Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You know, all things considered, Danny was having a great time being a member of the Justice League. He got to meet new people, traveled to new places, stopped the apocalypse every other tuesday, and hey, the coffee on the Watchtower was ethically sourced! What a score! 

And it wasn’t as though Danny was naive about his situation. He’d gone through all the trials, tribulations and interviews by the Main Trio (™) to be accepted in the first place. He knew how they viewed him, as a kid with too much power being kept close for fear of him changing sides. 

For all the potential for animosity or distrust, Danny would have to say that he was adjusting well. He’d been a solo hero act for so long that it had taken him a second to get used to relying on others. Now, at the ripe old age of 23, Danny had kind of ‘been there, seen that’ tenure with almost a decade of experience. Not to mention that no longer being a teenager or ‘young adult’ had done wonders for his image as a hero. And, critically, he was making friends! 

Surprisingly, Robin was the first to come to mind. He had not been the first friend Danny had made on the Watchtower, that was Superboy, but Robin had become one of the more significant. For as much as he loved and could return Jon’s enthusiasm, there was something about Robin that was so like Sam that it killed him laughing. The guy was practically an angstier, more violent version of his favorite ultro-rcylco-vegetarian goth back home! 

Of course that meant that Robin hadn’t warmed up to him immediately, but trust on the battlefield had been the first step, and punching Darkseid in the nose solidified the start of their friendship. The chaos of actually befriending him from there was… a very long but very enjoyable journey. They had a ton more in common than Robin had first anticipated, and Robin had said as much. 

And sure, identities were a touchy subject (unless you were a Super, apparently) but eventually they had started to hang out beyond the boundaries of work. Mostly through online gaming, which meant that Tucker eventually joined them, which meant Tucker inevitably hacked them. And hey! Another new friend appeared out of that. Oracle, once coaxed into not murdering them for frying some of her server securities, was actually pretty cool. 

Tucker and Danny never said it explicitly when they were explaining the situation to Batman later, but uh, they had indeed learned the Bats identities. It went unspoken and Tucker had agreed that these were things that they would take to the grave (and not into the Ghost Zone after). Sam, as always, rolled her eyes at their antics and played on like she would with any other newb on the internet. The digital slaughter was unyielding, and Sam said she had a great time getting to know his new team members. 

Which brings Danny to his current predicament. 

A green sticky note that informed him of exactly nothing but so much all at once: “Age has compromised you, Take a Bird and head to the Ruins of Youth.” Infuriatingly little information, but also, something that couldn’t be ignored. 

The Drs Fenton had been sponsored by the GIW for a few years now, and though Danny had been living in the Realms or at the Watchtower, he could tell they were closing in on him every time he returned to the state of Illinois. His parents…Still didn’t really know what happened when he was 14 but at some point the evidence of their inventions affecting him was too much for them to ignore. 

When Danny turned 18, he moved into Sam’s basement, got a remote, fully online data entry job and became a hero full time. He only came home for birthdays, and even those were strained by the confused hurt his parents brought to every question they asked him. Some were about why he left them, didn’t he know how much they loved him? Some were about why he was setting off the alarms again, had he been conspiring with the ghosts? Had he been possessed? 

They also shared how they were getting closer and closer to catching Phantom. His ecto-signature had become more matured and specific with each year they had hunted him. That with age and with their gained experience of over a decade hunting him, it wouldn’t matter where he appeared on the planet, they would be able to track him down. The device on the dinner table beeped all throughout dinner, and no amount of Jazz’s moderation could help the canyon that was forming between Danny and their parents. 

Something would have to change, Danny knew it, but its not exactly as though the Endless of Time was going to tell him what exactly was the right path to take. 

Green sticky notes filled with vague instructions or riddles… A classic MO for the guardian ghost.

“Another message from Kronos?” Robin’s voice came from behind him. 

“Yeah, Clocky sent me a side quest.” Danny huffed. 

“He rarely sends non-priority missions, I believe his last message helped us to predict Superman’s possession. What is he requesting now?” Robin rolled his eyes at his friend's childish antics, much like he would at his eldest brother who behaved similarly, but inquired further nonetheless. Danny crumpled up the note and tossed it to him, announcing “Kobe!” as it flew through the small office. 

“Hm. I suppose he means that you should take me along with you on this mission, if not Red Robin, and head to the ruins in Peru of the same name.” Robin examined before coming to his conclusion. Danny groaned in rebuttal, and Robin was carefully smoothing the wrinkles out of the post it. 

“What? No way there are ruins-” Danny began to argue, but Robin cut him off. 

“It’s not conventional knowledge.” 

“Does… Does this have to do with the cult you grew up in?” Danny’s voice turned into one of teasing, barely holding back his laughter. 

“Tt.” Robin clicked his teeth, but seeing Danny’s unrelenting stare he added, “It is adjacent to the functions within the League of Shadows. The pursuit of eternal life was often the focus of our missions, and this no doubt has to play a part in your supposed ‘age’ being compromised. For whatever that means, I do not know yet.”

“I mean. Yeah, Clockster probably means you. Want to head out after lunch?” Danny dropped the subject, flying in a small loop in the air, his legs disappearing into a wispy tail. 

“Hm. Do you foresee this mission taking longer than a day?” Robin placed the small, now smoothed out, sticky note into a file folder, and that folder into his desk. 

“Literally no clue.” Danny shrugged his shoulders and grinned. 

“To lunch then. I’ll just need to reschedule a few meetings.” And with that Robin began to walk away, Danny floating behind him and waving to the people they passed by. Fiddling with his tablet and messaging heroes and diplomats on his phone, Robin had taken a seat in the cafeteria without grabbing any food.

“Want anything specific?” Danny asked, gearing up to grab a tray and get at least two of everything. Robin merely shook his head and continued working. Danny knew it was because sudden missions were stressful for the Bat to communicate. They all liked to have a million plans in place, and not having more research to go off of was probably making him anxious. Well, not that Robin ever let on that he was anxious. 

It didn’t spoil Danny’s mood though, he was honestly a bit excited to finish this mission and catch up with Clockwork after. It had been a hot minute since they last spoke, and he knew that Clockwork always enjoyed the gossip Danny shared from his perspective. 

The beauty of being King meant that he had a lot more control over omnipresence and what other Ancients could predict of him. John Constantine had helped him hone the skill to remain less obvious although that experience had been a painful one for them both. A clash of personalities at most, but still, painful. 

Danny was filling up his tray when he saw from the corner of his eye, Ladybug the Parisian Heroine and Balance of Magic, approaching and talking with Robin. She sat down at the seat across from his friend and to his surprise, Robin had turned off all of his screens to talk to her with full involvement. Woah . 

Taking his time walking back, he watched as Ladybug then opened her yo-yo’s portal into a pocket dimension and pull out a small item for the bird. 

“Hiya, what’s up?” Danny grinned as he approached, and Ladybug immediately went pink, Robin clicked his teeth. 

“Oh, Hi, Phantom! I was just bringing over a - er, I owed Robin for his help the other day with one of my reports.” She tripped over her words a bit and Danny smiled at her genuine nature. She had really opened up so much since she joined the JL a few months back! 

“You had zero obligation to thank me for such a basic task. I was glad to have helped.” Robin replied, and though his tone was deep, it held no bark nor bite. Danny blinked, taking in the sight of the two at the table… were the tips of Robin’s ears red? Ladybugs certainly were. 

“Right, well, it was appreciated. I’ll get out of the way so you guys can have lunch though!” She cheerfully added and excused herself as she now slide out of the small booth.

“You can join us if you want LB! We’re heading on a mission in a second, though I doubt you want to join that.” Danny invited her, gears spinning in his head about this new interaction between her and his vigilante bestie. 

“A mission? From who?” Ladybug’s voice held more gravity as she asked. Danny would have laughed, no wonder Robin liked her, it took no time at all for her to ‘get down to business’ and seriously weigh the matter of a mission. 

“You’ve met Clockwork haven’t you?” Danny smiled as he asked, a bit bashful about his guardian. 

“I know a few of his Miraculi Aspects.” She cringed before she tried to hide her expression with a waving of hands “Yeah, no. Count me out on anything time related.” She replied, her tone unenthused and her nose a bit scrunched. She wasn’t a very good liar. 

Danny, while he laughed at her reaction, caught the look Robin gave her from his periphery but he wasn’t sure how to interpret it. Was he interested in her then? As more than friends? As co-workers trying to be friends?

Ladybug then perked up a bit, “You guys be safe though! I won't be on the Watchtower at all next week, but I’ll see you around after.” 

“How much longer are you here today?” Robin asked, taking both by surprise. She blinked for just a short moment before replying. 

“Erm, I should be here for at least the next five, maybe six hours?” Ladybug said, her voice speculative. 

“Hm. Thank you for the well wishes, we’ll see you in two weeks then.” He replied back to her, no point apparent to why he asked about her timeline. She nodded at Robin, gave a kind wave and smile to them both and then walked swiftly out of the cafeteria. 

They ate in silence for a second before Danny decided to propose a new idea. 

“Wanna speed run this mission Robin?” Danny knew he had a glint to his eye that Robin would pick up on, his grin dangerously sharp, and a plan in mind. 

“I… By what means?” 

“Nothing too crazy, I’ll just portal us back and forth instead of following the normal protocols about taking transport. Maybe we can get back in time for you to thank her for the… Are those macarons?” Danny suggested and took a look at the green sandwich cookies. 

“They are none of your business! But yes, Let’s get this mission going and done with.”

“Yay! Because I mean, you were totally going to come back to the Watchtower to hang out with Ladybug, right?” 

“No?” Robin replied, but a hint of a question was left in his voice, no doubt by accident. 

“You sure about that?” Danny gave him his best shit-eating grin, an expression made perfect with training from Sam no less. 

“What are you insinuating, Your Majesty?” Robin replied using his monarchical title just because he knew how much Danny hated it. Danny rolled his eyes. 

“You’re being annoying and just for the record, that totally proves I’m right.” 

“Right about what?” Damian’s mask scrunched with the death glare being sent Danny’s way. 

“Not going to argue about you being annoying?” Danny teased. The silence that followed Robin’s frustrated expression always meant one of two things: Prepare for violence now, or, prepare for violence later. 

“I simply wish to get this surprise mission over with and nothing more.” Robin huffed, not engaging in the argument that Danny was trying to bring to his door. Danny decided it was still worth it to tease him. 

“So, you don’t want to ask Ladybug out?” Danny feigned innocence as he asked, and the flush that covered Robin’s face proved his theory correct. The anger rolling off of his friend hit him like a wall, and Robin stood up. 

“You may ask Red Robin to accompany you.” He grumbled over his shoulder and began to walk away. 

“Wha? No! Come on, I’ll lay off, I promise.” 

“I want to hear nothing more of this unprofessional notion.” Damian replied with ice in his tone and steel in his resolve. 

“On the big blue Boyscouts honor! Now come on, you have to tell me where on the map-”

Danny flew after him, and plans were swiftly made with aforementioned portals being haphazardly opened. There was a reason for using Zeta tubes for protocol, and other vehicles for the non-magical and non-flying, but all of those reasons were thrown to the wind. Robin practically stomped through the underbrush of the large flora ecosystem, Danny intangible on his heels. 

The ruins appeared ahead of them after not much longer. Robin had some old league documents pulled up on his tablet that he was referring to, leading them towards it with not much difficulty. 

Danny was just pleased that Robin chuckled at his joke about the temples looking like that one level of Sonic adventures 2.  

It didn’t take them long to navigate the ruins once they arrived- and that might be because it didn't hurt that there was a green sticky note on a random brick that helped them to determine the secret entrance. 

Robin had rolled his eyes at that but quickly set about ensuring no lingering traps were present in the ancient tunnels. The bats had a tool for seemingly every occasion. Danny just floated above the floor, occasionally placing a hand on Robin’s shoulder to turn them both intangible. Malevolent shades were starting to appear, but most stayed their distance away from the pair. No doubt any specter or spirit could see Phantom’s crown. 

The drone flying ahead of them through the labyrinth was great for finding traps that were attached a la home alone style paint cans. Robin missed that joke unfortunately, but Danny promised to inform him of the source material at a later date. For a guy that hated christmas and was serially neglected by his parents, it was the one holiday film he could tolerate, and therefore Robin needed to see it. 

“Whatever it is we are coming for, we’re nearing it now. By my drone’s approximation, we’re nearing the center of the structure.” Robin’s tone was all business, and something was putting him on edge. 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Clocky decides to spell it out for us… oh hey wait, look at that!” 

Within the large room was an empty fountain-like structure, a single bronze cup in its center, resting as though it had been dropped long ago. Danny seemed to hesitate for a second before grabbing the cup and flipping it right side up.

“You seeing this birdy?” Danny called out, but his friend was no where to be seen. Hadn’t Robin been right behind him as he entered the room? 

The hand holding the cup suddenly felt colder, catching him off guard, but as he looked down Danny watched as the bronze cup was suddenly filling over with water. Weird. 

“Hey, Robin. Seriously, where are you? This is getting weird-” But danny was caught off as someone screamed. 

“We have company you idiot!” Robin ran into the room, his katana in hand, blood clearly having been drawn. 

“Gross, but uh, any clue what I do with this?” 

“Its a cup of water Phantom.” Robin deadpanned, and began throwing smoke bombs from his belt at the other intruders of the temple. Cause like, Danny and him intruded first by all technicality. And really thinking about it, what was the rules about historic preservation when it came to throwing smoke bombs-

“Phantom! Drink it or drop it!” Robin yelled at him, expertly fighting off the strangers. 

