Old Places, New People || Phan

3-Dan's P.O.V

My heavy footsteps slapped on the pavement as I dashed after Phil. Rainwater splashed up around my feet, soaking through my shoes. We had been running for what seemed like hours, the rain pouring down upon us. All of a sudden, Phil hung a sudden left in front of me, his scruffy raven hair and lanky frame disappearing in seconds. I sped up, almost tripping over my own feet. I rounded the corner, and abruptly crashed into something. I took a step back, looking up into the crystalline blue eyes of Phil. He smiled down at me, his cheeks flushed red. I could feel his warm breath on my lips, our noses almost touching. I quickly stepped backwards, almost falling over. My cheeks became warm, blood rising to my face. Phil and I were still staring at each other, at a loss for words. Suddenly, he turned on his heel and began to walk. I jogged a bit to keep up with his long stride. After a few minutes of walking, Phil stopped in front of a large iron gate. He glanced back at me before punching a code into a small keypad, his cheeks flushed a bright red. The iron gate swung open creakily, Phil slipping between the opening and holding the gate open for me. I quickly stepped inside the perimeters of the gates, Phil pulling it closed behind me. I stopped in my tracks, adjusting my backpack straps. A large, dark house loomed before me, overgrown weeds and shrubs covering the sprawling yard. A broken statue of what used to be an angel was in pieces on a bench near the walkway. Several bricks in the pathway were cracked and chipped away. I swallowed slightly, my eyes taking it all in. Phil came to stand next to me, his face red. I glanced at him out of my peripheral vision to see him looking at me. I smiled at him, turning my body towards him. "It's wonderful, thanks for letting me come over." He smiled a bit, biting his tongue and poking it out of his mouth. I grinned back at him. Phil adjusted his sopping black fringe and grabbed my hand. I blushed fiercely, shuffling my feet on the pavement. It's a perfectly normal thing for friends to do. He's just being nice. Phil began to walk up the pavement, towing me along by our linked hands. It felt like eternity before we reached the door. My heart was beating wildly, fear coursing through my veins. I shivered a bit, and Phil squeezed my hand, smiling back at me. He lifted his hand to the doorbell and pressed it.
The doorbell sounded like a complex system of wind chimes, pretty tunes flowing in a loop three times. After a few minutes, Phil pressed his face against the glass, peering inside. A moment passed, and Phil drew his face back. "No one's home, they must've gone out for another meeting with their Publisher." Phil turned to look at me. "We'll have to go up."
***
"When you said up I didn't think you meant we had to climb!" I shouted up to Phil. He had shimmied halfway up the tree, almost to the second-story window of his bedroom. I watched, shielding my eyes from the pounding rain, as Phil swung from a small branch onto his windowsill. I gasped as he teetered for a moment, balanced precariously on the edge. When he caught his balance, I breathed a sigh of relief. After a few tries, he forced the window open, ducking inside. Then he poked his head outside once more. He grinned at me. "Your turn Dan!" I took a deep breath, smiling uneasily. I tightened my backpack straps, adjusted the hem of my jumper, and began to scale the tree. I had not climbed many trees, so I nearly fell many times. When I had about reached the branch, I heard Phil start to chant my name. Hearing my name being called on his lips was mesmerizing. I smiled, my energy restored. I quickly shimmied up the rest of the tree, balancing on the thin branch leading into Phil's bedroom. I glanced down momentarily and felt my stomach churn. I hugged the branch, looking up at Phil. "I can't do it!" I called through the roaring of the rain. Phil smiled at me. "Yes you can! Come on Dan! I'll catch you!" He held out his arms. I envisioned myself in Phil's arms, being enveloped by his warm embrace. For some reason, it made me feel calm, and something in my gut stirred. I stood up shakily, trying to avoid looking down again. I took a deep breath, tensed up my legs, and jumped. Too bad I had short legs and was physically unfit. My body slammed hard against the side of the house, my hands gripping the windowsill tightly. "PHIL!" I screamed. I glanced down to see the brick pavement 20 feet below us. I gulped and tensed, preparing for death, when someone grabbed