Unreadable: A Phan AU

What was happening?

What was happening? I stood out front of the shop and replayed the whole scene in my head. From the deep heavy breaths to the bright clear blue eyes. I wanted to go home, turn off all of the lights, fall into bed, and process the days events. But I couldn't. The mysterious fights was still in the office and I had a job to do. Not the "finding an employee" job, but a job to figure out what made this boy special.

"Sorry for the long wait, I had to take care of a few files before I leave for the night." I sighed as I returned to the blue-eyed boy, trying to seem exhausted and casual. I didn't want him to know I was nearly shaking with anxiety. It WAS my first encounter with a true stranger in years, so excuse me for having a few nerves.

"No problem, it's not like I have anything to get back to." he replied with a frustrated yet slightly somber tone.

"Uh...yeah. Let's get this started. Your name?" he stared back at me with radiating aquamarine eyes. Why am I so obsessed with his eyes? I thought repeatedly, but I knew the answer. My whole life was centered around focusing on eyes. Usually, they held so much information, I never got to appreciate their color. And the color of this boy's eyes... I could stare into them forever. Anyway, getting back to the story...

He looked thoughtfully at me, as if I'd asked him the meaning of life. As if I'd asked him to solve an unanswered equation. He looked so puzzled that you'd think I'd spoken in a new language. I had to admit that I was on the edge of my seat to see what inspirational words would match his expression.

"...wha?" So much for inspirational.

"I asked what your name was." I stated matter-of-factly. He wasn't making the best first impression. I didn't know why, but I wanted him to be different. Different from all the other obnoxious stoners and young adults that wanted to work here.

"Oh, sorry, I'm Philip. Philip Lester, but I go by Phil usually." he half-mumbled the last part, so I had to lean in to hear it. For someone who seemed so desperate for to get an interview, he seemed really distracted.

"Okay, I'm Daniel. Daniel Howell, but I just go by Dan." I mimicked his response while grinning. Why am I trying so hard to get him to like me? I never put effort into making friends. And it was true. The thing was, that I never had to. I always knew the right thing to say, so everyone immediately wanted to befriend me.

"Nice to meet you." he returned my smile but with only a small, rather shy one.

"As you, so the first thing is..." I looked through the list of questions Matthew, my boss, gave me to ask to the applicants. They were all too generic for what I wanted to know. I wanted to know everything. For one of the first times in a while of not knowing something, it made me all the more curious to.

"...is...what's your age?" I asked and tapped somewhere on the page to make it look like it was official. I decided to start with a few normal ones before getting to the serious questions.
"I'm currently 26 years old." he said with a more formal and professional tone, as if he'd just realized he was in an interview. Four years older than me.

"Okay, what is your height the last time you were measured?"

"Six foot, two inches." Huh, an inch less than me.

"Good good, uh, what is your date of birth?"

"January 30, 1987." About 4 months away from mine... Wait, why do I keep comparing him to myself? What am I even doing? He's just like everyone else. I might as well just had home now and give up on finding a co-worker. I mean, he looks the most tolerable. And we do have similar hair and clothes-

"Listen, we don't have to do all this questioning stuff. You're obviously capable of figuring out who is and isn't a serial killer. How about you just ask me things you want to know?" he asked. He wasn't impatient or anything, but he seemed to know how meaningless this was like I did. I was glad too, it was a much easier way to get any important information than any idea I had.

"Okay...I'll take you up on that offer. What's distracting you? What have you been worrying about?" I asked him without a moment's waste.

" Oh. I didn't mean...I meant things...I meant maybe a favorite band or animal..." Phil stuttered as looked around the small room, refusing to meet my eyes. Like I said, it was a small room, so he didn't have a lot of places to look and as soon as his eyes met mine, I knew it was something more than a break up or overdue rent.

"Phil, you can trust me, I won't judge you and this won't count in the interview. In fact, you already have the job so it definitely won't impact your chances." I had no idea where those words cane from as they left my mouth but I did mean then. The first reason was because he did fit all of the qualifications and seemed the most relatable, but the second and main reason was because I wanted him to trust me. I wanted him to tell me what was wrong and I desperately wanted to help him.

"Wait, are you serious? You barely asked me anything and I saw how many people came in here today. Why'd I get the job? I mean, I'm thankful and extremely happy but...why?" He asked with a mix of confusion, gratitude, wonderment, and curiosity.

"If I'm honest? Because you're different. You aren't obnoxious and cocky like every other person who applied here. I respect that." I stated. There was no lying, no deceiving to get ahead, but the plain truth.

"Thank you, Dan. I appreciate it...and about the reason why I'm a bit unnerved at the moment isn't really important. I wouldn't want you worried about it." Phil shrugged as he began to stand up.

"It is important, I wouldn't want you to leave the shop unsatisfied...it's kinda my job." I joked, desperately trying to keep him from leaving. He seemed to get the joke as well and repayed me with a genuine laugh.

"You're very persistent...but okay. What happened was that my close friend/roommate and I fought over something rather large yesterday. I stormed off to get some fresh air. When I returned, he was gone. Not only him, but about half the furniture in our flat. The reason I need this job is to fill the space he'd usually help with the rent." he explained not leaving the sadness out of his voice.

"Well, why don't you both just forgive each other? I mean, if you were close friends, it couldn't have been too bad, could it?" I regretted those words as soon as they left my mouth. Phil burst into tears and cried softly into his hands. Usually, when someone cried, I'd stand awkwardly in the corner until someone comforted them. Oddly enough, I rushed straight to him and held his shaking figure in my arms until the sobs stopped coming.
"You can't be alone with your thoughts tonight. Trust me, it's the last thing you need. How about, just for tonight, you can sleep at my place. That way, if you think about it, you can come straight to me." I said without a second thought. He looked me in the eyes and after a minute of silence, nodded his head.
I'm always the last person to comfort someone...so why am I so eager to help Phil? It's not a good idea to let a complete stranger stay the night in your home. I thought as we walked side-by-side towards my apartment. The whole walk was filled with small talk and questions about each other. Strangely enough, we had a lot in common from music taste to daily habits.

We got to my door and he seemed a little hesitant at the new territory but when he saw the paused Mario Kart game on the tv, he made himself comfortable. Maybe this could be a good idea... I thought as we battled in races throughout the night, both forgetting all our troubles and worries.