True Beauty lies Beneath the Skin (Phan)

We're Caught in the Avalanche

Count the clock 'til the overhaul 
You built a bomb inside my walls
Count the clock 'til we're out of hand
You build, you build
Now we're caught in the avalanche

"But I don't want you to go back to work," Bella whines as Dan puts on his shoes.

"Sweetie, you're gonna get to spend the day with Uncle Adrian! You should be excited!"

"I am, but I wanna spend time with you too."

"You will, honey, I promise. 2018 is gonna be a good year for us, I can feel it."

Bella wanders off. Whether it was because she didn't want to talk about it anymore or she simply got distracted by something, Dan couldn't tell. As he finishes putting on his shoes, Bella walks back out with a box in hand, one of her puzzles. She'd always liked anything that involved solving a problem or putting something together, or something that helped her to concentrate on one single thing. That's why she loved her puzzles and her Rubik's cube so much. It made Dan excited for when he could afford a gaming system and start teaching her how to play video games. He wondered if Phil was a big gamer at all.

Phil was leaving soon, which bummed Dan out a bit, but he was excited for Phil. This was going to be a pretty big tour for Runaway Exorcist, which was always exciting. Dan did wonder how things would end up working out for them once Phil got back. Were they together? Dan supposed they were. It was sort of bad timing given that they'd kissed a couple times on New Years and now Phil was leaving. Dan supposed he didn't mind waiting for Phil to get back to properly talk about what exactly it was they were.

In the mean time...

"Hey, Bel?"

"Yeah?" Bella asks as she sets out all of her puzzle pieces.

"I wanna ask you something."

"Okay."

"Well...what would you think if Phil and I started dating?"

Bella's head snaps up and her eyes widen, "Really?"

"Mhm."

Bella gasps and jumps up, "That's so awesome! So he'd be like, your boyfriend?"

"Um, I mean, I don't know yet, but - "

"That'd be so cool! You guys could like go on dates and hold hands and - wait, I didn't know boys could date boys."

"I haven't gotten around to teaching you that?" Dan wonders aloud, "Well, yes, boys can date boys."

"Can girls date girls?"

"If they want to."

Bella's jaw drops, "Woah!" She says, "But wait, you haven't dated anyone since Mum."

"I know, and your mum will always mean a great deal to me, but...I think she would want me to move on since she's not here anymore. I really like Phil, I think he could be good for us."

Bella smiles, "I like Phil too. I think Mum would want you to date him."

"And look, just because I'm with Phil doesn't mean he's trying to replace your mum or anything. It's okay for you to miss her or be sad, but I still do want you to tell me if you're sad."

"I will. What time is Uncle Adrian getting here? I wanna show him my puzzle!"

x

A few days later.

Dan was happy that telling Bella about him and Phil had gone well. He didn't think she'd have much of a reaction to it. Of course, there was the  chance that Bella would spill the beans to Dan's family, which she did instantaneously when Adrian was watching her the day Dan told her. Dan hadn't exactly wanted his family to know about a guy he hadn't even gone on an official date with yet, but he supposed there wasn't much harm in it.