"There he is," Tim whispered, looking out from behind the library bookshelves. Besides him, Bart, Kon, and Cassie lean over him, stacking each head on top of each other so they can adequately see who Tim is pointing out.
Across the libary, Babs shales her head with a sigh but doesn't call them out. For one, it would be unnecessary loud and another....well, she enjoys having blackmail on her vigilante coworkers and the Young Jutice team climbing on top of each other to stare at a random civilian was the good kind. She turns back to her list of books to stamp and scan back into the system.
Tim had mentioned seeing someone he wanted to recruit for his and his teammates' fake online clothes store. It was the cover the teens had come up with, for an explanation on how they all had such different backgrounds but had still become friends.
The other bats thought it was a mere cover, but Babs knew how seriously Tim took his fake store. It was mostly due to Tim's team making very realistic cosplay outfits that are commissioned to their site. Since they catered to such a nitch community Tim wanted each job to be perfect. (Also he's a nerd like that)
Or maybe it had everything to do with Tim's not-so-secret adoration of photography.
Bart made the clothes, Cassie and Conner modeled and Tim took all the photos. It helped that the speedster was used to making clothes in the post-apocalyptic future, but no one could deny his master of the needle. Cassie and Conner were both rather good looking, and they seemed perfectly fine with showing off this fact.
The thing is, their store is starting to gain traction. If it weren't for the fact, Bart could move as fast as he could, Just Us fashion would be behind orders for months.
Tim was worried someone would catch on and figured they should attempt to hire a co-tailor. They attempted to reach out to fellow heros but no one their age was interested and they seemed rather put off by the idea of asking a adult.
Everyone was still tense from the last time Young Justice asked the Justice League for help.
Tim then decided to attempt to find a civilian who would help them with smaller pieces. Or maybe someone he could throw in front of a camera and pretend Conner or Cassie had taken a step back from modeling to help out with the orders.
His team allowed him to search for someone since they had no idea where to start. Tim scouted through all of Gotham, and ended up landing on Danny Fenton.
Babs had looked into Fenton's background as a favor to Tim and to satisfy her own curiosity. There wasn't much to the boy. Born and raised in a small town in Illinois, Fenton dropped out of high school to get his GED around his junior year. The notes on his file by his English teacher, principal, and school counselor indicated he was bullied out of school.
He passed the exam on the first try and, within a year, moved four states away to join Gotham School of Arts with a major in fashion. His parents were certified geniuses with a family company working in security and "ecto-entities." His sister was going to Gotham University for a physiology major.
The Fentons are a comfortable upper middle class family with no criminal history; the only blemish on their record is Jack Fenton's speeding tickets.
Fenton lived in the better parts of the city, paying his way through college and his own expenses by working as a remote tech support for various companies. It seemed he had inherited a knack for computers from his parents.
Barbara wasn't sure what about Fenton stuck out to Tim. The boy barely participated in public events when it came to his fashion. He only turned in assignments, and unless Tim made a habit of walking through the school of arts, he would have never seen his work.
"Wait, is he wearing-?" Conner whispered, squinting at Fenton, who was tapping away on his laptop. "He is! That's Flame-Flame battle pants!"
"No way." Bart gasps, standing on his toes to lean closer. "They look so good! Where did he get them?"
"He made them," Tim says with a certain lift to his voice that Babs recognizes easily. Aw, her little computer partner has a crush. "He makes all kind of fandom merch that can be worn out in public."
"Tim, we got get him on the team. Look at that Flame-Flames sweatshirt! I need it" Cassie hisses, rocking in place. She nearly causes Conner- who was leaning on her- to tumble over. "Go talk to him."
"I can't"
At that, Babs glances up. She's never heard Tim be nervous to speak to anyone before. Yet that's what she finds as the Young Justice team disappear aroudn the coner surrounding a red face Tim.
"What do you mean you can't? Why not?" Conner asks
"Look, I already tried to recruit him but messed up my pitch." As he admits, Tim kicks his feet, not bothering to look anyone in the eye. When he locked eyes with me, I choked on my spit midsentence."
