#Drawing this made me realize that I rarely use (the color) lilac in my art. Huh.

[kala-mies]

Drawing all of the flowers was both extremely tedious and extremely fun

[groundzerobakugo]

hey there! I have another request of a shinsou x reader- basically; reader is always drawing during class- and after school ends she’s painting in the art room. Shinsou always sees her after training when he passes the art room and watches her for a few minutes- and one day she notices him. They start to talk everyday(art,quirk,etc) until one day she’s not there because something happened; add your plot twist! angst maybe? sorry for sending in so many requests,but thx for working on them! 🖤❤️🖤

  i’m doing this one right now because i have a really really good idea bc you said angst and i’ve got a GREAT idea for this. hang on tight heart anon

...

  your paintbrush glided over the canvas, a mixed hue of purple and blue merging together to create the perfect shade of indigo you were hoping for. the tip of your tongue stuck out of the corner of your mouth as you worked on the new painting, the faint line of your sketch barely visible.

  even though you were in japan’s number one hero academy (the general education, at least), art had always been a small escape for you with the stressful events that happened at school. it was one of the ways to efficiently communicate with your quirk, too. you could see small glimpses into the future, and you drew out your visions before you forgot them.

  you were never seen without a sketchpad in your hands, and paint somehow always seemed to get into your hair. 

  it took a moment before you realized you were sketching a pair of eyes, gazing at you through the paper. you could have sworn you’d seen those eyes before. you ran a hand through your locks, a bit of indigo color painting your (hair color) strands. it was just about time to head back to the dorms, so you would have to leave your work as it was. though, the only vision you’d had were those indigo eyes.

  you turned in your seat, eyes catching something in the window if the classroom door as you did so. you did a double take, but when you had looked again, no one was there.

~

  shinsou hitoshi left the training room with aching muscles and bruised limbs. he wasn’t good enough to beat his new mentor, but he could tell he was getting better with the restraining clothes. perhaps he’d place within the top three at the next festival, given he was allowed to use them.

  he stuffed his hands into the pocket of his uniform slacks with a sigh. he passed by one of the open classrooms, peering into the room for a moment before he stopped. no matter how many times he watched the girl from his class draw, he was always hypnotized to stop and watch her work. they were impressive, and he wanted to know what made her draw what she did.

  last week, he’d even saw her draw what he believed were his eyes. he was sure he was the only one in yuuei with his eye color, and somehow the girl had gotten the shade exactly right.

  he took a closer look, teetering within the entrance of the classroom as he watched her paint with tired eyes. it was another painting, one that his tired mind couldn’t process was him again, leaning in that very doorway.

  you could feel holes burn into your back as you worked, and you took a nonchalant glance at the clock above you. “i still have ten minutes left, snipe-sensei, i--” you turned, words catching in your throat as you noticed it wasn’t the art teacher.

  he hadn’t even noticed you staring at him at first, his eyes trained on the drawing.

  “shinsou-san?” your head tilted with confusion.

  said boy jumped and his eyes came back into focus. “oh, sorry, i didn’t mean to intrude, (last name)-san.”

  a smile graced your lips, and you shook your head. “it’s okay, i’m just not used to an audience,” you laughed. you looked back to your painting, and then back to shinsou with your mouth agape. “uh, s-sorry about that. i just--it’s part of my quirk.”

  shinsou’s brows furrowed. “huh?” he stepped in and got a closer look at the drawing, now realizing it was him. “oh, it’s me. you’re a really good artist.”

  you blushed. “th-thanks.”

  “you said it was part of your quirk?” he asked.

  “yeah, i-i can see glimpses of the future,” you replied. “but, it’s like dreaming. if i don’t draw it out right away, i’ll forget about it. you know?”

  he didn’t, but he still nodded. “that’s pretty cool.”

  “mhm!” you beamed. “but snipe usually kicks me out of the art room around, well, now. are you headed back to the dorms?”

  “yeah, just finished with training,” he said.

