"I just don't understand?! Like, why is he such an asshole?!"
"Daniel."
"What right does he have to be so smug about everything?! It just makes me wanna punch him in his stupid hot face!"
"Daniel, please."
"And then I also kinda feel sorry for him?! Like, FUCK THAT, he's a total dick and I shouldn't feel sorry for him at all! Not even a little bit!"
"Is there a point to this?"
"YES!" Danny spun around on the spot and pointed an accusing finger in Clockwork's direction. "The point of all this is that you still won't tell me what up with the shitty, constant heart attack I've had! The point is that Vlad's an asswipe and I wanna fix this stupid pain!"
Clockwork floated in place, impassive and unimpressed. He arched an eyebrow and waited.
"Fine!" Danny threw his hands up. "I also needed to vent and my friends still aren't talking to me. Happy?"
"Not particularly."
Danny narrowed his eyes, "You're an asshole too, you know that?"
Clockwork smirked but said nothing, raising his eyebrow again in question.
"Alright, alright. I'll stop ranting," Danny said as he popped a hip against one of the many monitors with fuzzy visions of the future that took up most of the room in Clockwork's lair. "But seriously, can you please tell me what's wrong with me? And preferably how to fix it?"
Clockwork frowned, "I don't think you're prepared to know."
"What's that even supposed to mean?" Danny protested, "I'm in pain, dude. I want it to stop, so please, spare me."
"Fine," Clockwork said, "But you won't like it."
He then floated over to one of the empty screens and waved his staff over it, mumbling about "overdramatic teens" the whole time until the image of a green ball of ectoplasm appeared with the word "CORE" underneath it. Danny didn't much care about the complaints so long as he was finally getting an explanation.
"The essence of a ghost is manifested in its core. I've told you this before." The little image of a core bounced on the screen when Clockwork mentioned it.
"Yeah," Danny replied, absently rubbing a hand over his own core. They'd talked about them before but it made sense the Time Master was bringing them up again considering that's where Danny figured the pain was coming from.
"Cores have many uses, beyond being the center of a ghost. It alerts you to enemy ghosts," the image flickered to a clip of Danny's ghost sense going off, "it instinctively conserves energy and then uses that energy to heal you when you need it most," the image flickered again, this time showing a bruise rapidly healing up, "and it's call can match you with a compatible mate," the image flickered for a last time, showing two different cores sending out waves of energy.
"Okaaaaay," Danny said, drawing out the word and not particularly liking where this was going.
"When ghosts encounter a compatible mate, their core spikes in energy and releases what is called a "core-call", and it manifests as an irritating buzz until the ghost meets back with the compatible mate or encounters a new one. The stronger the call, the stronger the compatibility and the higher the power level. Ghosts evolved this way so they could find mates in the first place and then reproduce the strongest offspring."
"Alright," Danny said, his breath catching a little bit and very much not liking where this was going.
Clockwork gave him a knowing look but continued on with his impromptu lesson, "Ghosts that have felt the core-call are usually forced to be in close proximity to the other until the core has felt it's had enough and stops buzzing when they separate. From there they have either decided to mate or part ways. In either case they consider each other allies afterwards as core compatibility is rare and it signifies a great ability to work and fight together in synch. Most ghosts mate after a core-call for these reasons."
Danny was sitting down now having sunk to the floor, kind of in denial, and just waiting for Clockwork to finish up and move on because surely this didn't have anything to do with what was going on, right?
"You and Vladimir being half-ghosts changes things, at least I assume. The core-call manifests as an intense pain to both of you because your core is buzzing while you are still in human form. Ghost biology and human biology do not mix well, even in halfas.
"
Danny very, very, much did not like this. He did not like this at all. Any bit of it. No thanks.
"How do I make it stop?" he asked hoarsely. He was afraid of the answer.
"You will have to do what ghosts do," Clockwork said with a frown. "Stay near each other until the buzzing stops."
Danny ran a hand through his hair and clutched at the strands, pulling them just slightly to make sure he could still feel something and that this all was real. He kind of wished it was all a dream.
"Isn't there any other way to make it stop?!"
Clockwork looked slightly apologetic, but his words were still damning, "No."
"Fuck."
Danny spent the rest of his day in a haze, going home and lying in bed for the majority of it, just staring up at the ceiling and going over his options. Rubbing at the spot where he could now feel his core jumping around in his chest.
He hated Vlad. There was no getting around that or changing it. He was too much of a prick. Even if he was pretty. Which, Danny thought sternly to himself, didn't matter. Because he was an asshole and they fought near constantly. He'd rather punch Vlad in the face again than have to spend "quality time" with him.
But there was no other way to make the pain stop. And it hurt like a bitch.
They were both suspended from school anyway so they could just glare at each other in the same place if need be, without classes getting in the way. And it wouldn't be so bad if they made a temporary truce or something right? They could just… ignore each other but in the same room or something…
He'd just have to explain to Vlad what was happening.
Nope, he decided, turning over and curling into his covers, not gonna think about it anymore. Not tonight at least. Might not think about it ever again and I'll just have to deal with it.
He fell into a very restless sleep after that, his dreams haunted by the image of Vlad looking feral and desperate and an ache in his chest that was distinctly different from the pain of his core.