Archive of Our Own

The Nasty Burger buzzed with conversations all around, the occasional obnoxious laughter and the scrapes and sizzles of a fast-food kitchen. Outside, the sun was bright, and high, casting heat through the windows that made Danny wish they’d sat on the other side of the place, rather than right in the line of (only slightly metaphorical) fire. Across from him sat Sam, touching up her signature purple lipstick after finishing a small fries and the better half of a milkshake, and Tucker, reclined in the booth as much as he could be after finishing a burger.

Danny had been too nervous to eat. His own milkshake was mostly untouched, only the whipped-cream gone from the top. He wanted to tell them, to tell his friends what was going on between him and Vlad- even if he didn’t have a specific label to put on it- but he was scared. What if they didn’t take it well? Of course they wouldn’t take it well, though; how could they? He was banging his ex-enemy, who was more than twenty years older than him even if the whole ex-enemy thing wasn’t a problem. They wouldn’t take it well.

Worst case scenario, they told someone. Probably his parents. They would go nuclear, ground Danny, take away any access to the outside world, never let him see his friends again, probably escort him to and from school (if they didn’t just pull him out and homeschool him instead). They would start a campaign to tarnish Vlad’s name and have him removed as mayor- if they didn’t kill him first, Vlad would disappear forever and start a new identity somewhere else. And Danny would never see him again.

Best case scenario, they’d accept Danny’s decision and trust his judgement. He was doubtful of that outcome, but at the same time, he felt guilty for keeping this from them, and the guilt was winning over the fear.

That wasn’t the only reason for telling Tucker, though. There was also the whole “Will you cover for me while I spend this weekend with Vlad?” thing that he needed to bring ask. In fact, that was exactly how he was planning to ask, and when Sam excused herself to go to the bathroom he waited until the door had closed behind her before saying exactly that.

The look on Tucker’s face was almost comical. Wide-eyed, jaw slack. And then he sat up, leaning his arms on the table so that he could lower his voice. “Dude, that makes it sound weird.”

Danny opened his mouth to answer, then closed it, turned his eyes away and shrugged. That was answer enough for Tucker, it seemed, because there was that look again before he seemed to come to his senses enough to speak.

“He’s like, 50. You can’t be serious.” Incredulousness, almost accusatory, and then, “You’re not under Freakshow’s influence or something, are you?”

“No, I’m not.” He replied, meeting Tucker’s eyes firmly, confidently. “We destroyed his staff, remember? And I’m legal.” He crossed his arms over his chest, but his shoulders were tense and his voice was tight. “I know what I’m doing. He’s not- you know,” This was awkward, uncomfortable. “Taking advantage of me or whatever. I’m doing what I want to do.” And god, were there things he wanted to do with Vlad. He felt heat rising up his neck, and attempted (and failed) to will it down.

Tucker was silent for a moment, and then he leaned back again, a defeated sort of look on his face. “I’ll cover for you.” He agreed after a pause. “You can’t tell Sam. She’d kill him. Or kill you.” He reached up, adjusting his hat and Danny glanced over at the bathrooms in time to see Sam pushing open the door. “If you ever need help, you know… I’m here. If this is what you want, and you say you know what you’re doing,”

“I do.” He promised, and then smiled a small, awkward kind of smile. “Thanks, Tuck.”

“Yeah, man.”

And then Sam was back, sliding into the booth and Danny decided he’d take Tucker’s advice. Telling her could wait, for now. He’d tell her eventually, but… even though Vlad had said he wouldn’t leave just because things got difficult, who wouldn’t up and leave you if you indirectly (or was it directly?) led to the total uprooting of their lives? He had (sort of) worked hard to get to where he was, and if this got out he wouldn’t be able to show his face as a respectable member of Amity Park, ever again. He would have to leave, and unless he got a new name and completely erased every trace of his past identity (something Danny knew he could do) the scandal would follow him forever. And if he did do that, if he did start entirely anew, Danny would surely be left behind.

It was Thursday, and on the walk home, Danny was nervous to ask his parents if he could spend the weekend at Tucker’s. What if they asked Tucker’s parents about it? Not that they would, they never had before. What if they said no? Danny would be disappointed. Would Vlad? Would Vlad be irritated with him? Surely not, but the anxiety was there regardless. But when he did get home, and he did ask, they said yes without hesitation and his dad even slipped him a few dollars in case they went to the mall or bowling. Danny retreated to his room feeling like a horrible person.

