#dan did NOT like that jumper smelling like another man

[personthattoleratesme]

I can’t believe they tried to make us think they were swingers for a while, their jealous asses could never

[acdeaky]

are you ready for love?

warning: fluff, alcohol consumption, strong language, slight angst?

note: congrats on 4k followers @writingfortoomanyfandoms​​ ! i began writing this and then fell out of love with it, but i (finally) figured out the ending and fell back in love! enjoy!

word count: 4.5k

black lives matter

“what I'm saying is - and this is not a come on in any way, shape or form - is that men and women can't be friends because the sex part always gets in the way!” dan spoke, a little too loudly for the restaurant the group was in, trying to voice his (very out-of-date) opinion above the rest of the group. he was met with a lot of voices arguing he was wrong, and a fry from shane’s plate. “what?” he practically whined. 

“just because you want to shag any girl you're friends with, and who doesn't have a boyfriend, doesn't mean that every guy is the same!” harry perked up, practically punching dan in the arm after his comment. 

“it so means every guy is the same,” dan argued, looking over at you. “you and ben are only close because he wants to get in your pants.”

“why did we let him join?” you asked everyone else, basically pretending that dan wasn't sat a few seats away from you. 

“because he's my brother and has no other friends.” erin replied from next to you, a hand resting on your thigh which was pressed against her’s.

“that is not true.”

“oh, dan, sweetie, it is.” erin just smiled sarcastically at her brother, her eyes showing faux sympathy. 

“you all know i’m right, but you don't want to say it,” another chorus of disagreement came from the group, as did another fry from shane’s plate. “mate, would you stop that?” shane just shook his head, wrapping his arm around the back of renee’s chair and lightly brushed his fingers against your shoulder. next to ben, you were definitely closest to shane with him being like a big brother to you. 

somehow, the rest of the meal went without a hitch. dan quieted down with the unpopular opinions and everyone else enjoyed each other’s company as they finished their meals and had a few drinks afterwards. shane and renee were the first ones to leave. both of them had had long days at work, but made it out for the meal, and were now more than ready to collapse into their bed. harry and erin were next. as they paid their part and begun to leave, they dragged dan out with them, keeping him from saying something inappropriate to you and/or lucy. 

after those three left, you and lucy stayed a little longer. it had been a while since the two of you had hung out together alone, and a catchup with definitely needed. 

“so what’s the real reason ben didn’t come tonight? he's definitely not ill else you would be there nursing him back to health.” she teased, giving you a light prod to your side. 

“he didn't want to have to deal with comments from dan,” you stated plainly. “and i’m glad ben didn’t come else he would have had to deal with exactly what he didn't want to deal with.”

“yeh, that's fair. maybe we should stop inviting dan to these things.”

“maybe,” you both giggled, thinking of how much more civilised somethings would be without him. “that's too mean, though. erin would not be happy.” 

“she most definitely wouldn't be, but dan’s a dickhead.”

“oh, yeh.” the two of you sat gigging for a little longer, the few drinks the both of you had had making their way completely into your system. after chatting for a little longer (and realising you should both definitely go home), you paid the rest of the bill and left, still chatting as you got into your car, travelling back to your same apartment building.

the ride home wasn't long. luckily, the group had mutually decided on a restaurant that was close to both of your apartments, meaning it only took about ten minutes to get home. the traffic was light and it seemed that every light turned green just in time for you. sooner than you knew, you were heading out of the garage of the apartment building, heading towards the lift and pressing the ninth floor button for lucy and the tenth floor button for you. as you reached her floor, you shared a slightly emotional goodbye with each other. it took exactly 23 seconds to get from the lift to your apartment (you had counted many times) and as you swung the door open, there was ben, sat idly on your sofa with his feet up and netflix playing on the TV. 

“hello, wanderer.” he teased as he heard you pull off your shoes and collapse onto the sofa next to him. “did you have fun? was dan a dick?”

“when is dan not a dick?” you only replied, pulling your knees closer to your chest as you turned your body into ben’s. one of his hands lifted off of his thigh for you to do so, landing back down on your knee. 

“that's true. what did he say this time?”

“that men and women can't be friends because the sex part gets in the way.”

“well that's not true, look at us!” ben said, his eyes quickly flitting to you and then straight back to the TV. 

“yeh, look at us.” 

“you are woman, i am man. we no sex.” he spoke in a deeper voice, making you giggle at his ridiculous impression of a caveman. 

“i’m just glad you weren't there; another comment from him would have sent your fist through his face.” 

“oh, yeh. but erin would not have been happy.”

“she most definitely wouldn't be.” you giggled again, thinking back to the conversation you had had with lucy. “i’m actually so tired, i think i’m just calling it a night. you stay as long as you like” as you got up, you pointed to ben, giving him a look which said ‘keep it down’ which he replied with a salute. you gave the other a quiet ‘night’ before placing a kiss on his cheek and dragging your feet to your bedroom. 

as you got ready for bed, you couldnt help but think back to what dan had said. if you told erin and lucy (or even ben) that you were contemplating his words, they would have told you to stop and say that ‘dan was just being dan. he didn't mean it’. you just couldn’t help thinking about whether it was true. of course, you were close to shane and harry, but they both had girlfriends, they definitely wouldn't want anything to do with what’s in your pants. but you were also close to ben, and he didn't have a girlfriend. the only explanation for you two being close was that he wanted what was in your pants, not in your head nor your heart. 

it pained you to think of that; ben being here only to try it on. of course, ben was attractive and had sex appeal, but he was also your best friend and you weren't about to jump in to bed with him at the first chance. you have never, and will never, go about relationships like that. to you, it was unbelievable how much you let dan’s comment cloud your mind, yet you almost hoped there was some truth to it. 

only a wall away, ben was sat thinking the exact same thing. the show he was binging was still playing in the background, but in the forefront of his mind was dan’s comment. ben knew men and women could be friends without sex getting involved; he had those relationships with all the girls in the group, except her. although he wouldn't openly admit it to anyone, he had developed feelings, but didn't want to ruin what the two had by trying it on with her. so ben sat back and tried to let his feelings settle. that instantly failed when he continued to hang out with her almost everyday and talk to her everyday. it didn't take him long to realise he was in love. 

ben didn't stay for much longer; his eyes were being to strain to properly see the TV and dan's comment was still lingering in his thoughts. he quietly turned off the TV and left the room, practically tiptoeing past your room as he entered the guest room (which was almost his considering how often he slept in it). all he did was slip out of his jeans, jumper and socks, leaving on his boxers and slid into bed. just like you, it didn't take him long to fall asleep, soon drifting off nestled within the comfy sheets and only imagining what it would be like to hold you in his arms. 

in the morning, ben woke up before you (like usual) and set himself the task of making breakfast. he knew you'd be hungry this morning and, as soon as he got out of bed and put on a pair of shorts, he made his way into the kitchen and began making his famous pancakes. it didn't take long for you to wake up nor did it take long for you to smell the pancakes. 

“morning, chef.” you smiled lazily as you walked into the kitchen. 

“morning to you, too.” like usual in a morning, ben was clad in some shorts and a plain t-shirt as he stood in front of the hob. the teapot had already been filled and there was a half empty cup stood on the side next to the hob. “sleep well?”

“yeh, i guess.” ‘don't tell him’ you thought to yourself. “i just couldn't stop thinking about dan's comment last night.” 

“love, i've told you before to take no notice of him-”

“no, ben, he said something else last night. not just the men and women and sex thing.”

“well, what else did he say?” he asked, less annoyed this time, switching off the ring and giving you his full attention.

“he said that you and i are only close because you want to get into my pants.” although he asked you to tell him (and you would have told him anyway), you couldn’t help but feel ashamed at telling ben. you knew he would be mad that you let something dan said cloud your judgement about him, but you also knew that he would deny it. you wished he wouldn’t.

“you know that’s not true, right?” there it was. “you know i would never do that to you, or anyone for that matter. don’t let him get into your head; he’s a dick.”

“yeh, course.” you mumbled as ben turned back to the pan, flipping out the pancake onto a plate. as both of you ate, you sat talking about anything and everything. you were content just being here with ben, and yet you still couldn’t get those thoughts out of your head.

to ben, all you would be is his best friend; he made that perfectly clear last night and this morning. to you, your feelings would always be there, making it unfair on anyone else you dated. your heart was wrapped around ben indefinitely.

after breakfast was finished and the kitchen was tidy, you said your goodbyes to ben (even though you don’t normally kick him out this early), making up a lie about finishing off some things for work. what you really wanted to do was talk to erin and lucy; you needed to empty your head to someone.

“hey, you guys are okay to chat, right?” you asked as soon as the facetime connected to the both of them.

“yeh, of course!” “i’ve got my wine, i’m ready.” they both replied, supportive smiles already on their faces.

“okay, i’m sorry i’m bringing this up again, but i’m still thinking about dan’s comment last night.”

“which one?” erin giggled, taking a sip of her wine.

“the one about ben only being close to me because he wants to get in my pants.”

“that’s not true.”

“it’s true.”

“what?” you and erin asked lucy, who sat with a slight smirk on her face.

“ben does want to get into your pants, but not as a one time fling or being friends with benefits, he really likes you.”

“he does?”

“yeh,” both you and erin looked at each other, pure shock coming over your face and slight shock on erin’s. “he got drunk with the lads one night and came to my place instead of yours-”

“makes sense,” erin perked up, taking another sip of her wine. “your apartment is literally a floor below Y/N’s.”

“exactly; he miscounted the floor numbers and came to my door. he kept on apologising so i let him in and he just ranted about dan saying stupid things again about the two of you. then he spilt his feelings and almost broke down asking me not to say anything. i told him he should go to your place and tell you himself. he said he would and i assumed he did, but obviously-”

“he didn’t. that night he came up to my apartment and basically passed out on the sofa. i pulled his shoes off and left him a glass of water and some painkillers for the morning. that was it; he didn't really say anything at all until the next morning.” you frowned, thinking at how literally minutes before ben stumbled into your apartment, he'd stumbled out of lucy’s. 

“wow, well i knew benny boy had feelings, but i didn’t know he did that.” erin said, turning and making sure harry hadn't heard any of that conversation. 

“no one knew, i kept ben’s drunk escapade a secret. he couldn’t even remember it happening.” after that, all three of you were slightly stunned into silence. it was a minute before anyone spoke. 

“what are you gonna do?” erin’s voice was small, something that isn't normal for her. her wine glass had been discarded (though half empty) and she and lucy were both looking at you. you knew your face hadn't change. even without looking at your screen, you knew the only look on your face was disbelief. 

“i-i don't know.”

“surely you're gonna do something?” lucy gasped. 

“and say what to him? ‘hey, ben. i've just been chatting to our good friend lucy and it turns out you drunkenly told her about your feelings for me’. i’m not good with confrontation!”

“and that's why you two will never be together!” erin chuckled, shaking her head at you. 

“what do you mean?

“i mean, you're scared of confrontation and ben will never admit his feelings for you because he's scared you’ll reject him.”

“but i wouldn’t-”

“he doesn’t know that.” she was right. ben doesn’t know what you're thinking, and you don't know what he's thinking. right now, the only way to get over the situation is if you say something. yet, you couldn't help but think that ben’s drunken confession was just that: drunken and stupid.

“i need some time to think, girls.”

“okay.” 

“just keep us in the loop, yeh?” lucy asked, pity absolutely drowning her face. 

“will do, bye.” you waved as did lucy and erin, saying their own goodbyes before you ended the call. 

this had changed everything. of course it had. you definitely didn't feel the same way you did before the call, and you definitely didn't feel the same way about ben as you did before the call. you couldn’t help but think if this had changed things, if this had given you the confidence to finally tell ben about how you feel. 

it was something to sleep on, something to cloud your thoughts for another night. 

but you didn’t get the chance to do that. before you had even managed to settle down for the night, there was a loud, and brash, knock at your door. the thought of ignoring them crossed your mind, hoping it would be a drunken fool who had stumbled across the wrong apartment.

yet, no matter how long you stayed laying on your back, staring at the blank canvas of your ceiling, the knocking did not cease. with a grumble, you made your way through your apartment and towards the front door, not bothering to switch on any of the lights on your way.

as soon as your door was open, whoever was on the other side flung themselves inside, stumbling as they attempted to pull off their shoes. you couldn’t even see who the person was, the low light of the hallway doing little to help you figure out who the intruder was.

and, just as you were about to speak up, the person spoke - though it was more of a grumble - and said, “luce, i’m sorry for doin’ this again.” ben. his voice was slurred and his actions were full of haste. the way he threw his shoes to the side and his jacket on to the floor made you realise he truly thought he was on the floor below; everywhere he was throwing things were where lucy had furniture.

then you realised something else; it was happening again. that night lucy had told you about, with ben drinking with the lads, had happened again. though, you weren’t sure if he was drinking alone or not, but whatever had happened to ben had made him feel the need to see lucy, before anything.

“i know it’s prob’ly late, but i can’t stop thinking about her and you’re the only person who knows how i feel.” came ben’s mumbling voice again. he sounded weak, vulnerable, something you’d never heard in any tone of his voice before. well, there were some exceptions, but this voice, this tone, was something else. and it scared you.

but you stayed quiet, waiting for ben to either say something again or... something else to happen, like a meteor hitting the earth, to save the both of you from this conversation.

“fuck, you moved things around in here?” he grumbled, walking around to find something to grip onto or sit on.

your head was screaming to say something, to reply and end whatever this was, yet your heart was screaming to save yourself the heartache (from what, you didn’t know).

it wasn’t until ben managed to find a lightswitch that your heart began to race even faster than before. you were met with his disheveled look, his boots haphazardly pulled off and scattered across your floor and his jacket thrown carelessly across the wood of your dining table mismatched his reddening eyes and mess of his hair.

and, as if time was frozen, ben stood against the wall of your apartment, his eyes as wide as ever and his heart thumping against the case of his chest. you were no better; at least you knew who had stumbled into your apartment, but ben was in shock. because it was you. of course it was you, who else could make ben’s heart beat as fast as you could?

which is why ben stood still, acting as if he stayed deadly still, the predator before him would ignore his very existence. but the elephant was in the room, and you could not ignore the existence of that.

“ben,” you whispered, your voice stretching out to fill the gap between your bodies. instead, it died upon it’s journey, failing to reach the only person who mattered to you at that minute. “ben, it’s okay: i know.”

that didn’t settle his nerves. the only things those two words did was set his heart racing faster and he felt like his world was collapsing in on himself.

“no,” he shook his head, finally pulling his eyes away from your glance, turning his back towards you as his hands made his hair even more of a mess. “no, it’s not okay.”

but it was. it was more than okay because somewhere between ben stumbling through your door and this moment right now, you had found the courage to tell him that you knew, that you felt the same, this it was okay.

taking advantage of his back facing you, you stepped over to him carefully. at first, you were unsure of your movements, letting your hands linger in the air just above ben’s back before you took the final step and pressed them against his t-shirt-covered skin. the muscles in his back tensed and tightened, but he quickly let the warmth and welcoming feeling of you relax him.

only then did you become more confident, letting your hands move lightly over his back, mapping every bump and dimple they found. you ventured down to ben’s hips, covering the skin of his sides before settling around his front on his stomach.

“it’s okay, ben.” you said once again, your voice falling into a quiet whisper next to the shell of his ear as your chin rested on his shoulder. both of hands met yours. they were warm and fit comfortably between yours, something you had always imagined.

“how do you know?” he tested the waters, only letting his voice be loud enough for you to hear, like this was your little secret. you weren’t sure if ben was asking how you knew how he felt or how things would be okay, but you chose the former.

“lucy told me,” you replied in an equal tone, moving your head from his shoulder to press against his back, just between his shoulder blades. “she told me about that night you went to her apartment after you had been out with the boys: she told me how you felt about me.”

“and?” he said soon after, not wanting to wait any longer for a response that could change his life.

“ben, you mean the world to me, and i was always afraid that if we began a relationship, it could ruin our friendship. but i’m not afraid of that anymore, and i just want what i want: you.”

ben had never felt so sober. he had begun the night alone and, somehow, ended it in your arms; one of the places he didn’t think he’d be for a while.

his thumb began tracing small circles on the back of your hand, letting himself know that this was real and this was happening. it also grounded you. it gave you something to focus on when you needed it. but you didn’t want it to be that; you wanted it to be something that happens regularly and often. now, that might happen.

reluctantly, you pulled your hands from his, taking your arms away from his body as you circled around him. once his face met yours, neither of you could hold in the tiny smile which threatened to appear at the corner of your lips. god, you could only imagine what his lips felt like, what they tasted like. and you imagined that they felt like silk.

your hands quickly found purchase on ben’s body once again. this time, you traced the outline of his face, allowing yourself to take your time as you moved along his jawline. as one hand did that, the other tangled it’s fingers into the hair on the nape of his neck - something that he was growing out for a role, but you enjoyed it regardless.

ben was so overwhelmed, the only place he could find to anchor himself to you were your hips. he squeezed and pressed the skin lightly, wanting to live in the moment as much as he could, just in case you slipped through his fingertips, like silk does.

you can’t help but notice that you’ve never seen him like this before, so vulnerable and open to you and your touch. of course, you had touched each other before, but not with the softness and meaning like now.

“i want you, too,” ben finally whispered, never letting his gaze falter from you. his hands seemed to grip your hips a little harder as your hands slid down from his head and onto his shoulders. “that’s all i’ve wanted since i met you.”

just then, you pushed yourself onto the balls of your feet, managing to slightly close the gap between you and ben as his head bowed lower, too. your lips met like a perfect melody, so soft and gentle and better than you could have ever imagined.

slowly, and once again, your hands traced their way up ben’s skin, circling around his neck before toying with those little hairs you had suddenly become so fond of. and, as a response, ben’s hands shifted from your hips to your lower back quicker than you could register, pushing and pulling your body flush with his own.

his hands were warm and big and better than you could have imagined. they were strong, keeping the two of you together in perfect harmony as you explored the other’s touch after so, so long.

but, then ben pulled away, keeping you pressed against his chest while looking down at you, your lips swollen and red and, god, so beautiful. he only smiled, pulling away to grab your hand a second later.

he was your personal guide through your home, taking you towards your bedroom (only after turning off the light he switched on earlier). as soon as you got in the room, ben let you go, turning to close the door as you stood waiting for him; you almost felt like a stranger, standing there in your own room with no feeling of anything but ben.

once the door clicked shut, he turned his attention back to you. while he walked forward, you stumbled backwards, only stopping when the back of your knees hit the side of your bed.

