Danny woke up silently, his chest heaved as he breathed in a deep relaxing sigh and curled slightly on the warm soft mass beneath him.

Wait a second.

Danny jerked upright, eyes open wide, finding Bruce above him... well- around him. He'd been resting in his lap last time he remembered, he must have fallen asleep.

"Good morning." Bruce said, his cool blue eyes open as well and watching Danny shrivel.

The halfa huddled down, wondering what was going on and what he should be doing. He kept his eyes lowered, not quite remembering everything about this man but he kept an eye on his core.

It was still black, that odd color he couldn't place, writhing with some other colors making their smaller appearances. There was mostly blue besides the black, yellow was tiny but it was there, and there was a ring of light orange. Oh shoot... light orange again... he really needed to keep a list or something.

Bruce had a hand on his lower legs, keeping him on his angled lap, his face had that happy up lip thing again and Danny wanted to ask about it. But he had just fallen asleep on the man... was that okay?

"It's okay Danny, you can look me in the eyes, remember?" Bruce shifted, sitting up more and lightly pressing his hand on his back, coaxing the boy into leaning against him again. "Did you sleep well?"

Danny just stared at the core right in front of him, he was against the man's chest again, therefore he was as close as he could possibly get to the core. It looked so weird up close, it didn't look like a liquid, but it swirled and arched like solar flares, splashing around in a constant circular motion. Kinda like a toilet, but less violent of circling, Bruce's core was gentle at the moment but he'd seen it get angry and violent, Bruce was dangerous.

The halfa twisted his face up, still leaning against the warm chest, giving a calculating look to the man's face. Faces and cores were different, but most of the time they said the same thing... except for Bruce. Bruce's face was only the same as his core when he was angry, or maybe he was always the same as his core, but since Danny had no idea what the black meant so he couldn't accurately judge. He remembered Dick had the black too, and the old guy Alfred, but they all had different amounts, and hope when dashed turned into black, so did the crimson red last night and the dark dark blue however long ago he woke from his nightmare.

"How are you feeling Danny?" Bruce asked, meeting his green gaze with his cold blue one, his eyes slightly crinkled because his lips were pointing upwards.

The small halfa lowered his head, grating his hair against the man's shirt. He absentmindedly realized he liked the rubbing sensation, it made his scalp feel numb and numb meant no pain. So he did it again, and then again. It scratched his head but he desired more, feeling the need to spread the numb to places he didn't usually feel anything but pain. He turned his face into the man's shirt, rubbing the tired out of his muscles and making him feel pleasant.

He flinched when a heavy hand landed on his head, but then it started rubbing too and Danny completely melted. His eyes closed and his body relaxed but he held no desire to sleep. The hand went through his hair, rubbing at his scalp and giving his head a happy buzzing sensation, he liked this a lot. He liked feeling numb, it was like the vertigo, it detached him from reality and let him imagine himself somewhere safe.

"You like that?" Bruce's voice broke the silence, the near serenity Danny was swallowed in by the simple touch.

The child's eyes opened stickily and slowly looked up. The hand on his head went away as his white hair grated again against Bruce's shirt and his neck and torso lifted oddly to look up at the man upside down. Bruce was still doing the happy lip thing, at least he thought so, he was upside down so it looked like he was frowning but really because he was upside down he must be doing the happy lip thing. Danny wanted to know how to do it because his core flashed a brighter yellow each time he did, Danny wanted to be happy, and he knew he could be happy without the happy lip thing but maybe he could get some sort of reaction from Bruce and the others if he showed it. The child kept his eyes locked on the man as he reached up with one arm, he pointed his pointer finger at his mouth, making his eyebrows twist in confusion because he wanted to ask a question.

Bruce just seemed confused too, and the smile disappeared, turning into a happy lip thing from Danny's perspective, but really he was frowning. The small halfa huffed and shifted his legs, using his already lifted torso to twist himself around and fully face the man. He sat quietly, wondering if this was okay, but he reached up again -farther this time- and poked the man's face, pushing one side of his cheek up.

Danny scrutinized the look, Bruce was still sour faced, his lips didn't look right when Danny made them go up, he had to made Bruce happy again for it to be real. The child huffed and sat back, lowering his gaze and pulling his arms back around himself. He dug through his mind, looking for things that he'd done that made Bruce happy, but he was interrupted by Bruce himself.

"What are you trying to do?" Bruce asked, but Danny didn't really understand, that formation of English words didn't make much sense. "What's wrong Danny? Remember you can speak to me, you don't have to be quiet."

Danny looked up, recognizing a few of those words and his own face soured. Earlier he had shushed him, but now it was okay? This man was as confusing as his core. The child shifted in his seating, this time wanting to get away from Bruce rather than towards, but his big hands landed on his legs, trapping him here for Bruce to stare at. His core was twisting faster now and a touch of red was now in the iridescent throng, the yellow no where in sight. "Danny, speak to me please."

Danny flinched, this was not a question with a choice, it was an order.

His lips parted and he breathed loudly for a few seconds before he attempted his words. "W-wh-what-ats..." he trailed off, not really knowing what he was trying to say or what he was allowed to do to show the man his question. So in the proceeding silence he unlatched his arms from around his torso and brought them up to his own face, his pointer fingers at the corners of his mouth and pushing them upwards.

