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Chapter Text

Vladimir Masters was lonely; incredibly and utterly lonely. 

After a full year of trying desperately to get Maddie Fenton to leave her buffoon husband and join him with nothing but the permanent nickname of ‘Fruitloop’ by their son to show for it—well, it made the tired man more than just a little lonesome. 

Anybody would be if they had spent over twenty years being alone.

Hence Vlad’s new plan being set into action. 

“Under no circumstances should anyone know about this but you and me,” Vlad warned Danny as he typed something into a computer.

“You act like we’re hacking into the FBI or something,” The teen snorted, he had agreed to help the elder halfa enthusiastically once Vlad made his plan known to him—though, the likely reasoning for it being to stop the man’s flirting with his mother.

“That would be more desirable than this,” The billionaire groaned.

“It’s a dating app, Vlad. Stop being so dramatic,” 

“That’s incredibly rich coming from you,”

“Shut up, Fruitloop,”

Danny pressed the ENTER key and smiled wide as he turned the computer’s screen towards the elder halfa, “Check it out,”

Vlad leaned forward as he put his square-rimmed reading glasses on.

“Old man,” Danny faked a cough that failed to cover his snarky remark.

“Sassy child,” Vlad countered as he read over the profile Danny made for him.

Surprisingly, not an insult or humiliating fact was within the profile. Which Vlad mentally noted as young Daniel’s attempt to stop his advances on his mother. Though he found it unnecessary, he had gotten over Madeline a few months back. He truly just needed somebody, anybody , to just love and care for him, so he wouldn’t be so alone anymore. 

Vladimir Masters

Job/Career - CEO/Owner of various DALV companies & Mayor of Amity Park

Age - 46

Hobbies - Watching football, cooking/baking, chess, inventing, and scientific research.

Partner Preferences - Caring, committed, loyal, and trustworthy. 

There were more details in the page regarding other stuff with just those being the main highlights, Danny had even included a picture of Vlad waving to the people of Amity Park as he walked off a podium with a smile while he was in his usual business suit attire.

“I’m impressed,” Vlad smirked, “Not a single cereal reference anywhere,”

“It took a lot of restraint,” Danny snickered as he clicked POST on Vlad’s profile.

“What now?” He asked.

“We wait,” The teenager shrugged, “I think it’ll take a bit before you get a match. Not really sure how these things work, but the average timing was a day to a day and an half on the app’s instructions page—”

A high pitched DING! interrupted Danny.

The halfas leaned over to look at the computer, where four small, printed words caused both of their jaws to fall open.

You have a Match!

“That’s a bit quicker than normal, right?” Vlad asked as Danny nodded.

“Who is it?” The fifteen year old watched as he clicked on the little message-shaped icon on the screen.

“Chronus Work,” Vlad read, “Age forty-seven and…a complete and total match?”

“Your partner preferences line up completely,” Danny pointed out, “Chronus’ says he's looking for someone unafraid of challenges, so commitment in a way. As well as being loyal and having a strong-willed personality. Which is just a nicer way of saying stubborn—which you are.”

Danny touched the computer screen, “Scroll up,” 

“It’s not a touch screen,” Vlad informed him as he used the built-in computer mouse.

“You’re a multi-billionaire and you don’t have a touch screen computer?”

“I don’t like them,”

“Who doesn’t like touch screen computers—?”

Danny trailed off as he stared at Vlad, whose wide eyes were fixed on the screen in an odd trance-like state.

“Uh—Vlad? Fruitloop…did you just die fully? You’re kinda freaking me out here,”

Vlad’s blink acted as the reply while he stared at the picture of Chronus Work.

A thin man in a navy shirt with slightly puffed long sleeves and black slacks was the picture’s focus. He had white hair that laid just past his shoulders with two front pieces braided and pulled back. Likely connecting in the back to keep hair out of his face. His skin was slightly tanned and he had crimson-brown eyes. A scar ran through over one of his eyes and he had a small closed-lipped smile on his face. His eyes were soft yet intimidating, which is what currently held Vlad’s concentration.

“He’s…” Vlad murmured something incomprehensible before turning to Danny, “How do I accept a match?”

Danny smiled as he showed the elder halfa how to accept it (after the inevitable yelling match on how to properly use a computer’s mouse, of course).

A few months passed and Vlad was completely in love with his dating–app match. They had met quite a few times in person for dates and chatted online almost daily. It had Vlad acting like a lovesick teenager the way he smiled whenever the familiar ding of a text came through or the blissful look on his face whenever he saw Chronus in person.

To say he had been thrilled when Chronus and he took their relationship to the next level, finally labeling themselves as boyfriends, was a total understandment. He may have done a few loops in the air in ghost form as he flew home that night, but nobody needed to know that. 

Not even Danny’s comments on him finally, ‘finding someone who can stand his Fruitloopyness’ could bring him down. (And no, it’s not a word no matter how many times the younger halfa insists that it is).

Chronus and Danny had actually met for the first time a bit ago, though it had been in an….odd situation.

Both Chronus and Vlad witnessed Danny detransform from Phantom form back into his human form of Fenton in an alleyway they were passing at the time while they were walking back to Vlad’s house from a restaurant—it being ironically exact same time the teen ghost hero finished a particularly nasty fight with Spectra and a lion-form taken up by her assistant, Betrand.

Vlad had—understandably—been a complete nervous wreck to see his boyfriend’s reaction to the existence of half-ghosts. His whole relationship had pretty much been on the line by his reaction alone.

“Hello, there.” Chronus raised an eyebrow with a small smile, “Need some help?”

Both Danny and Vlad blinked at the man’s response (or lack of one) as Chronus helped heave Danny upwards and walked him home with Vlad. Each arm of the younger halfa's resting on one shoulder of each of the two older men.

After Danny was all healed, wrapped up, and sitting on Vlad’s couch; Vlad took the unexpected chance given to him to talk to his boyfriend about his own half-ghost status.

“Chronus,” Vlad had cleared his throat, still nervous. 

Knowing a halfa was definitely different than dating one, and his nerves began returning once more as he spoke, “Danny’s a halfa. Which is basically a half ghost-human hybrid. And he’s not the only one, either. I’m—”

“A halfa as well?” Chronus chuckled, “My love, I already knew that.”

Both of the half-ghosts’ eyes widened at the revelation. 

“What?!” Danny screeched as he fell off the couch he had been resting on.

“How?!” Vlad sputtered, confused but comforted by the fact Chronus didn’t seem to be wanting to end things over his hybrid status.

“Your eyes had glowed red when you were on the business call with another CEO—Terrance—I believe.” He shrugged, “There was also the time when you were so tired one morning, your hand completely phased through the cabinet to grab some cereal. You didn’t even notice that you did it or that I was sitting at the kitchen table right behind you,”

Danny bursted out laughing as Vlad blushed in embarrassment.

“Terrence is annoying,” Vlad mumbled, “As well as incompetent and reckless. I suppose I’m not surprised on that one,”
Chronus raised an eyebrow with a smirk on his face, “Oh, yes. How reckless he is for misfilingpaperwork. My, it’s almost as bad as if he revealed he was a half-ghost due to the incredible and insatiable need for a box of Cheerios !”

Danny choked on his own laughter, later informing Vlad that he expected to be the best man at their wedding when they decided to ‘tie the knot’ because it was his idea for the saying app and it had ‘all happened because of him.’

Vlad groaned, to which Chronus replied with a wide smile as he handed Vlad a box of Cheerios, the younger halfa’s wheezing laughter once again filling the air of the mansion until Chronus gave Danny his own cereal box.

Little Badger-O’s

Now it was Vlad’s turn to laugh at Danny’s inevitable groan.

Vlad stood rigid in front of the Fentons’ door, seemingly trying to make it disappear with his eyes alone.

“Vladimir, it’s not going to simply open on its own,” Chronus told him, “That’s not how doors work, love.”

“Can’t you just tell me what they’re going to think?” Vlad begged him once more.

When Chronus had revealed himself to truly be Clockwork, Master/Ghost of Time, over a dinner date with Vlad, who—after getting over the initial shock that he was practically dating what would be considered an ancient god of a ghostly entity—had not been mad at Clockwork’s initial identity lies. He understood why he did it, Clockwork didn’t want anyone to date him simply out of desire for power or influence that would come out of the relationship. But power and influence never once came into Vlad’s mind as he took the news with a peck on the cheek and—if possible—continued to love him even more than before.

Besides; when Danny fainted after finding out that Chronus was actually Clockwork, it definitely acted as a lovely bonus.

Vlad gave his best begging look at his boyfriend one last time—only for Clockwork to knock on the door for him.

“Oops,” He shrugged, “Guess it’s too late,”

Vlad groaned.

After getting over Maddie, Vlad could honestly say that he longer despised Jack Fenton, but he wasn’t completely sure he was ready to try again to call him a friend. 

After all, both he and Maddie never once visited him in the several years he was in the hospital from their proto-portal. They were too busy reveling in their success and enjoying their wedding to visit a lonely (half) dying man that they had called their ‘best friend’ for years.

Obviously having long gotten over his love for Maddie, he came to the realization that he held the same amount of saddened resentment towards both her and Jack from the proto-portal accident. But even with that, he couldn’t truly bring himself to hate both of them entirely. They had been his only friends, and despite knowing in his heart they were no longer best friends—or nearly as close as they once were—he still wanted to introduce them to the man who had made him so very happy.

Besides, maybe Maddie would ease away her own resentment towards Vlad once she saw he no longer harbored any feelings for her.

After a moment passed since Clockwork knocked, Jazz opened the door while smiling at them.

“Hey, Vlad,” She turned to Clockwork, who was in his human disguise of Chronus Work, “Hello Chronus,”

She winked at the Ancient, letting them both know (moreso Vlad) that she was in on Chronus’ identity and was completely supportive and happy for them.

Despite Clockwork already knowing Jazz’s stance on their relationship, he smiled at the young woman in thanks as Vlad gave a small pat on her shoulder as his own thanks.

“Come on in!” She let Vlad and Clockwork in, who sat in the living room on the couch next to Danny.

After a few moments of Clockwork speaking with Danny about an upcoming meteor shower and Vlad’s eyes continuously sweeping over the main floor of the house, he decided to bite the bullet and simply ask Jazz his question.

“Where’re your parents?” He finally asked her, who had just brought in some refreshments.

“Lab,” She answered simply before going down the stairs herself and yelling to her parents to come up.

“Dad, Mom, Vlad’s here!”

Hearing the boisterous shout of ‘V-Man!’ and loud footsteps, Vlad had properly—or tried to, at least—brace himself for Jack’s bone-crushing hug.

“I’m glad you made it to dinner tonight, Vladdie! Maddie’s making her famous meatloaf!” Jack bellowed before noticing Chronus, “Who’s this? A friend of yours?”

Vlad cleared his throat nervously as he grasped Clockwork’s hand, “Actually, Jack—this is Chronus Work, and he’s my boyfriend,”

Jack blinked in surprise before a wide smile broke onto his face, “I didn’t know you swung that way, V-Man! But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, you did seem pretty interested in James Hollers back in college.”

Jack gave a knowing smile as he nudged his college buddy playfully while Vlad blushed and Chronus raised an eyebrow with his own large smile on his face, “Oh? James Hollers, huh? Mind sharing some stories, Jack?”

“Babe, no, Vlad groaned.

“Babe, yes,” Clockwork just smiled cheekily as Jack led them to the table—sharing stories of the billionaire’s terrible attempts at flirting with men and women alike back in their college days.

When dinner started, Jack sat at the head of the table with Maddie and Jazz on either side of him with Danny at the other end’s head of the table with Clockwork and Vlad beside him.

Watching as everyone he cared about was talking, laughing, and enjoying time with each other, Vlad couldn’t help but smile as he realized something truly great.

He’d never be lonely again, Life or Death, he was forever going to be loved.

Chapter Text

“Vladimir?” Ms. Sora sighed, “What are you doing?”

A little boy with black hair and blue eyes stared up at the first grade teacher, blinking twice before answering, “Drawing,”

The teacher glanced at his worksheet, what should’ve been his work on spelling was a doodle of a bird.

“It’s spelling time,” Ms. Sora explained, “Not drawing, you can draw more during free time.”

Vladimir looked at her before nodding his head slowly, “Ok, sorry.”

Ms. Sora walked away, going back to teaching as the small boy stared out the window from his desk next to it.

The teacher’s voice quickly became muted in his mind as his thoughts wandered to other things. Mostly things he wanted to draw.

For a moment, Vlad thought he saw a kid his age with short white hair and a scar over his eye staring at him. He had a crotchet purple sweater with a clock stitched on it with navy blue pants. The little boy gave a small smile and waved before he vanished into thin air faster than Vlad could blink, it was like he was never even there in the first place.

The young boy blinked, rubbing his eyes twice before finally settling on the idea that it had been a trick of the light.

A few more minutes passed by before Vlad briefly glanced at a blank piece of paper, tilting his head to the side slightly as his mind thought up a new idea.

I wonder if I could draw him…

Middle school was hard for Vlad, sixth grade especially. He had a teacher who just seemed to have a personal vendetta against him. Mr. Louis seemed to just love making Vlad miserable; and that was the truth he believed in full heartedly.

Mr. Louis had given him detention for drawing in class—even though Vlad finished his work a while before starting to doodle—which led to his current chore of erasing other students’ drawings in the old history textbooks that the school was long overdue for updating. Mr. Louis had fallen asleep only twenty minutes into the detention, but the boy knew if he tried to leave before the detention ended, the teacher would somehow wake up and yell at him. So he just continued erasing without a break until his hand cramped painfully.

Vlad sighed as he rubbed his aching wrist, only to slightly freeze in place when he heard a lovely voice begin to quietly hum a song.

He didn’t recognize the melody at all, he was fairly sure it wasn’t even a song published. That somebody must have written it and was just singing it because they thought no one could hear them. The words of the song were in French, which made Vlad smile softly. He had become fluent in French just a year ago and was able to understand the song’s lyrics perfectly.

“Ȃme brisée, cœur brisé, je n'ai jamais blȃmé la douleur qui t'a brisé,”

Broken soul, broken heart, I have only ever blamed the pain that has broken you apart,

“J'aimerais pouvoir arrêter ton chagrin et te serrer fort, J' ai toujours voulu te protéger de toutes mes forces.” 

I wish I could stop your heartbreak and hold you tight, I’ve only ever wanted to protect you with all my might.

The song went on a bit more and Vlad could feel himself relaxing at the music, he continued erasing while the lyrics and melody of the song soothed his mind, and even seemingly aided his aching wrist. 

When he finished, Vlad glanced up to spot a kid around his age in the hallway.

