Archive of Our Own

Every Monday morning Dan visits the nearby dog park. 

He’s actually not very keen on parks. Or being outside in general. He doesn’t even own a dog. But his good friend Layla does, and being the good friend he is, he helps her look after Susan every Monday and Thursday morning. 

Susan is a cream white, 5 year old borzoi. She looks kind of awkward and majestic at the same time, and every time Dan’s with Susan he can hear the Tiktok sound with the whining “let me do it for you” in his head. Dan had never seen a borzoi before Layla got one, and had no expectations when he met Susan the first time. It had been kind of awkward actually, as the dog had just eyed him up and down, and Dan had answered by doing the same. He’s grown into liking her now though. She’s calm, sassy and likes to cuddle on the sofa while Dan plays video games. She also doesn’t like being outside when it rains, something that suits Dan perfectly.

Today it isn’t raining though. The sun is shining, the sky is blue and the air feels fresh and crispy, in the way only a morning in mid October can. Dan instantly regrets not putting on a warmer jacket as he locks the front door, with Susan waiting by his side. He zips his black fluffy fleece all the way up to his chin, and digs the hand not holding the leash into the pocket of his gray baggy jeans. 

Dan walks the way he always walks when he has Susan, which is the fastest way to the dog park. He sees no use in taking any detours, as Susan likes to run. Fast. And Dan does not like to run, whether it’s slow or fast. So the only way he can let her run free, is by setting her free in the dog park.

His black headphones plays Ninajirachi’s latest album I Love My Computer on high volume as Dan takes the last turn before the dog park. He feels quite good about himself today, his mullet has woken up on the right side of the bed and his curls are doing what they’re supposed to without too much assistance from his hairspray.

He walks fast, even if he doesn’t intend to. He just never goes for walks for the sole purpose of walking, and doesn’t find it particularly fun either, so walking slowly doesn’t come naturally to him. Also, both him and Susan have ridiculously long legs, which carries them to the dog park faster than what it would have taken the average legged human and average legged dog.

Once Dan gets closer to the dog park he notices that it isn’t empty. There’s a tall, slender person sitting on the bench connected to the park, with a small, chubby dog running behind the fence surrounding the area.

For a moment, Dan feels his chest drop. It’s always awkward to connect with other people at the dog park, especially when the dog you’re bringing there isn’t your own. Any other normal day he would’ve probably turned around by now, to avoid the potential awkward conversation with a stranger, but there’s something in the air today that stops him from doing just that. He feels confident and energetic for once, so even if he’s still too far away to see anything but a silhouette of the person sitting on the bench, he decides to approach them with the hopes that whoever it is isn’t a maniac.

With 10 meters left to the fenced area the chubby dog in the park notices Susan, who has her ears perked in the tiny dog’s direction. It comes running towards the fence that keeps them apart, curiously sniffing and wiggling its butt. Dan doesn’t know a lot about dogs but he knows that the dog in there is a corgi, and he has to stop himself from audibly going “aww”. It's so freakishly cute.

“Lion, calm down a bit. They might not even want to play with you.” 

Dan lifts his head to see the owner of the voice looking at him. It’s a guy, with blond messy hair and deep blue eyes. He smiles at Dan, who removes his headphones even though the music has been off since the moment he saw the guy in the park. 

“Or maybe they do," he smiles. "Would it be okay if they played together?”

“Yeah, sure,” Dan says, looking down at Susan. “She can be a bit of a brat though, so there’s a slight chance she’ll find your dog annoying.”

“Oh okay,” the guy chuckles, and turns to the orange, fluffy ball of fur who now sits by his feet. “Did you hear that, Lion? You better show yourself from your best side so she likes us.”

Dan opens the gate and lets Susan in, and closes the gate before he unhooks the leash from her collar. She immediately takes off, her long legs almost not touching the ground as she bolts to the opposite side of the park. The small corgi tries its best to follow her, all while barking and wiggling its butt. 

“That’s a fast one you got there, mate,” the guy says from the bench, and Dan walks over to sit next to him at a reasonable distance. “A lot faster than mine at least.”

