In Between // phan

Two

  "Finally..." Dan muttered, laughing as Phil punched his arm.

  "Let's just go."

  Yesterday, Dan had called Peej and told him that they'd decided to come back, and PJ had come the next day (interrupting some seriously intense action) to give them a Portal Key, that would allow them to enter Repaer Headquarters. Dan pulled it out of his jeans pocket and stood in front of the closet door in the hallway. He hesitated before pushing it in and twisting, then pulling the door.

  It led directly to his room, his old room that it, in Headquarters. It was pretty much the same as he had left it, the white walls bare except for a few posters and aimless drawings here and there, the bed left unmade and his clothes strewn across the floor.

  Dan walked through the doorway, dragging a few of the bags and suitcases they had with them, and Phil followed behind him. After dumping the luggage in various places, Dan looked around, smiling at the nostalgia practically flowing from the walls.

  He'd spent pretty much his entire life here, in this very room. him and Peej had had countless sleepovers, and when they were older, just hung out. He'd thrown temper tantrums, rage fits, and had many existential crisises in here. He'd never realized he missed it so much, until now, and now he'd get to share it with Phil too, who was looking around curiously, as he had never been inside here before.

  Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Dan turned to see PJ poke his head through the door, smiling when he saw them.

  "I knew I heard you guys." He said, and walked in, hugging Phil first then moving on to Dan. "It's nice to see you here again." He said softly, and Dan smiled widely.

  "It's nice to be back."

  "Uh...the Highers want to see you, actually." PJ said, pulling away and looking at him sadly. "They want to 'welcome you back', apparently."

  Dan scoffed. "Yeah right. More like tell me what exactly why they want me here at all. Bastards."

  "Don't start, Dan." Phil said, reaching over and twining their fingers together. "We just got here."

  Dan sighed again, and smiled weakly at his boyfriend. "Sorry. They just wind me up."

  "I know."

  "Well, I'll leave you two alone to, uh.....settle in" PJ said awkwardly, and he left, closing the door behind him.

  "So...what do you think?" Dan asked Phil, gesturing around the room. Phil screwed his face up in concentration, as if he was thinking of what to say.

  "Wouldn't want to be anywhere elese." He replied, smiling, and Dan wrapped his arms around Phil's waist, pulling him closer and kissing him softly.

  "You sure you want to do this? It's not too late to turn back." He asked concerningly, but Phil smiled at him, kissing his lips again.

  "One hundred percent sure. I want to be with you, and you want to be here, I know you do. So we're staying."

  Dan smiled, disentangling himself from Phil's arms and heading towards the door.

  "Come on then. Don't want to keep the bas- uh, the Highers waiting."

  Phil rolled his eyes, but followed him out the door and down the hall.

                                                                    *********************************

  "Are you sure you want to face them again?" Dan asked, as they stood in front of the Highers chambers. "You don't have to go in, it's fine with me."

  Phil glanced at him sheepishly. "Um...are you okay with going by yourself?" He asked.

 "Of course. Just wait out here, okay?"

  Phil nodded, staring at the ground, and Dan lifted his chin up to kiss him slowly and passionately.

  "I'll be right out, promise." And with that, he took a deep breath and pushed the doors open, stepping into the familiar dark room, with the oh so familiar cloaked figures on the opposite side of the room. Dan saw that there were more of them, about twelve now, but he didn't comment on it, just bowed his head respectfully and waited for them to speak.

  " Daniel." One said. "It's been a while."

  "Not that long, really." He replied.

  "Even so, it's very nice to see you again. And where's Phillip?"

  "Outside. He didn't feel very comfortable with coming in."

  "Oh well that's too bad. We didn't really start off too well that last time, did we?"

  Damn straight you didn't, Dan thought bitterly, but kept silent. "I want to thank you, Highers, for accepting me and Phil back into your society again. I've....I've missed it."

  The Highers were silent for a minute before one of them laughed softly. "You are very welcome, Daniel, and tell Phillip that we welcome him into our community as well."

  "Will do."

  There was a very long pause, and Dan was starting to sweat, from both the heat of the many candles around the room, and the anxiousness of waiting for the Highers next move.

  "Since Phillip has officially joined us, you know that he will have to go through the ceremony of completely becoming one of us as well." They finally said, and Dan gritted his teeth.

  He had known this, of course, but he didn't like it one bit. He didn't want Phil to become a full blown Reaper, and have to go throught the painful process as well. But he knew that he'd have no other choice, and he knew that Phil would do it anyway, so that they could stay.

  "I do." He replied, through clenched teeth.

  "Just making sure. For the first few weeks, he can accompany you on jobs, but after that he will have to work on his own."

  "Understood."

  "Good. You are dismissed, Daniel."

  Dan bowed slowly, then left the dark room, blinking as the sudden bright light from the windows hit his eyes. He saw Phil was waiting for him, and headed over.

  "What happened? What did they say?" He asked, as soon as Dan stopped beside him.

  "They were just saying that you would have to become a Reaper, fully, for us to stay. And you'd have to start doing jobs."

  They walked in silence for a bit, Phil staring at the ground and Dan staring at him.

  "We can still go back." Dan suggested, and Phil scowled at him.

  "No."

  "Alright, just an option..."

                                                                         *****************************

a/n: this is a lot of work, coming up with ideas, but i do it for you guys. hope you liked it!