Dan's POV

I wake up slowly, stretching out my muscles. I become aware of my arm dangling off the edge of my bed, and try to roll over to get away from the edge. Only, I can't. There's a wall there. I blink open my eyes, noticing immediately I'm not in my room. I turn my head to look around, figuring out I'm in the lounge. My body is tangled up in a blanket. I begin to sit up, but something resists against me. I grumble and put more effort into sitting up. I succeed, but I didn't feel like getting up quite yet. The couch was very warm. I turn to lay back down, when my eyes widen. Laying next to me, arm stretched out next to me, was Phil, sound asleep.

I feel my face heat up. We had been sharing a pillow all night, and his arm had flopped behind him and landed on my chest. That had been the force that resisted against me when I tried to sit up. I stared at him for a while, unsure of what to do. Usually he was already up when I got up, but he must've stayed up later than me. As I stared at him, a small smile grew on my face. He looked so angelic like, curled up and snoring lightly. His quiff was messy, flatted against his forehead. I gingerly reach over and move it out of his eyes.

I stiffen in alarm when he shifts, afraid he was going to wake up. But he simply curls up on himself more. I take the blanket off my lap and throw it over him, leaning and tucking it nice and cozy around him. Then I just sit next to him, being able to freely admire him. Maybe it was a bit creepy, but I had caught him staring at me many times, so this was just my payback.

I sighed. He was so beautiful, so perfect, so out of my league. My dads being gay, I had naturally assumed that I too would be, but I didn't think I would actually find an interest in anyone. And it just so happens that I don't know how 'said someone' flowed. Sure, he was awful affectionate towards me, but I just think that it was part of his personality. Of course, I also had caught him staring at me several times before he would blush and turn away.

I groan. I wish I had somebody to ask these kinds of things, but I only had Phil. Asking him would he giving myself away.

During my pondering, my hand had unconsciously gone to Phil's hair and begun playing with it. Realizing what I was doing, I yank it away as if his hair is on fire, blushing and cursing myself for being careless. He could've woken up, and then I'd be in trouble. My heart hammers as he begins to stir again, but this time he doesn't just settle back down. He scrunches his face up, the most adorable thing I've ever seen, and stretches his body out. I close my eyes and pretend to be asleep, curled up against the couch.

I hear the rustle of the blanket being thrown off of him. The floor creaks under him, and I know he's now standing. A few steps, then he stops, right in front of me. I was very tempted to open my eyes, being vulnerable like this driving me crazy. A gentle hand combs my hair, then a soft sigh. The footsteps stomp away, then all is silent.

I let out a breath, my heart hammering. What did that mean? Surely friends don't just gently touch each other's faces while they sleep. Or sigh like a love struck high school girl. I touched my face where his hand had grazed, cheeks aflame. My mind raced back to all the other times I had just brushed off with, 'This is how Phil normally is'. All the times I've caught him staring at me, wanting to embrace me and generally touch me, compliment my appearance shyly and other not very platonic things. And now, we slept on the same couch and he maybe-not-so-platonically caressed my cheek, while I was sleeping.

If it had been anyone else that had done that, major reaction and punch to the face. But I trusted Phil. I knew he would never do anything. Of course part of my brain still screamed at me to stay away from him, but I try to push those thoughts away. What's left is me more and more steadily trusting Phil. I never thought I would trust anyone ever again, and especially not this quickly. But here we are.

After awhile, I decide it's safe and get up to start my day. I pretend to have just woken up when I walk in the kitchen; a slight stumble in my step, eyes bleary, occasional yawn. Phil looks up from where he's eating a bowl of cereal. His face brightens into a smile.

"Good morning Dan! How did you sleep? I hope your neck isn't sore or anything."

I chuckle, suddenly finding myself flustered. "Yeah.. I-I mean, yeah I slept good and no I didn't hurt my neck."

"That's good," he says, returning back to his cereal. I stand awkwardly for a second, before clearing my throat and getting my own bowl. I set it in the spot next to his, and reach for the box of cereal. However, Phil had been reaching for it to push it towards me. My hand brushed against his. Of its own accord, my hand spasms away and knocks the cereal box over, some of its contents spilling on the table. My heart dropped and my face face colored the color of a tomato.

"S-sorry! I'm so sorry, I-I didn't mean to-" Phil reaches over, probably to comfortingly place his hand on my arm, but my mind wasn't working properly. For whatever reason, my flustered brain- from his gentle caress this morning- had set me around completely. I flinched away from his touch like I haven't in weeks, nearly falling off my chair. I shakily stand and reach to scoop the cereal into a small pile, my hands shaking.

"I-I'm sorry, I-I'll clean.. I'll clean this up." Phil stands, and it takes every ounce of my being not to back away from him. He cautiously steps around my chair.

"Dan, can I hug you?"

