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“Danny!”
Sam and Tucker rushed in right after him, both looking somewhat panicked.
“Geez, he still asked like that.” Tucker rolled his eyes. “ At least it’s better than just blurting out a conclusion he just came up with.” Sam replied. The two of them went on a pointless conversation, oblivious to the annoyance their trespassing caused the homeowner.
“Well, excuse me for interrupting, but what’s going on?” Vlad tried to ask patiently. He decided that if these teenagers couldn’t give him a convincing explanation, he would immediately transform into Plasmius, beat the three of them and kick them out.
After all, it was Saturday! Saturday!
As a mayor, a billionaire, and a villain, he didn’t spend his days idly like these teenagers or other ghosts—have to say that his schedule was booked until next year—so while he hadn’t yet decided to embark on a new evil plan, he hoped trouble wouldn’t come knocking on his door.
Through Sam and Tucker's explanations, Vlad finally figured out the whole story.
Danny and his friends stumbled upon Ember preparing for a concert, and a fight broke out between them. During the fight, Ember attacked Danny with her new tunes, which she claimed would let people confront their deepest inner struggles. However, it seemed to be in the testing phase, resulting in some side effects.
“Anyway, Danny flew to your house before he could have a chance to captured her in the Fenton Thermos.” Sam concluded.
“Then why me? Just because I'm his arch-nemesis?” Vlad felt a little amused and frustrated. What kind of inner struggle is this? He dared to say that for Daniel, most of the trouble he brought wasn’t the biggest challenge. After all, the kid didn't really take him seriously.
“Oh, perhaps, but I'm afraid it's more than that…Wait Danny, don't interrupt!”
“I SUSPECT YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON ME!” Danny, was silent the whole time just staring at Vlad, made a startling remark.
“Uh!” Tucker and Sam both looked like they had a headache.
“That’s it, the side effect of that attack. We guess his brain might have been damaged by the shock, so uh, that’s why he jumped to that conclusion.” Sam explained to Vlad, with a little annoyed and trying to hide her hostility.
This is terrible. Just a single sentence could almost push Vlad into the deepest abyss of disgrace.
“Listen, I’m not going to argue with you. The most important thing right now is to find Ember and get her to solve this mess.” Vlad turned to his computer and started checking his surveillance cameras. However, he couldn’t find any trace of Ember anywhere in Amity Park. “Perhaps she went back to the Ghost Zone? You teens can go home first, I’ll go find her.”
Sam and Tucker seemed to agree with Vlad's plan, since they hadn't even wanted to come here in the first place. So they grabbed Danny's wrists and started to walk out.
“No,” Unexpectedly, Danny broke free from them and stood directly in front of Vlad. “ They can go find Ember, you stay.”
Vlad had rarely seen Danny so assertive. He didn't know how to respond for the first time.
“Daniel calm down. Right now, our most important thing is to solve your problem.” Vlad tried to reason with him, but it was clear that the affected teenager wouldn’t listen to him.
“I am trying to solve the problem. We can talk now, and then you can admit you have a crush on me.” For God’s sake, why is he clinging to this idea? Vlad rubbed his temples. Daniel was acting like one of those self-important teenagers, so arrogant that he thought his charm was irresistible. Was this another side effect of Ember's attack?
“If you’re going to be so stubborn, then I don’t think we have anything to talk about. I can tell you clearly that I hate you, so stop bothering me. Aren’t there so many girls around you? Any one of them could have a crush on you, go talk to them.” Vlad’s patience was almost exhausted, (ignoring Sam’s “ Hey! ” ) he said bluntly.
“Duh, of course Sam likes me, and I like Sam. That’s so simple, everyone knew that.” Danny said with a flippant tone.
“UGH!! I've had enough of you! Let's go, Tucker, let's go find Ember. I can't stand his attitude for even a second longer. Goodbye, Mr. Mayor, try to prove that you don't like Danny!” Sam was the first to explode; she grabbed Tucker by the collar and strode out of the room. The door slammed shut behind her.
Now only Danny and Vlad remained in the room. Finally, Vlad took a step back. “Let's go to the drawing room. We can…talk about this in detail.”
