"Why did you have to adopt another kid?!" Phil Lester yelled at his mother.
"Philip Michael Lester… don't you dare raise your voice at me like that!" Paula Lester yelled right back at her son, disappointment clearly written on her face. She knew beforehand that her son wouldn't be exactly thrilled with the news that they had just given him but she had expected better from him, at least much better than this.
It was Friday, after a rather long and dreadful week, Phil thought that things would be better since it was the weekend, but he was wrong about that. Today hadn't been such a great day for Phil, to say the least. Phil had recently broken up with his boyfriend, Mason. They had been going out with each other for the last couple of months. He was quite in love with him after all the time they spent together, but he had found out Mason had cheated on him two days ago with someone else. Phil was devastated and heartbroken but he hadn't told anybody about it yet as there was already a lot going on and Phil didn't want to add more to the drama so he just kept to himself for now.
But now his parents, Paula and Jack Lester, had just dropped the bomb that they had adopted another son, who was only four years younger than Phil was. He honestly got that his parents wanted to do something good, as they were quite a rich family and had the money to be able to adopt another child and bring him into their home, but couldn't they have at least told him that before they signed the papers? He was mad at them, anybody would be if they were in his position. It seemed rather unfair to Phil that they did this without even asking him how he felt about having another kid in the house in the first place, they just did it without asking for his opinion.
Phil had been arguing with his parents in the kitchen about the topic for about an hour now, arguing with his parents was something Phil never did. Not that it had much effect, what was done was done and he couldn't change it. He just had to "suck it up and act nicely" as his parents had put it. Phil had to live with it whether he liked it or not.
His name was Daniel James Howell, but he preferred to be called Dan, Daniel always sounded too formal to him and he really didn't like it at all, it didn't suit him at all. Dan was 15 now but he had lived in an orphanage since he was two years old. His parents couldn't take care of him when he was a baby, it was too much for them so they decided to put him up for adoption and left him. Dan was a very shy boy, and he always had been, he never ever spoke a word to anyone unless he absolutely needed to. That was one of the many reasons why nobody wanted to adopt him before the Lester's came along. A few families had tried fostering him before but all of them had given up on him because he never spoke a word and he was just too shy and skittish. The longest that he had been in another family's home was about a year, which wasn't long at all.
Dan was already coming "Home" tomorrow and Phil was definitely not happy about it one bit. He had always enjoyed being the only child in his family, he always got the attention and even though he was 19… he wanted it to stay like that. You could say that he was a bit spoiled, and even while he knew this, he still didn't care what his parents said. They had tried to explain to him about how hard Dan's life had been for him since he was a little boy… but Phil still didn't listen to anything that they said to him. They had also tried to tell Phil that they since they were such a wealthy family, they wanted to use their money for good and help a child who wasn't as fortunate as them. Even though he knew that his parents were right, it still angered him a bit.
"I like our family just the way it is!" Phil yelled angrily at his parents.
"I'm sure bringing another child into our home won't change us dramatically," His mother answered him, trying to remain calm and not shout back.
"How do you know that? You'll forget all about me and you'll only pay attention to him just because he's had a rough life. I may be 19 but I still need my parents too," Phil said calmly, even though he couldn't help the tiny sob he released after he said it. He never was one for shouting, usually it frightened him so he tried to limit it as much as possible, or crying for that matter, but this was a serious situation that was going on with his family right now, so he had to let his parents know how he felt.
"Oh Philip! You're being absolutely ridiculous. We won't be like that," Jack said, trying to make his son feel at least a little better. They hadn't seen their son this upset since the day he came out to them, which said enough on it's own. He got that Phil was insecure about this situation, but this wasn't something to feel insecure about. They would always love Phil more as he was their son, that wasn't even a question. He was their first son, and naturally, more important to them. They would both love Dan and Phil equally, and they just wanted Phil to see that.
"We'll see about that," Phil mumbled. He then scoffed and shook his head. Not believing them them one bit, he believed that they would pay more attention to this "Dan" boy than to him, they would love him more and just adore him. It would be like the kids school said once they all found out Phil's parents were adopting another boy, as everybody knew the Lester's quite well as they were one of the richest families around town: "His parents would grow bored of him. Maybe they already were and was that the reason they wanted to adopt another son, a better son. Someone who would be perfect because they chose him, and weren't stuck with him like with Phil." That frightened Phil honestly. He didn't get where all this insecurity suddenly came from, normally he was a pretty confident person. Everybody knew he got bullied a little bit when he was still in school but it was never enough to let his self-confidence drop to low.
