Chapter Text
Part III - The Fentons’ Edition
Damian finally wrangled Francis into a set of clothes that were Chat Noir themed. “It is getting dark. When is your other uncle going to fetch you?”
Francis pulled the ends of his sleeves down to his wrists so they didn't cover his fingers. “Oncle Danny.”
“It would have been better if your mother agreed for me to take care of you for the entire week.”
The baby pointed at him, almost as if telling him off. “Wowk.”
Damian carded his hand through his hair. “I aware I have work to do, but I can take care of you and do that at the same time just fine.”
As if on cue, Damian's bedroom was slowly engulfed in green light as a familiar round portal emerged beside them. Out popped the smiling face of Phantom, eliciting a cheer from Francis.
“Darin, little man, I missed you!” The half-ghost glided out and phased through his brother to get the baby into his arms and raised up the giggling boy. Phantom then planted a gentle kiss atop Francis’ head.
“Tt. You're late.” Damian crossed his arms. “Marinette also told you to come to Gotham in civilian form.”
Phantom, who was transforming back into his living half, rocked the child in his arms. “The GZ's way faster, Dames. You know that.”
“Le fantôme!” Francis flapped his arms around, amazed at how Danny could turn intangible whenever his hands were about to hit his uncle's face.
Damian arched an eyebrow. “Do not tell me you are bringing him to the Ghost Zone. It's dangerous. His mother specifically got the both of you bus tickets to Amity Park.”
“Like taking him on patrol is any less dangerous?” Danny challenged.
“Wobin-Petit?” Francis babbled.
A scoff sounded out.
“Hey, I won't snitch if you won't.” Danny smirked at his brother as he continued bouncing the baby around. “Little Darin should learn about these things early on to ease him into it y'know.”
“Still, it is the Ghost Zone, Danyal. He's not a ghost.”
“Gowse?” Francis pointed to himself, looking back at his Uncle Damian. “Le fantôme?”
Danny snorted. “With the ambient ectoplasm from the Pits that you and Mars were exposed to as kids, you know we can count you as liminal already. Which means, the little man here also counts as one.”
“Wimina?” Francis repeated.
“Li-mi-nal,” Danny sounded out.
“Wldgkjadja.”
“Yeah, close enough my guy.” The half-ghost smiled and tapped his nephew's nose. He turned back to Damian, who still seemed unconvinced. “Besides, I'm king of the Realms. No harm will come to Darin as long as I'm with him.”
As a faint reminder, a flaming crown flickered on top of Danny's head and he let his eyes flash into a green hue.
“Whatever. I know you will do it anyways even if I keep protesting,” Damian relented. “Let me say my goodbyes now.”
Danny was handed the baby bag and the new gifts Damian (and the rest of the Waynes) gave to Francis. Soon, after Damian bade his farewells, Francis was off to the Ghost Zone in the hands of his other uncle.
𔓎
Danny watched Francis with pride as the child looked around the Ghost Zone in absolute awe. The Zone had plenty of sights to see, a combination of both ancient and modern mixed in with the otherworldliness of the brimming ectoplasm. He could sense curious citizens peering at the living soul, but they kept their distance and were invisible out of respect for the king.
“What do you think, Darin?” He asked the wide-eyed baby.
“Gowse king?”
“Yup, your uncle's the king of all of this. Pretty cool, right?” He ruffled his hair.
“Oui.”
“Let's visit the castle, you’ll want to see the observatory.”
They were close to the gates when a figure zipped up to catch up to them. A loud jovial voice rang out: “Can't believe you kidnapped a baby, Danny!”
“Tata? Awnt?” Francis looked at their new company with curiosity.
Danny rolled his eyes at his clone-turned-sister who was now flying alongside them. “I didn't kidnap anyone. Remember when I told you about my biological siblings?”
“Oh, shoot! Marinette had a kid?” Dani gawked at the baby.
“Yeah, I told you before. How many trips ‘round the world did you have for you to forget?” Danny playfully flicked her nose. “Technically, he's also your nephew.”
“Tata?” Francis repeated.
“Yep. Darin, your Aunt Ellie. Ellie, meet Darin.”
Dani took Francis’ pudgy outstretched hand and shook it. “Nice to meet you Francis! You're such a cute little thing.”
