Danny thought nothing could shock him more than their first kiss.
They had been fighting, exchanging witty banter, the usual. Then Vlad had gotten the upper hand, grabbed him tight by the wrists. Instead of electrocuting him or punching him or anything of the sort, the man had leaned in and kissed him on the lips.
They fled quickly, in opposite directions, and refused to think about each other for a week.
Dating was... interesting. They fought a lot, verbal and physical, but neither could deny the bond they shared.
Sex was great. But, Vlad had said one day as they lay together, sex was always great. Danny had been burning with jealousy that Vlad had once had other partners, until the man told him this:
Sex with The One was divine.
And if the stars he saw in the middle of the day and the electric tingles he felt when all alone in his thoughts were any indications, Danny was Vlad's The One.
(Danny had rolled into Vlad's chest, cheek burning with flattered embarrassment.)
But none of that could prepare him for the shock of his life.
Danny was pregnant.
The man held his head in his hands and groaned. He'd bought the stupid E.P.T. as a joke. Really. No one could figure out why he was so tired and puke-y and, while shopping for more anti-nausea medicine, Danny had snatched up the little pink box on a whim.
So he sat in the bathroom surrounded by three empty gallon jugs of water, five pink boxes, and five peed on sticks with little blue crosses on each one.
Vlad was knocking on the bathroom door, wondering about his lover's well-being. Danny had been holed up in the bathroom for an hour now and Vlad was getting concerned.
Just as Vlad went intangible, just as he was about to say damn Danny's privacy, just as he was about to walk through the thick wooden door, it cracked open to reveal one miserable blue eye.
Vlad had laughed. He laughed loud and long and fell over when Danny shoved him.
Danny grumbled that, if he'd known halfas could get pregnant despite their sex, he would have used protection.
When Vlad could breathe again, he wiped his eyes and pulled his little badger close and told him, "I wouldn't have."
Danny blushed and hid in Vlad's chest, reveling in the warmth of his lover's core.
So Danny decided to come out.
As gay. (His family said they still loved him dearly, and, really, it was kind of obvious by now.) (Danny glared at Tucker as he laughed at him.)
As a halfa. (His mother cried, begged forgiveness, and cried more when he said she hadn't done anything wrong.)
As with Vlad. (Jazz gave the whole "don't hurt my brother" spiel and Jack had slapped the man on the back with a "welcome to the family!")
As pregnant. (Tucker had started to wheeze, he was laughing so hard. But no one else was making a sound, or moving, so it was kind of a welcome noise.)
His parents checked and double checked and ran all kinds of blood tests and urine tests and they came to the same conclusion as all those five dollar pink boxes.
"I'm certain a natural birth is out of the question," Maddie said one day as she prepped the enchiladas for that night's dinner. Vlad had taken it upon himself to explain, while Danny had been far out of earshot, that no new orifices had appeared at any point during their relationship. "I think it would be best to have a cesarean down in the lab..."
Less questions that way, as any OB-GYN would take one look at Danny and immediately be on the phone with the GiW.
Danny's stomach was getting bigger and his appetite was getting ravenous. He just thanked God that he wasn't having any of those weird ice-cream-and-pickles cravings (though avocados didn't survive long in his presence).
"Will the baby be..." Jack paused his game of chess with Vlad as he searched for a word that wasn't as offensive as, "normal?"
Danny had abandoned the bag of chips and was eating guacamole with a spoon, growling possessively at anyone who came too near the large bowl in his lap. "Vlad ran some genetic testing and, aside a chromosomal mutation, the baby should be fully human."
Apparently Danny had the same mutation, so it wouldn't affect the baby's development.
As the months passed, Danny got more and more nervous. He asked Vlad if the baby would split him in half, and paled when Vlad told him that's what Maddie was planning to do. ("It was a joke! Now either close your mouth or put it to better use.")
The baby kicked and squirmed and was already keeping Danny up all night. He either had to pee every ten minutes as it danced on his bladder or he would get hiccups as it banged on his diaphragm. He would be drifting off next to his lover and a punch to his stomach would make him burp acid and have to sit up all night to get rid of the indigestion.
Danny usually woke up miserable, if he even had to wake up. His hair was even rattier than usual and his eyes sported the bags he hadn't had since he was fourteen and fighting ghosts all night.
One day, Vlad was acting more chipper than usual, bringing his lover breakfast in bed (the tray sat beside Danny as it could no longer sit comfortably over his stomach). He kissed away the sleep from Danny's eyes and smoothed back his hair and was, in general, being more touchy-feely than he'd ever been before.
Danny asked if Vlad was sick, and Vlad just told Danny to eat quickly or they would be running late.
"Late for what?"
But Vlad just told him to wear something nice and be downstairs in twenty minutes.
Just to spite him, Danny took an hour to get ready.
