In Between // phan

Four

  The next day, Phil was trying to back out.

  "No, Phil, you'e the one who's been up my ass about this, so it's happening." Dan said, dragging him down the hall to the Higher's chambers. Phil kept trying to pull away and run down the hall, and Dan had had to chase him three times already.

  "Come on, Dan. I know you don't want this to happen either."

  "Yeah, but now that I've agreed to it, you can't just run away."

  "Why not?" Phil asked, pouting and dragging his feet.

  But Dan didn't reply, and after another minute of pulling, whining and persuading, they finally reached the tall doors. Phil let out a small whimper, but clutched Dan's hand tighter and stayed where he was. Without any other words, Dan knocked on the door and opened it slowly.

  As usual, it was hella dark, the walls flickering from the candles, and the Highers stood opposite them, silent.

  "Can we help you, Daniel? Phillip?" One of them said, and Phil jumped slightly at the loud voice.

  "Phil's decided to become a Reaper." Dan said bluntly.

  "Well," They said, "That was a bit sooner than we expected. And you're okay with this decision?"

  "Does it really matter?" He said, his teeth clenched in annoyance. They always asked too many questions.

  "It does indeed matter. Contrary to what you might believe, Daniel, we do respect your opin-"

  Dan snorted, scowling at the cloaked figures. It was completely disrespectful, but he didn't care, he just wanted to get this over with. "Can we save the 'I respect you' speech for later? We don't have all day."

  There was silence for a moment, and the only thing Dan could hear was the sound of Phil's shallow breathing beside him. He looked over at him and squeezed his hand reassuringly, and Phil smilled back at him, a bit weakly.

  "Of course." the Higher said, and Dan was actually a bit surprised that they didn't scold him or anything for talking back to them like that. He's been gone for way too long it seemed.

  "We can't just immediately put him trhough the ritual, though." Another of them said. "We are going to need some time to set it up and whatnot. If you can come back in a few hours, then we can proceed."

  Dan clenched his jaw, but still nodded. At least he'd still have some time to spend with Phil, before all this went down.

  "Okay." He said. "We'll be back later then."

  And that was it. Dan bowed slightly, and Phil followed suit, a bit awkwardly, and they left without another word to the Highers.

  There was a tense silence between them, as they made their way down the empty corridor. More awkward than tense, really, and Dan was itching to talk, just to break the deafeaning quiet. But looking over at Phil, and his paler than normal face, he thought that it wouldn't be the best idea right now, and to just let Phil think about everything, everything that had just happened and what was to happen in the very near future. It probably was a bit overwhelming, all this happening to one person in the course of barely two weeks now.

  Dan himself wasn't too relaxed in the situation either, and though he knew it was a bit selfish to be thinking of himself at a time like this, he couldn't help but wonder why he had been stuck with.....this,  just all the drama and the craziness. He didn't regret meeting Phil, no, he just wished they could have been under different circumstances in doing so. Because anyone could see that their relationship was a highly messed up one. And he loved Phil, really and truly, but....what all this really worth it?

  "You okay?" Phil asked quietly from beside him, and Dan was brought back to the present. 

  "Course I am. Why?"

  "Just...you looked a bit worried. What were you thinking about?" He asked.

  "Lots of stuff. You and me. The whole damn Reaper situation. The days I'm going to have to spend without you." He replied, and he hated that he could lie so easily to this boy, but he couldn't bring up everything tht was going through his head right now, he didn't want them to get into anopther stupid fight. He wanted these last few hours they had together to be spent in the most calm (or sensual) way possible.

  "Days?" Phil asked, his eyes scrunching up in confusion. Apparently, he hadn't had any idea how long this ritual was going to take.

  "Yeah. Its going to take a few days for the process to be finished. Sorry, I never told you." Dan apologized.

  "Don't worry. It's fine." But Dan could see that it really wasn't; Phil was just as anxious about these few days as Dan himself.

  "It'll be fine, babe." Dan said, stopping in the middle of the hallway and pulling Phil close to him, hugging him tightly. "I promise, everything will be okay."

  Phil clung to Dan's shirt, burying his head into the crook of his neck. He sounded like he was hyperventilating, from the way he was breathing all hard, and Dan tried his best to calm him down, rubbing his back softly and whispering into his ear.

  "I have no idea what I'm getting into, Dan" Phil said shakily. He was trembling slightly, and Dan only hugged him closer. "I'm scared, I really am."

  "Its okay, its fine to be afraid." Dan said softly, but Phil didn't seem to be listening. "I promise, Phil, everything will be fine, I swear I'll make sure of it. Okay?"

  "Okay."

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a/n: you guys see what I did there? With the....with the 'okay'? Haha....