A/N: More Phan! This one will have separate parts to it. Sorry to all who have been following The World in Black and White. I HAVE been working on it, so hopefully I can update it soon! There should only be a few more parts, as the truth is starting to crash down on everyone, so I hope you like this fic in the mean time. Also, I have re-discovered my Doctor Who fic and WILL resurrect it after I finish TWIBAW! And if you don't know who Dan and Phil are... go look up danisnotonfire and Amazing Phil on Youtube. Perhaps you will be entertained till I update again. Anyways, enjoy the fluffs!

Colors

Part 1: Describe Red, Please.

Phil wandered down the confusing hallways of his new school, befuddled and utterly lost. How was a seven year old supposed to navigate such twisty corridors that all looked exactly the same? Getting frustrated, and a little scared that he might be lost in this prison forever, Phil sank to a sitting position in the middle of one of the gigantic hallways and curled his legs up against his chest, hugging them closely.

He already didn't like this place. It was much too large. And it was cold. And far too quiet.

He glanced up at the window at the end of the hall, rain softly pattering against the glass.

And too gloomy.

Phil buried his head into his left arm, covered by his warm, soft, soothing red hoodie. It was nice, and it smelled like his mum. What if he never saw his mum again? What if he just remained trapped here amongst the teachers lurking just out of view and phantom students? He hadn't even heard or seen a single person since his mum had dropped him off here. What if they were all ghosts?

The raven haired boy clutched his legs tighter, clamping his eyes shut. No, I don't like g-ghosts... no... no please, don't be ghosts.

Suddenly, Phil emitted a loud shriek as he felt something bump into him and tumble over his legs, landing on the cold tile on the left side of the boy. Oh God... was it really a ghost?

He was trembling now, but before he could scream again, a rather quiet voice began to speak, "Um, excuse me, but what are you doing on the floor?"

Phil's breath hitched in his throat. Was that a ghost talking? Or maybe... had an actual human being bumped into him?

Slowly, Phil pried open his icy blue eyes, cautiously sneaking a glance at the form slightly draped over his knees, though mostly resting on the floor. There, his eyes met the form of a boy with the softest, chocolatey brown eyes and a similarly colored mop of hair that fell down his face, probably caused by his tumble. There was something strange about the boys eyes though. Despite them being a very beautiful brown color, they seemed rather vacant. It didn't look like the owner of the eyes was actually looking at Phil, but rather past him.

Remembering his manners, Phil let go of his legs and stood up slowly, letting the fallen boy's lower body gently drop to the floor, "Sorry. I got lost."

"Oh. I can understand that. It's a pretty big school. I still get lost every now and then." The boy on the floor pressed his hands gingerly against the cold tiles and got up on his knees. Phil held a hand out towards his face, hoping to help the boy up, but he didn't even acknowledge the gesture. Instead, the boy stood up fully on his own, wobbling a little. He was just a tad shorter than Phil.

"Oh no..." The stranger squeaked, slowly shuffling in the area immediately around him, his eyes remaining unfocused. He didn't turn his head to look anywhere at all, not even at Phil.

Beginning to form an idea in his head, Phil asked, "What is it?"

"My... um... my walking stick." The brown-haired boy muttered, so quietly Phil almost hadn't heard him.

Phil looked around and spotted a white stick with a wrist strap on the end of it lying not to far away from where the boy had tumbled over him. He walked over to it, picked it up, and held it out for the stranger to take. But he didn't.

"Hmmmm..." Phil breathed, slowly retracting the hand holding out the stick to the boy.

"What?" The other boy asked, turning in the direction of Phil but not quite exactly.

"Are you blind?" Phil asked bluntly, though not on purpose. He was genuinely curious. He had never met a blind person before.

The other boy turned a bit red and turned his head towards the floor, "Y-yeah... I need my walking stick so I won't trip again..."

"Oh" Phil said simply, yet a little bit excitedly. He liked this blind kid.

"I have it, actually," Phil said, causing a smile to form on the blind kid's face.

