Dan remembered how he met Phil. How Phil helped him through the tough times, how he comforted him when he thought all hope was lost, how he stopped Dan from hurting... how he unintentionally showed Dan how to love...

The bathroom was dim. Light blubs were screwed in in a line above the mirror, but more than half of them had burned out. Yet the lighting was still bright enough for Dan to see his sunken face in the mirror. The tender skin under his eyes were purple from never-ending sleepless nights. His eyelids were a light pink color and puffy. His cheeks had crusty lines going down them from the tears that he cried a countless number of times. Those crusty lines renewed themselves so much that Dan didn't even bother to wipe them off unless he was going where people would see him.

"Dan?" a cheerful voice called from the kitchen. It was Dan's mum. He hastily picked off the crusty bits on his cheeks and plastered a smile on his face. He tugged down the sleeves on his jumper and walked out of the bathroom. No one can know that he's hurting.

"There you are! Oh, Dan, why are you wearing a jumper? It's very warm outside," His mother asked him, raising her eyebrows.

He swallowed, "It isn't that warm, mum."

She sighed but didn't elaborate any more on the subject.

"I made you some lunch to take to school, I hope it's okay," she said. He took it without looking at the contents, grabbed his backpack, pecked his mum's cheek, and walked out the door.

The streets were wet from the rain that had fallen the previous night. He carefully watched out for the mud and puddles, even though he knew he would be pushed into them later.

Dan was bullied at school. He was an easy target. He was weak, shy, and had many personal problems that his bullies would eventually find out about. Before he even knew it, he had reached his locker inside the school. He put his stuff in and grabbed out the things he needed for his first lesson of the day – maths. He closed his locker and turned around. He was just about to walked towards the maths classroom when a professor quickly walked up to him, grabbing his arm. He winced as her hands touched the fresh cuts through his jumper, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Daniel, we have a new student here and I thought you'd be the perfect person to show him around. Will you?" she asked. This lady was Professor Brown, his favorite professor. He was very fond of her, and she was fond of him. They had one of those special relationships that few students and professors have.

Dan smiled a small smile, "Sure."

She grinned at him and walked him down to the headmaster's office where the boy would be waiting. They reached the office and Professor Brown introduced them.

"Philip, this is Daniel. He will be showing you around!" she said happily. Dan looked at the boy. He had luscious black hair that was styled in a fringe, and a pale complexion. He was very skinny. He was also wearing clothes similar to Dan's, which made Dan smile a little. The boy slowly looked up, and Dan almost gasped. The boy's eyes were a breathtaking blue. They looked like the shallow waters of an ocean, but they were more vibrant. Dan let out a shaky breath.

"Hello," he said to Philip quietly, "you can call me Dan. I prefer it over Daniel. It sounds to formal."

The boy nodded, "You can call me Phil. Same reason you don't like being called Dan."

"Well, I'll let you guys skip two lessons so you, Daniel, can show him around and get to know each other, okay? Have fun!" chirped Professor Brown, and she walked out of the office and to her classroom.

Dan looked at Phil, who had stood up, his backpack draped over his shoulders.

"Can we put my backpack away? It's a bit heavy, they gave me a ton of textbooks." Phil said shyly. Dan nodded and they walked towards Phil's locker, which was a few down from Dan's. After Phil's stuff was put away, they stared at each other for a minute or so. Suddenly Phil coughed, breaking them out of their trance. Dan motioned for Phil to follow him, and he did.

The first lesson was over and Dan was already done showing Phil around the school. The both sighed happily, knowing they had their next lesson off, too.

"I know a place where we can sit and wait for the next lesson to be over. I found it a while ago when..." Dan didn't finish his sentence – he just led Phil to his secret hiding place.

It was behind the school. There were stairs that ran up the side of the buildings and stopped at one of the windows at the very top of the building. The stairs were used for who knows what. One day Dan had been trying to hide from the bullies. He ran up those stairs and quickly jumped up on the window ledge, using it as a final stair that would get him on the roof.

Dan and Phil were under the window ledge now. Phil look at it hesitantly.

"It's not that bad, come on," Dan encouraged. Dan leaped up onto the ledge and pulled himself onto the roof. Phil analyzed the way Dan climbed, then did the exact same thing. Dan was relieved to see that Phil didn't fall. He couldn't have another bad thing on his mind. Dan shook his head free of those nasty thoughts.

The roof was bare and ugly, except for one spot in the middle. A thick, large blanket lay on the ground, and two small bean bags sat upon the blanket. There was also a small box that most likely contained things for entertainment when Dan came up here.

"I did that," Dan said, "I come up here so much that I needed to make a comfy spot. The roof was too hard."

Phil smiled, "It's really cool."

Dan returned the smile. They went and sat on the bean bags. The barely fit on them. Phil decided that they were probably this small because it'd be too hard to haul up bigger bean bags.

"Tell me about yourself," Dan said quietly, reaching into the small box and tossing Phil a juice box. Phil took it and opened it, his mouth unusually dry.

"Um, well, my name is Phil Lester. I'm a senior, like you. I would have been graduated already but I started school late and I was held back once. I like video games, Muse -"

"Me too!" Dan exclaimed, then he blushed at his sudden outburst. Phil grinned.

"Origin of Symmetry is my favourite album of theirs," Dan said, recovering from his blush. Phil nodded in agreement.

They say there a talked for a while, and after a half hour or so, they knew everything about each other. Or so they thought.