Bruce's core flared red dramatically, causing the boy to drop his hands from his face and huddle meekly, ducking his head low because he expected a violent reaction to accompany the red flare. It's okay though, he understood now, he wasn't sure why he didn't think of it earlier. Bruce must not want him to do the happy lip thing, that was for other people, non-ghosts only. Like bathrooms. Then there was a hand on his shoulder and Danny flinched away on instinct, a tiny whimper escaping his mouth, but then another came on the other side and Danny was trapped under the weight of two hands on his shoulders.

"Danny that is a smile, people do it when they're happy." Bruce explained, Danny watched the man's red flare slowly spoil into darkness through his hanging hair. One of the hands lifted and Danny whined as it got close to his face, his eyes screwed shut as the hand went lower, then went under his chin. The small halfa flinched hard, nearly jerking out of the man's grip, but the hand under his chin moved up, making Danny's head look up too. "Hey, Danny, it's alright. I'm not going to hit you. You haven't done anything wrong. Look."

The boy was trembling now, shallow breaths of air passing through his parted lips, his eyelids were closed tightly, but at the new order he flicked them open to look up at the man with wide frightened eyes.

Bruce was doing the thing -smiling- again, but his eyes didn't crinkle and his core remained coal-like. "It's okay to have questions Danny, you can ask whatever you want whenever you want. You don't have to be scared."

The halfa didn't understand, those words held no meaning, no comfort or anger to tell except for what his core said, and his core was so dark and none of it made any sense and Danny was so scared!

"Please-" he whispered, eyes closing again as tears welled up and his face scrunched with fear.

"Danny it's okay. You're not in trouble." Bruce said, his hand left his chin and returned to his shoulder. He then pulled, grabbing the child and smushing him against his chest for a third time.

Danny's breathing hitched as he recognized this thing, Bruce was whole body strangling him again. He had to answer some question for Bruce to let him go, but there was no question! What was he supposed to do?!

"I-I sorry- pl-please-" the halfa blubbered, his entire body squished and covered in the heat of the bigger man.

"Este bine." (It's okay) Bruce said softly, "Tu esti nu în necazuri." (You are not in trouble)

The child buried his face into the man's shoulder, crying for all he was worth and feeling rather hot and tingly. His adrenaline was making him numb, expecting to curb the pain that came from punishment. He didn't know why he flinched when it happend, he knew it was coming, but he jolted hard when a hand connected with his head.

But instead of a strike he was expecting, it ruffled his hair and carded through it like it had before. The strokes were slow and soft, sometimes the fingers would catch knots and it would hurt but it was only ever for a moment and the hand would return to the spot to smooth out the tiny pain felt in the area. It moved all over his head, moving slowly to thoroughly massage all around, his hair most times bending backwards out of place but it was far from unpleasant. It felt so good, but the little experiment didn't want to be near this man, he was too confusing. His cries faded anyway the longer the fingers scratched soothingly at his scalp, reducing him to only sniffing and wiping his itchy face on his shirt.

"Esti bine." (You are okay.) Bruce initiated a swaying motion too, Danny then realizing there was another hand on his back, rubbing gently as they swayed from side to side. "Nimeni nu te va răni." (No one is going to hurt you.)

After a few seconds of relative silence, of just Danny's softening cires, he began to hiccup. Bruce must have felt it because he pulled back, holding the child by his armpits in his lap. Danny wasn't sure what to do so he kept his head down, but then Bruce spoke up again.

"You don't have to look away, întâlni ochii mei." (meet my eyes.)

The halfa took a deep breath, hiccuped, and looked up. Bruce was smiling, his icy eyes had gone soft and his core was mainly blue. "You have the hiccups." He said, his core being dashed with a bright yellow, "How about we go have breakfast and fix that, mm?"

He waited, and Danny realized he was waiting for his choice. The child hiccuped again, face twisting as his chest jerked and made a loud noise. The little halfa was startled by the loud sound, blinking and becoming distracted. One of his small hands came up, ready to clasp around his mouth to trap the noise, trying to guess when it would jump up again. The small experiment's body jolted as another sound escaped, he quickly slapped his hand over his mouth. Did he get it?

Then he heard Bruce laugh, his wide green eyes snapped to the man's core, looking for the bright red and yellow the agents always had when they laughed. But Bruce's was pure yellow, well of course there was black too but he couldn't find even a hint of red anywhere in his core. It shined brightly, almost glowing, pulsating with each chuckle that left the man's barrel of a chest.

Danny was staring at him warily as Bruce's laughter died down. His hand came up and pulled Danny's hand from his mouth, another jarring hiccup barely being caught by the halfa's closed lips. "You don't need to cover your mouth Danny, they'll go away soon." Bruce had a little twinkle in his eye, something that made him look less dark. Danny liked that, he looked a lot more inviting and safe that way.

Bruce then started moving, moving him and himself to the edge of the bed. Danny held onto whatever he could to not fall, but it didn't seem to matter because Bruce was holding him close. The man was standing now and Danny was perched on his arm, Danny's own arms around his shoulder and holding onto his shirt nervously. He was almost taller than Bruce right now! Bruce barely glanced at him as he started moving but Danny was well aware of the small smile still on his face- and even if he didn't his core was all too revealing. They moved out the big mahogany door, out into the hallway and down the long corridor towards the stairs.