“I know, I know! You’re doing great by the way!” Danny called out, at first annoyed, but always willing to annoy in return. 

“I would be doing better if you could just make a single decision!” Robin called back. 

Danny looked back at the overflowing cup, the water surprisingly crystal clear, and felt doubt sew itself into his very being. What would this do to him? 

Because it couldn’t be as simple as changing his ectofrequency, it was quite literally a fountain of youth. It was a miraculously appearing untapped source of magical water, hidden away in some strange temple, being protected by violent spirits and cultists alike. 

Clockwork sent him here to change something about Phantom, and Danny was starting to realize that it might actually change his age to drink from this fountain. That it might alter his aging process in some way, decelerate or accelerate, either choice meaning that his life as an adult would be different for the rest of his life. What if it gave him immortality? What if it finished the portals job and killed him completely? 

Danny set the cup back down in its original position upside down within the fountain. He… He could deal with the consequences of that later. 

Did he mention evil spirits protecting this place earlier? Danny suddenly felt a crack to the base of his skull. He lost his balance and fell into the fountain, splashing about as the now feet of water that filled the small space enveloped him. 

It was as though he was caught in a riptide, the current or some other force pulling him downwards no matter how fast he swam to get out. Danny grew up in the midwest unfortunately, and didn’t know that the best way to get out of a rip current was to stop fighting it and angle away from it at the right moment. He just swam at reckless abandon, hoping to breach the surface. 

The green gloved hand of Robin pulled him out in what felt like moments later, but something in Danny’s mind knew that he had been in the water for more than just a second. 

Had… Had Robin gotten taller? 

“Phantom!” Robin gasped in surprise, bodies of cultists lining the floors around them. Clearly more time had passed than he thought. 

“Bwah-” Danny barely managed to make a human sound, his ghost speak coming out first, then coughed into his hands.

“Phantom, we need to get back to the tower now. Are you going to be able to do that?” Robin looked genuinely afraid, and was holding him by the shoulders. Danny was trying to process what he meant, and where the source of concern was coming from, but was coming up short. Ha, short . Wait.

“Yeah dude, I’ve been making portals since I was fifteen-” But Danny stopped talking, now registering that his voice was much higher than it should have been. Panic filled him- what happened while he was underwater? 

“Breathe out of your mouth and in through your nose Phantom. Focus on getting us back to the Watchtower.” Robin did his best to try and defuse the clearly growing panic that Danny felt, but it wasn’t his best attempt. 

Danny pulled at the fabric of reality, like he’d done a million times in the last ten years of hero-ing, and found his thread. His hands were smaller than they should be, and it made clutching at the portals opening all the harder to do, but slowly, he peeled back an entrance. 

“Okay, that should be good, Robin you go first.” Danny spoke, more exasperated than he should be, and when he looked at his friend all he could see was his panic. Robin just nodded, jumped through and when Danny came out the other side, Robin caught him from where the portal was on the ceiling. 

Danny knew this much: He shouldn’t be small enough to land into Robin’s arms. His hands should have clutched at the Infinite Realms with much more control and power. His voice should be deeper. 

Danny should not be… Shrunk. 

“Phantom, you were under the water for almost an hour. I tried several times to pull you out but-” Robin began to explain, his tone was just as anxious as before. Danny clambered out of his grasp, jumping down and promptly transforming. 

“Well, The height isn’t fixed. But is this any better? Less shrunk down?” 

“Danny.” Robin replied. 

“Yeah?”

“You appear to be… Much younger than before. Not simply… shrunk.” 

“...Oh.” 

Voices were heard coming from outside the small conference room but it didn’t seem important enough to disrupt their staring contest. At least, not until Ladybug barged in. 

“- that stupid motherfucker. Spots off, Tikki.” Ladybug growled out, the magic washing off of her as she closed the door with both hands. There was another voice on the other side of the door, muffled but clearly begging her to come back out. 

“Well that’s new.” Tikki replied. 

“What? I know I don’t curse often but it’s seriously annoying that he doesn’t seem to get that I need time-” Ladybug began to huff at the sprite, still not turning around to see two very startled heroes. 

“Not that, normally the Ghost King is your age, right?” 

“What are you talking about?” Ladybug whipped around only to find a very small child and Robin staring back at her with an insane amount of panic in their eyes. Her own panic began to rival theirs. 

No one spoke for a second. 

Tikki floated over to the child, as soon as she did, like recognized like and Danny’s crown appeared over his head. 

“...” Ladybug opened and closed her mouth several times. 

“Ladybug, er, Phantom and I-”

“Well she’s not Ladybug right now is she?” The small, very HUMAN looking boy quipped. If the crown hadn’t been enough evidence for this being Phantom, his humor clearly defined him. 

“Robin what is going on?” 

“Phantom was captured by a magical artifact while we were being ambushed. When I was able to finally grab him from under the depths… he had already changed.” 

Ladybug approached them, her high heels clicking on the floor. She was wearing a pair of sensible wide leg business pants, her pink silk blouse tucked into its high waistline. She was grateful for the clothing choice as she squatted down to Phantoms height. 

“You’re a pretty tall kid.” She remarked, studying him. 

“You’re just a shortie.” Phantom laughed. 

“Yep. And you’re like, eight years old now.” 

“That’s seriously such a bummer.” Danny replied, but all things considered, seemed to be mostly okay with this situation. Contemplating the reality of the situation felt incredibly overwhelming inside of his small body, so he decided to focus on the two people in the room with him instead. 

“Yep. Do you feel okay at least? No headache or anything?” She asked him. Her eyes were just as blue as they were under the mask, and the light eyeliner she had applied accentuated them well. Danny was a bit surprised that she was just carrying on, not worrying about her face being seen. 

“Nope! Feeling good, just maybe a little discomb-bomb-ulated.” 

“Discombobulated.” Robin corrected from his side, which made Ladybug laugh at least. It broke her stare of evaluation, but glancing up to Robin seemed to make her flush and return her gaze back to Danny, although this time only briefly. 

“I don’t think that was the most important thing to focus on but sure. How long has he been like this Robin?” She asked. 

“He was in the water for about an hour, and out of it for less than 10 minutes. We just got back with one of his portals, though the spell has impacted his powers.” Robin explained, his distress was clearly under better control now. 

“I have smaller hands now! It made it harder to grab at the fabric of reality, gimme a break!” Danny announced, fully exasperated in the way that all little kids trying to defend themselves sounded. 

“Well, I can see the spell written on you but it's… an odd one. I don’t know what caught you, and what was able to keep you under for so long, but it’s a really tricky encantation.” 

“You’re able to decipher it?” Robin inquired. 

“Not much, it’s written in a language I can’t really read but I can kind of pick apart the vibe, you know?” Ladybug tried to explain. She stood up from her squat and ruffled Danny’s hair, to which he pouted. 

“What’s your plan for getting him back to his family?” Ladybug asked. 

“NOPE! Do not pass go or collect 200 hundred bucks! I can’t go back home!” Danny called out. 

“Well then, where am I supposed to deliver you to while we try to reverse the spell? You can’t stay on the tower.” Robin inquired. 

“I’ll just go with one of you two! If my sister finds out she’ll kill me for being so reckless and if my parents find out they’ll literally experiment on me! Returning to the state of Illinois could literally mean my capture by a government agency!” 

“What about your friends?” Robin prompted him. 

“No way! They’re both in college living in shared apartments! How’re they supposed to explain having a random kid around?” 

“How am I supposed to explain having a random kid around?” Robin threw back at him, but Danny just grinned. 

“Well, your family is in the business! You can tell them the real reason while I get sorted!” Danny helpfully suggested, which made Robin blanche. 

“Hey Ladybug? What’re you going to say when I stay with you?” Danny asked, not giving Robin a second to reply. 

“Er, you’re staying with Robin’s family? Why would I-” 

“Because I’m going to need to visit you for you to help me break the spell! If you just leave me with him then all of our progress will slow down!” 

“Phantom, I-” 

“It's Danny! And who are you?” 

“Oh shit, you’ve both seen my face.” Ladybug paled, the panic more intense than her earlier assessment of the now very young king. 

“You do not need to share your identity Ladybug, We’ll get Danny sorted without such drastic measures.” 

“You’re not going to reveal your identity?” Danny looked over his shoulder, and asked with his most scandalized voice. 

“No, Danny, of course not-” 

“Damian Wayne I don’t think that’s very kind of you.” Danny just replied, turning intangible when Robin launched himself at Danny. 

“Phantom!” Ladybug gasped.

“It’s Danny Fenton, but I guess we can sort out a different last name if it helps your cover story!” He smiled back at her as though he wasn’t breaking every single superhero rule. 

“Danny, you’re a ghost, you can literally just stay invisible when you’re with Ladybug-” 

“Nuh-uh! You said it earlier, this whole mess is seriously impairing my powers! I doubt I could stay invisible for more than 30 minutes!” Danny replied dramatically, throwing his arms up in the air. 

“Danny, you apologize right now.” Ladybug commanded, her disappointment and frustration clear in each crisp word she spoke. 

Danny blinked at her, and then a deeply seeded emotion surged through his bones. She looked nothing like Jazz but Danny could remember being this young and Jazz telling him to apologize for spilling a carton of milk in the grocery store. It was unsettling for him how quickly his emotional mind was changing and how parent like he perceived her… Parent like. 

Danny kept himself from ginning as he slowly delivered his apology. 

“...I’m sorry dad.” He said softly, a sniffle and a putted lip. Robin looked like he’d been struck. 

“...Don’t call me dad.” Robin replied. Ladybug sighed. 

Danny was considering all of this in his little kid brain, and he could see a plot forming in front of him. A little nudge in the right direction and maybe these two wouldn’t have to have red ears in the cafeteria over an exchange of simple favors. Oh , oh heck yeah, this was coming together! 

“This is such a mess.” She pinched her brow with her thumb and index finger. “Did you at least grab the artifact that did this? What did Kronos want with it anyway?” 

“The artifact all but disappeared when I pulled Danny from the flooded fountain. My concerns were for his well being and our escape more than it.” Robin replied. 

“Hmm.. Well okay. Lets operate under the assumption that we can’t get it back, Danny you’re staying with Robin and I’ll drop by periodically. Do you think you can get in contact with Kronos without going to the realms?” Ladybug asked, once again squatting down to look him in the eye while she worried about him. 

“No can do, the slimy bastard leaves his notes around often enough though.” Danny shrugs. 

“Language.” 

“Sorry Dad-” Danny starts, “Don’t call me Dad.” Damian finishes. 

“Okay so no Kronos, who else on the JLD have you told? We can start there and see if the House of Mysteries has anything for us.” She proposes. 

“No! No other magic! It’s icky! No doctors ‘neither” Danny protested, and it took Robin and Ladybug aback. 

She turned to Robin, and after blinking for a moment, seemed to come to some realization. 

“You’re like, what, twenty five?” Ladybug asks. 

“I am, and I believe you are about the same? What is the point of-” 

“Have you ever babysat before?” Ladybug interrupts him to ask. 

“In only minor capacities. My work as Robin means that I provide help to the children of Gotham but… I am the youngest sibling in my family.” He replies in full honesty. 

“I’m taking Danny.” Ladybug declares, standing up and crossing her arms. 

“Yay!” Danny woops. 

“You are not. He was exposed under my leadership and I’ll remind you that at present, you have no alibi for him appearing in your life. What will your partner think?” Robin retorts, throwing in the comment about Chat Noir. He’s not entirely sure if the pair are together romantically but the Cat had certainly attempted to say they were- it’s part of the reason he’s put some distance between himself and Ladybug. 

“I live alone and it’ll be fine. No one should be stopping by but if anyone does then I’ll just say I’m babysitting for you while you get things settled for his adoption.” She huffs. 

“I like adoption that sounds good!” Danny proclaims, they both look at him for a second. It looks like the reality of him being a kid is really setting in. 

Robin weighs his options, the stern look Ladybug is giving him and the sad puppy-dog eyes Danny is attempting through his very transparent excitement. Robin sighs. 

“If you’re fine taking him this evening that would be a great help, you’re right after all, I need to sort out his paperwork to make him appear out of thin air as my legally adopted son.” Robin runs a hand down his face. 

“Cool. Um, Danny, you ready to head to Paris? Was there anything you needed here on the Watchtower before we go?” Ladybug thoughtfully asks. 

Danny considers it for a second, but then walks over to her with a hand stretched upwards. Ladybug gives him a soft smile and accepts it. 

“I’ll be in contact about collecting him tomorrow morning.” Robin replies at the sight of them. 

Ladybug nods and then calls upon her transformation, the equestrian one. 

“I’ll give you a call later.” She nods her head. “C’mon Dann-o we’ve got to get you set up with some essentials before bed time.” 

They walk through her portal and Robin thinks that a part of him is gone. How…Strange. 

The next steps were to completely imagine a new family member into legal existence… and unfortunately Damian already knew which of his siblings was a professional with this very particular issue.

Chapter Text

To give herself some credit, she hadn’t walked into her apartment (Coworker turned child holding her hand) and screamed. She really wanted to, but she hadn’t. So therefore credit. 

“You look like you’re gunna combust.” 

“Danny, I feel like I'm going to combust.” She sighed as she admitted it. Marinette had survived a number of apocalypses at this point, some of which included having Phantom by her side, she had never been that stellar of a babysitter. Manon, who now worked in her parent’s cafe part time after highschool, would certainly attest to Marinette’s airheaded youth but caring nature and ability to be the mature one in any given situation. 

