ART DECO | PHAN

thirty seven.

5/1/17
129 lbs.

dan howell thought phil's family was lovely. they were polite- friendly, even, and welcoming.

when they got back to the house it was already bustling with people, mostly flocking in the kitchen and the lounge. there were more people than phil had warned him there would be, but dan sucked up his anxiety and held it in his lungs until he had the chance to release it, preferably not in front of phil's family.

phil led him around to introduce him, and dan waved and shook hands and smiled. he tried to fit into the space, the mold they clearly wanted to see from him, and as far as he could tell, he was succeeding. the thought caused a soft red shade to spread across his cheeks, and the warm smiles began to come naturally.

finally phil slid his hand into dan's, squeezing gently. "you wanna go somewhere more private? quieter?"

dan blushed at the implication of his words, but it was silly to get flustered. he was just looking out for him, he wanted to help him take a breather. it wasn't like they could do much at phil's parent's house anyways, not with so many people around. dan nodded timidly.

phil pulled him up some carpeted steps, the wall lined with photos in nice frames. dan wanted to look at all of them for hours, even if phil's family thought he was a freak. there were even baby photos of phil, looking cute as ever. dan suspected that had something to do with how phil ushered him up the stairs as quickly as he did.

the doors down the hall on the second floor were all painted a quiet beige color, except for one. that one was fluorescent green. dan beamed, looking at him and raising his eyebrows, and phil cleared his throat.

"i was ten," he muttered, so softly that dan could barely hear him.

"i'm sorry, what was that?" he struggled to keep a straight face.

phil huffed. "you're mocking me."

dan giggled and pulled at the sleeve of phil's shirt. "of course i'm mocking you."

without warning phil cupped dan's face in both of his hands and kissed him on the mouth. dan smiled into the kiss, gripping phil's shirt tightly. he couldn't stop smiling.

"i love you," phil mumbled finally, pulling back. "so much."

dan wrapped his arms around his waist for a minute, squeezing him tightly as if he would try and escape.

"can i see your room?"

-

phil's childhood room wasn't as much as dan had expected. it had a fairly small bed, shoved up against the wall, with some stuffed animals and assorted toys sitting on the blue pillows. there was also a chair shaped like a dragon, which was an interesting choice, but nothing as extreme as dan had thought of.

"they mostly cleared it out when i left," phil explained, picking up a stuffed bear and examining it. dan nodded.

"ah." he looked around, crossing his arms. he felt phil look at him.

"are you cold?" he asked softly. "i have some warm clothes somewhere here..."

dan smiled at him weakly and shook his head. "just tired."

"oh." phil hesitated before sitting down on the bed and grinning up at him, patting the spot on the comforter next to him. "sit."

dan did as he said, folding his hands in his lap. phil was still watching him.

"i know you wanna ask," he said finally, and dan could hear his smile in his voice. "so ask."

dan sighed. he leaned over to rest his head on phil's shoulder, closing his eyes. "do they like me?"