paternity test, alas the teen is nowhere to be seen most of the time and in his few appearances, he always notices someone's getting close to him before they have the chance to poke him.
Danny's very done with everything. He knows he's being stalked and just wants them to leave him alone. They haven't even tried to talk to him? At this point, he's considering moving to the infinite realms for a few years to see if he can lose them that way.
In the meantime, Damian's decided to go against his father's orders not to contact his brother and has set up a meeting. He doesn't particularly care if Danny is Bruce's son or not, he just wants to get to know his cool older brother who managed to leave the league and live a normal happy life without the protection of someone powerful like Batman.
Like Danny throws his hands up one day, just so done with this nonsense of the Bats and goes to get Dan specifically to ask him if he knows who their biodad is and why Talia has an issue.
I want Dad to have exploded out of that thermos, and when Danny asks to get this thousand yard stare.
I want him to ask if he really wants to know, because the knowledge will change him.
Danny getting freaked out. "Yeah. I want to throw him at Batman to get him to leave me alone."
Dan looking at Danny solemnly. "Fruitloop."
"what?"
"the fruitloop. Vlad. Cheese lord supreme. They decided that was a good option for a genetic donor." Dan says.
Danny.exe is processing...
Danny.exe is experiencing system error.
Danny.exe has crashed.
And he just passes out.
Dan nodding along because he did that too and he gets it.
You get it. He understands, he knows the absolute buffoonery going on here. And in my head he only finds out when tearing through Nanda Parbat to make sure that it wasnt the League of Assassins responsible for the deaths of everyone.
Because he got it into his head that just.. maybe. So he had to go check. And he finds like a record Ra's kept or something and is like 'WTF?'
And like had to take a two month hiatus to like go stare and scream into the void because. 'Oh god. They could have chosen literally anyone on earth and beyond and they chose the FRUITLOOP?
The madness.
The buffoonery.
He destroys a city about it.
He goes and confronts whats left of Vlad because now he has to know if he knew.
Vlad didn't.
It changes nothing.
He still destroys the world.
But now he also has the ick.
Because Vlad was right.
He is his real Dad.
When Danny asks he has prime opportunity to escape. But doesn't because he understands the need to like lay on the ground.
Dan even goes back into the thermos. Because then he doesnt have to confront all the stuff that Danny now knows.
---
I also have a headcannon in this universe that Ellie is so unstable because of too many similar genetics in her DNA and thats causing the problem. (Similar to problems that can form when parents are too closely related) I imagine that If they introduced another person into her genetics they wouldnt have the same issues.
It'd be kinda funny if Dan like, stayed out of the thermos? Initially it's just a "I don't want to go back in there" but he doesn't want to kick Danny while he's down - at least not while he's down like this - so he just kinda, awkwardly hovers while Danny very slowly reboots. Maybe does some stretching cause he's out of the thermos. Maybe Clockwork dumps them into some sort of ghostly rage room so they can scream about it.
Either way it results in Dan being put on paroal of some sort with a ghostly ankle monitor - whether there's deaging or not is your choice but I want Dan to stay out of the thermos because I think it'd make TALIA bluescreen and that'd be funny.
This is inspired by a post where the Fentons, including Danny and Jazz, get arrested by the Justice League. The Doctors Fenton are sent to prison. Danny was placed in a League run foster/youth detention center as a youth at risk of becoming a villain, and Jasmine was completely cut off from him as a potential risky influence.
If you recognize the prompt, please send it btw.
In one of the Reblogs they mentioned Waller recruiting the Doctors so....
"We've lost contact with the Youth Probation facilities. A Type 3 System lock down was signaled before communications went dark."
Bruce watches the way Tim subtlty shifts his weight, a repressed show of worry that has Bruce's stomach clutching before he even opens his mouth. "Nightwing entered the facilities approximately 15 minutes before the lock down triggered. Back up comms have been completely cu-"
Screens flicker to life, Oracle cursing in the comms. Nightwing has been suspended in the omega grade super interrogation restraints. Multiple guard bots are stationed around the cell. Daniel Fenton, recent addition to the facility, steps into frame.
