Daniel Fenton, who punched the Joker one (1) time, and acts vaguely eldritch, having convinced 75% of Gotham that he’s Batman’s secret identity on accident: what is happening.
The Batkids, certified little shits, hanging around him to fuel the rumors and throw people off Bruce’s scent: Hi dad! :)
Danny, already sort-of a single parent, accidentally playing along too hard: oh. Guess I’m a father now.
I’m back with another alternate take on a regularly used salt trope. In this case, we’ll be looking at the one/s where when persons in the class decide to openly refuse to be Marinette’s friends, they eventually find out that in doing so, they’ve given up all the things she would normally do for them. Free pastries, free dresses, free interviews with Ladybug, etc.
But what I’ve yet to see anyone consider is what the former friends have done for Marinette and the effect the sudden lack of this would have.
Particularly in regards to the Adrinette shipping and pressuring Marinette to confess before she’s ready. And the effect of the sudden LACK of that.
Namely, SHENANIGANS.
Hear me out:
Imagine if you would, that the girls in the class have enough of Marinette “bullying” Lila and thus openly drop all friendship with her, making it clear they want nothing to do with her. They know full well that this means the end of some of the nice things she’s done for them, but in their minds, they’ve done more for her so she’ll really be the one losing out.
Marinette is sad.
Adrien sees she is sad and comforts her.
This makes the girls realize that Marinette is still crushing on Adrien and given how much of a “bully” she is, she doesn’t deserve him. They instead decide that Liladrien is the way to go and that it is their duty as her best friends to help her.
Lila knows fully well that Adrien is aware she is a liar and is not happy with her. She is sure she can change his mind, but she needs time and proper planning to set things up for her to get on his “good side”.
Neither of which her new girlfriends allow her.
They take her hesitancy for lack of confidence and attempt to encourage her. They refuse to let her “give up” on her true love! They also go out of their way to try and force Lila and Adrien together at every opportunity.
At. Every. Opportunity.
Class needs to partner up for an assignment? Suddenly Lila is shoved in Adrien’s way.
Lunchtime? They start out together as a “group” and then suddenly all have urgent matters to attend to and now Adrien and Lila are sitting alone together.
Lila needs anything? They push Adrien to help her. Which he does, because he’s a cool guy who will help out when asked.
Every time anything is happening, Adrien is suddenly stuck with Lila.
Marinette is understandably hurt and upset.
And Adrien is confused. But annoyed.
Mostly annoyed.
He doesn’t know what the girls are doing, but manages to catch on that whenever they approach him, it’s going to have something to do with Lila. So Adrien starts taking to avoiding them.
Except Adrien is Adrien. Who is an anime nerd. And a dork.
So his ways of avoiding them are a bit…extreme.
Like the time he hides in a broom closet.
Or the time he dives into a bush.
Or the time he jumps out a two story window.
He starts abusing his Chat Noir identity to escape them.
“Chat Noir! Have you seen Adrien?”
Quick! Play dumb!
“What’s an Adrien?”
Not that dumb!
And in the midst of all this, Adrien finds one source of sanity.
That source just happens to be Marinette. The ONLY GIRL who won’t try to force him to be around Lila. And whom he can vent to about her antics.
Adrien starts taking to hiding out at the Dupain-Cheng Bakery, where none of the girls dare to enter. It becomes his only refuge. A safe place where he can eat pastries and play video games. And a friend is there with him!
Marinette, for her part, admittedly struggled with her friends gone. She was depressed for a good few days. Lonely and bored as well. In her boredom, she used the extra free time to make more clothes. And…found herself actually being more productive. Neat! Well, it sucks because she’s lonely, but it’s at least a nice distraction. And she manages to get more commissions done. Especially since the loss of her friendships means she doesn’t need to follow through on their previous requests or the gifts she was making for them.
It’s lonely, but it gives her time to reflect and focus on herself. And it turns out that while she misses them, not being around them as much has actually helped her stress and anxiety since there’s suddenly no outside pressure to confess to Adrien. No one pushing her into being with him when she’s not ready. And no one to judge her attempts or failures.
It’s actually kind of peaceful.
Which is when Adrien starts turning to her for support and sanity.
