SUPER RICH KIDS | PHAN

seven.

dan

rich people's clothes were soft. even hours later, that was all dan was thinking about, how phil's shirt had felt between his fingers, rough from years of playing guitar... if he didn't hate phil so much, he'd probably ask if he could curl up on his chest and fall asleep. but, of course, phil would never let him do that. he'd probably get his designer t-shirt filthy just by being near him.

dan sighed, softly so as not to wake up the sleeping boy against his chest, or the semi-sleeping girl right past him. she did this thing where she kind of dozed off, not quite here or there. it was why she was always so tired- she just wasn't quite sleeping.

her eyelashes fluttered and dan watched her face with a sort of worried expression. he worried too much, about all of them.

she blinked awake and dan sighed again, meeting her eyes.

'you okay?' he mouthed, and she nodded stiffly.

'perfect.'

dan nodded in understanding and carefully slid back from earl, feeling her curious eyes on him. he carefully grabbed his guitar, and raised his eyebrows at her. she smiled and nodded, squirming out as well and standing up.

dan led her through the glass door into the cool night. cold weather hardly bothered him anymore; you got used to it, just like you got used to a lack of food and the presence of the rats. you learned to make friends with the bad conditions, or at least you put up with each other. it was the only way to make it bearable.

phil would never survive.

dan leaned against the building and offered katrina a smile. she returned it, shoving her hands in the pockets of her black sweatpants. she had tied the waist with a piece of string she had found, as they were far too big for her, and got bigger every day as she lost weight. it had been a reoccurring problem for all of them.

dan bit his lip, just trying to warm it up, and swung his guitar into place. he played with the strings for a moment, warming up his fingers, before strumming a starting note.

dan loved how she looked at him when he played- how they all did. like he was something more than the sum of his parts. it made him feel almost powerful, which was something you didn't get much of when you couldn't even manage to get a job.

it made him keep that flame of hope in his chest that he could be something more.

dan smiled to himself, his cheeks glowing with a soft pink hue as he played the chords as they came into his head, just teetering to keep it sounding good.

katrina stepped forward, leaning against him, and he changed positions so he could wrap his arms around her and still play. she was skinny enough for that, and so was he.

he could feel her shaking and he sighed, his breath blooming from his lips in a plume of mist. he kept playing, knowing it calmed her. sure enough, she melted against his chest, the shaking quelling to nothing.

dan didn't notice phil in the doorway, didn't notice him frown and wrap his arms around himself to fight off the cold, didn't see his eyes flash with interest. not until he stepped out in front of them, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"you guys should come back inside," he said, his voice rough. "it's cold outside. i don't want you getting me sick," he added after a minute of consideration. dan was too tired to fight back. he just wrapped his arm around katrina's waist and helped her back inside, the familiar thrums of his guitar still ringing in his head.