Finn was the only one of them that was still angry.
A few days later, all the hype about Peter's ingenious prank on them had all but disappeared, and everything was slowly settling back into regularity. Even Dan himself was moving on. But there was barely a moment where Finn wasn't griping about the indecency of it all, or cursing Peter and his friends straight to hell. It was a mood killer.
And Dan understood it; there was something ridiculously irritating about having someone like that get one over on you. But there was nothing they could actively do about it, at least nothing that was entirely logical.
"All I'm saying is, how are we ever gonna stop the reign of terror if we let them get away with it?" Finn dropped his fork onto his plate and stared at the three of them as he lectured them furiously. "We just need a, a revenge plan or something. It doesn't have to be elaborate or anything, just something to show them they went too far."
"You're completely mental," Phil laughed at him. Peter was sitting halfway across the room, and Phil pointed to him vaguely. "Kids like that don't learn anything by us retaliating. It just makes them do worse things. Do you want them to torture us all summer?"
"He's right," Dan said, and Phil smiled gratefully at him. He cleared his throat. "And it was a one-time thing anyways. If we leave him alone, he'll do the same."
Finn sighed heavily, as if their reasonable ideas were frustrating him.
After everything that had gone down, Dan was more than ready to just drop it and forget it had ever happened. His mind was a little trippy with the details, and he was still trying to successfully wrap his brain around it all, but the sooner it was in the past, the sooner he could start to breathe a little easier.
Phil kept giving him these looks, and Dan had no fucking clue if he had always done that and he was just now noticing, or if it was because of the almost-kiss.
The idea of kissing Phil, if they had been alone together or if Emery hadn't interrupted them, was....confusing. He would like it, he already knew that much, but he didn't know if it would be worth it. He was always second-guessing himself around the guy, it was exhausting keeping track of everything he did or said to make sure he didn't end up doing something dumb to make Phil angry with him again. And for what? For a friendship that would last a few weeks before they never saw each other again? Or casual hooking-up that would lead nowhere when they had to leave? None of it sounded appealing or worth the effort he was putting in, but Dan was so past even the idea of cutting things off by now and it was upsetting.
He didn't know what the fuck he wanted with Phil, he just didn't want it to end.
"I don't want to be That Kid this summer," Finn continued, and Dan dragged his mind away from his stupid hormone-driven angst ridden thoughts. "The one who stood by and let that embarrassing shit happen to him and did nothing about it. Do you?"
"Its not that deep, Finn," Emery said, more focused on putting jam on his toast than the conversation topic. "Call them an asshole and move on, for your own health."
"There's just no point," Phil explained patiently, making Finn scoff. "They're dumb teenagers, and if you react to them, then they'll keep trying to make you react."
"Wow, thanks," Finn said sarcastically. "They aren't fucking primary school bullies, you sound like my mum."
"He's not gonna let it go," Dan said.
Phil shrugged. "Fine, but you're on your own."
"Come on, guys, you can't be serious." Finn gave them all pleading looks. "We were all humiliated, and you can't tell me that you'll let something like that slide and not do anything about it."
"I'm just the new guy," Dan said dismissively. "So don't try to drag me into this 'prank war' of yours."
"This is technically your fault anyway," Finn said, pointing an accusing finger at Dan. "You're like, obligated to help exact revenge."
"Leave him alone," Phil told him. "You can't force him to be apart of your highly flawed attack team."
"Don't defend his honor, just cause you two are apparently fucking each others brains out."
"You're a fucking prick," Phil said sharply, tossing a piece of soggy toast at Finn. Dan tried not to look too awkward in his seat, but his red face probably gave him away. "We aren't doing anything."
Phil gave Dan a guilty look; it seemed he felt just as bad about the whole rumor problem, like it was his fault. Dan didn't know how to tell him otherwise.
"If any of us were even considering it," Emery said, "what would you have mind? Do you have a plan on what to do and how to do it?"
"Not yet," Finn said, making them all groan, "but I will! We just need to brainstorm and--"
"And nothing." Emery pushed his plate away and turned in his seat to stare at Finn. "It was a prank. A joke. None of us are hung up on it, don't you think that's enough to just leave it alone?"
"Whatever," Finn said, standing up. "You guys don't have to help me. I just thought you'd have my back." And then he left, stomping out of the cafeteria with enough flair to draw the eyes of everyone he passed. Dan watched in amusement.