  “wanna walk back with me?” you asked, beginning to put away the art supplies and clean up your mess.

  the boy smiled, “sure.”

~

  it had become routine for you and shinsou to meet up after school, sometimes even at lunch or during homeroom before your teacher showed up. he would go to training and then head to the art room right after to walk with you back to the dorms. it turned out, you two shared the same sense of humor, and while he was the serious one--though, more tired than anything--you were always pretty bubbly and happy in his eyes.

  you enjoyed the hero-in-training’s company immensely. you thought he was interesting and the drive for becoming a pro-hero even more than any of the other hero course kids’ stories you’d heard. you’d grown accustomed to meeting him in the lunch room and walking back to the dorms with him. most times he even helped you with your homework. the last bit helped a lot, seeing as you were almost too busy sketching during class due to your quirk.

  and through your constant meetings and relatively new friendship with shinsou, you’d started to develop feelings. it may have been too soon, but his dedication to becoming a hero and his eyes and the way his personality meshed so well with yours, well... you could feel yourself falling for him and his indigo eyes.

  you sat in the art room with a blank canvas in front of you. an assortment of colors was laid out on the easel, and you expertly mixed a light hue of indigo together. it started as light, short brush strokes against the paper, and you added bits of red to the mix.

  shinsou stood in the doorway once more as he came back early from aizawa’s training. he wasn’t sure what you were painting that day, but he knew that he enjoyed seeing how your eyes glazed over while you painted your visions.

  “it looks like a flower,” he commented as he noticed you put the paintbrush down. somehow, the boy knew when and when not to disrupt you, and he would always wait until you finish with your art to start talking.

  you nodded. “it’s called an anemone flower, i think. i’ve seen it a few times, and that rarely happens with visions.”

  “what’s the red?” he asked, taking a closer look.

  to that, you shrugged. “not too sure. it’s about the same color as blood, but i’m sure it’s part of the flower. they come in many different colors, so i wouldn’t be surprised.”

  he hummed. “well, it’s pretty either way. you ready to go?”

  “just give me a second to clean up,” you replied.

  “sounds good, i’ll be waiting outside.” and the indigo-haired boy left the room.

  you had just twisted the cap back onto one of the tubes of paint when you felt a dry itch at the back of your throat. you took a quick swig of your water before returning back to cleaning up once again. but, the water hadn’t helped, and you coughed a few times, trying to clear the itch. maybe you were just getting sick.

  you closed your sketchbook and reached to slip in back into your backpack when you were met with a rack of coughs. the air grew thin as you hacked your lungs out, your eyes watering with the intensity and lack of air. you could feel something climb up your throat, and you rushed over to the trashcan. doubling over as you began to taste something sickly sweet on your tongue.

  petals filtered through your mouth, their lilac tone tainted with a deep red. there were a couple dozen in the trashcan when the coughing fit finally subsided enough for you to regain your composure. they were wet and wilted from saliva, and your eyes widened upon the sight.

  you wiped your mouth, shaking your head and trying to put the discovery to the back of your mind. maybe it was some new bug going around, as weird as it was. people had superpowers and you went to superhero school, coughing up flower petals couldn’t be that weird. it would probably go away in a few days.

~

  it didn’t. a week had passed, and you had finally gained enough courage to look up what was wrong with you--hanahaki disease. a disease in which a person coughs up flower petals due to unrequited love. it had progressively gotten worse too, as the days went by.

  you had taken to wearing a surgical mask, and often had to be excused to use the restroom and cough up the petals. bags under your eyes had started to form, too, due to the lack of sleep from waking up in the middle of the night. not to mention, with the flowers growing in your lungs, you could hardly breathe anymore during physical education.

  shinsou was growing worried, too. your demeanor was slowly deteriorating into a shell of what you used to be. you told him it was just a sickness, that it shouldn’t last long. but, with the bags under your eyes getting darker with each day, enough to rival his own, and the hollowing of your cheeks (it’s a little hard to eat when you couldn’t breath), he was just about ready to drag you to recovery girl himself.

