The Delinquent // Phan AU

Chapter 2: The Sad Truth

Daniel lay awake in his bed, staring at the ceiling with tired and soulless eyes. It was around 1am - and as per usual he was listening to the sounds of his parents arguing. Of course, Dan didn't care. It kept him up at night, yeah, but he was used to it. His parents fought all the time; especially at night. Thinking that their sons were asleep, but no. One of them may be asleep, but the other never was. That was Dan - at first it drove him crazy as he ended up reckless in the morning from lack of sleep. Now he's used it, it near enough being a daily tradition. However, just because he was used to it, didn't mean he liked it.

Because Dan's mother and father were too busy fighting all the time, they practically forgot about their two sons. They stopped caring, and it's been that way for a while. Sad, isn't it? But it was the truth. Dan just learned to deal with it.

"Dan?" A voice spoke from Dan's bedroom doorway as the door creaked open slowly. It was his 4-year-old brother - Adrian. Dan rose his head slightly to look at the door over his covers, before placing in back on his pillow.

"Yeah, Adrian?" He answered softly.

"I can't sleep. Mum and Dad are being too loud." He whined, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He was holding his favourite teddy bear - the one he got when he was born.

"I know," Dan sighed, "I can't sleep either...I'm afraid there's nothing we can do about it though, they won't stop for us."

Adrian whimpered sadly, "C-Can I sleep in your room then?" He stammered.

"Sure, come on." Dan sat up as his little brother pondered over to him adorably. He grabbed the boy around the waist, lifting him up onto his bed and placing his brother beside him. With that, Dan led down again; getting comfortable as Adrian crawled onto his big brother's chest and led down also.

Dan felt better now; he didn't have that daunting feeling in the back of his mind that something would happen to his little brother while he was asleep. Knowing that he was in the same room, close to him, reassured Dan that his brother is safe - and I think Adrian was thinking the same thing.

Dan hugged his brother tight while the two drifted off to sleep, completely forgetting about their parents.

Sometimes, Dan thought he might as well not even have parents - it'd be better if it was just him and Adrian. But, there would be no chance until Dan turned 18 - it was illegal for minors to live alone, especially with a kid. He could move away with his brother when he turned 16, but he needed parental consent to do that so that's out of the window.

At the end of the day, Dan didn't need parents. And with Adrian, Dan had been a better parent than his actual mum and dad had ever been. He has to care for his little brother by himself - ever since Adrian was two, he's taken care of him. Because his mum and dad don't give a shit. At all.

"I promise, one day we'll get out of here. We'll get away from this place, I'll take care of you and we won't have to deal with these shit excuses for parents ever again...I promise." Dan whispered to his brother as he slept soundly on top of him. Then he fell asleep himself.

To put it short, Dan hated his parents and longs for his brother to be happy.

It's just the sad truth.