Illicit (phan)

I - Past

Although it was only 8 in the morning, the sun was already high in the sky, glaring down at the small neighbourhood beneath it. Phil hadn't slept a wink the whole night, listening to his mother's sobbing down the hall that got louder and louder with each passing minute. Maybe he would feel inclined to help her if she was a better mother. He didn't know where the hell his dad was, probably 'investing' somewhere. Phil didn't know what investing meant or why his dad was always gone for weeks on end doing it, but he knew it wasn't a good thing.

He sighed, knowing if he took too long, he might miss Calvin on his way to work.

He quickly showered and dressed, before walking into his mum's room. She was in a deep sleep and probably would be until this evening. He then headed to the kitchen and searched for any form of food, only finding a mouldy bagel. He carefully pulled off the one piece that was mould-free and ate it, before realising that they now had no food in their house. He wanted to ask his dad to go shopping, but last time he did, it had ended in far too many bruises for his little body.

He left the house, locking the door behind him. Then, he sat on his empty porch, waiting.

Around ten minutes later, the door of the house next to his opened, and out stepped Calvin. He was wearing jeans and a button up, along with a brown backpack. He was only thirteen at the time but had a job at the local library, where they paid him around a fiver a day to make sure all the books were in alphabetical order.

"Hey, Phil," Calvin greeted cheerily, lifting his hand to wave.

"Hi," Phil muttered back, shyly. Although Calvin was only four years older than Phil, Phil admired him a lot more than anyone else he knew.

"Mum's made waffles and she put ice cream on top because it's so hot."

Phil nodded.

"You should go have one, they're really good," Calvin suggested innocently as if this wasn't routine.

"Alright," Phil mumbled, standing up and walking to the house next door, where Calvin held the door open for him.

"See you tomorrow, Philly," Calvin said, ruffling Phil's hair, before softly pushing him into the house and closing the door behind him.

"Phil, come on, dear, your ice cream is melting," came Dan's mum's voice from the kitchen. He walked down the short hallway to see that his plate was already on the table along with a knife and fork. Dan's mum was bustling around the kitchen, unloading the dishwasher. She looked up as Phil came in.

She had chocolate brown hair that was starting to grey near the roots and deep hollow bags under her eyes. Her face was skinny and wrinkled, and yet it was full of so much love.

Phil sat down across from Dan at the small table. He couldn't help but notice that Dan looked nice today, with his unruly hair in perfect springy curls and his bright curious eyes staring down at a paper laid out on the table in front of him. "I'll be home late today, but Calvin and your dad should know what to do for dinner," Dan's mum said.

"Okay, mum," Dan muttered, clearly annoyed at the prospect of his mum being absent all day. Especially on a weekend.

"Do you need anything, Phil? Why are you not eating? I know you're hungry," she continued. Phil was confused how on earth she could possibly know that. Mother's intuition? How come his own mum didn't have that? "I would give you some juice, but Dan took the last one."

Dan smiled smugly, making Phil roll his eyes. "No, it's alright," he said, picking up his knife and fork and cutting into the waffle.

"Plates in the sink after, okay?" She then walked over and kissed each of the boys on the head, before saying goodbye and leaving the house.

"How long did you wait outside today?" Dan asked as soon as they were alone, taking a swig of his bottle of juice.

"Ten minutes," Phil reluctantly answered.

"You know you could just come inside straight away, instead of waiting for Calvin to let you in. Mum likes it when you're here."

"I know."

"You want some of my juice?" Dan offered, moving the bottle towards Phil.

"Nah."

"Go on, I know you do."

"Your spit is all over it."

Dan laughed. "Big deal. We share everything else, might as well share spit."

Phil sighed, bringing the bottle up to his lips. The rim was minty and he knew it was from Dan's toothpaste.

Phil was about halfway through the bottle when Dan said, "If you get my gum, just spit it back in, alright?"

It took everything in him not to throw up as he quickly set the bottle back down again.

"I'm joking," Dan snickered.

"If you were anyone else I would beat you up right now."

Dan poked out his tongue, before going back to looking at his map that was laid out on the table.

"Why are you looking at that?" Phil asked, every bit the curious nine-year-old.

"I want to go somewhere else when I get older."

Phil froze. "What?" He had to force the word out.

"I don't want to stay here forever."

"No, you can't leave," Phil said, grabbing Dan's forearm.

Dan tried to shake Phil off, but Phil was already much stronger than him. "Phil, what the hell, calm down." Dan was confused as to why Phil had reacted this way. "We can go together."

"No, no, you're not going."

Phil's grip on Dan's arm was becoming painful and if he held on any longer, Dan's arm might have started to form bruises. "Phil, get off me."

"Promise me you won't leave."

"Alright, alright."

"No, promise me," Phil demanded.

"Okay, I promise."

Phil let go, letting out a sigh of relief. "Say that again and I'll beat you up for sure."

Seeing how much it upset Phil, Dan folded his map, and ran upstairs to put it in his room. What he didn't know was that he would never see the map again, because Phil would do everything in his power to make sure Dan never wanted to leave him.

these chapters will be shorter because i know they're a bit boring but they're necessary to the plot. please VOTE and COMMENT, i really want to know what you think of this fic.

also i might ask a random question every chapter:

who is your wattpad senpai?

➰rachel