everyone loves toxic yaoi until i pull out agegaps

Vlad wasn’t expecting a call from Mr. Lancer of all people. The only reason he recognized his name was because, well, he did stalk Danny. He knew all his grades and had seen his report cards. He knew his teachers names, how long they’d been teaching, and how long they’d known Danny- he even knew if Jazz had been in their previous classes.

“You need to talk about Daniel?” He’d asked so curiously over the phone.

“As his closest next of kin, and as an approved guardian of Danny, you’re the only other option we have while his parents are out of town.”

Next of kin? Approved guardian? Now those are terms he will let go straight to his head. Not that anyone had any proof of him being next of kin, he assumed Jack had something to do with all of this. He did have back up plans sometimes, who knew. Vlad wishes he would have told him so he could have used it to his advantage before.

“I know you’re a busy mayor, but if you have the time-“

“Of course I have the time for my dear nephew.”

Vlad assures. “After school you said?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Splendid.”

High school. Vlad never had a good time in high school. The smell of cheap perfume and despair are lingering in the halls. He finds his way to the offices, unsurprised by the terrible layout of the building. And there waiting, arms crossed in annoyance, is Daniel.

He looks up as Vlad makes his way to him.

“You!” His eyes sharpen at him angrily.

“Why Daniel,” Vlad’s soured expression turns up.

“What are you doing here?”

“Mayor Masters, I’m glad you could make it.”

Lancer spots them before Vlad can answer, which is totally fine with Vlad. The confused to horrified look Daniel has while his eyes rapidly bounce back and forth between himself and Lancer is satisfying enough.

“Of course, I’m always happy to help when it comes to the well being of my dear nephew.”

“If you’ll follow me to my office we can get down to business.”

Mr. Lancer’s eyes go to Daniel and sharpen. Vlad can feel the sweat coming off of him.

When Vlad sits down, he’s reminded of just how much he’s grown since high school. Not because he’s better dressed or rich. But because these chairs are not meant for his height. They’re uncomfortable and hard. Daniel sits in the seat next to him, hands wringing the straps of his school bag as he tries to feign some sort of confidence about this situation.

“I don’t know if Mr. Fenton has filled you in,” Lancer begins and Vlad almost winces. Mr. Fenton is what all the professors used to painfully seethe out towards him and Jack during class, “but Danny is on a path to repeat his first year here at Casper High.”

Vlad can’t help but to glance down to Daniel. He’s still in his seat and now hard staring at the floor. Lips in a thin line as his cheeks shine red.

“I had no idea.” Which is true for the most part. He knew Daniel didn’t have the grades his sister did, but he didn’t think it was that bad.

“While his grades could use a lot of improvement, it’s his attendance that is holding him back.”

Ah, well, that made a lot of sense.

“I see,” Vlad nods as Lancer slides a copy of Daniel’s absences towards him. Just in the last month alone, he’d missed half the day at least three times a week and a full day one to two times a week. Vlad tries to remember how much Amity Park had been in any danger. He wasn’t the hero, though, it didn’t matter to him what ghosts were up to as long as his voter ratings stayed steady. So if there was an uptick in ghost activity, he wouldn’t have noticed. Other than keeping track of how many articles were written about Phantom.

“The absences marked in blue are ones I’ve manually excused in the system…” it’s mostly the half day absences, “I’m actually glad you came today rather than his parents.”

Mr. Lancer does know how to stroke his ego.

“I’m concerned with the lack of sleep he may be getting, many kids these days fall asleep in class from being up with their computer games and such, but I’ve never seen anyone so…” Lancer glances to Danny, eyes squinting as his hands play in the air. Whatever he’s trying to say, Vlad thinks he’s trying to spare Danny’s feelings about it. “Lethargic.” He finally decides to settle on the word.

Lethargic was one way to put it.

“Mr and Mrs Fenton don’t seem as concerned, but don’t be mistaken that if this type of attendance does not improve he will be held back.”

Maybe having Daniel in on the conversation wasn’t the best. Just one more look at him and Vlad can see the embarrassment had turned to shame in his eyes.

“I appreciate you bringing this to my attention Mr. Lancer, I’ll have a talk with Daniel’s parents about this,” he looks back up to the paper with a myriad of absences all over it, “tell me, is it unavoidable now or is there anything he can do to make up for his lost time?”

Lancer coughs in his fist and nods, “with the amount of time and work that has been missed, Danny would have to correct his attendance to being present every day of the week, then he would have to begin remedial classes every Saturday until the end of the school year, and then attend summer school.”

“But that would save him from being held back?”

“Only if he puts in the effort required.” Lancer nods.

Vlad chews on the facts in his mind. It would be one thing if this was just about Daniel not being able to keep his pants up or getting into trouble with bullies. It might even be fun to tease him about how little power he had with so much of it in his hands.

