It was around 3:30 A.M. when he heard the subtle noise. A sound that traveled from the kitchen to his room, sending a small chill through his spine. He grabbed his prized stuffed toy, a palm-sized lion, and snuck towards his bedroom door.
The noise carried down the hall again, yet only slightly more pronounced. I moan of sadness coursed through the air. He jumped at a sudden softened wail, and dashed to the living room.
As soon as he burst through the doorway, a bright light blinded him.
"AHHH!"
"WHAT?!" The second scream came from a form on the couch.
"OH GOD!" The first man rubbed his eyes, eventually becoming used to every single light that was on in the living room, "Dan?! What are you doing out here?"
The brown-haired boy was no longer facing Phil, and instead was turned towards his computer on the coffee table. His body shivered despite the large mountain of blankets covering him.
"Dan?" Phil asked again, walking towards him. "Why are you still up?"
Although Dan was nothing more than a night owl (the growls of discontent when Phil tried getting him up in the morning definitely confirmed that), his ebony-haired friend new very well that Dan still didn't like staying up past one in the morning, so this was a very rare event indeed.
Not to mention the strange noises that woke him so early.
Dan froze, then shifted slowly on the couch.
"I-I couldn't sleep..."
Phil sighed, "Well, could you please keep it down out here, yeah?"
A pause. "Sure..."
Phil merely sighed at Dan's oddities and turned to return to his room, until he saw something flash across the laptop's screen.
"What's that?" He questioned, walking closer.
Dan sprang up and blocked Phil's view of the computer screen. "Nothing!"
"Let me just see-"
"NO!"
"DAN!"
"GO BACK TO BED, PHIL."
At the last remark, Phil launched himself at Dan, knocking the both of them back onto the couch. Phil landed on Dan and sat on his stomach. Once Phil tried to reach for the laptop on the table, Dan grabbed his arms.
"Don't touch my laptop, Phil!" Dan warned, keeping a tight grasp on Phil's hands. Being the smaller yet stronger of the two, Phil managed to easily pin Dan's arms to his sides with his knees.
Ignoring the brunettes protests, Phil picked up the laptop and set it on Dan's chest. He stopped and gasped at what was on the screen.
In short, YouTube was pulled up. But that wasn't the only thing on the screen. Under YouTube, one of the many Super Amazing Project videos was paused. It happened to be paused right after both he and Dan saw the clip from Dan's video of the orb during the "Viewer Spooky Happenings" segment. A click on the next tab showed a playlist of paranormal investigation shows, the most recently watched one being an episode featuring a man mauled by some poltergeist in his sleep. Next tab: dealing with poltergeists. Next tab: avoiding ghosts and demons. Next tab: how ghosts can hurt you.
The list went on and on.
A quick glance at the television also showed what appeared to be one of many horror movies featuring hauntings during some sort of midnight movie marathon.
Phil's eye caught on an interesting article.
He cleared his throat.
"Spirit orbs, also known as energy orbs, are thought to be the essence of a being's passing."
"Phil. Stop."
"Usually, these spirits have to be called forth. If a spirit makes itself known without any external callings, the ghost has a very strong power."
"I mean it, Phil!"
"Some spirits are very good beings. These are usually family members or friends that have passed, or a reminiscing spirit who has emotionally attached itself to the place of choosing. The most prominent type are bad spirits, otherwise known as demons. They usually never move on because of a wrong-doing they never finished or they wish to harass or possibly hurt a person intruding in their claimed-"
"STOP. READING." A loud wail came from the brunette boy. Phil caught his breath and stopped.
He shut the laptop lid and peered at Dan over the laptop.
"Dan?" He called to him softly.
Dan's entire body was trembling. His eyes were shut tightly, and Phil noticed for the first time that night that they were red and puffy.
"Dan? Are you okay? What's wrong?" Concern was evident in Phil's voice now.
Dan could barely hold anything in any longer and a few tears slipped down his cheeks while he trembled. Phil's eyes widened.
This is Dan we're talking about here. The tough guy! Macho man! The hard-as-a-rock, show-no-emotions man! And here he is...
crying.
Something was definitely wrong here.
"Dan. You know you can tell me anything, right?"
Dan squeezed his eyes even tighter, but that only helped to squeeze out the many tears he tried to hold back as his weeping turned into a full-blown sob.
It was pointless: trying to hide it. Phil had his arms pinned down completely, barely giving him any wiggle-room. Much less to hide the oncoming tears.
Phil tried his best to calm his friend down.
"Dan. Dan! Listen to me. Don't cry... don't cry. I don't even know what's bothering you, but I can help you fix it..."
Phil leaned down and lightly touched his forehead to Dan's, a common (but never seen by anyone outside of their families) comforting gesture Dan always used to calm Phil after a horrible date or waking from a nightmare. Dan would touch his forehead with Phil's, look him in the eye, and tell Phil just how special he was. How that girl didn't deserve someone as sweet as him. How that monster from the dream world would have to go through HIM first before Dan would let it touch Phil.
And now, it was time to return that favor.
The second their foreheads made contact, Dan opened his eyes slowly.
And they locked eyes.
