The Wolf of The Woods

Chapter Seven: Close Bonds

A/N: The cool werewolf drawing for this chapter was done by @Amarish01 on instagram and deviantart
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The peaceful, yet ear piercing sound of birds could be heard echoing through the forest.

The trees were still dark shadowy silhouettes, lit only by the slight glow of sunlight on the horizon. As the light began to seep through the trees more prominently the bird's chirps got louder.

Dan's ears twitched in annoyance. Naturally he'd been awake all night and hadn't bothered to move from his spot.

He knew there was no point moving now; as soon as the sunlight hit him he would be thrust back into the utter pain and agony of transforming. At least transforming back wasn't quite as bad, after all it was more repairing the damage rather than causing any more.

Dan yawned, a feeling of dread in his stomach as the sunlight drifted over him. How could anything so bright and warm possibly hurt him?

Apparently it did. A slight twinge of pain overcame him, which then erupted into the feeling of knives jabbing into him. He felt his bones tingling throughout his entire body like pins and needles.

The feeling of knives began hacking into him, tearing him apart.

He was on his hands and knees breathing rapidly, trying to stay conscious. It would be over soon he told himself, dropping to the floor.

After a while, the tingling sensation died down and Dan got to his feet. He could stand up straight now and was no longer covered in fur (thankfully).

One thing that hadn't left him though, was his hunger and his stomach began to growl as he traipsed back through the woods.

While he was walking his mind turned to Phil. He wondered if Phil would be there waiting for him when he got home and quickly tried to think of an excuse as to why he had gone out so early in the morning.

It felt strange to Dan. Thinking of someone else, caring about them and looking forward to seeing him. He'd never had that before. The only other people he'd ever thought about before were Seamus and his friends and he certainly didn't look forward to seeing them.

When Dan finally found his way home, however, he was quite glad to see that Phil hadn't arrived yet.

He darted up the ladder and began to get ready, putting on his school clothes and brushing his teeth. He ran his fingers through his hair and tried to make himself look presentable, his messy curls didn't seem to be cooperating today though.

It also definitely still looked obvious Dan had been awake all night, but hey at least he didn't have a tail anymore.

He heard leaves rustling at the bottom of the ladder then.
'Daan' a voice called up.
'I'm coming!'

Dan took one last look in the mirror and sighed, reaching for his school bag and clambering down to Phil.

'Hello' Dan beamed at Phil, whose blue eyes were glistening in the morning sun.
'We'd better get going or we'll be late, it took me ages to find this place! How do you cope?'

Dan chuckled as they began to walk.
'I don't know I guess I'm just used to it'
'Well it must be horrible living out here all on your own' said Phil.
Dan looked puzzled by Phil's tone of genuine concern.

'Yeah I guess, food's pretty hard to come by and...'
'Oh yeah that reminds me!'
Phil removed his bag from his back and began looking through it, out of it he pulled some sandwiches, crisps and a cereal bar.

'Here' Phil passed Dan the food 'I took these from the cupboards, my parents never notice when I take food'
'Oh Phil I...' Dan was so hungry he was in no position to object 'thank you, I haven't eaten properly in days'

Phil smiled and Dan began eating one of the sandwiches as they approached the edge of the forest.

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They arrived at school just in time, the bell rang right as they walked through the gates. Dan got out his timetable and after realising he had history quickly darted to his lesson, bidding farewell to Phil.

'Goodbye!'
'Wait, what have you got before break?'
'Science'
'Okay I'll meet you outside the class'

When Dan arrived at the classroom all of the buzzing happiness he'd felt from talking to Phil drifted away.
'Hello Daniel' The tired looking figure of Mr Mathews greeted him 'you are just in time, please sit down and get out your book'

-

That history lesson had gone very slowly. So had the rest of the day actually, Dan had met up with Phil at both break and lunch times and thanks to Phil he'd actually had a lunch to eat.

After they'd eaten the bell would go and they would drag themselves unwillingly to the next class.

The only lesson that hadn't been utterly terrible was maths. Maths was the only lesson in which Dan and Phil were in the same class and Mrs Lewis had let them sit together.

Unfortunately though, throughout the day they'd both had a fair few encounters with Seamus and his gang.

Seamus didn't seem at all surprised that Dan and Phil had become friends now but was a little more perplexed as to how they'd escaped the toilet cubicle.

Dan wanted to hurt Seamus so badly every time he saw him, every time he called them names or threatened them but he held back (or rather Phil held him back).

Dan wasn't sure what had made him suddenly want to hurt Seamus. He was used to the things Seamus did and called him.

Perhaps it was because he had began to call Phil names too. He had even started being homophobic to Phil as well as Dan, which in Dan's eyes was totally not okay.

Dan cared for Phil, and anyway unlike himself, he wasn't actually sure that Phil was gay.

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They spent every school day like this from now on, until it almost became a routine. Phil would could come to Dan's house in the morning, they'd walk to school together, going their separate ways in the classes that they didn't share. And they'd eat lunch together, still enduring the bullying from Seamus.

And sometimes Phil would even come back to the treehouse with Dan to do 'homework', though that was hardly ever what they actually did.

They would have deep conversations with each other, talking about things they liked and telling each other stories of their childhoods.

In less than a month they had become the very best of friends. They knew almost every detail about each other and shared nearly everything with each other.

The one thing they hadn't talked about was relationships. Which frankly Dan was more than thankful for. He still didn't feel ready to tell anyone, even his best friend, about his sexuality.

He was afraid that it would ruin their friendship. And that Phil would think it was creepy and that Dan loved him, which actually wasn't far from the truth. Every time he looked into those deep ocean blue eyes, Dan saw something, something more than friendship.

Something he longed for but desperately tried to hide.