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finemeal · 6 months ago

Text

wrote a fic inspired by this art piece:

Danny isn't quite sure where he fit in the family yet. It had been a wild few weeks.

His parent’s had … well, they aren't going to be hunting Danny anymore. And Jazz? She is studying at Gotham U at the moment. She hadn't been able to take him in, she couldn’t afford to. But he had wanted to be close to her.

So, he had begged and pleaded with the state to not send him away. Amity Park was in New Jersey. Place him close to Gotham so he can be close to the last family member he has left. Please.

They did. Somehow, some way, they did.

Honestly, Danny hadn't even know that Bruce Wayne was fostering at the moment. The man already had a full house, more children than any sane person could count, why would he foster any more?

Danny is grateful, though. Mr. Wayne — “I told you, call me Bruce.” — has been so nice to Danny ever since he arrived.

And the mansion? It's huge! It's beautiful! It is, “Amazing!”

Bruce had introduced Danny to his other children. All a varying amount of excited. Dick had given Danny a huge hug, telling him, “If you ever need us to smack Bruce over the head, let me know! Also, if you need to get away for a night, just say the word. I’ll come by.”

Damian, however, had glared daggers at Danny. And, Danny had been pretty sure the kid had daggers on him. If the glint of steel was anything to go by.

Generally, though, they all had welcomed Danny in. Had told him, if he needed anything, to let them know. Danny had said that he would, you know, like a liar.

He already had felt like he was intruding, he hadn’t wanted to ask for anything. So he didn’t.

Yet, he found things he needed just … happening. Regardless if he had said anything or not.

Danny woke up from a nightmare? Well, Bruce had just so happened to be walking past with some of Danny’s favorite tea. And would he mind joining Bruce for a three am stroll? Just to clear your head, you know?

He was missing Jazz and really wanted to see her? Hey, Duke was going to Gotham U to tour the school today, Danny would you like to join? We can stop by and visit your sister on the way! Oh, what, no tour today? Silly Duke, he must have gotten the dates mixed up. Oh well, they were already here, might as well visit his sister anyway!

The teenager was feeling cooped up and overwhelmed? Damian insisted Danny help him with his chores of taking care of his pets. Danny couldn’t be a freeloader, after all. And, well, Danny had to admit that visiting Batcow always made him feel better.

Stuff like that just … kept happening. And Danny wasn’t sure what to do about it.

To be completely honest, he still doesn’t. He doesn’t know where he fits in. Doesn’t know if he should allow himself to get attached. What if they get ripped away from him? Or he gets ripped away from them? Will Bruce even officially adopt him? Or is he meant to just be an outsider, only able to get glimpses of something he wants more than anything.

That’s led him to right now.

Right now, he’s hoping for a sign. For any sign. That he belongs here. That he’s wanted.

There’s a knock on his door.

“Hello?” Danny calls, shifting towards the edge of the bed.

“It’s Dick, Danny. Can I come in?”

Danny smiles slightly.

“Sure, it’s unlocked.”

The door opens. Dick walks through it.

Dick’s got his usual casual grin on his face, but there’s a question in his expression. Hope? Maybe? Danny feels like he can almost taste something in the air. He’s just not sure what.

“Hey Danny,” Dick greets, walking over to where Danny’s sitting. “I was wondering if you wanted to play a game.”

“A game?” Danny asks, turning so he can face Dick.

“Yeah!” Dick grins, sitting down. “Jason, Tim, and I are gonna play Clue. I figured I’d invite you to our mini family game night!”

Danny smiles. Family game night. The words make his chest feel light.

“Sounds like fun, I’ll join.”

Dick grins at Danny’s response, practically jumping off the bed as he tugs Danny along excitedly.

“Fantastic! Just know, Tim and Jason are little … competitive when it comes to playing. And we can get a little intense. So, don’t want to scare you off or anything! But prepare yourself.”

Danny almost snorts at that. Danny’s played games with Jazz before. With Sam and Tucker. He understands getting a bit intense with games.

“No worries, I can’t play Monopoly with Sam and Tuck anymore because they almost knocked each other’s teeth out over it.”

Dick laughs at that as they head down the stairs.

“Yeah, sounds like our family,” Dick comments, smiling brightly.

Danny feels a slight relief at Dick not prodding. Danny knows he doesn’t share much about his personal life with them. It’d be easy to ask more about Sam and Tucker. But he doesn’t. It makes Danny feel lighter.

