Page 37 of Lovesick Titan (Lovesick #2)
Danny sat with his bag tucked under his feet—Michael at his right, Mal on the boy’s other side, bookending him perfectly with their near identical height.
Michael kept looking at them with childlike awe, but his wonder at sitting between Zeus and Prometheus on a bench in the hallway outside his mother’s hospital room in no way meant the kid had grown shy.
He had been talking nonstop ever since Danny lightning jumped them to the hospital. First Carla by herself, ensuring she got a wheelchair and a nurse to attend to her before he headed back to the apartment. Then Mal and Michael together.
Half of Danny felt like he should leave, like he didn’t belong in this part of Mal’s life, but the other half understood that the tension in Mal’s shoulders and ever-watchful eyes proved how much he cared for this family and would do anything to keep them safe.
Danny couldn’t leave him to play vigilant guardian on his own.
When Michael was sick of asking Danny about his lightning powers, they steered the boy toward topics of his forthcoming little sister.
“It’ll be cool, I guess.” He kicked his legs out and let them swing beneath him.
“You guess?” Mal raised an eyebrow while Danny fought a smirk.
Michael shrugged, big blue eyes drifting to the floor. “Mom says I hafta be responsible now, help take care of baby Mai and keep her safe. But what if I’m not good at it? What if I’m not good at being a big brother? ”
Danny’s heart melted for the kid, but Mal didn’t falter for a moment.
“Nothin’ to it, Michael. Know why?” Mal pushed on when Michael shook his head.
“Coz it’s always easy to do the things you want to do, right?
And you are gonna want more than anything else to keep that baby girl safe.
As much as she’ll drive you crazy and get into your things and demand your mother’s attention away from you, she’ll also be all yours.
” A softness entered his voice as he talked from personal experience, and the light that touched his eyes made Danny glow with warmth right along with him.
“Some days just seeing her is going to make you feel like you can take on the whole world.”
“Really?” Michael perked up. “Why?”
“Coz you’ll love her. You’ll love watching out for her, even when you have to share your toys.
And you will have to share,” Mal said firmly after Michael made a disgruntled face.
“And not get angry when she takes what’s yours.
But she’ll give much more than she takes if you do right by her.
You’ll be her whole world. Tell me, you have someone you look up to? ”
“Course I do,” Michael sat up taller, and even though Danny couldn’t see his eyes anymore since he faced Mal, he imagined the look on the boy’s face was full of devotion. “ You.”
The carefully constructed mask Mal wore, even while being more open talking about loving a sister unconditionally, gave way to shock. He covered it quickly, but he couldn’t hide the way his eyes darted to Danny before he answered.
“Well then…do you think you’d like it if someone looked up to you that way?”
Michael nodded enthusiastically, and the smile that cracked Mal’s mask further made him look so handsome.
“Mai will look up to you like that, and all you have to do is be there for her. Protect her, like your mother said, no matter what, and you’ll be the biggest hero in her whole life.”
“Like you?” Michael asked.
The shock didn’t reappear but was replaced with an awful sadness that Danny wanted to wipe away and never see on Mal’s face again. “I’m not a hero, Michael. I just do what I have to, to keep those who matter most to me safe. ”
“That’s as much of a hero as anyone needs to be,” Danny said, causing Michael to turn his round blue eyes on him.
“Being a hero doesn’t only mean stopping bad guys or putting out fires.
Sometimes it’s about...giving up the last slice of pizza.
Or giving good advice. Or being there, just to listen, when someone is hurting and needs a friend.
” He smiled wider as he felt Mal’s eyes on him with fresh intensity, but he kept his gaze on Michael and leaned in close to whisper, “So don’t let our friend Mr. Winter get away with saying he’s no hero. We both know better, right?”
Michael nodded with a conspiratorial smile this time while Mal, when Danny looked at him again, didn’t try to hide any of the melancholy creeping into his expression or the fondness that played at the corners of his smile.
There were so many things left unsaid, things they couldn’t say with a ten-year-old sitting between them.
“You got that, Michael,” Mal said. “From Olympus City’s own superhero—you do your best by your sister, and you’ll be a hero to her forever.
And to us. Got it?” Holding out his hand in a forward-facing fist, the pair bumped with gentle force, which Danny thought looked too adorable and out of place but definitely like something they’d done before.
Danny got so caught up in looking at Mal, in being reminded of all the reasons why he’d come to care for this man, that he missed when Michael tried to get his attention.