It wasn’t like he’d never lied to his parents before. He did it every single day, and had done since the portal incident. This just felt different. It was different; this was their son, banging their old college buddy, who had (not so) secretly loved after Maddie and (actually) secretly tried to kill Jack. Danny felt even guiltier when he thought about those things, and he dropped his backpack beside the door, collapsing on his bed. He rubbed his palms against his eyelids, suddenly feeling very tired. He had to come to terms with the fact that this was how things were, and what their past was like. He had Tucker’s support, at least enough to lie for him if it came down to it. That helped him feel a little better.

Eventually, Danny did his homework, did a quick video-call with Jazz, and then went to bed. The next day, he was staying overnight at Vlad’s, and along with figuring out a label for whatever they were, he had the feeling that they weren’t going to be sleeping as much as the term ‘sleepover’ would imply.

…

Danny, as per usual, found a private place to turn invisible and then flew through the sky to Vlad’s house. The difference was that it was Friday, instead of Saturday, and his backpack was filled with clothes and overnight supplies like a hairbrush, a toothbrush, deodorant, and his phone charger. He felt a giddy kind of nervousness the closer he drew to the mansion, images flickering through his mind of what they might get up to besides what he knew was coming. The things he knew being anime, maybe movies, meals together… things lovers did together. Things partners did together, and he wondered if that was a term that could apply to them.

He’d been patient, he decided, phasing through Vlad’s front door and turning tangible once more as he dropped his feet to the entryway’s floor. He’d waited around two months to even start considering putting a label on it. And if it really bothered Vlad when he brought it up, he could wait longer. But he wouldn’t know if that was okay- if it was weird to bring up- until he actually did. So he would wait for the right moment, and he would broach the subject.

Or maybe not, after all, because maybe he didn’t want to know the answer.

“I’m here!” Danny announced, sliding the backpack from his shoulders to hold it in his hand instead. His voice was a little too high, his nerves a little too obvious. He cleared his throat. It wasn’t even the first time they’d slept in bed together. It was just the first time Vlad wouldn’t have to leave in the middle of the night. They’d wake up together. Would Vlad still find him attractive (that was a weird thought, even still) after seeing him with bedhead and morning breath? Would he still be interested in him after spending more than just a few hours with him? He worked to calm his racing heart, but before he could begin counting his breaths the way that had been working for him, Vlad came striding in from a hallway on the left.

He smiled in his smug, Vlad-like way, but Danny thought he looked pleased nonetheless. Like he was happy to see Danny, maybe. “Good afternoon, Daniel.” The man greeted him politely, but when he was close enough to put his hand on Danny’s lower back, leading him toward the stairs, the gesture felt like it was beyond just ‘polite’. “How was school today?”

“The same as every day.” Danny laughed, because Vlad always asked him about school, and that was almost always his answer lately. Nothing new happened, nothing exciting- well, mostly. Dash had been a little weird, but mostly he left Danny alone these days. “How was work today?”

“The same as every day.” Vlad mimicked Danny’s answer, and the teen laughed again. When he glanced up, climbing the stairs, Vlad definitely looked pleased. “I assumed you wouldn’t mind sharing my room this weekend.” He said, then, and the change of subject caught Danny off-guard. “If it is an issue, there are plenty of rooms that you could-“

“No, that’s fine.” Danny cut him off, a little too insistently. “I mean, uh, I want to.” He tried to sound a little more nonchalant, but the words themselves weren’t any better than his original tone was and he felt his face warm.

Vlad didn’t tease him, surprisingly enough. “In that case, it’s down the second hallway,” He stated, as they began down said hallway. “Third door on the right wall.” And then they stopped in front of said door, and then Vlad pushed it open and turned on the light and honestly, Danny shouldn’t have been surprised by how fancy everything looked. By how the furniture was all dark, dark-woods and dark hues and intricate carvings and designs. Though he wasn’t surprised by the vanity table against one wall, complete with a mirror, or the mirror against the opposite wall. No, it was the large mirror on the ceiling above the bed that was surprising, and when Vlad seemed to realize what Danny was looking at he seemed to falter. “If you’d like a different room,” He didn’t finish, but Danny thought he sounded a little sheepish, even embarrassed, if that was something that the older man was capable of experiencing.

