Chapter Text
Daniel “Danny” James Janus Fenton.
The first time Bruce had heard the name had been from Dick. Dick had mentioned something-something gorillas, something-something Daniel Fenton is dead. Something-something Damian for now at least. Babs already knows and I’m going to talk to everyone else, but do your best to keep it from him. I don’t want anything to upset him and send him off the deep end or anything. Okay thanks bye!”
Bruce had done a cursory search to figure out what Dick was talking about. Daniel Fenton, gorilla. A couple of blog posts and one news article from decades ago saying that a high school student named Daniel “Danny” Fenton had done a research project on the then-functionally-extinct purple-back gorilla.
That seemed familiar; Bruce could vaguely remember making some kind of donation to the Gotham zoo for purple gorillas; this was probably them. He skimmed the rest of the article.
Daniel Fenton, age fourteen, had studied one of two remaining purple-back gorillas, learned their language well enough to communicate, and had gotten close enough to discover that the gorilla was a female, not a male. The female gorilla had been transported to the Gotham zoo to live with the male purple-back gorilla and hopefully perpetuate the species.
Okay. Interesting. Damian was interested in animals and conservation. Bruce had convinced him to pick a specific cause or charity and they’d dedicate the upcoming Christmas Gala to fundraising for whatever Damian picked. Maybe Damian was going to pick the purple-back gorillas. (Bruce could imagine the horror on his kids’ faces when he showed up wearing a purple suit. Maybe with a fur tie.)
Bruce looked at the date on the article. Twenty six years ago. If Daniel Fenton had been fourteen then, he would’ve been forty now. Lots of people died before they hit forty. (Bruce was forty two and hoping not to die any time soon.)
Bruce wasn’t sure what part of a stranger’s death would upset Damian. A quick glance at government records showed no sign of “deceased” anywhere on the file for Daniel James Janus Fenton. Evidently the kids had decided scrubbing any evidence of his death was the way to go? Bruce foresaw this back-firing; intentionally keeping a secret from someone in this family was one of the best ways to make sure they learned whatever you were trying to hide. But his kids could find out on their own time that there were far reaching consequences to be had when hiding a death. (Bruce would prefer they not be the cause of a hidden death in order to learn that; he would let them learn from this.) Bruce didn’t interfere. He wouldn’t mention it, wouldn’t bring it up.