Walking through a doorway, Danny finds himself in some sort of family room. Tim and Jason are already there, setting the board up.

“I call being Miss Scarlet!” Danny cheers, running towards the table.

Then, he’s suddenly confused.

“Uhh,” Danny says dumbly, brows furrowing as he looks down.

Instead of the clue game he’s used to, this one has been … modified. It’s an alternate version of the game.

There’s different places on the board than he’s used to. The theater, the park, and the asylum are just a few.

Characters are different too. He looks down at the board, and sees, “START BATMAN” in front of him. There are different characters around the rest of the board too. Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing.

Picking up a weapon, he moves it between his fingers. A batarang.

“Is this … Batman Clue?”

Danny turns towards Dick who’s smiling at him.

“Yep!” Dick states, patting Danny’s shoulder lightly before he sits down. “I call Robin!”

Tim groans loudly, wrinkling his nose at Dick.

“I’m always Robin!” Tim states, frown deep on his face.

“Exactly, but I was Robin first,” Dick retorts, a knowing smirk on his face.

Robin first? Dick probably meant that he used to play as Robin in this game before Tim joined the family.

“I call Batgirl!” Jason says quickly.

“Uhh,” Danny scrambles, looking down. “I call Batman?”

Jason huffs out a small laugh at Danny’s hesitance, but hands him the corresponding yellow piece for him to place on his board.

“I’ll be Alvin Draper, I guess,” Tim grumbles, and Jason laughs … too hard at that.

Was there some sort of inside joke he was missing here? Probably. They’ve known each other a lot longer than Danny has. It makes sense that they’d form inside jokes that Danny wouldn’t quite understand.

“So, Danny, since this is your first time playing Clue with us. Here are some house rules,” Dick starts as Jason and Tim finish placing character pieces in their spots. “So, we have the standard rules, of course.”

Danny nods, sitting in his seat as Tim hands him a note card and a red pencil. Danny nods in thanks as he puts them where he wants them.

“We’ll roll to see who goes first. Whoever rolls highest starts, and then we move clockwise. Everyone will have an even amount of cards, the excess will be turned over in the corner so everyone can see. And, at the end of the game, we have a few … special rules.”

Danny raises a brow at Dick, intrigued. Jason and Tim look sheepish, Tim rubbing the back of his neck as Jason stares down at his note card. Ah, so they were the reason for the rules, got it.

“Before you make a guess, you have to declare that you’re making an accusation. You have to get onto the center, before you can guess. And, you write down your guess before you look at the cards. If you’re right, you show us what you wrote down. If you’re wrong, you lose and put the cards back. You reveal your own cards and the rest of us keep playing, got it?”

Danny nods.

“Got it.”

Dick nods, smiling.

“Good, okay, I’ll roll first.”

Dick grabs the dice, shaking them in his hands. When he releases them, they land on five and three respectively.

“Nice, good start!”

Dick hands the dice to Danny. He shakes them in his hands, a little nervously. Releasing them, they almost trip over each other on the board.

A one and a six. Not as good as Dick’s, but pretty good.

Tim grabs them next, yawning as he releases the dice. Two sixes.

Danny’s eyebrows raise slightly as he looks at Tim.

Tim’s not looking at Danny, though. He’s looking at Jason, and smirking.

Jason just sticks his tongue out at Tim and snatches the dice up.

“Just because you rolled two sixes doesn’t mean you’ll go first, Timmers. Maybe I’ll roll double sixes too,” Jason snarks, the dice releasing from his hands.

Danny watches with bated breath, almost wishing to see him tie with Tim. Part of Danny thinks it’d be funny. Dick wasn’t lying when he said they were competitive.

Alas, the dice roll and they land on one and five.

Tim laughs loudly as Jason groans, putting his face in his hands.

“Alright, alright. Tim, you’ll be going first,” Dick interrupts the taunting in the way only an experienced eldest child can.

Dick picks up the character cards and holds them face down at Danny.

“Go ahead Danny, pick our murderer,” Dick says in a spooky voice as he wiggles his eyebrows.

Danny rolls his eyes, laughing slightly as he grabs a card and sets it face down in front of him. Dick grins, setting the cards down before picking up the weapon cards.

“And you, Timmy, you decide what he does it with.”

