AN: I know I say this in the AN every chapter but seriously thank you guys so much for the reviews, faves and follows! It really does help keep me motivated to write these and it's fun to read all of your reactions and feedback to the story! I hope you continue to enjoy this as much as you have :D There are only two or three more chapters after this one!

Colors

Part 7: Can I Ask You About Pink?

Dan and Phil were walking together out of their last class of the day. Finally, Phil thought. Uni really wasn't agreeing with him, and Dan had admitted he didn't enjoy it either. The only thing that had kept their first year of classes remotely interesting was the fact that the two of them shared a few classes, and of course the fact that they'd been flatmates ever since starting there. Phil really enjoyed being able to wake up and see Dan reading braille books or playing loud video games in the lounge. It just always put him in a good mood for the rest of the day.

When they first moved in though, it had been a bit difficult for Dan since everything was different from his old house. He would stumble over things or hit something accidentally with his legs for a while, but eventually he got used to the layout of the flat and could traverse it without hurting himself. Although, Phil had once bought a rather large house plant that Dan knocked into, then tumbling to the floor and taking the plant down with him. After the initial grumbles of annoyance at tripping and having dirt spill all over the floor of the flat, the two burst into laughter, Dan attempting to toss handlfuls of soil at Phil, actually hitting him once.

Yeah, as much as they would have problems every now and then, they still enjoyed sharing a flat together. Dan was especially appreciative of Phil's company, as Phil was a big help in helping him around and making him feel normal despite not being able to see.

On this particular day, Phil was thinking about all this with Dan on his arm (he was as tall as Phil now!) as they walked down the hallway to the exit of the main building, when he started to notice a few more people were staring at them than usual. Quickly yet subtly, Phil began to look him and his companion over, but didn't really notice anything particular. Maybe it was because they were wearing a lot of color while most people tended to wear black or gray here? No, that's ridiculous. They've been doing that all year. Why would people just now start taking notice of that?

"You okay, Phil?" Dan asked as Phil let go of Dan for a moment to open the door for him.

Wondering if Dan's blindness somehow enabled him to be telepathic, Phil watched as Dan walked through the doorway, his white cane in hand, "Yeah. Why?"

Phil walked through after Dan and slipped his arm back through Dan's as Dan shrugged, "I don't know. You seem a little tense is all."

"Hm, do I?" Phil said distractedly, catching someone else looking at them.

Dan remained silent as the refreshing breeze tugged at his clothes and hair, not quite cold enough to make him shiver.

"...yes."

Phil looked over at Dan, blushing a bit at the proximity of their faces, "Look, it's nothing okay? Don't worry about it. Do you wanna get something before heading home? We could scout out that bubble tea place PJ was telling us about."

Dan smiled a bit but seemed unconvinced about there being 'nothing' making Phil tense, "Sure. Do you know where it is?'

"No," Phil replied, grinning and looking ahead, "but a little exploring never hurt anyone."

-later-

"Oh, there it is!" Phil exclaimed, startling Dan a bit.

"Finally! I feel like we've been walking for ages." Dan complained as Phil dragged Dan across the street, steering clear of things that Dan could run into and entering the bubble tea shop.

"Do you wanna sit down while I order, or...?" Phil asked, stepping in line, Dan still linked to his arm.

Dan considered a moment before replying, "Nah, I'll just order with you."

They waited in a patient, comfortable silence for the line to move forward, Phil taking the extra time to look at Dan out of the corner of his eye. Sure Dan couldn't see him staring, but it still made Phil feel uncomfortable and impolite to stare at Dan directly for too long. He looked so relaxed, his arm linked in Phil's. Their hands were so close... they always were when Phil would walk with Dan anywhere. It would be so easy to take Dan's hand... he may even shrug it off as Phil getting tired of tugging on Dan's arm to guide him places and just deciding to hold his hand instead. He'd done it before. But what if he didn't just shrug it off? That would be embarrassing. Besides, Phil didn't want to ruin their perfect friendship.

It was a bit strange that although Phil had been friends with Dan since they were seven, they never talked about their non-existent love lives, sexualities, anything. It just never really came up. Sure, Phil had had a few crushes here and there, but they didn't make him feel the way he felt about Dan. It just felt... right. To him at least.

Dan? He had no idea, and he was too scared to find out.

"Hello, Earth to Phil?"

Phil blinked a couple of times, suddenly realizing that he and Dan were at the front of the line for their bubble tea.

Dan grinned mischievously in the direction of Phil, "Are you going to order, or are you going to make me stand here all day while you daydream about Delia Smith?"

Phil's face flushed as the cashier let out a small giggle, clearly catching Dan's question.

