So this was also written for the Phandom Little Pop, it was beta'd by Jules (lightwood-lewis on tumblr) and the art was done by Ness (merpugs on tumblr) and she turned it into a gif and I'm so in love with it!!! :D
Word Count: 984
Dan stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him as loudly as he could. He knew it was unlikely to do much to help the fight he'd just had with his parents, but it made him feel a little better. There was something cathartic about flinging a door shut as hard as possible.
He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and stomped across the road, slowing down halfway across the street to allow a car to pass. A small part of him viciously thought of how his parents would feel if he were to be crushed under a car just after their fight. On a rational level, he knew that he definitely did not want to be hit by car purely to make his parents feel horrible, but he still got some sadistic satisfaction from imagining their guilt.
Dan kept marching through the streets, shoulders pulled up and hunched forwards slightly. He kept replaying the fight, shoulders tightening a bit more with each repeat. He was sure he'd come round to understand why they'd done it, but for now he couldn't stop his blood from roaring through his veins every time he thought of the way they'd gone behind his back.
He wasn't entirely sure where he was going until he found himself at the nearest park entrance. He snorted - of course he'd ended up at a park again. Every time he thought he was wandering around aimlessly, or was upset about something, he found himself at a park. Sometimes Dan didn't fully realise until he'd already been there for a while.
He had no idea why he always subconsciously headed for the nearest park, but he couldn't bring himself to cary much about why at that moment. His heart was still beating too fast, his breath huffing out in frustrated half screams every time he thought of how his mother had acted like what they'd done had been perfectly justified, how his father had crossed his arms and told him to stop overreacting.
Dan veered off the path and crashed through the trees, putting some distance between him and the other park visitors. Once he was far enough away, he stopped abruptly, pulling his hands out of his pockets to clutch at his head.
He took a deep breath.
"WHY?" he screamed at the sky. "GODDAMNIT, WHY?"
He took his hands away from his ears in favour of pulling at his hair, gulping down air in an attempt to calm himself down.
"I don't know," a small voice offered hesitantly.
Dan jumped, looking around wildly for the source of the voice. If he'd started hallucinating talking trees, he wasn't sure what he'd do with himself.
"Up here," the same voice piped up, sounding slightly worried.
He directed his gaze to the branches above and instantly spotted a guy of about his age straddling a branch and hugging a ginger tabby to his chest. Dan swore violently.
"You couldn't think of a better way to announce yourself? You had to give me a heart attack?"
The stranger's bright eyes darted around a little nervously. "I thought you were yelling at me - you were kind of screaming in my direction."
Dan huffed out a laugh, shaking his head disbelievingly.
"My apologies then, I just had a fight that's left me rather angry," he said. "I didn't even notice you. Or your cat."
"Right," the stranger replied. "Well, um, I realise you're angry, and probably rightfully so, but please remember I'm an innocent bystander when I ask this."
Dan nodded slowly.
"I was taking Peaches - my cat, for a walk earlier, but she escaped and tried to eat a duck but when it attacked her she ran away. I chased after her and climbed up this tree to come get her, only I can't climb down with her and now we're both stuck."
Dan just stared for a couple of moments. So many things about his story were bizarre.
"You can take cats on walks?" he blurted.
"Yeah, they have these kitty leashes that attach to a harness, but Peaches turned into Houdini and wriggled out."
"Ducks can attack cats?"
"Well, this particular duck definitely can."
"You want me to rescue you and your Houdini cat from a tree?"
"Yes please."
Dan rubbed a hand over his face briskly. "What's your name?"
"Phil," he answered. "What's yours?"
"Phil, you're weird," Dan said, grabbing the lowest branch and hauling himself up. "And you can call me Dan, but 'Hero' has a certain ring to it too."
Phil laughed, the sound making the rest of Dan's anger melt away. He grinned up at him as he grabbed the next branch.
"I won't be able to climb down while holding a cat either, but we can take turns holding Peaches while the other climbs down to a lower branch."
Dan held his hands out and hissed when Peaches' claws sank firmly into his arms, the cat complaining loudly. "I don't think your cat likes me."
"I don't think she likes anyone, and I'm including myself in that," Phil answered, lowering himself deftly to the branch under Dan. "You don't want to know how many scars I have because of her."
"She doesn't fight fair either, she has cuteness on her side."
They kept handing the cat off until they were all back on the ground, Phil holding onto her tightly so he wouldn't lose her to a tree again.
"Thank you, Hero Dan," he said, smiling widely.
"You're welcome, Civilian Phil."
Phil hesitated a moment, then asked, "Is there any chance I can buy you a thank you hot chocolate?"
"I did do pretty great work here," Dan mused. "I mean, I'm pretty much the next Hercules."
Phil laughed. "You're the spitting image, you just need a toga."
"Damn, I misplaced it sometime last week," Dan tutted.
"So, hot chocolate?"
"I'd like that."
*****
My Spanish host family have two dogs and three cats and I can't express how happy that makes me cos I love animals so so much and they're all so cute and friendly
I also have three of those mini cacti in my room that you can get in IKEA and I'm actually so worried about them like am I meant to give them water from time to time or do I leave them to it and what if they grow out of those tiny pots??? I'm so bad with plants and there is a good chance I'll manage to kill off these cacti and that's practically impossible I'm actually stressed about this
Also does anyone watch Skam? I sort of binge watched and finished it in two days and I love the show so much and I need someone to talk to about this. If you don't watch it, 100% recommend it is so damn good
