Chapter 7 Complicated Solutions
Dash's hands were resting atop Danny's shaking shoulders, tenderly holding him close from behind as he threw up into the leaves of a fancy flowering bush near the door of the large mansion that they'd gone to after leaving Danny's parent's house.
Dash waited 'till after he was finished before he cleaned Danny up, lifting a hand to stroke his sweaty face as he gently wiped his mouth off with a napkin, carefully brushing the damp hair back from his eyes as Danny smiled at him tremulously.
"Your eyes keep changing, Danny. And they're all glassy looking. It scares me. We need to get this done. For both our sakes."
"Yes."
Danny reached up a trembling hand to take hold of the fancy silver knocker just as the door suddenly opened inward to reveal the owner of the large house.
"Daniel? What are you doing here?"
"Vlad. We need to talk.."
"Surely you jest with me, Daniel," Vlad said, his expression unusually serious as he paced the floor while Danny and Dash sat close together in two chairs where they were talking in his study.
"No, I'm not," Danny replied softly, looking pale and sweaty as he reached for Dash's hand, their fingers visibly clasping tightly as the older man watched them both closely.
"You are willing to let me bed you in order to keep your ghost half?"
"No, not bed me. Mate me. It needs to be a permanent Bond to work, so you would have to love me. Please tell me that you can love me, Vlad? I don't want to lose my ghost half, and Dash doesen't want me to, either. I, we, need you. I know that you're homosexual. You told me so yourself. Would it really be so bad for the three of us to be a family? I could make you happy, Vlad, I know I could. I don't want this to happen to you, and I know that it won't if you chose me."
"No."
"No?" Danny gasped, shock and pain flashing in his flickering eyes. "But-"
"No, Daniel."
"But why? I love you, Vlad. We could be good together, I know it-"
"What?" Vlad gasped quietly, moving closer to them slowly and with obvious hesitation. "What did you say? Tell me again!"
"We- We could be good together?"
"No! Not that. The other bit."
"I love you."
"Yes! That."
"That's what you want to know? It is the truth, I promise. I love you, Vlad. I don't feel exactly the same way about you as I do Dash, but I shouldn't, because you're not Dash. You're you. You're attractive, with a dominant aura that makes my knees weak. Your voice makes my lower belly quiver when you speak to me. If only you could love me, you would be perfect. I don't know what I'll do if you abandon me here in this twilight of pain. I don't want to have to make that choice at all. None of the other ghosts can hold a plasma ball to you, Vlad."
"Mmm. Well that is true," Vlad mused, one hand on his chin as he studied both of the younger men with intense dark eyes.
"Yes. Won't you please help us?"
"This is not as simple as you are making it seem, Daniel. What does your human Mate truly think of this? Not just the parts that he has told you. I will not be no more then a third wheel in this relationship."
"I- Dash?"
Dash squeezed Danny's fingers with his hand affectionately, reassuring him without words before he looked up at Vlad steadily.
"I accept that we need your help, Vlad. That we need you. I accept that you will be a part of our family. But I am not interested in your.. attentions. Your physical love is for Danny, not me. He's the only one I want. So when we are in bed together with him, as we undoubtedly will be at some point, don't try and touch me like that. It won't go well, and all that it will do is upset Danny. That's not what this is about. It's about saving a part of him that neither of us wants to lose. Danny loves you that way. I don't."
Danny looked shocked at the sudden outpouring of thoughts and feelings from Dash, but Vlad appeared satisfied by his answer.
"I thank you for your honesty, Dash. If you had lied to me I would not have agreed to this arrangement. I still would have helped Daniel somehow, just not in this manner that we now embark upon."
"You mean you'll help us?" Danny asked him hopefully.
"Yes. I will Mate you, Daniel."
"Thank you."
"Daniel?"
"Yes, Vlad?"
"Come to me."
Danny nodded, letting go of Dash's hand reluctantly to stand up and walk toward Vlad on trembling legs, reminding the older man of a sick and injured fawn that had sought him out for comfort and healing in his youth. Vlad drew Danny carefully into his space, his left hand moving to rest on the middle of his back, long fingers curving there over the wet, cold fabric of his shirt. Vlad's right hand moved up to lightly touch the right side of Danny's face, his expression visibly worried when his large palm encountered heavy sweat on his hot skin and dampening his lovely dark hair.
"V-Vlad, I'm so scared.." Danny begged him, his voice shaky and his blue eyes wide and glassy with pain. "It hurts so much. Please.. Please make it go away!"
"Shh, Danny," Vlad soothed. "I'll make the pain stop. I promise you. Come with me now. Both of you."
"Uh," Dash said in reply, his expression wary now. "I think I'll just.. go on home if you don't mind."
"What?" Danny gasped, his flickering eyes going wide as he reached out toward him with a trembling hand while he stood with his back now pressed against Vlad's strong chest. "..Dash.. You can't leave me. I need you here with me. With us."
"Daniel is right, Dash," Vlad admonished him, though he wasn't hurtful in the way that he said it as he looked at him. "If this is going to work, then you can not distance yourself from me. This is about Danny, but you have made how you feel clear, and I promise that I will not make you uncomfortable intentionally. Danny loves you, and he needs you here for this. It is important that you be here with him. To do otherwise will only hurt him further."
Dash stiffened visibly, but then he sighed, relaxing in defeat as he stood and closed the distance between him, Danny and Vlad abruptly.
"You're right, Vlad, and I'm sorry. I want- I need to help Danny save his Phantom half, but sharing him with someone else is painful for me. I thought that it would be just us, you see. We need to get this done. But once the danger had passed and we move on to building our relationships with each other, will you please be patient with me, Vlad?"
"Of course," the older man agreed, gesturing with his chin down a dimly-lit hallway as he took Danny's left hand in his larger one. Dash reached out to take Danny's free right hand with his as they listened to Vlad speak. "We will be a family, and family always tries to understand each other. Come. My bedchamber is this way."
