I Desperately Need More Of This-

Bruce has always been...complicated. With his kids. Granted, the life they lead doesn't make anything easy, but he has always, in some way, failed them.

Watching them all die was evidence enough of that.

If he'd trained them properly, if he'd been there for them, then they wouldn't have died.

All of them came back, but that doesn't forgive that they died in the first place.

So when he came across a fumbling teen hero, with no mentors, who had come to Bruce's attention already dead, he feels that he's been granted a chance.

This kid, should he train him, isn't at risk of dying on Bruce. This kid, who really does need the help, is not a kid that Bruce would ever consider his kid; he has a ghostly home (a haunt) and a ghostly family (a fraid) that love him very much.

Bruce's only position in Phantom's life would be as a teacher.

He's been granted a chance to see if his emotional attachment to his sons (and daughter) is interfering with his ability to train them properly, or if he's just lacking in the knowledge of how to effectively train a teenager for combat.

With Phantom's living impaired situation, if it turns out it's just his teaching skills, then Phantom won't actually die.

Phantom doesn't come by Gotham often, but he manages to pop in just enough that Bruce hammers out a training schedule with him.

He doesn't mean to start ignoring Damian or Tim or Dick, it's just that Phantom needs so much more assistance. He knows basic combat, but not the kind of combat he'll need in the wider world of heroes vs villains.

Phantom needs more work in how to think tactically. Phantom needs more work in sticking to the training schedule, or to any schedule. Phantom needs help understanding high school classes he can't interact with due to being dead.

All in all, Phantom just needs more help.

