Opposite Omens | Phan

Chapter 7 - Vent

After laying dormant in his assigned room for a couple hours the following morning, it was finally time. Time for him to go back home. Leave behind the boring, bland walls and replace them with the vibrant and cozy furniture of their apartment. Sure the place wasn't perfect, but it was where Phil was. Where he belonged. And that's all that mattered.

He didn't really know how the the whole procedure was to work, after all, it had been quite a while since he had had to visit the hospital. He would have liked to keep it that way, but he supposed fate had other plans. Not really knowing exactly what to do, Dan just waited in his bed, sitting upright, watching the clock tick on by. The man wasn't really sure what he was waiting for, but he just hoped that whatever it was, it would come soon.

Knock knock.

He leapt up in surprise and glee, the numbness of his broken limbs feeling awkward alongside the others. Dan checked the time on his phone next to him: 12:55 pm. While he didn't really know for sure who was at the door, he was nearly certain it was someone that could take him back to his lovely apartment. So, with nothing but excitement littering his tone, he yelled fondly at the door, "Come in!"

Just as he had expected, Phil stood in the doorway, a handful of pink roses in his left hand. His other hand had a small balloon reading "ready to come home, dan?" in stick on letters. Dan wondered how long it took him to make the message look just right.

"Early afternoon Danny! How are you feeling?" Phil asked as he slid to his friend's bedside, putting the roses in a vase on the table next to the bed.

"I'm feeling great actually! My limbs are too numb to feel anything anyway, so I guess that's the biggest plus I'm gonna get on that end of things. How about you?"

Dan wasn't at all lying about how he felt, for the first time in a long time. The simple presence of his friend made even a place this gloomy feel cozy, and that was the greatest gift he could ever ask for.

Phil almost looked nervous, the slightest tint of rose tinting his pale white cheeks as he rubbed the side of his arm. But Dan shook off the thought and gave him a big grin, tinting his head off to the side in curiosity, begging him silently to answer.

"Well I've been trying real hard lately to get everything ready for when you finally came back! You could ask any of my houseplants and they'll tell you the same thing! The place looks even nicer than when we first got it! I can't wait for you to see it."

"How can I ask them if they're dead?" Dan asked with a sort of fake innocence, his voice laced with mischief.

Phil simply snorted in response. "Well, that's another thing actually. My plants are doing fine ever since you left. Maybe you were infecting them with your negative energy."

The two glared at each other angrily for a second before bursting out into laughter, Phil doubling over onto the floor. Dan collapsed back into the sheets of the bed, his cackles bouncing off the walls and down the halls. The nurse just outside his door, about to walk in, just smiled and let out a small giggle, walking away. Maybe it was best to let the two have a moment on their own.

After a solid minute of laughter, Phil still laid flat on the floor like a starfish, dirt now covering the backs of his black skinny jeans. The two fell into a comfortable silence, wide smiles across both of their faces. It had been a while since they had shared a moment like that together. With everything going on recently, it was nearly impossible to find time for the banter they were used to. The sheer thought of feeling like this everyday all over again only made the happiness shine brighter inside the brunette's mind, the sun giving life to a new era.

Phil stood up again and stretched, brushing his hair back into the usual quiff. After fiddling with it for a few seconds, he made his way over to the bed, plopping down next to his friend. Dan moved over a bit to make room for him to sit semi-comfortably, contently snuggling into the warmth of his hoodie. In his tiredness, the younger man weakly wrapped his arms around his friend's and moved slightly closer, resting his head on his shoulder. Mere moments afterward, he fell asleep.