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Danny Fenton was nervous. The butterflies were having a rave in his stomach as he flew to Gotham City. He had been planning on this day for the last six months and now that it was actually here he was wondering if it was even worth it. Part of him was telling him to turn around and go back to Amity Park and live a blissfully ignorant life. But the reasonable part of him was telling him that if he turned back now he would go back to being miserable, to being the kid that his parents regret adopting, to being constantly hunted down by them and stuck keeping his status as a halfa a secret for as long as he stayed there.
The Fentons weren’t abusive.
Not physically, at least.
They never beat him, never smacked him around. At least, not when he was Danny. When he was Phantom it was a completely different story. While the Fentons weren’t physically abusive, they were neglectful and mentally and emotionally abusive. The constant reminders that he wasn’t as talented or smart as Jazz, the way they managed to forget his birthday each year, the way they never provided him and Jazz with a safe home to stay in, the fact that their invention was what killed him. Danny could list on and on all the ways that Jack and Maddie were unfit parents but he would be going on all day.
It was why he had decided to go looking for his biological parents. It had taken some searching since his adoption records had been sealed. It took the help of both Tucker and Technus to finally hack into the records and finally get the names of the people who had given him up for adoption.
A moment that was supposed to be exciting and hopeful, though, turned to be even more disappointing than he had ever in a million years expected it to be. His parents weren’t just some normal couple who had decided to put their son up for adoption for normal reasons like not being able to afford a kid, or just not wanting one, things that would be totally acceptable in Danny’s opinion.
No, his parents were Selina and Bruce Wayne, the billionaires from Gotham City who were known for their penchant for adopting children. The couple who had six children, five of whom were adopted had put their son up for adoption one year before they adopted their first son, twelve-year-old Dick Grayson. Danny had found himself being just a bit bitter.
No, he was a liar.
He was insanely bitter.
It was enough to force him to make the decision to go and confront his birth parents, not to reunite like he originally planned to, but to demand answers. What was wrong with him to not want him as a child? Had they taken one look at newborn child Danny and decided that he wasn’t good enough for them? That he wasn’t deserving of their love? He had so many questions as to why they placed him for adoption, why they never reached out. Why didn't they want him?
It hurt to think about and maybe he was being a little selfish to fly all the way to Gotham to demand answers from people who very obviously didn’t want him but there was a part of Danny that was begging for answers. That told him that if he didn’t find out why, he would be left wondering for the rest of his life. He would see pictures of Bruce and Selina on the news with their children and he would find himself wondering why he couldn’t be there with them. He would spend every day of the rest of his life wondering why he wasn’t good enough if he didn’t go and at the very least ask them.
At this point he wasn’t expecting much from them. He wasn’t going to try to force his way into their family, he wasn’t going to allow himself to even hope that they would welcome him with open arms to their home. He was just going to hope that he could get some answers and possibly some closure and then he would be on his way. He only had a few months left before he graduated high school and then he would be going to school at MIT on a partial scholarship. It was enough to pay for his first two years of school and then he would hopefully be able to find a job somewhere to pay for the rest of it or apply for some loans or other scholarships. Whatever it may be, he would be fine. He would be far away from Amity Park and he would be able to finally get the chance to move on. It helped that Tucker would be going to school with him and Sam wouldn’t be too far away from them at Wellesley College.
“You got this Fenton,” he whispered to himself as he crossed the border into New Jersey. He had no clue how any of this was going to go but he had to hope that at the very least he would get some answers and some closure.
Closure was all he was really needing at this point. Once he got that, he would finally be able to move on. He would put his past completely behind him. He had already decided that once he got to college, he would be changing his name to Danny Nightingale. He had already told his parents that he was cutting himself off from them, they hadn’t been all that upset about it. He didn’t even know if they actually heard him when he told them in all honesty.
He had been flying for a few hours now and had probably created every single scenario in his head. But the more he flew, the more he thought and the more he thought, the more he convinced himself that what was most likely to happen was that they would turn him away. They didn’t want him when he was born, why would they want him now? He imagined that he would find out why they put him up for adoption and then he would go on his merry way.
