It's the second chapter, this is where the first slash is implied, so be warned. Oh and just to be clear, Danny is 18 in this already, because I'm not a fan of people nagging me because of the age of consent.

Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize belongs to me, unfortunately. Trust me, otherwise that series would not be for children *grins dirtily*

Chapter 1

Danny turned into his ghost form while running up the stairs to escape the laboratory. To escape the parents who had just evicted their only son from their house and the family. Ghost-freak. The echo of Jack's voice still rang in his head. Deafening in it's intensity. His mother's judging and disappointed gaze.

If not even his parents loved him enough to accept him for the freak he was, how could anyone else ever see past his abnormality?

The teenager tried to shut those thoughts out. Sam. Tucker. Jazz. They knew and they did not mind. `But maybe they do mind?,´ the insecure voice inside his head piped in.

Danny gritted his teeth and flew faster. Behind him, the Fenton residence grew smaller at a rapid pace. The wind ripped at his ghostly hair, bringing it into the view of the halfbreed. Tears sprang to his eyes unbidden. He really was a freak of nature.

Blinded by his emotions, Danny paid no attention to where he was flying, until he suddenly collided with a warm surface, bouncing back from the unwavering force.

"What has you in such a hurry, Daniel?" The voice of his archenemy did not sound as cutting as it normally did and Danny startled, looking up at the only other half-ghost he knew of.

"W-What does it matter to you, Plasmius? Just go back to your evil lair!" There. One of his usual taunts, now he could turn around and leave the other to his own devices. He could not care less what the ghostly villain did tonight. What had all that saving the town ever brought him, after all? Nothing but spite and contempt from his own parents!

Apparently Plasmius quite disagreed with the younger man, as he looked at him quizzically.

"No fighting for what is just and right in the world today? I must confess to find myself disappointed. I came all the way to your turf and now you expect me to turn back? Just like that?" Danny glared weakly at the older ghost-human and turned around, flying off in the direction he had come from. There was no point in fighting anyways.


Vlad furrowed his brow. He had never seen the young man like this before. He had looked so sad. And were those tear tracks on his beautiful face?

Before he could say anything else, the younger one had turned around and flown off. Something was very wrong if Daniel Phantom did not care what he did in his town.

With more concern for the other than was probably wise and healthy given their situation, Vlad turned invisible and followed the slight form of his first friend's child.

The warm evening breeze had turned into the unforgiving wind of a starless night before the boy came to a halt.

Plasmius frowned worriedly. There was nothing around them but wide planes of grassy hills, a large river and a forest in the far distance, with a few trees sprinkled about the river bed. What could Phantom possibly want out here?

Sunken in his pensive mood, Plasmius did not notice when Daniel changed back into his human form and huddled down against one of the trees, tightly hugging his knees to his chest and burying his head in the created hallow. He was only ripped from it, when he heard the first sob of the other.

Vlad's eyes shot to the prone form immediately. Now he was truly worried. How did this happen? What had upset the younger man so much that he felt the need to escape from his home and come here to cry?


Danny cried for the first time in what felt like forever as he sat at the nameless river. His back hurt from the hard bark he was huddled against and he shivered from the cold seeping into his limbs, but none of the physical discomfort mattered. How could it? His family had just thrown him away with nary a thought! There seemed to be a ginormous hole within his chest, aching and throbbing like a gaping wound. It hurt so much, how could it hurt so much?

He seemed to be drowning in his hurt, unable to breathe through the unimaginable pain.

Alone. `I'm alone!´

Until suddenly he wasn't. Warm hands hugged him to a firm chest and rubbed against his back in soothing motions. Hot breath puffed against his neck and Danny held onto the lifeline presented to him. It didn't matter who or what was giving him comfort. All that mattered was that they did.

Danny's hands fisted the soft material he was soaking with his despair and he pressed closer to the humanoid body enveloping him with it's warmth.


Vlad did not know what to do. Here he was, sitting at a river bench in a frighteningly cold night, his sobbing supposed-enemy encased in his arms. This did not feel like a teenager's rejected crush, as he had originally assumed. If that were the case, Daniel would never have accepted his comfort. Something had happened, something really bad. But what could it be that had the headstrong ghostboy, not jet a man, shivering helplessly in his enemy's arms? Why hadn't he sought out his family for this? Unless, his family was at fault? Vlad growled at that thought. What had that stupid buffoon done now? Danny visibly cringed away with a mindless whimper at the harsh sound and Vlad's heart melted.

"Shh, it's alright little one. He can't hurt you now. I'm here for you. I will protect you," his cooed words seemed to have the desired effect. Daniel leaned against him and went lax a little while later, seemingly content with the soothing nothingness whispered into his ear.

Vlad smiled down at the sleeping boy in his arms and lifted him carefully, changing into Plasmius at the same time.


Danny drifted into wakefulness at a leisure pace, cuddling deeper into the warmth at his back, content with the puffs of air that seemed to regularly disturb his hair and the strong arm wrapped around his waist.

Wait, what? Danny was fully awake within seconds and stared at the obviously male arm slung around his midesction in trepidation. What happened the evening before to land him here? He hadn't lost his virginity, had he? His panicked thoughts came to a standstill, as he remembered the last night.

Get out. Ghost-freak. Daniel. I will protect you.

His parents threw him out, without so much as a chance to let him explain. Disregarding every good he had done for Amity Park and the surrounding towns, seeing nothing but another ghost to hunt, an abnormality to dispose of. Unbidden tears came to his eyes again. How could they?! He had expected them to be angry and disappointed in him for lying to them so long, but to throw him out for it? Never had he thought them capable of that.

As he started shaking from the sobs wracking through his body, he suddenly remembered his far more pressing problem. He was in bed with another man. A man that had apparently found and consoled him after his breakdown and taken him to an unknown location. Danny bit his lip in an attempt to calm down and think this through. There would be time to grieve later.

Very carefully, as not to wake the other up, he shuffled around in the tight grip to get a glimpse at his unknown companion. Soft black hair surrounded an aristocratic face with a strong jaw and pronounced cheekbones. `He's handsome,´ was all Danny could think. Slowly he lifted a hand to the soft looking skin of the older man and gasped softly at the warmth which seemed to shoot through his body immediately. Then he looked at the face more closely. He knew that face. Had in fact seen it just the day before. Horror flashed through him and he froze, then he did the only thing he could think of.


Vlad was sleeping peacefully, only peripherally aware of the lithe body pressed against his own when he was rudely awoken by a high scream.