Hope this gets a part 2, I had an absolute blast reading it, and I can’t wait to see the Waynes meeting gbr family and just being like: “nani, tf? Is the really the same man? How?” 😂
I love love all your writings!!
I like your depictions of John Constantine.
I'd like to see you write the sad trenchcoat persona as just that a persona in the same fashion as how Brucie Wayne is a persona.
Maybe he's been the de-aged Danny/Dannies father for years and is an actual functional adult. The sad trenchcoat is just used to keep people from calling on him to frequently because he's a dad and has dad-like things to do.
He could help tim with the time stream thing, like 'oh, yeah that does look like Bruce. Alright kid pack a bag we're going in the time stream I know a guy. No Nightwing I'm not joking this looks like solid proof'.
Maybe Bruce has a oh shit he's actually competent and could kill me, that's hot moment. (Kids I have found your other father, help me get him home)
"I would love to offer more of my time to waste on monitor duty, but I have a previous engagement. A particular fit lady needs help getting her dress on the floor. The cloth always gets stuck on her horns. " John leers, wagging his eyebrows at the grimaces his words cause.
He takes a puff of his cigarette, inhaling the smoke like a drowning man. He never smokes at home, not with Danny's sensitive lungs or Dani's general disgust at smoking, so he only had the chance when called away on missions.
Plus, Danny was trying out for ballet soon, and he wasn't going to ruin his son's chances of being a star because of his own poor habits.
It helped that the rest of the heroes believed he was consistently pumping nicotine into his system. Rather irresponsible for the hero to publicly commit frowned-upon activities - at least in the States. Back home, no one cared that much.
It didn't matter that the Justice League was a global team; the main hard hitters and founders were nearly all American, and they tended to uphold those social expectations, either subconsciously or not.
One more reason why they shouldn't bother John, he can't have him smoking at a big awards ceremony or seen going through an entire pack of cigarettes mid-fight. Oh no.
John Constantine was one of the best magic users of this universe, but he was a last resort. There were plenty of other magic users like Zatanna, Dr. Fate, Zatara, or even Etrigan that came to mind first.
John was likely too busy drowning his misery in bottles or the arms of any willing partner. That's what they all thought.
Or more importantly than what he wanted them to think.
"Well, this has been a time." He announces, snapping his fingers to open a portal to his house. "But I have to run. My lady needs a knowledgeable hand to help her-"
"Enough," Batman growls. Though he has complete control over his emotions, John can tell he's irritated by the meaningless detail. He smirks as the hero waves a hand, "Just go."
He offers the rest of the meeting room a cheeky two-finger salute as he struts out, letting the portal close behind him so his trench coat flares dramatically. It's a nice view, he's sure, but it's also unnecessarily showy, and he is sure at least three pairs of eyes are rolling at his exit.
A chuckle escapes his mouth, straightening from his slouch to properly stand straight and bend it far enough to pop. Goodness, his act always leaves him with a sore upper back; maybe he shouldn't hunch over so much, even if he was playing the part of a no-good punk.
John only had a few seconds to shiver at his own thoughts- he was a punk. A real one! He was in a band!- before he heard the tell-tell sign of a rapidly approaching double set of footsteps echo down the hall. He scrambles to fling his lit cigarette into a water portal, chucking the pack for double security, while summoning a random suitcase from thin air.
All that's left is his rather eye-catching coat, a little too worn down and old to work well with his well-put-together outfit underneath. Without it, John has a clean, pressed white shirt, a respectful tie, and a pair of slacks that make more than one head turn as he walks.
All in all, he looks like the office businessman his worthless father always wanted to be.
John throws off his coat over a chair at the same time the door is thrown open with a pair of excited yells. "Welcome home, Dad!"
A grin stretched across his face before he could think about it, feeling his heart swell at the sight of them, as he knelt down, arms open wide. Two tiny bodies slam into him without a second of hesitation, nearly knocking John backwards.
He lets out a soft grunt as Dani's arms attempt to wrap around his left arm and right shoulder. She clashes against Danny, who's trying to bury himself into John's right side, little face squished against one of John's pecs, like a bunny burrowing into the snow.
"Hello, my little lambs!" He gushes, squeezing the kids close. "How was your day with the House of Mystery? Did you two behave?"
"They were angels," Black Orchid confirms, gliding into the room at a much slower pace. They had their regular, impassive expression on their faces, but John could tell that Orchid was happy with the kids by the way they gently tapped the tops of the children's black hair.
"Dad! Dad! Now that you're home, can we please go get my new ballet shoes?" Danny begs, bouncing on his toes.