“It’s okay.” He was a little breathless, his voice a bit small as he thought of what the mirror was for. What it implied. What potential it held. And then he tore his eyes away, so that he wouldn’t blush again, and walked into the room and away from Vlad so that his imagination didn’t get carried away with the possibilities that the night would hold. “Where do I put my stuff?”

“Wherever you’d like.” Vlad motioned to the room with his hand. “On the table,” He suggested, and Danny obeyed, moving to set it on the vanity table. While he was there, his eyes fell over the numerous colognes and haircare products.

He resisted the urge to pick them up, to sort through them and then resisted the urge to start snooping through Vlad’s entire room. His entire house. Somehow, it was an urge that hadn’t hit him before. He just wanted to see what kind of things Vlad filled his shelves and closets with. What brands he bought, if he collected any trinkets, what kind of interests he had. He wanted to go to his library- a room Vlad hadn’t mentioned, but one Danny was sure was there somewhere in the house- and see what books were the most worn. Which ones he read the most, and which ones he had barely touched.

“So,” He turned away from the shelf, leaving his backpack behind. “What now?”

“What would you like to do?”

Ugh, the things that were on his mind weren’t the things he wanted to spend the whole time doing, and that’s what would happen if it was left up to Danny. “We could watch Death Note.” He suggested. “Or a movie, or something.”

They wound up on the sofa, Danny sitting sideways between Vlad’s legs with his arms crossed over his stomach and an arm behind his back, against the arm of the couch. It kind of hurt his back, a little, to sit this way, but he liked sitting in Vlad’s lap. (And god, that was weird, wasn’t it?) The anime they’d been watching for weeks played on the screen, and a couple of episodes in Vlad ordered a pizza. A pizza, and when he got off the phone, Danny was incredulous.

“You’re rich, don’t you eat, like, rich-people food?”

“What, pray-tell, is ‘rich people food’, Daniel?” Vlad sounded overly-tired, like he was exhausted of Danny’s shenanigans already, but the corners of his lips were upturned and Danny knew better.

He shifted from Vlad’s lap, dropping onto the cushion next to him. He’d kicked off his shoes already to bring his feet onto the couch, and he cris-crossed his legs now, facing the other halfa. “You know, like steak, and caviar, and truffle…” He counted off on his fingers as he listed every fancy food he could think of. “And oysters. Lobster.” Vlad just stared at him, waiting patiently for him to run out of items. “Or, you know, stuff with gold flakes on it.” He’d seen alcohol before that had gold flakes in it, and Sam sent him a picture of rice-sushi wrapped in gold, once.

“While I do eat a number of those things,” Vlad shifted, bringing one leg bent on the couch to face Danny. “I thought that you would enjoy pizza.”

And they watched the remainder of the episode they were on while they waited for the pizza. Conveniently, the doorbell only rang just as the credits began, and Danny tailed behind Vlad as he went to answer the door. He watched carefully as Vlad paid, taking the red-and-white pizza box with both hands; Sam, when she ordered anything or ate anywhere, tipped generously. Danny wanted to know if it was a rich-people thing, or if it was a Sam-thing. He was half-surprised when Vlad gave him an extra twenty, plus what was left from the twenty he used to pay for the pizza.

The man was so… selfish, in so many ways. There was no getting around it, Danny figured as Vlad closed the door. He followed Vlad through the house, and into a dining room with a small, round table that was next to a room with a larger, rectangular table. Vlad was a selfish person by nature. He did what he wanted, he sought out what he wanted no matter what. Took what he wanted, (almost) no matter what. Setting the pizza box on the table, a thought occurred to him; Vlad had wanted Danny, and he’d gotten him. Maybe not in the way he expected, or wanted at the time, but he still got him, didn’t he? He opened the box, only just then realizing that Vlad had disappeared. He sat down, not knowing where Vlad had gone to follow him, and he’d noticed something by the time Vlad came back with dishes and a two-liter of orange soda balanced in his arms.

Danny jumped up to help him, taking the plates to set the table. “You don’t like peppers?” Danny asked, as Vlad followed suit, setting the glasses and soda on the table.

“I don’t have a preference.” He replied, simply, as though that were the end of it.

But this was a supreme, and there weren’t peppers on it, and it came with peppers, so- “Why’d you order it without?”

“Because you don’t like them.”

