SUPER RICH KIDS | PHAN

thirty six.

phil.

when phil got to the storage room that night, dan was there, tuning his guitar. phil watched him for a second, taking a deep breath.

he walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. dan smiled at him sleepily and phil handed him a small pink box. dan frowned and took it, opening it and beaming.

"a cupcake."

phil nodded and sat beside him on the floor, wrapping his arms around his knees. dan smiled at him.

"thank you." he set the box aside carefully, as if phil had given him something precious, and phil nodded again.

"no problem."

dan bit his lip. "maybe we shouldn't be doing this tonight. you need sleep..."

phil shrugged. "it's okay," he said softly. "i'll be fine."

"if you're sure..."

"i am." phil played with a loose string on his dark jeans. "besides, this helps me relax."

he could feel dan's smile even if he wasn't looking at him. "me too."

phil clicked his tongue. "when did you start playing the guitar?"

dan's face lit up and phil smiled, watching the familiar fireworks of passion go off in his brown eyes. "when i was in middle school. i learned the ukulele first, because my parents thought a guitar might crush me. i was really small." he laughed softly. "but i convinced them pretty quickly."

phil nodded, watching his face. he liked how his expression shifted between emotions as he spoke, his eyes changing almost as much as his mouth did to shape the words. he sighed. "you said you wanna be, like, a performer?"

dan nodded, beaming. "yeah. i'd like to. but i guess that's kind of silly."

phil shook his head. "it's not silly. i think you'd be great."

"yeah?"

"yeah." phil paused. "you know what you said about my presence demanding attention? i think that's true for you, too. just without the crutch of expensive clothing."

dan blushed and tried to hide his smile, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear. "thank you."

phil shrugged. "it's just the truth. i hope you'll remember me when you're famous."

"oh shut up," dan muttered, but he looked pleased. phil liked making him look that happy. he sighed and rested his chin in his hand. he had to keep his head, though. kat's words were swirling around his mind even now. he couldn't lead dan on.

"kat said you get crushes really easily," phil mumbled and dan laughed nervously.

"yeah... not so much anymore. you can get your heart broken just so many times, right?"

phil wrapped the string on his jeans around his finger. "i don't know about that."

dan leaned back on his hands. "how's that?"

"well, i think things like that are more of an addiction than something you can only go through a certain amount of times."

dan nodded slowly, his eyes locked on phil's face. "i guess you could say that..."

phil looked up. "you can't just not catch feelings for someone because it's what's safe. once it's happening, the only way is to cut yourself off from them completely. in my experience, at least."

"or," dan said softly. "you could find something out about them that you didn't want to know and decide they're a bad person."

"exactly."

dan was chewing on his lip again. "but i never wanna distance myself. i only wanna get closer the more they push me away."

"i think i'm the opposite. if someone pushes me away i only get annoyed."

dan pointed at him. "but you're wrong. you're annoyed with them, sure, but only because they aren't paying attention to you. you still want them."

"i guess you're right." phil changed his position, crossing his legs. "i guess i don't really understand my own emotions."

dan shrugged. "that's not that uncommon."

there was a break in conversation and how tired phil really was washed over him. dan was probably right, he needed to sleep, but he didn't care. he wanted to spend time with him.

"why don't we fight anymore?" dan asked. phil raised an eyebrow.

"do you want to fight?"

"no. i just... it's weird to think about."

phil nodded slowly. "i think... i think it's because of earl. and after that it was just hard to take insults seriously. it's like we knew we didn't mean them and it turned them into jokes."

dan hummed. "you don't know i don't mean my insults," he said coyly. phil rolled his eyes.

"yeah, i do. you're a shit liar."

dan crossed his arms. "i am not."

"you are too." phil sighed and lay down, looking up at the ceiling. "so we're like... frenemies."

dan laughed. "are you four?" he paused, going quiet. "but, yeah. i guess we are."

phil let out a slow breath. friends. he could do that. he had been doing it before, anyways, so he wasn't sure why the line drawn in the sand was bothering him so much.

"i used to judge people mostly by their appearances," phil mumbled randomly. "like, seriously judge them. if i thought someone was ugly i wouldn't talk to them."

"okay...?" phil could hear his frown in his voice. "why are you telling me that?"

phil took a slow, shaky breath, closing his eyes.

"no reason. just thought you should know."