"Fucking drama queen," Emery muttered with a shake of his head and a wry smile, but he stood up to go after him.
And now it was just him and Phil. Dan stared down at his plate blankly, letting the silence build between them at an alarmingly awkward rate. He didn't know what to say.
"Would you do it?" Phil spoke up, watching Dan look up at him with a curious stare. "If he had a plan and everything, would you help him do it?"
"Pull a stupid prank on people I barely know and know they'll keep terrorizing me for it?" Dan said sarcastically. "He has good intentions or whatever, but I'd rather give up in peace."
Phil nodded and looked away again. Dan went back to staring downwards.
It wasn't like he wanted things to be so weird between them, but there weren't many viable options for him to try and fix it. It couldn't be that fucking hard, people did it all the time. Just, never him.
He was completely out of his element right now.
"So," Phil said, trying to revive the conversation again. "I don't know if it's something we're choosing to ignore, but we should probably talk. About what happened."
Dan felt his stomach tighten, but he tried not to let it show on his face. "What do you mean?"
Phil gave him a weird look. "If....if I freaked you out or something, I'm sorry. But you have to tell me, because I don't ever know what the fuck you're thinking or feeling. You're impossible to read."
"I don't know," Dan said. "I don't know what to say. We barely know each other, what am I--"
"Would you have let me kiss you?" Phil cut him off, staring at him curiously. Dan paused for a second, long enough for him to really think about it. He couldn't lie, it would be dumb and pointless. All of this was fucking pointless.
"Yes." He shrugged. "But I would regret it."
"Wow," Phil said, smiling sardonically. He looked like he wanted to say a lot more, and Dan was terrified of that. "Appreciate the honesty."
"It's not like that, I just..." Dan sighed. "I don't know what I want, and I don't know what you want. I know I like hanging out with you, but I also know it goes a lot deeper than that, but what the fuck am I supposed to do about it? I don't want to start something and have it ripped away in a month."
He was trying so hard not to come off as heartless and rude, but he knew it wasn't working.
"It doesn't have to mean anything, Dan."
"But I don't want it to not mean anything!" Dan said in exasperation. "You're a good fucking person, and I don't want to be fuck buddies and mess up what could be a great friendship."
He didn't even know if they were arguing or not, but Phil looked way too tense for his liking. He was shaking his head, staring at a spot on the table resolutely. "So we stay friends." It wasn't a question.
"Is that so bad?"
"Just underwhelming." And that cut a lot deeper than Dan was expecting.
He watched silently as Phil stood and left, wishing that he was better at this. That things weren't always so fucked up for him.
***
He found Finn a few hours later, kicking at rocks on the farther, emptier side of the lake.
"Still plotting your revenge?" he asked carefully, unsure of how volatile he still was. But Finn smirked and shook his head.
"No point. It's useless if I do it by myself." He shrugged. "Plus, I don't have any ideas. None that will top Peter, at least."
He sat down on one of the benches close by, and Dan joined him.
It was humid, and Dan was sweating like crazy in his clothes; he was pretty much forced to wear shorts and sleeveless shirts now, to avoid heat stroke or whatever, and he was nowhere closer to being comfortable about it. He felt too exposed with all of that skin on display, and almost nothing he did eased his anxiety about it.
"If..." Dan spoke, slowly. "If I did help with whatever crazy plan you come up with, would you do something for me?"
Finn looked up at him in surprise; apparently he hadn't thought Dan would risk it. "I guess. Depends on what it is."
"Just, stop bringing up the rumors about me and Phil," Dan said. "It makes things weird. Cause it didn't actually happen, you know."
"Okay," Finn said slowly. He obviously wasn't aware of the tension it caused, or how bad it made Dan feel, but he agreed anyway. "And that's it? You'll help me now?"
Dan sighed, already half regretting his rash decision. He knew that it would backfire, and probably cause more trouble for them than they needed right now, but it was already done. Plus, there was a small weight lifted off his shoulders knowing Finn wouldn't keep teasing about the stupid rumors. "Yes, unfortunately, I'll help you."
Finn gave an excited whoop, and clapped Dan on the shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll hit them so hard, they won't know how to react."
It felt like there were stones sitting in the pit of his stomach the rest of the day after that. He wasn't very confident about their chances of succeeding in whatever scheme Finn was bound to throw together, and he knew the whole thing was stupid and childish in the first place. A prank war? Who the fuck even did things like that anymore?