“get in,” he spoke gently, pressing a light kiss to your forehead. “i’ll be there in a second.” and so you did. since you were already about to settle down for the night when ben knocked on the door, you just sat underneath the covers again.

seeing the cast of ben’s shadow on your walls from the beaming moon was a sight you knew you would never tire of. the way he moved gracefully as he pulled off his shirt and jeans, leaving on only his boxers and turning back to you.

he was a ghost striding towards you. a vision as his body drifted towards you, so bright and beautiful under the moon, so quiet as he slipped under the covers to lay next to you; his arms open and welcoming.

so you accepted, letting yourself have this, this moment, with ben. you found yourself tucked into his side, one arm dragged across his torso with your head on his chest. his left arm wrapped itself around your shoulders, his right arm laying adjacent to yours, letting your fingertips touch and ghost along one another.

you stayed there, for a minute or two, just getting used to each other’s rise and fall of your chests and the dips and bumps of each other’s skin. neither of you had felt more at peace than in that moment.

and as you lay there in ben’s arms, the steady beating in his heart right below your ear and finally feeling content, you knew that you were ready for love.

-

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[lord-explosion-baku]

Villain!Bakugou x Hero!reader

Warnings: suggestive themes, light violence, swearing

A/N: this one’s short and sweet and my desperate attempt at getting back into GETTING THESE REQUESTS OUT THERE and I wrote most of it while in a secret hideaway at work! Hizzaht! Also a gave reader a “jumper” quirk which is just teleportation. Lolol. Idk. Hizzz... ALSO gosh I love flirty cocky Bakugou even if it’s ooc. We’re all mangoes. It’s fine... AHT!

“Kiss me.”

The heated presence of the explosive villain was grating, even more so because of how quick he was. With every chance you had to teleport yourself away from him, he was nearly two steps ahead of you, blasting forward with such precision and speed that you found yourself getting more and more agitated the closer he got to you and it really did not help that the man grew all the more smug the more flustered you got. You were used to the villain, Katsuki Bakugou, flirting with you but today he was going too far.

“In your dreams,” you hissed, using your quirk to teleport directly behind him, you kicked him in the back only to have blast himself backwards. He swung his fist through the air which you narrowly dodged but he was so fast!, and with a flash of light and an ear splitting explosion he had whipped around, grabbed the back of your neck and pulled you so you were dipped down, staring straight into his dangerous eyes.

“You know you want to, hero. You’re curious. You wanna know what I taste like. Why else would you be chasing me around all these nights?”

“Because you’re a criminal and it’s my job!”

“You want me,” that stupid cocky ass grin returned to face and it burned you. So what, maybe he was hot but that didn’t make you want to take him down any less! You wanted to wipe that smirk off his face with your lips fists!… Jesus, your fists! ...Definitely your fists.

“You don’t gotta be so shy, sweetheart. I can tell you honestly that the feeling is mutual. So stop denying yourself. I see you.”

“You don’t see shit!” You hissed back, jumping to the alley ladder above him. Instantly, he reached up and his large gloves hands grappled your legs and skin you were being flipped through the air! Your back hit the pavement hard, knocking the wind out of your lungs and in a matter of seconds, Bakugou had your wrists pinned back while his knees held you tightly in place.

He grinned sinisterly down at you, wild and hungry ruby irises changing into a deeper vermillion while his pupils dilated. He licked his lips before saying, “I should just fuck you right here, in the middle of the road, huh?”

You scowled back at him, heat creeping across your cheeks. “You’re vile,” you spat. You hated him.

“And you’re blushing.” His grin widened and his eyelids grew heavy. Was he leaning in towards you? Oh Jesus fuck, you didn’t know how to react. Your body flushed when you felt his hot breath dance across your skin. He was so close that you could smell his oddly alluring sweat… he reminded you of roasted toffee... you had to get yourself together, this was no good.

You’ve jumped with another person before but not when it was an emergency and when you did it, it nearly used up all of your stamina, however something aggravating about Bakugou having you pinned to the floor had you wanting to flex your quirk. It wasn’t to impress him or anything; it was to get him the hell off of you!!

Focusing all your energy on your jump, your wrists started to vibrate and you felt a tightening in your stomach and in a wink you had him right where you wanted him; against the brick wall.

You let out a heavy breath and glared up at the half amused looking villain. You were honestly a bit surprised that jumping with him didn’t drain more energy but even more surprised that you couldn’t stop staring at his terrible lips. But what happened next surprised you even more and all it took was Bakugou resting his hand on your cheek.

You couldn’t stop yourself, rather, you couldn’t stop your lips. You reached for the back of his head and pulled him down into a desperate and impulsive kiss. The slight curve of his lips, the smirking bastard, over yours made you so incredibly angry but when you felt his tongue slide across your bottom lip, you nearly melted, graciously accepting him while he pulled your body closer.

His large hands went to your waist, squeezing hard while he deepened the kiss. The small whimper you made almost masked the subtle click of the handcuffs around his wrist… almost.

He pulled away, face flushed, eyed you, then glanced down. “Handcuffs? If that’s what you’re into…”

“You’re under arrest,” you breathed, less confident than you intended.

His smile didn’t falter. Then, you heard a second, more awful, click.

“Is that right? Because it seems to me like you’ve made things a whole lot easier for me.”

You were, to say the least, a poor flustered inadequate hero who managed to get themselves cuffed to the villain they were to finally finally take down.

“No,” you muttered softly, unable to accept the fact that you made such a stupid mistake. You yanked on your arm but Bakugou yanked back, pulling you into a far too hot embrace.

“Yeah yeah, like this really was an accident.”

“Oh, god.” Was it an accident? You weren’t thinking straight and he was pissing you off and you just… just what?!

“Don’t be giving god all the credit. This is all you, hero.”

Bakugou nuzzled his head into the crook of your neck, something that would seem cute and intimate if he wasn’t the goddamn devil. “So this can go one of two places from here,” he purred, his breath shooting tingles down your spine.

“So, what will it be? Your place or mine?”

Tags for EVERYTHING (closed): @yandere-inamorata @miitaart @dessiedawnwritesfanfiction @wickedlewicked @chickennuggetsarequestionable @nevermorelanore @kpanime @ayeputita @captain-sin-allmight-queen @diisasterbii @iceformer @meganofmars @colagirl5 @colorbookshd @grimmjadeskye @sm0kingcrack @sarcastictextstuck @zellllyyyy @psionicsnow @mynahx3 @andie-in-tumblland @iamthe-leaf @midnightfeline666 @bungou-stray-alies-tales-of-aly of-aly @rubyred-imagines @kattariapenn @heypartypeps @quirktaker @thecryingsombra @smbody-stole-mycar-radio @ghost-of-todoroki @geektastic84 @davalia @glixeo @rubycubix @mekakushi-dan-01-kido

[dvp95]

can’t breathe when you touch my sleeve - chapter 9

pairing: dan howell/phil lester

rating: e

warnings: none

tags: alternate universe, slow burn, fluff & humour, tiny bit of inner turmoil wrt sexuality but trust me it’s not that deep, deeper than anticipated but still not that deep y'all this is primarily silly, eventual smut, idiots in love

word count: 6,538 for this chapter (41,509 total)

summary: Dan keeps making a fool of himself in interviews, to the point where it’s basically a meme. Now he’s got to sit down for the better part of an hour and sell his show to the YouTuber he’d had a massive crush on when he was a teenager.

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Dan wakes up alone. He's stretched out on Phil's sheets, mostly on his stomach, and he buries his face in a pillow to hide from the afternoon sunlight streaming through Phil's small windows. He listens carefully, but he can't hear Phil shuffling around the room or anything.

He's not overly worried, really. This is Phil's place. It would be next level weird for him to cut and run.

Sure enough, when Dan blinks away the spots in his vision and looks around the flat, he sees a sticky note on Phil's headboard. Had to go to work! Won't say your name on the radio lol, it says, and Dan feels a surge of fondness and embarrassment.

He rolls onto his back and rubs at his face, trying to wipe the stupid grin off even though nobody's here to see it. He grins wider when he remembers that someone else is here, actually.

"Thor," he calls out, not bothering to sit up. "C'mere, buddy!"

The jangling of Thor's collar and the rapid taps of his claws on the hardwood floor let him know that the dog is approaching.

Dan looks over and sees Thor sitting at the side of the bed, head cocked and ears perked. He might actually start to cry; he is obsessed with this dog.

"Hey there," he coos, patting the bed next to him in invitation. Thor just keeps looking at him. If Dan were to assign a human emotion to Thor's vibe right now, he'd say the dog looked dubious. "C'mon up, little guy, I won't bite."

Thor jumps up with his stumpy legs and Dan laughs delightedly at the height he can manage when he's got a running start. He snuffles into Dan's borrowed shirt and gives him a bunch of sloppy kisses.

Truly, there is no better way to wake up. Dan is in heaven right now.

He gives Thor a bunch of pats and coos nonsense at him for a little while. He's not really in a hurry to go anywhere. In fact, he wouldn't get out of bed at all if it weren't for his bladder starting to get angry with him. Dan sighs and gives Thor a kiss on his tiny forehead.

"I gotta get up," he laments. He blinks at Thor.

Thor blinks back.

"You need to get up, too," he informs the dog very solemnly.

Thor puts his front paws down like he's getting ready to play and lolls his tongue out, smiling at Dan.

Dan clutches at his chest dramatically and fumbles around for his phone. He needs to capture this moment. He notices that he's got missed texts, missed calls, but he shoves the spike of anxiety to the side in order to focus on getting cute photos and videos of Thor. He takes a bunch of the corgi alone, giggling to himself the whole time, and then pulls Thor close to him to take a few selfies as well.

After brushing his teeth and taking a quick piss, Dan lies back down and looks through the camera roll. He's smiling at his phone and petting one of Thor's soft ears. They're all super cute pictures, good enough to post if they weren't so laden in implications.

Two photos - one of them grinning wide at the camera and a follow-up where Dan's face is scrunched in laughter as Thor gives him a surprise kiss to his nose - get messaged to Phil instead of posted.

It's almost as good, really. After a beat, he sends the photos to Jaime and Patrick as well. He's already talked to them about everything, more or less, and he just wants to share the joy he's feeling right now to people who get it. His thumb hesitates. After a moment of consideration, he sends just the silly picture to Adrian.

Adrian responds with a knife emoji, followed by a heart eyes emoji.

They're never going to be like Phil and his brother, working together and razzing each other over dinner, but that's okay. Dan feels a little bit of softness in his chest, easing some of that decades-old guilt. Maybe they can, at least, be more than the strangers they are now.

Spurred on by something as simple as his brother replying immediately, Dan holds his breath and opens the text chain with his mum.

Blimey dear that must be a load off after all this time! Of course I still want to see you on Saturday... I love you with my whole heart and always will xx.

Fuck. He's not going to cry. He won't cry. Not here. Dan inhales lungfuls of air in gasps, trying not to let them turn into raspy sobs. Thor makes an inquisitive noise and noses at Dan's hand.

"I'm okay," he whispers, even if he isn't quite sure that's true. He makes a bunch of typos as he replies to her, just a short love you too that takes him an entire minute to get right. He doesn't want to make a big deal over this, even though it is a big deal, so he just adds a heart emoji and buries his face in Thor's soft fur.

His phone buzzes a few times, but Dan ignores it for a little while. He feels safe in Phil's bed, Thor in his arms, and he doesn't want to face the world again until he feels a bit less fragile. Eventually, though, Thor wiggles out of his grasp and bounds off the bed in search of a toy.

Jaime and Patrick have both responded to the dog selfies, Jaime with a string of barely-comprehensible emotional texts and Patrick with a single exclamation point iMessage reaction.

Phil has sent him a selfie in return, wearing radio headphones and a pout. Hate that I'm at work!!!!!!!!, he captions it. Dan hates that, too. He sends a quick shot of Thor on the other side of the flat with the caption, abandoned by both of u.

By the time he circles back to his mum, he isn't really sure what to expect. She isn't the type to wax poetic about her feelings, none of them are, so he doesn't anticipate another round of affection and love and pride right this second. Maybe in her goodbye text when he heads to the continent. Not right away.

Sure enough, she's said, Why don't you & I grab lunch in the city on Saturday? I've been meaning to try this new sushi bar... xx. Dan's heart sinks.

It's okay, he reminds himself. His mum loves him. Adrian loves him. They both said so.

His mum not wanting him to come to the house anymore speaks volumes to Dan. He expected this, anyway - his dad barely wanted to see him before this, Dan's always been nothing but a physical reminder of his wasted youth, and it isn't shocking that he doesn't want to see Dan now.

Dan lies back down and covers his head with Phil's duvet. He'll let himself be sad, just for a minute, for the loss. This is the first relationship he has to cut off if he wants to live authentically, move forward as a gay man who doesn't hate himself, and it hits hard. Maybe he'll let himself be angry, after this. Then, he'll get out of bed and start living the authentic, quietly proud life that he's only ever dreamed of.

It's okay. But, right now, it stings a bit.

--

By the time Thor's ears perk up and he runs to the door, a clear indication that Phil is home, Dan has well and truly gone through some stages of grief and landed on repression. He's been playing Guild Wars and idly tidying Phil's flat throughout the day, lazy with the impromptu day off as he is. Thor follows him around and Dan plies him with more treats than he thinks Phil would approve of.

Dan feels a little sheepish when Phil comes in and he's just lounging on the sofa with his laptop and a pair of Phil's ridiculous slippers on his feet. The flat looks better than it had last night, but Dan has done fuck all with himself. He could have at least showered, he supposes.

"Hey," he says, tugging an earphone out and giving Phil a quick glance. "Sorry, I'm raiding, I'll give you attention in a second."

"Hi, Dan, my day was good," Phil says dryly. "Thanks for asking."

"You signed up for this," Dan informs him, not taking his eyes off the screen again. He can hear Phil enthusiastically greeting Thor, which makes him smile. "I did make dinner, 's in the oven."

"You cook?" Phil sounds far too surprised, in Dan's opinion.

Dan's character gets murked, and he shuts his laptop with a little huff of a noise. Normally he'd wait out the respawn and keep playing, but he's got more important things to focus on. "No, not really. I know how to throw a bunch of stuff in a pot or dish until it's food."

He gets a proper look at Phil while he peeks in the oven and feels even more like maybe he should have gotten dressed.

It's not like he's dressed up nicely or anything - he's wearing the corgi jumper that he interviewed Dan in and a pair of Vans that are surely on their last legs - but the fact that he is dressed gives him a head start on Dan. He looks a little tired, and Dan wonders if it's comfort or a distinct lack of it that has Phil's shoulders hunched forward more than usual.

"It smells good," Phil informs him, smiling a bit. "You didn't have to do that, y'know."

"Shut up, I wanted to," says Dan.

"I don't think I've come home to food cooking since I lived with my parents," Phil says, his hands inside out in his jean pockets. "I, uh, better not get used to it, huh?"

That definitely is a problem. The elephant in the room, that Dan can't just stay here forever. Dan sighs and stands, carefully stepping around the sofa so he doesn't trip on Thor. He comes close to wrap his arms around Phil's shoulders, smiling when Phil immediately takes hold of his waist like they're dancing.

"Hi, Phil," Dan mocks softly. "Good to see you, how was your day?"

Phil laughs. "Alright. Better now."

"Good," says Dan, and then he kisses Phil. It hasn't even been a full day since he did it last, but he hums and arches into it like it's been months.

They're making up for preemptive lost time. Dan is distracted, though, even when Phil licks into his mouth and pulls him closer. He can't stop thinking about the call he'd made to Amy earlier, the things his agent had said to him.

Netflix announces renewals and cancellations whenever it pleases, not on any sort of set schedule, so Dan will have to live in limbo for a little while. Amy doesn't know how long, exactly, but she promised him to at least find him a British film or series to do in the space between seasons. She called him an idiot, but she agreed to it.

Dan is wondering if he should tell Phil about that conversation. He spends half a minute tossing the possibilities around in his head while Phil sucks on his tongue, his lip.

This is so stupid. Dan pulls back from the kiss. He laughs a bit and puts a palm on Phil's chest to stop him from coming back for more. It warms Dan, knowing that Phil doesn't want to stop kissing him.

"Down, boy," he jokes, and Phil rolls his eyes.

"I don't like this habit you have of interrupting us," says Phil. His cool hands slip under Dan's borrowed Friends shirt. His thumbs trace mirroring shapes just under Dan's ribcage. Now that is distracting. "You could just let me keep kissing you."

"I could," Dan agrees. "But I've got shit to say, y'know?"

Phil grins at him, exasperated in a way that Dan thinks he could get used to. "I've noticed, Dan, that you always have shit to say. And I'd love to listen. Any other time."

"Rude," says Dan. There's no real heat to it, since Phil is right. "It's just that I almost didn't tell you something important because I didn't want to get your hopes up or sound like a freak, and then I remembered the disaster that not talking became last time, so, fuck it."

Even though he's already had experience with watching Phil's eyes go neutral and guarded, it's still a bit of a weird thing to watch happen up close.

It's not even that Phil is a particularly good actor, it's just that he's clearly so practiced in hiding his reactions to things that he can switch it on in an instant. Dan huffs a bit and pokes at Phil's cheek.

"None of that," he scolds.

"None of what?" Phil asks. He's smiling now, though. "What's so important?"

"I talked to my agent," says Dan. "Things are up in the air until we know if we're getting a fourth season, but. I'm thinking about moving to London if we aren't."

Phil's smile goes absolutely blinding, but he sounds suspicious when he says, "Really? That's something you want?"

