Incompetent (phan)

Chapter 16 - T

**a/n dedicated to danllama for that v expressive comment**

Phil's POV

I stood in the elevator, inspecting my fist that was still stinging like hell.

"Holy sh... Holy cow," I muttered as my knuckles tingled. I looked up when I realised the doors hadn't closed. Dan was leaning against one of the doors, preventing the lift from shutting.

"Let me go, I want to leave," I told him, exasperated.

"Yeah, I can tell," he said gesturing to the red mark on his jaw. It had swelled a little, and so made his jawline bumpy.

"I- I'm sorry, I just- it's, well, your shit was getting too much," I told him truthfully, expecting him to flip out.

He surprised me by giving me a small smile and saying, "Come back inside."

"No, please. I just want to go home."

"You promised we would have dinner together. You barely touched your food."

"I'm not hungry," I protested.

"Ok, just finish your wine. You can leave straight after," he reasoned.

I sighed, knowing that even if I'd said no, he'd make me come in regardless. I walked out of the lift and reentered his penthouse.

"Sit," he said me as we'd entered the living room.

"I'm not your dog."

"Clearly not, a dog can hold it's tongue. Now, tell me what is wrong."

"Nothing is wrong. You said I could take the deal or leave it. My choice was to leave it. What's the problem?"

"That is the problem. Why do you not want to be mine?" He asked, giving me a look that signified my decision was crazy.

"Because, believe it or not, I actually have some dignity left. And because you don't want to be mine. How does that even work? It sounds pretty messed up."

"It will be a relationship with no strings attached."

"So being yours means being your fuck buddy? No thanks."

"Why?"

"Because it's not fair. You said you're allowed to screw around with anyone you want and I'm not supposed to make a big deal, but, God forbid, I look at someone wrong, you'd be pissed as hell. Anyway, seeing you with other people would bother me. You're being hypocritical."

A long silence passed, before he said, "Fine."

"Fine?" I said, unable to keep the joy out of my tone.

"Fine," he confirmed with a smile. "I will not be hypocritical. You will not see anyone else, and neither will I."

"Really?" I asked, shocked that he had given in.

"Yes. We are not together, but you are mine, and I will not see anyone else."

"Ok, that's good enough for now."

He raised his eyebrows, before shaking his head. "I am going to be busy for a while. Matt and I are working on an extremely important case, and I have a feeling it will not be easy to win. It might take us a while. So, the next time I will be able to see you is next week, unfortunately."

"That's ok. I suppose we'll be going for dinner?"

"We can do whatever you want," he told me.

I was pleasantly surprised by his change in attitude. I shrugged, "ok, we'll decide later."