Short DPXDC Prompts #809

Danny is extremely weak and injured and he really hates overshadowing people. He does the next best thing: takes over the shadow of a person. Unknowingly, Danny just possessed the shadow of Red Robin.

Sleep deprived Red Robin arguing with is shadow is not an unknown sight. The shadow arguing back is new.

It doesn't vocalize its disagreement, but it does subtly move, gesticulate, and generally give off vibes. Subtle enough to be mistaken for a trick of the light if you aren't watching it closely for a few minutes, yet clear enough to subconsciously pick up on.

Now, Tim is just wondering how the hell his own shadow, an entity bound to his own movements and incapable of facial expressions, is managing to give him an Alfred level deadpan disappointed stare. Damn he needs caffeine. Another glance at his shadow and; again, despite having no face to express, he's 94% sure it just did Alfred's patented arched brow. Maybe he should turn in early and get some sleep.

Alfred: Ah. Master Tim. It is delightful to see you resting for once!

Tim: My shadow started being disappointed in me. I realised I probably needed sleep if my own shadow was hinting I needed rest.

Alfred: ... I see. I am glad you can in fact, see reason.

next time Tim sleeps, Alfred brings cookies to Danny shade

Alfred holding a cup of tea and a plate of cookies.

Alfred: Now. I would like to make a deal with you young shadow.

The shadow flickers and dips in curiosity.

Alfred: Every time you convince him to sleep you get a plate of cookies.

The shadow vibrates with excitement.

Alfred: Excellent. We have an accord. Your payment for tonight

As Danny gets stronger he will reach an arm out of the shadow to take the cookies and plate into the shadow with him. Eventually Alfred brings him some post its and a pencil and they become penpals of sorts. Danny eventually reveals to Alfred Through these notes that he's a ghost that got weakened by some kind of battle and needed a place to hide and rest to regain strength. So possessed Tim's shadow for now. Alfred starts bringing the shadow 3 meals a day.

3 square meals a day is doing wonders for Danny's recovery.

He's not quite ready to climb out of Tim's shadow yet, but he is strong enough to start subtly helping on patrol. Little things, of course. A slick patch here an untied shoe there. Not leaving Tim's shadow means his influence is a bit constrained to places where Tim's shadow crosses. But Danny still helps how he can. It's nothing much.

At least, not until Tim finds himself in some real danger. A mission gone sideways a clown with a gun to Red Robin's head on live stream. And Danny, possibly panicking slightly, definitely not wanting to find out first hand what the insides of human people looks like. He just kind of reacts. The clown is fortunately standing on Tim's shadow, so it's a simple matter to turn the floor there intangible and let the clown fall into the sewers.

The whole of Gotham watches Red Robin's shadow eat the Joker live.

Danny got extra desserts that night. And the rogues of Gotham are now more afraid of Red Robin. As if the crazy bastard wasn't scary enough. Tim of course need a to have words with his shadow. because, what did you do?

The problem is how to get an answer. Tim can yell and talk and argue all he wants but it doesn't change the fact that his shadow is a shadow. It doesn't have a face and it doesn't talk. It takes him almost a week to figure out the post it note trick

Tim would pull up a PC and keyboard.

Tim: You can touch stuff, you can type. Get to it!

Danny : I helped! Why r u mad?

Tim: What are you? Why my shadow?

Danny: Friend! Injured. Healing slowl.

Tim: Ok. So till you are healed you are hiding in my shadow?

