Every weekday morning, I drop Nuki off at Louise's house before I go to work. She works from home and absolutely adores him, so she always takes care of him when I'm gone for the day so that he doesn't get lonely. Louise is an amazing neighbor, and I'm so grateful that she's always willing to help me out.
This leaves Dan a bit disappointed, however, as he'll be alone all day since Nuki's out of the house. But it's not like I can tell Louise that Dan is there to look after the dog. I intend to keep Dan a secret for as long as possible.
When I arrive at work on Monday morning, my coworker Tom greets me as I sit at my desk.
"Good morning, Phil. How was your weekend?"
"It was... pretty average..." My voice trails off as my mind wanders, thinking about how strange the past few days have been. There are a number of words to describe how my weekend went, and average is not one of them.
"Same here. But ugh," Tom groans. "Mondays, am I right?"
I roll my eyes and nod in agreement.
"Hey, I'm really looking forward to that Christmas party of yours. I've already picked out my gift for the gift exchange!"
"That's nice to hear. I'm glad you're excited, and I'm happy to host."
He smiles kindly before we part ways.
I go through the day in a distracted haze of recurring irrelevant thoughts, filing reports and answering phone calls absentmindedly. I can't stop thinking about what Dan might be doing at my house right now. I hope he's found some way to entertain himself while I'm gone. I really don't know why I care so much.
The hours roll slowly along until 5:00 finally comes around. I don't wait around any longer than I have to. I can't wait to see Nuki and Louise and find out what Dan has been up to all day. The traffic on the snowy roads is slow as usual. I pull into my driveway at about 5:20. Louise is outside in her driveway next to mine, unstrapping a large tree from the top of her car. Nuki is running around in circles on the lawn.
"Hey, Phil! Can I ask you a really, really big favour?" Louise calls.
"Sure, anything!"
"Could you help me get this Christmas tree inside? I got a real one this year. Brought Nuki along; he's been quite excited."
"Of course," I reply, walking over to help her with the tree.
I lift one end while she lifts the other, and together we carry the tree inside, into her living room, and place it in the tree stand by the sofa and the fireplace. "Thank you so much, Phil," Louise says gratefully. "Oh, of course there are pine needles all over the carpet. Shit, I broke my vacuum weeks ago."
"You can borrow mine. I'll go and get it."
"Will you? You're a lifesaver."
Nuki tags along as I make my way over to my house. I wonder if Dan has got any other surprises in store.
When I open my front door, I walk in on the biggest surprise yet. A flurry of intricate paper snowflakes adorns the walls and ceiling. Cartoon cutouts of Santas, elves, and reindeer from children's coloring books I had somewhere in the depths of my closet are hung up across the walls among the snowflakes. My Christmas tree is adorned with lights, tinsel, and ornaments from the box that had been sitting beside it waiting for me to decorate. A warm fire crackles at the hearth, and Dan is sitting back on the sofa, eyes closed, as if he'd fallen asleep while waiting for me to come home.
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Broken Windows // Phan AU
FanfictionPhil is awakened at 2 A.M. by a mysterious crash coming from his kitchen. His first thought? An intruder has come to murder him in his sleep. When he creeps downstairs to investigate, however, the man he encounters does not seem to be the malicious...
