Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Three years ago he was a loser. Just some punching bag for bullies. Soon he grew sick of it. 

Before he had registered it his fist had connected with his tormentor's face. He got his ass handed to him but kept standing his ground. He was left in an alley bloodied and bruised but it wasn't as bad as what he got at home. He was able to handle it. 

He was short, fat, and had poor vision. That started to change when he ran away from his parents' house and began training his body. He ate what he could find that was healthy and traveled around a lot with only his backpack and guitar with him. He also had some new clothes that were really big on him and would last him for a few more years. 

Soon he began to lose more weight and grow taller. The clothes he bought three years ago hung off of him in a loose but not too loose fit. His long sleeved t-shirts slid off one shoulder comfortably and he had to buy a new pair of jeans every time he lost another twelve pounds. 

Right now Daniel had just enough money to afford school, a uniform, and new dress shoes. He didn't want anyone to know he was homeless. 

Daniel walked into the classroom and stood off to one side as the teacher began taking attendance. His gaze flew over his new classmates slowly. Taking in their appearances. He took note of a tough looking guy with his hair slicked back. His expression was calm and bored but at the same time guarded and fierce. Daniel took note to try not to do anything to piss him off. Next was a blonde boy whose eyes were covered by his hair and his head propped up by the heel of his palm under his chin. Probably mute. Daniel took note that he was nice and easy to read by his posture. Afraid of dogs. Daniel could read him like a book because of his body language. His gaze flitted to a small skinny boy in the back with glasses. Daniel noted signs of getting bullied and a smoking habit thanks to the view of a box of cigarettes peeking out a little from his shirt pocket only to be concealed from the teacher's view by his jacket.

"Okay class, we have a new student joining us today! Why don't you come up to the front of the class and introduce yourself!" The teacher told him cheerfully. He obeyed and walked calmly up to the front of the room. 

"Hello, my name is Daniel Park. I hope to find friends in you all this year." He informed them calmly and bowed quickly. 

He silently went back to his seat swiftly with a neutral expression on his face. He heard whispers from some of the class members. He caught all of them. They were things like they thought he was super rich and probably had a huge mansion. 

Oh how wrong they are... 

He figured out a schedule for his new school life. He got a job in the afternoon and six hours of sleep and got up early enough to shower in the boys locker room, take an hours nap and arrive five minutes early to class before anyone was there. He would eat lunch in the cafeteria like everyone else which left no time in his schedule for breakfast and dinner. One snack in the morning and one snack at break time during his afternoon shifts. He was malnourished to an extent but hopefully not noticeable. 

Daniel followed along to the class lesson while hitting down notes in his new cheap notebook.

The morning went by slowly but soon it was time for lunch. He packed his stuff into his bag and headed for the cafeteria. 

Someone stuck their foot out infront of him as if he didn't notice the trap. He stepped over the foot carefully and waved at the guy with a small smile. He wasn't going to stoop to their level. He knew better, he wasn't an idiot. 

The same guy snarled at him and got up to throw a punch but Daniel saw it coming and dodged the right hook only to grab the guys upper arm, pivot and throw the guy over his shoulder while planting his feet. The guy hit the ground with a solid thud. 

"Sorry, but I don't tolerate bullies. Just because you have a problem with someone doesn't give you the right to take your anger out on them and hurt them. Violence solves nothing." Daniel told him loud enough for everyone to hear once the cafeteria was silent. " Sorry for disrupting your lunch everyone, my apologies." 

Girls started to gush and fawn over him. Some boys started to envy him, most respected him, and others were crushing over him. The tough looking guy from his class looked at him with a murderous glare and his gaze shifted into a barely noticeable pout as he looked at a girl with long brown hair up in a pony tail that was also fawning over Daniel. The tough guy lowered his gaze to the table and stared at his food, playing with it. 

"Girls, please calm down. I am no one special. You should go be with ones who put in their time and effort to be with you. But you won't be able to find out if they care if you stand here. Give someone a chance. You'll know that they care for you if they try to put in the effort to be the person you want them to be, but they can't be the person you want them to be unless you don't get to know them." Daniel told them. He looked at the pony tailed girl and then tilted his head into the tough guys direction getting a quick glance at him. The girl looked over to the tough guy and a small soft smile formed on her face she looked at Daniel in gratitude then walked over to the guy and placed a small kiss on his cheek which made him drop his fork into his food and freeze with a profuse blush on his face with an expression as if saying 'what the fuck just happened? Not that I'm complaining because that was awesome and I've been waiting for this for forever but like what the hell?!'. 

 Tough guy looked up at her and she started talking to him then pointed to Daniel. Tough guy's eyes widened and looked over to Daniel. Said boy gave him a small thumbs up and a smile. Tough guy returned a smaller and softer smile when Daniel mouthed 'you got this!' to him. Daniel felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked behind him to see a viscous looking guy but Daniel knew better than to judge a book by it's cover before reading it. This guy wasn't viscous at all unless you made him upset. This guy didn't like violence and was pretty much a cinnamon roll on the inside. Lacking some common sense but a good guy. He was tough on the outside. Daniel could see his past just by looking into his eyes. He could make out faint scars from his childhood from bullies. Only two words popped into Daniels head when he looked at this man. Strong survivor. Cute too. 