"Enough, Phil. I expect you to welcome Daniel into our home. He's had a very long journey to come here, and since he's very shy and scared, I can't even imagine how he will feel tomorrow. Right now, he'll need you to act like a big brother to him and make him feel loved," Paula said sternly to her son, wanting him to understand what Dan will have to go through to get here. She really needed him to behave like the adult he was and accept the fact that Dan would come and live here with them.
"I'm not his brother nor will I ever be, okay?!" Phil was back to yelling as soon as he heard his mother's words, clearly angry. "For God sakes, it's like either of you don't even care about my feelings. You two can bring a new kid into this home all you want, but that does not mean that I will be happy about it, and I sure as hell won't be his big brother!" With that Phil turned on his heels and stormed out of the kitchen without saying another word, leaving his parents upset about the fact that they made him upset enough to swear, which is definitely something that Phil has never done before.
"Phil!" Paula yelled, shocked and actually kind of disappointed at how her son had just spoken to her, since they weren't used to this kind of behaviour from him. He always was a good and polite boy, and he never yelled or stormed out on them like he just did.
"Leave him. Phil's just shocked, he needs a little while to himself to calm down, this is a big deal. We're bringing in another human being into the house after it's been just us three for a long time, this isn't like a dog that we're bringing home… it's a boy. but you know, I'm sure he'll warm up to the idea in no time." Jack said as he walked over to his wife. He gave her a reassuring smile and he reached over and kissed her cheek gently.
"Are you sure? Phil seems really upset. Maybe we should have talked to him first before we did this. I don't want him to be unhappy," Paula answered. She couldn't help but smile when she felt her husband softly kiss her cheek, She always loved it when he did little things like that, it was one of the many things that she loved about her husband.
"I know love… I really don't want Phil to be unhappy either but I promise you… things will fall into place eventually." Jack mumbled reassuringly against her cheek.
The next day;
Saturday came quicker than Phil wanted it to. Today was the day that Daniel, or 'Dan' was coming and Phil would be meeting him for the first time. He couldn't care less about him though, he was going to fake a smile for his parents and let it seem like he was okay with the whole idea now. After seeing how excited and happy his parents were yesterday, and how bad he acted… he felt like he owned them to at least act polite. He still didn't want anything to do with Dan, he had a lot more better things to do in his life than worrying about some 15-year-old boy that he didn't even know; like spending countless hours on the internet or re-reading his favorite books and catching up on his favorite TV shows. Those were the types of things that Phil only wanted to worry about, and he intended to keep it that way… no matter what his parents.
"Phil! Come downstairs, now please!" Paula yelled from the bottom of the stairs, having hope that her son would behave tonight. Dan was already scared about coming to a new home and she didn't want Phil to scare him more than he already was.
Phil sighed as he walked out of his bedroom and walked over to the top of the stairs. It was 8pm, later than he normally would have been called down so he knew Dan was down there, and just the thought of this new kid being in his house made him upset.
"Yes mum?" Phil asked as he looked down at his mother.
"Come downstairs dear. There's someone we want you to meet now," She said. Yeah, just like he thought, Dan was there. He had no intention of meeting the boy but…. he didn't really have a choice. It would be this or he had to move out on his own, which he hadn't planned on doing for quite a long time now as he was still rather young and the thought of being out on his own in the real world absolutely terrified him.
So Phil only rolled his eyes while walking down the stairs and mumbling, "I'm still not happy about this… just so you know that." To his mum as he walked past her.
"Be nice to him," Paula warned her son after she heard what he said.
"And I'm never forgiving you and dad either," Phil quickly added, ignoring his mother.
"Stop that nonsense. You will thank us later once you realize how sweet and nice Dan is," Paula said to him before she gently grabbed Phil's arm and led the way into the living room, where Dan most likely was. Phil looked up and sighed when he saw his father sitting on the couch with a younger boy beside him. They were talking and the boy already seemed to be getting along with his father. Phil didn't like that one bit. "Daniel?"
The boy, Dan, looked over when he heard Paula call his name. He did a double take and stood up when he saw Phil standing next to her, a little bit afraid as Phil didn't look happy at all. Paula and Jack, his new parents, had told him about how kind Phil was and that Phil was a very loving person… so Dan hadn't really expected to see him like this.
"Calm down, Daniel-" Phil's father began to say as he followed Dan and also stood up.
"I-It's Dan, please," Dan mumbled as he looked down at his hands before realising that he cut his father off. "S-Sorry." He felt stupid. He only just met his new family and already he was stuttering, he was a lot older now so he was trying his best to try to talk more, it wasn't like he could spent his whole life hiding from people, that was silly.