For a moment, John doesn't see his son, but rather his own blue eyes staring up at his father, when he was also five, begging to join Lily, the next-door neighbor, in beginners' ballet class.
His father had beaten him nearly to death for wanting such a girly interest. It was the last time they spoke about it. It was also the last time John ever bothered asking to start new hobbies.
"Dad! Dad! Can I do Karate?" Dani asks then, snapping John from his memories better left buried, as she presses her check against her brother's in an attempt to get John's attention. "I want to break a board with my fist!"
He gives the children another squeeze, laughing at the squeals he gets. "Of course you can do karate, little lamb. We're going to get your brother his shoes, and then I'll find a gym that offers the classes at the same time."
"I already provided that service." Orchid cuts in, holding a flyer for Flying Graysons' gym, founded and run by the eldest Wayne in Gotham. "I took the liberty of signing Danny up for a class with Casnadra Wayne, and Dani will join Duke Thomas's class. It starts in a week."
"Plenty of time to go get them everything they need and a new book series for our bedtime stories," John announces, loosening his arms so his children can cheer and bounce up and down in excitement. His knee is starting to cramp up, but he ignores it so he can hold his kids.
It's moments like these, so small and mundane, that John is grateful he thought of his persona. When he first learned how to use the magic he was gifted, he always made himself available for any crisis.
This was before the Justice League days, so anyone who sought him out was familiar with the occult world. He adored helping, and he built an incredible amount of skill and knowledge in magic, but soon John was facing disaster after disaster, dragging his exhausted body from one place to another.
Those who came searching for him never cared. They wanted John to jump at the drop of a hat. He tried for years to always be ready, always be willing, but years of isolation and desperate battles tried him to the core.
Then he took in Danny and Dani, finding the pair of babies in a basket at the feet of the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. He had gone to investigate the legends of the famous King Pariah Dark, only to find what he assumed were originally sacrifices, well and truly alive.
Their names were attached to their feet with a letter written by a Jazz Fenton begging the two to grow and live well. She had died to save them. In her honor, John kept their names.
Daniel "Danny" Fenton and Danielle "Dani" Fenton. He often wondered what Jazz had been to the kids, with their identical last names. It is a question he will never get the answer to.
They could have been no older than five months, but when they opened their eyes and reached up for him, John realized he no longer wanted to be the go-to man of magic.
He wanted to be their father.
To discourage people from calling him away from his children, John created his persona of a man barely honorable enough to join a team. Over the five years of his raising his kids, his reputation plummeted until only Batman called to him unless absolutely necessary.
It was a breath of fresh air. John had fought for too long and too hard. He was retired now, just like his band days, the days when John would speed off to save the world were behind him. He only stepped in if a friend asked for a favor.
He had other priorities now.
The best part? The Justice League would never know that.
"Dad!" Dani screamed into his ear, making him grimace.
"Inside voice, darling."
"Sorry." She twirls her fingers, a nervous habit she picked up from John, before brightening up "I'm just super excited. Orichad said Mr. Bruce Wayne will be at the gym! Do you think he'll sign my Wayne Space shirt?"
Ah, yes, the man who was funding some space program or another. He only knew about this because his twins adored anything to do with space travel, as if though he couldn't just teleport them to a different planet.
"I'm sure he will, darling."
"We have your son."
"My condolences. Please try to die quickly, his dinner's almost ready."
Got inspired by this beautiful post <- By this person @nerdpoe <-
Due to Amity Park town folks is completely independent on Ectoplasm air and liquid, but totally allergic to the sun in daylight.
They found a loophole that they could go out at night, but nobody able to leave fully from amity park due to the lack of ectoplasm that cause them to become weak, their skin paler then white paint, lengthing fangs, eyes nearly glowing onimous green from ecto- starving and the instable rage induced that come with it.
The Fenton and Frostbite came up with the temporary solution, which was modified thermos bottles full of ectoplasm, which end up becoming a business around town.
The unfortunate side effect seems to make the pure ectoplasm turn red and heavy scented like blood outside the town.
Family, lovers, and friends that visited Amity Park would come back with a 4 boxes stuff to the brim with bottled up ectoplasm to get refilled and visit the town again every 2 months to the point rumors started to come due to some crazed theory.
That Amity Park became a town of vampires. The rumors start another rumor that they never leave the town at all due to the dark clouds cover it's entirely. (The saturated ectoplasm clouds look like dark fog clouds above the sky)
People who came to visit and come back with boxes full of bottled up blood.
Then, when rumors reach the ears of the Justice League, it would be a year in Amity Park to become a much bigger community than when it used to be a small town.