The suit Vlad had bought him didn't fit around his stomach, So Danny found his least-stained black gym pants that looked kind of like slacks in the right (lack of) light and a nice shirt that actually covered his baby bulge. His ankles were already starting to swell and Danny decided to Hell with shoes, he lived here, damnit!
He finger combed his hair and yawned as he waddled downstairs, wondering what was so important that Vlad had to go and...
Was that an organ playing?
Danny blinked as he looked over the railing, face burning a deep red and eyes flashing an angry green as Vlad (in an actual suit – damn him!) smirked next to a ghostly priest. The entire downstairs was decorated in lovely black and red rose petals, streamers of white and green twining around expensively huge floral arrangements. Friends and family were gathered together in all their finest, smiling up at the bewildered, and apparently under dressed, bride.
Danny squeaked and tried to run upstairs, but Jazz caught him (Danny noted she was wearing a black and white corsage with a bit of ribbon someone had printed his DP logo on) and dragged him into the splendor of his own wedding.
"You already made us wait," Jazz chastised, handing him over to Jack so they could walk down the isle.
Danny glared at Vlad through the whole ceremony, the bouquet of roses he'd been forced to hold icing over.
Vlad vowed to love Danny, to cherish him and support him however he needed it.
Danny vowed to kick Vlad's ass for not telling him about their own damn wedding.
The priest joined them together in holy matrimony, blessed by human and Ghost law, and would the groom like to kiss his bride?
Vlad leaned in and got a face full of frozen thorns as Danny hit him with the bouquet. He flipped off his new husband with a grin and dragged him over to the seating reserved for his parents. When he was finally off his feet, he gave Vlad a peck on the cheek, and everyone cheered.
Danny relaxed on his parents couch, laughing as Vlad did his best impression of a baby deer.
Due to a halfa's heightened healing abilities, Maddie was worried the usual anesthetic would wear off in the middle of Danny's c-section. She and Jack worked in the lab diligently, coming up with a few samples of a pain killer that might work.
Instead of injecting the pregnant man with several cocktails of drugs that may or may not work, Vlad volunteered to be the guinea pig.
One shot had done absolutely nothing.
Another had paralyzed Vlad from the waist down for three hours.
One had completely immobilized his internal organs and only switching to ghost form had prevented him from suffocating until an antidote could be made.
And another had sent Vlad into such a loopy state, he'd started slurring out old college stories (Danny had been quick with his phone for that one).
This latest one, even Danny could admit, seemed to be working correctly. Numbness of his abdomen, but still the ability to move if necessary, and no tingling or warmth in any of his extremities.
The only side-effect of note was when Vlad tried to stand, his legs shook and he wobbled so bad he had to cling to Jack to keep from collapsing.
Danny didn't feel bad for his husband at all – he just kept calling it payback for springing their wedding on him.
Danny was washing dishes when he felt the first contraction. He groaned deeply, dropping the plate in the sink and gripping the counter hard enough to crack the marble.
It felt like someone had punched him in the stomach through his groin.
Vlad was by his side in a moment, arms wrapped around his shoulders and eyes wide with worry.
Danny made a face and wriggled away. He'd been hurt worse than this before – at Vlad's hands no less! This was just...
Sudden.
Vlad hovered as Danny straightened up. With a huff, he grabbed the plate and began washing it again.
(He didn't mind when Vlad hovered. It was actually kind of nice to know someone was so concerned about his well-being after spending so long basically on his own.)
Danny pointedly finished the sink on his own, towel trying the last bowl and putting it in the cabinet.
Or he tried to.
Another contraction hit without warning and he dropped it to the floor, the crystalline glass shattering. Danny cursed and flipped off the broken shards as Vlad literally flew over and picked him up, carrying him to their living room couch. Danny's hands were shaking and he was breathing harshly and he could barely feel it as Vlad turned his feet intangible, the few embedded shards falling into Vlad's open hand.
Bloody glass was set on the coffee table, and Vlad pulled Danny close. It had been so long since Vlad had let harm come to his husband, and it was killing him to know there was nothing he could fight back against.
"How long did these things have to be before Mom can cut me up?" Danny never thought he'd want his mother coming at him with a scalpel. But he also never thought he'd be in this very specific agony.
"Three minutes apart for two hours and sixty seconds long," Vlad repeated.
"And how long was that one?"
"It lasted ten seconds."
Danny cursed.
They had made it to the basement of FentonWorks. Danny was growling and his eyes were glowing solid green as Maddie began setting up the anesthesia, and Vlad looked like he'd been bit several times. And not in any fun ways he'd grumbled as Jack stitched him up, thinking that the other man couldn't hear him. (Jack had immediately started coughing and Vlad looked torn between helping his friend and vanishing into the night with embarrassment.)
"You'd better not mess this kid up with all your crazy," Danny warned as his mother lifted the back of his shirt. "Because this is the only one we're having! I'm never letting you do this to me again you son of a–!" He hissed at the needle prick into his spine, practically purring as the drug quickly numbed him.