Danny: Yes

The IMPLICATIONS

1) Tim has somehow completely missed every moment of communication between Alfred and Danny Despite Danny Being His Shadow

(Poor sleepy lad)

2) Alfred is the first and only person to notice Danny. Batman wouldn’t let Tim go out with a passenger, he’s compromised

(Tim arguing with his shadow is too normal)

3) Tim argues with his shadow, goes to bed when he loses, assuming sleep will fix whatever is wrong with him

He then assumes his shadow will go back to normal because it’s just a shadow

And maybe Danny does lie low for a bit? But Tim still gets the disappointed stare feeling when he’s pulling all-nighters, and he doesn’t wanna get to full argument stage, so he sleeps more

Alfred rewards this with cookies and Danny heals

Tim does not question why Alfred is bringing extra cookies, or the slightly strange placement (or the new lamp beside the bat computer, which casts his shadow across the desk where the cookies sit)

He does not wonder where the cookies go, assuming he ate them while working

4) Tim doesn’t ask Alfred how to talk with Danny after he decides he’s real, either because he assumes Alfred doesn’t know or because he forgot and must reinvent this wheel himself

Danny does not help him because it’s funny

5) it takes the others an embarassingly long time to work out the whole shadow thing and that Alfred has known all along, especially when he explains how:

Of course Danny chips in to everyones’ arguments that Tim is present for

Tim’s shadow has been independently flipping Damian off with both hands for months

He also gives the others’ shadows bunny ears or moose antlers when he’s bored

Ok, so, these were my tags in my original addition.

They are suddenly relevant with the addition of Danny arguing with, insulting, and messing with the others. Because if Tim is Liminal enough to pick up on the Ghost Speak vibes, the others must be as well. In fact, they may understand clearer since they've all been temporarily dead.

I can't decide which I like better, Damian picking up on the Ghost Speak most clearly since he was raised around a Pit, or Jason since he seems to have been permanently altered by the Pit what with his unfading Pit Rage. Maybe they could both be equal? IDK.

Point! Point is, Danny shadow sending fuck you vibes in Damian's direction and Damian just bristling with anger over it but not being able to say anything without himself sounding like Drake on day 4 without sleep.

If Jason is there he is just watching. Highly amused. Because he can also feel the Fuck you vibes. And see Damian wants to do something. But doesn't want to look insane. THis shit is quality entertainment!

Alfred gives cookies at first but when he finds out that Danny is healing he starts making healthier foods to help with that. He has no idea if it matters to a ghost but Alfred would rather be wrong and do something than be right and do nothing. Danny is loving all this amazing food! And it does help.

I’m sorry, I’m still stuck on the part where every person in Gotham and all of the rogues now think that Red Robin’s shadow eats people.

Tim has been going insane.

Do you know how hard it is to capture goons for questioning when none of them will even stick around long enough to fight you? Look the shadows have been scary ever since Batman “I am the night” began, even before Signal’s umbrakinesis hit the scene, but there were limits.

Now suddenly every warehouse in Gotham is insanely well lit because no one wants to get swallowed.

There are five times the normal amount of cryptid hunters trying to catch Red Robin, specifically, out on patrol now.

Jason would be jealous of the sheer terror Tim now commands if it weren’t so funny to watch it actually mess with him so much.

The worst part is that trying to explain it doesn’t even help. “Oh no, it’s not my shadow, it’s just the ghost haunting my shadow.” Is not, apparently, a reassuring clarification to anyone.

Thing is, no matter how well lit the place is, if Red Robin is between a light source and a backdrop, he has a shadow. Even a very faint shadow is a shadow.

These efforts might not only be in vain, they could be actively counterproductive. If a warehouse is set up with 15 different light sources and Tim "just happens" to stand in the middle of them, he could easily be casting a massive, amalgamate shadow stretching in 15 directions at once.

I was waiting on something like this! Finally someone thinks with light sources (context! I was looking up how to draw shadows on figures and happened to be recommended a video that showed how lights work on clear crystal shapes,)

If you want to get rid of shadows you need diffused lighting! Get some semi transparent filter over those lights.

Think of overcast days where you can't tell where the sun is coming from

Tim walks into a room or something with perfectly diffused lighting and as soon as he realizes it, kinda freaks out. Since he knows Danny takes the shape of his shadow, he's worried about what happens to Danny when he has no shadow.

on anoher occasion, some idiot somewhere goes the other direction: the way to get rid of shadows is to have no light at all

just forgot one crucial detail

this is _Red_ _Robin_ you really want to go up against him in a dark room? I certainly wouldn't.

though now you've got me curious. What *does* happen to Danny when the shadow goes away?

