Page 9 of Lovesick Titan

“You okay?” Joey ignored the dismissal and moved further into the room. He sat down, and when Danny took a breath and opened his mouth to speak, Joey beat him to it. “Really, I mean. John and Stella didn’t tell me much. Which, you’re not obligated to either, if you’re going through stuff, I get it…”

“Joey…” Hanging his head, Danny clutched his phone tightly in both hands. “You’re going through stuff too. You shouldn’t have to put up with me.”

“Are you serious? Even if you weren’t Zeus, it’s no excuse for being a jerk to you. I think I was just somadthat you always seemed depressed and closed off…like I wanted to be, but I figured I couldn’t get away with it, so I had to keep trying. As if you had it easier because you wereallowedto be miserable.” He huffed, and Danny glanced up to look at him. “You are one of the few people who knows what this feels like. Whatever else you’re going through after losing our moms…it must feel like the world’s falling apart, right?”

Danny didn’t answer. Joey had summed it all up too perfectly.

“Then whatever it is, itmatters,” Joey said firmly. “It’s important. Mom used to tell me that all the time, whenever I’d get mad at something stupid, and then get mad at myself for gettingmad. It’s hard to imagine that anythingyoumight be going through could feel small when you’re out there almost every night saving the city. I mean, geez…you’reZeus. You have a right to be wrecked over a parking ticket if you want to.” He leaned into Danny’s shoulder, and they shared a shaky laugh. “Though I’m guessing it’s probably a little bigger than that, huh?”

“A little bigger than a parking ticket, yeah.” Danny took another breath. He just had to keep taking breaths whenever the bad outweighed the good, whenever it pushed his happiness and easy smiles into the darkest corner of his mind and made them seem impossible to find again. “Joey…I’m sorry for the other night. For all of it. I’m really sorry.”

“I’m sorry too. I didn’t have a right to get so upset. I mean, dude, my brother is Zeus. That’scrazy,” he smiled widely again.“But you know what’s funny? I was much more intimidated by Danny Grant.”

“What?” Danny sat up straighter, shocked enough that Joey had called him hisbrother. “Why?”

“Seriously? You’re the youngest detective at the OCPD. You’ve handledallthe Elemental cases. You faced Thanatos before you evenhadsuperpowers. Of course you’re intimidating.”

Danny chuckled in disbelief. He’d always seen his day job accomplishments as more reasons that he was an outcast. “Not reallyallthe Elemental cases…”

“Close enough. Dad told me. They used to call you and your partner ‘The Hardy Boys’ because you were so young but better than everyone else at solving cases together. Danny Grant is just as cool as Zeus. I mean, sure, Zeus is an Elemental, butDannyis just a guy, and he still made me feel like I wasn’t good enough.”

“Joey…”

“Look,” Joey met Danny’s gaze without any of the shadows that used to be there, even if the boy’s eyeswereblack, “I know it’s not like that. I know neither of us has to live up to the other. Isn’t there some saying about how real family is the one you choose?”

“Something like that.”

John had a speech about that too, ever since they’d adopted Stella almost two decades ago. And when Danny was thinking clearly and could really wonder about the family he would have chosen, the only thing he’d change about the one he had now was that he’d never stop wishing his mother was still with them.

“Every stumble is just another chance to get to know each other better,” he said.

“That was your mom’s saying, right?”

“Dad told you about it?”

“Yeah.”

“Mom had this habit of always being right. It was really annoying sometimes.”

Joey chuckled. “My mom was like that too. It’s a good saying though. Means you can’t ever fall so far that you can’t come back from it and make it up to the people you love.”

Fourteen years old and already he understood that. Danny had taken ages to get it. Sometimes he still forgot.

“So,” he rocked into Joey’s shoulder to soften the moment, “Danny Grant is just as cool as Zeus, huh?”

“Well, maybe Zeus is a little cooler. But only coz that lightning jump is super tight.”

“Is that your way of asking for another ride?”

“Maybe…”

Danny had gotten so used to being Zeus as a job, he forgot how miraculous and exciting it could be. Gesturing toward the door, he stood. “How about after dinner we go to my hideout? See the suit?”

“Really?” Joey bolted up after him. “Coz that would be amazing. Is your hideout, like, tricked out with lasers and high-tech AI?”

Danny laughed. “I’ll tell you all about it, but it’s probably not as glamorous as you’re thinking.”

Pocketing his phone, he followed Joey downstairs for dinner. Once he had a plan, he’d go to Cho in person and let the thief decideif he was still willing to help take down Ludgate after learning the truth.

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