---
So the situation became like this: Danny sat on the plush sofa in the drawing room, drinking a can of Coke with a plate of biscuits in front of him. Vlad sat opposite him, and the two stared at each other.
After Sam and Tucker left, Danny had suddenly become silent again. Vlad couldn't figure out what Danny was thinking; he only knew that he was going crazy in this silence.
“Alright, Daniel, since you’re so certain that I…have a crush on you, then you must have plenty of evidence to accuse me of?” The word “crush” rolled down Vlad’s throat, almost burning him.
“Yes, that’s right. In fact, I’m struggling with having too much evidence. I don’t even know how to bring it up.” Danny looked a bit deflated, completely losing his previous confident demeanor.
His rapid change of attitude made Vlad wonder if the attack's effects weren't actually as long-lasting as he'd imagined.
“In that case, let's start from the beginning.”
“Okay, okay, let's start from the beginning…the time when we first met. Actually, thinking about it now, I suspect you fell in love with me at first sight, when you discovered me as a halfa. Yeah, after all, you were madly eager to have me as your son. So there must be something with you.”
This utterly illogical rambling made Vlad laugh out loud. “Ha, if I really liked you that much, perhaps I wouldn't have been so cruel to you.”
“To be honest, after hearing that you also suffered an experimental accident because of my parents, I had an odd feeling. So when I found out your true identity, I felt fear, but also a surprising kind of happiness…as if we were of the same kind.”
Danny completely ignored Vlad's sarcasm and continued, immersed in his own logic. “I was happy that we hit it off, but seriously, touching me right away was really off-putting. You have absolutely no concept of social distance! Try to keep some distance from me next time, you egomaniac—that fragrance you're wearing always making me dizzy.”
Hearing this, Vlad felt a little awkward and had no choice but to pick up his teacup and take a sip.
“Well, though you knocked me out at the first time, you still took me back to my room, so that plus 1 point...but sending ghosts to kill my dad again? That minus 2 points...I think your overall evaluation of that meeting is about 1/10.”
What is this supposed to be? Some kind of scoring system suddenly appearing? Vlad was speechless. What exactly does this 1 point represent?
“The next time we met, you tricked my mom taking me to some mother/son science convention. Honestly, you absolutely have no idea how to please people…If you had at least tried to hide your dislike for dad, you might have gained some of my favor—do you know that just a few days after we got back home from the stupid college reunion, they were arguing and talking about divorce? But well, even if you managed to win my favor, it probably wouldn't have mattered. I'm not going to help you sow discord between them. Besides, they're really in love, so you have no chance at all.”
“Hmm…why don't you just pick the important points? Proof that I have a crush on you?” Danny's rambling, unfocused remarks were steadily wearing down Vlad's patience. Honestly, he didn't want to sit here and talk about emotional problems with a teenager who wasn't really thinking straigh. They didn't really have anything to talk about anyway. But there was something strange about Danny's words…Vlad had no choice but to listen patiently, trying to find some other clues.
“God, you're so long-winded! Fine, then I guess the biggest evidence might be what happened when I found out about Danielle and those clones? Vlad, you're such a disgusting and twisted fruitloop! Unable to have what you want, you resort to making substitutes to soothe your lonely heart? Haha, that's hilarious.”
Indeed, Vlad couldn't deny that his actions were kind of extreme. But he had always been ruthless in achieving his goals, so he wouldn't care what Daniel thought about the matter.
“Think about it carefully. As my enemy, you created a bunch of clones of me…and the one that most closely resembles me is a 12-year-old girl? Uh, though I don't know how you managed to make the clone so different from the original, I'd say it's pretty strange.”
“I appreciate your willingness to consider things from my perspective, but clearly you haven't thought things through enough. Isn't a teenage girl an excellent pawn? I can easily manipulate her and turn her into a useful piece in my game.”
“Uh, so you're saying you actually want to control me? Like with gaslighting?”
“Perhaps, if you really did become my son or successor. Even so, are you still going to insist that I have a crush on you, Daniel? You're overconfident. Someone who wants to control you won't give you their heart. You can take that as a piece of advice.”
