When Light Met Dark // Phan

Five

Phil breathed in the cool Autumn air as he treaded along the gravel path, finally able to clear his head after months spent in the hectic, mildly polluted city. Don't get him wrong, he loved it there, in fact he'd wanted to live there ever since he was a child, but there was something about this fast paced life that tired him out, draining him of the little energy he had already. 

He had a car, but he rarely used it, instead opting to use public transport due to its convenience. In fact, that evening was the first time in a while he had actually driven his car, and he was honestly a bit apprehensive about the whole ordeal, scared that he'd somehow forgotten how to drive the thing.

He was just about ready to head back the way he came, back towards his empty apartment, where he had no friends or family to keep him from going insane, when he squinted his eyes to see a figure sitting dangerously close to the edge of the nearby bridge. Phil stopped what he was doing to look over, the stranger just watching the body of water in front of him, occasional checking his watch. At first, Phil thought nothing of it. He seemed to be a young man, maybe waiting for a friend, but when he started to shift closer to the edge, that's when alarm bells started ringing in Phil's head. It had now become clear to him as to why this man was here; Phil almost hit himself for not seeing the signs sooner, but there wasn't time for that.  Without as much as a second thought, he ran towards the man, shouting out at him as he tripped over his own feet in his haste.

"Wait!"

*

The unnamed man was now sitting in his car, clearly shaken by the night's events, though he was tensed up, like he was trying to stop himself from completely breaking down, or maybe he was just uncomfortable in Phil's presence? Phil tried to focus entirely on the road, but he couldn't help but let his eyes drift over to him.

The man didn't look back. Instead, he stared straight ahead, almost emotionless if it weren't for the tears in his eyes threatening to break his facade. Phil sympathised with the man, but decided not to bring it up; Phil didn't want to scare the man away with his own problems this early on. 

His heart broke for the man; though he didn't want to seem like he was taking pity, he felt like it was the least he could do to help him. How much the man would accept from him, he didn't know, but he hoped with every hope that he could make a difference.

*

Phil looked over to the brunette typing away at the laptop, his eyebrows scrunched up in concentration. He'd made his opinions on Dan working pretty clear, but he wasn't about to push the matter. Instead, he simply watched him get progressively more frustrated at the screen in front of him until he eventually decided to push the laptop away from him in disgust.

"Finished already?" Phil teased, failing horribly at making it look like he hadn't been staring at Dan the whole time. Dan gazed up at him with his deep brown eyes, before rolling them playfully and kicking him with his left leg, which had been stretched out lazily on the sofa. Phil smiled at how quickly the younger man had seemed to warm up to him. Only the previous morning had he opened up about his circumstances, and Phil was admittedly quite pleased with himself. To be fair, he understood how to approach someone like Dan; he saw pieces of himself in him.

"It's just so...," Dan said, trying desperately to find the right words, "mentally draining." He sighed dramatically before letting his head fall against the back of the sofa.

"Can I have a look at what you've done so far?" Phil asked, but the other man just chuckled, though Phil didn't quite know why.

"Sofa" he giggled childishly, his head still in a lifeless state.

"What?"

"Do you want to see what I've done sofa? Get it?" He emphasized his point by tapping the cushions under him with great vigour. Anyone would think he was drunk; from alcohol or fatigue, Phil didn't quite know.