Tim sighs, putting on a front of being annoyed. But he’s smiling slightly as he draws, setting the card down in the middle face down.

Dick grabs the last set, and turns to Jason.

“Last but not least, Jason, show us where—”

“Oh shut up Dickie,” Jason interrupts, picking a card quickly and putting it on top of the card Tim chose.

Danny moves his own card so it sits with the others, watching Dick smile at Jason as he sets the location cards down.

Grabbing the envelope, he puts the cards they all chose in it, angling them carefully so no one could see. Then, he places it in the middle.

Danny watches, almost mesmerized as Dick shuffles the remaining cards. His hands move so quickly, Danny can barely keep up.

When he’s satisfied with his shuffling, he begins to deal the cards out. Starting with Tim.

Again, he moves with grace and ease Danny didn’t know one could move with. Did Dick used to work at a casino or something?

Shortly, there are four cards face down in front of him, and two cards left over. Dick turns them face up, placing them on the corner of the board between Tim and Jason.

Danny marks “E” on the Bomb and Asylum on his sheet, watching as everyone else moves to make similar notes.

But, Danny also notes how cautiously they guard their note cards. As if to stop everyone from looking. Danny decides to also guard his note card vigorously. If they’re as competitive as Dick warned, and as they’ve shown so far, it’s only the smart thing to do.

Then, Danny looks at his own cards.

Ruins, Warehouse, Umbrella, Grapple.

Danny makes squares on his note sheet and fills them in carefully.

Looking up, he sees everyone is watching him. Likely trying to see where his pencil was placed as he jotted down his information. Danny grins at them. This will be an interesting game for sure.

They’re a few rounds in when Danny notices Dick begins to twitch. His leg bounces, his face contorts oddly, and his finger keeps tapping.

“Well, I’m going to say it was Nightwing,” Tim moves the game piece, “in the Warehouse, with the Batphone.” Grabbing the batphone, he places it on its spot.

Tim looks at Jason, who rolls his eyes and shakes his head. He turns to Dick, he slides a card face down across to Tim. Danny looks to try and see where Tim marks it on his sheet, but he can’t tell with the way Tim is shielding his notes.

Danny sighs and makes a light note on his sheet on two of those cards.

Jason goes, moving his piece closer to the Warehouse. Then, it’s Dick’s turn.

Danny watches as Dick twitches and then rolls the dice.

Dick makes it into the Ruins.

“I think it was Nightwing, with the Grapple in the Ruins.”

Danny shows Dick the Grapple card. Finding a location is the hardest, after all. He doesn’t want to make it too easy on Dick.

“Good, good. Okay. Your turn Danny,” Dick says rushedly, leg tapping loudly now.

“Dude,” Jason pipes up, raising a brow. “What’s your deal? Why are you twitching so much?”

Dick tries to wave Jason off, but Danny’s also meeting Dick’s gaze. He can tell Tim is looking at Dick too.

“Fine, fine. I just … have to pee. But if I go you guys will learn information I’ll miss out on!”

Tim rolls his eyes, but his grin is sharp. Predatory.

“Go on, Dick. Go use the bathroom. After all, you should know better than anyone how dangerous it can be to hold it.”

“Plus,” Jason adds onto Tim’s statement, “you’re being annoying as fuck and I can’t concentrate with you shaking like a chihuahua over there.”

Dick rolls his eyes, but Danny does his best to give Dick puppy dog eyes.

“Please Dick? We promise we won’t play without you,” Danny almost sings at him.

“Tim and Jason will—”

“But I’m next, Dick. And I won’t go until you come back,” Danny promises, holding a pinkie out.

Dick smiles gratefully at Danny, linking his own pinkie with Danny’s. What Dick doesn’t see, though, is Danny’s other fingers are crossed in his lap. Danny is a new player here, and Dick doesn’t know how he plays.

Shooting up, Dick practically sprints out of the room and to one of the bathrooms.

Tim and Jason groan, looking bored already.

Danny grabs the dice.

Their eyes widen slightly, Tim’s brows furrowing in an unasked question. Danny raises his crossed fingers, grinning.

Jason laughs heartily, almost wheezing.

“Well played, newbie! Well played,” Jason laughs, causing Danny’s grin to grow. “You fit in just fine.”

Danny ducks his head as he blushes slightly, rolling the dice quickly.

Four. Just enough spaces to squeeze into the Longue.