"I always wanted to live here," Dan says with a little shrug. "Just got lucky in America and ended up staying. Nothing specific was really drawing me back here, I just knew London was always a 'someday' thing. Every time I come back for Christmas I remember how much I like it here." Dan pauses, then jokes, "It's not all about you, y'know."

It kind of is. The timing of it, at least, but Phil doesn't have to know that.

"Yeah, alright," Phil says, outright beaming at Dan now. "Makes sense to me, it's a way better place to live than Atlanta."

Dan laughs. "Atlanta is fine, you jealous bitch."

"I guess," says Phil. He presses a couple of soft kisses to Dan's jaw. Dan is ready to get carried away again before he adds, "It must be hard being so far from your family, as well. You'll get to see them more."

He knows that Phil is only trying to motivate him into staying without actively using himself as a reason, but Dan still grimaces.

"I'll probably see them about the same amount, honestly," he says. "Except my grandma, I'm sure I'll have tea with her every once in a while."

"Don't be silly, I'm sure they'd be excited," says Phil.

That's a very easy thing for Phil to say. Dan can't help the face he pulls at the idea of his family being excited that he's nearby. "They really won't. My parents aren't like yours, Phil, and my brother definitely isn't."

Phil cocks his head and blinks. Dan almost laughs at how eerily similar the action looks to Thor's confusion.

"Well, I know nobody's family is perfect," Phil says, squeezing Dan's waist. "I just figured you'd like to be closer to them."

"No," Dan says honestly. "I mean, it's not like it's a reason not to live in London. Where I am in relation to my family doesn't really affect my decision either way, TBH."

He kind of expects Phil to keep arguing with him about it. Dan only reached out to his mum about getting together in the first place after Phil got all disapproving about how little Dan sees them. Maybe he just takes Dan's word for it this time, though, because all he says is an easy, "Okay."

That's all it takes, really. Phil's agreement, even if he doesn't understand. Dan has already told this guy more about himself than anyone else he knows, and he can feel the words bubbling uncomfortably in his throat.

"I don't actually want to talk about this," says Dan, "but, like, okay, I came out to my family and only some of them are handling it well."

Actual understanding dawns on Phil's face, and he just nods.

"We won't talk about it, then," he says. Like it's that simple. "Let's eat. I'm gonna take Thor to the park afterwards if you want to come with us."

Dan leans in for a grateful kiss that lingers a bit too long. Phil's hands travel further up his shirt, tracing along Dan's ribs and making him shiver. "Thanks," he murmurs into the barely-there space between their mouths. "I'll come with you guys."

For as long as Dan has known about commitment issues, he's known that he has them. With personal projects, with schoolwork, with his own sense of self. It's hard for him to settle on something, harder still to follow through. He's felt it with the women he's dated, too, but he'd already known there was an underlying issue that made it impossible for him to say, 'yeah, okay, this could be something I do long-term'.

Now he's making out with a man who he's pretty sure is his boyfriend, even if they hadn't actually said that word, talking about sharing dinner and dog walks and clothes, and Dan has never done this before, and he knows that he's committing to something just by being here right now.

He waits for that moment of panic so he can whack it aside with some logic, but. It never comes.

Huh.

--

When they head to bed later that night, it isn't because Phil has almost passed out on the sofa again. They'd been ignoring a film for about an hour to snog, and Phil's perpetually cold hands had started wandering about five minutes into that.

Dan had managed to handle Phil's hands under his shirt, in his hair, on his thighs, even brushing the side of his neck, all without major issues. When Phil had decided to outright grope his ass through his too-tight jeans, though, Dan's brain had short circuited. So he'd dragged Phil across the room and pulled him down in a tangle of limbs and laughter as they accidentally elbowed and kneed at each other.

They're not exactly graceful people, but Dan can't complain much with Phil's hands in his back pockets and Phil's mouth on his jaw.

Dan's breathing already feels too loud in the softly lit room, small windows not letting much background noise through at all, and Phil isn't even doing much of anything to him yet.

The part of Dan's brain that exists only to remind him that he's attracted to men has literally never been so loud. He'd foolishly assumed that admitting it to himself and other people would shut it the fuck up, but instead it is outright screaming at him.

You're so fucking gay! it reminds him, as if it's yodeling from the top of a mountain.

Yeah, Dan thinks, he is, he's aware, he's currently straddling a guy he really likes and mouthing at his neck to try and get his breathing as ragged as Dan's is. He doesn't need the commentary.

Still, it keeps shouting, and it only gets louder when Phil tangles one hand in his hair and tugs him back up for an open-mouthed kiss.

He's kissing you! AmazingPhil is kissing you! that part of his mind is chanting, and in the short break between their lips meeting, Dan can't help but murmur a, "Shut up."

Phil pauses. Dan realises he's said that out loud and promptly wants to die.

"I didn't say anything," says Phil. His voice is low and amused, and Dan feels a renewed spark of heat up his spine.

"Not you," Dan says.

Raising his eyebrows, Phil makes a point to look around the flat as best he can without dislodging Dan from his hips. "Uh huh. Y'know, I always knew this place was haunted. I just figured I'd be the one to make friends with the ghosts."

"You're ridiculous," says Dan, but he can't stop himself from smiling.

"I'm not the one talking to ghosts," says Phil.

"I'm not taking to ghosts, Phil, I'm talking to myself. My brain won't shut off, it's so fucking loud right now."

Phil laughs, but he doesn't seem like he's making fun of Dan. He twirls his finger around one of Dan's curls and grins up at him. "I can help with that," he says. In case there were any doubt about what he means, Phil squeezes Dan's ass. "Bet I could make your brain be quiet."

"Yeah?" Dan grins and noses at Phil's jaw. "Yeah, alright, do your worst."

"What do you want?" Phil asks, using his light grip on Dan's hair to make Dan look at him. Dan personally thinks he could tug harder, but they can talk about that when Dan has to pull up a PowerPoint presentation on his kinks.

That's not an easy question. Dan wants everything, whatever Phil's got on offer. He shrugs.

"Honestly," says Dan, "I'm even easier about sex than I am about food."

"This has not been easy," Phil grumbles, good-natured about it. Dan cackles in response. Not a very attractive sound, but Phil doesn't seem to mind. He just smiles.

"Okay, yeah, fair enough," says Dan. "You know what I mean. You can make that call, I believe in you. Although, for you to make an informed decision, you should know I haven't showered since..." He trails off, frowning.

"Not a good sign that you can't remember," Phil laughs. He doesn't seem anxious the way he has when Dan pushes him in the past, but maybe he's just feeling the same loose vulnerability that's making Dan go mad with it. Phil hums and toys with Dan's hair. "Uh, alright, you wanna maybe fuck me?"

The suggestion being somehow both unsure and totally blunt makes Dan laugh, and then Phil is ducking giggles into Dan's collarbone, too.

"How is that a question?" Dan grins. "Sure I do."

Phil is grinning back at him, bright and beautiful, and Dan has to lean in and connect their lips again for a long moment. "Mm, you wanna grab the stuff from the loo, then? And put Thor in there while you're at it."

"Why do I have to?"

"You're on top of me."

"I don't have to be. You go put the dog away."

"No, you should - okay," Phil cuts himself off with a laugh and takes his hand off Dan's ass to hold it up between them in a fist. "Rock, paper, scissors you for it?"

As Dan proceeds to lose two of three - and then three of five, and then five of seven when he keeps complaining about not being in the Zone - it occurs to him that this whole thing feels ridiculous.

It's not a bad thing. Dan hasn't had silly sex in a very, very long time. He's certainly never had sex with someone he trusts quite as much as he trusts Phil. He's trying not to think about that too hard when he lures Thor into the bathroom with treats and his favourite toy, because he doesn't want to accidentally activate his own fight or flight reflex.

Phil is propped up on his elbows in bed, watching Dan with an absent smile on his face, and Dan remembers seeing him like this when they were drunk together. He'd been sprawled out over Dan's sheets and smirking up at him and Dan hadn't done anything about it.

"God, I'm stupid," Dan breathes, and Phil laughs.

"Yeah," he agrees, even though he can't possibly know what Dan is thinking about. "You just gonna stand there?"

With a rude gesture, Dan tosses the bottle of lube at Phil, who yelps as it almost hits him in the face. Dan finds himself cackling again as he fights to get his ultra-skinny jeans off his legs while he's still standing. He'd put them on to go to the dog park - stayed in the Friends shirt, though, it's very comfortable - but he's regretting that now. Phil's cotton shorts would be way less awkward to shimmy out of.

"Must you watch me do this?" Dan huffs, hopping on one foot as he tries to yank his jeans down over his other ankle. "It's not exactly sexy."

"It's very funny, though," says Phil.

Dan manages to get his jeans and socks off without injury, and then he flops back into bed to help Phil with his own tight jeans.

"We need to rethink our fashion," Dan laughs. Phil is giggling, too, and lifting his hips for Dan, and this is all so fun. Dan had actually forgotten that sex could be fun. His jeans come off easier than Dan's, thank god, and Dan runs his hands over Phil's thighs with a little hum. "Damn, you're pale."

Phil makes an amused, choked-off noise and kicks out at Dan without actually trying to hit him. "Hey, fuck you, you're supposed to say nice stuff to me."

"I'm so sorry, Phil, the beauty of your alabaster legs just drive me crazy," Dan simpers, exaggeratedly batting his eyelashes. He's being a dick about it, but the sentiment behind the words are true enough. Phil's got nice legs, nice thighs, a nice semi in his nice boxers. Dan brushes his fingers in a way that's probably ticklish and laughs when Phil kicks his shin for real. "Fucking ow, do you want me to tell you how hot you are or not?"

"You're so annoying," Phil informs him, and then he's sitting up to take his shirt off and Dan's mouth goes dry for real.

"Oh," he says, shifting further up the bed so he can flick his thumb over the metal bar in Phil's left nipple. He hadn't really expected that from Phil. Dan blinks, trying to get his brain back online. "Why didn't you get both?'

Whatever Phil was expecting him to say, it wasn't that. He sits there for a moment, stumped, the pads of Dan's fingers curiously poking at his nipple. It doesn't seem like it's very sensitive. Dan wonders if that's from the piercing or if Phil just doesn't have sensitive nipples. He wonders how long this piercing has been here - it hadn't been, back when he was an avid AmazingPhil subscriber, and Phil hasn't taken his shirt off for YouTube in years.

Then, Phil shrugs. "You only get one pierced, don't you?"

"I think most people get both," Dan says, but he's talking on autopilot right now. He shakes his head, tries to clear it. "Fucking symmetry or whatever, yeah?"

"I guess," Phil says. He doesn't shrug again, but his broad, bare shoulders twitch like they want to. He's got freckles and beauty marks on his shoulders and arms and torso, and Dan wants to get his mouth on every single one.

"No offense," says Dan, "but I really didn't peg you as the piercing type."

Phil smirks a bit. "Wow, the MySpace boy I was trying so hard to be is crying right now. Yeah, I dunno, it was one of the really impulsive things I did a couple years ago. Getting Thor was one of those, I think I told you about that."

He had. Dan remembers it, vaguely, remembers wondering if Phil was hiding a tattoo under his clothes.

"Did it hurt?"

"Not as much as I expected," says Phil. "And definitely not as much as my other ones did."

Dan narrows his eyes and looks Phil over, dubious. Phil isn't wearing anything but a pair of boxer briefs with sushi print on them, and Dan can't see any more metal or healing holes on him. Phil's little smirk only grows while Dan looks him over carefully. "Stop fucking with me, you don't have more piercings."

Phil raises an eyebrow and his hips in a synchronicity that Dan didn't know his body possessed. Dan swallows, hard, can hear his heart pounding as it rushes all the blood in his brain south and makes him a little dizzy.

The room is quiet and still and too hot for a long beat. Then, Dan pulls his borrowed shirt off and chucks it somewhere over his shoulder so that the cool air of the basement can stop him from overheating. He slides his fingers under the hem of Phil's boxers and pulls them down his long legs, unable to stop himself from dropping a kiss to one of Phil's very pale thighs as he does.

"Fuck," Dan breathes. He nips at Phil's thigh a bit, making the muscles there jerk. "Alright, so I can see how that would hurt more."

Phil's cock is pretty and thick, which Dan suspected but had no way of knowing, and it's also got two piercings in it. Dan knows the name of the one, a Prince Albert ring right at the tip of Phil's dick, but he has no idea what the other is called.

He has to touch them, of course. He wraps his hand around Phil's cock and rubs his thumb back and forth over the ring, watching Phil's face carefully as he does.

"Dan," is all Phil says, but his voice has gone low and his eyes have gone dark, so Dan figures he's doing something right.

"What the hell is this?" Dan has to ask, trailing his fingers down Phil's cock to nudge at the bar through the bottom of it, right above his balls. "Like, what is it called? Also, why did you do this? Also, also, I want to suck your dick now."

Phil laughs, throaty and dark, and that doesn't help Dan's situation at all.

"You only grabbed one condom," he points out, waving the wrapper in Dan's face. "So you can either fuck me or suck me off, your call."

"I don't need a condom to suck your dick," says Dan.

Somehow, even with Dan's hand idly stroking him and playing with the piercings, Phil manages to roll his eyes. "You do. I'm not giving you a safe sex lecture, Dan, either make up your mind or go get another condom."

Dan sulks, but he doesn't bother arguing. He hasn't actually heard Phil be so strongly opinionated about something before. There's not a hint of hesitation or anxiety in telling Dan what he wants, and Dan likes that too much to bicker over something as miniscule as a condom.

"Fine," he sighs, sitting up between Phil's legs and letting go of his dick.

"Aw, Dan," Phil lightly mocks. He reaches out and pets Dan's hair, which Dan is only a little embarrassed to lean into. "It's like you don't even know that getting tested together can be third base for gay people."

"Well, I don't know," Dan huffs. He's a little prickly and defensive about the teasing, but Phil smiles at him so softly that he melts all over again. "It's been a while, okay? And it's not like any of us were the smartest bulbs about this shit in uni."

With a sympathetic little hum of a noise, Phil pulls Dan up by the hair to kiss him. It's slow and lingering and Dan's body is pressed against Phil's with the angle, only his thin Calvins in the way of them sliding together. When Phil pulls back, Dan is the one who gets stopped from leaning in for more.

"Sorry," Phil says, quiet and sincere and still smiling. "I really will talk about why it's important to me later, but right now I just really need you to put your stupidly big hands to work."

Another request, no hesitation. Dan is only too happy to oblige.

Dan has never fingered another guy before. The rare times, back in the day, that he hadn't been craving something inside him to ease that constant tension he carried around with him, Dan's sexual partners had just done the task themselves.

Still, it's not rocket science. He's had his fingers in women and in himself before, how different could it be?

Too much lube and a wrist cramp later, Dan is getting the hang of things. He's using his right hand on Phil so his left wrist can take a break, pushing and prodding deep with his longest fingers to coax drawn-out noises from Phil's pretty lips. Dan kisses him, rocks against his hip, murmurs absolute nonsense into his ear that he'll feel embarrassed about when he isn't so fucking turned on. He hasn't managed to consistently hit Phil's prostate or anything but Phil doesn't seem to mind. He's grinding into Dan's hand, biting his lip hard, murmuring, "That's it, you've got it, c'mon, give me another."

"Yeah, alright," Dan breathes, carefully pressing another finger into him and shuddering at the way Phil's back arches into it.

This is easily the hottest thing he's ever done, and that might be pathetic if it wasn't so obvious that nothing else could even come close to this. Phil doesn't bother telling Dan when he's ready, he just shoves the condom into Dan's free palm and wraps a hand around himself.

"Not getting any younger, here," Phil says on a little pant, and Dan realises that he's just been staring.

"Right, fuck, okay."

Dan's fingers shake a bit, but he manages to get his boxers off and his cock ready without any incidents - aside from another mean twinge in his left wrist. He waits and just looks at Phil again, spread legs and long neck and all gorgeous man, and Phil's eyelashes flutter as he tugs lightly on one of his piercings, fuck.

"C'mon," Phil urges again, hooking a lanky leg over Dan's hip to pull him closer.

"It's gonna be like that, is it?" Dan laughs breathlessly. He hoists Phils body up by his thighs for a better angle and keeps a hand on Phil's ass to hold him there. "Fucking pillow princess, I should have guessed."

"Whatever, Dan," says Phil. He seems very distracted by Dan lining his cock up and slowly, so slowly, pressing inside of him. Phil groans then, the loudest noise he's made yet, and rocks his hips to take more of Dan's cock than Dan is giving him. "Not gonna fucking break, c'mon."

"Jesus, Phil," Dan half-laughs, half-moans. "So demanding. Feel so good, though, shit, I can't stay in Atlanta, I can't not have this all the - fuck - all the time."

It just kind of slips out, the way everything Dan babbles during sex slips out, but Phil is nodding along anyway, wrapping his arms around Dan's shoulders to pull him down into a messy kiss.

The wet noises where they're joined should be comical, maybe, all squelching lube and skin slapping against skin as Dan starts to fuck into Phil properly, but Dan is too focused on the breathy noises escaping from their kiss to care. This is just what sex sounds like - this is what sex with Phil sounds like, and Dan could really get used to that.

Phil's heel digs into the small of Dan's back to urge him on until, presumably, his leg gets tired or cramped and he wraps them both around Dan's hips instead. They gasp into each other's mouths at the slight change in angle, and Dan's hips snap forward.

If Phil weren't sucking on his tongue right now, Dan would be prattling on and moaning loud and generally making an idiot of himself. He feels the telltale sensation of heat in his gut that means there's an orgasm at the finish line, he just needs to get there.

Dan plants a hand on the bed and lifts Phil's lower body a bit more with the other, moaning absolute nonsense into Phil's mouth as he thrusts a little harder and faster to try and get Phil where he is.

A whine reverberates through Dan's body as Phil makes the noise with his teeth on Dan's lower lip, and then Dan can feel the rhythmic nudges of Phil's knuckles against his stomach as he jacks himself off, fast, because he's close too and Dan can tell. Dan wants to wait it out, he does, but Phil feels too good around his cock for him to hold out any longer. His orgasm hits and he groans like he’s been punched in the stomach, burying his face into Phil’s neck as he does.