  aizawa had dismissed him early once more, and he made his way to the art room again. but, to his surprise, it was empty. he was sure he’d seen you during class that day, and you didn’t say anything about needing to go anywhere after classes had ended. did he forget something? maybe you’d texted him earlier, which would be a shame since his phone had died earlier that day.

  he walked back to the dorms alone, worry pooling in his gut. 

  everyone stared at his lone figure when he got in the door, and he shot them a look to mind their own business. so, they took to mumbling amongst themselves as he thought curiously to himself. he was tired and sore, but he wanted to check to see if you were okay. something wasn’t sitting right with him; your sudden absence from the art room had to be because of the new illness you had.

  shinsou’s knuckles rapped against your door, the faint sounds of music coming from your room. he stood in the middle of the hallway awkwardly with his eyes shifting to your door, down to the elevator, back to your door, to his shoes, up at the ceiling, back to your door. he shuffled on his feet slightly, knocking once again.

  “(name)?” he called.

  he heard clambering footsteps thud against the flooring, and then your door swung open with your tired smile poking through. “oh, shinsou-kun, hey.”

  he returned an unsure smile. “hey, you okay? you weren’t in the art room today.”

  you nod quickly, “yeah, sorry about that, i tried to text you.”

  “phone’s dead,” he replied. he was about to say something else, but the sight of a lone, indigo hue dipped in deep red caught his eye, the petal tangled in your hair. “what’s that?”

  “hmm?” your brows furrowed.

  shinsou reached a hand to your hair, plucking the petal from the strands. “is this... a flower petal? like the one you drew a couple months ago?”

  “uh, n-no! it’s-it’s from, uh, an art project i’m working on,” you mustered up a wide grin. “sorry, uh, did-did you need something, by the way? i--” you coughed into your hands, and you could felt the stems tangle in your lungs, suffocating you slowly as the flower petals blocked your airways. “s-sorry,” you choke out. “i-i--” another cough, and you could feel the faint tickle of the bitter tasting petals crawl up your throat.

  you wheezed and dashed off to your bathroom. shinsou stood with worried eyes right outside your door; he only hesitated for a moment before running after you.

  he saw your form doubled over the white, porcelain toilet, your arms quivering as you gripped the sides tightly. the coughing sounded painful, and the boy found himself wincing slightly. he could hear your slight wheeze as you cough, but it sounded... wet, like you’re almost throwing up. he grabbed a fistful of your hair and twirled it away from your face, and he placed a hand on your back and rubbed it soothingly.

  and then the hacking stopped, and you flushed the toilet, indigo petals swirling down the drain. you leaned back against the wall with glossed over eyes; the bags looked even more prominent in the bathroom lighting, or maybe it was because the concealer you’d been wearing wore off.

  shinsou’s eyes showed intense worry, his lips pursed. “(name), you have to see recovery girl.”

  but you shook your head. “it’s fine,” you voice came out in a hoarse whisper.

  “then at least tell me what the hell is going on.” he was firm, his figure crouched down beside you.

  you sighed, “i can’t.”

  his brow shot up. “why not?”

  “it’s not your problem,” you mumbled. “you don’t have to--” you felt your head go fuzzy and your body numb.

  “(name), i want you to tell me what’s wrong with you,” he demanded. the boy felt wrong to use his quirk on you, and he’d promised he never would without your permission. but desperate times called for desperate measures, and he was sure it was one of those situations.

  you mouth moved on its own, listening to shinsou’s order as you screamed internally at yourself. you would ruin everything if you told your friend about the disease, and he would never feel the same way about you anyway. “hanahaki disease,” you voice droned.

  “what’s that?” he asked.

