Those Who Trust (Phan)

Part 28

Thanks for all your lovely comments guys! I'm back from my short hiatus now with a new chapter. Hope you enjoy. :) x

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Dan was tugging at the hem of his white button-up shirt nervously. It had a tendency of riding up when he moved too much, exposing the black belt he was wearing and a little bit of skin. PJ had said that it looked fine, that he looked good, but he wasn't so sure about that. He felt overdressed and underdressed at the same time, not knowing where Phil would take him today. Dan guessed that that was his own fault as he had told Phil to surprise him, and Phil had taken his words more seriously than Dan had intended them to be. His lips had been sealed when Dan had asked where they were going, and PJ hadn't been helpful either. He had just assured Dan that he would absolutely love what Phil had planned for them.

Dan was at PJ's flat, and would return there after today's date as well to spend the night. He was pacing around the living room and could hear PJ's girlfriend rummaging around in the kitchen, doing the dishes. It was shortly after lunch and she had cooked for them, but Dan hadn't managed to swallow more than a few bites due to nerves. PJ was lounging on a comfortable chair, laptop on his lap and cursing over the approaching deadline of a paper proposal he had to write for one of his classes.

"Your pacing doesn't help me concentrate at all," he complained while following Dan's movement with his eyes.

"And listening to you curse your essay doesn't calm my nerves either," Dan shot right back.

PJ rolled his eyes, but closed his laptop and put it away and focused on Dan. "You have nothing to be nervous about."

"I know that." 

And Dan really did know that, technically. But still there was this voice nagging at the back of his mind, reminding him that he had no idea what was about to happen, that he had no control at all over what they were going to do.

PJ pulled him out of his thoughts. "Are you scared?"

"I am," Dan admitted, and as he saw PJ's face darken with worry, he quickly added, "but somehow it's the good kind of scary, you know?"

Before PJ could answer, the doorbell rang, and Dan felt like his heart had just dropped into his stomach with nerves. There was no going back now.

PJ got up from the chair and went to open the door, and Dan tugged at his shirt one more time before trailing after his best friend into the hallway. He could hear Phil walking up the stairs and with every footstep his pulse quickened. And then there stood Phil, with a single red rose in his hand, twirling the stem between his fingers. Just that little sign of Phil's nervousness, fidgeting with the flower, put Dan slightly at ease. He wasn't the only one worrying about today, and that was a comforting thought.

"You look good," Phil greeted him, and Dan ducked his head. He could feel himself blushing as he muttered a shy thank you, but really he should have returned the words as well. The way Phil stood in the hallway with that red rose in contrast to the pale skin on his hands, wearing a dark blue button-up shirt with white dots that Dan hadn't seen on him before, he looked like someone that had just jumped out of the glossy pages of the latest edition of a Vogue magazine.

Phil handed him the flower and Dan accepted it with shaky hands, before PJ was quick to take it from him and offer to put it in a vase.

"And now go, you two lovebirds." He turned to Phil and pointed at him accusingly, saying in a joking voice, "His curfew is eleven and if you hurt him there's a gun hidden under my mattress that I'm willing to use."

"I'll make sure to have him home by ten," Phil promised with a lopsided grin, and Dan scoffed at them both.

Phil had arranged for a taxi to take them wherever they were going. It was a relatively short trip that lasted for fifteen minutes filled with slightly awkward small-talk. On a normal day they would ramble on about whatever, but it seemed that being on a date had changed the atmosphere between them, and while Dan was unsure of what to say at all, Phil tried to make sure that there was no silence between them for the duration of the ride. To be honest, Dan hadn't properly listened to half the things Phil had talked about, too nervous to concentrate on what was being said.