Phil awoke the next morning wrapped up by Dan.

He had gone shirtless like he had the other night and Phil could feel the smooth planes of his chest, the soft skin pulled against his muscle.

Dan shifted and as he awoke he realized he was holding onto Phil. He didn't let go or pull back, but Phil wanted to get a look at him so he leaned back.

"If I kiss you right now," Phil paused as Dan smiled slightly, "will you be," he used Dan's words from the night before, "very immensely happy and then change?"

"I might… I can try not to though. But sometimes I can't stop it."

"Okay, try really hard then," Phil said, almost a whisper and Dan shut his eyes.

Phil left a soft peck on Dan's mouth and then another on his cheek. When he leaned back again, Dan opened his eyes, let out a breath and smiled widely at Phil.

"You alright?" Phil asked him quietly.

"I think so."

Phil let out a bit of a chuckle. "Good morning, by the way."

Dan laughed and he readjusted Phil's blanket at his shoulder.

They grew quiet, and remained silent for some time.

Eventually, Phil said, "So… what exactly are you? Are you primarily a wolf… or a man?"

"What I am," Dan began to explain. "my spirit, is essentially the animal you identify with most, but personified."

"So, sort of like a spirit animal."

"Yeah, for the most part. I am human, but the energy that you feel, comes from inside me, from my spirit, which is the wolf that I can then change into. I hope that makes sense."

"It does."

"So inside I am a wolf, but physically, and mentally and emotionally on the surface I am very human."

"That's sort of a relief."

"Why?"

"Cause this whole thing would be a lot weirder."

"Oh God, Phil." Dan smiled widely and laughed.

Across the room, in Phil's jeans that he wore the day before, came Phil's ringtone that he had set for the restaurant he worked at.

"Shit," Phil sat up and quickly grabbed his jeans and answered the phone.

"Hello?" He sat on the edge of his bed and Dan sat up to listen.

"I've accidentally slept in… No, I started to feel sick yesterday, thought it would have passed by morning but I still feel pretty ill. Right. Thanks."

Phil hung up and groaned. "I feel so bad. I hate lying."

"Don't worry about it." Dan maneuvered around the bed so that he could sit cross-legged beside Phil.

"I know…" Phil sighed. "Well, we should probably make breakfast or something. Is there anything in particular you want to eat?"

"Er, whatever you make is cool. You worry about me too much."

"I don't mind, but I'll just make some fried eggs with toast then."

Phil made them both an egg with some toast, making a mental note to get sausage and bacon for the house next time he went out. Dan would like that, he thought.

After Phil put the egg sandwiches on plates and collected two forks they sat at Phil's dining table. Dan had grabbed one of his sweaters and Phil smiled, seeing him in it.

"So just between you and me," Phil said. "I make the best egg sandwiches," he gloated.

"It's just an egg. On toasted bread." Dan said flatly.

"I'm a good freaking cook, okay."

Dan chuckled. "Just teasing you." He bit into his sandwich and after he had chewed and swallowed he said, "it really is quite good."

"Thanks."

Dan grinned at him.

"Hey… so, I was wondering what happened to your parents?" Phil quietly asked. He still had so many questions.

"I mean, if you feel like talking about it," He added quickly.

"It's fine," Dan took another bite of his sandwich before speaking again.

"Well, mum went to live with my dad in the city after they met. She was like me, you know. She was his companion."

"But it's harder for us to live in the city. Too many people, too many chances for someone to realize that we weren't like them. To them, we just weren't human. But we feel just like they do. We aren't just animals. But anyways… when I was born I looked just like any other baby. But because we bonded as she first breastfed me, I changed and the doctors flipped out. Dad was there and he helped us get out, thank goodness, but we had to go back into hiding basically. Back home, in the woods."

"I don't know if you ever heard about it on the news or anything, they may have tried to cover it up, but when mum went back into town one day, she was recognized and nearly got away, but she was… killed."

"I was still kind of young at that point. Maybe eleven I think. Not sure. It was a long time ago."