  “a disease in which a person coughs up flower petals due to unrequited love.” you felt the feeling return to your body, and you glared at the indigo boy next you. “shinsou-kun, i’ll fucking--”

  “is there a cure?”

  you pursed your lips. “not that i know of, and i’ve already gone to recovery girl. she said i just have to wait or until th-the boy i love returns my feelings.”

  shinsou’s heart panged at the thought of you loving someone other than him, but he squelched his own feelings because you looked like death. you looked like death because some crazy son of a bitch didn’t reciprocate the love you had for him.

  the petals caught in your throat once more, and you took a fleeting glance at shinsou. “shinsou-kun?”

  his eyes met yours. “hmm?”

  “it... it’s you,” you muttered.

  he took in a sharp breath, and uneasiness sunk into his bones. “what?” it was barely there, barely understandable through the breathlessness.

  “i love you, and i understand you most probably like won’t feel the same way, but... i figured you might want to know.” your voice was scratched and low, and shinsou found himself straining to catch each word. “i-i hope this doesn’t make it weird, i’m-i’m sorry.”

  the boy scrambled to think of something to say, but the words failed him. instead, one hand cupped your cheek, and you could feel his soft lips click into place with yours. he pulled back just as quickly with a deep red blush. “i... i love you, too.”

  your eyes widen, and just before you could reply, you could feel another coughing fit. you flew back over the toilet as it started. it had seemed like the petals multiplied in number, but then you could feel something lodged in your throat. you struggled to breath around it as tears pooled down your face. shinsou took bad his place to hold you hair.

  you coughed a few more times, and then you gagged. something larger than any petal you’d regurgitated the past weeks were nothing in comparison to whatever it was. shinsou rubbed your back again, and he was watching as you struggled with yet another coughing fit.

  and then you spit it out, a small shape rolling off the tip of your tongue. it fell to the floor, and you stared at the single flower with wide eyes, noticing how your throat wasn’t burning anymore.

  “i think that means it’s over,” you muttered. you took another look at shinsou as you fell back onto your heels.

  his brow quirked up, “it’s over?”

  “it can only exist with unrequited love,” you said. “an-and you said you loved me.”

  “and i do,” shinsou replied.

  “i love you, too,” you smile, kissing him once again. 

[wildflowerhowell]

I Found, chapter 11

Dan Howell and Phil Lester hate each other, and everyone at the Ida Gatley school of dance knows it. So what happens when the two are paired together to choreograph and perform a duet at England’s most renowned contemporary dance competition?

word count (in total): 22,139

chapters: 12

genre: fluff and angst

tw: alcohol

read on ao3

all chapters

Phil put their blanket down on the sand and sat down while Dan set out all the food they’d brought: a baguette, goat cheese, some strawberries, and the cheapest champagne Phil could find. The younger boy wanted to get something more expensive but Phil agreed to buy the champagne and insisted on the cheapest bottle in the store.

“This is probably the fanciest thing I’ve eaten in years,” Dan said as he took a seat on the white blanket next to Phil.

“It’s not even that fancy,” replied Phil as he ripped off the end of the baguette.

“I know,” Dan laughed and reached over to grab a strawberry. He looked out at the water for a minute, watching the sun begin to set in an orange blur across the horizon. “Y’know,” He said as he took the glass of champagne that Phil was holding out to him, “I’m kinda really glad that Grasp is over.”

“I thought you really enjoyed it.”

“Oh, I loved it. But I guess the end of the competition almost signified a fresh start, you get what I mean? Before we started to prepare for the competition, we hated each other. Then, we became friends because of the competition. And now…. Well, now, we’re more than that, I guess.” Dan blushed a bit as he looked over at Phil, who chuckled nervously.

“We should probably uh… talk about that?”

“Yeah.” Dan looked down at his glass, unsure of what to say.

