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raise-standard · 17 hours
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mostlyaeiou · 3 days
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please
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BANGER FANFICTION ALERT
HEY GUYS SO
This fanfiction is possibly one of my favorites I've ever read and you should read it too!!!! (get ready to cry and laugh and be in awe ok)
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do-usually · 5 hours
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possumdnp · 3 days
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home renovations (rated T, 4.9k)
Summary: Phil is a new homeowner with a knack for getting himself into awkward situations around cute guys. Dan is a builder who's always working on renovations around Phil's house. What could go wrong?
(An alternate meeting YouTuber Phil/builder Dan AU.)
Read on ao3!
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brendadaaedestler · 2 days
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The Voice in the Stables—POTO Fluff Week 2024
Read my new one shot on Ao3!
Finally, and certainly not two days late, because that would be ridiculous, I bring to you all my one shot for day seven of POTO Fluff Week 2024 hosted by @textsfromthefifthbasement! Thank you so much for hosting, Elizabeth, this was a ton of fun!
This one shot was inspired by my want to write a fantasy AU! I've had the vague ideas for this fic for a while, but it is nowhere near fully plotted out, so it will be a long time before anything more gets posted regarding this AU. I hope you all enjoy!
If you've missed my other Fluff Week works, I shall link them here:
Garnier Manor || Regency AU
The Ocean in a Siren's Eyes || Oceanpunk AU
The Rosy Hours || Non-Western AU || collab with @nerdywriter36
I've Become Rather Fond of Fools || Medieval AU || collab with @nerdywriter36
Love Goes On and On || Crossover AU
What the Forest Hides || Fairytale AU || collab with @nerdywriter36
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I want to write a Danny Phantom cookbook so bad since so much food is mentioned throughout the series. I compiled a list of everything mentioned and a few extra things anyway what do y’all think
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thighguys · 1 month
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kay guys i have never read phanfic before because it always felt a little embarrassing to me to read fanfiction about real people but i am in so deep... do you guys have recommendations please??? i need something good bc my most recent experience with phanfic was reading the hat fic and the cherry fic in middle school and i was in fact scarred for life. would love some cute angst/fluff fics (no pwp pls lmao, though im not opposed to smut in general). anyway thanks guys!!! thanks for helping out a girl in need!!!!! im drowning over here theyre all i can think about
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ew-selfish-art · 1 month
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So I’ve been obsessed with the concept of the Jazz/Jason ship (putting blame and gratitude on @gilbirda for it living rent free in my brain from their fics) and particularly what that would look like if they were established sans all the millions of secrets they both have. So then I got sappy and in my feels and wrote almost 10k words about it.
The result of this is “Sonnet 29 at the end” and the summary below:
Relationships and how to navigate them... A difficult thing when secrets must be kept.
Jazz and Jason are 'dating' and it turns out that one phone call makes it entirely too obvious that her brother 'works' with his family and their friends in 'book club'. Things change up pretty dramatically for their status as a couple once they start to accept the honest truth of it all.
So like go read it if that’s your thing idk.
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lesbianphan · 18 days
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Gentle
(One-shot: 1,8k words)
Summary: Phil doesn't really look at photos of their faces that much. Truthfully, there's only so many gifs, followed by people pointing out how utterly hopelessly in love you and your partner look at each other that you can actually absorb. Phil's brain feels like mush sometimes, with the amount of feeling right there, displayed for the world to see. This livestream was special though - in so many ways, - and he found himself transfixed by the animated images of Dan's gentle touching of his face, feeling some kind of cosmic shift happening on screen, the realization on the tip of his tongue.
Just a fluffy thinkpiece on their current content, and all the little moments they decided to share with their audience these past few months.
Read on AO3
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waywardhells · 3 months
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i wrote phil lester x nordvpn fanfic someone take the english language away from me
Phil Lester x NordVPN - Wattpad
i'm sorry it's on wattpad but this shit is not worthy of ao3
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common-new-fire · 4 days
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enjoy-key-growth · 7 days
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You can see everything clicking above
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summerssixecho · 1 year
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The Civilian Ally Guide
[A Danny Phantom / Batman crossover]
(Follow-up to “Been There, Done That” and “On Thin Ice”)
Notes: Thank you so, so much for reading, for your lovely feedback, and encouragement. So, I did find time (discord sprints are amazing btw) and decided to add a bit more. There will be one more chapter after this one to give this story some closure, and then I promise this is finished (for real this time).