"Just lay back, sweetie," Maddie chirped, setting up a stretch of sterilized curtain across Danny's chest. It also served to hide the tray of surgical tools that her son still eyed warily despite repeating how much he trusted his parents. "We'll get you all taken care of. You done with Vlad, Jack?"
Jack wound the last bit of gauze around Vlad's hand and clipped it together. He patted the man on the back (probably a bit rougher than he would have otherwise) and grinned. "On it, baby!"
Vlad waited as Maddie and Jack scrubbed up, donning sterile gowns and gloves. He swallowed harshly as Maddie adjusted the overhead lamp, making the scalpel in her hand shine. Danny blinked thickly at the two figures that hovered over him. Jack smiled behind his mask, eyes crinkling warmly and Danny grinned back. He turned his head, looking at Vlad who smiled hopefully.
Danny flipped him off and laughed as Maddie made the first incision.
Soft words were exchanged, Maddie instructing Jack on which tools she needed, calmly requesting suction and clamps. Jack himself was showing a serious side Vlad hadn't seen in years – not since their early days in college. He responded quickly to every order, almost anticipating Maddie's needs.
Maddie was absolutely fascinated. She cut through the thin human skin and thick layer of abdominal muscle. Red blood oozed weakly, the drug keeping Danny from bleeding out too fast. Inside him were the usual organs – lungs, intestines, kidneys, all in healthy deep reds and purples – but what drew her attention was the bright green womb nestled perfectly under his stomach. She saw no ovaries, no uterine canal for a natural delivery. It was simply perfectly nested under his stomach.
Danny murmured sleepily beyond the curtain and Maddie's eyes caught sight of a long cord, stretching upwards from the womb. It was just as green, though she saw it begin to fade, to change color to a deep blue as it wound its way into Danny's chest. An umbilical cord that stretched from his core to create this amazing new womb. She couldn't help herself as she delicately touched the length of new organ, the parascientist in her screaming to dissect and poke and prod and come up with a thousand new theories.
Danny cried out in obvious agony, even through his drugged haze, and she saw Vlad stand protectively.
She bit her lip harshly under her mask and pulled her hand back. This was her son and her grandchild. Not some experiment.
Maddie refocused, gently bringing the scalpel down to that wriggling womb. Careful not to injure the child within, she made her first cut. Vibrant ectoplasm escaped, mixing with all too human blood, and Jack was quick to vacuum it away. Every incision was quick and focused and soon Maddie was able to reach inside and pull out a squirming, slimy baby.
It flailed its arms weakly, tiny fingers clenching and unclenching. Jack handed her a vinyl bulb and she gently sucked away the green mucus that covered its face.
The baby rewarded her patience and care with a loud squeal.
Jack clamped off the umbilical cord, turning to Vlad with a grin.
"Ready to cut the cord, Dad?"
Vlad flushed deeply as Danny laughed, a low and slurred sound that didn't sound quite right, and he cautiously approached. Maddie glanced up at the other man, something glinting in her eyes before she turned her attention back to carefully removing the uterine lining from Danny's womb.
The surgical scissors were sharp, and a light snip was all that was needed to divide the baby and father (mother? Danny always ended up getting flustered and angry whenever Vlad teased him about it.) The small thing, a little boy Vlad noticed, whined and cried as Jack wiped him down, removing blood and ectoplasm with baby wipes. He was quickly swaddled in a soft blanket, old and covered in faded rocket ships, and Jack proudly handed him over to Vlad.
Vlad's breath caught as he cradled the tiny bundle. He thought being with Danny had completely melted his heart and freed him from the loneliness he'd wrapped himself in. But this little boy, this tiny thing with a shock of black hair and endlessly blue eyes, this perfect mix of Vlad and Danny...
Vlad had never felt more complete in his life. He finally had everything he'd ever wanted:
A family.
"We're not naming him Daniel," Danny had warned.
He was laid up in bed, would be for the next few weeks despite his advanced healing. Maddie hadn't removed the womb, confessing that she had no idea what it would do to his physiological makeup. She would take a few x-rays, run a few tests, try and find out more for next time. Danny had flared his eyes at Vlad and vowed there would be no "next time".
"But it seems to be quite the trend with you," Vlad joked.
"One that you started with Dani." Danny sighed at the pleading look in Vlad's eyes. "No. It's out of the question. Absolutely not."
The birth certificate was signed: Matthew Daniel Masters.
Danny knew Vlad always managed to get his way.
When Skulker showed up two weeks after the birth, Danny had clutched Matthew protectively to his chest and snarled. The mechanical hunter had barely dodged the pink ectoblast that Vlad threw from the doorway, and he was charging his own weaponry when Ember appeared, slapping him across the face hard enough to make his helmet spin.
