Oblivious Hearts (Phan)

Chapter Twenty Three

Word count: 1606

'Keep in mind, hurting people often hurt other people as a result of their own pain.'

"Dan," Phil called from the kitchen where he was making a coffee. "Tommy just messaged me asking if we'd like to go to his for a barbeque." He chucked the spoon in the sink and padded into Dan's room. "Do you fancy it?"

"Yeah, that sounds nice." Dan said. "But it's freezing outside and raining, how is he going to keep it alight?" Dan chuckled and put his straighteners on the side, crossing the room to sit on his bed with Phil.

"He has them all the time." Phil replied, curling his legs underneath him. "He's got an indoor barbeque and everyone sort of sits around the house, like a house party but during the day." Phil took a sip of his coffee. "It's not as sad as I made it sound..."

"It sounds fun." Dan leaned over and kissed Phil on the forehead.

~

At about 1pm Phil knocked on the large front door three times, a tub of Moroccan vegetable cous-cous under his arm and Dan at his side. A few moments later the door swung open revealing a laughing woman wearing a jumper dress.

"Phil!" She cried out, pulling him into a hug. Phil's body stiffened at the contact but he was smiling.

"Anita, how are you?" He said, his body relaxing as she let him go.

"Yes, yes I'm fine. Come in, come in." She stepped aside and gestured for them to come in. Phil took Dan's hand and led the way down the corridor. "Now who's this you've brought along with you?" Anita said from behind them in the narrow corridor.

"This is my boyfriend, Dan." Phil said giving Dan's hand a small squeeze. He turned into the kitchen, placed the cous-cous on the counter and faced Anita again. "I'm sure Tommy's told you about him."

"He might have mentioned it." Anita said, giving Phil and playful wink. "So, Dan, I hope you aren't distracting Phil from his work too much. Though from what I've heard you are. Phil's been humming and actually smiling at work." A blush crept across Dan's cheeks but it was nothing compared to Phil whose blush flooded his whole body. Dan looked across to Phil, biting his lip to stop himself laughing.

"Oh shut up," Phil muttered. "Come on I'll introduce you to Tommy." Phil pulled Dan from the kitchen, leaving Anita to pour herself another cocktail. "Sorry about that, she's Tommy's wife and can be overly friendly after a few drinks, well she can be that way before she's had a drink too." They were walking through the living room in search of Tommy. Apparently they were some of the first guests as the house was almost completely empty of people. The house had a strong smell of cooked savoury food, but it didn't make Dan hungry, in fact it slightly made his nostrils curl. Phil led Dan into a room at the back of the house where a tall, stocky man was hunched over a big, black box, which was letting off a lot of steam, this Dan assumed was the indoor barbeque.

"Tommy, this is Dan." Phil said, his voice deep and lined with pride. Tommy looked up and immediately locked eyes with Dan, a smile playing on his lips.

"Ah, so this is Dan. I've heard absolutely nothing about you, Phil is very private. But you know this of course." Tommy said, stepping towards Dan and shaking his hand.

"Well, I've heard a bit about you. Phil is very fond of you, though I'm sure he'd never admit it, being Phil." Dan replied, making Tommy chuckle.

~

A few hours passed and the house slowly filled up with people, all of whom were loud and laughing. The rooms were all slightly too warm now with the amount of people moving around in them generating heat and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol. Dan thought he'd probably only be able to eat the cous-cous but apparently Tommy was vegetarian so he could actually eat pretty much everything, something his growling stomach was pleased to hear. There was music playing through the speakers but it wasn't music either Dan or Phil would listen to so Phil said he'd go and put some 'decent stuff' on. Phil left Dan happily chatting away to a group of older women who were gushing over his squidgy cheeks and polite mannerisms. Phil wandered into the kitchen to find the speakers and docking station and found Tommy throwing some rubbish in a bin liner.