Work Text:
Flynn Fenton was abducted by a ghost from his parents incomplete portal at 10 years old. He fought against the kidnapping and eventually got away when his watch shocked the ghost with its prototype Specter Deflector, falling into the lair of Lady Gotham which acts as a portal to Gotham in the DCU.
Flynn is hurt and found by a nice lady named Catherine Todd and her gruff husband, Willis. They were only going to keep Flynn until he could heal up, but he was a big help to Catherine and her pregnancy so he ended up staying longer. Flynn helped with their baby after it was born and took on the role of being a big brother.
The baby looked so much like Danny that Flynn couldn't bring himself to leave, even after Willis got worse and Catherine got into drugs for her health issues. Flynn promised to protect his new baby brother, Jason, and get him to a better life when he got old enough to adopt him.
By the time Flynn was 17-18 Catherine was dead, Willis in jail, and he was working as a goon, but was ready to leave it behind now that he had enough money to get himself and Jason off the streets. Little Jason was so worried about this 'one last job' that Flynn decided to leave him with his most prized possession, the watch he arrived in this universe with and never let go. Not even Willis could get it and try to sell it without a fight from Flynn. (He always tried to not fight in front of Jason, but sometimes Willis didn't let that happen.)
Sadly, Flynn died on the job and Jason was left alone. Flynn was stuck as a ghost in Lady Gotham's Infinite Realms lair version of the city and could only watch Jason's life play out; getting adopted, being Robin, growing up, and… dying outside Lady Gotham's territory. Flynn couldn't go to Heaven where Jason was because he belonged to the Infinite Realms, entering an established afterlife without permission would cause a war with that deity and the Ghost King.
He could only go into the living side of Gotham and sit at Jason's grave and talk to him, telling his favorite stories from memory and updating him on his adopted family's heroics. He was there when something altered the world and Jason dug himself out of his own grave.
Flynn couldn't interact or be seen by Jason, not really at least, and could only give gentle nudges and directions so he wandered into some EMTs and got taken to the hospital. Flynn stayed with his brother after that, getting pissed as hell when Talia took him and dunked him in corrupt ecto. Flynn couldn't stay because of it not being in Gotham and the corrupt ecto makes him sick, but he tried to go as often as he could to check on Jason.
Flynn was so happy Jason returned to Gotham but… Talia and the pits changed him. Jason wasn't the same little boy that wanted to help people, sit for hours and read classic literature with Flynn, see magic in being a hero. No, he became mean and ruthless under Talia's control.
But, Flynn stayed by his side regardless. That's his little brother, he won't abandon him because of what someone else made him into.
It was hard, watching what Jason did in his anger at Bruce for not saving him, but Flynn did his best to nudge Jason away from truly terrible things he would regret. (The only reason Jason didn't kill Tim was because Flynn kept shoving at him to leave after the poor kid passed out. Jason would have kept hitting him if his ecto didn't reject Flynn touching him more.)
Flynn hates it, but he knows there is still his brother's original personality in there. He still reads classic literature in his limited spare time and he still has Flynn's watch with him. Somehow, Jason kept it after his grave, took it with him when he left the hospital, and even kept it hidden from Talia this whole time. He wouldn't have kept it if Jason was truly too far gone.
Flynn is so busy watching over Jason, he almost misses the feeling of someone entering Gotham from a natural portal in the Alley. Jason, however, immediately feels another ghost someone enter his territory and starts booking it that way. Flynn can feel it's a powerful ghost not stuck with Gotham's curse and is worried how Jason will react to someone he can't fight easily, not with his ecto so corrupt and limiting his ghost powers. He swears his core drops when he finds Jason fighting his king!?
What is he doing here?!?
Danny just wanted to find whatever bit of his parent's tech was in this gloomy lair when some feral Halfa in a helmet attacked him! He didn't even do anything yet!
Danny doesn't want to hurt the clearly sick Halfa, but how does he calm him down? Ghosts only calm down when you fight them!
It would be nice if that weirdly familiar shade could help, maybe!?
Danny manages to grab the strange Halfa's arms when he realizes "Hey wait, this Halfa has Flynn's watch!" He's seen that watch in the last photos Jazz had of Flynn and their dad, proudly standing there together with it in a photo labeled 'Flynn's first invention!' Danny can clearly see the faded 'FlynnTech' on the band like all their parent's other inventions.
Danny says Flynn's name out loud without thinking and gets two reactions; the shade perks up and looks at him curious and the Halfa snarls questions about how he knows his brother's name. The grief and confusion he feels from both of them makes Danny realize this might be about more than just getting the tech and leaving now.
Notes:
- Flynn was young and scared when he met Jason's parents, so he fell back on the lessons of 'stranger danger' his parents taught him. Sort of. Maddie said to never tell your name and Jack said never lose any Fenton tech so they can find him. (All the Fenton kids had at least one tracker on them at all times.) Flynn uses his little kid mind to lie and say his name was Danny because it was the only other name he could think of in his panic, Jack was only 'Dad' at that point.
- Flynn only told Jason what his real name was. It was their little secret and Jason never told anyone, not even Bruce, what his brother's real name was.
- Jason actually does have an older red haired brother named Danny in one comic. He died as a goon when Jason was young.
- Flynn Fenton is a somewhat canon character Butch Hartman created for the show, but never used. He has long red hair like Jazz and the build of Jack as an adult, he was supposed to be an enemy of Phantom.
- The curse on Gotham makes it so any ghost that forms there can't fully leave and their power is weaker because the curse feeds off it. Flynn would be as strong as any other fire core ghost in the Infinite Realms if he died outside Gotham like Jason did, he was ecto contaminated enough from his parent's work and passing through the Infinite Realms. Jason got contaminated by Flynn and his watch's ecto battery.
- Flynn will be devastated learning both his little brothers died and came back different. He couldn't protect either of them and he's pissed at all the adults that failed them. (Bruce was seconds away from reaching Jason in time and didn't develop faster vehicles until years later. Flynn understands he tried his best to save him.)
- Jason designed his shocking chest logo after Flynn's watch because it kept shocking him after he was dunked in the pits. The watch eventually broke and stopped, but the idea was there and it actually saved Jason several times. Jason still wears the watch even if it doesn't work.