One Way || Phan

Part 12.

[A/N: OMFG This story hit 1K reads! Thank you so much, I had never expected people would actually read this (:

Here's the chapter you've all been waiting for! ^_^]

*Dan's POV*

A week later Phil and I were busy painting for the school project. We were at Phil's after I kind of insisted to work at his house. I liked his place better than mine, and it was a lot quieter there so we could really concentrate on the painting. For some reason there was never anybody home but Phil. 

The painting was making great progress. We had finished the background already, the colours appearing bright and popping. The only thing left to paint was the boy and the world inside the puddle. Phil took some black and white paint and started mixing them together to make different shades of grey. I watched him carefully mixing the paint while I was cleaning the paintbrushes we had been using, appreciating Phil's beauty for a moment. Everything about him caught my attention in just the right way.

He turned his head in my direction and I quickly continued cleaning the paintbrushes, using my fingers to make sure there was no paint left on the brushes.

"Are you done?" Phil asked and I nodded, handing him the paintbrushes. He picked one and dipped it in a dark shade of grey. I watched him as he carefully started painting, sliding the paintbrush over the canvas in upper concentration. 

Suddenly, he stopped his movements and stared at the painting, frowning sadly.

I stared at Phil, confused, but he didn't move a muscle and just stared, completely swallowed by his own thoughts.

"Phil?" I finally said, but Phil still didn't move, so I walked closer to him and tried again.

"Phil, are you okay?" I repeated and tapped him on his shoulder. He slowly moved his head towards but didn't look me in the eyes.

I was a little bit taller than him so I looked down at him, and he looked up. His face was very close to mine now and I felt the intense urge to kiss him, but I repressed it. Phil looked like he was going to break down any moment and I had no idea what to do or what to say. What was happening? Why was he sad all of the sudden and what could I do to help him?

"Yes, I'm fine..." Phil eventually whispered. I knew he was lying, but could I say? So I hugged him. Without even thinking about it, I pulled him in for a tight hug and wrapped my arms around him, holding him. I was shocked when I realized he had started to cry softly. 

I felt so many things at the same time. I was really confused, because the same Phil who had pushed me away earlier and had yelled at me, was now crying in my arms. I was concerned about him as well yet relieved because Phil finally opened up a bit.

I held Phil really close, awkwardly drawing circles on his back to calm him down a bit. The crying faded as the minutes passed and I was still holding Phil, inhaling his scent and just loving the fact Phil was so close, even though it wasn't a situation to be happy about it at all. 

After a while, I let Phil go and he took a step back. He looked down, clearly ashamed of this whole situation.

"What's wrong, Phil?" I asked and hesitated if I was going to reach down and hold his hands. I didn't want to test my luck but decided to do so anyway, so I took his hands in my own and half expected him to pull his hand back, but he actually didn't. 

He turned his head in the direction of his bed and I understood that he wanted to sit down, so we walked over to his bed and sat down. Phil was trembling slightly.

"Do you want to tell me what's wrong?" I asked softly after a few seconds of complete silence.

Phil didn't say anything but angrily wiped his tears away with the back of his hand. He then turned to me and opened his mouth to say something but closed it immediately, as if he forgotten what to say. I smiled encouraging at him and gave him some time to think because I didn't want to rush anything now he was finally opening up a bit.

"I-I'm so sorry Dan, this is so embarrassing..." Phil started, tears forming in his eyes again. His hands were clenched into fists and before I realized I had pulled him into a tight hug again. Seeing Phil sad made me feel sad, too. I just wanted him to be happy.

"Why?" Phil suddenly said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, a bit confused, reluctantly pulling away and immediately missing hugging him.

"I've treated you like shit, Dan. You didn't deserve that. And still, you're here. Why are you here? I don't deserve this. I don't understand..." Phil said his voice breaking. "So why?"

I sighed and re-positioned myself on the bed so I sat a little bit closer next to him.

"Because you're not happy, Phil," I started. "You might think that nobody cares about you, but I do. What you did doesn't stop me from wanting to help you and be there for you. It's okay. I'm not leaving you again."

Emotions were dripping from my voice because I failed to hide the fact that this all touched me so much. I never thought I would ever say something like that to someone because I never cared about people and people never cared about me. But Phil was... different. It felt natural, it felt right. 

Phil then stared me in the eyes, a single tear sliding down from his cheek before it was quickly wiped away.

"Please tell me what's wrong. I won't judge you, I just want to help you." I added softly.

Phil nodded and took a deep breath.

"It's my father." He whispered, his lip trembling. "He... He mistreats me. I don't know why. He doesn't realize he does it though because he is under the influence of alcohol every time it happens. At it's worst, he hits me almost daily. Sometimes he is pretty stable for a while, but then he relapses and gets aggressive again." 

Phil paused, tears now falling freely. "Y-You remember I wasn't at school for quite a while, right? That was when it was very bad. I couldn't move a muscle, let alone come to school." 

I was shocked to hear that it was his father who did this to him. I immediately felt extremely angry, I wanted to make his father feel the pain Phil was feeling right now. I wanted to take Phil away from this place, so his father couldn't hurt him ever again. But I couldn't do that.

"I know," I simply answered. "I have seen you that week."

Phil stopped breathing for a moment and looked at me.

"W-what?" He asked, his voice full of confusion. I looked down and nervously fiddled with the edges of the bed sheets. Should I tell him what I did?

"I... I was worried about you, you know. So I went to your house to check if you were okay. I didn't get an answer so I decided... I would climb on the roof to peek through your window. I know, it's stupid and I'm a stalker, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by that, I just wanted to see if you were home and safe."

Phil looked at me with a completely blank expression, and I was now the one who started crying.

"I-I'm-so-sorry," I managed to choke out. "I-I should have told you. I care about you, Phil. I care a lot, you know. I just want you to trust me, so I can help you. I want to help you, I really do."

I had expected for Phil to get angry with me again, but instead, he did the opposite, something completely unexpected.

He leaned in and pressed his soft lips against mine. 

[A/N: YES THAT DID JUST HAPPEN :D

I'm so sorry it's been a while since I updated this story, I didn't/don't really have the motivation to write. Actually, I don't have the motivation to do anything at all right now, I haven't been feeling very well lately. So if this chapter isn't the best, I'm sorry. Hope you still liked it.]

Edited 24-2-2018