He had blonde-white hair that reached just a bit past his jaw with the two front pieces breaded that conjoined in the back of his head—pulling his hair out of his face while it remained down. His eyes were crimson brown and he had a faint scar over one of them. His smile was small and closed, but it felt warm and comforting. The boy wore a cream-white crochet sweater and navy blue jeans. He had a pocket watch in one of his hands and hummed the end of the melody to the song he was singing just moments ago.

Vlad closed the book he just finished erasing in, deciding to walk into the hall and introduce himself to the odd boy, the boy who seemed oddly fascinating.

Something about him felt incredibly familiar as well as comforting.

But before he could even get out the door, Vlad blinked at the empty spot that was where the boy who was no longer there once stood. He had vanished from sight completely. He searched the halls for a bit, tuning out Mr. Louis’ lecture on him for leaving when he returned as he tried to come up with some idea on how the boy just disappeared into seemingly thin air.

For the next week, Vlad would ask around and search through the entire student body for the white-blonde boy with the scar over his eye.

Not a single person knew anyone by that description, and Vlad never once saw the boy again in his entire middle school years.

But he always remembered that song that the boy’s smooth voice had sung to him.

It had oddly felt like that song was meant just for him.

Vlad was in his senior year of High School and had no idea of what he wanted to do with his life. He had done everything to try and find a career he might be interested in; he went to fairs, did multiple internships, scoured the internet for fields he might like, attending any lectures and talks about colleges and jobs, yet he came up with nothing more than the idea that he wanted to do something in science.

It was late at night in the library when Vlad finally turned off the school’s computer and sighed, he had gotten no closer to finding anything he’d want to do.

Glancing at the clock that read 9:30, Vlad reached over to grab the coffee he brought with him when he heard something hard hit the ground.

Jolting at the noise before standing up, he glanced around the room for the source of the loud noise.

When a small movement out of the corner of his eye caught Vlad’s attention, he finally found the source of the interruption.

A book had fallen off a cart and slammed against the floor, sighing while rubbing his temple, Vlad picked it up and went to set it back on the cart when he noticed the title.

The Science Behind the Paranormal 

Positive he had never seen this book before, as well as his interest being trapped with the title alone, the high schooler sat at a nearby table and opened the book to read. 

An hour passed before Vlad finally put down the book, his future choice set into his mind like words in stone. A rather unknown field was Ectology, but it definitely piqued his interest in both science and the paranormal/supernatural books he had read when he was younger. Vlad glanced at the author’s name.

“Andrew G. Writer,” He read, “A fitting name for an author,” 

He left the library, taking the book with him—though nobody would notice such a book was missing, for the library had never had any book by the author of Andrew G. Writer at all. 

Not even less than a moment after Vlad left the library, a figure shifted into visibility next to the book cart that the paranormal book was on. A familiar—now around Vlad’s age rather than the kid he was when they last saw each other—white haired man with a scar over one of his crimson-brown eyes stood next to the cart. The man next to him had pale skin and wild black hair poking out in several different directions, his square-shaped glasses rested slightly crooked on his face while he wore a less-than-just-slightly wrinkled suit. 

The man huffed, “I do hope you know that I don’t give my books away for nothing, not even for an Ancient.” 

“I’m aware, Ghost Writer.” The white haired man waved his hand and five empty books appeared on the library’s counter, “Is five new books that you can write enough for payment?”

“It’ll do!” Ghost Writer smiled as he grabbed the pile, “Pleasure doing business with you!”

Ghost Writer vanished right after the man chuckled, “Likewise, Andrew.”

Later that night, a  familiar hum of an old but not forgotten melody helped Vlad fall asleep.

“Je briserai toutes les règles pour te faire sourire,”

I'll break every rule there is to bring a smile to your face,

“Ton amertume ne me dérange pas, les sucreries n'ont jamais été mon goût préféré…”

I don't mind your bitterness, sweets were never my favorite taste…

Vlad sat in the hospital bed, his mind bitter and his body aching as a mocking reminder of his current state. 

Seven years had gone by and his two so-called best friends, Maddie and Jack, had never once visited him. Not even a call, text, or single letter from them.

He was angry and bitter, and who wouldn’t be? They were all he had, and they abandoned him as soon as they could. Visiting their dying friend in the hospital apparently wasn’t as important as their honeymoon or writing papers on the success of the Proto-Portal. 

It angered him, and he had every right to be furious. He was short with any of the hospital staff who entered his room, he was always being poked and prodded at no matter the time of day, and he was sick and tired of it.

The door of his room opened, jolting him out of the bitter thoughts of his mind.

“Hello, Vladimir,” A doctor Vlad both didn’t recognize and recognized at the same time entered the room.

Slightly wavy pure white hair that just reached past his shoulders with half of it tied up in a small bun and the rest of it remaining downwards. Crimson-brown eyes were always staring in a way that made it seem he was seeing something nobody else could. He was wearing a doctor's coat over a pale purple turtleneck and beige pants. His hands rested on a black cane with a golden clock-gear like a figurine on top of it.

And, just as Vlad always remembered him, a scar ran through one of his crimson-brown eyes.

“You,” Vlad’s eyes widened slightly, “I remember you,”

The man just gave a closed-lipped smile as he walked over and sat on the chair resting next to Vlad’s hospital bed.

“You’ve changed much from the last time we saw each other, Vladimir,” He stated.

Vlad’s face then twisted into bitter anger, “My accident changed me quite a bit,”

He subconsciously clutched his right arm, the arm that had went right through the cup of water he was trying to get just moments ago.

“I know,” The familiar man raised an amused eyebrow, “But I was not talking about your bursts of ghostly powers,”

Vlad’s head twisted to stare at the white-haired man in shock, “How did you know—?”

“One day,” The man raised a hand in a silencing motion, “I will explain it all, but I wish for you to listen right now.”

The no-longer true human man just fell silent as he waited.

“Maddie and Jack,” The white-haired man began, “They left you, and you are hurt. They both did, not just one is responsible for your accident to the abandonment. You have a right to be angry, to be bitter, to be hurt. But do not let your hurt define you, you are more than this accident, Vladimir. You are more than these new powers and you are more than an abadoned friend. You are so much more, and I have known that since the moment I first saw you. So I ask of you, do not let your pain define who you are,”

Vlad soaked in the words silently, “Who are you? I’ve seen you so many times throughout these years, but who are you?”

The man just grinned as he made Vlad's hand curl over something that he handed to him, “I am many things, but my name is Clockwork. And take my word for it when I say we are not yet finished meeting,”

Clockwork stood, “All is as it should be, Vladimir, do not worry for your future.”

He gave a small smile, “That’s my job,”

Before Vlad could call out anything else or ask him another question, Clockwork vanished into thin air, leaving the young man alone once more.

Vlad uncurled his hand over the unknown object that was just given to him, staring at it with a mix of shock and confusion.

In his hand was a small pendant of what seemed to be a golden clockgear; almost dropping it when his hand went intangible once more.

Intangible, Vlad furrowed his eyebrows as he thought to himself, I wonder if I could make my whole body go intangible…

Vlad Masters sat in his mansion in Wisconsin, sipping red wine out of a glass as he petted his cat and watched the grandfather clock tick off to the side of the room.

He fiddled with the chained necklace that held a pendant of a clock gear that was almost always hidden under his suit.

Then the pendant seemed to get warmer in his hand, his cat’s purrs fell silent and the ticking of the clock ceased completely. It was as if the earth had gone on pause.

Vlad smiled as he shifted in his spot on the couch to face the being sitting in his living room on one of his armchairs.

“Vladimir,” The being grinned, “You’ve followed my advice well, haven’t you?”

“All because of you, Clockwork,” The billionaire smiled, “I owe it all to you,”

“I merely gave you the push you needed,” Clockwork’s ghost form moved to sit next to the halfa, “The rest was you,”

“Perhaps,” Vlad grasped Clockwork’s hand as he made the two of them stand upwards, “Care to dance, mon amour?”

“Must you even need to ask?”

Over thirty years after they had first met, Vladimir Masters and Clockwork danced to the song that had long ago intertwined their fates. That same melody that had first blossomed their love all those years ago.

“N'aie pas peur pour ta vie au-delà d'aujourd'hui,”

Fear not for your life beyond today,

“Parce que je te promets que je serai toujours là pour toi, rien de ce que tu pourrais faire ne pourrait m'égarer.”

Because I promise I'll be there for you always, there's not a thing you could do that would lead me astray.

“Je serai avec toi aussi longtemps que tu m'auras,”

I will be with you for as long as you'll have me,

“Je te le promets, ma chérie, notre amour est à jamais plus fort que tout ce qui pourrait l'être.”

I promise, my darling, our love is forever stronger than anything else that may be.

Chapter Text

Why was Vlad in his ghost form while in Amity Park despite him having a truce with Danny and only showing up to help him out with tough ghosts despite there being no ghost present at the moment?

The answer was simple; because he was bored.

He had just gotten out of a far too long business meeting that had felt like drilling nails into his head would be more fun than continuing to listen about advertising charts for any longer and definitely needed to just let out some steam at this point.

Hence why he was here in Amity, waiting for the next ghost attack so he could jump in and help even if Danny really didn’t need it.

Not that the boy would really mind if he did, the younger halfa always did enjoy it when he could go back to class fast enough so he wouldn’t get another detention.

Plasmius did a few rounds in the sky, patrolling the area and looking for any excuse not to go back to work. A few of the citizens of Amity noticed the Wisconsin Ghost—for some reason they continued to refuse using his name despite it being shouted out many times in battles—and gave wary smiles and slightly hesitant waves to the halfa.

After Phantom made a public announcement that Plasmius and he had established a truce and were now working together a few months ago, he was no longer a ghost Amity Parkers would scream at or run from. (Unless he startled them, so it happened a bit more than one would think). Though it wasn’t as if they truly trusted him, they were still wary of Plasmius, only really letting him hang around peacefully because of Phantom’s influence in the matter.

Not that Vlad blamed them, really. He’d be cautious around himself too if he were in their shoes.

After a few more minutes of circling the main ghost attack areas, Vlad was ready to call it quits and go back to his office when the sound of an explosion echoed through his ears.

He tried not to show his utter joy on his face as he flew towards the sound’s origin.

Three giant ghost elephants had apparently decided that rampaging through Francis Street was their activity for the sunny Thursday afternoon as he and Phantom raced after them, trying to minimize stampede-made damages to the surrounding area. Two of the elephants had already been captured in Danny’s thermos while the third one somehow managed to completely avoid capture every time they got close to it.

“Maybe we can try to cut it off from the front?” Phantom panted as the two halfas took a small break near a bent lamp post.

“No, too risky. We could get hurt if it just decides to run us through. However, I could try to get its attention,” Plasmius offered, “Get it to chase me and redirect it into an empty alley, you might have a better chance at getting it into the thermos if you can sneak up on it from behind, then.”

“Sounds good to me,” Phantom sighed as he flew higher into the air, “Don’t get trampled into a Fruitloop Pancake, ok? Town’s already on me for property damages,”

“Your concern for me is overwhelming,” Vlad snorted as his godson stuck out his tongue playfully and zipped off somewhere in the sky.

Alright , The elder halfa thought as he straightened his back, a few pops and cracks echoing out from the stretch, I wonder if a white cape would work on elephants like red one would for bulls…

Surprisingly, white capes did work relatively well. Unfortunately, it worked a bit too well.

He really should change his ghost form’s outfit so he’s not wearing so much white after this.

“Will you get it in the thermos already?!” Plasmius snapped to Phantom as he was thrown against the wall by the ghost elephant’s trunk, “It’s been seven minutes of this! I'm starting to think you’re just doing this for the fun of it!”

“I can’t get it while you’re in the way!” Danny yelled back, “Unless you want to be trapped in the thermos with an angry ghost elephant, get it to put you down!”

“Oh, forgive me! I’ll just tell the elephant to stop throwing me around like a beach ball so it can set me down gently!—OW! FUDGE BUCKETS, BUTTER BISCUITS—DANIEL!”

The good news, the elephant finally let go of Vlad so Danny could put it into the thermos—Bad news, it decided the best way to let go of Vlad was by flinging him across the air until he was hurling towards the ground.

Summoning the very little energy amount he had left seemed impossible for even such a simple skill of basic intangibility—which was to be expected after an hour of ghost elephant wrangling—so Plasmius braced for the painful impact against the concrete that was quickly approaching.

A moment passed, and then another, and when Vlad wasn’t in a world of pain or felt any type of impact at all, he felt a little more than just a bit confused.

Did I subconsciously go intangible? That’d be new but helpful, The halfa thought as he opened his eyes—not even realizing he had closed them in the first place.

When he opened his eyes, Vlad noticed three very important details about why he wasn't flattened smear against the sidewalk.

One, he was floating in the sky despite not using his flight.

Two, he was being held like a bride on her wedding day with his arms subconsciously wrapped around someone’s neck.

Three, that very someone who just saved him was the Master of Time, Clockwork, who he had only heard about from reading books in Ghost Writer’s library.

Oh, and a fourth detail—Clockwork was very, very attractive and Vlad was very much having a bisexual panic moment for the Ghost of Time.

“Hello, there,” Clockwork grinned—and by the Ancients, Plasmius should not like his voice that much.

“Hi,” Plasmius didn’t even need to see himself to know he had a stupid lovesick smile on his face.

Good to know his flirting game has not gotten any better since his college days.

The Time Lord chuckled, “Are you feeling alright enough to stand or would you like me to keep carrying you, my dear?”

Carrying me, please “U-uh, I-uh, I can stand.” Vlad stuttered foolishly.

Who knew Clockwork could flirt? And flirt good?

Clockwork shifted Vlad in his arms, his one arm wrapped around the halfa’s waist as he lowered both of them to the ground.

“T-thank you!” Plasmius squeaked—by the Ancients, Daniel was never going to let him live this down if he ever found out.

“Your welcome, though try not to get flung into concrete too often, there’s better ways for us to meet.” Clockwork winked and vanished into thin air, leaving Vlad there to gap like a fish out of water. 

Flirt, He huffed to himself, thought, it wasn’t like he was complaining too much about it.

Plasmius cleared his throat, trying to get the green tinted blush on his face gone before Danny would find him.

“That was painful to watch,” Phantom materialized from invisibility behind the elder halfa, shaking his head mockingly, “It physically hurt me to watch you two,”

“I’m great, thanks for asking,” Vlad rolled his eyes,

“I bet you are,”

“Shut up, Daniel,”

Plasmius dusted himself off as he prepared to fly back to his office when he turned around and pointed a finger in the young halfa’s face, “You are not to tell anybody about this,”

“That you got beaten up by a ghost elephant or the fact that you're super gay for Clockwork?”

“First of all, I’m bisexual. Second of all, both of them and shut up,”

“You didn’t deny it,” Phantom gave a cheeky smile, “Besides, I doubt I’ll even have to tell anybody.”

