There's a Reason I Go to the Library & It's Not Cause I Like Reading

Chapter 13

If you asked Dan when he woke up the next morning whether he enjoyed Rawtenstall any more or less than Wokingham he would have pushed you aside while he comprehended the foreign body that had clamped around him in his bed during the night. After he took a few seconds to gather his thoughts and try and figure out, honestly, what the fuck was happening, he felt the boy he'd let into his bed the night before sigh, twist and throw his arm back over Dan before letting out a long, honky snore.
" Phil ," Dan whispered, shaking him in attempt to wake him.

"Whuuuuhhh..?" Phil groaned from beside him.

"Phil wake up," Dan whispered again.

"Oh, oh yeah," Phil replied, hastily releasing Dan. He sat up and leaned against the bedroom wall, stretching his arms and scrunching up his face before sighing and letting his limbs collapse back down onto the bed. Dan noticed he was still in his blazer and white shirt.
"Do you want a change of clothes, Phil?" he asked.

"What? I mean, s-sure, I guess," Phil stuttered in response. It was then that he remembered that Phil didn't actually exist, he wasn't sure what he was, but once you've read someone's obituary in a 4 year old newspaper and they turn up in your house not seeming to have aged a day from the picture posted along with their name, he was certain that Phil wasn't alive.

"My mum's gonna think I've lost it," Dan chuckled at him

"What? Oh, yeah, heh, probably," Phil said, standing up and straightening his tie. "I don't have to talk, I haven't in 3 and a half years, just pretend I'm not there I'll be fine," he added, picking up the black and white checked canvas bag in the corner of the room with the Buffy logo scribbled on in black marker on the side that Dan knew definitely wasn't his (which was then confirmed when he turned around and Dan saw Phil's name scribbled on the front in the same marker).

"You sure?" Dan asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Phil smiled, "Can I hold your hand though? Please?"

"If you want." Dan watched as the taller boy walked forward and nervously slipped his hand into Dan's waiting one and wove their fingers together.

"I miss holding people."

"It's okay, Phil."

-

"Oh good morning, Dan!" his mother greeted him when he walked into the kitchen, doing his best to pretend as if the boy brushing against his arm was gone.

"Good morning, Mum," he replied as he did every morning.

"I've got toast ready for breakfast for you and Adrian, is there anything your friend wants?" she asked. He felt Phil tense up beside him in panic and Dan himself was lost for words for only a second.

"Phil, would you like anything for breakfast or are you okay?" Dan said, trying to stay casual.

"Um, I'll have toast as well if it's not too much of a hassle on you, Dan's Mum," Phil replied. They shared a few concerned glances while Dan's mother's back was turned.

"Oh, of course not, Phil, I'm glad to see Dan's finally brought someone over, I haven't heard about about his friends since we moved here," she said cheerily.

"Phil's a new friend, Mum," Dan said, his brain running at a thousand miles per hour, trying to reconnect all the dots he's drawn sketchy lines between overnight.

"Well I'm pleased to meet you, Phil, you seem like a lovely young man."

Dan suddenly realised that it might come off as a little gay that he'd brought a boy home overnight that he was now holding hands with.