24 Hours - Phan

4:00pm

"Dan!" Phil shouts, standing outside of the front door. "Dan, come help me!"

He tries to lean against the buzzer, but the button doesn't push. He shifts the awkward bags and tries to balance his large iced coffee drink. He tries kicking the front door with his shoe instead.

"Daaaan!" he yells louder, kicking the door again.

The door swings open while he's mid-kick, causing Phil to stumble into the flat and directly into an unsuspecting Dan. Without thinking, Dan puts up his arms and catches him around the chest, preventing Phil from falling and hitting the floor. The sudden stop causes him to drop all of the grocery bags and they promptly spill all of their contents on the landing at the bottom of the steps.

In shock with his mouth hanging open, Dan stands with his arms around an unbalanced Phil and stares in disbelief at the boxes, containers, and bags piled up around them on the floor.

"I'm back," Phil says cheerfully, still clutching his sweet coffee drink. "And look! I didn't spill it!" he says, holding it up triumphantly and taking a drink from the straw. "Dan, are you alright?"

he asks after finally noticing the look on Dan's face

"What just happened? I don't understand what just happened," Dan replies, still standing frozen in place.

"I bought more than I planned. I couldn't reach into my pocket to get my keys because it would throw me off balance and make me drop the bags or my drink so I needed you to let me in."

"It was a rhetorical question, Phil. I literally just witnessed the whole thing."

"Oh, right."

Dan finally drags his eyes off of the mess and looks toward Phil, now reasonably balanced, but still in his arms. Phil continues to babble about the store and the coffee shop. Dan starts to chew on his bottom lip as he realizes how close their faces are. His eyes trace over his face and perfect skin. He's close enough that he can see the gold flecks in his deep blue eyes. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He smells like a mixture of shampoo and Starbucks. It feels so perfect and natural to be holding him like this.

Suddenly, he startles and realizes that it's quiet again. At some point, Phil had finished rambling and Dan hadn't even noticed. He shakes himself out of the daydream and opens his eyes, which immediately find Phil's lips. After a few seconds, he pulls his gaze off of his mouth and focuses on his eyes again, which are now giving him a questioning look. Dan shudders as he feels all of his blood rush either to his cheeks or head much further south.

"Oh....um...sorry," Dan stammers, feeling the hot blush wash over his face. He reluctantly drops his arms from Phil who now has his footing. "I guess we need to get this stuff upstairs. Are you OK?" He busies himself reloading the bags, ducking his head low to hide his embarrassment.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm pretty much used to falling and dropping things by now," he jokes, now kneeling next to Dan gathering up some boxes. Thank you for helping me," he adds.

"You're welcome," Dan says quickly as he stands with two handfuls of bags and bounds up the stairs. He shoves the bags onto the counter and bolts out of the kitchen before Phil can even make it up the steps. He crosses the hall and into his room, closing the door and leaning up against it. His eyes shut and he starts taking deep breaths until his heart slows down to a normal pace. On the other side of the door, he can hear Phil in the kitchen putting all of the groceries away.

"Get a hold of yourself," he whispers, voice quivering.