Plasmius raised an eyebrow, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Phantom pointed to the left of them with a large grin on his face.

Following the direction of where he pointed, Plasmius saw the small crowd of Amity Parkers who had been watching the fight—and him and Clockwork. A news camera was even trained on Plasmius’ face at the moment.

“I hate you,” The man groaned.

“I’ll survive, see ya later, Plazzy!” Phantom laughed as he flew off.

Well , Vlad thought hopefully, Maybe this’ll all blow over,

It did not blow over. By the next day, Wisconsin Ghost x Clock Ghost was all over the media and internet, news reporters were talking about it, ecto-scientists were debating whether or not ghosts could fall in love, and people—even the teens and students at Casper High and other schools—were ‘shipping’ Plasmius and Clockwork.

There was fanart for the Ancients' sake! 

And the fanfics? Don’t get Vlad started—not that he actually read them! He was just…browsing when they came up. On the app. That he downloaded. For no relative reason of importance…

Besides all that, he’s been chased around by teens all day on ‘dating’ advice.

Oh, and Daniel. He was insufferable. 

“Maybe you should let Paulina give you a makeover,” Phantom had chuckled when they were patrolling together one night, “Might help your chances since you’re terrible at flirting,”

“Where’s the Box Ghost when you need him?” Vlad had muttered. 

“I am here! But you do not have to be frightened, Plasmius! I am here to help you get a perfect BOXED PRESENT FOR YOUR BELOVED!” Box Ghost phased through the wall of a warehouse while he yelled.

Danny had snickered, “Well, you did —”

“Finish that sentence and I’ll ectoblast you into a wall, truce or not.” Plasmius sighed.

He did end up taking a box with a gold pocket watch in it, annoying or not, Boxy did have a good eye for gifts.

But Daniel doesn’t have to know that…

Plasmius had just finished a battle with Technus since Daniel was sick when he was cornered by a mob of reporters near the school as he assessed the damage the town would have to pay for as the mayor.

“Mr. Wisconsin!” Someone shouted—Do they just refuse to use his name on purpose or are they really that oblivious?—“My name is Linda Tylers and I was wondering if you could give us some insight on your relationship with the Clock Ghost!”

“My name is Vlad Plasmius,” Vlad tried very hard not to growl, “Clockwork and I are not in  a romantic relationship,”

“Not yet!” A voice suspiciously sounding like Danny’s best friend, Tucker, called out from within the crowd.

“Plasmius!” Lance Thunder pushed himself up to the front, “Do you plan on asking out the Clock Ghost, Clockwork, was it?”

Plasmius felt his face heat up as he sputtered, “That’s a very private matter!”

“Can ghosts fuck?” An older teen from the back called out and the crowd finally fell silent as they all watched Plasmius for an answer. 

“I am not answering that!” Vlad snapped.

“That means yes!” Someone else laughed.

More questions rang out, each more embarrassing than the last.

“Can ghosts get married?”

“If a ghost and a human get married, is that necrophilia?”

“Can ghosts have kids?”

“How are ghost babies made?”

“Are you a top or bottom?” 

Plasmius buried his head in his hands, “Why me?”

“I have my money on bottom,” A teen Plasmius recognized from Danny’s class as Dash shrugged, “Pretty sure Clockwork’s the top,”

“That’s my cue to leave!” Plasmius yelped as his face blushed green.

“Wait!” A reporter shouted, “Can ghosts fall in love? Are you in love with Clockwork?”

“I'm not answering that!” Plasmius blushed.

“But I’m rather intrigued to hear the answer,” Clockwork materialized into visibility right next to Plasmius, who very much did not yelp.

Vlad froze as it went silent, everyone watching the display and waiting to hear his answer.

“Do tell, are you in love with me?” Clockwork had a smug look on his face.

“Uhhhh,” Plasmius stopped working properly for a moment.

“Hmm,” The Master of Time shrugged, “I suppose I can help you out a bit. Vladimir, I’m very much in love with you,”

Plasmius blinked, “W-what…Really?!”

Clockwork placed a kiss on his cheek, “Really,”

Vlad could feel himself smile like a lovesick fool, “I love you too,”

“Oh, I know,” the Master of Time chuckled, “Technus is a gossiper, though I’d know anyways even without him,”

“So—uh…” the halfa shifted his feet slightly, “Do you…wanna go out sometime?”

By the Ancients, he was bad at this.

“Six-thirty tonight, my Clocktower won’t be too far from the Fenton Portal’s entrance. Casual clothing,” Clockwork smirked, “Do wear the new button up you bought a few days ago, I quite like red on you,”

The Master of Time once again vanished from sight.

Plasmius was left there blinking foolishly before he sighed and turned to the crowd, “I can’t believe I’m asking this, but does anyone here know what to wear with a red button up on a date?”

Vlad then found himself wishing he hadn't asked when he spotted a bunch of teen girls off to the side with hair brushes and makeup bags in hand.

But despite the group of six teenage girls chasing him to try to convince him to let them do his hair before he finally gave in, Plasmius couldn’t shake the blush off his face. The date had even ended with quite a few of the questions Plasmius was asked being privately answered between himself and Clockwork.

(One of the answers being that Vlad was definitely a bottom)

Chapter Text

The eldest Fentons had somehow managed to take over the town meeting taking place at Casper High. Everyone eighteen and older had been required to attend the GIW’s presentation on ghosts and how dangerous they are.

No excuses.

Maddie and Jack had been asked to help presentate as the leading experts in Amity Park besides the Guys In White themselves—which inevitably led to the two Fentons completely taking over the presentation and the two agents in white to sit off the side and try not to nod off.

Although in their defense, most of Amity Parkers were nodding off as well—at least, they were until Maddie Fenton hooked up some sort of USB into a projector and the projected form of the Wisconsin Ghost appeared.

The ghost was dressed differently than they had ever seen before, his usual attire ditched for black fitted pants and a long sleeved, dark red button up with slightly puffed sleeves and a deep V-neck that revealed most of his blue-skinned chest.

“Who knew a ghost could be so toned,” A woman near the front of the audience shrugged, and while she got a few odd looks, nobody said anything speaking otherwise.

The ghost’s usual hairdo of styled horns was gone and replaced with his hair down, making it visible just how long his hair actually was—and that he actually had horns.

The black horns sprouting from his head made him look even more other-worldly than before.

“We have managed to set a small drone after the ecto-signature of the Wisconsin Ghost,” Maddie explained, “What you’re seeing here is what is actually happening in the moment. This is to show the true nature of ghosts, no matter what front they put up as a disguise,”

Everyone was now paying attention with intent, watching the screen.

“I can do this,” The Wisconsin Ghost suddenly breathed, “This is just like all the other times before…except this will change my entire afterlife forever and determine my future completely and utterly and— I can’t do this!”

The ghost suddenly sat on the ground, a small hill with green grass full of life and beauty; his location unknown as only the sunset sky was visible.

The ghost looked anxious and nervous, his hand reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small velvet black box.

“You can do this, Plasmius!” Phantom suddenly appeared into visibility next to the Wisconsin Ghost—now known as Plasmius, “C’mon, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Plasmius shot him aglare and Phantom rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, “Alright, not super comforting, I get it. But! You and Clockwork are the cutest—and weirdest, don’t get me wrong—couple in pretty much the entire Infinite Realms! Here’s no way he’ll say no,”

“Oh my god!” Someone from the back of the crowd squealed, “He’s in love! Aw, that’s so cute!”

“Ghosts can’t fall in love,” Maddie huffed,

“It’s fake—”

“But you said this is live,” Agent T from the GIW raised an eyebrow, “Perhaps ghosts can form some sort of bond one could call a ‘relationship’ in technicality,”

Maddie scowled but said nothing.

“Until he realizes he can do so much better and dumps me,” Plasmius shoved his head in his hands, Phantom grabbing the velvet box from his one clawed hand.

He opened the box, “Dang, how much did you spend on this—how many diamonds are even on this thing?!”

“I didn’t count all the diamonds, and one-hundred thousand,” Plasmius admitted, “He deserves it,”

Phantom rolled his eyes playfully as he picked up an engagement ring out of the box, the band golden with large diamonds and rubies all around the largest diamond, which sparkled even in the dark sky.

“He’s proposing…?” Agent L stood by his partner, “Ghosts really are more complex creatures than we thought,”

Agent T nodded.

“He’s not going to say no,” Phantom put a hand on the elder ghost’s shoulder, “He really loves you, anyone can see it. He sought you out, Plasmius. He went out of his way to find you and be with you,”

“He deserves a lot more than I could ever give him,” Plasmius argued.

“Of course he does!” Phantom threw his hands up suddenly, “Which is why you should believe me—believe him when he says he loves you! He’s an eldritch god, for Ancient’s sake—heck, he is an Ancient—and he sought out you. He. Loves. You!”

The ghost hero shoved the ring back into the elder’s hand, “Now quit being paranoid and ask him to marry you already!”

Phantom vanished and Plasmius was left alone once more.

“A god?” A parent stood up from the crowd, “Ghosts are friends with gods?! They can date gods?! You never told us this!”

She pointed at the Fentons, “Just how reliable are you?!”

“We’re perfectly reliable!” Jack bellowed.

“We don’t know everything, but we know more than you do,” Maddie growled.

“Silence, please,” Agent T rolled his blue eyes at the two women.

“I can do this,” Plasmius sighed before he jolted at the sound of a new voice.

“Hello, Vladimir,”

“Clockwork!” Plasmius squeaked as he turned around, “You look—”

A never seen before ghost stood in front of the Wisconisn Ghost, both their skins blue and eyes pupiless red. However, ‘Clockwork’ had white hair that was shorter than others. His reaching just higher than his shoulder with the two front pieces braided and pulled to conjoin into one braid in the back of his head. Clockwork wore a pale purple suit jacket with a black shirt underneath and black pants to match. 

And a clock was embedded into his chest; he seemed to enjoy having a particular theme.

“—amazing,” Plasmius’ blush was green with a light pink tint to it, “I’m glad you came,”

“I would never miss a chance to see you,” Clockwork smiled softly as he sat on the hill next to Plasmius, “Though I’ll admit this ‘surprise’ of yours intrigued me. You’ve never asked me to turn of my sight on you before,”

“Yes, well, when you have a boyfriend who can see the future, surprises are hard to do,” The Wisconsin Ghost raised an eyebrow and Clockwork laughed.

“I suppose so. So, what is this surprise of yours?”

“This,”

Plasmius waved his hand and the field area below the hill they sat on came to life. The grass glowing an unnatural, yet soft blue. Golden wisps of energy sparkled in the air, they flowers glowed in a multitude of colors and moved in an invisible wind.

“That’s so romantic,” A woman sighed wistfully before she glared at her husband, “Why don’t you ever do something like that for me?”

The husband just blinked before he raised his eyebrow, “I don’t exactly have those kinds of resources, my dear.”

Two boyfriends in the back of the room then interlinked their hands.

“If we ever become ghosts,” The black-haired one smiled, “I promise I’ll bring you to that field,”

The blonde just kissed his cheek, “I’d expect to have a ring on my finger from you long before then,”

“Vladimir…” Clockwork’s eyes were wide as he stood to watch the field’s entire beauty, “This is beautiful,”

Clockwork turned to thank his boyfriend, only to see Plasmius kneeling behind him.

“Clockwork,” Plasmius swallowed, “I’ve waited twenty years to have someone I could give my heart to, whether it was beating or not. And when you walked up to me on the day we first met, I knew with every fiber of my being I wanted that person to be you. You gave me so much, taught me so much, and changed me in so many ways for the better. You gave my existence a meaning, you are the reason for me still standing here today. I can never tell or show you just how much I love you, but I hope you’ll give me the rest of eternity with you to try,”

Plasmius smiled, “Will you marry me, Clockwork?”

Clockwork blinked, tears in his pupiless eyes as he fell to his knees and grasped Plasmius’ face in his hands, “I was always yours, Vladimir. I’ve waited longer than you can imagine for you to say that, and I’ve waited even longer to say yes,”

Plasmius was crying now too as he slipped the ring on his now-fiance’s blue finger and pulled him into a tight embrace.

“I love you so much,” He whispered, “I wish I could tell you just much I cherish you,”

“I know,” Clockwork smiled, “I love you, too,”

The two just sat together in one another’s arms and watched the fields for a second.

“Finally!” Phantom appeared over them, his grin wide and eyes sparkling with joy, “It’s only been forever!”

“Daniel!” Plasmius blushed, “Quit ruining our moments,”

“You two are always having a moment,”

“And unless you want to see us having a more romantic moment,” Clockwork grinned mischievously, “I’d leave, and I’d leave rather soon,”

Plasmius blushed as Phantom raised an eyebrow before it clicked; he paled and then gagged, “Gross! Ew! That’s going to be stuck in my head forever now!”

“Good, now shoo,”

“Don’t have to tell me twice!”

Phantom zipped away in the sky, leaving the two alone.

“You think by now the boy would get tired of seeing us together,” Clockwork chuckled before turning back to Plasmius, who was still blushing and seemed to be frozen in shock.

The Clock Ghost just raised an amused eyebrow before he grabbed his fiance’s hand and pulled him up to stand with him.

“Are you coming?” Clockwork grinned, “I do have a bed at my tower,”

Plasmius’ whole face looked more green than blue, “Y-you do?”

“I don’t always need to see the future to predict future occurrences,” Clockwork winked before he effortlessly picked Plasmius up like a bride in his arms.

Plasmius wrapped his arms around Clockwork’s neck, “You’re surprisingly forward,”

“I’ve waited twenty years for this, shush,”

“Twenty….?”

“Later, love,”

The two vanished out of view and the camera (Luckily) went dead as the ecto-signature vanished too fast to track so they didn’t have to see if the ghost was truly telling the truth to Phantom or not.

“Well,” Agent L coughed, “That’s enough for today’s presentation,”

The two Agents grabbed their stuff and booked it out of the auditorium.

Why did they always send the interns to deal with the Fentons?!

Speaking of Fentons, the two eldest looked to be in shock.

“I need to lie down,” Jack muttered.

“I need a drink,” Maddie groaned.

“Spy on my fiance again and you’ll need a hospital trip,” The familiar form of Clockwork turned visible, his suit jacket off and the two first buttons of his shirt undone, “So unless you want that, keep your inventions away from him!”

Clockwork vanished, leaving the citizens of Amity Park to zombie-ly leave the auditorium, not even bothering saying anything.

Amity didn’t ever put another tracker on a ghost after that.

Chapter Text

The Wisconsin Ghost growled at the eldest Fenton woman while he struggled in the ghost-proof rope.

“Let me go,” He hissed, his voice was laced heavy with static and his pupiless red eyes glowed even brighter the closer she got to him, her blaster raised up and pointed at the ghost’s chest; his Core’s location.

