"Long time no see." Danny tried to say the words with his usual nonchalance, but he'd hardly gotten them out before Vlad pounced on him. Vlad was kissing every inch of Danny's face he could get his lips on, only half of them anywhere near his mouth. It tickled, and Danny waited as long as he could before tenderly knotting his fingers into the front of Vlad's suit, giving him a playful shove. "Cool it already," he laughed softly, tightly. "I'm happy to see you too, alright?"

Vlad looked at him so intensely, for just a moment, frozen into place with his hands still cupped around Danny's face. His eyes dropped, giving danny a once-over-he was always so protective, but satisfied, his hands spread into a halo around Danny's head, shaking lightly, as if he were too afraid to move them far, like the boy might disappear again without Vlad to anchor him. "I was only gone for a few hours." Danny's voice was the type of even that only comes from lying to yourself.

He made himself laugh again; only a trained ear would hear the false notes in it. "It was only a few hours." He watched Vlad's face crumple and rebuild itself into impassivity, re-teaching himself the rules of the game they played. Worrying wasn't allowed, or at least it wasn't yet. Vlad's hands fell to Danny's shoulders as his eyes cooled, preparing himself for their usual banter. "Oh, Daniel." He started smarmy but his voice broke on Danny's name. Vlad swallowed a sob.

"I was so worried..." he murmured. They both pretended not to hear the pain there, because emotional pain wasn't in the rules yet either. Danny shifted under the weight of Vlad's hands, pulled him closer, buried his face into his chest. It was a gray area in the rules; it let them pretend that he wasn't crying. Everything was fine as long as they both kept on pretending.