Sharing to spread the stories with others. ☺️
i love these okay, I would sell my soul for these, all amazing, and yeah the descriptions are by me because I was too lazy for copy and past none of these have smut! and most are dead on main
Assembly required by PaperPuffin
Tim gets lost in IKEA and Danny helps Jason find him. Dead on Main. Complete.
Wait, I'm a what? by Atiya_Blackcharm
Danny kinda adopts a neighborhood and becomes a crime lord, not a ton of interaction with the bats but it's ongoing. No ship
Smash or Pass? by nddshkwch
Danny is asked his opinion of Red Hood and says smash, then he goes viral and a very cute Dead on Main fic ensues. Complete.
I Just Wanted a Grilled Cheese, Man by ReaderRevolution
personally it's my favorite Danny kills the Joker fic, and I love those, anyhow thought i'd add my fav of this troupe. Dead on Main. Finished.
Ghostly Delivery by WeirdNCrazy
Danny takes a vacation and works in a pizza shop, shenanigans ensue when heroes start ordering pizza. This fic is to die for, it's a decent length for crack, hilarious, and the Danny is so sarcastic. I would marry the author, no hesitation. And it has no ship. I forget if it's finished or not.
A Little Overshadowing Never Hurt Anyone by Playedcrowd5610
so Danny gets kidnapped for info by the bats, overshadows Tim in an attempt to get out, yeah funny cute and a bit of angst. No ship. Kinda incomplete but it ends on a good note, also abandoned.
Cold Brew by Sendryl
it's very short, but fun and giggly, the whole series is amazing and I highly recommend reading all of them, I'm pretty sure there's fanart somewhere in there too so that's a bonus. Is Dead Tired/Brain dead
Bus to Nowhere by foldingfacets
most people have read this one but I had to add it. it features a homeless Danny in Gotham, it's funny has trauma, PTSD the works, and Danny doesn't end up adopted, and from what I remember it's incomplete and I'm not sure if it's abandoned or the author just irregularly updates. No ship.
If You Give a Bat a Burger by Cielle_Noire
Another fic that most people have read, it has a Danny in the occult scene kinda, actually it's been forever since I read it and I'm crap at descriptions. just it's good. No ship. Ongoing, really long.
Bleeding Out, Bleeding In by PaperPuffin
highly recommend, and the whole series is lovely, a crazy inventor Danny who works for Jason after saving him. Very cute, trauma angst the works. This was hard to find so if you like it put it on a list or book mark it, because I spent like 30 minutes trying to find it and I remembered direct quotes from it. Pretty sure it's complete.
To Whom It May Concern by Sagoberattare
Jazz and Danny find out they are clones, they write letters to their gene donors and trauma dump. Funny and I liked it, it's ongoing I believe.
I honestly just wanted a place to put down all my fics, originally I was gonna keep this in drafts, and then I remembered others might want recs. I may not have your taste, and you might dislike these, I personally enjoyed them though.
let me know if the links don't work, thanks :)
And both boys absolutely get a kick out of it every time too. They think it’s the best thing ever, and will never tell her not too. The rest of the Justice League know it looks funky, but also, who in their right mind would tell WW that? 😂
He's been denied entry into the Justice League yet again, but that's fine.
He's not angry.
Nope.
But like, he is feeling like getting a little bit of revenge. Not angry revenge, which would be totally different.
But...petty.
He wants petty revenge.
And he knows where the Watchtower is.
So he makes it his mission to sneak into the Watchtower, over and over and over again, and while completely invisible and intangible, eat the inside of all the heroes treats and meals, so that all they're left with is a hollowed out shell.
Cakes? Just a shell. Sandwiches? Difficult but he manages to hollow those out too. Ice Cream? Just the outside. Spaghetti? Almost impossible, but he manages to do a swap instead; it's spaghetti laying on top of old cardboard. Anything inside of a wrapper? He eats it and leaves the wrapper.
Tim, Timmy, his little brother in all but blood, bleeding from his ears and eyes and nose, burned so severely his skin is peeling off, actually turns to look at him.
Freezes.
"Shit. No one's supposed to see this." Tim says, and Dick lurches forward to do...something. He doesn't know what, for all his first-aid training doesn't know how he can help when there's this much damage, but he has to do something.
But Tim disappears, like he was never there.
Or; On a ghosts death day, they gain the appearance they had at death. This includes the injuries. Danny spends his death day very far away from home, since it actually makes his human form look like he got electrocuted to death by untold voltage and mass dosages of radiation, and he really doesn't want his mom and dad to see that, even if they're cool with the half-ghost thing. Problem; apparently he's a dead ringer for someone Nightwing knows, and he just mentally scarred Valerie's favorite hero. Fuck.