So, portal closed behind her, looking down and observing their clasped hands, Marinette felt as though she might actually scream. 

“Bwahaha you’re such a funny one bug.” Danny cackled at her distress and then went ghost, to fly around her space and investigate it. 

He might as well, at this point she had nothing to hide. The kwami were no doubt hibernating or ignoring the new comer, and that really was the only thing she kept secret these days. It helped to have him out of sight for a second, if nothing else, just so she wasn’t reading and re-reading the spell as it was invisibly marked all over him. 

“You sure got a lot of fabric.” Danny called out, the rack of different bolts took up substantial space in her living room on the way into her small office (it was meant to be a closet with a window). “You sure have a lot of drawings!” He exclaimed even happier at his discovery after phasing through the walls into said office. 

“Make sure not to bother anything in there, those drawings are how I’m going to afford to feed us both.” She called out and slapped a hand to her forehead, Her hand then rested downwards over her eyes and Marinette took a deep breath. 

Sure the spell looked impossible to solve, knotted up, tangled up mess that it was entirely ensnaring his soul… but maybe she was really good at Magic? Maybe there was a solution the kwami would have? 

“Danny, I haven’t eaten in a minute. You okay with pork dumplings for dinner?” Marinette called out. Just as quickly as she had asked, Danny was suddenly floating in front of her with a big grin on his face. 

“Heck yeah! Dumplings are easy to defeat, they’ve got nothing on reanimated Hot dog rebellions.” Danny’s ghost tail flicked back and forth, as if antsy for a fight. 

“See… This is the moment where I’m supposed to say ‘oh there’s little kid brain taking over’ but I'm almost entirely sure that you said something similar as an adult in the employee breakroom.” Marinette blinked. 

“Oh uh, well yeah? My dinners at home were pretty violent.” Danny shrugged as he explained a very abnormal thing with a very normal nonchalance. 

“Violent?” Marinette did her best to reiterate without her voice going up a whole octave. 

That was the whole other can of worms. Danny hadn’t ever shared too much about his childhood, but as a fellow child-hero, she knew that secrets and guilt and complexes were no doubt drenched in his history. Most child-heros came from a broken home, and she was grateful to be the seemingly one exception to that rule. 

“Well, when food reanimates, it wants revenge .” He said it like a no brainer and gave her a look that practically screamed condescension. 

“Yeah, no, that’s not a thing here. Even with all the weird magic in my life.” Marinette shook her head and pulled the leftover dumplings from their place in her fridge. 

She’d prepped a ton of them on the weekend when she’d had time and…Suddenly Marinette is considering how much more of everything she’s going to have to do. More grocery shopping, more meal prep, more time management to actually eat on time… 

If she doesn’t know how to break this spell, then she’s going to need to know how much to feed Danny as he gets older. Isn’t it a joke about how much teen boys eat? Nino certainly ate a lot but Adrien had too little say in his actual diet for her to tell… Maybe she could ask Max, he was both a very intelligent person who used to be a teen boy? Or a doctor. She needs to find a medical professional to tell her how much teen boys eat. 

Or at least eight year olds. A doctor probably has a lot to say about eight year olds and how to care for them. 

“You’ve got the combustion look again.” Danny’s voice breaks her out of her spiral. 

“I’m acclimating! Slowly! But I am….” Mari jolts before everything in her immediate world seems to catch up to her and she sighs. 

“Riiight. Well, you’ll see an animated dinner around me.” Danny carries on. Oh right. That was the thing he was worried about. Marinette put a mental pin in the doctor train of thought for later. 

“Are you sure? The cafeteria food I've had with you never seemed to do anything but be vacuumed in.” Marinette chuckles, and starts to heat the pan with oil, prepping the other ingredients to the side. 

“Yep, pretty sure.” He pops the ‘p’ in his yep as he confirms it for her. 

“Didn’t you get your powers later in life? How would your childhood dinners be uh, violent, if you didn’t have your ghost half?” Marinette tried to very casually piece the story together. She turned to look at Danny and saw him looking at her aghast. 

But in his shock, she also noticed something. A loud, entirely undignified yelp comes out of her. 

“WAIT! Danny! You’re smaller!” Marinette yells out, her shock over taking every ounce of composure she once had. 

“What?!” Danny’s little hands scrambled all along his body, as if to feel it shrinking, before looking like he might pull out his own hair. 

“You look younger! Detransform!” She commanded at an instant, and he followed her request without a second thought.

They stared at each other for a moment, both waiting for a voice to be found. 

“You…You’re younger. You look like you’re seven now, instead of looking like you were eight-ish.” Marinette pieces it together. He’s looking at his little hands again and his brow is pinched in confusion. 

“Ruh-roh.” Danny replies, wringing out his tiny hands like he was trying to stretch them to be longer. 

“No more transforming until we can figure out if that’s what triggered it.” Marinette decides and Danny nods his head in agreement. 

“Okay… First things first. We eat dinner. Second thing, we call Robin. Third thing, showers and bed time.” Marinette lays out the agenda before she can further spiral. Structure, that’s what this whole thing was missing. Fortunately, Marinette was a strategist, one of the best in the League. 

“What about a movie?” Danny’s little voice throws her for a loop. Had she not just proposed the plan? Mulling it over very quickly, she decides it might help him fall asleep, so what harm could it be?

“What movie?” Marinette tosses back to him. 

“You’re gunna say no…” Danny hangs his head. She knows its a tactic, but its pretty darn cute. 

“Then make a convincing argument.”Marinette rolls her eyes, turning back to the now fully steamed dumplings and beginning to prepare a sauce to go with them. 

“What if we watch ghost busters?” Danny merrily suggests. 

“It's a stereotyping, bad faith interpretation of your other self. No.” Marinette rolled her eyes and metaphorically put her foot down. 

“Good answer Maman, let’s watch Shark week.” Danny sniggers to himself over her apparent ‘pass’ of his test. She feels weird about the nickname… He’d been calling Robin dad, and Robin had shut it down each time…Should she do the same? 

All things considered… if he called her only by Bug and Maman, he wouldn’t need to learn her real name before they got this whole thing sorted. If they got this whole thing sorted. 

“You won't have nightmares?” Marinette decides to confirm, and take the opposite route of Robin on receiving a parental title. 

“Sharks are fish and fish are friends.” Danny sagely nodded his head. 

“I’ll find us some reruns after dinner. But then we have to call Robin and update him.” Marinette sighs but accepts his request. How could she not? He wasn’t even trying to give her puppy eyes but he was just so little! 

Danny happily walked over to her small table and took his seat. 

“No no, grab us both a glass of water,” Marinette instructed, pulling down the glasses where he would reach them, “And make sure there are chopsticks on the table with a napkin under them.” 

“Do I have to?” Danny isn’t whining, it sounds like genuine curiosity. 

“You have to in order to have dinner, which you need to do so we can finish out the rest of our list.” Marinette raised an eyebrow at him. She wasn’t sure if this tactic would work, but she could try. Most little kids were amenable to helping and completing tasks. 

Danny simply nodded and went about doing his little chore. Was she going to be a good parent to him, good enough? He’s throwing around parental titles like they’re nothing and its… Was she parenting him right now? Her normally twenty something coworker? What were the consequences of failing him? Marinette is about to start spiraling again at the simple act of him following her instruction when his voice pulls her out of it again. 

“Do you think Robin likes you?” Danny asked, an innocent look on his face as he filled the water into the glass from the pitcher. She blinks. 

“...Yes? We’re friendly.” Marinette replied honestly. Robin was always very courteous to her. And was always very gracious about accepting treats for helping her on the random mission or assignment. 

“No, LIKE likes you.” Danny asks again. His grin is very telling but Marinette decides not to give him the satisfaction. 

“Where is that coming from?” She sputters for a second before asking. 

“Well, if you’re my maman, and he’s my dad, then you should like like each other.” Danny presents his logic with a mischievous grin. 

Marinette retreats into her mind for a second to think about all the times that Manon used to make up love stories for Marinette. Maybe it’s just a little kid thing that she doesn’t remember doing at that age?

“You’re surprisingly stuck on that, do you think it's because of the spell?” Is what Marinette replies despite her suspicions of it being ‘little kid brain’ induced. 

“No, I thought that you two would like each other this morning too.” Danny is still smiling as he admits it. She sets a bowl in front of him, and takes her seat at the small table across from his own chosen chair. 

“You’re pretty honest as a little kid. Here, eat and then we can put on tv.” Mari tries to escape the conversation and Danny seems to have perked up at the idea of the tv show again. It was a tried and true babysitting tactic- get through this and get rewarded. 

“Yay! And heads up, the first siege is never pretty.” Danny cheered before his tone turned as ominous as a seven year old’s possibly could. Marinette rolled her eyes and watched him wait for the food to move. 

A minute went by, no movement. 

Another minute, still nada. 

A third minute, “Danny it’s just going to be cold.” Marinette replied, and took her own utensils in hand to begin eating. He watched her with horror in his eyes but said nothing. 

It was only after an additional two minutes that Danny finally sighed, slumped down in his chair and began to take efforts to actually eat his dinner. 

“I can’t tell… Does it make you sad that your dinner didn’t try to bite you back?” Marinette was genuinely puzzled. 

“I mean, no, it's just so strange.” Danny softly proclaimed but started eating. Marinette felt concerned. 

“Was fighting dinner something you did to bond with your family?” She asked hesitantly. Certainly she would have to start include him in her daily traditions and rituals but was fighting her food one that she would have to be included in by him? How much was the give and take in this situation? 

“Me and Jazzy used to, when we were highschool there were a whole series of battles.” Danny sighs, but takes a nibble from the dumpling, and then excitedly taking a much bigger bite from it. 

“Do you wish you were with Jazzy?” Marinette has to ask. Danny had been so against it on the Watchtower, but certainly his sister needed to be told. She probably should be delivering Danny to his sister right now but… if they’re going to break this spell its going to require her taking care of him. Marinette was probably the single most qualified person to try and get the advantage over the spell while it was new. 

“No, I think she’d feel crazy about having to raise me twice.” Danny said between bites. 

“I bet she loves you enough to raise you four times.” Marinette laughed.

“Why not more than that?” Danny sniggered back. 

“Lucky number, I dunno. You tell me.” Marinette grinned, and was happy for the cute conversation. It felt normal for a moment. 

“I ‘dunno.” Danny stuffed his face again as he answered her. 

“So… You like sharks? What other things do you like? We’ve played a lot of video games together but I know you have a ton of hobbies.” Marinette inquired, only remembering bits of things he would tell her about as an adult. 

“I like Space! And rockets to space! And engineering-” But then Danny’s face fell into dramatic horror again “-My Engineering Degree! I’m going to have to earn it all over again!” His hands clasped to the sides of his face. 

“I’m sure Robin will look into it for you.” Marinette tried to placate the very distraught looking kid in front of her while also trying to remember that he’s still her coworker. 

The look of anxiety is completely wiped away from him, and Marinette relaxes for just a moment before she sees it. The spell seems to lock into place around him, like a safe with a turning mechanism hitting its mark on the dial. Like a moon orbiting on a perfect ellipses, she can see the words of the spell hula-hoop around his center in strands before forming a concrete loop. 

“You’re looking at me funny.” Danny says it simply enough. 

“The spell is settling in,” She doesn’t hesitate to say, “Have you gotten enough to eat? We need to try to diagnosis this a little bit more, it’s progressing way faster than I would have thought.” 

“I didn’t go ghost again!” 

“I know that! But something just changed about it… What were you thinking about just a minute ago? We were talking about your degree and robin. What did it make you feel?” 

“...I was thinking about how you guys are already better parents than my own.” Danny says, his voice calm but his eyes wide with a fear she knew well. A fear of rejection. 

“Danny, that’s really nice of you to say but we haven’t even been able to help you yet-” Marinette tries to softly dispel the notion, despite knowing it's probably the truth. 

“No but you both already listened to me when I told you what I wanted.” He replies, “They never did. It wasn’t as important.” 

The spell seemingly locks around him again, but it hasn’t settled in. Marinette wonders if the more Danny accepts being a little kid, the more final the spell becomes. 

“Danny, don’t you want to go back to being a college kid who gets to hang out with his friends?”Marinette attempts. 

“...You don’t want me.” Danny looks like he might cry. 

“I think you’re great Danny. I think you're a wonderful friend, and an amazing hero and sometimes you’re even pretty okay at video games-” Marinette tries to walk back the attempt immediately and add in a joke she knows will resonate with him. 

Immediately Danny’s smile is met with the second ring of the spell locking into place. FUCK. 

“...Let me find that shark show.” Marinette quickly heads into her living room space and Danny joins her in front of the small TV soon after. 

“Oh I like that one!” Danny points to the youtube video she’s pulled up and Marinette is grateful that he’s apparently an Ipad kid. She doesn’t like that in the long run, but for right now, she needs to get him to focus on something other than her. 

Damian has already purchased the unit beside his on the penthouse level, and already had the contractors come in to quote him the work to conjoin the units. He’s going to need room for Danny to have a space of his own, and eight year olds are hardly meant to be contained. 

Damian had seen much of the world twice over by the time he was eight, it was only right that Danny also received a secondary study room for his hobbies and interests. 

It goes without saying that an entire bedroom suite of furniture had been ordered and was on its way. 

