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Danny didn’t mean to run, honestly.
It was instinct, mostly, but he couldn’t deny that he felt safer for it.
Sure, there were the regular difficulties of living off-grid but Danny had watched enough survival videos on YouTube that he had a better grasp of it than most people. Things like making a temporary shelter or hunting for his next meal were almost comically easy for the halfa, and that was without using his ghost powers.
He was trying to lay low and if the Guys In White caught sight of his ecto-signature in the middle of the woods far away from Amity Park, they’d surely come to investigate.
Out in the wilds, nobody could shoot him with ecto-guns or throw electric nets at him. There wasn’t anyone who wanted to rip him apart molecule by molecule. But probably the most important part was that there was nobody to call him a girl.
He’d heard what his parents said to themselves when they thought he couldn’t hear them. That transgender people were abominations. That they were lucky their kids weren’t like ‘them’.
But then they’d go around town pretending to be nice with everybody because their research was government funded and if they pissed off the wrong people, that funding could disappear in an instant. And besides, they ‘couldn’t be transphobic’ because they ‘have gay friends from college’. Danny could almost guarantee that if they knew the truth about Vlad, their story would change in a heartbeat.
All that being said, Danny knew he was better off this way. It just hurt knowing that his parents really didn’t accept him.
There was rustling from one of the bushes behind him. Danny whipped around, raising his makeshift spear in defense, ready to kill whatever animal leaped out of it so he could have an easy dinner today.
Nothing could have prepared him to see human hands part the bush and for Vlad fucking Masters to step out from it.
They stood there in a staring contest. Danny’s eyes were large and scared while Vlad’s were surprised but relieved(?). Eventually, the shock fled his system and he tightened his grip on his weapon. He knew it wouldn’t do any good if Vlad decided to switch to his ghost form but while they were still human, it could cause some damage to incapacitate at the very least. Let him get away, though judging by how Vlad was here, it wouldn’t do him any good. Vlad probably had some kind of tracking system he could use to find him again.
Vlad’s eyes narrowed when Danny continued to do nothing but watch with suspicion and readiness to fight. “Must you keep pointing that thing at me, Sophia?”
The reaction was immediate, “Don’t call me that!”
A split second after the words left his mouth, Danny realized his outburst and gasped. Fear settled back into his stomach. Fear of rejection. Fear of persecution. Fear of the unknown.
Vlad made no move to fight though, simply raising his hands in a placating manner, “What would you have me call you, then?”
Huh?
Danny was expecting something more along the lines of a reprimand for speaking out of turn against his elder or something else aligned with the old man’s morals. Not… this?
He hesitated another second before slowly speaking, “Danny…”
“Okay, Danny. Can I come forward without you poking my eye out?” He said with a small grin to show he was joking. That he wasn’t actually trying to be defensive.
It worked to get Danny to lower his spear ever so slightly and so Vlad took a couple steps forwards until Danny tightened his grip again when he got too close. Vlad stopped immediately.
So as they stood six feet away from each other, still locked in a staring contest, Vlad started again, “I know what happened.”
Danny bristled once again, anger seeping into his core, eyes threatening to turn green.
“You can stop getting upset. I’m shocked to be saying this but I’m actually on your side for this one.” He rolled his eyes.
That made the younger halfa pause. “You… what?”
“What? You expect me to be on your parent’s side after those vile things I heard them say?”
What a punch to the gut. To know that his parents are still spouting their bullshit about him to everyone who’ll listen. The hurt must’ve flashed across his face because Vlad’s expression softened.
“Now, now, child. I put them in their place.”
Panic warred with his resentment. “Did you hurt them?” It came out a lot more wobbly than he wanted it to.
“Physically? No. Emotionally? Maybe, but do you really still care about them after what they’ve done?”
“No!… Yes? Maybe? I don’t know.” The answers all felt like the truth but there were too many feelings going on in his heart for him to make sense of it all. Add on top of that the adrenaline constantly rushing through his veins while he’s been living in the woods for two weeks and you’ve got an emotionally constipated fourteen year old boy. “Why do you care anyways? This has nothing to do with you, so butt out.”
Vlad stepped forward until he was arm’s reach from Danny, pointedly ignoring the spear raised his way. Going so far as to push it to the side so he could step closer to the child.
“I care because I’ve been where you are. Because I know you’re feeling lost, not in your identity but in your life. You’ve lost the two people on the planet who were supposed to love you unconditionally because you didn’t meet their standards for who you should’ve been. Because you’ve changed so much over the time that we’ve known each other and you deserve recognition for the work you’ve put into yourself.” He reached out his hands slowly, telegraphing his movements, and settled them on Danny’s shoulders, “I care because you are a bright, young boy who is going to accomplish great things in the Realms and that shouldn’t be thrown away in the woods, hoping that you won’t be found by anyone. Trust me, you don’t want to be alone for the rest of your life.” An amused grin flashed across Vlad’s face then, “Or afterlife.”
He didn’t know whether it was the words or the touch that comforted him more. He would never admit it but he had believed for a second that the last touch he would ever have in life would’ve been his mom’s backhand to his cheek. The bruise just now fading from view.
Whatever may have been the cause, Danny didn’t care all that much as he practically fell into Vlad’s steady arms in relief. Relief that he wasn’t alone. That he wasn’t stranded on an island of misery for the rest of his life.
He was still going to carry the weight of being forced to evacuate his presumed safe space but now he had a new one in an unlikely place. There were sure to still be days where he struggled with letting anyone in his personal boundaries and days where all he would do was cry but that was alright. He would make it in the end and though the path may be rocky, he was still trekking through.