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gingkos-eldritch-secret · 7 months

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Fanfiction commentary and recommendations: Lex Luthor´s ascend from supervillainy to fatherhood Part VII (chapters 31 to 35)

The Original story by @halfagone can be found here.

The previous parts of the commentaries can be found here:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

I´m very sorry that this part is so late - this is what happens when you´re on vacation and decide to do two long-term projects at once. At least they´re going well?

Anyways. What awaits us in these five chapters is a sneak peek into the minds of some Amity Park residents, a foray into social media´s stance on our favourite ghost as well as said ghost´s birth- and death days. Quite the packed program if you ask me! Without further ado - here we go :)

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We begin, as is quite unusual in this fic, with Sam. And the first thing we see is her frustration about her parents, combined with all the pent-up worry and rage about Danny´s disappearance as well as all her arguments with Tucker and wow - Danny sure seems to have been the glue keeping the both of them together.

I think what fuels all that rage annoyance is the guilt she feels at 'not having been there' for Danny before he fled into the realms and the portal got him. And it´s unreasonable for sure, but in the end I´d do the same. Regardless of how senseless it seems.

And Sam can´t even absolve herself of her guilt because life had gone on. The school year has gone on and people had started asking questions, with Dash and Valerie being the most persistent. And wow, Dash must really have been having a kiddie crush on Danny for him to worry so much. If only he´d shown that sooner and to Danny though… but we always only get such apologies too late in the end. And they also don´t make any inflicted pain easier …

Sam also finds this weird, especially since Dash, after years of not even being friends anymore, can still remember what Danny had wanted to become when he was older and that Danny could do the same.

How weird it was to know that Danny and Tucker and a bunch of the A-listers had gone to the same schools since elementary and some of them had even been friends? It certainly rubs Sam the wrong way.

What doesn´t is Valerie´s behaviour. Because, yes, Val and Danny had broken up long ago but neither had seemed all too ready to let it all go. There had always been LOOKS if you know what I mean.

And yeah, Sam had been jealous at the whole affair, she´d also never really thought about getting together with him instead. Despite all the comments from the people around them. And I think that´s good. God only knows how annoying it can get when people try to set you up with your friends. It can get really awkward really fast.

But … the whole difference is that Sam at some point has begun to wonder 'what if'. And if that question comes up? Buddy, you know how it goes. There´s never any good when it comes to 'what if'. Because it is an inherently human quality to prevent those 'what if’s. Because they can hurt. Regardless of if these what if´s can really come to fruition or not.

In this case it would have probably been worse because she still feels such crushing guilt about the portal incident … it wouldn´t have been healthy. Couldn´t have been, but … yeah. Sam basically:

But she´d seen him at his worst. She´s seen how he works alone and with others, how he fights and protects and was to the town like Atlas was to the sky: always the one to take the burden. Without anyone knowing. And to know that such a devoted person? Such an ardent protector? Can love oneself? It sure is a beautiful thought.

While, yes, those are by naught the most important reasons she seems to like him, but …. They seem important, don´t they? Because if one can´t even understand that Danny, at his core, needs to protect those he loves? That he´ll even endanger himself if it means that those he loves can be save and that he´s also still just plain old Danny? The pun-loving weirdo he is? Those do seem like rather nice qualities to have, don´t they?

He´s just so kind. When Sam is … not. Sure, she´d help, but she doubts that she´d have been able to come out of the whole ordeal as strong as Danny. As free of resentment. But that´s not true, is it? He´s not free of resentment or hatred. He just chose to bury it all so deep, that you´ll need a submarine to find it. Doesn´t make it any less destructive though. And just how destructive it had gotten … we´ll see that in the latter chapters. Let´s just say: there are regrets from all the people around.

And with those thoughts we´re onto Dash. Who watches Sam and Tucker dance around each other without Danny able to defuse their arguments. And apparently the last big one was such a shitshow, that the majority of the class watched the whole thing like onlookers like to watch trainwrecks.

But as surprised as everyone was about these fights, he knows it´s because Danny´s gone. But. Why. What had happened? Danny was suddenly just not there anymore. And no, Dash´s definitely not simping for Danny. Naaaah, just imagination I guess ~

But. The trio always had attention. They each had their role and so everyone knew who Danny Fenton was, which makes it even stranger that no one seemed to know anything.

