Prompt fill from the Discord server. This one is courtesy of @tourettesdog
Prompt where Danny keeps showing up like a stray cat at various hero's houses. He just comes and goes and they never know when he'll show up next. He's just this like pseudo-adopted child who will come over for dinner, crash on the couch, and he's gone by morning. No amount of research will tell them who he is past the limited information he's given them
The various heroes are unaware that his stray cat range wanders so far until someone mentions him at a JL meeting and all hell breaks loose.
There's eventually an intervention
Stray Cat Danny
Clark had just got home when he noticed the heartbeat on the fire escape two floors above him. As far as he knew, that apartment was empty, so it couldn't be the residents going out for a smoke. It was weird, very strange, and not his business.
He tried to leave it alone, but the heartbeat stayed on the fire escape for a few hours. Every now and again Clark would hear whoever it was shift, but other than that they stayed quiet. Again, weird, but not his business.
Barry knew taking Bart with him to the store was a bad idea. The cart was half full of things decidedly NOT on the list. Before he could even tell Bart to put some stuff back the kid was off to grab some other item they undoubtedly did not need. Of course when Bart returned Barry thought it'd be with something like a sugary cereal or pop tarts not a whole arse teenager.
"Uhh what you got there Bart, buddy?"
"A smoothie" Bart joyfully replied as the little sh*t he is.
"That looks like a bedraggled teenager" Barry dryly pointed out only to be met with a glare and a fricken hiss from said teen.
".... or a feral cat.." Barry amended.
"His names Danny! He has nowhere to stay tonight so I told him he could stay with us. Pleeeeaaaassseee uncle Barry? Please?"
Barry sighed as he looked other the stranger. Dark eye bags, tangled hair, and the fact he looked like a strong wind could knock him over all spoke of his less than ideal living conditions.
"Alright. As long as you both behave"
"Yes! Sleepover!" Bart shouted before quickly saying something that sounded vaguely like 'shoot, forgot bread' before darting out of the aisle again, leaving Barry with the disgruntled boy.
Shifting on his feet the kid, er Danny shrugged and said in a tired voice "you know, you don't have to have me over. I won't hold it against ya."
"No, it alright. Can't exactly go back on my word ya know" Barry somewhat joked. "Besides, this is sudden and I know Bart ain't always the best at coming across clearly. You alright with this kid?"
"Pfft. Yeah, it's not my first impromptu sleepover at a strangers place."
"Well that's concerning."
"Dont worry about it."
"Riigghhtt." Agreed Barry, knowing full well he was going to absolutely worry about this kid. And also get some food in him. After all, it wouldn't be any trouble. Surly Danny can't eat as much as a speedster can, right?
Billy was used to the homeless population of Fawcett. Sure, it's not like he knew everyone, but a new face never passed unnoticed.
Especially when the new face belonged to a kid.
Freddy had immediately latched onto the new arrival. It was clear the guy was used to moving, so Billy didn't worry much about splitting their supplies for a while if the need arised.
"I'm Danny," the kid had introduced himself. There was something about him that tickled the back of Billy's head, made his hair stand up on his arms, but he couldn't quite put a pin on it.
"Billy," he had replied in turn, and then, "those are Freddy, Darla, Eugene, Pedro, and my sister Mary," he said, pointing at each of his siblings.
"You're all together?"
Billy shrugged. "It's better for kids to band together here. But not really, no. Darla, Eugene, and Pedro usually stay in the system. Darla gets adopted sometimes."
"I don't envy them."
"Bad experience?" Billy couldn't stop himself from asking. He knew that the others were probably looking at him weird. He's not usually so talkative with new arrivals, he always waits a bit to judge their character before approaching, but something about Danny made Billy want to involve himself in his life.
"Like you wouldn't believe..." There was a story there. And Billy was oh so curious.
But Freddy interrupted, "You got a place to spend the night?"
"Uhm-"
"Fawcett winter is killer- literally. You shouldn't spend it on the streets," Mary added.
Her words made the corner or Danny's lips curl upwards for an imperceptible moment. "I couldn't possibly ask-"
"You're not asking," Billy made a decision, "and we're not either. You're coming with, we have a place. Far from the police station and insulated enough to survive the night,"
Danny hesitated. Then he sighed. "Alright, but I'll repay you. I have some food we can split." Before any of them could protest, "and I'm not asking," he added with a smirk.
"YES!" Darla threw her hands in the hair. "Sleepover at Billy's!"
The abandoned apartment complex wasn't too far from the abandoned subway station that of most Fawcett's homeless kids frequented. It was part of a whole disheveled area no mayor had bothered to look after, making it fall into decadence not too long ago. The upside was that the outside of the buildings was sturdy and intact, making it one of the best places to spend nights and winters if you could secure yourself a room.
Heck, some even still had intact locks.
It wasn't the case for Billy's apartment, but it was nothing some good old magic charms couldn't fix.
The main room was cosy -Darla had even stolen a portable heater from one of her old homes in case of emergency- and it was where the group slept when they spent their night at the place, fearing being too close to a window or letting the door unguarded.