You still have a shadow, even in diffused lighting. It's, uh, between your clothing and your skin... It's in your pockets. So Danny would be fine, but he wouldn't be doing much helping. Like being in a dark room - he's not going to vanish or get hurt! He's just going to be out of the way for a little bit.

So Danny's fine and Tim probably needs to go to bed if he briefly forgot such basic details about how light works.

"The boy doesn't move for a few moments. At all - no strange head tilting, no blinking, not even an expression to his face. Until, suddenly, he moves, and he changes and shifts, his arms becoming longer and grotesque, fingertips turning into iced claws, his hair moving up in the air as if floating, and the Crown over the top of his head lighting up in blue flames. A white ring forms around his body, made out of what looks like tiny little stars spinning around him, and then another one and another, a total of five, all spinning around the boy like some sort of a human astrolabia. The darkness behind the ice wall stills for a moment. And then the fae bares his teeth, no, fangs, and throws himself forward, shattering the ice shield and growling."

- Married to Winter by @corkinavoid

Oh, I love that scene! I remember I wrote that chapter with the thought, 'how about mildly vampirish Danny' in my head and I regret nothing lol

Fun fact, this was not the first time I used the words human astrolabia. Another fun fact, I only realized that fae should maybe have wings when I was writing chapter 7, I think? And by that time, it was too late to change anything. So there are no fae with wings in that work (except for Dan, but that's a different kind of wings).

Feral, angry and protective, otherworldly Danny, my beloved <3

Vulture Culture

ive seen alot of ficlets or prompts associate danny with crows cuz they're associated with death and all that but what about vultures?

like- Vultures are scavengers that eat the flesh of dead bodies. They're recognized as symbols of death around the world! they could create twice the chaos instead of crows:

gotham city wakes up one day to find itself infested with vultures, no one knows where they came from but they seem to crowd around a blue-eyed, black-hair child... oh no, someone hid him from bruce wayne and the joker.

Fae adjacent! Danny, pt. 3

Jason returns to consciousness with a scream trapped before it could come to life. He twisted his neck back and forth and back and forth.

It was the last thing he did before he died. When the Joker left and told him to say hello to the big guy, Jason could not muster up the energy to make a single sound.

But Bruce… Bruce was here this time, heavy head making the mattress by his leg dip.

The scars that ran over his face stretched as he blinked.

“…B?”

Bruce’s head shot up, eyes bloodshot and bags heavier than a Gotham socialite’s solid gold Dior purse.

“Jaylad.”

Jason- Jason was alive now. Bruce’s hug felt warm, the tear spot on his shoulder was damp as his dad cried while hugging him.

And Jason should be happy. He’s alive again. His dad loved him.

But all he could think about was the cold of the coffin, the squelch of mud and dirt, and the unerringly wrong feeling of knowing he came back but he came back wrong.

——

Tim had wandered Gotham in the weeks following Jason’s reawakening. He wasn’t avoiding Bruce Wayne. He wasn’t. But Tim knows he’ll have to answer questions soon. He just wasn’t ready.

Tim looked up at the den of pixies- pixies were real!- and squared his shoulders. He did his research. Tim Drake walks into the den with nothing but foolish hope and Gotham-brand audacity. He’ll get answers about Danny today. He will.

Dr. Danny M.D. part 3

To @op-sys-chaos, thanks for the idea.

Leslie would like to say that It’s been a quiet week, but that would be a lie, because this week not one, not two, but THREE big baddies of the week thought that it was a good idea to mess with Earth, and by extension, the Justice League. The whole week Leslie and her team have been directing and guiding all of the still active medical trained individuals around Gotham’s chaotic ruins. It’s been almost a year since Danny joined her team, she already had seen Danny react to emergencies like a seasoned pro despite this been his official first year of practice. That kid alone has pulled people out from the debris so fast and careful that it almost looks like he makes them go through the metal and concrete, then he calms them down with that charming, crooked smile of his, a little joke here and there with his soothing voice to finally apply proper treatment with such speed Leslie could swear he’s doing some sort of reality shifting!