Meanwhile Bruce, jaw hanging, aghast, frantically trying to keep his hellions from meeting Jonng and Kitty while also trying to figure out how to meet them himself-
Johnny 13 and Kitty are from Gotham.
(I Cannot for the life of me find the post that gave me this idea. It was one throwaway line of Ember telling Danny that Johnny 13 used to babysit some kid named Bruce. It was also dpxdc.)
So Johnny 13 was a member of the mob, working for the Waynes. (Thomas and Martha were rich people in Gotham of course they did organized crime)
Johnny gets tasked with babysitting baby Bruce, but always brings his girlfriend Kitty with him. They would be the kind of babysitters that just set the kid up in front of a TV and make out on the couch.
Bruce would just be sat watching The Gray Ghost. Bruce would like them because he would be allowed free access to binge his favorite show.
I have an intense need for this particular AU, for the Batfam to learn of his previous vigilantism, and for the kids to go: Seeee, we didn’t involve a civilian. ✨
Danny has been having issues trying to find a job that allows him to use his powers. He’s no longer in the superhero scene anymore but why not still put his powers to use?
After successfully gaining a job as a Stuntman, he didn’t know what he signed himself up to do but he took multiple classes to prepare and fell in love with the profession. His powers letting him further excel in his career as things like flight, intangibility, and duplication all were things that studio heads were delighted of as it lessened the cost of production.
Stuntman don’t get a lot of recognition by average film goers which is fine for Danny. Staying under the radar and living a normal life is all he could ever ask for.
Sadly for Danny, that anonymity didn’t last forever. Danny was hired as a stunt performer in a 90s satire esque autobiography movie written and starring the Gotham Billionaire Bruce Wayne.
During an on set interview midway though Bruce explaining to the interviewer that Hot Shots was his biggest inspiration for this film, Danny casually walked behind the set, just trying to get to the costume department and thinking nothing of being temporarily on camera behind the Billionaire.
The day the interview was uploaded onto YouTube, Danny’s phone was blowing up from messages from his friends and family telling him he had become an internet sensation overnight. It turns out his casual walk behind Bruce Wayne led to the internet losing their minds trying to find the Bruce Wayne look-alike. I mean, Danny DID become Bruce’s primary stunt double because he looked so similar, that’s the whole point of stunt doubles, but Danny didn’t think it was THAT similar.
Hello? Must share, this masterpiece-
(Once again slightly inspired by @saltymarshmall0w 's prompt.)
Read on ao3.
Masterpost. Next.
“B, didn’t you promise us as you’d tell if there was a possibility of another secret child?” Tim asks as he stares at the black haired boy, who looks like he had been to hell and back to get here, with blue eyes — because of course, they are blue — in front of the Manor’s door.
He can’t help but feel unnerved by the way the boy evaded their security measures and how he hasn’t said a single word since Tim opened the door even when he can see the boy’s hands tremble.
“Yes?” Bruce's voice floats from further in the Manor, his barely audible gaunt drawing near.
“Then who the hell is this?” he asks just as the man turns the corner. He freezes at the sight of the kid, literally blue screening as he takes him in.
“Actually he’s mine,” a too chipper voice announces and Tim nearly jumps out of skin as he turns to Dick.
The young man must see both Tim and Bruce doing the mental calculations in their heads because he interrupts before they can draw the wrong conclusions.
“If Bruce can go around adopting children, I can do the same.” Then he turns to the boy. “You can come in, Danny.”
Tim is eerily reminded of a wary, frightened cat as the boy — Danny moves inside. His steps are too silent for a mere civilian.
Bruce and Tim share a look and Tim knows that they are both asking themselves when Dick met the boy and why he never mentioned him with how familiar he acts around him as he easily tucks him into his side.
Although neither of them wants to accept it, Dick has changed since the one year where he disappeared without a trace. He’d told them that he was shot leading to him to lose his memories and that he only retained his memories a few days before he came back, but Tim always had a feeling the older man was not telling the whole truth, hiding it behind an easy-going smile. He didn’t speak a single word about what happened during that year, claiming he didn’t remember much of it ever since his memories returned.
Not only that, but it had become even rarer than before that any of them would meet Dick at the manor (even Jason was at the Manor more often) — and when he was present he was always studying them with an intense stare as if he was searching for something in their expressions.
“Dick,” Bruce starts but the man waves him off.
“Later,” he says. “I need to see if I have any fresh clothes for Danny.”
Dick pulls the boy away and they head up the stairs. Tim gives it a minute before he follows, nodding at Bruce, who does the same. He hears them stop in the hallway and he pauses in his steps.
