back to Dan's point of view

"What are you guys doing here?" Nick glared.

"It was all his idea!" Vic piped in.

"Phil, explain." I glared over at the boy with raven hair. He exhaled.

"You want the truth?" He asked. I raised an eyebrow. "Well. . . My cousin actually works here and-"

"That's a lie, he's actually spying on you to make sure you and Nick don't do anything he wants to do with you," Vic cut him off, looking at me. Nick burst out laughing while I huffed, unimpressed.

"Stalking and lying to your own crush? Nice, Phil, real nice."

"It was just to make sure you, Nick, wouldn't take him away from me!" He protested.

"You can't take away something that wasn't yours in the first place."

"But he is mine!" He snarled.

"If he was yours, he wouldn't have agreed to this date," Nick responded, then turned to me. "Are you with him?"

I blushed, shaking my head. "We've kissed once, but nothing else is happened."

"Unfortunately," Vic coughed into her fist. Phil whacked her in the arm. "Look, let's not fight here- you three can have a threesome outside, yeah?"

"No, you know what, Phil? I'm tired of this. Just let Dan do what he wants. You treat him like a dog on a leash, he's not yours, and that's your own fault. If you're so crazy about him that you'll spy on him at a restaurant, then why don't you just ask him out? Are you afraid of actually letting him in?"

"I'm not afraid, I just didn't know if that's what he wanted," He snapped, stepping closer to his brother.

"Okay so maybe I should pass out," Vic murmured.

"Guys stop-" I begged, but Nick cut me off, shoving Phil back once again.

"What if Dan likes me? You can't have everybody, brother. Even if he does like you, soon he'll get tired of the relationship not going anywhere. Either you ask him out or let him be. You don't own him."

"Our relationship is none of your fucking business, Nicholas."

"Then neither is ours, Philip."

"Oh shit, they used first names," I heard Vic sigh out.

"Excuse me for being worried about him. Quit acting like I'm the bad guy here, you always took everyone from me."

"I didn't take anybody from you. They left you for me. There's a difference. You just weren't good enough."

"That's not true!" He shouted, pushing him back. I watched as Nick crasked into the table behind him, plates crashing onto the ground from the impact.

"Phil-" I stepped forward, but Phil raised his hand out.

"Stay out of this, Dan," He snarled through gritted teeth, Nick standing while I stepped back. Victoria spoke up.

What about Howell? Dan? He never used his first name with me.

"Would you shut up for a second?" Nick groaned to Victoria, but before I could speak up for her, there was a smack, and I watched as Vic's hand left Nicholas's already red cheek.

"Never," she began, and stepped forward. "And I mean never, tell me what to do."

Nick gulped, and I stepped in once again, except this time to put my hand on Nick's shoulder. "Nicholas, let's just go. Please. We've drawn enough attention."

"Hold on, Dan."

"But-"

"Hold on!" Nick yelled, and I flinched and trudged back. Phil's fist clenched,  and before I knew what was happening he was throwing himself at his brother and the two of them had hit the floor.

"You have no right to talk to him like that!" He spat, throwing his fists at his face. Nick knocked him off, however, and switched places, swinging back at the blue-eyed boy. I gasped when I saw Nick's fist collide with the side of Phil's head, furrowing my eyebrows.

Vic and I were shouting, pleading for them to stop- but at this point, nothing was working.

"He's not your boyfriend, and he never will be. You're too fucking self-centered to love him back, and he deserves better."

"Shut up!"

"He wants me."

"Shut your mouth!" Phil cried. I searched around, noticing people leaving their tables or calling for help. I spotted a bowl of uneaten noodles on an empty table behind me, rushing over and grabbing it. I stomped over, opening my mouth to speak.

"Hey!"

They froze at my voice, and as soon as Nick and Phil turned, they were dumped on the with  pasta. Phil gasped as the heated food dripped from his hair and down his shirt, and he stood, beginning to flick the noodles off himself.

Suddenly, angry workers were storming over and had shoved us out the door without any word.

All four of us stood outside, shocked and quiet- until Victoria burst out laughing.

She cackled, tears forming in her eyes from how hard she was laughing as she ran her eyes down the pasta-covered brothers. "I guess you can say he's a Philini."

And suddenly we were all laughing.

✿✿✿✿

"Has anyone ever told you how dumb you are?" I giggled, smiling up at Phil who was sat on the kitchen table. He chuckled, and I kept my hand on the icepack which was held to his bruised head.

Vic cleared her throat behind us, finishing up bandaging Nick's face and standing. "I should probably go. Remember, Philly, you owe me!"

Phil waved and I joined in.

"Bye," Nick spoke. Vic froze, shooting him a glare.

"Shut up, I don't like you," She spoke. Nick's eyes went wide and I held in my laugh. "See you guys!" She looked at Phil and I, then headed out of the house. Luckily, their grandma was out, so she wasn't questioning why the brothers reeked of pasta or had bruises on their face.

I looked over at Nicholas who was sitting on the bar stool alone, holding an icepack to his cheek. "Nick, could you maybe go to a different room? I need to talk to Phil."

He nodded quietly, standing and trudging out of the room. I waited until the upstairs door shut, and I locked eyes with Phil.

"Hi," he forced a lopsided smile. I grinned.

"I'm still mad at you."

"Sure seems like it," Phil chuckled halfheartedly. "Are you okay though? Like you didn't get hit at all, right?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine. Listen. . . about earlier. . . Phil, I need to know: do you like me or not?"

"I don't know," he breathed. "I'm scared."

"Scared of what?"

"Hurting you, losing you. I mean, that's what love does, right? It hurts you."

"But it's me we're talking about. You couldn't hurt me if you tried," I whispered, pushing a strand of hair from his face. "I like you, Phil, but if you don't want to do anything with that. . ."

"I do, I just. . . I don't know," he mumbled, looking down. "Dan, what's true love to you?"

"True love to me?" I repeated, and Phil nodded. I let out a breath, running my free hand through my hair. "I think it's kind of like glasses to a world with bad vision. So imagine this: everybody in this world has bad vision, but they don't have glasses- not until they find someone who they truly love. So obviously, while to everyone else they're just some blurry figure, to them they're the clearest and prettiest thing you've ever seen. You notice the smallest details about them, you memorize their voice and their laugh, and it's like they become your reason to look at things in a different way, y'know?"

Phil exhaled, then locked eyes with me, a small smile on his lips before he spoke.

"Can I kiss you?"

"If I can kiss you back."

"Deal."

And then we leaned in, and our lips met.