“But what about the spying, the harassing? Your actions have confused me so much. You mean you did all of these simply just because we’re enemies?”
“Otherwise, I don't think I'm so perverse that I need to monitor your family's daily activities.” That's true; if it weren't for Daniel, he wouldn't have been interested in putting so many tracking devices out there.
“So what's the meaning of your actions now? You've been causing me trouble all along, and now your rival has delivered himself to your doorstep! Why don't you knock me out and kidnap me, take me back to Wisconsin go on with your cloning experiments? Or use me for some other evil plan? Why are you acting…as if you're really going to help me?”
“Hmm…because it's Saturday? To be honest, I didn't expect such a sudden event. I wasn't prepared at all.” Vlad said uncertainly. He didn't understand why Danny was so determined to become part of his evil plan, to be hurt and used? Or perhaps he was just enjoying the feeling of being on the moral high ground; it's understandable to have such thoughts when facing an arch-nemesis.
“Wow. Okay.” Danny replied dryly, then fell silent again.
“Look Daniel, I’m sorry. I may have done some things that caused you misunderstandings. But those things don’t mean I have a crush on you. In fact, I think you should conclude the opposite.”
“So you hate me? You hate me like you hate my father?”
“Do you want to hear the truth, or an answer that can solve the problem right now?” Vlad wasn't sure if giving a hasty answer would worsen their relationship. Although everything that had happened today was already terrible, he didn't want to directly hurt Danny over this kind of issue. Their battles had never involved these complex interpersonal problems.
“The answer that can solve the problem right now? If I choose this, will you say you deadly hate me? Then we can transform and fight, pretending nothing happened today? I don't wanna.” Danny sank completely into the sofa, crossing his arms.
“…Alright. Then to be honest, I admire you, Daniel. But admiration isn’t the same as a crush, you know that.” Vlad took a deep breath and said. He had actually expressed his admiration for Daniel more than once, but the other had always scoffed at it, so he wasn’t sure what the point of saying it now.
He couldn’t have him anyway.
“You like me! So one day you’ll be obsessed with me. Isn’t that obvious?” Danny suddenly seemed a little angry again—in fact, he’d seemed a little angry ever since he appeared before Vlad today. Vlad couldn’t figure out what he was angry about, but he vaguely felt that it wasn’t about his vehement denial of his crush.
So what was he angry about? If his focus was on “crush”…Vlad thought, besides him having a crush on Daniel, there was another possibility: Daniel had a crush on him. But was that possible? He almost burst out laughing when he came to this conclusion, as if it were the funniest pun he could ever hear from Danny.
“Okay, Daniel, even if your reasoning is completely correct, what are your thoughts on this?” Vlad didn’t want to continue arguing about a non-existent issue, so he tried to steer the conversation in a different direction.
“Hey! Shouldn’t I be the one questioning you now? Why do you have a crush on me?” Danny raised his voice slightly, but his expression didn’t match the firmness in his voice; he seemed genuinely hesitant about how to answer Vlad’s question. “ Hmm…I think it’s alright. It doesn’t seem too bad, and I’m not too disgusted.”
This was strange. If he really did have a crush on Daniel, his reaction was acceptance, instead of immediately making sarcastic remarks and running away? Vlad felt this might be a red flag.
“Ha, look at what a stupid question we're discussing. A hypothetical scenario that can't even exist. Daniel, although I really don't want to bring this up now, I hope you still remember that I have some feelings for Maddie. And as everyone knows, you like Samantha, and Samantha likes you, doesn't she?” Perhaps these words could remind them to always remember their place.
“Don't change the subject!” Danny's eyes gleamed. “Yes, I like Sam, but that doesn't mean we'll definitely get married. You know, teenage romances usually end easily. We might not even be together, you understand? Besides, even if you like my mom, so what? You can't have her anyway. So it's hard to say if you have some sort of transferred feelings toward me.”
Danny seemed convinced by his own perfect logic and returned to his initial attitude.