He hears Phil say, "Fuck, okay, just stay there," and stays deep inside of him, pressing wet kisses to his neck and grinding his hips in little circles until Phil gets his, too, toes curling against the backs of Dan's thighs with a quiet groan and one hand gripping his hair so tight that Dan sees stars.

Dan presses a soft kiss to Phil's jaw and carefully pulls out of him to flop onto his back, trying to get his breathing back to a regular rate. He's seriously unfit when he isn't filming, his personal trainer would be so furious about all the Domino's he's been eating. He laughs at the thought of his trainer's angry face and then he's just giggling, throwing an arm over his face to hide from Phil's curious eyes.

"I think you fucked me stupid," Dan tells him through the giggles, and Phil responds with a low chuckle.

Arms are wrapped around Dan's waist and a line of kisses are dropped along his collarbone. "Hey, now," says Phil, his voice low and fucked out, "I can't take credit for that. You were stupid when you got here."

"Oi," Dan laughs, shoving at him. If they had more energy, they'd probably roll around until all the mocking words are just breathless laughter, but as it is they just manage to elbow each other a few times and then curl closer. It's quiet for a few minutes, just holding each other close and letting their hands brush softly over each other's skin.

Then, Phil yawns.

"Okay," he says, like he's psyching himself up. "Contacts out. Dog out. Pants on."

"That last one seems optional," Dan says, waggling his eyebrows. Phil laughs and swats at his chest.

"You," says Phil, swatting the same spot again for good measure, "condom off, pants on."

"What is this pants agenda you're pushing on me?" Dan hums into Phil's hair. It smells sweet, like some kind of berry. "I'm not sure I'm interested in these pants you speak of."

Phil laughs and pulls away to stretch all his long limbs out. Dan takes the opportunity to shamelessly check him out again, admiring the glints of metal that the majority of the world doesn't get to see. "You will be. Thor's going to want to cuddle after we locked him up."

He watches Phil as he searches his room for clean boxers, wolf-whistling when he bends down and laughing at the finger he gets in return.

"Yeah, okay," says Dan. He feels a smile spread across his face before he even thinks about it. Yeah. This is what he wants. This is what, for some godforsaken reason, he's been allowed to have.

[allthephils]

Questionable

Word count: 1767 Rated E (smut, strangers to lovers, public sex, valentine’s Day) Written for @phandomficfests Dates flash fest (just under the wire!)

Read on AO3

Dan’s date went very badly and Phil’s didn’t go at all. Good thing they found eachother.

“Should we be doing this?” Phil keeps glancing over his shoulder. He can see right over the stall door. It would be pretty awkward if anyone walked in and made eye contact. “It’s just a little seedy isn’t it, a public toilet? Your knees are going to be all covered in disease.” He laughs a little at his rhyme.

 There’s a beautiful man on his knees in front of Phil. His name is Dan and his mouth is full so he doesn’t answer right away but he stops moving and looks up. Damn those lashes. “Don’t stop.” Phil says quickly then rests his head back and closes his eyes. “Why is this stall so short?” Now is not the time for nervous chatter but Phil can’t seem to reign it in. He’s never done anything like this.

 Dan is licking his cock, like proper licking it, like it’s an ice lolly. There’s spit running down and over his balls and it’s just obscene and so hot.

 “It’s not short, you’re tall.” Dan says between licks. “If someone comes in, just duck your head.”

 Phil wonders what the fuck he’s doing. He’s not cut out for this kind of debauchery. Dan’s lips drag a wet trail from base to tip and the arguments in Phil’s mind start to muddle.

 2 hours ago

 Phil looks good. He’s wearing his new black jumper with the little flecks of silver and jeans that haven’t yet had time to fade. The quiff is in rare form tonight and his moisturizing routine is really starting to pay off. He smells good too, like the bespoke fragrance he treated himself to as a self-love Valentine’s Day gift. Phil doesn’t go on many second dates, mostly owing to the fact that he doesn’t go on many first dates.

 There’s no one else at the bar and most of the tables are empty. It’s not exactly a romantic spot but this is where he wanted to meet. He said it’s his favorite dive, that they make great drinks. Phil worried that Valentine’s day was too much pressure for a second date but he’d said it would be fun, low key. So here Phil sits, alone, sipping a fruity drink, buzzing with anticipation, avoiding the the expectant gaze of the bartender.

 It was a great first date. They’d shared a great meal with a great view of the city. He had a dark, wry sense of humor and a weird little hipster mustache. Potential is a new and exciting thing. They’d kissed at the end of the night and he’d stood on his toes to reach Phil’s lips. Phil’s heart jumps a little at the memory. He’ll be here any minute.

 1 hour ago

 “Can I get you another one?” The bartender’s voice has gotten softer each time she’s asked. Phil can’t look her in the eye so he just shakes his head. His cheeks feel a little numb. He’s clearly going home alone so he should probably stop while he can still walk a straight line.

 “For the love of god, please get me a fucking drink.” The bartender seems to know the guy ordering her around, she’s unbothered, smiling at him as she’s pours his unspecified drink. “And whatever he’s having.” He jerks his head toward Phil and before he really knows what’s happening, he’s got a fresh cocktail waiting.

 Phil’s eyes dart between his drink and the guy who bought it, then back again. He wants to say thank you but there’s a steady stream of vitriol coming from the guy’s mouth and he doesn’t want to interrupt.

 “This is what I get for dating an American. He’s in the NRA, the NRA!” He gulps his drink. “Can you believe that?”

 “I know lots of cool Americans.” The bartender leans and listens, tempering his outburst as best she can.

 “Yeah, I know, so do I. Just let me vent.” She reaches out and gives his shoulder a squeeze before starting to tidy the bar, still listening. He goes on, “I never fucking date, never. I hook up, I mind my own business. Go on a date, Dan. Download Tinder, Dan. You deserve more, Dan. Fuck.”

 Phil startles. Dan nearly yelled at the end there. His bartender friend gives him a look and he sighs.

 “Sorry.” He necks the last of his drink and a new one appears like magic. “It’s just, it’s not like I was looking to get married. I just thought a little connection, some intelligent conversation could only make the fucking better, right?”

 Phil sputters, choking on his drink a bit and Dan slowly turns to look at him. “Did I offend your delicate sensibilities?”

 Phil clears his throat. “No, your just a little, loud. Thanks for the drink.”

 “No problem.” Dan says. “By the sound of you, it’s not your first.”

 Phil doesn’t say anything, just stares into his nearly empty glass.

 “You’re alone at a bar on Valentine’s Day and you’re pissed. I’m guessing... poorly timed breakup?”

 Phil finally looks directly at this so called Dan. Oh dear, he’s pretty.

 “Hello.” Phil squeaks.

 Dan laughs, “Hi there.”

 “I got stood up. Second date. He has a mustache.”

 “You should have known better.” Dan moves down the bar one stool so he’s sat right next to Phil.

 “You’re pretty.” Phil says, his brain too mushy to stop him.

 “Thank you.” Dan says sincerely, “you are also very pretty.” He chuckles a laugh and shakes his head.

 “Thanks.” Phil says, hand over his heart. “Can I ask you something that I definitely wouldn’t ask if I were sober?”

 “Sure.”

 “You’re single, yeah?”

 “Yes.” Dan wears a look of amusement.

 “One more?” Phil asks and Dan gestures for him to go on.

 Phil leans toward Dan a bit, bracing himself on the bar, “Are you gay?” His whisper is comically loud.

 “Mostly, yes.”

 Dan has the cutest little quirk to his lips. Phil’s eyes have settled there and he watches Dan’s tongue peek out to wet them. He feels brave, tipsy and angry and sad and brave.

 “You should finish your drink and invite me back to yours.” Phil’s heart beats like a drum, nerves have his arm hairs standing on end but he said it, it’s out there.

 “Is that so?” Dan says. He tilts his head, looks Phil up and down, then glances around the nearly empty room. “That’s a bold idea.”

 He bites his lip and Phil stands up. He’s never kissed anyone in a bar. It’s tacky, he doesn’t do that sort of thing, but if Dan keeps drawing attention to his mouth like this, Phil’s not sure he can resist.

 “I’ve got a better one.” Dan says and takes Phil’s hand. He leads him away from the bar, past the empty booths and tables, through a curtain and into the men’s toilets.

 ***

So here he his, pants around his thighs, fingers tangled in a stranger’s silky curls. Most of his brain has gone into full pleasure mode. Stay up late, eat sushi off of people, order milkshakes at midnight. You only live once. Unfortunately, a tiny but very loud piece of his brain is terrified. It’s the terribly annoying rule abiding lobe. Always ruining his fun, reminding him he has to get up in the morning, that he could get caught, that skinny dipping is technically illegal, and there could be ferocious beasts in the woods.

 Dan is stroking him with some real goal oriented focus. Those lips Phil was so focused on are now wrapped around his tip, suckling and slurping and pulling out a moan louder than Phil intended it to be.

 The distant sound of laughter shocks Phil into keen awareness of his surroundings. His eyes wide, he looks toward the door. That tiny piece of his brain is getting louder, drowning out the pleasure. He squeezes his eyes shut, breathes deep, tries to will away his rational side.

 “Phil?” Dan slows his strokes and sits back on his heels. “Do you want me to stop?”

 Phil sighs and looks down at those gorgeous brown eyes. He can’t believe what he’s saying as it slips out. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m sorry.”

 Dan stands and tucks Phil back into his pants, leaving him to deal with his jeans.

 “Don’t be sorry. I hope I didn’t pressure you.” He leans back on the opposite wall and Phil has a second to look him over in the light.

 “You didn’t.”

 Dan reaches into his jeans, adjusting himself, before stuffing his hand into his pockets. “Did I do something wrong?”

 He’s too pretty, too dimpled and tall. His eyes are too brown and his hands are too strong. His voice too soft and melty like the something you’d pour over crepes eaten in bed in an expensive hotel. Phil dives forward, crashing into Dan. He doesn’t bother to press their lips together, he leads with his tongue, desperately licking into Dan’s mouth, rolling his hips so their cocks collide over and over. He grabs at Dan’s shirt, fisting it to pull him upright, until Dan’s hand is on his chest pushing him away.

 “Woah. Phil.” His breathing is heavy as he catches up. “You’re kinda sending mixed signals here, mate.”

 “Sorry.” Phil straightens up. “You just look really good.” Dan grins and blushes a little, as if he didn’t know Phil found him attractive. “I can’t stop worrying. This is just too public, I’m sorry.”

 “First of all, stop apologizing. It’s fine. Second, I’ve got a flat with a pretty amazing view. Does that sound more agreeable?”

 “Yeah it does.” Phil is baffled, “You’d take me there?”

 “Of course.”

 “Why didn’t we go there in the first place?”

 Dan looks toward the fluorescent lights, thinking for moment. “Valentine’s is a little hard for me. It’s like, I’m fine, I’m ok on my own. But then this day comes and shouts at me. And suddenly I’m reminded of something I didn’t know I was missing. Do you know what I mean?”

 “Yeah, I think I do.” Phil answers quietly.

 “I guess I didn’t want to wait.” Dan says, holding the cubicle door open for Phil. “I have a lot of heavy emotional shit to work out.” He chuckles and shrugs. God, he’s cute. Cute and honest and good at blow jobs.

 “OK.” Phil watches Dan fix his hair in the mirror. “And you want to work it out with me?”

 “On you.” Dan adds, “I want to work it out on you.”

 He laughs again and Phil’s not sure how he’s meant to respond but he just says, “Let’s go.”

[shookethbrooketh]

Blanketed

Summary: When a classic snowstorm hits New York City the night before Valentine’s Day, Dan finds himself stranded and unable to catch his flight back home to London, so he does what any functional 27-year-old would do and hits the airport bar. It’s there that he finds another stranded passenger by the name of Phil. The two bond as they learn that they’re going to be stuck in the airport overnight, and in the morning they find themselves cuddled up for warmth underneath the same blanket. But what happens when the snow melts and they have to go their separate ways? 

Warnings: Alcohol

Word Count: 3.7k

Artist: @pine-tree-gi Beta: @themeoweclipse

Read it on Ao3 Read it on Wattpad!

A/N: This is one of two fics I’ve written for the @phandomreversebang, and I love this fic so much. It’s probably the first (fairly) pure fluff I’ve written in a while, and I really enjoyed writing something soft. I hope you enjoy it as well! I know it’s a bit short, but my second one will be longer, I promise :) 

“Bartender? Another drink, please?”

Dan looked up from his empty plastic cup branded on one side with “JFK Airport” in textured letters. The bartender walked over and poured more champagne into his cup. He gave the man a nod and he turned to serve other customers down the bar.

Dan took a sip from his third cup as a man slid into the seat beside him. “Champagne, please?” The bartender poured him a cup identical to Dan’s and then left the two alone. “Lemme guess,” he said, catching Dan off guard. “Snowed in?”

“News flash, buddy; we all are.” He thrust a thumb over his shoulder at the departures screen behind him. Every flight was accompanied by a red ‘cancelled’. “Not a single flight leaves until this damn snowstorm dies down and they clear the tarmac.”

“Good to know you’re just as annoyed as I am.” The man chuckled. Dan had never been one to talk to people in social settings, but he seemed to be a good-hearted man trying to make light of a shitty situation.

Dan rotated his barstool toward him and got his first good look at him. He had raven-black hair, and he was wearing a grey jumper covered in foxes along with a jean jacket the cold weather had prompted him to throw on over it. He could only see half of the man’s face, but, in all honesty, he was pretty attractive for an airport luck of the draw.

“I’m Dan.”

“Phil.”

Dan had done his part in the social contract, and they drank in silence for a moment before Phil finally spoke up.

“So, where-” he was cut off by a computerized voice ringing from speakers nobody could seem to locate.

“Attention all travelers. The weather forecast shows the current snowstorm continuing into the morning hours. Our crews cannot clear the tarmac until precipitation stops, so all flights are delayed until at least daylight tomorrow morning. We apologize for the inconvenience; thank you for flying through JFK International Airport.”

There was an audible groan from both men as well as everyone around them. Whines of tired children were heard even from outside the bar.

“Guess we’re gonna be here a while, huh?” Phil asked, shrugging off his jean jacket.

“Sadly,” Dan muttered, swirling the champagne remaining in his plastic cup.

“Hey, lighten up a bit!” Phil shouted, attracting a few glares from people around them. “You look plenty fun; you’re wearing a Christmas jumper in February.” He looked Dan up and down. “And it looks like you brought it through a wormhole from 2009.”

“Oh, thanks. Random strangers talking about my fashion sense is my favorite thing to encounter on an already shitty day.”

“Always happy to deliver.” Another moment’s silence passed. “I like your nails, by the way.”

Dan glanced down at his black-painted nails. He really did look like a 2009 emo. “Thanks,” he said monotonously.

“You seem upset. Like, beyond the level of upset a person would be just by this situation. I know we just met, but do you wanna talk?”

Dan sighed, throwing himself backwards and holding onto the bar to lunge himself back forward. “Boy, have I got a story.” He waved to the bartender. “Another round.”

“So let me get this straight,” Phil said, at least ten minutes later. “You wanted to use Valentine’s Day tomorrow as an excuse to confess to this guy you like, but there’s someone else he likes, and they’re ALSO planning to confess tomorrow, and now that your flight’s delayed, they’ll beat you to it?”

“Yup. I sound like a bloody teenager, but that’s what’s happened.”

“You really are having a bad day. I’m sorry, man. But come on!” he called out again, apparently the loud type. He threw his arm around Dan and shook his shoulder a bit. “Enjoy yourself! It’s not like you’ve got anything better to do.”

Dan rolled his eyes. “Have you got any suggestions?”

“You wanna go grab a bite? Might as well get some food before everyone gets paranoid and buys it all up.”

Dan shrugged. “Sure, why the hell not? Might as well not spend the night alone. Besides, I should probably stop drinking, or else I’ll spend the night alone and blacked out.” The two of them looked at the bartender and called out in unison.

“Check!”

A few moments later, they were rounding out their ice cream cones as they strolled through the terminal.

“Remind me why we decided to get ice cream during a snowstorm?” Dan joked, making eye contact with Phil. He hadn’t gotten a good look at his eyes earlier, but they were absolutely gorgeous. They were a wonderfully mixed turquoise with yellow flecks around the pupils; he’d only seen them once, but he knew they would be impossible to forget.

“Because we’re inside a heated airport and there just happened to be an ice cream shop in this terminal.”

“Fair enough,” Dan smiled, taking his first bite of the cone.

“Speaking of, what terminal are you headed to?”

Dan thought for a moment, almost having forgotten the details of his flight after a few drinks. “Terminal three. I only checked in here because the website said the security wait times were slower. I have a bit of a tendency to be late for flights. I thought I was going to miss this one, but, you know...” he trailed off, gesturing to the snowflakes falling through the illuminated night sky.

“Oh, nice! Same here.”

“The terminal, or the irresponsibility?”

Phil laughed, and Dan couldn’t help but smile just at that laugh. “Both.”

After they each laughed and Dan gushed over Phil for a moment, he returned to normal conversation. “Do you think there’s a tram we can take over there? I’ve had enough exercise for one day.”

“Should be. I took a train in, and I’m pretty sure it runs through the airport.” Phil paused for a moment, forcing Dan to do a double take and walk back. “It should be...” he trailed off, looking around; they’d found themselves in a four way intersection. “that way.” He pointed left and turned that way.

“There’s a sign right in front of us, Einstein.”

“Let’s just say I got pretty bored earlier and I happened to be sitting near an airport map.”

Dan rolled his eyes. “Nerd.”

After a short ride on the oddly fascinating tram, they were in terminal three, and they were both pleased to find that the terminal had a McDonald’s. Ice cream or no ice cream, Dan was planning to eat dinner on his flight back to London, and he was starving.

“A 20-piece McNugget meal, please.” Phil said to the worker at the counter, who clearly just wanted to go home.

