TOO GOOD ; Phan

s i x t y t w o

Once Dan and I finish the hot chocolates and pancakes, we walk out of the place, hand in hand. He is truly adorable, shorter than me by quite a lot, so his head comes up to just above my shoulder.

"Where to now, then?" I ask him, not wanting to completely take control, in case there's something specific he wants to do.

"Uh," he says, going to fix his flower crown, and then realising it's not there. I knew he'd realise eventually, I just wanted to see how long it'd take him. "crap, nowhere without my flower crown."

"I have a better idea."

We walk to the park, which is more of an open space of land than a park, and I pick up flowers along the way, Dan not questioning it. I used to do this with my sister when we were young. When our parents weren't assholes to us.

When we reach the park, my hands full of flowers, I sit down on part of the field, with a small tree shading over me, and Dan sits down opposite me.

"Move a little closer," I say, "please."

"Why?"

"I just wanna do something. Trust me?"

"Yeah, okay." He says, shuffling forwards so that our knees are now touching.

I place the flowers, ranging in all sizes and colours, by my side, then picking on up and beginning to wind it into Dan's curly hair.

"How come you're so good at this?" Dan asks after I've put a few into his hair.

"I used to do this for my sister when we were a lot younger," I tell him, letting out I sigh. I miss those times, but I prefer this.

"Phil, what happened?" He asks, concerned.

"We were happy and everything was fine, up until when my sister, who was 14 at the time, and I was 15, came out to my parents. She didn't know that they were extremely homophobic, and they treated her like shit. She ran away, and then all my parents cared about was getting her back so that she wouldn't be a 'sinner'. They paid no attention to me, and a year later I took the crapload of money that my grandparents left for me and my sister and I ran away." I tell him while adding the rest of the flowers to his hair.

"Wow, I- I don't know what to say."

"My parents died in a car crash a few months later. I still have my sisters phone number, too, and sometimes I think about calling or texting; if she even kept that number."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I didn't have it that bad in comparison to, you know-"

"Me?"

"Yeah."

Dan turns to look at me properly, having been looking down at the ground the whole time to make it easier for me to do his hair, and I see how fucking beautiful he looks. The curls make it easier for the flowers to stay in, and the deep brown contrasts with the bright colours of the flowers perfectly.

"You look beautiful."

He blushes and looks away again, and then turns back and throws his arms around me, nuzzling his head into my neck.

"I love you."

"I love you too, flower boy."