Time Tampering
Pairing: Vlad x Danny
Warnings: Homosexual relationships. Danny is 19.
Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is a product of Nickelodeon. All characters in this story are imaginary.
Summary: After the events of Time Tampering, Danny is attending the University of Wisconsin.
Written: February 2013
Author's Note: I couldn't resist writing a quick little something extra for Time Tampering.
Afterward
Life since college went well for him. Ups and downs, as for anyone, were bound to happen. He fought with his lover from time to time, usually over the most ridiculous things, but they always found some way to make up in the end, even if it took a week or so apart to cool off their heads. One of their usual topics for arguments was over the situation with Vlad. Ben still hated the fact that Vlad never even tried to search for Danny after he disappeared from the college. Ben doubted Vlad ever told anyone what really happened when Danny left. With only the man's first name to go off, Ben never got very far in his search for Danny. It was really like the man disappeared off the face of the planet that day.
Digory kept telling him to let Vlad work it out on his own, but from what Ben saw, Vlad wasn't doing a very good job with handling his pain. His jaw clenched in frustration as he remembered the way Vlad chased after Maddie like a sick obsession. But that was years ago, and Vlad no longer pursued that silly dream of making Maddie his wife. Ben didn't know when Vlad finally gave it up or why, but he was glad his old college friend was finally moving on. If only they could track down Danny and reunite the pair, but Ben realized with a sigh that wasn't possible without more information on Danny.
Raking a hand through his short hair, Ben crossed the college campus on his way to his class. Maybe it was some pathetic hope that drove him to take up a teaching position in the psych department at the University of Wisconsin. After twenty-five years, it was hopeless to think that Danny would magically return to the college. By now, Danny would also be in his forties and would have little reason to lurk around at a college that he wasn't even attending for the few months that he lived in Vlad and Jack's dorm room.
Ben rolled his eyes, thinking he really needed to put the whole thing out of his mind. No matter how much he pushed the topic, Vlad would only continue to ignore him like he did ever since Danny disappeared. Ben entered the building housing his psych class and walked to the familiar room for the first in the new year. He expected to find plenty of shiny new freshmen faces in his class, several of which would probably think the class would be an easy A for them. He snorted at that logic, already planning to push those students the hardest so that they would think twice about trying to float through college.
Setting his briefcase down on the desk, Ben popped the top open to take out the papers he would need, the syllabus for the class that would be passed out to all the students. When he lifted his gaze to take a quick sweep of the students, he froze, the papers nearly slipping through his fingers to spill upon the floor. His eyes landed on a young man seated in the front row. The man looked exactly like Ben remembered him: the pale skin and raven hair and bright blue eyes. His style of clothing changed, but they were no longer in the eighties.
"I'll be passing out your syllabus now," Ben announced after clearing the lump lodged in his throat at seeing the familiar man again. He walked stiffly to the first row of desks and handed a stack of the papers to the first student. "Take one and pass it back."
He stepped to the next desk and the next in a repeated routine until he reached the desk where the man sat. When Ben stopped in front it, the man finally lifted his head from busily writing in a notebook. Their eyes met, and the man paled, gulping as he stared up at his teacher.
"Danny?" Ben questioned quietly, hesitantly, in case he was completely wrong. Part of him couldn't believe this was the same Danny he knew in college. How was it even possible for Danny to still look nineteen after twenty-five years passed? His mind spun simply trying to think of how that could make sense.
"Ben," Danny said numbly, absently passing back to the stack of papers to the student sitting behind him. "You," he laughed weakly, "teach here?"
"Yes." Ben frowned, but he still couldn't piece together how this was the same Danny. "And I should get on with the class. But I'll want to see you after class is over." He gave Danny a stern look that made the man shrink a little in his desk. Then he moved onto the next row to continue passing out the syllabus.
Ben didn't have much planned for the first day of class, usually using the time to introduce the students to the type of work they would be doing over the semester. Many of the students after seeing the syllabus and hearing Ben's speech groaned at the work load they would be required to do, gaining a tiny smirk from Ben. Danny made quick notes about everything Ben said, from what the teacher could tell with the way Danny's pencil never stopped moving and his blue eyes focused solely on the teacher. Ben thought he saw a flutter of nervousness and fear whenever their eyes met during class. Obviously, Danny wasn't expecting to run into anyone from twenty-five years ago when he finally decided to return to this college, making Ben wonder why he decided to return at all. Was Danny some sort of immortal being? Ben nearly laughed out loud at that ridiculous thought. But it reminded him of Vlad's work with Maddie and Jack that the trio did together as they researched ghosts. The humor at the idea of Danny being immortal died in his mind. If he were a ghost, that would explain how Danny managed to simply vanish so completely from the college. But why would a ghost attend college? Ben shook his head, throwing away those thoughts.
When class ended, the students gathered up their things as they headed for the door to file out of the classroom. Cramming his things into his bag, Danny hurried to follow after his classmates, perhaps thinking he could escape without being caught by his teacher. But Ben placed himself between Danny and the door as he folded his arms and stared down his nose like a stern teacher catching a student misbehaving.
"I, uh, have another class to get to," Danny offered weakly, blue eyes flicking toward the door.
"We need to talk before that." Ben closed the door to the classroom, shutting out the noise from the hallway and giving them privacy. "What is this, Danny? Why are you here now? How do you look exactly the same? Have you even thought about seeking out Vlad again? Why did you stay away so long? Why did you leave with no explanation?" He narrowed his eyes at Danny. "You're not leaving here until I hear a satisfactory explanation."