Cassie slaps a hand over her mouth, but she is not fast enough to hide the snicker that slips through. The glare she gets from the only regular human could have sent her to her uncle Hades. "I'm sorry, you choked on your spit? Mr. CEO of WE? Mr. Suave? Mr. New Lover, every other Tuesday?"
"Shut up you don't get it! He was dressed in a really cool outfit of the Ninjas of Konoha, okay!? I wasn't prepared."
Barbara glances at Fenton as the team attempts to tease Tim. Rather loudly. It's like they forget they are in a really old building, so the acoustics pick up their voices really easily.
Based on his blushing face and hunched-over form, Fenton can obviously hear them. He keeps sending short glances to the shelf the other teens hide in. Fenton glances at his computer screen before rapidly fixing up his hair and straightening his clothes.
He fixes his scattered papers just as Tim rounds the corner of the bookshelves, looking rather nervous as he scoots to Fenton's desk. Babs watches the remaining young juice team whisper and shout encouragement as Tim stands next to Fenton.
Fenton's face, if possible, go even redder, and much to Babs' shock, he even starts to twirl the end of his ponytail around his figure as Tim starts talking.
This is cute. She thinks, aiming her camera phone at the pair. Taking three different shots, each displaying Tim's fumbling mess and Fenton's obvious interest, she quickly sends it to the bats with an evil smirk. And sort of pathetic.
She gets answers instantly, almost everyone teasing Tim or making "They grow up so fast" comments. The messages make a warm feeling of the family burn in her chest, reminding her of all that they argue about; the Bats truly care for one another.
It's Bruce's thoughts that shatters the chat with a simple text.
Why is Tim flirting with the Ghost King?
Babrbara stares at the words for a long moment before she types
Babs: What do you mean? Who's the Ghost King?
Bruce: That's the Ghost King or his human form. He rules the ghosts and our flip dimension. The Justice League Dark has him marked as a level 15 threat.
Damian: I beg your finest pardon? There are only five other beings on that threat level.
Bruce: Exactly. Tim knows not to speak to him.
Steph: Ugh Bruce none of ous knew that.
Bruce: He was in the yearly safety warning PowerPoint. You all said you reviewed it.
Jason: That thing is nine hours long! Of course, not all of us would actually look through it.
Bruce: I worked very hard on it. :'(
Duke: Guys? Shouldn't we worry about Tim? I mean is the Ghost King going to hurt him
Bruce: No, he's known to be very benevolent. Just as long as you don't accidently insult him.
"I'm not a whore!" The voice cuts through the air like a bullet. Barbara glances up just in time to see Tim backing up with a panicked expression as Fenton sneers.
He quickly gathers his things with a flick of his wrist, having all left in a bright green glow, and pushes by the shuttering vigilante. He stomps his way out of the library with an inhuman growl.
Tim throws his face into his hands with a wail of dispair. "I should have never listen to Dick's flirting advice!"
Barbara slaps a head over her forehead before texting the rest. So Tim may have called the King a whore.
Bruce: This is why I ask you to read my safety PowerPoint.
Waiting... Waiting...
So... This was inspired by listening to EPIC (FREAKING LOVE ALL THE ALBUMS, SO GOOD) and by @noxcheshire post of Tim being Odysseus reincarnated and Danny (maybe also reincarnated) being his Penelope (Here) so I had to turn it into a Dead Tired idea.
The song The Challenge is the main one here. (Cause I LOVE that song... along with Would You Fall In Love With Me Again)
So WHAT IF Danny IS the reincarnated Penelope, after becoming the Ghost King Danny's memories of his past life as Penelope returns and remembers how before dying/ or being reincarnated both Penelope and Odysseus promised to find each other in their new lives, no matter who they are, what new form they take, they will find each other.
So Danny/Penelope, just like before waits for their Odysseus to return to them, but also tries to find him in their new life (CW is laughing whenever Danny asks for hints and gets a 'In due time, just wait' answer, ugh Danny wants to smack CW for that)
However just like in his previous life with being in a high position of power, Danny is being pressured to marry/take a spouse (now its not just men/males though so its a huge headache, I head canon Ghosts don't care much for gender preference) mostly by the dang eyeballs that Danny is still trying to find a way to get rid of without upsetting the Infinite Realms delicate (but slowly healing) balance even if Danny wanted nothing more than to punch all of the suitors out.