HUGE THANKS to the amazing @crowswithize, @night-wilf,  and @dead-bouquet who helped beta this chapter 💚
Summary for this chapter: Now that the ‘bat’ is out of the bag, Danny must follow a few ground rules.
[Part 1] [Part 2]
The Civilian Ally Guide
Tim would need at least two more cups of coffee to have enough energy to get through with tonight’s damage control. Probably more.
Already dressed as Red Robin, he stationed himself alone at the meeting table with his laptop, where he was doing last-minute adjustments to a few slides in his presentation as if he were preparing for any given Wayne Enterprises meeting.
The group of vigilantes, minus Dick and Duke, had already suited up as well for the eventual patrol. Everyone was restless after Danny’s concerning revelation, no doubt revisiting every previous interaction with him and trying to figure out if there was something else they had missed during their initial background checks.
Only Bruce and Jason were still wearing civilian clothing as their verbal confrontation dragged on near the Batcomputer. The other Batkids surrounded them as their captive audience, waiting for some relevant piece of information to drop that they could use either for research or some sibling shenanigans.
Not that they were getting anywhere with this interrogation.
“Oh, for fucks— are you even listening? I already told you what you need to know,” Jason grumbled, a heavy glare focused on the original bat looming over him as he kicked back in his chair.
Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. “We need to know if there’s anything else we should worry about or prepare for. You know the case we’re building against Masters is still weak. If you want to help Danny, as we all do, we need to know everything you know.”
Well, at least B was changing tactics and now appealing to Jason’s promise to keep Danny safe. The past five times he had asked the same question in the last hour, Bruce had almost painted their newest unofficial sibling like a liability and not like a victim who needed protection.
Because that had been the whole point from the start of this mission: to keep a vulnerable kid out of a bad situation at the hands of a suspected criminal.
Sure, Danny proved there was more to him than meets the eye, what with the whole interest in advanced astrophysics, hinting he had at least flirted with vigilantism in Amity Park, and figuring out their secrets.
The most surprising part of it all was how he had earned the trust and loyalty of Jason Todd, of all people, who was now smirking at Bruce’s frustration. “I’m not your informant, old man. Get your own sources, like I did.”
Huh. Had Jason found something in his research they had somehow overlooked?
Thinking back at what they learned tonight, Jason had been aware of Danny knowing their identities. He also admitted he didn’t tell anyone because he was giving Danny a chance to come clean about it on his own. It all pointed to Danny figuring out their secret “a while ago”, though that didn’t give them enough of a timeframe to work with.
A wave of nostalgia made Tim smile, trying to imagine Danny in his shoes a few years back, following Batman and Robin around. It was funny to see all the checkboxes filled for a more official addition to the family.
“What were you guys thinking?”
Those who were already set for patrol perked up at the sound of Babs’ voice from their comms.
“What do you mean, O?” Tim asked. Maybe two cups of coffee wouldn’t be enough for the crazy night they still had ahead.
“You left Nightwing alone with Danny,” she replied with a deadpan ‘are you seriously asking?’ kind of tone. At least there wasn’t any real hint of danger in her words, though his looming anxiety would beg to differ.
Tim frowned. “Signal went with them.”
“He left less than a minute into their conversation,” Barbara replied annoyed. “He said, and I quote, that he’s not paid enough to deal with this shit.”
Aside from the fact that he doesn’t really get paid… What the hell?
There were so many possibilities of what could’ve come out of Dick's and Danny’s interaction. Even Tim had trouble deciding which was the most worrying scenario: Had they started a pun war? Did they bond through their painful experiences? Did Danny drag Dick for his decisions as a vigilante?
Cass got up from her position next to Damian and Steph by the Batcomputer, and strode across the room toward the exit. “On it,” she quietly said into the comms as the elevator door closed.
Tim could see Robin’s scowl from across the room, even behind his mask. “If he hurt Richard in any way—“
“Danny’s traumatizing him at this point,” Babs interrupted. “Someone should give him a hug after this. Either of them, to be fair.”
That wasn’t comforting at all and it was not good enough to narrow the possible scenarios.
“Please tell me Danny made fun of his Discowing era,” Steph added. 
Despite the movement and giddiness, the conversation between the younger members of the clan still went unnoticed by Bruce and Jason, who were now talking about…trust and boundaries? Nah, that didn’t sound right.
“Worse,” Babs spoke again. “Let’s see… So far, Danny has called Nightwing out for being on babysitter duty, suggested that babysitting was a good retirement plan for someone as old as him, guilt-tripped him because he’s rarely around and shouldn’t be surprised that they haven’t gotten to know each other, bombarded him with puns to emphasize his point, and then layered some heavy existential crisis on top of it all.”