The boy held out his hand, a little bit to the left of Phil, "Can you hand it to me?"
"Of course!" Phil beamed at him, but realized the boy couldn't actually see his friendly smile, so he just resorted to fastening the wrist band of the walking stick around the brown-haired boy's wrist and placing the stick firmly in his hand. The boy smiled again.

"Thank you very much, er..."

"Phil."

"Thank you, Phil! I'm Dan." The no longer nameless boy held out his hand, and Phil shook it lightly, "I haven't seen you around... well, I haven't exactly seen anyone, but what I mean is I haven't met you, I guess. Are you new here?"

Phil nodded before remembering that Dan was blind, "Yeah, I just moved to this city."

"Moving's a pain, isn't it? I got here just a couple of months ago myself."

"Really?" Phil asked, his eyes wide.

"Yes, really. It doesn't seem very nice here at first, but it's all right." Dan said, shrugging a bit.

It was quiet a moment longer, the rain quite audibly pounding against the window now, when Phil asked, "So, where are the classrooms? I'm supposed to be at Mrs. Lange's room..."

Dan frowned a little, "I actually don't really know now... I'm a little confused after bumping into you. The good news is, though, that I'm also in Mrs. Lange's class!"

Phil smiled at Dan again. He had a feeling he would actually have fun at school with Dan, the blind kid. He often wondered what it would be like to be blind. Probably not much fun but you get all these special things when you're blind, like the stick Dan has to walk with, and sometimes a guide dog. Imagine having a guide dog! A dog that tells you where to go! That was the absolute, most adorable and awesome thing Phil could ever think of.

"...are you gonna say something?" Dan asked as the silence dragged on awkwardly between them, Phil's mind still swirling with the thoughts of heroic guide dogs taking humans out for walks.

"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking..." Phil muttered, and before Dan had time to ask what about, Phil continued, "So, do you know how to get to the classroom, then?"

After some time aimlessly wandering the corridors of the labrynth like school, Dan occasionally muttering "I think it's this way..." after touching the wall or smacking his walking stick into something accidentally, Mrs. Lange found the two boys hopelessly lost and guided them back to her room, gently scolding Dan for trying to use the restroom without someone going with him to make sure he got there and back okay.

When they reached the classroom, they boys were greeted by the curious stares of their peers, particularly Phil, as he was the new kid, but there were still some people who watched as Dan carefully made his way to one of the empty desks at the back of the room with a nick in it, probably to help Dan find where his seat was, Phil thought.

Mrs. Lange brought Phil to the front of the room and had him wave to the class while she introduced him, "Meet your new classmate, Phillip Lester! He and his family just moved here, so be sure to treat him kindly."

A few people waved back at Phil, including Dan, but he waved in the wrong direction. Phil didn't care though, and soon took a seat next to the blind boy.

"Hey," He whispered to Dan to let him know he was sitting by him.

Dan followed the sound of Phil's voice, turning his head in the general direction of Phil and smiled, "Oh, you sit next to me! Nobody's sat in the seats by me all year."

"Well, now someone has." I say kindly, taking out a pencil and some paper. Dan does the same, though Phil didn't know how he was going to write since he was blind.

Whatever. At least Phil made a friend.

When school had ended, Dan and Phil were sat next to each other on a bench, waiting for their parents to pull up and take them home. They had talked together all of recess and lunch and had gotten to know each other rather well. Dan couldn't play with the other kids because he could hurt himself running by tripping over something he couldn't see or something like that, so he just sat inside most days. Phil talked about how he loved video games, and Dan did too, but he played different versions of them for blind people. They both liked to read, and Dan showed Phil what braille books were like and demonstrated how he could read them. Phil thought it was the coolest thing ever to be able to read with your fingers. He had praised Dan for it, but Dan had gotten a sad look on his face. Finding himself wondering about this incident again, Phil decided to ask Dan about it.

"Hey Dan?" He started, beginning to question if he was being too nosy.

"Yeah, Phil?" Dan asked, turning in the general direction of Phil again.

"Well, earlier when I told you that being able to read braille was cool... I dunno, you just looked kind of...sad..." Phil said awkwardly, watching as Dan's care-free expression hardened a bit, "I was wondering... does being blind make you... sad?"

