☾ ☽

"what's got your head in the clouds?"

eliza ripped open another box with the safety scissors phil immensely regretted giving to her.

"what? nothing."

she looked up at him from under her bangs, her eyebrows raised.

"you're a shitty liar." she paused, as if considering it. "and person," she added nonchalantly. phil rolled his eyes.

"i haven't got my head in the clouds," he muttered. "and shut up."

usually, phil would have hit her with an insult much worse than 'shut up', but he was being cautious. she was just seeming to warm back up to him, and he didn't want to take a chance. christ could that girl hold a grudge. it was too bad phil couldn't stay mad to save his life.

she shrugged, her mousy hair falling over her shoulders.

"you haven't said a word, and you keep staring off." she grabbed another stack of books from the box she had just opened, setting them on the counter with a dull thunk. she slid them to phil.

he glanced at the first cover as he opened it to stamp the title page. beautiful freckled sleepy- wait, shit. that wasn't the title- phil shook his head, disoriented. a history of greek gods. not even close.

"phil! are you even listening to me-?"

phil blinked, looking up at eliza abruptly. she shook her head.

"thank you for proving my point." she grabbed the book phil was holding, smacking him lightly over the head with it. "you're distracted. is it dan?"

at the name phil practically jumped to attention.

"what? no." his voice shook unconvincingly. eliza rolled her eyes.

"there's no shame in thinking about him, phil. i mean, he's gorgeous." she scrunched her nose. "and weird."

"maybe you're thinking about him," phil shot back childishly, his voice nothing more than a low grumble. eliza actually laughed.

"you're kidding, right?" she stopped working to look at him incredulously. "first of all, we aren't ten. second of all, why would i be? he doesn't live with me, and i'm asexual, if you've forgotten, idiot, so do not try to flip that on me, dumbass."

through her stream of insults, phil realized he had said something incredibly stupid, and there was no way eliza was dropping this for at least a week.

he stamped three extra books so he had a comeback when she inevitably called him lazy.

he never took any of this to heart, of course- it was just the way eliza was. she didn't mean to be mean, just blunt. and phil was fine with it, it was the way he had grown up.

"okay, alright, i was thinking about dan," he blurted, interrupting her mid-sentence. "can we drop it?"

her defensive expression melted into a smug grin. "sure. if you admit you're stupid."

phil chuckled, holding up his hands in surrender.

"i'm so incredibly stupid, and unworthy of your attention and friendship, your highness."

"good." eliza leaned forward on the counter, resting her face on her fist. "so, dan."

phil groaned.

"i thought we were dropping it?"

he began stacking the already stamped books, sorting them alphabetically and by category. this was his punishment for showing up late. and as a little extra hell, frank had assigned eliza to help him.

"it's alright to have a crush, phil." she wiggled her eyebrows.

"who's being childish now?" he poked her forehead, pushing her away. "and i don't have a crush, that's silly. i just think he's..." he trailed off, searching for a word.

"weird?" eliza repeated.

"you could say that." phil hummed. "i would have said interesting, but sure."

eliza calmly pushed her books over to phil's side of the counter. he glared at her, but didn't argue. this was supposed to be his punishment, after all.

"there's something up with him..." eliza said, more to herself than him. "y'know? like... something really unique. i don't know if it's bad or not, though."

phil smiled to himself. eliza prided herself on being some kind of psychic. it made phil laugh, but she insisted she could just see things he couldn't.

"you mean his vibe is confusing you?" he teased, reviving a firm punch in the bicep in reply.

"seriously!" she pouted at him. "he seems... he has a really warm aura, but... sorta mystic. you know?"

"no, liza, as you keep reminding me, i know nothing."

she just rolled her eyes yet again, burying her face in her arms and grumbling.

phil felt kind of bad talking about dan like this without him there, but he figured what he was planning would make up for it.

phil sighed. he really did want to figure dan out, and he clearly didn't know where to start. he looked at eliza's head. she probably wouldn't stop pouting until he let her talk, either. he sighed.

"so..." he started slowly. "a mystic aura? like magical or something? does it seem like there might be something to do with his shoes-?"

she looked up abruptly.

"yeah. kind of like that."

"would you maybe help me figure out what's going on... with that? i feel like there's something he's hiding from-"

phil cut himself off short as he heard the door opening, and he knew it was dan before he even looked.

"hey!" the freckled boy said happily, smiling at phil and waving at eliza.

phil glanced back at her, and she nodded. 'later' she mouthed at him. phil turned his attention back to dan.

"hey," he responded, his voice coming out far too breathless. "ready?"

dan nodded, letting phil go first, leading him towards the door.

"sign me out!" he shouted back at eliza. he could almost feel her rolling her eyes, but he knew she would do it.

"so, dan," he said as soon as the door was closed. dan turned to him, still smiling, and phil got a better look at him.

he was wearing a yellow t-shirt that day, one that somehow fell on him amazingly, even though it hardly fit. he was wearing shorts as well, which was understandable. it was getting hotter by the day. phil supported dan showing off his extra freckled arms and thighs, attracted to him or not.

"why are you so happy?" he asked, instead of what he was originally going to say. dan just smiled wider.

"good day at work," he answered vaguely.

it was odd, because he looked more tired than usual. he had slight circles under his eyes, and his hands seemed a little bit shaky. but other than that, he was glowing.

everything about him was odd.

phil nodded.

"so, i was thinking..." he shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "well, i have this room i was using just for art and storage..." phil bit his lip, hoping dan got the picture. he clearly did, because he stopped in his tracks.

"are you saying...?"

phil nodded. dan's eyes blew out even more than before, and phil swore his cheeks got even more crimson stained.

"are you serious?" dan raised his eyebrows. "because i really don't mind the couch, i-"

"dan," phil interrupted, shaking his head. "that's not fair. you've started paying rent now, it's the obvious next step-"

phil was cut off by arms, arms wrapped tightly around his torso and nearly taking away his breath. dan had ran at him, hugging him as tightly as he was able.

he buried his face in the crook of phil's neck, the soft place between his neck and shoulder, and phil could feel his shaky breathing against his skin.

"thank you," he muttered, his hold tightening for a split second.

phil came to his senses after a moment of shock, laughing breathlessly and hugging him back. he touched his hair a bit awkwardly, but it almost made the moment even less uncomfortable, and more friendly.

"what are you thanking me for?" he muttered back.

"everything," dan answered, not pulling back yet. it occurred to phil that to anyone looking at them now that they would seem a lot closer than they were. "for being so nice to me."

phil was the one to pull back, and only because that kind of broke his heart. that dan was this grateful for a little bit of kindness. it made him sad, and a bit uncomfortable.

"yeah," he said with a smile, straightening his glasses. "no problem. that's what friends do, i suppose."

dan nodded curtly, not at all put out by the end of their hug. they started walking again, and phil chewed on his bottom lip.

"we'll start when we get back," he said, glancing at dan, who was glowing even more than before. he was radiant. phil looked away. "we can have the room cleared out by tomorrow."

phil could hear the skip in dan's step.

"i'll pay you back," he said. "i promise you."

"oh, don't be silly." phil brushed him off. "there's no need. don't worry about it."

they walked in comfortable silence the rest of the way back to the flat.

and for once, phil was actually pretty excited to have this specific roommate.