“What’s going on?” Tim hears the man's question and he sneaks closer when he can’t hear the boy’s response. He subtly uses his phone’s camera to peek around the corner.
“What about Mom and Dad?” Dick asks in a hushed whisper and Tim knits his eyebrows together — confused about who his brother is talking about.
Danny winces with a pained expression.
“The GIW got them in custody for affiliating with and aiding an ectoplasmic entity,” he explains. “You are my only chance.”
“Jazz, Sam, Tucker?” Dick almost seems desperate and when the boy just shakes his head after each name, he runs a hand through his hair and curses.
“And you are sure we can’t go to them?”
Tim can’t help but ask himself who they are talking about that Dick’s voice is so full of disdain. Danny vehemently shakes his head, eyes squeezed together like he is remembering something painful and when he speaks his voice is shaky.
“I don’t know what to do, Ric,” he says, clutching the top of his shirt like his heart is hurting and Tim’s eyebrows climb to the top of his hairline at the unusual nickname. “I can’t- I can’t do this alone…”
“Fuck.” Dick takes a deep breath as he hugs Danny. “Okay. Yes, of course I’m coming with you, baby ghost. Just let me grab my things and then we’ll go on our way.”
“You will not go anywhere.”
Bruce steps in Dick’s path before Tim can stop him and he narrows his eyes at the pair. Danny flinches away from the man and Dick steps protectively in front of the boy.
Tim knows Bruce and Dick had their rough patches in the past but never like this. Never had Dick looked at Bruce like he was a threat.
“I’m not in the mood, B,” Dick warns sharply.
“And I’m not about to let you go off with someone that I haven’t vetted.”
Dick lets out a bitter huff of a laugh.
“Of course that’s the only thing you would focus on.” His voice is cold. “You’ll bulldoze your way through, and prod and condemn, not caring if you hurt someone innocent in the process as long as you can justify your actions. I don’t even know why I’m surprised at this point. It’s what happened to Jason after all.”
Bruce reels back like he’s been punched.
“Now if that is all, I have to go save the people who actually treat me like family.”
This time nobody stops Dick as he leaves the house, Danny in tow.
“Master Bruce, Master Tim,” Alfred’s voice tears Tim out of his trance and startles Bruce who froze in his spot. “Where is Master Dick?”
Dick trembles with barely suppressed fury as he leads Danny to his car.
He wanted to believe that Bruce was better — that he wouldn’t have led the Justice League on a hunt after a child, but the longer he is back in Gotham as Richard Grayson — the longer he is around who were supposed to be his “actual” family, the more he grows unsure about that fact. There is no easy trust between them — not the steadfast determination that no matter what happens, they’ll take his side. Not like the Fentons have. (It’s been barely 2 months and he misses being Ric Fenton — misses being Jack and Maddie’s son and Jazz and Danny’s older brother.)
Bruce has contingency plans about them for fuck’s sake. And while he understands that there might be situations where they would be on other sides — the time where he and the Teen Titans had to fight their mind controlled mentors comes to mind — it’s a scary thought. For the first time since ages — since Bruce had taken Robin away from him — he feels like he is on his own.
Back then he had turned to Clark — to Superman. He was the one who gave him the name Nightwing but Dick is plagued by the nightmares he witnessed Danny having. He doesn’t think he can look at his uncle ever the same again.
At the same time, he doesn’t know if Danny and him can do this alone. He glances at the boy as he drives out the gates to the manor — he looks incredibly drained. He’s even paler than usual and there’s a sheen of sweat over his whole body as he leans back in his seat, breaths shallow.
As he drives through the streets of the Bowery a sudden thought comes to his mind. He tears the steering wheel around, tearing Danny out of his doze. He blinks at Dick, eyebrows knitted together when he sees that they are still in Gotham.
“Where are we going?” he asks and Dick gives him a smile that is all teeth.
“Just a little pit stop.”
Jason and Dick don’t talk much — or to be more precise they don’t talk about the important stuff. Not about the — ‘I broke down when I heard about your death and I blame myself for not being there’ or ‘I was sure you hated me and you were glad I was gone’. They barge into each other's apartments, spar or get drunk together and cling to each other when they are sure the other isn’t awake to witness it. It’s not quite healthy — but it’s something better than when Jason was still Robin.
So when the door to one of his safe houses gets slammed open, Jason isn’t concerned. He knows Dick had been off the past few weeks and had been expecting his visit for quite a while now.
The look in Dick’s eyes is different this time around though. It’s not quite the mix of depression coupled with anger he normally expects — it’s something stronger — righteous fury.
“I need your help,” Dick demands before Jason can question what’s going on.
