Chapter 10: A surprise
Dan was washed and dressed, ready to go, at 8 am. He paced in his room, trying to distract himself. He wanted to run up to Phil's room and wake him up, but he was trying to stop himself, not wanting to annoy him. He decided to organise all the bags and plan out what order to do everything in. This took him about half an hour, and he was just about to go downstairs to try and distract himself with some TV when there was a gentle knock on his door. He padded over and opened it, wondering who would be awake this early. On the other side of the door was Phil, still in his pyjamas. Dan chuckled slightly and let him in before saying "Why are you in your pyjamas?" Phil grinned and said "I figured if we were going to be painting I didn't want to ruin my clothes" Dan thought for a minute and replied "Oh, yeah. That's actually pretty clever." Phil raised an eyebrow and said sarcastically "I've been told I have good ideas now and then" Dan laughed and punched him lightly on the arm. Dan wandered over to his bed, which he had forgotten to make, again, and grabbed his pyjamas of it. He considered going to the bathroom to get changed, but he didn't really see the point. He glanced over at Phil and said quietly "Do you mind if I get changed here?" Phil shook his head, avoiding eye contact, and said "Erm , I'll wait outside" Dan laughed and said "You don't have to leave, I'm wearing boxers you know!" Phil laughed slightly and said "Ok." Dan pulled his T-shirt over his head, and Phil caught a glimpse of a tanned, slightly muscled chest. He shouldn't be watching, this was strange. He turned around so he couldn't see, pretending to be looking through the bags.
Soon Dan had finished getting changed and he glanced over at Phil, who had started going through the bags. He wandered over and knelt down next to him. "Phil" Phil turned to look at him, and Dan could have sworn he saw a faint blush on his cheeks. Phil looked back at the bags quickly and Dan continued "I was thinking we should do like, the base colour for each wall? While they dry I could get Dave to sort out the curtains and then you could do some sketches of something of the stuff you're going to put on there. That sound good?" Phil nodded quickly and asked "Curtains?" Dan grinned and replied "Oh yeah, their part of the finishing touches. I'm gonna…."
Soon Dan had finished telling Phil about his plans, and Phil chuckled. "I'm doing art A-level, and you're more creative than me!" he teased. Dan grinned and said "Why do you think you're here? I am NOT creative, trust me! If I tried to do any of the paintings, it would just prove how much of a fail I am!" Phil just smiled and they got to work. They pushed all of Dan's furniture to the middle of the room, trying to be quiet, but not really succeeding. They finally managed to get the desk away from the room and it started to tip. Phil, trying to be the typical hero tried to catch it before it hit the floor and made a huge bang, but he just ended up falling with it. There was a muffled clunk and a groan, and Dan ran to the other side to see Phil trapped underneath it. "Oh, god Phil! Are you ok?" Dan said, worried. Phil stuck his tongue and said "The light… is this heaven?" letting Dan know he was fine. He chuckled as he lifted the desk off his friend, and then held his hand out to help him up. When Phil was up right again they both started laughing, covering their mouths as they tried to be quiet. "Phil you twat!" Dan managed to choke out, and Phil stuck his tongue out again. God he was so cute. Dan shook his head and said to Phil "Let's paint this wall first so that Dave can put the curtains up while the rest dry" he gestured towards the wall with the window. Phil nodded and Dan wandered over to the bags, searching for the green paint while Phil laid some old sheets down on the floor in case any paint dripped. He found it and grabbed the paint rollers and trays. Phil took the paint from him and opened it before pouring it in. It was the perfect colour, emerald, just like the walls in Phil's room.
Soon they had finished painting the four walls, and they were covered in paint. Phil laughed when he saw the huge smudge of paint on the front of Dan's shirt. Dan winked and then leapt at Phil, waving the paint brush like a crazed maniac. When Phil finally managed to push Dan off him he had a red beard. They both sat on the floor for a minute, panting and trying to stop laughing. When they finally calmed down, they sat there in silence for a few moments. Dan smiled happily at Phil and said "Sorry about your face" Phil chuckled and leant closer saying "How bad is it?" Dan traced the outline of Phil's paint beard laughing again. Phil raised an eyebrow and said "You are so childish Dan!" Dan grinned widely, and then realised how close they were. He was staring right into those sparkly blue eyes, feeling as though he was falling into them… He was still touching Phil's face, but he couldn't pull his hand away. He felt like he wasn't in control of his own body as his hand cupped Phil's cheek.
I felt his hand cup my cheek and I leant into it slightly, craving his warmth. God he was gorgeous. Phil had been trying to ignore these thoughts for a while, and he found now that he couldn't. He tilted his head slightly and leaned in, desperate to close the distance between their lips. He closed his eyes, and soon they were kissing. Warmth flowed through him, and he wrapped his arms around Dan's waist, pulling him closer.
