☾ ☽

"eliza, one more word, and i swear to god..."

phil sighed, running his fingers through his hair, pushing it back in a quiff. eliza was downright giddy. she was insane.

"but-"

"shush."

phil glanced at dan. the boy looked like a tomato, and he was sliding down in his seat. phil met his eyes but dan just blushed darker and looked away. phil sighed.

"eliza, can we go home now?"

eliza had nearly dragged them to this café to 'talk', even though the only talking they were doing was her, and that was mostly screams and "i knew it-!" and "y-you... i..."

she groaned, pouting a bit at him. "no, hang out with me."

phil gave her a look. he knew he would have to talk to dan about this, sooner or later. and he would prefer sooner. she sighed, getting the memo.

"fine. but i get your cookie." she snatched the chocolate chip right out of phil's hand. he didn't really mind, he didn't feel like he could eat anyways.

the walk back to the flat was tense, but somehow not in a bad way. it was just quiet, and the air was thick. phil glanced behind them a few times to check; dan was leaving roses. that made him smile- he had an assumption of what that meant.

when he unlocked and opened the door for dan, he shook his head, hesitating on the doorstep. he finally made eye contact and kept it, biting his lip.

"can we go to the roof?"

the roof of phil's building wasn't the most comfortable. it was hardly spacious either; most of the room was taken up by building equipment for some construction that started but never finished. but there was a patch of smooth concrete, and when phil lived alone, he used to go up there to look at the stars at night.

phil's breath caught.

"yes," he said almost immediately. "just a second... w-wait here."

he ran inside, leaving dan outside the door, bewildered. he came back carrying an easel and paints, and a blanket, as well as luna under one of his arms. he blushed.

"do you mind...?" he asked, motioning at the art supplies. he hoped dan wouldn't. he had been wanting to paint that view for ages, he just hadn't gotten around to it.

dan shook his head.

"it's fine."

phil beamed at him, handing him luna and closing the door behind them. the cat purred as dan stroked her head, and scratched behind her ears. for some reason, a burst of fondness shot through phil, and it wasn't for his cat.

they made their way up the creaky metal steps that led to the roof, a cross way between a fire escape and actual stairs. dan's shoes weighed him down and made him struggle to climb, and phil sighed. he wished he would just take them off, it wasn't like they were useful anymore.

when they got to the top, dan immediately made his way to the edge, dodging the construction.

he sat down, letting his feet hang over the ledge, metal shoes and all. phil felt instantly anxious and he rushed over, grabbing dan's arm to make sure he didn't fall. dan looked at him, his eyes twinkling. he looked incredibly calmer than he had been. luna squirmed out of his arms, running away from the edge.

smart cat.

phil set down the things but grabbed the blanket, draping it over their laps. he heard dan let out a shaky breath.

"it's so weird," he said finally, breaking the silence. phil raised his eyebrows curiously.

"what is?"

"this." he pointed out at the view; the city stretched out before them. "look, i can see my house from here." sure enough, jarvis's almost-mansion was clearly visible from the roof.

phil shook his head, scrunching his nose. "that's not your house."

dan looked over at him, a soft smile tugging at his pink lips. "oh yeah?"

"yeah." phil met his eyes, mirroring his expression. "this is."

"oh yeah?" dan repeated, scooting a little closer and letting his head fall against phil's shoulder. phil could hear his heartbeat, and his soft, nervous breathing. he wanted to kiss him more than he ever had right then. he wondered if dan regretted kissing him earlier. it didn't seem like it.

"yeah," phil muttered again, his voice embarrassingly shaky. he took dan's hand, intertwining their fingers and smiling when he felt the inevitable growing. dan didn't try to pull away.

"thank you."

the words were spoken in a chaste whisper, and phil looked off at the sun that was setting over the hills, soaking them up.

"for what?"

dan shifted, his mouth pressed against phil's shoulder.

"everything."

the word had a certain impact, like a punch, but it didn't hurt a bit. it was like a punch of antigravity; phil felt like he could float away. dan was the only thing holding him down.

"i didn't give you everything," phil said, an attempt at a joke to make the situation less intense. it didn't work.

"yes, you did." dan looked up at him. "did you know, before i met you, i had never earned my own money? i had never held hands, i had never cuddled, i h-had never... kissed anyone..." he trailed off, and phil's heart jumped.

"really?"

"really."

phil watched as the last sliver of the sun slipped away behind the buildings, plunging them into the darkness. he wasn't going to get any painting done, but he wasn't too disappointed when the stars were visible, stretching out above them, a huge blanket of night.

he only realized dan was watching him when he looked over and found his chocolate eyes on his face. dan smiled.

"you're pretty when you're thinking."

the words came so effortlessly to him that phil was a bit surprised; it didn't seem pliable after the speech about doing nothing before he had met phil.

"you're pretty when you're breathing," phil countered, and dan immediately started to hold his breath. phil swatted him with a muttered "stop it" and a laugh, and the situation felt actually lightened.

"will you take those damn shoes off?"

phil hadn't really meant to ask, but he was glad he had. dan searched his eyes. he leaned over and phil impulsively grabbed his wrist, keeping him from falling.

dan unhooked them and kicked them off, letting them fall to the ground far below them.

and holy shit, phil was falling in love with him.

he wrapped his arms around him, holding him close, and they fell into comfortable silence. dan buried his face in the crook of phil's neck.

"are we gonna talk about the kiss?" dan asked finally, a whisper.

"no."

phil could feel him grin, his lips moving against his skin, and dan leaned up, kissing him on the cheek. phil could feel it- jesus, it felt weird- a flower, growing right from his skin. and he could make a pretty good guess of what kind it was.

"good."