Summary: A light played before his eyes, and he grabbed for it.
Characters: Vlad and Danny
Prompt: Vlad

Day Five

Carefully, he stalked upon that little light glowing within the darkness. His hands held out, slowly enclosing around the light before it could escape his grasp. A half smirk tugged across his face as he stared down at his clasped hands, trapping the flickering light.

"Daniel," Vlad called out, and the small boy paused in his chase to turn back to the man.

He knelt down on one knee as young Daniel toddled over to him, nearly tripping as one sandal, a touch too big for his small feet, tried to slip free. When he reached the man, Daniel held onto the man's wrists as Vlad slowly opened his hands for the boy to peek inside. With a gasp of wonder, Daniel reached his small hand inside, but Vlad closed his hands again before the boy could grab at what he held. Daniel pouted as he lifted his gaze to the man.

"You must remember to be gentle with living things," Vlad cautioned the boy, though the comment made him feel like a hypocrite. He knew he wasn't always the kindest person in the world. Opening his hands again, Vlad allowed the firefly to escape into the growing darkness. Daniel followed it with eyes, his mouth gaping open as he watched the little light dancing in the sky.

Vlad glanced back toward his home, the mansion he bought upon moving to Amity Park. His gaze landed first on Maddie, who sat in one of the lounge chairs with her daughter in her lap. They were reading a book together. Ever since the young girl first learned to read, she spent a majority of her time with her nose in a book. Vlad glanced toward the other occupant within his backyard. Jack stood at the grill, cooking the food for their end of the summer barbecue.

"Not too long before your first day of kindergarten," Vlad commented, drawing the boy's attention back to him. "Are you excited about it?"

Daniel frowned, lowering his gaze with a soft flicker of green showing through the brilliant blue of his eyes. Vlad sighed inwardly when he caught sight of that. The boy was still young and his control over his powers weren't the best yet, and that made Vlad worry about his young apprentice. Daniel was quite expressive with his emotions, causing both Jack and Vlad to scramble for excuses or distract Maddie and Jazz whenever Daniel let the otherworldly glow of his eyes shine through. Vlad was trying his best to help the boy reign in his emotions, control them enough to keep his powers from showing. The young weren't good at that kind of thing, and Vlad feared what would happen if anyone at the school noticed. His own parents never worried about this sort of thing, having homeschooled him until he was at an age where wouldn't expose his abilities.

"No," Daniel said in a soft voice, shaking his head.

Vlad frowned at his answer. "Why not?"

"What if I don't make any furends?" Daniel's lower lip jutted out as he lifted sad eyes to the men. "What if they make fun of me? Be - Because I'm different!"

Vlad sighed as he cupped the boy's face. "You'll make friends." His gaze slipped toward where the others were. Jack was taking the hamburgers and hotdogs off the grill. "You don't have to have a lot of friends. As long as you have one who will stick with you to the end, that's all you need. And," he turned a smile toward Daniel, "they'd be silly not to love you." He grabbed Daniel under the arms, lifting him up into the air as the boy squealed with laughter.

maltese: All the angst~ 8D;; Not Danny, no. His friends keep him from that dark place.