And for a moment, Danny had a disturbing thought to how Vlad might know that. Memories of hidden cameras surveying his house, and stalking and other creepy behaviors came back to him, but he quickly stomped those out because duh. They’d had pizza while Vlad was over. Danny took a seat, and Vlad did the same. He’d just seen Danny pick the peppers off of his slices. “Thanks.” He muttered, embarrassed by where his thoughts had immediately gone, and embarrassed that Vlad had done something so… so small, but so sweet for him. So considerate, and thoughtful, even if it wasn’t a big deal.

They ate in silence, and while Danny felt like maybe he should make conversation or break the silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. He just… wanted to talk to Vlad. To bring up something that happened at school, or to ask Vlad more about his day and get a real answer. He just wanted to talk to him, but that was difficult to do when he was stuffing himself with pizza. So the silence remained, until halfway through his second slice and his phone buzzed in his pocket. And then again, after a pause, and once more. Audibly enough that Vlad had looked over, and raised an eyebrow as though prompting Danny to take it out and see what was going on.

“Sorry,” Danny was sheepish as he pulled it out. He had to keep it on him in case his parents or Tucker called him.

“You’ve nothing to apologize for.” Vlad brushed him off, and Danny pulled up his inbox.

Two texts from an unknown number, and one that he’d missed earlier from Tucker. He was about to tap the one from Tucker, until the preview of the unknown number’s caught his attention and he tapped that one instead- and froze, staring down at the screen in surprise, eyes wide and lips parted in a silent question. Who was this? The two texts were one broken up, and in the wrong order, but when he read them the right way they read,

“hey fenton i was thinking u shuld go out wth me this weekend i no im not nice to you at school but i will be if u go out with me. text me back and let me no.”

It was someone that knew who they were texting. It wasn’t an accident, and he knew that Paulina could spell better than this. He couldn’t think of anyone else that might not be nice to him at school, at least not un-nice enough to make a point of bringing it up, except for one person… and that was confirmed when opened the text from Tucker, and he felt the blood draining from his face.

Tucker’s text read,

“sorry man but dash got ur # from my phone”

He stared at the screen for a moment. Long enough until the screen turned itself off, and then he tucked his phone away into his pocket, eyes falling instead to his plate until Vlad’s voice brought him from his state of speechlessness.

“Is everything alright? Who was-“

“Nothing. Nobody. It’s fine.” He felt a twist of dread at the thought of seeing Dash again on Monday after turning him down. He returned to his food, and decided that for now, he’d put it out of his mind. He didn’t want to spend the whole weekend miserable. “What are we doing after dinner?” He asked, not exactly meaning to change the subject but from the look that Vlad gave him, that’s how it had come across.

After a pause, Vlad replied, though his gaze was still calculating. “I thought we might watch a movie, unless you had other ideas.”

Oh, Danny had ideas, but he was too full for what was on his mind right now. “A movie sounds good. What movie?”

And then, after helping Vlad clean up the dishes and put away the leftover pizza, they moved back to the living room and Vlad put on a blu-ray of an old, black-and-white movie. An Alfred Hitchcock film, he’d explained. Old, but still good, and since Danny had shown him Death Note he wanted to show Danny a classic of his own. This time, instead of sitting in his lap, Danny sat down beside him, leaning against his side as Vlad stretched out an arm behind him and- as he’d done many times before, at this point- played idly with his hair.

The movie was good, for an old movie. Danny never had any interest in black-and-white shows and movies, but this one in particular was interesting, the acting wasn’t too overly-dramatic and the story held his attention. He was watching, focused completely on the events on the screen until Vlad pulled his arm around Danny and rested his hand on his own thigh. That put his arm between them, and Danny scooted over a bit to make room, and then his eyes fell on Vlad’s hand and he wondered if he was being silly.

He probably was being silly, he figured, but what would it hurt to try? Vlad might thing he was silly, he might think he was immature, but he was bound to end up with that opinion anyway if he didn’t already feel that way. So Danny, suddenly feeling light with that giddy nervousness he’d come to often feel with regards to Vlad, reached out, brushing his hand against Vlad’s as he turned his own over, palm-up to make it clear what he wanted. Without taking his eyes off the screen, he could see in his peripheral vision Vlad tilt his head down, and his stomach seemed to flip at the way the older halfa didn’t immediately move… and then there were fingers sliding in between his and he relaxed, a tension leaving his body that he didn’t even realize it had held.

