Inside Out

Chapter 9

 The next day the two woke up still in the hospital bed. Phil had decided to stay there with Dan as he'd fallen asleep on him and Phil didn't want to wake him. Dan woke first, looking up at his new boyfriend? God that felt so odd to say. Phil is actually his boyfriend. Dan couldn't help but smile at the thought feeling himself love Phil wholey with all his heart. Then he felt confused because emotions? He doesn't have those. But then he remembered last night and how he basically popped open that bottle of emotions inside him. Now he's just a mess. Dan sighed and lied his head back down onto Phil's chest, shocked when Phil ran a hand through his hair. He smiled, listening to the soft, repetitive thump of Phil's heart.
"Good morning." Dan said, feeling so warm and happy in his chest. He couldn't recall the last time he'd felt like this. He's been so miserable for so long. How can Phil just do this to him? Phil's heartbeat is too loud to allow Dan's head to scream and shout. It's too loud for him to hear anything but the thumps of his heart, and the vibrations of his voice. "Morning." Phil replies, smiling down at the fragile boy in his arms. "How do you feel?" He asks.

"Better." And better was an understatement. Dan felt great, despite the many bruises covering his body, soaking up Phil's warmth in a state of bliss.
"Good." Phil stared up at the ceiling, contemplating everything that's happened since he first met Dan. To think they'd gone through so much in such a short amount of time. Phil thought about Ryan, wondering if he'd escaped or got away. He hoped he'd go to jail. Would they need to go to court to keep Ryan there? Probably not, Dan's hospital bill should be enough. Phil thought back to the first time he'd seen him here, the bruises around his neck. Dan's so sad, and Phil could not let that stand. He'd promised he'd fix it just last night. He needed to get him help but he knew he'd try to refuse.

"Dan." Phil said, getting the boy to look up at him cutely. "I want you to start taking medicine. Antidepressants or something. Please, I can't stand to see you so sad anymore." All the happiness Dan felt in that moment dissipated into sadness. Not completely, but he felt the sadness wash over him like water to a flame. "Or perhaps, therapy? If you won't take medicine." Phil tried. Dan still said nothing so Phil presented another idea. "What if, we made a list?" Now Dan felt confused.
"A list?"

"Let's make a list of activities! Fun little simple things that could be therapeutic for you."
"Like what? I can't really think of any hobbies i have"
"Well, we could try art, movies, I don't know. We'll just try everything! Who knows? Maybe we'll find something that works really well. I'll even do it all with you."

Dan thought a moment. That could work. Just as he opened his mouth to speak the doctor walks in. "Dan Howell," he says, "you're free to go whenever." then he leaves as soon as he came.

"Deal." Dan says, turning back to Phil, who grins.
"Great, then let's get you home and get to work on that list."

When Dan and Phil reached the boy's house, the first thing Dan did was collapse onto the couch with a sigh. He just felt so exhausted. Phil smiled at him before moving to Dan's room. He stopped in the doorway, a mental image of Dan swinging from a rope in the middle of his room. God, that was so horrifying. He quickly brushed that image aside and dug around until he found a spiral notebook and a pen. When he returned, he sat down next to his now boyfriend as Dan had sat up to make room. Phil flipped to a clean page and leat back, Dan leaning on his shoulder.
"So what should we do?" Phil asked.
"I dunno, this was your ide." Dan shrugged. Phil put the pen to his lip in thought, he then smiled and wrote on the first line, "-oil painting".

"Oil painting?" Dan asked, obviously confused.
"I took an art class freshman year. It's like these gigantic, really soft crayons, that you have to blend with your finger. It's actually a lot of fun but can get quite messy."