That's all it is. That's it.

~~~~~~

Damian is...upset. He's upset.

He's pissed.

This random stranger, who isn't even one of his brothers, is taking all of Father's attention. Not even paternal attention, the other teen is stealing away all the time and effort required to ensure Damian's training doesn't slip for himself.

Timothy, too, is noticing the lack of attention to training, and has taken it upon himself to drop by more often to fill in for Father, sparring with Damian and going over training exercises.

Richard, as well, is not only noticing but very annoyed. He's pulling Father aside and has had many furiously whispered conversations with him, but to no avail.

Nights when Phantom is present Damian already knows Father will pair with the dead hero instead of him, leaving Damian to partner with one of his brothers.

Timothy and Richard insist that it's just some strange and outlandish ploy Father is playing, but Damian knows better.

It's because he isn't good enough.

It's because he failed to meet Father's expectations.

He will have to push himself, then, to exceed them.

He can start by going on patrol alone.

perfect, don't stop. Give Bruce that one more traumatic incident so that he’ll finally go the therapy. 😈

I think Duke should be immortal in the "cannot die" sense and Jason should be immortal in the "cannot stay dead" sense and that they should keep this a secret from everyone including each other. And then they should both get caught in a situation that Absolutely Should Kill Them Instantly, miraculously not die, and then be like:

Like Jason shields Duke from some massive explosion or something, and Duke is horrified because he thinks Jason just pointlessly sacrificed himself for someone who would've been fine anyway - only for Jason to very casually come back from the dead, look at a completely unscathed Duke Thomas, and go, "Hey, what the fuck."

And Duke should look at a freshly revived Jason Todd and be like, "Me what the fuck? No you what the fuck."

And they end up both agreeing to not say a word about this to the rest of the Bats. Which poses issues. Because here you have a pair of unhinged vigilante siblings that do not fear death, that additionally now know they don't have to fear each other's deaths either, both unwilling to give anything less than everything they have to do what they think is right (and/or what they really, really want to).

So. Some things that happen in consequence:

Duke throws Jason off a fifty-story building in pursuit of some shoplifting rich asshole that was caught on camera insulting Duke's favorite metal band and being a classist fuck about it. This does, incidentally, re-traumatize Nightwing, who was ten feet away and not prepared to see his little brother yeeted off the side of a building, no grapple in sight - but it also traumatizes the shoplifter when Jason lands right in front of him, grotesquely knits himself back together, and rises from the ground in a distinctly horrifying fashion just to beat the shit out of him. So Duke takes the win.

Jason shoots Duke in the head to get him to stop shining light in his eyes in the middle of a gunfight. He does stop, but only because Batman shows up out of nowhere, and now Duke gets to pretend to be grievously injured while Batman yells at Jason about "self-control" and "maturity" and "putting teammates at risk." Meanwhile Duke is playing up this horrible concussion that he doesn't even have. Jason is seething. (Duke gets checked out at Leslie's. They convince her to lie for them by appealing to her inner petty bitch.)

Jason gets his payback a few months later by poisoning himself at an undercover op and subsequently forcing Duke to drag his dead body around a mob-owned nightclub for like half an hour trying to convince seasoned criminals that this brick shithouse of a man sprawled awkwardly across his back is just... really wasted. Totally not a corpse.

Both Jason and Duke get caught in many, many, many explosions after that initial reveal, and it's always terrifying for the rest of the Bats. It gets to a point where Batman refuses to partner Duke and Jason together for literally anything, because they always act fucking insane. Big metal vehicle moving hundreds of miles an hour towards an unsuspecting civilian? That's okay! Jason will just throw Duke in front if it. Unknown, volatile substance potentially being used by a notorious serial killer to murder his victims? No lab testing required! Duke will just pour a whole pint of the stuff on Jason's bare arm to see how it reacts. Bomb that can't be disarmed? Why wait for backup when these two psychopaths can just grab the thing and jump into the harbor? Like, genuinely. The stress. Bruce is one particularly traumatic incident away from actually considering therapy.

I’ve seen DP x DC fics of all kinds where Danny is adopted by, related to, parent of, or dating one of the batfam

But I need more of Ghostling Jason Todd adopted by Danny

Especially if Jason is built like a fridge and Danny is still like 14 in human years

But Jason is like, at 17-19 in human years but in ghost terms he’s at most an older toddler and Danny , a sassy child,sees Jason and like

“Who’s sassy lost baby is this”

And just adopt him?decides”mine, he’s my sassy lost baby”

I really wish there was more like this, if anyone has any feel free to tag them.

