dan's parents were fighting again.

dan hid under his thin covers, trying to wrap his pillow around his head to muffle the sound. a loud thump came from downstairs as one of them threw something, and dan nearly jumped off the bed, trembling. he couldn't breathe, he felt like the walls were closing in on him, suffocating him.

when dan was little, he used to run down the stairs, yell at them to stop. he would tug on their sleeves, tell them he was thirsty to distract their attention, even cause trouble so their anger was aimed at him instead of each other. now he knew better. he couldn't hold together a broken marriage by temporarily stopping one fight.

dan flinched again as another crash sounded through the house, and he climbed out of bed, grabbing his teddy bear from beneath his bed. he had stopped sleeping with it a while ago, around the same time phil stopped popping up at his widow, grinning at him.

he stumbled to the window, clutching the bear to his chest. he carefully stepped over the windowsill, clutching the sides with shaking hands in fear he would fall. his parents probably wouldn't stop fighting if he did.

he padded across the roof with bare feet, and sat down when he was far enough away from the window that the shouting was at least a little bit muffled. now he was mostly shaking from the cold, hugging his knees to his chest with his stuffed bear between his stomach and thighs.

for some reason, he wasn't crying. it seemed like he only cried when it was something phil related, or lack there of. a stupid fight between two people who couldn't share a single nice word hardly fazed him.

well. it fazed him. he still didn't cry.

his head shot up as he heard a sound, coming from the opposite direction as his own window. he gasped as phil's skinny form clambered out of his window, lugging something big. a blanket.

he watched suspiciously as phil made his way over to him, sitting next to him and holding out the large duvet. dan took it timidly. the nighttime breeze made phil's dark hair tumble around his face carelessly.

"fighting again?" phil asked, but it didn't sound like a question, it sounded like a statement. dan nodded, scared into silence. if phil decided to push him off the roof, he knew he wouldn't be strong enough to fight back. was it high enough to die? probably, they were two tall stories up.

"i h-hate them," dan whispered before he could stop the words from escaping. phil looked at him, searching his face.

"me too."

this encouraged the part of dan that was foolish and still a child, in love with another child. he whimpered.

"they're stupid," he whispered, the harshest words he could manage. "i h-hate them so much, i w-want them to go away forever."

phil nodded again. his eyes looked so kind, but maybe it was just the way the stars reflected in them. dan broke down, and started crying so hard he was scared he would just fall off the roof.

but then he wasn't scared of that anymore, because phil's arms were around him. he cried harder, clutching at his sweatshirt like a lifeline and burying his face in the soft fabric. right then it felt like the softest thing of earth, nice and cool and comforting against his cheek, and he could feel phil's chest under the fabric, alive and warm and moving every time he breathed.

"it's okay," phil mumbled, pressing his mouth against his hair, and it felt to dan as if he had told him a speech about how much he loved him and how everything would be alright. everything phil did that was kind and good felt amplified after months of being treated horribly.

"d-do you s-still like me?" dan asked, the words coming out between muffled sobs. "i'm s-s-sorry i told your d-dad about the smoking, i j-just wanted to help..."

he felt phil sigh. "it's okay," he mumbled, curling a strand of dan's hair around his finger. "i know. i'm sorry i got so mad."

dan shook his head frantically. "it's okay," he breathed. he would forgive phil for anything right then. he was a god, he was the only one who mattered.

phil pulled him closer as the shouting from inside dan's house got louder. dan wasn't cold anymore. he felt his teddy bear slip out from between his thighs as phil replaced it with his own thigh, pressing it between dan's legs so they were properly tangled together. dan whimpered softly, his cheek squishing in on itself when he pressed his face against phil's chest.

"y-your dads didn't make you come out h-here, did they?"

phil laughed. why was he laughing? "no. i don't think i'm allowed out of the house for anything but school until i graduate."

dan sighed in relief, and proceeded to tense again. "you stupid bitch!" phil threaded his fingers through dan's hair, tugging gently so he would look up at him. dan went pliant, his head tilting the way phil wanted it to.

phil started kissing over his face incredibly slowly, his flower petal lips brushing over dan's caramel skin. he kissed over dan's hairline first, humming softly. everything around them melted away and dan's eyes fluttered shut sleepily. it was way too late for his parents to be fighting, but that didn't matter with phil's warm, firm form pressed against him.

phil made a soft noise, pulling dan up farther on him and laying down on his side, his legs tangled around dan's. dam let him move him how he wanted, he just wanted him to be comfortable.

phil ran his hand over dan's hip, getting him to wrap his legs around phil's waist. he was still kissing his face.

phil's lips traveled lazily down his face, tracing the arch of his nose and his tear stained cheeks. dan's breath caught.

phil's lips brushed over the corner of his, and dan's mouth was already open when phil got there. phil's mouth fell on his, soft and sweet with how half asleep he was.

dan hardly even realized they were kissing, melting against him, pressing back against him needily. then phil's hands were roaming his body again, stealing the breath from his lungs and the quickening heartbeat from his chest.

and soon he couldn't tell if he was sleeping or hooking up with phil. or maybe both.