"That's alright. We'll call you Dan if you would like that," Jack tried to calm the boy when he saw how nervous he was when he spoke. When they had gone to look at children at the orphanage and saw Dan, the people who worked there warned them about how quiet Dan was and told them about how much he stuttered whenever he spoke, so Jack wasn't that surprised that Dan was acting like this at all, he had expected it beforehand.
Dan slowly nodded and then he looked up again, but as soon as he made eye contact with his new brother, he found himself looking away quickly again. The look he got from him was ice… and ice cold. How on Earth did he manage to already get his "brother" to hate him this quickly? Was he really that unlikeable? Even though Dan knew that he was very shy, he was also very friendly towards others, or so he liked to think so.
"Dan, we'd like you to meet our son… Philip, though he likes to be called Phil," Paula said calmly while gesturing to Phil with her hand. She looked over at her son while a proud smile formed on her lips. Even though Phil had been acting up ever since they told him about adopting Dan, she was still very proud of having Phil as her son.
"He only gets called Philip when he's in trouble," Jack added, obviously trying to crack a joke to lighten the mood, to try and make Dan feel more calm as he was still looking scared. Jack hoped that Dan wouldn't always be like this, he hoped that he would eventually warm up to them, he just wanted Dan to feel comfortable.
"Dad!" Phil hissed, he scoffed and crossed his arms against his chest.
"Relax. It was just a joke Phil," Paula said, while rolling her eyes. She knew Phil was still upset but she just wished that he would relax for a few minutes in front of Dan. "Now go meet your new brother. It's quite late so I'm going to order you boys pizza. Phil, I expect you to help Dan if he needs any help and show him to his bedroom."
"Why can't you show him where his bedroom is?" Phil asked, whining softly.
"Do as your mother says. I'll be in my office," Jack said, before turning to Dan. "Make yourself at home Dan, this is your home too now. Phil will show you where your bedroom is in a few minutes, and I'm sure he'll help you if you need any other help around the house." He said before glaring to Phil as if to say 'you better be nice to this boy or you don't want to know the consequences'. He walked over to his wife, took her hand and led the way out if the living room, leaving Dan and Phil alone together for the first time.
Phil only kept his arms crossed against his chest as he glared at Dan as if he was trying to make him disappear, though he knew that was pretty much impossible to do.
Dan glanced around the living room a few seconds before he looked over at Phil again and gasped when he saw the look on his face. He did not look happy at all and Dan didn't know what he did to make Phil so upset. It scared him to death, knowing that his brother hated him even though they never had spoken a word to each other before.
Phil looked around to make sure his parents were completely gone and out of sight before he looked over at Dan again. "Listen, you little twat…" Phil hissed as he walked over to Dan. "I don't care who you are or what you've been through. I have my own damn life to worry about, and I don't want to have to worry about some bloody 15-year-old. So stay the hell away from me and we won't have any problems, got it? Don't bother me and don't ask me any questions. I'm sure you can find your own way around this house, you're old enough to do that your own. Do we understand each other?" Dan quickly nodded, his eyes wide with fear. Phil smirked when he saw the look in Dan's eyes. He never wanted to make him scared… he also didn't want anything to do with this kid. So, if scaring him a little bit meant that he was left alone, he didn't really mind scaring him then. "Good. I'm glad we understand each other. Now, if you don't mind…"
Dan frowned as he watched Phil started to walk away from him. "Wait-"
Phil sighed loudly before he turned around again. "Didn't you hear what I just said?"
"I-I'm s-sorry, b-b-but, I-I don't know where my r-room is," Dan stuttered.
Phil only rolled his eyes at the boys words. "Fine. Grab your bag then," He ordered.
Dan quickly grabbed his bag from the couch as told and then he walked over to Phil, though keeping his distance from Phil, since he was now absolutely terrified of him.
Phil bit his lip as he watched the boy walk towards him. He was beautiful, with brown hair and dark, chocolate brown eyes. Dan was definitely the best looking 15-year-old that Phil had ever seen before, surprisingly. He quickly shook his head, not wanting to think about his new brother like that, it was wrong to think about him like that. "Follow me." Phil managed to whisper, still too caught up in the boy's beauty to think normally.
Dan raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard the affectionate tone in Phil's voice but he quietly followed Phil out of the living room and then they walked up the stairs and walked down a rather long hallway. Dan's bedroom was at the very end of the hallway which also had Phils bedroom, which might a problem considering they could run into each other. Phil made it clear that he didn't want to be around Dan, so Dan was definitely going to try his best to keep his distance away from Phil. "If you need anything, well… just don't ask me, I'm sure you'll be just fine on your own," He snapped at Dan while opening the bedroom door and then mentioning for him to go inside.
