Chapter 12
Danny sighed as he flopped back on Vlad's bed. "I'm so glad the day is over," he told the empty room. Immediately after he finished doing laundry for the last person of the night, Danny changed out of the French maid outfit and now relaxed in a pair of jeans and a white shirt. Each day he spent wearing the French maid outfit felt longer than the previous day. "At least the guys here aren't teasing me all that much," he thought out loud, feeling a little relieved by that fact.
When the door banged open, Danny jumped up. His leg phased through the bed, and he quickly stumbled free, hoping no one noticed. Vlad stomped into the room and dropped onto the couch in a rather un-Vlad-like manner. Jack entered after him and closed the door behind him.
"Did something happen?" Danny asked, catching the distressed expression on Jack's face.
"It's nothing," growled Vlad, his tone not able to hide rage.
Standing out of Vlad's range of vision, Jack gestured wildly with hands for Danny not to press further. When Danny held his tongue, Jack said, "I was thinking of picking up some food. Is there anything you want, Vlad?"
"I'm not hungry," Vlad growled.
"So if I don't bring you anything, you won't be angry?" When Vlad turned and glared at him, Jack flinched. "Right. Got'cha. Danny, do you want to join me?"
Hesitating, Danny glanced between the two men. "Yeah, okay," he replied climbing to his feet. He followed Jack to the door, but he paused and looked back at Vlad, who glared at the blank television screen. I better not say anything, he decided as he walked out the door. If Vlad had his ghost powers right now, he would probably blast me for saying anything. He sighed as they walked down the hallway.
"Don't worry." Jack rested a hand on Danny's shoulder. "He just needs some alone time to cool his head."
"What exactly happened?" Danny lifted his gaze to Jack.
Jack sighed, shaking his head. "We were discussing some details about the Proto Portal. That's the new project we're working on, but I'll tell you about that later. So we were walking around campus when this group of guys suddenly called out to us." He stopped speaking, and Danny stared at him as he tried to work out how to say what happened. "They started calling us… faggots." He said the term in a strangled voice, like it was a difficult word for him to say. "They said a lot of other things, but I'm not going to repeat them. You shouldn't hear things like that. I wish I hadn't heard what they said. I tried to laugh it off, but Vlad just exploded with anger. He started shouting at them, telling them we weren't involved with each other and stuff. But the guys didn't believe him at all. I had to drag Vlad away from them."
"They actually think you and Vlad are gay?" Danny gaped at his father. How can anyone think that? he wondered in shock. For one thing both of them are totally in love with Mom.
"Well, it's not exactly the first time," Jack said with a small chuckle. His head lowered, and he wouldn't meet Danny's gaze. "But that was really an inside joke type thing with only Maddie, Harriet, Vlad, and me. Harriet made a comment about how Vlad and I got along so well that we almost seemed like a couple. So we would make jokes about that." He sighed and looked at Danny. "But this was different. This wasn't just some joke among friends. This was cruel words meant to provoke and hurt the ones they were said about."
Danny glared at the floor, his eyes flashing green in his rage, as his hands curled into fists at his sides. "How can they do that? How can they treat Vlad like that?" With his gaze still to the floor, Danny missed Jack raising his brow.
"It's not pleasant, but it happens," Jack said sagely. "The world isn't filled with nice, happy people who get along with everyone else. If it was, we wouldn't have wars. You just have to learn to take life with a grain of salt. Life dishes out a lot of shit, and you just have to learn to deal with what you're given, no matter how unpleasant it is."
"I know that," Danny snapped. "But-"
"Vlad's a strong guy." Jack placed a large hand on Danny's head. "He may get angry and frustrated quickly, but he knows how to work through his feelings. He'll get over this."
"You're not worried about other people going around talking like that about you?" Danny demanded. He doesn't seem to get over things that well in the future, he thought grumpily.
"Their opinions don't matter." Jack sounded like he was trying to convince himself of that too. "It hurts. I won't deny that. But when it comes down to what really matters, I don't care what they think of me. The only ones whose opinions matter to me are my friends."
There's a lesson I need to remember time and time again. During his few not as shiny as he would have liked moments in high school, he lost sight of what really matter. Popularity had its temptations, he knew that quite well, but each time, it got easier to break free from its hold on him. "So you and Vlad joked about being a couple?" Danny asked, raising a brow as he stared at his dad. I can't even imagine them doing that. His mind rejected the image.
"Only around Maddie and Harriet. It was during our freshmen year only. It's not like we're the only ones who experimented with other people of the same sex. I mean take Ben for example."
Danny's brain momentarily stopped functioning when his father said "experimented." They didn't actually – Danny gulped and shook the thought from his mind before it could be finished. If they did, I don't want to know, he decided. Then he remembered the last thing Jack had said. "Wait. What was that about Ben?"
"Ben, he's experimented with other guys before."
"But Digory told me he was straight," Danny said, frowning.
"Just because you experiment, it doesn't make you gay." Jack laughed and smacked Danny on the back, making the younger man stumble. "But I suspect that Ben might lean toward the same sex. He pretends to be really straight to keep everyone else from suspecting."
"But Digory flirts with him so much," Danny mumbled. "How can Ben not notice it?"
