A/N:

'Petrichor is such a bore.

It's not something to ignore.

Don't tell me that it's good, oh no,

I can read it, too, you know?

Nothing's happened yet, I fear

Something might be drawing near…'

-Whisker

It was at 11 o'clock at night on that Friday - after Dab had gone to bed and Phil and Dan had rock-paper-scissor-ed for who got the sofa - that Dan started to make a list: a list, more specifically, of things that had to be done this week.

He'd been studying the to-do list left by the Howlters and had decided to create another of things that were just fun and whimsical to keep the child entertained.

He'd also decided not to let Phil help him with creating this schedule, in the hopes that he might just be able to keep it for when Phil had no other options: a backup plan, if you will, to keep from his friend stressing himself searching for ideas.

With only one light switched on over the sofa, Dan sat himself down on the rug and tapped a pencil against his lip. He'd heard Phil's plans for the week ahead and knew that sending Dab to the Pancakes' for a night was on the agenda sometime, but the only question was when.

Monday to Tuesday seemed a good time, so they'd only have tomorrow and the day after to come up with other ideas, then on Wednesday afternoon, the Howlters would be due back. That meant that Dan and Phil would have two days to themselves followed by a whole day to make sure that the house was perfect. It seemed like a pretty great plan.

So Dan made a careful note of that before considering what activates they could all get up to tomorrow.

And that was the moment that he had a brilliant idea. Or at least, he thought it was brilliant.

What if, Dan pondered, he and Phil could take Dab out shopping to Magnolia Promenade and look for a gift for Dil and Tabitha. He didn't know what they would find, but he was sure that they could find something that Dab's parents would appreciate.

Dan made a note of this, too, and decided that they could go out and do that on Sunday if the shops were open.

Then came the sudden recollection of Summer's house party that Eliza had mentioned earlier.

When was that supposed to be? Saturday?

Dan made sure to write that down, too, and also remind Phil that it was happening.

He assumed that Phil would come. Maybe he'd be less awkward if a snazzy-looking mask covered his face.

"Dan? What are you doing?" Came a tired, husky voice from across the room.

Dan dropped his graphite pencil in surprise and quickly turned his head to the left to see the silhouette of his best friend, stood in the bedroom doorway, the light shining behind him so that you couldn't even properly see his face.

"Uh- nothing?" Dan stuttered.

"…Nothing?" Phil repeated, sceptically, stepping forward.

As he got closer, Dan saw he was actually smiling, which was a good sign.

He also saw his outfit.

Dan swept the paper to the side, put down his pencil and flicked his eyes back and forth from his friend and to the sofa to signal for him to sit down.

"You're wearing that shirt again," Dan noted as Phil walked over to stand beside the sofa. He didn't sit.

'That shirt' was the red, plaid one that he'd worn back in February. He'd worn it so much that he'd hardly taken it off and it had almost seemed to become a part of him.

Dan hoped that he'd washed it because otherwise, it'd surely have tear stains soaked into it still.

"Smells like dread," Phil whispered, jokingly.

Dan chuckled but then his face fell and he got to his feet to stand in front of his friend.

"What's wrong, Dan?" Phil asked, his gaze softening. He didn't have much time to react before he was pulled into a sudden and violent hug, knocking the breath right out of him.

He caught his breath again, laughed, briefly, for about 1 second and gave a sigh before wrapping his arms around his friend.

"What's this for?" He asked, confusedly, focusing his gaze on the drinks bar ahead of him.

"Nothing," Dan swallowed.

"Nothing?" Phil repeated, for the second time that night, "Just wanted to?"

"I was thinking about last time."

"Hey, you need to drop that – it's not doing you any good."

"I know, I know, I just… That was a tough time in our friendship."

"It was. But it's not going to happen again: you assured me of that."

Dan nodded and cleared his throat.

"I know."

"Is this about something I've said?" Phil mumbled, nervously, fearing that maybe he'd been acting odd. He kind of had, but it hadn't been that bad… had it?

"No, no, of course not," Dan told him, shaking his head and relaxing again, "I'm just over-thinking things again. I'm sure everything will be just fine."

"I agree."

And they both were silent in thought. They supposed that, at the end of the day, they could only hope, and if anything did happen, they could surely sort it out before it got out of hand.

Surely.