Phil got the call the next morning as he was cleaning up breakfast while Louise was at work. The caller was PJ.
"Hello, Phil?" PJ asked, he sounded exhausted.
"Hey PJ, why are you calling from Dan's phone?" He asked curiously as if this was some kind of joke or game.
"Phil, something happened last night; something really bad." PJ hinted in serious tones. As PJ told Phil what he knew, Phil began to realize that this was no game or prank; far from it. This was real life, and it was very, very hard. "He's in stable condition now, but he could slip be down hill at any time. He doesn't look too good, Phil." PJ admitted brokenly as Phil rushed to his bedroom to change.
"Then why are you calling me?" Phil asked as he slipped his night shirt off and into a tee shirt with stars and lighting of red and gold that he only wore when he needed luck. He needed Dan to be okay and he hoped that the shirt's magical powers would grant him this selfless wish.
"The guy that was with them, I think his name was Chris, he said the police were talking to Dan as they loaded him into the ambulance and Dan kept saying you're name." Phil paused in the mists of pulling up his black skinny jeans over his Sonic boxers.
"He really said my name?" Phil asked slightly taking away by Dan's unintentional declaration of his fondness for Phil. Maybe even, dare he even think it, his love for Phil?
"Yes, your last name too." PJ called him back to reality which got him to continue to struggle into his pants. "But enough of beating around the bush. Phil, if you don't get down here soon... I think he might..." All was quiet and still as PJ thought of the right words. "Give up."
"No he won't." Phil spat at reality and held on to his hopes and prays that Dan would be, had to be, okay. "I'm on my way, tell him that." Phil ordered as he sprinted down the stairs and into the rainy London streets.
"Will do." PJ promised before they hung up. "He's coming, Dan." PJ smiled at his badly beaten, sleeping friend on the hospital bed. Dan made the sheets look healthy compared to his skin. "Please hurry, Phil." PJ requested of the black haired man now sprinting down the street, trying very hard to void pushing people over and failing miserably; both due to his height and his clumsiness.
He manages to get to the hospital within ten minutes of hanging up but the loss of breathing for twenty minutes. Good thing he was in a hospital, he thought as he panted to see Dan. When the nurse wouldn't let him in because Phil didn't know Dan's last name, PJ heard the commotion and came to the rescue.
"Some nurses." Phil wheezed grouchily.
"I know." PJ nodded with distance. PJ could have warned Phil for years what he was about to see, but it still wouldn't have been enough to prepare Phil.
Dan was paler than paper. Tubes and wires were poking out of his arms like a Frankenstein when it was being built. Blood bags were at the ready as they dripped slowly into Dan's veins. But, even though all that, Phil thought Dan looked peaceful in his drugged slumber.
"What happened?" Phil asked PJ, forcing himself to tear his eyes away from the bed and look at PJ.
"Dan was walking in A100 of all places and found that Chris guy about to get raped himself, and not just by some random cock." PJ added softly. "Dan confronted his rapist." He stated with a soft awe. Phil went pale, not pale as Dan, but still pasty compared to his normally ghostly glow.
"Dan did what?" Phil questioned, feeling faint.
"This guy was the same guy, Dan recognized him. Then when Chris was calling the police, Dan fought the guy." PJ was speaking very fast, due to his excitement as if he was reliving the whole experience. "Dan kept the guy in the alley until the police arrived but then, the guy had a knife." PJ slowed as he got to the bad part of the epic that was not his own. "And he slabbed Dan once in the rib cage and once in the hip but he also cracked one of Dan's ribs when he kicked him and over extended Dan's neck somehow." PJ said now looking at the broken and pale form on the bed. Phil looked over at Dan too, feeling a mix of pity and pride.
"But the guy's alright?" Phil asked thinking of the young fellow named Chris.
"Well, Chris is; he only needed a plaster across his neck and now he's fine. But the rapist..." PJ whispered this next very important bit of information into Phil's ear: "He's dead." Phil looked at PJ in shock.
"Dan didn't..." He questioned with horror.
