"Phil?" Dan asked, looking over at him a bit nervously. They were both sitting on his bed, and they hadn't said a word to each other for the last hour or so.

  "Yeah?" Phil said, still looking down at the papers in his hands. Dan sighed; he was going to be difficult.

  "Are you going to stay mad at me forever?"

  "I'm not mad at you."

  "Well you sure have a funny way of showing it."

  "Dan...." Phil said tightly, running his finger through his hair.

  "Can you even tell me why you're so mad right now?" Dan challenged.

  "I told you I'm not mad."

  "Well then, what are you? Because I'm trying to make you forgive me, and you can barely look at me without-"

  "I'm just tired!" Phil suddenly yelled, and Dan stared at him, eyes wide. It wasn't everyday that Phil got worked up enough to actually yell at someone, especially not Dan.

   "Tired?" Dan said.

  "Yeah." Phil sighed, rubbing his face harshly.  "I just hate having to go through this. All the arguing and the stress." He said.

  "Well, we wouldn't have to argue so much if you weren't so over protective." Dan said.

  "What do you mean 'over protective'?"

  "It's just...ever since me and Jace started hanging out, you've been a lot more possessive about me."

  "So, what, you think I'm jealous  of you guys?"

  "Your words, not mine."

  Phil laughed, but there wasn't any emotion behind it. "Oh, that's just rich." He said. "That's the best you could come up with, is that I'm jealous of you two? Well, trust me, that's the last thing I'm feeling right now."

  "Well then how come you're always asking about him? Like he's just gonna steal me away from you or something?" Dan asked, glaring at him. "You've never done it before, with anyone else. Why now?"

  "In case you haven't noticed, Dan, there aren't too many other people I can do it to. You're not exactly the most popular person."

  Dan didn't say anything. and he heard Phil sigh loudly. "I didn't mean it like that."

  "There's no other possible way you could have meant it, Phil." Dan said angrily. He was practically shaking, from the anger building up inside him, and from the efforts of trying not to let any tears fall from Phil's words.

  "I just hate it." Phil said. "I hate that he's taking you away from me. It was always just you and me, and now I have to make room for one more, and I don't like it. I'm not jealous, I just miss you."

  "Okay, but all of this, arguing with me constantly and instigating things, isn't doing anything to help that."

  "What am I supposed to do then?" Phil asked, throwing his hands up in frustration. "I'm sure as hell not just gonna stand by and watch him pull you away."

  "He's not pulling me away from anywhere."

  "Dan, we barely even talk to each other these days. This is probably the longest we've been together, alone, in the last two weeks."

  "That doesn't mean I'm just gonna leave you."

  "Not yet."

  Dan shook his head. "I can't believe you think I would do something like that."

  "I'm just saying-"

  "You know what?" Dan interrupted him. "I really think you should just leave."

  "You can't just push me away when things get difficult, Dan." Phil said. "That's not doing anything but making this worse."

  "I'm not running away. I just don't feel like doing this right now."

  Phil stared at him, then nodded his head and stood up from where he was sitting on the bed. He leaned over and kissed Dan's cheek, letting his lips linger for longer than normal. "I love you, okay?" He whispered. Dan only nodded, not even looking up from his lap as Phil left and shut the door after him.

  Only when he heard the front door shut, letting him know that Phil was totally gone, did Dan start crying. And it wasn't the silent, controlled crying he had become an expert at, this was outright bawling. Sobs shook his shoulders relentlessly, and he had to cover his mouth to keep from letting any sounds escape.

  Never in his life had Dan ever been this emotional, and definitely not because of one person. All this crying, the anger and even the happiness, was all new to him. There was no doubt that Phil was the reason behind it all, and it was horrible that he could bring this all about, but it was also amazing that he could do it. He had made Dan feel, all these things he had never thought he would possibly feel, and it was different and exciting.

  Phil had this sort of control over him. And he would undoubtedly be the death of Dan.

                                                     **********************************************

  "So you guys are broken up?" Jace asked the next day, as him and Dan headed outside for lunch. Dan had just finished telling him the events of yesterday between him and Phil.

  "Honestly?" He said, sighing. "I don't even know. It's like hot and cold with him, I don't know what he wants."

  "Well, it shouldn't be just about what he wants." Jace said, smiling at him slightly. "You have a choice, too. Do you wanna be with him?"

  Dan paused, actually considering that question. Did he want to be with Phil? Phil was different. He had come in and changed everything about Dan and his life. But was that enough? 

