Dan is an American teenage boy living in San Diego, and goes on an exchange field trip to England. But who’s his exchange student? Read on to find out more! 

DISCLAIMER: Obviously (and unfortunately) everything I have written, including references to Dan’s family, is entirely fictional. I am not claiming Phan is real.

PROMPT:

The kiss continued for as long as it could before we inevitably broke apart for air.

“Oh my god…” I gasped, still short of breath, and still lying on the floor with Phil on top of me.

Phil suddenly seemed very shocked at something, as he froze for a few seconds, before sitting upright, allowing me to sit up too.

We both sat in silence, pretty unable of what the holy fuck we were going to say next.

Did that really just happen?!

“I…I’m so sorry, Dan!” He apologized all of a sudden “I don’t know what came ov-”

I stared him dead in the eye, cutting him off.

“Don’t be sorry, Phil. Honestly.”

Phil bit down on his lip, which only made the urges I had right now even worse. He looked too damn sexy when he did that, even if it was out of anxiousness.

“…Really?” He responded after a silence.

I swallowed nervously. “Yep.”

We trailed off into a painful silence again, before he broke it with a sigh.

“Look, Dan, I… I think we need a walk. To talk this over properly.” He stood up, holding his hand out to help me up after him.

“Where are we going?” I asked, grabbing my jacket and fluffy hat. 

“Erm…” He racked his brains. “To the forest. I used to go there all the time as a kid.”

I didn’t question any further, and followed him downstairs.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” Phil’s mum chirped from the kitchen.

“We’re just off out for a little walk. We won’t be long!” 

“Well, be back in time for dinner!“ She smiled, before gasping. “Gosh, I remember saying that when you were, what, 11? Has he told you about his little club yet, Dan?” 

“Not now, mum!” Phil quickly opened the door, as we heard her laughing from the kitchen.

“Don’t worry, Dan, I’m sure you’ll hear much more about the… what was it? The Klever Katz?”

“The KOOL Katz actually!” Phil smirked, before stepping out into the driveway. “We were the coolest kids in town, you can’t deny it!” 

“I certainly can’t! Anyway, see you later!

“Bye mum!” Phil called out, as he shut the door.

Usually, we would have walked along jokingly talking about this new-found ‘Klub’ of Phil’s, but today, I was feeling… different. I began to see things in a different perspective that I wanted to talk to Phil about. Although I felt I’d probably end up opening up to him a lot more than I would have thought.

“…You’re close to your mom, aren’t you?” I stated in a very soft voice once we were walking. It was so quiet, he could have pretended not to hear if he wanted to. But he responded nevertheless.

Phil studied my expressions which I tried to make as blank as I could.

“Yeah… yeah I am.” He replied, his voice just as soft as mine. 

We continued walking in a thoughtful silence, as I racked my brains for something else to say.

“Why?” He asked before I had a chance to think of anything.

“I… I can tell.” I narrowed my eyes. “You have a real bond with her. And your dad, too.” 

I gulped anxiously, suddenly regretting what I was letting myself in for. I knew I shouldn’t have really brought this into discussion. My family was a sensitive topic. 

But I couldn’t really help it.

“…I guess so.”

I bit my lip. “You’re so… lucky.” I whispered.

I could almost hear the buzz of thoughts in his head, above the crunching of the leaves beneath our shoes.

“Don’t you…?” He responded after a while.

“Well…” I dithered helplessly. “It’s… it’s not as strong as yours, let’s just say.” I reasoned carefully. I couldn’t exactly be so blunt as to tell him the complete truth.

“…How come?” He asked.

There was no turning back now.

“We’re just… we’re just not really… as close as a normal family. I don’t really talk to my parents as often as anyone else, about anything. We’re not close. We don’t do normal family things, and we don’t really spend enough time with each other. Most of the time, I… I just want to be left alone, in my room. When I’m at home.”

I could sense Phil processing this new information about me, and I worried in case it had all come out too quickly.

“What… what about your brother?”

