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#the fentons are neglectful and danny's in denial
helloilikepurple · 6 months
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DC X DP - Danny Drake
Tim's parents didn't intend to have another child. One was plenty. And then an one drunken night resulted in Janet getting pregnant. It's a bit of a predicament, seeing as neither of them want another child (who will need to be fed and raised and stuff) but are also both generally against abortion. So, she rides out the pregnancy, limiting public appearances so it remains secret. She doesn't want to deal with the publicity her being pregnant would get her. It's too much drama. So she keeps it secret from everyone but her husband, and gives birth in a private hospital.
She refuses to sign the birth certificate. She doesn't want this baby tied to her. She doesn't even bother thinking of a name. She gives him away as soon as he's out. A yet-to-be-named newborn Danny is handed off to an orphanage as soon as he can be. The Drake parents go through medical procedures to ensure another pregnancy won't happen.
He stays there for a only a few weeks before an over-eager, excitable couple comes by with their young daughter, in search of a son to teach all their ghostly hunting ways to because for all Jazz, even so young, is smart, she has no interest in their research. Also, Maddie doesn't want to go through another pregnancy since her first one wasn't very enjoyable (she was in a lot of pain for most of those 9 months, basically unable to work on her research).
They see Danny and are quick to adopt him (well, as quick as you can be, but, with it being a Gotham orphanage, it's a lot quicker than it should be). Jack claims he can see the ghost hunter potential in him and Maddie thinks he's adorable. She's excited to have a little baby again to take care of and hold. She'd always wanted a big family, and while 2 children isn't really a lot, it's enough for someone as busy as her. Jazz is excited to have a little brother, and takes to reading books about babies and parenting to better take care of him. She loves holding him, and brags to all her friends about her baby brother, who's undeniably the cutest baby ever.
Danny grows up with the Fentons, not knowing he's adopted. Everything happens as it does in the show. And then, when Danny is 15, his parents take him to Gotham for a ghost hunter convention, Jazz busy with university hunting. Going to Gotham should've been a nice vacation for him. No ghost attacks for a good two weeks. Just Danny in Gotham - with free reign of the most crime ridden city in the world. Yeah this wasn't gonna' go well.
Gotham is dark. The air smells like sewage, death and bitter hope. The people feel like candles flickering in a storm, stubbornly refusing to go out. Danny decides he likes it. The hotel his parents choose is fancy (paid for by Vlad at the insistence that Maddie couldn't stay in some random, run down place after catching wind of their trip). Danny thought it suspicious but figured he'd deal with it when he needed to.
Anyway, Danny has his own room right across the hall from his parents. It's got a queen sized bed, full sized bathroom with a jacuzzi bathtub, a walk-in closet, a tv and a balcony. It's very nice. Danny sets his bags down and collapses onto his bed with a huff. He lays there for a minute, and then reaches for his phone to text Jazz, Sam and Tucker that he made it to the hotel safe (something they insisted on).
And then he stews.
Mum and Dad, for all their brilliance, can be forgetful when it comes to their children. Danny basically has free reign to do whatever for most of the 2 weeks they'll be in Gotham (which is his whole winter break and a little of the first week back).
Vlad's invited the Fentons to a few galas he's attending, insisting they'll be able to show off their inventions to a bunch of people. Danny knows its an excuse for Vlad to spend time with Maddie, make digs at Jack, and show him off as if he was his son. He's not looking forward to it, but the offer came with free, great hotel rooms so it could be worse.
(Plus, with Vlad paying he can spurge on room services and bleed him dry.)
Besides, Danny could do whatever he wanted the rest of the time. He could go to the planetarium and stuff. All he had to do was not out himself as a meta-adjacent person in a meta-hating city. Easy peasy.
All in all, what better time for all this to happen than on Christmas?
Honestly, even with the galas, the garish Christmas decorations all over the place, the music, and Vlad, this is seeming like a better Christmas than usual.
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notedgyanymore · 1 year
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Dp x Dc idea
You know those fics that has Danny and Damian as twins, and when they were younger, they were forced to fight to death, Damian won and Danny barely survived and end up losing his memories as a result of his injuries. Well, usually in those stories Danny remembers his brother as soon as he sees him again, but what if instead Danny needs a similar emotional event to trigger his memories back.
Basically, Danny discovers that Bruce Wayne is his father at a gala that he was invited by Sam, he and Damian reconnect and become friends Danny doesn't remember his past and currently has no interest in living with his biological family. Damian is somewhat grateful for Danny's amnesia because now they get to talk without the baggage of their past.