Jason knits his eyebrows together.
“What about Bruce?”
There’s a dark look in the man’s eyes for a moment before it passes and that’s the moment Jason realizes that this something more serious than the usual spats he normally has with B.
“You are the only one I can trust with this.”
He spins around on his heels and is out of the safe house before Jason can blink. Getting a bit impatient and angry about Dick not getting straight to the point and still expecting him to follow — Jason storms out. What he doesn’t expect is the passed out half-dead kid in the passenger seat. A tinge of green enters his vision as he glares at Dick.
“What the hell is going on?”
The story Dick tells as they speed on the highway leaves Jason reeling. If the man’s tone wasn’t carefully monotone as he spoke about Ghosts and an entire town being shifted to a different dimension, Jason would have already declared that Dick finally snapped. He wants to question why he lied to the rest about losing his memories about the year he went missing, but the desperate look he sends him and the way his hands shake on the steering wheel hold him back. It’s only the boy’s quiet snores that have Jason’s volume not climbing above a hiss.
“Are you sure this all happened? That this is real?”
“I was there, Jay,” Dick’s tone leaves no arguments. “I almost watched Danny die, again — fighting Pariah Dark. I would have never forgiven myself if another of my brothers…” He gulps and shakes his head. “I was there this time. I should have made a difference and once again I was helpless”. He slams a fist against the radio, cursing when it turns on, blaring loud music.
He quickly turns the volume down and both of them wait with bated breath as Danny stirs in his seat, before he goes limp again. Dick lets out a deep sigh.
“How do you think I felt once I realized the situation?” Dick questions. “I was in the middle of nowhere with no recollection of who I was. If the Fentons hadn’t found me-” He shakes his head. “Next I know I’m watching a kid fight fucking Ghosts twice his side and getting thrown around like a ragdoll like it’s a normal Tuesday. That shouldn’t happen Jay, it just shouldn’t.”
Jason stays silent.
“And worst of all, I still knew how to fight,” Dick barrels on. “But no matter how much I tried to help Danny and teach him, it was useless because it wasn’t humans or even metas he was up against. How could my moves counter beings that can fly and go intangible and invisible at will?”
Jason still can’t fathom why Dick hid this from them all — but he knows enough to understand why he needs his help.
“So what’s the plan?”
Dick shoots him a relieved smile.
“We still have 12 hours of driving ahead of us,” Dick glances at Danny. “I’m reckoning he’s gonna be out cold for at least half of it if not more. I need you to switch with me after half of the drive so I can get a power nap in, then I’ll take over again.”
“Not trusting me with the car?” Jason teases.
“Show me your drivers license and maybe I’ll reconsider.”
They start bickering, and for a moment Jason can convince himself that this is a normal road trip.
Jason’s at the wheel when the boy wakes up. Dick is out cold and despite the man’s protests Jason can drive normally if he wants to. There’s no reason the man has to over exhaust himself.
They had tossed their phones once they crossed the border to Illinois and Dick had withdrawn a couple of thousand bucks. Jason had questioned why they hadn’t done sooner if they wanted to keep Bruce off their trail, but the man told him he’s not the one he is worried about. Considering what Dick told him about the elusive GIW, Jason can harbor a guess on who he is talking about. It’s after that, that Jason wrangled him into another nap — Dick was in no condition to drive any further.
“Ric?” Danny questions sleepily as he sits up and Jason keeps an eye on him out of the corner of his eyes.
“He’s asleep,” Jason answers and it’s only because he’s used to Damian that he blocks the instinctual kick as the boy realizes he’s not alone.
“I can see that Dick kept you sharp” Jason huffs out a laugh. “I’m Jason, in case he didn’t mention me.”
Danny blinks at him and shifts so he is sitting cross legged. He knits his eyebrows together, clearly thinking.
“You were the pit stop?” he questions.
“Apparently.” Jason shrugs. “Great work, by the way. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Dick this pissed.”
The boy frowns, gnawing at his lips as he stares out the window.
“You’ve died too, haven't you?”
Jason suppresses his initial reaction to snap at the boy. Instead he grits his teeth as he stares straight ahead, the road blurring together.
“And?”
“Ric shouldn’t have let you come.”
He grips the steering wheel until his knuckles are deadly white, green hazing his vision.
“They’ll cut you open too.”
It takes the wind out of his anger and he lets out a curse. The brakes screech as he stops at the side of the road, nearly catapulting them forward with the force of it. Jason finally turns to look at Danny properly. The boy peels down his t-shirt to reveal a gnarly, ugly red Y-shaped scar as he gulps.
