phan oneshots

don't trust dogs

// 1763 words //

Dan drops a key into his boyfriend's hand, and Phil looks up at him with a small smile. “What's this for?”

Dan takes a deep breath. “You know how I said I was going down to the kennels to look at the rottweilers?” Phil nods, so Dan continues, “They're letting us take one. Ellie, she's called. Nine months old, very healthy, and not too noisy.”

Phil bites his lip, trying to repress a smile from forming. “You’re not being serious..” he says, one eyebrow quirking upwards.

“Of course I am! I know we’ve wanted a dog for forever. She’s perfect, I promise you’ll love her..” Dan smiles and Phil holds the key to his chest, hot tears forming in his eyes. Phil swallows nervously, “I can’t believe this! It’s like a little family, we’ll have!”

Tears stream down Phil’s rosy-red cheeks as Dan pulls him into a hug. “Our family. The family of Dan and Phil. Dan, Phil and Ellie. I love it already.” Phil sniffles, “this’ll be perfect, Dan. You’re really the best!”

--

“Phil?” Dan calls, hands buried in Ellie’s fur. “There's something wrong with El, can you come down?”

Dan hears Phil's feet running down the stairs as he takes them two at a time. “What's she doing?”

“She's started biting everything, and you know she never usually does that. And she tried to chew my hand.”

Phil looks closer. He sees marks on Dan's left forearm, reaching down his arm and onto his hand, which is still buried in the dog's long fur. “Do you think you should move your hands?”

“She's calmer when I'm like this,” Dan says, shaking his head. “Can you ring a vet? There's got to be a 24 hour one open somewhere.”

“And you’re absolutely sure she’s not just teething or anything? I’m guessing dogs do that at her age,” Phil asks cautiously, “we shouldn’t call the vet if it’s really nothing, Dan.”

“No, it’s weird. I mean, she’s ten months old, would she really be teething now? She’s a full-grown dog, Phil, and she hasn’t bitten once this whole month. Just ring the vet, it’ll put me at ease.”

Phil reaches over to the small table near them, shaking his head, and picks up one of their pamphlets on dog handling. They'd only had Ellie for a month, and they weren't quite sure how to handle her yet. They'd been warned to treat her with caution if she started behaving unusually - something which was largely contributing to Dan's fear.

Phil stands up, holding his phone to his ear and speaking quietly into it to avoid disturbing Dan and Ellie. He leaves the room, and Dan watches after him. Ellie growls threateningly, and he snaps his attention back to her.

He moves his hands in gentle circles in her fur, but her growling increases. She nips at his hand, catching his thumb with her teeth and ripping the skin. Blood drips down his hand and he shudders, bringing it away from Ellie and pressing it into his trousers to stem the flow.

“Dan?!” Phil calls when he hears Dan’s hiss of distress. He jogs into the room, pressing a palm into the phone speaker after muttering a “could you hold on just a second?”

“She bit me,” Dan hisses, pain evident in his voice. “Have you rung the vet?”

Phil shakes his head, tearing his eyes away from Dan's wound and hurrying back into the other room. “She's bitten my boyfriend again,” he says, and the vet sucks in a breath.

“Address?” they ask, and Phil recites it. “Okay. We'll be right there. Try not to touch her, and keep her calm. We'll only be a few minutes.”