Dan was as heartbroken as he'd ever been. He'd honestly thought it couldn't get worse than it already was, but it really had. Knowing that Phil still loved him and he still chose not to have anything to with Dan was possibly the worst feeling in the world. And Dan was starting to fall apart.

  He had stopped going to school, cause what was the point? It wasn't as if he would actually pay attention anyways, and he didn't feel like putting himself through the torture of seeing Phil walk past him time after time and just completely ignore him. Especially not after what he'd said all those days ago. It just wasn't worth it.

  His parents were home sometimes, and they'd tried countless times to get him out of his depressive state, but to no avail. He didn't eat, he didn't sleep, he didn't shower even. He had started locking his door, because it was annoying having his mum come into his room at random times without knocking, and he didn't feel like listening to her sickening 'words of encouragement'.

  He sat in his room, from dawn to dusk, staring at the ceiling or one of the walls, sometimes with his headphones blasting some stupidly relate able song about heart break and sadness, or just in the deafining quiet of the small room. It was pretty much routine now.

  He'd lost all kinds weight. None of his clothes fit him anymore, and so he was usually just in a now-too-large T-shirt and his boxers.

  He was just done. He had no encouragement whatsoever to try and talk to Phil again, it would probably just make things worse. He had no one else he could talk to, not about this. And so he was on on his own.

  He was sure that at some point, he would get over this, and things would be okay again. Whether it was a few hours from now, a few days or even a few months. But for the time being he was just stuck in this sort of limbo.

  In that moment, he saw nothing in his future that would ever bring him back to the way he had been before.

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  Usually, when one of his parents started knocking on his door, he just closed his eyes and waited until they finally gave up and left. And he did the same thing now, but the knocking never stopped, and it was starting to give him a headache.

  "Open the damn door, Dan, or I'll fucking break it down."

  Well, that wasn't his mum.

  He rolled gracelessly out from under his burrow of duvets and pillows and stumbled towards the door, blinking harshly as he opened it and glared at the pair of green eyes on the other side.

  "What the hell are you doing here, Jace?" He questioned, his voice thick and husky from not using it for the last few weeks.

  "Let me in, it's time for your intervention." He replied cheerfully, and pushed past Dan without waiting for a reply. Dan sighed heavily, but closed the door again before facing the other boy warily.

  "How did you even get in, my parents aren't home?"

  "I take pride in my lock picking skills."

  "You broke into my house?"

  "It's not like you would have answered the door. And I did try knocking. Jesus, you've really let yourself go, haven't you?" Jace said pitifully, regarding Dan's baggy clothes and unkempt hair. Dan only sighed at him, before going back to his bed and crawling under the mountain of blankets again. He buried his face under as well.

  "Just go away, I don't feel like bitching to you about my personal life." He moaned.

  "Too bad, I'm not leaving. Seriously, Dan, this is just unhealthy. When's the last time you've eaten?" Jace replied, and Dan could practically hear the eye roll in his snarky tone.

  "I'm perfectly fine, okay? I don't need you, or anyone, to tell me I'm anything but."

  "Honestly, Dan. I'm worried about you, alright?" Jace said, and Dan felt just the slightest bit of guilt at hearing the worry in his voice. "Is it because of Phil?"

  "It has nothing to do with him." Dan basically snarled, and they both knew he was lying. It was everything about him that was causing this.

  Suddenly, his protective mound of blankets was torn off his body, and Dan curled in on himself at the sudden loss of warmth. He could feel Jace standing over him, glaring down at his thin form, but Dan didn't look at him.

  "You need to stop being such a bitch." Jace said angrily, and Dan peeked up at him in shock. "Now, here's what going to happen. You're going to get out this bed and go take a fucking shower, cause you smell horrible. And then you're gonna put some clothes on and eat a decent fucking meal, and we're gonna talk. You got it?"

  Dan sat up slightly, staring open mouthed at him, but nodded his head dumbly. If he didn't know any better, he would say Jace was actually trying to take care of him. And he was positive there was no way he would be allowed to refuse.

  He climbed out of bed for the second time that day, and proceeded to do exactly as Jace had ordered, taking a much needed shower. Truthfully, he felt so much better in doing so, and the tension in his body slowly started to fade away as the warm water cascaded over him. It was heavenly.

  He really had lost a considerable amount of weight the last few weeks, and the only the clothes he had that remotely fit him were a shirt from two years ago that he'd found in the back of his closet, and a pair of Phil's sweatpants he'd left over a while ago. He was a bit slimmer than Dan, but they were still noticeably baggy.

  Dan hadn't had much of an appetite recently, but he suddenly found himself starving when he walked into the kitchen and saw Jace at the stove, making some unknown food. Dan didn't care what it was, he just wanted it in his mouth.

  "See, you already look better." Jace said when he saw Dan walk into the kitchen. Dan scowled at him, but he knew it was true. He felt better.

  "Why are you even doing this?" Dan asked as he sat at the table. "I mean, we're not the best of friends or anything. I don't see why you suddenly care so much."