Their lips were moving together, and Dan felt his heart rate increase. Was he kissing Phil? Maybe he was still asleep. He didn't care, he was happy in this moment. Too soon though, they had to pull away. They sat and stared out each other for a few moments before Phil asked him softly "How long?" Dan sighed; there was no point in denying it. He was sure that his happiness and pent up feelings were almost tangible in the air. "I've known I was gay for a while, but I don't really know when I realised I liked you." Phil smiled at him and Dan saw his eyes spark. Was he happy about this? Did Phil…. Like him back? Phil said happily "I guess I'm the same, although I never knew I was gay. I've been having feelings towards you for a while but I didn't know what they were. I like you too Dan." A grin spread across Dan's face and Phil smiled back at him. Phil's grin grew wider as he said innocently "Sorry about your face by the way!" Dan tilted his head slightly, his eyes confused. Phil chuckled slightly before saying "We have matching beards"
They wandered downstairs a few minutes later to go see if Dave was awake yet. They wandered into the living room and Sarah was dusting the top of the TV, her back to them. "Hey Sarah!" they said in sync, and then laughed. "Hey boy's" she replied, still not looking at them "You're up early." Phil smiled at Dan and turned back to Sarah to ask "Is Dave up yet?" She stood straight inspecting her work and replied "Yeah, I think he's in the kitchen" She turned around to face them and a look of shock passed over her face. "I thought you were meant to be painting the room, not each other" she said jokingly. Dan chuckled slightly and as they wandered towards the kitchen called back "We decided to do both!"
They walked into the kitchen and Dave chuckled slightly at the sight of them, but didn't say anything. Dan smiled at him happily and said "Hey Dave, I was wondering if you'd mind getting the drill out the shed and putting some curtains into the wall for me? I havn't got a curtain rail, but there's holes at the top of the curtains and you could just drill them to the wall" Dave thought for a minute and replied "Sure, I don't see why not. I'll see you in your room ok; I've just got to go get the drill."
When Dave came into Dan's room Dan was watching Phil sketch some ideas down. He took one look at the boys and coughed slightly. Dan jumped up, blushing, and picked up the bag with the curtains in. He walked over to the window with Dave and showed him where he wanted the curtains to go. It didn't take long, and soon he was finished. When Dave had left Dan turned back to Phil and said "Phil, should I go find Oliver and Lucy for the next part?" Phil stood up and walked over, giving Dan a spontaneous hug. Dan leant into his chest and ducked his head to bury it into Phil's shoulder, sighing contentedly. They pulled apart eventually and Phil said "Sure, just make sure that their wearing old clothes or something." Dan wandered into Oliver's room first and found both of them in there, still in their pyjamas. "Hey you too, do you want to help me and Phil paint my room?" they both sprung up excitedly and ran past Dan without saying anything. He chuckled, following them into his room. Soon they were splattering different coloured paint at the black wall, creating the effect of… a mess. Dan liked it. Soon they were done, and Dan was relieved to see that Oliver and Lucy had managed to remain clean. They sent them back out again, even though they begged Dan to let them stay. He watched as they wandered back into Oliver's room and called after them "We'll let you see it when it's finished!"
He shut the door as he walked back in and found Phil already sketching on a wall with a pencil. Dan sat and watched as he sketched out the designs on all the walls, and then they set to painting over them. Phil watched Dan out of the corner of his eye, and smiled. He was concentrating so hard that his tongue was poking out of the corner of his mouth. He couldn't believed he had kissed him. He felt happiness flow through him at the memory. He had a boyfriend! Wait… were they together? He suddenly felt unsure. "Um, Dan. You know earlier?" Dan turned to face him, grinning. "Yeah?" Phil took a deep breath and asked softly "Are we like, together?" Dan laughed and Phil waited for him to awnser, slightly confused. "No! Do you think that if I kiss you I want to date you?" he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Of course we are, if you want to be" Phil launched himself into Dan's arms, giggling "Yes, I do!" Dan held him for a few minutes, just breathing in his scent of strawberries, and then he leant away. "Phil, shouldn't we carry on with the decorating? I kinda want to finish it today!" Phil laughed and let go off him, and they continued to paint.
They stood in the middle of the room, gazing around. Everything was finally dry, and they'd put all the furniture back in the correct places. They'd added Dan's finishing touches and arranged all the extra bit's they bought the day before. "It's brilliant!" Phil breathed, taking Dan's hand in his. The wall next to Dan's bed was black with splatters of paint all over it, reminding Dan of when Oliver and Lucy had covered themselves in paint. That had been his inspiration for that wall. Another wall was blue and completely empty apart from the cartoon lama head towards one side. Another wall was painted red, with black writing that read 'Who wants to be normal? It's boring." This was something Dan told himself whenever he felt singled out, whenever he felt like he wanted to be like everyone else. The final wall, the one with the window, was painted green. To one side of the window was a cartoon portrait of him and Phil stood, arms around each other's shoulders. Dan was a tall, gangly creature and Phil was stood on tip toe to reach his shoulders. The green curtains hid his window seat, separating it from the rest of his room. He figured if he ever got angry or upset he could go behind the curtain and sit there until he calmed down. His pillows and beanbags they had brought the day before were scattered in one corner to create a comfy seating area. He had strung fairly lights around the room as well, and he wandered over to the light switch to turn the main light off. When it was off, Dan gasped slightly. The fairy lights reflected differently off the different coloured walls, throwing different coloured light throughout the room. It was relaxing. Dan squeezed Phil's hand gently and whispered "Thank you for helping me" his voice sounded hoarse, like he was about to cry. He felt Phil wrap his arms around Dan, and he hugged him back tightly.
It was nice to have a place that felt like home. It was nice to be cared about.