Before the teenager knew it, he found himself in front of the famous Wayne manor and took a shuddering breath as he landed in front of the gate and pressed the doorbell.
“Wayne Residence.”
Danny took another deep breath and let it go. “Hello, my name is Daniel Fenton. Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle put me up for adoption eighteen years ago,” he said, trying to keep his voice from wavering. He thought he did pretty good if he did say so himself. “I uh, I know the adoption was closed. But I got the paperwork, and I’m willing to do a DNA test and–”
The gates swung open without a word and Danny shrugged his shoulders before he started the long walk up the drive. He was starting to wonder if it would have been more normal if he had brought a car instead of flying. They would likely suspect something was off if they thought that he walked all the way here.
That is, if they actually even cared about Danny’s wellbeing at all.
He wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from all of this. He knew what his mind was making up in regards to the situation but there was definitely a chance that he would be surprised and be wrong. He doubted it, but he had been wrong before. It was bound to happen again.
Danny trudged up to the front door that all but swung open as soon as he opened the door to find an elderly man in a black suit and white gloves standing before him with his mouth agape.
The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath as if he were trying to regain his composure before he opened his eyes once again. “You said that Mistress Kyle-Wayne and Master Wayne put you up for adoption how long ago?” He asked tightly.
Danny gnawed on his lip. “Eighteen years ago,” he mumbled, the nerves now starting to fully settle within him.
“The masters of this house are not here but they are both on their way as we speak. If you would like to follow me, we can go to a sitting room,” the man said and Danny nodded his head and followed him inside. “My name is Alfred Pennyworth, I am the Wayne’s family butler.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Pennyworth,” Danny said, trying hard to keep from shoving his hands in his pocket and keeping his hands firmly on the straps of his backpack.
Alfred led him through the winding maze that was the manor and allowed the teenager to walk in first. “If you would like to take a seat, I shall grab us some refreshments.”
Danny’s head shot up towards the man. “No, no it's okay. I don’t mean to impose, Mr. Pennyworth.”
The butler gave him a polite smile. “Alfred is fine, and it is no imposition, Master Daniel, I would be very-” Alfred’s breath hitched just a bit. “I would be very happy to fetch us some refreshments. Do you like tea or coffee?”
The halfa wrinkled his nose. “Tea is fine,” he said and hesitated for a moment. “Thank you, Alfred.”
Alfred smiled softly at him, he was staring at Danny like he was a ghost. “It’s my pleasure,” he said before leaving Danny alone in the room. Danny took a moment to look around, the room was bigger than the entire first floor of Fenton’s works. There were couches and overstuffed seats spread throughout the room, a large family portrait hung over the fireplace that had Danny’s heart sink into his stomach. All of his parent’s children were pictured in it as well as both Selina and Bruce. The more he looked at the portrait, the more he could see the resemblance to both of them. He had Selina’s nose, Bruce’s eyes and hair, and he was pretty sure that his smile came from Selina as well. He wondered if she got freckles whenever she spent too much time out in the sun too or if that was something he got from Bruce instead.
He could tell that he had his mother’s lithe form, not nearly as big and buff as Bruce or his half brother, Damian who seemed to be nearly as tall as Bruce was in the picture. If he remembered correctly, Damian Wayne was thirteen or fourteen. He had done a bit of research on all of his siblings before he decided to come and confront Selina and Bruce, it only felt right to know about his siblings. Even if they would likely never know about him. He had a feeling Bruce and Selina would never tell them about Danny, why would they when they had all the kids they really wanted. Kids that they chose.
Danny wasn’t a kid that they chose to have, he was nothing more than a burden. Why else did they decide to get rid of him instead of keeping him? If he remembered correctly from what he saw on the news, Bruce didn’t even know about Damian’s existence until Damian’s mother showed up with him when he was ten and gave him to them.