"Um, sorry, I'll have..." Phil gave his order while Dan tried to quiet his laughing.

The girl taking their orders gave them the price of the drinks, and then turned to Dan, "By the way, loving that pink shirt. I don't see many guys rocking such a bright pink as well as you."

"Oh, ah, thanks." Dan smiled, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.

Phil grinned too. Of course, the cashier lady knew he was blind, but she probably didn't know about Dan's history with trying to understand color. He had a feeling Dan would be asking about pink soon.

Phil handed the girl the money and she handed them their drinks, giving them a cheery, "Have a good day you two."

"Thank you!" Phil smiled back, taking the drinks and stepping out of the way for the next customers with Dan.

Phil untangled his arm from Dan's and bumped one of Dan's arms with the hand that held his blind friend's drink, "Here you go."

"Thaaaank you," Dan said, reaching up to where Phil had bumped his arm and taking the drink.

They both took a drink and Dan asked, "What d'you think?"

"It's pretty good. The little bubbly things aren't super great though," Phil answered, taking Dan's arm whose hand was holding his white cane, "You?"

"I like it. It's really good." Dan replied, smiling as they started out of the shop and into the cool London air.

It was a nice day out. There were some clouds scattered around in the sky that would occasionally block out the sun, the gentle breeze rustling the scattered potted plants. The roads were ridiculously loud, making it hard for the two to carry any conversation as they walked down the pavement to their flat, but the bubble tea provided a legitimate excuse not to have to hold conversation at all. Dan couldn't really use his white cane properly with a drink in one hand and his other arm linked with Phil's, so he pressed into Phil's side a little more than normal.

The pleasant, almost suffocating contact caused a blush to creep into Phil's cheeks, and for once he was actually kind of glad that Dan was blind. He wished he could suppress the feelings he got around Dan, because it made things rather awkward sometimes. Not for Dan, obviously, but for Phil, it had gotten increasingly difficult for Phil to even touch Dan without his heart rate speeding up and his cheeks burning. He felt like a stereotypical love sick school girl, and it was driving him crazy. Sometimes, he just wanted to go for it, but the thought of ruining his deep friendship with Dan always stopped him.

It would be fine. Phil would be fine with just friendship.

But, of course, the universe just loved to work against Phil.

Because he hadn't stupid been paying attention, he hadn't felt Dan's grip on his arm loosen. He hadn't realized that Dan was walking ahead of him. He hadn't noticed the loud rumbling of cars ahead.

Quickly refocusing on his friend only a pace ahead of him, he realized that Dan had tripped on the edge of the pavement that dropped a small distance to the road, and he was falling forwards towards where all those cars and buses were zooming past.

Panic taking control of Phil at the thought of his best friend getting run over, Phil reached out quickly, wrapping his arms around Dan's waist tightly and using all his strength to haul Dan backwards, perhaps using a bit too much force as they both toppled backwards, landing on their butts on the pavement. Dan was shaking a little bit as he sat leaning back against Phil's chest on the pavement in shock, a few passerby's gasping and staring.

"P-Phil, what happened?" Dan asked.

Phil let out a breath of relief, "Sorry, I should've been paying more attention. You almost fell into the street..."

Dan gulped, "Well... you saved me, so..."

"Yeah..." Phil held Dan's waist a little tighter, somewhat scared to let him go. Suddenly though, he became aware of the position they were in, Dan wedged between Phil's legs and leaning against his chest, Phil's arms wrapped protectively around his blind friend, and his face flushed crimson. He hoped that Dan's head wasn't close enough to his face to feel the heat radiating off it.

Note to self, Phil- stop daydreaming while walking with Dan.

Finally, Phil let go of Dan and slowly stood up, face still bright red. He picked up Dan's white cane which had fallen nearby and his and Dan's spilled drinks, tossing them before reaching down and nervously taking Dan's hand to help him up. God he wanted to keep holding onto Dan's hand long after it was necessary, but after Dan got up he did something that Phil was equally happy with, if not feeling a little guilty about since he almost cost Dan his life. Instead of taking his white cane, Dan just wrapped both his arms tightly around Phil's right arm, pulling himself close to his friend.

Phil felt his legs almost turn to jelly as he started walking again, much more carefully this time.

Before they had gotten far, Dan said, laughing nervously, "Thank you for saving me, Phil. I think I'll just stick as close to you as possible now."

Phil smiled to himself softly, "Promise…?"

Oh God, why Phil, why did you say that? Phil thought.

Dan's face softened a bit at that, a small smile playing on his lips, "Promise."