Tim blinked and stared at the next slide on his screen. He probably needed to reconsider a few things written on it from the sounds of it. “How did we miss what an absolute troll Danny is?”
Steph muttered in her comms. “You mean, like when he made jabs at all of us that one time in the living room?”
Shit… Had Danny known then? There was still so much they didn’t know and Jason hadn’t volunteered any helpful information. It would make sense but, three weeks was a long time to keep quiet with something this big.
“On the bright side, we got more intel on Masters that I’m still verifying, so I’ll keep you posted on that soon.”
“Did Fenton reveal how long he has known? Todd is not giving a straight answer,” Damian muttered into his comm, echoing Tim’s concerns.
“Ah, yes. I think he’s set a record at two days after moving in,” Babs replied with a hint of amusement.
Wait, but that meant this had been going on for…
“FIVE MONTHS!?” Tim screeched, his chair hitting the floor when he stood up, effectively breaking the discussion between Bruce and Jason, who stared in confusion at the outburst. He turned to look at Todd with an accusatory glare. “He has known for almost half a year and neither of you thought to tell us!?”
Bruce’s glare was hard to read, but Tim noticed he was hurt. While things with Jason had gotten better, they still weren’t in the most trustworthy zone yet.
Todd had the audacity to look smug in response. “Told you he could be discreet. You got nothing to worry about.”
B’s scowl deepened. “We’ll be the judge of that.” With a tap on his ear, Bruce turned on his communicator. “Oracle, tell Nightwing to bring our guest down to the cave.”
Spoiler approached the fuming bat with a placating gesture. “Whoa, already? Shouldn’t we let Grandpa Wonder handle this for now?”
Bruce sighed tiredly. “We have a case to work on and a new possible rogue in Gotham. If this has been going this long and Jason is adamant about protecting Danny, we’re better off talking to him about the consequences and not about the details,” he exclaimed, before turning with a more stern glare at Todd. “For now.”
“He’s a good kid,” Jason added with an eye-roll. “A huge superhero fanboy like him won’t let our secrets out that easily.”
Tim frowned. “Wait, I thought he didn’t want anything to do with being a hero.” He still cringed at the memory of some of the things Danny had said back then.
Jason’s snort was not at all reassuring. “And you believed him? He’s just too shy to spill his secrets. He read so many comics that he knew what to look out for when figuring out heroes and whatnot. He’s probably treating this like some undercover mission, for all I fucking care.”
With so many things the rest of the family hadn’t known about Fenton, Tim wasn’t sure he could take Jay’s word for granted. There was something playful about it. Was he messing with them somehow?
Or was he messing with Danny?
Damian almost stomped in front of Jason. “Are you telling us we were recognized by a fantasy enthusiast?”
“You can call him a comic book nerd, Damian,” Steph supplied. A look of horror crossed her uncovered face. “Which means, he probably has it all wrong. I mean, no one magically becomes a superhero like in those stories. Or comes back to life out of nowhere. Or finds clones trying to kill them.”
Before Tim could add time travel or dimension jumping to Steph’s “crazy” list, Bruce spoke first. “We can’t risk it. He needs the talk. Red Robin,” he called out and leveled his no-nonsense stare on his protégé. “Make sure you have your presentation ready.”
“Why does he get to give Fenton the ground rules?” Damian argued with a pout. An added sense of pride filled Tim’s chest.
Bruce placed a patient hand on the brat’s shoulder. “Because he’ll be more receptive to someone his age.” Damian grumbled something inaudible and Bruce looked pointedly at everyone in the room. “Don’t forget: he’s still a possible victim and we still haven’t ruled out Vlad Masters’ involvement in the explosion that killed his family.”
The sour reminder of their original mission, plus why they had given Danny enough room to be left alone, felt like a punch in the gut. Fenton did say he was trying to get back on his feet. He had even thanked them all for helping him get closer to his dreams. And had apparently respected their privacy enough to not spill their secrets for so long while steering away from anything dangerous.
Almost half a year… Tim still couldn’t wrap his head around that single fact.
How had they missed that?
Maybe there was more going on. This felt like just the tip of the iceberg, but he would rather look into it first on his own instead of raising more concerns.
“Nightwing and Danny are on their way now,” Babs said into the comms. “Also, fair warning: Danny’s sure you’ll kick him out.”
