"Hey PJ, I'm back," Dan called out as he entered through the front door of his shared apartment.

"Hey," PJ greeted the other man from their living room. "Why were you out so late?"

"It's not that late," Dan said.

PJ glanced down at his watch before shrugging and saying, "Yeah I guess. You came right on time though. I was just about to make dinner. Want to help?"

"Sure." Dan went into the kitchen to start washing his hands and prepare for their meal.

"So what were you doing? You never told me," PJ said.

"Uhh - just got held up at work. You know..." Dan trailed off before changing the conversation. "So, what are you cooking?"

"Dan."

"What?" Dan asked.

"You know what. What are you hiding, hm?" PJ questioned him.

"Nothing! I was doing... work stuff."

Technically Dan wasn't lying. He was with his boss who employed him for work. But it's just that he wasn't talking to his boss about work related things. Dan didn't know why he felt the need to avoid the topic with his roommate but he sort of felt as if PJ would make fun of him in some way. Hopefully PJ wouldn't catch on and guess what he was actually up to. He'd most likely tease him more for trying to hide it.

"Was this 'work stuff' related to Phil?" PJ asked.

And of course he was just smart enough to figure it out though.

"Uhh - maybe?"

"Ah I see. So you were," PJ said. "Were you on a date? Is that why you didn't tell me? Why didn't you tell me? How was the date like? How did it go?"

"Woah, woah, woah. PJ, calm down. We didn't have a 'date' for fuck's sake," Dan reassured him. "We just talked about the thing, you know?"

"Is that what they're calling it nowadays?" PJ muttered while taking out some ingredients for their dinner.

"What?"

"Nothing," PJ said quickly. "What thing are you talking about?"

"The fake marriage thing. God PJ," Dan said.

"Oh, that thing! Sorry. That's cool. Was there anything you guys talked about in particular?" He asked.

"We just talked about how we should make up some random stuff on how we met and things like that," Dan said uncomfortably.

"Yeah, that's pretty smart. His parents might question you."

"That's what I'm scared of, Peej. What if I don't know what to say?" Dan asked the other male.

PJ shook his head. "Dan, you'll be fine, are you kidding me? You'll do great."

"How do you know that? Do you even know what I have to do?" Dan asked.

PJ shrugged. "Not really. But knowing you, I'm sure you'll do really well. Believe it or not, but I have learned some things about you while you were here, you know."

Dan glared at the green eyed man. "Like what?"

"That you don't give yourself enough credit for the things that you do well. Trust me, you can do this and you'll do this just fine. So don't worry so much," PJ said.

Dan sighed. What PJ said didn't exactly help him with his troubles, but at least he could believe him for a bit before the real deal happens.

"So what else happened?" His friend asked.

"We just talked about stuff... and surprisingly enough, I think we got along quite well," Dan replied.

"See, I told you!" PJ exclaimed.

Dan stared at the other man. "Yes, we may have gotten along better, but that doesn't help me and my situation about lying and acting in front if his parents and worrying if I'll mess everything up."

"Hm, maybe you don't have to mess everything up," PJ started but Dan interrupted.

"That's what I'm hoping for!"

"Let me finish," PJ sighed. "Maybe Phil will help you along the way."

Dan felt his cheeks grow warmer when he recalled the event that occurred earlier. "Well, that is what he said."

"Explain," PJ demanded. He turned to give Dan his complete attention and crossed his arms, leaving their dinner behind, immediately forgotten.

Dan thought back to what Phil had told him earlier. "He just said that he'll help me if I'm uncomfortable. I don't get why you're making such a big deal."

PJ sighed and said, "Just when I thought you were going to be sappy, you completely let me down."

The younger male shrugged. "That's your fault for believing that."

"You're right, I should've known better," Peej said dramatically. "So what else did the two of you talk about?"

"Just nothing else besides that really. We were there for almost an hour surprisingly, then when he realized that we were there a bit later than he had intended. And he wanted to eat dinner…" Dan trailed off, hoping his friend would understand what he was trying to say without having to go through the embarrassment of actually saying it.

"So he asked you out to dinner?" PJ asked Dan while returning to his previous task of cutting the vegetables for their dinner.

"Mhm." Dan mentally thanked Peej for being that smart to figure it out.

"And you just said no?" PJ asked.

"Yep," Dan replied.

"Typical."

"What?" Dan looked at PJ confusedly.

"Why didn't you go?" PJ dodged the question and instead asked his own.

"We already spent like an hour with each other and I don't think I could handle another date with him," Dan said.

PJ looked up at him. "So it was a date."

Dan groaned. "No! It wasn't a date. I just - ugh. You know what I mean."

"Sure, Dan," PJ said sarcastically.

Dan found himself at work, lounging around in Louise's office for a bit, like he usually did on a day morning. He was just about to do an errand that his colleague has asked him to do. He was trying to avoid getting Louise's attention so he wouldn't have to answer her insanely annoying and curious questions. Except that morning, before Louise could bombard her friend with a rush of questions, their boss pulled Dan out of her office.