The halfa was mystified being this high, being able to look at anything and everything, he looked up on more than one occasion and nearly fell backwards. He looked back once and did a double take. Dick was behind them, walking weirdly. He had a big smile on his face and his feet were making large soft steps, his core writhed with so many colors Danny wasn't sure which one was more dominant. There was purple, yellow, black, touches of green and red here and there, Dick was just as complicated as Bruce.

Dick also locked eyes with him, lifting a single finger to his lips, the sign for silence.

Danny frowned as another hiccup rattled his body, wondering what Dick was planning, but complied all the same.

Now that he thought about it... something about Dick looked uncomfortably familiar. His nightmare last night had a black haired boy like him in it, he was someone important, maybe Dick was too. That dream also made Bruce someone bad... so maybe he wasn't... Danny hiccuped and decided he would just keep an eye on both of them, Bruce might be evil and Dick might be good, or the other way around, or neither of them were evil, or both. It was simply impossible to tell at the moment, but they had made him happy, they didn't hit him and they made him comfortable, not to mention gave him food.

So he stayed quiet, not a difficult thing to do- or at least it should, if he didn't have the hiccups.

They started going down the stairs, Danny kept an extra good hold on Bruce's shirt and kept an eye out for Dick behind them. He was just now realizing how weird this all was. He slept in a bed last night, under blankets, in a room with windows. He had had a nightmare and Bruce had helped, he was given food and actual water. No one had hit him, not even when they were angry! They said he was safe, said he was okay and fine, said that he wasn't in trouble. They were so nice, he had forgotten humans could be nice, it made him happy to be with nice humans.

The little experiment didn't realize his lips were twisting up slightly, but it wasn't out of the question that he was distracted, his chest kept jerking with his hiccups.

"Good morning sirs." Alfred's voice pulled the child into the present. The halfa whipped around and his fists clenched with Bruce's shirt.

"Good morning Alfred," Bruce greeted, still walking forward into a... oh what's it called... oh, a kitchen, or wait... there's no fridge or counters, just a table. Eh, table was good enough for Danny, he didn't like tables though. "What have you cooked up for us today?"

Alfred's core swam with a pleasant yellow among other colors, and that dark green was back, and it was in Bruce's core too! Was it contagious?

"A balanced breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast for the young master." Alfred said, his hands placed neatly behind his back and his face rather passively giving the boy a stare.

Bruce nodded and leaned down to put Danny on the chair, realizing Bruce's intent the halfa let go and settled on the cushioned seat with his legs in criss-cross. At first he kept his head down, anxiously waiting for more orders or even straps, but then he remembered what Dick had said about how he was in a house where chairs weren't punishing electric chairs. Also he could tell Bruce was looking at him again and he was about to tell him to look up, Danny really needed to stay on top of that rule so he didn't have to be told all the time. Bruce's patience and niceness had to run out at some point right?

So he looked up, Bruce had moved back and Alfred hadn't moved. Danny wanted to twist in his seat to see if Dick was still behind them but the two men's attention was on him still and he didn't want to do anything that might make them angry with him. He gently held his ankles with both hands as he sat and waited, wondering what was happening next. Bruce said something about eating earlier?

"Master Bruce if I may take a moment of your time." The butler asked, eyes bouncing between the halfa and the man and a hallway close to the table.

"Of course Alfred." Bruce replied calmly, he then turned to the waiting child, his smile increasing in crinkle-ness as he saw Danny was already looking up at him. "I won't be long Danny, just stay there okay?"

The child nodded quickly, glad he was finally getting the hang of the whole looking up thing. It was difficult to relearn everything but at least so far there had been no punishments. The man nodded as well and his core soured as he left with the butler, leaving Danny alone in the table room. Until Dick walked in of course.

Danny stared at him, he was still acting strange and walking weirdly, his core was still a writhing ball of iridescent streaks so Danny still wasn't able to tell what was going on, it was starting to scare him. Dick wore the same sneaky smile he put on earlier, eyes glinting with mischief and sidling up to the archway Bruce and Alfred had disappeared into. His hand came up again to reinforce silence, tapping his lips with his single finger and then he twisted around into the hallway, leaving Danny again alone in the room.

What on earth was going on?! It shouldn't matter though, as long as Danny followed orders he should be fine. Unfortunately his curiosity was not so easily satisfied, but learning from the GIW he knew not to go after his curiosities, that only ended in more pain. He stayed nice and quiet and still, he would just wait for his next orders. That was simpler, and safer.

Eventually Bruce came back, Danny sat up straighter and watched quietly. His core was its now normal inky self, swimming rather violently actually, he didn't seem upset, but he wasn't smiling and the yellow was gone. Was he upset? Was he... dark... because of what he and Alfred talked about? Danny kept his owlish eyes on Bruce as he came forward, he was upset with something he was sure, but it was not directed at Danny, which felt weird.

The man smiled at the small halfa while he took his seat, scooting up close to the table. Deciding nothing would come from speculating why Bruce was suddenly upset, he looked down at himself and realized he wasn't sitting like Bruce was, he should sit like Bruce. The child released his ankles and let them dangle, his brows furrowing as he couldn't quite understand how to scoot closer to the table. He looked up in question, determined to get this right. Bruce opened his mouth to speak, possibly to help, but Danny lost all focus on the man as Dick came out of the hallway. Danny stiffened and watched with wide eyes, missing Bruce's words completely. Dick snuck behind the man's chair, completely hidden from view until he peaked up from behind.

