Danny lives with Vlad, who forced him to move to Gotham. Him and Damian had to do a project together. Okay, that’s fine. Damian was insisting they work on part of it at his house. Not as fine, but sure, he can schedule a time where Vlad is out. Damian finds him holding Ellie after he had excused himself to the bathroom? (Ellie is only reason he hadn’t run away yet(he didn’t have the money to care for a baby halfa)). That is a problem.
Damian had already suspected Fenton’s home life to be troubled. That was part of the reason he insisted they do some work at Fenton’s home. He did not, however, expect to find a baby who looked like an identical copy of Fenton.
Chapter 1:
Daniel Masters was a very strange young man, well, teenager. He had transferred into Gotham Academy about halfway through the year under somewhat mysterious circumstances just a year ago. About maybe a month or two after that, he had been pulled out of school for so long that he had only returned after the summer vacation they had been allotted. There were plenty of rumors about what happened but nothing that seemed even remotely true. After months of observation Damian Wayne honestly felt no closer to figuring out what was going on.
Damian had very pressing concerns about Daniel’s home life however as there were very concerning red flags that he had managed to pick up just from observation. Daniel almost always showed up exhausted and somewhat sad despite his persistent optimism and friendly demeanor. There are times that Daniel shows up with bruises that he hides fairly well from all but Damian and Jon. Jon had already informed him that he had a concerningly slow heart rate that sometimes even skipped and a very low body temperature that only made sense for a meta, anyone else would be dead with that low a temperature. Despite Daniel’s friendliness and open kindness he actively keeps from forming actual bonds with others. He never talks about his home life or family.
Luckily an opportunity came to Damian in the form of a group project that forced him and Daniel to partner up. It was a science project that Damian could admit to having little interest in, not that he would ever allow for a bad grade. Despite Daniel’s clear reluctance and protests Damian had managed to actually convince him to allow him to work in Daniel’s home, his excuse being that they would likely be harassed if they went to a public space and that his own home was far too chaotic for proper study. Daniel didn’t quite seem to believe him but had still caved and they scheduled a day much later in the week.
The Masters’ Manor was somewhere in the upper class gated community. Masters’ clearly enjoyed displaying his questionably gained wealth. Things had been mostly normal and uneventful for the most part, they had been in the manor library when the first actual glimpse into Daniel’s life was at last displayed. There had been a gentle but sharp knock at the library door and Daniel immediately went on alert and stood up quickly.
“Excuse me a moment.” Daniel offered almost as an afterthought as he walked quickly to the door.
Daniel opened the door to a young maid, she looked as though she were about the age to be in college. She seemed contrite and concerned, glancing at Damian briefly before leaning over to whisper in Daniel’s ear. Damian could not hear what was said but Daniel seemed to both relax and seem more anxious all at once.
“Thanks Rosie,” Daniel turned to Damian again. “I’ll be back in like twenty, uh, just chill out here and I promise we’ll work more when I get back.”
Daniel left and Rosie glanced over at Damian with a flat expression, he could not tell what she was thinking but she seemed to come to some sort of decision and left Damian where he was without actually speaking to him. Damian had thought she might keep an eye on him or at least offer some refreshments if only to be polite but her behavior was a bit odd. Still, Damian would not look a gift horse in the mouth and when he felt it safe chose to follow after Daniel at a safe distance. Daniel was so anxious and tired he did not notice Damian tailing him at all. He went to a room with yet another nondescript oak door and went inside without knocking. Suddenly the sound of the anguished wails of what was clearly a baby met his ears, shocking him so much he almost was not fast enough to keep the door from closing so that he could listen in.