I read the “too much teeth” and my brain immediately went: Oh! Tim must be a Fae in this AU. With no other context. It just decided that the too many teeth description meant that Tim was in fact, not a human either. 😂

Caffeine Competition

Dpxdc Prompt #51

Danny just met the first person in the world that might have eyebags to rival his own, and a coffee addiction to match.

So what is his first instinct? Challenging him to a coffee-chugging competition of course.

After his new adversary, Tim apparently, accepted his challenge Danny was quickly reminded that he was not, in fact, a human being, and that caffeine in large doses could be poisonous to them. This became quickly apparent when dozens of cups of coffee into the competition Tim vomited and proceeded to pass out.

Danny stayed with him until he woke up, but just as he was about to depart he was stopped.

"Wait! Can we do this again sometime?"

Danny looked at him like he was the strangest person on Earth, but responded, "Uh sure...?"

Tim looked back and smiled at him with too many teeth, had a sharp alertness for having just recovered from fainting, and a look on his face that practically promised to uncover all of Danny's secrets in one fell swoop.

Imagine if they were so excited because, they were sent back in time by clockwork, and allowed to change one thing to make the world better. He told them they would know what they were supposed to change when the time came (he already knew what would do and saw how much better the timeline would be) so as soon as they discovered what time period they had been sent back to, they immediately set to work on getting rid of the Jocker. So many people’s lives would be better without him they knew this for a fact. They only had one change they could make, and getting rid of the Joker was the best way to make it count.

After making sure the other important things still fall into place afterward (like Tim joining the team. They may or may not have helped Jason spot him), Clockwork took them back to the present. From Harly, Ivy (they def interacted with her if Jaz was interning with Harly), Bruce, Dick, Jason, and Tim’s POV, these sibling just appeared in Gotham one day, suspiciously around the time Joker “got sick” and then promptly disappeared out of existence once the batfam took in Tim.

Now, years later, (it’s only been like, a day for Jazz and Danny) they reappear, looking exactly the same as they did the last time they saw them. Chaos ensues as the batparanoia goes through the roof with Batman trying to figure this out. Harley and Ivy are confused, but are also quite happy to see their friend again, and Jazz is equally as excited to see them, talking about the old days as if they were yesterday.

I agree with some of the other reblogs that Harley still becomes a rouge, but I think she’s not nearly as violent, because she doesn’t have the tacked on trauma the Joker caused her. She fits into the anti-hero role a little better than just straight up villain.

Danny: Jazz! I just scored you a personal internship with Harleen Frances Quinzel! The same woman you write your college entrance essay on!

Jazz: *Squeal* How did you manage that?!

Danny: I pulled some strings on the other side. Pays to be Ghost King. Now pack your bags, we're going to Gotham for two years!

Jazz: We?

Danny: Of course. Like I would leave you alone for months on end. I got myself a paid internship in Wayne Tech.

Jazz: *Louder Squeal* This is going to be so much fun! Did you know Miss Quinzel just accepted a job as Arkham Asylum? She's going to personally work on Joker!

Danny: You have the perfect window to posion him!

Jazz: Dreams do come true!

I like this one, the idea of Duke being able to see them too is fun and cute, and perfect bonding for the two of them. ☺️

Danny had been adopted by Bruce Wayne. Of course his new siblings were busy a lot but he knew that they were confused by him. Even Cass who went by body language was confused because of his inhuman mannerisms. But the thing he knew they were most confused about was that there was a section of the manor he absolutely refused to go near. It’s not his fault that he was part ghost and could see what was really going on there. Not that they knew about the half ghost part of his life.

you should definitely follow the link to the other thread, it’s just as hilarious. If I laugh much more, I might just die from lack of oxygen. 😂

Tim was four days into a sleep deficit so he felt that to say that this predicament was his fault was a bit of a reach.

For it to be his fault he would have had to cognizant of the last 16 hours.

All he wanted to do was take a power nap in the nearest closest durring the Waynetech gala but nooo Bruce had to be taken hostage by the Joker.

So he did what he thought would work best and shoved uncle Clark into the nearest emergency bat storage and told him to suit up.

Maybe he looked a bit more confused than normal but they didn’t need a reporter they needed Batman!

That being said wasn’t uncle Clark supposed to be off-world?

Oh no.

———————

Jack honestly had no clue what was happening for the last six months so when he was told to be Batman he merely just shrugged as the frankly exhausted teen left him to his own.