  He waited, and watched Jace's back in silence. Jace didn't answer him for a while, not until he'd finished cooking and handed Dan a plate full of food that surely couldn't be finished by one person. Dan automatically dug in, not caring how much he was most likely embarrassing himself.

"I kinda know what you're going through right now, okay?" Jace started, and Dan paused slightly in his shoveling of food to listen. "I know I might come off as a heartless asshole, but I do know what break ups are like."

  "We didn't so much 'break up'. It was more like 'torn apart'. And still I ask, why do you care? I mean, you kinda caused it." Dan said, his mouth half full and his eyes curiously staring into Jace's green ones.

  "We've been over this. I'm sorry, okay? And just because I was.....the root of this, it doesn't mean I don't know how much it hurts. Because I do, trust me. I've had my fair share of heart break." Jace sighed, and smiled tiredly at him. "I was just like this at one point, Dan. And I know how much it fucking hurts, having your heart ripped out like you did. But being a reclusive bum isn't going to make it any better. I don't want to see you like this, you have too much to just throw away."

  Dan stared down at his half empty plate, shoving the food around it mindlessly instead of eating.

  This was a completely different side of Jace, that Dan had never seen before. It was kind of unnerving, seeing him be so.....compassionate and caring. But it was also somewhat reassuring to see that he wasn't always such a giant bag of dicks.

  "Well, what else am I supposed to do then, Jace." Dan said eventually, giving up on the food entirely and dropping his fork. "He hates me, alright? He told me that he couldn't be with me, but he also said he still loves me. Do you know how fucking worthless that makes me feel? To know I'm not worth it, not worth it for him to try and forgive me? I'll never find anyone like him, ever again, I know that. And if I can't have him, then I don't fucking care about anything else. He's all that matters.To me, he's all that matters."

  "Then stop being such a pussy and tell him that."

  "What do you think I've been trying to do?" Dan said desperately, and he didn't even care that he had started crying again, in front of Jace. "He doesn't listen to a word I say, he doesn't look at me, he doesn't fucking acknowledge my presence in any kind of way. There's nothing left, I'm done. I'm so done."

  Jace reached over the table and smacked him straight across the face.

  "You need to calm down." He said, and Dan stared at him in disbelief, holding his now throbbing cheek. "All this moaning and whining about not getting your way is really fucking annoying. If he doesn't listen, you need to make him listen. Punch him in the face, if you have to, but pining after him like some little bitch isn't gonna do shit. So grow and pair, get the fuck out of here and go get your man back."

  This was honestly the weirdest pep talk Dan had ever received, but oddly enough, it made him realize that what he was doing wasn't doing shit to help him. Jace was right, he needed to talk to Phil, and stop being a wuss about it. He'd been through enough crap, he shouldn't be intimidated by Phil, he shouldn't be scared that he would be rejected. He already was rejected, it couldn't be much worse. He really had nothing left to lose.

  "You didn't have to hit me, douche bag." Dan said, rubbing his face and wincing slightly at the sting.

"Sorry." Jace said. "You were going kind of crazy there."

  Dan laughed at that, and soon enough it turned into a loud, boisterous sort of laugh that made his stomach hurt and his eyes watery. Jace stared at him in confusion, most likely wondering if he needed to go to some sort of asylum.

  "I'm sorry, just..." Dan started, but trailed off into more giggles. "This whole situation is kinda fucked up."

  "What do you mean?" Jace asked, still clearly dumbfounded.

  "I mean, look at this, look at us." Dan exclaimed, pointing to the two of them wildly. "You're, like, my ex-mistress or something, I cheated on my boyfriend with you. And now you're giving me advice about how to get him back." He dissolved into laughter again, clutching his sides rightly. "It's kind of hilarious."

  Jace thought about it for a moment, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. "I guess it is kind of funny." He said, and as he came to that realization, he started laughing too. Not as maniacally as Dan, but still loud.

  They were a sight to see, two teenage boys who had supposedly been sworn enemies, laughing hysterically at seemingly nothing in their pajamas in the kitchen. But in that moment, Dan was happy. And he was hopeful.

  But most of all, he was downright content.

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  a/n: See, Jace isn't all that horrible. And I kinda like his potty mouth. You tell him Jace.

  But yeah, how was this? Is it getting good? Are you just dying to know what happens next? Because holy shit, it is far, far, far from over.

  IMPORTANT NEWS: Okay, so I don't know if any of you read any of my other phanfictions, but not counting this one, I have three in progress: "In Between", "In My Dreams", and "Demonic". And I have not updated those in weeks BUT THEY ARE STILL GOING TO CONTINUE, I PROMISE. I just want to focus mainly on this story, since its the most popular, and "Discovering Love" (like, seriously, I'm really close to 10k reads, like what?) So please don't give up on those, if you haven't already, I swear once this is done, I'll get back on track with those. Really. I swear. On my life.

  That's it, my babies, see ya later. Peace. :3