MILLIONAIRE'S CLUB ; Phan

💎Roommate💎

PJ had texted right after Dan sat up from the pool table, back sore but he didn't really care. Phil tucked him in and zipped up his jeans, the younger lifting his hips up to help. He stared at his phone, brows tucked into confusion as he stared at the message he had just received. The older man wedged his body between Daniel's legs, laying his head on the boy's shoulder and kissed his neck softly.  

"Who is it?"

"PJ. My roommate," Dan responded quickly, his fingers darting over the keypad to type back a response. "I have to go." Phil backed up, giving the brunet room to slid off the table and fix himself.

"Wait, let me drive you." Phil quickly followed behind him as he headed up the stairs.

"No, I can take a cab. I will text you as soon as I know what's going on." Daniel spun around on the steps, he was one above the older man and from here he was taller than him. He grabbed Phil's face and kissed him on the lips, a sweet moment he wanted to hold dear because something told him more sweet moments wouldn't be coming for a while.

Mr. Lester nodded and dug some money out of his pocket, placing in the palm of Daniel's hand, his shaggy hair fawning over his porcelain forehead. Dan scurried from the house and nearly dove into the road to catch a cab. He rattled off the address to the hospital and checked his phone again, still no text from PJ-  Claire for that matter.

Claire was PJ's best friend. They had met in third grade and instantly bonded over Pokemon and DS games. Daniel had laughed and pushed PJ away lightly when he told him that, they were cuddled on his bed, Daniel's laptop playing a movie. He wanted that memory back badly, he would give anything to have PJ by his side right now. He just prayed he would be on time.

PJ hadn't texted Daniel, Claire had. She must have picked up PJ from the party last night, that explains where PJ ditched Dan to go off to. She texted Daniel in a hurry, nothing more than the address for the hospital followed by a "get here asap". 

The boy was snapped out of his thoughts when the cab driver turned around and announced where they were and how much Daniel owed him. He threw the money that Phil gave him at the man before running out of the car and into the hospital, slamming his hands down on the desk of the receptionist. "PJ Liguori, what room is he in?"

She looked down with wide eyes, typing something in the computer before looking up and saying, "He's in critical care, only family can enter."

"I'm the only family he has left, I'm his roommate. Please."

"I'm sorry, sir, you can't-"

"Dan!" The brunet shot his head to the side at the call of his name, running over to the familiar redhead and throwing his arms over her shoulders. "Thank God you're here." She mumbled into his shoulder, releasing him before forcing him down the hallway and into an elevator.

"What happened? Please tell me he didn't OD or anything."

"Oh no! Gosh I'm so sorry I forgot about that. I should have told you it wasn't like that again. I picked him up from the party last night, he was shitfaced. I mean blackout, Dan, I hadn't seen him that gone in such a long time... Not since... You know."

"Yeah," He shivered, remembering those days. The metal death trap beeped, the doors sliding open and welcomed them to the white hallway with a big white sign that said Critical Care. Claire led him around a corner and down a hall before they reached door 15. The short girl opened the door and Dan's knees nearly buckled when he saw all of the tubes and wires hanging out of his friend's body. His eyes were stilled shut, mouth pressed open by a ventilator. A small cry escaped Daniel's mouth, Claire taking his hand in hers and giving it a small squeeze before letting it drop back to his side.

She moved over to the empty seat by PJ's bed, placing her hands in her lap and looking down at them, fighting back tears. "After I picked him up, he said he wanted to go for a walk, so I said 'Okay, Peej, we can go for a walk'. I took him up to that bridge we used to go to as kids and I let him walk on the line like he was a child again. He turned to the edge of the bridge and put his hands down on the railing and I remembered thinking how much he looked just like his sister."

Alison.

"I stood next to him and asked him what he was thinking about." Claire looked over at her friend and placed her hand over his. "Can you sit down for me, please?"

Daniel's heart dropped to his stomach, why did he need to sit? He obeyed her anyways, pulling up another chair from across the room and sitting down next to the redhead. "Go on," his voice was hoarse already, throat tight.

"He told me that he was in love with you, that he had been for the year that he's known you. He said he thought you were beautiful and smart and oh-so-talented." She dodged her eyes back down to her hands. "You should have heard the way he spoke about your drawings, just like the way he spoke about Alison. His eyes were full of nothing but stars and galaxies, he was miles away from our atmosphere. He had gotten up and sat down at the edge of the railing, I told him to get down and he said he wasn't going to do anything stupid, he just wanted to sit down. I don't know exactly what happened next, he just fell. He didn't jump and he didn't lean over, he just fell." Her voice broke and she leaned down into her hands, tears overflowing. Daniel was sure that she would flood the room like Alice tear's that flooded Wonderland.

Daniel sat awestricken. PJ was in love with him? That's why he had gotten on Daniel's case about sleeping with Phil. Why hadn't he said anything to Daniel about it? Dan wouldn't have cared, hell he probably would have felt the same way. Dan never really had a best friend, only a couple of friends that he hung out with at school. PJ was the closest thing he had to home since he left- since he didn't have a home anymore. Now he really didn't. If PJ didn't make it... Dan didn't know where he'd be. He wouldn't have a dorm to call home, he wouldn't have a cuddle buddy and he wouldn't have someone to get drunk with and talk shit about people from their classes. 

He didn't realize he was crying until the tears fell off his face and onto his hands, just like PJ falling from that bridge and onto the water. The cold hard water. He could only imagine how much that would hurt, then he remembered: PJ was wasted. He wouldn't have been able to feel anything. 

But then PJ being wasted wasn't even a good thing to start with. Or end with. He didn't even know that PJ had started drinking again, they had gone to many parties before and PJ never touched a glass. How upset had he been? 

The idea of someone loving Dan had never occurred to him, he hadn't thought that someone could ever fall for someone like him. Definitely not someone like PJ. But then again everyone had their flaws and PJ was able to get over his; something Daniel still didn't know how to do. He didn't know how to belong. Not just anywhere, but to someone. He didn't know how someone could want to sit down and just stare at him for hours and still call him pretty in the end. 

You have boy ADHD, Dan. 

Shut up, I know.

He quickly stood from his chair, knees weak as he loomed over his roommate. PJ's hair was tangled and matted down against his forehead and the pillow. His hands are shaking as he brushes PJ's hair around, trying to get it to look better than it did now. Peej would be so upset if Dan let his hair look like that.

The brunet looked over at his friend, her eyes were bloodshot and she was staring off into nowhere. Dan needed to leave, his legs were itching to run. Run far, far away, just like he would in middle school when things got too bad. 

"I-I need to go," He said making his way to the door and side-stepping a nurse.

"Dan, wait," Claire called after, but he was too far gone. Too far gone away from home, his dorm, Mr. Lester's house, most importantly; PJ.

a/n

time to unpack some pj baggage?