In Reverse - Phan

Untitled Part 1

Phil lets out a genuine, throaty laugh. Dan chuckles with him because the sound goes straight to his heart.

"Oh, my mum definitely wrote that," Phil says and takes the letter from Dan. "Her hand-writing hasn't changed one bit."

Dan smiles at him. "So, what do you say?"

"It's not raining, Dan. There would be no point."

Dan is on the cusp of rolling his eyes, but the sincerity in Phil's tone makes him reach out and grab his hand instead.

"I'm sure your brother wouldn't mind if we bended the rules a little bit," he insists. "Besides, your plan to play mind-soiling card games backfired quite spectacularly. What else have we got to do?"

Phil looks up from their hands to meet Dan's gaze.

"I could think of a few things, actually."

"Yeah, I bet you could." Dan laughs and shakes his head. He stands up and takes the tin with him. "I'm gonna set this up. Feel free to join me."

Phil's imperceptible grumble is enough to tell him that he's won this time.

-

-

"Imagine if computers didn't exist and people had to make thousand-piece puzzles by hand." Phil's voice is a shock to the longstanding silence. "That would be the worst job ever. Imagine it. Cutting up all those little pieces, again and again and again."

Dan raises his eyebrows and tries to block out Phil's voice as he hunts out the next piece for the picture of two kittens in a plant pot he's currently trying to make. Phil is just watching him with his head resting in his hands.

"I bet it'd take hours to make just one puzzle," Phil continues. "And if you messed up just slightly, it would mess up the entire thing."

"How scandalous," Dan mumbles.

"Right. And I bet your hands would be in permanent agony, too. It's like modern-day slavery."

Dan breathes noisily through his nose and drops a puzzle piece onto the kitchen table.

"Are you purposefully trying to distract me, Phil?"

"No." Phil glances down at the pieces sprawled out in front of them and picks one up. "Looking for this?"

Dan's jaw drops as he studies the piece. He snatches it from Phil and seethes when it slots in perfectly where one of the kitten's ears should be.

"Fuck you."

"Later." Phil laughs and starts sifting through the pieces. "We need to finish this before the rain stops, remember?"

If Phil notices Dan's tragic descent into shyness, he doesn't say anything.

-

-

Dan can't help himself when he runs a hand over his face to relax his muscles. His jaw is aching from laughing too much.

"You look like you're trying to use the power of seduction to beckon Satan over to you," Dan calls from where he's sprawled out on the sofa, watching as Phil tries to throw a rubber hoop over one of the metal cans that are lined up in front of him. "Stop stretching your arms out so much."

Phil glares at him from where he's standing in the middle of the living room.

"Do you want to try this? I haven't seen you move your arse from that chair since we started."