Danny was fine, that's what he kept telling himself. It was true. All the out-of-towners made their way out of the small town, Danny was given freedom from his mother once again. Amity Park had gone back to normal for all the locals, Danny had a decent grasp on being King, and his parents seem a little more relax lately. It was good, and Danny found himself falling back into his usual routine. One that excluded a certain Dark Knight.

He refused to think about the fact that he had missed Batman on his last night. Hadn't gotten the chance to say goodbye because of a certain little fruit-loop. Vlad had been so certain Danny had done something to get Bruce Wayne to refuse his offer. No matter how many times Danny told him that he hadn't told the man anything, it didn't matter. When Vlad made up his mind, he made up his mind.

Danny had felt bad for missing the meeting, hoping he could see Batman the next night. This time, Danny swore to himself he would warn the crusader. Tell him that Vlad Masters should never be welcomed to Gotham. If Vlad believed Danny was trying to put his plans for extension to a stop. Well, that's exactly what the teen was going to do.

Except Bats wasn't there. Cujo was, and the little pup was more than excited to see Danny again. Refusing to get off the teen until the little ghost was certain his human was okay and safe. Danny had been more than confused when Cujo suddenly phased into a nearby tree, the confusion only growing when Cujo popped up with an item in his mouth.

A communicator and a note.

Danny ignore the sharp wave of sadness he felt when he realized he had completely missed Batman's departure. Hadn't been able to warn the man about the evil coming into his haunt. Despite that, Danny had simply tucked the communicator away for possible future use, and went on with his life.

He had it tucked away into one of his drawers, under some clothes. Danny had debated for a moment about using it, calling Bats, and telling him everything Danny had plan to tell him that night. But the teen didn't. It was over. All good things had to come to an end, and Danny had known the vigilante wasn't going to be in Amity Park for long. Danny blamed himself for not saying something earlier. It felt stranger that his last memory of Batman would be the hug.

Danny refused to think about it.

In the time that followed, Danny shoved all thoughts about Batman to the back of his mind. There was no reason to dwell on something that was over. Danny saw no reason why Batman would ever come back to Amity Park, and Danny saw no reason why he'd ever be in Gotham. So, Danny ignored it. Just like he did for a lot of things that felt out of his control.

There was the thought of a certain businessman that did wiggle into Danny's brain. Bruce Wayne. Now, Danny had his biases. He didn't like rich people, they were all crazy in their own way. Even with being friends with Sam, it was a clear thing. Rich people had a certain disconnection to the world that always rubbed Danny wrong. Small things, little things. Almost like they seemed to forget that not everyone had money to do things.

Despite that, Sam was the only rich person Danny could stand. She wasn't so wrapped up in the money, or image that came along with it. She's one of his best friends, even if they did bump heads sometimes. But Sam was usually willing to listen, and learn from what Danny or Tucker had to say. Even if she was sometimes hardheaded, Danny still loves her. She will always be apart of the trio.

Except, than Bruce Wayne wondered into his life. A brief chance encounter at Nasty Burger, and Danny's thoughts on the rich had shifted slightly. Bruce seemed more human, more okay with being viewed as less than perfect. Sure, Danny still hadn't trusted Bruce. Hadn't trusted him, even when he found out they both disliked a certain mayor. It was strange, but it had been nice.

That's where Danny had expected his experiences with Bruce Wayne to end. He hadn't expected to scold the man at Dalv. Co after failing to talk himself out of going that day. Danny also didn't expect Bruce to essentially defend him against Vlad. It probably didn't seem like much, but when Bruce had corrected Vlad about Danny's name, it had struck Danny right in the core.

And Danny hated it.

So, along with Batman, Bruce Wayne went to the back of his mind. Danny chalked it up to this being just how Gothamites are. Brushed the strange week to nothing but a fun story, and moved on with his life. Went to class, met up with his friends, argued with his mother, and shared fudge with his father. Life was back to normal, and Danny thought that was all fine and dandy. Jazz came back from her college tours excited and rambling about the future. It was good, life was good.

