Bruce and Danny

By: BeatleNumber9

 Chapter 3: The Park

“Ugh!" I growled. Another week, another struggle with writer's block. Not sure if I mentioned this before, but I worked writing columns at one of the city newspapers.

“Still not sure what to tell the readers this week?" Em asked, poking her head in the door.

“Don't mock me." I joked back.

“Hey," She encouraged, as she walked in, “you always find something eventually."

“Gee," I said, “that's encouraging. 'It may end up being the day before I have to hand it to my editor, but I'll think of something.'"

“Why don't you take Danny to the duck pond?" She suggested, crossing her arms on top of my head. “You always start typing, non-stop, immediately after you bring him home."

I sighed, lifting her arms off of me. “Why is it the only good articles I write involve Danny?" I asked.

“Because he's what you love talking about the most." She knew the answers to everything didn't she?

“Welp, better get the little guy's shoes on." I said.

For some reason I would always get some sort of inspiration after taking Danny out to the pond. He always liked playing with other kids there, even if he didn't know them very well.

It's funny, watching kids play is kind of a trip. It's like watching a bunch of animals at a watering hole. You have the kids on the monkey bars, doing their thing, some kids over at a sandbox just making stuff, other's playing tag. Something about watching Danny and the other kids always seemed to get me to think of something to write about. And for some reason the columns involving Danny were always received best. At least that's what my editor told me.

So that day, I sat on a bench like normally, watching Danny talking to three kids, two human girls, a raccoon boy, and a fox girl. It looked like they were about to start playing tag or something, and still trying to figure out who was “it." When out of the corner of my eye I see this Jaguar kid.

Every place had their bully, and that spot was reserved for this kid. I never noticed his mom or dad actually watching him. Kid was a little shit, always pushing people off the monkey bars, or throwing rocks at other kids. It was always the really young kids too, this kid looked like he was probably six already. Every other time we came here it was always something with this brat.

Then I noticed he was walking towards where Danny and the other three kids were. I almost walked over there, but I stopped and thought, No, you no what, let him give me an excuse to do his parents' job for them. I watched as he got closer, Danny's back was toward him, and the other kids didn't notice him. Now he was right behind Danny, and right when the two human girls looked over his shoulder I saw it.

I stood up right when I saw him raise his paw, and I was rushing over there by the time it made contact with the back of Danny's head. By the time I got over there, He'd pushed Danny to the ground, and the two human girls ran off, with the other two just standing there shocked. Before he was about to do anything else, the little shit saw me looming over him, and looked timidly up at me.

“What was that?" I roared angrily.

“I…uh—He—.“ He stammered.

“Apologize. Now." I ordered, pointing over at Danny.

“You…You can't—!“ He tried to say.

“I said now!"

“I'm—I'm s-s-sorry." He said to Danny, helping him up a little.

“Now," I said, looking intensely at him, “If I ever see you come up to my boy again."

“Y-your—?“ He tried to interrupt.

“You'll see first hand, what a bear does to people who threaten their cubs." I growled

And that was the end of that, the Jaguar ran off to a bench on the other side of the park crying and screaming, tail between his legs. I saw him get to a bench on the other side of the park, and start bugging a lady, who I assumed was his mom, who was reading a book while all this was going down, of course.

I looked down at Danny, standing there, holding the back of his head. He wasn't as upset as I thought he'd be, but I could still see some tears dripping down his face.

“You okay little guy?" I asked, picking him up.

“My head." He cried.

“I know, buddy." I said, hugging him and rubbing the back of his head. Then I smelled something, a slight metallic smell. I looked at the back of his head and saw, some slight scratches on the back of his head. There wasn't much blood, but I could still smell it. I couldn't believe it. That little piss-stain had used his claws on my son! I was furious. I looked back, and could still see him there, trying to explain what happened to his mom. Without hesitation I stomped over, still holding Danny, to offer my own explanation.

As soon as he saw me, he immediately hid behind his mother's leg.

“Th-There he is…" The kid whimpered.

“Is that brat yours?" I asked sternly.

“Excuse me?" She asked.

“Cause if he is, you'd better actually start parenting him after what he just did to my boy."

“Excuse me, but he's been playing just like all the other kids here."

“Are you kidding me?" I asked. “I just saw him scratch my son, on the back of his head. He's got the marks to prove it." I showed her the back of Danny's head.

“Well—“ She tried to say.

“And that's not the only thing, every time I see him, he's torturing some other kids. Because you're not watching him!"

“Emmett, say you're sorry to—“ She said.

“Oh, I already made him apologize." I interrupted. “Why don't you actually supervise him, to make sure it never happens again!" I yelled.

Before she could even try to defend herself again, I turned around and walked off to take Danny home. I'd said all I needed to say. As we headed back to the car I heard Danny say,

“Thanks daddy."

“For what buddy?" I asked.

“For saving me."

“Hey, that's what happens when you mess with papa bear's cub." I joked.

I think that's one of the only times I'd ever gotten that angry, especially in front of Danny. Normally when I get angry I try to be very reserved about it, showing my frustration without actually yelling. But everyone has their limits, and when I reached mine I turned into the stereotypical “angry bear" and you definitely didn't want to be within 10 feet of me when that happened.

When we finally got home, Em immediately freaked out when she saw Danny. I tried to tell her that it wasn't as bad as it looked, and Danny had even stopped crying, but she just kept hugging him and went on and on about how she'd hunt down the kid who did it and charge him with assault. Meanwhile I went up to one of the bathrooms and got some ointment.

Once Danny was all patched up, Em had finally calmed down enough for me to explain how I went all 'badass' and told the kid's mother off.

“So you don't think he'll give Danny any trouble again?" She asked.

“Don't think so. You should have seen how badly I scared him. Probably thought I was going to bite his head off." I said proudly.

“Well it's good to see Danny has a dad that looks out for him." She said, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

“Also on the upside, I think I know what to write about this week."