Their hands rested joined between them, and he knew his palm was sweating after only maybe two minutes, and he knew that Vlad was nowhere near as effected as he was, but whatever. Even if he did think it was something childish or juvenile, he’d still humored Danny and held his hand, anyway. It was tingly in a way that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Not since when Sam and him had liked each other, and their hands would touch, or when Paulina would brush her hand against his arm or Valery would kiss him on the cheek. So, in other words, not in a while.

He wondered how long it had been for Vlad. Since he’d last held hands with anyone. He was pretty sure it hadn’t been too long since he’d… well, done other stuff, since one, he was very good at it, and two, it seemed to come easy for him, and he definitely knew what he liked and what he wanted. He felt like maybe he should be jealous about that kind of thing, about the idea of Vlad sleeping with other people, but the idea of him holding hands with them bothered him more. He thought about that, even as they decided on another movie (some space movie, about aliens that neither of them had seen before).

When the movie ended, Danny stood up to stretch and Vlad caught him, pulling him back down into his lap in a way that was familiar by now. A lot of things were becoming familiar, in a way that Danny would’ve never expected them to be. In a comfortable way, though. A way that made him feel good, because they had a routine, they had normalcy in their relationship-of-sorts, and that made it feel more real somehow.

Arms, firm and strong wrapped around his waist and held him tight and close. “Are you leaving me?” Vlad asked him, though his tone was too innocent to be sincere.

“I was stretching.” Danny wiggled in his lap, kicking his legs lightly as though he were trying to get away but really, this is where he wanted to be right now. “You dork.”

“Oh, name-calling, are we? I can think of a few that would apply to you. Namely, right now, cock-tease.” The arms held him tighter, stilling him as though Danny wouldn’t have frozen on his own at the words.

It hadn’t been his intention to wiggle and grind into Vlad’s- um, area. But that’s what he’d been doing, and he felt now that he could predict the direction of the night. “You’re only a tease if you’re doing it on purpose.” Danny decided, stating his on-the-spot, made-up rule as confidently as he would have if it had been fact. “And anyway, you’re the one that pulled me down.”

“Ah, I did.” The arms around him loosened enough so that hands could slip beneath the hem of his shirt, resting flat against the skin of his stomach. “But how could I resist you?” And then, as though it naturally followed his last question, Vlad said, “Perhaps you should shower.”

“Uh,” Danny tensed a little, catching both of Vlad’s wrists to still his hands before they made it any farther up his shirt. “Do I smell?” He had just showered the night before, and he was wearing deodorant, and he had just washed his clothes so-

“No.” Vlad assured him. “I just think it would be wise.” And there was a suggestive note to those words that made Danny’s stomach flutter again, and his heart speed up and he wiped his hands on his jeans, sure that they were sweaty again. He had an idea of why Vlad might would want him to shower, and that idea was… not something he was sure that he wanted. Now or ever, and he must have tensed because the hands at his stomach smoothed down his hips and over his outer-thighs, petting him as though to soothe him. “Relax, Daniel.” He wondered, though, if that ‘relax’ was a “Relax, I’m not going to fuck you in the ass.” kind of relax, or a “Relax, or it will be hard to fuck you in the ass.” one. He forced his muscles to relax, though, regardless. He squirmed out of Vlad’s grip, standing up.

“I’ll shower.” He decided, because he didn’t want to disappoint Vlad if this is what he had planned for the weekend. Danny had done some research on the subject, and then he’d read some not-safe-for-work stories about it, just for the sake of it. And he had liked them, and the thought of it was completely horrible. Mostly, he was just nervous, and he couldn’t imagine someone finding that part of the body anything other than gross.

But if that’s what Vlad wanted, Danny would do it. Or, well, try, anyway. And maybe he was wrong anyway, maybe he was just reading into the situation because he’d done some reading about it beforehand and that’s where his mind was at the moment. There was the chance that he did smell or something, and Vlad was just being polite. Or that he wanted Danny clean, in general, for other stuff, which wouldn’t be so weird. But at the same time, it seemed like Vlad knew where Danny’s thoughts had gone, though. Or at least the direction they’d gone in, and he hadn’t made an effort to clarify his intentions.

