Special Boy // phan

-32-

"Imagine it!" Phil said excited, his hands gesticulating wildly, his eyes glinting. He was somewhere else in his head, and his image was so vivid that I could almost see it, too. There was wind blowing through his hair, a grin on his face. He was flying in his mind. And I was with him. I shut my eyes gently. "We're there, in the midst of crime fighting. A man with the worst Bad in the world is coming for us, and suddenly, Bam!" My eyes fly open, my heart pounding. "In comes danisnotonfire, with his fantastic power! And they're powerless."

"But you will be, too," I argued, a smile clinging to my lips despite how much I tried to suppress it. Phil shrugged.

"Everyone will be. That's the cool part. Besides-" Phil struck a pose, hands out like he was about to karate chop me, face straight and focused like he was serious. "I learned everything I needed about self-defense from Buffy the Vampire Slayer!" He pressed the side of his hand to the top of my head with a gentle "chop!" and we both burst into fits of laughter.

"So you don't hate me?" I asked after a few breaths, my spirit dropping just a little bit. I examined Phil, the freshly healed cuts that criss-crossed his body, up his arms, down the side of his face. And then I wondered what I looked like, wondered why I couldn't feel anything if I hadn't been healed.

"Of course I don't hate you, you spork," Phil laughed, pushing my legs over so he could lay down beside me. He smiled, and I smiled. "May I kiss you?" he asked softly. I nodded and shut my eyes, and I felt his lips against mine, ever so brief and not nearly as deep as I wanted.

But then in comes bursting Chris and PJ, carrying a plate full of-

"Pizza!" PJ announced, setting the tray down on my bedside table. "We know how crappy that hospital food is, so... here ya go!"

I knew he didn't make the food because the hospital food wasn't good. I hadn't even had it yet. I knew PJ knew better than to make this much pizza. I knew why he felt the need to.

He used his power just to make sure he still could. Being around me drained him of not only his power, but his energy. I'm sure that the reason he and Chris were gone for so long was because they were trying to see how far away from me they had to get before they could finally use their powers again.

But I smiled and said thank you, and picked up a slice. Phil decided to get off the bed and join me in eating, and Chris grabbed a third and then a fourth. PJ seemed just a little bit weak, because four  was pretty much his limit, but he was smiling and telling me about cute nurses and doctors he saw around on his walk. Chris, mouth full, hummed and nodded in agreement every once and a while, and Phil just rolled his eyes, a smile breaching his own lips.

I was feeling exhausted by the time we finished our pizza and our talk, so I informed everyone that I was going to get some rest. They all looked at each other, worried, but I said that I was fine.

"I just need to sleep it off," I shrugged, and finally, PJ and Chris got up, waved goodbye, and left, promising they'd come back the next day. Phil stayed, laying down in his chosen spot on my already cramped bed. He was on his back, hands folded on his stomach, looking at the ceiling. I just looked at him.

"So... do you think you're still my weakness?" he asked softly. I raised my eyebrows. "Since you're everybody's weakness. Does that mean I don't have one, still?" I glanced away from him.

"I don't know." I couldn't think of anything else to say. I had sort of written off our past experiences as me being Phil's weakness, as him not being able to control himself around me. I felt the same around him, at least, a little bit. But if it was just my power, then it was more in the literal sense. I was Phil's- everybody's- weakness. I stopped powers. I didn't negate self control.

"Well," I began, the thought protruding from my deep, long forgotten memories of my first ever PS class back in my first year of uni. "One shows symptoms or signs of their power before they truly unlock it. Maybe you were... my signs or symptoms." I chuckled at my own joke, but Phil's face stayed stony.

"Does that mean... if... if you're not my weakness, does that mean that I... that I... just..." Phil didn't want to say it, and neither did I, but he trailed off because we both knew what he was thinking.

"No one said that I wasn't your weakness specifically. From what I understand, which, apparently is not a lot, I simply negate people's powers within a certain radius of me. What happened between us is way different than that." Phil smiled, softly.

"Yeah." He paused. "What's it like to have a power now?" I felt my shoulders shrug, probably my brain translating my exhaustion into apathy, but I had been thinking about the answer to this question already. I already had words, so articulate, so clever and descriptive that Phil would be brought back to the second he discovered his power, and maybe even brought to tears by the accuracy.

"Fine, I guess," I said cleverly.

Phil hummed, smiling a bit. "I remember when I first discovered my power. It was wild. I was... I think I was 10. I was technically a late bloomer." I let out a puff of laughter. Late bloomer. I'm 23 and I only just got my power. "It was nice. It felt good to finally be special. I was a Big, too, so I knew that I would be popular and famous when I was older.

"But when I found my weakness, or when I thought I did, it was very different. When I met you, I was... I was obsessed. I wanted to learn everything I could about you, what university you went to, what you were majoring in, your hobbies, your favorite tea. I learned everything I could about you. But I couldn't find your power, and I couldn't find your weakness." I nodded, then gasped, my sleepily drooping eyes shooting open like window shutters.

"Weakness!" I shouted, and Phil flinched away, nearly falling out of the bed. "My weakness, Phil! What if I can turn off my power with my weakness?"