BURN ; phan

s i x

Phil shuffled on Dan's bed, his socked feet hanging off the edge. As promised, he stayed the night at Dan's, which wasn't a problem at all, but they still had school in the morning. The brunet ran up the stairs, his feet padding outside of the door. Then the wood opened quickly, hitting the fourth wall of his bedroom was a big bang! Dan cringed, careful not to drop the cup of milk and cookies he had grabbed from the kitchen.

"Way to go, Einstein." Phil chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up, lactose intolerant loser." Dan sat beside him, his shorts clinging to his thighs. Phil looked at the long expanse of his canvas skin before shaking his head. He couldn't think of Dan that way, Dan was his friend.

"It's not my fault I can't digest lactose." He snatched the cookies from Dan's hand, ripping open the packaging and shoving one in his mouth. 

"Still a loser." Dan smirked, dipping his sweet in the cup.

Phil tapped his feet against the carpeted floor, bobbing his head to the invisible music in his ears. He didn't know why but whenever he was around Dan he felt his whole chest explode and he hadn't been this happy since his dad was still alive and taught him how to use water color paints.

"Why are you so happy?" Dan asks.

"Dunno, I just like hanging out with you." Phil admitted, reaching for another cookie.

"I like hanging out with you, too." The younger boy smiled.

They ate cookies in silence before Phil announced he was stuffed and fell onto his back, knees still off the bed. Dan drank the milk and put the cup on his dresser, falling beside the older boy. 

"I'm still really sorry about what I said to Nate," Phil mumbled, running his hands over his face.

"It's okay." Dan shrugged. "I never had many friends so it didn't make a huge difference. Just hurt, you know?"

"No, no that's not okay, Dan. I'm not like that - but I am, in a way." He scurries to sit up, looking over the boy who is still laying down, those doe eyes on him. "I don't know who I am, but I like who I am around you. My dad died and I shut down, I stopped doing things I liked. The only thing I do is paint. I'm a coward."

"You're not a coward." Dan reached up to touch his cheek softly before dropping his hand back down to his own chest, the older boy can feel the heat he left in his wake. "You like to paint?" Phil nodded. "What do you paint?"

"I paint things I like," The older boy said, tearing his eyes away from Dan's.

"What have you painted?" 

"I've painted sunsets and dogs, and parks and bikes, and I've painted..." Suddenly his face reddens. "Never mind."

"No, what?" Dan presses.

"It's nothing." Phil blushes, staring at the lights on the ceiling. 

"Fucking, tell me." Dan sits up, punching the boy softly.

"You." Phil rushes out. "I painted you, okay? But I didn't want to be weird." Phil stares at the empty cup of milk on Dan's dresser so intensely he's sure his eyes would fall out. His heart was in his throat and his cheeks felt like they were aflame.

Then Dan started laughing. Phil, flustered, finally meets his eyes slightly to the left. "W-what? Why are you laughing?" 

"You, you're cute that's all." Dan waved his hand to brush away their words. "Oh, wait, no- not like cute cute, like-" he stumbles over his words, face tomato red to meet Phil's. Then he gives up with a sigh and falls onto his stomach, face buried in his pillow, those long legs hanging off his bed.

Phil sighs as well before laying on his back, the springs under them bouncing. Dan rolls his head over to look at Phil, who's eyebrows are furrowed together and his nose is scrunched. The brunet has to hold back a snort as he rolls onto his side, hand propping up his head, he drapes his hand over his stomach and looks at the older boy with the best seductive face he can muster.

"Paint me like one of your french girls." 

Phil looks at him and laughs, the angry wrinkles replaced with smiles. He gives Dan one push and it sents him tumbling for the floor with a yelp. "Down like the titanic!" Phil shouts. Standing on his knees on the bed, he leans over the mattress to look at the younger boy.

Dan wastes no time quickly grabbing Phil by the collar and dragging him down as well, in a fit of laughter they both end up on the floor. Dan yelps as Phil's arm lands on his stomach and the older boy groans as Dan's knee bucks up instinctively and knocks him on the side of the head, sending his glasses across his face. 

"Get off me you oaf," Dan pushes Phil off him, the older boy rolling next to him. There isn't much room between Dan's bed and his dresser, so Phil has to bent his left knee up and keeps his right leg straight. 

With a crooked smile and pearly teeth, Phil looks over at the younger boy who was already looking at him. The sun had started to set and the darkness had settled in the room, the fairy lights providing minimal light from Dan's bedroom floor. Their shoulder to shoulder and Phil realizes how easy it would be to roll over and place his hand on Daniel's cheek and connect their lips, and he wonders what Dan would taste like and what it would feel like to have his breath fawn over his cheekbones.

And he isn't realizing what's happening until their noses are practically touching and Dan tilts his head to the side and presses their lips together. Phil's hand automatically flies up to the boy's cheek to cup it and the final realization that Phil has is that he's finally doing what he's been dreaming about for the past three weeks.

Dan's lips taste like bubblegum and Phil can't get enough of it. He doesn't want to rush it so he doesn't swipe his tongue over Dan's bottom lip as he would like, but he savors the softness of Dan. The jock had kissed many girls before, but none of them made him feel this way. None of them made him shake and none of them gave him that knot in his stomach that any middle schooler would describe as butterflies, and surely none of them tasted as sweet as Dan did.

When they pull away, Phil opens his eyes first because he wants to see the way Dan's eyelashes flutter across his cheekbones and the way his freckles look up close. Dan doesn't take his hand off Phil's chest so Phil doesn't move his off Daniel's face, and then the younger is opening his eyes and Phil is sure he might just die. Dan's eyes are hazel with a swirl of chocolate brown that dances with amber, and they look like beautiful rocks scientists dig up from the ground and Phil might never look at the color brown again. 

Dan's breath hits Phil on his nose and his lips as Dan lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Phil traces circles on his face which causes the younger to lean into his touch. They lay like that for a while, until Dan frowns and Phil asks what's wrong and he tells Phil he has a crank in his neck. Then they laugh and it feels like the best laugh that has ever passed through Phil's lips before climbing back into the bed.

They have school in the morning, so without speaking Phil rolls over and pulls Dan into his chest after the boy shuts off the lights. Back to chest, they hold hands, Dan kissing his knuckles before saying goodnight.

Despite all of the early morning sunrises and sunsets Phil has ever painted, Daniel Howell was definitely the most beautiful one yet.

a/n

GUYS I AM SO IN! LOVE! WITH THIS STORY!!!