:alien: An Intergalactic Kind of Love :alien:

:alien: Fic Title: An Intergalactic Kind of Love

:alien: Word Count: 1666

:alien: Summary: Phil has been acting terribly strange recently and Dan just can’t stop his emotions from running wild. (Or, alternatively, Phil is an alien and Dan doesn’t know.)

:alien: Warnings: Swearing and angst

This fic was written for The Phanfic Club’s Genre Challenge where everyone in the club is supposed to write in a genre they tend not to lean towards! I typically don’t write a ton of angst and have never done a sci-fi fic, so I combined those two things to create this! #GenreChallenge

:alien: Read on AO3 or below! :alien:

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Phil has been acting strange, recently.

His phone has been going off often, much more often than it normally does. He makes sure to grab it and flip it over, or put it in his pocket quickly, or, once even, he lunged over to where the phone was sitting on the couch and laid right on top of it.

He has been spending more time alone. He locks himself anywhere he can to get some privacy: their bedroom, the guest room, the old gaming room, the closet. He claims he’s just working, but Dan knows Phil’s working style by now and alone in a dark, quiet room is not it.

He’s tired, almost constantly, but seems to stay up even later than Dan most nights. Dan goes to bed alone and Phil is normally gone again before Dan gets up. In fact, Dan’s not sure Phil is sleeping at all. And, if he is, well, he’s not doing much of it in their bed.

He’s more distant. He’s more moody. Dan can get him to laugh very rarely and Phil doesn’t even seem to crack a smile if he’s playing a video game. He doesn’t even smile if he’s playing Animal Crossing! Who doesn’t smile while playing Animal Crossing?

Dan wants to confront him about it. He’s terribly concerned. Phil isn’t acting like Phil and Dan desperately wants his best friend, boyfriend, and soulmate back from wherever he’s hiding in the Phil-shaped husk Dan sees right now. He’s worried Phil would get mad, though. Dan asked him the other night if he wanted pasta for dinner and Phil rolled his eyes and said he was much too busy to waste time having a sit-down meal.

He figured Phil was just having some kind of grumpy, emotional spell. Dan has had plenty of those and he’s been trying to love and Phil the best he can. It’s been going on for weeks now, though, and Dan is starting to feel awfully annoyed, himself.

It’s the final straw when Dan tries to give Phil a quick peck on the cheek before going for a run and Phil shoves him away. Hard.

“Jesus, Phil, what is your problem?! I haven’t even kissed you in two weeks! Isn’t that what couples are supposed to do? Kiss each other? You’ve been so fucking weird and distant and I’ve tried to be nice! I have! But this is getting ridiculous!” He runs his hands through his hair, exasperated. “I’m sorry I’m getting angry, I am, but God, Phil, what is the issue?”

Phil’s eyes are dark. He is stone-faced and perhaps one of the scariest sights Dan has ever seen. In over ten-and-a-half years knowing each other, this might be the angriest Dan has ever seen him.

“You do not have the slightest clue as to what I’m going through.”

The words are spoken in such an un-Phil-like manner that it sends a shiver down Dan’s spine. Each word is like a little blade, stabbing his confused heart.

“I love you, Phil, don’t you fucking understand that? Seeing you act like this makes me worried and confused and angry and sad. I just want to know what is going on! We’ve told each other everything and you--” Dan can’t hold back the tears. He’s finally allowing himself to feel his emotions, and everything from the past few weeks is surfacing at once. “You leaving me in the dark scares me! It terrifies me, Phil! I’m a goddamn mess of a human being and… and… I know it’s not your fault.” He sniffles. “I know it’s not your fault, but you acting like this makes my stupid fucking brain think there’s something wrong with me. Like, I don’t know…” Dan falls to the ground. He covers his face with his hands and cries. He weeps. His emotions are a tsunami, overflowing and uncontrollable.

“Dan…” Phil’s voice is soft.

Dan wipes his eyes, snivels quietly, and looks. Phil is on the floor by him. He looks crushed. Devastated. His blue eyes are glossy.

They stare at each other. Dan rubs his face a few times and some silent tears run out of Phil’s eyes.

“I swear, I’m sorry. It’s just… you wouldn’t understand why I’m acting like this. You couldn’t.”

Dan frowns and breathes out. “Why couldn’t I?! Am I too fucking stupid?”

“Dan, no,” Phil whispers.

“What is it, then?” Dan spits. He can’t help his sadness and fear from see-sawing into a fiery anger.

“Dan, I…” Phil’s voice is so, so soft. Dan can tell he’s scared. “Where… I… my home planet. It’s been destroyed.”

Dan’s face twists up in even more confusion. “What?”