“So um,” Phil started talking, much to Dan’s relief, “I know this is really new but I wanna be completely honest. A little bit after I turned seventeen, I started to like you. And I couldn’t let anyone know, so I started being even more cruel towards you. I know that’s such an awful thing to do, but how could anyone guess that I liked you if I treated you like that, y’know?” When the older boy saw Dan nod in understanding, he continued. “So I went on like that for a whole year. It hurt me so much to act like that but I felt like if you found out, my life at the studio would be even more awful. But then we started working together on the dance and we became friends and that was one of the best things to happen to me in a while. I thought that if you knew I had feelings for you but didn’t feel the same way, you wouldn’t totally ruin my life. So when I finally mustered up the courage, I kissed you. And here we are now.”

Dan could see the relief all over Phil’s face, clearly thankful to have told him all of that, and the younger boy felt relieved to hear it.

“So,” Phil took a sip of Champagne, “What’s your story?”

“Well,” Dan sighed, looking out at the sloshing waves and disappearing sun, “To be honest, I didn’t realize I had feelings for you until you kissed me. But looking back on this past month, I’ve definitely liked you for at least a few weeks. When you started being nicer to me, it was like a switch flipped in my brain. I was always afraid that the next time we’d see each other, you’d just go back to acting the way you had before. I started to love spending time with you, and I looked forward to our choreography sessions more and more each day I’d see you. I guess I just thought my feelings for you were purely platonic because I’ve never felt this way towards anyone before. I’d obviously liked all of my other boyfriends a lot, but I like you so much more than I’ve ever liked anyone else.”

Dan looked back over to see a huge grin unfold onto Phil’s face.

“I’m really glad you feel that way about me,” Phil said, throwing the top of a strawberry into the bag they were using for trash. “It would have been really embarrassing for me if you didn’t like me.”

“No shit,” Dan snickered, leaning in to kiss Phil.

“Hey,” Phil pulled away, “Just now, you said you’d never felt this way for any of your other boyfriends.” He smirked, and a bright shade of red enveloped Dan’s face. “Does that mean you think of me as your boyfriend?”

“I mean,” Dan said, still blushing, “We both like each other a lot and we’ve kissed multiple times, so yeah, I’d say we’re boyfriends. If that’s good with you, of course.”

Phil smirked. “That’s perfect with me. Kinda been wanting that for a year.”

Dan gave Phil a sympathetic look. “That must’ve sucked.”

“Yeah, but it worked out in the end.”

“True,” Dan said, moving closer to Phil so that he could rest his head on the older boy’s shoulder.

The two boys looked out over the water, which had been turned a dark navy by the sun that was now below the horizon, leaving only a faded orange sky in its wake. They could see the moon and a few stars scattered around the atmosphere, becoming more and more visible as the sky darkened. It was peaceful. A type of peaceful that Dan and Phil rarely got to experience living with their ever-hectic schedules. Just sitting there on that blanket, feeling so small in comparison to the vast sea that was in front of them was comforting. With Phil by his side, Dan didn’t want to leave.

“So I’ve been wondering,” Phil broke Dan’s train of thought with a soft voice, “What made you act so hostile towards me in the first place?”

Dan chuckled, remembering his dumb nine year-old self. “Well, up until you came to the studio, I’d always been the best at everything I did. I got the best marks, I was the best at playing piano, I sucked at art but I was still the best in my year. When I started dancing, I was the best in my level. Being the best was what I was used to. And then you came along. It came as a shock to me, how good you were at dancing. So I did everything in my power to be better than you. I tried training harder, and when I saw you train as hard as I did, I just started being mean. Yeah, talking about my feelings with someone probably would have been the better choice but I was young and scared of losing my reputation.”

“That makes a lot of sense,” Phil nodded, taking in the new information. “I’m just glad we got that whole thing sorted out.”

“Well duh,” Dan baited, leaning further into Phil.

“Wait, how did I not know that you play piano? I’m a little hurt,” Phil teased, although it was true that he didn’t know about Dan’s ability to play the instrument.

“I just… never told you?”

“Y’know, we haven’t actually had the chance to really get to know each other. We should probably do that if we’re gonna be boyfriends.”

“Yeah,” Dan laughed, sitting up again to look at Phil, “That sounds like a pretty good idea.”

