DEADROSES | PHAN

-ˏˋ seven ˎˊ-

☾ ☽

phil got woken up at 6:30 am to his phone ringing.

he rolled over, groaning and reaching out to check the glowing screen. five missed calls. he cursed, picking it up and sitting up too quickly.

"hello?"

he became aware of how croaky his morning voice sounded, but the frantic words of eliza came through and he found himself not caring.

"phil, you really need to get down here." the urgency of her tone made phil frown and sit up straighter. "right now."

he would usually question a request like this at this time of morning, but she sounded so genuinely scared and unsure that phil jumped out of bed.

they may have their arguments, but eliza was phil's closest (and possibly only) friend at the moment. no matter how it may seem, if she was in trouble, phil would be the first one there.

he struggled with getting dressed in his hazy state, grabbing his glasses off the dresser.

he threw on a t-shirt and some sweatpants, not bothering to fix his messy morning hair.

it wasn't until he was actually in the taxi that he started to really take a deep breath and consider the situation.

why would eliza call him that early, on his day off, to come down to the shop? if it was some kind of emergency, she could just call frank... what in the world could it be then?

the second he stepped out of the taxi he was bombarded.

"phil," eliza said breathlessly, grabbing onto his arm. "you have to see this."

the look in her eyes gave off some kind of fear, and worry. he let her drag him inside, locking the door behind them.

phil couldn't see anything wrong at first. the shop looked normal, peaceful, nothing was out of place. but then he heard it. a soft kind of heavy shaky breathing, and then a quiet whimper.

he turned to eliza, frowning.

she shrugged, leading him behind the counter.

"um," she started, tugging at her ponytail. "i didn't know what to do, i couldn't just leave him out there..."

phil practically audibly gasped as his eyes finally landed on-

dan?

the boy was huddled in the corner, draped in a blanket, shivering so hard that phil was incredibly worried that there was a deeper cold than the blanket could fix.

"he slept outside, all night in the rain, and he was outside when i got here this morning. i couldn't just leave him." eliza repeated, biting her lip, shifting on her feet anxiously. "frank is gonna kill us."

phil was listening, but his eyes were still locked on the trembling boy. his cheeks were flushed and tear stained, and it made phil's heart ache.

'us?' he wanted to say, but he knew he was part of this now too. he would have let dan in just as quick, if not quicker.