“The GIW is paying me for your capture, ghost,” Maddie scowled.

A week ago, the Guys In White reached out to Maddie Fenton and asked her to hunt down the Wisconsin Ghost—whose name was Plasmius based on recent discoveries and observations. They wanted him with minimum injuries, the less the better. The more hurt he was, the less she got paid.

It was over three weeks ago that Plasmius revealed an almost frightening fact about himself. 

He had been holding back by a lot. 

His fights with Phantom had always been brutal, rougher than others and Phantom always did sport a limp or favored a muscle or two afterwards. He himself was rarely injured; which Amity had chalked up to him being much older and more experienced based on his appearance. It was rather recently that the two ghosts revealed that they had made a truce had Plasmius stopped the attacks; only showing up to help Phantom during the tougher and longer ghost attacks.

Anyways, a ghost named Aragon had showed up one day, shouting at Phantom for revenge due to the ghost ‘hero’ locking him up apparently. The ghost was powerful, turning into a dragon and wounding Phantom and tiring him out until he could easily overpower the young ghost.

It looked rough for the Ghost Boy, his suit adorned slash marks and his skin bled green from vicious clawed cuts. Plasmius had shown up just in time. Aragon was a cocky ghost from what everyone had witnessed, confident—overly at times—as well as powerful and strong. They thought that the Wisconsin Ghost would stand no chance against him, especially with Phantom on the edge of losing the battle himself.

They were wrong. Completely and utterly wrong .

Plasmius had revealed great sums of power as he fought, his moves swift and skillful. He landed every blow and they easily would’ve been fatal to anyone living. His attacks were planned and precise, he never missed and each move he did only got stronger and stronger. His entire body had glowed bright, his form seemingly shifting from his usual appearance to a shadowed, fiery humanoid figure that was much more powerful and greater in strength.

Aragon lost easily within ten minutes, blasted into a portal that Plasmius conjured up with a single ectoblast into the air; tearing into the Ghost Zone before the portal itself and Aragon disappeared completely within it.

The ghost hadn’t even broken a sweat, he simply stretched as though he had a good workout, picked up Phantom like a football under his arm, and vanished in thin air with him.

Phantom showed up a day later, his wounds healed completely and his attacks more precise and a bit more powerful than beforehand in fights. It seemed that he had taken a few pointers.

It scared Amity Parkers a bit, Phantom had always won against Plasmius during their battles—but after witnessing what likely was just a bit of the Wisconsin Ghost’s true power, it was clear he was holding back much more than they could have ever thought of.

Even Phantom seemed startled by the elder ghost’s display before they vanished from the scene of the battle that day.

The Guys In White had been swarming the ghost since, trying to capture or at least get a sample of his ectoplasm. Anything from Plasmius was better than nothing to them; and hiring Maddie Fenton to get him was mostly due to two things. One being fear of the ghost’s retaliation if they did manage to get him, and two being that she was the most competent hunter in Amity—hence why Jack Fenton was not hired.

It took a week of preparation, but Maddie finally managed to perfect the Ghost Cuffers to completely suppress a ghost’s powers, and Plasmius being near the school after an attack while she was doing a presentation on ghost drills was simply the cherry on top.

The ghost didn’t think so.

“Then they can hunt me themselves,” Plasmius sneered, “I would have no issues tearing their throats out myself. Although, if you don’t let me go; you might end up seeing something a bit more… gruesome. ”

The ghost was very creative with his threats, and he was not keeping it PG for any of the people watching. Maddie’s theory was that it was Phantom’s influence that kept his terrifying threats to a minimum; but Phantom wasn’t there at the moment and Plasmius was now free to say whatever he pleased.

“And why do you say that? You’re trapped and the Guys In White are on their way to get you. You have no powers and are defenseless,” Maddie frowned, she might as well get answers out of the ghost if she couldn’t experiment on him herself.

He was trapped in a ghost-proof rope and the Ghost Cuffers were on, so he was of no threat currently.

Plasmius hesitated and for a moment, not answering until Maddie pulled a blaster on him.

“I have a rather…protective partner, so to speak,” Plasmius finally relinquished.

“And who would that be?” Maddie pushed, the logical assumption would be Phantom by his statement; but his tone and the way he said it spoke differently.

He said ‘partner’ in a hesitated, unsure way. As though he wasn’t fully telling the truth, and the way he mentioned his ‘partner’ being protective suggested that this ghost was much more powerful than Plasmius himself was.

And with that display of power he gave a few weeks ago, it definitely wasn’t Phantom; or any other ghost they’ve seen so far, at that.

“That is none of your concern,” Plasmius’ voice was firm, “Just know he will not be happy with you if you go through with this,”

Amity Park hesitated in unison, everyone who was watching the display between the hunteress and the ghost that was trapped in front of the school and in the large parking lot; free to anyone to watch and witness everything going down.

The way Plasmius had said his partner wouldn’t be happy made it seem like he’d be a bit more than just unhappy .

And an angry ghost—likely more powerful than the Wisconsinite entity—was not something they wanted to deal with; let alone be made a witness to.

“I don’t buy it,” Maddie gritted her teeth, the ghost had to be tricking her.

There was no ‘partner’ of his; he had not shown any interactions with any other ghosts beforehand. This was simply an intimidation tactic, a means of escape,

“This is just a lie so I’ll let you go, and that’s not happening.”

Plasmius huffed, “You may believe that, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when you’re proven wrong,”

Maddie didn’t have the chance to answer when the GIW’s white van pulled up; parking quickly as four agents in white suits and black sunglasses ran out of the van. One holding an ecto-proof net and the other three holding tasers on the end of a long staff; the ends sparking with green electricity.

The largest agent, a muscular man with a seemingly permanent scowl on his face, stepped forward; his taser was the tallest, sharpest, and looked to be the strongest, as well.

“Well, if it isn’t the Wisconsin Ghost,” The agent sneered, “Not so powerful now, are you?”

“I’ll rip out your lungs and hang you by your intestines,” Plasmius hissed out as his red eyes glowed even brighter and his wicked grin grew too wide with sharpened and lengthened teeth on display—gleaming in the sunlight threateningly.

People in the small crowd who had formed winced at the ghost’s threat, it was definitely Phantom’s influence that stopped the ghost from being so creative .

The agent just chuckled, “Powerless threats, how scary. Alright, Plasmius, care to come peacefully or aggressively? One ends with you in the back of our van with cuffs and uninjured, the other ends with us zapping you until you’re unconscious,”

The others holding the tasers had the electricity immediately amp up, sparking visibly in the air.

Plasmius, surprisingly, just laughed. It was the kind of laugh one would expect at a hilarious joke or witnessed someone slip on a banana peel in real life. The kind that would make you clench your sides in pain.

“He’s finally snapped,” A teen in the crowd Maddie recognized as Danny’s classmate, Dash Baxter, shrugged nonchalantly, “Guess it was bound to happen eventually,”

The ghost finally stopped laughing, still looking amused, “You seriously believe that I’m going with you? Ha! Absolutely not, and if I were you, I’d get in your van and leave while I still have the chance.”

The agent raised an eyebrow, “And why would we do that?”

The temperature suddenly dropped as the clouds darkened and rumbled loudly. Lightning struck out of nowhere and hit just to the side of where Maddie was standing, causing her to jump and roll out of the way. The wind picked up slightly and the air turned tense, the entire universe seemingly on edge as it waited for something to happen.

The agents gripped their weapons as they formed a circle facing outwards, staring at the sky and waiting.

Another flash of lightning struck, pale blue in coloring, and a new figure appeared before the lead agent.

A ghost with pale blue skin and pupiless red eyes much like Plasmius’ own, a scar running through one of them; he wore a purple cloak that covered the majority of his face and his one hand held a staff with a clockhead floating still in green aura in the middle of two black prongs. The ghost wore a pale purple suit under his cloak, his wispy blue spectral tail forming the purple paints to complete the attire. His shoulders were wide and broad, bringing attention to the grandfather clock seemingly embedded into his chest.

The ghost looked positively furious as his staff sent out its own green sparks, shorting out the electricity in the agents’ own weapons.

“You had your chance to leave when he wanted you, but you didn’t.” The ghost grinned wickedly, “Now you have to deal with me,”
The Clock Ghost’s staff was slammed against the ground, shadows of bright green energy spreading out and pushing people back from its force. The agents were slammed against their own van; human-shaped dents now adorning the white metal.

The Clock Ghost approached the crumbled agents, still conscious and whiter than a sheet as they scrambled over each other in fear.

The ghost leaned down to stare at the lead agent, who was shaking and sweating nervously.

“Next time you think about messing with Plasmius,” He grinned, “Make sure to remember that his husband is a very protective, eldritch god,”

His eyes glowed brighter as his form seemed to grow slighter and limbs began to lengthen too much, “And gods don’t take kindly to people who hurt those they deem as theirs,”

In a flash of pale blue light, the Clock Ghost’s normal form stood, his limbs back to normal and his form shortened back as it was before.

He raised an amused eyebrow, a closed-lipped smile on his face, “Boo,”

The agents ran over each other as they climbed into the van, speeding away at highly illegal speeds.

Amity Park was silent.

The Clock Ghost walked over to Plasmius, waving his hands as the net immediately disappeared and the Wisconsin Ghost stood upright to dust himself off.

“Yours, huh, Clockwork?” Plasmius teased as he shot a cocky smile towards the god of a ghost.

“Always were,” Clockwork replied as he kissed his husband’s cheek, then catching the eye of Maddie Fenton, who was still lying on the floor from her roll earlier and was looking at the two beings in fear.

“You’re the hunter always after Phantom and Plasmius,” Clockwork scowled, “Must I say what will happen to you if you try to attack either of them again?”

Maddie shook her head quickly.

“Lovely,”

Plasmius snorted, “You’ve been so protective as of lately, you do know I could have gotten out of that net any time I wanted to, right?”

The people in the crowd had their jaws drop immediately.

“Of course I do,” Clockwork huffed, “But you do seem to enjoy yourself when I show a brief glimpse of eldritch form,”

“Let’s not get into that right now,” The Wisconsin Ghost blushed pale green.

The Clock Ghost grinned as opened a portal to the Ghost Zone with a wave of his staff, “I’m afraid we will have to have a talk rather soon,”

Plasmius raised an eyebrow, “What for?”

Clockwork walked through the portal, calling out his answer from over his shoulder as Plasmius followed him, “Being a shapeshifter has it’s oddities,”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I’m pregnant, Vladimir,”

Amity Park could hear Plasmius’ reaction just before the portal closed.

“WHAT?!?!”

Chapter Text

It was no secret that Maddie Fenton had no romantic feelings for her old college friend, Vladimir Masters.

And while they were once friends, Maddie couldn’t help but start to grow a small resentment towards Vlad. After all, his constant flirting, his clear hatred for her husband, and his weird obsession on getting Danny, her son, to see him as some sort of father-figure? It didn’t exactly scream ‘amazing person’. 

Maddie didn’t hate Vlad, she still held some care and regard for her old friend.

But that was it, a mutual care between friends. 

Despite her making it clear she held no romantic feelings, Vlad still persisted.

It definitely made things awkward.

But Maddie got used to Vlad never being exactly normal around her, flirting in some way or another. She made casual small talk when needed but avoided him when she could, after all, just because Jack still thought he and ‘V-Man’ were friends didn’t mean she had to be abnormally friendly with the multi-billionaire. She got used to the man’s odd ways in pursuing her. He was just a weird man in her eyes.

Lately though, Vlad has been acting…weirder than usual.

Well, perhaps  ‘weird’ isn’t exactly the word for it, because that’s exactly the problem.

He’s acting normal .

About three weeks ago, Danny had broken curfew once more by an hour. He usually was home in about a half an hour or an hour. So it wasn’t quite ready to break out the weapons and ghost trackers to see if he got abducted. He was a teenage boy, after all.

But after two and a half hours of Danny not showing up, Maddie got worried.

She and Jack were just about to get the RV (Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle) when the doorbell rang.

Vlad had shown up with a less-than-well looking Danny.

Her baby boy had bruises and cuts littered across his skin. After Vlad assured them that his injuries were taken care of and that he just needed rest, Jack and Maddie had interrogated the man.

Vlad was oddly calm when he explained, “A ghost attacked on Danny’s way home and he got caught in the crossfire. He’s alright but is going to probably be in some pain from the bruises. Just make sure he rests, I’d prefer to stay the night with him, if you don’t mind.”

Maddie had wanted to usher the man out of her house after that so she could take care of her son herself. But Jack, loving and oblivious , told Vlad that it was the least they could do for having him bring their boy home.

Danny had been set down on the couch, Vlad bandaged his wounds with a delicate caution, yet he did it quickly with an unknown skill.

Maddie was oblivious that Vlad had been bandaging the boy’s wounds for a week before this, that he had seen Phantom get hurt by Skulker and helped him. Causing the two halfas develop a better relationship.

Vlad would never be Danny’s dad but he would take upon the title of ‘uncle’ with great pride.

When Danny woke up, Maddie rushed to fuss over him but to say what happened next shocked her would be an understatement.

Danny woke up, saw Vlad, and gave the man a tight hug. Which Vlad returned happily. The embrace shocked the Fentons completely. Or at least Maddie, Jack was asleep. But Jazz showed a bit of surprise, but less than Maddie. Like she didn’t fully believe something until this moment.

She didn’t fully believe Vlad was changing to help Danny fully until this moment, but Maddie didn’t know that either.

That was reason one for Maddie’s suspiciousness of Vlad, the sudden friendliness with Danny, who never seemed thrilled to see his godfather before then.

Reason two was what truly made Maddie suspicious.

He stopped flirting with her, stopped the subtle insults directed to Jack, he even tried to have a friendly conversation with him about pastries. A common, and likely only as of now, interest between the two men, baked confections.

He supported Jazz in her psychology, offering to give her some chances to meet with some impressive colleges from connections he had. He even managed to get her an internship with a local therapy center, which Jazz had been ecstatic about, naturally.

When he spoke to Maddie, it was small talk and normal strictly friendly conversations. 

He had seemingly moved on.

Which of course, thrilled Maddie, it felt as though she could breathe freely around the man—but it was still a pit odd. Plus, the third reason was what brought most of her suspicions forward.

Vlad had been visiting them more often, three times a week almost; and he seemed to be having some sort of ritual with Danny.

Vlad showed up, showed Danny something on his phone, asked him a question that Maddie could never catch, Danny answered by tapping something on the phone and typing or tapping more things, Vlad smiled, Danny said something with a smirk, and Vlad groaned and put his head in his hands.

Odd.

Three weeks since Vlad’s odd behavior started, the phone thing ended a week and a half ago, but every now and then Vlad would still ask something from Danny.

Three weeks of suspiciousness and obliviousness, and it was going to end tonight if Maddie Fenton had a say in this.

