Critical - a Phan AU

Chapter 2

"You were right, Dan. This pizza is insane," Phil comments, munching down on his pizza impressively fast. I'd say that he's wolfing it down almost as fast as I am, but's lets be real, no one eats pizza nearly as quickly as me.

"I guess you could say it's... Ace." I throw a teasing wink at him, remembering that he told me he used to embarrassingly call everything ace when he was a teen. 

He groans in response, pale cheeks tinted pink as he dangles a stringy piece of cheese on his nimble finger, before flinging it in my direction. I duck down slightly as soon as I see it coming, which unfortunately leads it to contact my hair instead of my face, which Phil had been aiming for. 

"Phil!" I exclaim, frantically trying to retrieve the string of cheese from my hair, all the while Phil is howling with laughter. When I'm completely sure that there is no cheese residue stuck in my strands, I continue to fix my hair by fluffing it up slightly and sweeping my fringe so there's no gaps. Then, I shoot a glare at the still chuckling Phil.

"Ass," I glare.

"Here, there's still some left," he tells me, starting to reach over the table with his outstretched hand. I lean forward, making it easier for him to help me fix my hair. As soon as his fingers graze my hair he abruptly says, "just kidding." Before I know it, he's shaking up my hair so that my fringe is spraying over my forehead.

I lurch back, my hands immediately making their way to my hair as Phil hunches over in yet another fit of laughter.

"Seriously," I sigh, fixing my hair once more. I glance in Phil's direction, our eyes connecting. His cheeks are pulled up, eyes scrunched and tongue poking out adorably between his teeth. His laugh is a beautiful sight, and apparently contagious too as I burst out laughing with him.

After we had finished laughing and eating our pizza, we payed the receptionist and complimented the Chef on his phenomenal, Italian-herbed sauce. Exiting the warm environment, we wonder along down the busy London streets. We don't really enter any shops, we just carry on having a comfortable conversation. 

"- and I also used to just sit and watch my plushy just go round and round in the washing machine for-" Phil explains, hands in his pockets as he gracefully strolls along. 

I abruptly cut him off, completely forgetting that I have manners that I'm supposed to use, "ooh, a Home Decor store! I wanna go in there!"

Instead of being upset at my rudeness, Phil just chuckles at my childish excitement. He follows me as I race across the road, not even using the zebra crossing. I rush into the store, looking at the setup first before making a beeline to the carpet and rug areas. I come to a halt in front of a stack of fluffy, square rugs ranging in different patterns and colours. The sign beside it reads 'SALE- 30% off! Now only 30 pounds each'.

I feel Phil's presence come to stand beside me. I glance up at him, our eyes immediately locking. I pull my lip into my mouth, holding back a smile; my eyes gleaming excitedly.

"Look what I found. What a coincidence, am I right?" I suggestively waggle my eyebrows, nodding towards the pile of rugs.

"Are you really gonna make me buy a rug?" Phil rolls his eyes, despite a fond smile tugging at his lips.

"Come on, You need one!" I pester. "look, there's this beige one with would look so cool if you got matching pillows to put on the couch. Or you could get the fluffy black one. Colour doesn't really matter as long as you get matching cushions, because-" 

"Okay, Dan. I'll get one," Phil laughs at my constant rambling.

"Yay! Which colour? Personally, I think the-" I'm once again cut off by Phil. I can tell he's not trying to be rude, he has just released that once I start rambling about something, I'm not going to stop until someone breaks me out of my trance.