Phan One Shots - jilliancares

A Game for Those Who Seek to Find a Way to Leave Their World Behind

Summary: In which Dan finds a strange board game and ends up playing it (and releasing its horrors) with his best friend Carrie and arch enemy, Phil.

Word Count: 6.9k

TW: uhh there's just some kind of horrifying things in there so idk good luck

Genre: angst? i guess? but it's a happy end it's like good angst

this is a thing now because i rewatched jumanji today and felt inspired (if you haven't watched the movie it's literally amazing you can find it online..... completely..... not illegal... ahem)(you can still read this even if you haven't watched the movie but it'll be better if you have probably)

p.s. thanks to MelancholyMango for helping me come up with some of the riddles <3

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Dan huffed angrily and slammed the door behind him, sadistically entertained when it resounded with a thud and his father's angry voice followed behind him: "And don't slam the doors!" He was glad to be out of his house, which felt stuffy and overcrowded despite the fact that it was only him and his parents living in it. He was convinced that they were taking up too much room, what with their egos so inflated.

Heart pounding with anger, Dan stomped into the woods to sulk, kicking stray branches and rocks as if they were the ones that'd offended him. He was getting into fights with his parents all the time, though he was sure that it was their fault rather than his. They didn't understand him and didn't bother to try to either, instead writing all his problems off as him being a dumb teenager whose problems weren't serious enough to actually consider. It was because of this that he didn't ever plan on telling them he was gay—he could imagine it now, how they would tell him it was just a phase or some bullshit like that. He was sixteen and hadn't had a speck of interest in girls in his entire life, he was pretty sure he could tell his sexuality for himself, thanks.

Seated on a rock, Dan threw pebbles into the creek before him. It didn't do much to alleviate his anger—he'd much rather chop down a tree or something drastic like that—but it was good enough to pass the time. He didn't want to have to go back into his house any time soon.

It was just as he'd scooped up a fresh pile of pebbles that he heard it and paused in confusion. Straining his ears, Dan sat quite still and listened.

It was quiet, and kind of far off but... it was unmistakable. He was hearing drums.

Dan's curiosity got the best of him and, without anything better to do, he climbed to his feet and set off down the river, looking around curiously as the drums grew louder the further he walked. They got louder and louder, so loud they were almost deafening, and still Dan didn't see the source of the noise. Unease gripped him, so strong that he almost wondered if leaving his backyard had been a mistake, when he suddenly tripped on a rock and went flying forward, only to land roughly on the ground.

Groaning, Dan began to sit up, before realizing that he was face to face with a strange box, hidden half in the water and overlapped by rocks. The second he laid eyes on it, the drumming stopped.

Filled with apprehension, though curiosity as well, he reached out and grabbed the box, pulling it free of the surrounding rocks. It was worn and brown, and when he turned it over he saw a title written across the front: Jumanji.

Dan flipped open the sides of the lid, realizing at once that the thing he was looking at was a board game. And written on the side: Jumanji: A game for those who seek to find a way to leave their world behind. You roll the dice to move your token—doubles gets another turn; the first player to reach the end wins.