I'm having incoherent thoughts about clone danny again from the clone/clone^2 au (when am I not?) but more specifically I'm thinking about his reaction to finding out he's a clone. The standalone clone au digs into that a little more than clone^2, which is more focused on Danny and Damian's relationship. But neither (so far) really get into Danny's issues about finding out he's a clone after 15 years of thinking he wasn't.
Because he resents his parents for not telling him for so long. He resents the way he found out; through a trivial school project rather than a sit-down talk. He resents the fact that, apparently, they had meant to tell him sooner. But forgot. He resents the fact that they never told him because finding out feels like something was stolen from him when it had the chance to not be.
Danny Fenton, just fifteen, cloned not even half a year ago, knows what that personal violation of autonomy feels like. He knows what it's like to be cloned and while he loves Ellie, he does, she's his sister, and in this au his twin. But he is still left with that feeling of unsafety after realizing he'd been cloned. Being cloned is violating. The onset realization that it's so easy to get DNA without the other party noticing, and that what was stopping someone from trying to clone him again?
Followed only after with the rest of the inexplainable mix of feelings of being cloned, the rest of that inner conflict and panic that's an ugly mocktail of emotions that range from horror to fear. Trying to imagine what it's like to be cloned from the cloned party, and I imagine that it leaves you with the feeling of needing to crawl out of your own skin with discomfort.
And then he gets put on the other side of it. Danny Fenton, only fifteen, was cloned not even half a year ago, finding out he is a clone. And reactions, I imagine, can vary from person to person. But to him, it feels like something got stolen from him, like someone took a hole puncher and stuck it right into his chest and stole a chunk of himself from him.
It changes nothing about him and yet it changes everything. It's a betrayal on it's own to just find out he was a clone and they didn't tell him for fifteen years -- it shouldn't mean anything, because he's still Danny, and yet it means everything. It's him, it's him, it's about him. It's his personhood. It's about the fact that a load-bearing rock in his identity just crumbled beneath his feet and now there's a rockslide.
Because then he finds out that they used the wrong DNA. Its like pouring salt in an open wound. He's not even related to his parents or his sister, when for years he thought he was. It's the fact that pieces of his identity that he's been so secure in for so long just got ripped away from him in an instant. Then they tell him -- only through his own horrified prompting -- that the person whose DNA they used -- Bruce Wayne -- didn't even know he existed. That they accidentally used the wrong DNA, then didn't tell the person whose DNA they used.
The betrayal of being lied to for years turns really quickly into horror at his own existence. Something very similar to the horror he felt at being cloned and the skin-crawling discomfort that made him feel like his own skin wasn't really his. And then its not. It's actually not. Nothing but his own name feels like it belongs to him anymore -- not his hair, not his eyes, not his heart or his lungs, nothing feels like his anymore and he didn't know what that felt like until it was gone.
It's a question of Nature Vs. Nurture -- where does the line of "nature" begin and where does the line of "nurture" end? What of him is actually his? What of him is Bruce Wayne's? It's not logical, it's not supposed to be. It's a load-bearing wall on the house of his identity being destroyed and now everything else is caving down in on him. What belongs to Danny, what belongs to Bruce Wayne?
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Plaga Papa [Leon Kennedy x Reader]
Las Plagas! Leon Kennedy x Reaer
Rating: T (brief sexual innuendo)
Content Warning(s): Plagas! Leon, hint of body horror
Word Count: 1035
--
“Leon! Your son is on top of the refrigerator again!”
You called out, looking up helplessly from your stool as your son hissed at you from on top of the tall appliance. This was a regular bedtime occurrence for you, since the small child of yours hated having a bedtime. You knew it couldn’t be the plagas he had inherited from his father, but it was the stubbornness instead.
A stubborn toddler, with superhuman abilities.
You could hear your husband’s approaching footsteps from his office as you tried to reason with the boy, holding your arms out as welcoming as you could. “Come on Luis, it’s past your bedtime.” You begged.
“No! Bedtime bad!” Luis shouted, small spikes bristling on his back. His eyes were a bold red, as he scooted farther on the surface of the refrigerator, toppling over empty containers of Tupperware.
You sighed, tempted to kneel down and plead for your toddler to come down from such a high place; hopefully to a place where you could reach. Frustrated, you sat down on the stool, looking up at the proud child, perched above you. Two warm hands rubbed your shoulders from behind, massaging your tense muscles.
