Chapter Text
Phil was never one to think much about feelings. usually, he just found out he had them, then forgot about them until they wore off.
That was, of course, until Theodore fucking Uris.
Teddy drove Phil off the rails. He tried to not think about Teddy, and forget about him, like he did with many others, but no. He simply couldn’t, and that pissed him off.
Everytime Teddy scowled at something stupid that Phil had said, his face flushed and his stomach had weird feeling, one of bewilderment and… love?
No, thats not right. Phil couldn’t be in love, especially not with his best friend. And especially not with a boy.
Not that Phil would hate someone for liking the same gender, but he was afraid people would do so to him. More so, he just thought it was morally questionable for him to like boys than if another person did.
For example, if Loony Lilly told him she liked a girl, he wouldn’t think much of it. But, him liking a boy? Never.
Phil pressed his palms to his eyes, colors blooming from the pressure. He groaned. He shouldn’t be thinking of things like this on a goddamn Thursday morning. If he pondered longer, he would be late.
Speaking of being late, Phil’s mother knocked on his bedroom door. "Phil, honey, are you awake? It’s 7 o’clock sharp and we wouldn’t want you to be late."
"Yeah, i’m awake! I’m, uh, getting dressed right now, actually." Phil called, pushing the covers of him and quickly hopping out of bed.
"Okay, come down in 10 minutes for breakfast." Phil heard his mom’s footsteps receding down the hall.
Phil sighed, grabbing the pair of pants hanging from his chair and a random short from his closet, pulling the shirt over his head and buttoning his pants.
Grabbing a par of socks and hurrying to the bathroom to brush his teeth, he couldn’t help but let his mind wander. Again, he thought about Teddy, as per usual.
They had chemistry, english, and maths together today. Phil usually didn’t pay attention when he was in class with Teddy, to busy trying to act like he wasn’t totally in love with him. He was terrified that someone might notice his odd behaviour and point it out, resorting to everyone calling him a faerie, or a queer, and worst of all… Teddy hating his guts.
Phil spit out the toothpaste, wiping his mouth with a towel. He sighed, leaning over the bathroom counter to look at himself in the mirror.
"What are you doing?" A voice from behind him asked.
"Shit!" Phil screeched, jumping back. "Susie! You scared me!"
"And you cursed." Susie giggled. "I’ll tell Mom if you don’t scram, now."
"Alright, I was about to leave anyways." Phil sighed. For an 8 year old, Susie sure has an attitude.
.𖥔 ݁ ˖🛸── .✦
Once Phil parked his bike and walked into school, making his way to his locker, Teddy was there, leaning against Phil’s locker and impatiently checking his watch. Phil stoped in his tracks.
Teddy has his usual annoyed expression plastered on his face, lips slightly parted and eyebrows raised. Phil’s heart skipped a beat. He needed to gather his senses. This was nothing but a small, insignificant crush. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and-
"Move out of the way, loser." Someone barked, shoving Phil onto a locker.
"Ow." Phil muttered, rubbing his left shoulder. What a great way to be snapped back to reality.
Phil made his way towards Teddy, subtly squeezing through a couple people.
"You’re late." Teddy stated, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, yeah I know. Some dickhead shoved me on my way here." Phil muttered, opening his locker with a loud thud.
Teddy frowned. "Who?"
"I didn’t see the idiot. Shoved me from behind." Phil groaned. "Shit, I forgot my biology textbook at home. Could I borrow yours..?"
"Yeah, sure." Teddy waved his hand, fixing his posture and looking around. "You better hurry though, ‘cause the bell’s ringing in about 2 minutes, and we still need to pass by my locker so you can get the textbook."
"Thanks Teds, thats extremely kind of you to met me borrow your textbook." Phil curtsied.
What Phil didn’t notice was how red Teddy’s face went.
Phil straitened up, slamming his locker closed with his foot. "Alright, off to the textbook we go!"
Phil marched in the direction of Teddy’s locker. Teddy hid a smile behind a cough, following behind and rolling his eyes playfully before returning to his previous demeanour.
