"Fuck," Dan spoke as he finally came to consciousness. His head hurt like hell and he felt like he was floating. Once he forced his eyes to open, he realized he was in the hallway of the flat, slumped against the wall. The brunette moved to stand up and figure out what the actual fuck had happened when he was held back. He glanced up and realized there was a pair of handcuffs between his right wrist and the radiator. "Oh, fuck," he said again, louder. Everything came flooding back to him.

There had been a string of break-ins around the area and it had made the both of them - Dan and Phil - uncomfortable enough to make sure the door was locked literally every second of the day. Dan thought back to earlier that morning, when Phil left for the day. He claimed that he had a very important meeting to attend but naturally, the younger of the two knew that was complete and utter bullshit. Most, if not all, of work meetings included Dan as well. He suspected that Phil was really just out shopping for his birthday, like he did every year.

After Phil had left, Dan realized he forgot to lock the door behind him. After about an hour of being alone in the house, he heard a creak from the front door. He rolled his eyes, assuming it was one of the neighbors, or just Phil coming back, but a feeling in his chest pushed him to go investigate for himself. He was beginning to go up the stairs when he stilled at the sight in front of him. It was a burly man, with a hood over his head and a ski mask. Dan would have scoffed at the stereotypical getup had he not been so scared. Before he could even move, he was hit in the side of the head. He remembered hitting the wall, but nothing else.

Dan rubbed his head, knowing that the side of his face had to be bruised, and the only thing he thought of at that point was that he would have to figure out a way to cover that up for his next video. He had the uneasy feeling that told him whomever was dangerous enough to make him black out could very well still be in the house. With trepidation in his voice, he called out, "Hello?"

When there was only silence in reply, Dan figured the person had probably left. He couldn't hear moving inside the flat either, and he supposed that was a good sign.

He pulled at the cuffs once again, trying to see if he could loosen them. No luck. Dean sighed and let himself fall back against the wall for a moment before checking for his phone in his pocket. When he realized it was there, he "Aha!"'d triumphantly and dug it out of his pocket. 17% battery. It would at least stay alive long enough for him to call someone. The police? He knew he should, but there was no obvious danger right now. He also reckoned that Phil would want to be the first to know. Then they could get the cops together.

With an aggravated breath, Dan picked Phil's contact out from the top of his recents list and waited while it rang.

"Hello?" Phil's voice asked through the speaker. It sounded like he was somewhere crowded.

"Phil, hi, uh," Dean stammered, unsure of how to break the news to him. "It's not possible for you to get home, like...now, is it?"

"What is it?" he responded immediately, concern underlying his calm facade.

Dan bit his lip and clenched his eyes shut (which he realized hurt) and said in a rush. "I think someone's broken into our flat."

Phil's breath stopped on the other line. "I'm on the way now, give me ten minutes. What's going on? Are they there?"

"They're gone now, I think," Dan said simply. He was surprised at how well he was handling the desire to scream.

"Where are you? Are you okay?"

"Phil, I'm fine, I'm just here." He let out a long exhale and relaxed against the wall.

"Have you called the cops?" Phil asked. "What did they take?"

"I called you. That's all I have left in my battery," Dan said, peeking at the bar. "I'm almost out. And I don't know what they took."

The older boy was touched at the sentiment. Dan had called him. "Why don't you know?" he asked suspiciously.

Dan hedged. He didn't want Phil to worry, but he would also figure it out when he got home. "Maybe, while you're out, you could pick up some bolt cutters," he said, like this was all some joke.

"Dan," Phil's voice said worriedly. "Why?"

"I woke up handcuffed to the radiator."

Phil felt his stomach drop. "You said you were okay! And what do you mean, 'woke up'? What happened?"

"Look, Phil, just get here, okay? And bring something so I can stand up because I really have to pee."

The eldest didn't sound happy but Dan hung up on him before he got a response.

As promised, Phil came bursting frantically into the flat ten minutes later. "Dan!" he yelped as he ran to the bottom of the stairs, dropping his bags at the top.

Dan had never been so relieved to see Phil come home. He wasn't even surprised when the darker haired boy tackled him with a hug. He reciprocated with his left arm and looked up at Phil when he crouched down to see the handcuffs. "Got any ideas on how to get me the fuck away from this thing?"

Phil hummed for a moment, a worried look crossing his face when he saw how bruised up the side of Dan's face was. "Are you okay?" he asked again, softer.

"I'll be great if I could get up."

Phil nodded and ran inside, to the very entrance of the house and grabbed a screwdriver. He was so worried that he didn't even think to look for what could be missing. He returned to Dan, holding up the tool and shrugging.

"This had better work," Dan muttered annoyedly. Phil shoved the tip of it into the keyhole and jiggled it around before it came open with a small click. The youngest grinned and dove on Phil, hugging him with both arms now. They both closed their eyes and sighed, holding onto each other tightly. When they broke apart, Dan rubbed at his red wrist.

They stood up and braced themselves for a look at their flat. When they opened the door, they couldn't see anything missing. After almost half an hour of looking around, even with the police, they determined that nothing had been stolen.

"Do you reckon they were looking for something specific?" Dan asked later on that night, when he was tucked into Phil's side on the couch. Phil had his arm wrapped around Dan's shoulders, and in turn the brunette had an arm draped over Phil's torso. The older boy glanced down at the younger every few moments and pressed a soft kiss to each bruise littering his face.

"It doesn't matter," Phil said. " What matters is that they find whoever hurt you before your viewers do," he laughed. "Or before I do."

"Yeah, because you're so threatening, Phil," Dan scoffed with a grin.

"Don't ruin my nice moment!" he chuckled, hitting Dan's back softly with his elbow. "I'm trying to be all protective boyfriend here!"

"Would it help if I called you my hero?" Dan responded with a teasing smirk.

Phil shut him up with a kiss.