“Tata Ewwie. Enchanté,” Francis greeted in return.
“You sure it's okay to bring him in here?” Dani asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It's fine, I'm the king. He's not new to ecto, so it's safe.”
She paused. “Wait, does Jazz know?”
“Umm, nope.” Danny averted his gaze. “I’ll let her know when we get home. For now, keep your mouth shut.”
Dani chuckled. “You're in deep trouble if she catches you. Anyway, I'll go ahead — I was gonna head down to Tokyo ‘cause Vlad and I were craving some sushi. Catch you another time.”
With one pinch onto Francis’ cheek, the teenage halfa rushed away in a blur. Danny looked down at his nephew. “She’s my clone, you know, but I can never see me in her. What did you think of your Aunt Ellie?”
Francis took a moment to give it some thought. “Cool.”
“Now let me just have the gates opened and — oop.” Danny stopped short upon seeing a small army of blob ghosts congregate around the baby, seemingly also struck by the same curiosity. Some only floated close to Francis, others poked at his face, while the rest were bouncing on top of his head.
“Looks like you've got fans, little man,” Danny beamed.
“Que?” Francis poked a blob in confusion.
“They're blobs. Er, just little sentient balls of ectoplasm. They seem to like you.”
Before Danny could react, Francis brought his mouth close to one blob ghost and closed his lips to capture it.
“Ancients, no! You can't eat them, Darin!” Danny repositioned the baby so that he held him under his arms.
Francis only stared silently, wide-eyed. The green glow of the blob could be seen thrashing around his puffed up cheeks until it phased through his face and went intangible with a pop! sound.
Danny sighed in relief and waved his hands around to disperse the blobs. “That should be harmless, but the second you start to go green, I'm taking you to Frostbite.”
𔓎
Danny didn't expect Jazz to be home when he stumbled out of the Zone portal and into their dining room with the baby. She was sitting by the table, coffee mug in hand, and stared at him in half disbelief and half questioning.
“He's not mine!” He hastily denied.
“I didn't say anything, Danny,” Jazz calmly replied.
“No, I know you were going to ask. No, Jazz, I did not get anyone pregnant.” Danny waved his hand to close the portal. Francis squirmed in his hold. “I'm babysitting for um — someone important, so Darin here will be staying with us for a few days.”
“I'm assuming I can't ask who this ‘someone’ is.”
He smiled sheepishly. “I'd need his parents’ permission to share everything so . . .”
Danny repositioned the child in his arms. “Oh, right. Darin, this is my sister Jazz. You can call her Aunt Jazz. Jazz, meet Darin.”
“Bonjour.” Francis waved. “Tata Jash.”
Jazz gave a warm smile. “Hello, Darin. Did Danny take you to the Ghost Zone even if he knows it's very dangerous for you to be there?”
“Oui, gowse,” the baby replied.
“Shh, Darin don't snitch!”
“Pohtal,” Francis said, reminding him that they had just emerged from the portal right in front of her.
She narrowed her eyes at her brother. “Danny! You know non-ghosts can't be allowed in the Zone. We don't know how that amount of ecto can affect a baby!”
“But he's kind of liminal and he was with me the whole time!” Danny protested.
Jazz carefully took Francis from him and cradled him in her arms. Francis latched on immediately. “What if ghosts tried to attack you there? Or the effects of the ectoplasm can manifest later on? Or what if the ghosts scared Darin? You can't just take a baby to an entirely different dimension and expect him to be okay! Being liminal doesn't mean you're completely safe from ghost attacks or the side effects of ecto. You could've traveled the normal way or at least flown him over.”
Francis looked at his uncle. “Pewiodt.”
Part IV - The Real Favorite Uncle's Edition
It was a relatively quiet Wayne family lunch, leaving Damian with his lingering thoughts about Francis. He was starting to plan about upgrading his nephew's gear and considering what kind of weapons Robin-Petit could wield. Perhaps knives or kunai, or a ballistic type that could be voice-activated. Maybe he could take Francis to more patrols to let him see more of the world of crime and how the Bats bring justice to troublemakers.
A shiver crawled up his spine all of a sudden. A bad sign.
All of a sudden, a bright light shone at his feet, and he was falling into the portal mid-bite.
