A Broken Sort of Normal, Part 18
WC: 1565, Masterpost
“Here to bring me to a debrief?” Danny asks the shadow lurking in the doorway. He swears that Batman almost looks chastised at that. “It’s fine, Batman, I know how these things work.”
“The core Titans are insisting on being there, for moral support,” Batman rumbles. “If you aren’t comfortable with that, they’ll be sent away.”
Danny chuckles; that really is like them. “No, I might as well only go through it all once. Besides, that’s sweet. Can I at least take the time to put on real clothing?”
Batman narrows his eyes at Danny. “You’re still injured. Loose clothing only.”
“Gods, how does no one see what a dad you are,” Danny teases.
Batman smiles, just for a moment, before he turns to sweep over dramatically out of the room. “I’ll send in Flash with some approved clothing.”
“That better be my Flash you’re sending in!” Danny calls after Batman. When the doorway is free of the luring hero, Danny lets himself fall back against the pile of pillows.
A debrief. How is he supposed to explain any of this? So far he hasn’t been allowed to explain things, really. Part of it is that he’s spent most of the last several days asleep. When he has been awake, it’s to a rotating cast of heroes; all heroes that he was close to and knew behind the mask. With every able bodied hero busy with clean up, no one has been able to stay long. He sees Barry the most, what with the other’s leg, but even Barry is busy helping coordinate the recovery efforts.
(Danny’s also pretty sure that they’re using the chance to visit him as a way to make people take a break.)
While the heroes are with him, it’s been mostly Danny getting updated on everyone and whoever is with him getting information to update everyone else with. They won’t even let him work, but they do pass on information about his crews at least. It’s Wally who’s with him the most. Wally was there the first time Danny woke and as Danny breathed through panic attacks and to patiently reply to the endless stream of messages for Danny.
Speak of the devil… Danny’s phone chimes again.
He can’t look at it.
He hasn’t been able to look at it since the first message from Jasmine came in. Since they all remembered.
Wally hadn’t asked. He had just let Danny shake apart in his arms and has handled Danny’s phone from then on. ‘This is Danny’s boyfriend. He’s alive and will recover. He’ll contact you at a later time.’
“I thought we put that thing on silent,” Wally says with a glare at the phone as he steps into the room.
Danny makes shameless grabby hands at the clothing. “So did I. Who is it?”
Danny’s proud that his voice doesn’t shake at the question.
Maybe it’s fair that they’ve all been avoiding the big big questions. Maybe it really is obvious that he’s still only hanging on by a thread. He certainly feels less like a live wire and more like the one, stubborn fuse still humming in the circuit breaker.
He certainly feels weak.
“Jasmine again.”
Danny sucks in a staggered breath and lets it out slowly. “Just… just tell her that I’m sorry, but I can’t yet.”
Wally presses a kiss to Danny’s temple. “I’ll remind her that you’re healing too. You just worry about getting dressed.”
“What, don’t want to help out with that part?” teases Danny as he undid the tie at the base of his neck. The Watchtower might have pretty nice quality, but any medical garb was going to be a little scratchy, and Danny is glad to have it off. He’s careful with his taped over IV port as he slides on the plain white shirt and then the well worn hoodie. It has a faded Nightwing logo and smells like Wally.
Something in Danny’s chest relaxes a little as he buries his face into the fabric and it nearly makes him sob.
“Danny?”
Danny just shakes his head.
“Oh, babe, it’s okay, I’m here. I have you.” Wally tosses the phone onto the bed and wraps Danny up into a hug. “I’m so sorry I haven’t been around—”
“Don’t, you were saving lives,” Danny says and tucks his face against Wally’s neck. “It’s what you needed to be doing.”
“Yeah, well, I’m here now. I’ve officially been pulled off duty. My job right now is you.”
“I don’t want to take you away from anything important.”
“You aren’t. Babe, you’re why we’re all still here. Let yourself be cared for, okay? I promise if anything comes up that really needs my help I’ll go, but let me make you my priority,” Wally urges.
Danny closes his eyes. “I told myself I’d never ask that of you. I know what you are.”
“You aren’t, I’m offering. Please, babe, let me make you my priority.”