Damian plans to explain to Danny what happened in their past and apologize for his mistakes, but right now, his priority is helping his brother to get out of a clearly abusive household by slowly gaining his trust, so Danny can warm up to the idea of living with him in the mansion, his plan seemed to working, though Danny is still in deep denial about his parents' neglect. Then the worse happens, the Fentons find out Danny's secret and try to kill him, he gets away thanks to the help of his friends, who after finding a safer place immediately call Damian for help.
Damian gets to their location as fast as he can, but when he gets there, Danny remembers. The familial betrayal, it happened before, Damian has once tried to kill him. Feeling unwanted and in despair, Danny runs off, after hours of flying injured he falls into a farm owned by a sweet old couple who helps him make a full recovery.
Note: The old couple are Superman's parents if it wasn't clear enough.
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vigilant-insomniac · 2 months
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Missing Context (Danny Phantom Fic)
One shot, 2300 words
There is a supernatural reason why no one recognizes Danny as Phantom. A color swap alone would not be enough for sure. Good thing Mr Lancer is not that easily fooled
Featuring: some Danny & Lancer, vague descriptions of injuries, identity reveal
---- William Lancer's spine popped satisfyingly in all sorts of places when he stretched in his chair, where he spent the last few hours grading student essays.
Like he did most Saturday evenings. 
It wasn't the best part of the job, he much preferred teaching and direct guidance, but it still was enjoyable at times. 
Some students rushed their work, sure, but there were always some essays in the mix that would show him a fresh perspective that he himself even hadn't considered before. Sometimes it was also just interesting to see his student's personalities bleed into their work. By that, he didn't mean the persona they each used in front of their peers, but something more genuine, something more real. 
That's why he didn't dislike this kind of desk work. As a teacher there was so much responsibility in recognizing red flags and intervening before things escalated. 
Be it difficult home lives, mental health issues, social issues…. His students might rarely talk to him but he heard them in their writing. 
Usually it was the gaps between their personalities and their personas that drew Lancer's attention. 
Like Mr Baxter's… the boy was high up in the social hierarchy, but used the resulting power to push people around. In his writing, however, he usually showed a lot of understanding for the disadvantaged protagonists, who have to fight their lot in life. 
It only took a parent-teacher night for Lancer to connect the dots and has since been working on a way to help with Mr Baxter's troubled home life. 
At last the boy had confided in him somewhat. So hopefully they would soon make progress and arrange for a relative to take in the boy while his father took therapy and went to AA meetings. 
Things were still in the draft phase, but Lancer was confident that by the end of the school year, Mr Baxter would be able to see a safer environment for himself. 
But that was one of the more straightforward cases, even if it was sensitive and worrying. 
This year he had another troubled child in his class, and the problem was… Lancer knew something was wrong. But for Orwell's sake, he couldn't figure out what it was. 
Danny Fenton was a complex puzzle. The signs pointed in all sorts of directions. 
Some said "parental abuse" but then they said the kid was obviously well loved… even when the parents showed a concerning mix of neglect thanks to their workaholism and helicopter vigilance. 
He was jumpy some days and lethargic the next, he would sleep in class or not show up at all. 
His work ethic was all over the place as well. He obviously cared about his grades and his school work. Lancer could tell whenever he did turn something in. 
Young Fenton also cared a lot about justice in his essays. He often pointed out the flaws and pressures society put on the characters of their fictional worlds. It somewhat extended to reality as well and Danny would call out his bullies on their behavior, almost self-sacrificially when it came to protecting his peers, but then, paradoxically he would run at the slightest sign of Amity Park typical troublesome ghosts as if even his friends' safety meant nothing to him.
Even if not by his parents, abuse was still high on the list of his theories of what made Danny so offset. Maybe more than what he’d get from bullies too, since those somehow didn't actually faze Fenton, as if he was used to much worse… and wasn't that a scary thought. 
A small kid like Danny, in a small town like Amity Park couldn't be in a gang. This sounded like denial even to his own ears, since that might actually explain some things, but he also just knew that it wasn't that. 
There were several signs missing for that scenario, and overall Daniel's personality and sense of justice wouldn't allow it. 
Much more likely would be that the kid was actively looking for fights by butting into bad people's business. Maybe vigilantism of sorts. 
But again, Amity Park just wasn't that big of a town to make this theory make sense. 
William put down the pen and rubbed his face exhaustedly. 
He had already visited the Fenton home, had spoken with Jasmine and even attempted to get something out of Danny directly. But nothing had led anywhere so far. 
And tonight wouldn't get him anywhere else either. 