Danny was about to turn on her, fear for his newborn filling him with a protective rage that dropped the temperature in the room enough to flash freeze the flower arrangement Jazz had sent him. Vlad teleported to the middle of the room, placing himself between Danny and the two ghosts, but Ember had raised her hands and smiled a crooked smile.
"Chill, dipsticks," she said, and then she laughed at her own joke. The lack of guitar on her back made Danny feel slightly more at ease, though his eyes continued to glow dangerously. Vlad felt no such trust and kept pink ectofire crackling over his gloves.
It was tradition, the rocker ghost explained carefully. The mating of two ghosts was rare, and the offspring of such a union was even more so. The birth was treated with the same reverence and respect as the Christmas Truce, and every ghost in the Zone was compelled to give the new mother a chance to raise the young before attacking.
"Then why are you here?" Vlad had demanded.
"We wanted to see the baby," Skulker admitted. He righted his helmet and reached into a compartment on his arm. He pulled out a necklace, the charm a black skull with glowing green eyes, and handed it to Vlad.
For a ghost to give another a gift outside the Truce was a rare event. It was usually an acknowledgment of the receiver's power, and for such a strong ghost to place himself so far beneath the halfas, it was rather awe inspiring to Danny.
"For the little one," Skulker said. The tradition would compel all the ghosts in the Zone to come forward, to shower the new baby with gifts (and give them all a chance to see the sweet child).
"It's not dangerous, is it?" Danny asked as Vlad frowned. Skulker may have worked for Vlad, but his priority had always been obtaining Danny's pelt.
"Of course not!" Danny relaxed. "It merely contains a tracker so that once the grace period is over, I may begin the hunt of your child!"
Before Vlad could blast Skulker out of the mansion, Ember said that her gift was that she had disabled the tracker in the necklace.
Ghosts arrived at all hours of the day for the next week, leaving gifts and advice and stealing all of Danny and Vlad's precious sleep. Every moment that they didn't have to deal with a ghost, somehow sneaking through Vlad's ghost shield, Matthew was crying or need to be changed or fed or burped.
So when Danny finally had a moment to himself, enough time to collapse back into his bed, he cradled Matthew close and kissed the sleeping baby on top of his head. His eyes drooped and he was certain he would pass out right then and there.
And it was in that moment that the world stilled, a purple haze flooding the room. A ghost floated serenely above the bed, frozen father and child completely unaware of his presence. He shifted from child to adult to elder, simply watching. Simply waiting.
He sighed, then, a somber noise that was better suited to a funeral.
As the world faded back to color, as Danny's breath evened out, as the baby slept peacefully for the first time in a week, a voice echoed softly.
"Everything's the way it's supposed to be..."
For the first year of Matthew's life, Vlad and Danny watched him closely, far more than usual for first time parents.
They watched for invisibility, for intangibility. They wanted to see if the baby could fly or sink through floors. They kept a constant watch for white or black rings that would change new pink flesh to something that glowed with an otherworldly aura.
Maddie and Jack tested vitals, ran blood tests, set a baseline of core temperature and development.
But there was nothing. As far as any of them could tell, Matthew was a perfectly healthy, perfectly normal, perfectly human baby.
So Danny and Vlad decided to hide their ghost halves. They kept their abilities to themselves and vowed everyone to silence. It wasn't that they would never tell Matthew – they just wanted to wait until he was older. Until he could fully understand and keep his fathers' secrets.
Danny found himself watching Vlad almost as much as he watched Matthew. He'd never imagined that the tall, stoic man from his childhood – the one that inspired such fear and awe and strange emotions he'd never felt before – could laugh at being covered in spit up. Could let the baby tug at his beard and stick his fingers in his eyes. Could go wrist-deep in diaper duty without loosing his smile. Could babble along and make all kinds of nonsense noises while looking and sounding like a complete fool.
"He's my son, Danny," Vlad explained one day, bathing Matthew in the sink. The boy was tiny, would probably grow up thin and small like Danny had. "I would do anything, give up everything up to and including my own life for his safety. I've told you ever since we met, all I have ever wanted is love."
Those words, once the insane declarations of a crazed man, now made Danny blush warmly, wrap his arms around his lover's shoulders and kiss him sweetly on the cheek.
Maddie the cat adored Matthew. Even as she aged, rather gracefully like the woman she'd been named for, she sill had enough energy to play with the toddler. Swishing her tail just as he went to grab it, nuzzling against him as he tried to walk so he'd fall over, curling up against his side as he slept in his crib.
She loved him and he loved her. His first word, even, was a garbled "kitten" to Danny and Vlad's disappointment.
She stayed by his side as he aged, ever the wonderful babysitter. She kept him safe from the small mouse ghosts that remained in the walls long after she'd hunted their physical bodies, she was his guide down dark halls to the bathroom so he could proudly proclaim his potty training the next morning, and she remained by his side every time they went out into the gardens to play.
So when she didn't come back inside one day after being let out, the two men began to worry.