“20 piece! I guess that ‘everyone’ who was buying up all the food out of paranoia was just you.”

Phil shrugged. “Man’s gotta eat.”

There ended up being two 20 McNugget meals in front of them as they sat in the far corner of the terminal. They hadn’t really discussed where to sit; they’d simply walked until they found an open outlet to plug their phones into, which took until the last gate in the terminal. That gate didn’t seem to have a flight planned to fly out of it, so there were no people gathered around it, allowing the boys to have their own little corner in the crowded airport. Sure, there were plenty of people within the vicinity, but it still felt as if they had a bit of privacy in their own space. And, most importantly, they could charge their phones.

“I cannot believe you got ketchup,” Phil scoffed at Dan as he dipped his McNugget into the ketchup pile he’d made on the open lid of his box.

“Don’t shame me for my dipping sauce choices!”

“Come on! Barbecue is obviously superior.” Phil made sure Dan was watching as he dipped a nugget of his own into his barbecue sauce and dramatically ate it.

“Do you wanna fight, Phil?”

“Do it, you won’t!” Dan quickly dipped a nugget in ketchup and shoved it in the direction of Phil’s mouth, smearing ketchup all over his face. “Hey!”

Phil glared at him as he dipped a nugget in barbecue and attempted to give Dan a taste of his own medicine. The two continued to shove nuggets in each other’s faces like children until finally Dan cried out. “Stop! Stop the violence!” The two paused, getting a few looks from random travelers in earshot. “I’ll eat yours, and you’ll eat mine.” They politely handed each other their nuggets and each took a bite. “Hmm,” Dan said, surprised. “This isn’t half bad.”

Phil looked up from the cup he was downing a sip of soda from. “Ketchup still sucks.”

Dan shoved him a bit, and they both laughed. Luckily, they ignored the dipping sauce choices for the fries and continued their meals until they’d each eaten to their heart’s content. They both smelled horribly of ketchup and barbecue sauce, but it was definitely worth it.

It was beginning to grow late, and the airport had dimmed the lights, allowing people around them to settle down and try to sleep. “This is so fucking uncomfortable,” Dan whispered, turning to Phil.

“We’ve both got carry-ons, right? We’ve got to have some useful things in there.” Phil sat up and unzipped the bag he was resting his head on. “I, for one, never travel without a blanket.”

“Phil, you’re a life saver.” Dan opened his carry-on, which was significantly smaller than Phil’s. “I’ve got a pillow, but it isn’t big. I think there’s still one store open down the terminal we can buy some small pillows from. If they’ve got enough, we can buy some to sit on and to rest our backs and heads on. Here’s some money; we can pool some together.”

“That’s a great idea!” Phil exclaimed, rummaging through his bag and pulling out about the same amount of money as Dan. “Stay here; I’ll go buy them out.”

“You really like buying people out of things, don’t you?” Dan asked, a smile crossing his face.

“It’s my specialty.”

A few minutes later, Dan looked up from his phone to see Phil waddling back down the terminal with pillows stacked up over his head. He jumped up and took a few from him so that he could see his face. “How did you get back down here in the dark with all those blocking your view?”

Phil shrugged. “Luck?”

Dan rolled his eyes and set down a couple of pillows for them to sit on. “Guess you didn’t bring back any change.”

“They had a lot of pillows,” he said as if to defend his actions. They each took a pillow and placed it behind their backs, topping it off with a pillow behind each of their heads.

“Clearly.”

After sitting independently on their phones for a while, Dan decided his phone had enough charge and unplugged it, favoring a pair of headphones and a dongle. “You want to watch some Netflix?” Dan asked, nudging Phil.

“Hell yeah!” he gravitated closer to Dan to see the phone. “What’ve you got?” Dan scrolled through his Netflix for a few seconds before Phil reached out and scrolled back up and settled on an icon. “You watch Queer Eye?”

“I love Queer Eye! I’m only halfway through season 2, though.”

“I don’t have Netflix, so I’ve never seen it, but I’ve always wanted to. Pick up where you left off; I’ll get into it quickly.”

They dove immediately into the show. Dan had to explain the premise and characters to Phil, but he really did pick up quickly. Then, every now and then they’d have to pause to discuss a good joke or especially gay moment. Ultimately, it ended up taking them an hour and fifteen minutes to watch 46 minutes of content. After the one video, they were both about ready to doze off.

“You know, Phil,” Dan said, plugging his phone back in. “I’ve never really had anyone to discuss Queer Eye with before. I really enjoyed that.”

Phil’s face was difficult to see in the darkness, but Dan could tell he was smiling. “I enjoyed it a lot too.” Phil bit his lip, avoiding eye contact. “I enjoyed... you.”

“What do you mean enjoyed?”

“Huh?”

“I’m still here.”

“What?”

“You said enjoyed. Past tense. But I’m still here. Enjoy, present tense.”

“Oh. Well, I enjoy your presence, I guess.”

“Hey Phil?”

“Yeah?”

“You know why I said that?”

“No. In fact, it just made this situation extremely awkward, so I can’t imagine why.”

“Because it would be significantly more awkward if I told you I liked you in the past tense, when, in fact, I like you. Present tense.”

“Oh.” They sat in silence, the sound of people shifting in their sleep around them filling the void. After a few seconds, Dan felt a hand slide into his underneath the blanket. He turned his head to see Phil grinning wildly at him. “I like you too.” Then Phil was leaning in, and before Dan even had time to think about it, Phil was kissing him. Dan’s eyes bugged out of his head, but he settled into it and eventually began to kiss him back, a feeling of peace filling his stomach. For that one moment, they forgot that they were complete strangers. They forgot that they didn’t even know each other’s last names, and they definitely forgot that they’d wake up in the morning and go their separate ways. In that one moment, none of those things mattered. After what felt like an eternity that somehow wasn’t long enough, they disconnected, but their fingers remained intertwined at their waists.

“Goodnight, Phil,” Dan said, nestling his head into the crook of Phil’s neck.

Phil kissed his forehead and settled himself under the blanket with him. “Goodnight, Dan.”

Dan awoke to sunlight pouring in through the airport windows. He yawned and checked his phone before slipping it in his pocket; it was a bit past 8:00. Other travelers were moving about the terminal and getting breakfast, but there was still no movement at any of the gates.

Dan immediately and painfully realized that he hadn’t gone to the bathroom in about twelve hours and tried to carefully slide out from under the blanket so as to not wake Phil. It took him a few seconds to stand up, but when he did he looked down and saw Phil still asleep, and he exhaled a sigh of relief. He started to walk in the direction of the bathroom when he heard stirring behind him. He clenched his face up in knowledge that he had failed and pivoted to face Phil, who was blinking his eyes open.

“Morning,” Dan said, looking down at him.

“Morning,” Phil groaned, his voice deep from sleep.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom; you start getting our stuff together.”

Phil nodded groggily as Dan made his way down to the strip of stores in the middle of the terminal. He glanced at the flight screen to find that no flights had been announced to be leaving soon; he was thankful for that, as his gate was in the half of the terminal on the other side of the stores from where he and Phil had set up camp, and he definitely didn’t feel like running back and forth that early in the morning.

The trip to the bathroom took ages; the line was so massive that he was sure Phil could have packed twenty bags in the time he was gone. Eventually, he returned from emptying his bladder to find Phil extending his bag to him. It was significantly puffier than it was the night before. “How many pillows did you put in there?”

“Two.”

“I can’t believe you fit the other four in your bag.”

“I’m magic.”

They walked down the terminal and back to the McDonald’s. “You know, Dan,” Phil said, a grin on his face. “I know McDonald’s serves breakfast, but I’d rather have a McFlurry.”

“Do you always eat this much ice cream?”

Phil laughed. “I wish!”

They stood in front of a window as they each downed their respective M&M McFlurry. The tarmac was blanketed in a layer of white, and trees in the distance glimmered in the winter sun. Dan could see a snowplow clearing off the tarmac in another terminal. “Isn’t it beautiful?” Dan asked. “I love to see the world blanketed in snow.”

“Yeah,” Phil said, turning to look at Dan. “But not as beautiful as you,” he said, pulling a bouquet of chocolate roses out of nowhere. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Dan.”

Clearly Phil was thinking of another kind of blanket. A dark, anxious feeling made its way into Dan’s stomach. “Where did you even get those? And when?” he asked, reluctantly taking them.

“Airports have everything. I found them this morning while you were in the bathroom.” He smiled, seeming quite proud of himself.

Dan sighed. “We should probably talk about this.”

“What? Did I overstep?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just-I met you yesterday, and we’re complete strangers. After this is over, we’re probably never going to see each other again. Are you sure we should do this?”

Phil took Dan’s hands, and Dan elected to stare at the floor. “Look at me.” Dan sighed and looked into Phil’s colourful eyes. “Maybe we’ll never see each other, or maybe we’ll come across some sort of miracle and we will. Regardless, what have we got to lose?”

Dan bit his lip and took a deep breath. “You’re right.”

“Of course I am,” Phil said, giving Dan a short kiss.

“Attention all travelers,” said the computerized intercom voice. Both gasped and separated to listen to the message. The entire area settled into complete silence. “The tarmac is currently being cleared, and flights are beginning to be rescheduled. Arrivals will continue as scheduled, and departure times will depend on whether your plane was here when the snow began or if it still has to fly in. Please check the departure board for specific flight details. Thank you for flying through JFK International Airport!”

A cheer erupted through the terminal as a whole wave of passengers made its way towards the arrival and departure screens. “Something tells me we should finish our ice cream before going over there,” Phil said.

Dan watched people shouting at each other as they attempted to jump and shove each other out of the way to see their flights. In all honesty, it was purely terrifying. “Smart.”

After the area cleared up some, the two gathered their things and strolled over to the screens. Dan found his flight fairly quickly. “Mine’s back on. Leaving in half an hour.”

“Mine is too.”

The two turned to each other, a somber look on each’s face. “Guess this is goodbye?” Dan said, taking Phil’s hand in his.

“Guess so.”

They fell into a tight embrace. “Thanks for the blanket.”

“Thanks for the ice cream.”

They fell back into a kiss lasting longer than their first. This time, Dan felt a spark he didn’t feel the first time. He bit his lip, angry at himself for falling for someone in the last moment they’d ever be together. “I’m gonna miss you, Phil.”

“I’ll miss you too.” They smiled faintly at each other before Dan turned and began walking toward his gate. It wasn’t long before he realized Phil was still beside him. After walking about half the terminal, they were still side by side.

“Well, this is awkward,” Dan chuckled. Could Phil just leave already so he could mourn in peace?

Dan began to trail off towards his gate. “Dan?” He turned to see a genuine smile on Phil’s face. “Don’t tell me you’re flying into London.”

“Oh my God,” Dan said, doubling over in laughter. “We’re on the same flight, aren’t we?” Phil nodded, unable to speak from laughter. “Do you live in the city?” Phil nodded again, attempting to compose himself. “I do too!” Dan sighed as they wandered to take two empty seats in the corner. “How do these things happen?”

“I have no clue.”

“We were together for twelve hours; how did we never one ask each other where we were going?”

“I was going to when I first met you, but that dumb announcement cut me off!”

Dan couldn’t help but laugh again. “We both have British accents; how did we not expect this?”

“Two Dumbasses in an Airport: 2018′s worst romance movie.”

Each of them laughed so hard their stomachs hurt. When Dan finally wiped the final tear from his eye, Phil gave him a bit of a nudge. “Hey Dan?”

“Yeah?”

“When we get back to London, do you wanna go out sometime? Like, on a date?” Phil asked, excessively awkward for the context of their situation.

“Of course, you dork. I’ve kissed you what, four times now? You think I’m going to turn down a date?”

“Hey, you never know. You were talking about that guy earlier.”

“Hey. I found someone else.” The corners of his mouth twitched up into a smile.

An intercom beeped on near them and this time a real, male voice spoke from the desk near the gate. “Flight 1728 to London is now boarding.” The two jested of their stupidity as they turned their boarding passes in to the attendant and boarded the plane. Dan found his seat about midway through the plane, but Phil kept walking.

“Guess this is goodbye,” Phil said, altering his voice to sound like Dan.

“That’s a horrible impression of me,” Dan said, rolling his eyes. He smiled at Phil as he took his seat. “See you in London, valentine.”

“Or sooner,” Phil said with a wink, taking off before Dan had a chance to respond.

Dan stared off into space as he put in his earbuds. It was going to be an interesting seven hours.

[phan-of-the-pen]

I Dare You To Stay: Chapter 6

Hello!!! This chapter is later than I hoped to get it out, but it got much much longer than I planned, and I decided to cut the chapter into two so I could get this chapter out now. Enjoy!

Tags for chapter: fluff, very faint themes of unwanted flirting, protective!phil

Words for chapter: ~4k

Fic Summary: Dan Howell is a barista working a shitty job, frequenting his shitty apartment, and living a shitty existence, hiding his asexuality and going for a PHD in self-depreciation and depression. Phil Lester is a part-time intern, part-time employee at a local weather station, trying to get experience in his field and make a name for himself, while juggling a second job at the nearby Tesco’s to give him some financial breathing room. Their paths were never supposed to meet, but what happens when they do anyways, one rainy day in Manchester?

(ao3!)