And after hearing the teachers talking about CPS because the Fenton parents’ had seemed to know something? Well … I think Dash has serious regrets. He never thought they could be abusive. Whack jobs, sure. But abusive? Hindsight is always 20/20 in the end. Regardless of how much regret we have.

It all just makes so much sense to Dash. All the bruises and injuries even long after he´d stopped getting physical. Now, we all know that his parents weren´t (the sole) reason. Sure, their chases may have contributed a bit, but in the end the ghost fights were the reason. Dash does not know that though. And he probably never will.

Apparently, Dash once thought that Danny was out there fighting ghosts after the whole debacle with Ember and Youngblood, but had stopped after not seeing him do so for years. His next thought that he was ferrying weapons to Phantom. And. That´s certainly not WRONG per se. But also, that he got roughed up trying to prevent his parents from chasing Phantom. Which is also true in a certain sense, but not really the truth.

That whole train of thought leads to him a whole thing about the Fenton parents and their bigotry and how the city had changed their thoughts on ghosts, but those two had just gotten worse. That they just continually choose to think the worst of ghosts when there had been enough evidence that pointed towards that not being the case.

Dash also thinks about Danny´s perceived fear of ghosts and how that, in the end can´t really be all that true in the end. Because Ember and Youngblood? His fights with the Box ghost? The one time he fist-fought skulker? Were all counter arguments. And very good ones at that. Also, ones that Dash kind of admired, but that´s beside the point for now.

And all of that leads to Dash noticing how the city looked at the moment. Decrepit. Because the ghosts had been more violent after Phantom disappeared, even though he´d seen him once in between (we all know that was Dani anyways). And the major had stopped caring about the town as much. And doesn´t that say many things about Vlad? That he basically abandoned the town as soon as Danny vanished?

So. Dash is wondering about Phantom and Danny and all of the change that has been happening. Understandable. Change … happens. Most of the time it´s nothing bad or nefarious, but sometimes … sometimes change is scary.

The only thing Dash was even sure of was that je missed Danny Fenton - not that he´d ever tell anyone. But it says many things about him, doesn´t it?

And then we get to Vlad, obsessive Vampire wannabe that he is, his first thought is 'where is Danny'. Quite on point, really. And to know that he´d spied on the Fentons with multiple cameras and bugs? Well. It´s Vlad.

Vlad, being who he is, had to gaslight himself into thinking that 'no, the Fenton parents would never do something to their child'. Vlad, if you know that you´re basically gaslighting yourself that´s not going to WORK.

What he also noticed was the damaged and shut down portal in the Fenton lab. And of course, he tried to redirect that to his own feelings about the proto-portal that blew up in his face. Just when is he ever gonna let go of his weird obsession of 'he´s for SURE like ME. ONLY I can understand him'? Someday, I hope. I want to say never, but the things happening in the later chapters gave me some hope in that regard.

And of course, Vlad just continues his search. Not that it´s ever fruitful, because no one will tell him anything. Deserved tbh. Especially since he apparently let the ghosts out himself to lure out Danny. And in doing so basically destroyed the town… Wow, disregarding human life like that? Really? Again? I’m not even disappointed. Just resigned. VLAD BE NORMAL FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE.

And of course, the only reason he cares about Danny is, that he´s losing his chance to steal him from under Jack´s nose. Because he´ll be an adult soon …. Whyyyy is he like this … and even if he says that he feels fear for him deep down. HOW deep down are we talking? Deeper than your moral compass, that´s for sure.

He apparently needs to find Danny before Vlad basically kills himself via haywire powers. That sounds incredibly fucked up if you ask me … and unhealthy. GO SEE A THERAPIST YOU LOON.

And then we have a little cameo of Clockwork who´s just like 'Be well my child. Just wait a little longer, your old home world is not yet ready for you to come back'. Which. Okay. Weird and slightly ominous, but okay.

Now, one of my favourite parts: social media.

Social media welcomes Danny back into metropolis (after a somewhat ominous sentence that 'If you´d like to leave anonymous tip, you can go to our website at ….' - not ominous at all, nope). Good news: PR is working hard and has announced that Danny´s in good health AND the Joker’s death was rules as self-defence! Whoop!

