Chapter 27

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MAY, 2009

Dan

I wake up feeling warm and safe.

This hospital bed is too small for two, but Phil and I are slotted together like puzzle pieces, with our legs tangled together and my head buried in his chest, so we fit just fine. I bury my head further into his chest, breathing in, running my fingers across the fabric of his shirt, tracing small patterns with lazy interest. Phil blinks his eyes open at my movement and yawns.

"What's up?"

His voice is warm and rumbly and I smile into his shirt because he has reached around me, has tangled his hands in my hair sleepily, has started twisting my curls around his fingers.

"Nothing."

"I've always wanted to do this."

I laugh.

"Lie in a hospital bed?"

He laughs too and the sound of it rumbles through his chest.

"No, dummy. Play with your hair. It's so soft."

Morning Phil is honest and rambly and makes my cheeks turn to roses and I hum contentedly as I melt under his touch.

All of a sudden, a less than pleasant thought worms its way into my head and I sit up abruptly, unwinding my arms from around Phil and wrapping them around myself.

"Phil, what happened with Ryan?"

"What do you mean..." he starts to ask, but another thought pops into my head, and I interrupt.

"Does he know where I am? Can he find me? What if he followed us? What if he finds us and hurts you oh my god."

"Dan, shh, calm down," Phil says, frowning. "It's okay, I promise, he didn't see where we went, there's no way he can find you."

"But.." I start to protest, but Phil interrupts, shaking his head.

"You're safe, I promise. I've told the nurses that nobody but me and Pj can see you, so they won't tell anybody what room you're in, especially not him."

I nod, letting Phil wrap his arms around me comfortingly.

Phil interrupts my worried train of thoughts with a kiss on the forehead.

"Hey, stop worrying, okay? You're too pretty to frown so much."

"No I'm not, shut up."

Phil just smiles wider, a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Don't make me come over there and make you smile. I'll do it."

My eyes widen as I realize what he meant.

"Don't you dare tickle me, I swear," I protest, inching away from him slightly. Phil laughs mischievously before lunging towards me, and I shriek as he starts tickling me, trying to pull his hands off of me.

"Phil, stop it!" I protest, scooting backwards until there is nothing under me, and I fall off the bed, squealing. We stare at each other, wide eyed, before I break the silence and leap up, running to the far corner of the room, laughing as Phil starts chasing me. Before long, we are running around the room like little kids, laughing.

Finally, we collapse onto that tiny bed, breathing hard and giggling. I stare up at the ceiling, still laughing, and I can feel Phil's eyes on me. I turn to face him.

"What?"

"What do you mean, what?" he says quietly.

"Why are you looking at me?"

Phil just laughs softly.

"Because you're pretty to look at."

Roses bloom in my cheeks.

"What, what are you talking about?" I say, embarrassed. "You must be blind."

"Hmm, you sound like the blind one to me."

I can hear the smile in his voice. I turn to look at him again and feel a jump of surprise when I realize how close we are now, our noses almost touching, his pretty blue eyes searching mine. We sit like that for a second, him looking into my eyes intensely, and I almost feel dizzy, lost in all the blue, when he makes a humming sound in the back of his throat.

"Yep, definitely blind." he whispers, and then he leans in and presses his lips against mine, still making that contented hum.

I smile against his lips.

"Whatever you say."

The door swings open all of a sudden, and Phil and I both jump, me completely rolling off the bed and landing on the floor with a bruising thump.

"Ow."

I pull myself back up onto the bed with an embarrassed look, avoiding the eyes of the nurse. I look at Phil and realize that a blush had crept up onto his pale cheeks, and I smile slightly at the cuteness of it. The nurse just raises her eyebrows and purses her lips, smiling mischievously.

"I brought you some breakfast, boys," she says, handing us the trays and walking back out of the room with another glance over her shoulder. Phil and I look at each other for a second before bursting out laughing.

"Isn't that the same nurse who walked in on you tickling me the other day?" Phil giggled, and I nod, cheeks pink from laughing.

I lean my head on Phil's shoulder, feeling warm and happy and vulnerable, all at the same time, but in a terrifyingly good way. I almost want to say I feel, content, but that wasn't quite right either.

"See?"

I look at him in confusion.

"See what?"

"You are even prettier when you're smiling."

"I'm not pretty."

"What do you mean? You're literally so beautiful it physically hurts."

He tilts his head and searches my face, poking my cheek.

"My pretty boy."

"Seriously Phil, I'm not attractive at all. Have you even seen me?"

A weird feeling bubbles in my stomach, uneasy, uncertain.

"Pretty, pretty boy."

Phils voice is warm and his eyes search mine, smiling. My mouth flops open before I slam it shut again, looking away from him and wrapping my arms around my legs again, cheeks the deepest of pinks.

"Dan. You're so beautiful. So much so that it makes it hard to breathe sometimes."

I open my mouth, about to protest, but he just shakes his head.

"Okay?"

I pause, uncertain.

"You're pretty and you're going to let me tell you that everyday."

My face is so hot and my heart is warm and the sound of Phil telling me what to do makes my stomach flip over.

"Alright."

"Good!"

He pulls me into his lap, practically beaming with pride that he'd gotten his way, and I lean into his chest.

I sigh as he starts stroking my hair, and I lean into him. This boy is going to kill me.

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a/n thingy: just wanted to say a quick thanks for 1.5k reads bc wow, that's a lot of reads on such a sucky story,,

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