colour splash // phan au

eighteen

dan could feel the heat of the sun blistering his cheeks, and the soft morning dew making his back wet while he lay in the grass. the sun shone ghostly across the sky and ground, still cold outside for april, but the sun was rather warm if you laid still and soaked it in. even the sky was a perfect shade of crystal blue, cloudless and smooth. times like this felt altered to dan. no one, no one in the world was bothering him, and the sun didn't care whether dan was a rainbow or not, it hung in the sky with its warm glow no matter who was under it.

he laid there, anxiously waiting for the alarm on his phone to go off, signifying the end of his serenity, and the beginning of the walk to school. he'd been coming to the park in the mornings, instead of laying in bed at home, something about the park soothed him.

beep

beep

beep

he sat up slowly, making sure to not rush himself. then he stood up, and stretched his unused muscles gently. he dreaded this time now, the time he had to tear away from peacefulness, and was forced into stress.

luckily, after phil's gym mishap back in january, things had calmed down significantly. there was the rare instance where someone would come up to daniel, but more often than not, it was only sly snickering from the crowds he passed in the hallway.

the walk to the school from the park wasn't too bad, it was closer than his house was. rather than text phil to get a ride, dan decided he'd just walk for a little more quiet time. a few more minutes of nirvana before he was thrown into the ring for a few rounds of boxing against his own life.

dan's only real problem was phil. he was so terrified to date phil, no matter how badly he wanted to make it work. something about it, unsettled him. it made him feel as though something inside him was being twisted up into knots; to want something so badly, but being afraid to act upon it. even still, he made it work. they may not have been official but they were damn close to it, and maybe that was all they needed, for now.

****

a calm day, to a clear and perfect night. dan dallied around the town for a while, soaking in the relatively decent england weather. he walked at his leisure, and spent the majority of the night on his own roof, star gazing.

much like the daytime, the night sky was cloudless, leaving every star visible to the naked eye. it was a gorgeous night, and as usual, the darkened sky acted as a prominent reminder that someplace, somewhere, someone was looking up too. possibly the person staring up at this wondrous sky above was phil, or maybe ever adrien was peering out of his own window to see the stars. with such a vast and expansive universe it was hard to tell who or what was looking at the same sky as daniel, but it was comforting to know that he wasn't the only one enjoying the spectacular view.

time slowed down, but in a better way, and for the first time in a long time dan thought that maybe things would be better, despite having lost one of the only people who accepted him. dan knew dallas's death took a small toll on he and phil both. he knew that things were no longer perfect for phil, they weren't the way he used to assume they were. dan always thought that phil had his life made. he was movie star gorgeous, a well-respected colour, and he was smart. not to mention popular and nice. dan assumed that everything for phil was easy; as simple as sliced bread. he never would've guessed before he knew phil, that someone as seemingly perfect as he was could be so hurt on the inside. hurt so bad that he broke the law in order to escape the feeling, hurt by his parents' relationship and their current lack thereof. dan sort of felt guilty about it now, looking back and realizing how naive he was to phil's exterior happiness.

just then, dan heard the front door open, and a meek voice from the street below him.

"d-dan?" the voice called. "are you-are you on the roof?"