Dick stood behind Bruce while his hands raised in a way Danny could only describe as scary, a giant grin stretched across his face and his chest expanded with a large intake of air. Danny seized up, his face gone pale.

"Dick, you're scaring him."

There was a moment of absolute silence before Dick visibly deflated with a frown, mumbling "dang it," and moved to Bruce's side to scowl playfully at the elder. "When did you know?"

"Danny has been watching you, I knew once I left to speak with Alfred." Bruce said, Danny was so busy watching the two he almost failed to notice the brown that struck through the man's core. Bruce was angry at Dick, at least that what his face said, but it was more like disappointment. "We were going to include you in that discussion Dick, I'm well aware of who it affects and of course you wouldn't be left out of such an important decision." Bruce's eyes were doing something, something that made him look even more annoyed and fierce-er.

Clearly they were talking about something Danny didn't know about, it made him scared. The agents talked about things he didn't know about over his head all the time, usually it was about him and what next painful thing they could do to him. And now Bruce and Dick were doing the same thing! It did it help at all that he was only getting snippets of whatever they were saying, sometimes he didn't even get any if the words!

Danny felt his face grow pale as Bruce continued, his dark look still on the younger male. "And you really shouldn't stealth around like that near Danny, he tends to take things the wrong way."

Dick didn't seem deterred by the dark look, but his folded arms grew tighter and his core writhed. "Right, but if you knew I was there then you should have included me right then and there." Danny watched as Dick's face darkened as well, each person's core writhed with an angry red growing from the inky depths of their souls.

"We have more important things to worry about right now Dick." Bruce said calmly, but his undertone still said anger.

Danny flinched when Dick's core exploded in red, his face lighting up in rage as his voice rose and he gestured violently in Danny's direction. "BUT HE'S-!" The older boy silenced himself, growling under his breath and looking away, his hands clenched in fists at his sides.

But it was too late. The damage was done.

Danny was petrified.

"Dick." Bruce called the acrobats attention to the terrified child, who was now huddled on his chair, arms wrapped around his white head and breathing shakily.

His face fell instantly, quickly transversing around the table (and Bruce) to stand in front of the halfa, but he stopped short at the sound of a fearful whimper. "Oh man, I'm sorry Danny, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm not mad at you I promise, you're safe here Danny, I'm not going to hurt you."

Danny peaked his teary red eyes over the edge of his arms, warily watching Dick as he tried to decipher the tumble of English words falling out of the older boy's mouth. His eyebrows twitched instead as he observed many things happen in quick succession inside the offending boy's core. There was an influx of dark purple, something Danny might have wanted to call remorse or something along that line, but then roaring over it came a bright hot pink. It swirled violently, overtaking every other color within seconds, suffocating and thick.

The white haired halfa just stared, toxic eyes wide as his pale face drained of even more blood. It took all of Danny's willpower to focus on his words, and even then he really didn't understand, but he had to try, he had to make things better or else he'd get in trouble, he had to get rid of that pink. The child swallowed loudly and attempted to hold back his fear, or maybe they wanted his fear, he didn't know! He felt in danger, he felt numb and oddly empowered. His breathing hitched as he realized what was going on. No no no nononono! His powers can't act up now!

"Danny I promise I'm not going to hurt you." Dick said desperately, "I'm sorry, I just overreacted and really I'm angry at Bruce, not you. You don't have to be scared." The child trembled as he shook his head, not in response, but in terror, trying to deny the ectoplasm rising to his defense. His action caused a reaction in the core of the older boy, an odd color combination of purple and green that he could only identify as concern rose within the throng but it barely made a dent in the hot pink, if anything the bright and thick emotion flared up dangerously. "You're not okay? I'm sorry- I didn't mean to-"

Dick cut himself off again as he rushed forwards, spooking Danny into flinching backwards violently with a yelp. He slammed his eyes shut and held onto himself tighter, feeling some sort of release even though everything felt tense and hot. Dick froze outside the green dome that flashed into existence over the child, taking a step back. The teen's face dripped into agony, his pink core being dashed with black streaks that seemed to cut right through the solid color. Dick swallowed the rising lump in his throat as he crouched next to the chair, holding onto the armrest as he gently lifted his other hand over, offering it up to the scared halfa behind the green wall. "Please Danny, can I show you? I'm not going to hurt you."

Danny stayed completely still, or at least tried to considering his body felt like it was vibrating like it was cold. He risked opening his eyes in the silence, wide and searching, he didn't turn his head but his eyes never stayed in one spot for more than two seconds. He saw the dome of course, and a cry wailed from his belly, the tears that had yet to gather started coming forth in droves, wetting his cheeks and arms that surrounded them. His roaming scared eyes found Dick and he flinched again, but it didn't take long to evaluate his position.

He recognized Dick's action from the time they left the cave elevator thing and Alfred had scared him, Dick wanted to touch his hand. Danny did not want to give him his hand. In fact he even tucked his hands away, closer to his person and hoping the boy wouldn't grab at him anyway like he did in the clean room. It didn't really register to him that his shield was preventing contact all together.