“Okay, ask me anything you want.”

Dan pondered for a second, trying to come up with a good question to ask. “Ooh, got it. What’s your favorite thing to do besides dance?”

“Easy. I make art.”

“Art? Like paintings?”

“Yeah, mostly watercolour. Sometimes I do drawings. Most of my stuff is stylized but I’ll occasionally do some realistic art.”

“Dude, that’s so cool,” Dan said excitedly, “Do you have any pictures?”

“Yeah,” Phil replied as he grabbed his phone, which had been resting on the blanket next to him. The older boy unlocked it and went to his camera roll, opening up an album that contained pictures of his art, letting Dan scroll through them as he pleased.

Dan could quickly see that Phil mainly painted people. There was one painting of two girls, twins, with lilac hair and glittering crescent moons on their foreheads. One painting was of a girl with teal hair that had white line drawings of koi fish swimming around her head. Another piece was of a boy with huge flowers growing all around him. Phil’s art was beautiful. Every piece was amazingly detailed and all of the colors worked perfectly together. Dan stared at the photos in awe, wondering how Phil was not only so good at dancing, but incredibly talented at painting as well.

“These are so fucking good,” Dan marveled, “How do you have time for all this?”

“I manage to get a lot done in art class at school,” Phil said, “But I also paint at home whenever I get the chance.”

“Damn,” Dan said, handing the phone back to Phil.

“Okay. My turn to ask a question.” Phil sat in silence, coming up with something to ask. “So. If you suddenly won a million pounds, what’s the first thing you’d do with it?”

“Good question. I think I’d save most of it, donate to a few different charities, and buy a TV for my room. My best friend and I always have to watch stuff on my laptop if my older brother’s watching the TV in the lounge. It pisses us off.”

“Nice answer,” Phil nodded in approval. “Wait. haven’t I met your best friend?”

“I think he’s only seen you when he’s come to performances, but I don’t think you’ve talked to each other.”

“I could have sworn I’ve met him. Guess not, though”

“Oh wait, yes you have,” Dan said, suddenly remembering the encounter at the Hyde Park. “You two met at the rose garden.”

“Oh yeah! I was such a jackass that day, sorry about that.” Phil giggled. “I thought he was your boyfriend.”

The younger boy blushed. “Oh, God no. Anyways, I’ve got a question. What’s something on your bucket list?”

“Hmm. I really wanna travel.”

“Where?” Dan leaned back, putting his weight on his left hand and taking a sip of champagne with his left.

“All over Europe. Paris, Berlin, Milan, Vienna. I love Europe’s old architecture and culture. I also really wanna go to Tokyo someday. New York City, too. I just eventually wanna travel all over the world and see as much as I can.”

“Ugh, that sounds amazing. I really wanna travel, too. Alright, ask me something.”

Phil ripped off a piece of the baguette, thinking. “Do you believe in aliens?”

“Absolutely,” Dan said almost immediately, “How could I not? The universe is just so fucking big, there has to be life on other planets.”

Phil nodded. “I know right? I don’t know how there are people that don’t believe in them. Alright, ask me something.”

“Um, what do you like about your best friend?”

“Well,” Phil contemplated, “Her name is Ryan. I love how passionate she is about everything she does. She fully invests herself, y’know? She manages to keep her grades up while being an actress and artist at the same time. She dances a little bit, too. She’s there for me whenever I need her. You really need to meet her,” Phil said with a glimmer in his eyes, “I think you’d love her.”

Dan gave Phil a fond look. When the older boy was talking about Ryan, Dan had noticed how lovingly he was talking about his best friend. It was adorable. The younger boy set his now-empty glass down on the blanket and reached up to rest his hand on the side of Phil’s face. It was getting to be quite dark out, but Dan could see the creases around Phil’s eyes as he smiled, leaning in to kiss the brown haired boy. A breeze swept their hair into their faces and Dan giggled as Phil pulled away from the kiss to push the younger boy’s curls away from his forehead.