<-- Previous chapter Next chapter -->

~~~~~~~~~~

Dan and Jaime had both played hookie and taken off the next day, on Sunday. They ended up going to the movies like they had originally planned the day before, and walked around Manchester after, buying way too many snacks from street vendors and whirling through stores, sometimes purchasing things, sometimes not. Dan ended up with a new jumper and a pair of ripped jeans that actually made his legs look good and not just like he'd robbed his trousers off of a homeless man.

However, Dan couldn't just afford to take days off on his schedule whenever he wanted, and he was right back in that caffeine-saturated building bright and early Monday morning. Jaime wasn't with him—she was scheduled for a later shift and would arrive sometime this afternoon—so it was quieter than normal, and a perfect recreation of last Monday's morning.

Hopefully I won't dance in front of any strangers, then, if this is Last Monday Pt 2.

With that thought, Dan's brain immediately switched to thinking about the downright mysterious man who had found his way, literally, stumbling into Dan's life.

Phil had very obviously been in last Monday, and the Wednesday after, but he had also ended up showing up this past Friday as well, and god, Dan wished that that encounter hadn't happened. He had been in the bathroom only to come back and find Jaime talking with Phil as if they were the closest of old friends, laughing together, Jaime's hand close to her mouth as if she was telling him a secret. Dan still didn't know what they had talked to each other about, but when Jaime went to go "see about something in the back" when she noticed Dan, she had given him a wink. Phil's face had also been flushed, and he had had what Dan could only equate to a slightly embarrassed, slightly pleased smile.

Dan flicked his eyes to the glass door. He had opened the store all of four minutes ago, but there was still a little part of him that was wondering…

Maybe he'll come back today?

Dan wasn't sure if he wanted to get his hopes up, not really. Sure, Phil was entertaining, a really fun guy to be around, the fucking weatherman, mind you, and he was really damn attractive, but Jaime had told him a lot that Phil had been flirting with him, and the thought that Phil wanted a romantic relationship with him turned his stomach. Dan didn't date people because of his horrid-at-best history with significant others, and he really didn't want to have to go into anything like that with Phil. He was content to try a friendship with the guy if it happened, but other than that, sign him the fuck out.

Thankfully, the day didn't start out completely just like last Monday. The shop was anything but dead, and Dan would think that it was a holiday or something with the stream of people that wouldn't stop coming in. It was a bit much for just Dan to manage, and if he hadn't been working for as long as he had as a barista, he was certain that it would have been hell to deal with so many people in such a short time. The good thing was that all of the traffic kept him busy. He was making lattes and espressos and dinks with little foam designs, and before he knew it, time was flying by. It was no longer early morning, but a little past one in the afternoon and the past six-ish hours felt like a blink, but Dan was glad for the lull. He had been on his feet rushing around to fill orders all morning, and it kind of sucked, so Dan just slumped against the counter, exhaling for what seemed like the first time all day.

Dan's stomach grumbled angrily and he pressed his palm to his abdomen, the corner of his lip pulling down. He'd forgotten about breakfast this morning.

He looked around the coffee shop. There were about a half dozen people besides himself, and none of them were paying Dan any attention, nor did they seem like they were going to need his assistance anytime soon.

Dan made himself a coffee because after six hours of non-stop labor he deserved it, and picked out one of the wrapped sandwiches that they sold. He couldn't take a full on lunch break like he may have wanted to because there was no one too cover the store while he ate and took a half an hour to relax, so Dan just dragged a chair up next to the counter and sat down, letting out a deep sigh.

Working a double shift all alone sucked ass, but Dan didn't mind too much in the instance that the only other person who would be able to work a shift like this with him besides Jaime was Steve. And fuck, that guy was an asshole. So really, Dan would take working himself harder than normal then having to subject him to shitty company when he didn't have to.

He ate quicker than normal, the hunger in his stomach multiplying once he started eating. God, he should never skip breakfast. It only fucked him over later. Oh you're hungry? You skipped a meal? Well you better eat twice your weight if you want any chance of feeling full ever again.

Dan's sandwich was gone from his hands before he knew it, so he sipped his coffee, too lazy to get up and grab another. He'd eat something small later when he had a moment while working. The caffeine was starting to work through his system now too, and he could feel a bit of his lost energy coming back.

His break didn't last all that long, though—barely fifteen minutes—before the crowds were back and he had to help his fellow human beings get their caffeine fix.

Over the course of the next hour or so, Dan was back to working just like he had this morning with the amount of people walking into the store. He had to have sold a record amount of coffee for a single day, and he still had several hours left to his shift when Jaime would take over. It was kind of incredible, and if Dan maybe wasn't the one behind the counter, he might have found it a little impressive.

The next lull he had was some time later, at about four-thirty, and once the girl he had just served walked away, Dan had his hand in the opened bag of crisps behind the counter. He was starving and really wished that he had eaten something more than a medium coffee and a small sandwich.

Dan had his face full, mid-chew when someone walked up to the counter. He had the undeniable air of a uni student, a bag slung over his shoulder and wearing some sort of combination of pajamas and street clothes that only broke and in-debt twenty-something university college students would deem acceptable.

Not that Dan really had any room to talk. He looked like a hobo at the best of times as well.

"Hi, could I bother you for another shot of espresso? Or two, actually? I have a late shift tonight that I've got to get to, and I won't be able to study for my test until like, 3AM. I need all of the caffeine I can get right now." he said sheepishly, holding out his drink. Dan raised his eyebrows. He remembered this guy the first time he had served him, and Dan had already put three shots of espresso in initially at his request.

"You sure?" He asked, taking the cup. It was about half empty. "I mean I get it crash studying is pretty important but jeez that sounds like a death wish. Not to mention pretty tasteless."

The guy laughed, a wide smile on his face. He looked a lot nicer when he was smiling. Less glum and like he was about to keel over.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. The sacrifices we take for a degree, huh?" He yawned before he could add anything past that, a hand covering his mouth. "You know what? Make it two, please. You don't have to bother refilling the drink, I'll just take the espresso. Pray for me, I might not make it out of this alive."

Dan snorted as he popped the lid off of the cup and put it under the espresso maker. Two shots. Dan used one of the little straws to mix up the still-steaming contents of the cup. He looked over at the guy standing there, watching Dan work. He had about the same build as Dan did and if just being able to smell the drink seemed to alert Dan's senses, this guy was definitely going to not be sleeping for quite a while. Dan pitied him for the caffeine crash that was going to fuck this guy's ass like a speeding truck. Dan reached out for a new lid for the cup—company policy—but there weren't any more large-sized lids and his hand grazed the bare table-top. Fuck, he must have run out.

"Here, one sec," Dan said, passing the open coffee cup to the guy. Dan dropped down, opening the cabinet under the counter and moving aside. He heard the glass door open, the little bell ringing for the millionth time today, and internally groaned. Can't even get a fucking break.

He came back up, a stack of the little plastic lids in his hands, grabbing one and depositing the rest off to the side where the medium and small lids were. Dan noticed the guy's eyes following his body, and it rolled his stomach and tied it into knots simultaneously, but he tried to ignore it and handed the lid over. The guy clicked it on.

"Do I owe you anything for that..?" He asked. Dan could feel his skin crawling, but he didn't try to kill the friendly smile on his face even if it was strained.

"Nah, no need to pay your executioner," he joked, silently hoping that this guy would go away. He laughed, but Dan didn't, just still choosing to stand there with that god-awful feeling rising in his chest.

"Thanks. My name's Jon, but my friends call me Jonny." He bit his lip, and while Dan might have been oblivious, even he knew that this guy was now flirting with him. He had had his suspicions when he noticed Jon's gaze on his ass, but Dan's hopes that this guy would stop at blind lust were apparently in vain.

Dan gave him a strangled smile. Walk away walk away walk away-

Jon opened his mouth to say something else, but behind him someone cleared his throat. Jon jumped a little, clearly expecting it just as little as Dan had, and gave Dan a nervous smile, but stepped away.

"Sorry, I'll let you get back to work. Maybe I'll see you around, then-" he said, dragging out the 'n' and squinting at the nametag on Dan's shirt, "-Dan."

Jon gave Dan one last toothy grin and a wave, turning on his heel and walking towards the exit. Dan still felt uncomfortable, still had the lump in his chest, still wanted to duck behind the counter and hide, but he tore his gaze away from Jon. Dan had a job to do and apparently Jon's flirting had pissed off the person behind him, so Dan would be better off not adding fuel to that fire. He didn't want to deal with a miserable customer on top of it all.

"Uh, hi how can I-Phil?" Dan sputtered, his eyes going wide as he saw Phil standing there, head turned towards Jon's retreating form, a frown on his face, something fiery in his eye. Phil was the one that was behind Jon? Oh fuck that means he saw him flirting with me. Shit what if he thinks I'm okay with that and he tried something shit shit shi-

Phil's attention flicked to Dan's and god those blue blue eyes were stormy. His shoulders were tense and his face wasn't anywhere close to how open it always was. It was closed off behind what seemed like a brick wall.

In short, Phil looked pissed at best, ready to deck someone at worst.

"I-are you...okay?"

Phil let out a breath—a massive sigh, really—and let his eyes close for a moment. When they opened they weren't as dark, and the lines of his body weren't as sharp, but it still seemed strikingly obvious to Dan that something was up with him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just, ah, just tired, that's all."

Bullshit. It wasn't even a convincing lie. Dan opened his mouth to call Phil out on it and ask what was really wrong and why he looked like he had just been thirty seconds from fighting someone (that someone who was yet to be determined) but he stopped himself. He and Phil didn't really know each other—not really—and they certainly didn't know each other enough for Dan to call BS, right? That was something that friends did. Were they even friends?

Dan didn't know, and he didn't know if that was a question that someone just asked another person, so he just dropped it, nodding a little robotically and giving a non-committal hum that could mean either "I know exactly what you mean, very relatable" or "we both know you're lying" and decided to let Phil figure it out.

"Okay. Would you, uh, like a coffee?" Dan asked. His voice sounded all wrong in his ears and his entire mind seemed to just be screaming the same thing: Why are you so damn awkward?

And to that, Dan didn't have an answer.

"Yeah, a caramel macchiato, if you wouldn't mind."

And like every other drink he's made today, Dan's hands almost flew on their own accord, but his mind was elsewhere, entirely.

Phil certainly had quite the ability to appear out of nowhere when Dan was the least prepared for dealing with him. No, that wasn't right, that made it sound as if Phil was a problem. And he wasn't, not at all, not even close, he just...was so different. It was as if Dan didn't know how to act around the guy, and could anyone really blame him? Dan's run into him mid-sink into a depressive episode, been caught dancing—which he didn't do—to Muse by the guy, and just now, too, when Dan was uncomfortable as fuck and being flirted with, Phil was there.

And fuck, why did it matter so much to Dan? Why in hell was it apparently important enough for Dan to stress himself over it while he was making Phil's coffee.

Phil looked much more relaxed when Dan handed him the coffee, and the faint smile on his lips was enough to assure Dan that whatever had angered Phil wasn't too bad, if he was smiling already.

"This is probably going to sound weird, but do you not work Sundays?"

Dan looked up from the register where he was ringing up Phil's order. He felt a little bit of heat crawl up his face. Jaime saying he's flirting with you seemed to bounce around in Dan's skull, but he prayed that it didn't show, just letting a little smirk on his face and throwing up the first defense mechanism that he used when he wasn't sure if he was reading a situation wrong: sarcasm and humor.

"You haven't even told me your last name yet but you're asking me for my work schedule?" Dan cocked an eyebrow to make the ruse work. He was still feeling a bit off, and he didn't need Phil to know that.

Phil's eyes went wide and if he had been drinking at the moment, Dan was sure that he would have spit it out.

"What no, no! I didn't—I mean—not like, I-"

Dan laughed and waved away Phil's panic.

"Phil, I'm joking, it's okay. I work everyday except for Saturday, more times than not. Every once in awhile my schedule will get altered or something, but I pretty much am in day in and day out." Dan said, giggling uncontrollably, trying in vain to calm his laughter because frankly, Phil freaking out over possibly offending Dan or something like that was funny as shit.

(and adorable, but that thought didn't even have to be acknowledged by Dan himself)

"Wait a minute, did you come in yesterday to come see me or something?" Dan said, stopping himself. Phil's face went bright red and his eyes went wider, and Dan couldn't help the grin from spreading across his face as Phil tried to find some excuse. He seemed to give up, however, after a moment.

"Uh, yeah, I might have," Phi squeaked out, rubbing the back of his head. He looked like a goddamn little kid admitting to stealing biscuits before dinner for fuck's sake.

Dan didn't really know how to respond to that—did anyone?—so all he did was keep the smile on his face and roll his eyes a little.

"And, it's Lester."

"Excuse me?"

"You mentioned that you didn't know my last name, and it's Lester."

"Oh. Phil Lester. It has a nice ring to it." Dan seemed to be rambling, but he doubted that he could stop himself at this point.

"What about you? Or should I keep think of you as Dan The Guy Who Makes My Coffees?"

"It's Howell." Dan muttered, breaking their eye contact.

"Dan Howell?" Phil asked, a sudden serious glint in his eye. Dan gulped.

"Yeah?" Fuck there goes his anxiety. Off the charts once again.

"Can I have a donut?"

"Oh fuck you!" Dan whined, poking Phil in the shoulder, who was giggling like a mad man, a hand in front of his mouth. "Here I was, thinking you were going to ask me something all serious and all that, and you ask me for a fucking donut? The nerve!"

Phil was laughing hard enough that almost no sound was coming out, and his eyes got all squinty. His hand had dropped away to lay on his chest and Dan could see the tip of his tongue poking out of his mouth as he giggled.

"You should have seen your face!" Phil breathed, and Dan poked him again, but it wasn't with malice. He was smiling himself. Widely, in fact.

This shithead…

When Phil stopped laughing, he looked up back at Dan, a grin splitting his face.

"I hate you." "No you don't. At least, you do a really bad job at showing it, Dan."

"Mhm. You say that like we're friends. True friends would tell each other things like the fact that they're the weatherman, or not try and lowkey stalk them at work, or-"

"Wait a minute, how do you know that I'm the weatherman?"

This time, it was Dan's turn to blush, and he did, heavily, the events of Saturday jumping to the front of his consciousness.

"Saturday I was hanging out with Jaime, and we uh, wanted to know when it would stop raining? So she must have found the local channel, and low and behold you were on it, broadcasting the fucking weather."

Phil blushed, a nervous little laugh bubbling out from his chest.

"I wouldn't give myself that much credit, really. I'm just a part-time unpaid intern part-time employee trying to earn some experience out there and put my name out. I wasn't supposed to actually be telling the weather, but turns out the camera must, ah, love me. At least that's what my boss says."

"Still, Phil, I quite literally choked on a piece of popcorn when you're smiling face just appeared on Jaime's TV with a cloud themed tie."

"You what?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't believe it myself. But there you were, and there I was, like, dying. I should demand compensation for the trauma I've been through."

"What are you going to do, take me to court?"

"Hmm, maybe. You'll hear from my attorney, certainly. Or, probably. I dunno, I've still got to think about what kinds of charges I'm going to press against you. And get an attorney." Dan said, and really, the levels of sarcasm they were single-handedly projecting were astounding.

"Okay, here," Phil said, reaching over and easily picking Dan's phone out of his jeans pocket the sides of his fingers brushing up against the black denim. The action so casual and Phil was so damn confident about it, that Dan just sucked in his breath and watched, open mouthed, as Phil clicked the phone screen on.

"Password?" he asked, turning the phone around. Dan reached out, typed it in, but it was like he was in a daze. Was this really happening?

Phil started typing something, and then snapped a photo of his coffee. He handed Dan his phone back, and bright and new on Dan's screen was a contact titled Phil Lester (is amazing!!). The icon was a picture of the top of Phil's caramel macchiato, only his pale hand visible.

"There you go, let me know when you figure it out, okay? I've got to get to my part-time at Tesco's, but I'll see you around?"

"Uh, yeah. Yes. See you, Phil."

Phil smiled, and Dan smiled back before he even realized he was completing the action. Phil smiled so he smiled back. It was that simple.

He turned and walked away, and Dan's eyes followed his lanky frame the entire time. He watched as Phil opened the door—that tiny bell sounding—and stepped outside. And when Phil passed by the huge floor-to-ceiling window that made up the majority of the one wall and waved to Dan, that big grin still on his face, Dan couldn't help the laugh that spilled from his lips just as much as he couldn't stop his hand waving back.

~~~~~

Twenty minutes later, Dan was serving two girls when he caught sight of a forgotten pastry, pushed off to the side of the counter. It took him a moment, but the dots connected almost simultaneously, and as soon as the two girls were gone, Dan was whipping out his phone, scrolling through his contacts to the newest one. He typed out a message and his thumb hesitated over the send button, but Dan shook his head and pressed it. Too late to go back now.

>> To: Phil Lester (is amazing!!)

I still havent figured out the charges

but

you forgot ur donut you spork

[Multimedia message]

>> From: Phil Lester (is amazing!!)

D:

I'm at work rn, what time do you close?

>> To: Phil Lester (is amazing!!)

um real late, like 10

but my shift's over at 6

so it'll be jaime and some teenager probs

>> From: Phil Lester (is amazing!!)

:'(((

fiiiiinnnnneeeee

I'll have to pick up my donut later won't I?

>> To: Phil Lester (is amazing!!)

uh yeah, i guess

or u can come in tomorrow or smth if like

u dont want to be wandering into a coffee

shop at 10 at night

>> From: Phil Lester (is amazing!!)

what, you would like save the donut or smth?

>> To: Phil Lester (is amazing!!)

lester if u think if ur coming back tomorrow

im not going to eat this donut u are gravely

mistaken

>> From: Phil Lester (is amazing!!)

wow dan I cant believe you dan

actually no I can

I've got to get back to work

see you tomorrow?

>> To: Phil Lester (is amazing!!)

have fun

and yeah i'll still be here in this caffeinated

hell, so, see you, lester

Dan looked up from his phone as a trio walked in, chatting among themselves. He slipped his phone in his pocket (his back pocket this time, thanks a lot Phil) and threw a smile on his face. It was the easiest he had smiled all day.

[sunshinedjh]

Pancakes and Stargazing

Based on this prompt

-

Warnings: death by fluff could be possible

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Word count: 2069

-

Phil had a surprise for Dan.

And he was 100% keeping it a secret until it happened, which was, admittedly harder than it would first seem.

He'd had the idea a few days ago. Being the hopeless, sappy romantic he was, he longed for sentiment. Plus he just really wanted to do something nice for Dan.

And this was why he was currently stood in the kitchen this very morning, wearing a rather inappropriate apron with a six pack (and something else) on it, and was making pancakes.

Beginning to sing to himself, Phil was thoroughly enjoying cooking, despite having maybe slightly burnt his first batch of pancakes.

He knew Dan was asleep currently and probably wouldn't get up until past noon however, so he definitely had time to get this just right and make the perfect pancakes.

-

Dan awoke with a long yawn and a confused face. Why wasn't his boyfriend lying next to him? Sure he knew Phil usually woke up first but his boyfriend almost always stayed in bed and waited for him to wake up (otherwise waking him up if he got too impatient)

Leaning over to reach for his phone, he was temporarily blinded by its light. The clock read 12:55. Okay, perhaps that was why Phil was out of bed, 1pm was extremely late and even in Dan's case.

'Phiiil' he called as he scrambled out of bed and traipsed down the hallway sleepily. He didn't bother putting on a shirt, knowing that Phil wouldn't be bothered.

'Phil, you here?' He called again, curiously stepping into the living room.

'Oh oh, Dan hey, morning!' A rather flustered Phil exclaimed as he wrapped his arms around the taller boy. Dan chuckled. 'I'm pretty sure it's not morning anymore' 'Well no, but you know what I meant'

Phil looked oddly suspicious in Dan's opinion. It was never very hard to tell when the man was hiding something, he wore a very certain facial expression. One that was grinning from cheek to cheek, and he had a certain light in his eyes that looked like he was dying to tell Dan about whatever it was he had planned.

'What is it then?' Dan asked curiously as he went and sat on the sofa, looking up at his boyfriend in interest. 'What's what?' Phil responded, feigning confusion. His expanding grin gave away his game even more though.

'Oh come on, like you don't have something to tell me Phil Lester! What?' 'Well I may have a little surprise' Phil teased, sitting down beside Dan 'be ready in five minutes and you can find out' 'Five minutes! Are you kidding?!' 'Nope'

Dan sprinted off into his bedroom to make himself look presentable, or at least less sleepy and zombielike as he did currently. What was Phil planning? The absurdity of it all.

Dan could pretend he hated it all he wanted, but he knew Phil's spontaneous nature was one of the things he'd fallen in love with way back when he'd first met the man.

'Ready?' Phil asked five minutes later, stepping into the room to find Dan wearing a black shirt (of course) and ripped jeans. 'Ready' Dan nodded.

-

The pair of them had then climbed into Dan's mini and headed off to, well, Dan wasn't sure. Phil was driving, which was a slightly terrifying idea despite him being the oldest out of the pair of them. He'd placed something in the boot before leaving that he hadn't let Dan see.

'Ah ah ah no, not until we get there' he'd said.

They were almost there now, so Phil said. And when he'd said 'almost' Dan really hadn't thought he'd meant they'd be stopping so soon. They were practically in the middle of nowhere, only hills and grass and woodland surrounding them, no civilisation to be seen. Surely they weren't stopping...

'Here!' Phil beamed, stopping the car 'we're here!'

He got out of the car and shuffled round to let Dan out. 'Thank... Phil what are you doing?' Phil had covered Dan's eyes with his hand. 'This way'

Phil guided the now blind Dan round the back of the car and to the boot, where he stopped to get out the thing he'd placed in there earlier. They then continued on walking until Dan felt Phil remove his hand from his face and then he yelled 'Surprise!'

Phil was stood, holding a picnic basket and pointing up to a hill. Dan was confused.

'It's not much, but I thought we could have a picnic up here, because well you see, tonight's supposed to be the best night in years for seeing shooting stars!'

'Oh Phil, I... you're so sweet, ever the romantic I suppose you could call it. But don't tell me we have to hike up that hill now?' 'Well...' Dan sighed.

The hike up the hill was a lot (and it totally messed up Dan's hair by the way). But once they reached the top, the two of them couldn't deny how beautiful the view was.

There were over hills rolling into the distance, with streams and rivers running around them. Forests were scattered around the place and the sky was completely blue and cloudless.

'So, pancakes?' 'You made pancakes?' 'Yep, spent all morning making them' Phil said proudly, opening the picnic basket he'd brought to reveal not only the homemade pancakes, but also various berries and syrup and chocolate things.

The smell was incredible. 'Fuck, oh my god Phil I love you' Dan practically moaned, leaning into Phil and kissing his cheek. Phil laughed, he knew how much of a sucker for food Dan was.