my wrists and started to pull. I looked up to see Phil, straining against my weight. I attempted to help, but only weighed Phil down. He shouted for me to stop moving, so I hung limply over the side of the house, Phil slowly pulling me up. After what seemed like eternity, he pulled me up over the windowsill and we collapsed to the floor, me on top of him. I buried my face in his chest, a few tears trailing down my face. I am such a wimp, look at me. I met Phil only a few hours ago, and now look at me, he saved my life. I'm so pathetic. All of a sudden Phil grabbed my chin and tilted it upwards to look at him. Our noses were lightly pressed together, our lips inches away. "Dan, it's alright. You have a right to react like this, you're not pathetic. And as for having just met you, this may sound strange, but I feel like I've known you my whole life." All I could do was stare into his his crystal clear eyes, now noticing that they were rather tri-colored blue, green, and yellow. It took me a moment to process what he had said. Shit, I spoke out loud. Suddenly, I became aware that Phil was drawing closer, our lips now only centimeters away. He was slowly closing the distance between us. I closed my eyes, tilting my head slightly. Our lips were only millimeters away, when suddenly, we heard the front door open downstairs. I sprang off of Phil, standing up. He stood too, his face bright red. "My parents must be home. I'll go tell them I have a friend over." Phil darted out of his room, leaving me alone to contemplate my thoughts. What the hell just happened?! Did I just almost kiss a guy I just met a few hours ago?! I'm not even gay! I was running these thoughts through my head when Phil suddenly opened the door. Standing behind him was a middle-aged woman with brown hair and kind warm eyes. They were blue, like Phil's. "Hello dear! It's lovely to see Philly making new friends. We just moved here from Manchester. I'm Mrs. Lester." The woman, Mrs. Lester, stuck out her hand. I shook it, grinning. "I'm Dan. Nice to meet you Mrs. Lester." She released my hand and turned to her son. "Philly dear, I'll make dinner. Will Dan be staying the night?" I began to shake my head, when Phil abruptly blurted "Yes mum. Is that alright?" She smiled at me once more. "Why of course dear! I'll come get you in a little while. Nice to meet you Dan." Mrs. Lester walked down the hall and down the stairs, leaving Phil and I alone in his room. I realized now that I hadn't properly looked over his room. I looked around and gasped, my jaw dropping open. Phil's room was green with blue trim around the edges. Knick-knacks and baubles were all over the place. Books were strewn everywhere. A pair of boxers hung on his headboard. Phil's duvet was checked blue and green, soft and comfortable looking. What was most fascinating about Phil's room was that every inch of his walls and ceiling were covered with posters. All different posters. Some from video games, some from tv shows, and even some from bands. I turned to Phil, whom was still standing awkwardly behind me, one hand cupped around the back of his neck. "It's amazing!" I grinned at him. His face twisted into a wide grin, his pearly white teeth gleaming against his pale pink lips. Before my mind could drift off to other thoughts of his lips, Phil strode over to his bed and flopped down, closing his eyes. A puddle started to form around him, rain dripping off of him. I looked around awkwardly, fiddling with the hem of my jumper. Then Phil opened an eye and grinned at my awkwardness. "You can just set your bag over there, and make yourself at home," he gestured towards a corner of the room filled with stuffed animals and pillows. I set my bag down and flopped down on the floor. I let out a sigh and closed my eyes. It was silent for a long while, the tension almost as thick as pea soup. When I about thought that I couldn't stand it anymore, Mrs. Lester knocked on the door and said dinner was ready. Phil and I sat up at the same time, meeting each other's eyes from across the room. I blushed and stood up, pulling my sweater down a bit and fixing my hair. "Ugh," I exclaimed as I realized that my hair had curled into its natural state. "What?" Phil asked as he stretched his arms over his head. "I hate my hair," I scrunched up my face as I attempted to straighten my brown mess. "I like your hair. You look like a hobbit." Phil bit his tongue again, his eyes glinting. "We should go, mum will be furious if we don't eat her dinner." I grinned at Phil and followed him downstairs.
