Bad Days Come Back.

Dan was lying in bed, his eyes open, his hands grasping at his chest, his breath hitching, and tears streaming down his face.

It was dark outside, it was dark inside, it was dark.

No light was coming in.

Nowhere.

It was plain dark.

And Dan was lying there, cold and trembling, gripping his chest to try and get a breath but his lungs choosing otherwise, choosing to close all the pipes and make him choke.

His head was pulsing with all the terror screaming inside.

His eyes hurt from the amount of tears coming out.

His fingers were blue from how hard he'd tried to grip his own chest.

But he didn't feel the pain of nails digging into his skin, he felt the greater pain inside.

Inside where no one could ever see it.

It'd been two full weeks of Dan spending every day with Phil, every day going to his tattoo salon and learning, helping, simply being close to the only person who seemed to care a little about what would happen with Daniel.

But today, today was different.

No matter how fast the car drove, no matter how much attention Phil gave him, Dan just didn't feel right.

His insides were hurting, his head spinning from screaming voices.

He was just so, so tired.

And no amount of sleep could help him.

That's why he was lying in bed for hours, trying to fall asleep but instead falling apart.

Nothing seemed right.

These past two weeks had been too good to be true.

Dan waited for the moment when he would just wake up and be in the small storage room again, ready to be punished for simply breathing.

No matter how hard the tears came out, there was no sound coming out of him, making Phil think that Dan was asleep.

Dan had seen the hurt in Phil for how off Dan had been all day.

He punished himself with not eating anything all day.

It just seemed right.

He shouldn't hurt Phil.

Who he was to hurt others just because he wasn't feeling right himself?

So Dan curled into himself in the dark, breaking apart with every little edge ripped.

And, at that moment, in that night, when it was too dark for even stars or the moon to come and shine, Daniel wished to be dead, he wished to die and end his existence.

He could hear himself screaming in his head for it, screaming for death to come and take him, ending all this pain, setting others free.

But death just laughed, laughed at him and how stupid he was to think that it could end so fast.

All he got was passing out from not getting enough oxygen.

Still trembling and gripping his chest, getting slowly tortured through the night.

And just for that little moment where he was unconscious , he was free, not feeling a damn thing, having a bit of time to rest.

But, all too soon, the sun rose, waking him up, making his heavy eyelids open up.

Dan slowly stumbled out of his room, feeling dizzy, stumbling to the bathroom.

He passed a mirror on the way, not recognising what he saw.

A boy with dark, angry circles under his deep, almost black eyes, hair a mess, skin so pale, almost grey and unhuman.

Dan hated what he saw, he hated himself and he hates his disease.

So, without really thinking, Dan gripped his hands into fists and punched the mirror, once, twice and again, and again, and again until he was down on the ground with smashed mirror shards all around him, painting everything in different colours of red, loud sobs escaping his lips.

He didn't even hear Phil rushing to the bathroom, being woken up by the sudden sound.

Dan kept hitting the pieces of mirror left with his bloody hands, tears streaming down his face.

Phil froze at the sight but took a deep breath and stepped inside, taking hold of Dan's wrists, making Dan look up.

A sob faded somewhere in between, his eyes meeting Phil's blue ones.

Dan relaxed in the simple but strong touch, not taking his eyes off Phil.

It seemed like Phil's eyes were too bright for Dan's inner demons, making them fade away.

Dan leaned against the wall behind him, letting Phil hold his hands.

- Danny... You should have told me that you were feeling like this again... - Phil murmured almost without sound, softly pulling Dan up.

Dan followed Phil to the bathtub, sitting down, letting blood drip inside there.

Phil started to take care of Dan's cuts without saying another word, leaning down and planting a soft kiss on top of the bandages when he had finished, surprising Dan a bit.

- Let's go, I will make you a tea and something to eat. - Phil stood up, still holding Dan's hands in his.

Dan looked down at the smashed mirror apologetically.

- Don't worry about the mirror. Just be careful not to cut your feet on it. - Phil helped Dan walk around it, holding his hand softly.

And just feeling the touch made Dan feel better already.

He followed Phil to the kitchen, sitting down, feeling really tired once again.

- Here, take these. And drink the tea while it's still warm. - Phil's voice made him look up and made him understand that he had somehow fallen asleep already.

Dan took the small pills and drank all the tea, slowly eating the sandwitch Phil made them both.

It was hard to keep his eyes open, his eyelids sliding shut every couple of seconds.

- Let's get you to the bed, love. - Dan heard Phil's soft voice but he just felt too tired to open his eyes once again, so he let Phil lead him to the bed by holding both his arms.

Dan fell asleep still feeling the warmth that Phil's touch was radiating through his body.

And Dan knew that, when he would wake up, Phil would be there by his side and he would be okay once again.