The concern on Bruce’s face made him look much older. Tim sometimes imagined every new line on his forehead represented each new kid under his care. “We should quell those fears, then. For better or worse, he’s part of the family now.”
Drake didn’t miss the way Jason’s shoulders relaxed. That’s how he knew Danny had already been a closer part of the family way before any of them had realized.
—————————————-
The sight of the Batcave was much more impressive once you could actually use the official entrance, which made the hideout look way bigger than Danny had explored the first time he got there by accident.
The mystery before reaching this place was what built up the exciting reveal: from the hidden code to open the clock’s secret door, the overwhelming darkness at the start of the journey, the echo of bats (both the chittering and the chattering type), the increasing chill… It all set an eerie mood before they finally reached the main room, full of sophisticated tech and weird trophies that broke any illusion that this was just some ordinary cave.
The cherry on the top was the sight of THE FREAKING BATMAN and some of the heroes he worked with in Gotham. While Danny had known who this cave belonged to a long time ago, it was a different experience now that he was invited to enter their sacred space. It made it real.
Part of the team had already gone out to patrol from the looks of it. He hadn’t seen anyone in uniform up so close before, except for maybe Jason, so it was kinda exciting to see both Robins in uniform. Kinda.
He was too exhausted to show any of his genuine excitement.
After the nice little chat with the oldest Wayne sibling, Danny was honestly ready to crawl into bed for the next 24 hours. Or if he had to stay up late any longer, he would rather sneak out to release some of the ice while he figured out how to control it more efficiently.
He just hoped this was the last part of the endless interrogation.
Jason better appreciate all the effort…
“Welcome to the Batcave,” Dick said and motioned him to sit at the front of the meeting table, which was closest to the huge computer where they probably did all their high-tech research. Tucker would’ve been drooling at the mere thought of this setup.
“Are we calling it a day and finally watching the rest of the movie on this much larger screen?” he asked the group.
Dick frowned and the kicked-puppy face from earlier returned. “Wow, that sure was an underwhelming response to the Batcave.”
Oh, right, they didn’t seem to know Danny had already been there (accidentally) in the past. He should probably thank Jason for not giving too much away.
Danny tried not to cringe and managed to show his most innocent smile. “Trust me, it’s not the weirdest thing I’ve seen in a basement.” Which was totally true if one considered a portal to another dimension or the fruit loop’s evil lab.
“We’ll unpack that later,” Tim replied, taking a couple of steps to stand between Danny and the Batcomputer. “We’re here because we want to avoid having another Robin running around without our knowledge.”
Danny stared in confusion. “Wait, you were eager to bring me here all those months ago to…stop me from coming here in the first place?”
Bruce— no, BATMAN, approached him with a stern look. “We need to make sure you don’t accidentally reveal anything to others and to avoid any repeat from past experiences by setting some ground rules.”
This was overkill. What had Jason told them to make everyone think he couldn’t handle secret identity shit?
Danny pointed his thumb at Red Hood. “I could’ve just asked Jay. Plus, it’s not like I’m going to go out to fight crime and evildoers or whatever. You know this already. We even had a memorable dinner about it. Remember? Where we bonded over angst and Alfred’s special pesto sauce?”
“Jason is not the right person to walk you through the rules,” Tim argued and turned to Hood with a grimace. “No offense.”
 “Fuck your rules. Full offense,” Red Hood replied.
Danny snorted. “Fine, lay them on me, Red. Er… Tim.” Why couldn’t they choose names that weren’t so similar to each other? At least Nightwing understood the assignment.
Red Robin nodded and turned on the giant screen, where they were all shown a very formal presentation cover slide, titled “Do’s and Don’ts” in yellow letters over a black font. The “Batman Inc.” logo looked so professional there, it was hard to think this was happening in the Batcave and not in some fancy meeting room at their Fortune 500 company.
Danny tried to cool his patience before he cooled everything around him in the more literal sense with his new power. He knew he should’ve expected Batman to tell him in detail all the ways he would make his life a living hell if he messed up with their secret. He even prepared for the worst scenarios, like being kicked out of Wayne Manor. But a slideshow?
What kind of weird torture was this?
Taking a deep breath, he focused on just getting this over with. “Okay, so is this the ‘don’t go heroing’ anti-pep talk? Or is it a down talk?”
“In a way,” Red Robin replied. “I’ve compiled a list of guidelines for civilian allies that will help you know how to respond to different circumstances.”