It is the middle of nighttime and Danny is doing night shift in the makeshift tent Leslie and her team are using as pediatric ward, big fire torches illuminating the surrounding area that the survivors are using as camp. Leslie is checking the antibiotics and medical supplies inventory when Larry, a police officer that organizes the night guards in the camp, calls her from the entrance of the makeshift tent.

“Hey, doc! You got a guest!” The dirty red head says as he opens the entrance wider.

Appearing from behind the man and walking inside is the big Bat himself. His suit is dirty and his cape has been ripped from the back.

“Where is Nightingale?” It’s what Bats says as greeting.

“You can’t take my intern Batman. I need that boy here.” Leslie says back, her tone cranky – sue her, she hasn’t sleep for three whole days and there no more coffee around –.

“You don’t understand, doctor. This goes beyond you or me.” Batman adds.

“And what the hell does that even mean?!”

“Woah, calm you horses doc.” Danny suddenly says from behind Leslie, making her turn with a jump.

Danny is dirty, his hair sticky with sweat and clothes with splotches of blood – very much like Leslie herself –, in one hand he is carrying Harrison, a meta toddler that imprinted on him after Danny gave him a bit of chocolate, and on his other hand he is holding hands with Judith, a little half-alien girl whose mother entrusted Danny with while she went with the collecting patrol looking for food and medicines.

“Danny.” Batman calls when he sees the younger man.

“Hey, Bats.” Danny says back as he gives Leslei Harrison to carry, same with Judith’s hand. “Just give me a moment.”

“Danny? You goin’ with Batsman?” Judith asks.

“Yeah, but I’ll be right back. Stick close to doctor Leslie or to Larry until your mom comes back, alright?”

“Don’ go.” Harrison whimpers.

“It’s ok, Harrison. I’ll bring you a cool space rock.”

“Me too! I wanna one too!” Judith pleads with shining eyes.

“Of course, princess, one cool space rock for you too.” Danny promises.

“Danny, what’s going on?” Leslie manages to ask.

“It’s alright, doc. Bats knows I can bite more than this. I’ll be back by tomorrow night, I promise.” Danny reassures with a sweet, doll like smile. A soft thing that makes Leslie’s heart clench.

And then Danny steps away and with an aurora borealis of light he completely changes.

Gone is the black hair and lovely, if a bit eerie ice-blue eyes, instead there is a flowy mop of pure white hair and a pair of neon-green eerily glowing eyes. Now he is even paler than before, his skin now having an ethereal glow to it. His dirty, bloody clothes have changed into a sort of one-piece suit, black and white in color.

“Wha-?!” Leslie cannot find the words.

“Gasp! You’re a magic princess~!” Judith squeals with stars shining in her hazel eyes.

“Woah~!” Harrison quietly exclaims.

“Yeah, something like that.” Danny laughs as he messes the little girl’s hair.

“Danny what-?!” Leslie is still trying to catch her breath. “This wasn’t in your curriculum!”

“I promise I’ll explain everything to you when I come back, doc. But right now, I gotta go with B.” Danny says as he tries to calm Leslie.

“You better, boy! Or God help me I’ll whoop your bump!” Leslie exclaims, the older woman very aware of the children she is holding.

After that Danny walks towards Batman, they exchange some words, Batman explaining the situation.

Apparently one of the many threats to human kind that the Justice League is fighting it’s an eldritch creature from a place called the Infinite Realms? And apparently Leslie’s intern is capable of facing off said threat by himself?!

But the cherry on top is when Danny freaking carries Batman bridal style – like Bruce doesn’t weigh over a hundred kilograms with his suit on! – and starts to fly up into the sky.

When all is said and done, Leslie makes Danny sit on his knees and scolds him to kingdom come for not properly informing her about his past vigilante life and not specifying the type of meta he was on his meta-status – because now by law ecto-contaminated people are considered a type of meta and ecto-entities a type of extraterrestrial individuals (because they are not from the planet earth and don’t follow the usual laws of physics) –.

