Danny Fenton was fearless.

He became a half ghost when curiosity caught him in its deathly trap and he fought ghosts on a daily basis as a result of it. He could face the meanest teacher in school with little trouble, got bullied on a daily basis, and lived through goth poetry nights at Sam's favorite hang out. He made it through just about everything. So why was it that now the brave boy was on his bed with the blanket completely covering his feet, legs, and head?

Another crack of thunder rang through the sky, causing the shaking form hidden under the blue blanket to whimper and pull the covers tighter around his head. A few sniffles followed with the sound of labored breathing and rustling while Danny hid his face in the white pillow he'd pulled under the blue shield.

The rumbling that was occurring on just the other side of his window ceased for a moment, causing an eerie silence to come over his room. Slowly, his pale and shaking hand drew the covers away from his face, revealing a terror induced, sweat drenched expression and sky blue eyes full of tears. He mumbled something inaudible, then cursed hoarsely as more lightning lit up his room; He retreated back under the covers.

A few of the metal items on the nightstand to his right buzzed lightly from the volume of the next boom, and across the room on his wood dresser a lamp fizzled out and died as lightning struck again. Danny could tell the room was darker from under his blanket, and he imagined the rest of the house was exactly the same. He curled up tighter and tried to stop himself from getting too scared, eyes closed to avoid seeing anymore flashes of light.

As if to make up for the now absent illumination in the room, a sudden dark light filled up in it's place as another form entered the vicinity by phasing through the wall; Cautiously as not to scare the boy further. The odd glow that was given off by the person who entered faded when the two rings engulfed his body and transformed him into a simply human.

The figure stood by the dresser, observing the room carefully to map out a route to the bed. The man dodged clothes on the floor and toy rockets as he started to make his way over, walking past the closet and in front of the nightstand; Now next to the bed.

Danny stiffened up when he heard the cautious footsteps, unable to think clearly to decide whether or not he liked the presence by him or disliked it enough to come out from hiding to chase it away.

"Little badger?" Vlad asked gently (compared to his usual boisterous and low intonation). Another flicker of light came through the window, then a rumble that turned into a roar.

Danny couldn't help the small sob that escaped him while he sat up in his bed, blanket still trying to hide him from the storm raging outside.

"Vlad?" He croaked in question, voice almost giving out completely. The man standing by him frowned and reached out for the blanket, taking a part of the cloth lightly and dragging it down. The blue materiel cascaded down from the messy black hair and the near white face, a few tear drops following to plop on the blue fabric ocean now around Danny's knees.

He met Danny's gaze with his own, noting that his eyes were puffy and rimmed with red and lined below with black; Storms had been a common thing lately. Vlad recalled the first night he'd come into the room and found Danny in the corner furthest from the window huddled against the wall. It wasn't all that long ago, probably just last month, that he'd had to tell comfort Danny. And since then, it was Vlad's self appointed job to come in and sit with Danny until he slept.

Vlad could tell by the wet spots on his pillow and blanket, where Danny must have taken cover while waiting for him, that he'd been alone for much longer than the other times. He continued to hold his stare, mentally cursing Danny's parents for yet another thing they failed to notice about their son. How could one not notice the boy's phobia of the lightning and thunder? Especially when Danny was so bad at hiding it...

He'd been at this for a only month now yet somehow was on expert on what to do. He closed his eyes and turned to the closet a foot away, kicking clothes out of the door's path while he shut it. Then, he trudged over to the dresser and softly touched the lamp. He used his ghost powers and sent a bit of electricity through the thing, watching as it came back life and lit up the room.

Danny, who had been shaking until that point, sniffled and the shaking gradually stopped. Before Vlad could finish up what seemed to be his ritual, Danny shot out of the bed and bolted over to Vlad, wrapping his arms around the man while he still faced the dresser. He took a deep breath, pressing his face into his black coat.

Vlad turned enough to put a hand on Danny's head, ruffling his hair. He smiled, just a little, as Danny spoke again.

"You're really late." His voice had improved, Vlad noticed, and turned around in the boy's arms to face him and wrap his own arms around his torso.

"I would have been here sooner if someone hadn't destroyed my ghost portal." The younger male's form shook with silent laughter, hands tightly holding onto Vlad's coat.

"It wasn't my fault, frutiloop, you made me mad." As he finished his sentence and thunder broke through the sky, he cowered against Vlad. Vlad hugged him tighter, bending over to loop his arms further down Danny's body. Danny looked up in confusion, then squeaked in protest when he was lifted off the floor.

"Made you mad?" Vlad asked, carrying Danny and walking toward the bed with ease now that he could see the mountains of toys and other items on the floor. "And Daniel, this room is unacceptable, you're- What, 16 now?" Danny hugged Vlad again, nuzzling into the space between his neck and shoulder. The older of the two hugged tighter as rumbling led into each of the next three terrifying flashes, engulfing the room brightly for a few seconds; Seconds which Danny spent with his eyes clenched shut and body shaking.

"Yeah," Danny started, voice wavering, and Vlad sat down on the bed with Danny in his lap. He looked down and watched as Danny opened one eye enough to see if the storm was still being unkind to him, then both eyes opened. At first, Danny was inspecting the floor. He slowly made his way to look up into Vlad's own blue eyes, blinking. "You wouldn't kiss me." Both gave each other a serious look then, almost as if they were battling for the right to be mad. Danny figured he'd won when Vlad's eyes closed, but the man shook his head.

"Daniel-" Vlad was about to explain just why he had denied Danny multiple days ago, but said boy had caught Vlad's lips with his own and pushed into a kiss. Now, Danny's eyes were lidded while Vlad's were wide open in surprise. He wanted to push away, however... Who could do that to someone so adorably frightened? Someone who sat on his lap, trying with all his might not to pull away from the determined kiss as lightening and thunder persisted around them?

He had to kiss back. He could feel Danny trying to deepen the kiss though Vlad kept it simple. He pulled away and came back for a second one, pressing just enough to make Danny happy before ending it again.

"No more of that. Go to bed." He tried to command the boy who didn't look like he'd just done any wrong but his own face was turning a slight shade of red. Danny nodded and moved to lay down, pulling on Vlad's shoulder to tell him to lay with him. He did so, looping his arms around Danny's waist while Danny cuddled into his chest.

"Night, fruitloop." He paused. "And..thanks."