Danny's eyes found Bruce, he was watching anxiously and looked like he was about to get up. Well... actually his core said he was watching anxiously, his face and body language said he was tough and in charge, the aura that the agents always held, but his eyes were all wrong. His icy eyes were on Danny, soft and worried, he had hope, yet the inkiness of his core seemed to dampen them all. Whatever that black was had a serious effect... but turning his eyes over to Dick again he found Dick's core still writhing violently hot pink.

"Danny..." The child ducked at the sound of Bruce's voice, he sounded so serious, yet there underneath it was something soft and reassuring. "The shield is not going to help you. You are not in danger."

The halfa's eyes froze on the man, his breathing raspy and too quick, he made a mistake, such a terrible mistake! He used his powers! His mind was a flurry of half thought thoughts and panicked assumptions, the one thing that was clear was the process in which he apologized before. He had to kneel, and then Bruce would do the whole body strangle until... well until Bruce stopped. But before that he needed to stop using his powers before he got into deeper trouble, who knows what would happen if he continued using his powers. They'd lock him up for sure, somewhere dark and scary with sharp things embedded in his skin and joints, where the only light or sound would come from the electricity they pumped through him and his screams of anguish. H-he can't let that happen. He can't.

"Danny please..." Dick shuffled, hand still slightly outstretched and clearly anxious, close but not yet touching the clear green surface. "I promise I would never hurt you."

The terrified child wanted to close his eyes, he wanted to throw up, he wanted a great many things but he decided to appeal to his superiors. He kept his eyes open, staring at Bruce, complying with the one rule they had to keep telling him to follow. He stopped breathing for a moment so he could concentrate on dropping the shield, it helped that the promise of pain if he continued was a motivator. It lowered slowly, taking every part of himself to take it down and submit himself to the awful whims of his keepers. He was in so much trouble.

They had been talking over him, talking about him. Dick had gotten angry at him, violent even.

Just like the GIW.

And now it was going to end in the same way. Pain.

But then a thought occurred to the child, something Dick had said while calming him down from Agen- from Alfred. Dick was supposed to be a good guy and not do GIW things, like hitting, at least that's what Danny understood from the 'they shouldn't have treated you that way' and 'we're the good guys, the GIW are the bad guys'. But it was so confusing when they didn't say certain things outright. He had to keep guessing what they wanted and so far it seemed to be working but sooner or later his luck would run out and maybe they weren't the good guys they said they are.

But here, right now, was exactly that moment. Dick had gotten angry at Danny and hadn't hit him, he was trying to make him feel safe and good. But Danny had used his powers, that was a big no-no. It was all so confusing, who should he listen to? What was he supposed to do? What could he do to make them not angry at him? To make things 'okay' and 'alright' as they kept on trying to tell him he was when he was scared?

The shield was gone now, but Danny's huddling remained. Whatever happened next though he couldn't stay like this, he had to make up for using his powers in some way. Unfortunately Danny only knew one.

The child released his curled form, lowering his eyes to the ground, to the crevice between the table and chair. Dick's hand was still there, ready to take his, but Danny shied away from it -from both keepers- and shifted in the seat until he was sure of his decision.

"Danny?" He heard Dick question, but he didn't dare speak or even acknowledge it. He slid off the chair and onto the floor, crouching low under the table and crawling forward until he found Bruce's feet. Still under the table, Danny then assumed the position. One knee on the ground (stock still), head bowed (don't even blink), and arms straight at his sides (Never. Move.).

A loud screeching sound cracked the silent air, jolting Danny and his eyelids fluttered at the sight of the chair being thrown backwards as the eldest keeper stood. Danny couldn't suppress his quaking body at the sight and closed his eyes. Shuddering was always a precursor to punishment, the adrenaline made it not hurt as much. The tears made their way down the wet tracks already there as he waited in silence. These people had been kind to him, gave him food and real water, he didn't want them to hurt him, he didn't want to be punished and given nothing but pain at the same time as he was given a room with windows. It didn't make any sense, he supposed it didn't have to, he just had to obey.

But there was too many conflicting orders, so many possibilities of what they could want from him, everything was danger.

The second The child felt the lightest brush of fingers on his shoulder he let his instincts take over, regardless of orders or logic, and the single most prevalent thought in his mind in that moment was get away.

The halfa jerked back at the attempted touch and tumbled to the floor, evading the harmful hand he couldn't see. He scrambled backwards, searching for a corner, something, anything to hide or hinder his keepers. But he felt nothing but open air as his chest heaved with a wet sob, eyes still screwed shut and searching behind him blindly for anything he could use. Danny heard voices but he didn't care, shaking his head as he blubbered pleadings. Finally a pole or something was found by his hand, he latched onto it, digging his fingers into the wood and curling up to it as much as possible.

There was nothing but the numb feeling of crying, he was sure he was a bit slobbery too, everything was so wet and gross and he was such a disgusting little experiment of post human consciousness... He was hyper aware of everything, the air prickled at his skin and his eyes stung. His fingers ached and so did his rump, sitting on the ground was uncomfortable but he didn't care much because down here was safer than up there with the keepers. There was nothing, nothing but sobbing, nothing but adrenaline shooting through him to numb the pain, until there was a voice, soft and quiet.

