Dan is so tall! 8 feet! 🔝😅

20 chapters and 3k reads people! I'm so happy for my first book. I never thought it would get so far. A big thanks to all of my lovely readers.

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"Guess who has been spending too much time with Jason?" Tim asked causally as everyone gathered for dinner.

"What have you done Danny? Should I be proud?" Jason winked at his brother from the opposite side of the table. The halfa didn't have the guts to speak about the accident in front of everyone. He was afraid of Bruce's or Batman's reaction. After all, it was his first day of school and he was already looking for a detention or worse.

Danny was fidgeting in his place, nervous from all those eyes staring at him. When he collected some courage to look at Bruce, he was giving the boy a calculating stare as if he was trying to read his mind.

"Danny got into a fight." Tim explained shortly. A mix of emotions ran through the dining room. Bruce looked disappointed, Dick confused, Jason proud and Damian was above the thing.

"Did you win?" Jason asked with a smirk. Their father glared at him but with no effect.

"Well yes, but I don't want to talk about it." Danny mumbled and started fidgeting with his hands. Everyone in the room was staring at him. Was Bruce going to kick him out in the streets? Surely he wouldn't. Or would he?

"Just don't talk about it at school." The billionaire sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "And please, don't get into another fight."

"Could you excuse me? I'll be in my room." Danny excused himself and without a warning, he shot up from his seat and ran to his bedroom. He didn't want their disappointed looks, he would much rather be with his inner demon right now.

"They looked so disappointed in me." Danny told his empty room.

"Don't get too emotional. If they knew your filthy little secret, they would be disappointed even more." Was the ghost trying to make him feel better? "Not that I'm something they should be disappointed in..."

"Why did I even bother to intervene their life." Danny cried. The halfa jumped on his bed and buried his tears strained cheeks in his soft pillow.

"You didn't intervene with their lives. I fell through a window." Dan internally shrugged. The teen raised an eyebrow. Was Dan being nice? He didn't have the guts to say it out loud. He feared that those simple words would turn this conversation against him in no time.

"Stupid school, stupid teachers, stupid students, stupid tests." Danny protested into his pillow. "I should try more. I should try to make it up to Bruce." There was a long silence. "Dan, could you be please quiet during those lessons? I can't concentrate with your constant talking." The human side pressed his luck and it didn't end well.

"Try to be locked up 24/7! Then we can talk about being quiet!"

"I didn't choose you!" Danny screamed at his ceiling, being unaware of a visitor standing outside the door. The person knocked on his door and revealed Dick's messy black hair and baby blue eyes.

"I'm sorry if you wanted to see someone else." Dick said offended. His smiling face turned into his vigilante stone mask.

"I'm sorry Dick, I didn't mean you. I was just talking to myself." Danny sighed and made a space on his bed. His older brother gladly took it and fell on his back.

"It didn't sound like talking to me. More like screaming." Dick laughed silently. "The boy you punched reported it. That means that Bruce is going to talk to your principal tomorrow."

"I didn't mean to. For my defense, he grabbed me first." Danny had the urge to defend himself in front of his brother. Wait brothers. "Tim, Jason, you can come out." He laughed as his two brothers heads appeared in the doorway.

"How?" Tim asked and looked at Dick. "Did you tell him?" He accused their older brother.

"No, Danny was just screaming at himself for an unknown reason and then spotted you."

"Thank you all for coming to see me but I would like to be alone for a while." Danny sighed and pushed Dick off of his bed. He fell on the floor with a thud but quickly stood up.

"It's not nice to throw your brothers off of beds you know." Dick grumbled and left the room. He was followed by Tim but Jason stayed.

"Problems without Dan?" Jason smiles sadly and sat on Dick place. he ruffled Danny's messy hair and the boy leaned against him.

"I... it always seems to get better but it doesn't." Danny sobbed into Jason's Batman T-shirt.

"Welcome to the family! Everyone except Alfred cried on Batman!" Jason tried to lighten the mood but ended miserably. Those words reminded Danny of something he didn't have. A full trust of his new family.

"Danny, Don't cry." The vigilante went into his full daddy version. "You'll never have things under control but it will get easier. You and Dan will sort it out one day." The cries slowly died down in Jason's strong embrace.

"Please, don't leave me alone." Danny whispered and Jason's heart melted.

"Never." He whispered back. As if on purpose, his special alarm started blaring, signaling a trouble. When their eyes met, the vigilante made up his mind.

"Don't worry Danny, our family is capable enough of taking care of that." He turned off his phone and tossed it on the ground. "Why won't you catch some z's and I'll be by your side until you are asleep." Jason suggested and tucked his younger brother in. It didn't take long and Danny was out cold. Starting school and dealing with Dan takes it's toll.