“Hold on, civilian ally? I’ve been promoted to an ally? You’re really not kicking me out?” Danny didn’t get them at all. He knew Dick had reassured him Bruce would rather adopt him than let him go back to Vlad, after hearing how he was trying to keep away from the fruit loop. But it felt too easy. Had Bruce been that lenient with the others when he took them in?
“Red Hood has vouched for you,” Bruce said in his trademark rough voice, the implied ‘you better not mess this up’ clear enough in the tone.
Red Hood, in all his menacing glory, pointed a finger and poked Danny’s chest. “You still have to watch your back, twerp.”
Wait, what? Why was he even mad?
“But I got you off that stupid bet, didn’t I?” Danny’s high-pitched tone sounded almost pleading. “Plus you got what you wanted, anyway,” he muttered.
Hood was probably glaring beneath his helmet if his arms-crossed posture was anything to go by. “Yeah, still not feeling any less vengeful, Bill.”
Danny scoffed. “That was a low blow.”
The other bats looked at each other, probably in confusion (it was so hard to read their expressions with their masks on). “William?” Damian asked and somehow managed to make the two syllables sound extremely threatening.
“Wasn’t your middle name ‘James’?” Dick added.
Of all the things Jason used to get back at him… “It’s a dumb nickname, ok?” Danny huffed in annoyance. “One that you don’t want to know about. Ever.”
Dick grinned. “Now I want to know more about it, Billy.” Danny could only groan.
Bruce cleared his throat, shutting everyone effectively. “We’re wasting patrol time. Red Robin, continue.”
“Right, so these are crucial rules to follow, Danny,” Drake said in a serious tone that didn’t match how ridiculous this whole situation was. “If you don’t, it could compromise all of our identities and even our lives.”
The slide changed to a different subtitle: “Rule #1: Do not talk about Bat Club.”
Danny snorted. “You don’t seriously call yourselves the Bat Club, do you?”
“No, that’s just there for the cultural reference,” Tim tiredly replied. Using a pointer laser, he directed everyone’s attention to the ‘#1’ portion of the text, making circles around it. “This rule is the most important one and will probably make some of the others sound repetitive, but safety measures can sometimes be redundant like that.”
“Right, so this means I can’t talk about anything related to this—, “ Danny made a gesture to signal everyone in the room, ”—outside of the cave?” The former ghost hero felt utterly offended by how obvious these rules were.
“Exactly,” Dick chimed in as some of the spark he lost while talking to Danny returned. “We wouldn’t want any leaks, even if we do have a Spoiler out there.”
While the others groaned, Danny ignored the pun and took in a slow breath. “Riiiight, and it’s not like you would, let’s say, talk about a case or a recent patrol situation at the manor, or school, or the library, or…”
Batman frowned when he noticed some of his sons glancing anywhere but at Danny (or him). “You shouldn’t,” he emphasized.
For all the rules they wanted to pull on him, they were the first to break them. Maybe they thought Danny was too clueless to piece anything together from their comments, but he knew there was patrol talk around him all the time.
“Unless you’re a vigilante that sorta, kinda does this without batting an eye. Got it,” Fenton replied with an innocent smile.
Tim seemed to be fuming. Good. Ok, probably not a good idea to piss off the bats, but Danny was too tired and the Waynes had no reason to kick him out according to Bruce and Dick’s reassurances. 
They also had no reason to be so…condescending. That’s the word he was looking for! They were totally looking at him like he was some dumb and scrawny kid who was out of his depth. 
That only cemented his decision of keeping the Phantom part under wraps for a while longer. If only out of spite.
The rest of the formal induction to the “civilian ally” life only fueled Danny’s annoyance further. He never got a chance to do this kind of ritual with Jazz to welcome her to Team Phantom, but he knew it wouldn’t have been fair to treat his sister like she had no clue what she was doing. She had kept his secret for who knew how long behind his back, after all.
At least Danny didn’t wait for a life-or-death situation to do the same with the Bats.
When they finally got to the last slide, he realized why Tim had said their rules would sound redundant. Because they were. It was all awfully repetitive! And for a family of detectives, they weren’t great listeners. Or maybe they liked overexposing irrelevant things. Hadn’t Danny already stated time and again that he just wanted to mind his own business? That he didn’t want to become a hero, or a vigilante, or a villain, or whatever? And just because the previous Robins had sneaked into Batman’s roster one way or another, it didn’t make every other black-haired boy an instant magnet to kevlar and spirit gum.
