It's my amazingly wonderful friend Natalie's birthday, so to celebrate I have written 3 fics for her. You can just read them as one-shots if you want, but I would appreciate it so much, and I'm sure she would also, if you said Happy Birthday to her. She is such a gorgeous person, and I feel honored to be her friend.

She is one of the nicest, kindest, most caring, loveliest people I have ever had the joy of speaking with, and I hope to be her friend for many years to come.

So, Happy Birthday Natalie. Best Wishes and thank you for everything!

"Dan...Dan please come out. We can talk about this. Please Dan." Phil's voice carried under the door and into Dan's ears, pleading with him; only causing more heartbreak.

"I'm sorry Phil. I really am. But I'm not leaving. I think it's best if we just forget about it."

In hindsight, the decision to play had been a silly one, but Dan could never say no to Phil.

"A staring competition? Really, Phil?"

Phil nodded. "Come on, it will be fun. And were you not the one who was complaining only minutes ago that they were 'absolutely bored out of my mind'?"

Phil's eyes were pleading, and Dan sighed reluctantly.

"Fine. But you're going to lose."

"Those are fighting words. Let us begin!"

They sat on the floor near the couch, cross-legged; knees close enough to touch. Dan won the first round, Phil the second. Both exclaimed their excitement; eventually deciding a tie-breaker would be the best and fairest way to decided on a winner.

"You're going to blink so quickly the weeping angels will be at your shoulder." Dan said, once they had started.

"The only reason they'd be in this room is to come after you." Phil replied.

Games may have brought out Dan's competitive side, but they also brought out Phil's sassy side; one that didn't show very often.

Usually, Dan would have beaten Phil at the staring contest within seconds. Phil was typically easy to defeat, but Dan was having trouble concentrating.

Instead of seeing strained eyes, and an easy-to-beat opponent, Dan was falling deeply into Phil's eyes; swimming in the ocean blue. He'd never understood how eyes could be windows into people's souls, until he looked into Phil's.

Dan blinked, just once; the only way he even knew was because Phil started shouting excitedly.

"I won! I won!" He bounced up and down; as much as one could while sitting on the floor, but Dan couldn't pull his eyes away.

Phil stopped bouncing; having noticed Dan was still staring.

"Dan?" He asked.

'It's now or never.' Dan thought, reaching out to pull Phil closer; connecting their lips...

Phil had frozen, and Dan had quickly realized his mistake. He fled the room, locking himself in his bedroom. Phil followed, hoping to talk to Dan but Dan didn't want to co-operate.

"Dan, please. We need to talk."

"No we don't."

"Yes, we do. If you don't come out, I will stay out here. Right here in front of your door. If you want to talk through the door that's fine, I don't care. But we are going to talk about it."

Nothing was said; Phil was waiting for Dan to speak and Dan...Dan was hoping Phil was only joking and would leave him alone to drown in his self-pity.

Once it became clear to Phil that Dan wasn't going to speak, Phil sat down on the floor, pushing himself up against the closed door.

"I will sit here all night if I have to." He said, to no reply.

And sit there Phil did. As the seconds ticked past, and the day turned into night. Dan, never one for patience, decided to give in.

After all, he couldn't make Phil hate him anymore.

"I'm sorry Phil." He mumbled, keeping the door closed. Just because he had to talk to Phil, didn't mean he had to look at him.

"Pardon?"

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

Dan was stumped. Surely it was obvious what he was apologising for...

"I...I kissed you. Without warning, or permission. I should have asked, and I didn't. Never mind the fact that you probably hate me right now."

"I could never hate you, Dan. Not if you kissed me, not if you stole my socks; not even if you broke all of my Muse CD's."

"I don't understand."

"Maybe you should open the door...I could help you understand." Phil fought to ignore the butterflies that had decided his tummy would be a great place to nest, the same butterflies he had felt when Dan had kissed him.

Of course, Phil hadn't thought about what would happen when Dan did open the door.

It all happened in a blur, a flurry of movements; at the end, Phil found himself on top of Dan, entangled on the floor of Dan's bedroom. His head was only centimeters away from Dan's, and Phil was pretty sure he could feel Dan's heart beating in his chest; beating quite fast.

"How is tackling me going to help me understand?" Dan asked, his voice wavering.

"This wasn't part of the plan." Phil said, laughing. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I think I'm fine. You had a plan?"

"It was more of a spurred decision, really. Much like this one, I suppose."

Without any warning, Phil had taken Dan's face in his and brought it towards him. The distance wasn't great, giving Dan hardly any time to realize what was happening until Phil's lips were on his. Dan kissed back, slowly; savouring every minute of the one thing he had dreamed of but never thought would happen.

When Phil pulled away they were both breathless; Phil grinning like a Cheshire cat, Dan in shock.

"Did that...did you just kiss me?" Dan asked.

"Did you just kiss me?" Phil countered.

Dan was in too happy a mood to remark, instead he pulled Phil closer for a kiss.

"Do you understand now?" Phil asked, once they had pulled away.

"It depends on what you were trying to tell me. I mean, all you really did was kiss me. Which was great and everything...but I'm still a little confused."

"I'm not angry or upset because you kissed me. Sure, I was a little shocked...as you said, it was without warning; but I did want to kiss you. I tried to tell you that, but you were upset. I didn't think you would really believe me if I just told you, so I had to show you."

"I...I think I get it now."

"Good. Do you think...could we go back to kissing now? You're an amazing kisser."

"That's what I was going to ask you."

They kissed until their lips were red and swollen, until their lungs were nearly drained of oxygen and their backs were sore from lying on the ground. Neither of them would have it any other way, though. All their problems were left until the morning, all the worries about what it meant, if it even meant anything. For those few hours, basking in the white light in Dan's room...everything was perfect.

I know the title has love in it, but the point of this story was to focus on first kisses, and the evolution into love. As it says in the summary...potential lovers. After all, every relationship starts with a like.

I really liked writing pre-love Phan, when they're discovering each others crushes and such, so if you liked it too, please let me know; and I might do some more.

Love you Natalie! Xo