DEADROSES | PHAN

-ˏˋ two ˎˊ-

☾ ☽

dan wished it wasn't so damn rare he got the house to himself.

it wasn't exactly that jarvis was always home - he often was, but he was usually holed up in his office - but someone was always around. jarvis tended to invite over business partners to stay overnight to work, and even when the man himself wasn't home, they worked for him in the library.

when someone was home dan would usually just silently do his chores, and eat his meals in his room. considering he lived in the attic, he was never a problem. and if someone happened to notice him or ask who he was, he would always explain that he was a maid of sorts. it was true, only a little more complicated than that. he couldn't exactly tell them that his parents were dead, and jarvis was his godfather who had taken him in and put him to work.

the kids at school used to call him cinderella, which he supposed was accurate. he didn't blame them. an orphan is always a good target for bullying, and dan was more than happy to sacrifice himself if it meant other kids wouldn't have it as bad.

but when dan was home alone, you better believe he savored the time. he would play the piano, mostly, since he didn't have any reason to keep quiet. that, and take those god awful shoes off.

his "powers" weren't something he was allowed to take lightly. jarvis had told him very specifically that if it ever got out that he could do what he could do, that it was over. he wouldn't have a home, and dan didn't know what he would do if that happened. he would have nowhere to go.

so there he was, sitting on the window sill, his metal shoes scattered halfheartedly on the floor beneath him. it was a stormy day; the glass of the window was sprinkled with raindrops, and dan watched them fall, pattering against the panes. and for once, he didn't really want to be alone.

he had practiced piano so much that day that his fingertips were practically bruised, and his cheeks were flushed from the passion he had worked with. but now he was tired, and bored, and he wished he had a friend.

he thought about lola. his heart swelled; she hadn't crossed his mind since the last time jarvis was away on a business trip. lola was his first friend. and last.

he had been only young when she had moved in next door with her family. she fascinated dan because she had a full family, complete with mother and father and a little baby brother who always smiled and giggled when dan was around. dan fascinated her because she had never met someone who slept on a mattress in their attic, no bed frame or posters on the walls. so they were friends.

she would come over on the weekends and let dan ride her bike, and she would teach him how to braid her long dark hair that matched the shade of her skin. it had been incredibly simple, something nothing in dan's life ever seemed to be.

but dan had ruined it.

"are you ready?" twelve year old dan giggled, his eyes twinkling. the girl sitting on a log across from him rolled her eyes.

"yes, dan!" she cried, nodding at him. "are you gonna show me why you wear those shoes?" her face brightened. "will you let me try them on?"

dan nodded, biting his lip. he was about to do something he had been told never to do.

he sucked in a sharp breath, holding it in his lungs and leaning over to unstrap his burdens.