Misfit (Phan AU)

Chapter Thirty-Six

*Phil's POV*

At first, I couldn't tell what it was that had caused me to wake so early. Sure, the flat mattress beneath me was without a doubt uncomfortable enough to give me muscle pain for the rest of the day, and the temperature in the room was making my hair stand on end seeing as my half of the blankets had been stolen, but none of it seemed like enough to pull me from my first satisfying sleep in weeks. I felt well rested in a way that I hadn't been able to achieve no matter how hard I tried while I was sleeping alone, and I felt absolutely no desire to move an inch.

However, I did feel the desire to move Dan an inch, considering I could tell without even opening my eyes how far away he had drifted in his sleep, likely in the process of stealing every damn blanket he could. I yawned tiredly, pulling him closer by the arm draped around his waist and relishing in the warmth that our newfound closeness brought. I sighed contently, burying my face into the mess of wavy curls and breathing him in.

I'd missed this, so very much.

"Uh, Phil?" I blinked, still too sleep-riddled to really register the cautionary tone or what it meant. I clumsily fumbled around attempting to locate my glasses, giving up after a few seconds and simply sinking back against Dan tiredly. Was it really that important? Couldn't it wait another hour or two?

"Mm?" I groaned with disinterest, already feeling myself slipping out of consciousness again.

"What are you doing, er, sleeping with your ex-roommate?" My eyes snapped open all at once, my breath catching in my throat as everything suddenly clicked together. I jolted upright and propped myself up on my elbow, stuttering over my words as I tried desperately to explain myself.

Nothing coherent ended up leaving my lips as I stared helplessly up at Anthony, who was awkwardly standing a few feet away from the futon, like he feared what he might see if he got any closer. I felt my cheeks flush and I decided to attempt to explain myself yet again, after taking a long moment to calm myself down.

"Oh my god," I breathed out, the words laced with utter embarrassment. I buried my face in my hands, unable to look him in the eye. Reluctantly, I started to shuffle further away from Dan, putting space between us as cautiously as I could manage. I had to get out of this situation and carefully coddle the remainder of my dignity, hopefully by making sure Dan never learns of the exchange. "it's not what it looks like at all, just give me a second to get up and-"

"Hmph." Dan grunted, interrupting my panicked rambling with the disgruntled noise of protest. It was beyond me how he could complain the moment I moved away from him when he'd been the one to roll away during the night, but apparently he was considerably clingier in the morning. I should have known this, should have been prepared to scoot away as quickly as possible and replace my presence with extra blankets, but instead I made the mistake of leaving him open to the cold. It seemed he did not like that, at all.

He whined high in the back of his throat, rolling over and collapsing against my side, causing the elbow I'd been using to prop myself up to give out beneath me. I fell back against the pillows and chuckled nervously, flashing an apologetic smile up at Anthony. He didn't seem impressed. He seemed even less impressed a moment later when Dan was snuggling contently into my side, sighing happily.

"Dan." I tried my best to speak in an even tone, but somehow the name still came across as more of a warning than anything else. He was oblivious to how desperately I wanted to evade him, didn't even hesitate before resting his head against my chest and bunching up handfuls of my shirt in his fists. I bit my lip, knowing without taking the time to look that Anthony was definitely glaring at me.