Danny tried not to comment more than what was necessary. He reviewed the list later in his room, once they had finished the session and excused themselves to join the others in their nightly patrol. Danny would have asked what case they were working on, out of sheer curiosity, but that was against their rules. Besides, it would imply he wanted to do hero things, something that was surprisingly frowned upon in a family of 8 (EIGHT) vigilantes.
Jason was spot on with his opinion of the Bat Rules…
Fortunately for Danny, he had experience from his unlucky confrontations with rule freaks like Walker, so this opened up a new opportunity for him to have a little bit of fun and maybe even teach a valuable lesson to the Batclan in the process: rules always have exceptions. There’s always a loophole. 
And Danny knew he could definitely work with this shiny, new list.
—————————————-
Getting back at Danny had been like watching a slow-burn revenge story unfold.
Jason only needed to give the other Batkids the wrong backstory (comic book nerd was not far from the mark, anyway) and the right nickname (“I call him Billy, the Kid since he’s already like an honorary Outlaw”) to make the little ghost troll squirm.
Despite that petty revenge, Jason wasn’t a total asshole. He kept his watchful eye on Danny, making sure he didn’t feel pressured to go back into being a hero and checking in on his developing powers, which the kid claimed to have now under control.
And he tried to just be there for him. Opening up was not something either undead boy felt comfortable with. But the longer Danny interacted with everyone after the Bat secrets were revealed, the more he started sharing details from his past life with some of them. Especially with Jason.
Having a brother who felt so close was…nice.
As part of the new revelations in the Wayne household, Bruce had insisted on having everyone train Danny in self-defense, which included ways to counteract truth serums and mind control, what to do in case of being kidnapped, how to stay safe online, and how to activate the defense systems in case of an attack at Wayne Manor (which happened more often than they would like to admit to the kid).
Danny had joked to Jason how this felt like being back at home, surrounded by strange new weapons every time he went down to the Batcave, feeling everyone’s out to get him, facing badly named contraptions (“they called everything “Fenton”-this or “Ecto”-that. Pretty much like your “Bat”-everything.”), and even learning to survive the house defenses. Riveting memories from the sounds of it.
So today, after a week of teaching Danny different techniques down in the cave’s training room as a family, Jason decided to give the kid a small respite: a chance to stop holding back and show off more of his energy against someone who was aware of his abilities and wouldn’t call him out.
That’s how Jason ended up offering to spar with him to celebrate his mini-graduation as a civilian ally. It felt like a good closure to their mutual pranks.
Drake, Stephanie, and Cass were already there just to celebrate the occasion. Even Damian, who still didn’t trust the new member of the group, had shown up with the idea of testing Danny himself.
Fenton, wearing a sweatshirt and jogging pants, dragged his feet into the underground room and set his bottle of water and towel next to Jason on the bench, sitting far away from the other teens already stretching and chatting.
“How’s it going, Bill?” Jay teased and received the expected toxic-green glare from the half-ghost.
The kid’s venomous look soon turned into something more playful. “Pretty good, actually,” Danny replied with an unnerving smile. “I got a meme to trend on Zomblr today.”
Jason raised an eyebrow. “I knew you were a damn troll, but never pegged you for being one online.”
Tim, who had given a speech on web safety just the day before, apparently overheard and walked towards Danny with what had to be his best attempt at Bruce’s disappointed glare. 
It was not effective.
“You shouldn’t attract attention to yourself like that,” Drake said.
Danny’s amusement didn’t falter. “Dude, relax, it’s just Zomblr. Besides, I’m using Tucker’s old server. It’s self-sustaining and still brilliantly guarded against all kinds of hacks.” Something almost feral crossed Fenton’s face, as if an idea just struck him. “I bet not even you could crack into it.”
Damian approached the group with his arms crossed. “Tt. If you are looking for a real challenge, Drake’s skills are subpar for the task. Test Oracle, instead.”
Jason shook his head and chuckled. “Trust me, you don’t want to make any fucking bet against Fenton.”
Steph and Cass paused their conversation to see what the commotion was about. “Oooh, are we starting a bet?” the blonde asked.
The bait and the jabs made Drake scowl, but he managed to resist the challenge. “We’re not betting because his setup isn’t safe, anyway.”
Danny raised an eyebrow. “Says who?”
Tim narrowed his eyes in warning. “Don’t make me go through all the digital protocols again with you, Danny.”
“Sorry,” Fenton replied. “I guess I just don’t remember when we covered casual shitposting in your protocols.”
Jason had to hand it to Danny: he knew how to get under people’s skin without overshadowing anyone.
The kid got up from his seat and stretched, popping his back in the process. “Anyway, are we going to talk all day or will I finally graduate from your little summer camp?”