With his son turning out to be part ghost to the government hunting down his said son and having to move shop halfway across the continent.

This might as well happen.

Grinning like a kid on Christmas, Jack plopped on the finishing touch.

“Oh Danno is not going to believe this!”

Raising a cloaked arm with a flourish Jack struck a pose.

“Alrighty Jack enough messing around! Time to save the party, Fenton style!

Shifting his feet, Jack took a deep breath before smoothing his face the best he could. After all, couldn’t have a smiling Batman! Before walking out the room and taking running leap through the wall to the streets of Gotham before grappling to the nearest building.

continuation from a separate post thread (Danny is Bruce’s clone). Op said the old post got too long, so they made a new one. Had to share the new story. ☺️

Clone Danny long post

The footprints lead Alfred out of the room and to the right but quickly dried up on the short hair carpet.

Alfred checked every room to the right of Danny's. He had to have left the family wing. 40 minutes of searching later, Alfred was about to go down yet another hallway when he heard faint music and metal clanging. He walked closer to the sound until he could make out some words.

🎶I- can hear the sound of violins🎶

🎶long before- it begins🎶

The gym. Someone is at the gym. He told Dick to relax. This is the opposite of relaxing. He stops for a moment outside the door to gather himself. People listen to empathy more than anger. When Alfred pushed the door open and looked down at the workout area, he didn't see a disobedient clown. No. Instead, he was forcibly dragged back to 1989, staring at a 13 year old Bruce doing chest presses. He always looked the most at ease when he was at the gym. The rest of the time, he would be looking for his parents' killer or discovering seacret organizations. Alfred used to cherish the time Bruce spent at the gym because he knew it was the closest he could get to calm. Shortly, Danny put down his 3 kg weights and addressed Alfred.

"Morning, Alfred. Breakfast already? Thought I had more time." He sounded like Bruce, more than just his voice. Danny had his own way of talking, but this was all Bruce.

"Young Master," best not to object to his perceived reality, whatever that may be. "It's almost seven in the afternoon, not morning." The sun would have spoiled that for him anyway. "And dinner will be ready in two hours."

"Oh, ok. I'll be there at nine then." Danny simply went over to the next station in his routine. Right as he sat down on the floor, something seemed to dawn on him. "Alfred? Did something happen to me?" He asked innocently.

Alfred remained frozen, staring at the young boy. "What would give you that idea?"

"I woke up in a different room than usual, I had to switch down all my weights, and the files in my father's office have been moved. And then you came in looking like you've seen a ghost." Ever the detective.

"Nothing gets past you. I'm afraid you had a rather bad fever and spent a few days in bed. I would like to examine your health, but it can wait. Let's say, eight-thirty? Before dinner?"

"Kitchen at eight-thirty, got it."

Alfred left the room and braced himself on the door. He thinks he's Bruce. He probably thinks it's the 80s or 90s, too. It's a good thing most everyone is out hunting down clues and/or committing extreme acts of violence.

Danny had changed into an all black suit (bowtie and kerchief included) before coming to the kitchen at 8:27. Hmm, he does like to be punctual. His temperature and heart rate were normal, for once he didn't have bags under his eyes, which responded in time to light. But, he was definitely younger than he was when he arrived. Dick wasn't imagining that.

"Can you tell me your name, age, and today's date?"

"Bruce Thomas Wayne, 12, almost 13, today is November, uh," He struggled a bit. "17th? Maybe a bit later, 1988." He avoided eye contact. "Just so we're clear, I wouldn't have known today's date even if I hadn't been sick."

Alfred smiled a little, remembering how much he used to care about getting good scores on everything. "I'll be sure to include that in the report." He retorted sarcastically, earning a small grin back. "Now go wash up, dinners almost ready."

As per routine, Alfred started by bringing out the helthiest dishes. They all knew it was a trick to get them to eat vegetables, but no one was ever willing to wait. Danny was so hungry, even the brussel sprouts were appetizing. Now if Alfred could just stop staring at him and actually put the container on the table.

"Alfred?"

"W, what?"

"Are you OK?"

Danny had combed his hair when he'd asked him to wash up. This was Bruce. This was the boy Alfred raised. The one who had fallen asleep in his arms every night for months because he refused to be alone in the dark. The one who used to "forget" to tell Alfred about the handfuls of peanut butter in his pockets, ruining thousand dollars dress pants on six different occasions. The one who wanted to keep street cats knowing full well he was allergic.

"Do you need a day off? Or maybe a week?"

"What? No. I'm alright master Bruce. Just, uhm, glad to see you have your appetite back. That's all." Keep it together now. He set down a steaming glass dish full of baked carrots, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, onions, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, and mushrooms.

