Get Out Your Damn Umbrellas

Chapter 1

Soft crackling from the loudspeaker echoed over platform 3 of London's Euston Station as a monotone voice announced that the six o'clock train to Manchester Piccadilly would be boarding in ten minutes. A plethora of people were waiting near the tracks, some sitting impatiently amongst the cold gray benches, some lingering to bid farewell to their friends and loved ones. However, Dan and Phil required a slightly less conspicuous area to say their goodbyes before Phil's departure to the North, namely a small stockroom in the back of Boot's pharmacy.

"I promise," Phil murmured between kisses on Dan's cheeks, eyelids, forehead, and mouth, "I'll try to call you on Skype anytime I get the chance."

Dan leaned away and shook his head. "Phil, you know you won't be able to get a decent Internet connection up there. Besides, it's your cousin's wedding. You'll be spending most of the weekend awkwardly interacting with your weird relatives."

"Well, I can at least try to phone you or send a text now and then."

"Honestly, Phil, it's fine. I can survive three days in the apartment on my own without you checking up on me. I'm not that codependent."

Phil's brow furrowed in concern. There was a tinge of bitterness in Dan's voice that Phil often heard when something was troubling the younger boy that he didn't want to talk about. "Is everything okay, Bear?"

"No- I mean, yes," Dan muttered, "It's fine, I just," he swallowed and shut his eyes tightly, "I didn't want to worry you."

Phil could feel the tension radiating from Dan's body with the two of them pressed together in a small space. He linked his arms around Dan's middle and let the boy lean against him. "Please, Dan," he said softly. "Tell me what's wrong."

Dan was silent for a moment and simply let the older boy hold him. Then he exhaled slowly and whispered, "Someone posted it again."

Now it was Phil's turn to tense up. A small bubble of panic rose in his chest, but he tried to remain calm for Dan's sake. "I'll get it taken down."

Dan sighed wearily. "What's the point? This keeps happening over and over no matter how hard we try to stop it, so why bother?"

It broke Phil's heart to hear Dan sound so discouraged, his energetic warrior admitting defeat. When the leak first happened and their world was thrown into chaos, it was Dan who took control of the situation, explaining away everyone's proofs and theories and trying to deflect as much attention from their private lives as possible. Even though arguably it did more harm than good, Phil couldn't help but adore the fact that Dan had a tendency to become the snarkiest bastard on the planet when trying to shield the people he loved. Of course there were days when Dan felt overwhelmed by it all, the constant spiral of lies and half-truths and playing off everything as a joke even when he was dying inside, but Phil was always there to wrap Dan in his arms and remind him of the truth, because that's the way it worked with them. Dan protected Phil, and Phil protected Dan from himself.

"I'm sorry, Bear."

Dan shrugged but held on tighter. "It's just harder to deal with when you're not around, because I used to be able to watch it whenever we were apart to make myself feel better, but now..." Dan sniffled as Phil gently stroked his back. "Now I can't even see a screenshot from it without cringing, and it's just... really depressing being constantly reminded of how the Internet managed to ruin the most beautiful thing anyone's ever done for me."

At this, Phil's throat tightened. He wished they were both at home cuddled up in bed instead of standing in this godforsaken storage cupboard right before he had to leave. He didn't have long, and there was no magical combination of words he could say to make everything all better. Still, he had to try.