Corruption

Dan woke slowly. He felt groggy – like he'd slept for a week instead of a night. He knew he had to get up – a nurse would be at his door shortly – but he just didn't want to. He only allowed himself a minute more of self-pity before hoisting himself out of bed. He had to show progress. He had to look like he was better. He had to show them what they wanted to see as "improvement" because Dan just wanted to go home.

It wasn't until he had opened his mouth to tell Phil to get out so he could change that Dan realized Phil was nowhere to be found. He shrugged it off, unbothered by his angel's absence, and went about his day. He hardly even noticed Phil was gone. It wasn't until much later, well into the night, when Dan found himself alone with his thoughts that he became truly aware of the empty space in the corner that Phil spent most of his time.

Where the hell could he have gone? Dan hadn't had a lot of time to himself where his thoughts could run wild anymore with Phil hovering over his shoulder all hours of the day and night, and he certainly hadn't missed the thoughts which kept him up until well into the morning; the worries that resurfaced every time he was alone. Phil's constant complaining was usually enough to keep those kinds of thoughts away.

"Goddamnit, Phil," Dan grumbled.

"You called?"

"Jesus Christ!" Dan gasped.

Phil laughed from where he suddenly sat, cross-legged at the foot of Dan's bed. "Not quite; I'm just his favorite uncle."

Dan was still too busy working to calm the pounding in his chest to register Phil's snarky comment. "Motherfucker," he muttered.

Phil raised a curious eyebrow. "What's your problem?"

"Y-You just surprised me!" Dan sneered. "Where have you been all day?"

Phil simply shrugged. "Around. I was never far."

"What the fuck does that even mean?!" Dan groaned, rolling over to put his back to his obnoxious angel.

"You're especially moody today." Phil was grinning as his wings fluttered slightly.

Dan looked over his shoulder just enough to glare at him. "You're irritatingly peppy today."

Phil rolled his eyes. "I don't know who shit in your cornflakes this morning, but I don't particularly care. What I do care about is when we can get the fuck out of here."

Dan sighed. "I already told you, we're going home at the end of the week."

"But that's so far," Phil whined. "I want to see more exciting things than this place."

"Get over yourself, feathers," Dan grumbled as he rolled away, already tired of the exchange.

Phil let out an indignant gasp. "Well, I never!" he giggled.

Dan groaned. "Would you fuck back off to where ever it is you decided to hide all day? I'm tired, and, frankly, I'm sick of listening to you bitch and whine."

The corners of the angel's mouth dipped, his wings flicking forward slightly as if they could protect him from Dan's words. "Well, no reason to be rude about it. If you wanted me to go you could have just asked," he grumbled, eyes downcast.

Phil had hoped that a day without him would make Dan miss his presence; possibly even get them on almost-friendly terms. Hating each other for the rest of Dan's life seemed boring and unnecessarily tiresome to Phil. Apparently, Dan did not share the angel's hopes.

Dan was not expecting his words to impact his angel in any way, so he couldn't help his surprise at Phil's melancholy tone. Confused, he rolled back around to confront this issue in some way – an apology seemed like the best approach, but that certainly was not about to happen – but before he could even find words of any kind, Phil was gone.

Dan sighed – a bit dramatically even for him – and shut his eyes tight enough to see stars.