Their conversation was pointless! Vlad realized. If Ember couldn't reverse her energy attack on Daniel, their conversation would only keep going in circles. He now faced two choices: one, give up waiting and take Daniel to find Ember; two, send Daniel home and let his parents handle it, or even use his parents' influence to force him to confront Ember himself.
Perhaps forcing Danny to solve the problem with his parents' authority is the most efficient way.
So Vlad said, “Enough, Daniel, I think we can end this conversation now. I don’t accept such a ridiculous accusation from you. I might have to send you home now and let your ‘ professional’ ghost-hunter parents handle this.”
“Hey! There’s no need to bother them with something this trivial!” Danny jumped up from the sofa and grabbed Vlad’s shoulder. Perhaps due to nervousness, he even transformed into Phantom. “ Couldn’t you just be more straightforward and admit you have a crush on me?” Danny reverted to human form, dejectedly walking back to the sofa. “Wouldn’t that make me seem unreasonable?”
“Luckily, you still have some self-awareness.” Vlad dusted off his suit jacket, intending to see what Daniel would say next.
---
“It’s all Ember’s fault for being so curious. I didn’t want to tell you this, darn it.” Danny scratched his head. “I guess it’s just some weird teenage crush. I do like Sam, but I also think Valerie is nice? The more I learn about her, the more I like her. Even though she always starts a fight with me without saying a word. But I don’t hate it. And I also kind of liked Paulina, not as much now, but I used to be obsessed with her. After all, she’s a popularity girl, boys like her with no reason. I know teenage hormones might be making me a little indecisive, not sure who I like…but I shouldn’t have a crush on you!”
Although he really wanted to comment on Daniel's messy relationship situation, hearing him admit that he liked him still shocked Vlad, so he chose to keep quiet.
“Uh, aren't you going to say anything? I've been dreaming about you every night lately. This is awful.”
This was certainly terrible. But Vlad had to admit that he did occasionally dream of Daniel. However, it usually only took up a small part of his dream, serving as a bonus to his overall success.
“Even if you treat me as a tree hole for your teenage emotions, I don’t know how to respond. Maybe we should start a fight now and then pretend nothing happened today?” Vlad didn’t want to talk to Danny about this; from any perspective, he wasn’t the best person to talk to. Being chosen by Danny was fine, but he didn’t want it to be this way.
“Yeah, that’s right…You always run away from problems like this. It’s always the same. Whenever there’s a problem or an accident, you run away and leave me to deal with it.” Danny complained sullenly.
“…Okay, I guess I do owe you some apologies. If I had been more sincere before, things might not have gotten so bad.” Vlad reluctantly apologized to Danny. Of course, the selfish part of his personality never saw anything wrong with using others, and Daniel was just one of the pawns he could manipulate. Perhaps it was that simple? Or perhaps not. But it didn't matter; he didn't think he needed to care.
The most pressing issue right now is Danny's emotional problem. He needs to realize that he's investing his feeling in the wrong person. Vlad may be an evil adult, a cunning bastard, but he doesn't believe he's despicable enough to exploit a minor's feelings.
“So do you like me?” Danny tried again, still unwilling to give up.
“If you mean that kind of liking, I'm sorry, of course not.”
“Okay, I think so too.” Danny pursed his lips and stopped talking.
“So why did you say I had a crush on you in the first place?”
“Because Ember's music attack suddenly brought back a lot of memories about you. I was terrified. After all, nobody wants their mind to be suddenly filled with their archenemy, right? So I thought, rather than admitting I like you, it would be better for you to admit you have a crush on me. Okay, I know that's a pretty silly reason.”
“Now that I’ve made my stance clear, I think the problem is solved, right?” Danny seemed much better than when he first arrived; perhaps Ember’s influence had almost completely disappeared. Vlad hoped so.
“Of course, of course. I think I should go find Sam and Tucker. Wish they haven't gotten into any trouble,” Danny rose from the sofa, transforming into Phantom. “But there’s one more thing before I leave.”
As he spoke, Danny leaned in and gave Vlad a light, quick kiss on the cheek. “I haven't said I've given up on liking you, Uncy Vlad?”
Before Vlad could react and punch him, or do anything else, Danny quickly went intangible and flew away through the roof.