Dan stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds before he finally walked into his bedroom. He looked around and gasped when he saw how big his room actually was. He never had he had a room as big as this one, most of his rooms weren't bigger than a closet or a bathroom, and it was even worse at the orphanage because he had to share the room with a bunch of other boys. There was everything that Dan had always wanted in this bedroom; besides the fact that the room was massive, it also consisted of a flat screen TV with a bunch of different game systems already attached to it and even a DVD collection bigger than he had ever seen in his life before.
Dan dropped his bag as he ran over to the TV and sat down in front of it. He couldn't wait to sit in front of this TV for hours playing video games. Dan's only ever played a few video games in his life-time, when he had gotten adopted before. He loved playing video games so he was very excited about having his own video games to play. Honestly, Dan felt like a little kid again, seeing all this stuff made him excited for what else to come.
One week later;
It's now been a week since Dan had arrived at the Lester's house.
Phil spent most of his time locked in his bedroom or he was out with his friends, he basically wanted to be away from Dan as much as possible. They never spoke a word to each other, with the exception of when they were around their parents together, and even then only because Phil didn't want his parents to know what he said to Dan last week, knowing how upset they would be if they ever found out how he treated Dan.
"So, how's your new little brother?" Phil's best friend, PJ, asked.
"Okay, first of all, he's not my brother… so don't you dare call him my little brother," Phil snapped at his friend, not wanting him to think they would actually act like brothers because they certainly weren't. Just because his parents adopted him, didn't make them brothers, or that's how Phil thought, he didn't want to have to call Dan 'his brother' ever.
It was another weekend and Phil had his two friends, Chris Kendall and PJ Liguori, come over to the house to hang out with Phil for a little bit. Phil's friendship with Chris and PJ goes way back to kindergarten and they have always hung out whenever possible since then, especially now as Chris and PJ were going to university soon. He wasn't looking forward to it at all because it would only meant he wont get to see his friends as much as before. Chris and PJ were only Phil's true friends so he was sad that they were leaving, but he was also happy for them because he knew how hard they had worked to get into the University that they had gotten into. So he couldn't complain really.
"Have you even talked to him since he's been here?" Chris asked, slightly taken back by the way Phil said those words. He and PJ were sitting next to each other on the counter in Phil's kitchen while Phil was sat at the table. They were waiting for the pizza that they ordered to arrive. "I mean, it's been like a week? Since he's been here and all,"
"No, I haven't talked to him at all. Why in the world would I want to waste my time talking to a 15-year-old?" Phil asked Chris, surprised that Chris would ask such a thing.
PJ only rolled his eyes at his friend's comment. "You can't live like this forever. He's going to be here whether you like it or not, so why don't you try to get to know him? I'm sure he's a nice kid once you get to know him and stuff. I mean, he can't be that bad,"
"Never, If he thinks he can just walk into this family and be best friends with me then he's mistaken. I don't want anything to do with him," Phil grumbled in response.
"Do whatever you want, it's not my bloody problem, but… I think you're being harsh on the poor kid," PJ said, not entirely sure what to make of the situation. He nor Chris hadn't met Dan yet so they didn't what he was like, and Phil never talked about him either. But PJ was curious because whenever Phil did talk about him, it wasn't nice. Phil was usually never ever like this, he had never acted like this before.
The three boys all looked up at the same time when they heard someone walk into the kitchen, and as soon as Phil saw who it was, he only rolled his eyes and glanced at his friends, wanting to look anywhere in the kitchen that wasn't at Dan.
Dan looked up and gasped when he saw Phil was already there. He stood there frozen, not sure if he should just get what he wanted from the kitchen or run away quickly.
Phil look back at Dan with an annoyed look in his eyes. "Uh, hello. Can we help you?" He asked rather rudely. Dan usually stayed up in his bedroom, playing video games, so Phil was a little surprised that Dan even came down into the kitchen in the first place.
Dan stared at Phil with wide eyes and mumbled, "I-I just wanted a dr-drink,"
"Well then, get your drink and get out. We're busy here," Phil snapped at him.
"Phil-" PJ hissed at his friend before he sighed and shook his head. He then turned to back over to Dan, giving him a reassuring smile. "Need a glass?" He asked him kindly.
Dan nervously looked over at PJ and he slowly nodded towards him without saying a single word. With Phil being in the room, he was too scared to say anything to anybody.
"Alright then," PJ gently hopped of the counter and then he reached over to one of the cabinets above Chris's his head to get a glass for Dan. "Here you go-" He said as he handed the glass over to the younger boy. PJ didn't really know much about this boy but he could tell already that he was a very shy boy, and PJ just wanted to make him feel comfortable around him, and make him feel less scared.
Chris raised his eyebrows as he watched carefully PJ interact with Dan.
