Page 117 of Lovesick Titan

“He went for John,” Mal said. “For that damn mannequin and I—”

“You got stabbed saving Dad?”

“It wasn’t your father—”

“But you thought it was.”Damn, Danny really could look at him like he owned the world. Mal might never believe he deserved it, but if he said that out loud, Danny would only call him a hypocrite.

“Guess you’re a terrible influence,” Mal said.

“Yeah. Guess I am.” But his smile was sad. Not dark, the darkness was dimmed finally—or lightened, Mal supposed—but it was still jaded.

Mal couldn’t shake the moment in the mirror world when Danny had looked at him with resolve and been willing to sacrifice everything just to save him and to give Ludgate justice instead of vengeance.

“What’s wrong?” Danny asked, lacing his fingers with Mal’s.

Tightening his hold on Danny, Mal tried to ignore how he was still hooked up to the heart monitor, the IV, and other machines he wasn’t familiar with that filled the room with white noise. “I meant it, Danny. Don’t ever scare me like that again. I know you wanted to be better than Ludgate, to prove him wrong, to show him…and me…that darkness can be defeated without more darkness, but if you were willing to risk that and for even one moment…wanted…”

“I didn’t want to die,” Danny said, scooting closer to Mal, practically off the edge of his chair. “I didn’t. I tried to follow you. I wanted to save all of us. I just wasn’t fast enough. But I had to risk it.I’d risk it again. I’d risk anything. Not just for you, but for me. For mymom. For Rick. For everyone who believed in me.

“Maybe Iwasokay with not surviving if everything else turned out like I’d fought for. It wouldn’t be a bad way to go. I’d be proud to go out like that. But I didn’twantto. I wanted to have one more day to live my life better. To see what comes next. To see where this might lead.” He lifted Mal’s hand and squeezed it tighter.

“Danny, I don’t want you to go out that way,” Mal said, cursing the dampness in his eyes that came so readily, especially when he could see the same waterworks building in Danny. “I want you to go out old and boring in your bed, you hear me?”

Danny chuckled and sniffled and rubbed at his eyes with his free hand. “You did it too, you know? Risked it all to do the right thing. I never would have forgiven you if you’d died a martyr after making sure I survived.”

That was the real miracle, that they’d survived together, both against the odds, and were here now, hands clasped, alone in the med room, safe. “I suppose we’ll just have to watch each other’s backs a bit better now.”

“Does that mean once we’re well enough,Ice Man, you’ll join me on patrol?”

Cheeky brat. “We’ll see. Might need a night off once in a while.”

If it meant keeping Zeus within his sights, playing by the rules didn’t sound half bad. But that didn’t mean he’d never consider pulling another heist beneath the radar.

Expression dropping, Danny gave up any pretense of humor and looked at Mal with real tears forming. “It really scares me sometimes, you know?”

“What does?”

“Everything. The future. Tomorrow. How we move on from this. The thought that someone, someday, might try to take you away again. Or threaten my family. Or know how to get inside my head…”

“Danny…” Mal pulled Danny closer, up out of his chair, so he was leaned over the bed, pressing his forehead to Mal’s again. “Stop. Just breathe. Remember where you are. You’re safe. For now, you’re safe. We’re all safe. And tomorrow, we’ll deal with what comes next. And we’ll do it again. And again. And if someone ever gets inside your head like Ludgate, likeThanatos, you’ll be stronger and you will beat them, because you’re not alone. You’re brilliant and beautiful and so easy to love, Sparky, that anyone who meets you never wants to let you go.”

Danny sobbed like he was struggling to accept Mal’s words, overwhelmed by the idea that anyone could love him. It just made Mal love him more.

“Lucy, for one, already staked her claim, so good luck getting rid of her.”

Danny choked as he tried to laugh through his tears. Then sniffled harder, laughed harder, and pulled back to look at Mal. “And you?”

“Good luck getting rid of me either.”

Drawing Danny toward him, the press of their lips made Mal shiver. There was always a little of Danny’s lightning at the end of his nerves. Too much could be a weapon just like Mal’s ice, but the buzz of Danny’s skin was pure addiction—almost as addictive as the beat of his heart.

“You don’t have to be okay, Danny,” Mal said, repeating a promise from days,weeksearlier. “Just be here. With me. Be you. And we’ll get through this, whatever comes next.”

“Okay,” Danny said, lips still hovering close. He sighed, like that was all he’d needed to hear, and when he pulled back to sit on the edge of his chair, his smile didn’t look as sad.

Chapter30

“Hey, guys, sorry,” Andre said, entering with a clang of several items in his arms that he set on a table by the med room door. “Running out of places to put some of this before I catalogue it. Plus, you got about five minutes before Lynn drags you off for tests in the other room.” He pointed at Danny.

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