𓃠
To say that Danny was tired was an understatement. He had downed several cups of coffee throughout the day to get through both work and council meetings as the Realms’ monarch, but he just couldn't rub away the sleepiness in his eyes. He was finally getting a semblance of rest while calmly helping Jazz put a meal together.
He was walking languidly from the counter to the dining table, about to bring a salad to Dani, when a circular portal opened up below him.
“Oh fuck.” He voiced out. He knew that portal.
By ghosts instincts, he turned into Phantom, but before he knew it, he was feeling the familiar dizzying sensation of being sucked into a Fenton thermos.
𓃠
Danny was nauseous when he tumbled out of the thermos and onto the floor. The first thing he noticed was his brother beside him, who seemed to just have fallen from a similar portal. They both looked up to see the stormy expression of their sister, with her husband guarding the door behind her.
“You snitch!” Danny whipped his head towards Damian.
“Tt. I did not snitch.” Damian scowled.
“Darin?”
Damian sighed. “Darin.”
“Just because ummi raised us in danger.” Marinette began behind clenched teeth. “Doesn't mean you go ahead and put my son in it!”
“Darin was fine,” both chorused.
“Fine?” She hissed. “Taking him to a mission is fine?! Letting him into the Ghost Zone is fine?!”
“He enjoyed it. No ecto side effects,” Danny defended.
“We converted his onesie into a proper suit,” said Damian, “I had him with me the entire time.”
She crossed her arms. “Congrats then. You've successfully taken away your chance to babysit him again. He will not be seeing either of you without either Felix or me.”
“But —!”
“Nooo!”
Marinette silenced them with a glare. And they were still kneeling in front of her.
“I have not yet earned the title of being his favorite uncle.” Damian frowned.
Danny scoffed. “Uh, hello? I'm going to be his favorite uncle.”
Marinette rolled her eyes. “Francis already has a favorite uncle and it's neither of you.”
𓃠
Uncle and nephew walked hand-in-hand along Pont des Arts, with the latter carrying two plushies modeled after the city's heroes. Adrien looked down on his phone bearing another message from his cousin. The couple had entrusted him to take Francis out in the city while Marinette's brothers faced her wrath in their apartment. Felix was sending him juicy updates.
“Oncles?” Francis looked up at him.
Adrien tucked his phone into his pocket. As per the update, Marinette had resorted to talking with Alfred to bench Damian from patrol for two nights, while Danny had to spend twenty-four hours in the thermos. “Yeah, I think your maman's really mad. She might not let them babysit you for a while.”
Francis pouted at that response.
“Hey don't worry, you'll see them again,” Adrien consoled. “Just under your parents’ supervision.”
“Mmmf,” Francis sulked. But it took a second before he gasped and made circles with his fingers to put over his eyes like a pair of glasses, saying. “Oncles!”
“What, you want to steal a Miraculous to see your uncles on your own?” Adrien interpreted. “Francis, your mother will be mad at me if I let you do that.”
The baby gave him a hard stare that was reminiscent of Felix's cold, calculating gaze while putting his pinky finger up. Adrien snorted; if someone asked him, the boy had inherited his father's intimidating eyes and his mother's stubbornness. But Adrien, at least, was the one who gave his name.
One thing was different between him and Marinette's brothers: if he enabled Francis’ shenanigans, Francis never snitched on him. It was their agreement.
Because he was the favorite uncle.
“Okay, okay, we'll plan it out next time.” Adrien linked his pinky with Francis’, who gave a single nod. “By the way, you sure you're only buying LB and CN plushies? What about your uncle Fox Mirage, hm?”
Francis extended an open palm. “You pay.”
And Adrien sighed. How could he deny his sweet nephew and godson? “Okay, fine.”
He picked up Francis and turned back around to head to the store that they came from. The smug baby snuggled into his hold, keeping his two beloved plushies close.
“So who's the second favorite uncle?” Adrien asked his nephew curiously.
Without missing a beat, Francis replied: “Tonton Luka.”
Adrien guffawed at the mention of his fiance. “Your maman's brothers aren't even second place?”
Francis held up three fingers.
“Third? Who? Danny or Damian?”
Francis shrugged. “Tie.”