"While mum and I had been living, you know, out there, Dad was still able to work at his company, but then after she died… he took his own life. He shot himself."

Phil had stopped eating at this point. He lost his appetite.

"Dan," he said brokenly.

"See, some companions have a really strong connection. More than others. It sort of runs through my line, my family, but it makes it much worse if one of them loses the other. When mum was killed, he basically was a shell of himself. He felt as if he no longer had a purpose, a reason to live. He felt as if he were already dead."

"But he left you by yourself?" Phil was surprised by the force in his own voice.

"Phil, I don't blame him. I could see it whenever he came to see me, or I went to see him. He truly was dying on the inside. He did care for me so much, and made sure I'd be alright, and I miss him just as much as my mother, but he was ready to go."

Phil leaned back in his chair. It sounded as if Dan was done speaking. His vision blurred and he tried not to cry, but sobs shook his shoulders and he put a hand over his face.

Dan had never seen him cry until then, and it hurt him to know that his own experiences affected Phil that much.

"I'm not alone anymore though, Phil," he said. "I'm so glad I've met you. Please don't be upset about what happened. It was a long time ago."

"If I only we had met much sooner," Phil said as he tried to collect himself. He wiped away the wetness on his cheek and took a deep breath.

"Companions only ever meet when the time is right. Any time sooner than now could have caused things to end very badly."

"I just wish you hadn't been alone for so long."

"Maybe it would have been nicer to have met earlier, but you didn't really feel that pull until more recently, right? That's because that was when we were meant to meet."

"I suppose you're probably right. You know more about it than I do."

Dan hummed in agreement.

"So I don't know anything about your family, Phil. What are your parents like?"

Phil smiled. "Mum and Dad are great. I go over to see them sometimes and have dinner with them. Actually this Sunday I'll be going to have dinner with them."

"That's nice," Dan smiled.

"You could come with if you like."

"And you'd introduce me as?"

"Er, still working that part out, actually," Phil said, smiling uncertainly.

"Let me know when you've sorted it out." Dan grinned back at him.

"They've known I like guys. I mean, I could tell them you're my boyfriend and it shouldn't bother them. I mean, if boyfriend if what I should even call you…"

"But you've never even mentioned me to them though, right? It'd still be quite sudden."

"You're right. Perhaps another Sunday then."

Phil stood and took care of their abandoned plates of mostly eaten egg sandwiches, taking them to the sink.

Phil hadn't realized that Dan was behind him until the hair on the back of his neck stood up, and he felt two hands at his waist.

"By the way," Dan's quiet voice filled his ears. "You can definitely call me boyfriend."

"Okay, boyfriend," Phil replied quietly and he heard the small gasp that escaped Dan.

He turned to look at Dan, who looked a bit astonished by Phil as he smiled widely.

He wrapped his arms around Dan and they hugged for a few moments.

When they pulled back, Phil began a series of questions.

"Do you know what anime is?"

Dan shook his head.

"Doctor Who?"

Another head shake.

"Supernatural?"

Nope.

"You, me, couch, and Netflix. All day."

"All day?"

"All day. You are not missing out anymore."

Phil wasn't kidding when he said all day. For lunch they ate leftovers from the other night, and at dinner time, Phil used a skillet to grill up a few hamburgers for the two of them.

"Hey, so there was another thing I was curious about." Phil asked Dan as they ate their burgers.

"What's that?"

"Have you ever, like, killed and eaten a rabbit or anything?" He cringed as the asked the question.

Dan chuckled, and shook his head. "No, but I do crave rare meat a lot. What sucks is that I was never able to go out, buy some meat, and store it in a fridge like you. If I ever really needed to get just a really good steak I'd go to a restaurant and blow about fifteen dollars, but it was really worth it 'cause sometimes I feel really tired and stuff like that without the protein and iron."