He comes into the locker room, begging her to hide him. Without a second thought, she puts him in her locker and tells the irritated girls questioning her that he went out the other door.
Alya comes into the class during break and asks if Adrien is around. Marinette shrugs, pointedly ignoring his presence under her desk and his anxious grip on her legs.
He needs a safe place to hide after school until his bodyguard can pick him up? He finds refuge at the Bakery. And snacks! And games! And a friend! A very good friend.
Somehow, without the interference from the girls, Marinette is calmer around Adrien. Still anxious, sure. But there’s now no one pressuring her to confess when she’s not ready like the outpouring of her feelings is supposed to be a race instead of a genuine moment. There’s also no one to enable her crazier antics. She’s still crushing on him, but it mellows out.
Adrien in turn starts to see more of the Ladybug in Marinette. Which he can’t help but think is cute. Which has him worried his heart is cheating on Ladybug.
Plagg’s advice of “seduce her” doesn’t help.
The girls meanwhile, only make the Liladrien attempts worse. Lila is getting frustrated because their plans are interfering with her plans. Not to mention that with them always hovering around her, she’s having a harder time coming up with new lies and keeping them all straight. Nor is she able to get an akuma and help Hawk Moth. And since the antics of the girls are doing more to keep her away from Adrien than get close to him, Gabriel is losing any inclination to keep her around.
And worse is that through all this, Adrien and Marinette are only getting closer. (The fact he has been making time to come hang out with her as Chat Noir isn’t helping with that…or his steadily growing crush on her)
It all comes to a head one day in class when the girls are plotting yet another Liladrien attempt…
And Adrien and Marinette enter the classroom holding hands.
some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.
Masterlist
Chapter 1: the assassin and his servant | AO3
CW: Suicide, blood, injury, referenced childhood trauma, mild violence
It is no surprise that the League of Assassins has its own fair share of enemies at its tail. Yet recently, there has been an onslaught of attacks, prompting its members to switch between the network of bases—its young heir is no exception. The third base to house Damian sits between two frosted peaks towering over a Tibetan village, first founded by the demon's daughter herself. Though the instigator of the attacks is unknown, it seems that the abilities of the opposing group is nearly on par with the trained assassins. Damian has scoffed at this piece of information; no one stands at the same level as the League.
Unfortunately, Damian has been kept away from the frontlines under Talia's strict instructions despite his insistence to fight. Knowing his status, Damian begrudgingly complied to escape and hide. Even if the food is cold and the night wind sometimes sneaks in to bite his bones, he sits still to wait for news announcing that it's safe to return to the main base.
He sits up on his creaky bed. The ends of the sheets are fraying, and the floors are ice cold, with the gray and brown meshing into a drabby color. The only semblance of a decoration is his twin katanas leaning off the side of his bed frame. It's a far cry from the home he knows, though his routine is mostly unchanged: training from dawn to dusk. But he can tell this day is different. From the commotion happening outside the room and the lingering tension in the air, Damian deduces that another attack is on the way.
Finally, his thoughts are confirmed when he hears the door open. "Master Damian?"
He has his back turned to her, his servant, but he can already picture out her presence. An unsteady stance dwarfed in a thick coat, calloused hands wrapped in fingerless gloves, cheeks that have lost a tad bit of their rosiness nowadays, and hair pushed back into twin braids. A child just like him, but raised an assassin nonetheless. "Lady Talia wishes for you to be relocated again. We will use the back tunnel and rendezvous with our guides halfway down the mountains. They will escort us to out—"
"Where are we relocating to?"
". . . I don't know, Master."
She swiftly moves to the side to pack his things. Damian picks up his weapons, biting back the habitual click of his tongue. He's sick of the cycle, feeling like a coward running away endlessly. "And why can't we hold them off?"
"We do not have enough people. Between guarding the Demon Head and the Pits, and covering all bases . . . The enemies have become too much to handle." Marie ties together the strings of the backpack, before strapping a rolled-up sleeping bag on top.
"If our assassins are competent enough, we would not be struggling ," Damian hisses.
The servant doesn't reply, but he catches the twitch of her upper lip. Like him, Marie has been forbidden from fighting the enemies, but she has been helping with the supplies and cleaning, apart from assisting him in training. She should know how weak the League has become.
