Quiet Rebellion - Phan

Daniel Howell & Phil Lester

"Of course I'm-" He realized that he was still whispering and spoke normally "Of course I'm home, it's me. What else would I be doing? Partying?"

"Life is too short for your sarcastic remarks, Dan. I'm coming over now"

He heard the dial tone and hung the phone back up, going to unlock the door and make popcorn. This was how it always went on the first night of the summer. One way or another Phil would find a way that they'd both be free (he planted the NYC trip idea in the Howell parents' brains months ago) then he'd come over at some random time in the night and they'd go through the same schedule they always did on this day.

Dan heard the door open then close.

"I smell popcorn" Phil stated, walking into the kitchen in his staple bright red flannel and Gray Matter t-shirt with jeans and his burgundy converse high-tops.

"Well its the first day of summer, isn't it" Dan noted "What else would I be doing but making the popcorn for our official Movie Night."

"Ah, I remember the day when we started this all. We were thirteen and you were just getting into horror films." Phil reminisced while Dan took the popcorn out of the microwave. "Your Frankenstein phase was my personal favorite" He commented.

"Oh god, don't remind me. The month that I got into makeup." He almost literally face palmed.

"If only your mom knew the amount of times that we used her eyeliner to draw stitches on your face." Phil grabbed the bag of popcorn and went to put a second one in the microwave. "You loved that though, every time, without fail. Thirteen year old Daniel Howell was obsessed with makeup. I wonder how that would boad with the kids at school" Phil jokingly said.

"Whatever, you loved it too." Dan teased back, sticking his tongue out.

"That I did"

"I'll go grab the blankets and the projector set-up from the basement, then we can be on our way. And you're going to have to leave your bike, again. I'm telling you, someone's gonna steal it one of these days." Dan said, walking out of the kitchen to get to the basement stairs. The basement, the scariest part of the house. At least it used to be. Dan had made enough memories with Phil down there that it wasn't that big of a deal anymore.

He rummaged around a bit before finding the huge comforters that they always used and the bed sheet. He grabbed the projector equipment and carried it all up in two trips. They had a newer version, but it was still boxy and heavy and he couldn't carry it with all of the blankets.

Phil had made the four batches of popcorn and was ready to go by the time Dan got to the kitchen with all of his stuff.

"Ok, I brought all the candy in my backpack, and the movie. Tonight we watch, for the horror film nostalgia, The Shinning." He pulled out the box with the filmstrip. "This things heavy, so lets get going."

They ended up loading the blankets and Phil's backpack onto his bike and he walked it beside Dan, who carried the projector. Luckily, the hideout was a short walk if they cut through the park to Sabine Ave and down Hathaway Rd. Finally they reached the outskirts of the little forest in the cent of the suburbia that they called home. The only mildly interesting place for miles. If you stood in the center, you could pretend that the only thing near you was trees and not the reality of the boring super-mart and Ruby's Diner and the rows of identical houses.

As soon as they got to the middle of the forest, where they was a little clearing in the trees, Phil started setting up the white sheet. To do this he had to balance his bike against the tree trunk and stand on the seat to reach a high enough branch, and then do the same the with tree next to it. Dan had set up the projector and film easily and was now just laying on the blankets watching Phil struggle to not fall and possibly get a concussion.

"Phil, one of these day's you're going to forget to put the break down on the bike before you do that, and it'll all go to hell." Dan said though a chuckle as Phil wobbled on the unbalanced bicycle.

"I'm living life on the edge" He commented, finally finishing tying up the corner of the sheet to a branch and hopping down. "It's all worth it for a crappy version of The Shinning that will inevitable have huge subtitles because I always get the wrong one by accident." He went to sit down next to Dan, where he'd probably hog all of the blankets, and unzipped his backpack. Three Twirlers and a Hershey's bar fell out. He'd filled the bag to the rim, as always.

"And one of these days we're going to get diabetes from this ridiculous amount of sugar." Dan commented, pulling a Kit-Kat out of the book bag. Phil just laughed and mixed the M&M's into the huge bowl of popcorn.

"Still worth it." He stood up to start the movie, which was already projecting the first scene onto their make-shift movie screen. "Oh, I also brought some beers. Stole them from the fridge, my dad won't notice. He has a horrible alcohol tolerance and doesn't even like drinking, he only buys it to try to seem more manly. He never drinks it. If he does notice, he'll just be thankful that its gone." He pulled out a glass bottle and handed it to Dan. It wasn't warm yet, but it was no longer cold. Better than Dan would have expected.

"Phil! You got that one British candy, Maltese's? Where did you even find these, you know I love them more than life its self!" Dan ripped open the little paper bag that had the chocolate themed candy. They rarely ever had them on movie night and whenever they did it was a secret how Phil had gotten his hands on them. Dan had a sneaking suspicion that it was sent from his grandmother who still lived in London, where Phil moved from when he was a kid.

Dan had always liked the idea of living in London, even though Phil always said that it wasn't all that great.

"You know I'll never tell you. And of course I got them, this might be the last summer that we get to do this." Phil said, somewhat sadly, sitting himself down next to Dan and grabbing a handful of popcorn.

"We should run away to London." Dan said randomly. Phil looked at him, amused.

"Why would we run away to London? And how?"

"Well, its a hypothetical situation, but because who wants to go to college. Well, I'm sure some people. I guess if you're doing what you like. But I don't want to study law. And I know that you have no clue what you want to do, you're just making it up as you go along. Don't try telling me otherwise, I know you better than you know yourself. If we could just run away to London and do nothing and eat Maltese's all day, that'd be perfect. We could get simple jobs. I could be a photographer and you could be a model or some shit." Dan said, paying no mind to the quiet movie, which had captions over half of the screen. Phil always accidentally got the one with subtitles.

"With what money, Dan, with what money" Phil asked, pulling a cigarette from his back pocket. Dan had grown so used to the smell of cigarette smoke that he only associated it with Phil now, which instantly made it a pleasantry.

"We could steal our parents credit cards and get lost in the airport." He said, holding his hand out to take a drag. Phil looked at him questioningly. Dan rarely smoked, and when he did it was just taking a hit from Phil's. He was always careful not to get addicted, and he never did. Ironic, considering that he got addicted to anything else that he even mildly liked. Dan nodded and Phil handed it over. The only reason he liked it was the aesthetic of blowing smoke. Especially when he did right in Phil's face. Especially when he took polaroid pictures of it. Especially when he did both of those.

"It would't really be stealing, since they'd otherwise be paying more than whats on those cards for us to go to college anyways." Phil noted, taking the cigarette back. He leaned over and kissed Dan, his hand drifting to his curly hair, guiding him in the kiss, as he did so often. After a few minutes he pulled away and replaced Dan's lips and tongue with the cigarette, his hand resting on Dan's thigh. "Now let's watch this movie and point out stupid things and quote the actors"

And with that, they were silent.