Apparently him.
He was only doing this to stop the constant teasing about him and Phil. Even though they weren't even really on great terms right now, he wanted to do something to make things a little bit bearable. And even if that meant wrecking whatever peace he had left and putting a target on his back, it was better than sitting idly by.
By the time the sun had set, Finn had come up with a hundred different ideas, all of which Dan immediately shot down with various glares and swear words. Neither of them were very good at this brainstorming thing.
"You can't say no to everything," Finn complained. He was sprawled across Dan's bed like it was his own, using their temporarily empty cabin as a chance to plan without anyone overhearing. He didn't want Phil or Emery to start lecturing them again.
"And you can't possibly even locate enough wasps to fill their cabin. Even if you could, we'd probably go to jail for assault or something. They could be allergic and die. Do you want that on your conscious?"
Finn sighed, obviously unimpressed. "Buzzkill."
"If you're gonna half-ass this, then there's no point in even trying to do it," Dan said. "It needs to be something easy, but something they won't see coming, like....throwing all their clothes in the lake?"
"We'd go to jail for that, too, destruction of property or whatever."
Oh, now he was an expert on the law? "This is pointless," Dan muttered dryly, burying his face into his hands. He could already feel a headache coming on.
"What's pointless?" Phil walked into the cabin with his hair dripping onto his shoulders and a towel wrapped around his waist. Dan didn't know if he had just come from the lake or the showers and he very sincerely hoped it wasn't the latter, and that Phil hadn't walked across the whole camp with just that towel on. He shook the thought from his head before it became too distracting.
"Democracy," Finn answered easily. If Phil found that odd, he didn't comment on it, shrugging and heading to his bed to dig through his suitcase. Dan stared at his back, trying not to count the few freckles that dotted his pale skin, and so fucking what? Just because things were tense between them didn't mean Dan couldn't pine after him pathetically. It wasn't anything new.
A hard flick to his neck made him jump and whirl around to glare at Finn. "What?" he whispered angrily.
"You useless queer," Finn whispered back with a smirk.
It was honestly so great that everyone knew about his obsession with Phil, so they could constantly tease him about it and call him out every chance they got.
Before he could embarrass himself anymore, or have Finn do it for him, Emery walked in. It was rare and slightly unsettling for all four of them to be in the cabin at the same time unless they were all asleep. And usually, Em was a cool guy who never gave much of a shit about anything, but now he was glaring. At Dan.
"You piece of shit traitor," he growled, shoving an accusing finger in Dan's face. Dan was used to being called a lot worse, but from Em, it was unexpected.
"Excuse me?" Dan asked. Would there ever be a time where he wasn't being accused of things he didn't do? "What did I do?"
"I know what you two are doing," he said, now glaring at Finn too. "I thought you didn't want to be apart of it? They're gonna tear you to shreds, and it will only be your fault."
"Stop trying to scare him," Finn protested. "Maybe if we had a little bit of help, we wouldn't--"
"You're helping him?" Phil cut in, fully dressed and staring at Dan with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked frustrated, and Dan felt guilty for some reason. As if he needed Phil's permission to do anything. "What happened to giving up in peace?"
Dan shrugged. "I changed my mind."
"'Changed your mind'?"
Emery ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. "The point is, you guys are gonna get demolished. And we're all gonna be targeted because of it."
Dan stared stubbornly at his knees, refusing to agree with him.
"So, what master plan have you two been coming up with all day, then," Phil asked, looking at Finn and ignoring Dan. Finn shrugged.
"Well.....there's no master plan yet-"
"Oh, very reassuring," Em said sarcastically.
"Just give it some time!" Finn insisted, glaring at Emery. "Rome wasn't built in a fucking day, or whatever, so go away and let us do this."
"No." Emery shook his head, looking more than ready to kill the both of them. "I have an idea."
It was a shocking statement, and even Finn was a little speechless. "You're gonna help us?" He asked.
"If I'm gonna get terrorized by this pricks anymore, I intend to deserve it," Emery said. "I still hate you guys, though."
"Fine," Phil spoke up, still sounding entirely too fed up with the whole situation. "I'll help, too."
"Awesome." Finn smiled at all of them, looking much more enthused than before. "This is awesome. We're gonna do this, and it's gonna be epic."
