#danny and respawn also don't have birthdays listed...

[thevoidstaredback]

Part 4

Danny didn't go back into his room until well after dawn. At some point, he'd heard rather than seen a jet of some kind landing in the middle of a rush of water.

For being so careful with where the Batcave - and Danny stands by the fact that that's a stupid name - is, they make quite obvious entrances to it. He has to admit, begrudgingly, that it being under their own house is clever. And a bit funny.

Throughout the night, Danny had been texting Dani. They were in sending increasingly ridiculous pictures to each other, eventually morphing into a GIF war. It was still ongoing, but she had to go to school, something that had taken nearly a year for he and the others to convince her of, so they had to call a temporary truce.

His next message was to Jazz, just to wish her a happy birthday.

There was still shit covering the sky, preventing any blue from coming through. Somehow, though, there was a bit of sunlight illuminating Gotham as a whole.

Still invisible, as he'd been since Jason left him alone, he flew back into his room via the broken window. He didn't bother to clean up the glass. Instead, he checked for any evidence that anyone had been in there. The furniture in front of the door was undisturbed, though some of the glass had been crushed under foot. There was also plastic and tape to use to cover the window left on the bed. as well as a note.

He didn't bother to look at it. He did cover the window, though, using the extra to set a simple - Talia and Deathstroke would call it archaic - detection trap on the other window in the room.

There was a knock on the door. He paused, but didn't respond. "We missed you at dinner," Bruce Wayne said, "Will you join us for breakfast?"

He walked over to the bathroom, opened the door, and slammed it behind him. They would have to drag him kicking and screaming from his unmarked grave before he joined any of them for a meal.

There was a very faint, even to the slightly enhanced hearing, sigh as Bruce Wayne walked away from the door.

Danny sat on the floor.

What made Talia think that Bruce Wayne was a good person to send him to? He's not even related to him!

No, he doesn't count Damian. He refuses to count Damian. As far as Danny' concerned, he doesn't have a brother. He has two parents who, despite him not being thiers, love him and two sisters whom he loves. They're all the family he needs; all the family he wants.

Who does Talia- who does Damian think he is? He can't just appear and claim him like some-some pet!

And Talia and Deathstroke? Can shove their shit up their asses!

But he can't say any of that, so he's hiding in a bathroom.

No, he's not hiding. He's... hiding.

So, he's hiding. He's hiding in the bathroom of an apartment sized bedroom in the mansion owned by probably the richest frootloop in the world- And there are people claiming to be his new siblings, trying to replace the family he built and painstakingly tried to hide!

He cried into his arms, his knees pulled to his chest. He cried, and he sobbed, and he hiccuped because it's so unfair.

First, the only people he's ever known make him very aware that he is and will never be anything more than a clone. Then, the people he's told donated their genetic code to bring him to life want nothing to do with him. Next, while in hiding, he fucking dies and everyone he knows is constantly denying it! Add that on top of the constant battles he doesn't want to be fighting. And while all that's happening, Talia barges in and carts him off to Gotham City on the other side of the country telling him that's going to be spending the summer with his brother and her Beloved.

He's so tired. He's exhausted.

Danny thinks it's unfair that he has enough tragic backstories for several lifetimes. He's technically only four years old, so why is this the hand he's been dealt?!

He stands, however long later, and leaves the bathroom. The glass has been cleaned up, the detection trap on the second window was taken down and is now in the bin by the door. There's new stuff to redo it on the bed that's been moved back to it's proper place. The dress's been moved, too, and the door's unlocked.

He locks the door again and hides in the closet.

Part 6