"I usually sort of just ate a lot of canned goods. Which, you can actually get a lot of your food groups from cause there is canned fruit, beans, vegetables all sorts of stuff. So I've done alright. Oh, and also jarred stuff. Like peanut butter. It's so damn good. It's got the fat and protein that's needed."

"That's good."

After they finished eating, Phil had to wash the dishes and start the dishwasher before they put on a movie to watch.

Much like Dan had done the first night he spent with Phil, he watched their movie with his head in Phil's lap and Phil would play with his hair absentmindedly.

They eventually migrated into Phil's bed and as usual Dan went shirtless and Phil had never actually changed out of his pajamas from the night before, but neither of them cared.

To Dan, Phil just smelt like Phil and the wonderful food he was always cooking.

Dan began to speak, after they were lying there for a few minutes, sort of pretending to make an attempt at actually sleeping.

"That first night I stayed here… after I came in here with you I dozed off for a while, but then I woke up, you know, as a wolf and I was afraid because I had let my guard down so I thought I needed to leave before I accidentally changed again."

"'S alright. You were forgiven, and even though I said that it doesn't mean its forgotten, I had kind of forgotten about it."

Dan let out a small laugh. "Just thought I'd explain what happened, you know."

"Yeah."

"Sucked though, because when I changed back I was all tangled up in my clothes." He added in an annoyed tone.

Phil laughed into the darkness.

The next morning Dan woke up as Phil had sat up on the edge of the bed.

"Alright?" He said.

Phil turned to look at Dan for a moment. "Yeah, I'm just going to have a shower, I think."

"Can I take one after you… and borrow some clothes. Just for now. I can probably bring some of my things over later today. I mean, if that's alright."

Phil stood and then smiled reassuringly at Dan. "Yeah, that's fine. I was actually going to ask if you want to bring some of your things over. Kind of, unofficially move in."

"Thanks," Dan smiled.

When Phil was done showering and brushing his teeth and things, he dressed and left the restroom. Dan was lying on his living room floor with a book.

His odd ways of doing things were one of his favorite things about Dan, Phil thought, if he could even decide on a favorite.

Dan looked up, noticing that Phil was sort of just watching and smiling at him.

Phil looked away pointedly and walked into the kitchen.

He could hear Dan laughing softly.

Phil made himself a bowl of cereal and before he sat down to eat he remembered, "Oh, er, you should be able to find whatever you need in the bathroom. Extra toothbrush, or a towel could be found under the sink."

"Oh, right, thanks." Dan got up from his spot on the floor.

Dan put the book where he had found it on the shelf.

"Oh, and er, Dan?" Phil said.

Dan turned back to look at him as he added quickly, "It'sabitmessydon'tjudgeme."

Dan just chuckled and shook his head before going into the restroom to take a shower.

Phil had brought him some clothes and brought them in to the restroom for Dan while he was still enjoying the hot water.

When he was done and dressed and clean and fresh, he walked out to the living room where he found Phil tidying things up.

"Er, so, Chris called me while you were in the shower. He's going to come over today, and I really only ever see him on the weekends, so I didn't want to say no. So I'm just warning you, he's a little shithead, okay? He will probably tease me relentlessly about having you over 'cause I never see anyone."

"I can go while he is over…" Dan said.

"No, I kind of want him to meet you. Plus, he said there was actually something sort of important he had to tell me, so I'm not sure if he'll even be in a teasing mood, anyway. But you never know. He can be pretty inappropriate sometimes."

"Alright then. Er, do you need help with anything?" Dan offered to help as Phil continued to tidy things up.

"You're alright."

Dan and Phil ate lunch together and around 4, Chris rapped melodically on Phil's front door.

"That'll be him," Phil said and got up from the couch. Dan wasn't sure how to behave when meeting a friend of Phil's so he followed him to the front door.

When Phil pulled the door open, he said, "Hey Chris."

"Hey," Chris's eyes flicked from Phil to Dan, who lingered awkwardly behind Phil. "Looks like someone's got a boyfriend."

He grinned cheekily at Dan. "Hey, handsome."