"Danny... Did something happen when I was gone?" Just like that, Jazz flipped the lie on it's head. Okay, Danny couldn't blame her for it. After there talk about her psychoanalyzing everything, she had been doing a good job at letting Danny go at his own pace. Letting him come to her when he was ready for answers. She was bound to ask her questions, and she was trying to be nice about it.

Danny gave his normal excuses, telling her it was just his status as King and Vlad getting to him. He had just passed a new motion in the Zone, and his parents were hounding him more to go in to see Vlad. It wasn't a big deal, and Danny was fine. He was. Danny was just fine, and he didn't need people worrying about him. Jazz had simply gave him a sad smile, and a side hug to pair.

"You know I'm always here for you, baby bro."

"I know."

That was how far heart-to-hearts went in the Fenton home as of late. Ever since Freshman year, the dynamic in the home had changed, had shifted. As time moved, Danny slowly became more of the black sheep in the family. The odd one. The only idiot among a family of geniuses. It was just how it was, and Danny had started to believe it.

Despite his side projects, the things he tinkered and made in his free time. Despite how often he had to step in and secretly adjust his parents inventions. Despite Danny somehow managing to govern the Zone as a child. Despite the way his parents tried to hype him up, or when Sam and Tucker did it. Despite all that, Danny believed he was the stupid one. The problem in his family. Slowly, he started retreating more. Pulling away from those around him.

Finding silly excuses that were just plausible enough for people to leave him alone.

Danny fell back into the space he had been before his nightly meetings with a certain Dark Knight. He hadn't realized how much that week had helped him, until he no longer had it. But Danny still had Cujo. Still went to that park on a nightly, and still found comfort as he sat in the grass and stared out into the night sky. It was fine, it was good. Danny didn't need Batman in his life, he had barely known the man for a week. Danny was fine before, and he'll be fine now.

It took four days for Danny to completely settle back in to his prior routine. To stop look at the communicator and debating about calling Batman. It took a full week, for Danny to manage to actually pushing the vigilante to the back of his mind. Things were finally back to normal. Danny was back to normal. Until the second week brought forth a new problem.

"This is so unfair!"

Danny was pissed for many reasons. The biggest reason being his parents lack of care for his own wants and desires. He was trying hard not to blame them, he really was. In more than one way, this was Danny's fault. If he had just tried harder in school, if he put more time aside to keep his grades up, if he just stopped running out of class at every shiver and puff of smoke... If Danny had just been what his parents wanted, then this wouldn't be happening.

"Don't take that tone up with me! We're just trying to do what's best for you, Danny."

It took everything in Danny not to explode at Maddie's words. His own mother was willing to do this. The same woman who tried to avoid Vlad like the plague was willing to send Danny states away with the man. It took everything for Danny to keep his powers in check, to keep that buzz of energy contained beneath his skin. It was one thing for Danny to go to Vlad's mansion. Sure it was a different state, but it was right there. Not far, and Danny knew the path home like the back of his hand.

New Jersey? That was much further, and much more disconnected from Danny's support group. He'd be completely alone with Vlad, in a foreign state. He wouldn't have Sam or Tucker there to help him if need be. Jazz wouldn't be there. The thought alone had a familiar bubble of fear and anxiety rising in Danny's chest, but his anger outweighed that. Easily.

"But why Gotham!? I'll intern for Vlad more often here, if that's what you want! I don't want to go there alone with him... Mom, please..."

All of Danny's words fell on deaf ears. He knew that look in Maddie's eyes, that harden stare she seemed to have only reserved for him. She stopped listening to him the moment she told him what was happening. She wasn't asking, she was telling him. The choice was already made, Danny already had a seat on Vlad's private jet. It even had to be a private flight, of course. Danny couldn't have the luck of taking a first class flight with the man. No, the whole trip just had to be alone.

