The Boy in the Garden (Phan)

Chapter 9- Cuts and Bruises

Dan smiled to himself as he walked around to the back of the school. He had been in a good mood ever since he had helped Phil fall asleep the night before. He felt somewhat accomplished, as though he had just climbed the biggest mountain ever. He practically skipped over the grass, hands in his sweatshirt pockets. He felt as though nothing could put a damper on his day.

As Dan rounded the corner of the school, he immediately took notice of Phil, who was wearing his crescent moon hoodie. However, he also noticed a person coming out the back door of the school and walking towards him. Frowning slightly, Dan stayed out of view, peeking out from behind the corner to see what happened. Although he couldn't hear what either of them were saying, it was pretty clear that the other person was bothering Phil, since he was backed up against the chain link fence, his fists clenched and his fingers intertwined in the little holes in the fence. At first, they only seemed to be taunting him, so Dan was only a little bit worried. But out of nowhere, the person punched Phil in the stomach, causing him to curl up in a little ball and fall to the ground. Inhaling sharply, Dan emerged from his hiding spot, storming over to where the other person was. "Hey! Get away from him!" The person seemingly ignored him, resorting to kicking Phil in the side and resulting in several pained whimpers. 

"I said get away from him!" Dan hollered, grabbing the person's arm. The person whirled around and slapped his arm, hard. Wincing slightly, Dan yanked his hand away. "What the hell, man?"

The person glared at him, crossing his arms. "Who the fuck are you?"

"I'm the person who's going to beat the crap out of you if you don't leave Phil alone," Dan snapped.

The person simply chuckled. "I'd like to see you try." Smirking, he kicked Phil in the side of the head, causing the boy in the ground to let out a tiny yelp as the person's boot opened a small cut on his temple. A small stream of blood trickled down from the cut, partially staining the yellow daffodil tucked behind his ear. Practically seeing red, Dan punched the person square in the jaw, causing him to stagger back. 

"I told you to leave him alone," Dan snapped.

The person frowned, stepping away from Dan. "Fine, jeez. Go ahead and defend him. But you're gonna pay for this." He quickly dashed off and ran over the hill.

Dan watched to make sure he was gone before quickly kneeling down by Phil. Groaning softly, Phil squinted in the sun as he glanced up at him. "Dan?"

"Oh my god, Phil..." Dan fumbled in his pocket for some tissues, pressing them against the cut on Phil's head.

"...thanks for scaring that guy off," Phil whispered with a small smile.

"Who the hell was that?" Dan asked, still enraged.

"I don't even know... he's just some kid from one of my classes who's always bothering me," Phil sighed.

Dan sighed and helped Phil sit up, letting him rest his head on his shoulder as he continued to try to stop the flow of blood. "Phil, you've got to tell somebody about this. These kids are bullying you just because you're bi, and that's stupid. You have to talk to someone..."

"Dan, you don't understand! I literally can't. Do you know what they would do to me?" Phil blurted, his voice cracking on the final sentence. He looked down at the ground, blinking quickly. "I can't tell anyone, Dan. They'd just bother me more..."

"Phil... Phil, that's not true. If you tell somebody, then they'd make sure they stop bothering you..."

"No. That's never going to happen, Dan. The only things I can do to not have to deal with them anymore are either transfer to another school or..."

"Phil, no offense, but shut up and listen for like two seconds, okay?" Dan placed his hands on either side of Phil's face, making the shorter boy look at him. "I know you don't want to tell anyone about this, but if you're not going to do it, then I will. These people are physically hurting you for no good reason. You have to tell someone..."

Phil sniffed softly, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand before nodding. "I guess you're right..." He nuzzled Dan's neck with a sigh.

Dan smiled and gently ruffled Phil's hair. "After school today sound good?"

"Yeah..." Phil nodded and attempted to stand up but winced and stayed where he was.

"You alright?" Dan asked, concerned.

"It's from when that guy kicked me... my side hurts so much..."

Dan stood up, reaching down and grabbing Phil's hands. "Count of three, okay?"

"M-hm..." Phil intertwined his fingers with Dan's and nodded.

"One, two, three-" Dan helped Phil to pull himself up, feeling slightly guilty when the shorter boy flinched in pain. He quickly put one arm around Phil's shoulders to steady him. Phil took a couple of shaky breaths, grabbing onto Dan's arm to hold himself upright.

"We should probably make sure you don't have any broken bones or anything. If you're in this much pain, that's not good," Dan said.

"Good idea..."

~{}~

It took about ten minutes for Dan to get Phil through the back door of the school, since they had to stop every few seconds due to Phil either whimpering in pain or looking like he was going to pass out. When he finally managed to get Phil inside and into the nearby unoccupied band room, he quickly helped him to sit down in an open folding chair. Phil let out a small sigh of relief when he was finally allowed to sit down, practically melting into the chair. Dan knelt down next to him. "Okay, I'm gonna try to see if it's broken. Tell me if it hurts, alright?" He pressed down hard on Phil's side, but not enough to hurt him even more. Phil winced and nodded, gritting his teeth. Biting his lip, Dan pressed down again, gentler this time. This time, Phil didn't react other than glancing at him.

Dan sighed softly. "Okay, it's probably just a really bad bruise, but I can't tell for sure..."

"Why not?" Phil asked.

"...well, I'd have to see to be sure, and I know you probably don't want to take your shirt off in front of me..." Dan mumbled, blushing a bit and internally screaming with frustration. Stop blushing, you moron! He could be really hurt, but your only immediate thought is seeing him with his shirt off?

"Oh..." Phil bit his lip. "If you really need to know..." He grabbed the edges of his hoodie and his shirt, lifting it up and revealing about half of his torso. Dan gasped when he saw a constellation of purplish-yellow bruises scattered across his pale skin, some of them looking relatively new and some of them old and faded. He reached forward and gently touched the bruises, being sure not to press down too hard. "Oh, Phil..." 

Phil sighed and looked away, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. "I know... I should have told you. I'm sorry..." 

"It's not your fault, Phil. It's the fault of whoever did this to you..." 

Phil didn't respond and instead tugged his hoodie back down, covering up the bruises. However, it would take more than simply hiding them to erase them from Dan's memory. After a few seconds of pained silence, Dan finally spoke. "Phil... who did that to you?"

"A bunch of different people... I don't even know their names..." Phil whispered, his voice quivering with every word he spoke. He covered his face with his hands, sniffing quietly.

"Would you be able to recognize them if I pointed them out?" Dan asked.

"Maybe..." Phil mumbled into his hands. "P-please, Dan, I don't wanna talk about it right now..."

Dan wanted to keep talking, but it was clear that Phil was going to have a breakdown if he didn't leave him alone. He pulled the shorter boy into a hug, a pang of guilt rushing through him as Phil immediately started sobbing into his shoulder. He rubbed his hand up and down Phil's back in a calming gesture, trying to calm him down. "I'm sorry, Phil, I shouldn't have kept pestering you..." The only response from Phil was a choking sob, and Dan felt even more guilty. Biting his lip, he squeezed Phil tighter, the only thing he could do at the moment to let Phil know that he was there, and that he wasn't going to let go until he was okay.