"Wow", Dan muttered under his breath, "Spring truly outdid herself today." He spun around, marveling at the beauty of the seasons around him. The apartment was only a few steps away, but instead of going back home he decided to sit down on a bench near him to enjoy nature for a little while longer. Colourful blossoms decorated the trees and the golden sunshine warmed his face and his heart. A lone flower was blown into his lap by the soft breeze messing around with his curls.
The flower didn't look like the other blossoms dancing on the wind. This one was brown and fragile. Petals were missing and it was bent in many ways. Dan brought it up to his face, admiring its courage. It was clear that it was a flower from last spring. It happened from time to time that flowers held on during summer, hidden away in the branches of their trees. Most of them floated away on the stronger summer breezes eventually and then went to sleep forever. Dan looked at the flower, closely examining its colours. He supposed that she had been hidden in the top of a tree, until the sun woke her from winter's nightmare and brought her into the dream of spring. He couldn't imagine the frail thing resisting the cold winds tearing at the branches of her tree, but here she was, anyway.
His thoughts drifted off to Phil, as they so often did. Wasn't his story similar to this blossom's? Dan was a flower that had ceased blooming. He'd been beautiful, once, bright and innocent in the light of childhood. But then he became lonely and sad and he hid away from that light. Phil was a ray of sunshine that'd pierced through Dan's darkness. He had reminded Dan of all the reasons why he used to love the light in the first place. Cold winds had tried to drag him away from the branches he clung to so tightly. Phil came and chased the cold, coaxed him out of the prison his mind created all around him. Into a new life, a new chance, for both of them.
Most blossoms gave up after summer. The good days were over and it seemed as if they'd never return. He had been on the verge of giving up, too. But that ray of sun had showed him how to be brave, the value of friendship, and even, in the end, the immense power of that silly little thing called love. That was the only thing the withered boy from so long ago had needed to be happy again. A person to stand next to him in the darker moments of his life, someone who chased the winds away and fixed the branches that kept him floating. Someone who accepted him for the frail little thing he was and patched him up the best he could.
The little blossom was pulled out of his grip by the breeze. Dan's mind jumped back to reality. An idea popped into his head. He stood up, looking around as if he was searching for something. There! He walked up to a tree with soft purple-pinkish blossoms and tried to find the prettiest flowers. Standing on his tippy-toes, he was just tall enough to reach them. Dan smiled to himself.
When he arrived back home, Phil was lying on the couch with his laptop resting on his legs. He was asleep. When Dan came in, his blue eyes blinked open.
"Hi Dan. How was your walk?", Phil asked while moving into a more comfortable position. Whilst drowsy, his eyes still lit up with happiness when they caught sight of Dan standing in the doorway.
"Quite alright", Dan answered, a smile on his face. "I've got something for you." He held out his arm. In his hand he held a bouquet of blossoms, tied together with a green ribbon he'd found in a gift shop further down the street.
"Wow, they're beautiful! Where did you find these?", Phil asked, surprise evident in his voice.
"Oh, you know…" Dan waved his hand, letting his sentence trail off. "It's nothing really, just a gift for everything you've done for me."
Phil looked absolutely baffled by now. "What did I do for you then? I have absolutely no clue."
Dan shrugged. "You were you", he answered, and leaned in for a kiss.