"Approximately 3 weeks after Doctors Jack and Madeline Fenton were placed in New York State's maximum security penitentiary, paperwork was filed indicating their transfer to an non existent facility.
The Director of Project X, Amanda Waller constripted them.
You will get my parents out of Waller's clutches safely. You will have proof that they will be safe from Waller or anyone who would exploit them.
If I lose my parents, you lose your son."
The feed cuts before anyone can respond. Oracle clears her throat. "B, a large file attachment was sent to multiple reporters and leak sites from the facility. What's the plan?"
Danny stares at the blank screen, focusing on the pulsing power of the facilities computer in a vain attempt to suppress his anxiety induced nausea. He stumbles over to the trash and heaves bile from his empty stomach.
Nightwing makes a face behind the gag like he wants to say something but Danny turns away, a pulse of ghostly control through the computers ensuring that the vaunted oracle and cyborb will be locked out until Danny lets them in.
It had been surprisingly easy to figure out how to connect to the computers while human. Danny had always been adaptable.
The internet was on fire with the secret documents Danny had stolen and distributed. All of Waller's dirty laundry was exposed. She might not get punished. But she would be a pariah for the rest of her life.
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I have a ghost king headcannon for Danny that he’s not yet old enough to possess ALL of the Ghost King powers, HOWEVER, he CAN do anything once a deal is made. For example:
The Justice League asks Danny to destroy an alien army so earth will be safe:
Danny: cool yea I can totally do that but I’m gonna need you to do something for me in return
JL: huh?
Constantine*immediately catching on: yea sure whaddya want?
Danny: I don’t fucking know a sandwich?
Constantine: done.
*creepy evil green handshake to seal the deal*
JL: 0-o
Danny: *power boost* Sweet!! Welp, off to destroy some spaceships!! Yay space!! :D
Danny will also use this method to get out of cult summonings. No I can’t take over the world I’m just a baby I don’t have the power to do that 🥺 *trips on own cape*
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I have a ghost king headcannon for Danny that he’s not yet old enough to possess ALL of the Ghost King powers, HOWEVER, he CAN do anything once a deal is made. For example:
The Justice League asks Danny to destroy an alien army so earth will be safe:
Danny: cool yea I can totally do that but I’m gonna need you to do something for me in return
JL: huh?
Constantine*immediately catching on: yea sure whaddya want?
Danny: I don’t fucking know a sandwich?
Constantine: done.
*creepy evil green handshake to seal the deal*
JL: 0-o
Danny: *power boost* Sweet!! Welp, off to destroy some spaceships!! Yay space!! :D
Danny is de-aged to like a baby and Damian Wayne is going into high school or middle school or something like that and Bruce Wayne is going through empty nest syndrome and finds this little baby boy with blue eyes and black hair all dirty and sniffling around Gotham City (bad reveal) and he just kinda snatches him up and is like “mine now”
Since he is getting up there in the years and he actually hasn’t raised a baby before he just tells himself “I’ll just look after him for a bit until i find a nice family for him” and low and behold no family is good enough for his baby and Danny is now Bruce’s
I imagine Bruce going through a little crisis cuz he doesn’t know how to raise a baby and he’s getting older and maybe Danny would be better off with someone else—
—but then baby Danny (he doesn’t like how his new daddy is upset cuz baby ghosties are super sensitive to emotions) puts his little grubby hands on Bruce and nuzzles his little head onto B’s chest and says “Dada!” As his first words and now Bruce has another child
But Danny’s a little baby and Bruce knows babies are just so fragile so low and behold Bruce has become an overprotective, baby-proofing maniac
“This is too sharp, he could cut his little hands!”
“It’s too tall! He could fall down and hit his head!”
“What if he needs me, Alfred? What if the daycare can’t get him to sleep because they don’t do the voices in the books just how he likes it—“
And then Bruce finds out (maybe thru CW?) just what exactly Danny is and his whole situation and now his over protectiveness is up to eleven cuz his baby boy died and his poor baby needed love and those horrible scientists didn’t love him right!
Basically I’m thinking this:
Bruce: *holding up baby Danny* Look at my baby. He’s a little gift from the heavens, an actual miracle, my sweet baby boy—
Random Employee: sir this is a batburger
~~~
*At a Board of directors meeting or smth like that*
Everyone: *arguing*
Baby Danny: weh :(
Bruce: everyone quiet my baby’s upset,
Worker: Mister Wayne, this is a very serious debate—
Bruce: My. Baby. Is. Upset.