"Tu esti nu în necazuri."

(You are not in trouble.)

It was so gentle, making its way to his ear on a light breeze, bringing with it something warm and comforting. The words were clear, the meaning unmistakable.

Danny cracked open his eyes, blinking a few times to see through the tears gathered at the crease. It was dark wherever he was... right, shadows under the table. Danny took in a deep shuddering breath, the ground was a nice brown wood color, nothing like the GIW's slick silvery ground. His eyes flicked up, quickly avoiding his keepers and focusing on his other surroundings. Danny was actually under a chair, holding onto its leg like a lifeline and curled completely around it. The chair leg was cold, and for that Danny was grateful, because heat meant body and body meant agent and agent meant pain.

But... the last time there was heat it didn't hurt... Bruce had... he hadn't hurt him. His keepers were a heavy heat in front of him, oppressive and suffocating. But the heat hadn't hurt last time... would it hurt again? Was it worth the risk to see? No, that was a one time thing, for some reason they had been kind once, he couldn't be fooled again!

Then why do they continue to try so hard? A little voice inside him asked.

Danny's eyes fluttered open, not remembering closing them, and briefly glanced at his two keepers.

Bruce's heavy form was crouched in front of him, in the light... not reaching, not angry, not violent and not seeking his pain for pleasure. Dick's smaller form was next to him, a bit farther back like he was scared, like he was frightened that his mere presence would set off some type of bomb.

Danny averted his gaze once more and shifted his feet closer, unsure if he was seeking warmth or evading his keepers.

Bruce didn't move as he repeated himself, low, slow, and gentle. "Tu esti nu în necazuri." (You are not in trouble.)

The halfa wasn't sure what to do with this sentence, it wasn't an order, it was more of an assurance, a comfort. Something nice. The GIW never did anything nice, they never even tried, the GIW was not good, but were Bruce and Dick good? Yes that's what Dick had said, they were good, but using his powers was too bad! It overrides their good! What would good do against that much bad?

"It's alright Danny," Bruce murmured quietly, "No one is going to hurt you, Dick didn't mean to scare you." The older boy nodded at this statement, shifting nervously in his crouched position.

Danny tucked his lower lip into his mouth, he would just have to observe to know what these people wanted, and just... let them. The child slowly got his eyes up, letting them roam over his keepers, watching intently at their body language, their cores, their faces. They're tense. They're waiting. They're wracked with agony and anger. The mere presence of the anger made Danny want to jerk away again and hide, but he caught himself as he noticed something about it. Their anger... was not directed at Danny.

"We're not going to come any closer Danny, we promise." Bruce continued, watching him watch them. He was thinking, and Danny could see it. It was odd because he never watched someone think before, the GIW agents just DID things, anger meant hit, curiosity meant dig, joy meant he was doing the right thing weather it was being in pain or doing what they told him to do. Bruce was pausing, waiting, thinking about something. Danny's eyes flicked down and he got his answer. Bruce was thinking about hope, his core swirled with dark green, arching from the deep black depths.

But what exactly was Bruce hoping for?

Danny's hands shifted on his chair leg, pressing his cheek against the wood and curling his legs closer, tucking one foot behind it. It gave him a tight feeling, he liked that, it let him know what was happening to his body when it was numb, it was easy to find pain that way. His trapped chest shuttered with short gasping breaths, making his face press harder into the leg every second, his wide eyes locked onto the man while he let his bottom lip go to more easily breathe.

"...G-go—hic—ood...?" Danny's grip tightened and his face grimaced as his body jolted with the unexpected hiccup. He saw his keeper's cores flash is surprise but they quickly mellowed back into their respective colors. Dick's core was still supremely dominated by hot pink, Bruce was dark green, and both were stemmed from black.

It was silent after he spoke, they were doing that weird thing... thinking... again. Danny hiccuped three more times before anyone said anything, and it was Bruce again who spoke even though Dick looked rather antsy.

"Yes Danny, we're the good guys, you're good too. We won't do anything to you that you don't want or need."

The child's body jumped as he hiccuped again, this time his eyes flicked over to Dick, then going back and fourth as his shuttering breaths shook his body. His stiff hand unlatched from the wood, shakily pointing at the other boy, his lips floundering for a second before he found the word again. "G-good?"

Dick seemed equally flustered, the English was odd and difficult to decipher because he kept cutting himself off. "I- ah- Ye- yeah Danny, I'm good I promise." His face was red with shame but he kept his eye contact, shifting in place. "I promise, please."

That's when Danny grew confused, yes he was scared, but he was finally getting answers and something wasn't making sense. The lack of violence befalling him gave him the confidence he needed to push past his current fear and maybe even ask another question. What was Dick asking for? He was saying please, but what for? He clearly wasn't angry, he even said so, so he should be in the clear to ask a question right? Bruce said it was okay to ask questions earlier— right? That's what that sentence had meant? He had only later deciphered 'ask' in English but he knew 'okay'.

Danny swallowed thickly and his hand returned to the wooden post, gripping it fiercely as another jolt ran through him. "Wh-what... — hic—V-vă rog?" (P-please?) he asked quietly, flicking his eyes to Bruce just to be sure he was within the rules to ask a question.