"We will leave in five minutes," she says, offering his coat to him.
"What if I don't want to leave?"
"I am sorry, Master, but Lady Talia said—"
"Nevermind what Mother said. I can do it. I can fight."
Marie's expression changes just a little, and her hand reaches up to clutch her sleeve. He knows that even though she serves under him, she mostly answers to his mother. And defying Talia had greater consequences. It is not the first time Damian has wanted to go against higher orders; Marie has often eased him into not breaking the rules.
"I think it is better for you to reserve your energy for training, Master. Let the rest of us worry about the enemies."
"Tt. Grandfather should do something about this."
When Marie finally persuades him, they venture out to the winding halls. She navigates expertly, avoiding the rings of the gunshots and clashing of swords. Damian knows that they are near the exit when he feels the chilling gust of wind. The rocky snow-topped terrain welcomes them outside—there is only white and gray for miles that everything looks like a lifeless desert. Damian blinks against the sunlight, puffs of fogged breath floating along his vision. In the snowy landscape, Marie looks even paler, as if her skin has become translucent.
The swords on Damian's back feel heavier too. He has found that fighting in the cold is more troublesome—his joints are hardened, and the blood rushes out of his limbs. The stiffness of his muscles limit his movement and the thin air makes it difficult to breathe. Their escape party is too vulnerable, and if they were to encounter a hostile group, he will have to make the kill quick.
He glances at Marie every now and then. Her skills are average, and she looks smaller when bundled up. He doesn't miss the way she favors one foot when she trudges in the snow. Though she has been mentored by Talia, she is not like his mother, nor like the other women he is familiar with, like Nyssa or Lady Shiva. She's practically dead weight for Damian. An easy target.
He doesn't remember when she first started serving under him. He only recalls huffing in annoyance seeing the tiny girl hanging around on the sidelines as he trained, occasionally joining him for a spar. He only knows her as the one who brings his food, supplies him with his secondary weapons, escapes into other bases with him, and acts as his mother's slave. She looks more attuned to the civilians in the towns Damian sees during his missions, not someone who has blood in her hands. Rarely does she show emotion, not even some annoyance or defeat when he easily beats her during practice, not even flinching when the other servants delivered sharp slaps on her arms, not even a hint of awe like when Damian first gazed upon the second League base in Nepal. Her expressions are usually blank or incomplete, as if she suppresses her reactions.
She marches close to him, head darting around to check for danger. Damian stops and asks, "How long until we meet the guides?"
"We have one day of travel, Master."
"One day? Could they have not sent a plane?"
"It's too risky…"
Damian clenches his jaw. A day of hiking through frozen hell. He pulls his hood over his head and quickens his pace.
"Wait, Master, we should slow down." Marie calls after.
He doesn't care. The faster they walk, the faster they can meet up with their allies and get out of there.
"Master, wait—" A thump sounds out. Damian looks behind him to see Marie scrambling to get up.
"Tt. You could have stayed behind if you can't even walk."
Marie mumbles her apologies while catching up to him. "We should keep ourselves from tiring out quickly. There is still a long way to go."
"What if the enemies catch up to us?"
"They will not." She purses her lips. "They should not know you're escaping. They should not know you're here in the first place."
"They always know." Damian continues along the nonexistent path. "I'm certain there are moles here."
As they keep walking, Marie sometimes wobbles with the humongous bag but she doesn't trip again. Damian doesn't keep count how many steps they have taken or how long they walk, but soon he starts to stagger and shiver, and the sun fades away slowly. Marie directs them to a small cave carved out on the side of a cliff. It is small and still cold, but it will do for the night. Damian gives in to his aching legs, putting his swords in front of him, while Marie sets up the camp. She kindles a humble fire and takes out the supplies to make a meal.
"A seating mat, Master?" Marie lays out a folded cloth off to the side. Damian crawls to it wordlessly, leaning against the bumpy wall and draping an arm over his eyes.
She hugs her knees and watches the boiling water. "There might be a storm tonight. I can cover up the entrance, but I do not know how well it will hold up."
He doesn't reply.
"Any food you prefer, Master?"
"What difference does it make? It's all tasteless meal kits."
"But—"
"I don't care. Whatever you can make."
