Set Up •●• phan

XVI

Dan woke in a room which, in his half-asleep state, he didn't recognise. He blinked and sat up, looking around, and then, all at once, everything came back to him.

Phil's arm was loosely slung over his waist, and he lifted it gently so as not to wake him. He rolled out from under the covers and planted a light kiss on Phil's forehead before padding over to the bathroom.

Plucking a towel from the rail, he rugged off his boxers and left them lying on the floor in the corner. He stepped into the shower, turning the dial to make the water warmer.

He hoped Phil wouldn't mind him showering in his bathroom, but after last night he thought he was relatively safe.

Dan felt slightly odd. He thought it was probably something to do with Phil, or more specifically his relationship with Phil.

He'd known he was gay since he was in year eight, but his parents hadn't really approved of it. They'd forced him into pretending he was straight around them which, although it was easy to modify his behaviour, didn't bode well for his relationships.

He'd tried to get girlfriends and pretend that he actually liked being with them, just to stop his parents disapproving of him. They never lasted. The girls always found out sooner or later, and they then inevitably left him. He found himself feeling sad on those occasions, even though he'd hated every time he'd had to kiss them, and the very thought of holding their hand made him shudder.

When he was in college, he'd got a girlfriend that he'd genuinely liked. She'd been his friend for two years, and when his friends set them up together he found himself - if not liking it, then not hating it either. He'd lost his virginity to her after a few months of them being together, and although he definitely hadn't enjoyed it, he hadn't felt disgusted by every second.

This almost convinced him he was straight.

That feeling only lasted until a few days later, when she broke up with him, saying that she had known all along that he was gay. They tried to stay friends, but it inevitably didn't work.

With Phil, it all felt different. Admittedly, last night they hadn't gone too far - the only mark Dan had was a small scratch across his back, and maybe a tiny hickey (or three) dotted across his chest  - and it definitely couldn't be classed as sex, but it felt natural. And Dan didn't feel bad doing it.

When he'd had girlfriends, he'd felt bad for them - he didn't like disappointing them, and most of the girls who noticed him wanted someone who genuinely liked them. When he had a boyfriend (a two week affair in year nine before his parents broke it off) he'd felt bad for disappointing his parents.

You can't win, really.

Dan's train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the bathroom door. He flicked the shower switch and wrapped a towel around his waist, drying his feet on the bath mat and walking over to the door.

He opened it to see Phil smirking at him. "Good morning, sunshine."

"Any particular reason why you dragged me out of my lovely warm shower?" Dan asked.

"You'd been in there for twenty minutes."

"Oh."

"Good morning, anyhow. Sleep well?" Phil asked, changing the subject.

"Better than I have the previous few nights," Dan answered.

"Any particular reason for that?"

Dan elbowed him in the ribs. "Stop that."

Phil smiled and hugged him. "I slept better too. I've missed having someone to hug."

"When was the last time you did?"

"When I was very small and had a teddy bear," Phil told him, a serious expression on his face.

"Really?"

"Yep. My parents never let anyone stay over, and they wouldn't let me out of their sight. It got pretty depressing, if I'm honest."

"How many people did you want to stay over?" Dan asked.

"My, you're curious today, aren't you?" Phil smirked. "Are you jealous?"

"I just want to know what competition I've got," Dan grinned back.

"Well. They were all boys, firstly. My parents didn't have a problem with that." Phil thought he detected a look of jealousy in Dan's eyes, and stopped talking. "What is it?"

"My parents had a totally different approach to yours," Dan said. "In fact, all of my previous conquests - if you could even call them that - were girls."

"You bi?"

"No."

"That must've been pretty awful," Phil said.

"Believe me, it was."

"But now that you don't live with your parents, you can do anything you want. Right?"

"Right..."

"So nobody will care if you join me in the shower. Right?"

Dan smiled, suddenly conscious that he was covered only by a small towel, and that Phil's eyes had been roaming his chest for the past few minutes. "With a link like that, how can I possibly refuse?"