emotions (phan)

two

I woke up to the blaring of my alarm clock, groaning and smacking it off. I got changed and locked up, driving to the building.

Once I got there I fixed up a couple cars, until a certain person caught my eye. Phil was pulling up, a smirk plastered on his face. He hopped out, patting his car and looking at me expectantly.

"I think you need to fix my car," he told me. I glared at him, scoffing and wiping my oil-covered hands on an old towel.

"I think you need to get the fuck out."

"Daniel! That is not how we treat our customers!" My boss, Robert, scolded. I exhaled.

"Yeah, Daniel, that's not good employee behavior. I'm insulted. I think I'm gonna leave a bad review on Yelp," he teased, that same cocky smirk never leaving his face.

"Oh, cry me a river. How did you even find me?"

"Your business card fell out when I pulled you off that guy last night. I wanted to see if you were arrested or not, so I came to check. But really this place doesn't seem any better than a jail cell."

"Well-"

"I also wanted to see if you wanted to go get some coffee," he finished, cutting me off. I froze, whipping back around to eye him. Was he serious?

"What? But I'm all dirty and smelly. . . and dirty."

He bit his lip, smiling, and I ignored the butterflies forming in my stomach. I frowned at him again. "Oh well, grow up. I'm pretty sure I could convince your boss to let you go for a break- you can fix my car afterwards."

I hesitated. A little coffee couldn't hurt. I sighed, looking back up at him and nodding. Phil grinned and he walked over to my boss, getting pretty close and shoving a wad of cash in his hand. Robert nodded and Phil skipped over to me, putting an arm around my shoulder.

"Ready, Danny?"

I swatted his arm off. "Sure, Philly," I mocked. He smiled at me, his tongue poking out the side of his mouth. We got a taxi and headed to a coffee shop downtown, finding a table for two.

"So, what's your full name?" Phil questioned. I sipped my cup of coffee.

"Dan Howell. And you're obviously Phil Lester. I remember that from last night."

"Awh, you remember me!" reached over and ruffled my brown curls.

"Well I mean you did call me a 'childish asshole', then sarcastically bowed to me."

He chuckled, taking a sip of his cappuccino. "So, have you got your emotions off? Or are you just naturally a rebellious idiot?"

I shrugged. "No reason to have 'em on."

Phil shook his head. "There's every reason to have them on."

I scoffed, setting my warm mug down. "Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Well, you have to be sad if you ever want to be happy again. I know the feeling," he spoke, suddenly avoiding my gaze. "You can't have happiness without sadness, otherwise you'd never be able to tell how you are if you haven't experienced the other."

"Why the hell would you want to be sad? I switched off my feelings because of sadness."

He shrugged, then I noticed his natural smirk was now replaced with a frown. "I lost my family to a car crash."

Oh. Goddammit Dan, why did you have to ask?

"I-" I cut my apology off, realizing I shouldn't apologize if I hurt his feelings. So why did I want to?