Trigger Warning: Abuse
Flashback: Dan is five
Dan sprinted around the green grass as fast as he could. The smile on his face didn't leave as he yelled and laughed. "Tag!" He giggled and ran away. He ran from tree to tree. Eventually he sat down and caught his breath. He talked and laughed some more. His father frowned.
"He's talking to that imaginary friend of his again," He said to his wife.
She rolled her eyes, this constant fight just added to their list of things to fight about.
"Why do you care? It's not like you pay attention to him anyway," She huffed. It was obvious that he could care less about any of the people in their small family. He was the type of dad who purposely stayed at work.
"Because it's damn weird, if he's my son I want him to be normal," His father shouted.
"You don't treat him like your son anyway!" His mother shouted back. That's how it went. Just like all the other fights. His father was a loud and terrible offense, attacking his mother with any chance he got, trying to achieve his goal- to make her cry. His mother was always defense, protecting the goal and staying strong.
"Hey, don't worry about them, silly!" Phil tried to cheer Dan up. Dan gave the boy a sad look. Nobody understood Dan. For Dan, Phil wasn't imaginary, it was like he was there. It was like Phil was some sort of.. spirit
"I'm scared something's going to happen to mumma," Dan whispered.
"It's ok, Dan," Phil reassured the boy.
It went on like this for years. It wasn't until Dan was seventeen that he realized Phil wasn't real. It was the day his mother committed suicide. His father had became too much for her to handle.
"Hey, Dan, you alright?" Phil asked from across the room. Dan had been in a ball, crying his eyes out. He glared up at Phil.
"Leave," He said it loud with a shaky voice.
"What do you mean? Dan I-"
"Leave! This wouldn't have happened if it weren't for you!" Dan screamed at the top of his lungs. Just like that, Phil was gone. Phil realized that Dan didn't want him around anymore. He couldn't protect him anymore. It was time for Phil to be just imaginary.
Present day: Dan is eighteen
*Dan's point of view*
"Good morning everyone!" My teacher walked into the room looking too happy for a Monday morning. I groaned and put my head in my arms. I did not want to be here. I zoned out until the teachers words broke my silence.
"Dan! Did you hear me?!" She yelled, I snapped my head up, I didn't even notice I fell asleep.
"Uh..." I could feel my blush.
"Wave, so Phil knows where to sit," She smiled and walked towards the board. My eyes widened at the name.
Stood in front of the room was a boy with black hair and the most dashing blue eyes. The same dashing blue eyes I'd envisioned in my head for seventeen years."Danny's got a crush!" A group of guys yelled from a across the room. I closed my mouth and looked away. I hadn't even realized I'd been staring. My blush got worse and so did Phil's. He was looking at me the same way.
He sat down next to me and the teacher started her lesson. I tried to focus, but all I could think about was the fact that my imaginary friend was alive and sitting next to me.
"I can't believe you're real," Phil whispered from beside me. I gaped at him, he sounded the same. This was definitely him alright. What did he mean by that?
"What?" I gulped, did he imagine me too?
"I just.. never mind," He sighed.
"No, what?" I asked.
"Well it's just-"
"Strike one!" The teacher yelled from across the room. She glared at us. I didn't care if I got strike three, I needed answers.
"You imagined me?" I asked quietly.
"Well.. I imagined someone who looked identical to you. Same name and everything," He said in awe.
"Me too," I said in a breath. I didn't want to tell him the full story I had.
"This is-"
"Strike two!" The teacher said, she was right next us right now. "Do I need to move you two?" She asked.
"No," We said- almost at the same time.
She smirked and walked off. She sat at her desk and started to work on papers. Everyone else was busy working.
"The person I imagined can't be you though," Phil muttered as he got out a sheet of paper.
"Why not?" I asked.
"The person I imagined.. had a tough life," He whispered. I think my eyes got even wider. This was him, I could feel it.
"Daniel! Philip! This is strike three! Lunch detentions!" She shouted.
After spending another half an hour in her room it was time for lunch detention.
"I need to got to a meeting, you guys are going to staple all these papers for me," She handed me the stack. "Good luck! And don't leave, trust me, I'll find out," She did he famous glare and walked off.
"This is really weird," I mumbled as I, again, gawked at Phil. "You look so much like him." I started to staple papers.
"What was your imaginary friends story?" He asked me, I swallowed hard.
"What was yours?" I asked, I was hoping he'd get the point that I didn't want to talk about why I needed one.
"Well.. mine was abused. He was abused mentally and later physically by his father. I stopped imagining him when his mother committed suicide. His father became too much. I was thought it was a strange thing to imagine, but it felt so.. so real," He whispered. All of the blood rushed out of my face.
"It felt real for me too," I bit my lip.
"What?" He asked in awe. "It was real, wasn't it?" He asked walking closer.
"I'm sorry when I yelled at you. I've always felt bad for it," I looked it his eyes.
"It.. it's ok. It's all good now I guess. Now I can help you in real life," He grabbed my hands.
"In real life," I repeated the words.
It was a hard concept to grasp. I had imagined this boy for seventeen years, he was always there for me and was always helping me. I never knew he was a real person until he was standing in front of me. I had never met this boy in my life, but I knew everything about him. He was real. I wondered if he felt as weird as I did about his whole thing. For some reason I didn't care about that though. I cared that in front of me, was the boy I'd been imagining my whole life, literally.
I hadn't known it then, but I realized now that I was in love with this strange relationship. And with him being real it only grew stronger.
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Thank you brokencrimes for the idea of this chapter!
And by the way (I know it's a little late) Happy Birthday to Phil! I was going to write a one-shot shout it, but I decided to write this instead. I cannot believe he's already 31! That's crazy!!!!