Jack had suggested a dinner and game night, which Vlad agreed to attend.

It was halfway through dinner when Maddie decided to get to the bottom of this, and she was going to be as blunt as possible.

She was going to get the truth straight forward or strangle it out of that man if she had to.

“Vlad,” Maddie put down her fork, “Can I ask you something?”

Vlad, who was talking to Jazz about some sort of psychological thing involving music therapy, faced the violet-eyed woman.

“Of course, what is it, Maddie?” Vlad smiled.

Not a flirty smile, just a smile.

“What’s going on with you?” 

Vlad coughed, he had been taking a sip of wine when she asked her very blunt question.

“Mom!” Jazz scolded, “Nothing’s wrong with Vlad!”

“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with Vlad! I just want to know what’s going on with him!” Maddie countered.

“H-how so?” Vlad coughed slightly, trying to regain his composure.

“You suddenly are buddy-buddy with Danny, you’re being oddly friendly, and you’re–you’re–” 

“Happy?” Vlad raised an eyebrow.

“No! Well, yes,” Maddie sighed, “that sounds bad, I just want to know what’s with the sudden change in character, that’s all.”

Vlad struggled to have his face remain calm and neutral, “Nothing, just…a new development of sorts.”

Jack, who had been focused on his steak, looked upwards, “Ah, c’mon, Vladdie! You obviously got somethin’ keeping you on Cloud Nine, what is it?”

Vlad sputtered incoherent sentences as Danny suddenly started laughing.

“Ol’ Father Time making you that happy, huhhh?” Danny had a mischievous grin on his face.

“I’m not afraid to smack you in front of your parents, Daniel,” Vlad narrowed his eyes, but his flustered face made Danny laugh harder.

The multi-billionaire groaned as he placed his head in his hands.

“Vlad?” Maddie raised an eyebrow,  “What’s going on?”

“Danny had been introducing me to someone a while ago and I was asking his opinions on…on date ideas.” Vlad was very, very red in the face when he finally answered, “As for my happiness….we’ve been actively going on dates recently and are now in a relationship.”

Vlad had a reached a new level of red when Jack engulfed the man in a headlock,  messing up his hair.

“That’s the V-man! A ladies man! So who’s the lucky gal?” Jack smiled as Vlad regained composure.

“I–uh,”

“It’s alright, Vlad,” Maddie smiled, “You don’t have to tell us, it’s truly none of our business.”

“No, no, it’s alright. Danny has already been acquainted, it’s only right you at least know.” 

Danny smiled, “Acquainted? Please, I introduced you two, you owe me for introducing you to your ‘sablier bien-aimé’ so I expect credit.”

“What kind of credit?” 

“Best man at your guys’ wedding,” 

“Daniel!”

Danny snickered.

“So, who’s the lady?” Jack repeated.

Vlad began to sweat a bit nervously, “Well, about that. His name is Horace Clockwork, and we’ve been together for a bit now. He makes me happy, he truly does.”

Maddie blinked, she didn’t expect Vlad to swing that way, but who was she to judge love? Besides, Vlad always seemed secretive, it wouldn’t completely surprise her if she found out that Horace wasn't Vlad’s first boyfriend and he’d just never told them about any beforehand.

“A guy?” Jack raised an eyebrow, “Does he like fudge?”

“What? I suppose so, he enjoys bakery confections with rich flavors, I myself prefer sweeter things. But I’d think he’d enjoy fudge.” Vlad answered, a bit confused.

“I approve then! Anyone who likes fudge is good in my book!” Jack smiled, “But if he ever hurts ya, Vladdie. Let us know, fudge can’t save him if he breaks your heart.”

Vlad chuckled, “Thank you, Jack. I’ll keep that in mind,”

“So, will we ever meet this Horace?” Maddie smiled a bit mischievously. 

Danny had to get it from someone, and it definitely wasn’t Jack.

“Uh–”

The doorbell rang, interrupting Vlad, but the man smiled as he got up to answer.

“I believe you will get to now,” The billionaire walked to the door and smiled as he opened it.

“Hello, Clockwork,” He smiled.

“Vlad, lovely as always,” A man’s voice answered.

Vlad grabbed Clockwork’s hand and led him in.

Clockwork, in a human disguise (but Maddie and Jack didn’t need to know that), was wearing a white turtleneck with brown pants. His eyes were crimson brown with a scar running through one of them. His hair was pure white and slightly wavy, only reaching about shoulder length as it rested downwards.  His skin was a sunkissed tan and his smile was closed lip with his eyes half lidded.

“Madeline, Jack, I’d like you to meet Horace Clockwork, the most perfect and amazing man in the world.”

Vlad grasped Horace’s hands happily as he pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“A flirt, aren’t you?” Clockwork hummed.

“Only for you,”

“It better be,”

Vlad laughed before turning back to the Fenton’s, “Sorry to cut our time together short, but I we do have a date tonight,”

“It’s alright!” Maddie grinned as she stood, shaking Clockwork’s hand, “It’s lovely to meet you, Horace. You must come over sometime with Vlad so we can properly get to know each other,”

“Yeah! We could tell you some great stories about ol’ V-Man back in our college days!” Jack bounded over and slapped a hand on Clockwork’s back, surprising almost everyone as the man barely acknowledged the hard slap. (Danny knew Clockwork was strong power-wise and Vlad…Vlad was a bottom, enough said)

“A chance to hear embarrassing stories of my dear Vladimir from when he was younger?” Clockwork grinned, “How could I ever refuse such an offer?”

Vlad groaned, “Why must you torture me so, my love?”

“Because it brings me great joy,”

Danny snorted and covered it poorly with a cough.

Maddie smirked, “I have a feeling you and I are going to get along just wonderfully , Horace,”

Clockwork’s expression was mischievous, “As do I, Madeline. As do I,”

Vlad gulped, “Why do I feel as though I’ve made a horrible mistake?”

{Mon sablier bien-aimé — My Beloved Hourglass (So Danny says ‘Beloved Hourglass, but Vlad calls him his beloved hourglass)}

Chapter Text

Not a chapter, so sry about that; but I just wanted to let all y’all know that I have decided to take in requests for this!

So, any HEADCANONS/AUs/prompts/song-inspired/ and any idea of a oneshot featuring the ship Rich History (VladxClockwork) is free game!

Comment whatever u got, and I’ll (hopefully) write something y’all will enjoy!

I will credit the person who comments the idea, and if it’s a prompt found on another platform; either comment a pic/write out prompt and the original poster of it and I will credit the original poster and you as well,

(This is basically me telling all y’all that I need ideas, so knock yourselves out!)

(If u don’t have a username (guest) just comment a nickname or user you’d like credited for u if you’d like, if u don’t, I’ll just write ‘Anonymous’ or smth like that)

Have fun! —RJ

Chapter Text

“You look dashing in red,” Clockwork purred out as he sat next to Vlad Plasmius at the annual Christmas Truce Party; this particular party being hosted by Vlad himself this year.

Clockwork, being the incredibly powerful and busy Ancient he was, rarely attended such events—so it was quite flattering to Vlad that the entity had shown up at all during the year he was to host.

Vlad laughed at Clockwork’s words, his usual ghostly attire was absent as he had traded it in for something a bit more festive; a red turtleneck sweater with black pants, his hair was styled down and resting on his shoulders, which left his pair of black horns upon his head more visible as his hair wasn’t wrapped around it as it usually was.

“That was a good one,” Vlad chuckled, “ Dashing , hm? I must admit, I’m a fan of puns myself,”

Clockwork raised an eyebrow and went to say something; only to be interrupted by Skulker then knocked something over and making Vlad go over to deal with it as he left the Master of Time sitting on his couch with a raised eyebrow and a wine glass in hand—the song’s lyrics echoing in the background.

Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh~!

Clockwork rested his head against the hand he placed against the couch’s edge as his lips twitched into a frustrated frown.

“He’s lucky he’s hot,” He muttered to himself while sipping his wine, making idle talk with some ghosts as he mostly stared at Vlad the whole time.

Vlad Masters was humming a small tune to himself as he filed paperwork in his office at Town Hall, the song he had stuck in his head playing relentlessly.

He felt the familiar puff of hot air from his nose as his own ghost sense went off, Clockwork then becoming visible a second later.

His usual spectral tail was replaced by a pair of legs as he sat cross-legged on Vlad’s desk, facing him from just a few inches away from Vlad himself. His cloak was gone as well as he changed up his outfit to a pair of dark navy pants with a cream white long sleeve shirt that had slightly ruffled sleeves and a low v-shaped neckline. His white hair was just above shoulder length as he tied the two front strands into small braids before making them connect in the back. In his hand was a rose, which he twirled the stem of it playfully between his pointer finger and thumb.

“Perhaps you should take a break,” Clockwork smirked as he leaned forward a bit, the rose outstretched slightly towards Vlad, “Find a way to relax a little, hm?”

Vlad took the rose, his cheeks going red—but not for the intended reason.

Vlad started to laugh hysterically as Clockwork stared at him as though he were crazy.

“I had no idea you were such a fan of puns!” Vlad finally stopped laughing, “I didn’t ever think I’d have the Master of Time sitting in my office just so he could tell me a joke,”

“Pardon?” Clockwork blinked as Vlad stood up, staring at the rose with a smile as he approached the door.

“I’d love to stay a bit longer, but I do have a meeting,” Vlad held up the rose playfully, “Thanks for making my day a bit brighter, I didn’t know you liked the song, too!”

Clockwork’s eye twitched as Vlad left, hearing just a bit of the song the halfa continued to hum to himself as he walked down the hall.

I can buy myself flowers~

“That’s not even a love song!” Clockwork huffed as he pinched the bridge of his nose frustratingly, “That’s the exact opposite of a love song! And since when did he become a fan of Miley Cyrus?!”

The Master of Time was not going to let Vladimir Rowan Masters walk away from him without getting a kiss at least.

He was adorning a human disguise of a man with slightly tan skin, crimson-brown eyes with a scar running through one, and pure white hair that reached a bit past his jawline and just above his shoulders.

He was wearing a navy blue button up with the first two buttons undone with a pair of black fitted pants. His white hair was tied with the upper half up and the lower half remaining down as his eyes locked onto Vlad.

He had gotten Danny to invite him over to his parent’s house under the disguise of ‘Horace Clockwork’—Danny’s  History ‘tutor’ after the Ancient informed the boy he had serious things to discuss with Vlad.

Hence his current position of leaning against the doorway into the guest bedroom as he awaited the half-human man who held his heart to enter and set his stuff down.

The man came up the stairs, a small duffle bag in hand as he himself wore more casual attire than his usual suit; a white button up and beige slacks.

“Clockwork?” Vlad’s eyes made contact with the recognizable scar the Ancient being had.

“Vladimir,” The entity smirked as he grabbed Vlad’s hands and pushed him up against the door frame, pressing his lips against his.

The halfa wrapped his amrs around Clockwork’s neck as they kissed, leaving both of them (mostly the one who needed to breathe) slightly breathless as they pulled away.

Vlad leaned his head back as he rested it against the door, his lips red and puffy, “Twenty years and I never knew that ghosts took the mistletoe so seriously!” He chuckled.

Clockwork frowned as he raised an eyebrow, “Pardon?”

Vlad pointed upwards, a fake mistletoe half-heartedly tapped against the doorframe taunted the ghost.

Vlad continued to chuckle as he slipped out of Clockwork’s grasp and walked back down the staircase to help Jazz with something after ditching his duffle bag by the door.

“It is the middle of January,” Clockwork growled out, “WHY ISN’T THIS TAKEN DOWN YET?!”

A voice cleared their throat as the Lord of Time turned to stare at the newest arrival..

Danny Fenton raised an eyebrow, “Important things to discuss with him, huh?”

Clockwork narrowed his eyes, “I am over fifty million years old, I’m allowed to lie. Especially when it comes to your surprisingly hot godfather,”

Danny gagged, “Never say that again! Ughhh, I think I just threw up a bit in my mouth!”

Clockwork ignored him as he took to switching from discussing Danny’s ‘tutoring lessons’ with the eldest Fentons during dinner, to staring at Vlad in his sexual frustration.

That man is driving me insane. He huffed, this wouldn’t be worth it if I wasn’t so damn in love with him ... and the fact that he’s got a cute ass, but still incredibly in love with him and all that, too.

“Ninth time’s the charm,” Clockwork told himself, “For the sake of myself as an Ancient, I will get my love through Vlad’s thick skull,”

Sitting upright on Vlad’s bed, lying against his pillows and their silk pillowcases, the Master of Time was wearing nothing but a red silk robe in dim lighting and with red rose petals.

“Why am I even attracted to this mess of a man?” Clockwork muttered, “Oh, that's right. Because he’s sexy and I’m eons of years old and in desperate need to get laid, that's why,”

The door of the bedroom opened and Clockwork gave a small smirk as Vlad dropped his briefcase on the floor and was staring at the Ancient entity with wide eyes and a red face.

“You—you….” Vlad sputtered almost on the very of being incoherent as he stared, “Clockwork…”

“Yes, Vladimir?” Clockwork practically purred out.

The man sucked in a breath, and then burst out laughing.

Clockwork’s eyes began to twitch aggressively as he watched the halfa laugh hysterically while he sat himself on the edge of the bed to face the Master of Time.

“What is it this time?” Clockwork sighed as he let himself relax into the pillows, “Some joke or pun somehow made up for you to laugh at? Perhaps an entire bundle of mistletoes that have somehow appeared above me?”

“N–no, Clockwork,” Vlad finally stopped laughing as he grasped the ghost’s hand and pulled him closer to him, wrapping his arms around his neck, “I was messing with you, love. I was trying to see just how far I could push you until you—”
“Pinned you over the nearest piece of furniture in frustration and made you scream my name?” Clockwork raised an eyebrow, enjoying the way the halfa blushed furiously.

“I–I was going to go with you kissing me senseless…but I think I’d like that a lot better,” Vlad’s voice was breathy as Clockwork grabbed his waist and pulled him down onto the bed.

“This is my ex-boyfriend, Vlad Plasmius,” Clockwork introduced Vlad to his siblings as they were all sitting at a large, circular dining table.

Pandora and Frostbite exchanged odd looks while Undergrowth and Vortex merely raised an eyebrow. Nocturne wasn’t paying attention, he just continued to eat Clockwork’s infamous lemon squares.

“Please stop staying that,” Plasmius groaned, “We’ve been engaged for six months now,”

“Payback, my love. Payback,”

{Song is Flowers By Miley Cyrus ; This Oneshot was inspired by HAD35’s idea, so Thank you, HAD35!}

Chapter Text

“Hello, Amity Park,” Lance Thunder started as the cameraman gave him the signal that they were live, “I’m here in front of Casper High School as Phantom and Plasmius, more commonly known as the Wisconsin Ghost, seem to have flipped roles. As you can see, Phantom is chasing Plasmius and shooting ectoblasts—Phantom! Can we get a word—?”