But even though so many people are celebrating and Gotham City is planning a party for the occasion and Bruce has done some PR resulting in a memorial for Joker´s victims, People on Twitter are split into two camps. The camp that is just happy that Danny´s save and sound and the camp that hates Danny even more now, that he inadvertently killed the Joker.

And that gets even worse when the audio recording of the questioning gets leaked, because of course it does. Danny can never catch a break, can he?

I do feel vindicated that so many people love Danny for chewing out batman though. Because that, indeed, was an awesome moment :3

But now the discussions have started up again. People are calling him a killer, suddenly he´s not a 'hero' anymore? And the recording was very obviously cut, making it seem as if Danny had wanted to kill the Joker from the beginning. And people …. Don´t like that. The two camps are basically going at each other´s throats and it´s not pretty.

One of the users has a very good response to that:

There are literally places where Danny starts talking mid-sentence after a cut. They weren’t trying very hard to hide their edits #I pity whoever fell for this shit #actually wait #no I don’t

Of course, the papers are already going at it. Typical. I swear they´re like sharks. Or piranhas. Or wasps when you´re having a barbeque. Or ants when you´re having a picnic.

Danny´s also on the Later night how! His first interview there, I´m so proud of him. He handled it so well!

And the two are interacting so sweetly? Like, they´re laughing and talking about silly things even though a big topic is how Danny´s still healing. I get the impression that he, too, would like to wrap Danny into bubble wrap so that he´d be save.

He´s also impressed that Danny´s able to take his injuries so well and is … quite alarmed at the answer being his family. And his godfather and his FREAKING BEARTRAP. Fuck Vlad. Have I said this already? Anyways. Fuck him. And not in a sexy way.

We get early birthday wishes and a discussion on the logistics of being a newly adopted billionaire son. How some things are not as different as they seem at first glance.

Danny talks about how actually living with Lex has been the biggest adjustment since Lex is now a new single parent. But also, a single parent to a fucking teenager of all things. But Lex is also trying to be there and to do things better - all things that Danny´s parents never did and honestly? The more I read about how they treated Danny and how they caused him so many issues via neglect the more homicidal I get.

And that´s just cute:

Luthor: He treats me very well for a man that has no experience with children or teenagers. I can’t speak for everyone my age, but one of the hardest parts about this age period is that most people still treat you like a child but expect you to act like an adult. [Nuñez nods] But Lex- I definitely think he has expectations, or at least standards, but I’ve never felt worried about what he would do if I didn’t meet those standards. He’s surprisingly good at… just- balancing my need for independence with his own concerns- especially with more recent events- while also trying to let me… be a kid, really.

Lex just genuinely being a good parent has my heart melting as if it´s ice cream and this story is a hot summer day.

And at the question on how it´s going with so much money to spend he just goes 'well, not that different. Kinda a billionaire magnet, but still a bit different living that lifestyle' Which, yeah. Both Sam and Vlad are filthy rich after all.

And then Danny complains about Vlad on live television and makes fun of is obsession with the Green Bay Packers and his awful taste in interior design and yes, he´s a gremlin and I love him xD

The internet adores the interview. As they should. Danny showed off his adorableness (is that even a word?) and many hearts were melted. Also: he´s just a funny little dude xD

Ah yes, we also have another anecdote about Kool-Aid man jack Fenton. And how much Danny had loved it that his father did that because Danny’s been sick and he´d called for them and it´s just AWWWWWWWWWW

Of course, the interviewer is a bit confused about the parents because he´d mainly heard bad things about them. And Danny, sweetheart that he is, tells him he certainly has good ones and gives examples but also kind of realizes that:

it’s been a long time since they were parents to me. And… maybe once upon a time they had been good parents, but I don’t think they were ever good people

And OOOOOF. My baby boi :')

Then we get to the birthday! Whoop! And Lex would really, really like to know who dared to upload the questioning to twitter please.

And because he´s not even sure why good old Jim is keeping all of those corrupt officers he´s just going to sew the GCPD and throw them all out. As a treat.

