Secrets to Keep (Phan)

Chapter 8

"London?" Dan replied, looking up from his bag at me.

"Well yeah... There's lots of people so it'd be kind of hard to pick out two specific ones, and I can call your school and get you transferred over there." I explained, rolling over on my side and propping myself up on my elbow. "What are you thinking about?" I asked after a moment of sitting there in silence.

"Do I really have to keep going to school?" he asked, a smile playing on his lips. I sighed, glad that that was the only thing that concerned him about moving.

"Yes, I want you to have a future and not have to worry about money." I replied, watching him roll his eyes again.

"But Phiiiil." he whined childishly, making me smile. "School's so boring." he added, flopping down onto the bed beside me for dramatic effect. Dan lay next to me with his arms stretched above his head, and the smallest part of his torso exposed from beneath his shirt.

"Don't care." I replied, "You're finishing it."

"Fine." he mumbled grumpily, looking extremely adorable with his lip pouted out the way it was. I leaned down, placing my lips softly against his own, moving them together almost lazily. Dan hummed in content, shyly parting his mouth to let me in.

He was far beyond perfect, and I don't think I've ever fallen so hard or so fast for someone in my life.

I pulled away, twirling a strand of his straightened hair around my finger. "Why do you straighten it? It looks so cute all curly and natural." I said quietly, smiling at Dan who put his hands over his face.

"No it doesn't, it makes me look like a Hobbit." he groaned into his palms, making me giggle slightly.

"Pooh Bear with Hobbit hair." I hummed, making a little song out of the rhyming words.

"Shut up."

"Make me." I challenged, watching Dan look up at me from under his hand. He jumped up, pushing me over from my leaning position so that I was flat on my back, and he was sitting on my thighs. He had me pinned down, and I let him, because it was cute how he thought he could beat me.

"What'cha gonna do now Lester?" he asked teasingly, leaning over me so that his face was centimeters away from mine, and I could smell the minty toothpaste on his breath.

"This." I answered, before throwing my weight to the side, catching Dan off guard and flipping our positions. I held his hands close to his sides, and was being careful to avoid some of his injuries that were still visible and probably sensitive. Dan squirmed from beneath me, trying to copy my previous action, but to no success. He gave up after a few failed attempts, and looked up at me with his signature pout.

"Show off." he grumbled, making me laugh before leaning in closer to his face. I licked the tip of Dan's nose, causing it to scrunch up like a little rabbit's; which was just too adorable for words.

"I win." I boasted, smirking while Dan continued trying to wipe off his slightly wet nose.

"I want a rematch, you and your stupid attractive face were distracting me." Dan whined, while I rolled off of him.

"Maybe later, you need to finish packing." I instructed, pointing to his overflowing back-pack.

"I need a bigger bag.. I forgot about the insane amount of clothes I owned." Dan muttered, leaving the room to probably get a suitcase or a duffel.

"What're you going to do about the cat?" I asked loudly so Dan could hear me from wherever he was. As if the cat had heard me talking about it, it jumped up onto Dan's bed, rubbing itself against my arm.

"There's an old lady a few doors down who's already got a few cats, I'm sure she'll take her." Dan replied, some shuffling sounds being heard before a slight crash that sounded like a cardboard avalanche. "Oops." I heard Dan mutter, making me smile and shake my head.

He came into the room moments later, unfolding a black duffel bag and shoving all his clothes in there. It was a much better fit, and he managed to squeeze in all but a few shirts that he claimed were too small for him anyways. We would have to spend less time at my house, we were here for way too long for two people who were supposed to be running away.

After dropping the cat off permanently at the old neighbor's flat, who was more than happy to take her, we made our way quickly to my house. We took as many non-busy streets as possible, still not sure about who survived the fire besides us.

Dan scrambled around my room with me, helping to collect the clothes that littered the ground in piles, their level of cleanliness unknown. I was making sure to leave behind the shirts I never wore anymore, and after everything, all my clothes fit inside of a small suitcase.

"Could you grab the money from my bedside drawer? I'm gonna go get my toothbrush and other bathroom stuff." I asked Dan, already on my way out the bedroom door. From the hallway I could hear Dan giggle from my room and I instantly thought of the millions of embarrassing things he could've possibly seen.

The stuffed lion that I had carried with me through foster care.

My old poster of Sarah Michelle Gellar.

It couldn't have been a baby picture... I don't have any of those.

My mind raced as I walked back into my room, only to see Dan sitting on my bed, twirling a little red bottle in his hands. I could feel all the heat instantly rush to my face as he smirked at me deviously.

"Cherry? Seriously Phil?" he giggled, making my face turn even redder, if that was even possible.

"Oh shut up." I mumbled, going to take the bottle of lube from his hands. Dan willingly handed it over, and I shoved it into the pocket of my suitcase. "Did you at least get the money?" I asked, turning to face the still smirking Dan.

"Yeah, It's in the main pocket under your Pokemon underwear." he answered cheekily, his main goal apparently being to embarrass me. I took a few notes out of their hiding place and slid them into my nearly empty wallet, before glancing over to the digital clock on my bedside table. It was only around 7:30, and the sun which had only just risen was already retreating behind the clouds that seemed to constantly engulf this city.

"We should probably get going so we can hide ourselves in the morning rush hour." I pointed out. Dan nodded, taking one last look around my room before standing up, and slipping his hand shyly into mine. It amazed me how he could go from teasing me about flavoured lube, to being nervous about holding my hand in a time frame of less than three minutes. I gripped his hand tighter, thinking of it as a way to keep me anchored down to the planet, because I felt like if I let go, I would just drift away. It was just all too real for me, I was finally escaping.

I had found someone to care about, someone who hopefully cared about me way more than anybody else had ever pretended to, and I was getting away from the people who had bound me down my entire life. So maybe Dan wasn't like my anchor, maybe he was more like my flying buddy. He kept me from drifting away, but at the same time was ready to soar with me and embark on new adventures. He was a free spirit who had gotten tangled in my life's long web of ropes, but today we were cutting ourselves free.

"Let's go catch the bus then." he agreed, smiling up at me. 

"No," I corrected, a confused and bewildered look making its way onto Dan's face. "Let's go on adventure."