“Not now!” Phantom snapped as he turned back to Plasmius, who was hiding on the other side of a lamp pole. 

Both ghosts were engaging in a cat-and-mouse game as Phantom tried to get to the other side of the lamp pole to reach Plasmius as the Wisconisn Ghost himself kept flying around the pole, avoiding the Ghost Boy.

“Can we talk about this?” Plasmius offered weakly before yelping slightly as Phantom just phased through the lamp pole and charged up two ectoblasts in hand; Plasmius shooting off near the crowd of people who were watching the odd exchange.

The blue skinned ghost hid behind a high school boy some recognized as Dash Baxter, using him as a human shield against their rather agitated ghostly hero.

“Hey!” Dash scowled, “Stop that!”

“Shush boy—you can’t hurt a human!” Plasmius grinned, “So just calm down and we can talk about this like rational, civilized ghosts—what’re you doing…? Hey! Quit doing that—”

Phantom flew through Dash (who shivered and rubbed his shoulders at the sudden and odd foreign chill he felt) and tackled Plasmius; who then shouted out,

“This is cheating!”

Ulon falling to ground, Phantom took to floating over him with a killer glare and angry look on his face.

“Can I get a lawyer?” The Wisconsin Ghost gave a weak smile.

“No,” Phantom growled out, “You’re so dead, Vlad—”

“Already am,”

“Shut up,”

“Vlad?” Lance turned to the camera, “Why does this ghost have so many names?”

The cameraman just shrugged as he and Lance jogged up to the two ghosts, one still on the ground and using a trash can lid as a shield with the other cracked his knuckles threateningly.

“Uh—care to explain why you’re attacking Plasmius, Phantom?” Lance shoved a microphone in the local ghost hero’s face.

“Because he’s a crazed up fruitloop!” Phantom scowled as he raised an ectoblast in hand.

“I didn’t know about you two when we first met! I swear!” Plasmius yelped, “Aren’t you supposed to be the good guy here?!”

“That was before you decided to date my mentor!” Phantom shouted, making Plasmius shrug meekly.

“He asked me out…?”

“Dead. So dead. Double dead,”

“I thought you were happy for us!”

“I am, but then you two decided to— eugh ! It’s just so gross to think about you and Clockwork doing that— blegh !”

“Rude—Ok! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

”Not good enough!”

”What do you want from me?! OW! Please stop pulling my ear! I am a grown man!”

”You’re a man in his mid forties who’s in desperate need of another cat!”

”Maddie’s my sister’s cat! Not mine!”

”You don’t even have a sister!”

Phantom finally let his ectoblasts die out, his face relaxing slightly as he sighed,

“I swear if you hurt him, Vlad. I’ll find a way to double kill you,”

Plasmius dusted himself off as he stood up from the ground, “Understood,”

The two gave a curt nod to each other as Lance cleared his throat to drag their attention over to him once more.

“Uh, mind if we get an explanation?” The reporter/weatherman/man-who-was-far-too-underpaid-to-be-doing-stuff-like-this asked.

“I suppose so,” Plasmius thought for a moment, “Me or you explain, Phantom?”

The ghost hero just pinched the bridge of his nose, “You, I need a minute to process this…”

The Wisconisn Ghost patted the boy’s shoulder, “Fair enough,”

He then turned towards Lance, “Phantom’s ghost mentor and I have been in an a romantic relationship for the past two years,”

“Two years…so gross…so, so gross” Phantom muttered to himself.

“And he walked in on us…well…let’s just say he saw a more intimate part of our relationship.” Plasmius blushed neon green with a slight red tint to it.

“This is my nightmare,” Phantom groaned, “Ugh, I’m gonna throw up. I could have gone by whole afterlife not knowing that you were a bottom,”

“Daniel!” Plasmius looked scandalized at The younger ghost’s words.

Lance managed to cover his laugh up with a small cough as the cameraman just snorted outright at Phantom’s comment, “So Phantom has caught you and his mentor—was it?—in a sexual position?”

“That’s correct,” Plasmius buried his head in his hands, “I’m going to die of embarrassment,”

“Already dead—”

“For the love of the Ancients, Daniel, it is a figure of speech!”

“You are in love with an Ancient! An Ancient who’s my mentor!”

”We’ve been over this! Let it go!”

”Never!”

The two ghosts bickered for a bit until they eventually flew off, leaving the reporter, cameraman, and the crowd of Amity Parkers behind.

Silence echoed through the air for a moment.

Finally, someone said the thing they were all thinking out loud; “Ghosts can have sex?”

Phantom and Plasmius had not fought publicly like that since—at least until the elder ghost showed up one day with a golden ring on his finger; then a young man by the name of Tucker Foley was used as the human shield while Phantom chased after Plasmius for the two hours until Plasmius surrendered and promised the ghost hero the honor of being best man.

Ghosts are weird .

Chapter Text

“You broke him!” Phantom yelled at the eldest Fentons as he pointed a finger towards them accusingly, “What the heck did you do?!”

“We didn’t do anything!” Maddie Fenton huffed angrily, “He’s the one who got himself covered in the solution!”

“You had it in a bucket! A bucket that you were holding in your hand during a ghost attack! It’s your fault you dropped it and he was thrown into it!” Phantom yelled as he was staring at the neon glowing pink puddle that was off to the side.

It was there that the ghostly form of the Wisconsin Ghost—who was recently revealed to be named Plasmius—was standing rather unsteadily as he looked dazed and confused.

A small crowd of Amity Parkers were watching the exchange between the two Fentons and the ghostly hero. The Fentons had been running by with a bucket filled with some sort of elixir they had made recently when a ghost attacked and caused them to drop the bucket to avoid debris. Seconds later, the ghost had flung Plasmius right into the puddle while Phantom trapped the wild lion ghost in his thermos.

However, Plasmius wasn’t recovering from his hit as fast as he usually did; and it was easy to see that the pink substance covering him was to blame for his dazed and almost delusional state of mind.

To put it simply, Plasmius had been drugged up good.

Phantom pinched the bridge of his nose as he calmed himself, “What was the liquid even supposed to do?”

“It was supposed to calm ghosts down until they were in a compliant state,” Maddie huffed, “Although, it hasn’t been working properly as it’s been having unexpected side effects on the blob ghosts we tried it out on.”

“What kind of side effects?” Phantom narrowed his eyes.

“It’s makin’ the ghosts go into some kind of heat,” Jack boomed, “But we’ve theorized that it only works on ghosts who have mates, as they didn’t all go crazy with the serum,”

“Well, I guess that’s not too bad,” Phantom floated downwards and helped Plasmisu stand balanced, “Plasmius doesn't have a mate, I don’t think. He’s never mentioned one,”

Courtesy of Frostbite, Danny had been informed that ghosts mate for life; and that when a ghost crosses paths with their mate, they become irresistibly drawn to each other. After Vlad and Danny had made their truce awhile back, Danny was able to notice that Vlad didn’t have a Mate Mark on him. Agan, thanks to Frostbite, a Mate Mark was explained as something that a ghost gained once they had met their mates, even if they didn’t know it yet. It was some kind of symbol that represented the other, and it was more so a clue on who their mate was.

Danny didn’t have one as he wasn’t eighteen yet, and that was when ghosts received their Mark, eighteen years after becoming a ghost—or in his case, just age eighteen. Neither did Vlad, as far as Danny has known, so he wasn’t too worried about the serum working. He would only need the antidote to make Plasmius back into his right state of mind.

“Mate…?” Plasmius lifted his head, his eyes blinking one at a time like an owl’s, “He’s here…?”

Phantom snapped his head to the side to stare at the Wisconsinite ghost, “I thought you didn’t have a mate?”

“I didn’t…” Plasmius sighed as he grinned, “But my Mark appeared about two years ago, and I found him about half a month after it appeared for the first time,”

“What?!” Phantom’s jaw fell open, “But you’re not reacting to the serum! So the serum doesn’t work—?”

Plasmius suddenly hunched over as he growled, his hair falling out of its usual style and revealing his horns, which were twisted and cracking slightly as they grew a bit.

Plasmius raised his head, his fangs lengthened more than before and his eyes glowing as bright as possible without blinding someone, he hissed incoherently, Ghost Speak slipping out of his mouth.

Phantom blinked dumbly before he turned to the eldest Fentons, “I’m going to need to borrow your Speeder,”

“No way!” Jack Fenton frowned, “No ghost is allowed to take our stuff!”

“I can’t carry Plasmius,” Phantom hissed out, “And when he’s like this, it’s not going to be possible to get him to fly with me either. So unless you want to be stuck with a angry ghost in heat, you’re going to give me the Speeder for the day,”

The eldest Fentons blinked before Maddie sighed, “Fine, but we’re coming with,”

“Nope, no way,” The Ghost Hero said firmly.

“It’s our invention, we’re coming with you two whether you like it or not,” Maddie huffed, her decision made and unwavering as Phantom sighed and finally relented: “Fine. But be quick.”

Not even twenty minutes later, The eldest Fentons, the two ghosts, and a reporter and cameraman that had followed them were loading themselves into the Speeder.

Phantom had taken the wheel after lots of arguing with Maddie glaring at him from the passenger seat.

Jack was sitting across from Plasmius, who was wrapped up in ecto-rope to stop him from getting too aggressive in his mind-altered state. The reporter, Rebecca Lanes, and the cameraman, Derek, where at the very back of the Speeder and watching Plasmius continuously hiss out Ghost Speak to Jack.

“Language, Plasmius,” Phantom huffed as the entered the Ghost Zone, “Don’t be rude,”

Plasmius’ voice cackled in static and Phantom shot him a dirty look, “That was unnecessary,”

“What is he speaking?” Derek asked, “Sounds like my grandma’s broken radio,”

“It’s Ghost Speak,” Phantom explained, “It sounds like that to anyone who isn’t dead, is the language of Ghosts and the Dead slash Undead. And it sounds funky, but he doesn't even realize he’s doing it; not many ghosts are aware they slip into it at times.”

“What’s he saying?” Jack questioned, “Wish I grabbed the Ghost Gabber,”

Plasmius growled something out.

“I’d rather not repeat what he’s saying,” Phantom chuckled, “It’s not very PG,”

“Take the wheel, Maddie,” Phantom suddenly got up and walked up to Plasmius as he knelt down to be eye-level with the tied up ghost,

“Ok, Fruitloop, who’s your mate?” He asked.

Plasmius blinked before grinning and speaking out more static.

“Ok, cute but gross,” Phantom frowned, “I need his name, dude,”

Plasmius ignored him and continued to speak, but he did manage to wiggle his arm out and roll up his sleeve, showing the Ghost Hero is Mate Mark.

“Oh Ancients,” Phantom went green in the face, “Ugh! Gross! EW! Anybody but him! WHY?! There’s so many ghosts! WHY?!”

“Who is it?” Jack asked.

“Out of all the ghosts,” Phantom ignored the hunter, “Your mate is my freakin’ mentor ,”

Plasmius shrugged unapologetically.

“You suck, dude.”

The mark on Plasmius’ arm was a stopwatch surrounded by flowers and leaves; and there was only one ghost who would have a stopwatch as their represented mark.

“Put the coordinates 7-1-3 for South and 7-0-3 for North,” Phantom sighed, “You’ll see a giant Clock Tower, that’s what we’re looking for,”

Maddie nodded and after a few more minutes of hearing Plasmius’ radio static-filled rant on likely his lover, they arrived in front of a giant Clocktower.

Upon approaching the tower of Long Now, Phantom took to banging on the door loudly with a slumped over Plasmius hanging off of his shoulders, “C-dubs! I know you're in there! I have your mate! Ugh , that’s so gros s …just open up! He keeps talking about how much he likes your smile and I’m going to throw him off this island if you don’t open the door soon!”

The door eventually did open and a ghost with a purple clock, pale blue skin, red eyes, and a clock embedded into his chest stood in front of them, Phantom barging in and the rest of the humans following suit cautiously.

“Clockwork,” Plasmius’ voice finally went back to English, “You’re so beautiful,”

Clockwork merely smiled as he helped set the Wisconsin Ghost onto the couch, “What a flirt you are,”

“This is so weird ,” Phantom complained.

Plasmius wrapped his arms around Clockwork and pulled him onto the couch with him, nuzzling into his neck.

“It’s kinda cute,” Rebecaa smiled, “Like a lovesick puppy,”

“It’s not terribly out of his ordinary,” Clockwork hummed as he kissed Plasmius’ forehead, “He’s usually cuddly like this,”

“Did not need to know that,” Phantom muttered off to the side.

“So, Clockwork, was it?” Maddie pulled out a notepad, “Can you tell us a bit about Ghost Mates?”

“Ghosts mate for life,” Clockwork shrugged, “When a ghost’s Mate Mark comes in and they know who it represents, ghosts tend to seek them out immediately to be with,”

“And what does that entail?” Maddie asked.

“In some cases, being a ‘lovesick puppy’ as Miss Rebecca put it. In most, sexual activities are partaken.”

Phantom gagged.

“How come you weren’t affected by the elixir?” Jack asked, “It was supposed to alter both ghosts even if just one was dosed with it,”

Clockwork grinned, “I’m an eldritch god, Jack. Not a ghost, there’s a difference.”

“I’m sorry, you’re a what now? ” Derek choked.

“His eldritch form is amazing,” Plasmius purred, “He looks so hot,”

Phantom gagged again.

“Clockwork, Master of Time, at your service,” Clockwork gave a nod, “A pleasure to meet you all,”

“Love,” Plasmius set his head on Clockwork’s shoulder, “Will you—?”

“Yes, Vladimir,” Clockwork chuckled, “I’m afraid it’d be best if you all left now,”

“Don’t need to tell me twice!” Phantom didn’t even use the Speeder as he flew out of the tower and far away.

“Is something going to happen to him?” Derek began to sweat as he walked over to hide behind Jack Fenton’s large form, “Is he gonna attack or something’?”

“He’s perfectly fine,” Clockwork grinned, “I—”

“We said two years before we started trying for a baby,” Plasmius smirked, “Today’s our two-year anniversary~”

The humans all left relatively quickly after that.

“I love you so much,” Vlad Masters grinned at his boyfriend’s human disguise of Horace Clockwork later that day in his Amity Park mansion.

“I love you as well, my dear,” Clockwork smiled, “Though I must ask, did you do any reading on ghost pregnancies before all this?”

“There wasn’t much I could find,”

“Then these next four months are going to be a bit odd,”

“Don’t you mean nine?”

“No, no I don’t, Vladimir.”

“Oh, fudge buckets.”