Because leaving the watchtower without Danny or Ladybug led to a lot of personal angst and reflection, and… fear. He was going to become a parent to Danny. Somehow, he felt it in his bones that this wasn’t a form of Magic they knew how to break. 

Damian was never going to insinuate that Ladybug could fail but… He wasn’t holding out hope. And that led to the panic he felt over having a child appropriate space for Danny to return home to. He’d heard enough over the years about how the Fenton’s operated the lab under and within Danny’s home. Ridiculous. Unethical. 

The thought of any child living in such conditions made his blood boil. Damian certainly had enough family and friends hurt by lab accidents to know… to know exactly how Phantom came to be, even if he’d never gone so far as to admit it. 

Clicking his teeth, Damian was determined to do better. To be better in every way. 

Truthfully, he’d called his sister as soon as his feet were planted firmly on earth’s soil. Emergency contacts were updated on an annual basis, and Danny only ever had a single number to update. 

“Doctor Jasmine Fenton, I am calling on behalf of your brother Danny.” Is how Damian had started the conversation, and he’d expected her to launch into worry one way or another. 

“About Danny? What did he get into this time?” She seemed genuinely perplexed. 

“He’s been de-aged.” Damian chose not to sugar coat it. 

“How young?” She doesn’t hesitate to ask. 

“Eight.” He doesn’t hesitate to answer. 

“I’m guessing he said he didn’t want me to raise him twice?” The otherwise entirely professional woman seemed to be holding back a groan. 

“He did not want to burden you.” Damian confirms, anxious to hear her next question. A long pause and a sigh meet him over the receiver. 

“Well… Who is taking him? If he’s not already with me, then he’s certainly not with Sam or Tuck.” Damian can’t fault her logic, knowing how close Danny was to his two friends despite the long distance nature of their normal correspondence post high school. Something about her response bothers him however, and Damian wasn’t going to move forward without confronting his discomfort. 

“Why do you presume I’m not taking him to you anyway?” Damian asks critically. 

“You’ve met my brother… Look. I love him dearly, and we will be laying down ground rules for him spending time with me but… this is kind of a best case scenario right now.” 

“Please elaborate.” Damian demands through gritted teeth.

“Our parents have been paranoid about him for the last few years, and they’ve basically learned about his secret identity even if they won't accept it. If he came to stay with me, or with his friends would mean painting the target on our backs and undoing whatever Kronos has tried to do.” Jazz huffs as she explains and Damian has to mull over the implications. 

“You know of his relation to the god of time then?” 

“ Duh . And as much as Clockwork can be a real asshole, he really doesn’t want Danny to fully die. We don’t know why he’s so invested in Danny staying a Halfa, but it's critical to him. If our parents find Danny…” The doctor takes a shaky breath, “...we’re not sure how far they would go. And they come by Chicago often enough for conventions and lab parts that they would absolutely stop by my place and find him.” 

“I see, then I’ll continue to presume that it would be unwise to approach his friends on the matter.” Damian mulls it over. 

“It would be. I’ll let them know, and they can play aunt and uncle sometime but… It seems like this whole thing was schemed out for you to take him right now.” Jazz confirms. 

“Hm. Then, with your blessing, I’ll be adopting Danny into my family as a son.” It feels strange to say, it feels odd to ask, but Damian is renowned for his confidence in face of the unknown. 

“...How much older are you than him?” The doctor asks. 

“A teen pregnancy’s distance in age currently, but typically I am 26 to his 22.” 

“That’s a pretty decent cover story.” She seems to be thinking it over and seems to be holding back something of a laugh- Her brother was more boisterous, but even this short conversation reminded him so much of Danny’s mannerisms. 

“It’s convenient, though my family will become aware of the true details soon enough.” 

“Do you… do you need money to help care for him? I can help if you need child support.” She asks, and Damian blinks. It was a privilege that taking on a ward of his own would do little to affect his socioeconomic status, he wasn’t blind to that. 

“I need no such thing.” He’s quick to reply. 

“Touchy.” She replies just as quickly. 

“And… for full transparency, Danny has claimed another of our friends as a co-parent. Any assistance she needs I will be able to provide for as well.” Damian shares and Jasmine hums in response. 

“I’ll need to meet you both. We’ll call it a family counseling session if you need a cover story.” 

“Cover story sounds unnecessary considering it will quite literally be a family counseling session.” Damian deadpans. 

“Right well… For full transparency as you put it, If I deem you unfit, I will absolutely be taking back my baby brother and be damned by the consequences.” Jazz threatened her voice holding a darker tone for just a moment before she continued, “But I trust Danny and his judgment.”

“I see. We will make time to schedule that soon-” 

And then the conversation went into details about Danny’s diet and preferences for his room. Damian needed to get down to brass tacks about the entire situation now that he was certainly going to be taking Danny into his home. 

Time passes by quickly after that and Damian is knee deep in their family records writing in Danny’s adoption and filing for paperwork with the same approach his family took in adopting his older sister Cass. She had similarly appeared from nowhere according to all legal record, so her adoption had included a few forgeries that Damian was committed to updating for Danny. 

Focusing on the matter at hand almost made the entire situation less daunting. Less of a mistake to not just wait a week and see what might happen. Less of a mistake to not just send Danny to his friends and a surplus of supplies, or to keep him on the watchtower with constant surveillance by other heroes who might look at him like a chore… he believes that Danny has an October birthday and decides to keep that the same on the new paperwork. 

It’s a few moments after the contractors begin banging into the walls that his phone starts to ring. Not one to interrupt the work he ordered to have done ASAP, Damian accepts the call as he heads out onto the small balcony space of the apartment. 

“Hello.” He replies, not sure if he should just willingly repeat his name again or not. Ladybug had certainly not taken it well when Danny threw it out. 

“Robin! I am freaking out. Please, please tell me you know the name of the artifact or literally anything about this spell.” Ladybug was whisper-screaming into the microphone. 

“I can’t say that I have much to supply other than the temple name-” Damian quickly replies, and before he can add any kind of question or concern she interrupts him with a simple statement. 

“We are so fucked.” 

“...You are not normally so bleak.” Damian blinked, he’d left the two of them without a worry. They were both known optimists- how badly could things have fallen apart in a few hours?

“No! I’m not! But the spell is locking in, and I have no clue what to do. I fed him, I tried to barter with the spell which completely backfired. I’ve got him watching a tv show from the center of a cleansing circle and it's not doing anything at all .” she sounds like she’s at the end of a rope. Damian has seen Ladybug holding a spear over a would-be-alien-overlord with less anxiety. He’s seen her take down titans and never so much as flinch with anxiety over her leadership decisions. 

“What exactly was it that backfired?” Damian immediately tries to get back to the root of the problem she seems to be facing and not the larger worry that she has. 

“Oh well, shoot, two things actually. He went back into his ghost form and then it started to de-age him further. So we have an agreement that he’s going to stay human for a bit-” 

“How much younger?” Damian panicked to ask. 

“Months to a year. He’s closer to looking seven than eight.” Ladybug confesses quickly. 

“Oh thank god, I don’t think I could order a different bedroom set, much less a nursery, under the radar at this point.” Damian says, relieved for only a moment. 

“...Have you been buying things for Danny?” Ladybug asks, a quirk to her tone that he didn’t know how to place. 

“What was the second backfire?” Damian cuts back to the problem. 

“...Danny was talking about his parents, and when he seemed to come to a conclusion about me or you being a better parent… It was like watching the spell latch on and concretely stabilize within him. I have no idea how to undo it. You know I can deal with soul magic… this isn’t that.” Ladybug sounds anxious again, but he can place exactly why. A fear of failure and a concern that she had already failed him. 

“It’s the work of Kronos then, there won’t be much to undo in that case.” Damian tries to placate her with his sound finding. 

“I’m not a god, I can’t undo the work of one either.” Ladybug somberly replies. 

“Then I will do my best to give him a better upbringing.” 

“...We need to take him to his sister. I can’t fix this but in order to do our best we need to know more from her about what might trigger him-” 

“His sister has been informed.” Damian adds. 

“You talked to her or you just sent a weird bat message?” 

“We spoke. She is in agreement that Danny is safer with the two of us than her or his closest friends.” 

“...” Ladybug had clearly opened her mouth to speak on the other end but nothing came out. 

“If you prefer not to take on the respons-”

“We don't even know how to balance a diet for a seven year old! Or if he needs to get new vaccines! How are we the best option- I’ve already let the spell progress and-”

“His sister has informed me of a proper diet, recommended some books for his psychological well being and a number of parenting books.”

“...What if we fail him?” 

“His birth parents are actively hunting him down. Their erratic credit card purchases at all the most recent locations Phantom assisted the league is very telling. They were getting close.” 

“I… I’m already the reason the spell latched further onto him.” Ladybug replies, completely crushed.  

“You are neither the caster of the spell nor the god of time. You said it already yourself that this was beyond your ability. Certainly if it is beyond your scope then no one would be able to help him.” Damian nearly scoffs, knowing that most would take the nicer option of softly explaining her lack of blame. 

“...You bought him furniture didn’t you? I didn’t even think of that.” She says after a moment of contemplation and Damian hates that she remembers every angle of their conversations that he tries to abandon. 

“It is within my means to provide for him, and if you’d like to share your address I can have similar furniture options sent over.” Damian offers. 

“No. No I have a spare bed in my office, he can stay in there for now and eventually, I can turn that into his bedroom.” Ladybug starts to plan out, and he can practically see the gears spinning in her mind. He’s seen her look over battle maps and respond in the same tone of voice. 

“I see, but should you need any help-” He tries to offer once again but is cut off. 

“I'm fine providing for Danny.” Ladybug almost sounded offended at his proposal. 

“Fine, then please have him in a suit when I pick him up tomorrow. We’ll be headed to the court shortly after we get back from Paris.” He doesn’t mean to sound so short with her, but he figures getting to the point will save them both time if a conversation about finances can’t be held. 

“The court?” Ladybug sounds anxious again. 

“I need to formally adopt him.” Damian deadpans. 

“...Are we, uh, are we going to need a custody agreement? I promised to co-parent him and I meant that. Sincerely.” She’s not accusatory or trying to be defensive, Damian can tell she feels guilty to even bring the idea forward. 

“Would you like to also be on the adoption paperwork?” Damian immediately asks like its no big deal. No further implication. Nothing of grander meaning or importance to be found. 

“I… Give me a night to think on it. I’m pretty sure the answer is yes but-” 

“But it means giving up your identity. I understand.” Damian softly replies. 

“...If, if you wanted to back out, for any reason, I already have Danny here with me.” Ladybug tentatively approaches. 

“We’re coparents.” He does his best to brutally shut down the notion, his voice as stern as possible. 

“Right. Well, I have a suit to go make so-” Ladybug laughs a little and then her voice trails off. 

“I can have a suit ordered if you want to get his measurements-” He’s quick to come back to an offer of aid, its really not as though he couldn’t throw money at the problem. 

“Text me before you just show up to my place tomorrow.” Ladybug tells him more than asks. 

“I suppose I did mention picking him up from Paris.” Notably, she hasn’t shared an address or any way for him to find her and Danny. 

“Robin… We’re going to do this, and we’re going to do it well.” She says his name softly before steel takes over her tone. A promise. An oath. 

“Of course.” Damian says, an even measured return. 

“No. I mean it, when you follow me into battle its because I have a plan. We’re coparenting, so the next time we talk… We need to strategize.” Ladybug’s voice again reminds him of her leadership on the watchtower and he nearly swoons. 

Damian can feel his heart flutter at the notion. 

“Without a single doubt, I follow you into this battle. Goodnight Bug.” 

“Goodnight Bird.” and then she hangs up. 

Damian isn’t entirely sure what Danny is up to. Their update left much to be desired into the actual ways that Danny was spending his time or coping with having been de-aged. Then again… he would consider Ladybug to be the more emotionally mature of the two of them. No doubt Danny has already been coddled and comforted… 

Damian quickly orders the books Dr. Jasmine Fenton suggested on parenting techniques. 

Danny didn’t particularly love that she made him get up from the couch to take his measurements, but he really liked watching her sketch out a new suit once she had them. 

“Does the collar have to be that wide?” He asks curiously, watching as she sketched out ‘pattern pieces’ and a whole garment seemed to come alive on the page.  Ladybug was working diligently, and if not for the lack of mask, it would be like sitting at the office with her. She had a second pencil held softly between her lips, her hair pulled back into a single bun on the top of her head, and Danny kind of felt special to see her work. 

Danny knew that she went to call Robin, and that she returned looking a little less like she might scream.

“I can make it thinner, this is just what’s in style right now… Why don’t you go back to my office and pick out a fabric you like? A sturdy one, not one that feels soft.” Ladybug proposes and Danny excitedly shoots off into the room he’d explored earlier when flying around. 

The office looked different with his feet on the floor. There was a big desk with a sewing machine in the corner by the window, a big trundle bed and racks and racks of fabric bolts. Standing in the room, it really sunk in how little he was now. More so than when his hands were pulling at the fabric of reality to open a portal… ha, fabric. 

His hands seem just as small as he handles the fabric towards the back, careful to make sure none fall over and onto him. Eventually he finds a dark navy blue, and though it's different from anything he would have chosen in the past, he decides he likes it. Looks like the night sky a little bit… 

“Found one!” Danny calls out and hears Ladybug call out a ‘Good job!’ from the living room before he goes to pull it out. 

He’s not used to a physical challenge anymore and for half a second, Danny considers just going ghost again to pull it out. But Ladybug is behind him once again, walking into the room and setting her clipboard down on the desk. 

