#danny is only a dad when it is convenient for him

[minnesota-fats]

So this is in the context of the bruce clone au I made a while back.

This is after the batfam find out about him being Bruce’s clone and he is staying in the manor for a bit cuz you know, family bonding.

And one light after so much sleep deprivation and coffee Tim accidentally called Danny “dad” which sparks a chain of events where the next morning at breakfast when all the fam is visiting Danny bust’s down the door and shouts, “IT IS I, YOUR UNCLE BROTHER DAD!” Which caused Tim the facepalm and everyone else to laugh (except bruce becaue he doesnt know if he should laugh or be mortified)

Some sinarios i have thought of, (with the help of @lompio )

—

Jason: oh crap, bruce isn’t going to like this.

Danny: don’t worry, your under parent supervision

Jason, shrugging: good enough with me!

—

Tim: we have to do something! But Bruce wont let us- Danny do we have permission to use the bat plain?

Danny, looking up from eating a box of cold takeout: wha-? Yeah sure!

Tim: thanks!

Danny: stay safe!

—

Danny: Damien, as your father I should tell you not to hold such petty grudges for small things. But as you BROTHER I say lets go get that lil’ bitches ass!!!

Damien: I take back what I said about this being childish.

—

Bottom line is: Danny is the dad only when it is convenient for him!

[im-only-here-for-the-fandom]

Baby Lost, Baby Found

so first time posting on tumblr, i got inspired by the idea of danny phantom being jason todds father from the story apartment 31c by @faeriekit

its going to be a bit long so,

I headcanon that ghosts can asexually reproduce but it takes some time to make sure that the baby is stable than if there was two ectoplasmic donors so its not commonly done or well known . so when vlad tries to clone danny he doesn’t know that he’s actually growing a lab baby and in the test tube while its forming the baby splits, becoming two babies, one more ghostly (ellie) the other more human ( jason ).

Danny feeling a strange tug at his core urging him to find something, something very important to him and he has to find no matter what, searches for weeks before he finds ellie and jason before vlad ages them up and he falls in love instantly. he looks at his beautiful daughter and son, cradles them carefully and takes them home olny telling jazz, sam, and tucker about their true origins, his parents lecture him about ‘how irresponsible he was for bringing two children into the word’ and ‘how hard it is to raise them’ and ‘how much personal time you have to give up to take care of them’ despite them not noticing that he had disappeared for weeks or that they spent all day in thier lab only coming out for food and bathroom breaks or to put a sample in the fridge because the basement fridge was full {they still haven’t noticed he’s died} . the babyies needed a steady intake of his ectoplasm or pure ectoplasm to stabilize so took them to school with him, not trusting his parents inventions to not accidentally shoot at his kids but thankfully the ghost have calmed down with their attacks ever since he got the kids only going after him after school and during holidays and toning down thier destructive acts.

During the summer holiday vlad invites the fenton family to a cruise ship no doubt trying to enact one of his stupid schemes with jazz unfortunately (or fortunately) unable to join because she was joining a charity for helping less fortunate kids as a volunteer so that she could add it to her resume also because she’s just a really good person and wants to help defintley not to get out of the holidy cruise with val of course not . During one of the cruses resocking pit stops he has to change ellie’s diaper because he’s a goid dad, so he leaves jason with his parents reluctantly after the insisted that he would be perfectly safe with them, jason having a dormant core barley exhibits any ghostly traits while ellie having an active core regularly floats, so his parents were less liely to think jason was a ghost tgan ellie, not knowing that as soon as he left the box ghost came to cause mischief, his parents immediately entering ghost hunter mode forgetting about baby jason.

Enter Sheila also on the cruise running a fake pregnancy scam on multiple people, getting desprate when few men fall for it but needing more proof from her, she decides to steal baby jason who was conveniently unattended to in the chaos happening and leaves before the cruise before the ship departs. She successfully registers the baby as hers saying that she gave birth to him on a cruise thats why she has no previous medical records and naming him jason based on the custom onsie he’s wearing that had in bold Baby Jason written on the chest and starts her scam once again. This time she’s more successful in her scam getting large amounts of money from different men, her having blue eyes, the baby having blue eyes, most people having black hair made it much easier, but now the baby was getting older and its harder to scam people with a larger baby so she doesn’t want him anymore so she hands him over to the only man stupid enough to believe that was truly his baby, Willis Todd, she dumps him in gotham and leaves.

Back at the cruise ship danny finishes changing ellie only to come out to the aftermath of the box ghost and search’s for his parents so that he could get his son back only to discover that his parents have once again neglected another child, their grandchild, in favor of their ghost hunting ways. danny feels devestated his baby boy is gone and the ship had already sailed a long way out from their last stop, he should have never trusted his parents, he didn’t care that they neglected him, but thier neglect now cost him his son. he leaves ellie with jazz once they reach home and follows the tugging in his core once again trying to locate his son, but this time it’s harder it took him weeks to find his kids the first time and that was when they were stationary, now sheila keeps moving meaning the direction of the tugging keeps changing and it throws him off the right track, until she reaches gotham and the tugging suddenly STOPS, danny is floating in the middle of nowhere when his connection with his baby just disappears without a warning. and danny is just terrified, he doesn’t know what has happened to his baby.

Jason is in gotham now, which is a ectoplasm deadzone, despite it being heavily covered in death energy. any time ectoplasm is formed its immediately sucked away by those who have recently died, barely being able to take enough to pass to the afterlife, and with the amount dieing in gotham the amount of ectoplasm is barely able to sustain jasons baby core. he has stronger senses and a better immune system from his ghost half but other than sharper canine teeth he doesn’t develop other ghostly traits over the years growing up, if he able to seemingly disappear in the shadows and move as silent as a ghost, it’s attributed to gotham strangeness.

jason is now 15 and dies waking up briefly in ghost zone only for the ectoplasm to kick start his core and kicks him back into his body six months after his death, back in to gotham the ectoplasm deadzone now unable to support his active core leaving him catatonic for talia to find and dunk in the lazarus pit. he spends three years in with the league of assassins before returning to gotham mad with pit rage and the need for revenge against the joker.

danny, now the ghost king , has never given up searching for his missing, despite not being able to locate him his bond reassuring him his son was alive, having moved out with his daughter and sister when she turned eighteen and cut off all communication with his parents. he’s in a meeting in the ghost zone when he feels his bond with his son flare up strongly only for it to disappear from the ghost zone not a minute later, leaveing him no time to search for him, but the bond is there, if barely, but it disappears again when jason is dumped in the lazurus pit, his signature corrupted from how it was when he was young. danny’s core aches from the sadness he’s feeling, the bond he has with his son is seemingly gone, he doesn’t know what to do now.

A year passes and jason is now nineteen a year after he came back to gotham, having reconciled with his family. but now the justice league is facing a world ending supernatural threat and they need someone or something powerful enough to face it, so who else other than the benevolent and kind ghost king.

constantine has the main league members do the ritual with him batman, superman, wonder woman, flash, green lantern, because the requires a lot of power. so they chant his titles, The Benevolent and Kind, The Great One, The Gate and The Keeper, The Guiding Star, The High King Of Infinite Realms, and a portal starts forming and slowly danny emerges in full royal garb, white hair swaying whisply in an invisible breeze, eyes a glowing green galaxy, crown and ring on full display. Danny opens his mouth to speak only to close it when he feels a weak, sputtering bond from someone standing at the back of the room, he cranes his head searching for the orogin of this bond and spots a young man, then it clicks, thats his son, that’s jason. he can’t believe his eyes, he finally found his baby, after nineteen years, he sinks to the floor and sobs.

Jason had always felt a strange feeling if longing that never seemed to go away, at first he thought it was from a lack of care from his parents, but it didn’t seem right to him, so after he bacame robin, and found out about sheil he thought that was where the feeling of longing was coming from, but then she betrayed him and he died at the hands of the joker. and in that one minute in the realm of the dead everything felt right only to wake up in his own grave and then get dumped in the pit. After getting dumped in the pit the longing was gone, and in its place was rage, like he had lost something very important to him and this made him unbelievable angry, so he went to gotham to exact revenge, and ended up reconciling with his family.

a year later he’s stading at the back the room as the justice league summons the ghost king, and as the king emerges the feeling of longing that was gone since his death starts sputtering to life, he looks at the floating man and the longing gets stronger, they lock eyes and the man shudders and sinks to the floor sobbing, he wants nothing more that to run to him and hug him, hold him and never let go, he has never felt such intense emotions towards someone in his life.

As he slowly walks towards the ritual, danny lifts his and revrently utters his name “Jason”

[whereonceiwasfire]

Look. Look. I am as invested as the next person in a nuanced, well-developed exploration of the fractured relationship between the college trio, but I contain multitudes, and also just really need more AUs in my life where Maddie actually knows Vlad is now a ghost loser simp intent on getting Jack out of the picture and plans on ctrl-v-ing himself in his ex-best-friend's place like a badly photoshopped family picture, because I think this has the potential to be absolutely HILARIOUS.

Neither of them tells Jack because Maddie can't bear to break her husband's heart by revealing the truth about their long-lost friend, and Vlad won't tell him because, on top of the obvious reasons, Jack also keeps inviting Vlad to stuff. Family dinner? Danny's school events? Camping trips? It's remarkably convenient as it puts him in a great position to play Uncle Vlad until he can successfully enact his bonkers plan.

Except now, in addition to Danny knowing Vlad is up to no good and being very much not on board with the Fruitloop's whole shtick, Maddie's in the same boat too. But Maddie and Danny are keeping this info from each other because she still doesn't/can't know her son is Phantom and if Danny outs Vlad, Vlad will turn around and spill his little secret too. And for Maddie's part, she probably just doesn't want her son knowing that Vlad is a ghost. It's a bad look to admit you've welcomed a specter from the afterlife into your house (on multiple occasions) when you've spouted off how dangerous these creatures are since your kiddos could walk.

This sets up a scenario where you've got Jack: oblivious, Danny: trying not to reveal his secret while also keeping Vlad from murdering his dad, Maddie: being a badass ghost hunter protecting her family and blasting Vlad into next Tuesday every chance she gets, and Vlad: just, being very...Vlad about everything. Chaos and hilarity ensues.

Can you see my vision?

Jack's humming to himself while making dinner, back turned, unaware anything is amiss as Maddie saves his life, firing a blaster at Plasmius and sending him through a wall before he can attack her husband. She immediatley hides the ecto-weapon behind her back, giving a too-enthusastic "how was your day sweetie!" when Danny walks in the door, brows raised. Jack turns around at the interruption, giving a bright, oblivious, "Where'd Vladdy go?!" which prompts a groan and a "that guy's here again?" from Danny.

Maddie and Danny can bond over their shared aversion to Vlad's general existance, though neither of them admit there's a little more to it than just "he's an arrogant asshole." Or, better yet, they're both putting on the facade, keeping up pretenses, pretending they don't despise the dude, because how are they supposed to explain why they despise the dude? Vlad is impossibly amused by the whole song and dance they're doing, because of course, he's the only one who realizes that Maddie and Danny both know he's a half ghost and are keeping that from each other. And like, as if he's going to let them in on that little tidbit unless it directly benefits him.

Sometimes Maddie and Danny run into awkward situations where they're both trying to protect Jack, but they don't realize it, and they can't be overt about it without the other person realizing what's going on. "Don't you have homework? You go do that, I'll check on your father and...uncle Vlad." "Oh, no, no, don't you worry about it, you're so busy, Mom. I can go check on them!" "That's really not necessary. I don't mind at all." Meanwhile, Vlad is in the kitchen like "why don't you check that cooking oil with your face, Jack? Oh, I know it sounds unorthodox, but I swear that's how they do it in France."

[radiance1]

Prompt idea: inmortal teen looking Danny, jumping across different dimensions he lands in DC. He quickly become annoyed because the native heroes won't stop trying to adopt him.

Oh and it take some years to Danny to jump to another dimension

*Cracks knuckles*

Alright so this is extremely, very, late. But it shall be DONE!

So, let us start with some BACKGROUND.

Danny is an immortal teen, yes? So then, Danny has outlived every mortal he knows, as in Jack, Maddie, Sam, Tucker, Jazz, everyone.

So when the last person he loved and cared for died (your pick as to whom), he went into the ghost zone to explore to hopefully forget all the pain. He explored the zone, stopping by some of the ghosts he knows before finding a portal, to which he just says fuck it and dives in.

At first he didn't know where he was, but with some digging he came to the conclusion that it's a different dimension and is like neat. So he explores a lil, meets some people, drinks and eats some food.

Y'know, the usual tourist stuff.

So after a few years he had his fill of this new dimension, seeing everything there is to see and all. So he left, finding a conveniently open portal and then goes on to the next.

And the next.

And the next.

Until one portal, like any other. He pops into a new dimension and expects it to be like all the others, he already had things going on his mind about what it would be.

Perhaps old timey? Maybe Prehistoric even? Oooo, maybe it would be futuristic, those are always fun.

Except it was none of that, in this dimension people have powers and superheroes are actually real.

He was a bit surprised, but easily accepted it.

So there he was, just minding his own business outside of earth's atmosphere, eyeing up the planet to think about where he would visit first, he picked up a lot of languages in his travel, so he doesn't think he'll have a problem where he choses.

So he picks a certain spot to land, some city by the name of Metropolis, only to be met with two people.

A man with a red cape in blue and red spandex, and standing near him is a bat furry in black spandex.

Weird choice but alright, he doesn't judge.

It was when the former turned around- Superman if he remembered correctly, that he felt like he was punched in the gut.

He looked so much like him, so, so much that he thought he was standing- well, more so floating, right there in front of him.

"Dad?"

Danny noticed his mistake after he let it slip, there were some slight differences that his father didn't have, and well, his father is dead and all.

So what did he do to save himself from the embarrassment of mistaking some guy for his dead dad?

He's an adult- practically older than a lot of people actually, even if he looks like a kid. He is mature and will solve this and act accordingly.

He turned invisible and peaced out.

He's sure nothing won't come out of that frankly.

It was just a teeny, tiny slip up.

Something did come out of it, much to Danny's chagrin.

Now he's being followed by these superheroes everywhere for whatever reason and they won't leave him alone when he just wants to sight see.

In a dark and grim city because he was avoiding Metropolis?

Followed by some ninja furries in spandex. (Also what the fuck, why the hell are they so damn sneaky for he almost forgot they were following him-)

He went to New York.

Got found by this random lady who also wouldn't leave him alone.

He escaped to Central City and had a conversation with this guy in red spandex with a lightning bolt of his chest.

Honestly he had a pretty nice time but what is it with Superheroes and spandex?

He wanted to leave, but the portal isn't gonna open again for some undetermined amount of time.

...The universe really likes to fuck him over, don't it?

