Chapter Text
Danny walked down the hall of the state capitol building and sighed when his search came up empty again.
No bathroom. No trashcan. What’s a guy gotta do to get rid of a piece of gum? Lancer’s gonna kill me if I don’t get back soon, the teen sighed inwardly.
Being fifteen wasn’t easy. Being fifteen and failing most of his high school classes really wasn’t easy, and this extra credit assignment was one of the last hail mary’s his teacher was willing to throw his way.
“CW, buddy, if you’re up there listening, I’d really really like today to just be completely normal. No ghosts. No weirdness. Let this just be a normal extra credit assignment and not something that tries to ruin my life. Uh, amen? Tick tock? Whatever, I’m signing off.”
Danny continued walking down hallways, going invisible whenever an adult appeared, trying to find a damn trashcan. He eventually took a set of stairs and paused to look out a set of double windows near the top of the second floor. The view was actually pretty nice, and he almost stepped forward to poke his head outside but stopped himself last minute.
Oh no, Fenton. Stay on task. ADHD is not the boss of you. Trashcan trashcan trashcan fruitloop trashcan trashcan-wait, Fruitloop??
Danny hastily backpedaled to a previous set of windows and was shocked to see his archnemesis leaning against a balcony railing, a cigarette between his long fingers.
Danny was shocked. Stunned even. Vlad was always put together and perfect, but here he was smoking? Oh hell yes, Danny was gonna get so much pun material from this.
“So the mayor of Amity Park smokes?” he said cheerfully, pushing out onto the balcony. “Isn’t that a bad example for the children?”
Vlad jumped and smoothly turned in his direction, but his fake nice-nice smile immediately dropped away when he saw who it was. Danny wouldn’t lie. He kinda was proud of the way he was the only one who could make Vlad be his real self. Like, it was a terrible self, but at least it was genuine. People may have liked Vlad, but he didn’t like them, and they didn’t know him. Not like Danny did.
“Daniel, what on earth are you doing here?” Vlad immediately demanded, scowling down at the younger halfa.
“Just checking up on a smoking hot Fruitloop,” the teen teased.
Vlad stared at him.
“…you know. Because you’re smoking? And you make fire? C’mon, Vlad, you’re usually not this slow,” Danny sighed.
The man’s shoulders relaxed a little at the explanation.
“Right, of course that’s what you meant.”
“What did you think I-”
“Why are you here, Daniel?” Vlad repeated pointedly.
“Uh, because I saw you? And wanted to put a stop to your fruitloop ways?”
“I mean why are you here, child.”
“Don’t call me that,” Danny snapped, flashing green eyes at the older halfa.
Vlad flashed his red ones back, but when Danny got into a fighting stance, the older man rolled his eyes.
“Oh stop, Daniel. I’m literally here on mayoral business. Stop throwing hands with every ghost that moves.”
“I do not throw hands with every gho-”
“I will ask you a third time, and that is the end of my patience,” Vlad cut in. “Why are you here?”
Danny hesitated. There wasn’t any reason not to tell Vlad. It’s not like he couldn’t ask any staff and find out easily. Or even just use a stupid duplicate to follow him back to where Mr. Lancer was still waiting. But part of Danny…well, it was dumb, but he didn’t want Vlad to think he was stupid. More than the fruitloop already did, anyway.
“School trip,” he finally muttered.
“Do not lie to me, boy.”
“I’m not!”
When Vlad stepped forward with violent intent, Danny hastily backed up.
“I’m really not!”
“I would remember seeing your painfully plebeian public school on the guest list, Daniel,” Vlad growled.
“It’s not my school! My teacher got me and a few others in for extra credit! I swear, Vlad! You know I’m bad at lying!!” Danny insisted.
Vlad’s dark blue eyes narrowed, but after some intense scrutiny, he sighed and turned back to lean against the balcony railing once more.
“Well?”
“…well what?” Danny asked, not wanting to set the older man off again.
“Why are you out here instead of in there?” Vlad said, giving the sigh that always made Danny feel even shorter than he already was.
“Because my teacher told me to go spit out my gum?”
Vlad actually snorted.
“It’s true!”
“Yes, I believe you, little badger.”
“Then why did you make that noise?!” Danny demanded.
“I suppose because it’s simply ironic that I came all the way out to our fine state’s capital and yet you still find a way to track me down and annoy me,” Vlad said simply.
Danny’s jaw dropped. Him? He was the stalker here? With Vlad standing right the fuck there?!?