"It won't be that bad, kiddo... Things might not be great between you and Vlad, but you'll see! It'll be amazing once you guys work it out!"

Then there was his father. Danny couldn't even be mad at Jack, he couldn't be. Unlike Maddie, he could see where Jack was coming from. At first, Danny had been mad. Couldn't stand his father pushing Vlad onto him like this... Until Danny actually thought it through. Vlad was Jack's best friend, still is in Jack's eyes. He wanted his son to get along with his godfather.

It made it harder for Danny to be mad with the look in Jack's eyes. They weren't hard and stern like Maddie's. No, Jack was silently pleading with Danny. Hoping his son would understand why he was doing what he was doing. Hoping that Danny wouldn't be too mad, especially after the trip was over. Jack was an optimist, and he saw nothing wrong with this trip.

It was a losing argument, that much was clear. Except, Danny couldn't stop himself. Couldn't stop the shouts that left him, or the way he kept pushing back. He knew Maddie wasn't going to break, knew she never did. Not when she got like this. The fighting was hurting Jack the most out of the three of them. He was trying his hardest to play mediator, to find a middle ground, and calm the argument.

But this wasn't one of those arguments where Jack or Jazz could manage to calm it. The yelling only grew louder, more aggressive. Maddie's words harsher and meaner. Jabs at Danny's lack of drive at school, at Maddie's lack of parental care, at anything that the other knew would leave a mark. Danny had been full strong, ready to make this fight worse than any of the other's.

"Just because you abandoned Vlad, doesn't mean you get to pawn him off on me!"

Danny hadn't meant the words to slip out. The family never talked about what happened between Maddie, Jack, and Vlad. The kids only knew because of Vlad, and his weird need to monologue like every cliche villain out there. The shift in the room was instant, the charged energy seemed to suddenly freeze in place. Turning into something more dangerous.

He hadn't had the chance to open his mouth, to utter a sad excuse of an apology. The look of hurt and pain in both his parents' expression was enough to make Danny feel like the worse son ever. He was already regretting it all just from the still silence of the air, and those looks. It didn't just hit Maddie and Jack hard, it had hit Danny hard too. And he was the one that said it.

That was until it literally hit Danny harder.

It took a moment for his brain to catch up to the sharp sting in his cheek. To catch up to the fact that he wasn't looking at his parents anymore, but instead the wall. The wall where a family photo hung, an old one well before things seemed to have started to turn bad. Turned complicated. But when Danny's mind finally clicked, that slapped felt like the worse pain he'd ever felt before.

Not one of the pain Danny felt before hit this level. Not when he was shot at by everyone, including his parents. Not when he was nursing a broken arm, fractured ribs, and a ruptured spleen. Not even the portal accident felt this deep. Danny had literally died and came back to life, but that was nothing. Nothing compared to the pain he felt from being slapped by his own mother.

The world had tilted on it's axis. The sound around him suddenly turned muffled and far away. There had been a sharp pain in his chest, something that felt too close to his heart. Something that felt wrong, deep, and raw. The words his parents spoke only fell on deaf ears as he turned away from them numbly. Storming for the door, wanting to run away from the moment. To get as far away from his home as possible. To get as far away from Maddie as possible.

Except Danny hadn't made it that far.

Just two steps, that's all he got in. Before the world literally tilted on it's axis. Danny's legs gave out from beneath him, and he was tumbling to the ground. The last thing he remembered was seeing that ugly purple rug coming at him at high speed before the world faded to black around him.

AN: Sooooo... This was unplanned. I had a completely different vision in mind for this chapter, it wasn't supposed to hit this just yet...

But life happens, and I needed an outlet. And who else but my favorite little Danny-boy to vent out my own emotions and problems 😁

It's almost 4 am, I started writing this to help get out my energy to hopefully get some sleep before I have work, But I know damn well I'm going to probably immediately start drafting the next chapter after I post this.

I hope y'all enjoyed today's chapter, and hopefully you won't have to wait long for the next one! 🙌🙌