Chapter Text
The sky outside the car window was washed in the heavy gray of a Gotham afternoon. The clouds were pressing low over the skyline like they could smother the world if they tried hard enough.
Danny’s breath fogged the glass as he leaned his forehead against it, watching buildings whip by. Gotham was only built with dark bricks, steel beams, and flickering neon signs. It all felt foreign and cold. Like the city already knew he didn’t belong.
The hum of the engine filled the silence inside the car. It was a steady reminder for Danny that there was no turning back now.
Across from him sat Bruce Wayne who was silent, and who just stared at Danny. His long coat was folded neatly beside him, sleeves of his black dress shirt rolled to his forearms, a watch ticking steadily on his wrist. His phone sat dark on the seat between them. Bruce hadn’t looked at it since they’d left the airport.
Danny glanced at him from under his bangs. Bruce noticed. “You warm enough?” Bruce asked, voice low but not unkind.
Danny gave a quick nod and tightened his grip on the frayed strap of his duffel bag. It was faded blue, too small for a proper suitcase, and stuffed with everything he’d brought. Two shirts, a photo of his mom, a space magazine she used to read with him, and a book with the corner chewed by a long-dead hamster.
Bruce watched him for a second longer, then looked back out his own window.
Alfred was the one driving. He hadn’t said much since they’d pulled away from the curb, but his eyes met Danny’s in the rearview mirror with a small, gentle smile. “Wayne Manor isn’t far now, Master Daniel. I think you’ll find it… quiet.”
Danny didn’t know if that was a good thing. And he wished for them to just call him Danny, like his mom did.
He sat back in the seat, the leather too smooth and too soft. He felt like he was going to slide right out of it.
“I know this isn’t easy,” Bruce said suddenly, voice quiet enough to make Danny turn toward him. “I wish things had happened differently.”
Danny blinked.
Bruce cleared his throat. “Your mother… she and I didn’t get along. But I didn’t want this to be how you meet me. She kept you away because she thought it was safer. Maybe she was right.” He glanced down at his hands. “But I should’ve tried harder to see you.”
Danny didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t expected that. He’d expected coldness, silence. Maybe even irritation. Not… guilt.
Danny looked away.
The car turned, and the road grew longer and darker. Trees lined the sides now, tall and shadowed, branches bare from early spring. The sky threatened rain, but held back, like it wanted to wait until Danny was inside before it cried for him.
“Do I have to call you ‘Dad’?” Danny asked quietly.
Bruce hesitated. “No. Only if you want to.”
Danny shrugged. “Okay.” Another silence. But this one didn’t feel as heavy.
They passed an iron gate that opened on its own, and the car crunched over gravel as the road curved. Danny’s breath hitched. Wayne Manor was huge.
Not just big, not just rich person house that was big. It was massive. A castle. The windows stretched up like watchful eyes, the front doors towering and dark, ivy curling along the stone walls like the house had been trying to hold itself together for centuries.
Danny’s stomach dropped. This wasn’t his home that he was used to.
The car pulled to a stop, and Alfred stepped out first, opening Danny’s door like he was royalty. Danny blinked up at him, and the older man gave him a reassuring nod.
“I’ll take your bag, Master Daniel.”
“I’ve got it,” Danny mumbled, clutching it to his chest and stepping out.
The front steps loomed. Bruce walked beside him now, his hand brushing lightly against Danny’s back, slightly pushing Danny forward.
Inside, the manor was even crazier than he imagined. The ceilings were impossibly high, chandeliers glittering above, and paintings that looked older than time lined the walls. Every footstep echoed when someone took a step.
Danny didn’t say anything. He just tried to breathe.
“You’ll have your own room,” Bruce said. “It’s upstairs, down the hall from mine. The other boys are around here somewhere. I can introduce you later, if you’d like.”
“Okay,” Danny said again, his voice barely there.
Bruce crouched in front of him, surprising Danny. Bruce looked him in the eyes, blue meeting blue.
“I know you don’t know me, not personally. But I’m here now. I’m not perfect, and I probably won’t get this right all the time.” A pause. “But I’m glad you’re here Danny, truly.”
Danny stared at him, unsure if he believed him, unsure if he could believe him. His fingers tightened around the strap of his bag. “Okay.”
Bruce gave a small nod, then stood. “Alfred can show you to your room. I’ll be in my study if you need me.”
As Bruce walked away, his footsteps echoing down the long marble hall, Danny watched him go, heart heavy, thoughts spinning.
He didn’t know what he expected when he was told he would meet his father. But it wasn’t this.
