Stolen Flowers- Dan and Phil AU
Dan had always stolen flowers from his neighbor's garden on his way to the graveyard.
Well, not technically his neighbor. The guy lived a couple streets over, but he just happened to be on the way. Dan didn't know much about him except for his beautiful array of posies and roses in the front yard, small enough for him to pick a few without the owner noticing.
It wasn't like he was committing a crime every day. Jesus.
He just couldn't go to the grave empty-handed. And he didn't have buckets of money to spend on flowers, either. So. He stole them. No big deal.
Dan hadn't seen the owner of the flowers. He knew it was a guy- what women would keep their entire yard unkempt, save for the elegant rows of flowers in their front yard?
He didn't ever intend to meet the owner. He wasn't looking for new friends- or new enemies. He had enough as is.
On this particularly crisp Sunday morning, he picked two yellow roses. Maybe something to bring him a bit of happiness.
What he didn't notice, however, was the owner of the roses, staring at him out of a window.
Dan finally made his way to the graveyard. He took the familiar path to the familiar grave, and placed the roses upon the many more that littered the ground.
He stared at the grave for what felt like the billionth time since he started coming to it. Always the same ritual- place a flower, put one hand on the tombstone, take a deep breath.
Don't think about anything else.
Don't think about the impending doom he always felt when coming to the graveyard.
Dan told himself these things as he finally left after a couple minutes of looking up at the sky and trying not to cry.
Taking one last shaky breath, he turned around and left the graveyard, not daring to look back.
On his somewhat long trek back, he stopped- again- in front of the neighbor's yard.
Usually, he would just glance over and keep walking.
But today, the owner had just happened to walk outside. Today. Of all days.
Fuck.
"Ahem? Tall boy? Tall boy in the black everything?" The tall man of about 28 or so with a bright graphic t-shirt on yelled quite clearly, clearly enough that Dan had to stop and turn back around.
"You should talk," Dan mumbled, glancing up at his jet-black hair.
"Pardon?"
"Just give it a rest, okay? What have I even done?" Dan wasn't in the mood to play along.
"I'm not an idiot. I know you've been stealing flowers from my yard for about a month now…" The stranger swept his hair to the side and cast a teasing look at Dan.
Dan swore under his breath and took off. He wasn't going to deal with this bullshit anymore.
The other boy called out after him, but Dan didn't turn back around.
One week later
Same time, same place. Dan took another rose from the neighbor's yard, this time a red one-
When the front door opened and out came the tall stranger, walking steadily towards Dan.
"Would you just fuck off?"
"Now, that's not very nice."
"Why are you even here?"
"Nice to meet you, my name is Phil." Phil was standing only about two feet away from Dan now.
"Why are you even here?"
"I'm trying to figure out if the boy is cute enough to warrant flower theft from my lovely garden." Phil said with a bit of a smirk.
Dan froze, his misty brown eyes finally meeting the other boy's bright ones. Not knowing what else to do, he started walking slowly away from Phil and towards the graveyard.
Phil followed him. "Where are you going? Where is this new home of my displaced flowers?"
Dan stopped and turned around. "Seriously? Are you actually stupid enough to follow me?"
"I'm just… curious, that's all. It gets pretty boring around here."
"Yeah, no kidding. That's why I go to a graveyard every week." Dan glared at Phil, so much so that Phil stopped abruptly.
He swallowed. "It's just… none of your business, okay? I didn't ask for someone to tag along with me."
"You looked like you needed some help. This isn't exactly the everyday behavior that I see in a typical- how old are you? Twenty-three? Twenty-three-year-old adult."
"No fucking kidding. I need help." Dan almost painfully pushed his hair out of his eyes.
"So, let me see what you're up to, just for one day."
Dan pursed his lips and sighed loudly. "Fine." It was the least he could do in payment for stealing his flowers every week. And he didn't have to tell him anything else after this. "Just shut up until we get there."
One corner of Phil's mouth quirked into an almost-smile. "Fair enough."
On the way to the graveyard, the tension was unbearable. At least for Dan. Phil seemed happy enough, steadily pushing his way through the ivy covering the shortcut.
Dan wondered what he would say when they arrived at the graveyard.
He wondered if Phil would be put off by any of the things he said.
"So, what's your name?" They were almost to the graveyard.
"I thought I told you to shut up until we got there."
"And I thought you would tell me your name, yet here we are."
"Daniel. It's Daniel."
"Daniel?"
"I prefer Dan, actually."
"Dan." Phil tried out the name, stretching it out a bit. "I've never met a Daniel."
"Well, isn't today your lucky day." Dan's reply was thick with sarcasm. "We're here, by the way."
"Wow."
"Have you never been here?"
"No." Phil's was quiet, less brash.
"Ah. Well, follow me."
"Do you come here often?"
"About once a week."
"That's why my flower stocks have been depleting so quickly."
"Shut up."
They arrived at the grave, to the stone that was cleaner than the rest and a fresh patch of dirt underneath it.
Dan gently dropped the red rose among the many that already laid on the ground. Taking an embarrassing shaky breath, he put one had on the grave. Like always.
Phil put a hand on his shoulder. Dan tensed but didn't move.
"Who's grave is it? Oh. Sorry, that sounded really- "
"It's fine. It's uh… it's my friend's grave."
"Must have been a special friend." Phil's voice was whispery now, almost shaky.
"Yeah. He was."
The two young men stood in silence for a few more minutes.
Phil squeezed Dan's shoulder gently. "Should we get back?"
Dan shrugged him off. "Yes," he said, almost inaudibly. Dammit.
They walked mostly in silence until Phil's house came into view.
"Hey." Phil stopped abruptly.
"What?"
"Come back again to steal some of my flowers sometimes, okay?"
Dan flushed. "I won't rule it out."
Phil smiled a soft smile.
"And- uh- thanks. It means a lot to me for you to do that, I haven't talked to anyone really, since…" Dan trailed off.
Phil kissed him on the forehead, effectively shutting him up. "You're welcome."
Dan smiled for what felt like the first time in months.