With a sigh he decided to take a break and go for a walk. It was almost dark and the air should be refreshingly crisp. 
After another spine popping stretch he got up and made a detour to the kitchen. He might as well take out the trash. 
The building was quiet when he left his apartment. Only some sounds of TVs or Radios filtered through the closed doors of his fellow tenants. 
The air outside was fresh bordering on cold and if he hadn't brought the trash with him he might have reconsidered stepping out of his home. 
So he hunched his shoulders a bit as he made his way around the building, bracing against some breeze that cut through his shirt and made him shiver. 
The bag was thrown away quickly and he was already turning around when he heard something. 
A groan. Of pain. Lancer turned back towards the alley and squinted into the shadows while reaching for his phone in case he was about to be mugged or attacked by a ghost.
Once he had it ready to call the emergency line, he held his breath and listened. 
Had he imagined it? He wasn't sure. The dark always spurred on his paranoia.
But after a moment he heard another muffled gasp. Something was there. 
"Hello? Do you need help?" he called carefully into the dark as his heart picked up pace. 
Then he noticed: No… not dark. 
Something was illuminating the alley. He hadn't realized at first, but now that his eyes were adjusting he could make out a faint green glow coming from next to a dumpster further back. 
"If you're okay, say so, otherwise I will come over now, please stay calm, I just want to help" Lancer announced with false confidence. His heart was beating a mile a minute in anticipation and sweat was starting to form at the back of his neck. 
Someone who was hurt or scared might lash out and he was not sure how to deal with that. William Lancer wasn't a fighter after all, so he relied on language to project his intentions and hoped for the best. 
There wasn't a reply other than some irregular breathing and more sounds of someone in pain. 
He was almost there when the mystery person ( because this was too loud for a rat, and what else would take breaths like that, if not a person?) did gasp something out that Lancer couldn't quite catch but sounded a lot like "Stay away". But even though Lancer couldn't quite understand it, his heart skipped. The voice sounded young. And scared. 
Dread filled him and Lancer stopped his stalling. He took the last few steps and when he reached the dumpster and peered in the gap beside it, it gave away to a short figure, bracing itself against the side of the container and clutching their side. Not a Person. Not a human. Yet someone very familiar was huddled in the gap. 
Toxic green eyes stared up at him with hostility and apprehension. 
"I said, stay. Away." Phantom snarled with bared teeth. 
His whole posture, no, the whole aura around Phantom, radiated danger. 
Lancer's phone clattered on the stone floor of the alley as he staggered a few steps back. 
Almost every instinct told him to run. To get out of here while he still could, that the thing in front of him could rip him apart. That he was facing a cornered animal. 
Almost all of his instincts were sure he was in danger. Almost. 
Even with all the alarm bells, Lancer forced himself to take a stuttering breath. He never had been the wisest person. 
The voice sounded young. Even the second time around when there was venom and Spite and bared teeth gnashed and snarled and the oppressive threat of- no. That wasn’t what he heard when he heard the painful sounding gasps earler…  he shook his head. 
Something was wrong here. 
Now it was instinct against instinct. Lancer could feel them clash painfully as if it was tearing him apart. There was the desire to flee, to run, to get back to safety, to run from the beast in front of him that could disembowel him with one claw… 
And then there was his instinct as a teacher that right now screamed against his fear that there was a child right in front of him and the child needed help. 
He tried to look at Phantom again. Really look at him. Something he had never gotten a chance to before. Phantom right now. Was……… He couldn’t see. He couldn’t properly pin down what he was looking at. His brain screeched “Monster”, but it was more like his imagination overlaid that image. 
Against the pull of his mind, he slowly crouched down to eye level with the ghost, who still stared at him with his teeth bared and coiled to strike growling and hissing at him to back off… 
Lancer squinted at the figure again and tried to really look. It was as if there was a filter. As if something prevented him from really seeing the creature in front of him- 
Like an optical illusion or an after image all conjured up by his fears. 
"I said. Get away." Phantom…. snarled?… no. It wasn't a threat, it sounded more like you'd expected someone in pain to sound. Something more like a plea to be left alone. Not aggression, but desperation. 
Lancer blinked a few times against the weird haze of confusion. Phantom wasn't coiled to strike either, he was fighting to even stay crouching. Green oozed out from under his hand he had pressed to his side. His face was tense with clenched teeth against pain. 
"You're hurt." he observed and something flitted over Phantom's face. 
"you're hurt and you're…. you look…" William trailed off. What did Phantom look like. Like a Child? Small?... Familiar?