[thealexanderfiles]

DCU from a Marvel fans limited perspective

recently i've accidently been sucked into the DCU universe, mostly Bat family, if i'm being honest, and although i've never watched a single movie/episode, this is what i have gathered from purely reading the occasional fanfiction/lots of tumblr posts

SPOILERS i guess

There are A LOT of batkids

Bruce Wayne adopts these motherfuckers like they're some kind of limited edition pokemon set

no one is actually sure how many there are but if you have black hair and blue eyes and live in gotham, Batman doesn't care if you've got parents or not. you're coming home with him

There appears to be five Robins and Batman goes though these children like a chainsmoker with a pack of cigarettes

people die a lot

Thats okay though because people come back to life a concerning amount as well

Jason Todd died and came back to life by being dumped in a pit of magical water

Damien Wayne is the only biological child of Bruce and he mentions this a lot

Dick Greyson was the first Robin and the first adoption and i think he and Bruce got in a fight and he left to become Nightwing

Jason Todd stole the Batmobile's wheels and became the second Robin. after he came back to life he became Red Hood

Tim Drake was not an orphan, he just fit Bruce's target demographic and was conveniently close (I mean come on, it's like express shipping) He is also some kind of super-genius. He was the third Robin but became Red Robin/Drake

Stephanie brown(?) was the fourth robin(?), not sure for how long. People get upset when other people forget. I think she's called Spoiler or something

Damien Wayne is the final Robin. Hes this assassins son and im pretty sure Talia dropped him off at the Wayne Manor and said, "I had him through the terrible twos, you get the teen years'

Not entirely sure if Tim runs Wayne enterprises

Brucie wayne is the funniest fucking thing i swear

He's so stupid

not sure is Tim, Dick and Jason follow Bruce's lead and become absolute airheads as well

Alfred is a butler

Alfred has guns

There's someone called Duke and Cass knocking around

The Justice League think Batman works alone

someone in the JL is allergic to the colour yellow

there is a concerning amount of Danny Phantom x DC crossover fics

sames goes for Miraculous

Tim Drake is Bi and for some reason people don't like that

internet is divided on whether of not Batman is a bad dad

#OnlyInGotham is a thing?

Gotham is like an australian NYC

the Riddler is a not funny, less aggressive version of the Joker

apparently Alcatraz and Arkham are different prisons but thats on me

there's a whole group of superheroes out there, each have strong powers and they decide to leave the most dangerous city to the member that has no powers and dresses up as an anthropomorphic bat and runs around the city causing copious amounts of property damage with his children

there is a girl called barbra? Gordon

there is a criminally small amount of content for the girls

for some reason people ship the bat kids together, ike, anytime you have to remind yourself 'its TECHNICALLY not incest is Not Good'

Clark Kent is running round acting as if his reading glasses are the only thing standing between a normal life and CHAOS and the worst thing is that he is right

i am a MCU fan and i was SO sure that Deadpool was MCU but now i'm not so sure

Fandom likes to have this troupe that Bruce wayne doesn't believe batman exists when obviously the superior troupe is that Gotham is pretty sure they are exes

teen titans and young justice are a thing but i cant figure out which robin is who.

Damien Wayne has enough animals to open a zoo

who tf in the batfam are metas?????

Batman has definetely used the Tired Dad voice on villains and the Brucie Wayne voice on the JL

Bruce Wayne has contingency plans if someone discovers his contingency plans

THERES A PLACE CALLED THE FUCKING BAT BURGER???????

it took 2 robins until batman realized that a small child running around in a vest top and speedos was not the greatest idea

Someone needs to tell me, like right now what's going on, where to start and what to read. bc rn im LIVING on chaotic fics

[the-witchhunter]

Pet Blob Ghost

Dumb thought: the Fentons get a pet blob ghost and Jack quickly became the favorite.

Just imagine

Maddie wants to get a blob ghost to observe and research their behavior. Jazz is for it since she thinks her parents interacting non hostilely with any type of ghost would be good for them. Danny is for it because he thinks they’re cute. The only one against it?

Jack Fenton

He doesn't want a no good spook staying in his house, but he reluctantly agrees since both Maddie and the kids think it’s a good idea. Besides, when it backfires that just means they have a convenient test subject on hand

cut to him being grumpy and trying not interact with the blob ghost but slowly warming up to it. Next thing his family knows he’s knitted their blob a sweater and they’re best friends. Danny is jealous because the blob ghost likes his dad better. 

Dad: we’re not getting a dog

Dad and the dog one week later: besties

[samgirl98]

Mending a Family 12/?

Prev | Next

Shit like this wasn’t supposed to happen in small towns. Yet here he was, in the middle of an armed robbery. The two men had a handgun each and were waving them around. Jason thought Canada had stricter gun laws, for God’s sake. Jason hid Danny behind his body and thanked whatever little luck he had that Jazz, and Ellie had stayed home.

And all because Jason had wanted some ice cream.

“Nobody be a hero. Give me the money, bitch!”

One man pointed the gun at the poor cashier, who looked close to tears, and the other pointed it at the three customers in the little convenience store.

Usually, Jason would be the first to jump into action, but he had Danny to think about now. Said kid pulled on Jason’s shirt and asked in a low voice, “Daddy, aren’t we gonna do something?”

“No, we’re gonna stay behind these shelves and let the proper authorities deal with it,” Jason whispered.

Danny actually pouted, pouted!

“But daddy, we have to help!”

Jason got Danny and held him close to his chest. Jason got on the floor and made himself small. He didn’t want attention on them and wanted to stop Danny from playing hero.

He should’ve remembered Danny had been one before, and he had powers. His son, his precious baby boy, turned invisible and intangible. Jason just about had a heart attack. Jason couldn’t risk calling out for Danny because that would draw attention to him.

The men were about to leave when they crashed into something invisible.

(If Jason squinted, he could just make out a green force field.)

Suddenly, both men’s pants fell to the floor, and when they looked down, distracted, both guns were knocked out of their hands and landed in front of Jason. Jason got one gun and pointed the other one at the men.

“Don’t move,” he ordered. Both men held up their hands and dropped the money. Jason watched as shoelaces were untied and then tied together to one another. The men got scared and tried to run when they heard police sirens, but they fell.

Jason heard a giggle at his side and watched his son return to the visible spectrum.

He sighed; it seemed he had to have a long talk with Danny.

____

Danny pouted in the back seat as Jason lectured him.

They ended up held up for only under an hour after the armed robbery attempt. It was a small town, and everyone knew everyone. The cashier and the other three customers in the store knew that the two robbers were Donnie and Tanner Evans, two brothers who were always getting into trouble.

How those two idiots thought they would be able to get away with it, Jason didn’t know. At least in Gotham, the city was big enough for idiots to get away with robbing small convenience stores.

Jason sighed; how did this even happen to him?

It’s because he had shit luck, that’s why. And now his son was mad at him for not playing vigilante and lecturing him for playing hero.

“I’m serious, Danny. You could’ve gotten hurt!”

“But I didn’t! What do you want, dad, for me to let others get hurt?”

“Yes, I mean, no, I mean—look, Danny, you’re too young to make these decisions.”

Danny glared, his eyes turning Lazarus Pit green. (Jason ignored his eyes glowing in response to Danny’s anger.)

“Look, Danny, I’m not mad. I was worried. I’m disappointed you didn’t listen to me,” Danny interrupted.

“Everyone knows that’s worse than anger!”

“You need to listen to what I say. You can’t put yourself in danger that way.”

“Like you’ve never put yourself in danger,” his precious, precious son mumbled, “you used to be a vigilante.”

Jason wished he had Alfie. How did he put up with their danger-seeking habits? It was a miracle the butler was still alive because Jason felt like his heart was trying to leave his body through his chest.

“Wait till I tell your sister about this.”

“Ha! Jazz encourages my heroism! You lose.”

“We’ll see.”

____

“What were you thinking, Daniel James Fenton?”

Danny watched as his daddy smirked at him, pleased. Jazz, the traitor, continued to scream at him.

“But Jazzie,” he whined, “I couldn’t just do nothing.”

Jazz pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Danny, we aren’t in Amity Park anymore. We’re trying to keep a low profile, and, in case you haven’t noticed, you’re like three years old!”

“I’m sixteen in the body of a five-year-old! And you can’t tell me what to do; you’re not mom!”

Danny regretted saying that as soon as Jazz’s face fell.

“Danny, apologize to your sister,” his dad barked out.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, “it just came out.”

Jazz took a deep breath and continued, “I accept your apology, but Danny, you must be more careful. What if the cameras caught you?”

His dad had automatically hacked the convenience store’s cameras and found out that only one worked, and it was pointed at the entrance. Thankfully, it hadn’t captured Danny using his powers.

“Look, lad, like I said, I’m not mad, but you have to be careful when and where to use your powers. If I tell you not to, you don’t. Understand?”

“Yes, daddy.”

“Good, now, you’re grounded. No going outside for two days and no ice cream, either.”

“Aw, man, why daddy?”

“You disobeyed a direct order, that’s why.”

Danny pouted, and Jason had to harden his heart. Danny got off the chair and started going to his room.

“Danny lad, wait.”

Danny turned.

“You know I love you, right?”

“Yes, I can feel it.”

“Good,” Jason kissed Danny’s forehead. “You scared me today.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I can’t lose you, lad.”

Danny hugged his dad and let waves of love and reassurance hit the man. He might be disappointed that he was grounded, but Danny knew how much he had scared his dad. So, he would, mostly, take the punishment gracefully.

Jason watched Danny go to his room and plop hard on the chair.

“You okay, Jay?”

“Yeah, just, I got scared I would lose him, y’know?”

Jazz put her hand on his shoulder, “You’re a good dad.”

“I was so afraid to lose him today. What if I had,” Jason asked hysterically, “I’m a horrible father. I should’ve kept a better eye on him!”

“Jason, you’re spiraling. Danny is fine.”

Jason wondered if Bruce ever felt the way Jason was feeling now. How had Bruce raised a feral Dick Grayson and a rule-breaking Jason Todd? He kind of wished he had his dad near him to ask.

(He would take Danny away; Jason could never talk to Bruce again.)

“Do you think I handled it right?”

Jason wanted some reassurance.

“You did better than you think. Trust me.”

Jason smiled sadly. He hoped he wouldn’t screw things up with Danny.

@idontgetpaidenoughforthisshit @skulld3mort-1fan @theauthorandtheartist @emergentpanda-blog @jaggedheart11 @fisticuffsatapplebees @booberrylizard @fantasticbluebirdfan @thegatorsgooseoose @cyrwrites @kjoboo91 @crystallicedart @amaramizuki666 @spekulatiusmuffin @meira-3919 @kilasmess @bubblemixer @lexdamo @wonderland-daisy @mj-arts-n-stuff @amyheart19 @dolfay @the-church-grimm @undead-essence @aph-mable @lizisipancardo @purrloin77 @writer-extraodinaire @charlietheepic7 @sinfulloccultist @nootherusernameworked @coruscateselene @chaoticchange @itsberrydreemurstuff @gmkelz11 @feral-bunny31 @paroovian @thatonegaybitch68 @d4ydr34min9 @overtherose @fandomwandererer @vipower001 @thordottir45 @blackrabbitt3t @rosecinnamonbun @bianca-hooks123 @epilepticnerd @dat1angel @consouling @flamingenchiladadragon

[jake-whatthefisgoingon-kiszka]

Ok I know I said a couple more chapters, but I managed to fit it all into one… so here you go part 15! Thank you so much to everyone who tuned in and shared with me their comments on this series. I’m sad to be seeing it go but excited for what’s to come next! Stay turned for an eventual epilogue (with spice 🤫)

Pairings: Jake Kiszka x Danny Wagner ***slash janny endgame baby!!!

Warnings and tags: 18+ only please, adult content such as: anxiety, drinking, talk of pregnancy, talk of past infidelity, kissing, and confessions, slash of course, restaurant AU, third person POV Jake, Sam, and Danny, and that’s about it for this one

Word count: 8.6k

Driving with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on his phone to navigate through the dark Nashville streets, Jake pulled up on Sam’s pinned location and saw him through the window of a convenience store.

When Sam saw his car pull up he hopped off the counter he’d been sitting on and ran outside, waiting by Jake’s door for him to roll down the window.

“Hey, you have six bucks? I don’t have my wallet”.

“What? Sam what’s going on?” Jake started to question him to which Sam just stuck his shivering hand inside the window and made a give me motion until Jake pulled out his wallet and found a ten, dropping his phone underneath his seat in the commotion.

“Thanks!” Sam snatched the bill from his brother's confused grip and ran back inside, handing the whole thing over to the man standing at the register and shaking his hand before leaving.

Jake studied Sam’s appearance as he approached the car, this time walking around to the passenger's side. No jacket, apparently no wallet, and was his shirt inside out?

“What in the hell are you doing out here alone?” Jake tried his questions again once Sam was inside.

“I’m not alone, Jimmy was keeping me company”.

Jimmy? Jake followed Sam’s line of sight to the man still standing idly behind the counter of the store. He took an inhale and nearly choked it right back up, Sam smelled of alcohol and cheap black coffee. “Are you drunk?!”

“Sobered up now, thanks to Jimmy!” Sam leaned over and waved at the man from Jake’s window, who smiled revealing a few missing teeth and waved back.

“Again, what are you doing here? Where’s Danny?”

Sam’s half smile faded at the sound of Danny’s name, and he slumped back into the passenger's seat letting his head rest on the window.

When Sam didn’t reply Jake shifted the car back into drive and pulled out of the lot, “alright, well, let’s just get you home”.

Sam didn’t speak for the rest of the car ride back to his apartment. Just closed his eyes and let his head buzz along with the vibrations of his temple against the glass. Jake wanted to talk to Sam, tell him about the good news he’d gotten today. He’d spent all afternoon on the phone with their Dad going over the logistics of opening his own place and getting support for making his decision, but he knew right now was not the right time to bring it up so he kept quiet.

Just as Sam started to actually drift off to sleep Jake was slapping his shoulder. “Sam! We’re here”.

He blinked a few times, tired and sore eyes adjusting to the overhead light Jake must have clicked on when he parked along the street.

“Alright, are you going to tell me now how you ended up at a random convenience store in the middle of the night?”

“Closest place from the apartment I could find to still get coffee” he replied, purposefully not getting into much detail.

Who’s apartment? He couldn’t have been talking about his apartment, it was too far of a walk. Then it hit Jake. He’d thought the area looked slightly familiar when he was driving around. He’d only been that way once, but now he remembered who lived over there. “Jesus Sam, were you at Savanna’s?”

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed. He really was too tired to be fighting right now, but the anger he’d had pent up all day was starting to surface again the more sober he got. “Yeah I was, is that a problem with you?”

“Look, I don’t want to get in the middle of you guys again, but please tell me you didn’t just cheat on Danny then call me to come pick you up”.

“Why? What’s the problem? You don’t seem to have an issue with cheating. And you're my brother Jake; you're supposed to be there for me. Not fuck things up in my life whenever you feel like it”.

Jake didn’t understand where Sam was coming from, never guessing that Sam knew the secret he and Danny agreed to keep, but he was not talking well to being yelled at in his own car when he was the one who was called out in the middle of the night. “What the fuck is your problem right now?”

“You!” Sam laughed hysterically at Jake’s arrogant refusal to take responsibility for his actions. “You’re my fucking problem! Accusing me of cheating is a lot coming from you when you fucking slept with my boyfriend while I was gone!”

“What?!” Jake immediately started to become more defensive. Not only for his own sake, but for Danny’s. “He told me you broke up with him! Showed up at my doorstep in fucking pieces!”

Sam recoiled back against the door again. Danny did tell him he thought they’d broken up, and honestly Sam knew they had after the way they left things, but he hadn’t realized how much it had affected Danny. There he was in LA having a great time getting ready for this next exciting chapter in his life, and Danny was back at home suffering. It’s was no wonder he went looking for some comfort… Even if it did start to make some sense, he couldn’t so easily forgive them and forget his own hurt.

“When are you going to let him go Sam?” Jake questioned him after a moment of silence once the argument died down.