Dick's eyebrows furrowed differently now, he looked worried before- they were all bunched upwards, but now they lowered and made wrinkles on the nose. "What is a promise?"

Danny just blinked, after a second he realized Dick was trying to clarify the question. He shifted uncomfortably and shook his head, if only to clear his mind. This was very weird, he was having a conversation with his keepers. That thought alone made Danny feel in danger, but he continued on with a skittish determination. "Wh-what... cereți?" (Ask for?)

The acrobat drew a tight breath and his face cleared, while his core remained that terrible pink color his face said he understood now. "I'm asking for your forgiveness Danny, I made a mistake and I don't want you to feel bad or be afraid of me."

Danny's frown deepened, he barely understood any of what he just said, again he looked to Bruce before speaking. "R-Rom...Romani...?" He winced and held his breath while he waited, was it okay to ask for a translation? The GIW would have laughed at the notion, then cut his throat. Danny buried his face against the stiff wooden chair leg, this was all so confusing and dangerous, he needed rules!

"Oh," the younger keeper seemed surprised and quickly filled the silence with words, Romanian words. Dick waited in the proceeding silence, tense and nervous, he should have thought to do that from the beginning, but honestly he'd forgotten the kid even spoke Romanian.

Danny's eyebrows furrowed as his mind worked, —not noticing his hiccups no longer plagued him— he turned his head back again towards his keepers to shyly study the cores. Clearly not having this 'forgiveness' was causing Dick harm, or whatever that pink stuff was, he didn't want Dick to be a color he couldn't identify, or scared. "Iertare..." (forgiveness...) he asked slowly, trying to find the English words in case this was all going to go away and he'd get in trouble. "M-make galben?" (Yellow?)

It was Dick's turn to be confused, his head tilting oddly as the pink was finally starting to recede, strikes of lime green and the deep dark purple finally making a difference. "Yellow?" Bruce's core was also dashed by the bright green, the boy flicking his eyes between then two.

Danny debated staying silent, but he recognized the clarifying question from the acrobat, and if these people liked talking, would not talking get him in trouble? Not for the first time Danny was filled with despair, everything was so backwards here!

"Fericit." (Happy.) The small halfa supplied quietly, edging himself just a bit further from his keepers.

Dick then smiled, the lime in his core flaring up for a second before settling back down, the pink was still a large influence and ruled with an iron fist, it was not going away fast or easily. "Yeah, forgiveness makes everyone happy." The smile was tainted though, something was wrong, he was upset (sad upset, not angry upset) about something.

In the proceeding silence Bruce shifted ever so slightly, but the movement caught the child's eye. The big man stilled and his eyebrows rose as his soft eyes stared, "Danny would you like to come out from under the table?"

The halfa barely registered the fact he had been given a choice again because his head was already shaking, a small noise emanating from the back of his throat as he scooted farther into the depths of the shadows. He was safe under here apparently, Bruce said they wouldn't get closer, and they weren't, they couldn't get to him under here. There must be some type of shield, or maybe they were afraid of the dark? Well no, that's dumb, they had a cave downstairs filled with shadows, so that couldn't be it. His breathing hitched as he realized maybe his powers were acting up again, but given that nothing glowed green nor did he feel any released pressure in his chest he felt it was safe enough to say it wasn't him. So why wouldn't they come after him?

Danny decided to ask another question, something he'd been wondering since the beginning of this weird conversation, something he'd been expecting, but was now confounded by this odd rule about no keepers under the table. "...P-pedeapsă?" (...P-punishment?)

Bruce looked to be answering, but the acrobat beside him nearly reared with emotion. Even Dick's core recoiled, a large flare of dark purple and a fiery red appeared, but got promptly swallowed by the pink. "No Danny, you aren't going to get hurt. This one is on me, I did something wrong. You're okay."

Relief flooded the child, he wasn't going to get hurt, he... wasn't going to get hurt. Wow. What a feeling. A shaky sigh left his chest, realizing he'd been holding one in since he asked his question, his hands loosened around the chair leg too, tired from holding on so tightly. He looked down at his knees and feet, feeling a bit better in this position than normal, he wasn't even rocking and he felt safe! Well... maybe not safe... but definitely more not scared.

"Would you like to come out now? Alfred's breakfast is getting cold." Bruce stated, his icy eyes going up for a moment before landing back on the child.

The feeling of safety left as soon as it came. He shook his head again, gripping the chair leg again with both hands and shifting himself behind it, as if the skinny pole could hide his whole body from his keepers. He liked being under the table if it meant no keepers, but what if they got annoyed? What if they broke the rules? They MADE the rules! Who's to say they can't break them?!

"It is perfectly alright Master Bruce," Alfred's voice spouted from some other direction, spooking Danny into a whimper and ducking his head. "If Master Danny wishes to stay under the table in safety I see no reason we cannot compromise and perhaps have a sort of picnic under the table?"

Danny heard mumblings and words shared between the keepers, he decided he didn't care until his unreachable position under the table was the topic of discussion. His toxic eyes opened when he heard another grating sound, this one coming from something metal. A tray was slid his way, a plate with food on it. Danny stared at the food in wonder, he did all those bad things, and they were still feeding him?