So Danny decides to play the long game again.
And waits for their Odysseus return.
Danny's wait is over when they suddenly feel the Realms shift one day, as if welcoming someone familiar home, and the same feeling Danny had when he had been Penelope and saw the storm that was sign of Odysseus coming home, Danny decides its time to bring out The Challenge once again. (CW gifted Danny a few things from his past as Penelope as a coronation gift, like Odysseus's bow (now enchanted to be unbreakable), a painting of when he was Penelope, with Telemchus, and Odysseus, and the Marriage Bed/Olive Tree, AND the Palace Odysseus made that Danny takes to being in over being at Pariah's Keep)
-x-x-
Meanwhile
Tim Drake, aka Red Robin, always had strange dreams as a child.
War, Death, Monsters, Gods, Goddesses.
His dreams were more like nightmares, haunting him and he sometimes woke up in cold sweat.
He hated storms. Hated being in the water for to long. Hated how he felt both tense but also at home when around Greek heroes, as if he was afraid to 'disrespect' them (Cassie was the only one he didn't feel that way around, mostly cause they had been somewhat friends before their heroing since their parents knew each other) but also knew how to appease them should he insult them. He also had a strange hatred for the CoO with a burning passion because he felt like they were mocking real Owls.
The worst part of nightmares that always pop up are of what feels like should be his home is being invaded by unwanted guests (they aren't guests), how they are angry over trying to string a bow and shot an arrow through axes, of the terrible terrible things he hear them saying they were going to do to his loved ones (two names that keep getting muted out).
How it ends in bloodshed with echoing of begging, pleading, mercy, and screams.
However in those nightmares at the end. He also finds himself looking for something in them.
Or rather he always found someone waiting for him at the end of the nightmares. Calling him by the wrong name but it sounds just right coming from them.
The dream always ends with the person asking 'How long has it been?' and before he can answer he wakes up.
So yeah Tim has horrifying nightmares/dreams he could never explain.
And the urge to find someone. To go home to them.
It isn't until he and his friends from Young Justice are hit by a spell from Klarion (who may or may not had a visit from a certain chaos encouraging Time Keeper) and sent to a place called the Infinite Realms in the middle of their fight, that Tim is hit hard with déjà vu when he spots a certain Palace in the distance and overhears some of the 'people?' (they glow and float and some don't even look human?! where are they?) talk about how the 'King' has issued a new 'Challenge' for his 'suitors'.
A Challenge involving a bow, and axes.
And Tim, feels like he knows this all too well and needs to do it.
On a similar vein to this https://www.tumblr.com/ourrechte-blog/737634631225049088/a-funny-take-on-counterparts Broke: Vlad is Ra's and Danny is Tim Bespoke: Danny (ninja, cult leader, Great One, responsible for historical disasters) is Ra's and Vlad (stalks/takes pictures of/clones superhero and abandoned by Jack) is Tim
(Somehow, even when I come up with an angsty scenario it turns into zany comedy hijinks. Send help.)
Cassie, Tim, Kon and Bart are hanging out, just chilling, when a glowing green minotaur pops out of nowhere and yoinks Wonder Girl into another dimension.
Obviously, Cassie is so not down with the whole kidnapping thing, so she starts beating up all the Greek mythological monsters in sight. Soon enough, Pandora pops out of the woodwork and orders everyone to stand down.
Pandora: *sigh* I ordered you to escort her here, not drag her kicking and screaming. Ugh, it's impossible to hire competent help these days. Come child, we have much to discuss.
Cassie: Uh, it's an honor to meet you ma'am, but why am I here?
Pandora: It's quite complicated I'm afraid. To make a long story short, a few years ago the tyrannical ghost king was defeated by a young ghost hero, and by right of conquest the crown passed to him. However, since he has not yet reached the age of majority a regency council was put in place until he is old enough to be formally crowned.
Cassie: What does that have to do with me?
Pandora: You see, your father, Zeus, wishes to make an alliance with this new power...