Sam’s eyes started to well up again, but he choked the tears back down. He did not want to cry in front of his brother. “I do love him Jake, he’s my best friend”.

“I know you love him Sammy,” Jake sighed, he never meant to insinuate otherwise, “but are you in love with him?”

That was a question Sam hoped he’d never have to ask himself. He understood the concept of falling in and out of love with someone, but he never realized how difficult it would be to actually discern the difference between the two. How heart wrenching it would be to come to the realization.

“It’s okay if you’re not. I promise you he will be okay” Jake added, just hoping to ease a little of his pain.

“I thought I could fall in love with him” Sam finally responded, his voice just a fraction of what it was before.

Jake nodded his head in understanding, “anyone can fall in love with Danny if they try hard enough, it’s Danny, but is that what’s really best for him?”

Leave it to Jake to be bestowing his cryptic wisdom on him at this hour Sam thought to himself. “You would know” he pushed back. He was pretty sure Jake didn’t even have to try to fall in love with Danny, and that was also probably a big part of the reason why he was so jealous of them.

“When you text me you said you’d ’fucked up’,” Jake tried steering the conversation back away from himself, “what exactly did you do at Savanna’s?”

Sam swallowed, ready for Jake’s anger to return, “I kind of told her about you and Danny sleeping together…”

“You what- you told Savanna!” Jake frantically checked his pockets and his cup holders for his phone, nearly forgetting that he’d dropped it earlier. “Savanna and Kim are friends Sam! You didn’t stop to think she might say something? Ah shit!” When he remembered where it was he swung his door open so he could climb out and squat down to reach his hand under the seat, finally finding his phone face down on the floorboard. When he turned it over he saw four missed calls from Kim. So she had already been told.

Sam got out of the car as well, coming around the front end careful to keep his distance from Jake in case one of their old brotherly fist fights broke out over this. “I know, I know… but Jake, you know you shouldn’t have kept that a secret from her either right?”

As much as Jake did want to knock the shit out of him, Sam was right. He didn’t blame Danny at all, but his stomach was sour every time he was with Kim after. He’d never cheated on anyone before, always thought he was above that, but apparently he wasn’t. At least not when it came to the right person, just always at the wrong time.

He slipped his phone back into his pocket, he’d have to deal with her later, for now he’d just focus on getting Sam inside. “Come on, it’s fucking freezing out here”.

Once inside he followed Sam down the hallway, making sure he got into his room and into bed. When he started to back out he heard the sound of another door slowly opening from across the hallway. Jake turned around to see Danny peeking his head out of his bedroom, equally as surprised to see Jake in his apartment coming out of Sam’s room as Jake was to see how much of a wreck he was.

As Sam laid there he watched his door shut behind Jake, but even from the other side of the painted wood he could hear the light sound of a pair of voices. He squeezed his eyes shut and pulled his blanket up tightly under his chin trying to will himself to finally go to sleep instead of listen in.

Back in the hallway, Danny’s expression begged Jake for answers.

Jake sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn’t sure it was his place to be telling Danny where Sam was, but then again he really had gotten between the two of them again hadn’t he. “I picked Sam up, he was at Savanna’s I guess drinking. I think he’s pretty sobered up now but he still needs to sleep it off”.

Danny looked like he wanted to ask more questions, he needed more answers, but he could tell by the look on Jake’s face that he didn’t have much more to offer him. Instead his shoulders just dropped, “thank you for looking out for him”.

“Of course,” Jake replied, “a little heads up might have been nice though”.

Danny bit his cheek, he knew exactly what Jake was referring to. The whole reason why Sam was acting the way he was. It was all Danny’s fault, for going over to Jake’s that day, for not being able to handle the guilt, for telling Sam this morning without asking Jake first…

“He told Savanna, who obviously told Kim”.

Danny’s brows furrowed with worry, even if keeping it from Sam had been too much for him to bear, he’d at least hoped to spare Kim and Jake the same turmoil they were going through right now. “Fuck, she’s going to hate us isn’t she?”

“Hopefully no more than Sam does. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to her. Apologize for the both of us”.

“I can talk to her too” Danny tried to offer. He didn’t want their friendship to end, and he didn’t want Jake trying to play the martyr in an attempt to help save it.

“Just, let me try with her first ok?” Jake tried to settle with him. “I want you to know we’re in this together Danny. We’re both equally to blame”.

“Yeah…” Danny sighed, the hidden meaning behind Jake’s words getting completely lost within the mess of his head. “Okay, you talk to her”.

“Alright Dan, try to get some sleep. Everything will be alright”. Jake wasn’t quite so convinced himself after today had played out the way it did, but he had to try to reassure him. Because he hated seeing either of them this way.

Four Months Later

“What about these?” Danny questioned as he eyed a pack of tiny neutral colored onesies.

“Yeah sure, you can never have too many onesies right?” Jake replied, unable to pick up any of the tiny clothes himself with both his arms full of diapers and wipes, and whatever else the baby aisle clerk had told them was new parents' essentials.

“Does she know the gender yet?” Danny wondered as he picked up two of the packages and started towards the check out.

“She hasn’t told you?” Popped out before Jake could realize how Danny might take it. They had still been working on repairing their ‘bestie’ status after everything that happened, but as far as he knew things were getting better between them. “She took a blood test but it will still be a few months before it’s official”.

Danny nodded his head in understanding, he hadn’t realized how much about this stuff he didn’t really know, but he was learning. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around Kim being pregnant”.

“It is crazy after what she went through huh?” Jake agreed, thinking back to a while ago when she was hospitalized with stomach pain only to find out that her IUD had slipped out of place and she had to immediately have it removed. Everyone was shocked, even Kim herself, to find out she was pregnant. The unforeseen health scare, both hers and the baby’s, had unexpectedly brought them close together again after months of awkward avoidals while Jake, Danny, and Sam still worked at the restaurant. That was all coming to an end soon though.

“By the way, thanks for coming with me. I’d feel a little awkward doing this by myself” Jake mentioned as they approached the self checkout.

Danny smiled as he started to take a few of the items from Jake’s hands and place them to be scanned, “Of course Jake. What are friends for”.

“Congrats man” Jake clapped his hand over Julian’s shoulder after his last successful dinner service in this kitchen. Not that he had done much tonight other than give Julian moral support.

Tonight was the official announcement of the directors retirement and the new ownership. Jake had decided to not take the offer to be kitchen manager, and although the new owner was disappointed to see him go, his stipulation was he continued to train Julian to be his replacement.

At first he was a little apprehensive if Julian was ready for that much responsibility yet, but in these last few months he had really proven himself to both Jake and the rest of the staff that now looked up to him.

“You’re going to have a lot on your plate this year, new promotion, becoming a dad” he wiggled his eyebrows and smiled.

“Fucking hell, don’t know how I’m going to do it without you” Julian smiled back, showing that he was indeed excited himself.

“You won’t” Jake assured him, “I’ll be around, as much as you guys continue to let me be”.

Julian was Kim's new boyfriend, and father of their coming baby. Of course Jake was a little nervous when he’d heard Kim was pregnant. It had been awhile since they’d broken up when she found out, so when they told her she was only a few weeks along she was sure it was Julian’s.

“I know Kim is still a little distant. She is just trying to process everything, but she will come around. I know she misses you guys”.

Though it was a little jarring to learn Kim had gotten over him by getting together with Julian, Jake had watched them together from the sidelines and he was very happy for them. “You’ve taken really good care of her”.

“And I will keep taking good care of her” Julian assured him with a confident smile, “now, get the hell out of here you’ve got a big day tomorrow”.

Julian practically pushed him out of the kitchen, telling him to hurry up so he could get back to closing.

When Jake left out the back door he found Danny and Sam waiting outside for him. “What are you guys still doing here?”

“Wanted to make sure we’ve got the plan down right”. Sam replied, pushing off the wall he’d been leaning on to follow Jake towards the cars. “You’re getting Josh in the morning right?”

“Yeah, Josh is flying in at like seven. Mom and Dad got here a few hours ago. They got an Uber to their hotel tonight, but you will have to pick them up tomorrow before you guys head over to the colosseum”.

“They know we have to be there like an hour early right?”

“Yeah but Josh and I need to swing by the shop and make sure everything is ready before we head over so we won’t have time to get them, plus you know mom is going to want to get like a hundred pictures”.

Sam chuckled and nod his head in understanding. He was slightly nervous about everything they’d have to do, but overall he was beyond excited to see his family and finally get this graduation over with.

“What about your parents?” Jake asked Danny who was leaning against the top of his car, seemingly the most relaxed about everything, though he was really just the best at staying calm.

“Flying in tomorrow morning too, but they’re going to get a rental car from there to share with Karen and Kelly later since they’re staying at the same hotel”.

“Sounds great, guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow then?”

“Yeah see you tomorrow. Try to get some sleep alright” Danny waved his goodbye then he and Sam were off.

Jake sat alone in the parking lot for a few minutes, just watching the unmoving building behind him in the rear view mirror. This place was never meant to be permanent for him, but he couldn’t help but feel bittersweet about leaving it.

When he was finally ready he put his car in drive, but continued to glance at the mirror until there was nothing more than the dark city street behind him.

At first Jake didn’t want the grand opening of his new restaurant to be the same day as Sam and Danny’s graduation, but the timing just worked the best since everyone was already coming down and Sam would be leaving just two short days after.

Four months didn’t seem like a very long time to create and execute a business plan, but his investor, the director, rushed things along because he wanted to see it open before he and his wife finally moved to Costa Rica.

Jake did manage to get about five hours of sleep before having to get up and get ready then head over to the airport to pick up his twin.

“Morning brother! Are you excited?” Josh beamed as soon as he made it from baggage claim out to the curb to see Jake already waiting for him.

“Nervous, anxious, kinda felt like I was going to throw up this morning,” Jake replied while Josh got himself settled with his things in the backseat then sliding into the passenger's seat, “but yeah excited too”.

“Good,” Josh reached over and gave Jake’s shoulder a squeeze since he couldn’t give him a proper greeting hug, “today is going to be a beautiful day; I can feel it!”

Josh was right, after running back to the apartment to drop his things off and let him freshen up from the plane ride, they stopped by the shop for a quick check in.

“This is nice!” Josh exclaimed as he walked through the large glass door into the newly refurbished dining area, stopping every few feet to closely examine a few of the tables before making his way over to the bar. Its crystal shelves were now fully stocked with brand new bottles of wines and spirits and the paneled mirrors on the walls were being cleaned and polished.

Jake left Josh to continue his exploring to check in on the kitchen, making sure prep was going along well. They had only just gotten their license and passed inspection a couple of days before so Jake was afraid they would be behind, but everything was going very well.

“Alright, we’ve got to go now, please call me if anything happens” Jake turned to Kim who had agreed to come and help out since his own front of house manager was busy graduating today.

“I will, but don’t worry we’ve got everything under control” Kim assured him for probably the fourth time since they had stopped by.

“And you please don’t over do it” Jake added, eyes flicking down to her barely visible bump.

“I’m pregnant Jake, not broken, I’ll be fine. Tell Danny I said congratulations”.

“Thank you” he put extra emphasis on his thanks, because there weren’t very many people he’d trust with overseeing something as important as his grand opening. Kim was and would always be someone special to him and he was so glad they were eventually able to make up and stay friends. “Oh, by the way there is a bag with your name on it in the kitchen. Make sure you get it before you leave”. He had put all the baby things he and Danny got for her together as an extra thanks for her help today.

“A bag? What is it?” She questioned, getting a little bashful still when Jake was extra nice to her especially because she wasn’t expecting a gift.

“Just a little something” he replied with a wink and grabbed Josh to slip out the door before she could say anything else.

Jake felt his heart thumping in his fists as he gripped the steering wheel on the way over to the colosseum, but he swallowed his nerves when they pulled up so he could be there and be mentally present for his brother’s and Danny’s equally big day.

He and Josh met their parents inside along with Danny’s, both taking turns getting hugs from everyone before taking their seats.

The ceremony started soon after, and Jake sat through each individual name called on the edge of his seat, twisting a program through his hands. Sam’s department was up first, and they all stood and clapped for him when he walked the stage, their mom recording and trying not to cry as her baby got his diploma. Danny’s was up later, and he was one of the last to walk but they all shared the same energy, standing and clapping again.

Just like that it was over, and the graduates were filling out to find their families.

“My babies!” Both Lori and Karen cried when Sam and Danny finally made their way over. Sam was already trying to shed his cap and gown but they yelled at him to put them back on and get into a picture with Danny.

“Now let’s get one with all the boys!” Karen beamed, phone not having left her hand since the ceremony started.

“What? We’re not the ones graduating!” Jake tried to protest, but Josh already had a hand around the back of his neck and was dragging him over. Jake lost his footing for a second, but before he could tumble over an arm was flying out in front of him for his torso to get caught on. “Thanks” Jake mumbled as Danny helped him straighten back up.

“Yeah” was all Danny said in return, then the same arm that caught him stretched back around his shoulders and pulled him close for the picture.

With their proximity Jake hoped Danny couldn’t feel the way his heart drummed in his tight chest. He was growing more and more anxious knowing that as soon as they were done here they were all going to head over to the restaurant.

That was wishful thinking though, because after all this time Danny knew Jake. Once both their moms got enough shots, Danny’s grip on Jake’s shoulders tightened and he leaned over to whisper to him “everything is going to be fine”.

“Yeah” Jake replied just the same and slipped out from underneath him. He was wound up enough already, he didn’t need any extra distraction.

“Alright, who’s hungry?” Jake’s dad asked everyone, shooting him a reassuring glance.

“Guess we will meet you guys over there then?” Josh spoke up, allowing Jake some extra time to spiral in silence. Their parents left together, then Sam and Danny, and Josh left with Jake again who insisted on driving to keep his mind occupied as he fidgeted with the corners of his mouth at every stop of a red light.

“They’re going to love it” Josh spoke up as they got closer.

“I know they will” Jake sighed, feeling at least a little better about not having to hide his torrent of emotions from his brother. “There’s just so many things that can go wrong with running a restaurant. We know first hand all the crap mom and dad had to put up with over the years”.

“Yeah you’re right” Josh replied, making Jake’s heart drop a little bit. Did he think I made the wrong decision?

“We do have first hand experience, you the most of all, so you already know what to expect and can be on top of your game. Plus it’s not like we aren’t here to help you. I know you’re going to want to do this all on your own, but just promise me if things do ever get out of hand that you come to us”.

Jake nod slightly, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy Josh “promise me Jake” he pushed.

“Alright, I promise. Happy now?”

Josh smiled his infectious smile making Jake do the same just as they started to pull into the already busy parking lot.

“Wow, not going to lie there’s a lot more people here than I thought there would be” Josh admit as Jake drove around to the back to park in his own designated spot.

“Yeah, Sam told a lot of people from school, guess word got around” Jake swallowed his words and slight fear before stepping out of the car and finding everyone else arriving at just the same time.

“This is lovely darling!” His mom exclaimed as she took in the exterior with the big white banner hanging above the door that read grand opening!

Of course Sam and Danny had already seen it in various states of the process, but now they stood there as well taking in the finished product with grins of their own.

“Oh! Is that the name?” His mom pointed to the large black letters above the banner. Jake had kept it a secret from everyone until now, even Sam and Danny hadn’t seen the large painted iron letters be installed once the exterior was finished being painted- black window trim to match.