  "I do." Dan answered truthfully. "I do want to be with him, I just wish it wasn't so hard. I wish he wasn't so hard to be with." 

  "If you really lo...like him," Jace said, "then I'm sure you guys will work it out."

  "I hope so." Dan said quietly.

  They had reached their usual spot, under one of the large trees in front of the school, and sat down under it. It was just the two of the out here, like always, and it was quiet.

  "Can I ask you something?" Dan said, looking over at Jace.

  "If you must." Jace replied, smiling.

  "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, okay? But happened with your other... relationships?"

  Jace didn't say anything for a long time, and Dan thought it was too personal a question, but then Jace did answer.

  "I've only had a few boyfriends, maybe three or four." He said  "The last one, he was the worst. We broke up maybe a month ago."

  "What happened?" Dan couldn't help but ask.

  Jace started picking at his shirt, pulling off invisible lint, and continued. "His name was Logan, but I was probably the only one who called him that. To everyone else, he was Jackson; that's his middle name. Seriously, even his parents called him that. I always thought it was really cool, that I was the only one who he allowed to use his real name. Like I was special or something.

  "We were good together. At least, I always thought so. He was always there for me, whenever I needed him, no matter where he was or what he was doing. There was this one time, I had gotten very sick in the middle of school, I was throwing up everywhere, and I had to go home. And when he found out, he walked out right in the middle of some test he was supposed to be taking, just to make sure I was okay. God, I felt like the best person then.

  "And then, one day, he wasn't there. We usually walked home together from school, but that day, he said he couldn't cause he had some make up work to do for one of his classes. And so I was by myself. There were these guys, older guys from my school, and they came up to me. I never really thought anyone had a problem with my sexuality, but apparently, these guys did. They called me 'fag' and 'queer'. Said I didn't deserve to even be alive. And they beat the shit out of me.

  "You don't know how many times I wished, with everything I had in me, that Logan would just happen to walk by and see. That he would swoop in and save me, then kick those losers asses. But he didn't. You know where he was? He was too busy fucking my best friend in the school bathroom.

  "I didn't even find out from him, some girl was telling everyone how she had heard them. They were that loud.

  "He'd been cheating on me for the last month. Said I just wasn't doing it for him, and he had needs that I couldn't fulfill. I slapped him, called him a man whore, he slapped me back and said I was just some pathetic, clingy loser. We broke up, and I moved so I wouldn't have to deal with him anymore."

  Jace went silent, looking over at the school instead of Dan. Dan could tell he was crying, and he reached out and pulled him into his arms tightly. Jace clung to him, almost desperately, and buried his face into Dan's shoulder.

  "I'd say sorry, but I really don't think that would cover it."

  Jace laughed into his shirt, and Dan was glad he wasn't totally depressed. "It's alright." He said. "It's all over and done with, don't worry about it."

  "Of course I'm gonna worry about it." Dan said, pushing him back so he could look him in the eyes. "Someone like you doesn't deserve shit like that happening to them."

  "You have your own, current relationship problems to worry about, Dan." Jace said, smiling shakily and wiping his face.

  "You're important too, Jace."

  There was no way he could have anticipated it, but suddenly, Jace was kissing him. It was a total surprise, and it took Dan a minute to realize what was happening and push him away.

  "What the fuck was that?" Dan said, staring at Jace in disbelief.

  "I'm sorry, I really am." Jace stuttered. "I just, I wasn't thinking, I was all emotional about Logan, and you were being so nice, I couldn't help it."

  "That doesn't mean you kiss me! I have a boyfriend."

  "Do you really?" Jace said. "From the sound of it, you guys don't seem very stable."

  "We're not...just cause we're not getting along too well, doesn't mean I'm gonna cheat on him."

  "Please, Dan?" Jace started begging, moving so that he was face to face with Dan. "Just this once, it's not cheating if we only do it once. He doesn't even have to know, I won't tell. I just need to forget, about all the shit I've been through."

  And when Jace kissed him again, Dan didn't push him away.

                                           ********************************************************

  a/n: Whoa, Jace, isn't that what Logan did to you? Just saying....

Sorry, I have not updated this in a while, I know, but I've been working on another story. A boyxboy story. If you maybe wanna check that out...wink, wink. It's on a different account, @Steril, cause this is for phan fics only.

  Also, if you haven't been made aware, I am starting In Between again, so watch out for that.

  And I changed the cover. How does it look? I made it myself...