adventure ; phan

one

a/n : idk what this chapter is but here have it

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the turbulence begins again, slowly bringing our plane down to the runway. many strangers pass and leave dan sat alone at his window. he looks down to his phone. 11:38, he reads, rushing off the plane. the hotel didn't allow check in after midnight, so he had just 22 minutes to get there. he wasn't very stressed about it, as the hotel was just a block away.

as he walked up to his door, sliding his key towards the floor and pushing it open, he threw his shoes to the floor and his face to the pillow, being stuck in a limbo of not wanting to sleep. not wanting to go back to it. so he didn't.

he stayed awake for hours, on his laptop, on his phone, watching tv. as the clock struck 4am, he went out like a light.

you're a failure. punch.

you're worth nothing. kick.

nobody will ever love you, ever. spit.

i don't love you, not anymore. push.

dan woke up, panting heavily. dan's dreams had been nothing but that for months. sometimes they were the worst, and after those, he'd vow not to sleep for days. but these ones, the smaller ones, they'd keep him up for hours, make him think about what he did wrong.

he stayed.

when his alarm blared at 7:30am, he shook his head, finally having a distraction to what he'd been thinking of for hours. he stood, grabbing a black plain shirt and black jeans from his suitcase, accompanied by black boots. he walked into the shower, turning nothing but the hot tap, waiting until the steam was foggy in the entire room, then standing under the water. 

i want some coffee. he thought, putting his dirty clothes in his suitcase, grabbing his black coat and his room key, closing the door behind him. 

dan put his coat on. it made his pale skin stand out. it also made him look very small. the coat fit him once, it was perfect for his skin tone. he knew he stood out in it, and he knew he needed a new one. but for now, all he wanted was to go and explore new york with some coffee, not thinking about manchester at all.

after a while of sitting next to a complete stranger (whom he thought was in fact, homeless, due to his scruffy beard and dirty clothing), he hailed a taxi (or a cab, as  some american's call them) and was taken to central park. here, he sat at a bench alone, watching young children play in the snow and some men his age playing chess. 

so dan was sat alone in central park with his warm coffee, and for the first of the many in new york, he felt so at home in the nature. he felt as if this was were he was meant to be, and that was why he always came back. 

his job accompanied his lifestyle. he only had to come into the office every three months, so he could take his laptop anywhere and do it whenever he chose. the pay was high, so his unplanned trips to new york were never a problem.

one boy, one of those playing chess, smiled at dan. his skin was pasty, and his lips were chapped to the point they couldn't be fixed. dan smiled back, always enjoying a small part of socialising each day. 

once their game was over, and dan was about to leave, the boy came over. 

'hi.' the stranger spoke.

dan was confused. dan was never the type to have a random stranger come up and attempt to talk to him. even if he ever was, the conversation often ended with the other thinking dan was a psycho, and never hearing from them ever again. 

'i'm phil.' he added.

phil was a name dan had always liked. he had always liked it as he had never met a mean phil, but he had only met two. this phil had a very northern accent.

'oh, my name is dan.' 

phil smirked, sitting down at the bench with dan. his friends had left without him, but he knew his way back to the hotel. 

'nice to meet you, dan.' 

'why've you come to new york?' dan asked.

then phil went on to explain how he'd never left his hometown, and that new york always seemed like such a grand place to him.

'what about you. why are you here?'

then dan went on about how he'd always been in love with central park and the view and the people. some of the people were cockheads, as you'll find them in any city in any place in the world, but some selective few were always kind to dan even though dan never did anything to deserve it. dan was a believer that good only happens to few, but he did not believe he was one of them.

'well, it's cold. i must be heading back to my hotel. really just came out to see the snow today.' dan chuckled.

then he asked dan about his hotel.

'i'm at the mark. little pricey, but very worth it.'

to his surprise, phil was there too.

so they got a taxi together, and they returned to their hotel.

as they parted ways, they spoke of meeting there the next day, the same park bench.

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please leave a comment on this on how you thought of it, because idk if anyone would continue reading this book. i'll update soon, b y e !!