'So, wanna wanna eat and talk crap until the sun sets?' 'Sounds like a plan'

And that was exactly what they did for the rest of the afternoon. Phil fed Dan pancakes, which he somehow managed to get all down him. And the pair talked about everything and anything they wanted.

It wasn't long before the sun was beginning to set, and the two of them lying on the grass side by side and holding hands, having finished their pancakes. The light from the setting sun was bouncing off the hills and glistening in the rivers.

It glistened in Phil's eyes too, Dan saw, as he was looking directly at them. Their deep blue irises were enough to leave Dan almost hypnotised. He'd never thought it was possible to get lost in someone's eyes before he'd met Phil.

The reds and oranges and yellows from the sky also reflected all over Phil's face, making Dan want to lean in and kiss him all over.

Suddenly he felt Phil's hands rest either side of his own face and it seemed as though Phil had had the exact same idea.

Phil climbed on top of him and began by kissing the boy softly and gently on his plump, pink lips. Then he worked his way to the left along his jawline, up to his cheek, then his forehead, and finishing right on his nose, making Dan giggle.

-

'Phil it's getting d d, dark' 'You scared?' 'No! Of course not' 'Come here' Phil laughed, sitting up and pulling Dan into a hug 'For someone who constantly wears dark clothes and pretends to be all mysterious, you sure are a wuss' 'Shut up!' Dan mumbled burying his face into Phil's shoulder.

They sat like that for what seemed like forever, they were both just so content in each other's arms. The darkness was settling in around them and Phil swore he felt Dan grip him a little tighter each time he realised how dark it was getting.

'First person to see the first star wins a prize!' Phil proclaimed. 'Phil, why does everything have to have a prize with you for gods sake' Dan sighed, wriggling out of Phil's grip a little.

He noticed he challenging look in his boyfriends eyes and smirked. 'Oh it's on!'

It didn't take long. No more than ten minutes for the first star to appear. It was Dan who found it first, with a 'hey Phil! I found it I found it I found it ha!'. Phil laughed in response to Dan's excitement.

'What do you want your prize to be then?' 'Hmm' Dan thought tentatively 'how about another hug?'

Phil complied, pulling Dan back into his lap and engulfing him. 'You still scared of the dark?' 'I told you no!' 'Hmmm?' Phil teased, pressing his nose against Dan's. 'I just wanted to hug you because you're warm'

'Oh really, well why don't we test that with a little lie detector test huh?' 'What do you...' Phil leaned down and began kissing Dan's neck. He knew Dan hated people touching his neck, or at least he claimed to. The whole thing really, was just a lie to prevent people touching it because it was so sensitive.

Phil was sure he could get any truth of him just by kissing his neck.

He kissed gently at first, lips only ever so slightly brushing over the skin. But he soon picked up the pace and began sucking. And it was the sucking the broke Dan.

He was sure to have marks left there but that wasn't the part he cared about. 'I, ahh, Phil stoppp' Phil stopped for a second and thought Dan he had won. Turned out Phil had only stopped to tell Dan he wasn't stopping though.

'I'm not stopping until you admit you're afraid' He carried on kissing all over Dan's neck, even just the feeling of Phil's warm breath was giving Dan tingles. He couldn't take this any longer.

'Okay okay fine! I I, I'm scared of the dark!' 'Haha! I knew it' Phil said smugly, pulling away to look Dan in the eyes. Dan looked away almost immediately out of embarrassment, he burried his head into Phil as he had done earlier.

'Dan, it's okay to be afraid' 'Mmf' Dan groaned into Phil's jumper.

'You know, if you aren't looking at the sky you won't see any shooting stars!' Dan looked back up and scooted to sit beside Phil again, rather than on top of him.

'We can talk about things if you want, while we wait, to take your mind off of being scared' Dan rolled his eyes wishing Phil would stop bringing it up.

'What do you wanna talk about?' 'Buffy?' 'For God's sake Phil no' 'Hello internet' 'No!' 'How much I love to tease you' Phil smirked.

'Why don't we talk about us' 'What do you mean?' 'About all of our memories you know, things we've done, and maybe things that we want to do in the future. Unless you want to talk about something deeper like I don't know, social constructs and how most of the things we do day to day are...'

'Let's go with the first one' Phil interrupted. He loved the way Dan talked. So passionately and intelligently. The way he hated talking about mundane things and making small talk, his opinion always being that there were much deeper and more important things that could be talked about.

'Okay, well do you remember the day we met?' 'Of course I do!' 'When you picked me up at the train station and we went and got Starbucks and went on the big wheel' 'And a few days after when we saw that movie and kissed in the 3D glasses? You were so in love with me'

'Hey, you were too!' 'Mm, I still am' Phil said in a way so absolutely smitten it made Dan's heart leap. 'Always will be too' he continued.

This man was going to be the death of him Dan swore. 'Always?' Dan asked, looking over at Phil was what could only be described as puppy dog eyes. 'Even when we're old and grey and married?'

Phil froze for a second at Dan's last word. 'Married? You wanna marry me?' 'Phil of course I do!' 'Oh well me too... I've been thinking about that for a while' 'You have?'

'Yeah, it all seems very committed you know, like a final pokemon form?' Dan snorted. 'Phil we're practically married now, look at us' 'True' 'I think we could be someday though, you know properly' 'I'd like that' Phil decided.

Dan leaned into Phil's shoulder and felt his arms wrap around him, which he was thankful for since it was cold.

The sky all around them was littered with stars. Stars that lit up the otherwise dark and lifeless black sky.

It was then that one of the stars moved. It went flying across the sky, leaving a little tail of light behind it.

Dan gasped in awe, and Phil kissed him on the cheek again.

[dansphlevels]

...Dan getting Phil to paint his nails a really festive color? (bonus if they go shopping or something and someone gives him shit about it and Phil stands up for the squish)

I’m sorry. 

This story started out really cute and wholesome and then turned into an innuendo fest. 

But technically it follows the prompt. 

Red Nails And Chapped Lips

Day 8 of 12 Days Of Prompts

Summary: After Dan goes and gets his nails painted at a professional salon, he and Phil embark on a quest to Target for last minute Christmas shopping, and together they must decide whether having painted nails is gay or just hipster. Includes Dan and Phil style bantering, questioning of gender stereotypes, chapped lips, and a clerk at Target who horribly misunderstands what Dan needs vaseline for. 

Length: 1.8k

Themes: nail painting, Christmas shopping, domestic!Phan, humor, innuendoes. 

Dan did not paint his nails because he was gay. He did not paint his nails because he wanted people to pay attention to him. And he definitely didn’t paint his nails because he wanted to do something 'girly'. He simply painted his nails because he wanted to- not for anyone else, just for him. It was also the Christmas season, so the dark red nails were seasonally appropriate and Festive AF.

 Dan had painted his own nails before, which turned out pretty bad, and had Phil paint his nails before, which somehow turned out even worse. He’d tried to get one of his friends who was a certified female to come over and help, but they were all busy, so Dan was left trying to do it on his own. 

 Which turned out horribly.  And that’s how Dan ended up in a beauty salon, Phil sitting in the chair next to him playing a stupid puzzle game on his phone as Dan’s nails dried. "Is this weird?" Dan wondered aloud, his fingers splayed out uncomfortably on the armrest as the paint dried. "Like... is it gay or anything?"  "Only a little," Phil said, always the encourager. His eyes were still trained on the game. "But it’s a good type of gay. Very hipster."  "Yes, but is it like... obnoxiously gay? Like I’m flaunting it?" "You’re not flaunting it. You’re just... painting your nails. That has nothing to do with your uncontrollable urge to make out with Evan Peters." A manicurist walked past them and gave them an odd look. Phil didn’t look up, but Dan smiled and tried to send her a little wave, but his fingers were still stiff and stretched out, so it looked creepier than it was supposed to. Dan tried to facepalm but stopped halfway when he remembered about the wet paint.  He sighed. "I’m being... a trailblazer." "A trendsetter," Phil agreed.  "...I’m breaking down gender stereotypes..." "Harmful gender stereotypes," Phil added helpfully.  "And showing that it’s okay for guys to do traditionally female things."  Phil nodded. "Speaking of traditionally female things, I need to get another scented candle. 'Christmas Cookies' is almost out." "That’s why your room smells like frosting! I swear every time I walk past it the smell just gets stronger."  Phil shuffled, an awkward smile forming. "Yeah, I lit it a few days ago and kind of forgot to put it out. My bad." "You celery stalk, you could’ve burned down the house!" "Yes, but just think! It’d smell so nice!" Phil defended, licking his lips.  Dan sighed, dismissing it. He considered blowing on his nails to help them dry a little faster, but wondering if he could somehow mess it up. Could he form air bubbles or something? And if he did- would they necessarily look bad? "I need to stop by Target," Phil announced, the majority of his attention back on his phone. Dan wondered, however briefly, if he could get one of the beauticians to paint Phil’s toenails, and if he could, if he’d even notice.  He quickly brushed the thought away. "Why do you need to go to Target?"  "I have to get a few more presents. I bought everything I could online, but I couldn’t find some things. Honestly, I expected more from the Internet." Phil glanced up for a moment. "What do you still need to get? We could stop by that board game place to get something for PJ."  "I already bought his present," Dan gloated. "And it was already delivered. And I wrapped it."  "Aww, can’t we share it? You can put your name on my present to Cornelia!"  "Nope, I already got Cornelia's present! And besides, isn’t that a bit weird? Us sharing a gift like that. It’s a bit gay." His tone was one of almost genuine concern, and if Phil didn’t know Dan, he might think he wasn’t joking. Phil turned off his phone, smacking Dan’s arm lightly. "Yeah, whatever. It wouldn’t be the gayest thing we’ve done this week."  Dan giggled. "Not even the gayest thing we’ve done today. We decided me painting my nails was pretty gay, right?"  "Yeah, pretty gay. But only because you are gay. To most people, you’ll just be a little... off." Phil licked his lips, moistening them without thinking much about it.  "I’m a trendsetter, remember? Nothing off about it." —— "Do you want to help me look for the scented candles?" Phil asked, licking his lips. "Then I also need to find the Christmas jumpers, a doll for Darcy, and an ornament to give to Gemma."  "And something for dinner," Dan added. Phil licked his lips again, and Dan put his hand on his hip, the deep red polish contrasting against his black jacket, "and some Vaseline for God's sake. This is the fifth time you’ve licked your lips since we got here!"  "They aren't accustomed to the cold weather!" Phil defended. "Fine. We'll get those things on our way."  "Uh-uh. Let’s divide and conquer, I have things to do."  "Oh yeah?" It was Phil’s turn to put his hand on his hip, mocking Dan’s sassy stance. He licked his lips again. "Like what?" "Um, Skyrim? I have dragons to slay!"  "No, you can’t play Skyrim! Whenever you play that game you don’t eat for three days, and in case you haven’t noticed, Christmas is practically already here!"  Dan stared at his friend fondly. Then he turned, grabbed a hand-held basket, and threw playfully over his shoulder "I’ll take a break from playing it for Christmas dinner! See you in fifteen!" —-  "Excuse me, but could you help me find some Vaseline?"  The clerk looked at him a little strangely. "Vaseline?" "Yeah, like that stuff you use for dry skin-"  "Yes, I know. That will be in our health section, follow me." Dan didn’t miss the way the clerk scanned his body, less in an attracted way, more like she was processing him and trying to figure him out. Her eyes trained on his dark red fingernails for a moment too long. "Right," she said, turning and walking quickly. "Right this way."  Dan decided it was best to just brush it off.  She lead him through a few aisles to the health section, where they perused different bottles and containers, looking for the familiar blue lid. Finally, the clerk sighed. "It looks like we’re all out. I can help you find something similar?"  "Um, that’d be great," Dan agreed, picking at his nails and trying to get the polish off of his cuticles. "And do you have any rubber gloves? The disposable type." He and Phil were planning on making a craft project later, and Dan had no desire to chip his snazzy new nails.  The clerk made a noise like a squeak. Dan decided not to bring it up.  She moved a little ways down the aisle, picking up a bottle of lotion. "Would this work? It says it’s for sensitive skin." Dan hummed. "I don’t know. I need something more... soothing. Phil’s skin is really having a rough time. He was bleeding earlier," he recalled, remembering the spot of dried blood on his friend's lips.  "Okay." The clerk seemed extremely uncomfortable. "There’s this?" She picked up a new bottle, offering it to Dan. "It’s a soothing cream."  Dan considered this. "Is it non-toxic? Do you suppose it has a taste?" The clerk blinked rapidly as if coming up with a mental image she didn’t particularly want. "I think I know what you need," she said finally. "It’s in a back aisle."  "Great!"  She lead him all the way across the store. While they walked, Dan checked his basket, which held the groceries he needed for dinner. "Oh, shoot. Do you sell pineapples here?"  "For eating," she said.  "Huh?" "Yes, we do. In the produce section."  "Hey, Dan!" Phil called out, jogging up to him. "Look, I’m all done!" He was acting so pleased that Dan couldn’t help saying "Good boy!" It was a running joke they had about how Phil was Dan’s puppy, because he always was so excited to see Dan when he came home, like an excentric puppy. Of course, Dan always joked that he’d rather have an actual puppy, but that Phil would do.  At this point, the clerk didn’t even bat an eye. She stared at Phil as if she was still processing everything.  "This is Phil," Dan explained. "Phil, I just need to get some Vaseline for you, then we can check out."  "I’m fine," the clerk muttered. "Fine." She turned and lead them into an aisle, scanning some normal looking bottles of what must be lotion.  The silence turned awkward quickly. "I’m the one who needs the Vaseline," he explained, trying to fill the air. "My skins been pretty dry lately, and it doesn’t help that I’m stressed with all the last minute shopping. Really, I’ve been stretching myself a bit too thinly lately."  The clerk looked like she was going to pass out. "Here. I’m sure this will do the trick, it’s made for people with... dry skin." She passed a bottle to Dan that looked a little different from the containers earlier.  He read the label: Mr. Man's Lube And Soothing Cream. For His Or Her Pleasure! Dan read it again, just to make sure. Then he looked up, giving the clerk a confused look.  "It’s cherry flavored," she said blandly.  "Did you- did you think this was for- oh my God."  "That should be good for the dry skin. But you should probably get that bleeding checked out. That’s not normal."  "We don’t- oh my God. Oh my God." Dan buried his fac3 In his newly manicured hands. "We’re not.... we’re not gay!"  "Huh?" Phil chimed in, not paying much attention to the conversation until then, already back on his phone playing the same damned puzzle game as earlier. "What do you mean? We're gay." "Yeah, but we’re not- we’re not together!" He was still gaping like a fish. "He needed Vaseline for his lips! They’re chapped because of the cold!"  "It’s okay," the clerk chimed in. "You don’t have to be embarrassed. I knew as soon as I saw you."  "What, that I’m butt-fucking my best friend? Oh my God, no, ew!"  "Dan?" Phil sounded a little offended. "Rude."  "I’m sorry, I just assumed-"  "What, because my nails are painted that means I’m automatically gay?" "I mean, you are, aren’t you? Phil just said-"  "Ignore him, he’s irrelevant." "Hey!" "It’s not gay to wear nail polish," Dan defended, trying to cool down again. "It’s just something I’m trying out."  "Yeah," Phil agreed, only half understanding what was going on. "He’s a trendsetter. It’s very hipster."  "You can stop helping."  "Okay."  The clerk still seemed a little confused. Dan sighed. "Can you just show us where the chapstick is?"  "Okay. So... you want the lube or not?" Dan looked at Phil like do you believe this? He shrugged. "It is cherry flavored," he teased.  "Oh, fuck off."

Yes I am ashamed. Yes it was based off of that one video where Dan says he needs a pineapple, some rubber gloves, and a pot of Vaseline. Yes, you should definitely send me an ask if you didn’t get all of the innuendos, and I’d gladly clear it up for you. 

12 Days Of Prompts Masterlist / Fic Masterlist / Request A Fic

[nautiscarader]

Wendip - The pair are snowed in at a cabin (or something like that). This allows them time to explore the feelings (and urges) they have been denying.

hey, that ties nicely with that other anon’s bed sharing prompt. Two for one! Cliche as fuck, but I guess that was the order, 

Wendip, E, 2.5k

(Read on Ao3) (My fanfiction masterpost)

The door to the small, wooden cabin smashed open, when Wendy kicked it after several tries of opening it the regular way. Snow, both falling, and the one that accumulated on the ground immediately invaded the insides, but was quickly pushed back when Wendy and Dipper forced the door close. The two slumped to the ground, tired after no less than an hour of walking in the most terrible snowstorm Gravity Falls has ever seen. They had to make a decision, whether to reach the town, or seek the shelter in the woods, and Wendy chose the latter. Her father’s old cabin hasn’t been used for some time, but it contained all they might need to survive, at least till morning.

They spent the next hour making sure there are no holes around windows or walls, and putting spare clothes in those places that might steal the precious warm. A small heater, with a flimsy, bended chimney was fortunately working, and made them warm a bit, as well as prepare some canned food.

- Mabel? Mabel! - Dipper kept shouting into his phone - There’s no signal. How freaky is that weather? - Well if there is one place to have weird snowstorms, it’s Gravity Falls.

Wendy shrugged, and she passed him a bowl of what looked like tomatoes and beans. As Dipper looked around, he understood why the “small” cabin didn’t feel so small at all: it was designed for Wendy’s gargantuan father. And then, Dipper’s eyes fell to the corner of the room, and he nearly choked on his food.

- Dude, what’s going on? - Uh, Wendy, there is, uh, there’s only one…

Wendy turned her head, following Dipper’s finger, finding he pointed at the bed. She quickly looked back at him, raising her brow in a mocking grimace.

- Dipper, grow up.

Dipper gulped the last portion of his meal, and for the next few hours he delayed the prospect that he will need to spend a night with Wendy. They talked, they even laughed, they tried desperately to reach their families via their cellphones. As the night fell, she moved and cuddled him next to the heater, which provided one hell of conflict of stimuli for Dipper. Yes, he definitely would love to be that close to Wendy, and in his many dreams they did exactly that, but every time this happened, Dipper thought that he might do something stupid that would uncover the four-year old wound. She wasn’t interested in him, at least not in the way he’d like… But when her arm touched his, he smelled her subtle, familiar perfume, and felt blissfully dizzy, resulting in his head slumping to her shoulder.