“Ric doesn’t know,” he says as he releases the hem of his shirt, covering the scar once more. “I haven’t told him.”
“Then why me?” Jason’s voice rises without his consent.
“Because you’ll get it,” the boy murmurs. “How it feels to die.”
The boy leans back, turning away from Jason to look at the corn field.
“How it haunts you.”
Jason wants to puke and he lets his forehead fall onto the steering wheel.
“Fuck,” he says emotionally and the boy laughs — broken and hysterical. Jason doesn’t comment on the tears streaming down Danny’s face.
Jason starts up the car again, leading the car back on the road.
“Next time Dick asks for my help, I’ll send him to hell.”
Jason hides a smile when the boy snorts at that.
Dick comes to himself as they are about to cross the border into Amity Park. Jason and Danny are quietly talking and he wipes away a little bit of drool as he sits up. It’s dark outside and Danny directs Jason as they enter the city. He leans forward as he enters the conversation.
“You’ll think the GIW’s detectors will sense us?”
Danny glances at Jason, before he turns his attention to Dick.
“We should be fine for a few hours at least as long as I don’t have to turn ghost,” he says. “Half of the town is liminal at this point so you and Jason shouldn’t raise any alarms either. They had too many false alarms in the months since you left.”
Jason looks at Dick strangely once they park where they can hide for the night.
“Since when did you have contact with Lazarus Pits?”
“Never,” Dick retorts. “But living above a portal to the Infinite Realms for a year will do the trick.”
Jason's face scrunches up.
“Who the hell builds a portal in their own basement?”
Both Dick and Danny snort.
“Gotta love Mom and Dad,” the boy says as Dick nods in agreement. “Only they are insane enough.”
Dick makes a face.
“I could do without reanimated meatloaf for the rest of my life though.”
“Don’t remind me,” Danny shudders.
Jason stares at them in bafflement.
“You do know how crazy that sounds?”
“Crazier than Ghosts?” Danny questions with a smirk and Jason pinches the bridge of his nose, shaking his head
“To give it to Mom and Dad they did stop storing samples in the fridge after we lectured them about it,” Dick adds. At Jason's aghast face he just shrugs. “They are passionate about their work.”
“Insane, absolutely insane,” the man mutters and Dick suppresses a smile.
It had taken him a bit to get used to the Fenton's and their flavor of insanity and chaos. At first he had been worried about them being neglectful at best, but it turns out that they just needed someone to remind them when they got into “hyperfixation” mode. He and Jazz had to stage an intervention and both Maddie and Jack were embarrassed once they realized they took it too far. Dick doesn’t know who is worse — them or Tim when he’s awake for more than three days.
He was very relieved when his initial hunch didn’t turn out to be true after Danny revealed himself as Phantom to his parents. They did a whole 180 on their research, focusing on learning about the intricacies of the Infinite Realms, their culture and even politics instead — resigning from their high positions in the GIW. That’s when the trouble really started.
Dick hadn’t lied about getting amnesia after he was shot and it was also true that his memories had only returned — thanks to Frostbite — two months ago. But the only reason he went back to Gotham had been to get Danny help (the longer they waited the worse the situation with the GIW became) — to find out if the Justice League could be trusted. Once he heard what happened with Freakshow and the Reality Gauntlet (and had the memories to properly realize what that meant) he had been horrified. He had given himself a deadline to — if need be, confront the Justice League by the time Danny’s birthday came around and find out the truth. (He had desperately hoped that this was all a misunderstanding, but Bruce’s words still taste bitter on his tongue.)
Dick knows bringing Jason along was a risk — considering Danny’s theory that the Lazarus Pit were corrupted ectoplasm, but they need the manpower to get through the GIW’s defenses. Even if he’s scared shitless about what they’ll do to Jason when they find out just how liminal he is. He knows this is a death mission. But it doesn’t have to be for Jason.
“We need to establish some ground rules,” Dick says reluctantly and Jason narrows his eyes at the wording.
“If we get captured, I want you to save yourself, Jason.” Jason scoffs and Dick raises a hand, silencing his retort before it can come. “I’m the sole reason you got involved in the first place. Me and Danny may be willing to die for them, but I’m not letting you sacrifice yourself for something that isn’t even your problem to deal with.”
“If you think I’m gonna agree to those, you are more than stupid than I thought Dick,” Jason’s voice is scathing. “It started being my problem when you came to me for help and we drove for 12 straight hours to get there. If you say those people are your family — then they are mine as well.”
His lips perk into a smirk.
“Besides, I want to meet the people that might be even more batshit insane than B and got you to call them Mom and Dad.”