Cassie: Oh no
Pandora: ...and so he has offered your hand in marriage to the young prince, as he once did Persephone's to Hades.
Cassie: That fucking asshole!
Pandora: And the regency council has accepted on the prince's behalf.
Cassie: *cracks knuckles* So, what's your opinion on patricide?
***
When Cassie meets Danny, she fully expects him to be some pompous asshole.
Danny: I am so fucking sorry!
Cassie: Huh?
Danny: *wrings hands* I'm sorry you got dragged into this mess! This was not my idea! But the council are a bunch of stuck-up jerks who think this is for the good of the realm and...
Cassie: So the wedding is off?
Danny: Well... unfortunately Clockwork is the one who floated the idea? And he only gets directly involved if it's like, end of the world kind of stuff...
Cassie: Who's Clockwork?
Danny: The Master of Time. He uh, helped me prevent a potential future where my soul got merged with that of my arch-nemesis and I miiiight have wiped out all life on Earth. But uh, that timeline is gone and you don't have to worry about it!
Cassie, muttering: Chronos?
Danny: So I think we might be stuck with each other, unless you have an idea on how to get out of this?
Cassie: Well my friends are bound to come rescue me, so...
Danny: Stall?
Cassie: Stall.
Queen Dora, popping in with a dozen handmaidens, a measuring tape and hundreds of dress and fabric samples: ~ Who's ready for a makeover? ~
Cassie: Oh gods just kill me now
***
Cassie and Danny both go full Bridezilla in an effort to delay the wedding, nitpicking everything from the clothes to the flower arrangements.
Cassie: I am not wearing some poofy monstrosity to my wedding. I want a tux! If anyone's gonna wear a dress it's gonna be him.
Danny, posing in front of a mirror: What do you think, can I pull off a mermaid cut?
***
Eventually, they can stall no more and the day of the wedding arrives. Zeus is there to give her away as the father of the bride. Cassie tries to stab him with the cake topper.
The wedding proceeds, they are standing in front of the Observant who is officiating. Cassie is glaring murderously at Zeus. Danny just looks resigned. Suddenly, there's a loud screech and a bang. The team has arrived to crash the party...!
...by literally crash landing the stolen Specter Speeder on top of Zeus.
*smash cut to a flashback of Tim reading the Drs Fentons' research and breaking into Fentonworks*
Tim, Kon and Bart pop out of the smoking wreckage.
Tim: We object!
Observant, outraged: On what grounds?!
Kon: Wonder Girl can't marry the ghost prince, because... because I'm marrying her!
Tim and Bart: Wait what?
Danny: Oh thank fuck *rips off his veil and dress and chucks it at the Observant* Cassie, do you want to marry Superboy?
Cassie: I do!
Danny: Then by the power vested in me by the Crown and Ring, I now pronounce you Super and Wonder. You may kiss the bride or whatever.
Cassie dip kisses Kon in front of the assembled ghost citizenry. Tim and Danny disappear into a broom closet during the wedding reception. Bart demolishes like 90% of the buffet by himself.
***
In a dark room, Clockwork is repeatedly watching Zeus get pancaked in slow motion and chuckles to himself.
Roll Credits
This just in the worst couple and Gotham are at it again! Based on this post
Sources state that Danny Fenton was hear at 2 am crying into his phone apologizing to his boyfriend while drunk right after breaking a goon's arm for touching him. He apparently yelled " I have a boyfriend!" after doing so.
So it seems that they are back together. For the 2nd time this week.
inspired by this wonderful art made by @puppetmaster13u
So, Danny, cemented king and practically father of the Blob Ghosts and certified little shit.
Has found something new to play with.
For you see, despite his various kidnappings by the GIW Danny was never aware of there being a League of Earth's mightiest heroes at all. He off-handily mentioned them to Henry, who was now genuinely jobless because even though he never got told he knew he was jobless for helping Danny escape and Henry?
Henry did not want any part of this, he's just a civilian he doesn't want to meet the Justice League of all people!
Sadly, Danny did not care at all in the slightest.