Everyone: *silence*
~~~
Bruce: Clark! He’s flying too high! Make him come down!
Clark: Bruce…he’s a centimeter off the ground at most
Bruce: HE’S JUST A BABY, CLARK!
~~~
Danny: *wearing a Batman onesie*
Bruce: *clutching his heart* is this an angel???
~~~
Jason: Danny bit me!
Bruce: he’s teething, jaylad
Jason: he has fangs!
Danny: dada! Num num!
Bruce: you want num nums? Jason, can you just let him—
Jason: IM NOT LETTING HIM BITE ME!
Bruce: He just wants a little nibble of his big brother!
Just wants a nibble of his big brother- Bruce you are making Batman sound like a cannibal. Or a human eater. This will push your persona back to eldritch horror territory.
Danny bites in the same way a puppy play-bites and they don’t know their own strength yet and Bruce is just like “my baby is holding me so this counts as cuddles”
Danny can do no wrong in his eyes and Bruce has def let his baby nom on him just a tiny bit cuz he just loves holding his baby boy
John Constantine knows full and damn well that Phantom isn't a thousands year old ghost.
He knows because, in the middle of a fight against a deranged warlock, Phantom let out a small, warbling chirp in response to getting hit.
He'd quickly covered it up, but Constantine knows that that chirp is.
It's the ghost equivalent of a baby cry.
With as uncertain and lost as that one was, it was a ghost newborn cry.
Phantom isn't even ten years old as a ghost. Constantine would ventures to say that he isn't even five.
Worse, no other ghost responded to the chirp.
Phantom is, in ghost terms, an orphan.
Which is what has led to Constantine creating a portal to the Infinite Realms, so he can walk into the Realms Child Ghost Education Resource Center and make sure Phantom gets a good ghostly guardian.
The kid's been through enough, and John's gonna make sure he gets someone good.
What if no ghosts respond to Phantom because the cry doesn't register as a cry to them? Because he's a halfa.
Sure, he can make the sound, and it sounds correct to human ears. But the flesh muffles the core resonance that accompanies the sound. Without that core resonance, to other ghosts, it sounds like mimicry.
Maybe it triggers an uncanny valley kind of response, where it sounds like something other trying to lure you in by pretending to be a baby.
And with Halfas being so rare and/or the Realms still in such disarray since Pariah was originally sealed (having lost the centralized knowledge and archives of a unified people as various smaller, independent factions arose in the High King's absence), no one knows about this unfortunate interaction of flesh and core in Halfas. If anyone ever did, that knowledge has long since been lost.
(Consequentially, this would put Vlad in basically the same boat here. No wonder he's so desperate for family. He's abandoned too.)
hear me out what if the ghosts that DO hear him make this noise think he’s trying to lure them into a false sense of security (uncanny valley train of thought here) and get mad??
Mad, or creeped out, cuz they think Danny is a lure for a ghostly angler fish. They all believe they're fighting a part of a larger being that's targeting ghosts near the Amity Portal.
Still thinking about this concept because i love the idea of both Danny and the ghosts from the Zone fighting to protect their home. Danny thinks the ghosts want to terrorize Amity Park, and the ghosts think Danny wants to consume the ghost neighborhood after being stuck in the human realm for centuries. No wonder he can defeat them all!
Constantine would have an uphill battle proving Danny is young, and not just a young mimic ready to eat someone.
(Some people mentioned why skulker might feen for Danny in the comments because he sounds like an extinct ghost predator who mimics and what happens if Danny’s flesh wasn’t covering his core. So I’m merging them together.)
One day Skulker says he’s going to put a end to the creature that’s been terrorizing the infinite realms by amity park. So he broadcast his hunt across the realms like an episode of river monsters. Even some of Danny’s rogues come to watch from the sidelines. As Skulker chases Danny on one of the more rainforest looking floating islands.