Danny took as big a serving as he could fit (vegetables can only go in the top right on his plate), making sure not to let the butter run too much. The next dish was steamed turnip. Crap. Another vegetable. Can't mix them. Can't put it somewhere else. The only option is to finish the baked vegetables fast.

By the time he finished his quarter of a turnip, six more dishes had already shown up. How many people does Alfred think live here?

At 21:11 Dick walked into the dining room. Dressed in a plain shirt and pants. The two boys looked like they were going to entirely different events.

"Hello." Danny invited. "I'm sorry, have we met?"

"This gentleman is detective Richard Grayson." Alfred interjected. "Master Dick, would you care to join us for dinner?"

"Oh, where are my manners? Here, have a seat. There's plenty of food."

The dinner after that was awkward, but nice. It's good to have some company once in a while. Ever since his parents died, it's just been him and Alfred.

He did wake up late in the afternoon, so it shouldn't be such a surprise that he got to stay up and watch his gray ghost VHS tapes way later than his usual bedtime. Only interrupted occasionally by Alfred, making sure he's keeping all that food down. He had to have been really sick. He doesn't even remember throwing up recently.

He must have dosed off at some point because he was awoken abruptly at some horrid hour of the night by an ear pierceing scream. He hurried to its sorce in the family wing where he saw what looked like another Bruce, except this one had white hair and wore a black onesie. He appeared to be melting into a glowing green sludge. Bruce knelt down and grabbed the boy, who stopped screaming. Opting to bury his face in Bruce's chest instead.

Alfred came just as the gruesome scene was over. 4:50 am, same place, same time, every night. Alfred had hoped something had improved when the screaming stopped early. But rather than the typical gorey mess, there was Danny, inconsolable and covered in slime.

"Wh, wh, ah?" Who was that? What was that?? Why was that???

"Master da- Bruce." At lightning speed, Alfred was on his knees and holding Danny. "Come on, you don't have to be here." He tried to lift him up, but Danny resisted.

"...Why do you have the carpet cleaner?" He accused. "Did you know this would happen?"

I also wonder how Danny would react too, like, would he be upset about the name being just passed on like that? Cause I feel like he would, and would a quite righteous fury.

dc x dp where Jason and Danny met in the Infinite Realms while Jay was dead, but he went by “Robin” and that’s the only name Danny knows him by. similarly, in the Realms Danny goes by Phantom and Jason doesn’t know him any other name.

my logic here is that self determination is important to ghosts. most of them goes by a name that defines them as they are in the afterlife, which allows them to at least somewhat conserve a piece of the identity they had while alive but also move on and grieve their own death in some sort of way. Jason died as Robin and it’s a really important piece of his identity that he brought with him into death, and Danny named himself postmortem. ghosts don’t fuck with names, so every one called them that.

it of course leads to shenanigans, such as Danny running into Jason post-resurrection, while in the living realm because of course, recognizes what’s left of his mangled core after the combined effects of his resurrection and his dip in the Lazarus pit, and calls his name. his ghost name.

Jason was hanging out with his brother at the time (he got coerced into participating in a brotherly bonding activity) and having the name “Robin” called out at them but them all on edge, but quickly relaxed when he too recognizes Danny. now he has to explain to his brothers who that guy is, how he knows about him being Robin once upon a time, and why they should trust him.

Danny’s just happy he found the friend he thought had been Ended years ago

Danny, whose been dealing with this for about a month now and is just annoyed: *Tiredly groans* Why, must you torment me this way.

Jazz, definitely the one who opened the door: *Wiping tears from her eyes*

The batclan: *Le confusion*

Danny has been declared the Ghost King at Fifteen. He hasn't been told this yet, but his self-proclaimed closest ghost friends, Johnny 13, Ember, and Kitty, have volunteered to not only tell him, but be his bodyguards.

They do not, in fact, tell him.

They instead make it a game of "Get down, Mr. President!" and dogpile him from perceived threats. Threats like the toaster. Or Dash Baxter. Or Mr. Lancer. A stray cat that walked out of an alley. A fight with Skulker.

A bird.

The worst bit is, even the GIW and his parents have stopped attacking those specific ghosts, because it's far more interesting that beings that mimic human behavior have picked up a childs game to mimic.

So he'll be home, at the kitchen, and with an almighty cry of "GET DOWN MR. PRESIDENT" one of the three ghosts will launch themselves over him dramatically.

There is not escape.

The security system in his house has been programmed to ignore them.

His parents love the opportunity to talk to a ghost, and are starting to go back on their "all ghosts are evil" thing.