The Ether

“What does it mean?” She questioned, knowing Jake must have very carefully picked it out.

“Well, it can mean whatever you want it to mean, but for me it means that this is a place that connects people. I really wanted to create an atmosphere that permeates its guests and intertwines us all for a shared transcendental experience”.

“Leave it to Jake to come up with something cryptic” Sam interjected, causing a few chuckles.

“Well I for one love it. What are we waiting for? Let’s go inside!” Josh wrapped his arms around his mom and walked with her, only taking a step back once they reached the door to allow her to be the first.

Once everyone was inside Jake took in the image of seeing his hard work over these past months paying off. His shop was filled with people from the smaller tables that lined the windows, to larger well dressed parties at the longer tables in the center. No doubt families that had also just come from the graduation here to celebrate and try some new food.

A table had been saved for his family, towards the back so they had to walk through the arrangement of occupied tables to get there. Along the way Jake’s arm was caught by someone.

“What a turn out” the director said as he stood from his seat.

“Yeah, hopefully we can keep this momentum” Jake replied, hanging behind to chat as his family went to take their seats. Everyone but his Dad.

“Well, this must be your father?” The director reached over to shake hands and introduce himself. “You raised a brilliant young man”.

“He put in all the work himself” his dad humbled him, though Jake could tell he was very proud which only made his nervousness finally start to ease up.

“He did an excellent job here. I don’t think I could have done it up better myself” the director commented, taking a second to look around once more. Noticing they were hitting it off, Jake stood back and let the two continue to talk together.

“I’m glad I got to meet you, I wanted to thank you for taking an interest in my son and giving him this opportunity”.

“The pleasure is all mine. Over these past few months I’ve gotten to know Jake. I have to say at first I didn’t quite understand his vision, but now all I can say is I’m even more impressed. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve never had a boy of my own. This place, and in turn Jake too, is the closest thing I have to a son”.

Jake nearly choked on his own saliva at the director's sudden confession. They had spent quite a bit of time together recently, mostly for business, but there was the occasional night or two that they had stayed late and drank a little bit together in the glow of the work lights. He glanced over at his Dad, waiting to hear his response.

“Well, guess we'll just have to call each other brother then!” he smiled and they both shook each other's hand again and gave a small side hug before the director sat back down.

“This a nice place you have here” Jake’s Dad continued as they moved to rejoin their group.

“Thanks” Jake replied quietly, though their shared smiles spoke more than a thousand words.

“Ready to close her up?” Danny asked as Jake did some last minute business for the night in his small office.

“Going to be a bit longer. You can go ahead and go, I’ll lock the doors” Jake replied, looking up from his pile of papers to see Danny with his arms crossed and leaning against the door frame. Danny had insisted over the past few days that they had been open to be here with Jake from before open to after close. Sure he didn’t have school anymore, but he knew it was a lot of time and work and so he was very grateful for Danny’s help.

“I don’t mind waiting for you” Danny replied, moving inside the office to take a seat in a chair across the desk.

Jake looked back down at what he was working on, filling out all the little boxes until his eyes started to blur from tiredness. “You’ve got your key right?”

“I do” Danny replied, fidgeting with the corner of the desk in front of him. What he didn’t want to say was he didn’t want the first time he used his new key to be coming home alone, so he decided to wait.

After just about twenty more minutes Jake finished what he was working on and they both went around to lock up before heading out to their cars. Jake pulled up to the apartment first, but he waited this time for Danny to pull up behind him before getting out. He wanted to make sure Danny’s key worked of course.

It did work, smooth as butter through the lock and Danny opened the door to let them both inside. “Been a long day” Jake spoke as they made their way up the stairs to the bedrooms.

This morning they dropped Sam off at the airport, saying their goodbyes for what felt like the dozenth time after seeing Josh and their families off just a couple of days before. Afterwards Jake had helped Danny gather the last of his things at his old apartment and turn in his and Sam’s keys.

At first Danny was thinking he was going to have to actually consider his Dads offer to move home and work at the office. With Sam leaving there was no way he’d be able to afford their apartment alone. He looked into getting a single somewhere, but until he was sure what he wanted to do he didn’t want to commit to another lease somewhere. That was when Jake reminded him he had an extra bedroom at his place not being used, in addition to the offer to work for him as a manager.

Now that Josh and Sam were gone it was going to be Danny’s first night staying in his new room. Though he had stayed in that bedroom a few times, having all his stuff in there now was going to be an odd feeling.

They stood at the top of the stairs, waiting for the other to make the first move to part ways into their own rooms. “You know where I’m at if you need anything” Jake added while he rubbed the back of his neck and winced slightly at the sharp pain it sent through the top of his shoulders. He’d been working a little too hard and the lack of rest was catching up to him.

“Have a knot in your neck?” Danny asked, noticing the way Jake squinted his eyes and tried to rub harder, but failing to apply enough pressure on his own. “Here let me help you”.

Jake hesitated for a moment, but ultimately pulled his hair to the side and turned around letting Danny approach him from behind.

Once he felt large hands grip his shoulders his body tensed up, but not from pain this time. It had been a while since he’d felt Danny’s hands on him, and he couldn’t deny that he’d maybe hoped that him moving in would be a catalyst for more intimacy between them again.

Then the pain struck him again, tenfold when Danny dug his thumbs into the knot and started a relentless circular motion into his twisted muscles.

“Ow! Fuck Danny that hurts!” Jake cried trying to pull away, but Danny’s grip was too strong.

“Just bear with it for a second longer” he leaned over and whispered. The combination of his hot breath on the sliver of skin above the neckline of Jake’s shirt and the friction of his fingers finally made the blood flow start to break up the knot (and flow somewhere else too). Jake’s shoulders relaxed and Danny let up a little, moving his fingers along the ridge of his shoulders and upper back to make sure he’d gotten all the tension out before leaning over once more and placing a quiet kiss over the spot he’d just roughed.

“Good night Jake” Danny whispered once more, lingering for just a moment as Jake continued to lean into his touch.

“Good night” Jake whispered back, and just like that Danny backed away and went into his room. Jake did the same, sighing to himself behind his closed door at how much of a physical response his body had gotten at such a simple gesture even when he was dead beat tired.

He wasn’t sure how long he could keep up the act, but he was determined that if anything was going to start between them he wasn’t going to be the one to make the first move this time.

For the next month business went well. Only one mix up with a supply order had the kitchen struggling for a bit and Jake had to spend a little extra to buy some things they needed immediately. Other than those few days of making due, they got their order in and worked out the kink in the schedule and since then everything was overall smooth.

“You sure you’re going to be alright while I’m gone?” Danny asked Jake as he hauled his carryon down the stairs. He was going to visit Sam in LA for the weekend and though he was excited to hang out with his best friend again, he wasn’t so thrilled about leaving Jake to do basically everything alone in the meantime.

“I’ll be fine, go have fun you need some time off anyways I’ve been overworking you”. Jake was smiling as he spoke, but deep down inside he was dreading Danny’s visit since he’d brought it up when asking for the time off.

Living and working together was a lot. Though they kept busy, Jake and Danny were around each other nearly 24/7 and yet he felt a distance between them still.

There were times when he felt the pull. Like when they would take turns showering in the morning, and Danny would wait in the hallway for Jake to finish up only to see him make the walk back to his room with just a towel wrapped around his waist. The lingering looks at night when they would come home and follow each other up the stairs. Always sharing that whisper of good night but nothing more.

Jake wasn’t quite sure why Danny didn’t ever close that gap between them, but his greatest fear now was that Danny was going to go to LA and rekindle something with Sam instead.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you off?” Jake offered once more, “those parking fees suck”.

“It’s alright, I think we’re still tapped out on saying goodbye to people at airports right now”. Honestly, Danny didn’t want Jake trying to say goodbye to him. He was only going to be gone for a couple of days, no time at all compared to all the time they had spent together recently. Yet he still felt some way about being away from him.

It had been easy to adjust to living with Jake, too easy. The only hard part had been trying to control himself.

Jake was busy all the time now, even when he was at home he was working on something. Danny didn’t want to add to that stress. Jake needed him right now and he didn’t want to complicate anything by getting mixed up together again.

Sometimes though he couldn’t help it, seeing Jake all the time at home in his rawest form stirred up things inside him. He wanted that thrill of being with him again. Wanted to feel that surge of energy electrify his nerve endings with every needy touch. He could wait though, until things died down at the restaurant and Jake could ease up from work. At least that’s what he’d been telling himself.

It was a whirlwind of an experience since the moment Sam met Danny at the airport. They took an Uber back to his shared apartment with the other interns to let Danny unpack his things before heading straight over to the studio for a tour.

Sam used his employee badge to swipe them in and showed Danny all his favorite spots and explained in animated detail everything he’d been working on. After over an hour the tour was over and Sam was guiding them along down the street towards his new friends day drinking spot- a bustling little cafe playing bluesy rock over its speakers.

“So how have things been going at the restaurant?” Sam questioned Danny after getting seated at a small table out on the patio a little bit away from the loud inside. He’d talked enough about himself today and now he was ready to hear more about Danny’s experiences since he left.

“Really well, there have been a few speed bumps, but we’ve kept everything in control. Keep the guests coming” Danny replied as he looked over the menu for something light to eat since he was starving but knew Sam had other plans for dinner later in the evening.

Sam sat back in his chair as he continued to speak, obviously already prepared to order without even having to check. “That’s good, haven’t been able to get a hold of Jake much. We keep playing phone tag”.

“Guess we’re all just a little busy these days” Danny shrugged, finding what he wanted and checking to see if the waitress was about to round back on them.

She caught Danny’s eye and made her way over, Sam ordering a tall draft beer and a glass of water and Danny getting the same with an appetizer. “Well, how has he been?”

“Hmm?” Danny didn’t follow Sam since he was still trying to take in the view of LA in the background.

“Jake, how’s he doing?” Sam repeated with a smirk.

“Oh, he’s good too”.

“Just good?” Sam tried to pry on after Danny’s simple response.

“What exactly are you trying to get at?” He knew Sam was interested in his brother's well being, but he could also tell he had some other hidden meaning.

After a slight scoff and a shift of position in his chair, Sam leaned onto his elbow on the table, letting his usually loud buoyant voice dissipate into a hush. “I’m just wondering if you guys have like…” he was avoiding eye contact, trying to find the right words “gotten together yet?”

Danny’s reply was thankfully stalled by the return of their waitress with their orders. If it wasn’t so damn hot outside in LA then he was sure he would be flushed as his thoughts raced to piece together what to say. “Like I said earlier” he began after they took a few drinks to cool off, “we’ve been really busy”.

“What an excuse, I mean come on you guys live together now”.

Danny wasn’t sure why Sam was suddenly so entertained by the idea of him and Jake being together. Maybe the LA air had been getting to him. “It’s hard to say. Yes we work together and we live together, but at work he’s my boss and at home I think he just wants some alone time to relax and decompress”.

“Have you guys at least talked about it?” Sam started to sound more serious, like before he thought he could joke and pick fun at his friend but now he was slightly concerned.

“What are we supposed to have talked about?” He asked as he plucked a piece of food off the plate between them.

Sam sighed, he couldn’t believe they were really both being so dense. “You know I asked you this question once but I don’t think you gave me an honest answer”.

Danny stopped his munching, curious about what question Sam was referring to.

When Sam was sure he had his undivided attention he tried again, “Do you love him?”

Danny’s blood ran cold as he remembered the look on Jake’s face that evening when Sam had walked in on them and he asked him the same thing. Of course at the time the shock took over and Danny had said no, but had that been the honest truth?

“You can tell me. I know things got weird there between us after we broke up. I was upset and I needed space, but I’m glad I stuck it out. I can’t stay mad at you. Jake maybe” he cut his tone with another quip letting Danny know he wasn’t serious about being mad at Jake either. “You're my best friend Daniel and Jake’s my brother. I want to see you both happy”.

“Thanks Sam, but I don’t think it’s that simple”.

“Why not?” Sam shrugged, taking a little off the plate to eat himself.

“Jake is a hard person to read. Sometimes I think he’s sending me signals, but I just don’t know. I don’t want to fuck things up again”.

It hit Sam that Danny probably blamed himself for everything that went wrong in their relationship, and he couldn’t have that. “First of all, you didn’t fuck things up so don’t keep beating yourself up. Second of all, do you think Jake would have really started something with his brother's best friend if he wasn’t in love with you?”

Danny blinked a few times, trying to take in what Sam had said. Did he think Jake was in love with me the whole time? No wonder he was always jealous… “You think Jake is in love with me?”

“Daniel, don’t be an idiot. There’s no telling how long he’s been keeping that a secret, but he’s not as sly as he thinks he is. I’ve had a suspicion since last Halloween”.

“Really?” That was before he and Sam had even gotten together and yet he’d still agreed to try dating. It’s no wonder things didn’t work out the way Danny initially thought they would.

“I know it’s not really my place to be saying this after I fought you both on it, but I want you to know that you guys have my blessing”.

“Well, when you put it that way” Danny teased, breaking the heavy air that had settled around them with this deep conversation.

Sam had placed a seed in Danny’s mind though. If Jake really did love him then why hadn’t he said anything? It had been months since Sam and him had broken up. They had all made amends with each other better than he thought they would. Yet they were everything but together now.

Danny tried not to think too much about what Sam had said during the rest of his visit. The days were filled with fun activities Sam had planned, so it kept the both of them entertained and having fun goofing off with each other like they used to. At night though, as Danny tried to fall asleep on an uncomfortable futon, he thought about what he wanted to say to Jake when he saw him again.

“Time to get back to work I guess” Sam sighed as he watched Danny finish packing up. They wanted to spend as much time together as they could during the short time Danny had to visit, so he waited until the day Sam had to go back to work to fly home. Meaning he’d have to catch an Uber by himself to the airport.

“I had a really good time. I’m glad you’re liking it here” Danny replied, checking his phone to make sure he was giving himself enough time for LA traffic.

“I am, it’s been fun, but I do have to admit that I miss Nashville already. I can see why you wanted to stay”.

“You can always come back” Danny only half joked.

“Why, so Jake can put me to work at his restaurant too?” Sam teased back, “no thanks”.

Danny cleared his throat. He had thought a lot last night especially, and he wanted Sam to know the answer to his question before he left. “I do love him. It’s like a splinter I didn’t know I had but everyday that it’s there it digs its way deeper inside”.

Sam chuckled as he reached around to give Danny one last warm hug. “I know, just make sure he knows that too okay?”

“I will. Thank you” Danny hugged him back, feeling overwhelmed with emotion. Not because he was still in love with Sam, but because it was Sam. Sam who would always be a big part of his life, his first love, his best friend, and his ultimate confidant.

When Danny got home Jake was at the restaurant which he had expected. He unpacked his bags in the quiet apartment, tossing his dirty clothes into the washer and putting all his toiletries back where they belonged. By the early evening it was still going to be a while before Jake came home, so he decided to lay down on the couch to relax a bit.

With a random show on the TV Danny leaned back against the pillows and before he could stop himself he was falling asleep.

“Danny, wake up” the image of Jake leaning down in front of him came into blurry view while he gently shook him awake. “Go to bed if you're tired”.

“I was waiting for you” Danny replied as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He must have been out for a couple of hours by the way his body felt stiff from laying scrunched up in one position for so long.

“Well that’s very sweet, but I’m here now so let's get you upstairs”. He tugged on one of Danny’s arms, trying to get him to his feet.

