Midnight Eyes ✵ Phan

*19*

A/N Wow, I discontinued this only to come back way before expected and with a nearly 2000 word chapter! Hope you guys enjoy! And a warning in advance, some of this was written in the late hours of the night and my tired mind ended up going a bit too deep into society's morals...so, yeah.

Phil woke up with a start. The lights had been switched on in whatever room he was in and the second he was about to groan out what he thought was going to be a 'Dan, please, it's too early' was silenced by the sound of heavy footsteps, multiple of them. Phil's eyes finally focused, the light still painful on his eyes, and he found himself not staring at any familiar room was a hospital room.

Phil looked down at himself to see a bandage around his waist. The pain returned. The knife wound. The knife. The pain. Dan. Where was Dan?

'How are you feeling today, Mr Lester?' A nurse asked, male with a simple brown hair cut and dull brown eyes. Phil didn't answer, his thoughts cut off but his mind still spinning. He glanced around the room, no sign of his short friend. Panic encapsulated him, his breathing picked up a notch but a firm hand on his shoulder cut him out of it.

'Mr Lester, please calm down, what's wrong?' The man asked, his eyebrows furrowed, his eyes flashing with a twinge of annoyance- clearly too tired to check up on his patients- it was the morning, after all, Phil thought as he looked out of the window.

'N. Nothing.' Phil shook his head, trying to clear his mind and steady his breathing. With mild success, he was as much back to his usual self as he could be. He looked at the nurse, about to ask where his friend was when he paused. Dan. A Neko. He wouldn't be here. Or would he?

The nurse, still scowling, went to leave the room, with the statement that he would return with a bottle of water. 'Wait!' Phil called out just as the nurse was about to pull the curtain behind him.

'Yes?' The man sighed, their exhaustion more visible than ever.

'I was wondering? Is there anyone waiting out there for me? Is there a way you could find out?' Phil asked, adrenaline pumping through his veins as the fear set in and the realisation that Dan may have been out there. And, if he was, what did that mean?

Phil remembered very little but yes, he remembered Dan. Dan was the one who had called the ambulance. Phil remembered trying to protest, his leaps sealed together by the sluggishness caused by his blood loss. A sluggishness that was still trying to grapple on to him.

'I'm sorry, your friend had to leave.' The nurse replied, throwing the curtain behind them before running off quickly. Phil's eyes widened, not quite understanding what he had heard.

Dan had left.

No, that wasn't what was important. Dan leaving could mean so many things, could have so many outcomes. Phil didn't want to hear the worst. He didn't want to hear his thoughts aloud.

Dan had not left, had he? He had been taken away. Phil knew by now what Dan was like. He was stubborn and would do anything for Phil because he felt he had to repay him for what he had done. Phil didn't quite understand that dedication.

He also knew that Dan could not retract his ears for long. The final fact, that Dan was definitely not covering his ears- at least, not when he had called for the ambulance.

Phil was now more worried than before. The nurse, who had just returned with a crinkling, plastic bottle in hand, looked stern but seemed to sense that Phil was in no right state of mind.

'Your friend,' he began, placing the water by the side of his bed, 'was taken away. He was Neko. I'm sorry.' Phil's eyes widened with shock, probably the reaction they were expecting. Or maybe they expected disgust? Fear? Who knew, Phil wasn't experienced with the Nekophobia that had spread across the US like wild fire.