A/N: I start school soon and I'm kinda excited and kinda annoyed.

April 26th

"Yeah, 10:00 works for me as well…mhm…alright, will do…thanks again, Mr. Avisaro...Yeah, you too," Phil ended the call, tossing his work phone down on the hotel dresser and collapsing back on his bed.

His personal phone, which was sitting on his nightstand, let out an acute ping. Phil reached to pick it up.

Dan 9:32 p.m.

Hi, is your meeting thing over? :)

Phil smiled at the notification, glad he had at least something to look forward to at the end of the day. He pondered on what it would be like to live a simpler life. What would it be like to have a more accustomed job? Just for one day, Phil wanted to wake up at six, eat breakfast, shower, then head off to work an eight-hour shift at a nice little shop. At the end of the day, he would come home and that would be it. No over-sea conferences, no cocky businessmen in crisp, black suits…just your generic twenty-something-year-old British man working a run-of-the-mill job. It would be nice, Phil thought. Much more relaxing than working for his dad. This wasn't at all what Phil had planned for his life. He wanted to be a painter, open up his own small gallery, maybe even get a few paintings in one of the more well-known art museums. His plan was going quite well until his father's medical issues forced him to fill his role for a few months. Since then, his Dad seemed to be under the assumption that Phil wanted to follow in his footsteps. His big, boring footsteps. Yeah, right.

Hey! yeah we just finished. Phil responded.

Dan and Phil had been texting back and forth as much as they could since the older man left. However, due to Phil's tight schedule and the five-hour time zone gap, this meant Dan had been staying up quite late. Not that Dan minded, of course.

Cool!

Phil began typing out a message but faltered before hitting send. He didn't want to sound too weird…He just really needed to have a proper conversation with someone that wasn't interrogating him about last months purchases. Hoping he wouldn't come off as clingy, he replied:

Can I call you? I kinda miss your voice...

An entire ocean away, Dan was lying in his bed with this stupid grin on his face, staring at his phone.

Yes

A moment later, Dan's ringtone broke the silence in his flat.

"Hey," Dan spoke softly into the receiver.

"Hey," Phil responded, pleased to be talking to his friend.

"How are you?" Dan mumbled groggily. He was obviously tired.

"I'm good, you?"

"Good."

"You're not too sleepy, are you? I know it's pretty late there…"

"No! No, I'm fine. Been working on my story and just decided to take a break."

"Well," Phil chuckled, "If you're sure…"

"I am. So, how did the meeting go today?" Dan asked.

"It went well. We signed a contract with a big company in America, and they're gonna allow us to sell some of our products in their stores."

"That's great! What does your dad do, anyway? I mean, he's the one you go on all these trips for, right?"

"Oh, um, well…" Phil hesitated, trying to come up with something to tell Dan. He didn't want to lie, but he wasn't sure he wanted to tell the truth either. Not yet, at least, "He works for Resked, that manufacturing company."

"Oh yeah, I've heard of them…" Dan muttered, "What do they make again?"

"They own and manufacture products for three stores: Serplex, the grocery store; Howse Town, the furniture store; and Beauty Bath, the makeup store."

"Wow, seems like quite a job. What does he do?"

"Oh, you know… helps manage business transactions and stuff…" Phil winced at the waver in his voice; he had always been a horrible liar.

Despite Phil's concerns, Dan didn't question him further. "Oh, cool."

Desperate for a change in topic, Phil asked: "So, what did you do today?"

"Not much, just the usual ringing up books, writing. Pretty boring compared to your day."

Phil laughed dryly. "Well, I'd certainly rather have a boring day with you than an exciting day with a bunch of uptight businessmen."

Dan was blushing profusely on the other end of the call. "Oh. Well, um…Thank you…"

"Don't mention it," Phil laughed. Dan was cute when he was flustered.

The two carried on conversation late into the night—or at least pretty late for Dan.

"Oh wow," Dan muttered.

"What is it?"

"It's four in the morning."

"Is it really?" Phil exclaimed, "You really need to go to sleep…"

"Yeah, I guess I do," Dan sighed, "It was nice talking to you, though."

"I enjoyed it too." Phil grinned.

"G'night, Phil."

"Goodnight—er, morning, Dan."

Dan laughed softly before ending the call. It was only a matter of minutes before he was fast asleep.

April 29th

Dan awoke to the faint sound of birds chirping. He felt quite refreshed as he had gotten a proper eight hours of sleep for the first time in weeks. He had agreed to model for Phil today, and decided not to open the shop; thus, he could sleep in.

After a quick breakfast, Dan changed into some black jeans and an old t-shirt, hoping it would be appropriate. Once again, he left his hair curly.

Ready to go, he called Phil.

The dial tone rang only twice before Phil picked up.

"Hey! How are you?" Phil's voice rang sweet and clear through the receiver.

"I'm good, you?"

"Great!"

"So um, where exactly should I meet you?" Dan asked.

"I have a studio a little ways from my house. Do you have a car?"

"No. I um… usually walk everywhere or take the bus," In the city, not having a car was quite common, but in a small town like this, it was almost unheard of. Truth be told, Dan had told his car a few years ago when he decided he needed the money more than the luxury of private transportation.

"Okay, in that case, I'll just send a chauffeur; it's a bit out of walking range," Phil chuckled, acting as if what he suggested was normal for a person like Dan.

"You're sending a what?"

"A chauffeur."

"Wow… Okay then."

"If you're not comfortable with that I can come get you myself," Phil offered, seeming concerned.

"Oh no, it's fine! I just thought you were going to tell me to get an Uber or something!"

Phil laughed, "Of course not! So, I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah, see ya!" Dan ended the call, grinning to himself.

He could already tell it would be a great day.

A/N: Sorry this is shortish, I had a 2.7k word chapter and had to split it somehow