Yin and Yang [A Superhero AU] - Book Three

Chapter Twenty-Three - Date Nights

Dan decides that evening that he would rather suffer through a thousand nightmares than see Phil experience even one more.

As he's sitting on the couch, looking at the TV but not really watching and running his fingers through the shorter parts of Phil's hair, the hero whimpers. Dan looks down, slightly perturbed and more than a little concerned, as Phil starts curling into a ball and pressing his fists to his eyes. Another strangled cry escapes his lips and he tries to back away from some unseen force, but Dan's body is in the way.

"Stop, please... no... no!" he mumbles, his tone becoming more and more desperate.

Dan blinks a few times, forcing himself out of his increasingly long state of shock. He's experienced this sort of thing with Jack (granted, he screams more), but it's different with Phil. For some reason, he didn't expect something like this to happen.

He puts his hand on Phil's shoulder and the hero flinches, breathing growing more rapid. Dan immediately retracts his hands, brain going a mile a minute. Jack always responds well to touch...

Dan bites his lip and keeps his hands at his sides, starting to just talk. He rambles on and on about plants and space and piano pieces he's working on, his heart racing in his chest. However, it seems to work, and after a few minutes of rambling Phil's eyes snap open. They immediately lock onto Dan and his breathing slows, fingers snagging the collar of Dan's hoodie. The villain exhales, his eyes closing momentarily, before opening once again.

"Are you okay?" he asks softly.

"I... um... I don't..." Phil stammers, his own eyes slipping closed. He inhales, long and deep, and sighs out his exhale. "I'm okay now, I think."

"That's good," Dan replies.

Phil nods a bit and presses his face to Dan's neck. After a moment or two, he presses a kiss to his skin. "Your heart is racing."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I just didn't know what to do and freaked out a little bit." Dan shrugs and hugs Phil around the middle. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Phil sighs and shifts in order to firmly slot Dan's head beneath his chin. "It was just the events of the day, but worse. Marzia especially."

Dan bites his lip, guilt flooding him. "I'm so sorry."

The hero sighs again, the sound exhausted and sad. He presses a kiss to Dan's head and lies down, Dan shifting so he can lie with his head on his chest. The villain doesn't usually mind the silences that fall between them, but he hates this one. It's so weighted down by grief that Dan feels like he's being strangled, his heart suddenly a piece of lead in his chest and his lungs shrinking down to the size of peanuts. His mind starts screaming at him to breathe, to relax, to calm down, but the rest of his body refuses this request. Dan gasps in a breath, the best he can do when it feels like his entire body is closing up, and Phil's fingers tighten against his spine.

"Dan?"

The villain buries his face in Phil's neck, trying to breathe past the knot of guilt festering in his heart. Phil wraps his arms around Dan, kissing at his temple and murmuring softly to him. Dan's fingers slowly relax around the handful of Phil's shirt that he doesn't remember grabbing as he tries his best to calm down, Phil's murmured encouragements loosening his chest and constricted muscles.

"Sorry," Dan whispers.

"It's okay. You don't have to be sorry." Phil hugs him a little closer and brushes his nose against Dan's hair. "Let's move to the bed and get back to sleep, okay?"

The villain nods and pulls himself to his feet, followed closely by Phil. The hero takes his hand and leads him to the bedroom, where they both crawl under the covers and cuddle up to each other for just a few more hours of sleep.

Just as Dan is dropping off to sleep, Phil's lips brush against his forehead. "I love you."

The villain smiles and snuggles closer. "I love you too."

—

When Phil wakes up, Dan is already gone. The hero blinks a few times, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and pulls himself up, reaching blindly for his glasses. Cramming them onto his face, he swings his feet off the bed and pads across the floor of the bedroom. He opens the door and is immediately hit by the smell of eggs and bacon and coffee, a smile tugging at his lips. As quietly as possible, Phil heads to the kitchen and watches as Dan dances around the kitchen, crackling bacon and sizzling eggs mixing with the sound of the song he's humming. He's wearing a pair of Phil's pyjamas (he probably changed into them while the hero was asleep), the t-shirt exposing arms painted with scars of all shapes and sizes. Phil's smile only falters for a moment. Those scars will never change Phil's feelings for Dan. He's still just as beautiful as the day they met.

Dan finally notices Phil's presence and freezes, cheeks turning the colour of ripe tomatoes. He stammers a few times, gesturing weakly to the kitchen, before burying his face in his hands with a humiliated laugh. Phil laughs as well and moves to where he's standing, wrapping his arms around his waist and kissing his neck.

"You're adorable."

"How long were you standing there?!" Dan whines, face burning. "That's so embarrassing..."

"I was only there for a minute. Don't worry, love." Phil noses at his ear and presses a kiss to his shoulder before moving past him to grab some mugs. "You made breakfast, though! That's lovely!"

Dan shrugs a bit and folds his hands together behind his back. "I just figured that since you had such a rough day yesterday, you could use something nice to wake up to."

"I had a pretty boy in my bed. I'd say that's a plenty nice thing to wake up to."

The villain turns an even deeper shade of red and shakes his head, wrapping his arms around Phil's waist as the hero pours the coffee. He rests his chin on Phil's shoulder and watches as the hero stirs cream and sugar into both cups, and when he's finished Dan finally lets him go and takes his own food. They sit at the table across from each other and dig in, silence falling between them. This silence doesn't hurt as much as the one yesterday, and Phil couldn't be more grateful.  He reaches out under the table and taps Dan's foot with his own, a small smile tugging at his lips when the villain looks back. Dan's cheeks flush and he smiles back, returning Phil's tap with his own.

"Are you feeling better today?" Dan asks, his head tilting to the side slightly.

Phil nods and sips his coffee. "Yeah. I mean... I'm still heartbroken, but it's manageable. I don't feel like I'm going to fall apart at any moment like I did last night."

The villain nods and sighs, his eyes flickering with pain.  "If I could bring her back, I would."

"I think all of us would. Especially Felix."

"Poor guy."

"Yeah. We have him on watch just in case he does something potentially dangerous to himself or others."

"Jesus..." Dan ruffles his hair and eyes Phil with that dark, soulful gaze that fills the hero with a flurry of emotions that he can't even begin to sort out. "I didn't ask last night because I figured it would still be too sensitive, but how did the funeral go?"

Phil doesn't answer for a couple of seconds, poking at his food with the prongs of his fork and leaving rows of four small indents in his eggs. He bites his lip, eyes flickering from the table to Dan. "Um... it was nice. There's this hero out in Germany who can alter time, so he got Marzia's family over to America from Italy in a Curatrix jet as fast as he could. The funeral was well done, which all of us appreciated."

Dan nods and reaches out his hand across the table, and after a second Phil takes it. The villain squeezes gently, gaze trained on the hero. "I hope you never have to go through this again."

Phil smiles faintly and squeezes back. "I hope so too." 

A/N: I am so sorry this took forever to come out.  I have had one hell of a week, my friends.  It's been crazy.  Anyway, it's here now!