Chapter 2: Dan's worries
He sighed slightly before opening his bedroom door. He'd been worried about Phil for ages, but Phil was refusing to talk to him, to tell him anything. He had been wasting away, and Dan just didn't know what to do. Peej and the others had come over, had tried to talk to him, but Phil had just ignored them. Last time they'd come, Phil had locked himself in his bedroom, and Dan had heard him crying. That's when he stopped the visits; he didn't want Phil hurting more than he already was. Dan knew they were still texting Phil, but he didn't seem to care. He acted as though nothing was wrong, but he was exhausted all the time. They never went out anymore; Dan couldn't bare the idea of leaving Phil alone, he never knew what he might come back too. As he stepped out of his room, he wondered what kind of day it was going to be. Phil had bad days, and better days. Dan refused to call them good days, how could he? He was still refusing to tell Dan anything, and he was still wasting away. On his bad days, he would lock himself in his room, and just lay in his bed. He had no energy to do anything. On these days, Dan would normally sit outside his room, trying to talk to him. Phil would ignore him, and Dan would go to his room and cry quietly. He would make Phil lunch and leave it outside. He would come back later and the food would be gone. He would get his hopes up, thinking Phil was getting better. Then the next day he would see the food hiding under some tissues in Phil's bin. On his better days he would sit in the living room and make small talk with Dan. Sometimes he would even play a video game, although never for very long. He was too exhausted. Normally they would just sit on the sofa, as far away as possible from Phil, watching Buffy. He would feel his heart rise at the slight smile on Phil's face as he watched vampires turned to dust. He wanted to cuddle up to him, but he was too scared of hurting him. He looked so fragile; Dan was scared that he could easily break him.
He walked slowly into the living room, and too his relief, found Phil sitting there. He smiled slightly and said "What do you want for breakfast?" He spoke gently, as though he was talking to a small child. Phil turned around slowly; it looked as though the smallest movement was causing him pain. He smiled at Dan, although it looked like more of a grimace "I had some earlier, but thanks." Dan didn't believe him. There was a time when he did, a while ago. He was determined that if something was wrong, Phil would have told him. These days though, he wasn't so sure. He knew that ignoring the problem wasn't going to make it go away, and it certainly wasn't going to help Phil. Dan still couldn't tell him though. He couldn't just say he didn't believe him. He couldn't force food down him either, just like he couldn't for Phil to talk to him. All of those things would hurt Phil, so Dan kept it to himself. It was better that Dan was hurting. Instead he asked "What did you have?" Phil wasn't looking anymore. He was staring into space, and he was acting as though Dan wasn't even in the room. Dan walked in front of him slowly, not wanting to frighten him. He knelt down so he was at eye level with him, and gently took Phil's hand in his. He was always so cold now.