Not On Fire (Phan AU)

12 | the perks

Dan likes to sit on the floor in his bedroom, lighter in hand, the flame flickering between existing and not. In these situations, he's like a god, in control of everything and knowing what's going to happen before it finally does, but it's not an overwhelming power—it's something that fascinates him, excites him, thrills him. It's something he's comfortable doing and has done many times in the past, long before he started setting fire to bigger objects, but the point is that Dan likes the familiarity.

                Hanging out with Louise is familiar; hanging out with Phil is manageable, but that's at his house. Now, he's expected to hang out with them and two people he barely knows at a place he hates, which isn't his idea of fun in the least bit.

                For a split second, he almost thinks that he'd rather be caught, lighter in hand and burning building behind him, rather than go to the mall and spent an agonizing hour or two trying to socialize before the implications of that thought hit him. At the very least, he knows for a fact that he would rather be setting something on fire right now than heading to the mall.

                Motivated by the idea of Louise backing off of him for a bit, he just has to keep reminding himself that this is all for a purpose, and once it's all over, he can smoke a cigarette to calm his nerves and put his mind at ease. Then maybe he'll start to think about the next thing he's going to light on fire.

***

"Where do you want to go?" is the first thing PJ asks when they arrive at the mall.

                Currently, they're standing in Barnes & Nobles near the young adult books, which is right next to the exit. Past that, there is the food court on the left side and a row of shops on the other side. The shops eventually branch off into two parts going in opposite directions, like a T.

                "We should go into the back of Spencer's," Chris says, winking, and everyone lets out a collective groan. The front half of Spencer's isn't too scandalous—the worst thing they have on display being inappropriate t-shirts—but the back is a different story. If you peak back there in between the shelfs that separate it from the front, you can see posters of girls wearing nothing but revealing lingerie. Dan's never been far enough to see what else can be found there, but everybody knows that you can buy "adult" products there, which always provides great humor for guys with the mind of a perverted 13 year old.

                Dan's not surprised (and he's sure no one else is either), but it's not necessarily the type of humor he enjoys hearing. This is one of the many reasons he couldn't see a friendship between them when they worked on the project for school.

                "Is sex all you think about?" PJ says.

                "Of course not! I think about food, too."

                "I think he's trying to tell us that he wants food," Louise says.

                "If we go by that logic, he also wants sex," Dan adds in, unamused and ready to just leave. "And I don't think he's going to find that at this mall."

                "Why, you offering?" Chris says slyly, looking at Dan with a suggestive look and an eyebrow raised.

                "Can we talk about something besides sex?" This time, it's Phil who speaks, who has been rather quiet for most of the exchange, uncharacteristically so, but the way Dan sees it, Phil's just needed someone who talks just as much as he does, if not more, to finally get him to shut up.

                "You're just mad because you're still a virgin." Chris is condescending in the way he says this, mocking, but jokingly so in the way that goes under the radar unless you're looking.