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"Danny- oh my gosh, please- just let me help you."
David's voice squeaked like a rusty wheel, and Daniel hated hearing him like that. He had done something so, so stupid and stupidly brave all the same.
They sat opposite each other, on separate motel beds, with their eyes avoiding. Daniel couldn't bring himself to look in David's eyes because it was his own fault, his own stupidity, that had got them into this mess. He was bruised and mildly bloodied and scraped and it was not David's fault, it was his own, he was stupid for what he'd done and he had the headache to tell him so.
But he didn't regret it.
David's father had come home drunk again. David had tried to escape, but his father was a thunderclap, roaring through the house about David's bad grades, lack of any "normal" friends, how he was just stupid stupid stupid stupid-
But he had made the mistake of saying all of this when Daniel was around. Daniel, scrawny and tidy and quiet, with his eyes locked on the tall boulder of a man. He had decided he would not let David tolerate this. Even when David told him it was fine, that just spurred him on. He found himself screaming enough to rip open a chasm in his chest, just enough as he barreled forward, all fists swinging and aimless. The man had been overpowered for a moment before beating back, slamming Daniel against the wall, threatening him, hurting him-
David's stomach had twisted in knots. He sat now, watching Daniel as the other just avoided his gaze.
"Please." He pleaded, one last time, "Let me help patch you up."
Daniel had made David run to his car, had wrenched himself free of David's father's powerful grasp, and sped out of town like a star zooming across the sky. He and David could share clothes. He would grab his from home. He had had plenty enough of his parents, anyways. They could sleep on the couch of a friend. He was ready to plan it all out.
All that mattered was David, and it hurt to know this. Daniel had tried to suppress these feelings, but it hurt when he did, like his chest was being crushed by a mountain. His stomach would calcify and his ribs would shatter and he had to swallow his pride. He stared at him, and finally gave a nod.
David instantly got to work, pressing cotton balls soaked with alcohol to his cuts, putting ice on bruises. They stayed in silence, unable to conjure the words, before David broke it gently, like he was apologizing for telling the quiet to move along, now.
"Daniel, I can't go back there."
"I know." Daniel's response came instantaneously. "I'll go back, get some things, you and I can live here or with Jasper-"
"I don't know how that's going to work, but..."
"Just go with it, okay? Just for tonight, go with it, Davey."
It made David's heart swell to hear him call him Davey. From the start, they had been good friends, and now Danny had literally fought for him. But he did have one question.
"Whats- uh, what's a place you wanna go this summer?"
This was not his original question. Rather a replacement to break the ice, or gently melt it, at least. Daniel was silent for a moment, and David feared his ears had been somehow injured, but then he spoke.
"New Mexico," He said, a small laugh leaving his lips, "Never been, want to."
"Oh! I've never been, either, but I hear that they have desert for miles. And not to mention..."
David continued on for several minutes, all about things he had heard about New Mexico, and Daniel watched him with a deep level of admiration, a sparkle to his eye. David was so alive and bright and tangible, everything he loved, everything worth adoring, and it hurt. And then there was a shift in David's demeanor.
"Danny, um," He was scrunched up in on himself and Daniel furrowed his brow, watching him closely. "I- I gotta ask, why? Why did you fight him? I mean- I've... I've been through worse."
Daniel's eyes went cold. Hands felt heavier now. "David, you should never have to go through that. And I want to make sure you never do again."
The low tone of his voice was sending a shiver up David's spine, and he scrunched up further. "But... Why?"
Daniel was so furious he could scream, that David didn't think he was deserving. That David thought himself undeserving of all kindness that came his way. Daniel moved from his bed to David's, sitting next to him and folding a hand over his. David slammed his gaze to Daniel, his stunning green eyes wide. Daniel could be trapped in them forever, as warm as the summer woods and as bright as jades. He could wander in them and get lost and never be found. He swallowed.
"Because you don't deserve any of the shit that man put you through."
David's throat closed up, his eyes welling. He didn't want to think about it, but Daniel was right, and all of the pain of the past seventeen years came bubbling up. "B- but, I-"
"David."
There was a long silence, the stern, cold tone of Daniel's voice enough to end the discussion. Daniel closed his eyes tight. "You don't understand what you mean to me." He mumbled. David knit his brow.
"What... what do you mean?"
Daniel wasted no time. As he asked this, Daniel hooked a finger under his chin, and pulled him into a delicate-but-rough kiss, one that lasted an eternity. David's lips were salty with tears. Daniel's were metallic with blood. But they were clean and warm and all things they should be.
It was two human beings set on fire, two boys ignited. Gun powder blasted to the lights and burning the entire world down. They were lightning and they were thunder and they were everything. When Daniel pulled from the kiss, he grinned.
"That's what I mean."
David blinked, lips apart, feeling cold without Daniel's on them. He inhaled, shoulders slumping.
"O- oh," He squeaked. "I- oh."
"David, I care about you, and I'd die for you, so don't think anyone can get away with treating you like shit. I'll fight for you."
A feeling of being alive filled David like he were a basin. The world was now rosy, the world was clean and bright and beautiful and Daniel was his sun, and his heart was a hundred miles per hour in his chest.
"...I- I'll fight for you, too, Danny."
They took their time getting to sleep, but sleeping in separate beds felt wrong. They didn't want to be apart. So they pulled the blankets down onto the floor, sheets set out flat underneath them, comforters on top, and pulled each other into their arms. Daniel breathed as he rested his chin atop David's head, and David curled his arms against his own chest, Daniel's body against him, arms around him, everything warm. David twisted his fingers into Daniel's shirt, clinging to the other's body, and they breathed.
"Goodnight, Davey."
"Mm... goodnight, Danny."
It didn't matter what tomorrow brought, only that they would get there together, and nothing could be better than this.