“The Indigo tweed? Good choice.”

“It looks like a night sky.” Danny shrugs but his smile gives away his excitement.

“Do you want me to put some stars on your suit?” Ladybug smiles as she offers, and effortlessly pulls the bolt from its place. Danny stares in awe for just a moment at how strong she must be, the fabric bolt is taller than her and the weight of the fabric must have been more than her own. Then her offer hits him and Danny is practically bouncing on his feet. 

“You can do that?” 

“I can do a lot of things with Fabric.” She smirks. She sets the bolt laying down on her desk and then walks to the big closet in the back to start looking through what looks like a mix of a normal clothes closet and an explosion of crafting supplies. 

“Here, I’ll give you this big night shirt to borrow, you can change and brush your teeth with the new brush I set for you by the sink.” She smiled and Danny took the large shirt into his hands. 

“Can I watch you make the suit?” Danny felt captivated by the notion for some reason. He’d seen Sam alter dresses since he was a pre-teen but the prospect of Ladybug making him an entire suit tonight? With stars on it?! 

“Sure, but bedtime stuff first. It’s going to take me a second to get everything cut out and sewed together, you’ll fall asleep watching me.” 

“No way! This is so cool.” Danny grins. 

“Want to bet on it?” She asks and Danny knows the look in her eyes. It's the one he learned when he first met her on the Watchtower. It was always a stupid decision to bet against Ladybug, and he watched a number of other hero’s pay up large sums the very first time he met her. 

“...No.” Danny didn’t have anything snarky to reply with.

“Good choice. Off you go.” Ladybug says and gets right to unfolding the sea of dark blue onto the desk. He watches her draw on it with chalk and her ruler for only a moment before he goes off to complete his tasks. 

Ladybug was, unsurprisingly, very task oriented. 

Danny might have a little kid brain right now, but he saw the way she gave him a job at dinner… He wondered if Robin would run as tight of a ship. Ladybug seemed to be concerned that he have something to do at all times, not once trying to make him find his own entertainment. Danny guessed that it made sense for now but part of him became concerned that she might start to care less… Were his parents like this when he was this little? 

Danny couldn’t remember them being this way. He could remember Jazz bothering him about eating the greens on his plate from being this little the first time… Maybe it was always just Jazz. 

Danny wasn’t trying to get himself upset but it felt bad. His scars ached as he thought about his parents and it only resonated more within his chest. He made it to the bathroom and closed the door behind him to get changed from his some-how-shrunk normal tshirt and jeans. 

Inspecting the shirt she gave him, it was an old 3XL band tee for someone called “Jagged Stone” and he was wearing some crazy sunglasses and a suit that looked like it might be made of fireworks. The whole center image looked incredibly pyrotechnic and then there was also an alligator in the corner. Danny decided better than to question it, laughing instead at how crazy it looked, and pulling it over him. It fit like a dress down past his knees…But he had no doubt that if Ladybug was making him an entire suit, she’d also make him real pajamas in the future. 

Danny found a red and black toothbrush by the sink, laid out for him rather than upright on the stand like the pink one was. He tried to blink away all thoughts of his parents as he went about cleaning his teeth… Looking around at the small bathroom Danny was learning a lot about Ladybug. 

Her shampoos were all labeled with fruits and flowers, her towels were all pink and the room itself was striped with soft pastel purples. Ladybug was… very girly. Her living room had a big blue couch but thinking back on it… the rest of the apartment was very pink. 

Spitting, rinsing and scrubbing his face with the small handtowel, Danny walked back to the office with his dirty clothes in his hands. 

“Oh good, my dad’s shirt isn’t going to work long term but it fits you well enough for now. We’re going to have to go shopping for clothes tomorrow.” Ladybug hums, taking his dirty clothes from him and setting them in a well hidden bin next to the desk. 

“What's with the alligator?”

“Oh my gosh you don’t know!?” Ladybug asks excitedly, almost completely flabbergasted, before she continues, “Danny, we’re going to have to make sure you get a full rock education if you’re staying with me. That's a Crocodile, and his name is Fang. You’ll meet him when you meet your great uncle Jagged.” 

“I have a great uncle?” Danny laughs excitedly, the notion of extended family even crazier than an apparent rock star crocodile. 

“You do now! He’s my unofficial uncle but he’s going to be besides himself when he meets you. And you’re going to love Fang.” Ladybug assures him, and getting up from her office chair, turns around to flip back the big duvet on the trundle bed. 

“Okay, best seat in the house is going to be right here for you. You’ll be able to see over my shoulder while i connect all the pieces I just cut out.” She sits down at the chair not far from his bed, and Danny flips the covers over him, though he does prop his pillow up to see her hands better. 

“Is it normally this fast?” Danny asks, entirely too excited that she was powering up the small machine and changing threads on it with weird levers. Ladybug is turned away from him now

“Not at all- but I’m pretty skilled at making suits by this point. Someday soon I’ll take you to a runway, and you’ll get to see all the actually cool things I get to make.” Ladybug laughs a little. 

“I think this is pretty cool.” 

“Thanks… We’re going to do cool things together. We were friends before you were a micro-dude, and we’re going to be friends going forward. So any hobbies of mine, I can’t wait to share with you… and any hobbies you have, I can't wait to learn.” She sounds very serious about it, and Danny wishes that he could see her face better when she confessed as much. He feels like he might cry, the little kid emotions flooding through his sensible mind in an instant. 

“You’re really nice Maman.” Danny musters up, not really able to say how her kindness is affecting him. 

“You’re going through a rough time. Earlier I was more worried about the magic of it all, but now I'm just worried about you.” She says softly, but remains turned away from him, grabbing another piece of the fabric and turning it in an unexpected way. 

“My parents didn’t even notice when I…” Danny starts, but she turns around from the sewing machine in an instant. The second he’d mentioned his parents really, her eyes were making full contact with his and her hand was brushing the top of his head. Danny isn’t sure what she’s going to say… she seems angry but then it vanishes from her face. 

“I… I think if someone could bleed out from needle pricks, I would have done it by now. So no need to worry about my profession getting too dangerous or making me forget you. I quite literally think it would be impossible.” Ladybug assures him, and Danny does his best to not look like crying. 

He wasn’t sure why he felt this way. Jazz looked nothing like Ladybug, they shared essentially no features, but the sincerity she held in every word she spoke to him reminded him of his older sister. Logically, he knew why Kronos separated them. But ancients, did he miss his sister and her decades long dedication to making him feel better. Making him feel loved. 

Danny just nods his head up and down a few times. 

“This is really crazy Danny. But you’ve been through crazier, I remember that time you told me about with the motorcycle guy-” 

“Johnny and Shadow have nothing on this.” Danny replies, and for a moment as he thinks about them, he forgets the sadness. 

“Oh yeah? Well, let me tell you about this guy I used to fight. It was basically every week this guy would be out feeding the pigeons-” 

“Are there a lot of those here?” 

“So many. Tomorrow we can go for a walk so you can see more of Paris, but anyway this guy, Mr. Pigeon-” Ladybug continues, telling the story of her first year as a hero while she worked. The sound of the machine was more rhythmic than it was loud or anything like the machines he grew up hearing below the floorboards. 

It was strange that the God of Time had literally taken Danny away from that time in his life. How, more than likely, Danny would never fall asleep in a house that made him wonder what was below him or if it could kill him. He’d never have to deal with his… Parents. The Drs. Fenton wouldn’t find him, it just wasn’t the way Kronos did business. He was a ‘set it and forget it’ kind of guy for most timelines and…

Danny did his best to pay attention to her story but at some point, with only the lamp light, and the soft way she spoke, and the heavy blankets… Danny fell asleep thinking about birds.

Chapter Text

Damian receives a message at 10pm as he begins to suit up for the night, which doing the math, is 4 am in France. He does this quick calculation because truly, the only person he might anticipate hearing from is Ladybug, but it's such an unreasonable hour to hear from her. 

Pulling at the fabric to tighten the gauntlets around his forearms all the faster, Damian crosses the room and flips the communicator over. 

“Marinette Dupain Cheng- 129 Rue Caulaincourt.” is all the message says, but its coming from Ladybug’s personal line so… Damian blinks. For the paperwork he supposes, that's all she's telling him this for. And to pick up Danny in the morning. That’s all. 

Damian chooses to reply to the text with; “Okay, thank you.” because he’s been told that OK was considered rude, and he hardly considered “I can’t believe you’ve chosen to share this with me, I am incredibly honored” to be anything other than too forward.

She doesn’t respond to his message and Damian supposes that he has not given her much to work with. Not to mention it's quite literally the middle of the night where she is. 

He knows, logically, that there is nothing more to this information sharing, but his heart once again skips a beat. A chance to know her, and know her through the complete lens of Heroine and normal person. 

Damian had wanted to get himself through the door and out on his patrol route within the next few minutes but… He can reprioritize for a half hour to put her name down on all the official and unofficial documentation. And to perhaps search her name and the address, for additional context… in case the Judge asks about her residence being so far from Gotham, of course. 

Her name surprisingly but unsurprisingly, brings up nothing. No social media, no news articles or linkedin page. Damian supposes it's not far from his ideal status as a hero with a secret to hide, and part of him is proud that the initial search comes up with so little. It will buy him time while his family no doubt attempts to do their own investigation in the morning. 

Her address… Damian feels a rush of excitement to see she’s in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, the heart of artistic culture and history. Is she an artist? Does she just appreciate art? Is this the part of the city she grew up in? Damian would be lying if he said he wasn’t looking forward to visiting one of his favorite neighborhoods of the french capital so often. 

Damian remembers that she mentioned making Danny a suit… Perhaps she is a designer? Or a seamstress of a sort? Or perhaps she simply meant calling upon one of her creation spells to magically manifest one… Damian had seen her make far more for far fewer reasons. 

Damian’s phone comes to life as his siblings and Father begin to go out for the night, and reluctantly, he pulls himself away from his search. He’d put her name down on all of the critical documents, so staying would truly be an admission of curiosity rather than a dedicated need. 

By the time he’s finished dressing in his armor and out on his motorcycle, the pretender has already gotten under his skin. 

“So how did the mission with Phantom go? Must’ve been short since you’re back with us.” Red Robin’s voice questions over the comm in Damian’s ear. His brother is currently on a stake out, has been for a few days much to the anger of Tam Fox, and is no doubt obsessively watching over the actions of his siblings. Damian could occasionally forget how Tim came to be in this family, but some conversations put him over the edge when it came to his brother’s ability to simply investigate too far. 

“Mixed results.” Robin replies, and then is fortunate enough to run into a group of drug dealers trying to scam a few highschoolers. Unfortunate for them, of course, because while this wasn’t Red Hood's territory, Damian isn’t feeling particularly charitable. 

They fight, he wins, they get tied up and Robin leaves the scene before the GCPD can arrive to pick up the thugs. 

“Mixed results? Anything to debrief over?” Red robin is back in his ear the second Damian is back on his bike. Damian wouldn’t be surprised if Tim was geo-tagging everyone out right now. 

“Perhaps.”

“So should I set up a briefing group then? I can literally do that right now.” Tim deadpans, and Damian hates that it's now of all times that his older brother is trying to be helpful. 

“No.” 

“So it doesn’t need a debrief?” Tim questions, and Damian runs into a few men dressed entirely in black throwing rocks into the window of a clearly occupied home. He wastes no time with involving himself, taking the scream from inside the town house as his queue to take action. 

“Phantom will no longer be working with the league for the foreseeable future.” Robin replies as he fights off the one brute who had already broken in. 

“...Why?” Tim pauses for a good second before asking. Damian isn’t sure if it's because he’s thinking or if he was giving Damian the time to catch up to the guy running down the street. 

“Magic.” Damian grits out, throwing his bat-a-rang at just the right angle to get the guy's jacket pinned to the brick wall. 

“Euch, gross. Well, if he’s on a vacation or something he really needs to submit the right forms… Maybe I can do that right now.” Tim starts to propose but Damian is hardly listening. 

“That would be a good use of your time.” Robin replies, smashing his fist into the face of the would-be burglar. 

“So something definitely happened. Phantom is super touchy about what gets reported about him… Who do I need to invite to the debrief.” Tim is no longer negotiating. 

“...It might be a better use of your time to call a family meeting. Tonight or tomorrow morning.” 

“Riiight. Any reason in particular?” Tim begins to dig for information, as anyone in this family is trained to do. 

Damian doesn’t reply. 

“Got it, you’ll stop being an asshole and tell us at the family meeting.” His brother all but grumbles. Damian can hear the clicking of keys in the background of Tim’s voice before it’s replaced by silence.  

“Waiting a normal amount of time to receive information does not make me an asshole.” Damian replies, going a little faster on his bike.

“Fine. Fine! Point made. Family meeting is at 2 am after patrol wraps up.” Tim declares and sends out the message, which Babs then reiterates over the other comm lines.  

The rest of his patrol goes without any interruption, seemingly because Tim is attempting to get information from the rest of the family. 

But the bliss of a job well done cannot last forever, and despite the desire to drive home and forgo the oncoming destruction of his peace… Damian heads towards the Manor by 1:45am. 

He arrives at 2:01 to find the entire family is quietly seated around the round Bat-table, Alfred included. Though Alfred has chosen to stand “properly” at his Father’s side and not actually sit. 

The normal chaos of his siblings interacting, yelling and fighting would have been much preferred. 

