Hate Me Closer (Phan)

Chapter Forty-Five

"Are you sure you've got everything?" Katherine fussed again, looking around the living room with Martyn standing by the front door.

"I barely came with anything." he pointed out, "Look, I'm only twenty minutes away..."

"I know, I know..." she sighed, walking up to him and holding him in an embrace, "Drive safely, alright? Call me when you've settled down."

"I will." he nodded, "Thank you for letting me stay."

"Oh, please. This is your home." Nigel rolled his eyes, hugging his son.

"And thank you, Dan, for putting up with Phil for two weeks!" Martyn grinned, rolling his suitcase onto the back wheels.

The two boys went red at the same time, staying silent as they were watched on by their family. Katherine hummed to herself, "Right, well..."

"I'll get going." Martyn smiled, picking up his suitcase and beginning to walk out of the door, "I'll be around again soon, okay?"

"You must." Kath nodded, "I hope it goes well."

The doors were shut and the family was standing aimlessly in the hallway. Phil began to rock back and forth on his feet while he held onto the bannister. Katherine looked at the two of them, combing her hair back with her fingers as she asked, "Well, I guess you should get your things back into your room." her eyes scanned them before she said, "And can one of you strip the air bed? I'll get those covers in the wash."

"Sure." Dan agreed, smiling as he made his way up the stairs. The older teenager followed him, the door closing behind them as they'd become accustomed to shutting it, "I feel bad."

"Why?" Phil asked, piling up his clothes.

"We didn't use the bedsheets. It's just...unnecessary hassle for Kath," he admitted, chuckling to himself.

"You'd rather tell her we shared a bed?" Phil giggled, dumping the pile onto his best friend's bed before wrapping his arms around him, burying his nose into the back of his neck.

Dan hummed, closing his eyes as he muttered, "No." he turned around to Phil, taking the older boy in his grasp as he whispered, "Do you have to go back to your bedroom?"

"I really should." he sighed, "And it's not like we can stay together at school."

"Fine." the brown-haired boy grumbled, snatching the sheets into a clump and holding them under his chin, "I'll take these down." he marched his way down the stairs, trying to peer over the mass to see where his feet landed as he took each step, "I've got the sheets," he called out, passing then to Katherine.

She smiled, letting Dan open the washing machine door as she furrowed her eyes, "They smell clean." she didn't say more. She pushed the covers into the washing machine and kicked the door closed, "Do you know how to use one?" she asked the fifteen-year-old. Dan shook his head, biting his lip as he waited patiently, "Right. You'll grab one of these," she held up a washing tablet, "or you'll need to put in a dollop of washing liquid. Read the bottles and you'll be fine. Close that in, and you turn the machine on, the spin-up until the temperature is at forty degrees. For cotton, anyway. Then, turn it on for half an hour or an hour, depending on how much is in there...then on." she grinned, letting the machine rumble in front of them.

"Thank you." Dan smiled, turning away and walking back up the stairs. He saw Phil in his room, spread out helplessly against his floor, "Why are you there?" he chuckled, sitting beside the boy.

"I'm tired," Phil complained.

"And you're not on the bed...because?" Dan continued.

"The floor was closer." the blue-eyed boy looked up at his friend, smiling as he caught onto his glistening eyes and the way he looked down as though he was admiring him. He kissed the look on the lips, before humming to himself and staring at the door as he pulled away, "I'm not risking it." he chuckled.

"Close the door, then," Dan smirked. He watched the thoughts swirl inside of Phil's mind until he stood up, closed it, and returned to the brown-eyed teenager, "That's better." he chuckled, laying onto his back and letting the older boy lie beside him. He sighed, rolling into him and burying his head into his collar.

They let the time pass, breathing comfortably beside each other until their eyes fluttered shut and they weren't sure if they were completely relaxed, or if they were drifting in and out of a calm sleep. Dan eventually sat up, pressing his lips to Phil's, before he stood up and made his way towards the door, "I'm getting cake." he grinned before his friend had a chance to ask where he was going, "Want some?"

***

Dan was lying in his bed with his eyes up to the ceiling, listening to the silence of not-Phil's-breathing. It's strange to share a bed with someone you love for two weeks, and then have it dissipate over a night. He wanted him back in his arms so the both of them could wake up the next morning on the same pillow and their arms tied neatly together.

He sighed, opening his door and shifting across the hallway. He knocked first, knowing that Phil could have been sleeping, but he was going to enter with a response or not. He opened the door, standing beneath the wooden frame before he shut it closed again, looking through the midnight darkness at the sixteen-year-old who sat upright and with his eyes gazing helplessly upwards.

"You couldn't sleep either?" Dan asked, giggling as he walked barefoot towards his best friend's bed.

Phil shook his head, lifting his double duvet so the smaller boy could shuffle in beside him and cuddle against the warmth of his bare chest, "I thought you'd have fallen asleep."

"You should've known that if you couldn't, then I couldn't." Dan chuckled, suddenly feeling the weight of sleep on his eyelids, "Night, Phil." he whispered.

"Goodnight." there was a brief moment before he quietly smiled, "I love you."

"I love you, too." but it was as if the brown-haired boy uttered the words in his sleep.