“Yeah, she likes to run,” Dan answers, eyes fixating at the play happening before them. Susan has taken on a downward dog kind of position, teasing the little corgi who tries to catch her, but she jumps away effortlessly every time he gets too close. “She’s not mine though.”

“She’s not?” the guy asks, and Dan notices in the corner of his eye that he’s just as focused on the dogs as Dan is. 

“Nah, she’s a friend’s dog. I just look after her a few times a week when my friend is at work.” 

“That’s a pity.”

“What?”

Dan turns to look at the guy who still looks at the dogs before turning to Dan, once again letting his deep blue eyes pierce into Dan’s. 

“Lion could really use a friend, and they seem to get along pretty well, don’t you think?”

Dan turns his gaze back at the dogs, who now have taken up the task of running again. Susan graciously, the corgi not that much. Dan can still feel the blue eyes on him, so he turns back to meet them. 

“I still go here every time I have her though, which is a couple times a week. So they could still meet and play,” Dan answers, and doesn’t even realize that he could’ve just lied and said that he never comes here usually, that he’s very fine with not doing that, that Susan is fine playing by herself. He doesn’t say any of that though, because it never occurred to him that he should’ve, and the guy smiles back at him.

“That’d be great.”

“Nice.”

“Cool. I’m Phil by the way.”

Dan takes the pale hand the guy reaches forward and shakes it. It’s cool and dry, and incredibly soft. Dan resists a sudden urge to stroke his thumb against the back of the hand only to feel more the soft skin. An urge that surprises him. 

“I’m Dan, and that is Susan,” Dan says and bops his head in the direction of the slender white dog who now has calmed down a bit, and instead has taken on the task to discover all the exciting smells on the ground. The corgi is right behind her, walking in her steps and sniffing where she’s sniffed. 

Phil smiles at the sound of the name, and puts his hand back down in the pocket of his oversized sweater. 

“You can’t name a dog Susan, that’s like a teacher’s name,” he chuckles, and Dan raises his eyebrows. 

“What’s your dog's name then?” Dan asks, although he already thinks he might’ve heard it.

“Lion,” Phil muses, and the corgi lifts his head to look at Phil when it hears its name. Dan chokes out a laugh.

“Lion? Really? And you have the audacity to laugh at the name Susan?” 

“Shut up,” Phil says jokingly, and punches Dan playfully on the shoulder. 

Dan’s stomach does a small somersault, and he can’t stop the smile spreading across his face. He notices Phil’s eyes wandering down his face to the presumed dimple that usually forms there, and Dan suddenly feels a bit shy. He gathers himself and asks the first thing that comes to his mind.

“So for how long have you had Lion?”

Phil takes away his eyes from Dan’s face, thankfully, because he can suddenly feel his face heat up a little. He usually doesn’t blush in situations like this, but there’s something about the guy next to him that makes him do just that, and he doesn’t really know what it is. 

As Phil tells Dan about Lion and that it’s actually not his dog either but his parents’ dog that he takes care of most of the weekdays, Dan starts stealing glances at Phil. He looks tall, maybe as tall as Dan, and his broad shoulders are slightly hunched over. His skin is pale, but not in a freaky way, more in a… pretty way, Dan realizes, with tiny freckles visible on his neck, tracing down the collar of his sweater. His blonde hair seems to tickle his eyes when he talks because he keeps raising his hand as if to brush it to the side, but stops himself every time, and instead lets the hand fall down and back into the pocket of his sweater. He’s wearing black, kind of baggy jeans, and a big, dark sweater with zippers down the arms and red board details across the back. Phil’s also wearing a cap, a black one with some orange nonsense print on it, and glasses that slide down the slightest on his nose when he talks. 

Suddenly Dan realizes that Phil has stopped talking, and that he’s looking back at Dan, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips.

“What?” Dan asks, before it hits him that he’s probably the one who’s supposed to talk. “Sorry, I got lost in my own head. You were saying…?”

Phil’s smile widens. He has faint pink patches on his cheeks, probably because of the cold, Dan thinks.