“Robin, you’ve called the family together.” Bruce speaks clearly and with little feeling other than curiosity to color his tone. 

“...I suppose I have.” He starts, holding back a groan at the way his family looks like he might deliver a terminal medical diagnosis. “You are all aware I was on a mission with Phantom today.” He proposes it not as a question but an absolute given the background Tim probably shared with them all. 

“What happened with Spooks?” Jason questions, a bit more aggressively than necessary. Jason was always very strange about their dynamic as members of the undead. 

“Phantom was ensnared by a trap earlier today, one we think was created by Kronos.” Damian begins, carefully. 

“Doesn’t Phantom call him Clocky? I thought Kronos was his mentor?” Dick is quick to question while supplying the few facts he knows.

“Yes and yes. It has become apparent that Phantom’s hunters are becoming increasingly close to having a near perfect honing mechanism for Phantom’s ghost signature. The spell that Kronos placed on him reduces the chance that he will be found.” 

“And the purpose of this being a family meeting?” his Father asks, likely already suspicious of the real reason. 

“Danny, through unbreakable magic, has been reduced to a childhood age, and I will be adopting him into my care.” Damian decides to bite the bullet and announce the real reason for this whole mess. 

Steph bursts out laughing, and Jason is just as quick to join her. Tim seems to be silently contemplating it and Dick throws his face into his hands before they migrate into his hair, making him appear crazed. Cass smiles at him, a bit of humor evident though he can tell she mostly means to convey pride. Duke seems to laugh for a second before blinking. 

“Aren’t you a little young to follow up in B-man’s footsteps.” Duke quickly did the mental math of their ages. 

“Father was a year younger than myself when he adopted Grayson.” Damian grits out. 

“Hey don’t push me back to Last name status just because Duke asked a question-” Dick immediately tries to shut the notion down.

“Are you certain? Phantom has living family.” His Father asks. Damian has become very good at reading his father in all the years it's been since first arriving at the manor. Even still, he cannot tell what exactly the man is thinking. 

“ Family attempting to capture him for experimentation or Family that would be poorly positioned to shield Phantom from such horror.” Damian relays the information with the heavy tone it deserves, and suddenly Steph and Jason have stopped laughing. 

“Master Damian, If I may, where is the young Master Phantom currently?” Alfred asks.

“Family meeting over.” Damian snap replies, which was the equivalent of dropping bloody chum in shark infested water. Despite his quick attempt at escape, the brick wall he calls an older brother, blocks his way. Jason was never one to hesitate with using force if need be. 

“Damian.” Jason is glaring. 

“Danny is with a- with my- with the coparent of his own choosing.” Damian has to restart a few times to decide on what to call Ladybug. 

“Oh my gosh. It’s totally Ladybug isn’t it?” Steph quickly supplies to the room, which makes Damian whip his head around in disbelief.

“What? We all know the rumor mill better than most.” Steph shrugs her shoulders and Tim nods his head along. 

“What could the rumor mill possibly have said to indicate her?” Damian is doing his best not to sound flustered but is pretty certain he’s failing. 

“A few things.” Tim has a shark smile as he says it, but his reply offers little information. 

“We do not know Ladybug’s identity.” His Father announces.

“You do not.” Damian replies. “And we are done here.” 

Jason moves out of his way without a word, but his brother has a smirk on his face. 

It’s a long night before Damian’s able to fall asleep. But for only a few hours, he does.

Marinette was pleased that, after having moved to the couch to finish Danny’s suit while he slept in her office, she hadn’t started embroidering his suit at a weird angle. She’d long since stopped questioning her ability to embroider in her almost-asleep-state, and appreciate the fruits of her labor. 

And sure, part of that time was having a meltdown over texting Robin her true identity and address… but the other majority of the time she was hanging on by a thread herself. Pun intended of course. 

Robin hadn’t really replied. 

Well, he had, but not in a way that she could hyperfixate on it for the next several hours and punish herself for sharing something so sacred. It was for Danny but still ! Only Alya knew of her life as Ladybug, Adrien couldn’t know and her parents… they probably had their suspicions at this point. On the official record, they didn’t know anything but after so many years, they likely suspected that she had a second job far more dangerous than her first. 

They’re probably going to be over the moon to be grandparents, and she’s still thinking about how to actually explain to them how she came to be in custody of a young american… Marinette is fairly certain she’s going to throw Robin under the bus for that one, and see how creative he actually is. After a long night of anxiety towards Danny and his wellbeing in her home, Marinette decided that some of these decisions need to be tackled by someone other than herself. As a treat. 

She’d thought long and hard about her interactions with the guy back when he was still just some guy she worked with. He wasn’t particularly enthused by Magic, had apparently had too many cult run-ins, which she could totally understand. Phantom was always friendly, and had a sense of ‘just in time’ like no one else she’d ever met. He was a good few years younger than her generally but some of his stories put his experiences way above her own. 

And now he’s just a little guy , who’s definitely going to process some, if not all, of his past adult life. He’d already kind of panicked about losing his bachelor's degree… Marinette decided she needed to make sure he kept up his math skills. Max could probably help with that, he had struck out on his own robotics company and was doing pretty well… 

Marinette groaned at the thought of now having to explain to her friends that she’s a single mom. In a lot of ways it would be fun, Alya, Adrien and Nino would no doubt be thrilled to play aunt and uncles… Chloe would ask too many questions. Kagami would as well. Max probably would and-

Her thoughts are cut off by her communicator alarm beep. Then again, and again. 

Red Robin was the first one. Nightwing was second. The last one was from the big bad bat himself. 

Fuck it. 

“Batman, did you know it’s 8:30 in the morning in Paris?” Ladybug all but grumbles into the microphone. 

“Ladybug. I presumed that I might be waking you but clarification is in ord-” His tone was as deep as it ever was, and if anything, a bit hesitant if she read between the lines. 

“No. You’re not waking me because I haven’t slept. Unless this is world changing, I’m going to ask that you and the other bat’s stop blowing up my comm.” She defended her boundary fiercely. 

“...Understood.” 

“Bye.” Marinette flipped the communicator off and resisted the urge to throw it at a wall. Bats. 

Clearly they knew something was happening then, cat out of the bag, but he was trying to clarify something… Marinette decided to read over the messages that she received. 

Here if you need literally any information or dirt on Robin. Seriously, do not hesitate to ask if it makes your life easier. Came from Red Robin, and she wondered if he’d even given it a second thought before pressing send. 

Heyyy want to chat about my crazy brother over coffee? I swear I raised him to be well adjusted LMAO but seriously lmk if you want to gossip!!! Marinette snorted out her nose a little too loudly. Nightwing was certainly something. 

One bat asking to give info, one clearly trying to get info… and the Big Bat himself also asking for information. Robin must not have told them much. Somehow that made her breathe a little easier. 

She could hear Danny start to shuffle in her office (his soon to be room, once she converted it) and Marinette threw the couch blanket off of herself. Stretching as she stood up, the door clicked open but he didn’t greet her like she’d expected. 

The door seemed to creek open, with no one in front of it. 

“Danny, did you know that you’re invisible right now?” 

“AH!” Her friend startled himself into view right in front of her. She jumped back, having expected him to be farther away, and for a second they both made intense eye contact and said nothing. 

“Do- Do you remember why you’re here?” Marinette’s anxiety consumed her thoughts as she began to wonder if a night’s sleep was all it took to change him entirely. 

“Yes?” Danny replied loudly but he looked like he was confused. 

“Why were you invisible?” 

“Why were you sleeping on the couch?” 

“I didn’t sleep on the couch, I was making your-” Marinette sighed and vaguely gestured to the small suit on the couch that she’d spent so long on. Danny cut off her explanation with an excited gasp and bounded over to pick it up. 

“IS THIS FOR ME?”  Danny yelled in his excitement, his eyes containing the very stars she’d spent so long sewing into the fabric. 

“Do you like it?” 

“I love it.” He remarked fully serious as he started to pull the blazer over his shoulders.  

“Well good! If it fits, I’ll let you keep it.” She laughed but started to examine her craft work. 

“What kind of gadgets does it have!?” Danny asked, his excitement bubbling and bright. Marinette was confused and clearly that came across her face. 

“It comes with built-in style? Why, what were you expecting?” Marinette hesitantly asked the second question. 

“Oh.” Danny said softly, and then looked down, as if he were guilty of something. His hands began to fidget with the hem, and it was like he’d scolded himself. 

Marinette felt a frustration build up, but she knew it was for his previous parents, and not his behavior. 

“What’s up?” Marinette squatted to look him in the eyes as she asked. 

“My parents… Everything was multi-use and multi-purpose. I didn’t mean to say it.” 

“You didn’t hurt my feelings by asking. But, I think that all gadgets and gizmo’s are going to be from Robin’s tool belt or your own invention. So you’ll have to help me with that moving forward.” Marinette tried to suggest. 

“No! It’s okay that it's just a super cool suit!” Danny all but flew into the air as he insisted. 

“Hey! No more powers until we get this figured out!” She called out. Danny promptly landed his feet on the floor again and then seemed to look confused again. 

“...Does talking to dead people count as one of my powers? Or is that like a perk?” He seemed to genuinely debate it as he asked Marinette for her opinion very honestly. 

“...Are there dead people in my apartment?” Marinette hesitated for a moment before asking. Danny looked like he’d eaten a lemon as soon as she did. Does she really want to know the answer to this question? 

“...yes.” Danny hesitantly replied. 

“Don’t talk to strangers.” Marinette swiftly and firmly replied. 

“They’re speaking in french so it’s not really that big of a challenge.” Danny rolled his eyes but his cheeky grin told her a larger story was brewing. 

“Danny, you’re a polyglot.” She dramatically returned his rolled eyes. Her theatrics were rewarded with his laughter before he made a small gasp. 

“Oh that’s right! Hey, do you think that counts as a power?” 

They stared at one another for just a few moments, and Marinette decided that she was not equipped to manage the day if this was any indication of its trajectory. 

“Do you want breakfast?” She asked, already plotting in her mind how she was going to handle the little time she had before Robin came by. 

“Yes!” Danny enthusiastically answered. 

“Do you like baked goods?” 

“As long as toast is off the menu, I love them!” He further explained, and that was good enough for Marinette. 

“Well then you need to speak French. Get your teeth brushed and put the whole suit on, we’re going to my parent’s bakery for breakfast.” 

He all but grabbed the suit and ran off in an instant. Was he just a fast kid or was that super speed? Marinette wasn’t sure but exhaustion was making her care a bit less. He didn’t seem to get any younger after being invisible and flying… Maybe the spell was more, emotion related. That would make the most sense actually. 

She leaves the room, takes a short shower and puts on her best court outfit. A pale pink skirt suit with white embroidered details. Marinette did her best to line her eyes and apply a pink lipgloss. Gold star shaped jewelry to match the embroidery on Danny’s suit… and sue her, Tikki and Plagg were coming along for this ride. 

Marinette didn’t often wear them both, it was pretty taboo given the scrolls she read in the Guardians temple, but sometimes the safest place was with her, and sometimes choice brought her comfort. She couldn’t tell if the day was going to need more chaos or less to make it run in her favor, just as much as she didn’t want to jinx her already piss poor luck. 

Peering back into her living room quietly from the doorway, Danny was already laying on the couch with a book propped up in front of him. He’s wearing her suit but at this angle its hard to see how well it might fit him- the book he’s grabbed from her shelf is one of Adrien’s. I, Robot was certainly the one sci-fi choice she had on a shelf of autobiographies and fashion anthologies.

“What’cha got there?” She asked, now announcing herself as she walked into the room. She had her white heels in one hand and a silk pink bag in the other. 

“I didn’t know I could read in other languages!” He chirped happily, barely looking up from the words as he responded. 

“I think it’s probably a good thing to figure out now!” Mari laughed a bit, and as she took a seat at the end of the couch where his feet were, he looked up and grinned at her. 

“I don’t think I've ever dressed this fancy just to sit in a living room before.” 

“We’re doing pretty important stuff today.” Marinette chirps back to him, looking over his shoulder to see the passage he was reading. Wasn’t this book philosophical? Did she need to text Adrien to see if it was age appropriate for a seven-ish year old that used to be in his twenties? Did she even know how to ask that question without sounding insane? 

“My friend Sam had to do this all the time growing up. Sometimes we would help her get out of it, other times I’d get trapped by her mom and have to pretend to know etiquette.” 

“Yeah? What do you think she’d say if she saw you now?” Marinette tries to play along but she knows she’s balancing a line very precariously. 

Danny snorts. 

“She’d call me a sell out and remind me to make vegan choices for my meals.” Danny happily supplied his answer. Another pang of anxiety hit her. 

“...Do you have any food allergies?” Marinette quickly followed up. 

“Did you know that you got a kind of crazy look in your eyes when you asked that?” Danny seemed to be amused at her obvious alarm bells ringing. 

“I think you’ll learn pretty quickly that I have a lot of anxiety when it comes to being in charge of your well being.”  

“Is that a bad thing?” Danny looked a little distraught. 

“No, it’s a very good thing. It means I’m not going to accidentally kill you in a week. So… Allergies?” Marinette settles on this answer as quickly as she can, its something that she’s learned to do in therapy, and get back to the focal point. 

“I don’t like toast.” He makes a face like any kid would when bringing up a vegetable. 

“Danny.” Marinette deadpans. 

“Seriously! That’s the only thing I can think of!” Danny raises his arms above his head as though he were innocent when she peers back at him. 

A knock at her door startles them both, but Danny instinctually turned invisible. 