Danny had had a feeling anyway, that Vlad would eventually want this. As he showered, steam billowing up from the stream of water and filling the large, clean, white bathroom, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. About what it might mean. Even if the rest of what they’d done didn’t count as ‘sex’, going any farther- doing anything further would, right? He would be officially not a virgin anymore, if he did this, and worse, he would officially have given his virginity to the man that had previously attempted to… well, kill his dad, and bang his mom, and the man who had previously beat the snot out of Danny himself. That was messed up, wasn’t it?

After thoroughly cleaning himself, Danny rinsed his body quickly and then stepped out of the shower and onto a fuzzy floor-mat. He grabbed a towel Vlad had set out for him and made quick work of drying his hair, brushing it into a somewhat neat state with his fingers, and then patting off his body. Finally, towel around his waist, he left the bathroom, naked save for the towel, and made his way back to Vlad’s room to find get dressed… and for a moment, he didn’t register exactly what Vlad was doing, because at first it just seemed mundane. Ordinary.

Standing by the vanity table, looking at a cellphone, unaware that Danny had returned. And then he did realize what Vlad was doing, because he realized that it was his own phone in Vlad’s hand, not the older man’s, and he felt the familiar stirrings that came with other violations of privacy. The feeling that he’d gotten when he learned that Vlad had tapped their house. The feeling that he’d gotten, to a lesser degree, when his mom had gone through his computer. The feeling he’d gotten when he learned that Skulker had been following him around, last year.

“What are you doing?” And for the first time that Danny had ever really seen him, Vlad jumped, clearly startled, and then set the phone on the table and turned his eyes away. That was confession enough for Danny, who crossed the room swiftly and picked up the phone, pulling up the recent apps to see what Vlad had been doing- and he’d been reading Danny’s texts. Specifically, the ones from Dash, who Danny had yet to reply to. He closed the texting app, clutching his phone tightly and turned to look at Vlad.

The older man looked sheepish, as though only ashamed at having been caught, but there was no guilt on his face when they met eyes, and he seemed far too relaxed and sure of himself to be guilty, anyway. He offered no explanation, though, and for a moment Danny wondered if all of this had been a mistake. He’d thought Vlad had changed, somehow. That this meant he would be different, that he would- what? Respect Danny, suddenly, in all the ways that he hadn’t before? Suddenly, the teen felt foolish. He felt foolish for ever thinking that way, and he was hurt. He’d trusted Vlad, for whatever reason, and this is what happened?

Vlad seemed to see something he didn’t like in Danny’s face, but when he opened his mouth to speak (to make excuses? To apologize?) Danny just turned away, setting his phone back on the table and moving to his bag to dig through his clothes and get dressed. He wanted to go home, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure if he was overreacting. Even though it was a gross violation of his privacy and trust, shouldn’t he have expected this much from the man and taken precautions? But no, he wasn’t about to be in a… a whatever this was, with someone that he couldn’t trust not to go through his private messages.

He pulled on a pair of dark-blue briefs, almost falling over from the speed that he pulled them up his legs as the towel fell away, and fished out the NASA shirt he used as pajamas and pulled that over his still-damp head. He was still looking for his pants when Vlad’s hand rested on his shoulder, a hesitant, light touch as though he were afraid it would be rejected. And Danny considered that, he considered batting it away, or shoving Vlad away completely because he was hurt, and he felt like an fool and he felt even worse because he felt like an fool, like this wasn’t exactly something that Vlad would do!

Instead, though, he took a deep breath, and didn’t turn around, still digging through his bag for his sweatpants. “You can’t go through my stuff.” He said, firmly, surprised by how cold his tone was. He hadn’t meant to sound so… icy. He found the pants as the hand at his shoulder left him, and pulled them on before turning to face the other halfa who had still yet to reply. “I mean it.” Vlad’s face was blank, void of anything telling as to what he was thinking. “You can’t do stuff like that to me anymore.”

“It isn’t a big deal, Daniel.” He replied, and that only made it worse. “I was just-“

“Going through my messages!” Danny cut him off, throwing his hands up for emphasis. “Exactly! It is a big deal, because you had no right to do that. That’s my phone, and my personal texts.”

“If you have nothing to hide, why should it matter?” His tone was almost accusatory, and Danny realized that Vlad knew about the fact that someone had texted him, asking him out. “You wouldn’t tell me who had messaged you during dinner.”

“So you checked for yourself instead of respecting the fact that it had nothing to do with you.”

