Phan Oneshots

Take My Heart and Set It On Fire

Summary: Dan sets fires in his free time to get away from his real life, and Phil promises not to tell anyone.

(This is an idea based on Alyssa's (ctrling ) story Not On Fire, it's so fucking amazing seriously go and read it, and all her stories, please.)

***

The scent of burning paper had grown to the point of being almost unbearable, even though he'd long ago moved to open the window, letting the chilly November air sweep into his room. There were charred scraps of his English notebook sitting around his crossed legs and piling in his lap, but he payed them no mind. He was entirely encased in his current actions, watching the orange flame of his lighter lick across another note-covered page in front of him. He blew it out just as it reached the tip of his fingers, watching as smoke quickly curled in the air above it, and the burning smell increased.

"Don't you think that's sort of dangerous?" A voice spoke up from his left, long pale limbs sprawled out across his bed in a lazy heap. "You know, fire hazard and all that? Right in the middle of your room."

"Maybe if I hadn't been locked in this fucking house for the last two weeks, I wouldn't need to do it in the middle of my room," Dan said, a bit more cross than he intended. His skin was itching, had been for the last few days, and this, burning sheet after sheet of paper, was not helping. It was really only teasing himself.

Phil leaned up on his elbows. "Okay, sorry. Just worried about your safety," he said in surrender.

Dan sighed, pushing his fingers through his hair and closing his eyes.

Getting into fights wasn't something he did frequently. He was probably the least intimidating and most vulnerable person you could come across; which was probably what made him such an easy target in the first place, because in high school, the shark-like fuckboys thrived off of people like Dan. To make them seem more masculine or something else very unimportant.

But his parents hadn't agreed with his more-than-physical retaliation method, which had ended with three broken noses, and Dan having bruises on his knuckles that still hadn't disappeared.

So now he was grounded, and wasn't it just his luck that they were on a two week break from school? He could be doing something productive right now. Or at least be out of the house for a few hours, he was going crazy stuck in this small space.

He ripped another sheet of paper from the notebook and flicked the lighter on, but the slowly blackening edges weren't helping the small furl of agitation that was sitting in his chest.

A hand brushed the skin of his wrist gently, and Dan looked over to see that Phil had moved from the bed and was now sitting next to him.

"Come on, give me that," he said, reaching for the lighter that Dan was still holding, and Dan jerked it away from his grasp, holding it to his chest defensively.

"No," Dan protested. "This is literally the only reason I haven't torn my room to pieces and probably jumped out the window, you can't take it."

"You're gonna fail the course if you keep burning your notes."

Dan stuffed the lighter in his pocket with a huff, and pushed Phil away from him. "Yeah, okay, you sound like my mum." He stood up and crossed the room to his window to close it.

"You know I'm just trying to look out for you, right?" Phil asked, still sitting on the floor with his legs crossed. Dan stared at him, watched his face go from worried to exasperated to amused in the space of a second. It kind of pissed him off.