Danny doubted his appearance would be welcomed like Damian’s. Bruce and Selina knew about Danny and still chose to get rid of him.
He let out a breath and looked away from the picture just as Alfred came back with a rolling tray, a tea set and what looked like a lot of finger sandwiches and cookies sat atop it. He couldn’t help but smile when he saw it. At least he would get a good snack before the confrontation.
Bruce Wayne was having a panic attack. His heart was racing faster than he had ever thought it could. He had a tight knuckle grip on his steering wheel as he sped towards the manor. When Alfred had called him and told him that a young man named Daniel Fenton had appeared at the gate stating that he was the biological son of Bruce and Selina, Bruce was convinced that the man was playing a cruel joke on him. But that was not something that Alfred would do, not when he had been there to watch Selina and Bruce make the hard decision to put their son up for adoption in the first place.
Bruce had regretted it from the moment that they had terminated their rights to Daniel but he knew, even now, that it was the best choice he could have made for the small baby that he had only ever held once. At the time, he and Selina had been two stupid twenty-six-year olds who had no clue how to raise a child. Bruce had just donned the cowl and became Batman and Selina was just starting out as Catwoman. Neither of them were at a place to raise a child, much less together.
It wouldn’t be for another ten years before the two of them even got their relationship figured out and decided to take it seriously. It was no place for a newborn child to grow up in, with two parents who couldn’t stand one another most of the time, an emotionally constipated father who would never be able to be there for him the way he needed. Bruce had too many issues to count, he was not capable of even taking care of himself, much less raising a newborn child.
At twenty-six he had barely known how to take care of himself. When he got custody of Dick just a year later, he still wasn’t quite sure what he was doing and the guilt he felt when he first got Dick was immense. Daniel would have been a year old at that time and Dick would have absolutely loved to have a baby around the house.
But it would have been no good. It wouldn’t have been healthy or safe for Daniel to live with them. He deserved to have loving and caring parents who would be attentive and would be there for all of his needs. He wouldn’t be at risk of getting kidnapped or hurt by rogues in Gotham, he wouldn’t live under the microscope that was Gotham high society. His son would get the chance to have a totally normal and healthy childhood.
And now his son was apparently at the manor and he was going to want answers. Bruce knew what it must look like for the boy, why would he put his child up for adoption only to adopt five children and have another one just four years after giving Daniel up for adoption? It was an understandable question and Bruce had absolutely no idea how he was going to answer it.
Part of him wanted to welcome his son into his life with open arms, to tell him that he has thought about him every single day since he first found out that Selina was pregnant with him. How it took every single ounce of his willpower to not go out and look for him and bring him home. How desperately he wanted to go and look for the boy, to bring him home and have him be a part of his family. To get to know the child he had dreamed about every single day for eighteen years.
But he couldn't do that, he couldn’t allow Daniel to be a part of his dark and dangerous life. Daniel was innocent and not involved in the Mission and if he even so much as moved in at the manor, he could be at risk. Then all eighteen years of staying away would be for nothing. His pain couldn’t be for nothing.
He shook his head, he couldn't even think about Daniel moving into the manor, he couldn't get his hopes up. Instead he focused on the fact that Daniel likely hated him, hatred would hurt but it would be easier to send the boy away if he hated Bruce.
He should hate Bruce, he should hate him for getting rid of him, for never once reaching out, for abandoning him and then replacing him with six children. Hatred would hurt, but it would be easier.
Selina Kyle raced through the streets of Gotham city, winding through the roads, leaning this way and that on her bike as she raced home. When Alfred had called her and told her the news that her son, her baby had come home, she had nearly broken down then and there. She had regretted putting her son up for adoption every single day from the moment she had made the decision.
It was the right decision to make, she knew it within her soul but it didn’t make it any easier.
Daniel.
His name was Daniel.
