Illicit (phan)

Ten - Future

**1 year after previous events**

"Morning," Phil murmured into my hair as my eyes slowly fluttered open. "Time to wake up," he whispered smoothly into my ear.

I rolled his eyes, grumbling something that sounded extremely close to 'fuck off' before rolling off his chest and landing face down in the pile of pillows.

"Come on," Phil urged, running his fingers lightly through my messy curls and down my back. "You always complain about being late. I've already made breakfast. And I ran you a bath."

I rolled back onto his stomach, staring at the ceiling, rather than Phil's face. "What time is it?"

"Huh? It's eleven," Phil answered, not expecting the question.

"There's something going on."

"What the fuck are you talking about, Dan?" Phil asked, quizzically pulling his eyebrows together, but continuing his gentle rubbing of my shoulders. It was at that moment, Mario, our small Yorkshire terrier, started howling from the hallway outside. "Come on. Mario's probably starving, now isn't the time for an existential crisis."

The story behind Mario was a rather crazy one. Around six months ago, the tiny puppy had taken to following Phil around the park. When Phil had finally given in and picked up the dog, I had almost cried with laughter. The contrast between Phil's harsh tattoos and piercings and the softness of the small dog was enough to make me shake so hard with laughter that I couldn't even take a picture. Luckily for us, Mario seemed wooed by our affection and followed us home. It turned out that his previous owner had moved away and left him all on his own. Phil and I couldn't be happier to step up to the role.

"You're being strange," I commented.

"No, you're being strange."

"No, you are."

Phil rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Can we discuss this over breakfast?"

"See!" I began enthusiastically. "That's exactly what I'm talking about! You never just give in like that."

"What?" Phil asked, now beyond confused. He sat up in bed watching me dubiously.

"You're being so nice to me," I said, copying his actions. "If I'd slept in till 11 on any other day, you would have shoved me out of bed or jumped on top of me or something. And you made breakfast and ran me a bath? When have you ever done that for me? Why are you being nice?"

"I do this for you like every weekend. And anyway, is it wrong for someone to show his boyfriend a little love?"

"When it's you, yeah." I closed his eyes, trying to think what it could be. "Is it my birthday? No, that's ages away. Your birthday? Nope. Mario's? Nah. See, I would say our one year dating anniversary but that was last week... Oh," I muttered finally understanding.

"What?"

"Oh, I get it, now. It's been a year since I... killed him. What did you think I was going to have some mental breakdown? God, were you doing all this because you pity me?" I scoffed, ripping back the duvet and stepping forcefully onto the floor.

"Dan, wait."

"I thought we said no more. No more of you having to protect me. I'm not a child anymore. People go through that shit all the time. You thought because I'm so weak, I wouldn't be able to handle it?"