Skulker takes it to far and basically gouges a hole in Danny’s chest somehow. Either with a new weapon or his hands and Danny is on the verge of dying. His core is now exposed as the flesh hurries to regenerate to cover it. However the whole realms is now hearing the frantic, pleas and scared whimpers and cries of a baby. As Danny has tears in his eyes as his struggling to free himself from Skulkers grasp.
Skulker himself his traumatize upon realizing. All this time. He was hunting and hurting a child, a literal baby who was lost and confused and just needed some help. Who’s ignorance on ghost culture and life wasn’t a facade but genuine because he was newly dead. Who’s speed and fighting weren’t predatory instincts but adrenaline induced fight or flight responses to keep him alive from the threat…..them. They were the threat. The ghost child as he called him in disgust and mockery was just that. A child. A infant. A new born. He looked upon the bloody scared face of the kid they knew. The fear the distrust. The panicked wide eyes that had seen too much.
They had made a grave mistake.
HurtPainFear
Was all that was felt across the realms as Danny’s cores screaming resonance was finally covered up by skin once more. Danny freed himself from Skulkers loosened grip and fled the scene.
The first person that Danny went to was John Constantine. He had just been hurt, (It hurt so badly, why don't they listen? He didnt want this, it hurts it hurts it huRTS) and he was crying, the tears of an unknowing plea, for help, for family, for safety being not just rejected, but being shown that all he will get in return is pain... he doesn't think ghosts will let him get close anymore...
He stumbles into Johns chest, shaking and with a mournful baby ghosts cry, he passes out in his "sad trench coat man"s arms.
John has been fighting for Danny to be recognized as a ghost newborn, but has been shoved away with a "You don't understand, Hellblazer. He is not what you think!" Every. Single. Time.
He even tried to track down The Ancient Of Time to get him to help, but when he could barely glimpse the tower in the distance, the young ghost under his arm, he was shoved away by The Observants. He basically begged them to let him see Time, but was refused.
And now... he has a newborn with a huge gash in his chest, the ectoplasm trying to cover his core, still bright green as it desperately tried to heal him. Danny couldn't swallow in this state, so John just poured some healing potions over Dannys chest and prayed that it would work to help his... friend.
That's when John heard his alarms start to blare through The House of Mystery.
Someone was portalling into his home when he was only just starting to try and heal his young... son friend.
That's when he saw them.
Ghosts.
John didnt know if he could kill something already dead and more powerful than him, but he sure as fuck would try if it meant keeping Danny safe.
John steps out of the bedroom where he'd laid his the kid down to face the rip slowly tearing into reality. He shuts the door behind him. If necessary, the House should be able to play keep away with the kid. Shifting rooms around is one of it's specialties.
The bright tear gives John a sneaking suspicion of what is on the other side, and gives him plenty of time to ready a spell. He doesn't know if he can beat something already dead and powerful enough to snap his many wards to prevent portaling into the House of Mysteries, but like hell is he gonna let those bastards finish Phantom off without a fight.
The only reason John doesn't immediately try to blast the first thing out of the swirling green vortex to kingdom come is because it's a bag. A big, black leather bag that looks to be bulging with whatever is inside; held aloft by a big white paw. But most importantly, the bag is adorned with some patches, the most prominent of which is a bright green drop inside an ice blue diamond. The Realms' universal symbol for healers. It's not enough for John to completely drop his guard, but it is enough for him to hear out the furry face that follows the bag into his living room.
"I greet you. I am Chief Frostbite of the Far Frozen, foremost healer in all the Realms. There is a gravely injured infant ghost in your care. I come only to provide the medical attention he desperately needs. Will you allow me to attend him?" As he speaks, the hairy beast lowers himself to a kneel. Even bent and bowed, he's taller than John. Which might have been terrifying if he weren't so damn pissed.
"Oh now someone believes me? I spent months trying to convince just one of your lot the kid was a fresh-corpse. And suddenly someone listens, while he's almost ended? Right. Why should I believe a word out of your muzzle, Sasquatch?" John makes no attempt to hide his derision, but the ghost's face shows no sign of offense. Just calm certainty.
"I am a yeti. Chief Frostbite of the Far Frozen, forem-"
"Most healer in all the Realms. Whatever. How do I know you aren't just here to finish what was started? Hell, how do I know you didn't start it yourself?" Still, not a flicker of a flinch.
