Vlad lifted a heavy eye when he felt the covers shift. Weight was added onto the enormous bed and Vlad could feel the boy's body curl at his side. Vlad sighed exhaustedly, willing his eyes to open and look at the teenage boy. His hands instinctively found their way onto Danny's hair, playing with the untamed locks. "What are you here, Daniel?" Vlad asked.
"It's Danny, and…" Blue eyes flickered away from the silver-haired man and Vlad could barely hear the whisper that escaped the boy's mouth.
"What was that?" Vlad asked, a yawn escaping his mouth as he looked down at the boy curling near his chest.
"... It was cold."
Vlad gave a soft chuckled and wrapped his arms around the young boy. He grabbed onto the blue sheets and lifted them to cover both him and Danny. Young Daniel snuggled happily with his father, letting the large arms wrap around his small body.
"Better?" Vlad asked, swatting away stray raven locks to see his son's face more clearly.
Danny stared at the older half and smiled, nodding his head as a yawn escaped his lips. "Thanks, dad."
Danny felt around his bed, and brows frowned at the absence of another body beside him. Dad. Where was his dad?
He groggily woke up and rubbed at his eyes, trying to chase the tiredness away. He looked around and was confused by the blue room that surrounded him. He always liked the color blue. Did his dad repaint his room?
But his room wasn't the only thing that changed. There were fewer space items that littered his room. The walls were smaller and less spacious. The computer that sat on the far side of his room was outdated. And his bed was smaller too.
Danny looked around the room, wondering where he was. Then his eyes fell on the picture on top of the drawer. It was a picture of a happy little family. He was there, smiling. And Jazz, and Mom, and… Dad.
Right. Jack was his dad. He has nothing to do with the fruitloop, Vlad Masters. He wasn't a Masters. He wasn't Vlad's son. He was Jack Fenton's. He knows that. And the memories Vlad had drilled in his brain were fake. Fake. Fake.
He hated Vlad. He hated him so much. But he was… He was just right here. Right there, beside him. Why isn't he here?
"Danny-boy, are you okay?" Jack was there, in front of Danny's face, holding his trembling hands as he only noticed the tears that were free-falling from his face. When did he get here? How did he get here unnoticed? "Is it Vlad again? Did he come here?" Jack pulled him into a hug and patted his back, gently rubbing circles to calm him. "It's okay, Danny. He won't hurt you ever again. I promise. We promise." Despite Jack's reassurances, Danny didn't feel relieved.
Danny hugged tightly around his father, his real father, to try and make him come back to his senses, but Danny didn't feel any familiarity. Jack's body was foreign to him, that it was strange to hug the man. Danny shouldn't feel this way. He should feel safe. But he was hurting. He was hurting really bad.
Vlad crossed his mind again and his grip around his father tightened because of guilt and fear. He shouldn't be thinking of that man. He hurt him. Hurt his father, his family. What if he does come back? What should Danny do?
"You're safe, Danny-boy. You're safe." Jack's hand found its way into Danny's tangled forest of raven locks, and Danny couldn't help but remember how Vlad's hand was there. Just there.
"I'm safe," he repeated. The phrase to Danny was nothing more than just empty words meant to persuade himself. "I'm safe." The mantra repeated itself over and over in his head until the words were imprinted in his brain. "I'm safe."
Danny groaned when he finally finished his homework. "I don't think I have enough mental capacity for this crap," Danny muttered as he started to fix his things.
A soft knock came from his door and Danny jogged towards it to open it for his dad. "Lunch is ready," Vlad said with a smile.
Danny closed the door behind him and accompanied the older halfa down the hall. "So… What's for lunch? Bacon?" Danny tentatively asked.
Vlad stared at him, a small smile etching on his lips as amusement played in his eyes. "It's Lunchtime and you're thinking of bacon?"
"It's never too early or too late for bacon!" Danny exclaimed, puffing out his chest as if was something to be proud of. "And Tucker would agree as well."
Vlad chuckled, ruffling Danny's hair, much to the annoyance of Danny. "Of course, he would, Little Badger."
"Again. What are we having for lunch?"
"I was thinking of a simple picnic near this lake in the nearby Orchard." Danny's eyes gleamed bright when Vlad mentioned a picnic. He hadn't had one in months now. It was also exciting because who knows what his dad has planned for him?
Danny jolted off down the hall screaming, "race 'ya to the car!"
Vlad was caught off-guard but quickly bounced back as he ran to chase his son.
A picnic. Danny hadn't had one in a while now. The last time he had one, it was with Vlad. Vlad packed his favorites, smiled at him as he rumbled on about the rings of Saturn or how he should get a puppy, and then the two would fly home.
Danny racked his brain and tried to remember the last time he had a picnic with his family. His real family. But the latest he could remember was when he was 10, 5 years ago during the Spring. Why did it take so long for their parents to take them out on a picnic again?