Danny sighed as he took a seat at one of the desks. "I totally didn't expect to run into you here," he mumbled, raking a hand through his hair.
"Well, you did. Now start talking." Ben refused to take his eyes off the man, like he feared the moment he did, Danny would disappear again and this time might not return.
"This will probably sound crazy." Danny lifted his gaze and frowned at Ben. "But the Danny you met in college, that was me from less than a year ago." He sighed again when he caught the disbelieving look on Ben's face. "An accident occurred, and I landed myself back in time when you all were attending college here. I didn't run away because I wanted to. Trust me. I never wanted to hurt Vlad. I love him. But I got ripped back to the present before I could explain anything. Which is probably good because I probably would have done or said something to completely ruin time and everything would be in chaos right now. All I can really say is, everything that happened back then and up to now, was exactly how it was meant to be."
"You're seriously trying to use time travel to explain everything?" Ben stared incredulously at the man before him. He supposed it wasn't completely out of the realm of possibilities when he was staring at Danny sitting right there in front of him looking barely older than the man he remembered from college. Unless Danny discovered the fountain of youth and kept its location safely hidden from others, Ben couldn't think of another possibility except for his ghost theory. In either of those scenarios, though, he couldn't think of a reason why Danny would attend college.
"Do you want me to get Vlad down here to confirm my story?" Danny asked, frowning but looking like he would do just that if he needed to. "It was his fault I ended up in the past in the first place. He built the time machine."
"So you have contacted Vlad?" Ben was suddenly far more interested in that point than the whole time travel explanation.
"Yeah," Danny shrugged and glanced away with an awkward look. "We've been trying to work things out. We've both said and done a lot of things over the years to hurt each other, but we both want to try to make this work. We still love each other. It just isn't always easy."
Ben laughed and took a seat beside Danny. "Love never is." He smiled fondly at the man. "But I'm glad you two are working on it." But something in Danny's comment tugged at his mind, and Ben frowned. "What do you mean over the years?" His brow knitted as he tried to piece everything out. "You weren't much younger than now when you went back in time, and you weren't at college with us for more than a few months. How could you have done anything to each other during the in between years if you were brought right back to the present?"
Danny sighed and leaned back with a look that said he really didn't want to rehash all of what happened. "Well, my first meeting with Vlad didn't go so well when I found out he was trying to kill my dad and steal my mom. And after that, we pretty much just bumped heads and I couldn't think of him as anything but evil."
"Wait!" Ben held up a hand to stop Danny as those words sank into his head. "Are you saying you're Jack and Maddie's son?" His eyes grew wide as saucers when Danny nodded sheepishly. "But - How - Do they know about you and Vlad?"
"Yeah, apparently they realized what happened after this whole thing happed about five years ago, but they kept silent because Vlad and I were still clueless. I was too young, being only fourteen, and if I knew then that I was going to fall in love with Vlad, well," Danny laughed, "I probably wouldn't have believed it. I totally thought I was completely straight at that point, and the idea of loving Vlad would have grossed me out. But it probably would have messed up the timeline if they told either of us anything."
"I'm totally at a loss for words," Ben admitted, pressing his face into his hands as he digested everything that Danny said. Time travel still sounded unbelievable. Danny being Jack and Maddie's son blew his mind. After several moments, he shook his head. "I think I'm just going to pretend like the how all this happened doesn't matter because thinking about it is hurting my head." He leaned on one hand as he turned to look Danny over. "I'm just glad Vlad won't be alone anymore."
Danny smiled, a dopey look entering his blue eyes as he no doubt thought about Vlad. "Yeah, me too."
"Digory and I are dragging the two of you out to dinner one of these nights." Ben smirked evilly at the panic on Danny's face. "You didn't really think you could escape without having dinner with us, did you? And you know I have to tell Digory all about this."
"I was hoping it wouldn't come to that," Danny groaned, leaning his forehead on the heels of his palms. "Isn't there some rule against teachers having dinner with their students or something?"
"That's for dating their students. Which we aren't, but nice try." Ben laughed and patted Danny on the back. "However, don't expect me to go easy on you in class just because we're friends."
"I wasn't expecting that at all, and I'm pretty sure Vlad would want to have words with you if you went easy on me." Danny laughed, shaking his head. "He's still pushing me to do the best I can in school. Sometimes I wish I could find that annoying, but I know he's just trying to make me see I'm not as dumb as I used to think I was."
"He always knew you were bright as long as you applied yourself to your studies." Ben frowned as he glanced at the clock on the wall. "I suppose I've taken up enough of your time. You have classes to attend, and I should prepare for my next class. We'll arrange a dinner at a later time."
Danny sighed as he climbed to his feet. "I guess there's no way out of that." Then he shrugged and offered Ben a smile. "But it'll be great to see Dig again. I'm glad the two of you are still together. Aren't you glad I convinced you to give him a chance?"
"I could ask you the same." Ben returned the smile. "You and Vlad were really made for each other."
A blush colored his cheeks as Danny stammered out a goodbye before leaving the classroom. Ben grinned to himself as he walked over to his desk to gather up his things. He never imagined this turn of events, but he could feel the relief lifting a weight from his shoulders. He no longer had to worry about Vlad living alone in bitter misery.