"I am a healer. It would be a defiance of my own core to do intentional harm to another being, ghost or not. I will swear to this on any oath you deem fit. I will allow myself bound by any magic that would ease you. As long as you will allow me to attend him." The ghost speaks plainly, not a hint of deception. And John is pretty damn good at sniffing out deception.
"Why now? How did you even know to come, and why come now? This isn't the first time the" (his) "kid has been hurt real bad. The worst, sure, but not the first. Where were you those other times? Or when I was searching the whole blasted Realms for just one ghost to listen when I told them Phantom was a baby? How come I've never even heard of you, oh foremost healer in all the Realms."
"I know because his core cried out so loud and so powerful, all the Realms resonated with it. I am uncertain why I would not have heard the cry before. Though even if I had, I would not have been able to come. It is no surprise you did not find me or my people. On the Orders of Pariah Dark — who valued brute strength above all else and viewed healing and those who provided it as lesser — all healers were exiled to the furthest reaches of the habitable Zone. It is only in recent weeks that we have felt that restriction lifted from our cores."
"Why's that? What changed?"
"Pariah Dark was awakened, challenged, and defeated. The Crown must have recognized the Victor and accepted them as the new King."
John isn't one to be swayed by pretty words; but there is something to be said for the yeti's prompt, clear answers and neutral tone easing the worst of his paranoia. Either he's a damn fine liar or he's telling the truth. Still, a small bit of insurance couldn't hurt. Especially not when the beastie offered it.
"Swear it. Swear on your own core, and those of your people, that you will heal Phantom, not hurt him."
"I swear upon my core, and the cores of my people, I will not intentionally harm Phantom and I will do my best to heal him." Smart bastard, shifting the wording just so. But fine.
"Fine, come o-" Before John can even finish the sentence, the ghost yeti is gone. Not even a second later, Phantom's core cries out. John turns and bursts into the room, where Frostbite is already unpacking his bag. A few tools, wrappings, and vials and vials of ectoplasm, various shades and labeled in, definitely not English. Frostbite speaks lowly, comfortingly, to Phantom. Who doesn't even seem to be actually awake. His core must have reacted instinctively to the other ghost's presence. There is also a deep rumble from the yeti's core, which is probably, hopefully doing most of the work of soothing his the unconscious kid.
"Why did you even need my agreement if you could get to him anyway?" For the first time in their entire interaction, Frostbite seems shocked, appalled even by the question.
"I could not exclude you from his care unless you acted directly against his needs! You are his Mother!" For a few seconds, John can only sputter.
"Do I look like a bloody bird to you, mate!?" Frostbite flicks his gaze back to him for half a second, then returns to his task. He has everything out now and begins by pressing some kind of scope to Phantom's still exposed core.
"No, you appear to be a normal human mage." Goddammit. John pinches between his eyes a moment. If he wasn't terrified of what exposing his insides to smoke could do to the kid, he'd so need a cigarette.
"That's not... I meant, do I look like a female to you?"
"No. What does that have to do with anything? Also, what potions have you dumped on him? What were the ingredients? They shouldn't, but it is wise to ensure there will be no unexpected interactions with my ectoplasmic medicines."
"Just a bunch of basic healing potions." John grabs a book with recipes off his shelf. "First bookmark. I keep 'em on hand. And I don't know what things are like wherever yetis come from, but for humans mothers are typically female." Frostbite reads over the page quickly, humming lightly.
"Hmm, linguistic semantics then. Mother is likely the closest English translation matching in both definition and common connotation."
He nods sharply and sets the book aside, returning his attention to Phantom. He starts with pouring a small steady stream of ectoplasm directly onto Phantom's core, which John now sees has a small fissure in it the ectoplasm is flowing in to. The core soaks it in so quickly, not a drop makes it though the hole in his the kid's chest to the sheets below. John is starting to feel awkward just standing there so he grabs a chair in sits by his the kid's side.
"Closest English translation to what?" Just the fresh, concentrated ectoplasm is already helping way more than his potions did. John can tell. Ectoplasmic flesh is already stretching across the chasm in his his his the kid's rib cage.