Dan turned away from Phil, looking rather upset, so Phil added quickly, "Sorry, I didn't mean to ask about things you don't want to talk about. I'll stop if you don't want to-"

"It does."

"Huh?"

"It does. Being blind does make me sad." Dan sighed, his fingers fidgeting with the wrist strap of his walking stick.

Phil blinked. He hadn't expected Dan to sound so... calm about it.

"But... why?" Phil asked, puzzled. It seemed to him that blind people could still do a lot of things that people who could see could do. Not all, but a lot. Quite frankly, Phil would like to be able to do some of the things that Dan could do.

"It's just... I don't know what anything looks like. Not you, not my house or my parents, and not even myself," Dan shifts his head towards his hands, appearing as if he was observing his finger's movements on the stick strap, "and don't even get me started on colors."

"Colors?" Phil asked curiously.

Dan let out another sigh and Phil was about to apologize again when Dan continued, "It's fine, really. It's just, I can't see them, obviously. But it's more than that, too. People always talk about color, but I can't even understand what color is. I have no idea what 'color' even means."

Phil sat there next to his new friend in complete shock. He hadn't really understood until now exactly what it meant to be blind. Sure blind people like Dan could read braille, have guide dogs and play special video games, but they still couldn't see. Everything was black to them. They had never known and would never know anything else. Phil started to feel really guilty about asking the questions he had.

"... So, if I said that my hoodie was red, you wouldn't even know what 'red' was supposed to mean?" Phil asked, gripping the fabric of his hoodie absent-mindedly.

"Nope, no idea..." Dan hung his head, but it slowly rose again, "... maybe, you could tell me?"

"What?"

"Describe red, please."

It was such a simple phrase, but there was so much complexity behind it that it completely dumbfounded Phil. What was he supposed to say? How does one describe color?

"Uhm... I dunno if it's that simple, Dan..." Phil squirmed.

"Why?" Dan asked, intrigued.

Phil shifted on the bench, still no parents in sight. He had to think of a way for Dan to know what color was. This was gonna be tough.

"Uh, well, you see, it's... uh" Phil suddenly remembered a comparison his mother had once talked to him about and decided to use that, "it's not simple because describing color is like trying to describe the taste of chocolate to someone who has never had it before."

Dan perked up a little, "But that's easy! Chocolate is sweet, and sometimes nice and creamy, but there's... there's something else, like..."

Phil watched him, slightly triumphantly as Dan struggled to accurately describe the delicious substance. Eventually, Dan fell silent.

"Okay, okay, so maybe it isn't that easy..."

"Exactly."

"So... that's it then? I'll never get to know what color is?"

The saddness in Dan's voice caught Phil by surprise. He noticed Dan clenching his fists. His eyebrows drawn tightly together. He looked like he was on the verge of tears.

Oh no, what had he done to poor Dan...

"Hey, hey, it's all right," Phil tried to comfort his friend by putting an arm gently around his shoulders, slowly enough so that he wouldn't startle him, "I said it was difficult to try and describe color, but not impossible. I'll probably be rubbish at it, but I can try, can't I?"

Dan sniffed, and clasped his hands together, rubbing them gently, "Okay... try. Try just for my sake...?"

It sounded more like a question than a command, and Phil found it hard to resist complying to the blind boy's wish. He settled himself more comfortably next to Dan, the overhang above their heads dripping furiously with rain water onto the lawn in front of them a ways off. How to describe color...

"Well... color is a quality of an object that changes it so that it is very... uh... visible. It just makes the object pop. The things you feel look... well, I mean, if you were to run your hand across a page, it would be flat and boring, right?"

"Yeah."

"That's what I think the world would be like without color. Flat and boring. But with color, life becomes more... emotional? Special? Different? Exciting... Like when you run your hand across a page and come across a word in braille. Something exciting like 'wow' or 'amazing'! I can't exaclty say what color is, but I can say that it can make people stare at it for a very long time, because people want to stare at it. Most of the time. Some colors make people cringe."

