Phil's POV

"Wait, what letter is this?" I said, my fingers tracing over one of the tiles in the box a few days later. Apparently, you could take them out and arrange them into words and sentences. There was about five or six of every letter. Dan was trying to teach me them.

"That's E," he said.

"If that's E, what's this one?"

"That's I."

"I thought this one was I!"

"No, that's J."

"Oh," I said, trying not get irritated. It wasn't easy having to learn a whole new language.

"Here, try this one," Dan said calmly, putting another in my hands.

I felt around it. There were three out of six dots - two on the top and one right below it on the right. Come on, I though. I know this one. "Is it D?"

"Yes! Here, now this one."

I felt around the second tile - another arrangement of three dots that felt like a zigzag pattern. "O?"

"Right! Here's another."

Four dots, all in a square shape. "G."

"Yep, one more?"

The last tile was the one he just gave a moment ago, with two dots in a downwards diagonal. "E!"

"Good!" he said happily.

"Wait," I said, thinking. "D-O-G-E? Did you seriously just give me the letters to spell 'Doge'?"

"No." He burst out laughing. "At least you can spell."

He was right, at least. I laughed too. "I hate you."

I heard him rearranging tiles. "Don't hate, spell this instead," he said, taking my hand and having me feel the letters out.

"C... R... Dan, if this says 'Craft,' I'm going to kill you."

He laughed again, which made me smile. "Okay, okay, fine." He began to shuffle them again.

"You are the worst person in the world."

"Oh, you love me."

I did. I didn't say I did. I laughed instead. I heard my phone ring.

"It's PJ," he said. "Should I answer?"

I didn't want him to, but I did want to talk with PJ. I let him pick it up for me, and he handed me the phone.

"I can go to another room," Dan offered.

I nodded, hoping he wasn't offended.

"It's okay," he said, and left.

"Hello?" I said. "PJ?"

"Hi, Phil," he answered. "It's been a few days. I wanted to check up on you. How are you?"

"I'm okay, I guess. My parents were here a few days ago to check up on me."

"That's good. How's Dan?"

"He's alright. He seems okay, at least."

"Did you tell him yet?"

"No, I haven't told him."

"You should."

"I can't."

"You can!"

"What will he say?"

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"Oh, I don't know. He could just get offended and pack his bags and he'd be on the next train out of London. Whether I was blind or not, what would I do without Dan? He's still my best friend."

"You can't hide it forever, Phil. It's just not right."

I scratched my head. "I don't have another choice for now, you know."

"Just tell him, 'Dan, there's something you should know - I love you.' That's it, you don't have to say anything else."

"It can't be that easy. He'll want an explanation, I'll expect a reaction, it just won't happen that way. You can't just go up to someone and go, 'Oh yeah, I'm in love with you, but please don't say or do anything about it. Now, where were we?'"

"I know that, but come on. You're smart. You can find the right time. I just wanted to check up on you and make sure you were alright and not bottling things up. It will only make it harder."

"You're telling me."

"Well, if things are going well, that's all I needed to hear. Would you want to meet up some time? I do miss you and Dan."

"That'd be great! We can plan that later?"

"Oh, busy?"

"No, Dan just bought me this thing that's supposed to help teach you braille. We were practicing."

"That's amazing! Well, good luck!"

"Thanks, PJ. I hope we can meet soon."

"Me too. Bye, Phil."

"Bye, Peej."

I heard him hang up. Dan returned to the room before I told him I was done.

Dan's POV

What was that?

I wasn't eavesdropping, I could just hear from the other room! Phil was talking about me to PJ. You can't just go up to someone and go, 'Oh yeah, I'm in love with you, but please don't say or do anything about it.'

Is Phil in love with me?

It couldn't be true. I didn't - I couldn't - believe it. I sat back where I was beside him.

"Dan?" he asked. "You're quiet. Is something wrong?"

"No," I said. "No, not at all."

"Did you want to keep practicing?"

"Uh, sure."

As I gave and helped Phil with learning the letters, I still couldn't get my mind off of what he said. If it was true that he loved me, according to what he said, he doesn't have any intentions of telling me. I knew I wouldn't be able to wait to find out.

~~~

That same night, as I was getting ready for bed, I looked at myself in the mirror before stepping into Phil's room. I washed my face. I wanted to feel clean, but for peeping on his conversation, I felt dirty. They say if you wash yourself, you can wash away the feeling of regret. I didn't trust it.

"Dan, are you coming?" Phil asked.

"Yeah, just one second." I dried myself and crawled in bed with him.

I didn't hesitate this time. I threw my arm over him a pulled everything from his chest to his waist into myself, cradling him closely.

"You okay?" I asked.

He felt safe, and his intense shaking fits have calmed in the last few days. He placed one hand on the arm holding him. "Yeah."

I don't know why I did what I did next. I don't know if it was to give him love, tell him it was okay to love me, or if it was my way of telling him I loved him. With his precious body so close to me, I could smell his soft and comforting scent. I gently placed my lips on the open spot of skin closest to me, right on his neck.

He shivered.

"Good night, Phil," I said quietly, refraining from kissing him again.

He waited a moment. I couldn't see his face, since he was turned away from me, which was good, I supposed. He cuddled backwards, trying to get even closer to me. "Good night, Dan."