Illicit (phan)

VIII - Past

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Phil drove Chester Malone's BMW recklessly fast. All the things he'd learned in school about deadly car crashed crossed his mind, but at the moment, he didn't care. If he died, what did it matter? Dan wouldn't miss him now.

But he still needed Phil's protection.

He slowed down.

The police caught Phil on the highway. When they pulled him over, Phil gave them the finger and smirked. Act the part of a juvenile delinquent, he told himself.

They bought it. Hook. Line. Sinker.

At the police station, he heard them mumbling about him. Phil Lester. Yeah, just like his dad. Seems to be headed in that direction.

Phil scowled.

An officer put him in a room with stark grey walls while they waited for Harvey and his mum to arrive. Phil twisted his hands in the handcuffs as the minutes ticked by.

When Harvey finally stalked into the room at one in the morning, his broad face was hard as stone. "I should leave you here to rot," he growled.

Phil smirked. "Do it. Better than living with you."

Harvey went on like he hadn't heard. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? Messing with one of my business associates? Mr Malone is pressing charges. Grand theft auto," Harvey scoffed. "You'll go to juvie, Phil. Like father like son, isn't that what they say?"

Phil gritted his teeth, waiting for Harvey to threaten Dan. It didn't matter what anyone thought of him, now. They could compare him to his dad all they wanted, but Phil knew it wasn't true. He was nothing like that sick fuck.

The threat to Dan never came and Harvey took Phil home in silence.

Word of Phil's arrest spread through high school and the shitty town faster than ice melting in the summer sun. Phil ignored all of it. He walked through the halls with his back straight, glaring at anyone who dared look in his direction.

The only thing that hurt was the expression on Dan's face. It wasn't fear, thank God, but Dan furrowed his brow and pouted. It was the look he got when he was working on a particularly difficult maths problem. This time, Phil was the thing Dan couldn't figure out.

Phil wanted to open his mouth and spill the whole story to his best friend. Being alone for the last eight months was worse than Phil thought it would be. Telling Dan would lift a huge weight off his shoulders. Maybe he hadn't given Dan enough credit.

Then Dan shook his head and walked away. The moment slipped by as quickly as it came, and Phil scowled at the ground.

His plan to turn Dan against him had worked too well.

* * *

When Phil got out of juvie, life dragged, like usual. He went back to high school for Dan's sake. He watched as Dan flitted through friend groups, dressing in his clean-cut style and doing everything he could to stay as far away from Phil as possible.

Phil followed at a distance. His camera was always ready to snap pictures of Dan. It was all Phil had left of their friendship, and he wasn't prepared to give it up. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

Dan mostly kept out of Phil's way. But that meant he kept out of Harvey's way, too, so it worked out.

Everything Phil did was an act put on to taunt his uncle. When he moved out at 18, the thought of leaving their repulsive town didn't even cross his mind. He was the buffer Dan needed against Harvey. He'd stay in town as long as was needed.