Maddie, while a loving animal, still had her independence and enjoyed being able to wander the untouched forest surrounding Vlad's mansion. She was let out in the morning and in the evening for around an hour each time, usually returning and yowling at the door until someone heard her.
So when the sun rose high in the sky, and Maddie had stayed silent, Vlad had begun to worry. He held Matthew on his hip, the five year old wriggling impatiently and wanting to go back outside and play some more, and scowled out the window to the forests.
"They're building a community a few miles away," Vlad told Danny. "Disrupting the wildlife and destroying the forest. I don't know what's out there, but I don't want Maddie to be hurt."
So Danny told Vlad to wait at home. Put her litter box on the front porch and open a can of her favorite food. If she was simply lost, she'd smell her way home. And Danny would take Matthew out to look for her in all their usual spots in case she had gotten stuck somewhere.
Danny held Matthew's hand, letting the boy lead him around. Matthew jabbered eagerly, telling his dad about every adventure he'd been on with Maddie and pointing out every one of their special play spots. Danny investigated each one carefully, looking under rose bushes and even in the branches of trees. Maddie was prone to climbing and being unable to get back down.
"Did you and Maddie play anywhere else today?" Danny asked. The sun was beginning to set and they'd been walking around all afternoon.
Matthew paused in thought, his lower lip poking out. Then he beamed, grabbing Danny and dragging him into the forest. He told his dad that he knew he wasn't supposed to play out so far, but he'd been a rabbit and wanted to chase it and Maddie had run alongside him.
"Over here!" Matthew cried, pointing to a small clearing where a few saplings had blown over from last week's storms.
Danny picked his way through the underbrush carefully, stretching the barest hint of intangibility to his feet to keep from getting stuck. The grass was trampled, a few stray branches piled up to one side and the ground sparkled as the sun caught on a splash of red.
Danny reached out to try and grab Matthew, but the boy had already seen.
"Maddie?" The boy ran to the little white body and knelt beside it. He reached out to touch the matted fur, but Danny grabbed him quickly. "What happened? Is Maddie ok?"
Danny grimaced at the sight but quickly hid his disgust. Matthew didn't understand right now, and Danny didn't want to be the one to upset him. "Go back home and tell your father we found her."
Matthew hesitated for a moment, picking up on Danny's unease. He looked again at the body of his dear friend before running back in the direction of his home, crying out for his other dad.
Danny waited until Matthew was out of sight before setting to work on creating a small coffin out of frosted ice.
He tried not to think about how it looked like Maddie's neck had been snapped.
Depression had hit Vlad, hard. For the longest time, Maddie had been his only companion, the only one to show him genuine affection. He listed about, from work to home to bed. Danny and Matthew lavished love on him, reminding him that he had a whole family now and that they would never leave him alone.
Matthew invited him to playdates, bringing his father into the special world he'd created with Maddie. Danny took the utmost care of him, showering him with affection and companionship. The offer of a new cat had made Vlad curl deeper into his own darkness, so Danny kept quiet about his trips to the ASPCA.
It was late one morning when Danny came back. He'd looked over every cat, every kitten, even the dogs, but none seemed to give off the same spark that Maddie once had. Loud purrs and soft fur and very companionable, but nothing that really screamed "family pet" to him. But Danny was determined, knowing the care of a new animal would help pull Vlad out of his funk.
He walked in the door, stretching his arms from the long drive. Vlad enjoyed his privacy and isolation, so it was long way into town for basic trips, not just Danny's secret pet-hunting. He was ready to head into the office, try and encourage Vlad to get back to work by messing up a bunch of unimportant documents, when a strange scent drifted across his sensitive nose. Something warm and harsh.
Smoke!
Danny dashed in the direction of the kitchen just as the smoke alarm started going off, the shrill noise deafening to his ears. Matthew was standing on a chair in front of the stove, crying out in fear and pain as a huge plume of fire raged.
"Matthew!"
The boy turned, eyes wide. The fire flashed, reflecting red across his face and a flicker leapt out to try and ignite his hair.
"Daddy!"
Danny raced over, grabbing the young boy. He whirled around, shielding Matthew's body with his own. The fire burned, the heat so much more intense against his ghost-cold flesh, and Danny rushed his child out of the inferno. Matthew was sobbing, fear filling his small form and leaving no room for the pain of his bright red hands. He clung to his father desperately, burying his face in his chest as a cold hand patted out the small embers that tried to cling to his clothing.
Danny braced himself, torn between staying with his child and exposing himself by using his ice powers to put out the flames.
In the split moment it took for Danny to decide, there was a flash of movement and the loud white noise of a fire extinguisher. Vlad stood protectively in front of his husband and son, red canister spewing into the kitchen and smothering the flames.
It wasn't long before all that remained was smoke and foam and the shrill noise of the fire alarm. Vlad tossed the empty canister aside and dropped to his knees, pulling his family close in a desperately tight hug.
