colour splash // phan au

three

signs were plastered on the walls of the boys' high school.

tryouts for this thing, and that thing were everywhere.

everyone was swarming the sign up sheets like flies around moldy, unwanted food.

unwanted

like dan.

within the walls of the school, daniel was nothing but everyone's punching bag.

red have a bad day? he took it out on dan.

blue get a bad grade on a test? she used dan to release her anger.

after school phil would apologize, saying he didn't see it, or he would've stepped in.

but, standing in the farthest corner of the crowd of spectators, was a wide eyed phil. who wore the ashamed face of a coward.

dan always saw him...just...standing there, trying to lay low but the corner of dan's eye always caught a glimpse of philip's guilty face.

no one cared about dan.

if they did, they didn't care enough to show it.

today in the park was quiet.

dan didn't talk.

he sat there and thought.

"are you okay, dan?" phil questioned, finally sitting up and breaking the silence.

"dandy," dan stated harshly, keeping his eyes locked on the sky.

gray....the way dan felt.

"what's up?"

dan heaved his chest up and down a few times, debating whether to let it go, or lash out.

"what does it matter to you, lester?"

phil's bottom jaw dropped.

dan, though, didn't see. his eyes were still fixated on the sky.

"wa-what does it matter to me?" phil challenged, "it means everything to me!"

"how so?" dan quarreled calmly.

a drastic change from phil's volume. his voice boomed like the crackle of a raging fire.

"because!" phil screamed, "because i l-" phil stopped himself. the only sound leaving his mouth was the "lll-" of the word he now refused to say.

"hmm?" dan hummed, "you what, now?"

dan's voice was soft and content. it expressed a level of sarcasm, and slight disrespect.

"i deeply care for you.." phil said slowly, his tone seeming more like he was asking, not telling.

now, dan sat up and turned to face phil, whom was flustered and radiating anger.

"no one, and i mean no one, gives a damn about me or my feelings, philip. i'm not too sure if you think i'm blind, incredibly stupid, or unwilling to put up an argument against you? if you were pondering any of those, your answer is that i'm none and i can vividly see your face in the back of the swarms of by-standers. your face of guilt is sketched into the left side of my brain. so do not tell me that you care about me and my well being, if you can stand there and watch me ache everyday!"

with that, daniel stood up from the gentle grass and stormed away from the fields of the old park.

he now understood why the park reminded phil of him... it was alone, unwanted, and a waste of valuable space.