dan and phil // one shots

heathens // oneshot 16

my attempt at a song fic / inspired by heathens

au; teenage d+p 

tw; mentionings of depression

dan walked slowly into the silent room. plastic chairs stood in a circle, filled except for one seat. his seat.

he sat down and looked around. 6 other people were also quiet- except for one sobbing girl, crying about her life.

a stern women frowned and excused her to leave. she left- leaving the circle empty one chair. the women who told her to leave introduced herself as doctor elizabeth and stiffly smiled at her audience- or some would rather say clients. she crossed her legs and propped a clip board up. she frowned when she noticed everyone was looking down.

"how about we introduce ourselves?" she motions to the dan- who was awkwardly trying to look away, "you, sir. what's your name?"

dan froze and looked up slowly. everyone stared at him waiting for his response. a second passes and he's forgotten his name. silence followed. until the boy next to dan spoke up.

"how about i start?" he smiles at dan sympathetically, "my name's phil. phil lester. and to be honest, i don't need to be here. sure, i've had my ups and downs. but everyone has their downs. i'm just at an all time low. that doesn't mean i suddenly need help. my friend made me come here. he thinks i do. maybe i do need help."

"phil, how about you share what your all time low is about?" doctor elizabeth motions for him to continue.

"well, see, my issues aren't exactly as cliche. i'm a straight, pretty main stream guy. i get decent grades. but that doesn't mean my life is normal. i guess this is cliche, but its just- well, ever since i was young, well, um, my parents just never really got along and one night they were driving and some drunk ass decided to crash into my parents and well- you can use your common sense to decide what happens next. i was forced into a overcrowded orphanage. i was moved around many times until a year ago i was adopted by this kind but old couple. at school- well- it's pretty obvious but i switched a lot and my classmate just don't seem to like me. and- well. uh-"

"same here." dan whispered from under his breath. everyone around the room all nodded in sync. "i guess that means we've all been through it," dan finally looks up at everyone.

"we're all here because we're all broken i suppose," dan said a bit louder. everyone smiled a little in agreement. 

"yeah, but we are here to fix ourselves right?" a girl with bright blue hair said optimistically. 

"no, we are here to fix each other," phil corrected her and looked right into dan's eyes. "each other," he said again, and doctor elizabeth was noticed to be vacant of her seat. 

over the past month, every week the group would meet up and they'd talk. "about our issues" one guy joked about. doctor elizabeth was rarely there to meet up. she'd come and ask a few questions then leave them to be. they liked it that way. enough of questions. 

phil noticed dan was especially silent one meeting, so he came up to him after the room was cleared out. the two stood in the florescent lighting just by the wooden doorway. the downtown noises echoed from outside. 

"dan," phil reached out to him, but he just looked away.

"dan." he said again, this time reaching for his arm.

"stop, it's too late," dan scowled and reached for the door. phil blocked his hand and stared at him.

"no. stop. dan don't ignore me," phil let the silence weigh upon them and waited for dan to break.

3, 2, 1, he counted in his head waiting for dan to talk.

"i can't talk about it, not here, no where," dan just looked away, in shame.

"i know somewhere, i know somewhere safe. come with me. we can talk there," phil said softly.

"phil, you don't know the person you sit beside. you only know the dan from the group therapy, you don't know the dan from there or the dan from some where. you only know this one, you can't help," dan trembled a little at the sight of phil, and wanted desperately to embrace his help, but something inside him hated phil's welcoming arms.

"then let me," phil opened the door to let them out, but he stood in the doorway, "come with me, let me know the real dan,"

"you'll be scared of the real dan, phil" dan thought phil looked almost angelic standing in the doorway with the sunlight coming through, "the real dan, the real dan is gone,"

"no the real dan is there, hiding, come with me dan howell," phil whispered, afraid to say the wrong thing and ruin everything. 

one more chance.

dan stepped into the sunlight with phil.

one more chance.

phil dragged him all around london. fish and chips at 1 am in the morning at the 24 hour cafe. 

one more chance.

phil saved him before it was too late.

but it's never too late. 

A/N: sorry this is super short i started it a while ago and never finished it smh its bad srry on a hiatus i dont write that much anymore no one reads my stuff lol

xx selina