He looked up just in case, seeing Bruce and Dick had their own plates and food on the floor with them. Bruce nodded to him, obviously some silent singal it was okay to eat, or maybe it was an order? The child scrutinized the food first, he was not so foolish as to think the food wouldn't be drugged, but considering last time it wasn't he was simply skeptical. Danny allowed himself to relax some so he could pull the food closer for inspection. Still hugging the pole of the chair with his body, the halfa picked the food apart, sniffing most of it to check for the bitter scent or odd discoloring, but he found mostly nothing. There was bread, but it was all burnt and stiff, the tops of the bread had weird whiteish yellow stuff on it he was suspicious of. It smelled alright but it was an unnatural color for baked bread, it shouldn't have melted white stuff on it. So he steered clear of the burnt bread, the other foods were all clear though so he happily ate those. There was yellow fluffy stuff that was still warm, and long cooked slices of meat. Danny ate the meat first, interested in the burst of flavor and texture in his mouth, as well as the slick grease stuff on his fingers. There was a silver pronged stick with his food, he wasn't sure what it did but he hoped it wasn't like the metal sticks the GIW put in his flesh when he was bad.

The more he thought about it the more he decided to stay away from the burnt bread, on top of the distrustful coloring he wasn't sure he liked how it looked, it reminded him of him when he got burnt. Those were unpleasant thoughts, so he hopped the 'no keepers under the table' rule would save him if it was a bad thing to not eat it. He glanced up just in case, and found Dick and Bruce were almost finished eating. It was weird to eat with his keepers, it was all quiet except for their chewing and swallowing. Although Dick was acting weird, he still looked wound up, tense and waiting. What was he waiting for? Bruce was just about finished and Dick still had some yellow stuff on his plate, but his attention was focused on Danny, which made Danny feel tense.

"Look... I'm sorry Danny, want to try again?" Dick asked hopefully, scooting closer to the shadows but not yet breaching them. Danny didn't know how to respond to that, so he just kept quiet and waited for something else to happen.

Dick's hand reached out, again not yet dipping into the shadows, but it was there, outstretched and ready. Dick wanted Danny to put his hand in his hand again, and it was supposed to be an okay thing, a happy relaxing thing-- Like the rubbing on the hair!

Danny's gaze hardened as he thought, concentrating hard on all the weird things that led up to this and what was expected to happen afterwards. Dick had scared him(like the GIW), but he felt bad(NOT like the GIW), his core was super pink and that was uncomfortable, but forgiveness makes sad people happy. Would complying with Dick's hand rubbing thing make Dick happy? Danny had to keep reminding himself he was safe here, the rubbing thing wasn't painful and it wasn't a punishment, so it literally wouldn't hurt to try. Hopefully.

The halfa slowly uncurled around his pole and scooted forward past his abandoned plate, nervously looking around and to each keeper. He settled in front of the acrobat with his knees on the ground and sitting on his heels. Danny was still reluctant, but he placed his hand inside Dick's awaiting palm. He calmed himself with the knowledge of what was going to happen when Dick made this offer. Dick wasn't going to hurt him.

"E-eu iert..." (I-I forgive...) Danny said rather breathlessly, twitching in Dick's hand and forcing himself to keep eye contact with the younger keeper.

Dick's eyes crinkled in a smile, his other hand coming up to gently stroke the child's arm as his hand that held it softly closed. It wasn't tight, just holding him, warm and present.

The pink vanished.

Danny tried not to stare, but he was worried that if he looked away now the pink might come back, it was hiding and it could take over any second. What kind of emotion did that? Dick's face, however, continued to be happy. A bright shiny yellow replacing all that pink as slowly the other colors returned into his more normal core color arrangement. "Thank you Danny."

The small experiment didn't know how to respond to that, he'd never been thanked before, so he just nodded slowly to acknowledge the words.

An odd vibration sound then struck the air, spooking Danny, but he fought himself to not yank his hand from Dick's grip. Both sets of eyes turned to Bruce, who fished the source of the vibrations from his pocket. The man looked at the object with a blank face, his core swirling rather calmly as the hopeful dark green receded and was replaced by Bruce's usual colors, which mainly consisted of black.

"I've got to go to work now," He said, shifting and lifting himself off the ground, only to crouch again and look the halfa in the eyes. "Dick and Alfred will stay here with you Danny. I'll be gone most of the day, but I'll be back for dinner and Dick and Alfred will take good care of you."

Danny didn't quite understand, but he realized he was saying he was leaving, leaving him with Dick and Alfred. Was that a good thing? Danny was still confused when Bruce turned to Dick, "Take care of him, he likes his head getting rubbed and maybe try to introduce him to a few fun things. Just don't break anything please." This last bit was said with a small quirk of his lips as Dick nodded thoughtfully, actually rolling his eyes.

"Of course, we'll do simple stuff, hopefully nothing that might make him scared." They were talking over his head again, Danny didn't like that, not to mention he only understood about two words in Dick's English sentence. It was settled though, Bruce was leaving and Dick and Alfred were in charge. Rule number one was absolutely don't break anything under any circumstance. Should be easy enough.

Dick turned to Danny once Bruce stood up and walked away, the acrobat gave him a brilliant smile. "Hey Danny, how do you feel about drawing? I've got some crayons and we have plenty of paper."

Danny blinked owlishly. What?

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