“Hold on, I’ve got to tell you something” Danny tugged back on his arm and stayed seated on the couch.

“Can it wait until the morning?” Jake sighed. It had been a long few days, and he wasn’t sure he had the capacity to hear whatever it was Danny had to tell him right now. If Danny was going to tell him he wanted to go back to Sam then he at least wanted to have the energy to put up a fight about it.

“I mean…” Danny was still trying to wake up as he spoke, “I guess it could, but I don’t want it to. I’m tired of waiting”. He tugged on Jake’s hand again, trying to silently ask him to sit down too.

Jake obliged, flopping down next to Danny and feeling that his body was a lot more tired than he thought it was. “Alright what is it?” Whatever it was, if it couldn’t wait until morning then it must be very important to him, so Jake turned his body towards him to give his full attention.

Danny decided to come right out with it, there was no sense beating around the bush at this hour. “I’m in love with you”.

Goddamnit- wait… Jake’s brain was short circuiting. He’d expected the ‘I’m in love with’ part, but not the you. “What did you just say?”

Danny reached over and cupped Jake’s face in his hands, trying to move slowly and be as gentle as possible when he really just wanted to pounce on him right there and shower him with affection. “I love you Jake”.

“Danny I-” Jake’s voice got caught in his throat. He wasn’t sure what happened in LA, but he figured he and Sam must have talked about this and that Sam had helped him to come to this conclusion. He reached over and mirrored Danny’s hands with his, feeling just the slightest bit of five o’clock shadow against his palms. “Say it again”.

Danny smiled, and leaned in to press a kiss to Jake’s plush lips. “I love you” he repeated against those lips feeling them also turn up into a tight grin.

“You love me too right?” Danny pulled away just a bit to ask, like Jake’s response hadn’t been enough to confirm.

“I fucking love you so much Danny, you don’t even understand” Jake smiled even wider, pushing past Danny’s grip on his face to crawl into his lap and connect their lips again.

“So does this mean we’re together then? Like officially?” Danny questioned again, just trying to make sure they were on the same page and were ready to take this path together.

“It fucking better” Jake replied, standing up and offering his hand to Danny again. “Now, can we please go to bed?”

Danny took his hand and they made it up the stairs before Jake turned around and attacked him with more kisses. And for the first night since Danny moved in, he wrapped his arms around Jake’s thighs and hoisted him onto his hips, carrying them both into the bedroom.

~Fin

@alwaysonthemend @psychedelicstardust-gvf @twistedmelodies @heckingfrick

And shout out to @gracev0609 for helping me come up with the name of the restaurant 😊

[inthememetime]

What if Vlad was actually Danny's father- biologically speaking. Like a one-night-stand on one of the times when Maddie left Jack 'forever' just to come back in 2 weeks.

BUT (twists under the cut)

This au has been done before so here's another switcheroo: Vlad has moved on. He's a villain, sure, but he's sick and tired of Maddie coming to him only when he's convenient and gets himself a nice partner (idk what gender. This man is clearly not completely straight).

Vlad knows he has a kid. He even knows it's with Maddie, a little girl- oh! A little boy now- and he sends checks and gifts in the mail under the guise of happy birthdays and things like that.

Is he happy he never gets to see his kid outside of Facebook posts and Christmas photos? No! But look, he has his own daughter that he's raising, and after the kid turns 18, his deal with Maddie is off and he can introduce himself.

Jack, Jazz, and Danny do not know Danny isn't biologically Jack's. Not until he gives blood one day. But Jack and Maddie are both O-. Jazz is O-.

Danny is B-, which is impossible. Except Vlad is also B-.

Danny's rangy, he never gets his dad's bulk, he's just wiry. Like Vlad. His mom has purple eyes, his dad and sister have teal eyes- he has blue. Like Vlad's. All his family has straight hair, but his is absolutely curly and refuses to be tamed without a lot of work. Like- guess who?

Somebody give me an AU with Danny slowly figuring out that he's not biologically his dad's son. Of Jack and Danny coming to terms of what that means for them- or not, if you want to be evil. What happens with Jack and Maddie?

What happens when they visit the Masters family, amd Dani opens the door saying, oh hey! You're my brother!

Because his mom may have thought about it like a dirty little secret, but Vlad has pictures of birthday parties, school plays, ultrasounds. It's not a dirty secret to Vlad. It's a damn tragedy.

OR

Danny finds out in a worse way. Vlad may be over Maddie, but he's not over the accident. He and Jack are always arguing about something, and finally Vlad throws out- "do you think your wife always ran to your sister's?"

OR

In a happier turn, Jack knows. He's not happy Maddie cheated on him, but they're over it. And hey, he loved Vlad too, once upon a time- before the accident made him a little crazy.

Except Maddie had twins; they kept one, Vlad kept the other. Danny and Dani do not know this- neither does Jazz.

Until Danny and Dani meet at summer camp.

In short, The Parent Trap au- Dani's dad is lonely. He has boyfriends and girlfriends, but none stick- except for this awful hag Spectra. ("Be nice sweetie, she was the one who helped me in the hospital"). If he could get back with Danny's parents, maybe he would be happier!

[reaperkiller]

so! what the hell is up with jason: a semi-comprehensive list. because there’s so much. THIS IS A REALLY LONG POST AND VERY WORDY IF YOU DONT READ IT THATS FINE. this is mostly here for me to Remember and keep track of stuff

he went to live with eric when he was around 5 years old. mutual decision on everyone’s part, because his dad left and he was beyond distraught about it. he was much closer to his dad than his mother, and eric was the only other person in his life at that point who could console him. his attachment to eric was primarily down to ruthie + her spirit toying with his mind and emotions, drawing him to eric as part of her ‘plan’.

he quickly stopped having any contact with the rest of his family once he moved to the other side of the country. not really anyone’s fault, but it was awfully convenient for ruthie, allowing her to manipulate and isolate him even more. very girlboss move of her.

no one’s aware of ruthie’s existence, not even jason - as far as he’s concerned, he and his thoughts are two completely different entities. until, when he’s around 7 years old, ruthie finally takes on some sort of physical form to communicate with, so he can actually comprehend her existence. she’s more of a shadowy blur, not resembling a person even slightly. she doesn’t show up all that often at first.

it’s around when he’s 10 where ruthie starts influencing him more, taking more control over him - driving him and eric apart. so, over the next few years, he grows more emotionally distant. this is eric’s first kid so he jist assumes, oh this is all part of growing up, he’ll grow out of it. regardless of how jason acts, eric still loves him. unconditionally. he’d do anything for this kid.

16 now, ruthie’s form is distinctly human - looking exactly as she did when she died. jason hasn’t told anyone about her. she’s not an imaginary friend, she’s real. a spirit, maybe, but still very real, existing outside of his own brain. he’s doing bad at school, which has put an even bigger strain on his and eric’s relationship. eric is trying so hard to make it right, thinking it’s something he’s done, he just wants jason to be happy. to get through school largely unscathed. which doesnt happen, considering the amount of fights jason gets into.

he’s not hanging around with the ‘wrong crowd’, he’s the one negatively influencing everyone else.

18, and ruthie has taken on a slightly different form now - still the same woman, but... different. the 50s housewife look is gone. darker, edgier, shaved head, very much influenced by jason’s current look at that point. they’re becoming more alike. it’s at this point where he [mostly ruthie] and his bf, danny [very very important crusty little man] decide theyre dropping out of school and running away. not a single word is said. jason leaves a single handwritten note for eric. then steals his car. he’s gone, and NO ONE is to come looking for him.

this is around the time ruthie convinces him to change his name, create a whole new identity, and when he starts going by jason.

6 years pass. a lot happens in that 7 years that im not 100% sure on yet i need to sort that whole piece of the timeline out one day <3 anyway so danny knows about ruthie by now. thinks it’s a little weird, but there’s nothing anyone can do about it. she’s there to stay. as jason and ruthie begin to ‘blend together’ even more, ruthie only becomes stronger, and is kind of able to influence danny a little bit too [neither jason nor danny know this though which is Fun].

it’s gotten to a point where jason can fight back against ruthie’s influence a little bit, since theyre so intertwined at this point. he knows how she works, and she doesnt like it.

jason and danny’s relationship was never stable to begin with, but as ruthie gets stronger, it just gets worse. they’re having an argument - the worst one they’ve probably ever had. this intense emotion temporarily stops any sort of power ruthie has over jason. as the fights became more frequent, ruthie’s control and power weakened, and it started to scare her - she was losing her grip, started fading away. there once was a time this would have only fueled her, made her stronger, but now it’s having the opposite effect.

as this fight escalates, ruthie feels herself weakening more and more, and panics. in a blind moment of fear, she takes control of danny instead for a brief moment, and shoots jason

he wakes up in a ditch in the middle of the desert. he doesnt know who he is, where he is, how he got there. all he has is a strong desire to get back home. next to his temporary grave is a ring, and a single piece of paper with the words “good luck” written on it

and just as i was typing this i came up with an entire new oc. this is where the aisling oc comes in. jason’s new spirit mentor of sorts. i can explain that more once i piece it all together but basically she’s the one who brings jason back. hope this helps xx

[invisibleraven]

AU headcanon ask!

enchanted AU pleeease :)

Luna is delighted by her 'so many dads!' and makes all the other kids at her school jealous because they've only got one parent, and she's got the three. Her teacher is a bit concerned because as far as she knew, Julie was a single mom. Julie has to fumble through an explanation of oh yeah, she has two boyfriends now, yes they can pick Luna up, her password is Pamplemousse because she giggles every time she says it. Parent teacher night is a bit of a trip, since Reggie is so earnest about learning and Luke just wants to scope out the music room, but Luna's teacher is enchanted by them, and already has ideas for Luna's father's day crafts.

Victoria looks the other way when Julie wants help making her three new friends 'real' people, the less questions asked, the better. Even if she does this on the regular, she has no idea where these guys came from, just knows that they need help, and that's what she's best at. But when Willie gets a look at her operation, he's delighted and immediately volunteers to help her while he figures out his life. Victoria takes a shine to him, and takes her under his wing. Because Willie is the definition of be gay do crime in every universe. But she also sets him up with a trauma counsellor, and he spends a lot of time talking with other abuse victims as he plans out a book or a series of video essays to help others in similar situations. She totally gives him away at his and Alex's wedding, and is pseudo grandmother to Isla once they bring her home.

Reggie does end up loving country music. Luke is less keen, but once he sees how fast Reggie learns to shred on the banjo, he falls even deeper in love. When Julie starts singing along with Reggie, their voices forming a perfect harmony, Luke proposes on the spot. Reggie flushes and sputters. Julie giggles and tells him not yet, as it's only been a few months. Luke starts penning a proposal song anyways, and busts it out after they've been together a year. Julie and Reggie happily accept. Their wedding is on the beach, with Luna as the world's happiest flower girl, flinging petals this way and that during the whole ceremony. The guys legally adopt her after that, making them her 'for real' dads, which delights her to no end.

The three of them float having more kids, and eventually, Reggie proposes adopting. He spent most of his life alone after his parents passed, and given their almost orphan status themselves, it would be nice to give a home to a child in need. Much crying ensues, but they agree, and while the paperwork is terrible, especially since there's three of them, they bring Danny home two years later. He's quiet and shy, especially for three, but Luna helps bring him out of his shell, and eventually it's like he was always a part of their family.

Carrie proves to be a wise and fair ruler. Even if she does miss some modern world conveniences. Thank goodness she has magic users at her disposal to create indoor plumbing and refrigeration. She and Flynn bicker a lot, but it's always loving and playful. They enjoy Flynn's shape shifting abilities a good deal, even if it does scandalize the servants at first to find some random other woman in the queen's bed the first time. They never do figure out how to get back to LA, but they're happy enough together, and have a long reign over the kingdom before handing it over to Carrie's protegé, Kayla and then enjoy a happy retirement in Reggie's old restored treehouse.

[quirkless-accident]

Father Figure

Danny's never had a good father figure.

Sure, he's got his old man. But his old man ignores him because he's not smart enough. Not into the same stuff as him. Is overall pretty average.

Well, below average, if you take into account that he was born quirkless.

It was the modern day scarlet letter.

And Danny knew his dad loved him. But only when it was convenient. It was only when Danny could give him something. Only conditional. And, well, he had learned a long time ago from his sister that that wasn't real love.

He had hoped, growing up, he'd find some sort of father figure in a teacher. In daycare there had been Mr. Lancer, and he had never treated Danny differently, even after the diagnosis. Danny sometimes kept in touch with the man, but it was nothing more than a few emails here and there. And so far, there hasn't been a single other teacher who was willing to give him the time of day. Or the encouragement he needed.

They only reprimanded him for fights he never started.

So when he got his powers through a freak accident, he couldn't just come out as a late bloomer. He couldn't tell his parents. Not really, anyway. He could just say he was in gen ed, or support course. They'd never believe him if he actually told them he got into the hero course with a quirk that showed up overnight. A quirk that was suspiciously supernatural.

So he didn't talk to them, and they were more invested in their work than they were in him, so it worked out pretty well.

He hadn't been expecting anything different when he came to U.A.

All his life the teachers turned the other way as new scars appeared on his body. They scoffed at his good grades and gave him detention for cheating on the basis of just not being enough. He expected similar treatment.

Because of the biases he had walking in, he ended up butting heads with multiple teachers. They listened to him, and they were more fair than any other teachers he's ever had, but there was that lingering sense of wrongness. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop. For them to berate him in front of the whole class, for them to give him detention on a whim even though he had a quirk now, he wasn't useless anymore. He was being seen for the first time since he was four years old and terrified.

He had been having a bad day.

He woke up late because of another sleepless night (Pariah this time, but instead of winning, Pariah disintegrated half his face like Shigaraki almost had during the USJ incident). Because he overslept he skipped breakfast, and as much as he hated to admit it, he was hangry. And then to add to the frustration, he had received a test back that he had studied an entire week for, only to barely pass. It was all...Overwhelmingly frustrating, when he poured his heart and soul into everything and still came up short. He still wasn't good enough.

So by the time they came to practicing outside, and he had accidentally gotten too close to Bakugou, things were bound to go bad. Usually he would just brush the brash blonde off but today, with Bakugou's nerve-grinding attitude and his lack of a filter because he was tired and hungry, he snapped back.

It had gone from practice to a fight pretty quickly. Danny was used to not fighting back, though. When it came to his peers, it was instinctive. He had a nasty burn on his shoulder for his trouble. However, it didn't burn nearly as bad as Aizawa's eyes did, boring into his fucking soul while he stood in front of his teacher's desk.

He had been here to many times to count. In front of a teacher's desk, waiting for punishment for something he never started. And yeah, he should have handled better. He fucking knew that. But his patience was wearing thin, and he was exhausted. He just wanted his punishment to be over with already.

"Fenton," Aizawa started with a sigh. Already off to a great start, "Are you doing okay?"

Out of all the things Danny had been expecting, that hadn't been it. The only teacher he never had a problem with was Aizawa, because Aizawa left him alone. He was always too busy putting Midoriya back together to notice him. Or so he had thought, anyway.

"'m fine," he shrugged, not meeting his teacher's gaze. Aizawa just raised an eyebrow.

"You look tired. And your grades have been slipping. You look thinner than usual, and instead of poking fun at Bakugou like you usually do you get into a fight with him. Obviously something is happening."