“I was actually saying that I need to leave, duty’s calling and talking to nice strangers is not a good enough reason to be late for work,” Phil answers, before he jumps down from the bench. He turns towards the dogs that are standing close together at the other side of the park, eyes fixated at a couple of birds in a tree. As Phil calls Lion’s name the corgi turns around in an instant and starts running towards Phil, tongue out and ears flopping with every step.

“Who’s a good boy?” Phil coos as Lion stops in front of him, and gives him a quick scratch behind the ear before buckling the leash to the collar. He then straightens his back, and turns towards Dan who’s still sitting at the bench.

“It was nice meeting you Dan, and sorry I have to leave so urgently. See you next time, yeah?”

“You too,” Dan answers as he sees Phil open the gate and walk out with the fluffy ball of fur bouncing next to him. Dan feels something leave him, or take over him, the moment the gate closes, a feeling he really can’t put his finger on.

“Yeah, see you next time!” Dan stupidly shouts after Phil, who turns around and raises his hand to wave. He smiles wide, tongue sticking out slightly between his teeth, and Dan can’t do anything else but to smile back.

___

Suddenly Dan can’t wait for it to be Thursday morning. He usually has a very neutral approach to looking after Susan, he doesn’t hate it but he usually doesn’t look forward to it either. He also rarely gets ready for her arrival, but lets Layla drop her off so they can spend the morning inside together, curled up on the sofa under a thick blanket. This Thursday morning is different though, and he finds himself pacing around his apartment before Susan even has been dropped off. 

Dan really wishes to meet Phil at the dog park today, and this time he wants to make a better impression than last time, which he figured was kind of awkward. He decided what to wear last night already, settling for a dark gray pair of trousers that taper off at the bottom, and a black and white plaid shirt. He spends half of his morning fixing his mullet, to make it look good but not too good, and walks through the mist of his perfume that he sprays in the air before him.

When Layla finally drops Susan off on her way to work she compliments his hair, says that the dullet looks extra fabulous today. Dan smiles, shrugs and tells her that he just has a good hair day, and that he woke up like this. He can see on her face that she doesn’t believe him, but right now he doesn’t care. Dan is on a mission.

Dan walks as fast as he can towards the dog park, Susan dragged behind him. The dark clouds on the sky threaten to release rain at any minute, which causes Susan to be stubborn and slow, as if she can predict the weather, but Dan doesn’t have time for either stubbornness or slow walking this morning. 

There’s an uncertainty lingering in his mind though. They never exchanged phone numbers so Dan hasn’t had the possibility to contact Phil. He doesn’t even know if Phil’s gonna be at the dog park today. The chances are low but they are never zero, and it’s that tiny percentage of chance that gets Dan going. Worst case is if Phil isn’t there, and even though it would make Dan bummed it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Or that's what he's trying to tell himself. 

When he does his last turn and finally sees the dog park in the distance he feels his heart drop in his chest. There’s other people and dogs in the park, running, barking and sniffing, but no corgi. And no Phil. Dan stops at the side of the road and just stands there, breathing heavily. 

Well, that didn’t go as expected, he thinks. Of course it didn’t. 

The fast walking he’s done up until this moment is catching up on him, and he walks over to a nearby tree to lean against it and catch his breath. Susan, happy to finally not be dragged behind a tall twink on a stupid mission, sits down by his feet to stare at the people who hurry past them. 

As he’s leaning against the tree Dan gets hit with the sudden realisation how ridiculous this whole situation is. He literally met Phil for 30 minutes a few days ago, and that’s it. Dan doesn't know anything about him, other than the fact that his family has a corgi. He doesn't know where Phil lives, how old he is or if he’s single. He doesn't even know if he's gay. 

Dan rubs his face with his hands and sighs. He's been thinking about Phil for days and he doesn’t even know if he’s into men. Or if he wants to make new friends. Or whatever his deal is. Dan’s mind literally took the tiny crumb Phil offered him by inviting Susan to play with Lion and ran with it, and he realizes now he’s been munching on that tiny crumb as if it has been a whole ass cake. 

Fuck, he’s really been letting his mind race without paying much attention to the fact that it’s all just been in his head. 

