One Year Later

  It was the night before Dan's birthday, June 10th, and he'd just realized something.

  He'd never told Phil his real age, he'd said he was eighteen when he was actually twenty, almost twenty one. Three years older than Phil, now at eighteen. It wasn't really a big deal, he was sure Phil would understand, it was the fact that he'd waited an entire year before actually remembering it. Because he had forgot.

  He had to tell him at some point, but he couldn't just outright say, Hey Phil, I never told you before, but I'm actually twenty one, not nineteen, sorry I waited a year, haha! Yeah, right.

  "What are you thinking about?" Phil said from behind Dan, wrapping his arms around his neck and resting his chin on Dan's shoulder. Dan smiled and kissed his cheek.

  "Nothing you need to worry about." He replied, and it was a complete lie, but he couldn't say anything just yet. He had to wait until the time was right.

  "When are Chris and PJ coming over tomorrow?" Phil asked.

  "Around three, I think."

  "Are they allowed to bring you presents?" Phil asked, and Dan laughed at his slightly irritated tone.

  "No, they are not."

  Dan had told Phil that he didn't want to receive any kinds of gifts for his birthday. Usually, he was excited when he got presents from his friends ( well, friend) and family, but this year he didn't really feel like he needed anything special. He had exactly what he wanted, right in front of him. Course, Phil hadn't been too happy about that, but he would have to deal with it.

  "Well, are you just gonna sit here all night," Phil asked, "Or are you gonna come to bed? We have to get up early tomorrow." Dan groaned at those words.

  "Why do we have to get up early, its only Chris and PJ. They're not special."

  "Its not just for them. We have to set up and stuff."

  "For what, exactly? We're not having a party, are we?" Dan asked sarcastically, and Phil scoffed, slapping his chest playfully.

  "Now come on. I have a surprise for you." Phil said, pulling Dan up off the couch and pulling him to their room.

  "I said I didn't want any presents." Dan said, following him reluctantly.

  "Trust me, its not the kind of surprise you're thinking about." Phil whispered, winking at him. Dan raised his eyebrows and smirked, but still, a small shiver went through him at the sound of Phil's seductive tone.

  "Thought we were getting up early." He questioned, and Phil laughed shortly.

  "Not that early."

  Their sex lives had been a bit, er.....active in the last year or so, but it was usually Dan that instigated it, this was different, new.....sexy even.

  Phil let go of Dan's hands, walking slowly to their room, taking off his shirt along the way and dropping it on the floor. Looking back at Dan, he winked and disappeared through the door, leaving Dan standing, staring after him. After a minute, he ripped off his own clothes right there in the hallway, running into the room and jumping on the bed after his boyfriend.

  So maybe presents weren't so bad after all.

                                       ***************************

  "Phil?" Dan asked quietly into the darkness. They were still a bit sweaty from earlier activities, and Phil was just about asleep, his head on Dan's chest.

  "Hm?" Phil replied sleepily, tracing the contours of Dan's stomach slowly and making him shiver from the soft touch.

  "I-I need to tell you something."

  "Wh'tis is it?"

  "Its about my birthday, sort of. You see I'm...I'm not really turning nineteen tomorrow." He said slowly, and paused when he felt Phil's fingers stop moving. There was a long silence, so long that Dan thought Phil wasn't going to say anything. Maybe he had fallen asleep.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Phil said eventually, sitting up on his elbow and looking down at Dan questioningly. Dan looked back up at him, his heart racing a mile a minute, but he swallowed, and sat up too with his back to the headboard.

  "When I.....when we first met, you know, I was 'undercover' or whatever. I had to lie about my age so that I could blend in with all the other high school kids. Basically.....I'm not turning nineteen tomorrow, I'm turning twenty one. Three years older than you...." He trailed off slowly, looking down at his lap and twisting his fingers together anxiously.

  It was completely silent as Dan waited for Phil to say something, anything. It felt like years before he finally spoke.

  "Why didn't you tell me before?" He asked. When Dan looked over at him, he was staring straight ahead at the wall. His face was expressionless, blank, and Dan was a bit worried.

  "Honestly? I forgot-"

  "Forgot?" Phil shot back, looking at him with a weird mix of anger, sadness and guilt in his eyes. "Forgot to mention that you're three whole years older than me? I mean, we....oh god, we had sex when I was seventeen. That's-"

  "Don't say it." Dan interupted softly. "I didn't....I didn't do that."

  "I'm not angry at you, Dan" Phil said, and Dan looked at him, surprised.

  "What?"

  "I mean, I'm not particularly happy that you waited this long to tell me, but I'm not mad that you're older than me. I love you, I'm not gonna let something like that stop me."

  Dan smiled at him, and leaned over to kiss him. "I love you too." He said.

  "Now come on, sleep." Phil said, laying dow and pulling the covers over his head. "We're getting up at ten."

  Dan groaned, but did the same, wrapping his arm around Phil and pulling him closer. "Night."

  "Good night, Dan. Happy birthday."

                                          ***********************

  "I thought that we agreed, no presents." Dan said the next day, as Chris and PJ handed him a small, silver wrapped box.

  "Did we? I don't remember doing such a thing." PJ said, smiling innocently, and Dan scowled at him.

  "Yeah right...."

  "Where's Phil?" Chris asked, as they headed into the kitchen.

  "At the store."

  When Phil had gotten a cake for Dan, he'd had the baker write Happy 19th! on it, so he'd had to go back and change it.

  "Did you get your present from him, then?" PJ asked, winking. Dan smirked.

  "You bet I did."

  "I hope you're not talking about our sex lives to your friends, Dan." Phil said, as he entered the room, carrying a large box. "I leave the house for five minutes and you're already bragging."

  "I can't help it that you treat me so well, baby." Dan said as he wrapped his arms around Phil's waist, kissing his cheek which was turning red.

  "Shut up...."

  "Well, if you guys are done having mind sex, I say we start having some fun." PJ said.

  The rest of the day was pretty much perfect. The four of them talked, laughed, and and just caught up on what was happening. It was around nine when PJ said that he wanted to talk to Dan, alone. He and Chris shared a look before Dan led him out back, into the darkening yard. It was quite warm out and there were all kinds of bugs flying around.

  "What is it?" Dan asked him, as PJ remained silent for some time, just looking at the ground.

  "I need to tell you something. Well, the Highers wanted me to tell you something."

  "Why do they want to talk to me?"

  "You remember why you and Phil left, right?"

  "Of course. They said that Phil couldn't be a Reaper."

  "They...they want you back, Dan. They said....they said that they had made a mistake in letting you and Phil leave, and that they would gladly accept you guys, if you wanted."

The End...

                                                                    *****************************

a/n: and thats the end! I'm making a sequel of course, dont be mad. and i want to thank some people.

leahgrace_xo: for reeeeaally encouraging me, and for giving me the ending. Thanks girl!

KandiOcampo: for leaving awesome comments and pretty much being the best.

beyondphan: for reading my stories and making awesome ones herself.

LexyAustin: for threatining me to keep writing and making me smile.