I nod, my heart breaking that he had to ask now. It felt nice when he would touch me without having to ask first, but now we were back at square one. He envelops me in a hug, arms going under my arms to hold my back. His hand rubs my back. My panic slowly melts away, until I'm like a limp noodle in his arms, hugging him back.

I was in awe how quickly this man could calm me down, with a simple hug. It was like his aura was generating pure peace and everyone around him was affected. No matter how sure I was that he was going to be mad at me for something I did, he was always there with a smile and a hug.

He gently lets me go, but places his hands on my shoulders.

"Now Dan," he says gently as I stare down at my hands. "Why did you flip out so much?"

I shrug. I knew exactly why it happened, no one had ever done something as.. as romantic as that to me, and it left me a nervous and flustered mess. That led to the electric shock I felt when his hand brushed me and made me knock the box over. And my brain was just used to assuming that he would be mad at me for messing up. But I didn't want to make things awkward, telling him I knew what he did.

A hand goes under my chin and brings my face to look at his. I'm suddenly struck by just how close we are. I feel myself blush, and curse myself for it. He's definitely going to see it and wonder.

"Look into my eyes," He says softly, staring intently into mine. My breath catches in my throat from how gorgeous they are. Sure I had seen them before, but never this close. I could pick out different colors than just blue. Specs of yellow and green spiraled around his pupils. "Do I look mad?"

I immediately recognize a expression of utmost care and gentleness. His eyes were sparkling, not darkening with anger. I swallowed and shook my head. He smiled at me. Just when I thought I couldn't be any more flustered. "Then you don't have any reason to be scared, alright? I would never hurt you. ...Well, on purpose, that is. I won't say I might accidentally drop something on your foot or trip into you." I can't help but laugh, already knowing how clumsy he is.

"Yeah, I think that's apparent as you stumble over our flat, bumping and stumbling into everything." My eyes widen at what I said. Our flat. I gauge his reaction, but if anything his smile only widens.

"At least now I have someone to catch me if I fall," He says grinning. I laugh and look down at my feet, not able to keep our gaze for that long. Not only that but we were very close. We hadn't yet stepped away from each other. There was a small silence.

"Well I'll let you get back to your breakfast," Phil says, nudging me with his shoulder lightly. "I won't make you eat it off the table either."

I laugh again, and begin to sit down. Phil pushes my chair up for me. "My lady," He says in a exaggerated posh voice, doing a little bow.

The rest of breakfast pretty much went this way; him saying something and me blushing and giggling at it. It was as if the simple touch this morning had tripled the feelings I had only just recognized.

I was not looking forward to seeing how this was going to end out, because it could only end badly.

~Time Skip~

I nervously walk behind Phil, glancing around me at all the people. Phil has decided that tonight we were going to go out, me being a legal registered citizen or not. I had thought it a terrible idea, but Phil was very persistent. So now we wade through the busy streets of town. I was terrified of losing Phil in the crowd, but all just of the crowd in general. Crowds were never a good thing. It just meant more people to laugh at you and more people to hit and kick at you and-

"Dan!" Phil says loudly, stopping to talk to me. "There's this place around here that has really good Japanese food, I think we should try it. Do you like Japanese?"

I shrug, not having ever had it before. I was pretty open to everything though, so I agreed to eat there. We walk for awhile before we arrive at the restaurant. From its decor, I can definitely tell it's a Japanese place. We go in, and Phil gets us a table while I take in the smell of the place. It smelled.. good. There were lots of spicy and unique smells drifting around. My stomach rumbled, and I had a hunch I would like Japanese food.

We get our table, and I sit there, not knowing at all what to do. I had never been to a sit down restaurant before, and had no idea what to get. Phil looks up from across the table and laughs at my lost expression. "Just get what I get, it's a full plate with lots of different kinds of Japanese food. If you don't like one thing on it, you can try something else."

I nod, taking in the beautiful decor around us. It was as you would expect of a Japanese restaurant, with red walls and white floating lanterns. The walls were gracefully painted with cherry blossoms trees. A waiter comes up to us, smiling and handing us chopsticks. Other utensils were already on the table.

"What can I get you two to drink?" She asks, an obvious Japanese tint in her speaking. "We carry water, soda, alcohol, teas.." I look over to Phil.

"Have you ever had alcohol?" He asks me. I nod. A few times I had hung around at a bar purely for the sake of human interaction. Sometimes, on rare occasions, someone would buy me a drink. Phil turns back to the waiter. "We'll both have a regular beer." The waiter smiles and nods. "Okay I'll get that and I'll be right back."

I busy myself with trying to figure out how to use chopsticks. Phil laughs in good nature at my attempt. "Here, I'll show you." He picks up his own chopsticks and flawlessly grasps them.

"Are you right or left handed?" He asks.

"Well I've never had much need to write or anything but I do most things with my left I find."