School was over. Dan had exchanged numbers with Phil, finally having a friend. As Dan walked, he felt pain in his sides. Fresh bruises had been made not too long ago. He had pushed into mud and water as well. Sadly, Phil wasn't there to comfort him, and Dan was definitely not going to tell him about the incident. If he told Phil, Phil would confront the bullies and hurt him, too. Dan didn't want that. Dan had gotten enough people hurt because of him.

Dan arrived home, his mum quickly greeting him.

"Dan! How was school?" she asked, grinning and hugging him. She pulled back as she felt the mud and water seep into her clothes. She looked at him and opened her mouth to speak.

"It was fine," Dan said and pulled away, walking to his room before she could ask questions. He knew he had hurt his mom with his quick response and exit, but right now he didn't care. He wanted to change into warm and less heavy clothes that weren't digging into his fresh, hurting bruises.

Once he was in sweatpants and a t-shirt, he lay down on his bed, debating on whether or not to invite Phil over. Was it too soon? Would Phil think he was weird for asking this right after school, having seen each other not too long ago?

Dan eventually decided to go through with it.

'do u wanna come over? Im bored :P'

Phil responded almost immediately, 'yeah, where do you live!?'

Dan gave him his address, and heard a knock on the door soon after that. Dan pulled on a hoodie to hide his scarred arms and he rushed out and passed his curious mum and dad, swinging the front door open.

"Hi!" Dan greeted, letting Phil in. Dan's mum rushed over and squeezed Phil in a tight hug.

"Oh my goodness, my baby's got a friend!" she squealed, letting go of Phil and grinning at the two of them. Dan's face went red, but Phil laughed.

"Mum, this is Phil. He's new to my school and I showed him around today. He's my friend." Dan said, smiling as he finally got to say the word 'friend'. Dan's mum smiled and his dad looked up over the newspaper he was reading, giving Phil a grin and a small wave.

Dan lead Phil to his bedroom.

"This is where I spend most of my time, y'know, having no social life," Dan laughed. Phil laughed as well.

"I spending most of my time in my bedroom, too. All I really do is go on the Internet, watch the tele, and eat." Phil told Dan. Dan giggled and found that it was uncomfortably hot in his room, and he took his hoodie off. He had completely forgotten about his scars.

"Daniel, me and your dad are going out with friends, like I told you we would the other day! Be good, I love you!" Dan's mum called.

"Love you, too!" Dan called back. He smiled and shook his head at his mum. He heard the front door slam shut.

"Do you want to play video games? I have a lot. Wanna play Mario Cart or something?" Dan suggested. Phil nodded. Dan turned on the Wii and put in Mario Kart. They played for almost two hours until something unforgettable happened. Something that both Dan and Phil would never be able to etch out of their minds.

Phil beat Dan in Mario Kart. Dan threw his Wii remote on the floor, pouting. His arms were flailing in rage, but he was laughing, and Phil was, too. Phil watched Dan reach forward to pick up his Wii remote, but what he saw made him gasp in shock. Dan's arms were covered in pink, faded lines, but some were red with a bit of dried blood on them.

"What's wrong?" Dan asked, but then he saw where Phil was looking. Dan gasped louder than Phil had, and he quickly ran into his bathroom. Phil went after him but before he could grasp the bathroom door handle, he heard the faint 'click' of the lock. He heard Dan crying in there, and all Phil wanted to do was run in there and hold him. 'What is this? I only just met him and I'm already thinking this stuff..' Phil wondered. He heard Dan cry some more, and Phil could feel tears stinging at his own eyes. He rapped on the door.

"Dan? Dan! Come out here right now, please!" Phil cried to him loudly through the door. He wasn't expecting Dan to give in so easily, but he was happy when Dan came out and lay on his bed, his face straight down on his pillow and his tears dripping violently down his slightly tanned cheeks.

Phil walked over and lay down next to Dan.

"Dan," Phil cooed softly. Dan looked up at him, his lips trembling. Just the sight made Phil want to cry.

Before Phil could even engulf Dan into a hug, Dan flung himself onto Phil, crying into his chest. Phil was shocked for a moment but quickly held Dan there, letting him cry. Phil didn't care that his shirt was slowly getting soaked. All he cared about was letting Dan get his feelings out. After a while, Dan's loud sobs turned into light, shaky breaths. Phil still had his arms wrapped tightly around Dan, his chin resting on top of his soft brown hair.

"Dan, look at me," Phil said. Dan looked up into Phil's dazzling blue eyes.

"Why did you do it?"

Dan suddenly said everything that had happened that made him cut. How he was bullied, how his dad used to get drunk and beat him, how he had been put in a mental hospital when his depression and bipolar got really bad... he told him everything that had been bottled up for what felt like decades. Phil listened without interrupting, tears cascading down his cheeks, but his fingers caressed Dan's back to let him know he was there. When Dan was done, he made Phil promise something.

"Phil?"

"Yes?"

"Promise me that you'll be here for me forever? Promise me that you care? Promise me that you'll help me through this? I have no one.." Dan whispered, a few tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes.

Phil smiled and whispered back, "Always."

And here they were now. They were best friends who lived together and were Internet famous. They had thousands of people who cared about them. They had everything they've ever wanted, except for one thing.

They didn't have each other in the way they wanted to.

K should I keep this a one shot or continue cause I kind of want to continue it but idk