Once they all resumed the warm-up exercises, the conversation switched to mild ribbing about some misstep during last night’s patrol and sharing whatever mundane shit they had done earlier that day. After a few minutes of getting ready, Jason and Danny stood on the mat to start their sparring. In this so-called graduation, they would try to assess how much the kid had learned about physical defense, with and without weapons.
Danny’s smirk was almost electric, taunting, silently letting Jay know he wouldn’t downplay his abilities against him. This filled Jason with enough adrenaline to make him grin back despite himself.
For the first part of the encounter, Danny had to respond to a sneak attack from behind, which the kid effortlessly achieved while making Jason almost trip.
“Oops, watch your step, Jay,” Danny exclaimed not-so-innocently.
Jason swore under his breath. Those had been some really stealthy moves; he suspected a little intangibility was involved. He doubted the others would turn a blind eye to that.
For the next part, they would assess his response to armed threats. Jason took a knife he intended to hold against Danny’s neck in a headlock, but the teen managed to dodge the grabbing arm and kick the weapon swiftly out of Todd’s hand. Jason smirked and tried a low kick of his own at the last minute, only for Danny to push against Jay’s shoulders, flip over his head, and land gracefully on the other side.
“Missed me, Gulliver,” there was that taunt again, but he was not going to call out the pun when the others hadn’t noticed it.
Most of the bats in their small audience clapped. Even Drake, despite his earlier differences with Danny, complimented the kid. “I hate to say this, but you passed. And looks like you’re a natural, too.”
“A natural pain in the ass,” Jason muttered while Danny offered a hand to lift him from the mat.
As the kid’s laughter filled the room, Damian narrowed his eyes. “You did not exhibit those skills all week.”
Danny shook off the comment with a shrug. “Maybe I just wanted to learn from you first. I didn’t think my mom’s training would be useful against experienced fighters like you.”
Cass, who remained seated on the floor, tilted her head. “Wushu?”
Fenton brightened up at the recognition. “Yeah, and other martial arts, I think. Nothing too fancy. She was a black belt and a good shot, that’s all.”
“Why do you keep dropping these breadcrumbs at us?” Steph asked while dropping her head in her hands. “Not all of us are birds you need to feed, you know? Some of us need more substance.”
Jason wiped his face with a towel. “We did find out his mom was a badass, remember?”
When they were about to take Danny in, they had researched what they could about his family and found Maddie Fenton had the skills Danny mentioned, two PhDs, and several published works on alternative energy based on what was likely ectoplasm in layman’s terms. Nothing they could associate with the kid immediately back then.
Drake furrowed his brow as he probably considered all those previous details. “Is that why you wanted to be a hero?”
Danny’s smile was the poster image of innocence. “Oh, I thought you had me all figured out as a, what was it?” He turned to look pointedly at Jason. “Comic book geek?”
Ah, so that was what this was all about. He couldn’t believe that would strike a nerve so effectively.
“Nerd,” Jason replied with a smile of his own. “Comic book nerd. I had to get back at you somehow.”
There was a brief glimmer in Danny’s eyes, the threatening glow of ectoplasm faintly visible. “Oh, trust me,” Danny said in a friendly but borderline mischievous voice. “I know.”
All of a sudden, Duke ran alarmed into the room and everyone turned to face him to figure out what was the issue. “Guys, did you see what’s going on in Zomblr?”
“Tt. Not everyone is interested in some mundane social communication platform, Thomas.”
“It’s okay to say you didn’t pass the under-13 lock, Dami,” Steph said with a smile, making the demon brat glare daggers at her back.
Duke scrolled on his phone slowly, as if searching for something specific. “Someone made memes about us.”
“What!?” Came the collective reply as some got closer to Duke and others pulled out their phones.
Or that was almost the collective response. 
Jason noticed Danny’s amusement was left undisturbed by the news. He shot him a questioning glare, but the kid only shrugged innocently.
The other Batkids scrolled frantically through the content and Jason figured he might as well go take a look at what had made them lose their shit. When he saw Duke’s screen and caught sight of a seagull screaming bloody murder with a red filter, he turned to shoot Danny an equally murderous look.
The fucker had the audacity to smile in response.
“They have this whole series of relatable memes. Like, look at this one…” Duke said as he scrolled down to another image, now showing a bunch of copies of Spider-Man pointing at each other. “They’re making fun of your names, Red.”
Tim looked up from his phone to ask. “Red Robin or Hood?”