"This is surprisingly nice," Danny commented.
"Billy's REALLY good at taking care of us," Darla has excitedly declared.
Freddy scoffed. "Yeah, he's a real hero."
"I'm going to strangle you one of these days. In your sleep. You'll never see it coming."
"We all know you love us, Billy. Too late to take that back now."
Billy glared at his friend. He noticed a look on Danny's face, longing. Some sadness. But also fondness.
He wondered if the teen was missing someone.
Billy knew what it felt like to be without your siblings. Losing Mary had thorn him apart. He had been ready to do everything in order to get her back.
He wants to help Danny find whoever he's missing.
"Can we visit Tawny tomorrow?" Pedro asked Billy, pulling him out of his musings.
"If he's still there, sure. Why not." He shrugged.
"Who's Tawny?"
"Tawnky Tawny. He's the tiger that sometimes lives in the zoo." Freddy answered in his steed.
"He's really nice, but he only pays attention to us when Billy and Mary come with." Darla complained.
"Ehi, he only likes me because I'm Billy's twin."
Billy crossed his arms, "I spent a lot of time at the zoo. You have years of treats to catch up on." 'And you're not the Champions of magic so he doesn't want to interact with you unless necessary, also he helped me find Mary. Of course he's gonna like her,' But he didn't say that, since there was an outsider with them.
"I'm still hung up on 'somtimes'. What do you mean he 'sometimes' live in the zoo."
"He likes to wonder."
"... I would also like to meet this tiger."
"Field trip with Billy!" Darla exclaimed excited.
"And our new friend Danny," Freddy added.
"And our new friend Danny!!" She, in turn, repeated.
Dick Grayson was very familiar with the homeless population, in both of his uniforms. Gotham wasn't a nice place, and neither was Bludhaven, so he was a lot less surprised than he should've been to find a teenager bleeding in an alley.
Cold blue eyes locked onto his, a noise like a rumbling growl emanated from the teenager. Dick held up his hands, "Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you. I'll just stay right here," A beat of silence while the kid narrowed his eyes, gauging how me he wanted to trust a stranger. He shifted backwards, but made no other move. Dick relaxed back onto his heels, dropping his grocery bag in a slow, deliberate movement. "That's a lot of blood you got there,"
"Wow, Sherlock, you've done it again," The kid grumbled, once again meeting his eyes as he pressed down on top of his hoodie, blood seeping past the pressure he put on it.
Dick grinned reassuringly. "Why thank you Watson. I've got some bandages and pain killers. Just bought 'em, you can check the seal,"
"Can't pay," Mystery Potentional Bruce Adoptee muttered, before hissing as a further tide of blood seeped past his hand.
"Not gonna make you pay, kid. I should really be taking you to a hospital right now," The baring of slightly sharp teeth told Dick all he needed to know about the kid's opinion on such a thing, "But I can tell you'd bite me first. My place isn't that far, and I'm pretty good at stitches,"
"Why?" The kid asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion once more. His movement's were more sluggish, and Dick tried not to show the anxiety that inspired.
"Why my place or why stitches? Well, to answer both, I've got a bunch of little brothers. I love them more than life itself, but the amount of trouble they get into? Tim skated headfirst into a wall, three stitches. Jason dropped half a bookcase on his head when trying to grab Jane Austen off the top shelf. And Damian's a bit too trusting with animals, he gets a rabies shot as often as his pets," Dick teased with a grin, slowly moving closer as he talked. The kid let him.
"Only little brothers?" He asked, flinching slightly as Dick came into contact with him before deliberately angling himself towards Dick.
"No, my little sister Cass just knows better than to get into trouble. Sole holder of the brain cell,"
The kid snorted, before grunting in pain as Dick helped lever him up, looping the arm not holding in his blood around his shoulder. "'M Danny,"
"Dick," he replied as he quickly reached down to scoop up his back of first aid kit restockments.
"Rude,"
"No, that's my name,"
"I'm very sorry,"
Duck barked a laugh as he started helping the kid hobble back towards his apartment. "Aren't we all?"
Diana was walking from her office in the museum after hours when she spotted him. He was a scrawny thing with black hair and a pale complexion. As she approached, blue eyes flicked up, assessing her. Definitely a potential Bruce adoptee.
The kid was wearing baggy clothes, his thin wrists poking from his sweatshirt sleeves showing how dangerously thin he was. Dragging her eyes from the kid, she saw that somehow he had removed the glass from a new exhibition that she hadn't yet seen. "What are you doing?" Dianna called out, ready to deal with the kid attempting to steal. She dropped into a studier stance, nothing too drastic, just a slight shifting of weight.
But the kid saw and tensed, hands quickly darting out and grabbing the pithos from the case. Diana expected alarms to go off and the removal, but then again, they hadn't when he entered past open hours and they hadn't when he removed the glass. This piece, Diana had heard her coworker talking about, was ancient, the oldest Greek piece that they had in their collection.
As he hugged it to his chest, Diana almost saw the jar glitch, for a brief moment turning into a purple box and back. "That isn't yours young man, I advise you to put it back."