“Hey! Cut that out!” Marinette briefly rolls her eyes before getting up, heels and purse abandoned on the floor in front of the sofa, and heading to the door. 

“It could be a hunter!” Danny scream-whispers, his eyes wide and a very sudden but sincere fear covers his features. 

Right. Because thats what spurred the Titan of Time to enact this curse on Danny. Suddenly, Marinette’s head space shifts towards the defensive. Her call box isn’t by the window but she’s careful to avoid being seen even for a glimpse from the street level. 

Marinette’s landlords had put cameras at the front of her building, and a front door buzzer that had speakers inside and out. She has a lot of things to protect in this world, and when she occasionally does business from home, it helps that she can see who is at the door before she presses the button to let them into the building. It certainly helps with her paranoia at the present moment. 

Looking into the small video box, she’s more confused than she is alarmed. But Danny’s fear now has her on edge. 

“There’s a model at my doorstep.” She mumbles to herself, but Danny seems to perk up at hearing her, Marinette however is mentally going through her work schedule. It wasn’t that abnormal for her to have a new client on Tuesdays but she could have sworn that she didn’t have any fittings for the next few days. 

Pressing the voicebox, she speaks over the loud speaker. 

“Hi! Sorry,  I meant to cancel all appointments, can I ask you to please confirm when you were supposed to come by?” Marinette politely requests. 

“I don’t have an appointment, I’m here to collect a friend of mine for a meeting later today.” The man’s voice is casual enough, though his French has a weird accent. She’d guess American, but she wouldn’t bet money on that guess. 

“What?” Marinette replies, genuinely trying to put together what he’s saying and what her slowly sinking stomach is starting to suspect. 

“Is this not Marinette’s place of residence?” the stranger asks, suddenly insecure.

“This is she?” Marinette replies, all the more confused? 

“Is Danny ready to go?” He asks, clearly frustrated. 

Marinette steps away from the box. She reaches out a hand and very vaguely presses the button to buzz him into her building. 

“Yay! Robin’s here!” Danny calls out, but Marinette is holding her very red face in her hands. 

She walks over to the kitchen, and by the time she’s pulled out and poured a glass of water, Danny is bouncing around her apartment and answers the door when it receives two small knocks. 

“Hiya!” Danny exclaims. 

“Hi Danny, is Marinette here?” 

“She’s hiding in the kitchen.” Marinette hears Danny very obviously describe her actions. Sighing, she puts down her glass and walks back into the main apartment space. The male model is looking at her with an intensity she could easily align to match Robin’s own casual but incredibly direct intensity.

“ Hi, Sorry about the mix up, We’re ready to head out but let me grab my shoes. ” Is the polite but focused words that she was going to say. What comes out instead is: 

“I have to grab my shoes!” And then a strangled noise and a meep of “Sorry!” meanwhile Danny laughed and laughed. Robin didn’t make a noise. 

Danny was beside himself with excitement. Marinette was already blushing and talking like a crazy person and Damian hadn’t so much as introduced himself yet! 

Sure, he didn’t really know what ol’ clockwork had planned for him, but he assumed that he’d be returned to his rightful age soon-ish. In the meantime, these two goobers were making it all too easy to sucker them into a relationship. Go figure that these two nerds would need even more responsibility to let any sparks fly.

Danny knew that his older friend was a handsome son of a gun, and Danny had figured it would help in the scheme he’d brewed up, but this was working comically well. Grinning at Damian, who was managing this with his usual amount of extreme seriousness, Danny could just see the stars aligning. 

“Hey Danny.” Damian looks back over to him for the second time since Danny opened the door, and Danny can’t tell if he meant to say it while sounding so constipated. 

“What’s up dude?” Danny replied. 

“Four hours of sleep and a court date.” Damian replied, “Did you sleep well?” 

“Yep!” Danny is already bouncing on his heels, “Maman has a comfy guest bed, it's the perfect size for me. Too bad you’ll have to share her bed when you have to stay over.” 

“Danny, I have a five bedroom apartment in Gotham, don’t be silly.” Damian seems too tired to take the bait, but Danny knows it will catch up to him soon enough. Marinette walks back into the space, a bit taller now that she has her shoes on. Large framed sunglasses sit on her head, a silk scarf around her neck and her jewelry seems to shine a bit brighter than it did earlier. 

“Right, well, uh lets go. My parents normally expect me a few hours later but i'm sure they’ll understand why I’m early once they see my outfit.” She explains and opens her front door, gesturing for them not to waste time in walking out. 

“We’re meeting my grandparents!” Danny happily exclaimed. Danny had seen Damian in a lot of battles, he’d seen him online gaming, and through all the trenches they’d crawled out of, Danny had never seen Damian go as white as a sheet as he did in that moment. 

“-is that wise to do before we discuss how Danny came to be in our custody?” 

“You don’t already have a plan?” There was a hint of judgment in her tone that Danny respected- mostly because he couldn't tell if she was bluffing or not. It looked like Damain wasn’t sure either. 

“I do however-”

“I’ll play along and if you try to impede my path towards espresso right now I might hurt you.” Marinette spoke, and though her voice was softer than it ever was as Ladybug, she had that classic determination in her eyes. 

“Right.” Damian agreed, and Danny had to marvel at the swiftness of his response. 

The story was writing itself, he barely had to intervene! They were so compatible! 

“I also want a coffee!” Danny added. 

“Not on your half life.” came at the same time as “Did you want to die again?” 

They were perfect for each other! 

Danny decided to push his luck, given that was something his new maman was ought to do, and walked in pace with Damian reaching over to hold his hand. Damian looked at him for a moment while they walked, unsure of Danny’s small outstretched hand, but took it none the less. 

Marinette was wearing heels and outpacing them on cobblestone, but to be fair, both Danny and Damian were taking in the scenery of Paris. It was late enough in the morning that tourists were starting to mill about, but not too close to midday crowds. 

“What’s that one?” Danny called ahead to ask, though Damian looked ready to answer. 

“That’s the Sacre Coeur. I’ll take you up there another time, but we need to catch the train right now so move it along!” Marinette called back, and sure enough, they arrived at a station. Damian seemed silently perplexed at the notion of taking the train, but Marinette was already putting money into a box to get them tickets by the time he voiced the thought. 

“I could have paid for us to take a taxi.” He volunteered the hind sight, and Danny hoped that he wasn’t planning on doing this for everything. 

Danny knew how much of a fruitloop Damian was, it was a character flaw he could barely tolerate sometimes. Damian was never like Vlad when it came to spending money, or having money in general, but sometimes he could see it in his eyes. 

“To do what? Sit in traffic? This is faster.” Marinette huffed. She handed them both a ticket, which Danny then had to stretch on his tip toes to press to the scanner, and they made their way onto the platform right as the train did. Danny felt he could really get spoiled on such lucky timing.

“Right, well. Should we discuss what we’re going to tell your parents?” Damian brought up, and though his voice was still as it ever was, Danny could see the way he was starting to fluster again. They’d taken a row of empty seats, and Marinette had grumbled that they were fortunate to snag them. 

It was odd to see Damian this way. One, Flustered. Two, on the subway with normal humans. 

“Go for it.” Marinette sounded bored. Or maybe just tired? It made Danny turn his head to look at her. She’d placed her big sunglasses over her eyes, and peering under the edge of the frames, Danny could tell she’d closed her eyes. 

“We’ll say it was a mutual friend who passed, that had chosen us separately as godparents. We can say we vaguely knew of each other, but were not friends before this mutual individual was no longer with us.” Damian explains his storyline and she nods her head a few times. 

“Okay, and who am I supposed to say it was? My parent’s know everyone I talk to, even the book club to an extent.”

“I thought your parents didn’t know about your second job?” 

“They don’t know the specifics but they aren’t dumb. Danny, is it cool if I say you’re my god son?” 

“I think it's a safe bet! And technically I did die and obtain some godliness depending on what cult you ask!” Danny contributes. He contains himself from bringing forward any of the Ghost King extended lore that mortals aren’t supposed to know. 

“Great.” Marinette nods. Danny wondered if she might nod off… her eyes hadn’t opened back the whole time they were on the train, and it had gone several stops by this point. 

“We both work in international markets with transient people, we can simply say it was a client of yours and a friend of mine.” Damian continues his storyline. 

“Hear that Danny? You’re the son of a model.” She says with a bit of a yawn in the back of her voice, before she actually did yawn. 

“Maybe in this life I could strike it big and become a child star-” She immediately opened here eyes and lifted her glasses to glare at him while saying- 

“Absolutely not.” They both replied. 

Danny turned to his left and Damian was equally unamused by the notion. 

“Its just so nice that you guys get along so well.” He replied cheekily. Marinette spared a glance at Damian, and Danny couldn’t quite read it before she lowered her sunglasses back and closed her eyes. 

A few more stops went by, both Damian and Danny silently people-watching, before Marinette stood up and prepared to get off the train near silently. Danny shared a look with Damian, but they followed her, and it was only after they’d followed her out of the subway station that a car alarm seemed to make her jump. 

“Ah! Danny, Rob- wh- oh.” She jolted before calling out and spinning until she had eyes on them. 

“You okay bugsy?” 

“Yeah, but you guys really shouldn’t let me sleep walk like that! Thank goodness we got off on the right stop.” She caught her breath and clutched a hand to her chest. 

“Fascinating.” Damian replied before Danny could. She snorted a small laugh, but was one again leading them through the streets. She arrived at a bustling bakery, and before opening the door she turned back to them. 

“Danny, remember this is an exercise to learn and speak French. Rob, don’t accept my hand in marriage if my parents offer it.” Marinette explained, her hand on the fancy bronze handle of the shop. Danny nodded his head in agreement. 

“It’s Damian.” Was Damian’s only reply. It took both Danny and Marinette a second of silence to realize that she’d been calling him his nickname for Robin, and that was why he was correcting her. 

“Right, well, that was mostly a joke but also don’t you dare attempt to pay for our breakfast.” 

“Mostly?” Was all Damian was able to ask before she opened the door and big booming voices seemed to welcome Marinette in. 

What took Danny by surprise, was not the very beautiful yet quaint and stereotypical bustle of the cafe, but the haunting presence of lingering magic. Knowing that it had been the home base of Ladybug made it make sense, but it was an odd presence, like something repressed just under the surface. Danny didn't voice his observation as they made their way through the front door. 

Following behind like lost sheep, Marinette said hello to basically every seated diner in the store by their first name until she arrived at the front counter. 

“What’s with the court outfit?” The cashier looked confused as she asked. 

“Hi Manon, this is Danny.” Marinette gestured at Danny who was already waving, “He was previously my god-son until my client died. Damian behind me is also tied up in the mess, we’re going to be adopting him this afternoon.” 

“...You’re not catholic?” 

“I’ll take my usual, Danny will have a small standard with fruit and give Damian the works but green.” Marinette sounded unamused as she rattled off her orders. The young woman rolled her eyes but began typing into the system. 

“Is he going to pay?” The cashier asked, and before Marinette could intervene, Damian had taped a card to the reader. 

“Oh man, you’ve done it now!” The girl laughed, a mischievous grin resting on her features once she’d stopped her giggling. 

Marinette looked pale, but quickly caught herself. 

“You guys go take a seat.” She grumbled, before tucking under the counter and walking into what they supposed was the kitchen. 

“What’s the deal with the payment situation?” Danny asked the girl, who blinked back at him for a second. 

His parents had been… a bit conniving when it came to grant funding. And selling their inventions without any basic background checks. Hell, they were friends with Vlad. 

“Oh! You speak french! Sorry, her parents are just super giving and never want her friends to feel like there is a barrier to hanging out here.” Manon answered, squatting down a bit further to be at Danny’s height. It would be demeaning if it weren't also incredibly helpful in the bustling cafe. 

“So why is it an issue that he paid?” Danny pressed further. 

“You’ll see.” She smirked back, and then asked for them to move to the side so she could take the next order. Damian had already started to move, his eyes clearly pinned on an open table. 

“Are you going to be a fruitloop about this whole thing?” 

“Danny, I never know what you actually mean when you call me that.” Damian replied but pulled out a chair for Danny to sit in. 

“I mean, she did only give us a few instructions and you’re going to break both of them.” Danny mentions. Danny can see past Damian’s shoulder and notices Marinette and two people who are clearly her parents walking this way. 

“I haven’t accepted her hand in marriage.” Damian explains, and seals his fate. 

“Were you going to ask?” The loud male voice of Marinette’s father booms at their table, and Danny is concerned that Damian might have a seizure in real time. 

“No he isn’t.” She deadpans, but then she becomes animated and her voice jumps an octave, “Papa, Maman, this is Danny! He’s the sweetest ever and working on his french, he’s also totally going to be an engineer one day. This kid is seriously so smart!” Marinette introduces him. 

“Damian was friends with Todd, Danny’s biological father who passed. He’s been very charitable with his time in trying to make sure that we are both in Danny’s life.” She somberly explains Damian’s presence. 

“It’s been a difficult journey, and we are in agreement in wanting what's best for Danny.” Danny thinks Damian still might have a stroke as he replies, but he keeps his laughs to himself. 

“We were so shocked to hear this happened so suddenly! Danny, we can’t wait to teach you everything about our family!” Marinette’s mom speaks directly to him, and Danny can appreciate that! 

Plates and mugs come their way and Marinette's mom gets a look in her eye that Damian and Danny have seen many times. 

“That came through the receipt system. Marinette-” 

“I told him not to!” She quickly replies. 