“What if one day we have to work with Blood Blossoms, Danny?! You can’t be near those things!” Leslie scolds with the passion of a worried grandmother.

DPXDC prompt. Field trip.

Some people would call gothamites petty, but given that most of the USA population treated them as scum, they believed that their behavior was justified.

They didn't like tourists, to put it mildly. Therefore, after learning that in their city were people on a field trip from Amity Park who could not leave Gotham for several days due to weekly escape from Arkham, the news channel immediately decided that a short interview from the guests would definitely amuse the locals. The reaction of outsiders never ceases to be ridiculous.

Reporter: ~Good afternoon~ Gotham News! May I ask you to share what you liked most about our wonderful city?

Mr. Lancer*still in a cold sweat and looks at every passerby as a potential villain*: Uh, no, me..It's so unexpected. Well, first of all, people here are very…

Danny *is high after the tasting samples Dr. Crane gave him for free and is extremely eager to share his happiness with others*,* picks a microphone*.

Danny: Gotham is the best city in the world! Like seriously, damn, I'd like to die here. Although there are constant shootings somewhere, half the time people don't even shoot at me! I haven't been this relaxed since middle school! And in the evenings, there is often such a pleasant scent of fear and despair on the streets. This fear toxin of yours is a real miracle! It's sooo good!

Sam *decides to take the initiative in her own hands before Fenton says too much*: Personally, I am very pleased with the number of green spaces you have in your city. It's nice to see that here eco-activists are really being listened to. Also, the fact that most restaurants have a thoughtful menu for vegetarians left a very pleasant impression.

Dash in his favorite T-shirt "it's not gay if he's dead": Four words. Hips of Red Hood. The fact that it is not marked in the guidebook as the main attraction of the Crime Alley is a real crime. This dude clearly never skips leg days. My respect.

Tucker: What can I say? The speed of internet here, even during villains attacks, is absolutely  unbelievable. I don't want to leave this place.

Jazz: I love Gotham! Finally, I was able to buy all the works published by Dr. Harleen Quinzel. *girl picks up an impressive stack of books* For some reason, they are not available online.

The camera points at a red-haired guy with a twitching eye.

Wes: I'm 85% sure Bruce Wayne is Batman. I have a proof and I am ready to provide it.

A girl with a "Good Guess" pin from Riddler enters and takes camera away from conspiracy theorist.

Star: Sorry, he slipped out at night and went to look for problems. Again. Don't pay any attention to him. He's always like this when he drinks more than two energy drinks in a row.

List of Mr. Lancers 'DO NOT's that he keeps adding things to, while in Gotham:

Do not treat Riddler's (or anyone else's) attacks as escape rooms

Do not eat/bite/chew/salivate on locals

Do not make bets on which vigilante will appear the fastest, or at least do not cheat by tripping ones you did not bet on

Do not catcall the Catwoman (both whistling and kitty-kitty is prohibited)

Do not make snowmans from Dr. Freeze's snow, or at least do not do it in front of him

Do not argue with vigilantes on tactics and strategies

Do not raise the dead

Do not throw fish at Mr. Cobblepot, or if you must, give it to him gently

Do not interfere with mafia, or if you do, keep the rest of your classmates out of it

Do not infest Gotham with ghosts and/or stories of ghosts

Do not have a fishing competition in the sewers

Do not approach Arkham Asylum under any circumstances

In addition to the above, do not decrease the population of Gotham Rogues, murder is a crime (note thar accidental murder can also be considered a crime)

Do not, for the sake of Lord above, throw a pun-off with the Joker

Do not steal my crackers

Again, DO NOT RAISE THE DEAD

Dick goes to check on Tim, and finds Tim in bed cuddling his boyfriend. Cute! The boyfriend doesn't have a pulse and is a corpse. ...Not cute.

Tim's boyfriend Danny is a meta with powers based in Death.

Tim's used to them.

One of them is that when he sleeps his heart and breathing stop. But when he wakes up, they come back online.