Henry was then reminded of why Danny was valued by the GIW and why he also king class ghost entity (the only other known king class was the Ghost King who they barely have any information of). Because he easily, cleared the distance between Amity Park and Metropolis.
Henry, unfortunately, was not used to traveling at such speeds and was left hanging limply in Danny's arm as everything started spinning and thinking he might puke.
Danny, being the child that he is at heart, immediately starts calling out Superman's name. Superman, predictably and unsurprisingly, hears this and comes over questioning who was calling him.
Danny decides to be even more of a little shit by speaking in ghost speak even though just earlier he called out Superman's name in clear English. Henry, the de-facto translator, is out of commission right now so Superman is really just left guessing here.
Unless, you go with the fact that Kyrptonian is a dead language, and since Superman can speak and knows Kyrptonian, Danny's ghost speak is automatically translated to Kyrptonian.
Superman is, understandably, stumped by this occurrence and he may or may not form the idea that Danny might be a Kyrptonian.
Danny then gently places Henry down on the roof, pats him on the head, tells a few blob ghosts to keep an eye on their new littlest sibling while Dad has fun.
Then he turns to Superman, with the most feral, shit eating grin on his face. Cracks his knuckles, and then tells Superman that they're going to have a fight.
He wasn't asking, and before Superman could say anything he's already been punched through the air. Not that it hurt, really, mostly took him by surprise, but now Superman is now in a fight with what may or may not be a Kryptonian.
Can't stop rereading @dcxdpdabbles 's Adopted Son, gotta draw fanart before chapter 8 is posted <333 everytime I reread it , I hurt even more and I love it.
Song I was listening to on repeat whilst drawing this <33:
Wesley Weston runs a blog after getting over his desire to expose Danny's secret- primarily due to no one believing him- and no one pays attention to it since almost all of Casper high school has one too.
The difference between the hundreds of other blogs is that one of his pictures of Phantom is clear. A perfectly uncorrected image of the famous ghost, whereas nearly all other pictures are blurry due to ghosts disrupting cameras. Even Wes isn't sure how he managed to capture him so well.
Another difference between his blog and others is that one of his followers happens to be John Constantine, who followed the kid a long time ago due to the fanfiction of the Bats and found them hilarious.
John opens his phone app, expecting a new chapter to the Bruce Wayne/Superman fic, and spits out his tea upon seeing the High King of the Dead casually in the human world. Horrified that the King has not been appropriately welcomed- which could lead to a war that the humans would never win- he calls an emergency Justice League and Justice League Dark meeting.
It didn't help that they had allowed a county to pass the anti-ecto laws, which ruined any attempt to appease the Ghost King once the news broke to the public. The League still worried about a declaration of war even after they demolished the laws and the United Nations had the States apologize on humans' behalf.
They quickly discover High King Phantom has been visiting Earth for almost three years. Before his coronation, Phantom had not been outside the Infinite Realms very often though he has appeared throughout history. Cave drawings date back thousands of years before the first ancient Egyptians, but he's visits are few and short.
Life would naturally send him back to the Realms because he had too much power and ectoplasm. After taking the throne, his powers only grew, which meant someone had to summon him as the only way for him to stay on Earth longer than an hour.
Now as King, he appeared only within the small town of Amity Park daily. Why?
John sighs. "He has an anchor. Someone is tying him to this plane. Like the helmet for Nabu, which allows Doctor Fate to exist here without being launched back to the Infinite Releams, Phantom has bonded himself. And I know who that is"
He pulls up a class photo on Weston's blog and points to a boy wearing a particular necklace.
"Danny Fenton is wearing the official Royal Consort of the Infinite Realms symbol and has been since he was fourteen. Phantom's husband may be our only hope to salvage the terrible mess the USA's bloody GIW placed the rest of us in."
Danny loved the necklace he found in Pariah Dark's old haunt. He inherited Pariah's haunt and everything inside once he was crowned and hasn't taken it off since. He didn't think it would be an issue. It's not like it would out his secret to his parents or anyone else since it was in Ghost Speech. Even he didn't know what it said.
Then one morning he comes down for breakfast only to have the most important members of the Justice League sitting in his living room waiting to greet him.