Dan's face went incredibly red. Curse this universe and everything in it. What higher power allowed Phil to catch Dan, of all people, in such a vulnerable moment?! This was absolutely the first, second a the most, time Phil has ever seen Dan so...
Broken.
Sad.
Scared.
Yes, fear was the dominant emotion in those big brown eyes. Fear.
"Dan..."
Their eyes froze and the only sound in the room was the television's soft-spoken words of the latest murder mystery movie. Dan's sobs calmed when Phil brought one hand up to wipe away the tears, and the other to brush back Dan's hair soothingly.
"Why are you afraid, Dan?"
"I-I'm not-"
"Oh, please. You can't really fool me now."
Dan swallowed. Was he really willing to tell his best friend, the person he loved and trusted so much, what was wr-?
"Fine."
Phil only blinked, knowing Dan wasn't calm enough to let back up. He kept their heads together.
"I... I was in my room watching old Super Amazing Project videos. I came across the... the one on my laptop now. When I rewatched that clip of me with the orb, I decided to do some research. Eventually, I-I got so freaked out, especially since I was in the room the orb appeared in, that I came out here and turned on all the lights. I also read online that a certain TV channel was showing movies related to this subject, so I stupidly turned it on. I kept reading and watching, despite the fact that I was feeling uneasy about it already. Eventually, I just stopped what I was doing because..."
He paused.
"Because I got... scared..."
There was a very, very long moment of silence, until-
"HAHAHAHA! Really, Dan?"
Phil sat back up, without letting Dan free, and threw his head back, cackling.
As if admitting it to his best friend wasn't hard enough! And now he was being laughed at!
"Dan, do you really think I would think of you as anything less because you're afraid?"
Dan stuttered, blushing, "I- uh..."
"Silly, silly boy. You're my best friend. You're one of the strongest, most caring people I know! Did you really think my opinion of someone I love would change because of a moment of weakness?"
The boy laying down on the couch couldn't answer.
Phil continued.
"Dan, I know you don't like it. But really, who likes being totally vulnerable in front of anyone? I can trust you when I'm feeling weak, and I want you to trust me. Can you do that from now on?"
Dan couldn't help but crack the tiniest smile.
"Don't make me touch your neck, Daniel!" Phil said menacingly, wiggling his fingers.
Before Dan could do anything more than widening his eyes in fear, Phil lightly wiggled his fingers against his friend's neck.
"AHHHTHP! PHIL! Nohohoho! Get OFF!" Dan giggled wildly, tears of sadness long forgotten.
"Promise me, or I'll just keep tickling you!" Phil laughed along, moving his fingers to Dan's sensitive ears.
"OKAY! I will! Just get off me!"
Phil laughed, "Okay, okay. It was probably starting to look really gay anyways."
He climbed off Dan's lap and allowed him to finally stretch his arms. A quick glance at the clock confirmed that it was 4:15 A.M., and they should have gone back to bed long ago. Phil grabbed Dan's hand and helped him up. He switched off the television, laptop, and started turning off all of the lights.
He looked at Dan, "So, shall we head back to bed?"
Dan stood still, the blankets wrapped tightly around him. He glanced down the hallway towards his room. Yet, he remembered his promise to Phil.
"I, um... I'm too scared..."
His eyes flickered to the floor as he heard Phil finish turning off the lights around the kitchen and living room before approaching him. Despite Phil's (truly) inspiring speech, he already knew it would take a while before he felt less ashamed about the entire thing.
"I suppose you could stay with me tonight, if you want." Phil offered a warm, comforting smile, which Dan gladly returned.
Once they were both in Phil's bedroom, both boys collapsed into the bed. Phil turned off the bedside lamp and they faced each other in the darkness.
Dan smiled softly, "Phil, thank you so much. I don't know what I'd do without you in my life."
"Not much, probably."
"Hey!" Dan swat at Phil playfully, causing the black-haired boy to laugh. "Just make me one promise."
"Yeah."
"Don't ever tell anyone about this, okay?"
Phil rolled his eyes, "Of course. I promise." He held up his hand and they automatically pinky swore on it.
Dan yawned, "I don't think I could have ever found a better friend."
Phil's facial expression became serious, "We aren't friends, Dan."
The brunette looked at him with confused brown eyes. "What?"
"We're brothers."
ER MEH GERD WUT.
OceanSunrise32, you updated, but with a *new* fanfic instead of working on the ones you already had?
Yes, my friend. That's because I apparently suck balls when it comes to updating. And, honestly, I have had a lot to deal with these past few months.
But I've randomly become obsessed with Danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil lately (although I've been watching their videos for quite a while now). And this is the first fanfic I've ever written that ISN'T Fairly Odd Parents!
So, even if you are mad at me, I hope this makes up for it!
Just a little Dan and Phil friendship fluff. It may seem really touchy feely for guys, but I think guys can be this close without being gay. I like Phan, but the friendship and closeness they show is what really gets me in their Super Amazing Project, Amazing Dan, and Phil is not on fire videos.
Enjoy!
Also, this is my new blog: oceansunriseirl-livejournal-com/ (just change those dashes to periods, because I know fanfiction is nit-picky about posting links).
Thanks so much! I love you all!