This, though, doesn’t sit right on his tongue. Daniel is so quiet that he feels like he has to listen to make sure his heart is still beating.

Nodding slowly, he sighs.

“Very well then,” he starts, “sign him up for the remedial classes, thank you for your time, I can tell you care very much for my nephew,” because any other school system would have failed him out and sent him to a different school by now.

“His sister does a lot to convince me of his bright spirit,” Lancer admits, “but I have confidence in him as well.”

They shake hands as they stand. Danny gets up beside him. When they leave, he’s quiet. The only thing filling the halls is the click of Vlad’s low heels.

He looks down to him again. He thinks his eyes are stuck on the floor.

“I’ll take you home.”

He expects resistance. Instead, Danny just nods again. Maybe he’s not thinking right. Still, he gets into his car and buckles himself. If it were any other circumstance, he might just kidnap him.

The situation had unfortunately tugged just enough at his heartstrings that he felt sorry for Daniel. Not in the condescending ‘I’m sorry Jack Fenton is your father’ kind of way. But in a way that made him genuinely empathetic for the boy.

When they arrive in front of the Fenton Works building, he can see surprise in Danny’s eyes. Maybe he’d thought he’d just drive away with him too.

“Aren’t you gonna laugh?”

His voice is scratchy. But it’s the first thing he’s said since they’ve left the school.

“Why would I laugh?”

Daniel does. Laughing half heartedly as he holds onto himself. He won’t even raise his head. If Vlad wanted to, he could knock him unconscious with ease.

“Because I’m failing at everything,” Danny’s fingers dig into the skin of his arm, “at school, at home, at being the towns hero,” his voice cuts, “there’s this ghost that’s been hanging around and causing trouble for months and I can’t- I can’t catch it, it’s too slippery and gets away and I- so many people have been hurt by it- and I stay up to fight it and anything else- then I study- and my alarm clock isn’t enough to get me up every time- and I just- I’m failing Vlad, I’m a failure,” when his voice begins to crack, Vlad thinks that’s the final string inside him to be tugged, ripping open the heart he’d carefully mended together long ago.

For the first time, it really hits Vlad that Daniel is… Daniel is just a kid. Not a pawn. Not a nuisance. Just a child with the burden of ghost powers and parents too blind to see his struggles.

“So go ahead and laugh, I know you want to.”

“Daniel,” Vlad starts carefully, he’s really not the person Daniel needs right now, but he is the only one here so he’d have to do, “you know you’re not obligated to protect the town.”

“I can’t help- it’s not- you of all people know I have to.”

The glare he receives riles his own defensiveness for a moment. Yes. He knows Daniel had to protect people. That’s who he is. What he does. If only his obsession hadn’t formed over such a thing.

“I know,” Vlad sighs and pinches his brow, he understands the frustration, “then I’ll handle it.”

“What?”

“The ghosts, the town, I’ll handle it.” He is the mayor, so he probably should care more about people. But really, he’d rather do it for Daniel instead.

“You can’t be serious.”

“I’m sure after seeing someone competent at fighting, any other ghost would feel foolish to dare cause a scene.” He smirks at the fierceness that lights behind Daniel’s eyes at the comment.

“And why should I trust you? You’re not actually my uncle y’know.”

With hesitation, and a dozen second thoughts running through Vlad’s mind, he finally sighs while admitting, “I failed the eighth grade.”

“What?”

“I failed the eighth grade Daniel, and no nephew son of mine should have to deal with that kind of embarrassment.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“Oh no, I wish I were dear boy,” Vlad hates to reach that far back into his memory, but like many things he failed to do in life, they brand into his mind so even if he’s not thinking about them they’ll always be there. “I was quite the rebel back then, skipping chores, skipping school, smoking and shoplifting alcohol.”

Daniel looks at him for a minute before wiping what tears were left from his face. “What did your parents do?”

Vlad pauses and coughs into his hand, “let’s not get into all that,” memories he won’t burden Daniel with, “so you’re going to study, and rest, and pass onto your sophomore year with your friends.”

Again, Daniel laughs, but more light than before, “you know you’re not the boss of me, right?”

“Are you denying my offer? Because I have much more dubious ways to-“

“Okay.”

“Pardon?”

“Okay, fine, but there better not be a catch cause I’m not disowning my dad or whatever.”

A catch. Vlad knew he was forgetting something.

“Why don’t we wager on it hm?” Vlad grins, “if you fail, you’ll come live with me as my son for as long as I see fit, and if you pass— allfouryears —I’ll pay your college tuition.”

Daniel’s blue eyes sharpen at him for a minute. Vlad just smiles as innocently as possible at him. Even though he could absolutely sabotage the deal, he wouldn’t. He’d meant what he’d said. Daniel needed help and… for some reason Vlad wanted to help him.