Powder [phan]

XXVIII

Phil's POV

A few days later I was sitting in my apartment staring at the ceiling.

I had been sitting there for twenty minutes, wondering whether I should take the opportunity to say goodbye to Dan again. Oliver had told me that Dan would soon leave and then be in the rehab clinic for an uncertain amount of time, and actually we hadn't talked about it at all. The last conversation we had, was when Oliver picked him up the day Tyler had died. Then we went our separate ways and I left Dan to Oliver who still had hope that Dan could change.

More minutes passed before I could finally overcome myself and rose from the couch, suddenly motivated to go to him. After all the time we spent together, it just wouldn't have been fair to let him go and maybe he needed that last push and the strength I wanted to give him anyway to get through the next few weeks and months .

It was a warm summer day and I felt like I was melting under the sun when I was on my way to Dan's apartment. I was happy when I got to the building where he lived. When I got to the right floor, I saw that the apartment door was ajar, but he wasn't visible, so I opened it carefully and was almost run over by an extremely hectic Dan who was just now packing his things.

Typical. America came to my mind, where he wouldn't have had his suitcase ready in time without me, too.

He routinely apologized for running more or less against me and only then really looked at me, only to be so startled that he almost stumbled backwards.

"Phil?" He gasped in surprise.

"Yeah." I replied shortly, pushing past him.

"I wasn't really expecting you." Dan murmured behind my back as I looked around and saw in horror that the entire apartment looked completely messy. If I hadn't known better, I would have said that they weren't even the same rooms anymore. Garbage was everywhere and his clothes, which he should have packed long ago, flew around the area.

"What the hell did you do here?" I wondered.

"You know how I am." he defended himself and I nodded in understanding.

I sighed and started picking up the empty packaging from all kinds of storage space and the floor to put in a garbage bag. Then I brought the dirty dishes into the kitchen, put them in the dishwasher and grabbed a rag that I used to start wiping over anything that got in my way.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Dan asked me in surprise, probably not realizing quickly what was going on here.

"Cleaning. I know this is new to you, but it has somehow really prevailed in human history." I replied sarcastically, whereupon he snorted and held my arm so that I couldn't continue.

"I see that, but you don't have to. It isn't your job."

"You can't leave the apartment like that, Dan." I stated seriously. "You are right, that isn't my job, but I will do it one last time for you now and I just hope that you can do it yourself after your therapy."

Dan was silent for a moment before he suddenly let go of me and disappeared from my field of view, only to come back with a rag in his hand a few seconds later.

"Then at least I'll help you." he announced, and in fact we went to work together until the apartment was nice again.

"Do you even know how to use it?" I teased and pointed to the rag.

"Shut up." He rolled his eyes, but then laughed, which I also did.

After that Dan had settled on the couch while I sat on the floor with his travel bag and a pile of clothes and folded them.