-BLANKET-
Music.
His blanket of dreams is gone.
Almost falling out of bed, Phil reaches for his phone, knowing that it can only be one person calling. The ringtone for Dan, interrupted by fireworks, pulls him out of his sleep and he groans but answers the call as best as possible.
"Hello?" He mumbles sleepily.
"Phill? Are you awake?" Dan asks, his words blurring together.
"Kind of," Phil replies.
"Oh, sorry!"
Hearing the crack in Dan's voice, he's instantly awake, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, letting the blanket drop off the bed.
"Danny? What's wrong?"
There's a small silence before Dan whispers, "Never mind. Sorry to wake you."
And then Dan hangs up.
Phil shakes his head. "Oh no you don't."
Blindly pulling on a coat and stumbling around until he gets socks on, he grabs a hat and his phone before sliding the window open.
He takes a deep breath, reminding himself that Dan is worth a potential broken limb.
"Screw it, I'm gonna jump," he mutters to the night sky, launching off the windowsill.
Thankfully, he lands on his side, managing to roll and avoid broken ankles.
Knowing the shortcut to Dan's house, he runs, doing his best to avoid stepping on glass or whatever else people throw on the ground despite the bins a few meters away.
At one point, it had been hard to climb the tree outside his boyfriend's window, but now, because of how often he's done it, getting to Dan's window is a piece of cake.
Gym, PE and dance lessons at school might be nightmares but this tree is so much simpler. After all, even the least athletic person can be active for a loved one in need.
Phil quickly makes his way up the tree, managing to only graze his arms thrice, and leans on the wall as he knocks on Dan's window.
There's a deadly silence for a couple of seconds, then the curtains slide open and Dan's shocked face comes into view.
His warm brown eyes are wide, reflecting the light of the stars behind Phil, and his mouth is hanging open, his jaw dropped in surprise.
"Phil?"
"Obviously. Open the window?"
Dan snaps out of whatever trance he'd been in, hurriedly pushing the window up and letting Phil flop inside.
Cold air flies inside, a blanket of chill settling in Dan's room, but neither of them care, too focused on each other.
"Ow." Phil scrambles up, seeing the shine on Dan's face that can only be caused by tears.
"You're not wearing shoes!" Dan exclaims, "Phil!"
"It wasn't important!" Phil argues.
"What's more important than shoes when you're running at night?" Dan asks, frowning.
Instead of replying, Phil moves forward and wraps his arms around Dan, one hand around his shoulders and the other around his waist.
Dan sighs as he buries his head in the crook of Phil's neck, closing his eyes.
Eventually, Phil pulls back, only to put both his hands over Dan's eyes.
"Do you trust me?" Phil whispers.
"You don't have an axe so I guess I do."
Phil giggles, then clears his throat. "Don't move. And don't open your eyes."
Dan nods so Phil slides his hands away and starts moving around the room.
Dan frowns when he heard a muffled thud and a suppressed curse, but keeps his eyes shut, resisting the urge to check if Phil's alright.
After what seems like halfway into forever, Phil's lips brush Dan's nose. "You can look now."
Dan opens his eyes and immediately laughs. He smiles so wide his dimples make an appearance, crinkles forming on either side of his eyes as he takes in Phil's masterpiece.
It's a pillow fort.
Sort of.
The pillows are arranged on Dan's mattress and Phil's moved the chair to the end of bed so that the duvet can balance on it and the headboard.
There's just enough room for the two of them to slide underneath.
"Phil..."
"Hush. You called me in the middle of the night and hung up. What else am I meant to do but drop everything and come to you?"
Dan just stares.
"We have school tomorrow," he argues, but even he knows he wouldn't send Phil away in exchange for education.
So Phil raises an eyebrow and grabs a blanket off the drawer, draping it over Dan's head and around his shoulders.
"What's wrong?" he asks softly.
Dan shrugs. "Bad day."
Phil nods thoughtfully. "We can attempt portal again, if you want?"
Dan shakes his head.
Phil's eyes widen. "That bad a day?"
Dan nods, avoiding Phil's gaze. But Phil doesn't exactly let him, placing his palm on Dan's cheek and gently rubbing his thumb over a fresh tear.
"How about watching a film so terrible that we have no choice but to laugh?" Phil suggests.
"Phil..."
"No, I am not leaving."
Dan shrugs, but he's already smiling, knowing that Phil cares.
"Okay."
So Phil grins, ushering Dan towards the bed and grabbing the first movie he sees that they've both agreed is absolutely terrible.
He settles besides Dan once it's started, one arm around the other boy's shoulders and one hand interlocked with Dan's.
Dan leans into his shoulder as they watch, both of them laughing so hard it could count as excercise, occasionally having to pause the film so they can catch their breath and avoid needing to call an ambulance.
Slowly, Dan's anxiety seeps away, replaced by Phil's crazy comments, terrible shared jokes and an unbroken embrace.
Neither of them notice as the blanket ends up around the both of them and Phil's arms form a second blanket around Dan, protecting him from daily worries and bad dreams.
"Phil?" Dan whispers.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
"I love you." Phil smiles.
The grin in Dan's eyes is enough of an answer for Phil.
The supposed pillow fort around them eventually collapses and the two of them giggle, pulling the duvet down and letting themselves slump into a more comfortable position.
Dan's eyes start to droop by the time the credits start to play and so Phil decides not to get up and replace the film on the shelf, instead turning the screen off and leaving that for later.
"Get some sleep," Phil murmurs.
Dan mumbles a strange reply that can't possibly be deciphered and pulls both Phil and the blanket closer, only dimly aware that this will probably have consequences when they wake up.
But it doesn't matter.
Because Dan forgets all about his troubles when he's wrapped in the blanket of Phil's care.
-END-
And that's it. This was written for my friend muffin (who won't see it on this site) but I hope y'all enjoyed it! Please leave a review! Any thoughts and feedback or requests for something else? Have a good one :)