The lights from the Brighton Pier danced in the distance, illuminating its surroundings with a soft, colorful glow. Waves washed up onto the shore, and then receded back into the ocean. Dan hadn’t felt this happy in a while. He was sitting under the moon next to the boy that he could now call his boyfriend, the boy he’d won the Gold Award at a renowned contemporary dance competition with. Everything was perfect. Dan knew that he and Phil would have to go back to normal life the following day, but in this moment, he didn’t care. He was living life to the fullest until he had to go back to London, and that was all that mattered.

The two boys stayed at the beach for another 45 minutes, talking about everything from future careers to their favorite dog breeds. Once they both got bored of the ocean, which was now blanketed in darkness and therefore hard to even see, they packed up everything they’d brought with them. Phil called an Uber to take them back to their hotel, and they walked hand in hand away from the waves.

~

“Alright, what now?” Phil looked up at Dan, who was drying his hair off with a towel.

The boys got back at around 10 pm, and each took showers before deciding on what to do with the rest of the night. It kind of went unsaid that they’d be sharing a bed that night, as they both flung their jackets onto Dan’s bed when they arrived back at the Hotel. For Dan, it was exhilarating, knowing that he’d be spending the night snuggled up next to Phil. He was honestly up for whatever as long as it meant cuddling with the black haired boy.

“Movie?” Dan looked over at the older boy, who was sitting on his bed in pyjamas, hair slightly damp as well.

“Sure,” Phil said as he reached for the TV remote, “Do you have one in mind?”

“Not really, let’s just look through what movies we can watch.” Dan tossed his towel into the bathroom as Phil began to scroll through the options listed on the TV.

“Let’s see. There’s Ghostbusters, La La Land, Fantastic Beasts….” Phil listed out possible choices as Dan climbed into bed, leaning back against the pillows.

“Ooh, wait,” Dan butted in, “What about Arrival?”

Phil, who had been leaning forward, turned his head to look at the younger boy. “Yeah, I’ve heard it’s good.”

“Dude, I’ve seen it already, it’s good. No spoilers, but there’s this one point where everything you thought you knew completely changes and-”

“Calm down, let me actually watch the movie.”

“Oh, sorry,” Dan said bashfully.

“I hope the competition will pay for this,” Phil said as he bought the movie.

“Eh, paying for it yourself will be worth it. If not, I can always pay you back.”

“Oh, shut up,” Phil countered, getting up to turn all of the lights off, “You will not.”

“Not complaining,” Dan smirked and extended his left arm across the pillows as an invitation for Phil to lay back and cuddle up next to him.

Phil positioned himself next to Dan, resting his head in the crook of the younger boy’s neck, an arm reaching across his torso. Dan wrapped the arm that Phil was now leaning against around his shoulder, pulling him in closer.

This is so perfect, Dan thought to himself as the movie started to play. Just a month ago if anyone told me that this would be happening, I would have called them crazy. But look at me now. He looked down at Phil and kissed the top of his head, and the older boy squeezed Dan’s torso for a second in return. A huge grin unfurled on Dan’s slightly freckled face. Yeah, this is fucking amazing.

The movie played for a good hour or so until Dan realized that Phil had fallen asleep. God damn it, he didn’t even get to the mindfuck part, Dan sighed to himself as he reached for the remote and paused the movie. He gently removed his arm from around the older boy and moved two pillows out from under his head, leaving just one to sleep on. He then threw two of his own pillows to the ground and turned the TV off; it had been the only source of light in the room since they’d started the movie.

Dan curled up next to Phil, reminiscing on the day’s events. In just one day, he’d been kissed by the person he’d had a rivalry with for years, won the Gold Award at Grasp, and become boyfriends with the aforementioned boy. He didn’t have a list of the top weirdest days in his life, but if he did, this day would definitely be on it. Just as he was drifting off into sleep, his phone lit up on the bedside table next to him, the screen illuminating the room. He groggily rolled over and reached for the device. When he saw that Liam was calling, he shot up and answered the call immediately

“Shit,” Dan said apologetically, “I was supposed to tell you how it went.”