“Careful, Daniel. I’d hate for you to lose that gum in your shock,” Vlad said, clearly in the mood to push his luck.
“Shut up, Fruitloop.”
“Or I suppose children your age-”
“I’m not a child!”
“-would just put it under the bannister or something horrendously uncouth like that.”
“Fuck you, Vlad!”
Danny glared up at the older halfa, green eyes blazing again.
“Language, little badger,” Vlad crooned.
“Mr. Masters?” a new voice called.
Vlad immediately snagged Danny’s shoulder and turned the younger halfa invisible before slowly scooting him to the side where Vlad could casually rest his hand against the railing while still looking normal. Normal for a fruitloop, at least.
“Yes?” Vlad said with that winning smile.
Danny wondered if the older halfa practiced it in the mirror.
He’s a fruitloop so…yep. 100% practiced it.
“Are you alright, sir? I thought I heard voices,” a security guy in an ill-fitting suit asked.
“Well, I was on the phone just now,” Vlad lied. “Was I being too loud?”
“Oh no, not at all, sir. We’ve just had issues with people being up here that shouldn’t be. Just making sure you’re not being bothered.”
“I’m quite alright although I do appreciate you checking in. With the world how it is right now, it’s good to know there is someone paying attention,” Vlad said with another smile, this one a ‘we have a secret, you and I. We’re the only sane people here.’
Danny snorted softly. The man looked around, but Vlad distracted him with a few more lies and compliments before sending him on his way. They both waited until the footsteps faded, then Danny yanked away from Vlad’s grip and the forced invisibility promptly faded. The older halfa merely raised one eyebrow at him, mockingly amused.
“…why did you hide me?” Danny asked finally.
“Because if he found you, you would be in real trouble, Daniel. Not just the detention kind. And it would really be too cruel for even me to allow it,” Vlad said before taking another drag of his cigarette.
He exhaled then rolled his eyes when Danny squinted as the smoke blew towards him. Vlad curled one finger and the smoke spun down below them instead.
“Those are bad for you,” Danny added just to be difficult.
“They’re bad for people who don’t have a firecore,” Vlad corrected.
But he closed his hand around the cigarette, and when he opened it a moment later, crumbled ash spun away in the wind.
“Well, my dear boy, I may as well escort you back to where you’re supposed to be since I am apparently finished with my smoke break,” Vlad announced, tone dry.
“But I haven’t spit out my gum,” Danny complained.
Vlad gestured grandly in front of them.
“Feel free to spit as far as you can.”
“Vlad, I’m not spitting my gum out here.”
“I assure you that you can.”
“Vlad!”
“Daniel, just spit it out,” Vlad sighed.
“No! You’re the mayor! Aren’t you supposed to be for cleaning up cities and shit?!” the teen demanded.
“Fine, then give it to me.”
“No!”
“Daniel, give me the gum,” Vlad hissed.
“You can’t make me!”
“Oh my dear boy, I assure you that I can.”
Vlad made a duplicate, and it slammed the teen’s back into the railing, making Danny squeak at the suddenness of it. One hand cupped Danny’s jaw while the original held out his hand pointedly under his mouth. Danny flushed bright red but finally spat out the gum.
Vlad sighed deeply at the dramatics then tossed the gum back into his own mouth and swallowed while Danny watched in horror. The older halfa ignored Danny’s reaction as he dismissed his duplicate then turned and walked inside the building, and Danny was forced to run after the other man.
“Vlad!” he whisper-hissed. “What the hell was that?!”
“Language, little badger. And I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”
“You swallowed my gum!”
“Well, you weren’t going to spit it out. What else was I supposed to do?”
“You’re not supposed to swallow gum, Vlad! It’s bad for you!”
“My dear boy, we are halfas. Gum is the very least of our worries.”
“…oh yeah.”
Danny glared as the older man sighed dramatically.
“You could’ve at least used your flames!”
“Do you have any idea how disgusting the smell of burned gum is?” Vlad said with a shudder of revulsion.
“Uh no-”
“Trust me when I say this was the better option. Now, keep up, Daniel.”
Grumbling, the teen followed Vlad through the maze of hallways until he was back at the main room. He peeked inside and saw Lancer and a few of his fellow extra creditees sitting at the table pretending to pay attention to a speech by some old white guy.
When he turned back, Vlad was arching an eyebrow at him.
“Okaythanksyouweirdfruitloopbye,” Danny whispered hastily, then slipped into the room before Vlad could blast him.