Notes: I finally found time to work a bit on this! A ton of irl stuff happened (all good things) and its cut into my writing time. I have over 10k already written, but its stuff that happens in later chapters, so once i get through this chapter and the next i can start dumping those out (a few of them are already posted on my tumblr! just search "fenton foley protection services" on hinacu-arts)
This chapter feels a little incomplete (like last one 😅) but its been over a month and i want to put something out there.
Jason was walking to the house gym when a fainter version of that unnerving feeling came back, lasting only a moment. Jason stopped and checked around him. No one was watching him. He continued on his way and discovered Dick, Damian, and the Dannies were in the gym.
All four of them were standing on their hands, goading each other on. Dick looked as comfortable as always, chatting away like normal. He was wearing a truly awful neon pink Hawaiian shirt with board shorts, both of which had ridden up some. Danny, on the other hand, looked like he was struggling. He was wobbling back and forth and his face was flushed. Well, what Jason could see of his face. Danny's loose shirt had slid down and hooked on his chin, covering half his face and exposing almost all of his torso. Jason was surprised to see Danny was fairly muscular. Danny had only worn loose t-shirts so far, giving off the illusion of him being narrow and scrawny. Dani was next to him and doing better. Her face was also flushed but her balance was steady. She had tucked the hem of her shirt into her bra, also exposing unexpected muscle definition. Damian was as steady as ever. Perfect stance, blank face. He was the only one in gym clothes, of which he had tucked the hem of his shirt into his shorts. His face was uncharacteristically flushed. Nowhere near as bad as the Dannies, but enough to be noticeable. Jason saw his eyes dart over to Dani's midriff before purposefully fixing themselves forward again.
"What's going on in here?"
"Jaybird!" Dick exclaimed, "We're seeing who can last the longest."
"What Grayson means to say," Damian chimed in, "is that these three interrupted my exercises to pursue this childish competition."
"Hey! You're competing in this 'childish competition' too!" Dani piped up. Damian simply grunted in response.
Danny collapsed to the ground with a thump. Dick and Dani cheered. Danny rolled onto his back before giving them the middle finger.
"Well," Jason said, "I'm going to use the erg since none of you are using it," before walking all the way to the other side of the gym. And it was a very large gym. Jason had just reached the erg when suddenly Dick came up behind him, vaulted over it, and kept running.
Dick was only a few steps from the door when Jason noticed Danny in front of it. In a moment Danny had scooped Dick up over his left shoulder, one hand on Dick's belt and the other in the space behind Dick's knee. Dick went limp in his arms, "How do you keep doing that?"
"I'm the escape master. You can't out-escape me," Danny said as he began carrying Dick back through the gym. By the time they had passed Jason, Dick had stopped being deadweight and tried to take some of his weight off of Danny by placing a hand on the small of Danny's back and pushing up, although Danny seemed to have no trouble carrying 5'7" of solid muscle. "We'll see about that," Dick winked at Jason as they passed.
"What the fuck just happened?" Jason asked.
Dick propped his chin up on his free hand, "Oh, just testing our security."
Danny snorted, "Sure you are."
"Mister Pennyworth," Tucker said, "You can't just go out and run errands without informing any of us."
Mr. Pennyworth raised an eyebrow, "I am a butler, Mister Foley. Running errands is a large part of my job."
"Yes, well, we would all feel better if you took someone with you next time. Regardless how early it is." Mr. Pennyworth had left at 7:40 that morning, and in that time he had picked up dry cleaning, done some grocery shopping, and arrived back home with a passenger. It was now midday, and Tucker was a bit mad at himself for not noticing they lost track of a whole-ass person under their care for several hours. Tucker had managed to meet him as he was exiting the car next to the kitchen entrance.
Mr. Pennyworth's eyebrow did not move, "I do believe that would simply be a waste of resources. Master Bruce and the children are the targets."
"It would not be a waste of resources. You are a member of the family, or the very least a member of this household. You were Mister Wayne's legal guardian and father for the majority of his childhood and have worked for the Wayne family for nearly fifty years. Mister Wayne very clearly cares a lot about you, and his children adore you. The family's emotional connection to you in addition to you being less 'high profile' as a staff member makes you the prime kidnapping target," Tucker took a breath before he continued. Mr. Pennyworth's eyebrow had gone back down and the blonde in the passenger seat was smiling.
"I'm honestly surprised you haven't already been kidnapped. Unless you were and it just wasn't in the papers. And I've read your file, I know you have combat experience and might be able to handle yourself, but it is my job to ensure you never find yourself in that situation. So next time please wake one of us up and we will go with you, and if for some reason we cannot go with you at the very least please text me and tell me where you are going and the estimated time you will arrive at each location," Tucker felt a bit better now that was out of the way.