“This is going to sound ridiculous. Know that I adore you, Dan. I trust you more than anyone. That’s why I’m telling you this, okay?”

Dan nods slowly. “All right.”

“I’m an alien.”

Dan’s eyes are piercing through Phil. A million thoughts are racing through his mind. The one that is most prominent, though, is, “what the hell kind of sick practical joke is this, Phil?”

“I’m not--” Phil rubs his whole face with his two hands. “I’m not joking, I swear. How could I joke with you when we’re both at our most vulnerable?”

Dan shakes his head. “You’re… an… alien…” he barely breathes out. “Phil, I’m going to out.”

“No, no, even breaths, please, baby…”

“Don’t ‘baby’ me now!” Dan snaps. “How do I even know you’re my Phil? What if you just took over his body! Like some bodysnatcher freaky freaking--” Dan shoves himself against the wall, as far away from Phil as possible.

“Dan…” Phil reaches out.

Dan shrieks, “Don’t fucking touch me!”

At that, Phil sobs. He curls into a ball of his own on the floor. “Dan… Dan… Danny… please, God, please…” he babbles, “I love you… I love you so, so much… it can’t end like this…”

Dan can’t help his own tears from returning. He scooches closer to Phil and quietly, so, so quietly, says, “I’m sorry. I love you. I love you and I always will, Phil. I just… can’t believe it.”

Phil shakes his head, sniffles, and says, “I didn’t want to hide this from you. It’s just… I’ve been trained to hide for so long. I was planning to pretend I’ve always lived here on Earth but when a meteor strikes your home planet and a hundred of those lucky enough to escape and survive try to you and your family… it’s just hard to keep it together, I guess.” He shakily breaths out and more tears fall. “I’ve failed at keeping it together, actually.”

“But why?” Dan questions. “Why did you keep this from me for so long? I’ve told you… I’ve told you everything and now I don’t know what’s truth and what’s lies.” He takes a look, his eyes dragging up and down. “Who are you, Phil, really?”

“I’m still Phil. I am. My home planet is,” he sighs, “was very, very similar to Earth. That’s why Earth was chosen, after all. Those stories from my childhood… they’re all real. They just didn’t happen on Earth. They happened back home.”

Dan nods. “But how did you get here?”

“When I was about nine,” Phil begins, “my family was chosen to move to Earth. My mum, my dad, Martyn, my grandparents, some aunts and uncles… the government chose us to get on their intergalactic planet immigration ship and populate Earth. They had a hunch that the planet would be destroyed by meteors within thirty years and so, through the power of science I don’t really understand, inserted us into existing family lines on Earth.”

Dan is flabbergasted as Phil explains. He sits there, his mouth slightly parted. “That’s… amazing.”

For the first time in a very long time, Phil cracks a smile. “They do call me AmazingPhil for a reason.”

Dan’s cheeks can’t help from reciprocating the action. So, so fondly, he says, “shut up.” After a moment of silent giggles from both, Dan speaks up again. “Don’t though, really. I want to hear everything.”

~~~

That’s exactly what Phil does. They sit on the floor for hours and as more words fall from Phil’s lips, Dan gets more and more comfortable with the concept. Dan pets Phil’s arm as he talks about being terrified on the spaceship. He holds Phil’s hand as he talks about being so scared that he was going to be taken away by scientists on Earth. He tells him that he’s so smart and talented when Phil its he didn’t understand English too well at first. He runs his hands through his dyed-dark hair and jokes, “no wonder why your head is shaped so weirdly.”

Phil grins. “Yeah, not so strange for my kind. We look remarkably similar, given I’m from a different solar system lightyears away and all, but lots of us have… stranger-shaped noggins.”

They laugh and kiss. It’s beginning to become nighttime outside, but Dan finally feels like he’s no longer in the dark.

Dan’s stomach growls and they pull apart from the kiss. “Want to celebrate and order some Domino’s, Mr. Universe?”

Phil nods and rolls his eyes. “Please don’t call me that.”

“Fine, fine.” Dan stands up and stretches, his ts cracking. Phil follows. He is about to find his laptop to order online, but Phil stops him.

“Dan?”

“Yeah?”

Phil sighs. “I’m sorry for not telling you sooner, really.”

“It’s okay.” Dan pulls Phil into a tight hug. “I know I’ll never really understand. I love you, though. Forever. Whether you’re really entirely human or not.”

They pull apart. “I love you, too. And, if you ever want to ask anything else about any of it, please, feel free. I want you to know. I want you to know everything.”

Dan snorts and then his face twists into a shit-eating grin.

Phil asks, “what?” and giggles.

“Have you ever thought about probing me? 'Cause I'd be willing to try it, you know.”

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