Never Told A Lie (Phan fiction)

Chapter 22

It’s a day later when things kind of turn shit.

Dan is just about to head off to the library, as he has done the day, to meet up with Phil, but he is stopped when he suddenly hears muffled voices coming from the narrow corridor opposite the library entrance. 
Maybe it’s just Dan’s curiousness getting the best of him or maybe it’s intuition, but in the end Dan is just glad that he went to look what’s going on because what he sees when he makes the few steps towards the source of the noise, is quite a shock.

In the small space between the two walls, Brad Stanley has a firm grip on the collar of Phil’s shirt, holding him up a few inches over the ground while shaking him vigorously.

“-ever see you hanging around Howell again, I swear to God, I will hurt you.” Brad hisses and tightens his grip, making Phil gasp for air.

Dan lets out a dangerous growl, stepping closer to them as both boys’ heads turn towards him, alerted by the sudden noise.

“If you don’t get your filthy hands off of Phil right fucking now I’m going to show you who’s going to get hurt.” Dan snarls, inching forward until he is face to face with Brad, who looks at him like a deer caught in the head-lights.

“I- I didn’t think-“ He stammers.

Dan cuts him off. “I don’t fucking care what you thought. Just let go of Phil and if you ever dare to touch him again…”

Brad nods once, before slowly unfastening his fingers, letting Phil go to the floor with a quiet thump.

With a sigh of relief, Dan grabs Phil’s forearm and quickly pushes him behind his back before stepping even closer to Brad, so he is cornered and cannot escape before Dan has said everything he needs to get off his chest.

“Now-“ He starts, voice sharp and low. “If I ever see you bothering Phil again, I swear to God, I will take you apart one by one. Am I making myself clear?”

Brad’s eyes widen in shock, body trembling under Dan’s penetrating glare and he quickly shakes his head yes.

“V-very clear.” He splutters.

“Good.”

Before he can change his mind and actually hurt Brad, Dan quickly turns on his heel and takes Phil’s hand in his own, dragging him out from the corridor in order to get them away from Brad and whatever he might plan to do once he recovers from Dan’s sudden appearance, because Dan is quite sure that the only reason why Brad didn’t beat him up as well was that he was surprised that Dan was there all of sudden and Dan really doesn’t want to find out what will happen if they linger around until the effect has worn off.

When they have put a, in Dan’s opinion, reasonable distance between them and Brad, Dan slows down his pace and properly looks at Phil for the first time, immediately coming to a halt when he notices how utterly shocked he looks.

“Fuck.” Dan breathes, resting his hand on Phil’s cheek. “Are you alright?”

Phil looks at him dazedly before shrugging. “I suppose so.”

“I’m so sorry, Phil. This is all my fault.” Dan sighs, disappointment bubbling up in him. If he can’t manage to look out for Phil when only one fucker knows about them, then how is he going to deal once the school finds out that Dan has been hanging around with Phil quite a lot? Not that he really intents to tell anyone just yet but who knows whom Brad has already told about it. It’s better to be prepared for everything. (Or in Dan’s case, for nothing at all.)

“No. I-” Phil says. “It’s not your fault, really. I should just stand up for myself more.”

“Bullshit.” Dan exclaims, letting his hand fall from Phil’s face once reality catches up with him and crosses his arms instead. “If it wasn’t for me no one would even think about bothering you. I’m so sorry.”