*DING DONG*

"Dan, who's at the door?" His mother called out to him from downstairs.

"Oh, remember that friend I told you about? He's coming over to work with me on homework." Dan explained as he walked down the stairs and opened the door.

Dan was left breathless as he saw Phil's messy bangs and sweaty skin and awkwardly invited him in.

"Oh, hi! You must be Philip!" Dan's mum walked in, introducing himself.

"Dan, is this your mother? Why, she's lovely." Phil complimented, making Dan's mum blush and giggle.

"You're welcome anytime, dear!" She said as she busied herself with dinner.

"Come along, Phil. Your chariot awaits you." Dan mocked, revealing the glamorous stairs.

"Why, thank you, Danny." Phil teased before heading upstairs.

Dan mentally cursed him and quickly followed him up, shrugging away his feeling of uneasiness.

As they entered Dan's room, he suddenly felt self-conscious as piles of clothes were everywhere, and his drawings were exposed to Phil's wandering eyes.

"Wow! This is your room?! Unbelievable!" Phil gaped, heading over to Dan's desk where his laptop rested.

"Yeah, just a normal teenage boy's room. Nothing special to see here." Dan nervously chuckled.

"Well, it's better than mine, for sure. My father doesn't exactly let me have many things." Phil sighed, plopping down onto Dan's bed.

Dan went to sit next to him and noticed that Phil had a cakey looking complexion around his eye.

"Phil, are you wearing makeup?"

"Maybe." He said, the atmosphere of the room turning more serious.

"He hit you, didn't he?" Dan asked, slowly looking down at his ratty lace-up shoes.

"Are you a psychic or what?" Phil laughed dryly, rubbing the spot where he had been hit.

"Isn't there something you can do?"

Phil sighed and took a deep breath.

"My mother...well, we can't afford anything on her salary, so we rely on my dad's. If she ever left him..."

Phil wiped his eyes and sniffled a bit before answering again.

"We'd be homeless."

Dan couldn't keep his face from expressing a mix of shock and concern as he listened to Phil explain his horrible living situation.

"D-Does he hit her too?" Dan questioned, now starting to pick at his nails.

"Not anymore. Not since I got old enough to make sure the old man doesn't lay one filthy finger on her."

"O-Oh..." Dan was at a loss of words. One part of his mind was saying to tell someone about this, but another part was saying that he could completely lose Phil's trust if he did that.

"I'm sorry, Phil. I can't relate, but I wish you didn't have to suffer so much." Dan finally uttered out after taking his time to carefully choose his words.

"It's okay. I'm still alive and well..." Phil trailed off then, wiping away the tears streaming down his face.

Dan saw from the corner of his eyes that Phil was starting to bawl and quickly handed him a box of tissues.

"You're okay now. You're safe." Dan rubbed Phil's back as he naturally leaned into Dan and cried into his left shoulder.

After a bit, Phil went silent and calmly lifted his head from Dan's shoulder.

"Thank you for being here. Texting you has really helped me feel...alive again." Phil smiled.

Dan smiled back and scooted closer to Phil to whisper a secret into Phil's ear.

"That day..." He whispered, and Phil instantly knew what he was talking about.

"Wait!" Phil backed away. "You don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to."

"I trust you, just like you trust me."

"Okay," Phil nodded. "but you can stop whenever you want to."

Dan nodded and started to tell the story that had been circulating throughout the school for a while that has tortured him everyday since the story was spread around by an anonymous source.

"I was walking home, and this boy was following me. At first, I thought he was just walking in the same direction, but once I turned into my neighborhood, I knew something was wrong."

Dan stopped talking for a bit and took slow, heavy breaths before beginning again.

"When I turned around, he was gone, or so I thought. I heard footsteps behind me as I headed down the pathway tucking my head, so he couldn't see me panicking as he hunted me like prey. The next thing I know, I'm struggling to breathe as he was dragging me into a wooded area and punching me senselessly until I was knocked unconscious."

Dan took another deep breath, and he held his neck as if it was hurting before continuing.

"When I woke up, my school materials were lying in the mud, my wallet had been stolen, and my phone was shattered into pieces. Probably so I couldn't call for help."

"Dan..."

"Wait...I'm not done yet." He cut Phil off.
"My pants had been pulled down and..."

Dan stifled a sob before grabbing a tissue and crushing it into a sweaty ball.

"I had been fucked right in the arsehole by some school kid probably two to three years older than me. Well, that's what the doctors told me once I was brought to hospital."

Phil closed his eyes in dismay as he imagined it happening and quickly pushed the image out of his head, only offering Dan up an apology since Phil couldn't understand how traumatizing that must've been.

"Thanks. I don't think I'll ever be past it, but I'm glad I have you." Dan smiled slightly at Phil.

"How we're similar is because of the struggles we both go through. Sure, everyone has struggles, but not as serious as us." Phil answered.

"Yeah...which is why I want to help you."

"What?" Phil's eyes widened.

"I don't know how I can actually help, but I want to be the one to brighten up your day, support you, all that stuff."

"And I want to do the same for you." Phil agreed.

It had been a while now since they had arrived in Dan's room, but they didn't mind how fast time seemed to be going until Phil saw it was almost seven.

"I'd better head out, Dan. Thanks for today." Phil said, but before he could leave, Dan grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards himself.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Dan smirked.

"What?" Phil played along, wiggling his eyebrow.

The next thing they did needed no agreement by words but only by actions as they kissed each other softly and felt a breeze flowing through their bloodstream. All the pain they had felt disappeared, if only for a moment.

Once they had finished, Phil's face was red from blushing so much while Dan was panting slightly.

"I'll text you tomorrow, yeah?" Phil asked before leaving.

"Yeah." Dan answered as Phil left the room.

Author's Note: Okay, I know...there's a lot happening in this chapter. I'm super proud of what I wrote tho! Only took me a couple of hours!
•Also, THANK YOU FOR 150 READS!!! I never thought this story would blow up so fast.
•Quick question: How did you (the reader) discover this book?
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this extra long chapter! xx