young god • phan

(0.2)

it was around one in the morning when louise finally got back, grumbling about how annoying having to pretend to have a lazy eye was. dan grinned.

"i'm so sorry, angie."

"shut up." came louise's muffled reply as she shrugged off her coat.

"i still don't get why you told me 'angie'. it wouldn't have made a difference anyways." dan commented.

"ah, shush. i can make mistakes once in a while." louise retorted.

"did you find someone new?" dan queried, leaning against a counter and watching louise untie her shoes.

"yeah. male, black hair, blue eyes. said he was 'tired of people treating him like something he wasn't' and immediately sprinted off in the direction i'd told him to go." she paused, using the tip of her shoe to push down the heel of the other and slip her foot out. "i s'pose it'll be about twenty minutes."

"i'll wait for him." dan volunteered and stepped out into the night.

breathing in the fresh air, he sat down on a wicker chair and watched the dark path in front of the mansion.

now that he thought about it, here wasn't much better than where he'd come from. the only difference was that he was with friends, and had a bit more freedom.

looking back down the dirt path, he was reminded of the time he'd arrived at the home.

panting, dan put his hands on his knees, looking down at the ground and taking a deep breath before looking back up again.

a brightly-lit house sat in front of him, huge glass windows and a front porch big enough to fit the entire country of italy in it.

"oh, hell no," dan thought, turning back around to find someplace different.

"dan?" a voice called from the porch. angie was sitting on a chair, waving.

'strange,' dan thought, 'i'd thought she lived elsewhere.'

"hi!" angie called, standing up. she was wearing different clothing now, a simple pair of jeans, a shirt, and a cardigan.

dan cautiously walked closer, taking note of every possible hindrance in case of emergency.

"angie?" dan asked lowly, stepping closer.

she'd laughed, then blushed in embarrassment.

"call me louise. my job is to bring you here. you'll be safe here, and you'll get more freedom than you usually do."

dan realized her lazy eye had suddenly disappeared.

"are you a," dan rolled his eyes, "god?"

louise nodded, and tilted her head to the side.

"you could say so, although i prefer the term 'without sickness'. i'm not a god in any aspect of the word."

dan was on the porch at this point.

"so, you expect me to enter this house because you told me to."

"i have chocolates."

"and?"

"maltesers."

"don't expect me to bow to anything else. where are they?"

dan smiled slightly at the memory, kicking his past self for being bribed with maltesers, but happy he'd made that choice, he barely saw the boy that turned the corner, froze, and promptly turned and ran off.

"oi!" dan yelled, getting up and sprinting after him.

pushing through the thick foliage that the boy had run into, dan muttered some words his grandmother wouldn't have been proud of.

"hey! where are you?" dan called, almost whacking himself in the face with a pine branch.

no response.

dan supposed he should have expected it.

what he didn't expect, however, was the boy to come barreling out of the trees, holding a stick and shrieking.

leaping to the side and just barely escaping death, dan whipped around and stared at the boy with wide eyes.

"are you trying to kill me?"

the boy turned to look at dan.

"um, no. not exactly? more like a-" he paused, "friendly stab?"

dan's look turned incredulous.

"okay, okay, i'll admit it. i didn't really know what i was doing, honestly." the boy said, dropping the stick.

"dude, can you just come back to the house? it's not a death trap, i promise."

"and why should i trust you? look at you and your," he looked dan up and down.

dan looked down at his jeans and t-shirt and rose an eyebrow.

"shady shirt! blue! blue, of all colors!" he finished, gesturing wildly. dan sighed.

"whatever. i'm going back to the house. if you want to come with, fine by me. if you want to stay here and wander the unknown for a good two weeks more, also fine by me."

and with that, dan turned on his heels and started off back to the mansion.

after a good ten feet, he heard leaves crunching behind him and smiled to himself.

"i'm only doing this because i don't have another option." the boy piped up. "it's not willingly."

"sure." dan agreed.

"w-what are you trying to pull, huh? fight me!"

"no thanks."

"i get it, y-you're too scared. fine by me."

"okay."

"my name's phil, by the way!" he suddenly added, as if it was something he'd forgotten.

"that's great, phil."

dan made his way back to the home, phil's half-hearted threats following him there.

spinning around once they'd gotten to the porch, dan stared at him.

"w-what? you wanna fight now? g-get ready!" phil exclaimed, bringing his hands up and curling them into fists. exhaling, dan crossed his arms.

"welcome to this... place." dan stated, for lack of better phrasing. "there's three other people here. pj, chris, and louise. you've already met louise. she's the one that led you in this direction."

phil's eyes widened.

"no. way."

dan chuckled.

"yes way."