“Mr. Zeu—” He cut himself off dutifully since they’d told him, and his mother had reiterated firmly in the brief moment they were all alone in the delivery room before the nurses shooed them out, that Danny being Zeus was a big secret to keep. “Um, I mean…Mr. Danny?”
Pulling himself from Mal’s gaze, Danny cleared his throat before speaking. “Just Danny is fine, Michael.”
“Okay. Danny . Umm…I’m sorry I don’t have a Zeus doll.” He’d been sitting so patiently while they waited for the baby to be born, Danny hadn’t realized the boy had a toy tucked into the deep pockets of his jacket until he reached in and pulled out his Prometheus doll made of yarn.
Danny smiled at its appearance, but then furrowed his brow. “Why are you sorry?”
“Coz I didn’t want one.” Michael held the doll in both hands with reverent care. “Mom was gonna make me one, so I could have both, but I said no, coz you…coz Zeus is always fighting Prometheus. And he saved us, ya know? ”
“I know.” Danny offered Mal another encouraging smile.
“But you’re not fighting now!” Michael straightened again, smiling as he stood the doll up on his legs. “You’re friends, right?”
Those blue eyes…Danny was trapped whether he looked down or up, because Michael was so fervently certain of everything he believed about Mal as his personal hero, and Mal couldn’t believe he was anyone’s hero.
“More like boyfriends, honey,” Lucy’s voice broke into their reverie, and while at first Danny was startled, then disappointed to be interrupted, it caught up to him that he should actually be terrified.
He wasn’t wearing his mask! And she obviously knew it was Zeus sitting there, even though Danny couldn’t see her yet, since her voice had come from behind him.
There was the curve of a corner behind his back where she must have come from, which was the only explanation for how Mal hadn’t noticed her either—that and how he’d been staring at Danny.
While Danny’s eyes widened with panic, Mal scowled. “Lucy…”
“Boyfriends? Like…kissing boyfriends?” Michael said, small and hushed like sharing a secret. Lucy snorted over Danny’s shoulder, making him tense at how close she was, but Michael’s expression was entirely contemplative. “How do people who were fighting become boyfriends?”
“Very carefully.”
“ Lucy .”
“Oh relax, Mickey. You can relax too, Danny . Mickey kept your secret, don’t you worry. I’m just clever, is all. I can put a puzzle together.”
Danny’s shoulders eased out of their tension, even though he should have been more concerned that his secret identity seemed to have become increasingly less secret in the span of a single day.
But he trusted Captain Shan. He trusted Carla and Michael more than he probably should too.
And even if it hadn’t been for Mal, he wanted to trust Lucy.
Turning slowly, he looked over his shoulder with a weak smile. “Hi, Lucy.”
Like her brother, she had a knack for looking effortlessly gorgeous—not a hair out of place, makeup flawless, a leather jacket over a well-fitted tank top. Her brown eyes swept over Danny’s face and down his body with a cold scrutiny .
“Hmm. Look at you . I get why Mickey’s so obsessed. Had him wrapped around your finger the second he saw those boyish good looks.”
“Impressionable ears, Luce,” Mal said through what sounded like gritted teeth.
“Oh, Michael doesn’t mind, do you, hun?” Lucy squeezed her way onto the bench next to Danny and leaned over him to get closer to Michael, which was the most immediate physical contact Danny had ever had with Gaia .
How surreal this whole experience was hit Danny with the same impact as Lucy’s vanilla scented perfume.
“You don’t care if they’re boyfriends, do you?”
Michael shrugged, not even remotely scandalized.
“Mom says as long as people don’t hurt each other, anybody can be boyfriends or girlfriends or.
..whatever they wanna be. You used to hurt each other, but you’ve stopped now, right?
” He seemed particularly concerned about this point, which given his history with an abusive father made Danny’s stomach twist.
“Right,” Mal answered, that sad smile marring his face again. “We don’t hurt each other anymore.” He said it like a promise, but with a sorrow in his voice that betrayed how he doubted they could avoid hurting each other indefinitely.
Did anyone ever manage that? What Dunkirk had put Carla and Michael through was despicable.
What Danny and Mal had put each other through was different but its own kind of despicable.
All Mal saw was how easily they could be that way again, but Danny clung to the hope that what they’d been through didn’t define who they were to each other.
It didn’t have to be a sign of the future, but if it ever was, Danny would be the first to walk away.