"i can remember the good old days, where you and me, we used to hide away, where the stars were shining or the sun was blinding our eyes."
dan looked over at phil from across the empty flat with boxes all over, remembering their first video together, phil is not on fire. dan couldn't help but think of how much fun they had.
when did everything go so horribly wrong?, he asked himself.
of course, he knew the answer to that. he remembered those nights he had to turn his laptop volume all the way down, hide the screen under his sheets, and be completely silent so his mum wouldn't catch him skyping phil, some random guy he met on the internet.
he remembered the first day they moved into their new flat and quickly was reminded of how this was the last day of them living together. on their first day in the new flat, there were boxes everywhere, but neither of them cared. they were just happy to be living with their best friends in the whole wide world.
the first thing they did after dropping off all their boxes was go to their window and look at their view. it wasn't the best, but that was okay. they had each other, that was all that mattered. soon, they hooked up their tv and put two pillows on the floor in front of it. they sat down with bowls of kraft mac and cheese and binge-watched movies until they got tired of the light from the sun and decided that they had been awake for way too long.
after their movie marathon ended, they each went to the bedrooms they picked. after ten minutes of restlessly trying to sleep, dan left his bedroom for warm milk and found phil already there, looking out the window. dan thought phil didn't notice him and was about to just grab a banana and slip back into his room when phil spoke up.
"aren't they beautiful? the stars, i mean. it's amazing how we're thousands and thousands of millions of miles away and we can still see them. i'm in awe. so many of them burn up and die everyday and yet so many of them are still burning and alive and we see those stars. we see the alive stars. i don't know about you but to me it's a reminder to keep on living, like those stars. i mean, doesn't it give you a sense of peace knowing that no matter how many differences the people in our world have, we all sleep under the same stars? i think that's beautiful." phil kept ranting about stars and the sky for a while until dan crept up behind him and wrapped his arms around phil's waist.
he softly kissed his collarbone, causing phil to tilt his head to the side and turn around. he connected their lips for a sweet, brief, and short kiss. they smiled at each other.
"come sleep in my room tonight?" dan suggested.
"yeah, okay." phil crinkled his nose and followed dan to his dark room and climbed into the bed. he scooted over to the right side and let dan enter before attacking him with cuddles.
present-day dan let a small tear slip down his cheek. the memories of when everything was simple and okay were bittersweet ones. he shook his head and wiped away the tear.
he looked up and saw phil grabbing another one of the boxes, refusing to even attempt to take a peek at dan. any glimmer of happiness or hope dan had was immediately wiped away. he was consumed with sadness and regret.
he missed his phil.