We also get more introspection on Lex´ thoughts on Harley and how he´s been preparing for Danny´s first therapy session with the woman. He also says that he can´t deal with her constantly running her mouth, but that Danny likes it and it´s Ivy who has to live with her (which is lowkey a burn)

Lex also knows that Danny´s hiding something from him, but that he´s been keeping under wraps.

When Lex gets a surprise call from his PA, he did not expect that it was because people just fricking love Danny and decided he needed birthday presents. It´s a whole room full of presents and oh boy. If we take the Mac´n´cheese aside, his favourite present is this HUGE Teddy bear as well as a galaxy night light and yeah. I understand xD

Danny´s delighted so suffice to say Lex isn´t all too mad about the whole affair. Of course, the PA films Lex´ and Danny´s reaction at the whole thing. Lex gets a copy and twitter does as well.

At Danny´s question how these people even know of his birthday the dry answer to that is 'It´s in your Twitter bio'. Ah yes, we love the dry humor in this house.

Twitter also adores the part of the interview on the Late-Night show where Danny´s asked about his favourite hero and his honest to God answer is Jazz. I cried - he´s so adorable.

Also: Spiderman is his favourite comic book hero. And with how similar these two are I´m not surprised xD

Everyone dies a little inside when Danny just casually says that he and his sister had to do all the chores, because their parents just WOULDN´T. And how his sister always took care of him. But also, how she always needed to be right, even if she wasn´t and for however adult she behaved, she´d still been a kid taking care of another kid. And how he´d kept forgetting that.

After that Lex is thinking about Danny and how his powers can both be a boon and a curse. He can do SO MUCH with them. Do so much good for himself or others, but he also can´t achieve his biggest dream because of them. And that´s just heartbreaking ...

But right now. They´re in the animal shelter to choose a cat. To say that Danny´s delighted would be an understatement if I ever heard one. And of course, Danny chooses the one cat that just hates the attention and the shelter. An after learning of her story? And how she´s slow to warm up and quick to nip? Well Reminds me and probably also Danny of a certain someone and so here we go. Cat acquired! A new achievement has been unlocked!

When Lex asks Danny why he´s even wanted to go to a shelter instead of a breeder the answer is so cute. 'I wanted to give one of them a second chance for a better life. Kind of like you did to me' Gosh my HEART. I´ll die of sugar overdose. Mercy also sends a video of the tail end of the conversation on her twitter account. Which beautifully shows how amazed and soft that makes Lex.

Of course Mercy and Lex annoy each other under that video and when Lena jumps into the conversation all hope is lost lmao. Danny learns of his aunt and well. Can´t hold the boy from family if you tried - Lex has regrets.

Next Kon brings Danny´s presents like a punk Santa Claus and is surprised that Lex left a window open for him. Well, joke´s on him because Lex sees him as a son now. He has no say in it. Not that he knows that as of yet. Or that Lex knows as of yet. But they´ll get there.

Danny lets Kon meet Pepper and even though it´s a bit awkward: it´s family.

Cass also gives him her wishes and Tucker, on a tear-stained pillow, does as well. God this boy needs something happy happening to him...

Sadly that´s when Death Day happens. It happens during a press conference where Lex gives a speech and Danny´s on the podium with him, even though he hadn´t really needed to be there.

Danny’s been rubbing his chest as if in pain and his expression has slowly gotten more and more pained and paniced. Lex has gotten worried.

And then Danny collapsed, started convulsing and … while the press loved getting that footage with camera shutters going off non-stop, Lex did certainly not. Sharks.

And that´s when Danny realized what day it is and oh boy. It´s not pretty. Danny´s just miserable when Lex tells him that it´s September 30th. Lex may not understand why, but still urges Mercy to remove everyone from the facility. Just. It´s too late for that already.

Danny screamed. He screamed as if dying. Loud and drawn out, with terror and agony on his face. And everyone´s just … frozen. Because that ... That was a death scream.

Mercy recovers first, telling Lex that they´d have to move him and Lex just … numbly nods.

The scene changes. We´re now with Clark and Lois and suffice to say that Clark is not well. He says that he will be fine, but … well. He still has the scream ringing in his ears. And Lois is also still processing the whole thing. Even when Clark was the only who´d heard Danny´s heart flatlining.