At first it was super weird.

But, eventually, it became a fact of life.

Now, however, Dick's gone and grabbed Bruce, and they're holding an intervention because "necrophilia is wrong", and Tim just wants to go home and find out what morgue they sent his boyfriend to.

The fact that Danny not only slept through them carrying his body out of the House, and getting buried alive is funny enough.

But the absolute Gold here is that the Bats instantly decide to Bury him within hours of finding him.

Finding out that he didn't come from any Morgue, deciding to Bury him, digging the Hole, putting Danny in, refilling the Hole, and putting up a Custom-Made Grave Stone, all happened within the space of a few hours at most.

They were shockingly quick.

Crack

Rooftop Duel

Danny: It’s fine! I have regenerative healing!

Nightwing: I still don’t think that’s a good enough reason for a sword duel on the roof.

Danny proceeds to stab himself in the leg with a knife he acquired at some point. (He absolutely kept it after someone tried to mug him and stabbed him with it.) He pulled the knife from his leg and positioned it for a better view as the wound in his leg stitched itself shut again.

Danny: See! Totally would’ve been fine!

Robin: As you can see Nightwing, my opponent here would have been fine without your interference. Now leave, so that we may continue!

Tim: aren't those poisonus

Danny: uh, I sure hope not. I've had five.

Tim: ...you know that's not a good metric, actually, you're already dead, you can't tell the difference

Danny: lies and slander, I sure can

Tim: yesterday, when you've stolen my coffee and drank it, how was it?

Danny: um, well, it was fine? I mean, it was just coffee?..

Tim: Damian spiked it with arsenic.

Danny accidentally stops a version of the Injustice Universe from happening.

He's exploring other dimensions, just sightseeing with Dan (trying to teach that guy how put on his Empathy Cap) and Dani (she disappeared over Mexico but that's fine she'll find them), when he sees a hero from this dimension clearly not right in the head.

Also, about to attack a woman that very clearly knows him.

Danny would never forgive himself if he was made to hurt Sam or Tucker, and he can tell that this hero, Superman, is straightup about to make this lady a cloud of red mist.

So he drops his invisibility, focuses everything on speed, and barely reaches her before the hit lands, turning them both intangible.

"Wait, he just needs-!"

"Nope, we are not doing this."

With those words, he phases through the ground with the lady and absconds.

Dan can handle the angry guy with Super Strength; he's been itching for a fight anyways.

Danny's currently getting yelled at by the lady, so he's a little preoccupied.

Dani shows up later with tacos and ice cream, when the fight is already over and everything is fine, being like "What'd I miss?"

Jason blinked in surprise at the image that had been added to their groupchat. He recognized that face. In fact, you could say he knew it very intimately now.

After debating for a moment, he sent a reply. “I think I may have found ‘em”

“Do you still have a visual?”

Jason’s gaze flicked to the figure. Still asleep in bed next to him.

“…yes”

Danny "can bend his form to his will aka no bones" Fenton and dick "bendy aka no bones?" Grayson have the most terrifying games of twister

Meanwhile, everyone else is just

"Are you guys sure we don't need to call an ambulance because that knee for sure looks dislocated"

Bruce has to go off-world for something since he does not trust his children to not destroy Gotham while he is gone, he calls up his cousin to watch the kids. (Grown up) Danny shows up and has to wrangle his cousin’s children. Danny is full-on expected to be babysitting a bunch of little kids, he is surprised when most of them are adults.

Bruce's kids didn't expect to have a babysitter---they are not pleased. So they decide to make Danny's job 10x worse.

Danny wasn't originally going to butt into their patrols, but they're being annoying. So Danny messes with them on patrol.

(Alfred is on vacation and the thing Bruce has to deal with is short notice. Bruce did not want to cut Alfred’s vacation short)

"Bruce, please. I know parents loose perspective when it comes to their own children, but most of these are adults!"

"The only one that's still a minor is Damian." - Added a man with pale skin who probably just reach his 20's.