“You were,” Liam replied, “But it’s alright ‘cause you’re still awake.”

“Fuck, so much has happened today. You probably won’t believe a lot of it.”

“Doubt it. So what happened?”

“Okay,” Dan said quietly, trying not to wake Phil up. “We got to the theater, did our hair and makeup, got into costume. Y’know, all the stuff dancers usually do before a show. After that, we had time to spare, so we played a game of truth or dare which was hilarious, played around on our phones, and stretched. Then-”

“Dan, I appreciate how you’re going into detail, but I just wanna know how you placed, to be honest.”

“Shut up! Something happened before the performance that you need to know about.”

“Ugh, alright.”

“So this dude came into our dressing room and told us we were about to go on, and he lead us to this hallway just outside the theater and Phil was being all quiet but I just assumed it was because he’s nervous.”

“Okay….”

“And when I asked him about it… he kissed me.”

Silence. Dan had expected Liam to freak out and start asking a thousand questions, but instead, he just heard silence. He had to check to make sure Liam hadn’t accidentally hung up. He hadn’t.

“So,” Liam finally spoke, “You’re telling me that you’ve had a feud with this boy for, what, seven years now? And just before your duet together, he kisses you.”

“Yep.”

“Well, what did you do?”

“At first, I was just confused. But I didn’t really have time to think about my feelings because that same dude came back and told us it was our turn to perform.”

“And how was that?” Liam was obviously more interested in this story now that he knew that Phil had kissed Dan.

“It was fucking amazing, I’ve never heard an audience applaud that loudly for a piece I was in.”

“So you won Platinum?”

“I’ll get to that. So after we walk offstage and out into that hallway again, I kissed Phil. I guess I realized that the feelings I had when I was around him weren’t just platonic. It was amazing, I-”

“You really don’t need to go into detail about that.”

“Oh, right, sorry. Okay, so the award ceremony rolls around. Two dancers win Bronze, and two others win Silver. And we won Gold!”

“Dude, you totally deserved Platinum.”

“I mean, I guess this means we have to back next year with an even better dance, right?”

“Did they invite you back already?”

“No, but I assume they will. We did get second place. And Phil and I are the two best dancers at the studio so unless next year’s theme is solos, we’ll both be going back.”

“Damn, your day has been wild.”

“That’s not all!”

“There’s more?” Liam sighed through the phone, “I’m tired, Dan!”

“Yes, there’s more. But long story short, Phil and I went on a date to the beach and we’re officially together now. And that’s all.”

“I guess I’ve gotta properly meet him now, don’t I?”

“Duh. And he told me about his best friend, Ryan. He said I’d love her, so we should all hang out sometime.”

“Definitely. Well, congrats on your Gold Award and enemy-turned-boyfriend. I’m gonna sleep now.”

“Alright. G’night.”

“Night,” Liam ended the phone call.

Dan smiled and set his phone back down on the bedside table. It felt good to tell someone else about his relationship with Phil. He laid back down next to the older boy, who threw an arm around his torso.

“You awake?” Dan whispered, turning onto his side to face Phil.

“Yeah,” The black haired boy said faintly. “You’re so cute, you know that?”

Dan beamed. “Thank you,” He giggled. “You are too.”

Phil leaned in and kissed Dan. The younger boy couldn’t help but smile as he wrapped his arms around Phil’s neck, tangling his hands in his raven hair, kissing him back.

Phil pulled away and rested his head on the other dancer’s forehead. “I don’t wanna have to go back to London tomorrow.”

Dan stroked the older boy’s cheek. “Me neither. But we’ll be back next year.” He rolled onto his back, keeping one arm wrapped around Phil, who rested his head on Dan’s chest. “Good night, Phil.”

“Good night.”