The name rolled around in her mind and she smiled as she remembered the nameless black haired, blue eyed boy who had her nose. She wondered if he got freckles after spending too much time in the sun, or if he furrowed his brow and stuck out his tongue when he was concentrating like she did. She wondered if he liked cats or if he was a dog person. She wondered what he liked to do, what kind of books he read, did he like to read? Was he tall like Bruce or was he short like Selina? There were so many questions that she had for him and she had so many answers for him.
She had already resolved that the moment she met him she would tell him everything. She would tell him why she put him up for adoption, how she was a clueless cat burglar who could barely take care of herself. How Bruce wasn’t much better and that neither of them were ready to raise a newborn baby. She was going to tell him everything, how she thought about him every single day, how she had wanted to name him Thomas Rex after both of their fathers. She was going to give him every single letter that she wrote him, every letter she wrote when the desire to find her son grew stronger and stronger. She knew that it was important to not go find him. That she and Bruce agreed to let him live his life. Whatever life he had would be much better than the one he had with them.
They weren’t stable, they weren’t safe.
But if Daniel wanted to get to know her, to build a relationship, she would do it. If he wanted to yell and scream at her for abandoning him, she would sit there and take it. She would listen and let him get it out and then she would apologize and beg for his forgiveness. If he didn’t want it, she would accept that. She would let him turn and walk away from her and treasure the fact that she got to see what kind of man he grew up to be and keep it in her heart forever.
Selina had regretted giving Daniel up every single day since she had done it, but maybe this would be the time she would get to fix things. She would tell him everything, about being Catwoman, about Batman, how they didn’t think they were fit to raise a newborn and she would hope with every single fiber of her being that he would have it in him to forgive her.
“So, tell me about yourself, Daniel,” Alfred said, trying his best to hide his nerves as he took a sip of his tea.
Danny gave him a small smile, his own nervousness probably obvious at this point as his hand shook and he took a sip of his tea. Earl Gray, Alfred had told him, one of his favorites. Danny wasn’t much of a tea guy, it wasn’t bad, just probably not something he would ever go out of his way to drink again.
“I’m uh, I’m eighteen. I’m about to start college this fall at MIT. I’m wanting to get a degree in engineering,” he said with a small smile.
Alfred gave him a small smile. “That’s wonderful, you know, Wayne Enterprises is always looking for engineers.”
Danny shook his head. “I’m not here to get a job, Alfred. I promise, I’m not here to be some kind of freaky gold digger. I just wanted to, I don’t know, get some closure. I wanted to learn about where I came from and why they put me up for adoption,” Danny admitted quietly.
The older man gave him an understanding nod. “I completely understand that, I hope that their answers are satisfying,” he said just as they heard a door slam open and the sound of two different footsteps across the manor.
The doors to the sitting room flung open and Danny froze as he took in his parents.
Selina was gorgeous, her brown eyes were bright with unshed tears as her hands went to her mouth and she took him in. Behind her stood Bruce Wayne, tall and big just like he was in the portrait. He was frozen in place at the moment, his eyes wide as he took Danny in.
The teenager awkwardly stood up and set his tea down before he scratched the back of his neck.
“Hi, uh, I’m sorry for intruding. I just, I recently found out that you guys are my biological parents and I just, I wanted to talk to you at least once, ya know? And if you never want to see me again, I completely understand I don’t blame you at all. I-I have copies of my adoption records and I’m more than willing to do a DNA test to prove that you guys are my biological parents but also, I think it might be a little obvious since I look just like you guys,” he rambled and oh god he was rambling. He sounded like an idiot right now.
Selina took an unsteady step towards him before she practically ran across the room and launched herself into Danny’s arms, holding him tight.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, brushing her fingers through his hair as she pressed his head to her chest, holding him tight. “I’m so, so sorry Daniel.”
Danny stood there frozen, not quite sure what to do. This wasn’t in any of his daydreams of how today was going to go. Not once had he imagined that his mother would hug him, much less run at him and apologize to him. She eventually pulled away and wiped at the tears in her eyes and let out a soft laugh.
“You’re so handsome,” she said, a small smile on her face. “Come, let’s sit down.”