He wants to. Gods does he want to. He wants to go back home to their apartment and have Wally with him and just let the other take care of everything, just for a little bit, just until it stopped feeling like his insides were hollow. Just until he could be okay enough to lie and say that he was fine.
Just until then.
“Okay. I— yeah, okay. I think I need that right now,” Danny manages to admit.
“Thank you,” Wally whispers like it was Danny doing him the great service. “First act, let’s get you out of those pants.”
“You cad,” Danny gasps dramatically.
Wally rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling now so Danny counts it as a win. “And get you into the sweatpants.”
“I can’t believe I’m going to debrief in sweats,” Danny says as he lets Wally help him finish changing. He’s a little less balanced in his feet than he’d like to be.
Okay, a lot less balanced.
Wally doesn’t even let him walk to the debrief, instead he insists on pushing Danny there in a wheelchair. Danny knows there’s no shame in needing a wheelchair, but it doesn’t help him be less frustrated at the way he feels weak down to his bones. Hell, he feels weak down to is core. At least he gets to move himself to a regular chair once they’re inside the conference room.
"Thank you for being willing to do this, Danny,” Wonder Woman says. She’s leaning forward, arms resting on the table, and offering a smile. At the table is a selection of other top tier members: Batman, Superman, a Green Lantern (Hal Jordan in this case), John Constantine, Zatanna, and, right next to Danny, Barry.
The Titans are off to the side, slightly behind the Dark members, in chairs that were obviously dragged into the room. Garfield gives Danny an enthusiastic thumbs up that almost makes him laugh.
“Of course. I get why there are questions,” Danny says instead.
“There are,” Superman agreed. “Now, as you aren’t a Justice League member and are in no way under any sort of investigation, this is going to be a bit informal. We’re just trying to make sure our report on recent events are as clear as possible.”
Danny huffs out a breath of air. His gaze darts over to Wally before dropping. “It’s a big more than that, isn’t it?”
“Kid?” Barry asks gently.
“You all want to know what I am, which is fair. If I could have, I would have told you.” Danny looks back at Wally again and gives a half hearted smile. “Sorry I couldn’t.”
“Why couldn’t you?” Batman asks, though the rumble of words isn’t unkind.
A sour smile twists Danny’s lips. “Curses are like that. Aren't they, Laughing Magician?” Danny hears Constantine and sucks in a breath and steels himself to look up at him. “How much do you know about her? About Desiree?”
Constantine shakes his head. “Not much. It’s not wise to go digging into the affairs of a member of the Infinite Realms, even an ended one.”
“Speak normal for the rest of us,” Hal says. “A who of what?”
“Infinite realms. That means a sodding ghost,” Constantine snaps.
Barry scoffs. “Ghost’s aren’t real.”
“Boo,” Danny replies. His smile is slightly too wide.
“Not funny, Danny.”
Danny shrugs. “Not trying to be. I’m half ghost.”
“How is someone half ghost?” Hal asks.
“I’m like Schrödinger’s Cat,” Danny explains. He can’t help for for his gaze to flick over to where the Titans are sitting and find Wally’s eyes. “I’m still in the box, basically. I’m half alive and half dead. Both and neither. A balance.”
“A myth.” Constantine leans forward. He taps the butt of his unlit cigarette against the table. “Or so we always thought. You telling me that you’re a halfa?”
The question pulls Danny’s focus back to the main table of heroes. “Yep. One of three. Me, my godfather, and my clone.”
Superman clears his throat. “Ah, your clone?”
Danny just gives another shrug. “Shit gets weird when you’re a teenage vigilante.”
“Danny,” Batman says, and Danny can’t help but smile again because the man is clearly one step away from pinching the bridge of his nose like he does as Bruce when one of his children is driving him mad. “Start from the beginning. State your name for the record.”
“Danny Jasper Fenton.”
---
AN: Vote was in favor of splitting it up. I've got a chunk of the next part written, so hopefully I can get it finished up next week! Sorry if there are lots of issues, words and me are struggling atm.
Poor Danny is really struggling with things as his world has once again changed. And what will everyone think of him now...?
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