The following morning went as usual. Everyone was getting ready for school or work.

"We have an exclusive footage from yesterday night. Harvey Dent, or more commonly known as Two Face terrorized the Gotham city. His reign of terror is over thanks to Batman, Nightwing, Red Robin and Robin. We all owe you a great thanks." The female reporter said and then the footage from yesterday popped up. There were 4 different screens showing each of the heroes fighting a huge groups of Two Face's henchmen.

"You could have been on TV." The halfa poked Jason, who was currently munching on his toast.

"I had something more serious to attend to." Jason winked and returned to his breakfast. Everyone was watching the news and judging their yesterday performance.

"Man, you slipped on your cape." Dick laughed at the picture but quickly returned to his food. Danny smirked on how poorly they thought of him. Did they really think he wouldn't notice?

"I was wondering... who is your favorite bat." Tim wondered as he was still glaring at his oldest brother for embarrassing him. It was quite entertaining to watch their silent argument.

"Hmm... a hard question." Danny thought for a second while everyone was staring at him. "I like everyone."

"There must be one you prefer the most." Jason said and winked. Why were they making it so hard for him?

"At first, I liked the Red Hood the most but now, I changed my mind." Danny didn't look at Jason not to make it suspicious but he could feel his burning stare on his back. "I think my favorite is the second Red. But I like everyone."

"What about their youngest, Robin." The question startled Danny. Damian was asking him a normal question? Without ordering him around?

"He's cute, but deadly." Danny said and his answer seemed to please their youngest. At least something to get him on his good side.

"Finish your breakfast, we are leaving." The billionaire announced. He finished his cup of coffee, read the main articles in the newspaper so now, it was time to go. The group separated as soon as they entered the school. Tim and Damian left for their morning classes while Danny was left at mercy of his principal and Bruce. Principals office was at the top floor which was kind of weird. Any normal human being would prefer an office on the bottom floor so he would't have to take the stairs. On the other hand, on the top floors, there is quiet.

Before they entered the office, Bruce adjusted his outfit and told Danny to do so too. He politely knocked on the door and when 'came in' could be heard, he slowly opened the door.

"Thank you Mr. Wayne for your time. I know how busy you must be these days." The principal greeted and shook hands with everyone.

"You can always make time for your kids Mr. McLean." The adults laughed for a bit but soon returned to the priority of this meeting. Danny's behavior.

"Have you been fully informed of that unpleasant situation?" Mr. McLean asked in a diplomatic way.

"No, I haven't. Mind to explain?"

"There was a fight between your son and Dash Shaykh. From what Dash told me, Daniel attacked him after something he said."

"That's a lie." Danny shouted at the adult. He had enough on his plate already, he didn't need false accusations.

"Then try to explain." Bruce watched him carefully, watching for any sign of lying.

"He told me that I was another stuck up brat. Tim pulled me away but Dash wanted to tease me more. He asked me if I was going to throw money at him and then lifted me in the air. I couldn't get out of his grasp so I punched him." Danny felt like a small kid who was complaining about everything. It made him feel weak in front of the strongest and smartest person in the world.

"Is it true?" The headmaster asked for the last time.

"Of course it's true. Why would I lie to you?" The halfa shrieked. All he wanted to do now was to get to his class and talk with his new friend Ryan.

"I'll talk to Mr. Wayne for a little longer. You may leave for your class." Danny has never been so happy to go to class. He interrupted the lesson at the beginning so he still knew what the teacher was talking about.

"Dude, where were you this morning?" Ryan whisper yelled as soon as Danny sat next to him. It was nice to have someone worried about you in school. The halfa replied as quietly as possible due to their teacher staring at them.

"Mister Fenton, mister White, I'll separate you two if you don't shut up." The teacher threatened as she walked around them. Ryan just rolled his eyes but obeyed.

"Close all your notes, we are going to write the test I promised you from the last lesson." She announced joyously. The teacher really loved seeing kids suffering. She handed out the tests, which consisted of 5 pages. 5 freaking pages!

It started out pretty simple, just write your name. From the first question, it went downhill for the young halfa. He knew that everything on the test was mentioned in the class before, but it was also the class that Dan decided to bother him.

Which Civil War battle was the bloodiest?

a) The Battle of Gettysburg
b) The Battle of Shiloh
c) The Battle of Vicksburg

"What is this question." Danny whisper yelled to himself. He got few snickers from his classmates who were sitting nearby.

"How am I supposed to know this!" The halfa continued his freaking out quietly. He knew he was risking another mental fight with his evil self, but complaining seemed right at that moment.

"You're just plain stupid." The ghost sighed.

