amber-infused street lights flickered to the pacing hesitation in their footsteps as their tattered shoes clattered against the aftermath of a desolating london storm; their bloodshot irises brimming with a trickling uncertainty as they walked in white noise. phil exhaled a hazed cloud of nicotine-laced oxygen as he dragged his chapped bottom lip in between his chattering teeth, "so this is it?" his blood-tinged gaze darted to the side as he saw the brunette's bruised bottom lip quiver as the man was met with the murderous ghost of his past in the form of a rundown gas station.

tainted water trickled down the cracked gutters of the crimson-stained building; tainted splatters of an aftermath of revenge-driven mistakes slashed across the scratched door. stains of bloody knuckles and dragging fingernail-scrapes laid plastered across the door; the brunette gulping as his tremulous fingertips skimmed across the peeling wood. "this is it," he nodded as he pushed open the barely-hinged door; the flickering, yellowed gas station lights reflecting across the glinting minefield of vodka-tainted glass shards and dented beer cans.

phil furrowed his eyebrows together as he walked past the hesitating brunette, the sounds of cracked bottles and misery crushing underneath his footsteps. "why didn't you tell me about this place?" the charcoal-haired man inquired as his fingers brushed against the light switch; filling the room with a flickering, viridescent light. phil met dan's melancholic gaze as he turned around at the brunette's uncharacteristic silence. "because it isn't curare's," he said quietly, the azure-eyed man's gaze trailing forwards until they were met with a tattered, plaid couch with an empty syringe laid across it. "it's mine."

the ebony-haired man inhaled sharply, stepping across the tiny liquor bottles and ripped packets of white powder as he leant against a dust-laced table; torn-up notes and blood-smeared photographs scattered across the ripped plastic covering. "troye," he mumbled under his breath, picking up a stained polaroid of the curly-headed brunette as he heard dan's reluctance-traced footsteps. "the file we had on him was almost nonexistent, who.." he trailed off as his bloodshot eyes scanned over the stolen autopsy reports and scribbled, question marked names. "who was he? why did he die?"

dan swallowed the resistant toxicity coating his stinging throat as he exhaled, "he was killed. because of me." phil turned around, furrowing his eyebrows together as his chapped lips parted, "the autopsy said suicide." the brunette scoffed mockingly, quirking an eyebrow as he shoved his chilled hands in his pockets. "the coroner was corrupt, paid off for the fake report by the people who killed troye, and him a few weeks after the report was crafted," he spoke bitterly, kicking at the miniature tequila bottles caked over the peeled tiling.

"who were they?" phil questioned as he turned slowly around to face the mocha-haired man, "who killed him?" dan gulped, giving a weak shrug as he began to skulk out the building. "i don't, i don't know," he muttered under his clouding breath; a ghostly haze bleeding out from between his lips as he shivered at the sudden gush of wintry air. "i still don't know."

phil exhaled hesitantly as he joined him outside, feeling snow begin to seep through his ripped jacket as he watched the brunette light a cigarette. "you never told me anything about-"

"about me shoving three hundred and fifty milligrams of heroin up my arm after my friend died?" the brunette weakly shrugged, quirking an eyebrow as he tremulously returned his cigarette to his blood-stained lips. "about me murdering countless people in an attempt to quiet my daddy issues and the," he paused, wryly chuckling as he scratched the back of his neck, "voices in my head."

the ebony-haired man bit his lip as his pattering footsteps ceased, his crimson-tinged irises darting up to meet dan's reluctant gaze. "you never asked," he weakly grinned, tossing his cigarette to the darkened sludge as he shoved his tremulous hands in his snow-seeped pockets. "three seventy-five," phil said under his bleak break after a silent moment, "i took three seventy-five." a wry grin tempted to peak at the brunette's lips as he darkly laughed, walking closer towards the raven-haired man.

"you know what," he started, his wired fingertips skimming along phil's coated forearms as he tangled their fingers together. "i've always thought you were pretty," he smirked, leaning inches forward until their stained lips touched. snow freckled their shoulders as dan shivered into the kiss, chuckling softly as he shuddered back. the ebony-haired man smirked as he met the multifaceted, chocolate irises of the tremulous man in front of him.

"i've always thought you were beautiful."