When Danny wakes up Lex is immediately in caretaker mode. Instantly asking Danny how he was feeling, giving him water, the works.

Danny´s just feeling awful and Lex wants to know why things happened as they did. When Danny just raises his shirt up to show Lex his scars, Lex is quietly but quite evidently horrified. The scars are glowing an angry green. Poor boy. The scars are showing up quite horridly to be honest.

While Lex is trying not to fall into alcoholism to deal with the situation and the revelations connecting to it, he gets a visitor. Let´s just say he´s not stoked about superman visiting him.

He´s flat out glaring at the man. And everything superman maybe wants to say comes out wrong. Not surprising with all the antagonism, even while superman wants to lend help.

Lex just flat out screams at him to get out and chucks the empty glass at him. Not that him being alone again makes Lex feel any better. But why did superman think this was a good idea? They´d never had a good talk. So why? He´d had to have known that this would´ve ended badly to begin with.

And now onto the last chapter for today. And when the notes say 'Hm, how can I make this hurt more?' then you know it will rip your heart out and trample on them.

So, the press has been having a blast with Danny´s collapse. They even out the scream into the media they published. Which is more than just bad taste if you ask me.

Clark is uneasy with the whole situation being as it is. The culprit mainly being the scream. It must have sounded horrid to have such an impact. I mean. It WAS a death scream, so of course he´d be worried, but … well. Danny´s heart had stopped.

And Clark also … doesn´t really know how to break the news to Kon or Jon. And when he wants to its already too late since the news have been talking about it on and off since the day had started.

Kon seems to feel guilty because he hadn´t heard anything, especially since he´d been on babysitting duty that day. But before he falls into a hole of self-deprecation, he asks Clark just what happened. Clark is entirely unhelpful at first. 'Just what the press has released'. As if that was all that he´d heard. But after a bit of wheedling, he elaborates: The heart rate speeding up as soon as Danny had shown discomfort, how quickly it happened. How he screamed immediately after he flatlined. How the heart had restarted without assistance but had been … slower after that. How Clark visited the penthouse the previous night and heard Danny´s heartbeat being the same as usual. He doesn´t mention Lex and his reaction though.

He also doesn’t share more about his thoughts on the relationship between Danny and his parents and how they were nearly criminally neglectful. How Danny had been afraid to live under the same roof as them and all of that in addition to Danny´s health problems? Well. He´s just happy that Lex had been able to give him a better home.

Of course, Kon immediately wants to go visit his brother, as is his right. Clark just doesn´t think it´s a good idea. You know what though? Fuck Clark. Let the boys spend time together. If something like this happened to me I´d also like some visits from my family.

Of course, Clark and Kon have a quarrel about it shortly before Kon storms off. And when Jon asks 'Did you two have a fight again?' Clark realizes that maybe he should consider this problem. Another time though. For now, though he´d have to talk about Danny with his son. What I really dislike is how he uses 'Kon´s friend Danny' instead of 'Kon´s brother' because honestly? The man should have realized their relationship by now.

Kon gets to the penthouse and deliberates how he should get in when Lex just straight up opens a window for him. Kon is prepared for a fight and Lex is just too tired to care.

I mean how done must the man be if he showed himself in SHORTS? And a polo shirt? For Lex that´s downright blasphemous to be honest. Doesn´t help that he looks exhausted.

Kon takes all of this in and realizes that for the longest time he hadn´t thought of the man as human. Or at least not as the sort of person to need rest and/or food.

While he still ruminates about all of that, Lex tells him that Danny would be waking up in a few minutes since he´d been sleeping in strange 57-minute increments. Always waking up screaming. God that must hit Lex hard.

But in the meantime, instead of just standing around they talk. About the noise isolation of the penthouse, Lex´ willingness to let Kon see his other son, Lex even offers Kon self-made food and that´s the point that surprises Kon the most. That Lex can cook. Lex being the way he is I’m not surprised about that though.

I mean, should he really be surprised? It´s Lex. The man doesn´t want to depend on someone for his livelihood so of course he can cook.

And in the deceptive calm that follows Kon asks if Danny´s going to be okay. Lex … doesn´t answer for some time, but when he does it´s for the bad news that this wasn´t the first and won´t be the last time. Of course, Kon wants to know how to make it stop … and Lex seems forlorn at the question. At the implication that Lex would be capable of doing it.