"If we wake up early, we can reach our destination in time," Marie continues, "It is colder in the morning but I have heat packs in the bag."
“...”
Damian peeks as she cooks a simple stew. The aroma spreads around the cave, mingling with the shadows created by the fire. The warmth chases away the chill just a little. His servant seems to note his unwillingness to make small talk, so they eat their meals in complete silence, basking in the crackling flames instead. Marie unrolls the sleeping bag and positions herself near the opening of the cave with a knife in hand.
"Please get some sleep, Master Damian. I will keep watch," says Marie.
Damian rolls to face the ceiling. Camp-outs are often bleak, and he practically has to sleep with one eye open. But owing to the soreness of his body, he drifts into deep slumber. He has no clue how long he sleeps but when he wakes up, the fire has gone small and the numbed pain in his back has become more persistent. Damian sits up to see Marie staring off blankly into the foggy snowstorm. She's trembling badly and her chapped lips have turned into a light shade of blue. They make brief eye contact before she jumps up to push out the little snow starting to pile up at the opening.
Damian averts his gaze, buries deeper into the sleeping bag, and thinks to himself how foolish it is for her to stay awake and away from the fire.
He lies awake instead of going back to sleep as the cold has won over his drowsiness. An eternity of gazing up at the darkness, his eyelids begin to feel heavy—
Damian's hand darts up to grab the wrist hovering over him. “What are you doing?”
Marie recoils back in surprise. "Hea—heat pack, Master. You looked cold."
"Tt. Forget it. I will get one myself if I'm cold."
Marie nods weakly, lowly muttering her apologies again, and returns to her post.
***
The next time Damian wakes, it's from noises nearby. The morning light has spilled into the cave, and the fire has reduced into ash and some smoke. The second thing he notices is the lack of Marie's presence—Damian scrambles up and runs towards the cave opening to see his servant locked in a fight with a stranger just on the edge of the cliff. An enemy assassin perhaps. He has her pinned to the ground, but her fingers are tightly wound around his neck. Marie lets out a choked scream when the man jams the hilt of his weapon on her injured foot.
Damian immediately pulls out his katana and swipes at the enemy's neck. He tugs Marie by the collar and kicks the man's large body off the drop. After looking around for other assassins he looks down on his servant, who's already making a makeshift splint from her knife holder despite her ragged breathing and the cut running across her hairline.
"Where's the bag?" Damian asks, wiping off the hint of blood from his blade.
Marie's eyes widen up at him, and they slowly follow down the height of the cliff.
"Really? You can barely hold off an enemy and you've lost our supplies?" Damian's hand clenches around his sword.
"I am sorry, Master, I was packing up and—and I was about to wake you." Her voice wavers. "I—I still have some food in my belt—"
" Save it," he cuts her off. "We have to get down from here as fast as we can."
Even if that assassin is a lone wanderer, they can't risk another similar encounter. If that happens, Damian isn't certain if he can keep himself alive, much less the both of them, especially if they're overwhelmed by numbers. He curses at his stiff hands; he could've been much faster if it were any other circumstance.
"I—I am sorry, Master," Marie gasps out.
"I said save it." Damian begins to hike again, and she follows while limping after crawling into the cave and packing up his sleeping bag.
He's surprised that she survived and held off the assassin, but she did so sloppily that her injury was aggravated. Because of that, they will be slowed down indefinitely, unless he chooses to venture on ahead. That is the truth in the League of Assassins: that kind of weakness isn't tolerated, even if she has some ability to defend herself. Those incapable are quickly rooted out, and those who are prodigies train to become more vicious.
Damian momentarily halts when he observes that the path has narrowed down. They can still cross and climb down, but after one wrong move, they will be falling into a merciless death. He tests the rock, moving one step at a time and clinging onto the shallow crevices of the wall.
He turns to Marie. “Climbing gear?”
She bows her head in guilt. “Inside the bag . . . Master.”
“That is your own fault,” he spits out. “If you cannot cross this, I'm not helping you.”
He feels her trying to follow closely, but her balance is dangerously off. Damian watches as she struggles to walk through. Her breaths are unsteady as she keeps her gaze on her feet. On top of that, she's shivering more than the previous day.
