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In other words, they would never have been anything other than friends. Bruce attempted to ignore his feelings, keep Danny in his life as a trusted companion, but somehow that line blurred. There were days when Bruce actually convinced himself that maybe there was something there, but reality would crash in.

He knew his children, and Fentons had hopes that one day Bruce and Danny would be spouses, but he was no fool. He just accepted that he would likely die being in love with his friend.

The weekly calls, no matter what part of the world Danny was in. The shared holidays. The support of the kids. The tender way Danny's eyes danced when they spoke. The times Danny fell asleep in his bed, too tired to walk back to the guest room. The way he understood others' emotions and explained things to Bruce when Bruce couldn't do it himself.

All of that was Bruce being hopeful, but to Danny, it was just a good friendship.

He knew that.

He accepts that.

He would die knowing that Danny would never, ever be the person he wished Danny would be in Bruce's future.

Then he saw it. Or rather saw them.

Bruce had never revealed his identity, his kids', or his friends' to Danny. Mostly because he wanted one part of his life to be safe from that. He knew that the other man could handle himself, proving it once by rescuing the Waynes in their civilian identities and another time by fighting his way through a Gotham riot because he was under the impression that Jason had been lost somewhere in it. That didn't mean Bruce wanted Danny facing the same monsters he did.

Maybe he should have.

Because obviously, Danny had no problem loving a vigilante.

Danny was with Phantom. The ghost hero that Bruce had respect for. The one he had actively attempted to get along with as Batman. Hell, the two had even been on a few missions together, despite Phantom not being an official member of the Justice League. He was one of the few heroes who believed Phantom could be trusted despite the hesitation that some of the league held regarding him.

Mostly because Phantom was a ghost and one that was so old, many didn't trust his nature would flip to be against the mortals' best interest. Bruce never believed it.

And now his friend had called him out here to give him the news. He was dating Phantom.

"I'm so glad you could join me," Danny says, a little nervous as he gestures to the candlelight dinner he set up on his balcony. He had refused Brucec's invitation to stay at the Manor for the first time in ten years. It made sense. His boyfriend wouldn't want him to be in another man's house.

Bruce opens his mouth, his words get stuck on his tongue, so he has to swallow before trying again. "I'm glad to be here."

Danny's smile wobbles for a second, and Bruce wouldn't have noticed except he's never seen his friend nervous in his life. He had never seen him so anxious to be in Bruce's presence.

This is going to kill me. Bruce thinks as Danny fumbles with pulling out Bruce's chair, nearly tripping over his own foot. Bruce tries not to show it on his face, but taking his seat, folding his hands on the table, and watching Danny scramble to his side across the table, felt worse than the time his line broke and he fell down a skyscraper for the first time.

"Shall we eat?" Danny asks after a moment of silence. Bruce's attempt to gather strength led to him just staring, and any other time that would have made him wince, but he couldn't afford to let any real emotions on his face right now. If he did, he would burst into tears.

Danny seemed blissfully unaware of Bruce's dilemma as he gestured to the food on the table. It's every one of Bruce's favorites.

"Yes." The smile on Bruce's face is as fake as plastic, and judging by Danny's frown, he can tell as well. The billionaire couldn't afford to let him bring it up, instead taking a spoonful of mulligatawny soup. By first touch on his taste buds, Bruce can tell that Danny didn't buy this. It was homemade.

Danny made this for him. Bruce had always thought that anything the man cooked had a special taste, a slight mixing of flavors that was uniquely Danny; he could never confuse the man's cooking with anyone else's, even if that other person followed Danny's recipe to the letter.

"Do you like it?" Danny taps his fingers on the table as if that wasn't a sign of his impatience for feedback.

"It's delicious," Bruce lies. He can't taste the food. It's like mush in his mouth, turned bitter by the knowledge that at some point in this meal, Danny would break the news.

The news that his heart belongs to someone else.

"Great! I worked on that recipe for days." Tucking a bit of his hair behind his ears, Danny admitted shyly, "Alfred helped me learn how to make his."

"Wow, that's impressive," Bruce hears himself say. He feels as if he were watching his own body go through the motions. Danny must think the same because he frowns, opens his mouth, then decides better of it.

They eat in silence for a moment, and it's startling to realize this is one of the first awkward dinners they have had without a fight preceding it. Bruce doesn't know if he wants to break the silence or hide in it. He chooses to eat spoonful after spoonful, trying to speed things along and get this over with.

Danny tries to keep the conversation flowing, but Bruce can't answer anything beyond a one-word response or a few nonverbal reactions. His friend seems increasingly dejected throughout the meal, and by the time dessert comes around- cranberry white chocolate cookies, another one of Bruce's favorites, Danny personally asked Alfred to teach him to make- the silence had gone from uncomfortable to suffocating.