Dan hesitated for a moment, before he walked over, taking the glass from PJ. "Th-Thank you." At that moment, he hated himself more than ever for stuttering. Phil's friend was only trying to be nice and he was making himself look like an idiot already.
PJ only gave him a reassuring smile. "No problem." He said.
Phil, Chris and PJ all sat in silence as they watched Dan walk over to the fridge and open the freezer side. He then put some ice in his glass before adding some pepsi. When he turned around and saw the three friends staring at him he froze and looked down.
"So, you're the famous Dan we've been hearing about?" Chris asked in a curious voice.
"I-" Dan could feel his cheeks burning red. and he knew that he was blushing, so he cut himself off before he said something stupid or embarrassing in front of Phil's friends.
"Chris," Phil warned as he looked over at Chris, glaring at him.
"What? I think me and Peej here deserve to get to know your little brother," Chris said.
"For fuck sakes, what did I say about that? He's not my brother," Phil snapped.
That hurt, what Phil had just said, it hurt him more than he wanted to admit. Dan still had no idea what he did to make Phil hate him so much, and he wished Phil would give him a chance and maybe even be friends with him. That's all that Dan wanted really. He'd never had a real brother before, so he just hoped that Phil would be the first. But, with the way things have been going… it looked like it wasn't happening any time soon.
"I'll just…" Dan didn't even finish his sentence and, he just quickly walked out of the kitchen before anyone said anything else to him. He could already feel the tears burning in his eyes and he really didn't want to break down in front of his brother and his friends.
"Jesus Christ, Phil!" PJ scolded at his friend.
"You've got the poor kid too scared to even be around you. What in the bloody hell did you say to him that made him so scared like that?" Chris said. He looked a little shocked, not having expected Phil to act like that, because he never acted like that.
"Nothing. I mean, I said a couple things to him, that was it," Phil mumbled before shrugging his shoulders. "Nothing too bad." Even though he knew that was a lie, but he couldn't tell Chris and PJ the truth about what he really said to Dan earlier.
"I don't get what's so bad about him? He's pretty cute, and he's got a nice ass-"
"Chris, you fucker!" PJ yelled at Chris while pinching his arm. "You can't just say that,"
"Ow!" Chris whined as he rubbed the spot where PJ punched.
Phil let out a laugh at his friends behaviour. "You two act like a married couple," He said.
"We won't be a couple for much longer if he keeps that up," PJ grumbled as a response.
"Come on babe, I was joking! Bloody hell… he's 15 for Christ sakes!" Chris exclaimed.
PJ only chuckled and shook his head. "It's going to be a long night," He said.
The pizza finally arrived around half an hour later.
"Dan, come get your pizza!" Phil yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Due to his mother's request, he also ordered Dan his own pizza. They never really saw him as he was too shy to sit at the table with them so most of the time the boy lived on snacks. Phil sighed when he got no response and walked back into the living room, where Chris and PJ were.
"Oh my God… I haven't had pizza in forever. It smells so good," Chris said as he opened one of the pizza boxes. He looked up when Phil walked into the room.
"Well… I'm sure we'll be having a lot of fast food once we're in Uni," PJ stated.
"Ugh… don't even talk about that. I can't believe you two are leaving me," Phil grumbled as he sat down on the couch next to PJ. "I'm going to be stuck here all by myself."
PJ laughed as he looked over at Phil. "You could have applied for Uni too," He said.
"I hate school… why would I wanna go through four more years of it?" Phil asked them.
"Good point," Chris said as he plopped down on the couch.
"Chris is only going because I'm going," PJ said, while smiling and pointing at Chris.
"Also another good point," Chris said as he reached over and kissed PJ's cheek.
PJ looked over at Chris and couldn't help but smile.
"You two make me sick," Phil said jokingly as he looked over at them.
"Oh, don't be so jealous!" Chris said, laughing as he wrapped his arms around PJ.
When Dan still didn't come down after 15 minutes Phil's friends started to get worried.
"Phil, didn't you call Dan to come down?" Chris asked as he looked over at him.
Phil looked up him and nodded. "Yeah… I guess he isn't hungry," He said.
"Bullshit. You just don't want to go up there and talk to him," PJ said.
"Fine, I'll go!" Phil sighed in defeat. He stood up from the couch and glared at his friends before walking out of the living room. He dragged himself up the stairs and towards Dan's room, which surprisingly was cracked open. Phil pushed the door further open and looked inside the room, only to see Dan curled up in a little ball on his bed. "Dan, didn't you hear me? Your pizza is here, come get it before it gets cold," He said softly, surprised by the way he said it. Phil had never talked to Dan like this usually.
