Okay, I'm thinking about making this it's own story after i finish up this in three or so chapters but thought I should post this strange little AU here first! :) ~gum wrapper.

None of this is mine except for the plot!

Dan's p.o.v.

Running Into You

My feet slap the pavement as I run further and further away. I run down the center of the road in the pouring rain in all black clothes but am in no danger of getting run over. No one is awake at this time of night. I run faster in an attempt to push everything far behind me.

It's so dark I can't see anything. Yet, I know my breath is coming out in smoke-like-puffs before me, I know it's pouring rain, I know that I'm running past houses and buildings but the happy families inside can't see me and I can't see them. I think their lives are better without seeing me sprinting past.

My lungs ache and beg for mercy but I push myself. I will not stop until I have gone too far to turn back.

Suddenly, I crash into something. I hear a voice mumble something like words. I ran into a person? I quickly get up and just as I am about to run away again, it grabs my wrist. I try to pull away.

"Lemme go! I have to keep going!"

"Where are you going?" It's a male voice.

"No where." I spat still trying to free my wrist.

"Why are you running?"

"I need to run."

"Who are you running from?"

A huge parade of chills creeps up my back. I try to take a step back but he still has my wrist. "I don't know."

A flashlight suddenly shines at my soaked black sneakers. I look up but the light is feeble and I can barely make out the outline of a face.

"Do you want to come home with me? I think I have some warmer clothes that might fit you that aren't sopping wet."

The act of kindness startles me. No one has ever offered me anything.

"I… I couldn't pay you back."

"You don't have to. You only have to tell me why you are running, where you are running, and from whom you are running."

Something inside me, something good, tells me I should go. Tells me I can trust him… I just hope I'm not agreeing to my own kidnapping.

"Okay, deal." I agree.

His hand slips down my cold wrist and into my hand. Something in my stomach flips over and I feel my face grow warm despite the freezing rain dripping down my face from my (probably curly) brown hair.

I don't know this person yet I feel safe and protected.

"What's your name?" He asks. "So I don't have to say 'hey you.'"

I laugh and feel obligated to tell him. "Dan."

His hand tightens it's grip on mine. I can't help but say that I more than like it.

We continue our walk in the rain but the water is no longer beating on me. It's falling like a fine mist. The morning sun is also starting to penetrate the heavy gray clouds so the world is being hugged by a thick gray fog. I look down and at the sight his hand I grin. I'm not imagining him.

"Here we go. Watch your st-" I fall forward and land on my chest on slush covered steps.

"Ow." I mumble and go to push myself up.

"I'm sorry I should have said something sooner!" A light flickers on and I'm able to see him. All of him not just his hand or outline. "Are you okay?"

My lungs ache again from hitting the steps too hard and my head spins but I try to sit up. I look up at his face but it's closer than I thought.

His pink lips are slightly parted and our breath clouds dance and mix into one. I watch them and then drag my eyes back to his face. My head is pounding as I take in his paper white face with rosy red cheeks from the rain and cold, his black bangs that sticks across his forehead, and his pretty kaleidoscope eyes that are mostly blue but also a little green and yellow.

"Dan? Are you alright?"

"Ah…" I wince as I stand up fully and my left ankle gives out. "I think so?"

He sees through me. "Come on, I'll take care of you."

"I feel like a puppy you found on the street." I comment.

"Hahaha, you kind of are." For some reason this makes those pesky "nervous butterflies" jump around in my stomach.

The door swings open as he shoves it with his body. I follow by hopping on my right foot.

"You look pitiful." Suddenly his arms are around my waist and I'm guided to a wooden chair in a small mostly white kitchen. I look at my reflection in the glass of the black stove. I look as bad as I feel. Hair sticking flat to my face and eyes showing how little sleep I've had.. I look like a mess.

"I'll get you some clothes so you don't get sick." He mumbles and I nod. My head screams with the action. I wonder if I have a concussion. I've never had one before.

I see no signs of anyone else living here. Just… hmm, I don't know his name.

"Okay, um, here's the basic clothes and a sweatshirt." He announces from a hallway. I can hear the floor creaking as he comes back.

"What's your name?" I ask.

He returns to the kitchen as he answers. "Sorry, my name's Phil. I should've told you earlier."

"It's alright." I mumble. My ankle shoots burning pain up my leg as I stand to take Phil's clothes. I do my best not to show it but I get the odd feeling he knows anyway.

"The bathroom-" Phil guides me down a brightly lit hallway and into a blue bathroom. "Is right here."

"Thanks again." I say without meeting his eyes.

"I wasn't going to leave you out there. Unlike most people I have a heart."

The feeling of being a lost puppy comes back to me. "Haha."

Phil the closes the door and I quickly change from my clothes and into Phil's. The pain in my ankle increases as I limp out to the kitchen.

"You're limping." Phil notes instantly.

"I'll be-" I wince as pain causes me to bend over to touch my ankle out of instinct.

Apparently he's much stronger than he looks because he half carries me to a squishy armchair.

I sit there taking in the bright sun-light room and Phil gets ice cubes from the freezer and wraps them in a paper towel.

His hands press the ice to my ankle. I lean to hold it there and my fingers slip in between Phil's. Before I can say anything those damn butterflies nearly kill me and my face definitely heats up. Am I falling for him? I think so. Is that bad?

Phil disappears back down the bathroom hallway. He returns quickly with a stool and a pillow without a pillow case. I assume there's a closet in the hall but have no idea.

"Here," Phil sets the pillow on the stool and then I gingerly move my ankle there. He arranges the ice pack on my ankle.

Since I'm stuck with no place to go I figure he's going to interrogate me now. Sure, enough, I'm correct.

"Why were you running?" He asks sitting in the floor by my feet.

"I needed to clear my head." I say truthfully. "There was so much to think about."

He nods. "Anything particular?"

"Not really."

"Okay, that was easy, next question: where were you going?"

I shrug. "No idea. I just… wanted to run."

His laugh is cute. I comment silently.

"Last question, who were you running from? You were clearly running from someone."

I sigh but can't bring myself to lie to him. "Myself."

"What do you mean?"

"I was just angry with myself for being me. I'm never treated or talked to nicely by anyone and I finally have had enough."

Phil looks really good from my point of view. His face is like artwork and far better than any famous portrait in any fancy museum. I almost say that before realizing how he might react.

"Well maybe you just haven't found the right people. Maybe where you're supposed to be isn't where you were."

"How poetic." I say dryly.

There's little lines that appear by his eyes when he laughs I notice. They're cute.

"I don't know where the hell I'm supposed to be then." I mumble.

"You could stay here for a while."