day one
hope

Vlad Masters was an absolute enigma.

One moment, he and Daniel Fenton were locked in vicious battle, where threats of murder were commonplace and where it was near impossible to escape without a few deep cuts that were difficult to explain to concerned passerby. The next moment, Vladimir was angrily chastising the teenager for being careless and threatening to email Principal Ishiyama about Dash Baxter and countless other school bullies. After all, ignoring Amity Parks' mayor and well-known billionaire would be social suicide; no doubt she would lose her job.

It was… confusing, to say the least. Danny wasn't sure whether he should call the old fruitloop for help on a difficult geometry problem or if he should throw him into depths of the Ghost Zone at once. No doubt he noticed all the times Vlad winced after aiming a well-placed blow to Danny's abdomen or how he tended to exercise more care during their battles.

In Danny's case, he was all bark and no bite (besides a little nibble every now and then to keep the teen in his place, lest he become bold and challenge the older halfa). Unfortunately, it wasn't the same case for other ghosts. Danny once saw the old man burst into flames when Skulker gave him a bout of unfortunate news. He hadn't even known Vlad was capable of bursting into flames.

These thoughts, among others, floated through Danny's mind like lazy clouds on a warm summer's day as he sat on a stainless steel countertop, lazily swinging his boots and studying Vlad Masters through locks of overgrown white hair.

They were in Vladimir's lab, surrounded by shiny, unblemished surfaces and basking in giant fluorescent lights. Vlad, dressed impeccably as always in a black suit (though his jacket had been tossed aside and his white sleeves pushed up to his elbows), spun elegantly on his heel and scoffed at the sight of Danny's long, messy hair. A pair of scissors, the same reflective steel as the rest of the laboratory, twirled lazily in his left hand whilst the right reached forward to tousle Danny's hair.

The teen instinctively flinched.

Vlad's fingers froze amidst Danny's tangled mop. He exhaled loudly through his nose before his fingers continued on, catching on small tangles that were easily unknotted. "Really, Daniel; it's just a haircut. Lord knows you would do a horrible job."

"I don't know if I can trust you to cut my hair when you can't even cut your own."

Vlad ran a comb through Danny's hair and chopped off his bangs with several quick motions. "Oh, please. I like to think my look is fashionable."

"Oh yeah; man buns are height of fashion."

"I don't wear man buns, Daniel."

"Bet."

Danny thought he heard Vlad chuckle a bit, albeit under his breath, and the two fell into a sort of comfortable silence. The younger halfa's mind drifted further and further into the conundrum that was Vlad Masters, and, after several minutes that were filled only with the sound of scissors snipping and a slight hum of machinery, Danny opened his mouth once more.

"Why are you doing this?" It was barely a whisper, as though Danny had mouthed the words to himself rather than speak them to the person that whose mind had entangled itself in Danny's hair.

"You're going to have to speak up if you plan on me hearing you, Daniel. Even ghosts become hard of hearing in their old age."

Snip.

"Why are you doing this?" Danny said, louder, and he swallowed the growing lump that had begun gathering in his throat immediately after he'd uttered it the first time. "Being nice to me, I mean."

Vlad scoffed again. It was becoming a habit. "I'd hardly call it 'being nice to you.' I just want you to be able to watch me the next time I beat you into the ground."

Snip.

"You're a horrible liar, fruitloop."

"The entirety of Amity Park would beg to differ."

"Come on, tell me the truth. Why are you doing this? My mom could just as easily give me a haircut."

Snip.

"Please. Maddie is far too busy to deal with trivial things like this. I don't doubt that her split ends are something akin to a cavewoman's."

"She would've cut my hair if I'd asked. She's not a bad mom, Vlad."

Vlad's eyebrows furrowed. "I wouldn't want to bother her with it when I can just as easily do it myself."

Snip.

Danny pulled away immediately following that cut, turning his head to glare daggers into Vlad's eyes. "So that's what this is about? You trying to impress my mom? For the last fricking time, Vlad, you're not going to—"

"That's not what this is about, Daniel!" Vlad snapped, his hand slamming against the countertop and leaving smudged fingerprints behind. Danny nearly jumped out of his boots.

"That's not what this is about," Vlad repeated, quieter this time, and his eyes wandered to the floor. A derisive chuckle emanated from his throat. "I was a fool to think I could ever snag a treasure such as your mother. And I despise Jack with every fiber of my being, I truly do, but killing him? As time wears on and those days in the hospital become nothing more than a distant memory, I just … I can't find the energy to waste my waking moments on his demise. And, of course, you saw how my efforts to clone you turned out. All I'd managed to create were mindless, liquefying monsters and a rebellious preteen girl."

Danny stared on, lips pressed tight against each other.

"I guess I've always been doomed to be lonely. Ever since the very beginning. I just thought that, maybe, if I pretended like you were my own, I would forget that you actually weren't. I just want to forget."

"You're not my dad, Vlad, and you never will be."

Vladimir wouldn't meet Danny's eyes.

"But that doesn't mean there isn't hope for you. I mean, come on, if you just stopped being stuck in the past and moved on, I'm sure you'd find someone. I mean, you're smart, you're rich, and you got that weird ponytail thing going on that I guess is popular nowadays for some reason."

Vlad huffed a bit, a grin playing across his lips.

"Now please just finish cutting my hair so this can stop being awkward and I can go the hell home."

Vladimir nodded once, picked up the scissors and the comb, and once again began to busy himself with Danny's hair. Once again, like before, several minutes passed by.

Vlad mumbled something under his breath.

"You're going to have to speak up if you plan on me hearing you, Vlad," Danny mocked, boots tapping against the side of the counter.

"I said thank you, you twat."

Danny grinned.

There's hope for you yet, Vlad Masters.

There's hope for you yet.

so, ur fave got horribly sick on the first day of dannymay and couldn't even look at a computer screen without wanting to throw up. the result? i'm already a day late. yay.

also ! if you've already read this story and ur like wtf tay ? don't worry. go ahead and skip ahead to chapter 10 if you've already read the first nine oneshots. things were getting hectic on my account and i decided to contain all dannymay oneshots in one fanfic. hope this new change doesn't throw you off course too much !

anyway, i hope you enjoy this late badger cereal oneshot. my inspiration came in the form of "vlad masters is an enigma" and i just kinda went with it from there. let the story take me where it did, you know? yeah. go ahead and tell me what you think of it in the reviews!

xx