While Lex desperately wants to do that, to heal his son of something that causes him such a pain, it´s impossible. And that´s just another punch to the gut.

Lex, again, asks if Kon would like food. Upon the question of cereal being available Lex just tells Kon to 'pick his poison'. Kon sees the fruit loops and is even more confused at the titbit that Danny likes to crush them before he eats them (and isn´t that just a fun thought? I imagine it being quite therapeutic). Kon takes the lucky charms instead. To which I have to say no clue if it´s a good choice or not, I don´t know all of your fancy American cereals.

When Danny wakes with a scream Kon straight up zips upstairs to his bedroom, while Lex takes a bit more time, cleaning the dining area and being despondent because no medication will make the pain go away. Therefore, cursing his own uselessness. And Amity Park´s ignoring of Danny and his problems.

As Kon and Danny talk Lex lets us see deeper into his feelings by mentioning, that he´d not wanted anyone to talk to Danny, but that the emotions would help Danny heal. They´d amass and bring ectoplasm with them, which is what Danny needed to heal.

Therefore, in theory, Danny can sense any and all emotions. He´d have to focus on them though, to know what they actually mean.

So Kon and Danny talk and banter and pet Pepper and Lex is just there, basically thinking about a great many things, including both of his sons and how he may have fucked up his relationship with one of them. He´s also surprised about Kon going to school. Which. Lex. LEX. Why did you think otherwise??

When Kon is gone, they talk about therapy again and how much Danny probably needs it. How Lex would probably need it as well, but can´t considering that his board of directors as well as the public would see it as a sign of instability and therefore boot him out of the company. Yeah, he really did not make many friends, did he?

And on the question why Danny doesn´t want it despite Jazz wanting to become a therapist? Danny tells Lex about Spectra. I hate that woman, so, so much tbh. She deserves the WORST.

When Danny calls himself a freak of nature, Lex calmly explains to him that no, he´s not. He overcame nature, he lived despite the odds. He may be rare, whichever species he identifies as, but is still a person like any other. Perhaps even stronger, since Danny just keeps on fighting against the odds.

And Danny admits that he´s just afraid of being right. Lex admits that he´s afraid of many things - losing everything he built for example. But also, that we can´t be afraid forever and can I just say? Preach.

Fear is a very, very powerful thing. It can consume us until we are but a husk of ourselves in our daily lives. It can take our light and our joy and our love and leave us with nothing but itself for company. And fighting against it is hard. So, so very hard. Maybe one of the hardest things to do even. But that does not mean we should stop fighting, does it? Regardless of how hard it gets; life can still be worth living for.

And Danny does promise to at least try. I´m incredibly proud of him for that. Because it´s a hard step to take and one that takes courage. Courage that a great many people do not have.

Then we come to Lena and Lex who have a sibling talk to last the ages. That Fatherhood suits Lex, even though he has the feeling it makes him age twice as fast. But that he also looks so much happier nowadays.

And then Lena destroys the good mood by asking Lex if he´d talked to their father recently. That he´s been asking about Lex. Who would rather jump into a vat of acid than talk to the man. And in the light of what will happen later? Yeah, that´s a good choice. That man is just pure malice incarnated, but we´re not there yet. This is just the foreshadowing.

The man apparently also wants to meet Danny and Lex would rather that not happen. When Lena just looks puzzled about that, he elaborates that none of them had a good relationship with their father. So why would she even ask? For hope of a happy family? She´s known them her whole life, shouldn´t she know better? But I guess that´s the hopeful optimist that´s speaking out of her.

And in the end, Lex does admit that fatherhood, that the content feeling he has by taking care of Danny, that that is happiness. And that´s just cute. He´s a father peeps. He´s a happy father :3

The end comes upon us with Harley hugging the living daylights out of Danny and talking with him. Danny goes right for the heavy stuff with the sentence "

“When I was fourteen, I died,” Danny told her suddenly, giving her reason to pause. “I don’t think I ever really came back.”

And just ouch. True, but ouch.

And with that this part comes to its end.

A great many things happened in just five chapter. So many words, so much and yet so little time going by. Things are starting to fall into place, don´t they?

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