She took Danny’s hand and led him back to the couch and the two took a seat. Bruce continued to stand in the doorway for a few more heartbeats before he seemed to shake himself out of it and followed them towards the couches.
Alfred grabbed the tea cups and placed them back on the rolling cart. “I shall give you three some privacy,” he said before leaving the three alone in the sitting room.
“I’m sorry I-”
“You must have so many questions,” Selina said at the same time Danny went to apologize for intruding.
He let out a soft laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. “You have no clue,” he said and she gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand.
“Ask us anything, sweetie,” she said softly. Danny nodded and swallowed roughly, wishing he still had that cup of tea.
“Why?” He asked, his brow furrowed. On the surface, it likely sounded like a simple, easy question. But they all knew otherwise. It was the most loaded question he could ask, it was the question that could either give him the potential to create a relationship with his biological parents or would be the thing that convinced him to leave and never look back.
“We weren’t ready for children,” Bruce said, speaking up for the first time. “You would have had a better life with someone else, someone more stable.”
Danny gave him a flat look. “You adopted Dick Grayson less than a year later,” he said blandly. “If you really weren't a stable home for a child, why would you adopt a traumatized kid whose parents died in front of him?”
Selina gave Bruce a sharp look. “At the time, I had just decided to become Catwoman,” she said and beside her, Bruce stiffened up, a pained, slightly constipated look on his face for just a moment before it was gone. “I became Catwoman and that wasn’t the life to raise a newborn baby. I mean, I had so many enemies already, I was living in a tiny one bedroom apartment and I wasn’t ready to raise a newborn. Bruce and I had a one night stand after he tried to arrest me. We hated each other at the time,” she admitted and Danny sat there for a moment and stared at his biological parents in disbelief.
“You gave me up for adoption because you were a cat burglar,” he said slowly and then looked at Bruce. “That makes sense, but why didn’t you want to keep me? You’re a billionaire, you could have hired a nanny to watch me or something!”
Selina glared at Bruce and shoved a pointy elbow into his side and he let out a breath. “I did not feel like I could raise you as I was compromised in my own way,” he ground out and Danny watched as Selina slammed her heel into his toes. The man didn’t even flinch.
“Tell our son the truth,” she grounded out. “He deserves to know the truth,” she said sharply, her eyes burned bright. The two seemed to have a silent argument for a moment before Bruce broke eye contact with the woman first. Danny decided then and there that he liked his mother. Now he knew where he got his stubbornness from.
Bruce stared at her for a moment and Danny shifted in his seat.
“You don’t have to tell me,” he said hesitantly. “You don’t owe me anything. I understand not wanting to tell me,” he said. His heart hurt as he said it but he understood. He imagined Bruce likely didn’t have an answer for why he didn’t want Danny, he just didn’t want him. Some people were just like that, they didn’t want newborn babies, they wanted older kids. It made sense, all of his kids were preteens when he adopted them. Maybe he just didn’t feel qualified to raise a newborn baby the same way he felt qualified to raise a child or pre-teen.
“He’s Batman,” Selina finally said. “That’s why we couldn’t keep you. We couldn’t keep you because neither of us were in a place where we were able to raise a defenseless baby. We both had so many enemies, both as Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle and as Batman and Catwoman. It was no place for a baby, you wouldn’t be safe to live with us. When Bruce took Dick in just a year later, it was a surprise to him.”
Danny stared at his parents and a small smile grew on his face, he couldn’t help but let out the laugh that was bubbling out of him.
“So you’re telling me,” he said between his laughs. “That you put me up for adoption because you two are vigilantes and thought it would be safer for me?” He asked, feeling slightly hysterical.
He hadn’t been planning on telling them anything about his life in Amity. He was just going to get his answers and go on. But a large, vindictive, angry part of him? It was screaming at him to tell them just what the fuck he went through. He wondered if they would enjoy the irony in it as he did in that moment.