Dan immediately looked over when he heard Phil's voice, then he shook his head. "I'm not hungry thanks," He mumbled and turned back so that he was staring at the wall.
"You haven't eaten all day. You can't just starve yourself," Phil said to him.
Dan looked back at Phil. "Why do you care? You don't even like me," he snapped.
Phil blinked a few times when Dan snapped at him, which was something that he never did before, as he was usually shy. "No… but my parents obviously do like you and I'm sure they'll be upset if they find out that you're starving yourself," He said.
"I'm not starving myself, so don't worry about it," Dan mumbled.
"Well, how are we supposed to know that? You never eat dinner with us," Phil snapped.
"Because you're the one who said to stay out of your way," Dan snapped back at him.
"My parents will start to know if something's up if this keeps going on," Phil said.
"Why do you hate me so much Phil?" Dan asked quietly, ignoring what Phil had said.
Phil bit his lip nervously as he stared at Dan. He could see how upset Dan was just by the look on his face and he couldn't help but feel bad. Dan was only 15-years-old after all. "I don't hate you Dan," He said softly before sighing. "How would you feel if you were an only child for the first 19 years of your life and then suddenly this new kid comes into your family? I rely on my parents more than I would like to even admit , and I don't want them to be taken away from me-" Phil took a deep breath before he continued on, "I've always been close with my parents, but I've been even closer to them after I had come out and told them that I was gay a few years ago. They were always there and they supported me. I just don't want to lose the bond that we have, they mean so much to me than you think," Phil said. He shrugged his shoulders.
"I've never had parents, not since I was little but I don't even remember what my real parents look like… Mr. and Mrs. Lester came to visit me and they talked to me when I was all alone at the orphanage, and they care about me. They kept telling me over again that they did care about me and that they would love me like no one else has before. That's all I've ever wanted in my life, was for just someone to care about me like that. I really do appreciate them for everything that they've done for me so far," Dan whispered as a couple tears fell out of his eyes. Crying in front of his brother was definitely something he didn't want to do, but the past few weeks have been rather difficult for him, so he was a little emotional at the moment. He couldn't help himself really.
Phil couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty for Dan; The way Dan was talking made Phil open his eyes a little more about what was going on between them. Before, he didn't really care about what Dan had gone through but after hearing Dan talk like that, he felt for him, honestly. He could tell that Dan was upset and maybe even a little hurt from what he had been through in the past, and Phil knew that he should probably be a little nicer to Dan, but it was just a little weird for him, and even a little awkward.
Phil took a deep breath and then he quickly shook his head. "Well, uhm… I'll put your pizza in the fridge, so you know where to find it if you want it later. You can just heat it up later I'm sure," He whispered and then he turned around and then he finally walked out of Dan's room, and he towards the living room back to where his friends were.
"I talked to Dan, I think he's tired tonight, so he's going to bed. He said he wasn't hungry," Phil somewhat lied to his friends as he walked over to the couch and sat down.
"Really? That's odd, it's kind of early to be going to bed, isn't it?" PJ asked curiously as he looked at Phil, not believing what he said, especially after what happened earlier.
Phil shrugged his shoulders. "I'm going to put his pizza in the fridge…"
"Okay-" PJ blinked a few times, not really getting where this was coming from, before he went upstairs he couldn't give a damn about Dan, but now, here he was making sure that his food stayed alright, and he seemed a little more calmer as well. PJ didn't know what happened when Phil went upstairs, but he was definitely one hundred percent sure that Phil had actually talked to Dan and something happened between them.
Chris shrugged his shoulders at him and continued eating his pizza.
They both watched as Phil grabbed Dan's pizza and left the living room. "Okay… we have to do something about those two- Chris! Are you even listening to me?" PJ asked, rolling his eyes as he watched his boyfriend gobbled down his pizza.
"Peej, why are you so worried?" Chris whined while putting his pizza down.
"I feel bad for Dan, okay? He seems like a nice kid who just wants Phil to like him even just a little bit, but Phil won't even be in the same room with him. You saw how he acted earlier, it's that bad when it shouldn't be," PJ answered.
Chris bit his lip as he looked over at PJ. "Well, what are we supposed to do?" He asked.
"We'll come up with a plan… that's what we'll do," PJ said to him.
xxxx
It was a couple days later when Chris and PJ were back at Phil's house, though this time they weren't there to see Phil, they were here to see Dan. They wanted to get to know him a little better, and maybe even talk to him and have a real conversation with him, hopefully. Dan seemed like a nice kid, despite all that Phil said about him before.
