SUPER RICH KIDS | PHAN

twenty five.

dan.

even sunny's cheery conversation and a mug full of chai couldn't make dan feel any better. he felt the loss like a pit in his chest, a black hole sucking in anything with even a chance of making him smile and obliterating it.

dan still felt tired. after a while of forcing himself to sit up and stay still, he gave in, setting his mug down on the coffee table with a sigh and laying down. he could feel both of their eyes on him and he had never wanted to disappear more.

finally phil stood, and dan looked over at him. he met phil's eyes for a split second, and dan couldn't identify what it was he saw in them before phil looked away. "i'll be right back," he muttered vaguely, leaving the room without looking back.

"what's his problem?" sunny asked, turning to him. dan shrugged halfheartedly.

"dunno," he mumbled, closing his eyes. "he's acting weird."

"do you think he's okay?"

dan shrugged again, but opened his eyes. "why? how does he act when he's not okay?" for some reason, dan wanted to know what it was like. he didn't necessarily want phil to be upset, of course, (except sometimes he did), but he was curious of how he acted when he was. what it was like to be around him.

sunny hummed, thoughtful. "a lot of the time he just gets angry." dan didn't doubt that. "but sometimes... i don't know, he gets really quiet. sulky some of the time, but sometimes he just gets thoughtful."

dan bit his lip, mulling that over. "oh."

"yeah." sunny smiled at him, reaching out for his mug. "more tea?"

"no thanks," dan mumbled, breathing in deeply and letting it out. sometimes he had to remind himself to breathe. "why are you friends with him?"

sunny paused, his brow twitching. "what do you mean?"

dan pursed his lips, reluctantly pushing himself up. "you know. why? how'd you meet? why do you stick around?"

"um," sunny said, pushing some hair out of his eyes while he considered it. "it's embarrassing, but when we met, i kind of sucked up to him a lot. he was rich and well liked because he was rich, and my parents had just been unemployed." sunny shrugged. "you can see where this is going."

"you were friends with him for his money?" dan was intrigued. sunny blushed.

"kind of. besides, i thought he was so cool. he always knew what to wear and he looked so cold all the time, like none of us even deserved his attention, i'm pretty sure everyone wanted to be his friend."

dan hummed, crossing his arms. "i guess so."

"and," sunny leaned back in his seat. "he needed something from me too. no one really actually listened to him. they still don't. sometimes he just needs someone to agree with him, even if his opinion is shit." sunny shrugged, smiling. "look, dan, i know he's been shitty to you. he's shitty to a lot of people. but i know him, and i wouldn't still be around if he didn't have some good in him."

dan paused, trying to take in this new information. "what kind of good?" he asked finally.

"he knows how to be a good person," sunny said, his voice quieter, as if he was scared phil might overhear. "once he finds something he really cares about- and he knows he really cares about it- he'll do anything to protect it. and he has a conscience, believe it or not, he knows right from wrong. he just doesn't care half the time. but keep an eye out for it, dan- everyone has issues. his is that he buries the good parts of himself down so deep that most people don't even get a chance to find it." sunny paused. "he acts how he thinks he's expected to act. if you treat him like he matters more than what's in his wallet, he'll believe it."

dan felt like sunny was trying to hint at something, but before he could ask, phil was back. his posture was straighter, and from what dan could tell, he had splashed his face with water in the bathroom. he didn't look at dan, but spoke to him.

"should we go?"

dan paused, glancing at sunny. "could i- we- stay here? if that's okay, of course. i don't really want to go back to the shelter yet, and phil's place scares me."

sunny nodded immediately, grinning. "of course you can."

dan looked at phil, who seemed momentarily taken off guard. "w-why... why do you want me to stay?"

dan smirked at him, winking. "you're my ride."

"oh." phil cleared his throat. dan grinned for the first time since everything had happened. it was fun to surprise him. "alright."

sunny gave him an encouraging smile, and dan smiled back. phil was lucky to have a friend like that. maybe dan was lucky too, despite it all.