Chapter Text

“This is ridiculous!” The half-ghost half-human hybrid as well as Mayor of Amity Park, throws his hands up in exasperation, “I was in a meeting for thirty minutes! Only thirty minutes! How did you manage to do all this in that short time period?!”

Vlad Masters (Plasmius, as he currently resided in his ghost form) huffed angrily at the younger halfa in his ghost form while he stuck out his tongue at the elder.

“Talent,” Danny Phantom, local menace, grinned as he floated lazily and arrogantly in the sky a few feet away from Vlad, “C’mon, Plazzy! It’s all fun and games!”

“It certainly is not all ‘fun and games’! You swapped the paint for the high school so the walls are all neon green, doused the cheerleading squad in glue and fake feathers, and released every single animal from the Zoo and they started a stampede through the bake sale!” Plasmius’ pupiless red eyes glowing even brighter as he gritted his teeth in anger, “I have to fix all that!”

“Sucks to suck,” Phantom yawned mockingly before he gave a mock salute, “Later, Plazzy!”

“It’s Plasmius !” The elder half ghost yelled as the teen vanished from sight and from the scene of the chaos he created.

Vlad pinched the bridge of his nose as he stared down at the purple-backed gorilla who was currently helping himself to Pamela Manson’s carrot cake.

She was going to throw a fit in the next town meeting, another mess Vlad would have to clean up. 

How fun .

Vlad had been mayor in Amity Park for just a little more than seven years now, and he was good at his job.

He had balanced the money expertly, taken part in donating to many awareness groups, starting up charities and fundraisers, lowered taxes, and dealt with ghost attack regulations and damages better than any other person could do.

(And if it was because the man was half-ghost and had resources and connections others didn’t, that was his business entirely).

Even before the portal to the Ghost Zone had been made by his old college buddies, Maddie and Jack Fenton, ghosts in Amity were common; just less recognized.

Plasmius had appeared only to help newly deceased souls head to the Ghost Zone, dealt with rogue animal ghosts, dealt with ghosts who needed help with their Obsessions, and all in all was a ghost people were relatively okay with for staying in Amity Park.

Then Danny Phantom appeared.

The second half-ghost created by an accident with a portal, Danny Fenton had gained his ghost form and ghost powers and shortly decided afterwards that the best way to use them was to be an absolute menace.

He never did harm anybody, a few property damages here and there, but nothing terrible. He was mostly just a nuisance to both Vlad, the rest of the ghosts, and Amity Park in entirety. Vlad had offered multiple times to mentor the boy on his powers in exchange for him ceasing his mischievous behavior.It clearly did not work at all as Phantom was still the ‘Number One Local Menace’. 

Hence Vlad being at his desk and dealing with the numerous pages of  paperwork full of the costs of Phantom’s many messes.

“ Butter Biscuits, how could he do so much damage so quickly?” Vlad sighed as he leaned back in his chair slightly, staring at the ceiling in thought.

He only had a brief moment of silence and solitude before his ghost sense went off in a puff of red smoke from his nose.

“What now?” The man sighed as he summoned the rings around his waist to transform him into his ghost half of Plasmius.

He went intangibly through the roof and into the sky; scanning the area for Phantom and ultimately not finding him.

“Odd,” Plasmius muttered to himself until he got the feeling of something being behind him.

“Phantom, I’m in no mood for your games—”

Plasmius froze in the air as he stared at the ghost who was definitely not Phantom.

Clockwork, Master of Time, the Time Lord, Father Time, an eldritch god, an immortal being, was currently floating behind Plasmius with a small closed-lipped smile on his face and pupiless red eyes fixed on Plasmius’ own.

“You-You’re Clockwork…” Vlad sputtered, “ The Clockwork,”

“That I am,” Clockwork’s voice was smooth and velvety as he practically purred his words, “And I believe we are long overdue for a conversation, Vladimir,”

Ancients , Vlad was totally having a Bi Panic Moment™ for Father Time himself, “O-oh?”

Clockwork placed a blue hand on Vlad’s shoulder and the two instantly teleported into Vlad’s office; the halfa back in human form and Clockwork’s spectral tail formed legs with purple pants to match the rest of his pale purple suit.

“I’ll be blunt, Vladimir,” Clockwork sat on top of Vlad’s desk, crossing his legs as he leaned slightly against his staff, “The Timeline is going the wrong way and I have to fix it, and to do that, I’ll need your help.”

“My help?” The mayor tried very hard not to stare at the attractive ghost sitting on top of jos desk as he stood off to the side of the room, “You’re the Master of Time, what could I possibly do for you ?”

“It's rather simple, actually,” Clockwork hummed, “I need to stay close to both you and Daniel, and since you see him often, you're the best choice.”

“Best choice for…?”

“I need you to pretend we’re in a romantic relationship, Vladimir,”

Vlad choked on his own saliva, “What?”

Clockwork smiled—seemingly enjoying Vlad’s panic, “I said, you need to—”

“I–uh, I heard you he first time…” Vlad put his head in his hands, “Can I ask why?”

“Because you’re invited often o the Fenton household, yes?”

“Once a week for dinner and game night if not more, yes,”

“I need to watch over young Daniel and you at the same time, but I can’t interfere too muchwit Daviel without dire consequences, so I next to be able to come with you to see the Fentons—and if you introduce me in a human disguise as your romantic partner, Daniel won’t suspect much since I can stop myself from popping up on his ghost sense,”

Vlad rubbed his forehead, “But why…why romantic? Business partners could surely do just as well,”

“Would you invite a random business associate to your lose friends dinner and game night?” Clockwork raised an eyebrow.

Vlad flushed red, “No, I suppose I wouldn’t. How about friends, then—?”

“It needs to be somewhat believable, Vladimir,”

“Now what’s that supposed to mean—?”

“You met me at a business gala and we hit it off,” Clockwork ignored the halfa, “My name is Horace Clockwork and I work for, oh let’s say a company focusing on clothing and fashion, hm?”

“Now wait a minute—” Vlad sputtered.

“We’ve been in a relationship for two months now,”

“I have not agreed to this—”

“I asked you out,”

“Why you? And why does that matter—?”

“We’re currently working on collaborating on a project for business but it’s not public, that way we don’t have to worry about employees outing our lie,”

“Are you purposefully ignoring me—?”

“Yes, now you have dinner with the Fentons at six, correct? Wonderful, that’s in twenty minutes. We’ll drive there together,”

“Wait a minute, did you just admit to ignoring me—?”

“Change your tie, you have ketchup on it.”

“That was unnecessary, and it’s hot sauce,”

Clockwork finally finished talking as he turned to face Vlad, “Any questions?”

Vladimir Rowan Masters—multi-billionaire, CEO and founder of DALV.co, the first half-ghost ever to be in existence—slammed his head on his desk and let out a very groan.

The Master of Time just raised an eyebrow with a smug smirk on his face, “This is going to be fun ,”

It took one month for Vlad Masters to fall head over heels in love with the Ghost of Time; though it wasn’t a very surprising realization. He knew that he was very much attracted to Clockwork; and not just physically either. (Although, he did find himself staring more than he’d like to admit).

He was intelligent, he could make Vlad think and debate about things in ways that no other has ever been able to do. He was modest, but had an arrogant side that would bring Vlad to his knees—not that he’d ever admit that out loud, though. He also had a competitive side, one that liked to egg Vlad on and tease him relentlessly. It made his cheeks flush red and his smile foolishly wide. He had a wonderful sense of humor, too—and his laugh was the most precious thing the halfa had ever heard, and whether he was in ghost or human form, Vlad found himself often playing with his wavy white hair or getting lost in his eyes.

He was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. 

The first time Vlad fully realized just how in love he was with Clockwork was during a small incident when Jack and Maddie had taken the two out to a restaurant for a double date. A man sitting across their table had scowled at Vlad when Clockwork made a show of kissing his cheek before going to the restroom, leaving a red-faced Vlad behind.

“I’m trying to enjoy my meal,” The man huffed, “Not watch to crazies make out,”

“Pardon?” Vlad turned to face the rude person.

“I said go have your little date in a mental asylum, weirdos,”

“Why you rude son of a bi—” Maddie stood up and Jack had to hold her down.

“Not our fight, Mads,” Jack shook his head.

“I’d advise you to shut your mouth and shut it quickly,” The halfa growled out as he stood in front of the man.

The man stood up as well and pointed a finger at Vlad’s chest, “Or what?”

He then chuckled, “What’s a little mental man-kisser like you going to do? Wave a ribbon in my face?”

Vlad’s hands turned into fists, “Last warning,”

“Whatever ya say, rainbow—”

“Can I help you?” Clockwork suddenly walked back to the table, the crimson-red of his human disguise’s eyes narrowed in on the man.

“Yeah, ya can,” The man huffed, “Get your little boy-toy and get outta my sight, freaks,”

“Is that so?” Clockwork’s voice was deadly calm, “How about this, you either sit down and keep to yourself for the rest of your meal and we do the same, or you continue bothering us and I’ll make sure you won’t be able to talk for quite some time.”

“The hell ya talkin’ about?” The man snickered, “I’d like to see a sissy like ya try and do some actual damage, princess—”

Clockwork decked the man with a hard right-hook to the jaw, grabbing the collar of the man’s shirt before he crumbled to the ground and slammed his face against his table.

“I hit you in a very particular spot in the jaw that dislocated it upon impact,” Clockwork growled, “Since you couldn’t keep your mouth shut, now it’s going to be wired shut. Keep your unwanted, hideous opinions. To. Yourself. Got it?”

The man nodded miserable and Clockwork released him; scrambling out the door as he held his jaw and face in his hands.

Clockwork raised an eyebrow to face the entirety of the restaurant who was watching the display, “Anyone else wish to say anything?”

…

“That was badass!” Someone shouted and the place erupted into applause.

Vlad wasn’t paying attention to the crowd of people, he was just staring at his (unfortunately) fake boyfriend with a look of (aroused) fear and adoration in his eyes.

“Thank you…” He whispered.

“For what?” Clockwork asked.

“For doing that, for defending me,”

“He deserved it; and you deserved better.”

Vlad pressed a kiss to Clockwork’s lips and the applause grew louder.

After two months of fake dating, Clockwork finally finished whatever it was he was doing to make sure the Timeline was in place; and that scared Vlad. 

He didn’t want Clockwork to leave, he had become such an important part of him, it’d break his heart. 

So he had no other choice but to at least try to get the Master of Time to stay with him; and that meant confessing his love.

Vlad had brought Clockwork out onto the roof of his Amity Park mansion, a small picnic set up underneath the stars for them.

“I thought I’d give you something special before you have to go,” Vlad swallowed, the idea of being alone once more made his heart ache.

“This is beautiful, Vladimir,” Clockwork smiled as the two men sat down; the Master of Time was in his ghost form and Vlad was in the form of Plasmius as well.

They made small talk for a bit, ate a little and watched the stars together until Vlaf finally got up the courage to tell the Time Lord his love.

“Clockwork,” Plasmius swallowed, “I–you…uh,”

Clockwork raised an eyebrow and Plasmius snapped.

“You’re the most perfect, intelligent, brave, amazing, incredible, funny, and beautiful being I’ve ever met and the idea of you leaving me hurts me more than any pain that could ever be inflicted upon me. I love you, Clockwork. I love you so much, I’d give anything for you. You’ve given me a reason to live on, to get up everyday, to enjoy every breath I take and treasure every beat of my heart, you’ve made my half-life feel so much better just by being in it.” Plasmius breathed, “I love you, Clockwork, and I need you to know that,”

Clockwork didn't answer; he just snaked a hand around Vlad’s waist and placed a palm on his cheek before kissing him.

Vlad wrapped his arms around the Ghost of Time’s neck and held him close; both treasuring this moment for as long as possible.

“Finally!” Danny Phantom came into view, “It’s about time, you lovesick old men!”

“Daniel!” Vlad barked out as he broke away from the kiss, “What are you doing here?! And what are you walking about?!”

“Please,” Danny snorted, “You don’t actually think I was just being a menace for laughs, didya? Nope, I was setting you and Clockwork up!”

“You did what now?” Plasmius’ eyes burned red.

Clockwork glared half-heartedly at the boy, “This was Pandora’s idea, wasn’t it?”

“Yep, she said you needed a boyfriend; said your last one sucked.”

“Well, she wasn’t lying. Pariah Dark certainly wasn’t loving,” 

Vlad’s head snapped back to face Clockwork, “Did you just say Pariah Dark? You dated Pariah Dark? As in the tyrant, mad ghost king, Pariah Dark?”

“He wasn’t the tyrant-mad-ghost-king when we were dating—and I have a thing for men with long hair, so quiet yourself.”

Plasmius just hung his head and sighed, “Any other exes you want to tell me about while we’re at it?”

Clockwork’s lip twitched upwards in amusement, “Well…”

“Don’t answer that,”

Phantom’s laughter echoed in the night, along with the chuckles of the Ancient Time Lord and the groans of a bisexual-akward half-ghost. 

BONUS : 

—In the Timestream room, before Vlad and Clockwork met—

“I’m incredibly attracted to that sad wet cat of a man,” 

“You need to get laid,”

“Quiet yourself, Nocturne,”

“It’s the truth,”

—

“Clockwork, babe, what is that?”

“She’s a cat and her name is Princess,”

“You named the cat Princess?”

“It was either that or Vlad Junior.”

“I hate you,”

“I love you, too,”

Chapter Text

“Jack, Maddie, I appreciate your efforts,” Vlad sighed exasperatedly, “But please stop trying to set me up on dates,”

Maddie, Jack, and Vlad were at a small restaurant to have lunch together; ‘making up for lost time,’ as Jack had put it. After Vlad managed to finally get over Maddie and forgive Jack for causing his Accident, the trio had gotten almost as close as they once were back in their college days.

Unfortunately, it also meant Maddie and Jack noticed how lonely Vlad really was and came to their own conclusion that he needed to be in a relationship.

Although the women they had tried to set him up with were lovely people, Vlad just never felt the spark or desire to be with them as two people would need to feel in order to want to start a relationship.

So after the seventh failed attempt, Vlad decided to tell the two Fentons that their attempts just weren’t working.

“Sorry, Vladdie,” Jack shook his head apologetically, “I just don’t understand why we can’t find the right lady for you,”

“Perhaps there simply isn’t one,” Vlad shrugged as he sipped his glass of soda.

“Nonsense!” Maddie swatted away that thought, “You just haven’t found her yet, but when you do, you’ll know it.”

“And you have to tell us, too!” Jack grinned, “I’ll want to meet the woman who stole my best friend’s heart,”

“I’m afraid you’ll be waiting quite a while for that,” Vlad chuckled, “I really just don’t see myself falling for anyone—”

“Have we decided on what to get, or would you like more time?” The waiter’s voice interrupted.

“I think we’re ready,” Maddie smiled, “Want to go first, Vlad?”