“Jokes on you guys, my parents killed me when I was fourteen,” he said with a laugh, falling back into his seat. He let out a breath and shook his head. “They neglected me and treated me like shit for eighteen years but yeah, totally fuckin’ kept me safe,” he said, his laughs were now bordering on hysterical. He didn’t even know if he was laughing because it was funny or because the only other option was to break down and cry.
His parents both took a sharp inhale of breath as he sat there, trying desperately to regain his composure.
He finally took a deep breath and sat back up. “I’m sorry, it’s just, my life has been complete and utter shit for the last four years, hell, you could say my entire life. My parents killed me. If we’re going to air out secrets then let me share a few with you. Do you know what happens when you walk into a broken invention and turn it on? Thousands upon thousands of volts of lightning go through your body, enough that it should have turned me into ash. Instead it turned me into this,” he said bitterly. Bright lights flashed and he changed forms into Phantom.
“Instead I only half died and became a ghost. And you know the real kicker? The Fentons are ghost hunters who wanted to rip me apart molecule by molecule and study me. I spent four years keeping the fact that I was a half ghost a secret from them because they would destroy me. My own house became a war zone because it was filled to the brim with things that could destroy me.”
Bruce and Selina stared at him in horror, their eyes wide, faces pale.
Danny let out a soft chuckle and shook his head. “You thought you were protecting me. Instead, I died. I spent the first fourteen years feeling unsafe and neglected. They never remembered my birthday, they forgot I existed most of the time, they treated me like I was an inconvenience. Then I die and a ghost kid starts showing up and finally I start getting attention from them but it’s them trying to kill me. They neglected my human half and forgot about me, but my ghost half became their main target.”
“Daniel,” Selina said with a whisper. “I-I’m so sorry. I didn’t know,” she whispered, her voice broken. Danny just let out a snort and shook his head.
“Of course you wouldn’t know, I’m not mad at that. Honestly, I’m not even mad that you put me up for adoption, I get it. Really I do. I’ve spent the last four years as a vigilante and I can’t even imagine how hard it would be to raise a baby while doing that. I just think it’s ironic that you did it for my safety and I managed to go to the least safe house in the world.”
Danny let out a humorless laugh. “Now I have the Ghost Investigation Ward hunting me, a crazy, insane godfather who’s so obsessed with me that he made a clone of me, and I had to fight an evil future version of myself that was so strong he managed to kill the Justice League. Hell, if I lived with you guys, I would have probably ended up becoming the first Robin, or fuckin’ Catlad or something. Who knows? At least I wouldn’t be dead.”
“You wouldn’t be dead,” Bruce whispered, staring off into the distance, his eyes unseeing. “We placed you for adoption and you died and we didn’t protect you.”
Danny froze at that. The angry, vindictive part immediately died inside of him.
Guilt was starting to seep inside of Danny now as he stared at his parents, the look of horror on their face. He thought telling them would have been funny, ironic even considering they had cared so much about him that they tried to give him a better life. It was sweet, really, to think about. He couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been for them to make that decision.
He saw it on both of their faces just how much they regretted it. He had to fix this, and had to backpedal. To get them to realize that he didn’t blame them, how the hell could he blame them when they were just wanting him to be safe? He was the one who was the dumbass that walked into the stupid portal at fourteen. He was the one who was too cowardly to ever tell his parents what he was and just ran away instead. They needed to know that he was okay, that he didn’t blame them.
He had come in expecting that he would get answers about why they didn’t want him and then leave forever. Danny expected them to turn him away and never get to know who his biological parents were. But looking at the destroyed looks on their faces, the obvious regret that they both carried with them, Danny knew that this was wrong. These were people that he could see himself growing to calling his family, people that he could one day call Mom and Dad. He could see it so perfectly in his mind, of celebrating birthday parties, Christmases and family time, going shopping or playing board games. Hell, maybe even go on patrols with them one day.