"No, no police shot him when he went to slice Dan's throat." PJ let the words rush out so they would be said and, hopefully, never needed to be said again. Phil pictured it quite clearly in his mind even though that was the last thing he wanted to think about. Dan being held against his will, a shadowy figure placing the knife to Dan's gorgeous throat, a shot ringing out, a splatter of blood, Dan and the figure falling to the alley floor.
"Who was he?" Phil asked out curiosity.
"What does it matter?" PJ inquired in reply.
"It matters to me." Phil growled softly. PJ was taking aback by Phil's sudden darkness, so he told him.
"His name was James Butler. He was a motorbike salesman until his work went bankrupt. He use to have a life, a good one but then..."
"Everything changed." Phil finished looking at Dan who had taken residence in his mind ever since that morning after, months previous to this one. Dan began to stir which drew the two friends' attentions. "Should we call a nurse?" Phil asked as he drew closer to Dan.
"I'll go and get one, you two just have your time. He's been dying to-" PJ tried to stop himself from saying such words but they escaped and, before he could correct himself, he just left the two alone. Phil sat on the bed and watched Dan wake up.
It was a slow process which had begun with a deep inhale of breath. Now Dan was beginning to toss from side to side as well as stretch but this made him grimace and made the waking process go faster. He blinked one eye then the other and rubbed them both before fully opening them. His eyes focused on the unfamiliar ceiling then noticed a person at his side. He blinked again, focusing them onto Phil's face. When his eyes recognized who he was seeing, Dan's face split open in a grin that could not hide his happiness and relief at seeing Phil.
"Hi." Dan smiled.
"Hey." Phil grinned back.
"What's going on?" Dan asked looking at his surroundings more. "Where am I?"
"The hospital." Phil answered smoothing out some rumpled sheets near himself. Dan's eyes went wide as he began to look at his wounds.
"What the hell happened to me?!" He gasped as he rubbed his injuries hip against the railing of the bed.
"Calm down and I'll tell you." Phil ordered but his soft voice made Dan think it was his idea to relax and listen to Phil. Phil recalled what he was told. When the story was over, Phil concluded with "I'm so proud of you."
"What, why?" Dan flustered, beginning to blush. "Because I acted like an absolute idiot and nearly got myself killed?"
"No, because you saved someone else besides yourself." Dan was speechless as was Phil. They were quite in the blushing slience for a long moment.
"Phil?"
"Yeah, Dan?"
"I'm sorry I tried to kiss you before. We had just met and that was uncalled for." Dan muttered softly.
"It's okay Dan, really." Phil tried to calm down the injured patient.
"No, it's not, I was trying to take advantage of you and that wasn't right." Dan convinced himself.
"It's okay, Dan." Phil repeated grabbing Dan's hand. A monitor began beeping loudly, Phil looked around worriedly but Dan just replied
"It's my heart, it's just beating really fast." Dan mumbles, feeling like a stupid middle school kid for his heart betraying him so. Phil looked relived before intertwining his fingers with Dan's.
"Mr. Dan Howell?" Someone asked from the doorway, causing them both to jump and pull their fingers apart.
"Yes?" Dan asks as Phil goes to stand by the window, pretending to not be there.
"Can we ask you a few questions about what happened last night?" It was two women, one with a clipboard and one with a fedora.
"Sure." Dan nodded, lying back in the pillows while raising the bed up to be able to lay and talk in a more conversational way.
"Excuse me, Mr..." Miss Fedora addressed Phil.
"Lester, Phil Lester." Phil extended his hand and was surprised at how tight the woman took it.
"I'm Detective Rosa Fords and this is my assistant Kate Pots." She motioned to the woman with the clipboard, who looked ready to take notes as she sat in the only chair in the room. "Mr. Lester, we need to talk to Dan alone for a little while." Rosa looked sternly at Dan before coming to stand beside his bed.
"A detective, what has Dan done something wrong?" Phil asked worriedly.
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." Rosa snapped back.
"Well, he may not NEED to know, but I WANT him to know as do I." Dan snarled at Rosa. "Now tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure?" He inquired through gritted teeth.
"You are being accused of Mr. Butler's murder." Rosa stated as if she was bored.