incarceration //phan

nine

Phil
"I need to get out of here."

"We're trying our best. I snuck into a police station dressed as a middle-aged officer for you, you know? If that doesn't make me one of the best boyfriends in the history of boyfriends, then I don't know what does."

"My hero." he responded sarcastically, though Dan probably could've guessed he was smiling.

That was the thing with their telepathy, they spoke but one often had to guess the emotion of the other whilst they were in conversation. Dan wouldn't have guessed he'd rolled his eyes in a dramatic fashion, and Phil wasn't sure whether he looked happy that they were talking or sad because they both knew it was nothing like it was before.

"Alfie found out about us and the students here have been treating me worse than usual. I'm starting to get shoved about in hallways, the odd slur being thrown around from time to time - it's hardly a coincidence. Connor tries to help when he can, but you know how he is - he can't stand up to them if he's afraid of literally everything."

To be blunt, the past few days had been horrific. The town he'd grown up meant he never witnessed any sort of homophobia, partly because the people he was surrounded with were open-minded and accepting, and partly because his feelings had always been a topic that confused him, resulting in him not mentioning anything to do with being anything but heterosexual to anyone. He'd read about homophobia in books on occasion, or seen it on some series on Netflix, but never had he experienced it firsthand until recently.

"Please tell me you're joking - of all the people who could've known; I wasn't even planning on telling him about us."

"We're going to tell people?"

"I was going to ask you when you got back. Thanks to Tyler, most of our friends either think we're dating or want us together if we aren't - so they'd be happy for us. Unlike the people around you, I'm sorry, it must be awful."

"It could be worse. I can still talk to you and Connor for comfort, and I know that no one in the academy aside myself and him are real people - they're all mindless drones who only exist and have the opinions they do because of Alfie, who's going to be out of everyone's lives in the near future."

That had become a mantra he repeated to himself day in, day out to save his own sanity. He reminded Connor of the fact too if he ever saw him more spaced out than usual.

"Everyone really wants you back. People care about and love you; keep that in mind if you ever start feeling homesick, or something like that - I'm not good at sentimentality."

"What are you so happy about?" The voice questioned after seeing the smile on Phil's face.

"None of your business, Alfie." Phil shrugged, ignoring the group of students that heard that and were discussing his mental health in hushed voices.

"Just trying to be nice."

"Nice? Have you bumped your head? Gotten minor amnesia and forgotten who you are as a person?" Phil muttered in an attempt to stop the students around him from gossiping.

"What've I done to deserve that kind of answer, huh?"

"I'm just going to ignore you." Phil responded, knowing trying to listen to him would put an end to his happy mood.

"So where's basket case number one?"

Phil rolled his eyes in retaliation, not bothering to respond properly.

"Don't act like you can't hear them." he added once he saw Phil's facial expression.

He sighed. "I don't know, am I supposed to know where he is every minute of the day?"

"Why the cocky attitude?"

"Because you've ruined my good mood."

"Ouch. Well if you were curious, he's in his dorm room and looks all sorry for himself. Room 44."

Dan's room.

"I mean he has a right to be, you asshole." he grumbled as he wondered whether or not Connor was in that particular room because Alfie was messing with them.

Phil left the conversation at that. He already felt bad about ending his conversation with Dan on such an abrupt note, so he figured he wasn't going to leave the only other person he could talk to (people he actually liked the company of anyhow) wasn't on his own.

The door to Connor's room had been left ajar, and through the relatively small amount of the room that was in his eyeline, the boy could be seen sat scribbling in a small black notebook. Phil noted the desk chair less than a foot away from the spot on the floor he was sat on and smiled to himself.

He slowly pushed it open and almost instinctively Connor pulled the book tightly towards his chest.

"That your death note?" Phil joked as he let himself in.

"I wish." Connor responded, weakly smiling whilst slowly closing the book and putting it behind his back.

"Alfie said you looked a little down, so I'm here to cheer you up." Phil told him, refraining from adding the word 'somehow' to the end of the sentence.

"How thoughtful of him." there was clear sarcasm in his voice, almost if the way he rolled his eyes didn't immediately show his discontentment to the extent he felt it.

"Why are you stuck indoors? It's the beginning of July, that means summer, moderately warm weather and loads of grass you can sit on."

"Nobody out there likes me, I'll just get tormented so what's the point? Plus it's quieter here, helps me to think clearly."

Phil nodded his head, Dan often told him something similar about being alone, about being introverted and finding comfort in your own company.

"What was in the notebook by the way?"

"Stuff, it's nothing really - drawings and whatnot."

Connor reached behind his back to retrieve the book and handed to Phil, who began to flick through the pages, admiring the sketches.

"I had no idea you could draw."

"I can't." Connor answered, shrugging his shoulders.

"Are you joking? You're insanely talented. I can't draw a stick figure properly."

"I'm sure your stick people are great." Connor argued. "I draw a lot so I suppose I've gotten better at it, some form of coping mechanism for loneliness."

"Who are they?" Phil asked, looking at one page with a sketch of two people.

"My parents. I haven't seen them in years, heaven knows what the academy have told them after I disappeared - a runaway probably."

"We'll be out of here soon, Dan's promised - and I'm going to make sure you get to see your parents, even if I have to knock on the door of your house and drag them here personally."

Phil had told him 'soon', he figured it'd be a month at most considering the date of PJ's trial - if all went to plan, that was.

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@ all the people who read this for phan: I'm really sorry lmao