I'm a superhero, apparently

The art of living

Jack jumped a bit when the door of the car was janked open and slammed shut quickly.

Danny melted against the seat. "Let's go, please."

Jack quietly revved the motor and took off. He concentrated on getting out of school grounds before turning to his son with an excited grin. "So how was school."

Danny groaned long and hard. "Terrible."

"Oh..."

"Pretty sure all the teachers have something against me. And all the students want to be my friend."

Jack looked confused. "And that isn't good?"

"Noooo." The boy cried. "And they want me to put my autograph on everything they own. Pretty sure they'll be coming with their pets and plants for me to sign tomorrow."

It was a bit quiet as Danny silently suffered. Jack tried to offer a bit of comfort. "I'm sure it'll blow over soon."

"No it won't."

"They'll get used to it, son."

"I hope so."

"Do you want to go back tomorrow?"

Danny sighed, thinking it over. "If it stays like this, I won't be able to keep this up. But if it's just some kind of high they have to come down from then I'll survive...I think."

"That's good, son. Your mom and I just want you to feel comfortable."

Danny scoffed. He'd have to stay at home for that. "We'd have to move to another country."

It was silent and Danny turned to see his dad bite his lip. Was he seriously thinking this over??

"Do you want to move to another country?"

"No, dad. I don't think I could leave. Besides, I don't want to do that to you guys."

"But you said you don't like it here."

"It's yeah- it uh. It's gonna be hard but I'll get through. Don't worry. We won't move."

The man exhaled, relieved. "Ok son."

Danny offered him a smile and watched the houses they flitted by. "Hey Dad?"

"Yes son?"

"Why do you call me 'son' so much? Like...why don't you just call me by my name?"

Jack glanced at him worriedly. "You don't want me to call you son?"

"No, I." Danny shifted around in his seat to face him better. "It's fine. I like it. It's like me calling you dad. It," he took a breath, "it's nice to be reminded what I am to you."

Jack looked back to the road, pleased. "Good. Because I'm proud to be able to call you my son."

Danny's throat closed up. That...that was. He blinked back tears as he stared outside.

"Almost home."

The teen couldn't recognize the street but he'd take his father's word for it. "Can we drive around the town a bit?"

Jack suddenly looked uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, Danny, but we'd...there's a- we made a plan."

"Who? What?"

"I'm supposed to eat some fudge when I bring you back from school."

Danny scrunched his eyebrows. "We can drive around fast. It'll only take a moment. I'm sure nobody else is gonna eat your fudge."

"No. There was a plan," he insisted.

"Ok. What about after that?"

"I'm supposed to fix the Fenton sludge container. It broke yesterday."