.𖥔 ݁ ˖🛸── .✦
Phil sat down in his assigned seat in chemistry, behind Becky D. and next to Cheryl D. They both wouldn’t stop passing notes to eachother, stifling giggles. Phil slumped in his seat. He wanted to be beside Teddy, not two people he hardly knew. He glanced at Teddy, who was sitting to Phil’s far right. He was slumped over his notebook, quickly jotting things down.
He was mouthing something Phil couldn’t quite catch, his pencil scratching on his notebook, occasionally glancing at M. Marshall to follow the classwork. Teddy caught Phil’s gaze, raising an eyebrow.
Phil’s eyes widened, and he quickly turned towards the board before anyone else noticed.
.𖥔 ݁ ˖🛸── .✦
History went by quick, probably because Phil was too busy daydreaming instead of actually laying attention to the class.
Biology was quite boring. Mrs. Prescott talked on an on about politics, but Phil already knew that a third World War was going to happen, so he didn’t have any interest in the class, so he resorted to doodling nonsense in his notebook.
At lunch, they served sloppy joes and jello. Phil scrunched his nose when he grabbed the food from the cafeteria. Once him and Teddy sat down, they sat in a comfortable silence before Phil actually started talking about the odd dream he had, about this Robin variant who was wearing pants (an absurd idea, really), and had some sort of staff he would fight the villains with. Teddy stayed quiet, with the occasional peep of "Thats weird.", "Say that again?", or "Hilarious.".
Maths, english and geography were quite uneventful. In english, Mrs. Prescott talked on and on about politics, but Phil already knew that a third World War was going to happen, so he didn’t have any interest in the class, so he resorted to doodling nonsense in his notebook. In maths Phil tried really hard to actually listen and follow the class, but he somehow found himself daydreaming once more. Geography was inherently boring. Phil hated geography. Shy did he need to know where specific countries were and the economy or whatever? It was boring. And anyways, he probably wouldn’t need this shit when it’s his turn to be an adult. He wanted to be a writer. What use would geography be?
Phil shoved his books into his locker, telling Teddy about an alien story he made up in geography class. Teddy was fidgeting with the hem of his sweater, looking around the hallway, as if he was looking for someone. Phil kept glancing back at him, but tried to refrain himself from staring. Teddy’s curls got slightly messier during the day, flopping carelessly on his head. Phil wanted to run his fingers through Teddy’s hair. He wanted to so badly. But he couldn’t. He didn’t want to risk being outed, or anything like that. So, instead of staring at Teddy once again, he turned back to his locker to grab his notebooks and slammed the locker shut.
He stopped talking and took a deep breath. "Well, i’m all set. Where’s your stuff?"
"Huh? Oh, i have it already." Teddy shrugged.
Phil noticed something was off about him today. Sure, he was usually pretty quiet - and just pretty overall - but today his quietness has a certain… tone.
"Teds? Are you okay?" Phil grabbed Teddy!’s shoulder.
"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?" Teddy looked away, avoiding Phil’s eyes.
"Come ok, you can tell me. Somethings clearly off about you!" Phil pressed.
"I’m okay! Okay? Nothings happened and I’m just a bit tired." Teddy snapped back.
Phil’s hand fell back to his side. "Alright."
A car honked. Both boys turned to see whose car did that, and noticed Teddy’s dad, a scowl printed on his face. "Theodore Uris, get over here this instant." His father said. "We mustn’t be late."
Teddy nodded. He quickly turned back to Phil. "Well, I’ve gotta go. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Phil waved, making his way to his bike. He didn’t want Mr. Uris to blow up at him like he did a few months ago.
On his way home, Phil was distracted, again. He couldn’t stop thinking about how weird Teddy was today. Did he do something wrong? Or was Teddy really just tired. Or did his father do something? Phil wished he knew everything. For fuck’s sake, he wished he could help.
Yet, he found himself thinking about Teddy, in that sinful way again