a messy canvas

It's Like Art [Phan]

Emotions were flurries crawling against his ribcage, itching to be released before they became full on blizzards. The only trouble for Dan was that he couldn't afford such a luxury.

Letting his feelings free only caused turmoil for himself and everyone within his path. The only solution he could manage was to bottle them up like fine wine, when he had only himself to call company was the time when the cork could be popped off.

This system has done him well for the past six years, for his parents were never around (the two being too consumed with business matters to do so much as acknowledge them) to deflate his actions.

Then Phil came along, causing his second nature ways to come crashing down.

They met behind the high school's bleachers of all places. Dan just couldn't bring it in him to attend the class where he did the absolute worst and the teacher secretly had a deep down hatred for him, regardless of how much of an effort Dan gave. He couldn't handle the agonizing pit that formed in his stomach the second he entered that classroom, not today.

He used this place every once in a while to hide from the average eye, taking advantage of the shady area amongst the rather warm Wednesday afternoon. Dan was the type of student that hid in the shadows of all his peers, so skipping classes on occasion wasn't going to bite him in the ass anyways.

Just as he was becoming absorbed in the mindless doodling across his skin with a fine tip sharpie he miraculously stumbled across in his navy blue backpack, Phil's voice broke the trance he fell under.

"H-Hi." he greeted as he took a seat beside Dan, struggling to catch his breath.

"Hi, what are you doing here?" Dan replied bluntly, not sure why someone would want to speak to him of all people.

"J-Just wanted to get a breather for a class period, is that alright with you?"

"I suppose."

"Why are you playing hooky?"

"My teacher is secretly out to get me, I didn't want to deal with his antics today." Dan answered. "I'm Dan by the way."

"Phil." he offered in return. "Why snowflakes?"

"I'm sorry?"

"On your arm, you drew snowflakes." Phil responded, now pointing to Dan's right arm.

"Oh, no real reason just finding a way to pass time." Dan managed nervously, cursing inside for openly exposing a connection towards what brought about much of his hardships.

"They're really nice." Phil spoke softly, looking over the drawings with a smile.

"Thank you, is there a particular reason why you're so out of breath when you came over here?"

The words seemed to hit Phil in a way Dan never intended them to, for in his eyes it was an innocent enough question. The boy's response caught him off guard to say the least.

"Well, running away from your problems isn't easy."

"What is it you're running from?" Dan said, the curiosity bubbling too tall to try and seal away.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Phil remarked, the sadness in his voice so obvious Dan's heart nearly tore on the first note.