Drugs ; Phan

6

It isn't fate that took us all by storm, it's just the turn of a card.

Dan ransacked through his backpack to find his cigarettes, usually he'd never put them in there, but yesterday he was all over the place. He took everything out of his bag and found the pack at the bottom, almost entirely crushed.

"Shit." Dan said to himself as he took the bent pack out. He threw it away and figured he'd buy more later today. He stuffed everything back in as he ran out the door and walked to school. He plugged in his earphones and listened to music on the way. He stuck his hands into the pockets of his jacket and chewed on some gum to keep the smoking urge low. He walked inside the school and walked past Phil, whom was sitting on the floor and reading. Dan sat next to him and held his head in his hands as his hangover started to intensify and his head began throbbing with pain. He looked fairly exhausted and drained. The light in his eyes vanished and his messy hair made him look dead inside, no help with the bags under his eyes. He slouched against the wall, and leaned his head against Phil's shoulder.

"A- are you okay?" Phil asked.

"Hangover." Dan groans.

"Be c- careful, y- yeah bear?" Phil whispered.

"I'll try, Phillip." Dan says, "Where's this lad you like?"

"I uh– h- he– uh he– s- somewhere around here." Phil stutters.

"Oh? Where?" Dan asks.

"Uh– I- I don't– I don't know." Phil says. Dan nods and pulls his hoodie over his head, then wraps his arms around him.

"You're comfortable." Dan says, making Phil blush, "Wake me when the bell rings, yeah?"

"Okay." Phil whispers. He continues reading his book while Dan sleeps on his shoulder. He gets through reading twelve pages before someone walks up to him and the sleeping lad next to him.

"Why are you hanging out with the suicidal rat?" A junior asks Phil. Phil looks up confused and scared. He doesn't know what to say or how to form words.

"He's not going to talk! He's a mute!" Someone yells. Phil bit his lip and looked down, his fringe covering his eyes. Soon, a group of juniors formed around them, Dan still not aware from being asleep. Phil shifted to try and wake Dan without speaking.

"What's wrong, angel?" Dan whispered, still half asleep. Phil gently nudged him with his elbow then he opened his eyes and saw the group around them, all talking about the two of them.

"Oi, fuck off all of you." Dan says as he gets up and takes Phil's arm, pulling him behind him out of the crowd.

"Lu- look at the b- b- boyfriends!" One of them says, mocking Phil's stutter.

"Fags!" A junior yells. Phil bit his lip harder, drawing blood, then stops as soon as they stop walking.

"Shut up all of you!" Dan yells, flicking then off as the two of them walked away.

"Those dickheads." Dan says under his breath, "Phil, your lip. Stop biting it."

"S- sorry." Phil says, wiping the blood from his lip.

"I'm not suicidal. You know that." Dan says, "I didn't try to kill myself."

"I- I know." Phil whispers as the bell rings.

"Come on." Dan says dryly, taking Phil's hand gently.

"Y- you d- don't have to h- hold m- my hand." Phil stutters.

"I want to. I'm not going to let what those dirtbags say stop me from doing anything. It's platonic." Dan says. They walk silently to their first period. Phil sits in his usual seat, Dan sits in his. Phil can feel his heart racing. He wasn't used to this, having slurs being said to him, being made fun of. Nobody usually bothered him. Dan puts his head down and sleeps while Phil gets his work done. Hours pass and it feels as it school would go on forever, until lunch that is. Phil went to the library as Dan went to lunch, or at least to wait in the hallway until it was over.