"I've heard about you from my Aunt." The boy responded, looking like he was about to bolt. Diana almost startled and looked at the boy closer. The pithos once again seemed to glitch, and if Diana thought about it, it felt like the energy given off by her Gods-given weapons and tools. "She said you would understand and grant me safe passage to deliver this back to her care."
Suddenly something clicked. The pithos and its mythology. How this boy got in. It was one of the Gods sending this boy on an errand to retrieve Pandora's Box. The Amazon had heard that the pithos had changed over the years with people's tellings of the story- that must be why the pithos seemed to change. The pithos also didn't seem to be reacting poorly to the boy either. The boy seemed earnest, if a bit skittish which was to be expected when you are caught stealing from a museum and were caught.
"If it has been ordained by the Gods, and you have not been struck down, who am I to obstruct you on your mission? I only ask, if you truly know who I am, to test your truth." She reached into her purse and pulled out her lasso from a secret pocket that hid its glow.
The kid seemed to size her up, finally deciding that he wouldn't be able to go through her. "Fine." He held out a hand and Diana tossed her lasso loop to him, allowing the boy to catch the end. If he wanted to, he could just open the pithos and release untold horrors. It was better to let the kid have a bit of control. "What is your name?" Diana asked, hoping to break the ice.
"Danny. And I am to deliver this box to its rightful owner. Happy?" The boy sniped before quickly letting the thing go.
"Alright then. How about I get you some food before you go, as an apology for doubting you?" Diana asked. Danny was way too thin for her liking.
With slight hesitation, the kid agreed and the Amazon took him to Taco Whiz, the pithos tucked into his ratty backpack. Once he was done, Danny disappeared into the single bathroom in the place. When Diana went to check on him, he was gone from the windowless stall.
When she saw the footage of that night in the morning, there was nothing- the feed had glitches out and when the static disappeared, there was a replica in its place, nothing seemingly disturbed.
--
I don't know much about DC besides fics and the first Wonder Woman movie so if Diana's characterization is off, let me know and I'll take this down.
Also, I looked up her occupation, apparently in 1993 she appeared as a fast food worker at Taco Whiz in Wonder Woman #73
John Constantine was having a day. Unsettled. The world felt unsettled, like something was severely out of balanced. And his last cigarette got crushed, so he was without a smoke.
Food needed to come first though so he needed to go anywhere but here. Nothing for it but to walk. Taking a deep breath, he starts heading back to civilization, he won't find what he is looking for here, whatever it is. The only thing out here is an abandoned and forgotten memorial. "Leaving your beer cans, the disrespect. It isn't even a good brew, and they didn't leave any as an offering to the dead." Scoffing, Constantine started picking up some of the empties to pitch on the way.
" I thought I was the only to care."
"Fu,,, Where did you come from kid?" seriously I was the only around.
"Over, I came to pick up some trash and could feel the disrespect. I was going to something about it."
Ah, a sensitive, that can be dangerous at a time like this. "Right, so you can feel that too, I couldn't figure out what the cause was."
The kid gave John a Look, like he could see into the very core of him.
"Ghosts, that should be asleep got woken up, for reasons, and I am going to quiet them. And if they don't want to listen when I first ask politely, I am going to send them on their way. You are some type of magic, so you can stay and watch, maybe help me to the bus after."
Not a sensitive, this kid is confident that he can do this. It's too late to walk away, Constantine can feel being watched. "Yeah, kid, I can stay, might even get a bite to eat too. Got a name? Mine is John, called Constantine." Fuck, why did it feel like giving a true name to a fae there.
The kid snorts, "that was dumb John called Constantine. I am Phantom, called Danny, among others. Don't go calling out my Name John." He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When they open they seem green. "Take a step back, John," Danny orders.
Constantine will never forget the voice this kid used, it started polite, and some of the presence seemed to leave, settle, like a reasonable idea was presented. Can't tell you a single word he said, the language wasn't for human comprehension, but tone and body posture told a lot. Something was getting antsy, it didn't like to be told to go to sleep. And Danny stopped talking. He asked politely, he gave these unsettle Ghosts a single chance and looks like not everyone was taking it.
"Stop. There is nothing for you here, and I would be a poor Phantom if I let you languish here." Danny, no Phantom, raises one hand and a portal opens. A ghost comes to the edge, it doesn't look very human, It raises an arm in salute and speaks in that tongue John can't quite get. "Take them, they do not belong here.....Tell Clocks I am fine."
In less than 30 seconds the portal closes on its own and the unsettled feeling dissipates with a PoP!
"Are you okay Kid?"
Eyes closed, "a life I left, showing me that I will always be a part of it. I am fine. Still willing to get me something to eat?"
"Let's find a diner and I will escort you to the bus exchange." John will make sure to slip him his card, the kid is going to give him the slip before they head to find a bus. John can summon him if he is desperate, but giving the kid a number and email will make it easier for the kid, who is pretending he isn't an all powerful being, with authority of at least one realm of the dead.