Danny looked down at the ground. There was a green stain on the trim of his shoe from when he had dug a bit too deep into the ground a week ago during training. He hadn't had the time to clean it.

He hadn't had time for a lot of things. Like sleep, or food, or just positive social interactions. He was exhausted and so, so overwhelmed and frustrated. And the more he thought about it, the more hot his face got. He could feel the familiar sting of tears behind his eyes, but he forced them back.

"You don't have to talk to me," Aizawa said. His voice was calm, soft, but it was just a glaring reminder about how much Danny sucked. Of course he was the only student to be fucking coddled. Why couldn't he just get the punishment over with. "There are other resources at school if you're having a hard time. But obviously something is bothering you. It always helps to talk to someone about it. And yes, it's personal experience I'm speaking from."

It was a piss-poor attempt at being funny, Danny knew, but he didn't have the energy to laugh. Because Aizawa couldn't be more wrong. He couldn't go to anybody about what he's going through because nobody would understand.

They wouldn't understand the paralyzing fear he got whenever he got too close to Kaminari when he used his quirk, and they didn't understand his ghost nightmares mixing in with his hero nightmares and they didn't understand that his parents loved him but not really and they didn't understand that he hasn't had a good teacher he could trust since he was four, they just didn't understand, they-

He doesn't know how he ended up on the floor. Maybe his legs had given out. maybe it was Aizawa who led him, considering he was leaning in front of Danny. God, was he having a panic attack? Fucking useless-

"You're not useless," Aizawa said firmly. It was more than just a comforting statement. From Aizawa it was an absolute. And it was just enough for Danny's brain to kickstart itself back into reality.

His face was hot and wet with tears he had finally shed, though he didn't remember it. Aizawa was doing these deep breaths, and Danny did his best to match. It was comforting, and grounding.

Eventually he came back to his senses. He was exhausted, and he really didn't want to get up.

"Are you okay?" Aizawa asked him softly after a few more minutes. Danny just shrugged, and without thinking, asked, "Why do you care?"

Aizawa seemed taken aback. It was an illogical question, and Danny regretted it the second he spoke it, but the filter between his brain and his mouth was paper thin and virtually useless.

"Would you like to elaborate?"

"No, not really."

Aizawa just gave him a look, and Danny knew that whatever Aizawa was offering, it was genuine. But Danny didn't let himself hope like that. He had been scorned to many times to be hopeful like that.

"I just...I'm, a, uh, late bloomer," Danny started. "For a long time people thought I was quirkless." Aizawa's eyes widened just a fraction, but Danny was perceptive enough to catch it. It was basically a death sentence. The survival rate of quirkless kids his age was absolutely abysmal. He had the stats memorized like the back of his hand. "The teachers don't take to kindly to quirkless individuals."

Aizawa was always grumpy, but usually there was something else with it. Sometimes annoyance. Sometimes sleepiness. Once Danny thought it was even fondness. But the only expression Aizawa was giving Danny was pure, unadulterated anger.

"What?" He asked, short and sharp like a hot knife in his side. Danny couldn't help but flinch.

"I-I'm sorry, I won't speak ill of any teachers again. I just-"

"I'm not mad at you, kid," Aizawa said with a tired sigh. He didn't look as angry as he had a second ago, but the line of tension in his shoulders was still pulled tight. "I'm mad at the people who hurt you. I'm mad at the people who didn't protect you from being hurt."

All Danny could do was stare at his teacher. Aizawa never lied. Sometimes he pulled logical ruses, but he never, ever lied. Aizawa worked in absolutes, and this was one of them. It was enough to make Danny's brain bluescreen.

"You're...Not mad?" He asked. He hated how small his voice was.

"I'm worried," Aizawa told him. Another absolute.

Danny didn't know how to process that.

Eventually he was fine enough to stand. He talked vaguely about what it was like growing up quirkless, with abusive peers and neglectful parents. He hinted at his sleepless nights due to his nightmares, but he wasn't quite ready for that yet. He felt like his exoskeleton had been peeled away like a scab, exposing the raw, sensitive skin underneath. He was exposed, and it was uncomfortable.

But it was a step.

Eventually, he thinks, he'll open up more. Hell, maybe he'll even tell Aizawa about the origin of his supernatural quirk, and why it was quite literally life and death as to why he couldn't tell his parents. But for now, he could start with the mistreatment he endured in a space that was designed to make him feel safe.

Aizawa had become a father figure he hasn't had since he was four. he was filling a void Danny hadn't even known he'd had. He was just hoping he could keep it.

He clutched onto Aizawa's kindness like a lifeline, and he wasn't planning on letting go anytime soon.

[tripthelight-fanfic]

Friend of a Friend (Jake Kiszka Imagine)

Taglist: @flowervanfleet @weightofdreams-gvf @sierraahhhh @stardustschords @amourleger @ageofsewingmachine and possibly you, just lmk!

(A/N): As a girl who grew up in a family where all the men were extroverts seemingly OBSESSED with golf, this is a lovely ideation of what SHOULDVE happened to me 🥲.

So this was partly inspired by this post I saw recently where I learned Danny can golf, and the idea is that he’s the son of your dad’s long-time golf buddy so the two of them have been trying to push you and him together for years but there’s just no chemistry. However, when you finally think to ask Danny if he has any “cute single friends” he realizes exactly who you’re supposed to be with, and can’t believe he didn’t think of it before.

I’ll warn you in advance that this kind of turned more into platonic!Danny than a Jake Imagine, but it’s still a nice read.

This shit got LONG so I hope u guys enjoy!

*****************************************

Friend of a Friend

You couldn’t believe your dad had dragged you back out to another one of these. Well, I guess you could, statistically speaking.

Ever since you were a little girl, your dad’s biggest personality trait was his sociability and his golfing hobby. As soon as you were old enough to walk he had you trying out golf clubs, scooting you into lessons as you got a bit older. You always insisted you didn’t want to golf but he held out hope for a few more years before letting you switch to swimming lessons.

However, that didn’t stop him from making you caddy for him whenever you had a free Sunday afternoon. Him and his golf buddy, Dan Wagner, have been on this weekly grind ever since you and his son, Danny Jr, were big enough to carry the bags.

They had always been close, joining the same fraternity in college, but your mom always said that they grew even closer when they found out they were having kids in the same year. For that reason, ever since you were little Danny has been a present member of your life. A fairly consistent one, as your dads could be pretty persuasive on a Sunday morning when you’re just trying to enjoy a peaceful day off.

But then, you also knew they were dying for you two to get together and make them brothers for real. It just wasn’t ever gonna happen. What they failed to recognize by putting you two next to each other for your entire childhoods is that you would come to see each other as siblings rather than romantic pursuits.

You had actually become quite good friends. Granted, at school you had your own groups, but he was always there on Sundays to crack jokes and have deep talks while trudging behind your fathers. He actually did take you to your junior prom a week after your first boyfriend dumped you, and you don’t think you’ve ever seen your or his dad with such smug looks on their faces before. They were certain you two had finally fallen in love, while actually Danny was just a really stand-up guy who knew how excited you were to go to prom before your boyfriend bailed.

You really wished you were attracted to him, it would honestly make everything a whole lot easier. Your parents would be happy, it would be so convenient, and you already know like everything about this kid so there would be no surprises. But alas. When you looked at his face all you could see was the preteenage kid who snorted when he laughed hard enough.

One particular Sunday, shortly after you two had graduated high school, the dads were really hounding you about how you were still single and that the “clock is ticking” and Danny was “always available” (not only was Danny standing right next to you but you also happened to know that he had just started seeing this girl that he hadn’t told his parents about yet, and he actually seemed really happy about it).

On the way to the next hole, Danny noticed that the comments were starting to weigh on you, based on your uncharacteristic silence. “You know they’re still just saying anything they can to get us together, right? Your, uh, your clock isn’t actually ticking.”

You both chuckled for a moment at how that statement came out. You knew what he meant. “I know, I know. It’s just, are they ever gonna let up? My dad still treats any guy I bring home like he’s no big deal because he’s holding out for you.”

Danny threw his head back in laughter. “I swear, my parents would shit their pants and then throw a party if I ever brought you home.”

You shuddered a bit at the thought. “Damn. If only you were attractive Danny. Everyone would be a whole lot happier-“

Before you could even finish, Danny had leaned the weight of his dad’s clubs across his back toward you, sending his body hurtling at you and almost knocking off your balance. When you two were younger, this used to send you both toppling to the ground, but you’d built a tolerance to his tricks and shoved him right back.

You could hear your dads yelling in anguish, recognizing the sound of the clashing of their prized golf bags. You both separated and raised your hands in surrender, unable to properly communicate over the distance.

You sighed and looked down at your feet. “I wish you had, like a long lost brother. Who is single. Or like, a super hot best friend…. Who is also single, I just really couldn’t be a homewrecker-“

Again, he cuts you off, “Oh my God. Oh my God. I know the perfect guy for you.”

You stop in your tracks and look up at him. “Are you serious?”

“I’m so serious.”

“Don’t fuck with me right now, Daniel.”

Danny laughs at your stern voice, urging you to keep walking before your dads got upset again. “I’m not fucking with you. He’s this guy in that band I just joined, Jake. I don’t know how I never thought of pairing you two up- you guys would make so much sense together.”

You smiled to yourself, if anyone could make that statement about you with absolute confidence it was probably Danny. “Okay, well then, talk me up to him and I’ll come to your next show, then you can properly introduce me.”

He smiled back at you and held out a hand to seal the deal, “Alright, deal.”

You shook on it as you approached the next hole, where your fathers were already waiting.

That weekend, you found yourself nervous as you got ready for the show. Danny had sent you a text with the time and address, along with “wear something hot,” to which you responded “fuck you im always hot.”

But your feigned confidence over text did not match your current disposition. You stared blankly at your closet, wondering what kind of vibe to go for. You certainly didn’t want to show up overdressed, that would be humiliating. But Danny’s words rung out in your ears. Wear something hot. What would be considered “hot” for a small town rock show?

Suddenly, your eyes landed on a Guns & Roses T-shirt you had thrifted that had a large triangle cut out of the chest. You threw on a black lace bralette and put it on top, the lace peeking through ever-so-slightly around the edges of your exposed chest. Thinking it might be a bit too much, you threw some necklaces on top, hopped into some skinny jeans and headed out the door.

Your fingers drummed against the steering wheel nervously as you approached the bar their show was being held at. Wait, a bar? Not only were you 18, you were pretty sure most of the band was under 21, if not all. You whipped out your phone and sent a text to Danny “thanks for warning me that it’s at a BAR, ur lucky I have my fake” As you walked toward the door, your phone buzzed with a new text, “??? y would u ever have ur wallet and not ur fake cmon now”

You went to put your phone away but it vibrated again in your hand, “besides if you wore something hot like I said they won’t even id you. Now get in here” you rolled your eyes. Danny may be like a brother to you, but he was still a teenage boy nonetheless.

And yet, he was right. The greasy-looking bouncer took an exaggerated up-and-down look at you before gesturing for you to come in. You offered him a small smile that fell completely when you were out of his vision. You went to the bar and ordered the cider on tap before turning to look at the stage.

The band was already setting up. Danny was taking a few testing hits on his drum kit, scanning the crowd before his eyes locked on you at the bar. His face lit up in that way you’ve seen a million times as a kid and he waved enthusiastically at you, causing you to laugh. How this boy ended up in a rock band was far beyond you.

However, his reaction caught the attention of his other band mates and they all whipped their heads around to look at you. Your eyes widened a bit at the sudden attention, laughter fading as you finally getting a good look at this group. Danny had mentioned that they were all brothers, and you could definitely see it now as they all squinted at you through the lights, trying to make out your face. It was at this moment that you realized Danny never told you which position this Jake held in the band. Which one are you here for?

You heard your drink being set down next to you, so you grabbed it and took a slow drink, maintaining eye contact with the guitarist. If that wasn’t him you were gonna feel real shitty in about an hour when you had to talk to them, but if you were being honest with yourself he was the one you found the cutest.

You leaned against the bar, elbows resting on top as you watched the frontman, a slightly shorter, curlier version of the guitarist, approach the microphone. “How’s everybody doing tonight?” More people had filed in after you so there was a pretty sizeable reaction from the crowd. You cupped your hands around your mouth and let out a holler for them too. You really did love live music.

The frontman chuckled into the mic, “Alright, alright. We are Greta Van Fleet, we’ve got a few original songs to play for you tonight, a few covers too, and we hope you all enjoy!” You smiled and cheered again, eager to support your friend’s band but also increasingly curious which one Jake was.

You were pulled out of your thoughts when the guitar started pulsing through the speakers for an intricate extended riff, only to be interrupted (if you could even call it that) by the singer’s powerful vocals. You felt like if you weren’t already sitting flush against the bar, you would’ve physically felt yourself being blown back by the sheer force of the sound.

You felt your head bobbing to the beat as you took another drink, looking around at the crowd in the bar. You were probably, no, you were definitely the youngest girl there. There were a few guys you recognized from school, probably other friends of the band, but the rest of the crowd was 20- or 30-somethings sitting with their beers and banging their head to the rock music. It made you smile.

They performed for about an hour, and often between songs you caught yourself locking eyes with the guitarist, him smirking when you did. It made you blush and, once again, you really hoped he was the one Danny had in mind for you.

However, the set was over sooner than you’d preferred and suddenly you were full of anxiety again. You finished your drink and ordered another while they dismantled their instruments, hoping for a little extra courage. The last thing you wanted was for this to be awkward. Luckily for you, it wasn’t.

You heard them approaching before you saw them, giving you plenty of time to turn around and see them walking toward you at the bar. The singer and the bassist were walking ahead of Danny, who had his arm slung around the guitarist and was whispering in his ear. You were right. Taking a subtle breath, you tried to remind yourself how much you trust Danny as the first two guys approach you.

“You must be Y/N!” The singer gushed. “We’ve learned… so much about you this week.”

You raised a questioning look at Danny, who sucked his lips into his mouth like a kid who had just been caught. “Hopefully all good things.” You remarked with playful accusation.

“Oh of course. I’m Josh.” The singer continued. “And this is my brother Sam,” the bassist waved from next to Josh as he leaned back to point toward Danny, “and that over there is my twin brother Jake!”

You let your shoulders relax subconsciously at the official confirmation that you had been eyeing up the correct band mate all night. You arched a brow as Jake looked at you again, “Ah, twins. I thought you might be.”

Jake saddled up next to you at the bar, while Danny made the conscious decision to join Sam on the other side of Josh. “Oh really?” He smirked at you before turning to the wall of liquor behind the bar. “What gave us away?”

You tried to stifle your laugh and he turned to you and you both started laughing. He scratched the back of his neck, “Yeah, I guess it is pretty obvious.”

You took a sip from your drink, eyebrows raising at his comment, “Pretty obvious? You have the same face!”

This caught the attention of Josh on the other side of you. “Hey! We do not! There are minor differences.” Josh moved over to stand next to Jake and the two stood up taller to let you compare them.

You leaned forward and studied them carefully. They really were beautiful boys, but Josh was right. Jake had something different about him. You couldn’t tell if it was the noses or the face shape or if it was just that Jake was staring deep into your eyes while Josh looked off into the distance dramatically.

Deciding to be daring, you reach a hand out and playfully tilt Jake’s face back and forth, humming to yourself in pretend-investigation before leaning back. “Yeah, okay, minor differences.”