"Epically stupid, you mean," Phil said. He was kind of right. He caught Dan's eye for a second, giving him a stare that Dan couldn't even begin to comprehend, before walking out of the cabin again. Dan vaguely wondered where he was going.
"So," Finn said, making Dan concentrate on the planning again. "Any fresh new ideas for the group?"
Emery stood in place for a long moment, pursing his lip as he thought, but then he smiled roguishly. "I might have one."
***
It was almost one in the morning, and Dan was already wired with tension and stress in general, but it was even worse when he was sneaking around the campground carrying a giant bag full of plastic cups.
Emery was ahead of all of them, leading the way to Peter's cabin and hushing then when they were too loud. They were all in black, and along with the cups was two water jugs filled all the way to the brim, an assorted pack of sharpie markers, and a few tubs of super glue that Finn had brought along but hadn't explained.
"This is amazing," Finn whisper-yelled. He was smiling widely, and from right next to him, Dan could feel he was shivering, too. From excitement or nerves, he didn't know. "I feel like I'm gonna vomit."
"Please don't," Phil warned quietly.
It was dead silent, and every sound they made was too loud to their ears. Dan's heart was racing in his chest, and he was constantly looking around to make sure no one would spot them.
After what felt like hours, they finally reached cabin 3; it looked almost identical to theirs on the outside, except for the hundreds of stickers that covered the front door.
Per camp policy and safety codes, there were no locks on the cabins, and it was easier than anticipated to get all of them inside without waking Peter or his friends.
"Okay, you guys know what to do." Emery whispered as gently as he could. "Let's get this done as fast as possible. I really don't want them to wake up in the middle of this."
Dan took one last shaky breath before opening the bag of cups as silently as possible. Slowly and methodically, he placed cups around the floor of the cabin, making sure there was no space between them. Right behind him, Phil was filling the empty cups with water. They started from the back and made their way to the door.
Emery and Finn were stifling laughter, spending a good amount of time at each bed to draw on the sleeping campers faces with sharpies.
"Why exactly did you agree to help him at all?" Phil whispered to Dan as they continued working. Dan paused for half a second to look up at him.
"I made a deal with him."
"A deal," Phil repeated. "What kind of deal?"
Dan set down a few more cups without answering. He felt so unsure around Phil, like everything he said or did would earn him a disproving stare. "I said I'd help him if he stopped bringing up those rumors about me and you."
They reached the front of the cabin, and after filling the last cup with water, they stepped outside. Em and Finn were still busy, and when they finished, they would fill any remaining gaps with water cups.
It was surprisingly cold outside for a summer night, and Phil wearing this long-sleeved shirt that fit his arms just fucking right. Dan kept his stare on his own shoes.
"You really did that?" Phil asked after a minute or two of silence. Dan nodded.
"Thought it would be best."
Phil kept staring at him, and in the dark, it was making Dan sort of jumpy.
"I don't want to be 'just friends' with you," Phil said steadily, crossing his arms over his chest. "You know that. And you feel the same way, but you ignore it. Why?"
"Does there have to be a reason?" Dan asked none too convincingly. He didn't think this was the right time or place to talk about this, especially with Emery and Finn close enough to overhear, but he knew Phil wouldn't drop.
"There's obviously a reason," Phil said.
Dan shrugged. "Because what's the point? In another month, we won't ever see each other again."
Phil laughed and shook his head. "You're so morbid sometimes," he said, and he stepped a bit closer into Dan's personal space. "We have phones....and there's the internet. I'll fucking send you letters if it means you'll kiss me right now."
Dan stopped breathing for second, unaware of anything around them except Phil who was steadily getting closer. This was it, whatever decision he made right would make or break the rest of the summer. He wanted this, had thought about way too many times to let it go now.
Phil kissed him, and there was nothing else to think about.
***
oh shit there it is, The Kiss
i know the title says it's discontinued, and i really only updated this cause i already had like 2k words written, but i think i may update some more in the future, we'll see
but hello, if anyone still reads this, and if you dont know by now, i have pretty much stopped writing fanfiction for now and am trying to write like real fiction or whatever. i have a new account @strangefaces if you wanna check that out
AND if any of you have or still do read my other story give me some of that bass, it is officially finished !! i posted the epilogue yesterday so go check it out!
thats really it i guess, i hope you enjoyed this chapter and maybe i'll see you again. peace :)