True Beauty lies Beneath the Skin (Phan)

True Beauty Lies Beneath the Skin

Are they too cold
Too numb to see the lifelong effects
Of the pain they inflict?
Is our generation too blind to see
True beauty lies beneath the skin?

Phil opens his eyes and blinks a couple times to wake himself up. He first realizes that he's in a bed in a large bedroom, as opposed to a bunk in a small bus, and that there is an extra body next to him in the bed. Phil then remembers the events of the night before and smiles as he looks at Dan, who must have rolled away from Phil in the night as he was now asleep with his back turned to Phil. For a moment, Phil just stares at Dan and watches him breathe, slowly and softly. He looks at the tattoos on Dan's back and arms, falling more in love with him the more he looked at him.

After a while of staring at him, Phil scoots closer to Dan and wraps an arm around him from behind. A moment later, Dan stirs, then slowly shifts to face Phil, burying his face in Phil's chest. Phil smiles and begins to run his fingers through Dan's blue hair, noticing his brown roots were starting to peek out. Though that only made Phil love him even more, and Phil couldn't imagine his own roots were any better. Phil loved that they were comfortable around each other enough for that to not be an issue though; they could just be completely themselves without having to worry about appearances or anything superficial. They didn't have to be anything different - they could just be Dan and Phil.

Dan stirs a little bit more, then opens his eyes and looks up at Phil, tiredly. Phil gives a small smile and kisses Dan's forehead. Dan smiles as well and blinks a couple more times before beginning to look fully awake. He gives a small hum and his smile grows.

"Morning."

"Morning," Phil repeats, "How you feeling?"

"Wonderful."

Phil laughs, "Well, that's good," He says, "What should we do today?"

Dan thinks, "I dunno. Maybe just something lowkey. Let's get Bella and go to the park or something."

Phil smiles, "I like that idea. I'm excited to see Bella."

"She's excited to see you too, believe me. She hasn't stopped asking about you since you left."

"Aww! Well, I'm definitely eager to go get her and play with her, but I do also just kinda wanna lay here and spoon you for a little while longer," Phil says before pulling Dan to him again.

Dan laughs, "Can you at least let me out of your death grip for two minutes so I can go pee? Then I'll snuggle with you aaaaallll you want."

Phil huffs, dramatically, "Fiiinneeee."

Dan smiles, then stands and walks off after Phil releases him. As Dan walks off, Phil notices something, and he wasn't sure why he was only just now noticing it, but it had suddenly become very apparent to him.

Dan wasn't wearing the chain around his neck.

Dan was no longer wearing the chain with his ex-girlfriend's engagement ring on it.

What did that mean? Did it mean anything at all? Had Dan simply forgotten to put the necklace on? Was it something he did on purpose? Did he lose it? Did he still have it? Phil had never really thought much of the situation; he never really minded that Dan wore the chain, even when they began to get a bit more serious, because Phil understood the circumstances. Now though, he was so used to seeing Dan in it, that now that he wasn't wearing it, something seemed incredibly different.

When Dan exits the bathroom, Phil sits up in bed and furrows his eyebrows at Dan.

"You're not wearing the necklace."

Dan pauses when he reaches the bed, knowing exactly what Phil was referring to.

"You noticed," Dan states.