"Um… does Phil know you're here?" Dan asked randomly when he was sitting in the living room with Chris and PJ on the couch. Chris and PJ arrived at Dan and Phil's house, and Dan was surprised they were actually talking to him, not Phil. He was also shocked at himself that he was actually speaking without stuttering. He just really liked Chris and PJ and was comfortable around them. They were really nice to him when Dan had met them the other day, so there really wasn't any need to be afraid of them.
"If Phil found out we were here with you… he'd pretty much kill us," Chris said to him.
PJ nodded in agreement at his boyfriends words. "Yeah… and we didn't exactly want to talk to Phil anyways, surprisingly. We actually wanted to talk to you," He added.
"Why would you want to talk to me? There's nothing special about me," Dan mumbled in response before he sighed and leaned back against the couch. He always was like this, talking himself down or thinking negative thoughts. He wondered when it had started, but he guessed it was since his parents abandoned him when he was a little boy… kind of logic. Dan went through quite a lot growing up; growing up in an orphanage with other kids and living with different families who sometimes weren't all that nice to him.
"Aw, come on Dan. Don't say that! I mean… clearly there must be something special about you if Phil's parents like you," Chris reassured him smiling.
"So, tell us Dan. How does Phil really treat you?" PJ asked as he looked over at Dan.
Dan blinked a few times as he looked up. "Phil doesn't care about me, he's made it clear to me that he doesn't want me around. I mean… he won't even call me his brother. So I just try not to bother him, just like he asked me to…" Dan explained to them, trying his best to hide the sadness behind his voice, though he was clearly failing.
"Don't give up hope, you know? It's only the second week that you've been here. I'm sure Phil will open up to you eventually. He normally is a very nice guy so I don't think he'll keep this behavior towards you up very long. Take it from us, his best friends, do you think we would be friends with him if he was a giant asshole all the time?" PJ said.
"Yeah well… I'll believe that when he actually talks to me without snapping at me or even yelling at me… which is probably impossible for him," Dan mumbled unconvinced at what PJ said about Phil, forgetting about the talk that they had a couple days before.
PJ frowned as he looked over at Chris, feeling even worse for Dan, and getting madder and madder at their friend. They didn't get how there normally super kind friend could treat a person like that, especially to someone who seemed so nice.
Quite awhile has passed since Chris and PJ arrived at Phil's house and they've spent most of the time talking to Dan and getting to know him a little better. They both really liked him and had no idea why Phil didn't. Dan was even start to open up a little, and he talked to Chris and PJ about what it was like growing up in an orphanage, though he didn't go into too much detail, because not all of his childhood was very nice.
Dan and PJ were currently in the middle of a rather heated conversation about their favorite video games and Chris was messing around on his phone, probably texting one of his friends. He looked over and quickly sat up as soon as he heard Phil walk into the living room. "Oh. Uh… hey Phil," Chris said calmly to his friend.
PJ also looked over and bit his lip nervously when he saw Phil's angry face.
"What are you doing, stealing my friends now too?" Phil asked angrily when he saw Dan.
Dan froze up immediately when he heard Phil's voice, not having noticed his entrance, and was already too afraid to say anything. You could practically hear his heart pounding against his chest at the moment. Dan was afraid that this would happen if Phil ever saw him talking alone with Chris and PJ, because Phil made it clear that he felt like Dan was stealing his family away from him when Dan in reality, wasn't doing that at all.
"Phil, would you just listen to me and calm down for a second?" PJ asked his friend calmly before the other could say anything while he stood up.
"No, I will not calm down for a bloody second!" Phil yelled back at PJ.
"Listen to me, okay? Dan had no idea we were coming over, we only wanted to see why you hated him so much and… we still don't get it. He's really nice and you would know that if you would talk to him and give him a chance!" PJ snapped. PJ never snapped at anyone, especially not his friends. But, he just couldn't help it.
"You would feel the same way if you were in my position," Phil snapped back at him.
"No, I wouldn't Phil. Maybe I would be at first I guess, but at least I wouldn't treat Dan awfully like you do now! I would actually talk to him, get to know him a little," PJ said and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for snapping at you like that but… I just-I just don't get it. We've been talking to Dan for quite a while now and he's a very nice kid once you get to know him, honestly, so just give it a try, please?" PJ asked hopefully.
Phil sighed as he looked over at Dan and his face immediately softened when he saw the look on the boy's face, he looked like he was about to burst into tears at any second. This would be the second time he had made Dan cry and Phil didn't feel great about it, actually, he felt awful because of it. he had never made anybody cry before, yet here he had made Dan cry for no reason. PJ had a point though, Phil didn't even give Dan a chance or get to know him at all. Maybe it was time to change his attitude,
"We'll leave you two alone then. Come on Chris," PJ said.
