Chapter Text
“Vlad, do I really need to go? Why do you even need to introduce me as your ward anyways? Can’t you just bring Jazz or Ellie..?” Danny complains as he continues to struggle tying the icy-blue tie that Vlad got him and refuses to accept help from the old fruitloop.
“Daniel, your sister Jasmine is currently doing online classes to complete her psychology degree sooner, and Danielle… she’s not very well socialized, besides, she’s only 13, you can’t seriously believe she’s old enough for this.” Vlad chastises, making sure his hair is perfectly slicked back as usual, eliminating every slightest wrinkle in his suit.
“Well maybe, I don’t want to go.” Danny crosses his arms, “I had plans to hang out with Tuck and Sam and suddenly any plans for playing doomed have to be thrown out the window because you want me to hang out with some rich fucks in the most dangerous city in america.”
“Daniel, you can’t say things like that, I’m rich.”
“Exactly, bitch.”
Vlad just stares at danny for a moment, his messy hair that's grown out into a mullet not even looking like he put any effort into styling it, the crooked tie and several wrinkles on Dannys black dress shirt and suit jacket that he begrudgingly had buttoned just to shut Vlad up. “Well… don’t say those things at the gala, after all, I need you to make a good impression on everyone there, especially our esteemed hosts.”
“Thats a weird way to say kiss the asses of the Waynes while there but sure, yeah, whatever…”
“Daniel, I’m serious.”
“Hi serious, you’re not my dad. I don’t have to listen to you.”
“Daniel, for fudge sakes, please… just behave while we’re there and I won’t attempt to murder your father for a month”
“Hm… swear on your Maddie robot?”
“…yes… I swear on my robot of your mother and soon to be wife.” Vlad says quite begrudgingly as he knows if he breaks the promise, Danny has no gripes about breaking the unsettling robot that Vlad made in his mothers image.
“Sweet, you got yourself a deal, fruitloop, I’ll be on my best behavior and you’ll uh… chill out for a bit.”
“Father… why must we all attend this gala, it’s not as if there’s anything special to announce tonight, so why can we not continue our regular patrol schedule and have whoever was free attend?”
“Damian, you know we have to keep up appearances, this gala is simply the annual social event that all the socialites come to, which means you and all your siblings have to be here as well.”
“Do any of these old people who make comments about how it is a shame I look so much like whomever my mother is even have any children I must interact with? As I refuse to attend the entire night just to hear snide remarks I’m not allowed to even combat!”damian scowls, crossing his arm and tapping his foot as they make final rounds of checking that no vigilante gear been taken out of the cave, Damian careful not to creaked his suit, he doesn’t need Pennyworth regretting him get ready so early if it gets wrinkled before the party even starts.
“Damian… while I understand these events will be unpleasant, you need to at least be seen for a majority of the time. Just wander around, greet people and let me know of anyone who says any comments, I’ll have it dealt with, alright? And I’m sure there will be several children who are coming in attendance with their parents as well. Who knows, perhaps you’ll even make a friend”
“I don’t need friends, father. And besides the point, Kent is more than enough company.”
“Still… act friendly with them, Damian. It’s good to have civilian connections rather than just knowing other vigilantes your age.”
Damian just sighs, he knows he can’t get out of this, after all, how would he be able to. It’s Batman he’s arguing with and there’s no one more stubborn than Batman.
After waiting at the table with his family for the gala to start and coincidentally refusing to leave Grayson’s or his fathers side as it begins, he’s eventually resigned himself to observing everyone who he see’s there, trying to gauge if anyone is suspicious, just to look into more afterwards. Afterall, how else is Damian supposed to keep himself entertained when he has nothing in common with any of the teenagers here, other than having rich parents.
One of the people he pays close attention to is someone he saw by the name of Vladimir Masters, it was his first time bringing his ward to one of these events. The teenage boy seemed to be about his age, black hair that had grown out into a mullet and clearly hadn’t been styled. Even the boy’s suit is wrink;ed, a stark comparison to the man who brought him.
Not to mention, while observing the pair, Damian had watched Vlad grab his ward by the wrist and drag him from person to person, they also glared at each other more times than Damian thinks he had ever glared at Drake, and with the amount of times he’s done it, its quite impressive how much they manage to keep up what would be a companiable relationship to anyone here as they clearly aren’t paying attention to it. But Damian see’s how hostile they are with each other, seeing the most concerning of their interactions being that everytime the ward strays to far from Masters, which seems to only be a few feet, the older man places a firm hand on the black haired boys shoulder, nails digging in as he holds the kid in place.
Of course Damian would have to look into it, Vladimir Masters had already been known to have shady business dealings, after all, his company grew far too quickly and everyone who ever had done a quite frankly idiotic business deal with the man, hadn’t quite remembered the meeting he had with them. This seemed to imply that Masters had most likely drugged all his business partners to get them to agree to the obscene deals. It was the reason father had always found a way out of conversations with the slimyman.