You turned your head to see your husband, smiling at you with an amused twinkle in his cobalt eyes. You lightly smacked his chest, as he laughed. “Need help?” Leon teased cheekily.
With an aggressive gesture, you pointed at your son, giggling wildly as he looked down at his parents. “Your Plaga-infected sperm is sitting on top of the fridge.” You gave Leon a tense smile. “-And it’s wayy past his bedtime.” You said the last part loudly, fighting to hold back your own laughter.
Your husband snorted at your “Plaga-sperm” comment but didn’t comment on it. He was tall enough to look over the silver appliance without standing on a chair. “Luis, what did your mama say?” He asked, arms crossed.
“Bedtime is dumb!” Luis insisted again, giving his father a partially toothless grin. “I don’t wanna go to bed!”
Leon smirked, apparently finding the situation extremely amusing. “If you don’t come down in the count of three; I’ll get you myself.” He ordered sternly, sapphire eyes morphing into an intimidating scarlet.
Typically, he didn’t like using his Plagas abilities to threaten people; but his son also had Plagas abilities. Fair game, right?
Luis blanched from his position, his spikes flattening against his back as he visibly shrunk down. “One…” Leon started, raising his eyebrows, meaning business.
Your son glanced at you with wide eyes, mirroring a deer in headlights. You shrugged at him, trying not to laugh. You were the simple human in this situation, you weren’t getting between two superhuman individuals.
“Two…” Two pincer appendages erupted from Leon’s shoulders, with a disgusting sound of bones cracking. You almost gagged at the noise, but the intimidation seemed to be working on the Plaga-toddler.
“Thre-” Luis lept from the top of the refrigerator, directly in your arms. His Plaga appendages vanished within his body, as he clung to your oversized t-shirt. He buried his face in your bosom, murmuring apologies into your chest as you held him.
You rose to your feet, holding up your son’s legs, carrying him to his bedroom. You almost tripped over a toy police cruiser as you made your way over to the small bed, placing him down on the mattress. He looked up at you with watery eyes, no longer crimson, but instead an oceanic blue. “I’m sorry, mama.” Luis sniffed.
You let out a breathy laugh, brushing away his blonde baby curls from his face. “It’s alright, you need to stop climbing the fridge before bedtime, though.” You soothed, pulling his racecar blanket over his chin.
“I won’t, I promise!” Luis insisted, smiling at you.
“Good.” You pecked his forehead, turning off his bedside lamp. Despite the darkness, you knew he could still see in the dark, a trait inherited from his father. “Sleep well, darling. Goodnight.”
You shut the door behind you with an exhausted sigh, but Leon was standing at the other end of the hallway. Looking down at the hardwood floor with a contemplative expression. You furrowed your eyebrows and walked over to him; resting a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“Leon? Are you alright?” You asked sweetly, tracing his shoulder muscles tenderly.
“Do you think he’s scared of me?” Your husband exhaled, almost like a sob.
You blinked, surprised. “Luis? Of course not, he loves you.”
Leon looked up at you, with an expression that broke your heart. “I felt awful threatening him.”
You took one of his large hands in both of yours, with a comforting gesture. “I don’t think he’s scared, babe, he just needed a little push.” You kissed the palm of his hand affectionately. “God knows I can’t fish a toddler with inhuman abilities on my own.”
Your husband snorted, as you both headed to your shared bedroom. “Maybe with a stool and a broom.” He finally cracked a small joke, which made you chuckle.
The dim light of your bedroom was comforting as you began to loosen up. Leon was still in his dress shirt for work, now ripped due to his appendages. He quickly tore it off, and let it fall to the ground. “I liked that shirt.” The blonde grumbled as he collapsed into your arms on the bed.
You kissed his hairline, holding him closer. “I know, you can buy a new one.” You slid your bodies up to the mountain of pillows resting against the bedframe. “Turn around, you need a back massage.”
He groaned as he peeled himself off of you, turning around to face the wall. You knew that his back always hurt after using his extra pincers since it tore muscles around his shoulder blades and spine. You tenderly rubbed your fingers deep against his muscles, making him groan. “You have magic fingers.” Leon moaned, arching his back slightly.
You smirked, lips briefly meeting the nape of his neck. “So are yours.” You teased, you swore you could see the plagas shiver inside of Leon’s skin.
“Maybe, after this massage, I can use my magic fingers as well…”
“That sounds good to me.”
--
I know choosing the child’s name to be Luis was predictable but t’s 10:22pm and I have a headache,, lemme live
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