Guests for Dinner

Summary: Danny has settled into Vlad's house after college when special guests show up.

Characters: Vlad x Danny; and Dash x Jazz

Originally Written: March 2014

Danny lifted the spoon to his mouth and gave the sauce a little taste. With a frown, he looked over his shoulder. "It tastes weird."

Vlad lifted his head, tearing his attention away from the papers before him. Some were from the meetings with the mayor about laws to protect both humans and ghosts. The rest were from the company that he bought: reports from his employees about their experiments and inventions, requests to start on new projects, and a bunch of other stuff that Danny didn't fully understand. Setting down his pen, he walked over to Danny and took hold of his wrist as he leaned in to taste the sauce on the spoon. His nose wrinkled slightly.

"Maybe try a little oregano," Vlad suggested.

Danny sighed as he searched through the bottles of spices for the oregano. After he graduated from college and returned to Amity Park, Vlad started teaching him how to cook. Danny was impressed with the older half ghost's skill at cooking, but he unfortunately didn't seem to have that same natural ability. When he tried things on his own, they always seemed to missing something that made them taste just right.

Sprinkling in a little of the oregano into his sauce, Danny smiled lightly as Vlad's arms circled around his waist. "I thought you were too busy with your work to take a break."

"Well, it looks like dinner will be ready soon," Vlad murmured against Danny's neck as the young half ghost stirred the bubbling sauce. "You have work in the morning?"

Danny nodded as he flicked off the burner. "Morning shift, but then I'll be at my parents' to help them with their work." When he returned from college, he found work at a local repair shop that worked on basically anything people needed to have fixed. Old clocks and radios, sometimes toasters. He really liked repairing cars and motorcycles. But he split his time working there and working for his parents, which more like an unpaid internship. Turning around in Vlad's arms, he leaned in, their noses nudging against each other. "But," the corners of his mouth twitched as they hovered just inches from kissing, "I'm completely free tonight if you decide to put off all that paperwork."

"You are being terribly tempting." Their mouths hovered in a dangerous dance of very nearly pressing together in a kiss. Vlad's hands rested upon his boyfriend's hips, and he stepped forward to trap Danny's body between him and the oven. Danny grinned impishly as his fingers threaded through silver hair. He liked tugging free the band keeping Vlad's hair tied back in a neat ponytail and letting those silver locks fall free. Their lips barely brushed against each other when the doorbell rang through the house.

Danny groaned as he tilted his head back and asked the ceiling, "Who could that be?"

"You're twenty-five, Danny. Don't act like a whiny child." Vlad pulled away from him, and Danny frowned. "If it's someone from work, I'll send them away."

Vlad strode out of the kitchen and to the front door with Danny trailing behind him, curious to see who had interrupted them. When Vlad opened the door, Danny craned his head to look around him and nearly stumbled forward in surprise when he saw his sister upon the doorstep.

"Jazz!" Danny launched forward to hug his sister, Vlad quickly sidestepping out of the way for the siblings. "What are you doing back? I thought you were in New York still." A cough from behind his sister made Danny lift his head, and he blinked when he spotted Dash.

"How about we let them into the house rather than force them to stand on the doorstep?" Vlad caught the back of Danny's shirt and tugged his boyfriend into the house.

"Ah, right. Sorry." Danny rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck as he flushed lightly. "Come in." He stepped away so that the couple could enter the house.

"You know," Dash said after the door was closed behind them, and he gave Vlad a glance, "I knew you were gay. Which I'm totally okay with." He held up his hands like he was defending himself against an oncoming argument. "I didn't realize grandpas were your thing though."

"Vlad isn't that old," Danny argued. "And I shouldn't have to defend who I fall in love with."

"You're right." Dash still had his hands raised. "You want to love the old guy, that's your choice. But you can't tell me not to be surprised." He cracked half a smirk then nudged Danny with his elbow. "I bet your friends freaked out when they heard you were dating him."

Some of his anger fizzled away, and Danny felt somewhat relieved that Dash didn't explode in a major freak out of disgust. Then his brow wrinkled as he glanced between his sister and Dash. "Wait. Why are you both here? What happened to New York?"

"Well," Jazz said, glancing at Dash, and Danny didn't miss some of the nervousness radiating from his sister. "We already talked to Mom and Dad, but I wanted to tell you before they decided to come over and spoil the news."

Danny's eyes kept darting between the two, his own nervousness growing and gnawing at him as his sister drew out whatever the big news was. Then Jazz smiled and raised her hand, and it took Danny a moment to realize that there was a ring upon her finger. It was a simple silver band with a small diamond. Danny's jaw dropped, his mouth hanging wide open.

"Dash proposed. We're getting married!" Jazz announced excitedly.

"I'm so happy for you!" Danny drew his sister in for another hug. When he pulled back, he turned toward Dash. "Well, I guess that means we're going to be brothers."

Dash nodded like that thought was just occurring to him. "Well, I guess it could be worse. I could have ended up with that Nathan guy that always chased Valerie around for a brother-in-law." He shuddered at that idea. Then he bumped a fist against Danny's shoulder. "We should do some brother bonding sometime though. Oh, uh, I hope you won't be offended or anything, but I plan on having Kwan as my best man."

Danny shook his head with a smile. "No, Kwan's perfect for your best man." Dash returned the smile with a wide grin.

"Well," Vlad clapped his hands together. "Danny just finished making dinner. If you would like to stay and eat with us. I think I have the perfect bottle of wine to go with it to celebrate this wonderful news."

"Danny cooks now?" Jazz looked rather impressed by that news. "Well, now we have to stay and try his cooking." She gave her brother a teasing grin before following Vlad toward the dining room.

"So old guys?" Dash lifted an eyebrow at Danny as they lingered in the front hall.

"It's not old guys." Danny frowned at the former jock, who he noted had remained in the same great shape from high school. "It's just Vlad. When we met, well, things weren't great right away, but we started connecting and things just," he shrugged, "happened."

"Well, if he makes you happy, I guess that's all that really matters." Dash slapped him on the back.

"You're, uh, being really cool about this." Danny furrowed his brow.

Dash hunched up his broad shoulders. "Love is love. Who am I to judge what you feel for someone?"

Danny smiled as he led Dash toward the dining room. "I'm really glad you're marrying Jazz." He had seen them together during summer breaks, and he couldn't imagine anyone else making his sister happy for the rest of her life.

Sakural7865: *shakes a fist at the GiW* They always have to cause problems!

midnight: That's my thinking too! And I always age the characters up if there's going to be romance. Even when it's, like, Dash and Danny, I have them at 18 at the very least. Curse the GiW! You can bet they're rear their ugly heads again at some point. Haha, yeah. XD Skulker does have a soft spot for Danny.

pianogirl89: Yeah. I don't know why people get so grumbly about it if the characters have been aged up so that it's legal. Danny's not forever 14. XD;; Aw, thanks! 8D

simplegay me: Thanks~ =D Had to have that moment with Danny and Vlad. XD;; They better keep their guard up in case the GiW show up again!