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Danny had never thought about how today was going to go, but he hadn’t expected to be running from Plasmius. Granted, that wasn’t as unusual as he would have hoped, but today was the weird part. Today just so happened to be the day that Danny was finally able to get enough free time from ghost hunting to finish his English homework.
At least, that was until his ghost sense went off. He groaned, face flopping into the pillow he was previously using to rest his textbook on.
When he came across Vlad, he wanted to groan once again. Why did it have to be him? Why couldn’t it have been the Box Ghost? At least with him, this could be over in minutes, and he could go back to his homework. If this took too long, he might lose all his motivation, and Mr. Lancer was going to get upset again, and… Well, he won’t continue down that line of thought.
Either way, Vlad wanted a fight, so Danny had to give him one. However, it did seem as if he was taking this fight seriously. Don’t get Danny wrong, he appreciated that, but it was still weird. Vlad always seemed to take their fights seriously, even when it was clear he didn’t care; he at least pretended.
Not today, apparently.
The most Vlad was doing was avoiding Danny’s attacks.
“Come on, man!” Danny tried. “I just want to finish my English homework.” He didn’t realize he was whining, but Vlad raised an eyebrow at hearing the sound.
“By all means,” Vlad taunts. “Go back to your homework, I won’t stop you.”
Danny scoffed, charging an ecto-blast and firing it at Vlad. “As if!”
Vlad rolled his eyes as he put up a shield, allowing the blast to be redirected safely to the ground. Luckily, there was no one there, but it wasn’t enough for Danny. For Danny, it was the fact that Vlad could have used his attack against innocent civilians without much of a passing glance. In response, Danny tried to tackle the ghost, only for Vlad to dodge at the last second, sending Danny through the wall of a warehouse.
The good thing was that Danny managed to go intangible before hitting the wall; the entire wall would have been destroyed had he been just a second too late.
Unfortunately, that crash also resulted in him losing the Fenton Thermos attached to his side, and his ghost form failed him.
Vlad walked over, grabbing the thermos before slowly moving to the downed halfa. Danny’s eyes were closed. He was most likely gaining his bearings. Vlad picked the boy up by the back of his shirt, but there was something off. There seemed to be more fabric than usual.
Vlad shook his head of the thought. If it were anything, he’d figure it out later. His mind is now back to the fight and going back to his usual taunts. “Honestly, Daniel. You and this ridiculous thermos.”
Danny started to panic, attempting to hit Vlad or knock the thermos out of his hand, but Vlad didn’t know. “Put me down!”
That was when the worst could have happened to Danny. His shirt began to tear. Vlad didn’t know it when he gripped the shirt, but his claws had torn through the fabric. “Oops,” he voices, Danny falling to the floor faster than Vlad could attempt to stop his descent.
Vlad didn’t want to move. He knew that something just happened that was going to change the fate of their relationship forever, but he didn’t know what it was until the boy turned around. Vlad inhaled deeply, holding his breath as he glanced between Danny and the torn remains of his shirt and bandages on the floor and in his hands.
While the truth was beginning to dawn on Vlad, Danny was livid. “Great. Thanks for that. Now, I’m gonna need a new shirt.” The young half reached behind him, feeling the bandages had ripped along with the shirt. He froze. If it had just been the shirt, he could have claimed the bandages were because of a fight with another ghost, or because of Dash, or just an accident. But no, he wouldn’t be able to do that because there was nothing underneath to suggest such a thing. That wasn’t even taking into account that he was facing Vlad and his chest was no longer bound.
That was when Danny’s brain caught up with the situation. He whipped his head to look at the man whose face had gone from shock to rage. Danny began to fear the older man and what he’d do. After all, Vlad had always stated that he wanted Danny to be his son. Son. Plus, Danny didn’t know anything about him when it came to sexuality and gender identity, so he had no idea how he’d react. Would he be mad that he was lied to? Would he consider it lying?
“Are those…” Vlad didn’t get to finish his sentence before Danny tried to defend himself.
“I-I can explain! Please-” But there was no need.
“Ace bandages?!” Vlad shouted, squeezing the bandages in his fist while gripping Danny’s back. The response startled Danny more than anything. He hadn’t expected this and didn’t have an idea of what he was to say. He was just staring at Vlad, who was so mad that he still hadn’t reverted to his human form. All the while, Vlad was shouting about how dangerous using bandages was for this reason.
Danny didn’t know what happened, but Vlad had taken him back to his mansion and was throwing different-sized binders out of a drawer and onto the bed that Danny was now sitting on.
From Vlad taking Danny from the warehouse, to him now standing in front of a mirror wearing a binder perfectly to his size. Danny was admiring how well it was working and how amazing it felt to finally be wearing something that was completely for him. It helped that Vlad had stated to contact him when he grew so he could order a new one of his size. He had a binder, now, and it was his.
No more bandages.
“Better?” Vlad asked him. There was no anger or malice in his voice; his voice was soft compared to usual.
Danny grinned, “Way better.” His train of thoughts were put to a halt when everything caught up with him. While he doesn’t want to think this about the man after what he had done for him, he knew he needed to ask. So, with a grimace, he began. “You’re not going to make me be son in exchange for the binders, are you?”
Vlad looked offended, but it was easy for Danny to tell that the man was only playing it up. “Tempting, but no.”
“Then,” Danny grew slightly uncomfortable with where this conversation seemed to be going. “Then why are you doing this?” Vlad raised an eyebrow, causing Danny to continue. “I mean, you haven’t even said anything about-”
“Daniel,” Vlad interrupts the boy, bringing his attention back to the elder. The only thing Vlad could do was unbutton his suit jacket and shirt to reveal his chest.
Danny’s eyes widened; he was concerned by Vlad’s actions. That was until he saw the scars under the man’s chest. Danny was stunned. He hadn’t thought Vlad would understand what he had been going through, but now he knew that Vlad had always understood. “Wait, does this mean that mom and dad knew,” Danny didn’t register the small hiss at the mention of his father from Vlad and trudges on. “And they didn’t think to tell me that there was someone whom I could talk to about this!”
That wasn’t what Vlad was expecting, but it was still funny. This was the first time Danny had heard Vlad laugh with no undertones.
When he regains his composure, he begins to fix his suit. “When you would like to transition, I can get you in touch with a good doctor. It’s the least I could do.”
Nothing Danny could say would ever make up for what Vlad was willing to do for him.
Neither of them knew when the day started that it would end with the two of them on amicable terms. Of course, they would still fight, but there would be more days when Danny would take Vlad up on the opportunity of training.
Sam and Tucker were originally concerned, but when Danny gave them the explanation, they couldn’t really fault him for taking Vlad up on his offer.
And when all was said and done, Danny and Vlad had become semi-friends.