When Marie makes a misstep and gasps sharply when she slips, Damian jumps in to grab her sleeve to keep her from falling. She swallows and thanks him, to which he sternly directs to hold onto him as they cross. It takes them a longer while than he hoped for, but they finally come towards a more spacious and safer landing. Still, the bottom of the mountain is still too far to see.
“I thought Mother sent you to escort and protect me,” he tuts, looking down at her as she collapses on her knees to catch her breath. “Yet you are slowing us down and putting both our lives in danger.”
“You . . . you are right, Master. Forgive me.” She coughs a little, rubbing the area near her wound. “But I was trying to protect you—”
“You were as good as dead if I had not stepped in. Who were you trying to protect?”
“I apologize for my inadequacy.” She has lowered herself into a deep bow, head touching the snow. “Please punish me or kill me as you wish. We are nearing the meeting point anyway; I will be of no use soon.”
“Tt. You don't even deserve to perish by my hand.” Damian looks down at her in distaste. The heir of the League should not be accompanied by such a servant in the first place. It's already a miracle that she has survived for this long, and he doesn't want to get rid of the little help she can offer. Perhaps as a convenient shield if they encounter enemies again.
“Stand up,” he orders. “You are delaying us again.”
She carefully does so, but when she shows her face again, Damian is nearly taken aback, seeing her again up close. Her forehead is smeared with dried blood and the side of her face is slightly swollen. But what surprises him is her usual dead eyes are now glistening with tears.
“You are right, Master. I should not delay us any longer.” Marie sniffles, moving over to the edge.
“Wh—what—”
“I am sorry for not meeting your expectations. There is no excuse for my actions.” She takes out her knife.
“Wait—”
“Our allies are nearby; it will not take long.”
Red. All that fills his vision is red: bold, flowing red against the canvas that is the frost. The intricately-carved hilt sticks out of her abdomen, spreading the ghastly color into her clothes. The blood isn't anything new for Damian to see, but he has never seen it like this.
The white sky and red.
Her white fingers and red.
The white shine of the blade and red.
Heavy drops spill onto the snow, then crushed underneath her boot as she sways backwards.
“Please take care . . . Master Damian.”
Before he can tell his body to move, she has disappeared by the hand of gravity, falling until the fog covers up. Damian wonders where the scream he hears comes from until he realizes his throat is hoarse.
***
Damian jolts awake, cold sweat slithering down the nape of his neck. It takes him a second to realize that he is in his bedroom in the Wayne manor, and the sun is yet to rise. He shivers even though he feels warm, as if the memory of the cold has followed him back to reality. Frustrated, he tugs hard at his hair as he tries to even out his breaths.
He just dreamed of that again.
Next Chapter →
Near the beginning of the Justice League's time, they had acquired a 'prisoner' of sorts. The 'prisoner' is an entity that Mimics a human teenage boy. They have snow white hair that flows as if in the wind or underwater, and they wear a mostly black and white hazmat suit with a stylized D on their chest.
Batman was the only one who had interrogation skills, so he was the go-to for interrogation for their 'prisoner'. Batman had remained in the underground cell block in the Hall of Justice for hours before returning, the sounds of the 'prisoner' banging against his cell continues, with Batman saying he couldn't get anything out of their 'prisoner'.
Things get really busy for the Justice League after Batman attempts to interrogate their 'prisoner' a few more times. It gets so busy that everyone slowly forget that they have a 'prisoner' since his banging had stopped after half a year in their cell. Even Batman, who has become a 'Tired Dad,' forgot about the prisoner under the Hall of Justice.
When JLD is formed, they are told that they can't help out much, as the entirety of JLD is searching for the missing Prince of the Infinite Realms, which causes them to not be near the Hall of Justice.
A couple of years after the emergence of the newest Robin and Superman's son is when the Justice League is reminded of their 'Prisoner'.
Jasmine Nightingale, the Ghostly Queen Regent of the Infinite Realms, had come to their world in search of her brother, the Crown Prince of the Infinite Realms. She followed the faint bond she had with her brother, and the League members were baffled that it led them to the Hall of Justice, specifically, the cell block where their 'Prisoner' is, who still looks like a teenage boy, despite how many years past.
We all know this site is US-user heavy, but I wanna know how many are vs aren't from the land of capitalism.