A sudden bark from Susan wakes Dan up from his thoughts and he quickly shortens the leash to prevent her from running away or towards another dog or whatever she had in mind with that bark. She’s looking past Dan though, to the left of his legs, and her tail is starting to wag the tiniest bit.

“Hi there Susan.”

The voice is low but sounds happy and Dan’s heart suddenly skips a beat. He already knows who it belongs to. When he turns around he is met by a wide smile and deep blue eyes piercing his.

“Hi Phil,” Dan answers and he tries to play it cool, as if he didn’t just run here because of him, but he can feel his entire face lighting up in a smile. It can’t help it, it’s as if his face has his own mind and has decided to be happy despite his messy thoughts. The messy thoughts that already starts to fade from his mind to leave room for what he sees in front of him.

Phil looks even better than Dan remembered. He’s wearing black jeans, a bit skinnier than last time, and a multicolored Adidas hoodie, slightly unzipped to reveal a white T-shirt underneath. His blond hair is pushed forward, and without the cap he was wearing the last time Dan catches a glimpse of dark roots in contrast to the blond tips. He’s not wearing glasses today either, and his features look more sharp than last time, without any caps or glasses covering his face. He has high, prominent cheekbones, ridiculously high cheekbones actually, and his lips are full and light pink. The smile he’s giving Dan shows off a crooked front tooth, something Dan hadn't noticed the first time they met, and it matches Phil’s face perfectly. That along with the pale freckles across Phil’s face is almost too much for Dan’s messy mind, so he looks down at Susan, who appears to be a little less stubborn than just a few minutes ago.

Dan didn’t know he had a type. Not until this very moment, on this random Thursday, standing under a tree with Susan. Phil is his type more than anyone has ever been his type. It hits him so suddenly, that it pushes him out of his normal path, the usual orbit around his reality, and now he’s floating in space with no sense of direction. He could’ve felt frightened and lost but he doesn’t. 

“You remember my name, Dan,” Phil smiles.

“And you remember mine,” Dan smiles back.

Lion lets out a bark and wiggles his butt in Susan’s direction, who tugs at the leash to try to get closer to the fluffy corgi. Dan gives her a bit of slack and the two dogs close the distance between Dan and Phil and start sniffing at each other.

Phil looks past Dan in the direction of the dog park. 

“Looks like it’s busy today,” Phil points out. 

“Yeah, I just got here and noticed that as well.”

Phil looks around him at the nearby small forest and shrugs his shoulders. “We could go for a walk together instead if you want?”

Dan tries his hardest to play it cool even though all he wants to do is giggle and kick his feet. “Yeah sure.”

After letting Susan and Lion do their greeting ritual of sniffing and jumping and playfully teasing each other, the four of them head towards the grove. Dan and Phil walk next to each other with one dog on each side, chatting about everyday things such as what they work with, fun facts about the dogs and what they're gonna do for Halloween this year. It's easy to talk to Phil, and Dan finds himself speaking more than he usually do.

Dan finds out that Phil works at a photo shop not far from Dan’s apartment, and that he lives with a guy who doesn't know how to do laundry and owns a super grumpy cat. Dan doesn’t dare to ask if the grumpy cat-guy is Phil’s boyfriend, but judging from how Phil talks about him he sounds more like a flatmate that he’s not too fond about. Phil also tells Dan about a friend of his who does the craziest Halloween costumes every year, and shows Dan pictures of a cute guy with curly hair, round glasses and a big smile, wearing the craziest of creations in every picture Phil shows. It's dragons, aliens, and hobbits, and one costume is just a huge toaster. It's hilarious and impressive at the same time, and Dan finds himself admiring Phil who seems to have really cool friends.  

After a bit of chatting they both turn silent, the only sound being their synchronized steps on the muddy trail as they try to avoid the puddles of water taking up the entire path at some places. It’s not an uncomfortable silence, and after a quick glance at Phil Dan can see he’s taking in the surroundings, head lifted towards the top of the trees and the dark clouds above. He looks content, and right when Dan’s about to look away Phil faces Dan with a hint of a smile coating his lips.