— - - —
The bedroom was bigger than Danny’s whole apartment back in Wisconsin.
He stood in the doorway awkwardly, bag clutched to his chest like a shield, as Alfred opened the wide double doors and stepped aside with a soft, “This will be yours, Master Daniel.”
The walls were painted a soft, warm gray, not cold and sterile like he feared. A tall window stretched up to the ceiling, light filtered through heavy curtains, and the bed looked… impossibly large. Too much space. Too much room for someone who felt this small.
There was a desk already stacked with notebooks and sharpened pencils. A few books lined the shelf with some classics, some comics, and one astronomy guide. A telescope sat near the window, covered in a thin layer of dust, like it hadn’t been touched in a while.
“Master Bruce asked me to prepare the room myself,” Alfred said, following Danny’s gaze to the books. “He wasn’t sure what you liked, but he remembered your mother once mentioned your fascination with the stars.”
Danny’s throat tightened. “She did?”
Alfred smiled kindly. “She was very proud of you.”
Danny nodded, eyes dropping to the floor.
“Take your time to settle in. I’ll return in a moment with something warm to eat.” He left the door slightly open.
Danny dropped his duffel on the bed and stood there for a long minute. Then he walked slowly around the room, dragging his fingers across the desk, tracing the edges of the bookshelf, the smooth curve of the telescope. Everything felt touched but untouched. Like someone had tried, but didn’t know how.
He sat on the edge of the bed, feet swinging a few inches above the ground, and looked out the window.
It finally started raining.
The knock came ten minutes later. Lighter than Alfred’s. Before Danny could answer, the door opened and a teenager poked his head in. He had dark hair, blue eyes, tall and grinning.
“Hey,” he said, stepping in fully. “You must be Danny.”
Danny nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’s me.”
“I’m Dick.” The teen offered a hand, then seemed to realize Danny was still seated and dropped it sheepishly. “Right. Sorry. Uh, I’m kind of your older brother. Technically. I mean, Bruce adopted me a while ago. Before you came.”
Danny’s eyebrows pulled together, his voice soft. “How many of you are there?”
Dick chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “Right now? Two. Me and Jason. You’ll meet him in a second. He’s a little… much.”
As if summoned, another voice called from the hallway. “You better not be scaring the new kid, Dick!”
Then the second brother entered who was shorter than Dick, maybe fourteen or so, with a cocky grin and a leather jacket thrown over a hoodie.
“Yo. You’re Danny?” Jason asked, hands in his pockets, scanning him from head to toe like he was trying to size him up.
Danny gave a small nod. Jason shrugged, then grinned. “Cool. You don’t look annoying as I thought you would be.”
Dick rolled his eyes. “Jason.”
“What? I’m being honest.”
Danny blinked, uncertain. But then, for the first time since arriving, something tugged at the corner of his mouth. Just barely. “Thanks, I guess.”
Jason smirked. “You’re welcome.”
Dick sat down next to him on the bed. “You doing okay? We know it’s a lot at the beginning.”
Danny hesitated. Then: “It’s really big and quite here.” His mom always has some type of noise on around their apartment.
Jason flopped onto the carpet, arms stretched. “Yeah, well, it won’t be when I’m around.”
“Don’t let him fool you,” Dick added. “He’s always this loud.”
Danny looked between them. They were just two boys who were strangers, but they didn’t feel not inclusive. Just… real Kids. They weren’t trying to act like his family. Not yet at least. And that made it easier for Danny to breathe.
“You like video games?” Jason asked suddenly.
Danny blinked. “Yeah.”
“Cool. We got a console downstairs. I’ll destroy you later at Mario kart.”
Danny’s lips twitched. “We’ll see.”
Dick stood. “Come downstairs when you’re ready Danny. Alfred’s making grilled cheese. And Bruce is trying not to hover you, but he’s terrible at it.”
Jason grinned at that. “Guy’s like a ghost. Just appears when you least expect it.”
They moved toward the door. But before Jason stepped out, he glanced back and said, a little quieter, “You don’t have to talk about anything if you don’t want to. You can just… hang out. Or not. It’s your call.”
Danny looked at him. At both of them. And for the first time, he didn’t feel like he was drowning in loneliness.
“Okay,” he said. “Maybe in a bit.”
Jason nodded. “We’ll be around.” The door shut gently behind them.
Danny looked out at the rain again, listening to the soft tapping on the window. His hand went to his duffel, fingers brushing against the photo of his mom, tucked safely in the side pocket.
For now, he stayed sitting. But the air didn’t feel quite so cold as it did when he first walked in.
— - - —