"What about red? Does red make people cringe?" Dan asked, unfurling his hands and feeling around for the fabric of my hoodie. Finding it, he took it in both hands and rubbed his fingers against it softly. Phil smiled as he watched him a moment longer than necessary, and slowly started to process how exactly to describe the color red.

"Red is... red..." Phil stuttered, thinking about what to say first, "um... red is, heat, I guess. Things that are warm make people think of red. Like when you blush, your cheeks turn red."

"Faces can turn colors?" Dan asked, a look of surprise on his face.

"Yeah, in fact everything has a color, but let's keep it simple for now with just red," Phil said quickly, his head already spinning at the thought of trying to describe every single aspect of color to Dan, "Other things that aren't warm can also be red, though. Like, the outside bit of apples are red. Lobsters are red. Your skin turns red when you get a sunburn, though I guess your skin gets warm when that happens, huh? Oh, also the sunset is red, sometimes. Even blood is red."

"A lot of strange things are red..." Dan remarked, his voice muffled as he had pressed his face against the sleeve of Phil's red hoodie, "I still don't quite know what makes red red though... or what a sunset even is like..."

"Yeah..." Phil stayed quiet a moment before an idea came to mind, "What if I told you about some feelings people associate with red? Maybe that would help you understand a bit."

Dan raised his head and smiled, "Sounds good to me."

"Okay... red emotions... red emotions... ah," Phil began, "anger is red. You know that fiery, burning feeling in the pit of your stomach you get sometimes? That's red. But, it's not just anger that's red. Love is red. I've never really felt the icky kind of love, but hearts are always drawn with red in them. Love for your dad and mum is red. Or if you really love to do something, that's red. I think emotions that are burn-y and make you feel warm are what red is."

"So like, passion?"

"Passion?"

"That's what it's called when you love something or someone so intensely that your tummy burns." Dan explained.

"Oh. Then yes, red is passion."

Dan nodded slowly, taking in everything I used to try and describe the color red.

"Okay... So... color makes people not want to look away. It's something different besides just seeing something. And color- er, just red... can make you feel burning. Most red things are warm. Burning and warmth. I think I like the sound of red."

Feeling a bit proud that he made Dan think of red as something to be liked, Phil congratulated himself on doing something so difficult as describing a color. Sure, Dan probably didn't quite grasp what color was exactly, but he understood what was meant to be felt when something was described as 'red'. He could name a few red objects. That's better than knowing nothing at all.

A silver car pulled up to the school's parking lot as close as possible to the two boys huddled under the overhang in the rain. An unfamiliar woman who Phil assumed to be Dan's mom started to get out and opened an umbrella.

"I think that's your mom, Dan." Phil said as the woman approached the two boys, a smile on her face at he sight of Dan sitting with his new friend.

"Look at you, kiddo! You made a friend!" The lady said to Dan, carefully ruffling Dan's hair.

"Moooooooom-" Dan said, his cheeks flushing with a bit of red and heat. He stopped when he realized this and cupped his cheeks in his hands, a smile on his face.

"Phil, my cheeks are red, aren't they?" Dan asked, looking near his friend but not quite at him.

Phil smiled, "Yeah, they are."

Dan's mom smiled at Phil, enjoying the fact that Dan recognized color while still being blind, "And who might you be?"

"I'm Phil. I just moved here." Phil introduced himself, shaking Dan's mom's hand.

"He's the best, mom!" Dan beamed as his mom let go of Phil and took Dan by the hand instead, "He told me what red is! And he helped me find my walking stick, and he thinks I'm really cool and we are best friends now!"

Phil smiled warmly at Dan's enthusiastic tone of voice he was using to describe him and couldn't help but feel really proud of himself for being such a good friend to immediately warrant Dan's good will.

Dan's mom beamed at Phil, "Thank you, Phil, for being so nice to Dan. Would you like to come over sometime? Perhaps your parents could meet us too."

"I would love to!" Phil answered, but he was looking at Dan, who was still grinning this ridiculously large grin.

And that began Dan and Phil's strong friendship- a discussion in the rain on Phil's first day at his new school, all about the color red.