"Um, Bruce?" Danny starts after a moment of them sitting there, staring at each other. He rubs his hands over each other, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks and rising to the top of his ears. He's adorable, beautiful, lovely, and every other word for endearing out there, rolled into one person, and none of him is for Bruce. "I got to tell you something...."

Bruce stood up, nearly throwing his chair down as he scrambled to the railing and away from Danny. It was cowardly, but he couldn't bear to hear it. Not yet. "Wow, Gotham looks beautiful."

"Um, yeah, it is. Bruce-"

He points to a random place in Gotham, laughing like the airhead so many believe Bruce Wayne to be. "Did you know that was the first place I ever took Dick to? We were getting ice cream and-"

"I'm in love with you."

The world comes to a screeching halt. Bruce is still in his pointing pose, wind blowing his open suit jacket and hair slightly, his smile frozen in place. A second passes, then two, and nearly two minutes while he wonders if he heard that correctly.

Am I dreaming?

"I understand." Danny says wetly somewhere behind him, "I'm sorry. This was stupid. I was being stupid. I- forget that I-"

Bruce flings himself around, coming face to face with Danny, desperately attempting to wipe tears off his face, even as his chest starts heaving with barely suppressed sobs. It takes one step, then two, then half a jog of four before Bruce is crashing into Danny, yanking the other man into his chest and letting his sob there.

It shows just how much they mean to each other that Danny doesn't pull away, but instead buries his face into Bruce's chest. Wetness gathers on his expensive shirt, but for once, Bruce doesn't care as he gasps. "I love you too."

Danny's sobs cut off abruptly, tilting his head back and banging the top on Bruce's chin. He winces but doesn't have time to complain before Danny is hissing, "Did you seriously make me cry thinking you didn't feel the same just so you could have your dramatic pause?!"

"No! No! I was just surprised, I mean- what about Phantom?"

"What about Phantom?" There is a guarded edge to Danny's tone now. The kind that would have come with crossed arms and firmly planted legs in his stance, but he's still inside Bruce's arms, so he settles for narrowing his eyes and looking down his nose at Bruce. Despite being shorter than him.

"Aren't you two together?"

Danny blinks, then bursts out laughing. Bruce feels wrong-footed as the man he loves, and apparently loves him back, is laughing so hard he has to grab his sides. "You thought Phantom and I were dating!? Why!?"

"I um, well, I saw you two."

"What?"

"A few weeks ago, I saw Phantom land and hug you at your hotel in Mexico. He then put his hand under your shirt before the two of you disappeared into your room."

Danny's hands land on Bruce's waist. The action nearly kicks his heart out of his chest as Danny grins up at him, eyes slightly red and puffy but now gleaming with warmth. He looks like a work of art.

"That was a clone I made," Danny says after a moment, and then right in front of Bruce's wide eyes, twin rings of light bloom around Danny. They move in opposite directions, changing the human man into a ghost, and in Bruce's arms is Phantom, who has the same wonderful smile that he fell in love with a decade ago. "It's one of my powers as Phantom."

"I'm Batman," Bruce growls on instinct, using the same grovel voice his costume persona uses, and then his face explodes in red. Danny laughs again, this time harder and more amused, and Bruce can't help but join him. The couple presses closer, laughing and hugging as if they are the only two people in the world.

Below them, Gotham rages on, crime, pain, and darkness still at large, but for one night, Bruce can forget that all. Because he has found his own source of light, and it was here in his arms.

When Danny tilted his head back, eyes slightly dark, he didn't need to be told to lean forward. The first touch of thier lips is everything and nothing like Bruce dreamed it would be. Danny has only kissed people in high school because he thought that was what all teenagers should do, but he has no real experience since then. His kiss is clumspy, his slips are soft, and he doesn't seem to know which way to tilt his head.

Yet it sets fire to Bruce's veins, makes the world stop spinning, and fireworks explode behind his closed eyes.

"I love you," Danny mutters against his mouth, "I love you. I love you. I love you."

Bruce swallows every confession like it's a lifeline and he's a drowning man lost at sea. His hands slide up from Danny's shoulders into his hair, feeling the soft strand between his fingers, moaning as Danny's hands on his hips tighten.

"I love you," Bruce gasps. "I love you-"

A bright spotlight lands on the couple, shattering the moment in seconds. Both pull apart, blinking into the glare of the light as a helicopter floats near them, its blades whirring and the wind rushing. A crackle of a mic is heard across the rooftops before Dick's familiar voice rings out.

"Phantom! You two-time piece of garbage! How dare you cheat on Danny with Bruce of all people!" Dick is standing in the opening of the chopper as it turns to the side. His eldest is glaring around with a microphone, and the rest of his children are looking just as hostile. Except for Damian, who waves a Congratulations on your relationship sign at them.