"If you had shut your mouth back then, I would have known the answer today!" Danny was now glaring holes through his paper. He had no doubts that if he was in his ghost form now, the paper would have two burned holes in it.

"I know the answer so why bother." Dan smiles on the inside. "After all, soon I'll be the one in control and I won't need you."

"Tell me, Tell me, Tell me, Tell me, Tell me," Danny repeated this for a very long time, behaving like a small child. Af first, Dan seemed calm as if the annoying blabbing didn't bother him, but the truth was different.

"Stop it!" He screamed. The loud sounds caused both of the beings a small headache so they both stayed quiet. Danny tried to concentrate on his unfinished test, but it only caused him to panic. He didn't answer any of those question!

"10 minutes!" The teacher announced from her comfortable chair in the front. Everyone around was finishing the test by now and Ryan was one of them. Danny wasn't proud of himself but he copied the whole last page from Ryan. He managed to snatch few test answers while his friend was checking them but the rest was on him. The halfa went for an old method. Since it was a circling test, he circled random letters but never the same answer in a row.

A shaky breath escaped Danny as the teacher took his test. She smiled evilly at him. 'This teacher has something against me.' The halfa thought to himself as he watched her. After the test, she gave them free lesson. It wasn't much, only about 5 minutes so there was no point in starting something new.

"You wanna come over after school?" Ryan suggested. "And I can teach you history." The teen laughed heartily but it soon died down when he realized that Danny was quiet.  "I know you helped yourself and I'm happy to help."

"Yes thank you for that, I really appreciate it. The thing is that I don't feel very well and my head hurts. Can we postpone it?" Danny replied shyly. He didn't like the thought of throwing away Ryan's idea but he really didn't feel well. He was exhausted from the test, the fight and god knows what will happen during the day.

"Yeah, is Friday ok?" Ryan didn't look sad at all. It was a relief for Danny that he didn't disappoint him or didn't weaken their friendship by his actions. A lot of people get mad about those things.

"That would be great." The halfa replied with a smile.

Crrrrrrrrrrrrrn!

The bell announced the end of the first period. Tim was already waiting for the duo outside of their classroom.

"Hi guys." He greeted and fist bumped Danny. It was a greeting gesture they came up during these days.  "Hi, my name it Ti..."

"Tim Drake, I know." Ryan finished his sentence and shook his hand. "You are well known around here. The genius son of Bruce Wayne." The teen teased but in a friendly way.

"And you must be Ryan White. Danny talked about you."

"I hope in a good way." The trio separated for their next periods. They met again during lunch, where they shared a lot of funny stories from school. At one point, Danny caught Damian sharing at them from the corner of the lunchroom. He sat with his friends but he seemed to read someone. And the only someone could be Ryan since he was the only one he didn't know.

After a while, Ryan caught his share and when their eyes met, Damian looked away.

"Damian Wayne, your brother I assume." Danny's friend mumbled.

"Yeah, and before you say something, he stares a lot." Tim said.

*****

"See you all tomorrow." Ryan shouted when the Wayne brothers got into the limousine. Alfred greeted them and took off.

"I don't like your new friend Fenton." The little demon frowned. He has been acting weird around Ryan all day. "I feel like I know him from somewhere."

"I'm really grateful for your concern for me Damian but he's my friend."

"Tt, I'm not concerned about any of you, I'm just saying." Damian growled and silenced the whole car. Alfred stopped in front of the main entrance of the Wayne manor. He let the boys get out and he went to park the car.

"Damian being Damian, he rushed to his room as soon as they entered. Danny had a suspicion that he wasn't staying just in his room. He must be visiting the batcave and training. Since nobody bothered to share their secret, he didn't question it.

"How's my little brothers!" Jason shouted and appeared by the living room. He wore baggy clothes so his well built body would be hidden a little from the outside world.

"I'm fine. I have a lot of homework so I'll start right now." Tim said and went to his bedroom.

"Hero business?" Danny asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hero business." Jason replied simply. "So How was your day?"

"We wrote a test... and Dan wasn't much of a help." The halfa sighed and entered the kitchen. The dinner was served in few hours so he grabbed something to fill his growling stomach for now.

"How do you feel about it?"

"I didn't know a single answer. I copied at least half of the test from Ryan."

"You'll catch up." Jason ruffled his hair and snatched the sandwich he was holding. "Thanks for that." He said and disappeared.

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Here we are people, the twentieth chapter is finished. I personally never thought of getting this far. Your positive comments helped the case a lot, it made my day every time I read through them.

Let me know what you think about Ryan. Is he good, bad, neutral? I have a plan with him so I wanted to know how is he doing so far.

~TheWhiteKnights