"You okay, Danny?" Jazz's fingers intertwined with his and Danny could see the familiar worry his sister always had for him. He looked around and saw the worried looks of his own parents, but they weren't like Jazz's. They weren't familiar.
"I'm fine," Danny said, slipping his hands away from his sister and smiled, playing the facade and ignoring the screaming in his head.
You shouldn't be here.
He took a bite of his sandwich and hummed in delight. His mom made it just how he liked it.
They forgot you existed.
"After this mighty meat, why don't we go and get our fishing rods a whip, Danny-boy?" Jack asked enthusiastically, and Danny wanted to say no, but he was his dad. He was obligated to accept.
It took them so long, and it only took Vlad two seconds to notice you're covered in bruises.
Danny was helping his mom pack the picnic. He needed something to do while he waited for his dad to bring back the fishing rods. After they finished, Maddie pulled him in a hug. It was surprising, but not unwelcomed. "We're so glad you're back, Danny," His mom whispered to him.
Red flags blared in Danny's head, yelling at him to push her away, that she wasn't welcome, but Maddie was just so warm. He wrapped his arms around the other woman and forced a smile to take place on his lips. "Yeah," he said, "me too."
"Hey, dad."
Vlad looked at the other boy, starring quizically at him. "Yes, my boy?" he replied.
Danny shifted underneath his gaze and quietly put the book that he was reading down on the coffee table, making sure to check if the bookmark was there. He then turned back to his father, but he can't seem to maintain eye contact.
"Can I ask what your obsession is?" Danny knew it was rude to ask, but his mind kept pestering him and he can't rest not knowing what it was.
Vlad knows his obsession. It was protection. After the portal incident, he clung to the last thought of it hurting, and how he didn't want anyone else hurting the same way he did.
But what about Vlad? He heard the tale of how Vlad had fallen in love with Jack Fenton's wife and how Jack swopped her away just as his dad was about to ask her. Danny thought it was unfair and it always adds the sour impression he had on the Fentons. His dad deserved happiness too, didn't he?
"Why do you ask, Little Badger?" Vlad asked. Danny shifted again and wanted to back out, but he really really wanted to know.
"Well, if it eases your worries…" Danny's head perked up and he sat closely towards Vlad to hear it clearly. His father smiled at him warmly and in a soft voice, he spoke, "love. My obsession is love."
"Love?" Danny repeated.
Vlad nodded and went to further explain, "the love I had for Maddie drove me insane. But now, I have you." Vlad kissed Danny's head gently, as what a father would do to his son. "I love you."
Danny smiled. He wrapped his arms around the older halfa. He could hear Vlad's heart as the older man pulled him close to his chest. "I love you, too."
"I love you, too," Danny replied as his dad kissed him goodnight. The words rolled off Danny's tongue like it was no big deal, but it was. There was no emotion behind it. No meaning, no purpose. It was just a 4-word phrase that Danny is used to reply to. When was the last time he meant it?
Jack walked back to turn off the light and smiled at Danny. He left the room, leaving Danny to lie on his back as he stared at the glow-in-the-dark stars that were splattered all over his ceiling.
He remembered asking Vlad to buy him more glow-in-the-darks. And even if it was childish, Vlad complied and they both worked together to form numerous constellations and fill his ceilings with stars. After that, Vlad and he would point out how sloppy their work was while lying on Danny's bed. They would laugh and joke and exchange banter.
The stars on Danny's ceiling now were only a few and some were hardly glowing. He remembered how he needed chairs and how nervous he was just to put those up. He was eight and he was so lucky when Jazz was there on time to catch him from the chairs. He ended up with a sloppy constellation of Orion, but he was proud of it because he did it all on his own. But now, it feels lonely.
He grabbed hold of the sheets and hugged himself in them. Vlad would have tucked him in, both of them. Danny would always go to his room at night, even though he was already a teenager, but Vlad didn't mind. He always welcomed him with open arms.
Danny doesn't like being alone.
But Danny doesn't like Vlad. He thought he actually got some sense knocked into that fruitloop when he started avoiding fights with Danny, but he was actually planting something on Danny's body whenever they had their brief encounters.
He hated him. He hated he did that. He hated how Vlad tore him away from his family just to have him as his own. And Vlad even made him remember every single goddamn memory with that awful man, for what? Guilt? And it doesn't help how he actually wanted to go back to that man's mansion when he stepped into this weapon-filled house.
What did Vlad do to him? Why is Vlad still on his mind and making him cling to the fake memories he shared with the man?
He felt cold. He felt lonely. The nightly kisses and the hand on his head were imprinted on his mind, feeling incomplete with the nightly routine he was forced to remember. Vlad wasn't there. Vlad wasn't there to tuck him in, kiss his head, and tell him it was going to be alright. And the constant echoing of his voice made Danny want to cry.
"Goodnight, Little Badger. I love you."
"... I love you too…"