Dan looks down at the ground as he feels his cheeks getting warmer, and kicks a rock in front of him to not feel too embarrassed. Lion notices the bouncing rock before him and playfully starts to chase it, short legs moving fast beneath the fluffy body. Susan couldn’t care less about some rock and is walking next to Dan, leash relaxed. 

“I love corgis,” Dan suddenly says, for some reason he doesn't even know himself. He hears a chuckle from Phil.

“Yeah? They’re quite cute, but can be stubborn as heck. Sometimes when we’re out he refuses to walk so I just have to carry him home. And he may be small but he’s super heavy.”

Right when Phil says the last part Lion stops and looks back at them, before he sits himself down with a defiant look on his face. 

“Oh you heard that, didn’t you?” Phil coos as he approaches the dog. Lion looks back up at him with big brown eyes, determined to not move as much as an inch forward. Dan can’t help but laugh at the sight, the stubborn dog glued to the muddy ground as a guy five times his size tries to bribe him into walking.

“If I were a dog I’d probably be a corgi,” Dan laughs and Phil looks up at him, eyebrows raised.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Dan chuckles while Susan sits down by his side. “I can be happy and wiggly, but most of the time I’m just a stubborn guy who doesn’t want to move from my sofa crease.”

Phil laughs at this, his eyes still on Dan, and Dan feels the tingle in his stomach once again as he notices Phil studying him. He holds his breath and feels the big blue eyes travel over his face, over his smile lines, his freckles, his dimple.

“Y’know, I can kind of see it.” 

Dan exhales. “See what?”

“That you resemble a corgi in a way. You have that happy face that a corgi has, but I can also imagine you being stubborn as heck.”

“What the fuck,” Dan laughs. “Thanks, I guess?”

“It’s a compliment, corgis are my favorite dogs actually.”

Dan feels his cheeks go even hotter, but thankfully Phil looks down at Lion again, and makes an attempt to pick him up. Lion grunts as Phil’s long, slender arms wrap around him, but doesn’t resist when his dense body lifts from the ground. Phil adjusts his grip around him and Dan can see the pale hands wrap around the fluffy ball of fur that is Lion's butt. Lion looks like he’s smiling now, his mouth is open and his tongue sticks out. When they start walking again the ears start to flop, bouncing with every step Phil takes.

“I’d one hundred percent be a corgi,” Dan chuckles at the sight of Lion. “That looks amazing.”

“You can say whatever you want but these arms are occupied and I do not have room for one more,” Phil pants, which makes Dan chuckle even more.

“What about you?” Dan asks after a few seconds of giggling at Phil’s apparent struggle with carrying the dog. 

Phil glares down at Lion in his arms. “I’d love to be a corgi as well, but I don’t think I resemble one.”

“I don't think that either,” Dan agrees, before he looks down at Susan who walks gracefully by his side, suddenly realizing.

“You’d be a borzoi!”

“A what?”

“A borzoi, like Susan!”

Phil looks past the fluffy ears covering half of his view and down at Susan, who looks back up at him with her long face and big brown eyes.

“Oh my god, you’re right,” Phil pants, as he shifts the dog in his arms. “And you are a heavy boy,” he murmurs at Lion, who’s still smiling in his arms, tongue out and all.

“I mean, look at you both,” Dan continues. “You’re both tall with slender legs, sharp facial features and blonde…”

“Fur?”

Dan starts laughing, at the mental image of Phil having blonde fur all over his body. Phil begins to laugh as well, and has to stop to let go of Lion, leash and all.

“Ow, my arms,” he whines as he shakes them at his sides. Lion suddenly decides his legs work again and starts to walk the second his body reaches the ground, leash dragging after him. Dan jumps after him to grab it.

“Thank you,” Phil says, still a bit breathless, and reaches for the leash Dan’s holding out for him. Phil takes it from Dan’s hand and when he does, his fingers stroke the inside of Dan’s palm for a millisecond. Despite it being a fleeting touch, Dan feels the softness of Phil’s fingers, and they leave a hot electric mark in his palm despite being quite cool.

They walk for a moment, quiet, the only sound being their shoes crushing the leaves beneath their feet and the occasional sniff from one of the dogs. It’s chilly out, and the clouds above them are becoming darker with every minute. 

