Those Who Trust (Phan)

Part 26

A/N: Thanks for the lovely comments, guys. If you're not following my tumblr then you're the lucky ones, because I rick-rolled them all for April Fool's Day by making them believe I posted a new TWT chapter. You should totally follow my tumblr though, because we can talk there. And no more pranks for another year over there, I promise. Anyway, here's a new chapter. I personally like this one a lot. Hope you enjoy. :) xx

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"Phil?"

"Hm?"

"Can we try the wrist-grabbing again?"

Phil sat up from his current position on the couch. Dan was leaning against the doorframe to the lounge, hands in his pockets, posture comfortable. There were no signs of tension in his body. He looked relaxed and calm, and that was definitely Phil's favourite look on him.

"We can do that, but why would you want to?"

"It's been a good day. No signs of anxiety. I just thought that maybe, now that I'm feeling alright, it would be easier. Just to test the waters, you know?"

"If you're sure," Phil trailed off, not at all convinced that this would be a good idea.

"I am."

Phil got up from the sofa, and Dan stepped further into the room. He was barefoot, and the t-shirt he was wearing was too big on his frame. His hair was a mess and his posture was straight and full of confidence.

"You must have had a really good day," Phil mused.

"Mrs. Naruse said that she thinks I'm ready to cut our sessions down to one a week, if that's what I want. And I agreed. From now on I only have sessions on Wednesday." Dan's smile seemed unsure and he gauged Phil's reaction, but as the older man assured him that this was incredible news, the smile turned from questioning to beaming with pride.

"Do you really want to practice escaping from a wrist-grab though when your day was this good? I don't want to jinx it."

Dan only nodded. "I really want to try. And I thought that - maybe, if you'd be okay with it - we could work with safewords?"

"Safewords?" Phil repeated the word, not sure if he had heard right. This right here, this was dangerous territory for them to be in, because it was BDSM territory.

"It's just - he never, when I said my safeword, it was never - and I thought that maybe-" Dan stumbled over his words, and some of the confidence he had carried when walking into the room had left him.

"I'm not questioning your idea. I was just surprised, really. Did you have anything particular in mind?"

He watched Dan take a deep breath and nodding as if to encourage himself. Then he held out both his wrists like an offer, inside up, and Phil hesitated. He could see the messy scars that ran across skin, and he couldn't possibly imagine how much that must have hurt. When he played with subs - or more like if he played with subs these days, because god knows it had been quite a while now since he'd been to the Dungeon - and they struggled a lot in his bindings, there would be no more than red irritated skin at the end of a scene around their wrists. How tight must whatever Dan had been bound with - Phil couldn't tell if it were handcuffs or rope - have been and how hard must he have struggled to still bear marks of it today?

"I'm not going to grab your wrists until you tell me what the safeword is."

And the relief on Dan's face when Phil said that, when he didn't just dive in and hold Dan without asking for the rules first made the dominant suspect that maybe this was some kind of test, even if it was subconscious.