Just Close Your Eyes (Phan)

Chapter 8

Martyn brought us to Phil's apartment, not wanting us to go into London alone. It wouldn't have been a problem for me, but I knew it was a blessing for Phil. He actually smiled when we turned into the street Phil said he lived in, and it was the first smile I had seen on his face since Steven had touched him. I was glad to see it, because usually he smiled almost all the time.

When Phil had gotten out, Martyn turned around to face me. 'Thanks for taking care of Phil,' he said, after checking if Phil really couldn't hear him. 'If he gets a panic attack, which I don't think he will but just in case, usually all he needs is a hug and someone to tell him it's okay and he's safe. And you can always call me, I don't live that far away.'

I nodded. 'I'll remember. And thanks for taking us to Phil's apartment.'

'It's no big deal. I'm opening the shop tomorrow at the usual time, but it's okay if you don't want to come. I'll fix someone to take your shift.'

'No, it's okay. I'll be there,' I said, knowing that not coming wouldn't solve anything. 'Unless you don't want me to come anymore...'

'Dan, it's not that. Don't worry about that, you're still welcome in my shop. You'll always be, no matter what you say.'

I smiled. 'I'll see you tomorrow then.'

'See you tomorrow.'

I got out of the car and saw Phil was already waiting for me. 'Let me guess, he told you to take care of me?' Phil said, but I could see he didn't mind.

'He actually thanked me for taking care of you, which is kind of the same thing. Are you sure you're okay?'

'Dan, I'm fine, just a bit shocked.'

'That doesn't surprise me,' I muttered. Phil took my hand in his and pulled me towards what I guessed was his apartment. When he had opened the door and we had walked to the living room, the first thing I noticed was that his love for video games had made itself clear in his entire apartment. There was a lot of game-related stuff, part of it on the floor and other places where I didn't think it belonged.

'Sorry for the mess,' Phil said shyly. 'I hadn't expected someone to come along, otherwise I would've cleaned.'

'It's okay, you should have seen my room when-' I broke off. When I still lived with my parents, was what I had been about to see. But I hadn't told him I wasn't living with my parents anymore, knowing that if I did he would probably ask where I was living now.

'When?' Phil asked. Of course he had noticed.

'When my parents tell me to clean it up,' I lied. I knew it didn't fit with what I had said, but I hoped Phil wouldn't notice.

He looked at me as if he knew I was lying, which he probably did, but he didn't ask about it. 'Well, you can pretend it's your room, then. What do you want to do?'

I scanned his amount of video games. 'Play a game?'

I had had my fair share of video gaming nights and had caught up a lot on gaming. I had only played against Phil once, on my first gaming night, and it had only been one game. I wanted to find out if I could win more games against him.

'Sure! What do you want to play?'

'I was thinking Mario Kart 8?' I had always loved that game when we played it in the shop and I knew Phil did, too.

Phil grinned. 'You sure you wanna play that against me?'

'Are you?' I returned the challenge.

It didn't take too long before it was clear I was better at Mario Kart than Phil. I had beaten him several times, while he hadn't won once.