When Danny replenished his plate of food, he snuck away to take one of the pills from Lynn. He wasn’t sure if they worked, but when he felt his emotions spike, the act of taking one made him pause, think,breathe. He’d been taking them consistently ever since giving in and choking back the first one.
The week passed too slowly regardless, with too little progress at work, too much tension around family and friends, no opportunity to see Cho, and while the pills helped, they didn’t take the pain away completely. It all built up like a steadily sparking powder keg waiting to blow.
“Danny?” Joey said when the two of them were setting the table Friday night. This week, family dinner had been scheduled for the end of the week. Joey actually speaking to Danny was a nice change from the awkward silence that usually hovered around them. “What did you bring to add to the meal?”
Tonight they were having steak—àla John—while Stella provided most of the side dishes and Joey had made a salad.
“Oh, uhh…bread,” Danny said. “Just need to heat it up in the oven. I better get on that.” Rushing back into the kitchen, he lightning jumped to the corner store and returned with a loaf of rosemary and garlic bread in only a few minutes. He knew he’d forgotten something.
When he returned to the dining room, he found John and Stella helping Joey finish the table. Walking in on the three of them like that gave Danny pause—the more comfortablelaughter between them and the rhythm in which they moved was humbling to witness. Only six months since Joey had lost his mother, the only parent he’d ever known, and already he was so at home with a father and sister.
“This isn’t a spectator sport, kiddo,” John said with an authoritative point of his finger and teasing smirk. “Go get the napkins, huh? You’re about to be blown away by how I did these steaks.”
Danny tried to smile in kind, but once they were sitting at the table, playing at being a happy family, his attention drifted to Joey’s watch with a yellow lightning bolt decorating the face. Every time he looked at Joey there was another reminder of how he’d failed and of how someone half his age was handling that same loss so much better than he was.
They were halfway through dinner when Danny’s phone buzzed. He didn’t think much of it when he checked the message. He’d left things tentative about seeing Cho tonight—if dinner ended early, which was unlikely—so he knew it couldn’t be him.
Bow before my glory—The Invisible Man is ready. Come test out your new suit, bro!
Andre, it’s family dinner night, remember?
I know, I know, but this is just a quick field test to see if you can use your powers without the reflectors fritzing. Fifteen minutes tops. Say you’re running out for ice cream.
Danny was too sorely tempted to not accept the offer. That stealth suit could make or break his chances against Ludgate, and right now he had no idea when the thief would strike again.
“Something important, Danny?” Joey asked, noticing his diverted attention.
Typing quickly, Danny messaged Andre that he was on his way. “Yeah, actually. Andre needs my help with something backat the precinct. I wouldn’t normally duck out, but it’ll only be fifteen minutes. You mind, Dad?”
“Wouldn’t normally, right,” Joey muttered—softly, but not quite low enough not to be heard.
Danny turned his focus back to the boy. “Something you wanna say, Joey?”
Stella and John both shot him a reproachful look. He knew he didn’t have a right to snap when Joey wasn’t exactly wrong, but he’d always known he wasn’t imagining the sneers in Joey’s smiles.
He was smiling now, but nothing about it looked friendly. “Yeah, I do. Are you ever actually here when you’re with us? Half the time you don’t show, even though you live here. And when you do show up, halfthattime you’re on your phone. Or staring off into space. You know, if you don’t want to be here, it wouldn’t bother me to see you gone.”
“Joey,” John said sternly.
“What? Am I the only one who thinks Danny doesn’t want anything to do with this family? You really think that’s gonna change after it’s official?”
“Official?” Danny darted his eyes to his father. “What’s he talking about?”
Leaving his own meal unfinished, John gave a long, suffering sigh.
Stella didn’t look surprised. She’d already known. Of course she knew. She was Joey’s case worker; she was the reason they’d taken him in to begin with.
“Joey fits well here, Danny,” John said. “No reason for him to go anywhere else. I’ve been working on redoing the upstairs so he can move out of Stella’s old room—”
“And you weren’t even going to tell me you’re adopting him? No, I suppose not,” Danny looked across the table at the Dark leaning young man, “since I’m not a part of this family.”Throwing his napkin on the table, he snatched up his phone and stood.
“Danny, wait—” Stella cut in.
“You certainly don’t act like you want to be part of this family!” Joey shouted. “Not as long as I’m included.”
“Both of you, stop it. Listen to yourselves.” Stella rose before Danny could leave the room. “You’re both saying the same thing, thinking the other doesn’t believe they belong whenyou’rethe one feeling excluded. You are both part of this family.”
“Damn right you are.” John stood up next. “I don’t want either of you thinking you have to fight over your place here. Danny, the reason I didn’t tell you about adopting Joey officially is because it happened just these past couple days, and you’ve…had your mind elsewhere.”