"I'm leaving." - Danny said, turning to leave the Manor.

"Common Danny, I can't possibly leave them unsupervised." - All the "kids" glared at Bruce, not that Danny could blame them for it. - "And Alfred is on vacation, your my only option."

Danny pinched his nose and then turned to look at the youngest - "How old are you?"

"14. I am completely capable of taking care of myself. This whole ordeal is unnecessary. You can leave." - Said the kid crossing his arms.

Danny gave Bruce an unimpressed look but Bruce just said - "Danny, someone has to look out for them while I'm gone, please. You owe me one."

"And I can't believe your using it for this." - Danny said exasperated. - "Okay, sure, whatever, I'll babysit your teen and adult children. If this is what you want to spent your favor on, then go ahead."

"Thank you Danny. Kids, behave yourself with Danny." Said Bruce as he left the room with his luggage.

Danny could see how all the "kids" in the room rolled their eyes, and he was sure a girl whispered "we're not even his kids, what are we doing here?" to another girl in a wheelchair. Danny limited himself to a long sight.

"Okay." Danny turned to look at the young adults and the teen in the room. "I guess presentation are in order. My name is Danny Nightingale, and I'm a distant relative of your... Father, parental figure and/or adult that looks out for you(?). As it seems, I was left in charge of keeping you from bringing the city down in flames."

"It's always good to meet new family! I'm Richard Grayson, but, you can call me Dick. I will be staying at the manor for a couple of days, but, I actually live at Bludhaven right now so..." - A man that seemed to be in his mid twenties said. He most be the optimistic of the family, Danny thought as he nodded to him.

"My name is Damian Wayne and as I said before, your assistance is not required here Nightingale, it would be better if you leave." - The kid said taking his attention from Dick.

"Pleasure Damian, unfortunately, I do owe your father a favor, so I will be staying."

"Tt"

The kid may be the one that give him the must trouble, which is annoying since he's one of the few he does need to keep a close eye to. Danny already wants to go back to his lair.

"Well, I'm Stephanie, this one here is Barbara. We both are not Bruce's kids, so you can forget about us after we leave."

"You both spent enough time here to be consider his kids. If we can not scape the babysitter, you can't do it either." - The one who had pointed out that Damian was the only minor before said.

"Common Tim, my own father living with me at the moment. I already have a more adult adult looking out for me, so this babysitting can't possibly apply for me by definition."

The three of them started bantering and Danny turned his look to the girl standing beside them. She nodded and pointing at herself said - "Cassandra. Cass."

Danny nodded back, then turned to look to the only 2 that still hadn't presented themselves.

"Um, I'm Duke, and no offense dude, but, I'm pretty sure I'm to old for a babysitter."

"I know, I know, I also think you're to old for this." - Danny said while rubbing the back of his neck - "and you?"

"Jason. I have my own apartment, so don't bother "looking out" for me. I can't believe the old man called me for this shit."

The summary of the introductions: We don't want you here. Danny's starting to wonder if the favor he owns Bruce really is worth this. He was expecting to be call for some kind of magical/ghost problem, or maybe some world ending catastrophe. Isn't that what you call your cousin who also happens to be the king ghost for?

Danny took one more long breath.

"Okay, so, let's just talk ground rules and contact info." - Everyone is looking at him like they can't believe he actually said that, but well, he was left in charge after all. - "I'll be managing the kitchen since I've been told more than half of you are banned from it. Don't get yourself killed, don't get other people killed, don't make anything that would get the police, the firefighters, or an ambulance involved. You know, the basics."

More than a couple of the "kids" snorted, and Stephanie got close to Tim and whispered in his ear - "Great, we have to play normal civilians in front of our babysitter."

And really, Danny which they would. He would prefer don't getting involve in their vigilante life of Gotham. He already solved all his vigilante business long ago, and the king business is enough on his plate, but then again, that's the real reason why he's babysitting adults.

"For your night life," - Everyone freeze at the mention. - "I won't be joining you on patrol, but I'll be on the cave and manage any medical emergency. Y'all need to get a general check up after your patrol, it's not optional, but I'm sure Alfred has already told ya that. Dick, do you debrief on your apartment on Bludhaven?"

