Those Who Trust (Phan)

Part 9

Phil stood at the doorframe and looked into the dark room. With every second passing he felt like the walls were closing in on him as Dan's screams turned louder, were mixed now with sobs as well. Not knowing what to do, he got out his phone and dialled PJ's number, ignoring the fact that the clock showed four a.m..

"Have you lost your mind, Lester?"

"Dan is having a nightmare and I don't know what to do." He himself could hear the desperation in his voice and apparently so did PJ, because he sounded wide awake. "I'm on my way."

"And what am I supposed to do n-" PJ had already hung up and Phil was on his own again. Dan's friend would not arrive for another half an hour at least.

Phil turned on the lights in Dan's room and squinted at the brightness of them. He could see Dan's face now, the distress clearly written on his features. He didn't want to go and wake him up, didn't want to break the promise he had given, but Dan sounded scared and he couldn't just stand there and listen to his cries either until PJ would arrive.

When he took the first step inside, it felt wrong. For a moment he thought Dan might open his eyes and scream at him for not keeping his word, but the younger man was still asleep and trashing around and Phil took note of the sweat covering his skin.

"Dan?" he asked hesitantly as his shins pressed against the edge of the bed now. His hand reached out but he didn't dare touch. "Dan?" His voice increased in loudness but it wasn't enough to wake the other man up. Dan stilled, however, in his movements for a few seconds, only quiet whimpers escaping trembling lips.

Watching him like this, Phil felt almost a physical pain in his chest. It was an intimate moment and Dan looked beautiful with eyes closed and mouth slightly apart, but the tear tracks on his cheek and the heavy breathing destroyed the magic of this moment that could have been.

"Dan?" Phil sat down on the edge of the mattress and placed his hand on one of Dan's shoulders and started shaking him lightly. Dan's body jerked away from the touch as if Phil's hand was made out of burning hot coals. "Dan, it's okay."

Panic was slowly taking over Phil's thoughts. He increased the pressure of his hand on Dan's shoulder, shook harder, talked louder. "Dan, you need to wake up. Can you hear me? Dan!"

Their heads nearly knocked together as Dan shot up in bed with a scream dying on his lips. His eyes were unfocused and his brown orbs swimming in tears. Phil still had his hand on Dan's shoulders and they were close to each other, face to face, and he could feel Dan's body tremble under his fingers, his t-shirt wet with cold sweat of fear. "Dan!"

Dan finally snapped out of his stare and seemed to comprehend the situation. He looked around his room and then his gaze was on Phil, and then he opened his mouth as if to say something- and Phil could already hear him going on about broken promises- when Dan shifted away from his touch and out of bed in record speed and kneeled down on the grey carpet floor.

At first, Phil watched with curious eyes, thought that maybe Dan had to throw up from the intensity of the nightmare. But as he saw what Dan did, he felt like he was the one about to need a bucket. Dan was kneeling on the floor, knees spread apart, hands behind his back, which was straight as a line and bent slightly forward, his head bowed as far down as possible.

He was in the perfect position of submissiveness.

His entire body was still shaking and he tried to hold the sobs in now, pressed his lips together as he faced Phil in this position of subjection. The older man, who had been sitting on the edge of Dan's bed, slid from the soft mattress to the hard carpet floor in front of Dan with unease. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong and he didn't know what it was and what he could do to fix it.