glory and gore ; phan

viii

dan felt his kneecaps trembling as he walked with a limping, uneven posture through the hospital doors, phil striding beside him. "what's wrong?" phil questioned quietly, watching as a huddle of crying people hurried out the building.

"i never said anything was wrong," dan spat, earning a few dirty looks from passers, probably due to the speckling trail of blood following behind him. phil gulped upon meeting the reception desk, clearing his throat quietly. "uh," he began, causing the receptionist's eyes to wander up before widening at the bullet in the brunette's shoulder.

"he, uh," phil stammered, earning a scowl from dan. "i have a bullet in my shoulder, goddamnit!" he growled, before stumbling back at the sudden wave of cold sweats and faded dizziness. "dan?" phil asked worriedly, reaching towards the brunette before he fell to the tiled ground with a thud.

* * *

"thank god," phil said upon seeing dan's suddenly conscious state. "motherfucker," dan hissed upon moving his shoulder in the slightest and repulsing back into the bed. "yeah, uh, you aren't supposed to move," phil said with a weak smile. dan scoffed, "i got that."

"how long have i been out?" he inquired, rubbing his eyes tiredly with a sigh. "you were taken into immediate surgery and we stayed for the night. they don't want you leaving until tomorrow, but knowing you, i wouldn't expect you to stay for more than a few hours," he said, earning a dry chuckle from dan.

"right, uh, could you get me something to eat?" the brunette asked with an uncharacteristic smile, phil nodding urgently. "of course, what do you want?" dan shrugged, "whatever's there." phil nodded, quickly retreating out the doors.

"fuck," dan muttered as he crawled out of the stiff, white bed and out onto the chilling floor. he cursed under his breath as he haphazardly dragged up his jeans and painfully pulled over his black t-shirt, not wanting to wear his atrocious hospital gown any longer than he had to. he sighed, opening the door quietly and making sure there was no sign of phil. he skulked down the hall hurriedly, habitually finding his way to room 93. "ironic," he scoffed under his breath at the remembrance of phil's apartment number.

he creaked open the door to be met with an empty, icy room and a hospital bed with a dark-haired boy laying sleepily in it. "dan," the boy instantly smiled upon laying eyes on his older brother; but his bright grin quickly faded to an expression of worry as he saw the peeking bandages of his surgery-aftermath. "what happened?" he gasped, dan taking a seat beside him. "i, uh, it's nothing, i'm fine," he stammered, shaking his head. "how're you?"

adrian shrugged, "eh, it sometimes seems like boredom is more detrimental than stage three cancer when you're in here all the time." dan sighed, "fuck, sorry."

"hey, don't swear," adrian laughed, "and there's nothing for you to be sorry about, anyway." dan reluctantly nodded, "what have the doctors been saying?" adrian bit his lip, giving a small shrug. "i try not to listen most of the time," he sighed. the two remained in silence as dan thought for a moment; before quickly putting on a wide smile to reassure adrian that it was okay, even though neither of them believed that.

"you know, your birthday's coming up, what do you want to do?" he asked, trying to replace the worrying tremor in his voice with optimistic enthusiasm. adrian scoffed, "it's not for like, a month." dan shrugged, "nonetheless."

adrian chewed on his lip, thinking for a moment before his eyes lit up. "oh, we could go ice skating, last time was so fun!" he grinned as he reminisced. "okay, ice skating it is," dan nodded, shaking his leg nervously at the thought of phil waiting for him. "listen, i've got to go, but i'm really gonna try to make it in here more often, yeah?" he said, rising to his feet.

"okay, i love you," adrian smiled, dan responding with a "i love you too, ade" before resentfully leaving the comfort of his brother. the flashing of a familiar white coat and grey hair passed down the hallway, causing dan's head to shoot to the side and hurry after the walking man. "hey, hey!" he stammered, catching up to the doctor.

"oh, hey dan," he responded hesitantly, continuing to walk after recognizing the boy. "listen, i uh, i need to know how much i still owe since last time," the brunette rambled, anxious to know the astronomical hospital bills he was bound to not have enough for. "you'll have to talk to susan about that, i'm in a bit of a hurry, sorry." and as the doctor continued through the halls, dan stopped, leaning against the wall with a long exhale.

"dan!" a shout sounded from the opposite end of the hall, causing dan to turn and be met with a disappointed phil. "where the hell did you go?" he asked angrily, striding towards dan quickly. "i, uh, i needed to do something." phil stopped abruptly upon nearing dan, crossing his arms. "and i assume you won't tell me what that something was?"

dan didn't even bother replying, just absentmindedly trailed behind phil as he flocked back towards the receptionist. "you know," the raven-haired boy began as they walked, "all of your secrets are gonna catch up to you someday." dan scoffed, "oh will they?" phil turned sharply on his heel, glancing at dan with a glinting smirk.

"yeah, and there's gonna be whiplash."