The two cracked smiles and turned back toward the bar as you heard glasses hitting the counter. Jake nudged his shoulder against yours to get your attention again, “So what are you drinking?”

With your hand that was holding your glass, you extended a finger toward the cider in the row of taps in front of you. He raised an eyebrow, “Cider, huh?”

You shrugged, offering a smile, “Yeah, happy fall.”

He chuckled. “Well how is it?”

You held it towards him for him to try, and he gave you a surprised look. “I don’t have cooties.” You teased.

He laughed again and took your glass, taking a small sip before nodding. “It’s good- not too sweet.” He leans over to the bartender and jerks his head toward you, “I’ll have what she’s having.”

You and Jake talked for what felt like hours. You talked about what you’re planning on going to college for, he talked about how the band got started (with Josh interjecting every so often), and you discussed your favorite music. Danny was proving to be right, you two had a lot in common and what you didn’t was interesting enough to keep the conversation going. For a little while, it felt like you two were the only people at the bar. You could basically feel Danny’s excitement from behind you as he watched you two bond.

However, the night simply couldn’t last forever. You managed to catch a glimpse of the time and started standing up, “Oh shit, is that what time it is? My dad’s gonna fucking kill me I gotta go.”

You fished around in your bag for your wallet, which was at the bottom because you hadn’t needed to supply ID. By the time you looked back up, the bartender was taking a $20 out of Jake’s hand. You look over at Jake, “You didn’t have to do that!”

Jake turned to face you, fake surprise on his face to match the real surprise on yours, “Do what? Be a gentleman?”

You had more to say but his comment made you laugh through it, “We just met! You hardly even know me.”

He smiled at you. “Hmmmm, you’re right. Well then why don’t you give me your number and then we can call it even.”

You raised your eyebrows at him. That was smooth. Behind you, all three of the guys were giving enthusiastic thumbs up and excited faces. You saw them catch Jake’s eye and turned to look, causing all of them to hastily return to “natural positions.” You rolled your eyes. Boys.

And yet, you couldn’t help your lips curving into a smile as you took Jake’s phone and typed your number into it. “Okay, but now I really do have to go.” You turned to face the group as you walked backward toward the door. “It was so amazing to meet all of you, you guys killed it tonight!”

They all bode you farewell, thanking you for the compliment and telling you to get home safe. You gave Danny a side-hug on the way out and he called after you, “See ya Sunday!”

You groaned in response, making the other guys laugh as you disappeared into the night.

You couldn’t help but smile through your drive home, but as you got closer you put on your game face as it was time to try and sneak past your father.

You were extremely unsuccessful though, as you knocked over an umbrella when you kicked off your shoes. “A bit late, isn’t it, Y/N?” You heard calling from the living room.

You sighed and walked past the stairs to plop onto the couch. “A little late, maybe.”

Your dad takes off his reading glasses and looks at you, “So where were you? With a boy?”

You smiled, knowing your dad would get a kick out of this, “Actually, I went to see Danny’s new band perform. They’re really good.”

A smile spread across his lips, “Oh really? Did you see Danny after the set?”

You nodded, “Yeah, he actually invited me because he wanted to introduce me to the guitarist.”

His smile falls slightly and he leans back into his chair, “Ahh, so you were with a boy.”

You roll your eyes, “Yeah, dad, with Danny and his friends. Do you really think Danny would match me up with someone who wouldn’t be good to me?”

You got him there. He shrugged and grumbled to himself, returning to his book, so you bode him goodnight and went upstairs.

When you plopped into bed, you noticed two text notifications, one from Danny and one from a new number. Jake.

“Hey, it was really cool meeting you tonight. We should hang out again sometime, maybe somewhere a little less chaotic when half my family isn’t around”

You laughed, considering again how intense the environment was where you met. “Yeah, I’d like that” you responded before shifting to Danny’s text.

“Ok, was I right or was I RIGHT? It looked like you guys hit it OFF”

You rolled your eyes in disbelief of what you were about to text Danny, “okay, I suppose you weren’t necessarily WRONG….”

You sent the first text and got another notification from Jake, “how about next week? What’s your schedule like?”

You smiled to yourself as you felt butterflies flounce around in your stomach for the first time in a long time. Still lingering on your conversation with Danny, you decided to throw him a bone “I think we’re gonna do something together next week”

Danny responded with a bunch of smiley, celebratory emojis before you turned your phone over to go to bed.

Sunday swiftly approached (like it always does) and soon you were back on the damn golf course, squinting at the sun through your college hat. Danny looked extra excited to see you, but your dad was much more excited to see him.

“So tell me about this guitarist you set my daughter up with.”

His tone wiped the smile right off Danny’s face. Luckily, Dan Sr swooped in for the rescue. “Oh, Kiszka? He’s a great kid. They all are, good family too. You sure you don’t want her for yourself though, Danny boy?”

You both rolled your eyes. “Dad, really, she would be much better suited to Jake. “ Danny insisted.

Your dads sighed and looked at each other. “Well, at least we tried.” And they started walking toward the first hole. You and Danny look at each other incredulously.

Stunned for a moment, you whisper to him, “That was it? That’s all it took for them to stop?”

“I swear to God, if all this time, all we had to do is set you up with one of my friends I’m going to pull my hair out.” Danny chuckles, starting to walk. “So, you liked Jake? You’re gonna see him again? Give me details.”

You threw your head back laughing at his excitement, “Easy there, Cupid. You’re still in his band, I’m not giving you all my inner musings so you can run them back to the source.”

He scrunched his nose at you and turned away to face your dads, lining up at the tee-off point. “Fine.” He murmured. Once his dad had hit and your dad was approaching to line up, he leaned back over and whispered, “But you like him, right?”

You smiled to yourself, thinking about the night you had and how he made you feel. “Yes, Daniel. I think I do.” You whispered back.

You didn’t have to turn to know that Danny was beaming in delight at the idea of his two friends potentially finding love together, because of him.

(A/N): someone pls tell me where I sign up to be lifelong friends with Danny Wagner

[j4gm]

TOGETHER AGAIN SPOILERS

A thread of lore, Easter eggs, episode connections, and background details from Adventure Time: Distant Lands: Together Again! Let me know if I missed anything! This is adapted from my original Twitter thread.

Keep reading ⬇️⬇️⬇️

1. I was expecting them to perhaps do a classic style title sequence for this episode, but I wasn't expecting them to straight up use the original title sequence. The only difference is this final screen saying "Distant Lands".

2. The background of the title cards is also the hill from the title sequence.

3. The ice cream having "50 flavours" and having an image of an enlightened soul is an obvious reference to the 50th Dead World as we see it later in the episode.

4. Continuing with the metaphor, the dirt in the ice cream could be a parallel to the fact that Jake's Nirvana actually wasn't perfect, because his inaction was allowing for injustice to perpetuate.

5. This whole scene feels immediately slightly off. Finn has his Scarlet sword and is out on a classic Ice King adventure, but he speaks in his grown voice and all the slang feels much more forced than it did in the real season one. Turns out this was deliberate.

6. The snow golem speaks with a baby voice like it did in the pilot episode, even though in canon it has a deeper voice. This further hints that something is not quite right.

7. The first major break in continuity is these snow golems resembling Uncle Gumbald and Peace Master, who Finn didn't meet until later in his life.

8. LSP sitting on Finn's head like this is reminiscent of Pen Ward's piece for the 2018 Ble crew zine.

9. Finn being given the choice of helping somebody but ending up helping everybody reminds me of "Memories of Boom Boom Mountain". It's the kind of resolution that wouldn't happen so much in the late seasons of the show, which helps make this scene feel even further out of place.

10. Jake is half frozen by Ice King in pretty much the exact same way as he was in "Prisoners of Love", and even has a very similar line.

11. The Snail is seen here. The crew have said that the Snail has been deliberately left out of previous Distant Lands specials, so its placement here is another very deliberate hint that this whole sequence is "trying too hard" to be like the early seasons.

12. The book "Mind Games" appears a couple of times, as seen in several previous episodes of Adventure Time. The first is as Finn is approaching the library in his dream. It also appears as one of the items in Finn's backpack later.

13. Jake is hurt when Finn fist bumps him with his metal arm, revealing that this scene is not real. This is also a callback to the title sequences of "Islands" and "Elements".

14. A whole bunch of familiar skeletons are seen in the bird's nest: Dirt Beer Guy, Abracadaniel, Me-Mow, Lemongrab, Mr. Pig, and the Snail again. This doesn't necessarily mean that all these characters are dead, since this scene is just a hallucination.

15. Old Man Finn! He's still got the chest tattoo of Jake, and this time we know that Jake is dead, so the theory that Jake died before "Obsidian" seems pretty likely. He looks similar to his old man design from "Puhoy", with the same facial hair.

16. There are several cameos of familiar characters who apparently died at the same time as Finn. The first is this duck, who previously appeared in "Ocarina".

17. The second is Donny, from the episode... uh, "Donny".

18. This goblin guy is an unnamed background character from “The Silent King”.

19. This old lady first appeared in "The Enchiridion", way back in season one. Old ladies are a species in the Land of Ooo, so I guess she wasn't actually very old back then, given she just about outlived Finn.

20. This is the cobbler who first appears in "His Hero". Amazing that he lived so long given all the trouble he got into in that episode.

21. Land of the Dead! This place was first seen in season two's "Death in Bloom", and now we are finally learning its actual purpose. It's a sort of gateway and hub to all of the other dead worlds.

22. There are some more minor cameos at the gates: a house person from "Donny", a soft person from "Gut Grinder", and a wood person from "When Wedding Bells Thaw". And, of course, the gate guardian himself from “Death in Bloom”.

23. Finn completely ignores the gate guardian in the same way he did in Death in Bloom. This also has the convenient effect of not having to reveal how Finn died, leaving it up to the audience's imagination.

24. Mr. Fox! We already knew he would die at some point because BMO had his skull in the finale.

25. Finn has his design from the first Distant Lands poster in this scene. Turns out it's young Finn in old Finn's clothes. But they gave him a shirt in the poster so you wouldn't be able to see the tattoo.

26. The clapping that Finn does while he's looking for Jake is a callback to "James Baxter the Horse", when Jake tells Finn to listen for that same rhythm if they are killed and need to find each other in the afterlife.

27. Mr. Fox talks about a "past life quotient", suggesting that there might be some kind of limit to how many times somebody can reincarnate. Finn's reincarnations are also seen in this scene; a callback to "The Vault", and confirmation that reincarnations share the same soul.

28. Boobafina, the goose who Mr. Fox was in love with in his debut episode “Storytelling”, apparently reincarnated into a tugboat. We've already seen that objects can have souls in the episode "Ghost Fly".

29. Finn is initially assigned to the 37th Dead World, which is the same one that Jake went to when he died in "Sons of Mars". We can only guess at what the other numbers on the ticket mean ;)

30. Tiffany! Despite several lucky escapes throughout his life, Tiffany has finally died. I like the use of this imagery to express Finn's conflicted feelings about him.

31. The 50th Dead World has long been established as the "highest" dead world, and the one synonymous with Heaven within Adventure Time's universe. It was first mentioned in "Ghost Princess" back in season three.

32. It's unclear what happens to souls which are destroyed within the dead worlds. It is a similar question to asking what happened to the ghosts that were killed in "Ghost Fly".

33. Death doesn't speak at all in Together Again because his voice actor, Miguel Ferrer, passed away in 2017 long before production began.

34. Finn phases through New Death when he tries to attack him, just like what happened way back in "Death in Bloom".

35. The 30th Dead World contains Tree Trunks as well as many of her love interests; Mr. Pig, her alien husband from "High Strangeness", Danny and Randy who first appeared in "Apple Wedding", and several more who we don't recognise, including at least one who presents as a woman.

36. Literally yelled when these two showed up. Joshua calls Finn a crybaby, which is a callback to "Dad's Dungeon".

37. The wall of weapons in Joshua and Margaret's house includes the iconic Demon Blood Sword, which was broken in "Play Date", as well as Margaret's auto-loading crossbow from "Joshua & Margaret Investigations".

38. Jermaine is sidelined a few times through the episode, in reference to his attitude in "Jermaine" where he feels that Finn and Jake were always their parents' favourites. I would have hoped things would be a bit better by now.

39. Fern gets name dropped while Finn and Jake are reuniting. A shame he doesn't actually show up in the episode.

40. In this scene, Finn says "What time is it?" This is a very subtle reference to the 2010 cartoon "Adventure Time".

41. In a couple of shots during this fight scene it looks like Jake might have a tattoo. It seems like it only becomes visible when he stretches out his arm.

42. New Death's amulet in this scene resembles parts of the Lich's cape, foreshadowing his influence on New Death.

43. There are several more cameos in the 50th Dead World: Booshy from "High Strangeness", one of the Marshmallow Kids from "Scamps", and Ghost Princess and Clarence, who were seen ascending to the 50th Dead World in "Ghost Princess".

44. Finn didn't interact with Booshy in "High Strangeness", but it seems they must have met at some point before they both died because Finn knows his name.

45. It seems like people in the 1st Dead World are slowly melted away until they become part of the landscape. Nasty.

46. Lots more cameos in this scene: a gnome from "Power Animal", a gnome from "The Enchiridion", a Bath Boy from "The Vault", Blagertha from "Love Games", Maja the Sky Witch, a troll from "Dungeon", Chocoberry, Choose Goose, Wyatt, a spiky person from "Gut Grinder", and possibly more.

47. Tiffany's insults are consistently nonsensical and amazing, as they were in the original series.

48. The Candy Kingdom looks extremely different. Peppermint Butler is wearing the crown so he might be in charge now, which is supported by the kingdom's very magical-looking augmentations. It’s not clear whether Finn and Jake were expecting to find Princess Bubblegum or Peppermint Butler, since both have the initials “PB” and both could be going by the title of “Princess”. Perhaps Peps and Bubblegum share the princess duties now that PB is living with Marceline more of the time.

49. Peppermint Butler has a "Boss" mug, although it's not the same colour as the one from "Obsidian".

50. Jake's ghost has the same design as he did when BMO killed him in "Ghost Fly". I also absolutely love Finn's ghost. This scene establishes that ghosts are just visitors to the mortal plane from the dead worlds.

51. Life has only appeared in animated shorts before now. Namely, "The Gift That Reaps Giving" which establishes her relationship with Death, and "Frog Seasons: Winter". This episode gives her a concrete place within Adventure Time's pantheon: she is in charge of reincarnation.

52. A translation of Life’s angry French dialogue by Shado: “After all I did for that boy. After all I did for him. No, it's not possible. It's not possible no, that... that makes me so mad but it's not possible.”

53. We finally have in-universe confirmation that Shoko's tiger is a previous life of Jake. This was previously confirmed by one of the writers, but wasn't canon until now.

54. I feel like Finn pulled off Shoko's look even better than Shoko did. I wonder whether Finn has gained the memories of his past lives now that he’s dead.

55. No Easter egg here, just want to appreciate this image.

56. There is an elemental symbol on the wall here, as seen in "Jelly Beans Have Power".

57. Tiffany's dramatic internal monologue is a recurring gag, as is his habit of nearly dying from falling into holes.

58. The Jake suit makes a cameo in the fight against New Death. It was last seen in the episode "Reboot”.

59. Finn's backpack contains a few familiar items: the t-shirt with the pocket from "It Came from the Nightosphere", Finn's underwear from "Little Dude" and other episodes, and a copy of Mind Games as I've already mentioned.