I shook my head. “Don’t get along. We don’t have any ‘bond’ like you do with yours. We just… do our own thing.”

“You don’t talk to him…?”

I shook my head, shrugging.” I guess not.”

Phil stared at me with sad eyes, but I couldn’t stop now.

“I guess… I guess that’s why I came on the trip in the first place. To… you know, escape my usual life. To experience things I’d never experienced before. To meet new people. To just forget about the misery at home.” 

Phil looked as if I was about to reduce him to tears.

“Phil…” I gazed up at him. “I- I don’t want to leave.” 

Phil swallowed.

“I don’t want you to leave, Dan. I really don’t. It… it feels as if I’ve known you all my life. You make me feel… myself. And I can never really be like that around my friends. They all think I’m a bit weird for liking different things to them. But you… understand me.” Phil glanced down at me, scared that what he said might have sounded too cringey. But if anything, his words pierced straight through my heart. I couldn’t take it any longer. Girlfriend or not, I reached out my hand, and laced my fingers between his, so we were walking along, hand-in-hand, looking like a real couple. I guiltily flashed him a look for his approval, to receive a warm smile, and a squeeze back in my own hand.

“Dan, I…” Phil began after a few minutes of walking like this. “There’s something I’ve been needing to tell you.” 

“What?” I asked

He stopped walking and turned around to face me, holding my other hand and staring me straight in the eye, dazzling me with the intensity. 

“I-I… I don’t have a girlfriend.” He confessed with difficulty. 

I stood, rooted to the spot, unable of what to even think to say, or do. I just completely froze.

So… he…?

“But… why did you-…”

“I just… I was getting so nervous next to you, and then you asked me if I did, and I just… it just came out. I guess I was just so scared in case you had one and I was taking things too far, because-”

“Phil.”  I gulped, cutting him off. Maybe it would be better if I just confessed.

“Phil, I like you. A lot. In fact, I don’t know if I should even be telling you. You’d probably think I’m fucking weird, or I’ll end up scaring you off or something, but… I think I’m in love with y-”

He cut me off with a shy kiss. It was just like last time, except slower, and softer. I kissed him back with equal passion, my arms making their way around his body. It was an incredible feeling, almost indescribable. I still couldn’t bring myself to believe this was actually happening. It would only be a few more minutes before I woke up, in my own bed, this whole thing being one big dream.

Luckily though, this didn’t happen.

“I already knew I was. Right from the start.” He admitted softly, our faces still very close together. “And when we were filming, I just… couldn’t take it any longer. I needed to do something. And I couldn’t even tell you how nervous I was, I-”

“Phil…?!” I widened my eyes in sudden realization.

“What?”

“Did we… did we stop filming?!”

Phil opened his mouth to respond, and was cut short with the same realization. 

“Oh my god”

“It’s still filming!” 

I let out a high-pitched laugh as we stopped in our tracks, and turned to start rushing back to Phil’s. I was too embarrassed to mention how unfit I actually was, and also how increasingly out of breath I was getting, very quicky.

I felt my skin beginning to sweat as we ran, a pain in my chest growing worryingly fast, and my eyes watering. After doing this solidly for at least 10 minutes, I was beginning to be convinced I was going to die. Which wasn’t good.

“Almost there! I c- Dan?!” Phil stopped dead in his tracks as I all but collapsed to the ground in pain. “Dan, are you okay?!”

I held onto him for support. “I-I…. yeah….. I.. don’t…. do…. s-sport….” I explained in between gasps.

“You should have told me that! Come on, sit down.” He sat me down on the porch step, and let me collapse in his chest until recovery. I began coughing, tasting blood in my mouth and pulling an unpleasant face. 

“Ugh…”

“I was so worried! You’re better now though, right?”

“A… bit…”

Phil kissed the top of my head, making my heart completely stop for a split second. I kept on forgetting that-

Wait.

Are we a… thing now?

Is it official?

Pushing the thoughts out of my mind, I made an effort to look as if I wasn’t very nearly completely dead. 