“Son, next time please understand its not personal, but food is on the house for our family.” Danny’s new grandpa says to Damian and Danny is thrilled that this vague threat is so inclusive! He’s already decided that while his other grandfather is technically Batman, Marinette’s dad is her favorite grandparent.

“I’ll do my best to remember that.” Damian smoothly replies. “I apologize, but I don’t think that this is-” 

“It’s vegan.” Marinette cuts him off between her sips of espresso. “Both of you dig in, we don’t have a lot of time before we need to catch our flight.” 

“We have to head back to the kitchen, but we will see you for dinner next week when you get back.” Marinette’s mom explains to the group, an edge of seriousness to her pleasant demeanor. 

“Of course. I apologize for our first meeting being so short, but we will have a proper introduction soon. Please let me know if there is anything I can bring to dinner once we schedule it.” Damian smoothly replies. 

Her parents politely nod, but smile and wave good bye to Danny. “Welcome again to Paris, our little engineer!” Her father says as he leaves them. 

“That was devastating for you, I'm sure.” Marinette said, glancing at Damian as she picked apart her croissant and dipped parts of it into her second coffee cup. 

“I will need a list of all of their unspoken rules.” Damian sighs. 

“Are you sure about that? You broke both rules I gave you almost instantly.” She replied. 

“It will be in equal exchange for my family’s peculiarities.” Danny knew that it really wasn’t a fair trade considering Damian’s family was quite literally Bat-crazy. 

“We’ll see.” She hummed. While she was mulling that offer over, Danny decided to follow up on his first observation. 

“Did you know that this place is like, super haunted by dead butterflies?” Danny decides to offer up a break in the conversation. 

“That’s nice dear.” Marinette shrugged but Damian looked perturbed for a moment. Danny honestly expected more follow up from his friend turned father, but as he bit into his own breakfast, he could understand why Damian chose to eat instead of inquire further. 

“What else do you see Danny?” Damian asked between bites.

“Oh well, there's loads of super happy spirits and all but its, uh, well, there are bird feathers here and there. Which is weird ‘cause normally I only see dead things.” 

“Curses are lame.” Was Marinette’s only contribution between sips of her coffee, and then, after a moment of silence had passed. “What? You think junior is the only one with curses on their person?” 

“Is this a new curse?” Damian seemed frustrated, but Danny supposed that it was meant to be concern. 

“Somewhat. I got hit in battle like 2 weeks ago by that guy with the wand?” 

“Oh I remember him! He had a weirdly long jean jacket.” Danny helpfully supplied. 

“Yeah, that guy! Anyway, now I get to be haunted by my failures for a little while. It's super ignorable though, and not really worth mentioning.” She took a final sip from her cup, lifting it higher to finish the drink (and likely to not have to look at Robin’s judgment).

“I sincerely thought that Constantine was the only person who chose to live this way.” Damian seems to be looking at them both with only very slightly veiled disgust. 

“Are we taking a zeta tube to Gotham?” Marinette seemingly ignored it, which made Danny laugh.

“Yes, and we should be making strides to get there sooner than later. My time table did not quite account for a breakfast excursion but this was… enlightening.” 

“Maman, do your best to not creep out dad next time we have breakfast.” 

The way this game worked for a family like the Waynes, meant that Damian had to meet with the judge before the actual hearing would begin. He’d praise the man’s work, donate to his son’s favorite ski camp and then slide over the documents for a quick and easy trial. Damain had never done it himself, but he’d seen it a few times since arriving in his father’s custody, and could recount Dick’s experience of the event as though it were his own experience. (Dick brought it up frequently to either guilt trip, blame or laugh at Father.)

So upon arrival to the state courthouse, Danny and Marinette took a seat sequestered by one of the law offices and away from potential cameras, and Damian went to do his thing. 

Marinette looked less like she was going to return to her sleep walking state, and Danny was (very fortunately) already stopping himself from using his powers every five seconds. Perhaps it was his own lack of sleep talking, but they were starting to look like a… family.

An old white haired man opens the door when Damian knocks and greets him by only his last name. 

The judge was as slimy as one could expect in Gotham, and Damian had to focus his attention from the many incriminating papers on the man's desk to focus on his own manipulation of the justice system. He’d remember to follow up on these documents of course, but right now he needed to see the stamp of approval and a hand extended for shaking. 

“...So as you can imagine it’s been quite traumatic for the young lad to lose his parent so suddenly. His God Mother, her name is on the documents, flew in from France just to ensure that I didn’t dodge my right to half of his custody.” 

“...Did you want full custody? He’s going to be a Wayne after all.” The Judge gestures as he says it, looking a the forms Damian had carefully prepared and seemingly ready to cross out her name at Damian’s sayso.

“No, I think joint custody is what Danny needs…” The judge gives him a look that says he doesn’t really care about that reasoning, so Damian follows his Father’s previous example in a very different way”...Besides, I am still a bachelor. How am I supposed to have any fun at all if I have full time custody? Surely you understand.” 

“Oh that I do!” The judge accepts the excuse, “Well, consider yourself in a good place Mr. Wayne. I’ll be seeing you out in the court room in just a few moments.” 

“Thank you Judge.” Damian tried to look relieved and grateful, he wasn't sure he was all that talented in portraying this look, but at least he tried. 

Returning to the lobby, he was surprised to hear the sounds of hushed yelling, as though people were attempting to fight without actually raising their tone. 

Damian didn’t know what the world had in store for him. He really awaited each day with a checklist and enough wisdom to roll him through whatever Gotham or the universe at large wished to throw his way. Yesterday it was his friend turning into a child. 

Today, it seemed it was Ladybug out of her uniform threatening to sue his brother’s for endangerment of a minor and harassment. Perhaps he should let her. 

“Care to explain yourselves-” Damian begins to interrupt between their whisper-shouting. Ladybug has a finger in Todd’s chest, and is aggressively talking down at Dick(impressive for her height). 

“Do you know these assholes?” She demands immediately, her eye contact certainly would have lit him on fire if she had her way. Damian isn’t given a chance to speak before Dick is trying to charm her back to reason, his typical strategy. 

“Miss, I promise this was just a huge misunderstanding because-” Dick tries to resolve the tension.

“Because you decided to presume I was a Nanny to my child?” She snapped at Grayson who once again raised his hands placatively. 

“News flash Lady, that’s our friend-” Todd is still pulling an attitude. 

“And I'm just supposed to believe some random forty year old men know my seven year old how exactly? ” She’s not pulling any punches, and Dick completely shriveled at her choice of age range. Grayson is 38 and has been incredibly sensitive about the inclination that he might look his age. 

“Hey Pops!” Danny interrupts them all to actually acknowledge Damian, which makes everyone turn their heads towards him. 

“Hi Danny.” Damian deadpans. Todd and Grayson whip their heads around towards a very much seething Ladybug and they seem to realize that they’ve fucked up. “Care to explain the sequence of events?” 

“Maman went to the restroom and then these two bozo’s approached me to offer me candy and a puppy if I followed them to their van-” Danny clearly was telling the truth at the beginning at least. His friend really was consistent. 

“You little shit!” Todd is only interrupted when Tim walks into the small scene they were making and slaps his brother upside the head. Todd barely deflects the hit and now everyone is disgruntled.

“Hey Dann-o, Hello Fashion League of their own MDC?” Tim declares, completely ignoring the tension for his own observations. 

“Rob, Do you know these people?” Marinette stared him down once again, trying not to move too far past the situation while Tim observes their group. 

“Yes. My eldest brother Dick Grayson, Jason, though his name legally is Peter Todd these days, and Tim Drake.” Damian wastes no time in introducing them, but really its not the worst way anyone has come to be acquainted with the men of the Wayne family. 

“Tim Drake-Wayne. Pleasure to meet you and I hope co-parenting goes well. My previous written offer still stands.” He reaches out to shake her hand. Previous written offer?

“We’re Danny’s uncles, or we will be shortly, I’m sorry things got off to such a strange start.” Dick does his best. 

“Where’s the rest of the family?” Damian is certain that they all must be here if Todd had invited himself along. Clearly the meeting last night had only inspired them to become thorns in Damian’s side. 

“Already in the court room.” Dick adds, “Where we should be headed too soon, now that we all know that we’re on the same side.” 

“We are still very much enemies right now.” Marinette deadpans. 

“My first new family drama.” Danny has a look in his eyes that makes Damian nervous. What could that mean? And then Danny turns to look back at Damian while he adds with a smirk,“First of many.” 

Marinette hums upon hearing it, and giving one final disapproving look at Damian’s siblings, ushers herself and Danny forward to the main courtroom. 

“You sure about this Kid?” Todd asks. “She seems like a good match for you and all-” 

“This has nothing to do with her.” 

“Dames, it definitely does.” Dick contributes, “I mean, right now she definitely hates us but we can work on that. Does she know how you feel?” 

“Feel about what? I have hidden nothing.” 

“You're literally implying hiding something just by saying that.” Jason immediately says, “Dude, but really on the big things, how much have you two actually talked? Where is Danny even going to live?” 

“He’s going to live with me, obviously.” 

“We’re you guys in Paris this morning?” Dick asks. 

“We were but that was temporary-” 

“Does she know that?” Jason asks in quick succession. 

“Yes-”

“What about education? Is he going to Gotham Academy?” Dick presses further. 

“I believe that is still to be determined but yes-” Damian begins to defend, but then his phone buzzes in his pocket. It’s Danny’s phone texting in their normal discord, Maman says to hurry it up before she stabs the purple chick. Exact quote “He better hurry up before I stab this purple woman”. 

“Why are none of you capable of making a good first impression?” Damian sighs and, ignoring the faces his brother’s made and their short rebuttals, walks into the court room. Steph is incredibly close to Marinette and Danny is chatting with Duke and Cass. 

Damian noted that his Father and Alfred are conversing from the other side of the room, and it doesn’t seem to be a conversation that he’d want to join. Both men look tense, which was silly considering Alfred’s judgment

 was never to be questioned. 

The Judge hasn’t come in just yet, but a few lawyer types have, per Damian’s requests. No doubt proceedings are about to commence at the exact time Damian had requested. There is nothing to be anxious about, the paper work was flawless and Danny was happy to be forcing this entire endeavor with Ladybug. 

“Steph, if I can please have a moment with-” He begins to intrude but at the same time his non-adopted sister relents “Fine but I'll get my answers later about those shoes.” And stalks away. 

Marinette turns to him and looks him dead in the eye as she says “No she won’t.” 

“...Why?”

“At this point? Because Purple is my least favorite color.” Marinette shrugs. Its the first time he’s seen her act as tired as she actually is, and in such a way that he had seen as Ladybug. Everyone knew that Ladybug got petty when she got tired. There had once been an interstellar trip wherein she had made and collected on bets with the entire crew, simply to teach them lessons on probability and make them understand what her actual luck manifested as. 

“Where is Danny going to school?” Damian diverts the question. 

“In Paris?” She replies immediately. 

“He’s going to live with me in Gotham.” Damian fires back, and Marinette mulls it over. 

“Okay, so he lives and attends schools here. But he’s going to be in French afterschool clubs for his engineering hobbies, and an Art club if he’s willing to try one.” 

“Agreed, and we’ll divide weekends as we best see fit with our shared club.” Damian says, referring to the Justice League in the most obvious way. 

“Danny is out of the club, so we’re going to alternate club trips?” She seemed to say it as a question even though it was a simple enough statement. 

“Yes. And I’ll financially provide for his schooling, meals and-” 

“We can both financially contribute equally.” Marinette pressed firmly. 

“That seems unnecessary given my position.” 

“Unnecessary and yet its a requirement on my end.” 

“Then fine, we both contribute equally- Danny cut that out.” Damian calls as soon as he sees the shadows pool around Duke unnaturally in a way that also made Duke startle. Clearly his brother had forgotten the few times he’d met Danny as an adult. 

Danny was sniggering and Damian’s brother seemed perturbed. Cass was smiling however, so whatever Danny was doing wasn’t bold enough to need more intervention. 

“Want me to show all the ghosts in the room after the Judge approves the motion to adopt me?” Danny is now asking Marinette, who seems to actually be mulling it over. 

“No-” comes from Damian’s mouth the second she answers “For a second.” 

Marinette then takes a breathe, “Never mind, listen to Damian. His city, his rules.” 

“I don’t feel as though that’s the precedent we should be setting.” Damian deadpans. 

“But it’s the one I'm willing to compromise on right now.” Marinette replies, and again, he can see Ladybug in her every word as she does. “Not to mention, If I’m helping with Danny while he’s in Gotham, we need to have ground rules for co-parenting.” 

“We can formalize those later, that’s the judge-” Damian begins to say as the room is given the order to rise. 

The actual court meeting is brief, they read through the documents Damian submitted. Damian explains the death of their dear friend who left Danny in their possession. And then its Marinette’s turn, and the reality seems to have set in as she shakily replies to the judge’s questioning that she’s prepared to contribute equally in all measures to Danny’s well being. Danny enthusiastically agrees that he wishes to be adopted by them both. 

And then the gavel hit and his family cheered.

“I think we might have rushed into this.” Marinette spoke softly to just him, “But I still think this is the right call?” 

“I’m inclined to agree.” 

“I just can’t wait til you guys see the royal ghost court you have to adopt me in next.” Danny nonchalantly adds in his happy go lucky tone. 

“... We definitely rushed into this.” Marinette looked wide eyed and more awake than he had seen her yet.