While thinking over his observations, Damian nearly missed the boy and probable criminal argue quietly over something, before the by ends up by the hors d'oeuvres table, only a few feet from Damian. The boys looking at all the pastries before picking up a green, key lime flavored macaron and stuffing it in his mouth, barely even chewing it. Damian can’t help but stare at the other teen incredulously, as how did he manage to not even choke at all eating it like that? If the act hadn’t been so stupid, Damian would’ve been more impressed.
Regardless of how stupid and idiotic it was, Damian finds himself staring at the boy who looks so proud of himself. Damian doesn’t even realize when the boys steps closer, around the table, asking Damian with a hint of annoyance, “What are you staring at? You have a problem or something?”
Now, Danny really hadn’t wanted to be here, afterall, why would he? Being dragged about by Vlad and having to refrain from punching the fruitloop is annoying. Not to mention, the youngest Wayne, Damian, a tan boy around his age with emerald eyes, keeps watching him with those very peepers. So, once danny is done with Vlad to the point he just needs a break from the crazy man, he leaves to the snack table where Damians watching him from.
Because Danny wants to cause as much trouble as he reasonably can for Vlad just so he can’t get a way to possess billionaire Bruce Wayne, So Danny does the only thing he can think of, trying to gross out the boy by shoving a lime green macaron into his mouth and swallowing it whole by turning his throat intangible. As Damian begins to stare, Danny views this as a success. Plus, thinking about how Vlads definitely not going to last a month without trying to kill or take everything from his dad, Danny decides to just say, Fuck it, might as well cure my boredom.
So Danny asks, pouring all the annoyance he has with Vlad into the words to prevent himself from not sounding serious, “What are you staring at? You have a problem or something?”
Damian proceeds to respond bluntly, “You swallowed that whole…”
“Yeah, and if there's a problem, how about we settle it, yeah?” Danny raises his fists, getting ready to fight this rich kid who’s probably going to whine to his rich dad and get him and Vlad kicked out, which means he’ll be free to do whatever he wants for the rest of the night as long as he outruns Vlad.
What Danny doesn’t expect though, is the kid in front of him smirking and putting his hands up as well. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Meanwhile, Damian is glad to have something interesting to do now, plus, he hasn’t had a good sparring match with anyone other than his family in a while, so it should be fun useful training.
“Clearly,” Danny says, wishing he was fighting a ghost as that would be the perfect time to turn invisible, but regardless, he punches the kid right in the face, Damian not even moving as he was assessing Danny’s abilities before moving out the way of Danny's next punch, swiping his leg under the other teens, successfully causing him to lose his balance.
Damian doesn’t expect for Danny to lean forward to fall over Damian, the two rolling into a wall. As it's clear they’re fighting dirty, Damian grabs the boys shaggy hair, pulling at it while the boy he doesn't even know the name of yet knees him in the stomach.
The two faintly hear people rushing forward, others scurrying back as two kids fight. Some of the people rushing to the front of the crowd that's formed around the two include, Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, Vlad Masters, and Tim Drake, with a camera in hand, already recording.
Danny ends up biting Damians arm, getting flipped onto the back before Damian pins him down, ready to punch him again before Danny bursts into a fit of laughter, causing Dick to pause where he is behind Damian as he was about to pry the two teens apart. Damian begins to smile a bit too, his fist falling from where it was raised and he gets off the other boy.
There's a hint of amusement in his voice as Danny finally speaks again. “I’m Danny, Danny Fenton.”
“Damian Wayne, pleasure to meet you, Fenton.” Damian responds, not using any nicknames or first names like usual.
“Great to meet you too!” Danny stands, brushing off his pants and holding out a hand to Damian, who to all the Wayne's surprise actually takes it. “And please, just Danny is fine, not Fenton as it's weird getting called by my last name is weird and the people who call me Daniel and are insane is a circle.”
Damian thinks of this for a moment, this boy Danny already proved himself through combat, not to mention, made this night interesting so, after his moment of consideration, Daniam says, “Very well then, Danny.”
The two teens walk and talk, Danny leading the conversation and grabbing a plate of sweets off the table, it stacked high as he shares with damian.
Left behind is a fuming Vlad, wanting to rush over and scold Daniel, but then again, he can’t as Danny is genuinely becoming friends with a Wayne. He actually did what he was old.
Meanwhile the bats are standing there stunned, Bruce has to quickly get his thoughts under control as he has Dick and Tim clean everything up. Bruce is even sure that he hears Tim say, “i'm so going to post this on twitter.”:
Regardless of all that's happening and his rule of not speaking to the man who probably drugs his business partners, Bruce walks up to Vlad. “Mr. Masters, I deeply apologize for my son's actions, I do hope you aren’t too upset. He can be so much at times…”
“Oh, no worries Mr. Wayne… Daniel just can be so rowdy, I completely understand. I apologize for his actions as well, he should know better by now..” Vlad responds, barely able to keep the animosity out of his voice.
“Truly, they are just teenagers.” Bruce says, watching as Danny and Damian talk with each other while sharing their snacks, still miffed that Damian had the audacity to fight someone, but also glad he’s seemed to make a friend.
“Yes… teenagers…” Vlad glares daggers into Danny’s back, trying to think of just how to deal with him later.