“Oh, Dan.” Phil’s eyes turned sympathetic as he hugged me tightly. “Come on, take it easy and I’ll get you a drink.”

We walked up the porch steps, and used the back door to get into his kitchen.

“Oh, Dan! What’s happened?! Are you okay?” Phil’s mum dropped the carrot she was peeling in the kitchen and rushed over to my side.

“I’m fine, I’m fine! I just… ran a bit too hard.”

“He doesn’t exercise as much as he should, do you Dan?” Phil gave me a playful wink, nudging my side as I grinned in response.

“Oh, okay. God, I thought you had been in an accident or something!” Phil’s mum exclaimed, walking back to dinner preparation.

“Do I really look that bad?!” I asked Phil as I drank the water he had given me, walking upstairs to his bedroom.

“No, of course not. You look a bit better now, anyway!” He walked into his room, leaving the door open for me.

“Hey… we forgot to turn the camera off, so it‘s been filming a blank room for about an hour now!!” I talked into the camera, giggling. Phil joined me.

“Dan’s been running and he nearly died.”

“I sure did! Anyway, let’s turn this off before the battery dies!”

“Like me.” I commented, as he laughed in response.

“We’ll edit this later. I can’t be bothered to do it now, anyway!” Phil confessed.

“Welcome to my world. Let’s watch it back.”

“All of it?!”

“No. Just the… erm..”

Phil chuckled as he realized where this was going. “We don’t need to watch it.”

“Why not?”

“Because.” He answered, and suddenly jumped on me, re-playing his exact actions earlier. I was the one who dived into the kiss first, clasping his body close to me, as my heartbeat went into overdrive. I had thought it’d had enough activity by now.

He deepened the kiss, shyly tracing my bottom lip with the tip of his tongue. I opened my mouth slightly, giving him permission which he soon granted. Our tongues glided over each other as I gradually let my hand slide up his shirt, my fingers ghosting over his smooth pale skin on his-

“Boys, what wo- Oh! Oh I’m so sorry!” Phil’s mum darted out of his room, her face flushed bright red when she saw what she had interrupted. 

“Oh god, mum! I- It’s-… I can explain!” He protested when we had ripped ourselves apart from each-other.

“It’s okay, Phil, I shouldn’t have interr-”

“I can explain.” Phil repeated, making an immense effort to stay calm in this heated situation.

There was a deadly silence, before Phil broke it softly, opening his eyes and keeping himself from biting his lip any further.

“I’m gay.”

I froze, my eyes widening in pure shock as Phil stared at me, and then up at his mum.

“Oh, honey!” Phil’s mum outstretched her arms, pulling her son in for a tight embrace. She began to cry, her emotions flooding out as well as Phil’s. I felt a huge pang in my heart, for multiple reasons. One, because I had never seen Phil cry before, and it was painful to watch him, although I had in front of him, before. At the same time, I was so, incredibly happy for Phil for doing this. He was braver than I could ever be. But seeing him so close to his mum like so, was damaging. It was so far fetched from anything my family would ever be, and it was upsetting to remind myself of that. Even though it made it worse by looking at them, I couldn’t help but stare longingly.

“Y-You’re okay with it?” Phil asked, still sniffling. 

“Of course I am, Phil!” His mum insisted. “Your dad and I always thought you had been. I’m so proud of you for being brave enough to tell me.” She pulled him in for another hug.

“Well, I didn’t really need to… tell you!!” Phil admitted jokingly, as she chuckled. 

“I love you, mum.” Phil mumbled.

“I love you too.” She replied, and I couldn’t handle it anymore. I let tears blur my vision as I thought over just how close they actually are. It was… almost unbelievable.

“Oh, Dan! Come here!” Phil’s mum outstretched her arms for me, and even though I would have normally been shy, and maybe a little anxious, I fled into her arms, sobbing.

It felt so… strange hugging her. She wasn’t even my mum, yet I saw myself with a possible stronger bond with her than with my own mother. 

I feared for bringing Phil back home with me.