ᵀᴿᵁᵀᴴ ᴼᴿ ᴰᴬᴿᴱ メ ᴾᴴᴬᴺ

-11-

phil followed dan into the shop, going in wide-mouthed. all the clothes were dark. black, navy, grey, brown... most of them with ripped holes or scary looking faces and skulls. phil  hadn't realised how dark dan's clothes were until then. currently,  he was only wearing black.

dan dove into the store and back out with some clothes, handing some over to phil, with a wide grin on his face.

"come on," dan chuckled softly and led phil into a changing room, acknowledging one of the staff members. she had blazing red hair, tattoos on one arm and piercings all over her face. she looked intimidating and didn't even question what a guy like phil was doing inside the store like this.

because there was only one changing room, and they were right tight for time, dan suggested to share one. dan was not hesitant when he took his shirt off and phil bit my lip, feeling uncomfortable. phil had seen dan getting changed many times now, but being this close to him when he did... phil only felt hot and flustered. he changed into a new shirt, looking in the mirror a bit and realising that phil was watching. he blushed a little.

"come on, get changed," dan said, almost awkwardly. phil quickly looked away and started to get changed, feeling embarrassed as he took off all his colourful garments, feeling like he  had just betrayed who he was and replaced them with a navy shirt, black leather jacket and black ripped jeans. dan had watched the whole process of phil changing and he almost felt pressured, as dan eyed me up close.

"perfect, you look great."

phil smiled at the words, as if he really meant it but knowing he only liked it because it fitted with his crew. phil started to take the black leather jacket off when dan placed his hand on my arm, stopping him from taking his arm out of the sleeve.

"what are you doing?" he asked, his smile disappearing.

"umm, getting changed?" phil replied, confused.

"why? do you not like it?" dan looked at phil, his eyes almost pleading. phil didn't understand what he wanted from him. All he wanted to do was to make dan happy. but he couldn't tell him how he really felt about this outfit, that it wasn't him, that he looked like a scary monster version of him... and that he couldn't quite believe that it seemed that dan was so embarrassed by him he had to make him change his outfit.

"o-of course i do," phil stuttered. lying always made him feel uncomfortable. 'Why did I lie?' he asked myself, and remembered what his mum used to say, 'Lying makes you to to hell.' i shuddered at the thought, hoping this lie protected his friend's feelings.

"i-i just don't want to ruin it before i go... i-i'm a very clumsy person," phil told him, which wasn't a lie at all. "imight spill something o-on it and this is m-my only good outfit for the party,"

dan blinked, and nodded, as phil quickly changed back to his clothes and sorted his hair hair. dan also got changed and this time phil resisted to stare at his body as he did before and exited the changing room before he got the chance to and waited outside.

at the checkout, dan used his loyalty card and let phil use it too, however much the red-hair girl hated it. she stared at phil with annoyance, and he looked down at my feet, feeling out of place. then, as we went outside, dan handed me over the bag of the clothes we bought.

"hey will you go back without me? marcus said i have to buy a few drinks for the party in case they run out," he said. phil nodded, thankfully. he needed to go back and clear his head anyways. and there was something he had to do.

t h r e e 

h o u r s

l a t e r 

as dan walked back to the hall rooms, he couldn't help but think about phil and his time in the changing room. he knew that phil was watching him, yet he didn't hold back. it was almost as if he wanted to off his body, not that it was anything special, but why? he didn't understand. but when phil realised dab had caught him staring, the sudden look away where he was so embarrassed, his cheeks red and dan couldn't help but think he looked cute.

he had gotten back to the room now and he placed the bag of drinks down and looked for the keys in my pockets but was suddenly interested by something he could hear. a sound from inside the room. he pressed his ears against the door, trying to make it out.

"... so if you liked the video and want me to do more of this kind of video, please give it a like, or comment, do i suit this look or no? and if you're new to this channel, why don't you subscribe? if you want to know when i make a new video, don't forget to press that bell, love you all, byeeeee,"

and it was all quiet. dan was confused. who was phil talking to? what video was he talking about? he  fiddled with all his pockets, wanting to quickly find the key but then realised that phil could open the door. phil knocked.

dan heard a crash.

"umm, coming! one second!" phil's voice was nervous and scared, and dan heard his footsteps running all over the place. he didn't know what was going on but he wanted to know. a few minutes later, phil opened the door, almost out of breath. he smiled, and looked at dan. he was wearing the outfit that dan had gotten him and he looked so good in it too. dan entered the room, picking up the whole of drinks and looked around to see what had happened. everything was just the way it was but he noticed what seemed to be a black stick exposed from behind phil's cupboard. not wanting to seem suspicious he walked over and placed the bag down, and looked behind it. a tripod.

phil was looking at himself in the mirror and dan noticed his bed was now messy and a laptop was on it, as well as a camera. there was also now a dent on his side of the wall next to the bed. what was phil hiding from dan?

"phil?" i asked, and he looked up at me with a bright smile.

"what were you doing?"