One Way || Phan

Part 4.

[A/N: Hmm I'm not sure if I like this chapter, but oh well... Enjoy!]

*Phil's POV*

I had just brought Chris home. He was, just as PJ was, completely drunk and had almost thrown up in my car.

When I opened the front door of my house, I prepared myself for the worst. I knew I was coming home too late, but if I knew I had to bring three people home, I would have left the party earlier. Unfortunately, I knew that wasn't an excuse, and could only hope he was asleep. My dad tends to have a bad temper sometimes - okay, most of the times - and to be honest, I fear him when he's in a state like that. I just had to keep convincing myself he loved me, as he sometimes told me when he apologized after... afterward. But sometimes it felt like he didn't give two shits about me, and the way he treated me wasn't exactly the way a father should treat his son.

Of course, he wasn't. As soon as I stepped inside I could hear him stand up and start walking downstairs. I turned my face to the door to hide the obvious fear, hoping he wouldn't be too rough with me this time. I cursed myself mentally for being such a fool. This all could have been prevented and now I was in trouble again.

"Philip! Why are you so late?" He said, anger growing in his voice. He smelled like alcohol, again. He always did. It made me so sad.

"I-I had to... b-bring some friends home," I heard myself say, barely audible. "I-I'm sorry... dad." Still staring at the door, I heard him coming closer to me and I flinched, an automatic response my body had taught itself over the years.

He grabbed me and pushed me violently against the wall, my head slamming against the cold concrete. I felt dizzy but tried to stay calm and not show my now rapidly growing fear of what might happen.

"You're sorry?!" He yelled, releasing one hand. I saw it fly through the air before it hit me, right in my stomach. I gasped for air as I held my stomach protectively with both my arms while sliding down to the ground. I felt salty tears forming in my eyes, but tried my best to swallow them down.

"Y-yes..." I whispered. I wish he let me go, although I knew he wouldn't. He normally didn't stop after just one hit. More would follow, and I just wanted it to stop already.

He released me and I fell to the ground. I automatically crawled up into a ball, making myself as small as possible. A sharp pain shot through my back as his foot collides with my vulnerable spine. A second kick followed, just a bit lower than the previous one but just as painful. I wasn't even aware anymore of the warm tears streaming down my face at that point.

"You're so fucking pathetic, Philip. You know that, right?" My dad spat after a few more kicks to my definitely bruised back. I whimpered soft excuses, begged him to stop, told him I was sorry and would never be late again.

Then it stopped. He just stopped out of nowhere and walked away. I just lay on the ground, flinching hard when I heard a door upstairs violently being shut. It took me several minutes to regain my strength and find enough courage to try to stand up again. My back was incredibly sore and I don't think I had ever felt more miserable than when I just stood there, hands on my back to support it, feeling worth nothing more than an empty shadow.

*Dan's POV*

Phil wasn't at school today, nor was PJ. It wasn't a surprise PJ wasn't there, he probably had a huge hangover and I hadn't expected him to be at school today anyway. But... Phil? He never skipped a class, let alone a whole day. Maybe he was ill? Did something happen to him?

I sighed and sat down under an oak tree outside the school building. I used to sit here every break when PJ wasn't at school.I actually quite enjoyed this spot, the shadow of the leaves of the giant tree around me. No other people, no noises, nothing. Just the silence and me.

I have to admit I was a bit disappointed Phil wasn't here sitting next to me. We only met in person yesterday but it felt like I found my soulmate. I wasn't nervous about seeing him anymore, and I couldn't exactly understand why I had been in the first place. Of course, being with someone you're in love with is kinda scary, but it all felt so natural with Phil.

Should I text him?

Nah, why? Isn't that weird?

It's okay to ask if someone's okay, right? It shows you care.

I quickly grabbed my phone and unlocked it. I scrolled through the numbers in my phone till I found Phil's. What should I text him?

'Hi Phil, where are you? You're not at school...' Well, that made it look like I was a stalker. I erased it and typed something else.

'Hey Phil, are you sick?' No, definitely not that. Just no.

Damn, this was hard.

'Hey! You're not at school today, are you okay?' is what I eventually typed and sent to him. I put my phone away and started listening to some music. Music made me forget everything, even if it was only for a few minutes.

My phone buzzed five minutes later and I quickly grabbed it to see Phil had texted me back.

'I'm fine, wasn't feeling great this morning, that's all. Be back at school tomorrow :)' I sighed in relief. He was just ill, not murdered, not lost. Just ill.

I quickly replied. At the same moment, the bell rang, announcing more incredibly boring classes were about to start. I sighed and picked up my backpack. As I walked back to the school's entrance I received another text of Phil. I read it while I was walking.

'Do you want to come over after school? We can play some video games?'

Of course I wanted to. I typed a quick response, pressed send and slumped down onto one of the uncomfortable school chairs, mentally preparing myself for another hour full of boring stories about all the kings England has ever had.

-

This had to be his house. He had given me his address in another text message and I had come here as soon as possible when school was finally over.

The house looked cheap and old, to be honest. It was small and wasn't well-maintained at all. Some things were broken and it looked like all the old paint was coming off of the door. Was this really the place where Phil lived? It was not exactly what I had expected, but it didn't matter. The thing that did matter was Phil.

I knocked since I couldn't find a doorbell. First, it was a soft knock, but I didn't think it was audible so I knocked again, a bit louder this time.

Footsteps could be heard and I suddenly felt nervous. What if Phil had fooled me and didn't live here? What if it would just be really awkward?

But when the door opened and showed a smiling Phil, I forgot to worry. Heck, he was cute. He was wearing glasses – which looked amazing on him – an oversized red hoodie and some pajama jeans. He looked so cute.

"Hi!" He smiled. "How was school?"

I shrugged. "Boring, as always. Especially today because everyone is ill or hungover."

He grinned. "I'm sorry for leaving you alone."

"Well you couldn't help it, could you?" I responded.

He shook his head, still grinning. I didn't know what to say anymore, so I just stood there awkwardly looking around. The outside of his house looked horrible, but the inside was pretty organized. Some pictures of little Phil with his mother and father – I suppose – covered the wall of the hallway. They looked happy.

"Ehm... Shall we go upstairs? For the video games?" Phil said, soundingslightly insecure all of the sudden.

I nodded and followed him upstairs. It looked like walking up the stairs caused him pain. He was trying to hold his body as still as possible and sometimes he closed his eyes and bit his lip. It worried me.

"Phil? Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He mumbled.

Edited: 26/9/2017