The Boy in the Garden (Phan)

Chapter 11- Torn Up By The Roots

Dan sighed contently as he clambered into bed sometime around 11 pm, smiling up at the ceiling. It had been such a stressful day- he was glad it was finally over. He stretched and began to lay down on his side. However, just as his head touched the pillow, his phone started buzzing with an incoming call. Groaning, Dan reached over and grabbed it, seeing that Phil was calling. Sitting up, he held the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Dan..." Phil sounded as though he hadn't slept in months, and Dan frowned as he listened to him. "I can't sleep again."

"Again? Phil, this is bad..." 

"I know, but what do I do?" Phil blurted. "I don't know what's wrong with me! I can't just go every single night not sleeping!"

"Phil, calm down. You're getting yourself worked up..."

Phil took a couple of audible breaths. "Okay... I'm good now..."

"You want me to talk to you until you fall asleep again?" Dan asked softly.

"Yeah, I think it'd help. I mean, it worked last time."

"Okay..." Dan lay down on his side, setting the phone on his pillow and putting it on speakerphone. "You want me to talk about anything in particular? Or do you just want me to sing you a lullaby  featuring reasons why I'm a fail?" 

Phil giggled quietly. "You're not a fail, silly..."

"I kinda am, though..." Dan said half-jokingly.

"No you're not. There's so many reasons why you're not a fail," Phil said.

Dan chuckled. "You're flattering me. Just admit it..."

"No you're not, Dan." Phil sighed. "Don't say stuff like that."

Dan groaned and bit his lip. "Fine... well, if you don't want me to talk about that, then what do you want me to tell you about?"

"You can just tell me about anything... it's not necessarily what you're saying that relaxes me, it's your voice in general..." Phil mumbled.

Dan felt himself blushing slightly at Phil's words. "My voice is relaxing?"

"Yeah..." Phil giggled a little bit. "I don't know what it is... just like your method of speaking, and how you pronounce certain words... it's just really calming..."

"Oh. Well, I'm glad you think my voice is relaxing..." Dan said softly, thankful that Phil wouldn't be able to see him blushing profusely. "I guess I have one redeeming quality..."

"Daaan..." Phil whined. "You have plenty of redeeming qualities. Stop saying stuff like that."

"Alright, alright. Fine." Dan rested his head on his arms, keeping his face turned towards the phone resting on his pillow. "So I could basically say anything? I could be talking about freaking rainbow dinosaurs or something, and that would still relax you?"

Phil snorted. "Rainbow dinosaurs? Where did you come up with that?"

"I don't know, it was just a suggestion..." Dan laughed.

Phil giggled and yawned. "Well, I guess if you were to go on a rant about rainbow dinosaurs, that would work..."

Dan smiled. "You're weird..."

"Thanks?" Phil yawned again. 

"I guess my talking is working?" Dan asked.

"Yeah, I think it..." Phil's voice slowly trailed off and was replaced with a quiet snore. Dan snickered quietly and kept talking, even though he knew Phil couldn't hear him. "You fell asleep right when I was talking... how rude..." he said jokingly. A few minutes passed when neither of them spoke. Finally, Dan sighed and said, "I guess I should go to sleep now... there's not really any point in staying awake if you're sleeping..." He tugged the blankets over him, his finger hovering over the "end call" button. "Good night..." After a few moments, he quickly added, "I love you." He quickly ended the call and put the phone back on his bedside table, pushing the thought out of his mind as he drifted into sleep.