Fix Me | Phan High School AU

Chapter Twenty-Five

A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR FAMS! MAY 2016 ROT IN A BIN!

Phil's POV

5:36 am.

The small, digital clock shone mockingly at me in the darkness. Dan's deep breaths indicated that he was fast asleep, but I hadn't been so lucky; I had reached the stage of exhaustion where I couldn't even sleep. I ended up crawling into bed with Dan around midnight. He woke up for a moment, just to see who I was, then went back to sleep. My situation was a bit more complicated.

My depression had been at bay for the past few months, but I could feel it coming back. It was almost unnoticeable, like water seeping through a crack in in the pavement. But overtime the water would freeze and melt again and again, and suddenly the small crack would grow into a chasm.

Sighing tiredly, I gently brushed a strand of hair out of Dan's eyes. It was amazing how much more vulnerable someone could look when asleep; it was hard to believe Dan had ever been a cold, stuck up person; not when he looked so much like a child.

Scooting a bit closer to Dan, I closed my eyes again, hoping to possibly pass out from exhaustion. Finally, I fell asleep.

...

A gentle stirring next to me woke me up.

"Morning," Dan mumbled, yawning.

I grunted in response, keeping my eyes shut. My three-hour nap felt more like five minutes, leaving me in that stage of unsatisfied grogginess.

"When did you get in here anyway?" Dan asked, cupping my cheek lightly.

"Wow, you really were tired," I muttered. "It was 'round midnight."

Dan hummed in acknowledgment. "And uh, how much sleep did you get?"

I managed to pry one of my eyes open. Dan was looking at me with concern, his hair a curly mess on his head.

"Not enough."

Dan sighed. "Do you wanna go to a doctor? Get some sleeping meds? If your having this much trouble falling asleep, something's probably wrong..."

I groaned, burying my face in my pillow. "We'll discuss it later."

Dan sighed, but dropped the subject. "So what do you want to do today?" He asked, grabbing my hand. "I think Ben from the year above us is having a New Year's Eve party... We could go to that."

I shrugged. "Maybe we could just stay here? I mean if you really want to go, I will, but I'm not a big fan of parties."

"Of course we can stay here," Dan smiled, wrapping an arm around me.

"So...movie marathon until midnight?"

Dan laughed warmly. "Movie marathon until midnight."

Dan's POV

Phil wasn't okay, that was clear enough. The signs had started off small, but now they were much more blatant: his unusual change in emotions had morphed into full blown mood swings, what started off as a bad sleeping pattern had turned into severe sleep deprivation, his appetite had depleted and he was losing weight from his already-skinny frame. I could tell he was trying to act fine, that much was obvious in his plastic smile and chirpy tone.

I had been waiting for the right moment to bring all this up, but I eventually realized that there was no such thing as "the right moment", so now would have to do.

"Phil?" I sat up, wrapping a blanket around my shoulders.

"Yeah?" Phil paused the movie we were watching, turning his full attention to me.