"That was a good speech. I think you are nice." The man said to him. Daniel blushed at the kind words. 

"Thank you. My name is Daniel, what is your name?" He asked. 

"I am Vasco, leader of burn knuckles. Um, would you like to sit with my friends and I?" The man, Vasco, asked him kindly. 

"Of course. I would love to sit with you and your friends! Plus you seem really nice, so I don't see a reason to say no." Daniel told him. 

"You are too kind." Vasco says. A single tear runs down the side of his face. 

Daniel got a tissue from his bag and wiped the tear away. 

"Thank you, let's go sit." Daniel said softly. Vasco nodded and led him to a table with a lot of vicious and tough looking guys. He could tell that they all had a story to tell. Most of them were bullied in the past. Some had done bad things. Others had been cast aside. Daniel could see that Vasco thought of them as family. 

"Everyone, this is Daniel. He is going to sit with us today!" Vasco introduced. Daniel thought of another word to describe Vasco. Puppy. Vasco was an oversized puppy. Daniel thought it was adorable.

"Hello everyone, I hope we can be friends!" Daniel told them. They just stared at him. Was he being too forward? He sat down next to Vasco and a guy with big ears. 

"Aren't you going to say something about my ears? Everyone does..." The guy with big ears asks him. 

"Why should I? Just because they're a bit larger than average doesn't mean I should judge you because of your appearance. It's what's in your heart that matters, right?" Daniel informs them. Everyone at the table either nodded or mumbled agreements. Vasco smiled and another single tear rolled down his cheek. Daniel got out a small pack of tissues and handed them to the oversized puppy like man. Vasco took them gratefully and wiped his tear away with one.

 "So Daniel, what are you doing after school?" Someone asked him. 

"I have my afternoon shift at a small store I work at. Then on my breaks I'm going to do my homework. Then I go for a run after my shift ends and after that I go home." He tells them. 

"Where do you live?" Another asks. 

"Around." Was his only reply. Better to remain a mystery than for everyone to find out his secret. 

The rest of the school day went by pretty fast and soon it was the end of his first day at his new school. 

He was nearing the school gates on his way to work when someone called out his name. 

"Daniel! Daniel wait!" Vasco's voice shouted. He turned around and Vasco and his gang were jogging up to him. 

"Hey guys, what's up?" 

"We were wondering if we could walk you to work? Then after your shift is over we could go jog together?" Vasco asked him. 

 "Sure, okay. Let's go. It's just a few blocks away." Daniel informs them. 

They walk in silence for the next few minutes until they arrive at the store. Daniel walks in like he does everyday and sets his bag down behind the counter then deposits his jacket in his bag and grabs his name tag from said bag. He then gets his work apron off the hook in the workers break room and puts it on. Tying the apron strings around his waist and behind himself he walked out of the break room and rolled up his sleeves. Vasco and the rest of Burn Knuckles were looking around the store. Some just wandering, other actually looking at stuff. Vasco was looking in an ice cream freezer. 

Time ticked by, people came and went, soon it was closing time. Daniel took his apron off and took his back pack into the bathroom to change into a black tank top, shorts, and his old sneakers. Once he did that he stashed his uniform back in his bag. 

Daniel stepped out of the bathroom and flipped the store open sign to closed. 

"Come on guys, let's go. Time to go for a run!" He exclaimed with a smile. Vasco and co followed after him outside. He locked up the store and turned to his new friends. 

"Ready to go guys?" He asked them. They nodded. "Then let's go?" He said and started into a jog.

They kept at it for a few miles more before he heard some heavy panting behind him. He turned his head to see most of the gang panting heavily on the verge of collapse. 

"Good job guys! Let's stop here for a rest!" He voiced loudly to them and stopped in a park next to a huge water fountain pumping out fresh, cold, clean water. Almost everyone collapsed by it and stuck their heads or hands into the streams to get a drink of water. The only one who wasn't collapsed was Vasco. 

"Daniel, you're cool and all but I don't think we're going to go jogging with you any time soon!" The guy with big ears known as Jace cried. Daniel chuckled at his declaration. 

"I suppose that's fair. I usually run at least twice what we've run today. Sometimes more if I feel more energetic." He told them with an embarrassed smile.

 They all whined and groaned at the thought of running more. Before long they parted ways and Daniel went home. Home meaning rolling out a sleeping bag on a rooftop nearby. 

As he stretched out into his sleeping bag he gazed at the stars with happy thoughts. 

He had friends now. He didn't want to tell them his homeless predicament and risk scaring them away. Maybe when they got to know him better then he would start telling them his secrets slowly. Maybe one day he would tell them but today was not that day, nor tomorrow or next week. But maybe one day. 

One day he would tell them.

One day. 

He soon fell asleep on the roof to the calming light wind of the night and moon light.

Chapter Text

Months went by and no one knew of Daniel's current homeless situation. But he wasn't expecting what was going to happen tonight. 

Today was Daniel's day off of work so he just sat in the park. He got out his guitar and started to strum a tune. Then started to sing as people looked at him in the park. 

"No thank you" is what I should've said, I should be in bed