Badger Cereal Christmas Truce

This is an extremely belated Christmas Truce fanfic for Kasena on tumblr, but I wanted to post it here, too. I hope you like it! ^_^

Vlad groaned as he sat in front of the fireplace on a comfy chair in his Amity Park mansion. It was Christmas, which meant that there would be lots of flashing lights everywhere and annoying Christmas carolers singing dangerously off-key near his home, while he pretended to look cheerful. Honestly, it was starting to give him a migraine. But at least it was snowing, he supposed. He could see the gentle flecks of white floating down onto his windows as he sighed and sipped some of the tea that was sitting on the coffee table. Despite being a billionaire, Vlad found Christmas one of the most lonely times of the year, as he had no family and he couldn't visit Daniel without accidentally breaking the idiotic 'Christmas truce' that each ghost had abided by each year. So instead, he settled with sitting by the fire, on his own.

Suddenly, there was a loud knocking at the door, breaking the man from his musings. Oh, what now? Slowly waltzing over to the door, the man irritatedly curled a pale hand onto the door knob and turned it...only to find the last person he had expected to see. Danny was stood on the man's doorstep, wearing a red coat adorning a blue scarf and a red nose that would rival even Rudolph. He also looked freezing, but despite that, he had a bright smile on his face.

''Daniel?'' Vlad gasped out, not quite believing his eyes. The boy was willingly visiting him? Wow, that was...new.

''Hey Vlad!'' Danny cheerfully greeted, before quickly clearing his throat and starting to...was that boy singing? The thing that surprised Vlad the most though, was the fact that he wasn't even that bad at doing it. Almost like he'd practiced beforehand or something.

''How far would you go to the edge? How hard would you fight for yourself?'' Danny started, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Of course he wasn't going to sing Christmas songs. He had chosen this song deliberately because of the lyrics.

''Daniel, what the blazes are yo-''

''...You're the king of master plans, a thousand in a box! But they never see the light of day and always someones fault!''

Vlad smirked, as he realized what the teen was getting at. He was trying to tell him what he thought through song. Noticing the man's sudden realization, the boy quickly stopped singing and chose a different song.

''I knew you were trouble when you walked iiiiin! Shame on me no-ow, flew me to places I've never beeeen, 'til you put me down, OH!''

Danny continued with a couple more songs, until his throat hurt and he couldn't sing anymore. ''Well, ya know. You get the idea right?''

Vlad stared at the teen, his first genuine smile of the day colouring his face. What a strange boy. What the heck was he doing?

''Daniel, was there a point in you coming here?'' he asked, mock irritation in his voice. Danny could see the smile slowly curling its way onto the stiff billionaire's lips though, so he didn't glare or anything in return. Before he could comment any further though, Danny suddenly starting having a violent coughing fit, quickly reminding the man of how cold the boy had looked minutes before. Opening the door wider, Vlad ushered the teen inside, before shutting the door quickly as not to let the cold in.

''T-thanks V-Vlad.'' Danny stuttered out, sitting on one of the chairs near the fireplace. ''I actually c-came to g-give you a C-Christmas present, but I f-figured I'd g-give caroling a go w-while I was at it.'' While he was speaking, Vlad sat himself back down in his chair and gave the boy a surprised look in response to the only part of the teen's sentence that had actually sunk in.

''You...got me a present? It better not be a cat, Daniel.'' he warned, shock not diminishing in the slightest. It seemed like everything the boy said today was surprising him and he didn't know what to think of that.

''Don't worry, Vlad. I promise it's not a cat. I just thought I'd give you something to say...a sort of...thanks,'' he told him, taking a small blue box out of his coat pocket with a gloved hand and handing it to the billionaire. The man blinked in surprise, but took the small box from the teen regardless.

''Thanks? For what, dear boy?''

The ghost boy shrugged and took to staring at the fireplace contemplatively.

''Believe it or not, I actually really enjoy our fights. Keeps me on my toes, you know?'' Vlad chuckled. He never realised that the boy actually liked fighting with him, but now he realized that he had actually been helping him in a sense. ''Thanks for being an awesome fruitloop.''

Smiling at the teen in response, Vlad finally decided to open the little box. The sad part was, that this was his first christmas present in 20 years. So what if it may have been a cat? He's take what he could get. Once he had lifted the lid up, the billionairre gasped at what he saw. Inside that box was a small figure in the shape of a badger, composed entirely of glowing ice. For a minute, Vlad questioned himself as to why it was a badger. Then suddenly, it came to him and he chuckled. My, how creative.

''Did you...make this?'' Danny nodded, forcing his hand to glow a bright blue as if to prove his point.

