#had grand aspirations but april turned out to be such an awful month ahaha

[sapphireswimming]

@currently-lurking I finished something for the Phic Phight woo!

@going-dead thanks for having such a fun prompt: Danny is off to college, leaving Vlad in charge of keeping ghosts out of Amity park. (934 words)

Vlad’s phone was on his office desk, carefully lying atop a pile of confidential papers in easy reach, though he would have denied having intentionally kept it there had anyone mentioned it.

He was in the middle of budget re-forecasting for Dalv’s fiscal year end when it started to buzz. He felt it before he heard the ringtone.

His hand was on it before the first ring had even ended, but then he stopped, paused, controlled himself. Took a moment to lounge back in the high backed office chair and finally flipped the phone open after the fifth ring.

“Yes?” he asked, although he knew exactly who was on the other end.

“Hey, Vlad,” Danny greeted, a little too cheerfully.

Vlad scowled at the smirk in the kid’s voice, but smoothed it over before any of it could leak out. “Ah, Daniel,” he purred as if the call was a surprise. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Danny huffed a laugh, knowing full well that Vlad knew exactly why he was calling. “Yeah, okay,” he chuckled. “I’ve got a couple minutes between classes so I’m calling for an update.”

When Vlad didn’t immediately reply, Danny continued, “So how about it, Fruitloop? The city still standing?”

“Yes, of course, the city’s standing,” Vlad said, failing to keep the edge out of his voice.

Danny grinned. “Well, you know, I had to check. It’s been an entire week since the last time you told me you were taking care of things.” “And nothing’s changed.” “Uh huh,” Danny said, somewhat dubiously. “No mass breakouts from the portal? No ghosts terrorizing the town?”

“No more than usual,” he said dryly. “No casualties, though?” Danny pressed.

“No, Daniel,” he replied evenly. “Everything’s fine.”

“No major possessions or takeover attempts?”

“I’m the mayor of Amity Park,” Vlad cut in. “Do you really think there’s any way I’d let anyone, dead or alive, take it over from me?”

“…point,” Danny finally muttered. “But seriously, there’s nothing that-“

“Nothing has exploded while you were in baby bio,” Vlad sighed. “We had an agreement and nothing’s changed. The city’s fine. The people are fine. And given the state I can only imagine your grades to be in, I’d say it would be a much better use of your time to, oh, say, crack open one of your textbooks instead of calling me.”

Danny rubbed the back of his neck and mumbled something on the other side of the line.

Vlad drummed his fingers along the edge of his desk. “Your break’s coming up in a few weeks,” he finally said.

“What, you’re creeping on my schedule now?”

“The academic calendar is public information. It can hardly be considered creeping to know when the college’s fall break is scheduled,” he said, and Danny had to agree. “Knowing your detailed class schedule from the Registrar’s office would be a different story entirely,” he trailed off suggestively, “but the question still stands,” he continued before Danny could sputter in indignation.

“What question? You didn’t ask a question. And are you seriously – wait. Do you have my class schedule?” he asked, voice rising. “Do you actually know my grades?”

Vlad ignored him. “Fall break,” he said, getting back on track. “What are your plans? Will you be returning to Amity Park?” he asked, hoping he struck a tone with the levels of disinterestedness he was looking for.

From the sudden grin in Danny’s voice, though, it didn’t sound like he had asked the question neutrally enough.

“Why?” Danny asked slyly. “You want me back that badly? What, protecting the city wasn’t as easy as you expected it to be, huh? That it?”

Vlad put a hand to his temple. “I was merely inquiring as to whether I had to endure this ordeal in person within the next few weeks or if I was to expect continued interruptions to my busy schedule—”

“Oh please,” Danny said. “Like that’s actually why you’re asking. But yes, if you wanted to know so badly, I am coming home over break. But I’m not fighting any ghosts while I’m back,” he was quick to emphasize. “It’s break. Which is still covered in our deal, so don’t even think about getting out of it while I’m back.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Vlad rolled his eyes.

“I’m supposed to be on break. And write papers and stuff. Normal college student stuff,” Danny said again.

Vlad opened his mouth for a biting comment about how normal his college experience had turned out, but was interrupted by movement on Danny’s end.

“Okay, anyway, I have to go. Class is about to start. But you better do your job right because I’ll be calling again in a couple days to make sure,” he said as if it were a threat even though he was undoubtedly weaving his way through a throng of students getting to class before it began.

“I can’t wait,” Vlad deadpanned, and flipped the phone shut before Daniel could terminate the call from his end.

He slipped the phone back into a pocket and rubbed at his eyes.

Really, he couldn’t decide if it was more of a hassle to protect the residents of Amity Park from any wayward ghosts that managed to make their way out of the portal past his guards or assure Daniel that all was well and he wasn’t entirely incompetent at any of his many jobs.

Speaking of which… he sighed, and pulled up the next in a long list of excel files he needed to comb over before the day was out.

“Kids,” he muttered.