“Alright, so—”

By the time Dick gets back from the bathroom, Danny has ruled out the Longue as Tim’s, and Tim has left the Warehouse and is making his way towards the Park. Jason is sitting at the Warehouse, having moved Batman there along with a crowbar.

Dick claps his hand as he sits down, smiling at Danny in gratitude before looking at the board. His face twists in shock as he realizes he was played.

“But you, you pinkie promised!” Dick guffaws, looking gutted as he stares at Danny.

Danny grins widely as he holds up crossed fingers.

“Should’ve checked before you shook, Dick,” Danny teases.

Dick moans as the rest of them laugh at his misery.

That is, well, before Jason nudges at Dick and gestures at the Warehouse.

“Got anything for me Dickie?”

Dick shakes his head, still whining as he puts his head in his hands.

Danny, however, shows Jason the Warehouse card.

As Dick rolls, Danny notices some markings on the board. He hadn’t really noticed before this, too many things happening at once.

“Hey,” Danny starts, squinting at the board on his side. “Why does it say ‘No Tims Allowed’ on the Ruins room?”

Everyone pauses, the only sound is the dice rolling across the board.

“Uhh,” Tim starts, mouth opening and closing.

“I wrote that because Tim used to fool around that area,” Jason states. “One time he got injured real bad, so, ya know.”

Dick jerks suddenly on Danny’s right, face twisted oddly. Jason’s staring at Dick directly. Danny can tell they’re having that moment siblings have sometimes. Not quite silently communicating but also … silently communicating.

Danny squints at both of them. What the hell are they—

“So,” Dick interrupts, “I think it was Robin, with the Batphone, in the Longue.”

Dick smiles at Danny, his lip twitching slightly and the grin too wide.

“Sorry, don’t have anything for you,” Danny answers the silent question, squinting slightly at Dick.

Tim hands Dick a card, and Danny looks at the board. There’s … a lot of markings on the board actually. He can’t make them all out, some of them are at odd angles, others are blocked from sight. But … there’s a lot of markings on here for some reason.

Danny wouldn’t be so suspicious if—

“Earth to Danny,” Jason says, waving a hand as Dick nudges him with his foot under the table.

“Huh?” Danny splutters, looking up.

“You’re turn,” Jason replies, raising a brow at him and tilting his head slightly.

“Right,” Danny says, clearing his throat as he rolls the dice.

It’s probably nothing. He won’t worry about it.

He moves his character towards the Harbor.

At first, Danny doesn’t realize that the end of the game has come. Not until he sees Tim move his character towards the middle.

He’s unnaturally silent as he moves his piece, eyes shifting around as if checking to see if anyone notices … something.

“Oh my god,” Danny blurts, eyes widening as Tim’s eyes meet his. “He’s going for the middle! He knows what it is.”

Jason’s head whips towards Tim’s, eyes squinting.

“Danny’s right,” Dick pipes up, looking at the board and up at Tim, eyes moving quickly. “Tim figured it out.”

Almost angrily, Jason grabs the dice and rolls them. Unfortunately, his luck isn’t much better than Tim’s roll was, and he barely moves.

“Fuck!” Jason shouts, rubbing his hands aggressively over his face.

It’s not over yet, though.

Danny turns to face Dick, and sees when Dick notices that his moment of weakness to use the bathroom would doom him. Everyone was heading for the middle, but Danny knew Dick didn’t really have a clue.

Yet, it was Dick’s turn.

Amused, Danny watches as the cogs turn in Dick’s head. He is the closest to the middle of the board. If he doesn't go for it, he’ll lose.

Dick lets out a deep sigh, shoulders slumping as he puts his face in his hands. Danny pats his back comfortingly, smiling slightly to himself. The other man just groans in despair.

“Fuck it,” Dick mutters into his hands, adjusting in his seat so he was sitting upright.

Quicker than Danny’s eyes could follow, Dick grabbed the dice off of the board and shook them in his hand. Releasing them, the first red die landed on three next to ruins. The other one rolled further on the table, off the board, rolling close to the edge.

Danny watches it, partially hoping it’ll fall just to cause Dick more distress. It doesn’t. It lands on five.

Dick is only six squares away from the middle.

Reaching forward, Dick grabs his red piece and moves it towards the center.

“I would like to make an accusation!”

(the rest is already on archive but it's choose your own ending which ... the formatting doesn't really work on tumblr imo)