“Sure,” Vlad shrugged as he tore his eyes away from the menu and looked in the direction of their server, “I’ll take—”

He made eye contact with the waiter.

Bi Panic, Bi Panic, Bi Panic, Bi Panic, Vlad’s mind echoed loudly as he stared at the hot waiter.

White hair that was slightly wavy and reached just past his shoulders; the upper half of it tied upwards into a small ponytail at the middle-back of his head and the lower half of his hair remaining down—he had a slightly tan complexion with a lean and tall frame only being slightly shorter than Vlad was. His eyes were a crimson-brown color with a scar running through one, his smile was small and close-lipped. His clothes consisted of a pale lilac button up and black slacks with slightly heeled back boots.

“I-uh,” Vlad tried to compose himself as he felt his face heat up, “I’ll take the steak…?”

He didn’t know if this restaurant had even served steak, but the man wrote it down and Vlad counted it as a win.

After Maddie and Jack ordered, the halfa couldn’t help himself as his eyes seemed to always find themselves staring at the waiter. Whether he was taking another table’s order, talking to a fellow server, or giving the orders to a chef, wherever he went, Vlad’s eyes followed.

“Guess we know why no woman has caught your eye yet, hm?” Maddie teased, “You should ask him out!”

Vlad sputtered, “I don’t even know his name! Also…was it that obvious?”

“You looked like a tomato,” Jack chuckled before he beamed happily, “How about you just ask for his number? Not a date yet, but you can get to know him!”

“I can’t do that,” The billionaire stressed as he stole another glance at the man, “What if he has a partner already? Or he doesn’t like men? What if—?”

“He finds you incredibly attractive and gives you his number himself?” The waiter showed up out of seemingly thin air as he set their meals on the table, “It’s quite likely,”

He set a notecard by Vlad’s plate of steak, “Horace, by the way,”

“Vlad,” The half-ghost gave a lovesick smile, “Lovely to meet you,”

“Pleasure’s all mine,” Horace gave him a wink before he walked away.

Not even two months later, Vlad found himself in his current position.

‘Position’ being sitting on Horace’s lap with his one hand firmly placed in the other's hair and his remaining hand placed on his cheek. Horace himself had one hand on his lower back and the other gripping the halfa’s hip as they made out in Vlad’s living room.

The room was filled with the sounds of shifting clothing as Vlad pressed himself against Horace as well as the sounds as hot, deep kisses being placed on neck and lips alike.

Horace changed their position swiftly by pushing Vlad onto the couch and climbing on top of him; the halfa’s legs wrapped around his waist as well as his arms around his neck.

However long they were like that was unknown to them—only that they stopped and broke apart from each other when they heard the front door slam open and Jack’s boisterous voice echo through the mansion.

“Hey, V-Man! It’s Fenton Family Game Night!”

Jack walked into the living room much faster than the two could manage to make themselves presentable in.

Hence why the two men were partially sitting up with Vlad’s hands on Horace’s chest while still being slightly wedged/pinned to the couch as the Fenton family—luckily minus Danny and Jazz as they were still walking up the steps of the mansion—stared awkwardly at them.

It was not an innocent looking position to be caught in.

“Jack, Maddie,” Vlad gave an embarrassed, weak smile, “You–uh, you remember Horace don’t you?”

“Yeah, we do,” Maddie grinned smugly, “Y’know, if you two are busy having some alone time, there’s always next week for game night…”

“Get it, V-man!” Jack laughed as Vlad went red in the face.

“Jack!” The halfa blushed, “We–were…we weren't, I wasn’t getting anything—!”

“I was trying to get some,” Horace raised an unamused eyebrow, “And if you excuse us, I don’t plan on giving up so easily,”

Vlad yelped as he felt himself be picked up in Horace’s arms as though he was weightless.

The halfa wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s neck, “I’ll call you guys later,”

“You do that,” Maddie crossed her arms with the smug look never going away, the two of them going back to their car.

Once they were out of sight, Horace’s form began to flicker until the Master of Time, Clockwork, stood present with Vlad Masters still in his arms.

“You could’ve told me they were coming,” The halfa huffed at his future-seeing boyfriend.

“What’s the fun in that?” Clockwork grinned, “Now, I believe we have something to finish~”

BONUS:

“Mom, Dad, why aren’t we doing game night with Vlad?” Jazz asked as they piled into the car once again.

Maddie began, “Vlad is busy—”

“V-Man’s ‘bout to get laid, so we’re going to spare your kids from hearing that,” Jack interrupted.

“Jack!”

“Gross! Dad!”

“Ew! The Fruitloop—eugh! I’m gonna throw up!”

Chapter Text

Vlad had planned this date perfectly; he was going to take Clockwork to the yearly meteor shower festival and when the meteors would begin to fall; there was a picnic he planned on top of the hill with a perfect view of the sky.

Clockwork had managed to get away from the Observants and was even adorning his human disguise of Horace Clockwork, which he used often when visiting Vlad Masters rather than Vlad Plasmius.

Vlad and Clockwork met up at the park—the halfa wearing a simple brown sweater with jeans (out if his usual fancy, business ordinary) and the Master of Time in a pale purple long sleeved shirt with fitted black jeans.

Clockwork smiled, his human form was one of the most beautiful things in Vlad’s biased opinion; perfect tan skin with crimson brown eyes that he could just stare at for hours. The upper half of his pure white hair was tied back into a little bun at the back of his head; the lower half remained downwards.

“You look amazing,” Vlad blushed as Clockwork held his hand.

“As do you,” The Master of Time hummed, “I love it when you wear your hair down,”

The halfa smiled foolishly as his boyfriend ran his fingers through his silver hair, “I’ll have to wear it down more, then,”

This day is going to be perfect, Vlad thought as he led Clockwork towards the festival.

~~~~~~~

This day is going to be perfect, Danny Fenton thought as Tucker handed him a pair of binoculars. Even if I have to strangle every ghost that comes here with my bare hands in human form to make that happen!

“Remind me again why we’re spying and stalking on Vlad and Clockwork’s date?” Jazz asked as she raised an eyebrow at Tucker, Sam, and Danny’s forms hiding in a bush with binoculars in each of their hands.

“Because they’re the cutest and weirdest couple ever and are made for each other in the weirdest way possible,” Tucker replied, “So we have to make sure this goes well for them,”

“That and if Vlad’s happy, Danny can break the curfew laws easier,” Sam snickered as the halfa shot her a look.

“Clockwork and him just deserve each other—ugh, gross—plus, it’s not a crime to stalk someone if you have good intentions!”

“Ninety-nine percent sure it still is,” Dark Dan Phantom appeared into visibility next to Jazz, causing the human girl to yelp slightly.

“Says the psychopathic universe destroyer slash world conqueror,” Danny snorted as he peered through his binoculars until he spotted Clockwork and Vlad, “Is he wearing jeans ? Oh, Ancients, what has Clockwork done to him?”

“Lemme see,” Dan stole the binoculars away from the young halfa to look for himself before he chuckled, “Oh for the love of the Realms, that is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen!”

“More like the weirdest,” Danny snickered.

“Enough about Vlad’s jeans,” Tucker raised an eyebrow, “We’re supposed to be focusing on—oh my god, he’s wearing a grandpa sweater!”

All three boys were now taking turns with the binoculars to stare and laugh at Vlad’s outfit.

“Note to self,” Dan grinned, “Take a pictures of Vlad after his date and use for potential blackmail,”

“No blackmail!” Jazz huffed, “We’re supposed to be…what are we actually doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Tucker snickered, “We’re making sure that C-dubs and Vlad have a good date so Danny can break curfew laws and Dan can get Clockwork off his back for his redemption stuff,”

“And how will making sure their date goes well get Clockwork off his back?” Jazz raised an eyebrow.

“When they have a good date, the ol’ stopwatch is too lovey-dovey to pay too much attention to me,” Dan shrugged, “It’s super gross, but eh, sacrifices have to be made,”

Dan, albeit still being unhinged at best, had truly done a 180 on his old, murderous and evil ways and was on the road to becoming a better person; he now even had his humanity restored just enough that he became half-ghost again!

Hence his current appearance of a tall, muscular twenty-four year old man that had black hair with white streaks in it and was wearing a white NASA sweatshirt and black sweatpants. His icy blue eyes he once had were now bright red—the only sign of the evil Dark Dan Phantom remaining besides his ghost form looking the same as before.

“Alright, so everyone knows the plan?” Danny turned his head to watch everyone give him nods, “Alright, operation Gay Ghosts is a go!”

“We need a new mission name,” Jazz muttered as she stood up, Dan chuckling as he stood with her.

“Naw,” He grinned, fangs poking out as he went into his ghost form of Dark Phantom, “It’s perfect,”

“You named it, didn’t you?” The red-head sighed.

“Nuh uh, I wanted it to be Gay Spookies,”

Tucker’s laughter could be heard as Jazz sighed once more.

“Vladimir,” Clockwork hummed, “This place is beautiful,”

The two were sitting on a bench after just finishing a light snack of soft pretzels and were simply enjoying cuddling next to each other as they thought about what to do next on their festival date.

“It stinks of buttered popcorn and grease, but I’d have to agree with you,” Vlad chuckled; the colorful lights and sounds of laughter and joy really made the place feel perfect.

“Perhaps,” Clockwork chuckled as leaned into Vlad’s hold, the man wrapping his arms around the Ancient and holding him close, “But any place is perfect as long as I’m with you,”

“Flirt,” Vlad smiled as he pressed a kiss to the Master of Time’s lips, “But I love it,”

“I know, it’s why I do it,” Clockwork laughed as he placed another kiss, “I love you, Vladimir,”

“I love you too, Clockwork,”

~~~~~~~

“I hate you so much right now, Technus,” Danny shot an ectoblast towards the electronic ghost, “I will not have you messing up this festival!”

“Why so frustrated, Ghost Child?” Technus cackled, “Finally realized that I, Technus, am much too powerful and it angers you? For I am the Master of all things electronic and beeping! No mere half-ghost can defeat me! And— HEY!”

Danny sucked him into the thermos and capped the lid on tightly.

“The Master of Too-Long Monologues has been souped successfully,” Danny tapped on his earpiece to tell the others that Technus was taken care off.

“I can still hear you, Ghost Child!” Technus huffed from within the thermos, “Didn’t anyone ever teach you manners?”

“I’ll give you a piece of my mom’s pie if you shut up and go back into the Ghost Zone peacefully,”

Technus was silent for a moment, “Is it apple pie?”

“Yep,”

“Deal,”

~~~~~~

Vlad intertwined his hand with Clockwork’s as they walked up the small hill they were going to be picnicking on while they watched the meteor shower.

Clockwork rested his head on Vlad’s shoulder as they sat down, the soft blanket and wicker basket filled with food placed in front of them.

“This is beautiful,” Clockwork hummed as the two of them watched the sunset as they waited for nightfall.

Vlad just stared at the Master of Time with a look of pure adoration in his eyes.

“The sunset is lovely,” Clockwork commented.

His halfa boyfriend just smiled, “Not as much as you are,”

“Flirt,”

“You love it,”

“Of course I do, there was never a doubt about it.”

The two leaned in for a small kiss before watching the sunset together.

~~~~~~~~

“Vultures!” Dan growled out over the Fenton Earphones.

“Vlad’s vultures?” Sam’s voice came through the earbuds, “What are they doing here?”

“Wrong type of vultures,” Dan replied, “These are arguably worse,”

“Living ones?” Tucker inputted.

“Nope, these are the worst kinds of ones— paparazzi ,”

Sure enough, just a bit away from Vlad and Clockwork, a group of reporters and cameramen were walking towards them.

Jazz kept a tight grip on Dan’s bicep and refused to look down from the roof they stood on, “How many?”

“Too many,” Dan answered, his glowing red eyes his ghost form adorned narrowing in on them.

Danny’s voice popped up in their ears, “Dan, I am trusting you to handle them humanely , no maiming or anything like that.”

“Threats?” The Dark Phantom questioned.

“Keep them R-rated, no more.”

“You ruin my fun,”

“I keep you out of the thermos, more like it,”

“Touché,”

“I'll stay here to keep watch” Jazz told the newly deemed (and redeemed) halfa as he cracked his knuckles.

“You do that,” Dan grinned with his fangs on full display before he vanished from the visible plain.

The paparazzi was just some feet away from the two lovebirds when Dark Dan Phantom went from invisible to visible with his arm crossed in front of them. Even without floating, he towered over all of them.

“Hello there,” His fangs gleamed in the sunlight, “Going somewhere?”

The group of human vultures just blinked in shock.

“I didn’t think so, either; so scram,”

“Now wait just a minute!” One of the reporters—either very brave or very stupid—pointed a finger upwards to be pointed at Dan’s face, “This is the story of the decade! Vlad Masters, the most mysterious and ruthless billionaire is dating some complete stranger! This is too good to pass up!”

“Is it worth getting your necks snapped?” Dan growled, his eyes glowing blood red.

The reporter paled, “I-I’m not afraid of you!”

“A very stupid choice to make for you, but a very fun one for me, ”

Two minutes later, Dan’s voice echoed through the phones to Danny, “Vultures taken care of,”

“Humanely?”

Dan made an ‘eh’ sound, “So-so, I dumped them in a dumpster,”

“Uninjured?”

“Mostly,”

“Dan,” Danny groaned.

“What did you expect from me?” The Ex-World Conqueror questioned.

“...Touché.”

~~~~~~~~~

At last, the meteor shower began as the Master of Time and halfa sat together; enjoying one another’s presence with soft kisses exchanged and hands intertwined.

“This day was perfect,” Clockwork smiled as he laid his head on Vlad’s shoulder, “Thank you, Vladimir,”

The halfa just grinned, “I only want the best for you,”

“A hopeless romantic at heart, aren’t you?”

“It’s a part of my charm,”

Clockwork kissed him, his hand placed on his cheek, “Yes, it is; and it’s a part I utterly adore,”

“I love you,” Vlad whispered as they rested their foreheads together.

“I love you too,” 

One last kiss was exchanged before they turned back to the meteor shower; Clockwork’s gaze lingering on a particular rooftop that was across from them.

The Master of Time winked at seemingly nothing before going back to his boyfriend and the meteors.

“He totally knew about everything we did,” Tucker commented as Danny made them all visible after he let go of his best friend’s hand, “Smug Time Lord,”

“I better get extra slices of his double fudge brownies after all that,” Dan commented, leaning against the metal railing that was on the roof.

Jazz cleared her throat suddenly, making all of Team Phantom stare at her.

The human girl held up a picnic basket, “Since we’re all here, why not enjoy the meteor shower ourselves?”

Team Phantom just smiled as they helped her lay out a blanket and all sat down to eat and enjoy the night sky; the two boyfriends below doing the same.