Steph snorted. “Oh, no, the Robin Hood meme is a whole different category.”
Jason decided he wasn’t as angry as he thought he would be. If this whole thing made the other Batkids suffer in embarrassment, it was a good prank in his book.
Serves them well for giving him so much shit for the Red Gull thing.
“Danny…” Drake suddenly turned to the only teen not staring at a phone, his voice dripping with suspicion. “Did you have anything to do with this?”
The kid gasped in the most obnoxious way possible. “What? I thought we couldn’t talk about ‘the thing’. Rule number one and all that.”
That only fueled Tim’s annoyance further. “You obviously can talk about the whole Bat secret if we’re in the freakingBatcave.”
Danny looked lost for a moment, his hand rubbing his chin. “Oh, but in that case, it goes against your other rule. Because you’re trying to figure out another hero’s ID. Also, that counts as doxing, right?”
Okay, so maybe Danny wasn’t as angry at Jason as he thought. Maybe he didn’t like being treated like a random civilian by the other bats. His fault, honestly. No one had connected the dots yet between the ice at the docks and an obscure ghost-themed superhero from Amity Park who disappeared right when Danny lost his family and friends.
Tim pinched the bridge of his nose and huffed in exasperation. “I just asked if you had anything to do with these stupid memes, not about some superhero or whatever.”
“Well, you see, there’s this username attached to it,” Danny said as he pointed it out on Tim’s phone. “That is a secret ID. And it looks like some sort of hero. It could be a real one, you know? With a kick-ass name like Meme Titan?”
Damian tutted next to the boys. “That is not a secret identity.”
“It looks like one to me,” Danny argued.
“Danny, you confessed to having a meme trend and also using your friend’s old server,” Tim pointed out.
Jason snorted. “Busted.”
“Oh, I did?” Danny asked with fake innocence. “Because if I was the Meme Titan, then you’re using a vigilante name while I’m dressed like a civilian, right? That’s against your rules, Mr. Timothy Drake-Wayne.”
The others stopped staring at the memes and turned to stare at the confrontation at the right moment Drake’s brain stopped working. “Why?” he asked in a broken tone.
Danny smiled. “Why are your rules so complicated for a lowly civilian like myself?”
“No, why are you trolling us like this?” Tim desperately asked.
The kid patted the other exasperated boy on the shoulder. “There, there. It’s not your fault that your rules are so hard to follow, you know?” He stopped to consider this for a moment. “Well, maybe it is. I mean, on the one hand, you tell me to not use official channels for chatter, but then you ask me to keep my personal chats clean. So where am I supposed to upload the memes I come up with?”
Jason shot him an unimpressed look. “So you used your friend’s supposedly secure server just to shitpost?”
Talk about wasting his backup resources on stupid shit…
“Hey, two birds, one stone,” Danny joked but soon scrunched up his nose. “Uh, pun not intended. See, if I get any suspicious messages, I’ll be doing my job of keeping an eye open for anything weird, right? That’s on your rules, too.”
“Please take them down, man,” Duke pleaded with a tired tone. “Some of us are having enough trouble making our names known, okay?”
Danny grimaced and sucked the air between his teeth. “Sorry, I can’t do that. I’m following the ‘don’t be a hero’ rule by heart. Trying to take down something from that server would involve hacking it and sneaking into Tucker’s house to pull the plug or something, and I think that’s engaging in vigilantism.”
Damian pulled one of his swords and pointed it at Danny’s face once he was close enough in his personal space. “Father will know about this.”
“Calm your katanas, Malfoy,” Danny replied, not at all bothered by the threat. “Your rules also said we can’t talk about this outside the cave, so the dinner table is a no-go. Also, if you tell him about it here and the account is of an undercover superhero, I’m guessing that implies you can’t use my name to address the situation. Hero ID and all that, remember?”
Steph stared at the kid in awe and amusement. “Jason was right. You really are a little shit.” 
Danny’s friendly smile shifted to something almost triumphant. He turned his back on Damian’s sword and walked towards his belongings on the bench. “Me? I’m just some dumb kid obsessed with superheroes, right?”
He finally turned to look at the others on his way out of the training room. “What would I know about keeping secrets?” With one last wink, their so-called civilian ally left the group in stunned silence.
After a beat, Jason picked up his duffle bag over his shoulder to follow the kid who had a death wish. Tim opened his mouth but didn’t get a chance to get a word out. “No,” Jason snapped. “Don’t look at me. I did tell you where to shove your rules.”
Edit: final part here
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