"What happened?!" the man demanded, voice cracking. He pulled away, looking Matthew over with blurred vision. The boy wasn't as burnt up as he'd feared, mostly covered in soot with angry red patches all over him.
Matthew sobbed, clinging to Danny. He gulped at the air, trying to speak in stuttered, broken words. "I – was – tryin' – t' – make – you – lunch – and – I – spilled – and – I'm – so – sorry – Dad – I – ruined – the – kitchen – and – I – didn' – mean – t' – and – I – jus' – wan'ed – you – t' – be – happy – again!"
Vlad pulled the boy into a tight embrace, shushing into his hair as Danny rubbed his back comfortingly.
"No, Matthew, don't be upset – I'm more worried about you than the kitchen."
Matthew hiccuped and tried to wipe his eyes, whining as the burns slowly began to make themselves known. "Really, Dad?"
"Of course, of course." Vlad looked Matthew into those blue eyes that looked so much like his own. "I would rather loose everything I own than loose you."
"Even your Packer's Super Bowl ring?" Matthew's voice was awestruck.
Vlad smiled, wiping his son's gritty cheeks. "I would melt it down myself to ensure your safety."
The burns hadn't been severe enough to require skin grafts. Though Matthew had been bandaged for a few weeks, and the doctor told them the pigmentation in his hands wouldn't right itself for years. The boy had cried, not wanting to be made fun of once he entered kindergarten. Vlad took it upon himself to right it, blaming himself for his child's injuries, and he bought Matthew a set of fine white gloves.
The boy loved them, taking the utmost care of his present. He wore them every day, careful not to get them too dirty and every night before bed he laid them carefully on his nightstand. He even begged Danny to teach him how to use the washing machine to make sure they were clean.
Danny made sure to watch Matthew carefully in the laundry room, pouring the chemicals himself and only allowing his son to add them to the wash as it ran.
"Such a big help," Danny told him, laughing. "Maybe we'll put you in charge of the laundry from now on!"
"I can do it!" Matthew cheered. His hands were hidden in his pockets, insecurity rising up even at home. He couldn't wait until the dryer finished its cycle so he could wear his gloves again.
Dinner that night was take out again. The kitchen had a plastic tarp across it, obscuring it from view as the construction crew worked diligently to remove all the damage and rebuild it to Vlad's specifications. Danny was all laughter and jokes and Vlad found himself smiling along and ruffling Matthew's hair playfully. Maddie's death still hurt, but the depression was quickly buried under the need to protect his family from the next unforeseen danger.
Trash was tossed and Matthew was marched upstairs for a bath and to be put to bed. Danny settled under the covers, waiting for his husband to come back. His day had been long, exhausting, and it didn't take long for him to pass out, even as early as it was.
Hie eyes opened to darkness.
Danny blinked, fully awake for some reason. He glanced at the bedside clock, the time ticking over to read 2:37. A warm weight was across his stomach, and Danny shifted under Vlad's arm. The man was sound asleep, but at Danny's slight movement, he pulled him closer, gripping his husband to his warm chest. Danny sighed contentedly, ready to stay close to the soft pulse of Vlad's fire core, when he shifted.
He had to pee.
Danny hadn't felt the need to go to the bathroom this bad since two week before Matthew's birth. He sighed, phasing out of Vlad's comfortable grasp. The sooner he went to the bathroom, the sooner he could go back to bed.
He padded down the hallway, stretching his back with every step. He didn't want to go in the en suite, worried the flush would wake Vlad, so he did his business in the guest bathroom. As he washed his hands, he heard the distinct rattle of the washing machine.
Who would be doing the laundry this late at night?
Danny crept to the laundry room, poking his head inside.
Matthew was sitting beside the dryer, crying.
"Matthew? What are you doing?"
The boy jumped, not hearing his dad walking up. He wiped his eyes with pale, splotchy hands and quickly pulled his nightshirt down. Danny realized he wasn't wearing his pajama bottoms.
"Matthew?" Worry shot through Danny's body. Vlad didn't have any servants, and the only people that should have been there at night were just the three of them.
Matthew sniffled, wiping his snotty nose along his hemline. "I... I had an accident..."
Danny sagged with relief. He smiled, crouching beside the small boy. "Don't cry, sweetie. Why didn't you wake me or your father to help you?"
Matthew shook his head vehemently. "No!" Danny jumped at the loud shout and Matthew looked even more despondent. "I didn't wanna make a big deal about it..."
Matthew had always been so proud about how fast he'd been potty trained, and he was deeply embarrassed about his accident.
"Well, it was just this one time," Danny said, and Matthew just frowned deeper. "No? How many times have you...?"
Matthew shrugged. "A coupla times..." His voice dropped to a whisper. "This month..."
Danny worried at his bottom lip. Then he smiled. "Don't worry about it, ok? We'll clean this up and we'll take care of everything."
Matthew looked up, a shy little smile on his lips.