60. The Lich's Hand is present in the background of Death's... death scene. This is probably the unseen "friend" who New Death keeps talking about.

61. The Lich's menacing monologues often begin with a single command. Previously they have included "Fall" and "Stop". This time, the command is "Burn".

62. Jake uses the word "boingloings", which is a callback all the way to "Hitman" in the third season.

63. Jake's blue shape-shifter form from "Abstract" appears very briefly during his fight with Finn.

64. Finn's lumpy space person form also makes an appearance. This design was last seen all the way back in the second episode of the entire show, "Trouble in Lumpy Space".

65. Jake steps on the Lich's hand in a very similar way to how he stepped on Ash in "Memory of a Memory", which is itself a Monty Python reference.

66. The credits include a dedication to a few AT cast and crew who have passed away. Polly Lou Livingston was the voice of Tree Trunks. Miguel Ferrer was the voice of Death. Michel Lyman and Maureen Mlynarczyk were both sheet timers on the original series. Rest in peace.

67. The message that Finn and Jake write out on the ouija board is "BUTT", which Peppermint Butler takes as a distress signal. This message is also used as a distress signal by the Hot Dog Knights in "The Limit".

68. Peppermint Butler's reversed dialogue from the scene where he makes contact with Finn and Jake is "Kee-Oth Rama Pancake", the spell from “Dad's Dungeon” for banishing demons.

69. That appears to be President Porpoise with all of Tree Trunks’ other lovers.

70. In this scene, Life is humming part of "Lonely Bones", the song which Death tried to record for her in her debut short "The Gift That Reaps Giving". It's hard to notice because it's so brief.

71. Finn and Jake's cover is blown while in the Land of the Dead because Jake loudly farts, which also happened in "Death in Bloom".

72. The place where Mr. Fox explains the perception mechanics of the afterlife is the exact same location as the River of Forgetfulness from "Death in Bloom", which, as it turns out, was imaginary.

These are sort of out of order at the end because I was adding stuff to the Twitter thread as it got discovered. That’s all for now!

[realityescapee01]

Extra Room

read tags. triggers.

Why Stiles likes coach so much even if sometimes coach gives him hell.

"Okay, dad. I'm hanging up now. Take care. I love you." Stiles got off the phone with his dad. Then he dialled another person, Coach Finstock.

People might look down on coach but Stiles knows he is so much more than what people think.

Coach grumbled as he got out of bed. He tousled his messy hair and slipped on his shoes. Took a jacket and headed out. Cursing under his breath.

"Damn, kids!" he muttered as he drove to the convenience store to get more liquor.

He passed by some of his lacrosse boys, talked a while then he sent them home. Then headed to the store to get his liquor. He drove home, pass the abandoned lot. Parking behind a dark pickup truck. He got out and knocked on the back seat window.

"Hey! Hey! Open up!"

Theo threw the blanket off his face, held his hand up and said "Okay, okay. I'm moving." thinking they're deputies again, driving him off.

"Hey, kid."

"...Finstock?" Theo recognized.

"Follow me."

"What?"

"Just follow me, Raeken!"

Theo was hesitant at first but the coach can't possibly do or have something to harm him. So he followed, driving closely behind the coach. They stopped in front an old house. It was okay but it was a little unkempt. Lawn all grown out, a mix of grass and weeds, maybe a foot or two high.

"Get in." Coach told Theo. "I have an extra room. You can stay as long as you need. But you gotta fend for your own food. I only offer you a room and a bed to sleep on."

Theo was floored. Of all people, he never thought this lacrosse coach would help him out.

"Yeah yeah, I know. You're not part of the team, and you were not in any of my classes." -Coach Finstock opened the door to his extra room.

Theo walked in and he inspected the room. It looks okay. But there are things on the desk that looked like belongings from other people. Probably the ones that stayed here before. Theo took a shirt and recognized the scent: Danny. Then there was a scarf, there were some blood stains on it. He doesn't recognize the scent. But it's probably another lacrosse boy.

"Oh, just leave them there. They belonged to Danny and Isaac."

Finstock let them stay there when they had troubles.

Danny, when he came out to his family the first time. They weren't very receptive, and Danny had to live out. He let Danny live here until about a month when his family finally accepted him.

Isaac, whenever his dad beats him up. He saw Isaac on the side of the road one night, wiping his bloody face with the scarf.

He sheltered them boys until they were okay. And he will shelter Theo until he's okay.

Because, when coach was young, he's got this deadbeat dad too. Who beats him up too. He stayed in abandoned houses for nights to avoid him. No adult helped him out. And he swore he would help his lacrosse boys out of their troubles.

"Why are you helping me?" Theo asked.

"Because you need help and you are Bilinski's friend."

"Stilinski." Theo corrected.

"Whatever." coach closed the door. Then he peeked back in. "And be quiet! I don't like noisy teenagers... and there are bread, peanut butter and jelly in the fridge."

"...thank you." Theo said, sincerely.

Theo closed the door and fished his phone out. Sent a chat to Stiles.

-Thanks- was all it said.

Stiles read and replied -coach got you?-

-Yeah, I'm in the extra room now-

-Can I call you?-

-Sure-

Theo's phone rang... a video call. Theo let it ring for a while before picking up.

"Stiles."

"Hey, Theo." Stiles was in a black suit and tie.

"You look good, Stiles. FBI?"

"Ah-Yeah. Thanks. You too. Looking good for someone who lives in his truck."

Theo just chuckled. Stiles smiled on it.

"So uhm, I talked to my dad a while ago and I heard about you."

"Then you called coach."

"Yup."

"I... Stiles, I've done terrible things-"

"You helped me get out of the Wild Hunt."

"...Just a little bit."

"...Theo..." Stiles stared.

"What?"

"... I like your hair shorter and spikey."

Theo laughed. "I'll get a hair cut when I get money."

Stiles laughed too. "One more thing, Theo."

"Anything for you, Stiles. Anything."

"Look out for my dad, will you?"

"Of course."

"Okay... talk to you next time, Theo. Bye." Stiles waved and ended the call.

Theo put his phone down to charge on the desk. He stepped out of the room to get and make himself pb & j sandwich, he's starving. He hasn't eaten since yesterday lunch. He sat on the counter. He can see the living room from it. He saw Finstock on the couch, watching and laughing at some show on TV.

Coach might not be the brightest, best looking, and favorite of most students; but he shows up when needed.

-+-+-+ ( complete ) +-+-+-

Thanks for reading. I thought of this when I rewatched the Teen Wolf Zoom reunion and Coach was saying he doesn't really know what's happening. And that he does not care about the boys. But we know he does. He cares about them alot.

more on my master list here

Like the gifs used here? See source under them. Reblog, do not repost. Thank you all gif creators here ♥️

[dragonsdomain]

Lair

“Well that explains why you’ve never been to your lair,” Ember said, smirking. “You didn’t even know it existed.”

Danny laughed before turning his attention back to the oddly familiar door in front of him. “Well I do spend most of my time in the human world. And I don’t even usually pay much attention to these doors. There are so many. How’d you find it?”

“Ectosignature, silly,” Ember said, rapping a knuckle on the wood. “Don’t you know anything about ghost culture?”

Danny looked away, rubbing his neck sheepishly.

“Er, sorry. I guess that was a dumb question,” Ember said. She gestured to the door. “Well here you go! There’s your lair. You can… ya know… explore it and stuff.”

Danny moved to open the door but let his hand hover over the knob, strangely apprehensive. “What was… what was inside?”

Ember’s eyebrows flew up. “You think I went inside?” She sounded dumbfounded. “Even if lair doors weren’t locked until the owner of the lair first opens them, Don’t you know how- I mean…” She corrected herself. “It is super rude to enter a ghost’s lair uninvited.”

Danny’s mouth formed a silent “O”, causing Ember to perform a facepalm. That did explain some of the encounters he’d had in the Ghost Zone.

“Well, uh…” Danny’s attention fell back to the door in front of him. “Do you at least have some idea of what I might find in here? I mean… what’s a lair usually like?”

“Eh, I don’t know exactly how it works,” Ember said, leaning back in the air thoughtfully. “I think sometimes they’re connected to your obsession. Sometimes they’re just like, where you’d be happiest or thrive the best.” She shrugged. “I dunno, I’m no scientist.”

Danny exhaled a puff of air. “Okay. That doesn’t sound so bad.” He placed his hand on the handle of the door. He hesitated. Why was he so nervous?

Vaguely ominous notes began strumming from behind him. Danny turned towards the girl behind him who was currently plucking out the foreboding background music on her guitar with a mischievous half-smile on her face.

“You know, you’re not helping,” Danny said in slight exasperation.

Ember stopped playing as she stifled a snicker. “All right, all right,” She said, feigning offense. “I’ll take my leave. Don’t die in there!” She said before speeding off into the foggy expanse of the Ghost Zone.

“Still not helping!” Danny called after her before turning back to the door.

Danny put his hand back on the handle. He hadn’t noticed taking it off. Perhaps because of curiosity, perhaps because of some unidentifiable anxiety, he paused before opening the door to examine its exterior. It looked familiar somehow, yet he couldn’t quite put his finger on where he’d seen it before. It was something he knew he should know, but the recollection of where the door was from escaped him.

He sighed. Come on. Just open the door. There’s nothing to be afraid of.

He opened the door.

And he suddenly remembered where he’d seen that door before.

Behind the door lay a perfect replica of his own bedroom. He looked around in puzzlement as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Every detail was the same, all his model spaceships exactly where they should be, the little glow-in-the-dark stars arranged on the ceiling as close to the night sky as he’d been able to get them, everything precisely where it should be all the way down to the math homework laid out on his desk which he’d only gotten that morning.

Danny looked behind himself at the door, an eyebrow raised questioningly. Had the door just taken him to his own bedroom? His own house? Was the ghost lair of a halfa just his own home?

He looked back at his room and let out a laugh, changing back to human form. He felt a little disappointed that his adventure had simply led him back to where he went every day, but mostly relieved. He’d been afraid he’d find… well, something… in his lair that he didn’t want to find. His lair simply being his own bedroom was a bit underwhelming, but far from the worst it could have been.

In fact, he thought as he looked back at the oh, so familiar door, it was a little convenient that he’d been dropped off straight at home. He’d had his little adventure, and now he could commence his evening again right off the bat.

As Danny opened the door, he was pleased to see that it opened to the hall of his house, not back into the Ghost Zone. Yep, he was back at home.

“Danny, come down for dinner!” his mother’s voice echoed up the stairwell.

“Coming!” Yep, very convenient that he’d been brought straight here. He didn’t want to make his parents suspicious by missing dinner again.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and was promptly greeted by his parents and sister, all sitting down at the dinner table.

“Hey,” Danny said as he sat down, looking around dubiously. “...Why are we all eating dinner together? What’s the occasion?”

“Nothing, Danno! Except that your mother and I thought it might be nice to have family dinners more often,” Dad explained.

“We know you’ve been having a bit of a rough time with school and, well, everything, and something’s obviously going on with you that you’re not telling us,” Mom began.

Anxiety spiked in Danny’s gut. Did they know? Were they going to figure it out? How did he mess up enough to tip them off to that fact? They couldn’t figure out his secret; they’d hate him if they knew that he was a-

“...But we just want you to know that we love you no matter what. And nothing could ever change that.”

“We wouldn’t even stop loving you if you became a ghost!” Dad bellowed jovially. Mom rolled her eyes at him but smiled at Danny in silent agreement to the statement.

Danny sat back, stunned. Did he hear that right?

Jazz looked as surprised as he was. “Did you just say you’d love him even if...?” Her question trailed off.

Mom cocked an eyebrow. “...He was a ghost? Of course. He’d still be our Danny.”

It was too good to be true. Danny still almost couldn’t believe what he’d heard. Tears pricked his eyes. “Thanks. That’s… good to hear.”

At the sight of the tears Mom wrapped an arm around Danny’s shoulders. “Oh, sweetie, was that what you’ve been worrying about? Why you always look so scared when we talk about ghost hunting?”

“It’s just that, the way you’ve been treating Phantom…”

“Oh, we actually just made a truce with him this morning.”

...Wait. What?

Danny glanced at Jazz in confusion. She was grinning at him, but stopped when she saw his confusion. What? She mouthed.

Danny’s eyes dropped to the table in puzzlement. Something was wrong here. That hadn’t happened. At least not to him. Was there a ghost impersonating him or something? He really needed to get Jazz alone to talk about it.

Just when he was about to speak, something beeped loudly down in the lab.

Mom and Dad’s eyes met. “Jack, did you forget to-” Mom started.

“Yes.”

At that, they both rushed down the stairs.

“...Perfect timing.” Danny muttered to himself. He looked at Jazz. “I didn’t make a truce with Mom and Dad this morning.”

Jazz frowned. “But you told me about it during lunch. It happened during first period, remember? You missed that chemistry test to go fight Skulker? And you told me about how you were worried that was going to make you fail chemistry but I told you your grades were great even if you couldn’t retake it?” Danny looked more confused by the second. “You don’t remember any of that?”

“Jazz, since when have my grades been great?”

Jazz raised an eyebrow, pulled out her phone, and showed him his grades on it. He stood up and walked around the table to get a better look. Straight A’s.

Danny stumbled back. That- he didn’t have straight A’s, what- something wasn’t right-

“Jazz, where are Sam and Tucker?” Danny asked hesitantly.

“I think they said they were going to be coming over any minute now.”

At that exact moment the door burst open. Sam and Tucker entered, looking too happy, too healthy, much too carefree. Oh no, not them too.

“Danny!” They called out, rushing to give him a hug. Danny returned their embrace stiffly.

“Hey guys. You look like you’re doing… really well.”

Sam snorted, pushing him away. “Well you sound weirdly disappointed about that. What, do you miss all the ghost fighting we used to do?”

“Used to do?”

Jazz looked down at Danny in concern. “Are you okay, Danny? Don’t you remember all the truces you made with the ghosts? You’ve hardly had to fight anyone for weeks.”

“...I…” Was he in some kind of alternate timeline? How did he get here?

He suddenly remembered something Ember had said about ghost lairs: “Sometimes they’re just like, where you’d be happiest or thrive the best.”

Of course.

“...This isn’t real…” Danny whispered.

“What?” Jazz asked.

“It’s not… you’re not real!” Danny stepped back and glared at the things that looked like his friends and sister.

“Dude, of course we’re real,” Tucker said, reaching out a hand in concern.

Danny slapped it away and stepped back again. “No, you’re all just figments of my imagination or something.” He stepped back again and found his back against the door. “This isn’t real. It’s all just… fake.” He wasn’t really talking to the people in front of him anymore. He slid down to the floor and buried his face in his hands. “Why would Mom and Dad actually make a truce with me? Or be willing to accept me? Of course it’s not real.”

A hand rested on his shoulder. “Danny-” Jazz began.

Danny flung her hand away and phased through the door behind him, ignoring the shouts of surprise from those in the room. He found himself back outside his lair, in the Ghost Zone. A glance over his shoulder revealed the door, which looked like his bedroom door again, still shut. No concerned voices leaked through. Nothing thrust the door open to search for him.

He stared at the door numbly. It had been nice while it lasted, to have a dinner with his family, to have his parents not plotting his murder for once, to see Sam and Tucker without injuries stemming from his folly. Even if it wasn’t real.

A wry chuckle escaped his lips at the same moment as tears began to well in his eyes.

Of course it couldn’t be real.