Phantom's expression did something complicated between pain, horror and fear. Phantom's expression, there was something about… his face…  his features. Lancer knew that face. He saw it every day he felt like. The colors felt wrong but the more he squinted against the fog, the more his mind screamed at him that this child was someone he knew and cared for. He took the figure in once more and furrowed his brows, he knew this person, why couldn't he place them-
Out of nowhere a sharp pain flashed through Lancer's head and for a moment he only saw white, he thought Phantom had done something. He clutched his head as if he had to hold it together. 
Then, as sudden as it had come it disappeared. 
When Lancer looked up again, with sweat on his forehead and breath coming in short bursts almost matching with the ghosts labored wheezes, whatever had been distorting his perception was gone. His vision was clear as day. No haze, no fog, no distortion.  
He couldn't marvel at the phenomenon though, because now that he wasn't seeing through a filter anymore, he was no longer staring at Phantom.
The kid was the same. But there was no mistaking it. 
He was without much doubt looking at his student. 
Lancer had been close to a panic attack for the last few minutes now. But this was giving him whiplash. He recoiled and landed gracelessly on his butt when the realization hit him like a stack of books. 
So this is what he had been missing? The big centerpiece of the puzzle? The one thing that made all his observations finally point into the same direction? 
In front of him was his troubled student. 
Danny Fenton. Who had white hair, green eyes, glowing skin… and was currently bleeding out behind a dumpster in an alley.
And really, there was no mistaking him. Kids dyed their hair all the time. Some of the goths even used colored contacts on a daily basis. It was impossible to look at the kid in front of him and not recognize Danny Fenton.
"Hot cat on a tin roof," he commented.
Fenton picked that moment to gasp in pain and to curl in on himself further. Barely managing to look back up at his teacher, but what Lancer saw was fear. Fear of William. 
The teacher carefully reached out to his student and helped steady him by his shoulder.  He felt like ice. 
"You're- Danny, you're hurt! I have so many questions right now, but first, how do I help? Can you stand? Should I call your parents? An ambulance?" he tried to sound steady, this was no time to panic, even though his student was blee- no. He had to focus on the now. 
"No hospitals, it's not safe." Fenton mumbled. A bit more urgently the amended "parents don't know, you can't tell them… please." 
Lancer swallowed hard, this was bad.
And immediately it got worse. 
"s'ry i feel- kinda dizzy" with only that much as a warning Danny went slack under Lancer's grip who barely managed to catch the teen as he sagged against his teacher. 
Then to his surprise, rings of light flashed to life and the icy body in his arms was replaced by a warm and much more familiar version of his student. 
Reading Danny’s essays through this new lens was going to be an interesting endeavor from now on, William thought through stress induced amusement.
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redelliavalentinos · 18 days
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Kindred Spirits
Rating: Mature
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Fandom: Danny Phantom
Relationship: Danny Fenton/Vlad Masters
Characters:
Danny Fenton, Vlad Masters, Jazz Fenton, Jack Fenton (Danny Phantom), Maddie Fenton, Maddie the Cat (Danny Phantom), Sam Manson, Sam Manson's Parents, Tucker Foley, Dash Baxter, Mr. Lancer (Danny Phantom), Skulker (Danny Phantom), Frostbite (Danny Phantom)
Additional Tags:
Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt, Danny Fenton Needs A Hug, Danny Fenton Needs Therapy, Protective Vlad Masters, Protective Jazz Fenton, Neglect, Child Neglect, Angst, Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Not Phantom Planet Compliant (Danny Phantom), I'm Bad At Tagging, The Moirai | The Fates (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Vlad Masters Needs A Hug, Parental Vlad Masters, Bad Parenting, Amity Park (Danny Phantom), Denial, Ghost Biology (Danny Phantom)
Summary:
The initial reaction to the Fenton residence being bathed with red and blue light was...well, impassive at best.
Or, what if Vlad was there from the beginning and they weren't enemies? What if Danny spent the first several months after the accident comatose, instead?
Side note, chapters 8 and 15 are both an art dump.
Rated M for now due to language.
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princess-of-the-corner · 10 months
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The only situation I can imagine for Jack and Maddie finding out Danny's secret is being so ashamed and mad at themselves for literally threatening and hunting their child. Like they are scatterbrained at times but I think they legitimately care for their son. Could you imagine your son telling you that their creation, their life's work, killed him and what you did was hunt him while trying to fix the mess that you arguably caused.
Yeah no like.
Even in Canon, every time they find out they were okay with it and upset at themselves. (Unfortunately, that kept getting reset because Plot™).