“Isn’t it funny how we both have dogs that represent each other?” Phil suddenly asks. Dan turns to him to try to interpret Phil’s expression, to figure out how he’s supposed to interpret the thing Phil just said, but before he gets any time to think about it, something wet hits his head. He looks up to the sky to see raindrops falling towards them.

“Oh fuck.”

“You didn’t bring a rain coat did you?” Phil asks, probably more of a rhetorical question, because he can clearly see that what Dan is wearing is not a raincoat.

It takes approximately about 10 more seconds, then the sky completely opens up, and rain starts pouring down at the four of them.

“We should get inside,” Dan grunts as he tries to cover his head with his plaid shirt but to no avail. Both of them are already drenched. “Do you live nearby?”

Phil shakes his head, his wet fringe already stuck to his forehead. “Do you?”

“Kind of. Let’s go!”

They start running with both dogs in tow. Lion challenges his inner goof and tries to bite the leash with every step Phil takes, dragging out some muttered swear words from Phil as he tries to not step on the dog. Susan sprints past Dan, eager to be the fastest, and almost trips Dan as she does so. Dan had not bothered to put on her raincoat before they got out and he can visibly see her trying to avoid the army of raindrops that’s attacking her, but to no avail. Her cream white fur has already started to curl and stick to her body, and he knows that Layla is going to be mad at him later for getting her all wet and muddy.

They run as fast as they can, but since none of them appears to be in any particular good shape they have to stop after a few minutes to catch their breath. They both start laughing as they stop, so hopelessly wet now that it’s beyond saving. The dogs both jump at their feet, eager to continue this fun play of running, and they both have turned into muddy little monsters. 

Eventually they get out of the forest, completely drenched and out of breath. The sky has calmed down a bit at this point and is not emptying full buckets of water over their heads anymore, but it’s still raining and the damage to their clothes and the dogs has already been done.

It only takes a few minutes for them to reach Dan’s apartment, and without thinking twice he lets them all in through the front gate and leads them up the stairs to his apartment on the second floor. It’s not until he puts the key in the lock and opens the door to his apartment that the situation dawns on him. He’s bringing a complete stranger into his apartment and as he didn’t expect to bring back company when he left the apartment this morning he’s not sure about the state of it. He glances over at Phil who doesn’t look bothered at all and decides there and then to just go with it.

And with that they’re all standing in Dan’s narrow hallway. The water drips from their clothes and the dogs’ fur, forming brown puddles at their feet. Susan shakes her whole body and drizzles mud everywhere, painting Dan’s normally white hallway walls with dark spots and wet stains.

“We’re making a mess of your hallway,” Phil mutters, looking guilty where he’s standing drenched, clothes slicked against his body.

“No worries, it’s a mess in here anyways,” Dan answers, even though it’s not entirely true.

His flat is small and usually quite tidy. It’s a studio apartment with white walls and black furniture, with a bed, a small kitchen table with two chairs, a tiny gray sofa and a tv. There’s some dishes in the sink from the past few days, and Dan catches a glimpse of a pair of black boxers on the bathroom floor through the open door. It’s actually not messy at all, and he hopes Phil won’t feel bad about coming in here. The truth is Dan doesn’t mind having him here at all. In some weird way it feels like he belongs in his apartment. 

Dan kicks off his shoes and tells Phil to do the same, before he goes to fetch some towels. When he returns to the hallway, the sight of Phil and the dogs is so endearing he has to stop himself from letting a smile take over his face. They all look completely drenched, there’s not an ounce of dry skin, clothes or fur in sight. Phil’s sneakers look ruined, they’ve taken on a dark brown shade from all the dirt, and he has mud up to his knees. His blonde fringe is messy and licked to his forehead, partially covering his eyes. 

Phil is kneeling next to Lion, desperately trying to clean him from the mud that covers the entire, tiny dog. Susan is only muddy on her legs and stomach, mostly thanks to her height, but her usually cream white, shiny fur has turned curly and tangled. Dan reaches out his hand with a white towel to Phil, who looks up at Dan from where he’s seated. 

Dan feels a flutter within him. 

”Here you go,” Dan says as he gives the towel to Phil, keeping one for himself. 