Phil felt like he was going to explode if he kept getting these butterflies as intensely as he had been that whole day, and just when he thought this, he felt a hand clasp his.

Blushing like mad, he looked down and saw not only Dan's arms curled around his, but also one of his hands holding onto Phil's.

"W-what's this for?" Phil stuttered as they finally reached their apartment building.

Dan smiled, a nervous smile on his lips, "I'm keeping my promise."

Phil bit his lip as they reached the bottom of the stairs to their flat, "Oh, r-right."

"Why are you stuttering?" Dan asked, a faint blush on his cheeks as they started to ascend the stairs.

"I d-dunno, I just maybe, because- well I- it's just like- I er-" Phil tried to come up with a reasonable explanation for his behavior other than the truth, but his brain felt like it just completely shut off.

It was silent for a while, Dan smiling a bit but appearing like he was thinking. Meanwhile, Phil was having a hard time breathing, not just because of ascending the massive amount of stairs, but also because Dan freaking Howell was holding his hand, and it was different from the other times. He wasn't doing it to have Phil guide him anywhere. So why was he? 'Keeping my promise'… Was he really though? And did he intend to keep it for longer than just this one time?

And suddenly, they were at the apartment door, and Phil used his free hand to fumble for the keys.

"You still haven't answered my question," Dan pointed out as Phil fit the key in the lock and opened the door, leading Dan inside.

"Oh, haven't I?" Phil asked sheepishly, closing the door behind him. Dan wasn't letting go of his hand.

"No," Dan said simply, "Can you please?"

"I, um, I was thinking you could ask me about pink first," Phil replied lamely, trying to avoid the subject as Dan carefully made his way to the couch, sitting down with Phil, still wrapped tightly around his arm.

"You want me to ask you about pink?" Dan asked.

Phil answered a little too desperately, "Yes, please, ask me."

Dan let out a laugh, "Ooookay Phil. Can I ask you about pink?"

"Sure," Phil replied, attempting to calm himself down but finding it very hard as Dan curled his legs up to the side on top of the couch and leaned his head against Phil's shoulder, "S-so, pink. It's a much less intense version of red. Um, er, it's a soft color usually, but sometimes can be very bright, like your shirt."

"I actually wanted to ask about that," Dan said, Phil able to feel his mouth form every word against his shoulder, "Why did that girl say that guys usually can't rock pink? Do they not usually wear pink or something?"

"No, actually. It's kind of regarded as a feminine color. Girls wear it a lot. Boys, not so much," Phil answered.

"Okay, so is there a color for boys then?" Dan asked, pressing a little bit more into Phil, causing Phil's heart to pound.

"uh-um, yes, blue actually, um…" Phil said, swallowing nervously.

Dan suddenly looked perplexed, "That's kind of sad. Boys like the saddest color."

"Yeah…"

"Well, what about this pink? What is it associated with in terms of feelings?" Dan asked curiously.

"Um," crap why did Phil think this was a good idea, "Pink is associated with love… like the soft kind. It's not fiery like passion, but rather fluffy and sweet. Like candy floss, which is a perfect example because candy floss is also pink."

"Really?" Dan asked, his unfocused gaze close to meeting Phil's sideways glance he was giving him. Slowly, very slowly, the hand Dan wasn't using to hold Phil's snaked its way up to Phil's face, cupping the cheek furthest from Dan. He softly turned Phil's face towards his, and Phil flushed at how close they were.

"Er- yeah, r-really," Phil answered.

"What else is pink?" Dan whispered.

"U-um, some flowers, sometimes the sunset, some gems, flamingos, and… and…" Phil couldn't help but stare at Dan's lips. Were they moving towards his or was he crazy?

"And…?"

They were definitely moving towards his.

"… lips…" Phil muttered quietly as he closed his eyes, and a moment later a pair of soft, warm lips pressed against his own.

Relief flooded through him, and he felt amazing. Dan's lips felt amazing as they kissed him, and then kissed him again. And again, and again…

Phil slowly let himself fall forwards on top of Dan, Dan laying back on the couch, their lips still connected as Dan ran his hands through Phil's hair, Phil running his hands down Dan's sides, letting them hold onto Dan's hips when they got there. They entwined their legs together, not wanting to stop because holy shit this was the best thing either of them had ever experienced.

They finally pulled apart gasping for air, but still so so close together.

Dan cupped Phil's face in his hands gently, smiling up at him, his gaze still unfocused like always but a new spark in his eyes, "I feel pink for you, Phil."

Phil grinned widely as he stared down at his best friend, his best friend whom he had just kissed, "I feel pink for you too, Dan."

And then, they kissed again.