“I think it does have something to do with me, actually.” There was a trace of the old-Vlad, the self-serving, egotistical Vlad that did what he wanted and took what he wanted and didn’t care who he hurt in the process. And Danny realized that, though he’d promised to stay even if things got ‘difficult’, this was on another level, and he wasn’t going to put up with it.

“Do you not care at all that you hurt me? You got what you wanted, so you don’t care?” He demanded, his voice tight and as his anger faded he only felt the depressing, pressure of hurt, and it must have carried in his words because Vlad’s demeanor changed.

His shoulders pulled back taut, blue eyes widening and chest stilling as though he’d forgotten to breathe for a moment. Danny didn’t know what to make of the shift, until Vlad spoke and when he did he sounded just as tense as Danny felt. “How did this hurt you? I only-“

“Invaded my privacy, disregarding my boundaries like you always have?” Danny finished for him, and that seemed to spark some sort of understanding because Vlad’s shoulders fell and he was silent, though his expression was blank once again. Danny was proud of himself for how direct and clear he’d been, using words he’d read (like ‘boundaries’) flipping through one of Jazz’s psychology textbooks. “This is nothing new. That’s what the problem is. I trusted you to-“ His voice broke with emotion, though he was relieved that he hadn’t started crying or something. When he spoke again, it wasn’t as sharp. It was soft and defeated. “That was Dash. I didn’t tell you because it was stupid and weird.” He lowered his eyes to the floor between them. “I was just gonna say no.”

“You didn’t,” Vlad replied, his own voice soft as well. And laced with something that Danny might consider contriteness. “You didn’t say no.”

“Because I didn’t want to spend the whole weekend thinking about how pissed he’ll be on Monday.” Danny wasn’t sure why he was explaining himself, why he was justifying his actions when Vlad was the one in the wrong. “I can’t stand him, I would never…” He drifted off, and then crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back until he was half-seated on the vanity. “I should go home.” He decided, but he made no move to zip up his bag or to leave. He didn’t want to leave, he didn’t want this to end with his departure, and potentially never be fixed again, but could it even be fixed if Vlad didn’t think he did anything wrong?

He looked up when Vlad finally replied. “I didn’t consider my actions. I- you appeared disconcerted when you read them, then quickly changed the subject and I was concerned as much as curious.” Though his face was still void, his tone was not. It was sincere, and genuine, or at least it sounded that way to Danny and his eyes widened in surprise at the following words. “I’m sorry. I hadn’t realized it would hurt you, nor did I consider the similarities between our hist- my past actions and reading your text messages without permission.”

“Would you still care if you knew I wouldn’t catch you?” He was still reeling from the apology. A real one, from Vlad Freaking Masters who had probably never apologized for anything in his life. Not just a polite “I apologize” or “I didn’t mean to”, but a full-on “I’m sorry” complete with an explanation. Not an excuse, but an actual explanation. But it was still important to ask.

“I am still me, Daniel.” Vlad began, stepping closer to Danny but not reaching out to touch him. The statement made dread coil in Danny’s stomach, because was that a resounding no? But then he continued, Danny could’ve laughed with relief. “But I will not intentionally hurt you again, no matter the context.” And then, seemingly for good measure, Vlad added, “I will not do this again.”

For a very brief moment, Danny felt like he’d been silly to think about ending things over this, but that thought quickly faded, because it wasn’t silly. He wasn’t about to put up with things like that. He heard it all the time in school, people talking about how their boyfriends or girlfriends would go through their phone and then get angry about what was in there. That kind of thing was usually followed by a discussion about how they weren’t allowed to see so-and-so friend of the same gender as their partner, or how they weren’t allowed to wear this or that because their partner didn’t like it, and Danny had always told himself that it was all ridiculous. That he would never end up like that, and he wasn’t about to do that now just because he liked Vlad (even though he liked Vlad a lot).

“Thank you.” He murmured, dropping his eyes to the floor. This was a good step, wasn’t it? Vlad apologized, genuinely apologized, and they promised not to do it again.

Now, Vlad did reach out to him, dragging his knuckles across Danny’s cheek before pressing his palm to it, taking the younger halfa’s breath away. “It’s not so late. Would you like to watch another movie?”