"... Um, yeah... Who-"

"Great, I'll be there for your own checkups when you go back." Danny snapped his fingers and pisces of paper appeared in front of everyone. "There's my phone number and my summon sigil. For the summon sigil you just need to hold it and call for Phantom, and I'll be there. Well, that's about it, you can go do whatever you want."

Danny was ready to disappear in the hallway and go for his bedroom in the Manor, which he hadn't seen in a decade or so, but he's sure it's still the same. Unfortunately, the kids suddenly seen really interested in keeping him in the same room as them.

Of course, given the situation, one of the Batkids will summon him during patrol just to see what happens. Because, come on, it's not like they are not curious, and this is probably one chance in a lifetime when they know exactly who they are summoning and that it's safe.

Except when Danny shows up for summons, he is in his King/Eldritch/Ancient form.

Their babysitter is a goddamn horror movie entity.

hear me out, danny speaking russian (dc x dp hc)

so i was just watching a video about space, right? allegedly, turns out if you (an american) wanna board the international space station you must speak russian fluently since the only way to get there is by a russian shuttle and pilot (nasa apparently ended their own shuttle program way back when??) (don’t quote me on this)

so picture danny learning russian at a relatively young age for the sole hope of going to space and such, and it coming out every once in a while when he’s mumbling or something like that (it’s basically second nature to him)

so danny ends up at gotham for whatever reason (demon twins, reveal gone wrong, idc, they’re all cool) and he wants to start anew, so he pretends to only speak russian?? ig?? it’d make for some funny/interesting BatFam interactions i suppose

i don’t know where i was going with this but i want to read prompts of danny speaking russian

So, yeah, I know Jason can speak Russian in canon, but even if all the Bats can, it might not help them.

Because the thing about Russian is that it has the weirdest fucking grammar and sentence structure, and you can miss half of the words you need to say, make up completely new words as you go and you will still be understood, given that you follow the rules of word-forming. There are suffixes and prefixes and all that crap, and Russian is really, really flexible.

What I'm saying is that Danny doesn't have to speak proper Russian. The Bats can learn it all they want and he - given he learned it early on and he was aiming for fluency in it - can still speak in absolute nonsense. And it's not a made-up language, because a fluent or a native speaker would understand him easily.

Imagine the confusion of Bats, who are still catching some parts of words and sentences they can understand, but it never makes complete sense.

A demon twins au that I have been thinking about for a while

Danyal and Damian find out that Ra's intends to have them fight to death for the title of heir so they decide to have a duel during a mission and fake the loosers death. This way the stronger one gets to have the title, just like how Ra's wanted, but they wouldn't have to kill eachother. They don't want to disobey their grandfather, but surely this would have the same result without unneeded tragedy.

Damian wins so he claims that he killed Danny for being weak. They promised to never try to contact eachother so the league would not find out. They wouldn't know eachothers situations from the outside after all. They couldn't risk it. After years Danny knows that Damian is Robin in Gotham but doesn't know if hes out of the league or not. Damian has no idea where Danny is and never told the batfam.

Then some magican tries to kill Robin by summoning his dead brother to exact revenge. Damian is sure that the summoning will not work because Danny should be alive and well, only to be devastated to see the ghost of his brother appear from the summoning circle.

Additional thoughts. They have their own code made up of sign, gestures, and body language they can use to communicate hidden meanings behind their words or just completely different things. They have mastered the art of having a private conversation while to outsiders it looks like they're verbally ripping eachother to shreds. I can see them using this to figure out how to deal with the situation while keeping up the ruse. Maybe the bats come in and deal with the mage while Damian and Danny are "arguing" and "antagonizing" each other. While in reality Damian is convincing Danny that the bats can be trusted and Danny is debating if the risk of revealing everything is worth it, and if its already too late not to. And when they agree on dropping the act the bats get whiplash from the arguing turning into a tight hug in a second.