(Don't) Say My Name - Chapter 3


Sam and Tucker immediately round on Danny for questions as soon and they get into his room. He has no idea why he wanted to suddenly be closer to Vlad so how is he supposed to explain this to his friends?

"I felt… weird?" He says lamely.

"No shit! You're acting weird! What happened back there?" Sam frowns, trying to understand where the threat is.

"I don't know! I didn't feel very good. And Vlad was being strange."

"Danny, Vlad didn't really do anything… for a change."

Tucker puts a hand on Danny's shoulder, "It's okay dude, take a breath. Explain to us what went through your mind and we can figure it out together."

"Yeah, then we can go kick Vlad's ass!" Sam chimes in.

Danny sighs, his friends are entirely too good to him. "Okay, well, Vlad came up to us and I got a headache right away."

The two teens snicker and Danny smiles patiently, just happy his headache is already subsiding, "Not like that guys! Well, maybe like that actually..." He tilts his head thoughtfully. "I don't really know what I mean, to be honest."

"It's okay Danny, just give us some word-vomit and we can try to make sense of it all after." Sam encourages, patting his arm.

"Jeez guys, I don't know! Like you said - nothing really happened! He talked, I got a headache, whatever. I'm not gonna fight him when I'm off my game, ya know? I left before he could do anything. So let's just drop it, alright?"

There's a long, obvious pause as everyone silently acknowledges that Danny is lying, and everyone knows it.

"Fine Danny, nothing happened. But if anything does happen then you better march your ass right back to us and explain immediately."

He nods seriously and sits on his bed, fiddling with his backpack while Sam and Tucker set up their own respective homework stations. Danny takes his time and lets his mind wander. 'What DID Vlad want anyway? Drive me home? No way, something like that's beneath him… there must be a hidden meaning in there… like maybe a trap? A GHOST trap? Well then he wouldn't be able to get in the car too…hmmm.'

He pulls open his textbook and notebook, absently lining his pencil and eraser perfectly with his books. He does his best to not think about what was going through his mind earlier, which naturally makes him think about it more.

'Vlad… What the FUCK happened there? I was… leaning TOWARDS him? And I felt this PULL… holy shit, what a scary thought! What was I thinking? He could've taken advantage of that, I need to be more careful.'

He decides to leave it at that and gets to more important things, like his homework.

A few hours later, Maddie pokes her head in, "Dinner's ready kids, wash up and help set the table. Oh, and Danny?"

"Yeah mom?"

"Fix that crazy hair of yours, Vlad will be here tonight."


The gravy boat titters and clatters on its saucer as Danny passes it. He ducks his head and mutters an apology.

"Pay it no mind, Daniel."

Vlad grins down at the slouching teen next to him. How he loves making Daniel uncomfortable!

It is exhilarating!

He watches as Danny's eyes briefly become unfocused, the sweat on his brow starting to show. Yet again Vlad wonders why the spell isn't making it's subject more cheerful, courteous and even friendly towards him.

'He is definitely reacting, there's no doubt in my mind that the spell is working. But why does he perspire so? Is he fighting it that hard?' Vlad's heart sinks at the thought, 'Is it so difficult to be friendly with me? I've hardly antagonized him for a couple of years now...' He can't help feeling disappointed, the more he thinks of this spell's potential, the more he hopes Daniel will turn around and accept him in SOME capacity. For Danny to willingly work with Vlad and in turn learn more about their unique half-ghost makeup. There's so much that Danny doesn't know that Vlad should – no needs – to tell him. But that will come in due time. It may be slower than he wanted but the spell IS working, that is without a doubt.

Danny takes another poke to the shin, knowing its coming from Sam and looks to her with just his eyes. She raises her eyebrow to silently ask if he's OK and he responds with a small nod, dabbing his forehead with his napkin. So far this whole dinner has been a mess and neither of his parents were even aware of his struggle.

