Two Halves of One Soul (Phan AU)

Chapter 2

Phil went to grab Dan's arm to walk with him to English, but the boy flinched as he reached over.  Phil quickly retracted his arm and stuttered out, "Sorry, follow me to English?"
Dan seemed to relax with Phil's apology and the disappearance of the offending hand, and stood, ready to go.

They walked out of the class and started moving through the crowded hall. Phil noticed how Dan tried his best to prevent touching anyone, contrasting with himself who just let people bump him without really caring.

"So, uhmm, what music are you in to?"  Phil asked hesitantly, searching for something to end Dan's silence. "I really like Muse," he said after thinking for a moment, "MCR, P!ATD, and FOB are pretty good too."

"No kidding! I love all those bands! Muse is my favorite too!" Phil exclaimed. Dan smirked slightly at his enthusiasm and chuckled a little.

Phil abruptly stated, "This is our English room. We'll have to talk more about this though!" They entered the classroom and Phil immediately spotted Peej and Chris. They had saved two spots behind themselves for Dan and Phil, as they hoped the mysterious new kid would still be with him.

They were right. Dan thought, I might not be interested in finding my soulmate, but that doesn't mean I'm against having friends, in response to the quizzical looks he was receiving for walking with Phil. He just kept his head down and sat in the seat behind PJ.

"Dan," Chris began, "Would you like to sit with us at lunch?" The three friends waited patiently for him to respond, Phil silently hoping he would say yes. "Yeah, ok" Dan responded. "Great! Meet us by the doors to the cafeteria then, since we don't have next period together." Chris said.

They chatted together, Dan mostly watching the interaction, and waited for the teacher to arrive. When she finally came in (very late), she started the same spiel they'd been through first period...

-

The bell rang ending third period and signaling the start of lunch. Phil rushed out of the class, excited to meet up with his friends... And eat food. He waited by the doors and was first spotted by Dan who rushed over to him. "Hey Dan!" Phil said, "Chris and Peej should be here soon."

"They're soulmates, aren't they?" Dan questioned. "Yeah," Phil replied, "They have been since they met, four years ago." Dan nodded his head and looked down at his feet, not noticing the surprised look Phil gave him for initiating the question.

After Chris and PJ arrived, the group all walked together into the cafeteria, bought their food, and sat down. PJ turned to Chris and whispered something to him, to which Chris professed his agreement and turned to Dan and Phil. "Do you guys all want to come by my place after school? We can hang out and play video games," Chris said. "Sure," Dan replied, surprising Phil once again when he dropped the shy façade. Phil also voiced his assent and the boys began to chat animatedly while they ate, Dan laughing and adding as if they'd been friends for years.

Phil couldn't help but feel warm at the boy's sudden openness, wondering if it was a sign that he would want to remain friends.

Suddenly, an excited yelp was heard across the lunch room. Everyone looked up to see a boy and a girl, hands barely brushing each other, with sparks surrounding the pair. Dan quickly averted his eyes, looking down at the table, as the other three looked on with warmth (and maybe a little jealousy) in their expressions.

"Wow... Already on the first day of school!" Chris whispered as the chaos of the lunch room began to reform.
"I know," PJ mumbled back, "I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner if we're being honest."  Dan and Phil remained silent.

-

The rest of the day went rather uneventfully, besides the fact that Dan continued to break out of his shell around Phil.  He had seemed so shy, but then again Phil remembered when PJ had seemed that way.  Peej had been extremely comfortable around Phil after only a short while, and Chris's arrival had only made him more outgoing.  It's hard to be shy around the energetic fun that is Chris.  Well, that and the fact that they were soulmates.

The four boys met up after school and started the walk to Chris's house.   They fell into comfortable conversation as they walked, already accepting Dan into their group as if he'd been with them since the beginning.  Dan couldn't hold back the small smile on his face while surrounded by his new friends; Phil discreetly glanced over and couldn't help but notice his smirk.
They got to Chris's house and played Mario Kart for a while until Chris suggested they play truth or dare.

"Ooooh ok" said PJ, setting down his controller.  Dan hesitantly agreed and Phil decided it would be ok if Dan was comfortable.

"I'll go first," Chris chuckled, "PJ, truth or dare?" PJ pretended to think for a minute, his smirk a dead giveaway. "I'm gonna go with dare." Chris laughed, "Alright. I dare you to... Lick my foot." "EWW!" Phil shouted at the same time Dan burst out laughing. PJ just shrugged, looked seductively into Chris's eyes, and licked up the bottom of Chris's foot. With a grimace, he turned to Phil, ignoring Dan's and Chris's bubbling laughter. "Phil, truth or dare." "Definitely dare." PJ flashed a devilish smile, "I dare you to eat a mouthful of ketchup." Phil shook his head, but didn't back down, completing his task with an outcome similar to PJ's.

Their game went like this for a while, weird dares with hilarious outcomes, until they started getting into the seriousness brought about by the late hours of the night.

Phil looked to Dan and asked, "Truth or dare, Dan." "Truth," Dan said. "Ok, I don't want you to answer if you feel uncomfortable, but I hate the rumors. What's your true opinion on soulmates?"

"Already getting deep, are we?" Dan chuckled lowly. "I had a feeling this would come up eventually. The truth is I'm not really interested in finding my soulmate. When I was little, my parents told me that you didn't need your soulmate to be happy. They weren't soulmates, but they were so happy together, that is until one day my dad was hosting a work party. A woman there accidentally brushed his arm and... There were sparks. He was completely entranced. My mom knew he would leave and told him it was fine, but she was heartbroken. That's why we moved here, to get away from the sadness. That's why I'm so timid about the whole soulmates thing; I don't know what I could be tearing apart, and I don't want to hurt anyone the way my mom was hurt."

Dan was shuddering slightly by the end and tears were slipping down Phil's cheeks. Chris and PJ glanced at each other with matching frowns. "I'm so sorry, Dan. I'm so sorry you had to experience that." Phil choked out. "It's alright, honest," Dan replied, "it actually feels really good to tell someone, get it off my chest, you know?" The boys nodded, PJ awkwardly saying, "So... Continue the game or...? We could play Mario Kart some more?" "Let's do Mario Kart" Dan said, and the boys quickly agreed.

Phil felt overly proud of Dan for sharing his story and looked at the boy with renewed respect.

-

The boys played Mario Kart for a few more hours before going there separate ways and heading home. It was a school night after all. Phil went to bed with a pair of gorgeous chocolate brown eyes on his mind.