Lame party, right?

Come back to my place?

After leaving they found themselves engulfed by the sounds of the real world. It was no longer just Phil and himself in the near darkness, the clatter of feet and the harsh cacophony of voices filling the air.

Dan brushed his fringe out of his eyes and gripped the same pole as Phil to stabilize himself as the tube rocked on the tracks. They stood listening to the light conversation and the occasional screech of the brakes comfortable in their lull of silence.

They were surrounded by dozens of unfamiliar faces bobbing along in time with the frequent jolts. While Dan acknowledged they were there, he only saw Phil.

Dan straightened and turned to Phil with bright eyes "Hey, Phil?"

"Yeah, Dan?" Phil looked up from his phone, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

Wow, Phil hadn't even done anything but something about him made Dan melt. How was Phil this attractive? Dan studied his face, it was flushed and the cold air left some of his features pink in contrast and his blue eyes stood out like pools of liquid sapphire.

"Despite you being a cheating fucking twat at Laser tag... I had a good time with you tonight" Dan half mumbled struggling to keep eye contact with his ocean colored irises. Phil made him feel vulnerable, more so than anyone else ever had...what was this man doing to him? He was the kind of person that made you feel transparent, like he already knew how you felt just by looking at you.

Phil let out a low chuckle and whispered "Don't act like you didn't love it, Dan" dragging a finger along his jaw causing Dan to lightly shiver.

Dan allowed his eyes to flutter closed and he smiled into his touch. He almost forgot what he wanted to say in the first place.

"Want to come back to mine so I can win against you at something?" He blurted and watched as Phil cocked an eyebrow.

"Chris and I just got the new crash bandicoot?" Dan grinned and there was no way Phil had any chance of declining this offer.

"M'sure" Phil responded and even though Dan was looking down at his shoes he could taste his smirk in his tone.

Though they were only 3 stops and a walk away it felt like an eternity.
--

They stepped off and bumped shoulders as they walked and after the longest 7 minutes of Dan's life they finally made it to the front door of his flat.

Dan awkwardly fumbled with his keys and pushed it open to welcome Phil inside. It wasn't exactly warm outside so they were extremely grateful to envelop themselves in the slight heat of Dan's home.

Knowing his shoes were definitely not clean enough to touch Dan's white carpet he slipped them off and left them in the hall. Dan's house was quirky to say the least, it was filled with light colored furniture but the walls and shelves were decked out in geeky collectibles.

"Nice flat, nerd" joked Phil prodding a pikachu plush sitting on the counter.

"Nice socks, dork" Dan returned causing Phil to glance down at his socks that were covered with cartoony pancake stacks.

"I really really like pancakes" he says with a faux sense of seriousness that is met with an eye roll from Dan.

"I'll get the game system set up in my room instead so we don't bother Chris in the lounge later , I have no clue when he'll be back" he took his hand and led him down the hall.
--
Dan was on the floor in order to be eye level with the system in front of the bed Phil had his legs swung over the edge of. Phil couldn't help but stare at the boy. The gentle curve of his spine, the way his arms flexed and the way his full ass rest heels on his feet. Wow. Phil couldn't help but stare, he was gorgeous.

Phil was pulled out of his day dreams "hey Phil you know I can see you checking me out in the reflection of the tv right?" Dan blurted without looking up from the jumble of wires he just finished plugging into the corresponding spots.

He didn't have to turn around to know Phil was blushing and heard him frantically attempt to redirect the conversation "haha can you blame me?...um wow the room looks way bigger in real life if that makes sense? Is that creepy? Sorry." Dan heard the sheets rustle as Phil awkwardly readjusted on the mattress.

"Ha it's fine, yeah I guess it's the ceiling, I think we're good now, grab a controller" Dan instructed casually pushing the system onto the shelf, taken aback upon remembering Phil watched his videos..

"Awesome" Phil mindlessly replied picking up a black plastic controller.

Dan lifted himself up and threw himself on the bed, his back pressed up against the headboard with Phil still sitting on the edge of the bed.

The tv screen lit up with a rainbow of color painting the monitor, Dan worked through the menu and plainly states "I'm pretty good at this just letting you know"

"But have you ever played the /hardest level?/" Phil taunts.

"Well I've completed the game so I assume so?" Dan shifted his weight nervously.

"The hidden one that was too difficult to be put in the originals? We have to play it!"

"Ok let's take turns until we finish it, I'm curious now, select it!" Dan bounced up and down on his mattress in excitement.

Phil started off strong but inevitably failed whenever the collapsable stairs gave way beneath him... every time.

They repeated the level in turn for nearly 2 hours. It was getting late and yet neither of them could sense The time passing to quickly. By the middle of the night they were side by side and exchanging witty banter as if they had known each other forever.

"you're supposed to jump on the pelican, Phil" Dan directed pointing at the screen.

"Your mum's a pelican" Phil retorted without looking away from the screen.

"what does that even mean?!" Dan exclaimed through breathes laughter. "I SAID JUMP ON THE PELICAN" as Phil inevitably fell in between the birds and plummeted.

"I BET YOU PELICANT DO BETTER" Phil challenged with finger guns and practically wheezing.

Dan collapsed flat on the mattress idiotically giggled at the ceiling..how was this real? This beautiful stranger walks into his life and he's the most gorgeous dork on the planet.

Phil flopped beside him and they descended into a lull of silence, yet somehow it wasn't awkward, as though each others presence was enough.