Universes || Phan {Completed}

Detective

Dan woke to a tap on his window. This wasn't the first time he had been woken by a tap on his second story window, though, since somehow Phil Lester always found his way onto the roof outside it. It was early morning, not even 4 am.

"Dan wake up," Phil said to his closed window. "C'mon it's important Dan"
Dan hauled himself out of his bed and sleepily walked over to his window. He raised his eyebrow at his friend who was squatting on the roof.

As he opened the window, the cold November air had rushed through sending a shiver down his entire body
"Get some warmies on, we're going adventuring" Phil smiled, climbing into Dan's room.
"Where?"
"It's a surprise, dummy" He laughed quietly, to not wake Dan's parents.

Dan pulled some tracksuit bottoms on over his space pyjama pants. He then layered three jerseys over his white pyjama top and threw a scarf and a beanie on for good measure

"You sure you're gonna be warm enough Dip?" Phil laughed as Dan rolled his eyes.
"I think so" He smiled at Phil.

Phil took Dan's hand as he led him down the roof and into Dan's garden before they began walking to the 'surprise' destination.

"What's your opinion on sad books?"
"Right now, Dip, I only want to read stuff like Sherlock, I wanna be a detective, you know that" Phil laughed
"Have you started reading The Bridge to Terabithia for class, yet?" Dan asked, brushing his curls out of his face with his free hand
"No. It seems dumb." Phil sighed "I would much rather be watching Sherlock than reading about teen romance"
"It's not all teen romance" Dan laughed "It's really good"
"Yeah but Dan you're still 10 so you don't know what good is" Phil laughed as Dan pouted "Kidding, Dip"
"You better be" Dan smirked.

"Explain it to me" Phil's voice filled the silence that had surrounded them
"It's about a girl and a boy, they're best friends. They have a magical place they can go to and it's really pretty"
"Is that all? How's it sad?" Phil cocked his head to the side, his messy brown hair flopping around
"There's more, duh. You should read it" Dan smiled "It's really good"
"Maybe, since you've ranked it so highly" Phil grinned "Higher than Winnie the Pooh?"
"Never higher than Winnie the Pooh. Nothing can be ranked higher. If I ever rank a book higher, feel free to stab my foot" Dan laughed
"Serious?" Phil was shocked
"Serious." Dan nodded, shaking Phil's hand.

So it was set.
If Dan ever ranked a book higher than Winnie the Pooh, Phil could stab his foot.

"Which foot?" Phil snickered
"Whichever is easiest to stab" Dan replied.

\/\

"We're here" Phil nodded
"Why're we here?" Dan replied.

Then he saw it

It was yellow, stained by the streetlamps along the road. It didn't even look much older than Dan. It had blonde hair, or at least, very light hair. Covered with freckles

"How do you reckon he did it?" Phil asked, tightening his grip on Dan's hand.

This wasn't the first time Dan had seen a dead body, he lived in a shady enough neighbourhood to know exactly what they look like. His own mother died when he was young.

"I dunno Pip-"
"He's got a packet of panadol, it looks new, but it's completely empty" Phil had squatted next to the boy's hand.
"Overdose" Dan nodded.
"His mum will be devastated. Did he go to our school?" Phil looked up at Dan
"I think I had English with him?" Dan raised his eyebrow "He's Conner? I think?"
"Poor Conners mum" Phil sighed.
"Or Dad" Dan responded.
"Yeah"

\/\

"We're gonna get another drug safety talk at school" Phil sighed as Dan kicked a rock
"Why would anyone ever take drugs?" Dan asked Phil

Dan was naive, for a 10-year-old. He didn't know nearly as much as Phil, but that was okay because Phil was older and he'd teach Dan when Dan got older, too.

"I don't think that Conner had taken drugs before" Phil replied
"Malcolm takes drugs apparently"
"That's just lies. He's never even seen a drug. I offered him some oregano to smoke and he said he didn't smoke weed in school"
"Why would you smoke weeds? Is that like dandelions and stuff?" Dan laughed
"I'll explain when you're older, Dip" He laughed, squeezing Dan's hand. "Until then, sure, it's dandelions"

There were lots of things that Phil said he'd tell Dan when he got older, the biggest one was the word, queer. Everyone at school called Dan and Phil queers. Phil always promised Dan that 'when he was older, he'd explain it all.' Dan was worried that it was rude. He wanted to know so badly, but he promised Phil he'd not try to find out what it meant. Dan didn't want to ask anyone else, anyways. Other people were scary, they called him mean names like fag and bitch and girl and lesbian. Dan only knew the word bitch cause his dad used it to describe his mum. Phil said it had a negative connotation. He obviously knew what girl meant, but he didn't see how being a girl was a bad thing.

"You have a lot of things you need to explain to me, Phil" Dan laughed
"All in due course, Dip" He smiled "Don't grow up so fast, okay?"
"I won't" Dan replied, smiling widely.
"Don't listen to what the bullies have to say"
"Pip you always tell me this stuff" Dan giggled "Don't listen to bullies, don't grow up, eat three meals a day, always tell yourself you're amazing.
"Do you listen?" Phil asked
"Of course I do. Do you listen to yourself?"

Phil didn't respond to that.

\/\

"See you in a few hours, Dip" Phil whispered as he helped Dan up the side of his house onto his roof, then through his window
"See ya, Pip" Dan giggled as Phil kissed his hand
"Auf Wiedersehen" He climbed down.
"Au Revoir" Dan whispered after Phil had already left earshot.

Phil always made Dan feel bubbly. He didn't know what it meant, but it meant something.
Maybe Phil would tell him what it meant one day

Maybe, when he was older.