When Light Met Dark // Phan

Four

The thoughts drifting around Dan's head were fought away by the events on screen almost like they were nothing. He was oddly entranced by this cartoon, having never seen anything like it before in his life, and before he knew it, the episode was over, and Phil was staring at him expectantly, his eyes glinting playfully.

"Well?" It was quite obvious that this was an important part of Phil's life, and it was even more obvious that he wanted Dan to take an interest in it, too.

"It wasn't awful" was the answer Dan settled on, much to Phil's annoyance. Despite this, he was clearly quite pleased with himself for holding Dan's interest with something he enjoyed immensely.

"You won't mind watching another one, then?" And without waiting for a response, he clicked onto the next episode. Dan laughed quietly before settling himself down again.

Dan couldn't help but glance towards the other man, who was grinning goofily at the screen, oblivious to the attention still focussed on him.

*

They ended up spending the majority of the day watching the anime, finally finishing at about four in the afternoon. The two men had stuck to their own sides of the sofa, but Dan found himself looking over to the other man periodically, amused by how engrossed he became by the show. He was admittedly a little disappointed when Phil said that they'd better call it a day, but he didn't dispute, realising he had been unproductive enough as it was.

It was easy to distract himself, but when he no longer had anything to distract himself with, he was in trouble. He was now able to fully appreciate how lazy he had been today. He could've thought about getting a job or something to help him get back on his feet, but no, he wasted his day watching a stupid cartoon. Would he even be able to get a job anyway? If his previous experiences were anything to go by, maybe he just wasn't cut out for the world of work, which was quite unfortunate, as how else was he to get money?

Dan's dad didn't care much for him, but he knew there were people in worse situations, so he couldn't complain. It's not like he was beaten regularly, he was just left to his own devices. Their household had very poor income, even with his dad working, but his dad just told him to use his credit card when they needed things. Dan didn't agree with this system at all, sometimes outright refusing to use it, instead subjecting himself to near starvation just so he wouldn't have to spend the money they didn't have. The only reason he didn't end up starving himself to death was because his dad bought food when he realised his son wasn't doing it himself.

Though his dad rarely laid a finger on him, Dan was terrified that it would happen again, maybe after he'd had quite a few drinks. He worked until late at night, so it wasn't uncommon for him to stop off at the shop to buy alcohol before coming home.

Every night, Dan would lay in bed, straining his ears for movement downstairs. He'd hear the crack of a can being opened, and for the rest of the night, his anxiety would fizz up inside him, just like the beer his dad drunk.

*

"You want to order pizza?" Phil asked suddenly, dragging Dan out of his mind. Dan looked up to see the other man standing over him, his hair falling messily down his face.

"Yeah, sure. I'll pay you back when I can" Dan was one of those people who felt genuinely uncomfortable when someone else paid for him. It just didn't sit right with him. He couldn't let anyone even buy him a bottle of water without trying to pay for it himself first. Sometimes he felt like he didn't deserve it.

"Don't worry about it, you're my guest" he waved his hand dismissively, opening his laptop to order. Dan shifted uncomfortably, trying to think of a way to say thank you to this man. It wasn't just about the pizza, obviously, it was everything Phil had done in the span of just under 24 hours. But instead, he just sat in silence.