Dick flushes slightly — the Fenton’s had always insisted on him calling them Mom and Dad and he doesn’t know when the titles became genuine. Even with his memories restored, Ric Fenton feels more alive — more loved — than Richard Grayson ever did.
Danny just shrugs as he leans back, arms crossed behind his neck and feet rested on top of the glove box.
“I guess I have not only two sisters but two older brothers now,” he adds cheekily.
“Brat.”
Jason playfully shoves Danny and Dick gapes at the fond tone in his voice.
“How?” he stammers — they should barely know each other. “When?”
Jason tucks Danny into his side, angle a bit awkward, but grinning as he ruffles his hair.
“You missed a lot, sleeping beauty,” Jason jests and Dick groans.
“I was only asleep for 1 hour!” he bemoans.
“Two,” Danny corrects and Dick glares at him, raising a finger.
“Don’t you two dare gang up on me!”
“This is sweet revenge for when you and Jazz teamed up against me,” Danny grins.
“We were literally trying to help you!” Dick complains, shoving Danny’s face away as the boy cackles, Jason watching on with amusement.
Dick might have to leave Ric Fenton behind for good now that his two worlds have collided, but maybe he can still be Richard “Dick” Grayson-Fenton instead.
the third F stands for Fenton-
The Infinite Realms is a very little understood place by magic users.
It is the medium through which travel to and from the World of the Dead to the World of the Living must go; they cannot just teleport from one to the other.
But those who are not denizens of it cannot perceive it.
As far as any magic user is concerned, the Space Between Spaces is just a black, empty void, and the only way to cross through it is to make a Bridge.
On that bridge they will face Shades of their loves ones trying to drag them off of it.
The construction of the Bridge is no matter, as it's made of magic anyways, but the existence of that Bridge is beyond important; if the magic user loses sight of the bridge, or if a spirit trying to get to the World of the Dead loses sight of their way, then both can fall into the abyss and be forever lost.
Danny, having heard this story multiple times from ghosts with only the barest memories of who they'd been or how they got to the Infinite Realms, decides to build permanent, visible way stations for travelers.
It can't be made out of Realms material, or the travelers won't see it.
It can't be purely made out of normal construction either, or the Spirits won't be able to touch it.
He asks around, finds out where most of the bridges get made, and brainstorms with his parents.
Naturally, once Jack and Maddie Fenton are brought in on it, they go a bit overboard.
In the end, the situation evolves like this;
There are now waystations that look like incredibly creepy restaurants from a certain chain floating in the middle of nowhere to travelers, complete with desolate and empty parking lots. Those waystations are manned by Liminal People from Amity Park, who are paid by the hour. The Observants now both hate and fear Danny's parents in equal measure, and will not interfere with this. All of those waystations are owned by Waffle House, and all of them have fully operational menus for both the living and the dead. Danny's family now has a part of Waffle House's stocks, and his parents are now also trying to make terrifying kitchen implements for their new business buddies. The Waffle House Index for these stores has been altered from Weather to Ghost Attacks and/or attempted mass summonings for world domination. There are now random doors in Amity that have been rigged to open straight to those restaurants. The Infinite Realms Waffle Houses are a popular spot for Amity Park Liminal teens to get jobs and meet up.
So when Constantine loses sight of his Bridge as he's trying to get from the World of the Living to the World of the Dead, he's a little surprised to land in the parking lot of the notorious Waffle House.
And.
Well.
He is rather hungry, and the read he gets from this place is that it's not a trick.
He goes inside.
It's empty, but it doesn't feel like it is. The luminescent lights are a more faded green than yellow, humming ominously overhead. While the Medium is a black abyss full of nothing, once he's inside the restaurant, through the windows it's a swirling mass of greens and purples, full of doors and stairs that both appear from nowhere and go to nowhere.
There's an incredibly cursed teenager at the grill.
"Thank you for choosing Waffle House, my name is Wes; please have a seat and I'll be with you in a moment."
i desperately need this now-
Somebody has probably thought of this already, but dpxgf crossover where the casper high kids go to gravity falls for a field trip, and as soon as they get there they're setting off ford and dippers "That's not human" senses, but neither can figure out what's wrong with these kids until the class tries to leave and none of them can because of weirdness barrier- so now the entire class of liminals (+danny as a halfa) are freaking out, because they were only meant to be away for like a week and after the giw their parents will freak out if the class doesn't get home soon, shenanigans ensue with the amity parkers, but the pines family can not figure out what's wrong with these kids to save their life, because ghosts have just never appeared in gravity falls before, and it's driving dipper and ford mad trying to figure everything out while the amity parkers are actively messing with them because if their stranded here, might as well have fun, right?