Desperate to keep his halfa status a secret, Danny must convince the entire world watching him, that he's just a human who scandalously eloped at age fourteen with one of the strongest beings in the mulitverse.
Jack's horrified "We were shooting my son-in-law this whole time" became a meme that has trended for months.
( Part 2 )
After another tiring missions of helping Clockwork fix the timeline, Clockwork always assigned him "homework" of rewatching what he did and write a report on how he thinks he did (good, bad, what need to improve, what been improving,…)
As Danny was rewatching the scenes of a timeline being changed by him from one of the many screens in CW's lair like always, suddenly a static displayed on the screen for a few seconds and all his hard work of the week go up in smoke in front of his eyes as another completely different timeline take it's place.
As Danny was currently in shock, suddenly a green sticky note appear on the screen,
[ I am currently occupied with something else today, so as my official apprentice as of right now, i find it upon myself to finally tell you about the Speedster™ problem,
As you can see from what just happened before you, it is rather bad, as the timeline get divergent without considering the consequences, as my newly appointed apprentice, this is going to be your first official mission,
You will find that in the closet inside the room that you normally nap in, there is a new cloak and a time staff that will let you temporarily borrow my power over time, and a medallion, the portal will open after you go out of the lair,
A hint for you: Barry Allen. ]
– C.W
I just really really want to read a time traveling AU where Shen Jiu decides that he’s going to be a concubine instead of going (back) to Cang Qiong and how better to hide than being a concubine of some rich lord who’s not allowed out of the house without being covered and guarded by a dozen guards?
It’s turns out that he really enjoys this kind of lifestyle. The rich lord he's caught himself for as a husband spoils and pampers him very well and he’s the only concubine in the estate. It also helps that he’s the only lover of the rich lord period. He doesn't have to content with any officials wives and his husband's parents are surprisingly open minded, like him, and seem to have no plans on pushing proper ladies onto his husband to marry??
Turns out that the husband he's caught himself? Well, husband's father is the younger brother of the reigning emperor... ahahaha so that's how Shen Jiu never realized or recognized his husband's true status. He just thought he married a rich, somewhat lazy, nobleman with just enough influence and power in the imperial government to make any cultivator hesitate to annoy. You know, just in case anyone else also time traveled and really want to drag him back to Cang Qiong cough Yue Qingyuan.
-o-o-o-o-
As delighted as Shen Yuan had been about his transmigration journey so far - such as the fact that he more or less kept his name. Well, mostly kept his name since it's now officially Long Shenyuan - which is cheesy as fuck that the Long surname represents the heavenly dragon. But! He can insist on all his friends and family to just call him Shenyuan. (In Chinese, to call someone by only their first name is a very intimate thing.)
He has no plans on marrying a proper lady because the emperor - his fucking paranoid son of a bitch of an uncle - still has no sons, only dozens of daughters, so just in case, it's better that he and his father avoid having children any time soon least people start having wrong ideas about overthrowing the current emperor for another branch of the family... especially one that already has sons.
Luckily, his parents are on the same page - they were the ones to push him to get a male concubine or two and project the image of a cutsleeve. His father once had two concubines but both concubines died in the plague that rocked through the imperial city a decade ago; no children or born from either concubines. Shen Yuan's mother, his father's official wife.
Shenyuan's mom: You should pretend to be an idiot who thinks with your dick and falls for a male beauty. Shen Yuan: Sure can do. Better to pretend to be gay than end up getting executed for trumped up charges of trying to usurp the throne.
Shen Yuan: picks up a beautiful male literally off the streets because he looks kind of like the Shen Qingqiu merch he had in his previous life Shen Yuan: starts sticking like a burr to his new concubine Shenyuan's mom: NOT LIKE THAT Shen Yuan: wat- Shenyuan's mom: wait, actually I like this guy. He's got more brains and political acumen than my son
And that's the meet-cute story of how future emperor Long Shenyuan picked up his future political advisor and male Empress.
[More in the #Shen Jiu time travels and decides to hide from cang qiong by becoming a concubine AU]
Edit: now up on AO3
She/They. Old enough to be legally allowed to drink anywhere.
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