Jazz sipped at her coffee, listening to her brother. Between her hectic office schedule and Danny's "mommy duties", as Vlad put it, she didn't have much time to simply relax with her little brother.
"And I was just wondering, you know, if you had any advice about his... problem?" Danny's eyes shifted as he took a long slurp of his iced coffee. He vastly preferred the cold drink to something fresh and steaming, as his core made anything too warm feel like it was boiling in his throat.
"It's just a bit of bed wetting," Jazz told him. "Not all kids are completely accident free, even at his age. Just rearrange his night schedule – don't let him drink anything too late and make sure he goes before you tuck him in." She laughed. "It's not like he has the Macdonald triad or anything."
"The what?" Danny made a face. "We don't eat junk that much."
"No, no." Jazz shook her head, smiling. "Not McDonald's – Macdonald. You know, the serial killer triad? Bed wetting, animal abuse, and arson?"
"N-no..." Danny reached up to toy with his green straw. "Why would you say that?"
"No reason. I was doing some research for a patient and I happened to read about it in the American Journal of Psychiatry." Jazz smiled and swallowed the last of her coffee. Her lunch break was almost up. "Just don't let Matthew get discouraged about it – he's still a growing boy."
Danny looked lost in thought, and he only snapped out of it when Jazz patted him on the shoulder as she stood to leave. "I'll see you soon, Danny."
"You too, Jazz."
Even as she walked out of the coffee shop, Danny continued to look troubled.
Matthew grew with a vengeance. Despite taking on Danny's lithe form, he was quick to grow tall as he entered middle school. He never seemed to fill out with muscle like Vlad did, but that didn't stop him from gaining an almost otherworldly strength. His nose stayed long and straight and his chin became more defined as he began to loose his chubby baby cheeks. His hair was thick, covering the patches that had burned away as a child and never regrown properly, and Vlad pulled it back into a ponytail instead of cutting it.
"You're looking more and more like your father every day," Vlad said with a laugh, never specifying which father. To be honest, Vlad could see a perfect mix of himself and Danny the more Matthew grew, and he was ready for the day they could sit him down and tell him everything about their ghostly halves. Though it did cause a slight pang of sadness that Matthew would never know what it was truly like, as completely human as he was.
Matthew was turning turning eleven that summer, ready to leave elementary behind and start middle school. He loved his parents, but was already starting to try and distance himself from them and find his own way. So when Vlad would love him and smother him with affection, he would whine and wriggle and escape to his room and pretend he wanted nothing more to do with his embarrassing family.
"He wants embarrassing, we should send him to Grandma and Grandpa's for the rest of the summer," Danny laughed and even Vlad shuddered at the thought. "Go on, Vlad, or you'll be late for work."
Vlad had spent the last eleven years not caring about being late to work every day, and Danny was always the one to see him off (not without a fight and a barrage of kisses and "I love you"s and "I'll be home soon"s).
And Danny had spent the last six years waving Vlad goodbye and spending the next ten hours dreading spending time with Matthew.
He cursed Jazz every morning since that lunch, her words tumbling and echoing in his mind. It meant nothing, he knew. Matthew had eventually stopped having accidents as he got older. He never once set fire to the kitchen again. He never once saw another dead animal.
But Danny didn't know what Matthew had done at school.
Once, near the end of the semester, a teacher had sent home a note. Someone had been setting trashcan fires. (Noone had gotten hurt, but the principal was doing his best to find the culprit.)
And something was keeping the animals in the gardens at bay. Even without Maddie, mice and birds were suspiciously absent from the sprawling estate. (Vlad was quick to wave it off, however. More communities were popping up in rural Wisconsin, much to his displeasure. So it was completely understandable that the animals were getting displaced.)
So Danny kept his thoughts and his suspicions to himself, and tried so hard to keep from distancing himself from Matthew. The boy was his son, he'd carried him in his body for nine months, he'd raised and loved him his whole life!
So while Vlad was at work, Danny forced himself to Matthew's room. He knocked at the door and filled his voice with his usual fake cheer he'd perfected over the years.
"Matthew? Do you want to go to the zoo today?"
"N-no!" came the loud yelp, and Danny frowned. Matthew had been showing signs of puberty and, despite the twinge of fear he had for his son, Danny was more than willing to support the boy.
"Can I come in?"
Matthew hesitated. He picked at his gloves and looked down at himself. Something had changed and he had no idea what was happening. But his dad had always been there for him... He swallowed his fear and slowly opened his door.
Danny looked down at the young boy, smiling lightly. There was something lingering in the back of those blue eyes and, despite his own fear, Danny's heart ached for Matthew. He smoothed back the boy's long hair, taking a moment to readjust the ponytail Vlad insisted on. With his hair and his gloves, he looked like such a dapper young gentleman.
"What's wrong?" Danny asked softly, stepping into the room.
