Into The Woods - The Remake

Chapter 12 "Invitations"

"Why didn't you guys tell me he was back? What the fuck!" Jeff was angry, kicking the front door of the mansion open. His skin was pale, an after-effect of being burned with bleach, and his mouth a wide smile because he'd decided carving his face into a smile was a good idea. But somehow, he looked livid. Especially with his eyes open and lidless, he frowned despite his smile, which looked very odd. His white hoodie was soaked in blood and his hair was wet, his face also had blood on it and he still had his knife in his hand for some reason.

Danny hadn't visited that day, he hadn't visited in a few days and Jeff was off on a hunt for The Slenderman. But the older teen was back home and looking for his brother, left disappointed that Danny wasn't at the mansion because he was doing after-school. School, what a bitch. Fine, he'd visit him himself. He stomped upstairs, grumpy and annoyed on his way to take a shower.

------———

Danny let out a heavy sigh, dropping his head onto his desk, his computer was running with a call with Sam and Tucker, Ben wasn't around and was working on inventions, tinkering with Fenton technology and improving on it, Tucker was messing with their collection of Fenton technology. Both nerds had been working on their ideas for most of the week and Danny had been catching up on his missing schoolwork and doing extracurricular work to get his grades up since some had dropped after the portal accident and dealing with ghosts. He of course was losing quite a lot of sleep from ghost hunting and getting his grades up, he was very tired, especially with also getting himself enough necessary ectoplasm in his diet. He groaned and rubbed his face, taking a drink of his concoction of ectoplasm and coffee. It tasted weird, but it worked to keep him awake and energized.

"Hey, bitch! Open the window!" Danny rubbed his eyes and looked toward the noise, the window. He had a visitor and he grinned when he saw who it was. That mousy brown hair and the baby blue eyes were hard to miss, Danny got up and quickly opened the door. Grabbing Jeff and pulling him into his room. His brother was here! He held tightly onto his brother, making him groan even though he was hugging back with just as much intensity.

"Danny, buddy, you're going to break a rib!" Jeff was trying to be quiet since he'd seen the Fenton's car in the driveway. It was the evening anyway and assumed they were somewhere in the house possibly getting ready for bed. Danny laughed awkwardly and let go of Jeff, grinning at his older brother.

"Sorry, it's just been forever since I've seen you..." Danny laughed again and looked at the computer, hearing Sam and Tucker ask about the second voice in the call.

"Oh yeah, guys, meet my brother Jeff!"

"Hi, Danny's friends, Sam and Tucker right?"

—----——

"Mads! Look at this!" Jack held a letter in his hands, standing in the foyer of the house and looking at Maddie, who was trying to cook something and failing.

"What is it, sweetie? I can't see right now." Maddie was trying to deal with their food, holding two small animate weiners in her hands, trying to grab the rest as they hopped off of the table, eyes red and their mouths open in a snarl with their small fangs, they looked like they hurt.

Jack looked up from his letter, grinning and unaware that his wife was having issues with dinner. "Vladdies invited us for our college reunion!"

Vladdie was an old friend of theirs, their partner in researching ghosts and originally designing a portal. But after an incident, they hadn't interacted in a long time. So to make up for it, the wealthiest man in Wisconsin was hosting the reunion party of their college graduates.

"How exciting! How about you go tell the kids and I order us a pizza? These dogs are too feral to eat." Maddie smiled at her husband, laughing a little at her joke, since her husband was also like an optimistic giant puppy.

"Sure thing honey!"  So, Jack excitedly climbed the stairs, and Danny, able to hear the heavy steps pushed his brother into the closet, where he hid as the burly man peaked into the room.

"Oh yeah, of course, Sam. I'll see if I can give you the recipe" Sam and Danny were talking about recipes, most just ideas of adding ectoplasm to dishes so Danny could have his nutritions without being suspicious.

"Danny boy, pack up some clothes! We're going to see your uncle Vlad this weekend!" Danny looked at his father and frowned, confused.

"Why?"

Jack laughed and showed Danny the letter from his friend. "He invited us for a reunion!"

Danny frowned more, raising an eyebrow and sighing. He nodded and stretched, his shirt moving as he raised his arms above his head. "OK Dad, let me say bye to my friends."

Jack nodded and left the bedroom, forgetting to close the door on his way out, he was going to see Jazz next to tell her, just as excited as when he opened the letter.

"See you later Danny, call us if you need anything." Sam was smiling at her monitor even though they didn't have their call on video.

"Yeah, Ben and I will probably give you a prototype of headphones tomorrow or something." Tucker smiled at the idea of working with Ben on tech things, it was exciting and the ghost was kind of cute.

Danny nodded absentmindedly and turned the call off, closing the browser out and sitting down on his chair. It spun around as he kicked back from his desk, looking at Jeff who poked his head out of the closet. He'd taken his glamour off and grinned at Danny, quickly taking the opportunity to jump onto the bed and lay on it.

"Let's hang out for a while, we haven't seen each other in years."

"I'd like that. Maybe we can come up with ideas on how to prank that Vlad guy and you could come with me!"

"I'd be able to visit as long as there's a forest nearby. Slendy's territory can appear in any forest we need it to, even though it's technically part of the ghost zone. That's pretty badass, isn't it?"

"Badass"