Unreadable: A Phan AU

We had the day...

It was about 3:00 pm now. Normally, I'd be making my way to the shop, but I had the day off since I interviewed for a new employee. Instead of spending the next several hours online, I decided to go into town. I'd been running low on... just about everything and I rarely felt this energetic. Phil joined me, considering it'd be weird to leave him alone at my flat and he got upset when he even thought about going to his.

We headed off around 4:00 pm and ended up spending the majority of the day visiting shops we'd either never be able to afford, or buying small things that's last for maybe a month. In one of the larger stores, Phil and I split up to look around. I used this time to my advantage and found him a tiny lion made of marble. I remembered him going on and on about the reasons it was his favorite animal from the night before. I snapped out of my thoughts when I realized I was being addressed.

"-be $12.25. Would you like your receipt?"

"No thanks, it'll just end up in the trash anyway." I told the overly-happy cashier as I left. After stuffing the poorly hidden gift in my coat, I set off to find Phil and to head home. I'd need to come back soon to get what I actually needed, but I'd figure that out later.

I found Phil a few minutes later. He had been debating whether or not to get a colorful jumper littered with dragons. As we were heading back to my flat for the night, I decided to stop at the shop to give Phil a quick tour. That way, he'd be able to start right away tomorrow instead of taking the majority of the day adjusting.

"I've been meaning to ask, what exactly is the theme of the store?" Phil blurted out as we finished.

"I still don't know. I've worked here for nearly 5 months and I couldn't tell you if we were a toy store or a furniture outlet," I laughed even though it was true. The shop wasn't exactly huge, but it had everything from kitchen appliances to high-tech camping gear.

"So if I understand, my job is just to restock and do an inventory check every blue moon?" he questioned.

"Exactly. It isn't the most complicated set of tasks, but someone has to do it or it turns into a huge pile of confusion."

"Wait, what do you do then? I've been here once or twice, but Mr. Rivers is always working the cashier."

"You can call him Matthew. I know he's your boss but he doesn't like being too formal. He's usually layed back as long as you get the job done...and make him money of course. Which is my job. I walk around the shop and help the customers find exactly what they're looking for, and even a little more sometimes. I used to pretend to just be another customer so it wouldn't seen like I was just trying to get them to buy stuff, but everyone knows I'm always here now so that fell apart. No one seemed to mind though, like I said, I helped them do their job and they helped me do mine." I explained as I locked up the store.

"Okay, but how do you know what everyone wants?" He continued. I'd only known Phil for 24 hours but I felt the need to tell him everything. Part of it was that if I opened up, maybe he would too. Another part was just that he was the first true friend I'd ever had and I wanted to keep it that way.

The larger part of me decided against it. "Well, I-uh, I just have a really good intuition I guess?" It came out more as a question than an answer.

"Huh, then what's my intuition? What do I want right here, right now?" the black-haired man challenged as he stopped right in front of me outside my flat. He had a playful smirk yet a darker shade had covered his eyes, making them seem different than I had seen before. I suddenly felt flustered and seemed to trip up on my words as I tried to regain my composure.

"I-I don't know, you tell me." I retaliated. My words taking on more of a confident edge the more I spoke. "What do you want- what do you crave, this very second?" I felt my blood rushing and my palms start to sweat as he got impossibly closer until he was an inch away from my face. He leaned in and whispered in my ear:

"To destroy you in Mario Kart again." his aggresive, dark tone, replaced with a light, cheerful one as he darted up the stairs to my door. I would have been frozen if it wasn't for the lasting heat his breath left onto my neck. Even with the leftover electricity running through my body, it had been nearing winter and I felt the cool air catch up with me. I rushed up the stairs so Phil wouldn't notice my hesitation and we began a game.

After Phil attempted, yet utterly failed, to keep his promise to destroy me at Mario Kart, we went to bed. Well, "went to bed" seems a little off. Try "spent 20 minutes arguing over Phil's plan to go to bed earlier, but ultimately losing."

As I layed in bed, I allowed myself to finally think about everything. Not only had I allowed someone I didn't know, which was a new experience on its own, to work beside me for the foreseeable future, get physically close to me, and stay in my apartment; I made my first true friend. It had been one hell of a day.

Even though I let myself get lost in my thoughts, I hadn't dared to think about our encounter just a few hours earlier. I felt the same electric intensity I had when he had hugged me the first night. I was, yet again for the umpteenth time, at an absolute loss at what was happening since I met Phil.

What was that look in his eyes? Why had they gotten that dark, determined shade? Sure, I've seen a similar look in the eyes of previous people while drunk and trying to get a hook-up, but it wasn't nearly as strong. Plus, why would Phil be like that? I had been with him the whole day and he couldn't have had a drink.

Aside from that, why had I acted the way I had? It was like I touched a star. I haven't felt that alive in... who knows how long! Should I ask Phil about it? Would he think I'm weird? Am I weird? Is it normal? If it is, why haven't I felt like that before? I only feel that way when I'm with Phil. Maybe it's just how you feel around a true friend? But I felt it when I first looked into his eyes. His exhilarating, blue eyes...

I fell asleep that night with the image of that wonderful color in my mind.