He guides me through how to grasp them, often laughing because it was different teaching and leftie than a rightie. Soon I could hold them correctly, but I had trouble picking up small things on the table.

"You'll get it eventually," Phil says, grinning. "Here, I'll help you." He stands and slides around next to me. He grabs my hand and holds my fingers in place around the chopsticks. I feel my cheeks heat up, but I focus on picking up a small sugar packet.

"Your hands are so huge compared to mine," Phil laughs, picking up my hand so mine and his are pressed palm to palm. I giggle, my fingers being a couple centimeters bigger than his. Our waiter comes back with our drinks, and Phil quickly takes his hand away from mine. I glance at him quickly. Is he ashamed of people seeing our hands touching? I feel my spirits drop, and I half heartedly take a drink from my beer.

He slides back to the other side of the booth, and looks around before leaning closer. "Our waiter.. I know her," he says quietly, a sparkle in his eyes. "I've been here a lot, and I know that if she sees anything between us that suggests we're a couple, she'll tell everybody she sees that we're here on a date or something. I've seen it happen to many unfortunate souls. She loves couples, and especially gay or lesbian couples. She thinks it's unique and charming." He finishes with a grin. I laugh, both with relief and at the thought of me and Phil dating. I mean, I wouldn't be opposed, but it will never happen. My spirits are once again high, and I look forward to the food I would be trying soon. In the meantime, I engage in a conversation with Phil. I liked talking to him, he had the most creative and out-of-the-box way of thinking. He was quite silly, as I had learned very easily over the couple weeks I've been staying at our apartment.

The rest of our stay goes smoothly, the food arrives and Phil walks me through what everything is. My favorite was the sushi, and least favorite was something called Fugu, which was pufferfish Phil had said. When we got ready to pay is when our trouble started.

"I need to see ID's for the alcohol," she says. "You look old enough but it's part of our procedure."

I look at Phil with wide eyes. I see gears turning in his head, before he pulls out his own and places it on the table. His hand doesn't go back to his lap though, it reaches slightly and rests on top of mine. I feel myself blush deeply, and Phil shoots me a wink, his own face pink. I immediately knew what he was planning. I pretend to dig around in my pockets for my wallet, before putting a confused look on my face.

"Darn it, I could've sworn I put my wallet in my pocket!" I say loudly, adding a groan of frustration.

Our waiter frowns. "I'm sorry, but if that is the case you'll have to wait at the police station until your ID can be checked."

Phil fully intertwines our hands. My heart hammers in chest. He puts a sad look on his face. "Okay.." He turns to look at me with the sad expression but his eyes sparkle with humor. "I'm sorry our first date didn't go as planned, babe." I once again blush dark red.

There's a squeal from the side of our table. I turn to see our waiter looking absolutely giddy, jumping up and down a little. "You guys are dating?!" She squeals, beaming. "And this is your first date?" I pull a, what I hope, is an ecstatic and excited nod. She slams her hand down onto the table, making me jump a little. "You two are free to go! Don't let me stop you from enjoying yourselves, okay?" And with that she picks up our cash, and flounces away.

I look over to Phil, and we both burst out laughing. "I told you she was crazy about this kind of stuff," He chokes out, giggling. I take in a gasping breath and steady my own giggles.

"I didn't think that would actually work," I say, grinning and wiping a tear of mirth out of my eye. "It was pretty easy as well."

"Have you ever been in a relationship?" He asks.

I shake my head. "No, not having a home kinda destroys opportunities." I pick up my chopsticks and absentmindedly try to pick up a few pieces of food left on my plate. Phil gets up again and slides over to my side of the table, grinning while he helps me hold my chopsticks right. I find myself looking up into his eyes, focused on the plate.

"Remember, it's kinda like holding a pencil. It's nice and loose-" he stops short as he looks down at me to find my eyes already staring into his. I blush but don't make any move to look away. I was caught, his eyes mesmerizing me. I couldn't look away, even if I wanted to. I was struck by just how close we were, but I didn't find it in myself to care. I didn't find myself caring when his hand came up and held my cheek. I didn't find myself caring as our lips gently met in a kiss.

It was love. It was joy. It was bliss. It was fireworks and cliches and perfection. But most of all it was unbelievable. Did I think a simple night at a restaurant would lead to this? Never in a million years. What did this mean? But I didn't think too much, rather just enjoyed the feeling of his lips against mine. I had never kissed anyone before, and if this was what it was like, I'd been seriously missing out. His lips were soft and delicate. They moved perfectly against mine. It was like a synchronized dance. Flawless and mesmerizing.

"Ohhhh you guys are so cute!" A familiar voice screeches beside us. I draw myself away from Phil and look past him to our waiter, looking absolutely ecstatic. I look back to Phil, who, probably like I, looked dazed. Then he smiled, and I blushed and laughed.

I was majorly looking forward to how this would turn out.