Danny was grateful for the suggestion, rather than Vlad trying to ‘set the mood’ like he had probably been planning before. Because those feelings from before, the almost subtle feelings of violation were still swimming in him and he didn’t think he could get on board with any ‘mood’ right now. He nodded, and there was something like relief on Vlad’s face before he leaned in, and pressed a kiss to Danny’s forehead, and holy shit, that was- that was unexpectedly affectionate… In a different way from playing with his hair, or stroking his skin, or at least it felt different, but in a way that Danny didn’t know how to explain. He could smell the man’s cologne before he pulled away, and his lips left that tingle on his skin even after he had turned away.

Tucking his phone into his pocket, Danny followed Vlad from the room, down the stairs and into the den. They quickly agreed on a random, probably-cheesy horror movie on Netflix, and settled on the couch beside one another. Even as the movie played, things felt tense. Awkward, just a little bit, though things seemed to be settled between them the emotions were still lingering. At least they were from Danny’s side. Vlad gave no signs of being uncomfortable with the situation at all, but then again, he had already won Danny’s forgiveness and it wasn’t his privacy that had been violated. It wasn’t he who had to deal with the fact that the past was all pulled up.

That was something that happened now and again, Danny thought to himself. He pulled his bare feet up on the couch, resting his arms on his knees. There were times, different situations or words or actions that reminded him of their past together. It was an uncomfortable feeling, to compare this Vlad now to the Vlad that he used to be- but that wasn’t quite right. It was still the same Vlad, the very same man. He had just changed, a bit, or so it seemed. After today, Danny wasn’t so sure that he really had. He still thought it was okay to- to do things like that. To do things like go through Danny’s messages without asking. How did it not occur to him without confrontation that it wasn’t okay?

Did an apology make it okay? Or, well, not okay, but did it make it okay to move on from it? There was a hand on his back, and Danny dropped his feet back to the floor, scooting closer to Vlad. He’d been looking forward to this so much, and he didn’t want it to be ruined. Especially when Vlad promised that he wouldn’t do anything like that again. And Danny had promised, had assured Vlad that he would not leave just because of some difficulties. Because obviously, there would be. They would clash, sometimes. Vlad was Vlad, and it seemed like he was making an effort to change every fiber of his being. Danny was Danny, overanalyzing and overthinking and anxious about everything.

What was happening on the screen was the last thing on his mind, especially when long fingers caught him under the chin and turned his face, and especially when lips met his own, warm and gentle and confident. Just when he began to reciprocate, Vlad had pulled away, meeting his eyes and at some point Vlad had shifted to face Danny.

“I truly am sorry,” Vlad said, and Danny blinked, because he hadn’t been expecting that. Maybe Vlad could sense his mood. He didn’t think that he’d been obvious. Or maybe Vlad just felt it too; that awkward tension. The tension that seemed to melt away when Danny gave him a small smile in reply.

Then he snorted. “I didn’t know you were even capable of guilt.” He’d meant it as a joke, but Vlad’s response was solemn.

“I feel immense guilt over the way that I’ve treated you, Daniel. Over all of the ways that I’ve hurt you. If there was any way for me to take it back, for me to start over-“

“We talked about this.” Danny cut him off, thinking back to their email conversation in the weeks before they started hanging out. “It’s okay. If things were different back then they wouldn’t be the same now.”

“But even now, I’ve hurt you.”

Danny almost wished that he had chosen a different phrase before, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure that a different one would have been so effective. “I’m okay. It’s okay. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here right now. You don’t- you don’t get another chance, though. If you do anything like that again…” This was done. Over. Not happening anymore.

Vlad seemed to understand, moving his hand to Danny’s head, pushing the still-slightly-damp hair back from his forehead. “I won’t.” He promised once more, and his fingers brushed through Danny’s hair until he was holding the back of his head, and this time Danny closed the gap, kissing him on the lips, eyes falling shut. Slow, gentle kisses, soft in a way that was almost gingerly on Vlad’s part. Like the guilt he mentioned feeling was coming across in a tangible, physical way, and he was touching him even more softly than usual to make up for hurting him. Or maybe Danny was just being dramatic.

He turned his head, breaking the kiss to tease the older man, to tell him that he wasn’t made of glass, but then Vlad pulled away, and they were watching the movie again- and that was fine. Danny wasn’t in the mood for more, despite his body’s quick response to something as simple as a kiss. But things were okay. They would be okay, though he would hold Vlad to his promise; there wouldn’t be another chance like this.