It took Vlad all of 5 minutes to turn Danny into a nervous wreck and in such a simple way too: he takes small amounts of food on his plate, then insists on asking Danny EVERY TIME to pass something to him.

"Daniel, would you please pass the dinner buns?"

"Excuse me Daniel, could you please hand me the butter?"

"Sorry Daniel, could I also have the potatoes when you have a moment?"

And each time is always followed up with a 'Thank you, Daniel.'

Each sentence was making his head swim and his stomach flop and tug. Why was no one noticing anything? What about Vlad's excessive requests and what happened to his favourite nickname for Danny too? Also, can ANYBODY else please pass Vlad the goddamned peas and carrots?

Somewhere between the vegetables and the salt and pepper requests, it happens. The tugging hits him lower.

He feels the strange sensation in his dick.

'Whoa, salt and pepper isn't THAT exciting.'

Then the shakers are handed back with another, "Thank you Daniel."

And he feels it again. An undeniable twitch from his pants.

'Oh my god, why the fuck?' He silently wills himself to calm down.

Jack distracts him from his thoughts, "Why don't you tell Vlad about where you're planning on applying for University, son?"

"R-right, yeah so I'm looking at majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry-"

"Same as me, isn't that wonderful Vlad?" Maddie seems to be bursting with pride. It causes Danny a bit of embarrassment as he mumbles for his mom to settle down.

"So… I planned on Stanford, Harvard and California Institute of Technology because they offer what I'm looking for."

"My that is impressive! And university no less! This must mean your marks have improved considerably over the years. Well done Daniel, well done."

Yet again he feels some blood surge downstream.

'No. No. No. No. NO. This can NOT be happening right now.' He just barely stops himself from sending an accusatory glare to his lap. He opts to ignore it as best he can and focus on the conversation, easier said than done when his body wants him to start thinking with his other head…

"And now you're almost done your final year! I dearly hope you aren't shirking your studies in anticipation for graduation Daniel, this is when the marks count most of course."

Danny just stares at Vlad, realization and horror pricking his skull. His little 'problem' is only happening when Vlad speaks…

Vlad is… turning him on? …? …? …?

"Daniel? Daniel are you alright? What's going on in there Daniel?" Vlad's 'concerned mayor' voice breaks his concentration.

He feels more blood rush south fast, and he knows there's no way he will be able to conceal his boner from his family if he were to stand before them.

…! …!

"Yeah uh-" his voice cracks embarrassingly and he starts again, "Ahem. Yeah n-no problems with homework. We always study together, r-right guys?" He looks to his friends for support, 'Save me?'

Tucker only nods and continues to stuff his face, Sam rolls her eyes and speaks up. Beautiful, angelic Sam.

"Yes Mr. Masters, we always make sure everyone is on track. Our first year was tough balancing everything LIFE has to throw at us, but we got a system together since then." She answers icily, "Now no matter what idiotic problem comes along, we can handle it." She stares longer than necessary into Vlad's eyes, telling him just who she means by 'idiotic problem.'

Vlad rolls his eyes at her and plasters on one of the brightest, fakest smiles he can muster, "I am so glad to hear that, Miss Manson. I am sure Daniel's parents are just as happy as I am to see how mature you three have turned out."

Daniel sinks lower in his seat, he would love to join in the hidden battle here but he definitely can't help reacting every time Vlad opens his damnned mouth. Now is not the time to outright antagonize the man. Danny is doing his best to tune out Vlad's words, hoping not hearing him will help.

It doesn't.

"Yeah the kids are great! So smart! Smarter than I was in high school." Jack adds sheepishly.

"No doubt in my mind Jack," Vlad rolls his eyes, "But the real question here is," he pauses for dramatic affect, "what will you DO with his room?"

Maddie giggles and looks to her son apologetically, "Well we HAVE been thinking about it actually..."

Jack weighs in, putting an arm around his wife's shoulders, "We were thinking since Jazzy's room is a guest room that we could turn Danny's into something fun!"