He could see it so perfectly in his mind and he wanted it. He wanted it so bad he could cry. He had to figure out a way to make it happen, to get them to know that he didn’t blame them. That he was happy, or on his way to being happy. That he would be going to school just a few states away and would be able to easily fly to them any time.
They could be a family.
Danny gave them a small smile. “I’m okay, you know,” he said softly, squeezing Selina’s hand in his. “I guess being a vigilante runs in our blood because I was a hero for four years, I saved so many lives and I loved it. I still love being a hero. There were good times, too, you know? I have some amazing friends who I’m moving to Massachusetts with and I have a big sister who drives me nuts but I adore her. I also managed to keep myself safe from the Fentons, they never actually managed to get me, they may be genius scientists but they’re also idiots.”
Bruce had that constipated look on his face once again. “Daniel, I’m–”
Danny shook his head and held his hand up before he phased back into his human form. “Don’t apologize,” he said, trying to keep a smile on his face. “Look, you guys put me up for adoption to protect me. It may not have worked out the way you wanted but we have time now. If you would like, maybe we can get to know each other? I-I would like to have parents who don’t want to hunt me down and experiment on me. I’ve always wanted to have a lot of siblings. Jazz is great but she lives in London right now for college.”
Selina gave him a small, timid smile. “I would like that,” she said softly and a bright grin spread on his face. Danny looked over at Bruce with a hopeful smile.
Bruce nodded. “I would like that as well,” he said before hesitating for a moment. “I would like to talk a bit more about this Ghost Investigation Ward and your adoptive parents. But I believe that we can wait before we do that,” he said.
The halfa nodded his head excitedly. “Absolutely. But only if you agree to tell me everything about being Batman and Catwoman. I have so many questions,” he said, his eyes bright. “Maybe we can even spar? I’m not super great with hand to hand stuff, I mean my mom is a ninth degree black belt and I’m a third degree black belt from training with her when I was younger but aside from that, I mostly have always relied on my powers. Maybe you can show me how to rely less on those?”
For the first time since they got there, Bruce gave him a small, imperceptible smile. “I think we can arrange something,” he said and leaned forward, resting his forearms against his knees. “But for right now, I’d like to learn about my son.”
Danny grinned. “Well first off, I hate going by Daniel. Everyone just calls me Danny,” he started, his heart feeling light for the first time all day. Maybe this would go a lot better than he had originally anticipated.
Bruce was in agony.
He put his first born son up for adoption so that he could have a safer, healthier life only for another one of his children to die. He was starting to wonder if he was cursed. If he had angered a magic user and they had decided that this was his punishment.
His sweet boy, his Daniel, had gone through so much in his short eighteen years of life. He had been neglected and abused, and had been murdered by the people who were supposed to protect him. Bruce had put Danny up for adoption so that he could be safe, so that he could have parents who loved him, who cherished him.
He watched as his son laughed and talked with his other children. The others had known that Bruce and Selina had made the difficult decision to place their son up for adoption, they had all sworn to never go looking for him out of respect for Bruce and Selina. None of them had been surprised in the slightest when they found Danny sitting at the dining room table. In fact, they had all been beyond excited to get to know the eighteen year old.
He stood in the doorway watching as they laughed and chatted with one another and gripped the door jamb until his knuckles were white.
“He’s home, Bruce,” Selina said softly, placing her arm around his waist. “He’s home and we have a chance to be the parents he deserves.”
“He died,” Bruce choked out and Selina shook her head.
“We can’t focus on that. It’s like Danny said, we would have never known that would happen. He doesn’t hate us for it, he just wants to get to know him. I don’t know about you, Darling, but instead of regretting our past and thinking about the what-if’s, I would like to embrace the fact that he is here now. He’s here and he’s happy and we’re going to show him all of the love and affection that he deserves. So stop living in the past,” Selina said, pinching his side.
Bruce’s brow furrowed as he watched Danny’s head throw back in laughter at something that Jason told him. “He deserves better,” he said finally. “We can be better. For Danny.”
Selina smiled and rested her head on his arm as they watched their children. “For Danny.”