"Oh, he notices it! He just lets Digory think he's too dense to notice." Jack laughed again when he caught the confused look on Danny's face. "The thing is that Ben doesn't want to be someone else's experiment. He wants the man to be genuinely interested in him, not a man looking to screw around with another man because it might be interesting. And Digory doesn't really give him much faith with the way he goes chasing after girls."
"But Digory told me that Ben makes him feel something he's never felt before. Maybe if Digory starts acting like he's serious about a relationship with Ben-" He stopped when he saw Jack shaking his head.
"Don't start playing matchmaker with them," Jack told him. "If they're going to get together, they can do it on their own without outside help. If Digory can't learn to act serious about Ben on his own, then maybe they aren't made to be with each other."
"I guess you have a point." My attempts to set Vlad up with someone haven't exactly been successful.
"You can't let Vlad know I told you about this though," Jack said, disrupting Danny's thoughts. "I don't think he really wanted you to know what happened, even if this rumor is being spread all over campus. I think he's afraid it would change your view of him, but he would never say that out loud." Jack smiled, but Danny caught a hint of sadness in his expression. "I might have to worry about my position as his best friend."
Danny blinked wide eyes at his dad. "I could never replace you as Vlad's best friend," he said, trying to reassure Jack. I don't even want to know what Dad would be like if he knew how Vlad really felt about him in the future, Danny thought sadly.
Jack threw an arm around Danny's neck, nearly choking him. "You're such a nice boy." He grinned widely. "So what shall we get for dinner?"
"Hm." Danny thought about it. "How about picking up a pizza?"
"Oh, that's a good idea! Then we can bring some back for Vlad," Jack suggested. "Even if he says he told us not to bring him anything, we can just say they were leftovers. I know Vlad will probably be hungry by the time we get back."
Jack led the way to the Pizza Hut down the block from the campus. When they reached it, Jack ordered them two pepperoni pizzas. They sat at one of the tables and waited to be served.
"You're not still dwelling on the rumor are you?" asked Jack when he noticed Danny staring at the table with a miserable look on his face. "Trust me. It's not as a big a deal as you think it is."
"I don't think I could get over it that easily if people were spreading rumors about me like that," Danny muttered.
"It's not about you, now is it?" Jack smirked. "Why don't we discuss something else?"
Danny frowned for a few more moments before he snapped his head up. "Can you tell me more about that Proto Portal you mentioned earlier?" He grinned when Jack started blathering on about the project. It's a good thing dad loves talking about their inventions, he thought, listening to Jack describe how the Proto Portal was supposed to work.
When they left the Pizza Hut, they had four slices of pizza leftover for Vlad to have. Jack carried the box as they walked back to their dorm room. The sun was beginning to set when they arrived back at the dorm.
"We're back," announced Jack as they entered the room.
Maddie looked up at them. She placed a finger to her lips and pointed at Vlad, who had his head resting her lap. Jack crept across the room as silently as he could manage. He set the pizza box down on the table before he gave Maddie a quick kiss on the lips.
"What are you doing here?" Jack whispered. Danny took off his shoes then he walked over to Vlad's bed to sit down.
"I heard about the rumors," Maddie whispered back with a troubled expression on her face. "I wanted to come and check in on you both." She gave Jack a small smile. "He certainly knows how to rant. A few of your neighbors came by to tell him to shut up. He finally stopped ranting and fell asleep a few minutes ago."
Jack sighed, shaking his head. "How did this rumor even get started?" he wondered out loud.
"Apparently, it was started by a girl that Vlad dated once." Maddie scowled darkly. "I overheard her telling a bunch of girls that Vlad likes younger men in dresses." She glanced at Danny, who frowned. "When I told Vlad about it, that's what set off his ranting."
"Are-" Danny started, staring at his mom. "Are you saying that that rumor is my fault?"
"I didn't say that." Maddie shook her head.
"But you looked at me when you said it." Danny's brows drew together. "And I'm the only one that Vlad's forced into a dress recently. But that was only because of a silly bet. And the maid outfit is just a joke between us because I do the laundry and clean the room for him. And other people."
"I'm not putting any blame on you," Maddie said in a firm tone. "You can't control people getting the wrong impression because some vindictive witch placed the notion in their minds."
"The only one to blame is the one spreading the rumors," Vlad muttered, not moving his head from its spot in Maddie's lap. "I'm not mad at what they think. I'm mad at what they say to my face."
A tense silence fell over the four before Jack broke it. "We brought you pizza."
"I told you I wasn't hungry," grumbled Vlad as he sat up.
"If he doesn't want it, I'll take some," Maddie said, smiling as she opened the box.
"I didn't say I wouldn't have any," Vlad mumbled. After Maddie took a slice, Vlad picked up a slice for himself.
"So that's it?" Danny asked as the three friends began talking about other subjects. They paused and stared at him. "You're not going to do anything to stop the rumor?"
"What point is there in doing that?" Jack asked. "Eventually, the rumor will just die. People will move on, and the whole thing will be forgotten."
"Easy for you to say," Vlad muttered. "The rumor isn't directed at you." He sighed and leaned back against the couch. "But I know better than to let their words get to me. I'm mad at myself for letting them get to me back there." He glanced at Jack, and they all could read the silent "thank you" playing on his face.