He can see that the track is entirely broken, and that it will send them straight to the ground.
Danny knows he won't die.
Danny knows the civilians in the train car with him will.
So he slowly freezes the wheels until the car stops, a mere four feet from the edge, allowing the icy tendrils to snake down the support struts and reinforce them. His eyes are letting out a faint blue glow, his hands frosted over, and he isn't so much focusing on keeping the ice stable as he is focusing on getting it into the gears and ensuring that the train car can't be knocked off the track.
Now the civilians are feverishly whispering words of encouragement to him, to keep it up, while the local vigilante family fights the Joker.
Why, oh why, did he think that going on vacation in Gotham was a good idea?
“average person eats 3 spiders a year” factoid actualy just statistical error. average person eats 0 spiders per year. Spiders Georg, who lives in cave & eats over 10,000 each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted
guys i wanted this to be humorous, a lttle fun why is it sad why is it sAD????
lex luthor's ascent from supervillainy to fatherhood | lex luthor's guide series - Based on Father-Son Relationships between Lex Luthor and Danny Fenton.
Off With [the Demon's] Head - The hot mess that is the Al Ghul-Wayne family. Includes: Dad!Danny, Young!Ellie, my OG Danny and Ra's Paradox Fic.
what was lost, found again | lost and found series - Where Danny finds Jason digging his way out of his own grave and brings him home.
down the rabbit hole (goes the throne) - No One Knows AU, Major Canon Divergence. Amity Park has many secrets and Batman Inc. are left to discover them.
bloodlines | born from flesh and bone, clay and stardust series - Danny is the biological son of Diana (Wonder Woman) and Bruce Wayne. A prophecy is involved.
billy batson and the phantom - Adventures of Billy Batson and Danny Fenton. Oh, and Vlad is there too, I guess.
all I am to you is a tragedy, right? - In which a grieving Bruce Wayne brings a Danny Fenton from another universe back with him. This has consequences.
Insomniacs Anonymous - Three-way crossover between DC, Danny Phantom, and Miraculous Ladybug. Social media and chat fic. Now with plot!
pay your dues - An exploration of politics in the Infinite Realms, and the debts that must be paid in full.
weekend wonders - A character study into Stephanie Brown and her resolve as a hero, especially when a close friend comes into suspicion.
present, future, past - Time travel fic in which Bruce falls into the future where everything seems perfect, better than he could have hoped it would be. It doesn't last.
trust no one (trust me) - In a world where the GIW are more competent than in the show, Danny draws some unwanted attention. The people he leaves behind search for him.
bones and all - Inspired by horror films, video games, and fiction. A ghost story set in the DPxDC crossover.
Please note that some fics may overlap on more than one series.
Readable Arrangements - Short Works for DPxDC, mainly romance.
It's All About Presentation - A collection of gift fics.
Writing Problems? I Say Writing Solutions - A collections of works from "Who Wrote That?" games.
Martydom - Stories exploring heavy topics, such as gore, violence, etc. Must check tags for each work.
oh, the (in)humanity - Hazmat Suit AU. Now featuring multiple timelines.
Our Gentle Sin - Centered around a romance between a Danny from another universe, where the end of the world has come and gone, and Bruce Wayne who helps him relearn what it means to be human.
Blood is Thicker Than Water, But So Is Ectoplasm - In which Danny is a clone of Batman.
Born to Make History | written alongside NightShiftShenanigans (@nightshiftshenanigans) - Patrol Partner Event; No Capes AU, Ice Skating AU, featuring Enemies to Lovers Danny and Jason.
For more completed works and series, explore here:
I HATE GEN AI I HATE GEN AI I HATE IT I HATE ITTTTTTT
ITS SO PAINFULLY OBVIOUS WHEN YOU USE IT. ITS HORRIBLE. ITS DESTRUCTIVE TOWARDS THE EARTH. ITS LITERALLY DESTROYING YOUNGER KID’S MIND I HATE IT IGHHHHHH!!
this rant came by because I use em-dashes and PROPER PUNCTUATION and apparently i’m using AI. I AM NOT.
what up, I’m mae, I’m 19 and I never fucking learned how to read | SHE/HER | AO3 FANATIChttps://maeswriting.carrd.co
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