non-binary → phan (on hold)

18. homecoming

"dan, if you drop me, i'm going to kill you." billie was currently clinging onto my back, mumbling half-asleep thoughts into the middle of my shoulder blades. i laughed at her empty threat and let go of her for a second before quickly grabbing onto her again. she gasped, smacking my arm. "stop it! i've been on an airplane for eleven hours and i'm on my period. you do not want to fuck with me right now."

i smiled, watching phil struggle to help billie's brother finneas carry the luggage. taehyung was taking long and fast steps, way ahead of the rest of us with two of the larger suitcases held in either one of his hands. "how much shit do you guys have?"

"this isn't all of it. this is just the important stuff," finneas responded, kicking one of the bags in my direction. "and you could at least carry this one. don't worry, it's the lightest." 

billie yawned directly in my ear, tightening her grip around me. "i'm so tired but i couldn't sleep on the plane at all because i was so excited to get to see you all again. and now i'm here, barely able to comprehend that you're all here because i'm only half-awake. but it's still great getting to see you guys."

i lifted billie up higher onto my back as she began to fall. "it's great having you back, bils. how about you and finneas spend the night with one of us and tomorrow we start going on a hunt for a place for you two to stay permanently?" 

"sounds good to me." finneas fell back to stand next to me, snorting in amusement, and flicked billie. "but since this one's already asleep, i guess we'll have to make sure she's okay with it when she actually wakes up. where are we staying at tonight?" 

phil, who had dropped three bags at different times in just the last minute, turned to face both of us. "daniel's. he's got more space because he's very boring and doesn't have decorations. he's just got the basic needs and a lot of food." phil smiled. "how about we just have one big sleepover at dan's? maybe we could make quiché again, since billie's here and tae hasn't tried the yummy before. it would be just like the good old times when we all first met except minus connor and plus taehyung and finneas." 

"i'm down if you guys are," i responded, shrugging. finneas hummed in agreement. "hey, taehyung! get your eager little ass back here, we have a question." 

the latter froze, turning around with a large, box-shaped smile before skipping back to us with the luggage held tightly in his white-knuckled grip. "yes?" he asked, facing us as he walked. he occasionally would turn around just to make sure he was going in the correct direction. 

i smiled at him, tilting my head to the right. "would you maybe want to come over to my place to sleep?"

taehyung bounced up and down excitedly. "so a sleepover? does that mean you and phil are gonna cuddle with billie and i get the beanbag again? please dan, it's so big and soft and comfy!"

i rolled my eyes. "sure, whatever, just don't be so loud please? you seem far from sleep right now and honestly, that's not good in our case considering half of us are practically already asleep."

"oh my gosh," billie groaned against my back. "please make him go to sleep. he does weird shit when he thinks everyone else is asleep and starts having dramatic conversations with himself in different pitches."

taehyung frowned, voice softening. "you told me you were fine with it and that it wasn't weird at all!"

billie groaned again. "i didn't mean it like that, tae. i'm sorry. i just meant that it will just be extremely annoying trying to sleep listening to you arguing with yourself, mkay? tomorrow you can yell at yourself all you want."

"thanks, bils." taehyung had brightened up a bit, but he still seemed to be a little sad, which upset phil to the extreme.

"taehyunggg," phil whined, picking up his pace to walk alongside tae. he wrapped his free arm around the boy's shoulder, frown almost deepening. "you've gotten really tall. is puberty hitting harder than ever?"

"huh?"

phil shook his head, arm falling to his head, exasperated sigh escaping his lips. "nothing. well, at least nothing about puberty. how about we watch some anime in the living room for a bit until we're both able to asleep? will that make you feel better? oh, and you get to pick."

taehyung started jumping up and down and again. "well, there's attack on titan, even though they don't have season two or the ova episodes on netflix. and there's also deathnote! but not the live action one, please. i prefer the anime. oh, a-and swort art online! there's so many good ones to pick from, phil, would you want to maybe watch-"

i shook my head as they grew further out of earshot. phil had started ranting with taehyung about his shared feelings on each one, occasionally shouting "mikasa!" out of pure excitement. i laughed, listening to billie complain to her brother about the group of losers she hung out with as she clung to me from behind.

i wasn't complaining. i was glad that the group of losers was slowly coming together again.

⌲

author's note! oh jeez, i feel like it's been a while. well, uh, this story is almost over!! there's an estimate of four chapters left, so, uh.. yeah!! sorry for taking so long ((:
-di