Frostbite stops pouring the ectoplasm in before it can cover the core. Apparently doc still needs access to it as he reaches for one of his jars of slightly off color ectoplasm, this one tinted with a bright, ice blue. "To how his core calls out to you."
Oh.
Shit.
Does John have a kid now?
Frostbite picks up a small glob.
At least this one is already dead.
Frostbite reaches for the fissure.
How bad could he possibly fuck this up?
The moment the yeti makes contact with his kid's core, Phantom jerks up. Suddenly awake. And screaming.
A farshee wail to put Canary to shame.
But only for half a second, before he collapses back into the bed.
A flash of light.
White hair becomes black.
Pale skin becomes sun-kissed.
A core becomes an erratically beating heart while the, smaller, but still present hole exposing it starts weeping red.
Frostbite looks shocked and uncertain; and John is suddenly aware that he can fuck this up so much worse than he first thought he could.
#I realized there's been no indication so far the John knows Danny is any less than fully dead and decided to make sure he found out#Frostbite could tell Danny wasn't a normal ghost - but none of the ghosts really know what a halfa is#In fact that term probably doesn't exist in this AU#Instead the might call Danny like Mock or Sham or something IDK#Point is Frostbite knew he wasn't normal but didn't know how abnormal#After all - Frostbite hadn't even met Danny yet#He is very shocked and a bit confounded by this new information about his patient#He'll also be the first to put together that Danny's fleshy bits are muffling the core resonance#But they'll have to finish letting Danny's chest heal over the core first#Also - yes I did invent a unique medical symbol for the Infinite Realms#In an infinite dimension that presumably receives the restless dead of a vast and widely populated universe#There's no reason to assume that other civilizations had the same or even remotely similar symbols to the human ones#Red and hearts don't have the same associations when you have a core and bleed green#And even the plus/cross is - again - not universal#But like the red cross you'd want the symbol to be simple and replicable#Nothing as complicated as a caduceus even if it were universal#So I settled on green drop - ectoplasm - and an ice blue diamond as a kinda tip the hat to the yetis#You may have also noticed the hint of ghost king Danny#My thought is basically that the crown accepting Danny as King is what triggered Skulker to this hunt to begin with#The ghosts were downright terrified of a being they thought was their predator somehow becoming King#They did not expect the Crown to recognize the victory nor Danny as King#Because - crucially - they did not think Danny was actually a ghost#They figured throwing the 'mimic' at Pariah to let it eat him would just cause the crown to fall out of anyone's hand.#Let it fade into obscurity forevermore unclaimed#So when it accepted Danny everyone panicked#And while the broad news of the change in power had reached the Far Frozen - the details had not#Hence why Frostbite didn't know it was the very ghostling he came to treat that did it#He knows now : )#And he has some. Words. for several other ghosts about it#But the injured ghostling comes first
Love the medical symbol and explanation.
This means that Frostbite's arrival is independant of Skulker or any other Rogues. There's trouble incoming!!
Also question. As Danny met any Ancients at this point? I have no freaking clue what canon timeline is, have they met him and do they have thoughts?
Whether or not Danny has met any Ancients at this point largely depends on who you consider to be an Ancient. Since Ancients are a fan creation and not canon.
With my tags placing this just after Reign Storm, the ghosts Danny has canonically met at this point are: Lunch Lady, Box Ghost, Dorothea*, Skulker, Technus, Pointdexter, Desiree, Vlad, Dairy King, Walker (and his goons and anyone in the prison at that time), Spectra, Bertrand, Cujo, Klemper, Ember, Fright Knight, Johnny, Kitty, Wulf, Vlad's Ghost Animals, and Youngblood.
*though to him she'll just be the Dragon Ghost Lady for quite some time yet
Reign Storm is actually before TUE, so Danny hasn't even met Clockwork yet. That said, per raccoonrobyn's addition, John did try to take Danny to Clockwork but was denied by the Observants. So technically Danny should also know the Observants here. (Fun fact - if memory serves Danny never actually met any Observants in the show itself. They only interacted directly with Clockwork before and after the events of TUE.) Though whether the Observants are Ancients or a different class all together is, again, dependent on how you classify it.