"Wha-?!" Dan squawked as Phil hurried into the blonde's room and tugged on Dan's arm out of the office. He dragged the younger male, despite his many loud protests, towards his own office without saying a word explaining as to why he was kidnapping the other man.

When the two males finally arrived at Phil's office, Dan yanked his arm free from what Phil had held captive.

He turned to other man. The brunet saw worry flash into Phil's eyes, but he didn't want to ask anything about it to show concern.

"Would you please explain what's going on right now?" Dan asked Phil instead in a slight angered tone.

"My parents are coming here early," Phil blurted out.

Dan widened his eyes and stared at Phil for a few seconds before yelling, "What?!"

Phil let out a groan and lightly tugged on his hair. "I don't know. They called me earlier this morning and apparently they want to be here earlier than planned to because after this, they're going to go on some vacation or something."

Dan started pacing back and forth. "When are they coming over?" He asked.

"In a couple of days," Phil started. "I'm so sorry Dan. I didn't think they'd be here this early. I wish they would have told me and we could've been more prepared for this."

The brown haired man exhaled loudly. "It's okay. We can do this. A couple of days is plenty of time right?"

"Yes! Of course. We just need to move your stuff in my place by today and then we can go from there," Phil stated.

"Alright. That sounds good, but how are we going to do that?" Dan asked.

"Umm," Phil thought quickly. "We're skipping work today. We're going to go to your apartment and I'm going to help you pack. You're staying at mine tonight."

Dan blinked. "But I share a flat with my friend. He'll be concerned and quite confused about this happening all so suddenly."

"That's okay," Phil reassured.

"But it's PJ!" Dan exclaimed. "Who's going to help him cook for dinner?"

"Just call Peej that you won't be home tonight. I'm sure he won't mind."

"But he's at work right now."

"I'm sure he won't mind," he repeated.

Dan groaned but obeyed his boss's request.

"Hey Peej?"

"Dan? I'm at work right now, I told you not to call me."

"Listen, I won't be coming home tonight."

"Wait, wha - Dan?!"

"Bye!" He then abruptly hung up.

Dan closed his eyes and sighed. He realized that he could've texted PJ, but he was just put on the spot by Phil so he felt the need to listen to him.

He looked back to Phil. "Okay, now what?"

The blue eyed male stared at him before saying one word, "Run."

"Wh-" Dan started to say but didn't have time to finish as Phil grabbed his arm again and began to quickly drag him out of the building and into the parking deck.

"Phil, Phil, Phil, stop. Wait. Stop," Dan said as they were running halfway through the parking deck. "Let go of my arm, it's starting to hurt."

Phil immediately halted and turned around to the younger male.

"Jesus Christ," Dan muttered while gently rubbing his arm where Phil may have left a bruise.

"I'm so sorry, are you okay?" He asked with concern in his eyes.

"Yes, I'm fine," Dan replied. "Why do you insist on dragging me everywhere?"

Phil continued walking and shrugged. "I don't know. It seemed faster that way."

"But do you have to have a death grip on me?"

Dan saw Phil's shoulders shake in front of him as he laughed.

"I'm sorry," the older man repeated. "It's not that I'm trying to. Sometimes I just get a bit rough or clumsy - which is something you'll have to remember by the way!"

Dan groaned. "Are you kidding me? Are these one of your little 'quirks' you were talking about last night?" Dan put up quotations for when he said quirks even though Phil was in front of him and couldn't see the gesture.

Dan thought it was a little silly though. In fact, he found this whole ordeal a bit silly. Of course he still stressed out about messing things up but besides that, everything was just silly. Maybe it was because it was involving Phil, and Dan couldn't help to feel more like a kid around him the more they spent time together. Dan couldn't complain, at least not like he used to. And maybe it'll be for the better, Dan thought.

"Yes!" Phil exclaimed. "I told you. The quirks are extremely crucial to know. It's the most important!"

"Really," Dan said in disbelief. "The most important you say? More important than the, let's say entire fake marriage?"

"Nope, that's not important at all." Phil turned around to show Dan his flashing smile and Dan felt his stomach do a twirl.

Dan ignored the feeling and instead rolled his eyes. "Right. So where's your car? We've been walking for like hours."

"I'm sure it's been hours." Phil laughed. "But lucky for you, it's just right here!"

Phil made a turn and soon the two were in contact with Phil's vehicle. He walked to passenger side and opened the door for Dan.

"M'lady."

"No, please don't. Let's not." Dan groaned but got inside the car regardless.

Dan could hear Phil's deep laugh as he moved around the car to get into the driver's seat.

"So where to, captain?" Dan asked when Phil slid into his seat.

"Your flat first, remember?"

"Right. Oops," Dan said dumbly. "So uh, let's get going?"

Phil smiled at him and then proceeded to drive out of the parking deck and onto the road.