delivered

6

it's six thirty when phil tiredly rings the doorbell, his fingers already working to loosen the black tie around his neck as he waits patiently for the door to open.

he still did not expect dan to be home, because it had been far too many times that he's called in, yet again breaking his promises. his reasons included being suddenly caught up in work, or something related to chris.

of course.

ten seconds later the door was opened by adrian, as usual, already dressed in his pajamas, a welcoming smile on his face and his hair sweeping messily across his forehead.

"hey buddy," phil fondly ruffled his hair, crouching slightly so he could hug adrian, before walking into the house, and dropping his brief case on one of the dining chairs, where adrian had his school work spread out.

"hi dad, how was work?" he asked, sitting down where he previously was, proceeding to chew on his pen again.

"it was okay, why aren't you studying in your room?" phil furrowed his eyebrows slightly, his voice travelling farther as he went into the kitchen, filling up a glass of cold water before gulping it down.

"oh because papa asked me to get out," adrian explained and phil lowered the glass from his mouth. wow, dan actually kept his promise for once. "he is changing the sheets,"

"oh okay," phil gave him a small smile, kissing his forehead and ascending to his own room, pulling at the tie around his neck and flinging it carelessly on the bed before unbuttoning his shirt. he was only halfway through when dan entered, a pile of fresh looking clothes in his hands.

"someone's looking sexy," dan commented cheekily, winking at phil and phil just shook his head fondly at the dorky gesture, his fingers resuming the action of unbuttoning his shirt.

"when did you come back?" phil questioned, raising his eyebrows slightly as he dug through his closet to find a comfortable jumper as the weather seemed kind of unforgiving today.

"around two hours ago, i came here fifteen minutes after i ended your call," dan explained, shuffling through the recently washed clothes, sorting them out so they can be put in either of their cupboards.

"alright, can you check if there is a warm sweater or a full sleeved t-shirt in that pile? it's kind of cold," phil asked, beginning to unbuckle his belt as dan pulled out a plain black jumper.

"here,"

"but that's your jumper,"

"so? we're married phil, we can share clothes i suppose,"

"not after that time," phil mumbled, rolling his eyes slightly at the memory as he ignored the jumper in dan's hand and took out a plain t-shirt instead, pulling it on.

dan could feel his heart drop at the statement and he just bit his lip, avoiding to look in phil's direction, his fingers tightening their grip on the rejected piece of clothing.

"i-i said i was sorry for that,"

"that's fine, it doesn't matter," phil pulled the trousers off his legs in a hurry, pulling on some sweatpants before walking out of the room, not bothering to hear dan's reply.

"is everything okay dad?" adrian shot a concerned look towards phil as he clumsily drank another glass of water, and phil just nodded, giving him a half hearted smile.

it was a cold day, and dan was just returning from work, his hands almost numb because of the low temperature and his hair slightly wet from the freezing rain. chris was walking him home today, instead of driving, because the roads were extremely slippery and chris was just a learner, who did not want to bust his car into a tree.