e l e v e n
Phil knew that they couldn't beg forever, and nobody would give them a job - they had no qualifications, no way to 'tidy themselves up', and they were now being reported as serial killers. They were never going to get money on their own. They needed someone to help them, and he knew that PJ wouldn't let that someone be anyone except Chris.
However, they'd been searching the streets of London for hours now, and it was almost midnight. PJ had dragged them from street to street, searching. Eventually, Phil grabbed his hand and forced him to stop. "Peej, we're never going to find him. You think he'll be wandering the streets at midnight?"
PJ's purposeful demeanour faded and he stared at the floor. "I know, but..."
"We have to sleep sometime," Phil said, pulling PJ's hand into the crook of his arm. "Come on. Let's find a nice bush to sleep under."
Dan took Phil's other hand, missing the attention, and Phil turned and smiled at him. "Regent Park isn't that far, right?"
"I don't know," Dan answered. "I have no sense of direction."
Luckily, Phil was right, and a few minutes later they were standing at the gates of the park, looking around hopefully.
"See a nice bush anywhere?" Phil asked after a moment, and Dan burst out into uncontrollable giggles. Phil and PJ looked at him worriedly. "You alright?"
"I'm just fantastic," Dan gasped, in between laughs. "Nice... bush?"
Phil rolled his eyes. "Come on. There's a cluster over there that might be okay."
PJ and Dan followed him, PJ still looking around hopefully for Chris, Dan trying to break out of his hysterics.
Phil bent down and lifted a branch, peering underneath. "This looks dry," he said, trying to sound cheerful. "Maybe we can sleep here?"
PJ stood on tiptoes one more time, surveying the park, then bent down and ducked under the curtain of leaves. A moment later, his head appeared. "This isn't too bad, you know. You coming in?"
Dan looked over to Phil, who nodded encouragingly, so he crawled in too. Phil entered a moment later, and they sat huddled together, trying to share body heat.
After a while, PJ stretched his arms as far as possible in the confined space, then lay down on the dusty soil. "You going to sleep or what?"
Phil looked as though he'd been startled out of a particularly interesting daydream. "Oh, yeah, I- come on, Dan."
It was remarkably warm when the three of them were cuddled up together, but for some reason, Dan couldn't sleep. "Phil?" he whispered, turning over to look at the man laying next to him. "Phil, are you awake?"
Phil opened his eyes. "Yeah. I can't sleep, can you?"
Dan shook his head. "Can we talk?"
"Outside, or here?"
"Outside," Dan answered, sitting up and crawling past Phil to leave their small space under the bush.
When they were both sitting outside, knees tucked up to their chests and breath making clouds in the freezing air, Dan didn't know what to say.
"What did you want to talk about?" asked Phil, wrapping his arms around himself.
Dan blushed. "It's a bit... um... I don't know how to say it."
"Just say whatever you want," Phil said with an encouraging smile. "I'm so tired, I don't have the energy to judge you."
Dan laughed weakly. "It's just... You know how we were on the boat, and you-" he went red- "you kissed me?"
"Ah, so that's where this was going," Phil said. "What about it?"
"We never got the chance to properly talk about it, after that," Dan said, "and I wanted to know why you did that."
Phil shrugged. "Because I wanted to."
"But why?" Dan was getting agitated now, rocking gently backwards and forwards, and looking over at Phil. "Why did you want to?"
"Because I like you," Phil answered, looking surprised. "You kissed me back, I thought you might have feelings for me too."
Dan sighed heavily. "I don't know, Phil," he said. "I don't know what I feel about you. I was talking to PJ about love, and having a crush on someone, and he told me what it's like, but I don't feel like he said I would."
"What did he tell you?" Phil asked curiously.
"He told me that love is basically when you want to have sex with someone."
Phil laughed quietly. "PJ knows a lot about the world," he said, "but one of the things he doesn't know about is love. Sure, he was definitely in love with Chris, but he never got taught that it was love. He doesn't know how to describe it. He didn't exactly get much exposure to romance novels, did he?"
Dan's eyes flickered up to Phil's. "So what's love, then?"
"Well, sure, you most likely want to have sex with the person, but sometimes you don't, and that's fine. The real feeling of love is that kind of warmth or happiness you get when you're around the person, and the way you want to talk about them, and spend time with them, and kiss them." Phil kept eye contact with Dan the whole time, and leaned gently over to him. "It doesn't matter if you want to have sex with them or not. That's lust. Love is the other feeling."
Phil was by now so close to Dan that they could feel each other's warm breath on their faces. Dan's breathing had sped up hugely. "Y-yeah," he murmured. "I get that."
"So, now that you know the real definition," Phil whispered, "do you feel that for me?" He tried to appear calm, but his heart was beating wildly.
Dan smiled. "I think so."
This kiss was longer than the others, and Dan felt less like Phil was kissing him just to comfort him, and more like they were equal. He traced his fingers along Phil's jawline, brushing over the slight stubble that had grown in the past few days. Phil, unlike the rest of Prae, didn't take hormone suppressants, meaning his body worked normally and he grew facial hair like most people did. Dan hadn't taken his tablets for a while, but when Phil reached his hand up to Dan's face he felt only smooth skin.
Dan gave an involuntary shiver and Phil pulled away, smiling. Neither of them spoke for a moment, content to watch the other and gather their thoughts. "That was... That was good," Dan said eventually, unable to form proper sentences.
"Maybe we could do that again sometime," Phil answered, back to his usual confident self, "but right now I'm freezing and I really want to sleep."
Dan would have been content to stay awake forever if it meant he could kiss Phil, but he nodded and linked their hands. As he stood up, however, something caught his eye and he nudged Phil. "There's someone over there."
Phil turned, looking where Dan was pointing, and directly in his line of sight was a lone figure weaving through the trees and calling something. "What's he saying?" Phil asked, standing on tiptoes as though it would improve his hearing.
Dan leaned forwards, holding his breath and listening closely. When he heard what the person was shouting, the smile that spread over his face was even wider than when Phil kissed him.
"What's he saying?" Phil asked again.
Dan gripped his hands tighter. "PJ. He's calling for PJ."
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