''It took me...*cough*...about a week to...*cough*...make it perfect, but I think it was...*cough* worth it. Do you like...*cough* it?'' Frowning at the boy's coughing fit, Vlad handed Danny the cup of tea, which he gratefully accepted.

''Yes, I do really like it. Thank you, Daniel. And here, it will help your throat. You really shouldn't be singing so much in the freezing cold little badger.'' The older hybrid chuckled again, a genuine smile on his face.

''Thanks.'' Danny told the man, taking a drink of the liquid. The warm substance was like heaven to the boy's sore throat and he smiled, shutting his eyes in pleasure, as it soothed his throat and warmed up his stomach. ''You know, that ice is supernatural, so it won't melt,'' he told him in between sips of tea. Vlad nodded in acknowledgement, smiling fondly at the boy who was sitting beside him, where he belonged.

''So Daniel, what about your family? Won't they be missing you on Christmas?'' Not that Vlad really wanted Danny to go, but he thought he should ask anyway.

''Naa,'' the ghost boy sighed. ''To be honest, my parents are driving me crazy. They have this one debate every single year about whether Santa exists or not and there's only so much a teenager can take.'' Vlad nodded in agreement. He recalled Jack and Maddie having some sort of debate on Christmas about Santa during their college years too. To be honest, it was amazing that after 20 years, they still had anything to debate about.

''What about you, Vlad?'' The man blinked, not quite understanding what the teen was asking.

''What about me?''

''Don't you have anyone to spend Christmas with?''

Ah. So that's what he'd meant. Vlad sighed sadly and started staring at the fireplace, like the boy had been doing moments before.

''No. Nobody. But I'm used to it by now,'' he responded bitterly, narrowing his eyes slightly as he remembered most of his lonely Christmases in the past and all the people that had abandoned him. The room was silent for a good 15 minutes as both hybrids contemplated on their own, not really sure of what to say next. After a while though, Danny finally decided on something to say and he couldn't say that he regretted saying it.

''You know what? Not this time.'' This certainly made Vlad blink himself out of his stupor. Was Daniel about to say what he thought he was going to say?

''This time, you don't need to be alone on Christmas. I know we don't always get on, but that doesn't mean you deserve to be lonely today of all days.''

''Are you serious, Daniel? What about your family?'' Sure, he wanted-no needed- Daniel to stay with him, if not for today, but someone had to play the part of the responsible adult and it couldn't be Daniel. The ghost boy shrugged and let off a small sneeze, before replying firmly.

''My family have each other, Vlad. And to be honest, being the only other half ghost, I'm the closest thing to family you've got. It is the Christmas truce after all.''

For a minute, Vlad actually didn't know what to say, but the teen continued to smile at him encouragingly, as if urging him to say yes. Eventually, the billionaire finally managed to get his words out, in his usual cocky fashion. However, the usual I-know-everything smirk was replaced by a beaming smile that couldn't be faked.

''Oh Daniel, I suppose I have no choice now, hmm? This is sure to be a long night.'' The words should have been offensive, but Danny knew the guy was just joking and couldn't help giggling.

''Right, 'cuz hanging out with your 'little badger' at Christmas is gonna be SO difficult!'' The both of them let out a laugh at that, suddenly reminding the man of Danny's gift. Standing up in his chair, Vlad picked up the little ice ornament and placed it in front of the television, where he would most likely see it the most.

''Wait- when did that TV get there?'' Danny asked quizzically, staring at the large flat screen as if he'd never seen one before in his life. Vlad couldn't help smirking in response.

''Around the same time I bought all of my furniture, Daniel. I don't suppose you would like to watch a film?'' Ignoring the obvious sarcasm, Danny grinned and nodded. Watching a movie on a flat screen TV at Christmas didn't sound half bad, actually. So what if his arch enemy would be watching it with him?

Once the mansion's butler had delivered some popcorn and other snacks to the room, both half ghosts made themselves comfortable on the large sofa in front of the television screen as 'Elf' started playing. After much laughing at the elf's antics, the two had grown quiet when the film was halfway through. Glancing up at the teen, Vlad saw Danny tilt his head until it was leaning on the man's shoulder, before snoring lightly. Vlad smiled fondly at the exhausted teen and patted his head gently, in an affectionate manner. Danny smiled in response and snuggled into Vlad's arm, much like a son may do to his father. The man smiled at the snoring boy and wrapped an arm around him. Danny sleepily yawned, snuggling closer into Vlad's chest, before mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like ''Merry Christmas.''

Because I thought you might wanna know, the songs I used for Danny's Christmas carols are 'Do Something' by the Luminites and 'I Knew You Were Trouble' by Taylor Swift.