But most fics I've read where they don't handle it well in fanfics usually have them being in denial and not trusting /Phantom/, believing him to be a separate entity that is somehow using Danny for safety.
Actually here's the thing about the phandom that's different:
While I see fics where the Fentons can get villainized due to either not knowing Danny is Phantom and/or being very deep in denial, or even just fics where they're kinda questionably neglectful.
I /rarely/ see fics where they're ramped up to full abusive where I'd consider it character bashing.
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For pre-league and/or Fenton parents finding out Danny's secret in non-phantom planet crossovers, how do you think the league felt about/handled the Fenton parents? Did the anti-Phantom rhetoric they give influence their decision to let him join? What about potential blowups/instigated public pushback? A lot of Phantom Joins the League fics with the Fentons have him immediately tell his parents when he joins or the league already knows his secret and doing concerned adoptive family routines.
i think they team can parse that danny is a good person and that the fentons being anti-phantom falls into the category of any person who isn’t anti-hero. j-jonah jamson springs to mind event though spiderman is a marvel property. so they’d look at his actions over what people see and definitely see him as a hero.
i think danny’s family knowing his secret before the league makes things a bit more complicated. because i could still see them going down the lets adopt this kid path, if they realize phantom is fenton and recognize that danny wasn’t safe with his family. danny would argue that he’s safe now that they know, but speaking as an abuse victim, not knowing isn’t an excuse to hurt someone. and the fentons are frequently criminally neglectful and sometimes physically abusive. loving your son does not excuse putting him in a centrifuge and spinning him until he’s sick.
like i love the fentons and one of the things i love most about dp is how complicated their relationship with danny is. because i grew up with neglectful parents and recognize how their actions hurt me even though i know they weren’t actively trying to hurt me. it makes separating from them and seeing their actions objectively that much harder, because you love them and know they love you. but that doesn’t make their actions okay.
so this would put the justice league, heroes who can recognize the problems in danny and his parents relationship, in the position of separating a loving family. because lets be real, the fentons knowing what danny is probably wouldn’t stop the neglect or abuse. they were doing bad shit before he became phantom. they might stop shooting at him or saying bad things about phantom. they probably wouldn’t dissect him or do life threatening experiments on him. they’ll probably even feel guilty for their role in him dying. we’ve seen in the past that guilt or discouragement has on occasion led to them quititng their work. i could see them considering stopping if danny hadn’t argued for them to continue, because of how useful and great their inventions have been over the years. i could see things getting a lot better for danny.
but not completely
hell i bet jazz ends up half ignored after this because they’re so focused on their amazing, heroic, scientifically fascinating ghost son, and she’s nearly an adult anyway. again none of the neglect would be intentional but it would still be damaging
so the league would have to deal with this. they can’t leave it alone because they’re heroes and danny is a traumatized child. they’d be doing everything they can to provide a safe place for danny and to legally and safely remove danny and jazz from their custody. but at the same time, every step of the way danny will be digging his heels in and fighting them about his removal. he doesn’t see what they’ve done to him as abuse. he sees how much better they’ve been since they found out. and he loves his family. there’s no way he’s going to let the league ruin things now that things are finally good between them.
the sad thing is that both jazz and vlad have been saying the same thing about his parents for years at this point, in very different tones. jazz, having studied psychology, was aware of their abusive behavior, once again, before they knew danny was phantom. and she’s been doing everything she can to help take care of danny’s mental health and separate his opinion of himself from theirs.she protective and sympathetic, but still relatively straight forward with why what their parents have done was bad.
vlad on the other hand has been using their abusive behavior and danny’s doubts about them to manipulate him. when they didn’t know, vlad literally pushed them to be more abusive. he’d push and proud danny’s buttons when it came to his parents. always with the motive of making danny his. ‘if your life with your parents is so bad, come live with me’. ‘they’ll never accept you’ blah blah blah. a lot of gaslighting and emotionally manipulative shit. danny is so anti-vlad at this point that he refuses to listen to anything he has to say, especially about his parents. it full denial mode, even if the reason what vlad says has power over him is that they’re grounded in truth.
so enter the justice league, and let’s be real, it’s a trope but we all know batman is leading the charge, and Danny finally has a good relationship with his parents. things are finally better and he can feel safe in his own home again. vlad’s been proven wrong and his parents did accept him. and then... this new billionaire with too many kids, shows up and is telling him that his parents are abusive and that it would be better if he came and lived with him, or one of the league. or with the young justice team.
Danny wouldn’t take it well.
- Hestia
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