Past, Present, and Future (Phan) ✔️

Part 1/2

The old porch swing creaked as Dan pushed himself back and forth. He gazed out at the mountains, using one hand to shade his brown eyes from the bright sun high in the sky as he listened to the bird calls in the distant trees.

He sighed and leaned back. "Man, this is the life," he thought to himself, smiling. Dan was dozing when the patio door burst open, 3 yelling children tumbled out and landed in a heap. His husband, Phil, followed looking frazzled.

Dan laughed at the scene and ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper fringe, then called out "Willow! Winter! Leo! If you guys quiet down I'll tell you a story!"

"But daaad!" Willow screeched, "Leo took Baby Bunny from me!"

"I'm sure he'll give her back if you ask nicely," Dan said patiently.

"Willow gave Leo the nastiest death glare she possibly could, then flipped her wispy blond hair dramatically. Dan saw Phil smiling at her. At only five years old, Willow's supposedly nasty looks were just plain adorable.

After a bit more arguing about Baby Bunny, Phil was situated with his head laying on Dan's chest, and Dan had his arms around Phil's slim frame. The triplets were situated around the porch swing in a little half-circle, all cuddled up in their own comfy chairs. Their identical cornflower blue eyes glinted in the sunlight, and their attention was rapt as they waited patiently for their promised story.

"Which one do you want to hear?" Dan asked to the kids as he ran a hand absently through Phil's hair. He still insisted on dying it black, though Dan thought he could see a mixture of ginger and gray at the roots. Phil saw him staring and gazed up happily. Dan could still get lost in Phil's eyes. They were a beautiful color, cerulean with hints of dark green. His regular brown eyes were nothing in comparison. 

Winter piped up enthusiastically from her seat on her heavily padded chair, snapping Dan back into reality.

"Oooooh tell the one about how you met daddy!"

"What do you think, Philly?" Dan asked slyly.

Phil peeked out from under his curtain of hair, at the pleading expressions of the three triplets. He collapsed theatrically with a sigh, and gave in. "Fine," he huffed, and buried his face back into Dan's worn black shirt.

Dan just laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners, and started his story.

"It was a pretty warm Winter in England. I was around 20 and Phil was maybe 23."

"I was 24 and you were 21." Phil said with a dramatic eye roll.

"Fine," Dan said. "That." Phil settled back down.

"As I was saying, it was a pretty warm winter for England. I was on travel from America, just getting my career in acting started after I dropped out of law school."

The kids giggled.

"Now, now, I'm not saying that you three should ever go and drop out of school. But law school on the other hand..." He trailed off at the end, staring thoughtfully into the distant clouds.

"Ok, well I was trying to rent an apartment in Manchester so I could be close to where the movie I was acting in was being filmed.

"I had saved a local ad, and I followed the directions to this quaint little 2 story place. Inside the lower windows, I just saw books. Lots of books. Phil, back then, owned a little bookshop!

"I guess it made sense, because he was just about finished getting his degree in literature and writing at the time. Being surrounded by books would probably have been helpful!

"So I wandered in, the little bells on the door had been ringing as I searched for the owner. The ad had said his name was Phil."

Dan smiled warmly down at his husband. The kids were so quiet that their heartbeats were almost audible.  A light breeze whispered through three heads of dark blond hair.

He continued. "I saw some stairs towards the back of the store, and seeing as there was no one else inside,, I climbed them. At the top, there was this cute little blue beaded curtain that separated the store from Phil's apartment. There was music playing from behind it, the sounds had been echoing down the stairwell. There was another strange sound coming from behind the beads that I couldn't quite identify. 

"I pushed them aside carefully, and inside I saw Phil on the table dancing to the music! He had his back to me, and I had just watched his flailing movements for a minute or two, but when he started singing along- very off tune might I add- I couldn't help but crack up!

"When he heard me, he whipped around, dashing cereal all over the floor!

"Your daddy still eats cereal dry to this day" Dan told the kids with a triumphant grin. "Most of the time it's my cereal!"

Phil's face turned slightly pink and he said "Nuh uh! It's Willow!"

Willow immediately replied "No it's not! I would never eat your cereal dad!"

"Yeah right" Leo muttered to himself, sending Winter into a fit of giggles.

Before this could progress any further, Dan started talking again.

"I still remember the look on Phil's face, he looked absolutely mortified. But the second I saw Phil dancing on that table with two hands full of cereal, I knew I had to be his roommate. I think some part of me might have even loved him from that moment."

Dan and Phil laughed at the faces the triplets made at the word "love."

"Needless to say, as Phil climbed down from the table, he fell and face-planted on the carpet. I thought it was absolutely adorable!

"I ran forward to help him up, he was just a blushing mess at that point, but maybe it was just my dashing good looks."

"No!" Phil said indignantly. "It was because I had just made a fool of myself in front of a guy I didn't know! Who may or may not have been good looking..." Phil trailed off.

"You're so sweet" Dan said and leaned down to kiss Phil on his nose.

The kids made even more spectacular faces.

"When he reached up to grab my hand, I felt butterflies. I know it's cliché, but it's true. I pulled him up, maybe holding on to his hand for a bit too long.

"As you guys know, we became roommates. I moved in the next day."

Dan grinned and leaned back, hugging Phil closer.