"Now, what can I help you carry inside?" Tucker asked, because his parents would murder him if he did not help unload the car of the people who were housing him.
Mr. Pennyworth nodded his head and walked around the car to open the passenger side, "I can write you a copy of this week's itinerary, if you would like?"
"I would like that very much, thank you."
"In that case," Mr. Pennyworth said as held the passenger door open for the blonde girl, "I would much appreciate if you and Miss Brown could bring the groceries inside while I handle the dry cleaning."
"I like you," Ms. Brown said, "I'm Stephanie. Tim is going to help me with some homework, no idea if he let anyone know I was coming."
"No, but Duke did," Tucker held out his hand, "I'm Tucker Foley."
"Ah, what would any of us do without Duke?" Stephanie said as she shook Tucker's hand. Mr. Pennyworth chuckled as he opened the back of the SUV.
Tucker's eyes went huge when he saw exactly how many groceries were in the back. Does a family of seven really go through this much food? Even if you added Tucker, Danny, and Dani it was a insane amount of food.
"I know right," Stephanie said as she started loading her arms up with bags, "They eat a lot of food. They order at least two meals each anytime they go out. And Alfred promised me mac and cheese, so at least two of these bags are just different kinds of cheeses."
Mr. Pennyworth walked past with his arms full of evening dresses and suits, "Miss Brown, you eat half the pantry every time you are here. You are just as much to blame as they are."
Tucker held in a laugh. Stephanie didn't seem to mind the comment.
"It's only because your cooking is so good! So really this entire thing is your fault," Stephanie said as she opened the door with her knee before moving aside to let Mr. Pennyworth and Tucker through.
"And we have that event tomorrow evening, so you won't have to feed me that night at all!"
"Fenton."
Both Dannies turned around. "Which one?" Tucker asked.
Tucker had been introducing Steph to the Dannies when Damian came by with a question.
"Daniel."
The Dannies looked at each other. "Which one?" they said in unison.
Damian was clearly getting frustrated. His face scrunched up and his voice tone was annoyed, "How do you usually differentiate yourselves?"
The Dannies started listing off names as they counted on their fingers.
"Danny-with-a-Y,"
"Dani-with-a-I,"
"Boy-Danny,"
"Girl-Danny,"
"Him,"
"Her,"
"The tall one,"
"The shorter one,"
"The older one,"
"The younger one."
Damian remained frustrated, "I am not calling either of you either of those names."
"Well, we both respond to 'Dannie' or 'Fenton'."
"But that does not resolve the issue."
Dani tilted her head, "Why do you not want to call us 'Dannie'?"
"'Dannie' is a nickname, which would imply we have a closer relationship than we have."
"What if you called one of them 'Fenton' and the other 'Daniel'?" Steph suggested.
"Fair warning," Tucker spoke up, "neither of them like to be called 'Daniel'. Like they really don't like it."
"But that is their name, why would I call them anything else?" Damian looked genuinely confused.
"Call me by a name I don't like and I'll call you by a name you don't like."
"Ditto."
Damian crossed his arms, "I insist you allow me to call at least one of you 'Daniel'."
Danny crossed his arms to mirror Damian, "Alright, Ian."
Steph did not try to smother her laughter. Damian was outraged. She had never seen his face that red before. Damian opened and shut his mouth a few times in shock before he found his words, "That is not my name."
"Sure thing, Dames." Danny-with-a-Y was grinning.
Damian stood up, "I demand you call me by my proper name!"
"Hmmm… maybe we should call him 'Dami' instead?" Dani-with-a-I suggests.
"No!"
"How about 'Day'?"
"No. 'Amy'?"
"'Dameron'?"
"You've started a war you cannot win," Tucker sighed and slumped into a seat.
"'Day-Way'? Because 'day' in Damian and the 'way' in Wayne."
"Day-Way, Daway, D-Way- no. Dwight."
Steph was howling with laughter now. She decided she really liked Tucker and the Dannies.
Steph fought to catch her breath, "Guys, guys, you're missing the obvious choice."
The Dannies looked at her. Steph started giggling again.
"Dwayne. His name is literally D. Wayne."
Notes: Due to popular request Dick trying to escape Danny is now a running joke. This time he waited until Danny was disoriented and dizzy before straight up running. It didn't work.
Yes i wrote 1k just to make the Damian - Ian (Dam"ian") joke. IVE BEEN SITTING ON IT FOR TWO MONTHS