The Boy in the Garden (Phan)

Chapter 10- It's Gonna Be Okay

Phil had no idea how long he stayed in Dan's arms, crying into his shoulder, heaving with sobs until his lungs physically hurt. When he finally managed to calm himself down, he kept his head pressed into Dan's shirt for a minute or so before looking up, his face feeling hot and sweaty from being buried in the fabric for so long. He avoided eye contact with Dan at first, still feeling embarrassed about crying in front of him. However, he felt Dan tap his shoulder, so he forced himself to look up. 

"You okay?" Dan asked softly. 

"Yeah..." Phil managed a weak smile and nodded. "I'm fine now." 

Dan smiled in return. "We should probably get to class... the bell's gonna ring soon."

"We have English first, right?" Phil asked.

"Yep." Dan nodded and helped Phil to stand up, making sure that he wasn't going to fall over. The two walked out of the band room and down the hall to the classroom. Luckily, the bell wasn't going to ring for another few minutes. Phil sat down at the back of the room, Dan immediately sitting down next to him. Fumbling in his bag for his notebook, Phil grabbed a pen and began doodling on the worn edge of a page already filled with notes. Dan watched him for a minute or so before grabbing a Sharpie and scribbling a star on the corner of the paper. Smiling, Phil scooted the notebook closer to Dan so he had a better angle. Dan drew a couple more stars on the edge of the paper before rolling up the edge of his sleeve and using the Sharpie to draw an infinity symbol on the pale inside of his wrist.

Phil gently traced over the symbol. "That's pretty..." Tugging up the sleeve of his hoodie, he held his wrist out. Dan smiled and drew an identical symbol on Phil's wrist, the marker gently scraping against his skin. Giggling softly, Phil propped his head up on his other hand, examining the symbol. "We match now..."

"Yeah," Dan grinned. He reached towards Phil and gently touched the marker design, his fingers feeling warm against his skin. Phil smiled and chuckled quietly. "That tickles..."

"Sorry..." 

"It's fine." Phil shrugged and was about to continue talking, but stopped when he saw the teacher walk into the room. Flipping to a clean page in his notebook, he watched out of the corner of his eye as Dan promptly put in his earbuds, already in his own little world as he completely disregarded the teacher. Smiling a bit, he turned his attention back to the front of the room.

~{}~

Throughout the day, Phil would point out to Dan the various people who had been bothering him. Sure, the entire junior class had something to contribute, but the people who he pointed out were the most responsible for it. At the end of last period, Dan walked up to Phil's desk and leaned against it, drumming his fingers on the tan surface. "You ready?"

"Ready for what...oh." Phil sighed and looked down at the desk. "Yeah, I am..."

"You sure? We can wait a couple minutes if you need to-"

"No, I'm sure. If I don't do it now, I'm never going to." Phil stood up, tugging his backpack onto one shoulder. The two of them walked out of the classroom, Phil hugging one of his textbooks tight to his chest like a stuffed animal. When the two of them reached the vice principal's office, Phil stopped and stood still, biting his lip. Dan frowned and put a hand on his shoulder. "You okay, Phil?"

"M-hm..." Phil nodded slowly. "I'm just a bit nervous, that's all..."

"It's alright, Phil. Nothing's going to happen. This is gonna make things so much better. Besides, I'm gonna be right near you the entire time."

Phil managed a small smile. "Alright..." With a shaky sigh, he knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the door was opened from the other side by the vice principal, who had a stack of papers in one arm. She greeted them with a friendly smile. "Hello..."

"H-hello..." Phil stumbled over his words slightly. "Um, I kinda need to talk to you about something..."

"Of course. What do you need to talk about?" The vice principal asked, gesturing for the two of them to come into the room. Phil walked in and sat down in one of the black chairs, surprised at how soft it was. He drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair, waiting until Dan and the vice principal sat down before talking. "Uh, well, some people... they've been bothering me." He cringed a bit at how pathetic he sounded, and tried rewording it. "I mean... they haven't been, uh..." He sighed and looked down at his lap, a light blush spreading over his cheeks as he tried to think of a proper way to word it.

Thankfully, Dan spoke for him, allowing Phil to relax a bit. "People have been bullying him because he's bisexual..." As Dan continued to explain, Phil kept his head ducked down, biting his lip and feeling slightly embarrassed about Dan having to talk for him. He tucked his legs up to his chin and wrapped his arms around them, feeling slightly more at ease in the curled-up position. Eventually, once Dan had concluded speaking, he glanced back up, adjusting the flower in his hair and flinching slightly when his fingers touched a bit of dried blood on it from that morning.

The vice principal sighed in thought, drumming her fingers on the wooden desktop. "Well... this seems to be a very serious problem. Do you know the names of the people who were bullying you?"

Phil nodded as he listed off the names of the people, and the vice principal wrote them down on a sticky note. "Alright. I can assure you that I'll take care of this. Thank you for coming to see me about this."

"You're welcome." Phil managed a tiny smile as he stood up, slowly walking out of the room. Dan followed him out a few seconds later, closing the door. Phil stuck his hands into his pockets. "I guess that wasn't so bad..."

"Told you it was gonna be fine." Dan chuckled softly, brushing a few wayward curls out of his face.

Phil shrugged and giggled quietly. Without thinking, he threw his arms around Dan, pulling him into a tight hug. Almost immediately, he felt Dan return the gesture, wrapping his arms around his waist and accidentally lifting him a bit off the floor. Phil let out a surprised yelp, standing on his toes in an attempt to avoid being completely lifted up. Dan giggled and quickly lowered him, keeping his arms around him for a few seconds more before pulling away and putting his hands in his sweatshirt pocket. "You gonna be staying after school for a bit?"

"Yeah..." Phil nodded. "Why, are you?"

"Sure. We can plant some hydrangeas or something," Dan smiled.

"That sounds good." Phil nodded. As he smiled at Dan, he was somehow able to reassure himself that everything was going to be okay.