"Jack! We discussed this, it's going to be an office for finer detail work." Maddie turns to Vlad, "The company wants me to develop miniature ghost weapons, things like pens and watches and such. It would be great to not always work at the dinner table…"

Vlad hums with feigned interest, listening to the developments like as if it wasn't his own idea to begin with. Vlad had opened an ecto-energy weapon manufacturing company to bring together all his potential enemies under one roof, keeping them busy and out of his way as he builds his empire. It helps too that he makes a lot of money selling them off to the GIW and various other similar organizations around the world.

Vlad turns to Danny, taking in his slouched and miserable disposition. 'The spell is working but maybe it's just weak?' Vlad wonders if he needs to be more aggressive. 'Let's try being more forward then.' He leans towards the teen and asks in a deeper but still loud stage-whisper, "Are you sure you're okay with all this talk of your room? You're not too put out are you, Daniel?" He grins as he hears Maddie and Jack giggle at the act.

Danny, however, is not acting when he lets out a very small whimper, eyes falling shut and leaning ever so slightly towards Vlad.

Vlad freezes. Danny freezes. Maddie worriedly asks if Danny maybe IS a little upset about the conversation. Bless her soul.

Danny snaps his eyes open and straightens up. His cheeks are now full-blown red, he casts his eyes down and then flusters. He puts his hands in his lap, straight-elbowed, and looks over at Vlad with panic clear as day in his eyes. "I'm fine!" He squeaks in an octave not normal for a young man his age.

Sam and Tucker stop eating all-together, attention focused solely between Danny and Vlad. They have never heard him make a noise like that before.

Vlad leans in further, concern taking over for a moment and rests a wrist against the flustered teen's forehead. "What is it Daniel? Are you feeling alright?" His eyes wander over the rapidly nodding teen and finally settle on the hands in his lap and the oddly familiar position they are in… Almost like…

Almost like Daniel's trying to hide a problem.

Every male in existence knows what that position means.

'Daniel is… aroused…?' Vlad is a little confused as to what would cause Danny to be so suddenly- 'The spell…!' He immediately puts two and two together and nearly growls in annoyance. 'But of course those two would do something like this… So he's been – every time I say his name? - and I haven't exactly been kind… Oh butter biscuits!' Vlad feels the blood well up in his face, averting his gaze from Danny's panicked eyes and shifting back in his seat.

"Perhaps we should give this topic a rest. Ahh Jack? Could you tell us about your latest work in ghost weapons? Madeline has the miniatures, what have you been working on?"

Danny, noting the blush and abrupt change in conversation, is thankful to Vlad for diverting his parents' attention. But that thought alone just confuses him. Since when has Vlad ever done something to make Danny thankful to him? He seemed to be enjoying teasing him, what's the problem now?

'I am NOT going to look a gift horse in the mouth.'

Danny uses the distraction to take a deep breath and think of all the things that usually helps him out of these kinds of situations. He thinks of his father in a bikini, puppies left alone in the cold, and Tucker cross-dressing. It helps a bit, but not as effectively as usual. 'Of freakin' course.'

He sneaks a peak at his friends and immediately wishes he didn't, both are staring at him intensely. He shakes his head subtly at them, promising to talk later.

Then he tentatively looks at Vlad, watching as he interacts with his parents in earnest. He inspects the man's profile, trying to figure out what he could suddenly be so attracted to after all these years. Why has this never been an issue until now? There were many times during their fights that things could have been intimate or weird, but they were too focused on one-upping each other to ever acknowledge it. Danny never before felt this tug or desire that his body kept screaming at him, so what's changed?
Danny is not going to be able to puzzle it out now while Vlad is here, so he will have to wait until tonight to talk it out with his friends. He really REALLY wasn't looking forward to that conversation.

He rejoins the talk about his parents' ghost equipment and does his best not to stare at Vlad too much.

NOTE: This is my first story in all present tense, and I am beginning to realize I HATE present tense. Buuuut I wanted to challenge myself so here we are. If you review I will update faster ;)