phan one shots

depressing

Summary: Dan is a teenager who loves to write depressing gay fanfiction, but when he shows his mother, who is a therapist, his writing, hoping to get it published, she replies saying she doesn't want to read depressing stuff right now because she deals with enough of it in real life. He hates himself for being so depressing and doesn't know what to do, so his best friend Phil tries to help

TRIGGER WARNINGS: mentions of self harm, depression, anxiety

"Hey, mom?" Dan asked quietly, his curly head peeking through the doorway of his mother's bedroom, chocolate colored eyes brimming with anxiety.

His mother looked up from the show on the tv, the lights from the screen still casting bright flickering shadows across her sharp cheekbones.

A reassuring smile stretched across her dark pink lips, her dimple, identical to Dan's, denting the side of her sun kissed cheek.

"Come on in, Dan." She said softly, pausing her movie and patting the empty space beside her on the bed.

The tall fifteen year old boy walked hesitantly into the room, his phone in hand, twisting his bottom lip worriedly between his teeth and leaving marks on the smooth skin.

He sat down softly on top of the covers, gripping the fabric between his fingers as he ducked his head slightly, light brown curls falling into his face.

"I-I was wondering if you could read something...something I wrote. I want to publish it, and I could if I just changed the names...cause...cause it's fanfiction...but I'm proud of it...and people on Wattpad commented saying it's good so...so I wanted to know if I could...if you could read it."

He spoke timidly, pausing and stuttering between his words, but his mom smiled fondly at him, ruffling his curls a bit with a slight chuckle.

"I'd love to read it Dan. Maybe we talk about it over the break. Let me see."

Dan's eyes lit up, his dark lashes fluttering over his honey cheeks as a small smile spread across his cherry blossom stained lips.

"Oh...okay!" He exclaimed, quickly scrolling through his phone and looking through his one shots. He paused on Blood Red Roses and Purple Flowers, and hummed thoughtfully under his breath before nodding in satisfaction and handing it to her.

She took it from him carefully, eyebrows furrowing as she read over it.

"Are you writing about self harm again?" She asked, disapproval in her tone, and Dan paused, slight panic blossoming in his chest.

"I...the blood red roses stand for self harm...and the purple flowers...they stand for healing...healing from the self harm...stopping the self harm."

His mom nodded, long brown hair falling over her shoulders.

"Yes, sorry." She apologized, going back to the story, and Dan held his breath as she read, feeling considerably less confident.

She looked up at him after a while with a raised eyebrow.

"This is really homoerotic stuff you're writing Dan."

Dan blushed darkly, thinking back to what he'd written and wondering if there was anything inappropriate.

Yeah he wrote gay fanfiction, and he was afraid his straight mother would find it a bit weird. She supported the LGBTQ+ community and even took him to a Pride Parade once, but she probably wasn't super interested in reading all about gay couples. Being straight and from an earlier generation, before teens were obsessed with shipping.

But he didn't write about sex or anything.

Unless...

"Soft lips falling onto red ones, healing teeth marks and punctured bleeding wounds, sewing up loose thread where the stuffing was all coming out.