They both stood up from the couch, Chris reached over and grabbed PJ's hand. "Well, it was nice talking to you. We'll see you later, Dan…" Chris said to Dan.
They walked over to Phil. "Talk to him… now-" PJ hissed at his friend before he and Chris walked out of the living room, leaving Dan and Phil alone.
Phil rolled his eyes at his friends and then he looked over at Dan, a frown formed on his face as he watched him stand up from the couch. "Where are you going?" Phil asked, slightly nervous, as he watched Dan walk over to the door.
"Y-You told me not to bother you… so I'm not g-going to bother you. I-I'll be in my room if you need me… though I'm sure you won't need me for anything," Dan mumbled. He was about to walk out of the living room when Phil grabbed his arm. He immediately looked back and was surprised when he saw his 'brother' standing next to him. "L-Let me go…"
"Do you think we could talk?" Phil asked softly. "Maybe PJ was right…"
"Now you want to get to know me?" Dan asked quietly.
"I want to give you a chance," Phil said, pulling Dan over to the couch with him. His mood had changed for the better, only seconds ago he was almost blinded by rage, but now he was oddly calm, thinking about every move he was about to make.
"W-why?" Dan asked, following him over to the couch, where they both sat down.
"Well, we've gotta start some time… don't we? I can't exactly go on hating you forever, I mean… PJ was right, I should get to know you before judging you like I did," Phil said.
"I like PJ. He's nice, and he's super smart," Dan whispered.
"Yeah, he is, He's always been like that ever since we met each other, and I think maybe that's of the reasons he's one of my best friends, and Chris as well of course…"
"Chris is really funny. He makes me laugh a lot, which is something not a lot of people can do," Dan added. "You're lucky to have friends like them."
"Didn't you have any friends?" Phil asked curiously, not trying to sound rude.
"I moved around with different families so much, so no… not really, and I didn't really get along with any of the other boys at the orphanage because they were all always older than me and not very nice," Dan explained and looked up at Phil.
"I'm sure you'll get some new friends once you start school soon," Phil said.
"Is school scary? Mum and dad told me about it but… I don't know," Dan mumbled.
"It's scary at first but, I don't know… you'll get used to it," Phil told him. "You just have to find yourself a couple of friends like I did, to help you get through it. As long as you keep up with everything, you should be fine. You seem like a smart kid, so I'm sure you will be fine." He said, and then he shrugged his shoulders.
"Stop calling me a kid. I'm 15-years-old," Dan grumbled.
Phil raised his eyebrows. "A bit defensive are we?" He asked, noticing how Dan stopped stuttering. It was usual when Dan didn't stutter when he spoke, even being at the Lester household for a couple weeks now. He even still stuttered in front of their parents.
"You would be too if everybody kept calling you a kid," Dan mumbled, annoyed.
"Alright," Phil shrugged his shoulders and chewed his bottom lip as he stared at Dan. He knew it was wrong; the way he got butterfly's in his stomach every time he only even looked at the boy, and he knew that he was developing a crush on him. Dan was his brother, he shouldn't be feeling like this . It wasn't right. His parents would never allow it if they found out how their son was starting to feel about his 'brother', they would most likely forbid it, and maybe even go as far as sending Dan back to the orphanage.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Dan asked when he noticed that Phil had been staring at him. He blushed and then he looked down at his hands.
Phil quickly shook his head. "Uhm, no reason. Hey, why don't we go out? We could go see a movie or something, I want to make up for how I treated you before," He said.
"I've never been to the movies before," Dan said as he sat up excitedly.
"You've never been to the movies!?" Phil asked, a little shocked.
Dan shook his head. "No… they always said I was too young,"
Phil scoffed. "Oh please, that's bullshit. You're not too young at all. Come on! We'll go see a movie and afterwards we can go get some food," He stood up and held his hand out for Dan, who hesitated for a moment before grabbing it and smiled after he took it.
"Okay, sounds fun-" Dan said, feeling a little excited that he was finally going to get to spend time with Phil, and maybe they would actually talk with each other and he would get the chance to make Phil hate him a little less. Plus, it would be his first time seeing a movie in the theaters, so he was very excited about that as well.
They decided to go see 'Guardians Of The Galaxy', which they both absolutely loved, especially Dan, and when the movie was done they decided to get some food and hang out around the city, talking about everything and nothing. It was like they had completely forgotten about the rest of the world, even for a little bit.
Spending the day out with Dan definitely opened Phil's eyes more; and he kind of wished that he hadn't had been such a fool and gave Dan a chance right away because he was actually fun to hang out with once he opened up his shell a little. Phil really liked being around him, and he was glad he had followed PJ's advice and stopped being a douchbag.