***
"Mrs. Lester, dinner was wonderful! You should be on the Great British Bake-Off!" She laughed at me from across the table as Phil rolled his eyes. "Thank you dear! Philly, how did you come about such a fine young man?" The room was silent, a spoon clattered to the floor. Mrs. Lester sensed the tension, and cleared her throat awkwardly. "So, how was school dear?" She turned to Phil. Phil turned bright red, his mouth hanging open. "That's actually where we met! I helped PHILLY and showed him around." Phil frowned at me as I giggled. Mrs. Lester smiled at me. "Well that's just lovely! Thank you for helping my darling around. I know it's not easy, just up and moving, but we had to for our book. His father and I are writing a new book, and it's about-" Phil cut his mother off by clearing his throat and standing. "Mum, thank you for the lovely meal, but I think Dan and I will go up to my room now." Phil grabbed my elbow and started to lead me upstairs. "Thank you Mrs. Lester, it really was lovely getting to know you!" I smiled, being dragged up the stairs by Phil. "It was lovely Danny!" My eyes widened as I was dragged into Phil's room. "Sorry, I just thought I'd repay you for covering for me back there, even if you did call me Philly." Phil shook his head and looked at me, noticing that I was frozen in place. "Dan? What's wrong?" Phil looked alarmed. I shook my head and attempted to smile. "It's nothing. It's-it's stupid." I ducked my head, a tear forming in the corner of my eye. "It's okay, I understand." I looked up to see Phil smiling at me, his hand rubbing small circles between my shoulder blades. I smiled at him, and before I knew what I was doing, I slung my arms around his neck, burying my face into his collarbone. I don't know what strange force compelled me to trust this almost-stranger, but I started crying into his shoulder.
***
After awhile, I eventually stopped crying. I sat, enveloped in Phil's arms for what seemed like forever, and I was enjoying every moment of it. When I felt Phil start to fidget, I leant back, unwrapping my arms from around his neck. "I am so sorry about that. I don't know what I was thinking." I sniffled, rubbing my nose on my sleeve. "I guess you want an explanation?" He just gazed into my eyes, his expression caring and sad. "Only if you want to." I took a deep breath and nodded. "This may take awhile, so you may want to get comfy." He nodded sullenly, gently grabbing my wrist and guiding me over to his bed. He crawled over to the far side of his bed and sat down, crossing his legs. I timidly sat on his bed, gazing into his eyes. Once we were settled, I began my story. "My mum died about a month ago."
Phil sucked in a sharp breath, pinching his lip between his teeth. I continued on, taking a deep breath. "It was ruled a suicide. The police never found a note though-" I started crying again. "Damn it, I'm so-sorry Phil, I-I didn't mean to do this." I took deep breaths and calmed myself down so as not to have a panic attack. "It's okay, you don't have to continue." Phil's eyes glinted with worry. I shook my head. "I think it was my dad. T-They had been fighting recently, and my mom was threatening to take full custody of me, and then one day she j-just-she just-" I was cut off by another hiccuping sob.
"She used to call me Danny."
Suddenly, Phil's arms were around me. He was warm and his chest was soft. I buried my face in his neck, my tears dampening his shirt more than it already was.
After awhile, I stopped crying. There were no more tears left to cry. Phil and I were laid out on the bed, his chest was my pillow and his arms were around me. I felt myself growing sleepy, and just before I drifted off, I remembered something. I got off of the bed, hesitantly leaving Phil's warm embrace. I silently padded over to my backpack, taking out the fuzzy blue cloth that was my sustenance. I quietly returned to Phil's arms, clutching the cloth to my chest. I turned to face him, and his eyes were patient and questioning. "I've had this blanket since I was a baby. It's the last thing that's left of my mum." One lone tear rolled down my cheek. Phil drew me closer to him, pinning the blanket between us. My face was pressed into the crook of his neck, the remnants of my salty tears mixing with the rainwater from his hair. He began to rub circles between my shoulder blades. In that moment, everything was calm, quiet, and perfect. Everything was perfect. That was when my world faded into sleep.