the air smells like the promise of tomorrow and nothing has ever smelled more terrifying

Dan is different. He's learned to accept that. Well, as best he can anyway, considering he's never really had much of a choice. It's been this way for as long as he can remember, the constant runaround process of trying to feel normal. His life is built around it, trying to trick both himself and everyone he interacts with into seeing him as your average person. The isolation as he desperately tries to keep others from finding out, the bitterness that wells up inside of him each and every time he's reminded that he'll never be like everyone else, the fear that nothing will ever change. He's fated to be this way forever; a misfit from society. Isolation can only go so far though, so when he's struggling to make ends meet and he's faced with the option of looking into a serious job or taking on a roommate, he opts for what seems like the easier option at the time. It doesn't seem so easy ten failed roommates into the process, or when he sits down at a table to meet with prospect number eleven and ends up with a coffee spilled all over his lap. Potential roommate number eleven, Phil, turns out to be an insufferable optimistic ball of sunshine that Dan wants nothing to do with. His options are running out though, as are the savings he's been using to pay his rent, so he finds himself begrudgingly agreeing to let the other man move in. Neither of them have any way of knowing just what they've gotten themselves into as they shake on the matter, but time will tell.

Kai is a broken soul. No one cares about him; he can't even find it in him to care about himself. As Kai begins his ultimate downwards spiral, ready to end it all, a man by the name of Jace comes into his life and slowly but surely, restores his faith in love and in himself. *Trigger Warning* -Mentions: Depression, Eating disorders, suicide, child abuse, bullying, drugs and alcohol abuse © Copyright 2014 All work is property of Llamas-and-whiskers, any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal.

TRIGGER WARNING. THIS STORY CONTAINS MENTIONS OF RAPE, SELF INJURY, DEATH AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE. Can Dan save Phil? Phil is suicidal and Dan is the only one who's there for him. Can he alone save Phil?