”Thanks,” Phil says as he takes the towel, but he lets it rest in his hand, at a safe distance from his muddy body. 

A silence stretches across the hallway as Phil sheepishly looks down at the clean piece of fabric in his hand, and Dan looks at Phil, equally dumbfounded. It hits him that he’s not sure what he wanted Phil to do with the towel, and now the thought of rubbing the white, clean towel over literal dirt seems stupid. Dan inhales at the exact same time as Phil. 

“-Do you want me to take a shower?”

“-If you want to, you can take a shower.”

Phil looks up and their eyes meet, blue with brown, and they both huff out a laugh. Susan shakes her body again, water drops sprinkling in all directions. 

“I’m sorry, I’m not usually this bold,” Phil chuckles, once again looking down at the towel, “but I couldn’t figure out what else you wanted me to do with this?”

“I don’t know what I was thinking either,” Dan smiles, before a loud thunder shifts his focus to his windows. It has started pouring down again, and the view outside is blurry from all the water flowing down the windows. He turns back to Phil. 

“But this doesn’t seem to be over for a while, so yeah, the shower’s yours. Unless you want to go home?” 

Dan can almost see a faint shade of pink flushing across Phil’s cheeks.

“No, if it’s okay I’d love to stay until the weather has calmed down.”

His eyes rise again to meet Dan’s. Blue, and big. “I have nowhere else to be anyway.”

Thirty minutes later it’s still pouring down outside Dan’s studio apartment. They’ve both showered, and Phil has curled up in the corner of Dan’s tiny sofa. He’s wearing Dan’s hoodie from university, and a pair of gray sweatpants, and Dan has to remind himself not to linger too long at the shadows the sweatpants create as they drape around Phil’s legs. Susan and Lion have both occupied Dan’s bed, exhausted after both the run from the park and a quick bath in Dan’s tiny tub. They lie curled up against each other, as if they've known each other their entire lives. 

They haven't though, and it’s a completely new situation for everyone involved, but somehow Dan finds himself thinking it feels natural. Almost familiar, even. Dan is making some tea and Phil is busy looking through Dan’s video games, with the only sound filling the apartment being the dogs' deep breaths and the low humming from the washing machine filled with Phil’s clothes. It’s peaceful, it’s calm and the silence between them is neither thick nor awkward but relaxed, as if this is something they do every day. Dan likes the feeling of it, and decides to not think too much about that means but instead enjoy it. He will allow himself to get carried away by the warm, fluffy feeling that is filling him in this exact moment. 

A quiet growl takes him out of his thoughts, and as he looks up he finds Phil looking at him, smiling gingerly. 

 “I’m sorry, you’ve done so much for me already,” he says as he fidgets with his hands that lay atop his lap, “but you don’t have any food? Or a snack?”

Dan feels the endearing feeling fill himself again, and he gets the sudden urge to do anything in his power to stop this man from being hungry. 

“Of course, hold on,” Dan says, as he opens the fridge, then the cabinet, and then the fridge again. Empty. "Fuck," he mutters, and his heart sinks in his chest as he turns back to Phil, who waits expectantly, hands in his lap, sweater paws and all. Somehow the flutter returns for a second. 

“I don’t have any proper food though, if I had known I would’ve bought some."

He sees Phil smile fade just the slightest, even though he tries not to show it, and Dan realizes that he can't have that. He will feed this man even if it means that he will have to go out in the rain again to buy the food himself. 

"I could buy you something, because I literally only have milk and cereal.”

To his surprise, Phil’s face lights up.

“I love cereal! It's perfect!”

For the third time in the last hour, the flutter returns, and this time it stays, like butterflies playing tag in the depths of Dan's stomach. 

They eat cereal and drink tea, with their legs crossed and knees slightly touching on Dan's small grey sofa. They talk about Mario Kart and giggle when Lion starts to snore. It's like they've always known each other, and always done this, which is weird, because they haven't. Not as far as Dan's aware at least.

Outside the rain continues to pour down, and thunder can be heard, far away, rumbling. Inside the sun is shining, and Dan finds himself wishing for the storm to never end.