On the above list, the only one consistently regarded as an Ancient is Fright Knight. Though frankly, you could argue that anyone or even everyone on that list is an Ancient if you wanted. Personally I've got a headcanon I'm found of where Youngblood is the Ancient of Childhood (and possibly the only ghost that recognized Danny as at least a baby if not a baby ghost, and tried to get him to play with them.
All this to say, by how I would generally classify it, Danny would have met 2 Ancients at this point (with the Observants being a kind of governing body but not Ancients). That said, this is a round robin, so anyone is free to work this in any other direction they please.
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Guys, hear me out. Dead tired. Roommates. Both in university together, not currently dating but everyone assumest they are. Tim’s still Wayne Industries CEO [and the Drake bussiness, but let's be honest he has someone else running that place]
Tim is REALLY bad at taking care of himself or the house because he’s got CEO stuff and also vigilante stuff so Danny picks up what he can around the house.
He cooks meals.
He makes Tim lunch every day.
One day, Tim forgets his lunch
Danny marches into the Wayne Industries building, fresh out of a lab at Gotham U, holding an embarrassingly cute lunchbox.
He shocks the receptionist when he says, “Hi, I’m looking for Tim Drake? He forgot his lunch at home.”
Tam leans against the door jam to Tim's office. He's on a call, and can't visibly react to her, but he can feel her eyes. Judging. Teasing. Calculating.
He wants to shove his lunch box into a drawer, but the EMEA lead is chatting about the roll out of satellite internet to the region and Tim actually cares about that.
There's a ping from his personal phone. Then another.
Tim risks a look at Tam. She's grinning at him, her phone balanced on her cheek. Oh, she did not.
A third ping.
His phone vibrates from a call. Tim shoves it off his desk, the carpet absorbing the sounds.
The last 10 minutes of the call are agonizing. Tam's still staring at him, ignoring her own work to torture Tim. When they finally finish, Tim slams down his laptop to reduce distractions and looks at her.
"What?"
"A cute boy brought you lunch in a cute space bag and you ate all of it."
"Danny's a good cook."
"He implied you live together."
"We do."
Tam slams her hands on his desk. "Why haven't you told me you have a boyfriend you live with? I thought we were friends, Tim."
"Danny is not my boyfriend, and I have mentioned him. He's my roommate at Gotham U."
"Tim, roommates don't usually make each other lunch and hand delivery it."
"I've good food issues, he's got food issues. This works for both of us." On the floor, his phone vibrates again. "What did you do?"
"Sent a photo of the lunch bag and you eating to Dick."
Okay, could be worse.
"And the photo of Danny from the front desk. He still had his googles from lab around his next. He's perfect for you."
"We're not dating!"
"Yet," Tam calls, already leaving his office. She's texting something. It better not be to Dick.
Tim's phone rings for a third time. He scrambles to pick it up, but it's not Dick calling. It's Danny. He picks it up.
"Hello?"
"Hey! At the store. What do you want for dinner?"
"I'm being teased at work," Tim offers.
"Comfort food it is then. Pizza and beer."
Meal planning is one of those coupley things too, isn't it? And Danny knowing his comfort foods.
Tim looks through his open door, to where Tam is sitting at her desk, frantically texting.
He has a feeling he needs to ask Danny out before someone does it for him.
Tim and Danny have been on a few dates at this point. Or at least, Tim would like to think they were dates. He really really likes Danny, and is hoping he's not misreading the signals that tell him Danny feels the same, so he's going to ask Danny if they can be official. A label. Boyfriends.
He was thrilled to see the joy on Danny's face after he asked the question. He wasn't as thrilled to see the hesitation.
"I would love to be your boyfriend Tim, but..." Danny let out a deep sigh, "You see, I have an older brother and he's like, crazy protective of me. If you want to be boyfriends you have to meet him first." Danny was worried, and he made it known in the days leading up to Dante's visit. The man had only ever approved of 2 relationships and even then his partners had to work for it.
They had arranged to meet up with him at a café to do introductions over coffee. Tim tried his best not to be intimidated when Dante entered, sat himself across the table silently, and just stared Tim down. He didn't even dare to breathe until Dante nodded and sat back, finally taking his eyes off Tim and turning his attention to his little brother.
