Ephemeral

Euphonious

And I am alone, so I don't speak,
I find war, and I find peace,
I find no heat, no love in me.
And I am low, and unwell,
This is love, this is hell,
This sweet plague that follows me.
- Flesh and Bone // Keaton Henson

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Once again, Phil Lester didn't sit with Dan at lunch, but Dan wasn't to be swayed.

"Can we go to the cafeteria?" Dan asked, cutting through Chris and Pj's conversation about which Zelda game is best.

Pj paused, a spoon hanging from his mouth and a half opened yogurt in his hands, Chris dropped his hands from where they were wildly gesticulating and stared at Dan, his mouth hung open from where Dan had cut him off mid-word.

"Y-" the spoon fell from Pj's mouth, echoing on the stage, and causing all three of them to jump, and as Pj scrambled for his fallen spoon, Dan wondered what the hell he'd expected to happen, talking with a spoon in his mouth. "You want to go to the cafeteria?" He asked, as if it was the most unbelievable thing in the world.

Dan stole his spoon and hit him over the head with it. "You're an idiot, and yes!"

"Ow." Pj whined, rubbing his head.

"Oh hush your hair probably cushioned the hit." Dan said, dropping the spoon into Pj's open bag.

"But it didn't cushion the hit to my heart." He pouted, moving his hand to cover his heart dramatically.

Chris snorted, Dan sighed.

"Pj! I'll fix your heart!" Chris swooned, lying across Pj's lap and throwing his hand over his eyes.

Pj laughed, and patted Chris' head.

"So... How about that cafeteria?" Dan offered, beginning to stand up.

"If you're sure..." Pj said, patting Chris on the forehead as a sign to 'get the fuck off me'. Chris sat up, groaning as he did so.

"Pj you're so comfy!"

Pj stood up, stretching. "Yeah well, tough. C'mon get up."

Chris held out his hands towards Pj, who crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. Chris, to prove a point, groaned again and shook his hands. Pj sighed, grabbed Chris' hands and hauled him up.

"You two are ridiculous." Dan commented, already hopping off the stage and making his way to the double doors at the opposite end of the hall.

There was nobody in the corridor to the main hall, and Dan barely waited for his bickering friends before he marched down the corridor to the lunch hall, nobody noticed him as he entered, and for once he was glad he was pretty much invisible among the masses of noisy, hungry students.

And despite the masses of noisy, hungry students, Dan was easily able to spot Phil, sitting at a four person bench in the very middle of the hall. The boy wasn't eating, but Dan could see him doodling in the book from maths class. Dan began making his way towards him, pausing momentarily to make sure Chris and Pj were still following - they were, miraculously.

As Dan weaved through the crowds, ignoring as the people who recognised him fell silent. He barely noticed the silence anymore. The cafeteria was loud, the noise buzzing in the back of Dan's eyes and shocking through his head, but it was the same wherever be went. Phil's head disappeared momentarily as he leant further over his page, pressing his face close to the paper, but Dan knew where he was, and by the time Dan was halfway there, the hall had fallen silent, and Phil was staring at him, blue eyes wide and tongue still poking between his teeth in forgotten concentration.