Matthew swallowed hard. He wasn't sure what was happening to him, and he definitely had no idea how to explain what was wrong.
"It's my... my body..." he started slow, unsure. He blushed when Danny grinned at him and he grumbled, "Not like that." He'd already had The Talk with both his fathers. "It's just that something's... wrong... with me."
"Sweetie." Danny knelt, getting down to Matthew's level. He placed his hands on his son's shoulders and smiled genuinely for the first time in a long time. "There's nothing wrong with you. Even if there's something that makes you different."
Matthew twisted his lips. As far as he knew, his fathers were as normal as could be (aside the fact that they were so beyond rich he still couldn't fully comprehend) and even if he tried to explain what was happening to him, he couldn't control it. So he would simply sound insane if he even tried to tell his dad.
Danny waited patiently. He'd been eleven before, and he remembered how awkward it could be. He remembered the pain of growth spurts and the cracking to his voice. He remembered the dreams and the physical reactions to the most random of things. He didn't want to rush Matthew into talking about something mortifying.
The child wrapped his arms around himself, finding comfort in the feel of his gloves. His skin had eventually tried to even out, though he still sported several light, almost white, patches on his palms and fingertips. But he had grown so used to wearing them, it felt wrong to go without. He bit his lip and wiggled when he suddenly felt it.
The cold in his chest. The race of fire up his spine. He gasped and stepped back, breaking away from his dad's comforting grip.
"Matthew?" Danny stood, concerned. He'd never seen that much fear in his son's eyes before. He wanted to pull the boy in close, give him a reassuring and loving hug. He opened his mouth to tell him that he was loved, no matter what.
Then the white rings appeared at his waist, splitting apart to reveal a form Danny knew all too well.
Green flesh.
Red eyes.
White hair that flickered and swayed like flames.
Matthew looked at his black gloves, then back to his father.
Danny was ashen faced. His trembling hands covered his mouth, forcing back the bile, the screaming. He thought he knew this boy.
He definitely knew this ghost.
Matthew fought back tears as he felt his father's fear. His voice cracked, deepening as he begged to know, "What's happening to me?"
The alarm went off.
Not the usual alert to Vlad's phone. No, that was a regular human security system, bought to appease his insurance company.
This alarm was one Vlad had invented himself. It detected any surge of ectoenergy – specifically a weapon or a ghostly attack – and sent an alarm straight to Vlad's specialized watch. When it went off, Danny had thirty seconds to text Vlad just in case it was a false alarm in the case of training or a stray ectopuss.
Vlad grabbed his phone, gripping it tight enough to crack the screen as he counted down.
At twenty-seven seconds, Vlad had transformed and flown out of his office without so much as a notice to his secretary. She could think whatever she pleased and he would come up with a cover story as soon as he had ensured his family's safety.
He cursed flying, wishing he could teleport straight from his office to his home. But that far of a jump would only weaken him to the point where he would have to transform back the moment he materialized.
His top speed flung him into his living room within four minutes and he skid to a stop. He stretched out his awareness, trying to catch Danny's ectosignature. As long as his husband was safe, he didn't give a damn what ghost wanted to ransack his home.
It took a moment to find Danny in Matthew's room, the man's signature weak and fluttering. Vlad practically bit through his bottom lip, ignoring the steady drip of ectoplasm as he expended enough energy to teleport straight to his child's room.
If a ghost thought it could hurt his family-!
Danny was collapsed against the door. His face was white, his body rocking back and forth. He was mumbling, some distressed whispering over and over. He grabbed at his hair, huge bloody clumps ripped out on the floor beside him. One hand was blistered and raw, burnt straight to the bone – an indication that he'd fired an ectoblast at full strength without transforming.
What monster had set him into this state? What what had it done to Matthew?!
"Danny!" Vlad demanded. He collapsed next to his husband, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him harshly. "Danny, where is Matthew?!"
His husband's eyes, wide oceans of blue with the tiniest of pinpricks for pupils, flickered, just once, beyond Vlad. Vlad turned, ready to unleash his fury on whatever monster was stupid enough to attack Vlad Plasmius!
There was no monster, just a small body, slumped and still.
"Matthew..." Vlad whispered. Long black hair fanned out on the floor, gloved fingers curled in pain. "Matthew!"
The ghost stumbled, scrambling across the floor. He grabbed the young boy, gathering him in his arms. He was limp and cold.
A giant hole in his chest dripped with blood.
Vlad's heart stopped. His breath caught. Thick, pearlescent tears poured freely down his cheeks, but he couldn't feel them.
What had happened to his family?
What had happened to his son?
His eyes flared, bathing the room in a red glow, and he screamed.
"Daniel, what did you do?!"
But the man was lost in himself, whispering his same mantra over and over.
"He's inevitable... He's inevitable..."
A/N: I feel it's best left up to the reader whether or not Matthew was a sociopath, or if Danny just happened to catch him in the wrong places at the wrong times...