Ripped flower crowns and bloodstained jumpers

Chapter 1

"Listen to me you little shit!" Tom shouted, shoving Dan into a lamp post. "You live with me! You do as I say!" He pushed Dan again, making Dan wince from the pain of bruises from the last time this happened.

"P-please Tom, can't we do this when we get home?" Dan somehow managed to stutter. Tom shook his head, placing a hand on Dan's shoulder.

"Daniel, we're not going home yet, you know that. We've got a party to get to." His voice sounded kind but his eyes were evil, telling Dan what was going to happen next.

"T-Tom please. My anxiety has b-been really bad today and if we don't go soon I mi-" Dan was suddenly interrupted by a hand swinging at his face and the angry yells of his boyfriend. Dan's hands hit the ground, the rest of his body quickly following. He was already shaking and all he wanted to do was run away, but he couldn't. He knew if he tried anything like that, he would regret it. His mind flashed with memories of when he was braver and would try to fight back, memories of ripped flower crowns and bloodstained jumpers.

The yelling didn't stop. He shouldn't have talked back, he knows that. He couldn't even hear the words Tom was yelling at this point, but he knew what Tom would be saying later. He would be going on about how it was all Dan's fault and he would force Dan to apologize. Then, Dan would get yelled at even more for cleaning himself up and putting on new bandages. That's what happens. Every time.

All of a sudden, the yelling stopped. Dan looked up to see what was happening and saw a tall stranger, kinda scary looking, shoving Tom away from the lamppost. Tom swings a punch at the man, which is quickly blocked.

"Fuck off, that's my boyfriend!" Tom yelled, trying to shove the man away.

"Well, then you're even more of a dick than I thought you were!" The man yelled back before punching Tom square in the face.

"How fucking dare you hit me!" Tom swung another punch at the man and this time, he hit him. The man backed away for a moment, holding his hand against where he got hit. Without warning, he continued the fight by punching Tom in the stomach. The two continue throwing punches at each other and trying to shove each other away for another minute or so. Then, with one final hit from the mysterious man, Tom gives up. Walking away, he turns around to yell at Dan

"You're a piece of shit Daniel! You're useless! Look what happened! I got beat up because of you!" Dan was still on the ground, he felt sick, he was shaking uncontrollably and he didn't know what to do. He had tears running down his face, but he was glad Tom had left.

The man stood there for a moment, watching Tom walk away, making sure he wasn't planning on coming back. The crowd that had quickly occurred when the fight began, slowly disappeared, leaving Dan alone with the stranger, who was quickly walking towards him.

"Are you okay?" The man asked, holding his hand out to Dan.

"M-mostly" Dan stuttered, shakily taking the man's hand.

"That's good. I'm Phil by the way." He smiled, pulling Dan up off the ground. Dan remained standing for a moment or two, before discovering that his legs were far too shaky to hold him. His hand reached out and grabbed Phil's arm, before beginning to fall over. Phil quickly caught Dan, realizing just how shaky he was.

Phil helped Dan over to a bench that was nearby. He went to take his arm away from where it was wrapped around Dan, but Dan moved closer, he didn't want Phil to let go of him. Phil seemed to get the message and moved his arm back to where it had been, possibly holding Dan slightly tighter than before.

"T-thank you for stopping him. I've tried to but it just made him hit me harder. But you, you actually hit him and made him go away. Thank you so much." Dan started crying again. He was overwhelmed with emotion. He was happy that Tom was gone but he was also scared because he had nowhere to go and couldn't help but blame himself for what happened. He knows that it's not his fault but that was just how Tom had forced him to think, that everything is Dan's fault.

"It's okay. I couldn't exactly just stand and watch him hurt you, could I?" Phil paused for a moment to look at the terrified teenager, who would have to be at least three, maybe four years younger than him. He was sure he had seen him before, flower crowns and pastel jumpers don't really blend in that easily.

"You know, I just realized that I don't know your name." Phil shifted his gaze up the street to a stranger walking in their direction, making sure it wasn't Tom coming back.

"I'm Dan." Was all he could manage to say.

"Nice name, I like it. So, Dan, do you want me to drive you to your house?" Phil seemed kind. He was one of the kindest people Dan had met in a while.

"I don't have a home to go to. I live with him, and I can't go back there after this, I have no idea what he would do to me." Dan felt himself tense up from thinking about what Tom would do.

"Oh" Phil mumbled "Do you have friends or relatives that live near here?" Dan shook his head

"Tom didn't like me having friends, he said he was all I needed, and my relatives all live really far away. I've got nowhere to go." Dan's voice went quiet, he really had nowhere to go. Phil thought for a moment

"If you need a place to stay, I mean, I know you don't know me but you could stay at my place." He looked down towards Dan, who seemed to be starting to calm down slightly.

"R-really? You would let me stay at your house?" Dan looked up at Phil, only just being able to see him though the combination of his teary eyes and how dim the streetlight was. Phil smiled at Dan

"Yeah, Why wouldn't I?" Phil let go of Dan and stood up, holding out a hand to help Dan up.

"Come on, my car is just up the street, we'll be at my house in ten minutes."

Dan didn't know why, but he felt he could trust Phil, so he took Phil's hand, stood up and the two of them started heading up the street.