- Welp, I guess that’s the signal. - Wendy spoke, and Dipper jolted back, once he understood what he allowed himself to do.

From underneath the bed, Wendy pulled a massive, thick quilt, made of multicoloured patches, very similar to the one in her room.

- My mom made these. - she stated, absent-mindedly. - This one might have been first, when we weren’t born yet.

That didn’t exactly improve the mood, but once he got onto the bed, Dipper at least felt a bit better about sharing it with Wendy. It was wider then he expected, again, due to Manly Dan’s size.

- G-Goodnight, Wendy! - he muttered, and turned to his side, just in case Wendy would like to change.

But she didn’t, and hopped under the blanket in the same clothes they ate their food in, sans the heavy boots and jumper. A shiver travelled down Dipper’s spine when he felt her body nudging him, and he closed his eyes, trying hard to repel the dirty imagery that was already storming in his mind. But it all fell flat, when Wendy’s arm closed around him.

- W-W-Wendy? - Dipper shrieked - What?

A moment of unspoken silence fell between the two, when Dipper tried to vocalise his worry. Wendy rolled her eyes again, and slumped back to the pillow.

- Dipper, dude, we’re freezing here, social norms be damned, it’s survival 101. - I know, it’s just… You know, it’s a bit embarrassing. - Why? You weren’t embarrassed when you cuddled with me on our movie nights. - Yeah, but you know, it was… different.

And to his surprise, when he turned around, he met Wendy’s eyes, filled not with disappointment, but compassion.

- Yeah, I get it, dude.

Neither of them fell asleep. Not with the unspoken discussion they were not having, staring into each other’s sparkling eyes, relishing each other’s company. After a few minutes, however, Dipper shied away, feeling his face burning not from the warmth of their bodies, but awkwardness.

- You… you know I’m still, you know, kinda… - …in love with me? - Wendy finished - Yeah, like, no shit. - Yeah, so you see why this is a bit weird… - I don’t find it weird. - she immediately added. - Well, yeah, cos’ you’re not in love with me. If you were, you’d…

But when Dipper looked back at her, her eyes were watering, and her mouth was quivering, as if she was about to say something.

- W-Wendy, did I say something wrong? I’m sorry, I-

And then, she was kissing him, furiously pressing her mouth to his. The brave, young, smart man that proved to be a hundred times more mature that the guys she dated before… at least on some occasions. And as she mashed her lips with his, she was delighted to feel his hand, though still quivering, touched her waist, as the two were pulled closer together.

- We-Wendy! - Dipper gasped - Why- I mean, why didn’t you- What?

It was time for Wendy to shy away from his eyes.

- Look, Dipper… It would be.. it would super weird if I… If I said that I…

Their eyes met again, and for the first time, Dipper saw Wendy flustered, her cheeks matching her red hair. And in the dim light of the lamp, she looked even more otherworldly and beautiful than ever.

- You know, I think we’re both better at kissing that talking.

And before she could protest, they were mashing their lips again, relishing the warmth both around their bodies, trapped underneath the blanket, and the one that was burning inside them. “Was it a dream?”, Dipper thought. “Maybe I got carbon monoxide poisoning, and started imagining things?”. But if he was hallucinating the images of Wendy, rolling with him under the blanket, then it would be the sweetest death possible. Every few minutes they changed their position, topping each other in turns, indulging in fantasies they both have been having for quite a long time. Dipper suspected that Wendy only allowed him to topple him by surrendering her muscles, and if she wanted to, she could easily pin him to the bed.

- Is that a firewood in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? - Wendy asked out of the blue, pushing his body up a bit. - What? - Dipper gasped, his head still spinning from the amount of kissing they’ve had.

And when he looked between their bodies, he understood meaning of her words.

- Oh, fu-, god, I’m sorry, Wendy, I’m so sorry, I-

Dipper jumped from her at once, trying to cover his erection, though once light shone on his jeans, it became even more obvious.

- Dude, relax. - she laughed, and pulled him back to her - You know, realistically we should have started dating like, a year ago. - Yeah, after you rescued me from that bird monster. - Or you saved me from the squid. - she laughed again.

Their lips met again, but as the two begun kissing, Dipper put his hands underneath her waist, resulting in an instant, languorous moan escaping her mouth.

- Dipper…

The point of no return was crossed. Wendy pulled up her shirt, showing her belly, covered with goosebumps, as she tried to reach her bra. But Dipper was faster, and he with his help, the piece of her undergarment fell to the floor, leaving Dipper with sight of Wendy’s breasts, suffering from the same coldness of air around. There was only one solution, and Dipper - quite insensitively - begun applying it immediately, peppering her mounds with kisses, his hand caressing the other one his lips weren’t taking care of at the moment.

But before he could enjoy this, Wendy pulled her shirt down, and begun unbuckling her jeans.

- Too cold for that. We need to get warmer.

Dipper helped her slide her jeans down, though he did not expect Wendy to pull her panties with them in one, clumsy move. His heart was pacing furiously, when he saw a bush of red hair at the top of the one place he’s been dreaming for such a long time. Petting and a bit of nudity was one thing, but the journey they were about to partake seemed much more dangerous. Frozen in place, Wendy took his hand and put it over the wet, warm opening of hers, moaning loudly when his fingertips brushed her lips. Once again, it felt as if an electric shock jolted up his arm, and it was up to Wendy to encourage him to stay there.

- Wendy… what do I… - Just play with it, Dip…

She pulled him back to his old position atop her, kissing his face, as his fingers caressed her sex. Though Dipper fantasied about it, he was lost when it came to what he would actually do with her; but Wendy offered him help of her own hand, pointing him where, what and how to touch. And soon, she was writhing and flailing, their kisses interrupted by her moans, and his name cried into the air.

Wendy smiled, when she heard the clicking of buttons of his jeans, and a moment later, she saw his boxers and reached to them at once, revealing a rather thick manhood. If Dipper jumped when Wendy first touched him through the fabric, the the feeling of her fingers brushing his cock almost electrified him, something Wendy commented with another giggle.

It turned out that Wendy was a bit clumsy and inexperienced as well, not knowing how to caress his length, and it was Dipper’s time to show her how to pump him, though he almost immediately warned her not to.

- Wendy… you do realise I’m not really gonna last very long, don’t you? - Dipper quivered, staring down at their sexes, about to become one. - Dude, I’m close as well, let’s do it!

And with a nod, she spread her legs, and welcomed him, feeling the rush of energy and pleasure she hasn’t felt before. If it was painful, then the pain was gone in seconds, numbed by the indescribable, blissful closeness of her… well, boyfriend, she should call him. Wendy knew that all Dipper was doing was just bucking into her, back and forth in the same, monotonous rhythm, and it didn’t really make any difference if she was a pillow, but Wendy was on cloud nine, as if she was making love to someone who has claimed countless of women as his. Dipper kept mumbling “I love you!”, in short, breathless moans, possibly to make him concentrate and prevent an early climax. His eyes lit when Wendy begun chanting the same.

As she predicted, they were both close. His fingers already did marvels to her, bringing her climax much earlier that she would liked to.

- Wendy…! Wendy…! I…I’m gonna… - I know, dude, do it - she screamed, pulling him even closer to herself, locking her arms and legs around his rocking body. This dampened his moves a bit for a moment, but he resumed them with even more furious bucking once she slightly loosen her grip. - B-But… You sure I can do it? - he asked, panic in his eyes. - Yes! - she lied, silencing him with a kiss that has finally brought him over the edge. She wasn’t sure at all if it was safe for Dipper to come inside her, but in the heat of the moment, Wendy wouldn’t dare to imagine being robbed of the pleasure of him filling her to the brim.

And a moment later, she got exactly that, with stream after stream of his warmth spilling into her, one after another, for what felt like hours. And maybe it even was, Wendy honestly didn’t know how long they were lying underneath the thick quilt, clinging to their half-clothed bodies. But it was the heat, shared between the two that really mattered. She came a few minutes after him, though with the help of their fingers, mashing her clit in unison.  

- We…Wendy… Oh god, that was… that was… - Dipper finally spoke, after catching breath - Yeah, that *was* something.

Wendy reached for another kiss, but Dipper suddenly frowned and shied away from her.

- Wendy… You don’t… you don’t regret it, do you?

In return, she smiled. No, she did not regret it. Nor did she regret the next three times they did it, each separated by a long, cuddly rest. After he learned her body a bit, Dipper managed to make her come just on his own every single time, a feat Wendy was immensely proud of. Time after time, he kept supplying her with the much needed warmth of his, getting the angelic moans and the sight of his dream girl spasming underneath him in return. When the morning arrived, and she saw clear weather outside the cabin, Wendy honestly thought that it must have been their love-making that melted the snow.

Two two walked out of the cabin as more than friends, talking about each other the whole way to the town, often stopping for a kiss to warm each other up, even though objectively, there was no need for it. The snowstorm was gone, and in fact, in a few places, one could spot ground peeking from underneath the snow. But when they saw Mabel and Grunkle Stan in the distance on the street, they let go off each other’s hands, just in case. They weren’t sure if they should break the news now, especially now that Dipper’s family discovered they were still alive.

As Mabel hugged her brother seemingly to death, Wendy turned her head around, watching the city waking up from the calamity of snowfall that occurred, glad to see that the local drug store across the street hasn’t been snowed in. Once she waved Dipper goodbye, she rushed into it to ensure that their first night of passion won’t be the last one, as she had so much more on her mind.  

[huphilpuffs]

the taste of your cherry chapstick

Summary: Punk!Phil has a crush, so when Pastel!Dan is manning a kissing booth for a school event, he finds himself showing up with a pound in his pocket.

Word count: 5364

Warnings: food

A/N:  Special thanks goes to Harley (@danslester) for giving me the idea for this fic and encouraging me as I was writing it, and to Gisele (@fringegaps) for reading it over and promising it was okay to post. (Also let me know if you’d be interested in seeing more of this version of Dan and Phil because they were fun to write and I have a few ideas.)

(Ao3 link)

—

“A fucking kissing booth?”

Phil barely had time to mutter a responding huh? before PJ was reaching over and tearing a poster from the school’s brick wall. He read it quickly, the page clutched in one hand and his cigarette perched in the other before crumpling it in his hand, tossing it aside with a huff.

“Kissing booths not your thing, Peej?” Phil huffed, laughter ringing in his tone when PJ flipped him off, already taking another drag of his cigarette.

There was a moment’s silence, the crumpled poster sitting between them and smoke billowing in the air. Phil’s fingers were fumbling with the zipper of his leather jacket, eyes locked on the page with no curiosity as to its contents whatsoever. Absolutely none.

But PJ must have caught him staring, because his laughter was ringing in the air, his toes jamming against Phil’s kneecap. “Kissing booth’s your thing, Lester?”

His leg jerked, and he reached over to shove at PJ’s shoulder. “Shut up,” he hissed, though there was a smile on his face.

“I mean, this one might be,” PJ continued anyway, reaching forward with his free hand to swipe the ball of paper from the ground and toss it at Phil. “Apparently your flower boy is manning it.”

There was a split second where the words had Phil pausing, his palm still flat against PJ’s shoulder and his gaze shifting to the poster sitting by his thigh. But he forced himself to look away, lips twisting into a frown as he shoved at PJ’s shoulder again, reached over to pluck the cigarette from his friend’s hand.

“You promised to stop mentioning that,” he spat, sucking in a drag of smoke and blowing it out as though to punctuate his statement.

“I did no such thing,” said Peej, plucking his cigarette back, taking one final drag before putting it out against the stairwell’s tiled floor. “You have the biggest crush on Howell. I would have never promised to not tease you about that every chance I got.”

“I don’t have a–”

But PJ was already laughing, the denial surely having grown familiar since Phil had first uttered it too long ago. He pushed himself from the ground, playfully kicking at Phil’s leg one more time before stumbling towards the door. “Chris has a spare so I gotta go,” he said. “Maybe you should go to that kissing booth and see if you can get an out for bio.”

“Fuck off, Peej,” said Phil, swiping the poster from the floor and pitching it at PJ only for it to bounce off his back and tumble back to rest on the ground between them.

The only response was the sound of the door slamming shut, and Phil stared at it for a moment before letting his gaze fall.

To the poster sitting by his feet.

He waited a second, cheeks burning and mind racing to tell him how pathetic it was, and then he reached over to swipe the poster from the ground and see what it said.

—

He stepped into the stadium with his back to the wall and a frown drawing at the corners of his lips. His hands were shoved into his pockets and his leather jacket was stretched over his shoulders, gleaming under the glow of the white Christmas lights the school had put up.

The too-green grass housed the festival they’d organized, booths of activities that went far beyond the kissing booth PJ had joked about in the stairwell. There were games to rival the carnival that came into town every summer, and a bake sale that seemed to belong at a primary school, and many the cheerleaders were going around waving pom poms and chanting something that made Phil’s ears ache.

His ticket was still clenched in his fist, and he considered tearing it up, turning away with an eye roll at himself for even showing up.

But then he found the kissing booth in the crowd of activities, and he was pushing himself off the concrete wall at his spine to step deeper into the festival.

Dan was standing there, leaning over the table with a smile on his face. He was wearing his cheerleading uniform, the school logo printed it blue and white and stretched across his chest. Phil hated that he knew the matching pants hugged Dan’s ass perfectly. His hair was in curls, a crown of blue flowers perched atop his head.

Phil wanted to knot his fingers in the strands, knock the blossoms from Dan’s head as he shoved the boy against the wall, lips pressed to his.

Okay, so maybe PJ was right and Phil had a small crush on flower boy. On Dan.

He almost went straight to the kissing booth, ready to draw on his guise of confident indifference and walk over. Could picture himself leaning against the table opposite Dan, stretching his neck to show the tattoos of roses that poked from beneath the neckline, the vine of thorns climbing to curl around his ear, as he dropped the pound between Dan’s hands. But his thumb dragged over the festival ticket in his pocket and doubt settled in his gut, drawing him towards the bake sale instead.

The cupcake he bought was covered in pale pink icing that reminded him of the jumper Dan had worn to school that day, the red velvet cake matching the blush that would often bloom across his cheeks. He ate it quickly, before anyone could notice him standing at a school event with a pink cupcake in his hands.

And then he walked over to the kissing booth, fidgeting with the pound in his pocket until he drew close enough to force the crooked smile onto his face, the squareness of his shoulders.

“Hey, Howell.”

Dan was smiling when he turned to him, a soft upturn of his lips that made him look softer, warmer than the flower crowns and pastel clothing ever could. “Since when do you come to these things, Lester?” he called back.

Since you started working at a kissing booth, seemed to be the wrong thing to say, so he responded with a shrug instead. “I like to support my school,” he offered, but Dan just scoffed.

There was a pause then, when Phil finally reached the booth, when he was standing so close he could see the pale dotting of freckles over Dan’s nose and the petals of each flower in his crown. A moment where Dan just stared at him and smiled and Phil wanted to lean over and kiss him without handing over the pound.

But then he was holding the coin up between them, rolling it between his fingers and Dan was staring at it, a smile on his face.

“Kissing booths, huh, Phil?” he said. “Want me to get Chloe?”

He motioned towards the opposite end of the booth, to the head cheerleader but Phil didn’t even bother to turn, to look. “I don’t know. You’re more my type,” he answered, quirking a smile when he saw Dan’s widening at the words.

“Well then, pay up,” he said.

Phil dropped the coin into his palm at that, noting the blue nail polish on Dan’s fingertips and that it matched his cheerleading uniform. And with Dan staring back at him, he raised his hand, tapped his fingers to the smirk he was forcing to remain in place despite the bubble of nerves in his stomach.

He was going to kiss Dan.

Sure, he was paying for it, and Dan had probably kissed a bunch of people that night. But still. He was going to know what it felt like to have Dan’s lips pressed to his, know if they were as soft as they looked, if the lip gloss he usually had on tasted of anything. He was going to have Dan so close he could figure out if he smelled like the flowers he had perched atop his head.

It happened then. Dan’s laughter was high and ringing in the air, and then he was leaning over, pressing his lips to Phil’s.

It was quick, just a peck but it was enough to feel the warmth of Dan’s touch, the way his lips were actually chapped, to smell the roses that seemed to swirl around him. Enough to have Phil’s heart skipping a beat, lurching itself against his ribcage, and blood burning in his cheeks.

“I hope my services were satisfactory,” said Dan, and Phil blinked to see his smile having widened even more, his teeth pearly white and dimple popping in his cheek.

He almost kissed him again.

Almost.

Instead, he shrugged. “Your lips are a little chapped,” he offered, and he turned away before his blush became too obvious, or before he did lean over and kiss Dan for longer than a split second.

Okay, so maybe his crush on flower boy was a tad bigger than small.

—

“I can’t believe I let you drag me to this thing,” huffed PJ, blowing out a final drag of smoke before crushing the butt of cigarette just outside the stadium door. “And just so you can get another kiss with flower boy.”

Phil shoved his hands deeper into the pockets of his jacket at the words, huffing in annoyance even though it was true. “I couldn’t just show up alone again. He’d have noticed if I kept showing up by myself and kissing him.”

PJ let out a laugh at that, leaning over to elbow him in the shoulder. “Yeah, you’re right,” he said, voice laced with teasing and making Phil roll his eyes before the thought was complete. “It’s not like flower boy will think it’s strange when two of the least likely people to enjoy this festival bullshit show up. Or he will and it will totally distract him from the fact that you want to kiss him again.”

“Shut up,” was the best response Phil could muster.

“Whatever,” said PJ. “You gonna go get your kiss or what?”

Phil turned to him, eyes wide. “I can’t just go over there,” he hissed. “I have to make it look like I came here for something besides a kiss.”

PJ’s response was an eye roll, a dramatic sigh. “You’re such a girl, Lester.”

“Says you, who forced me to spend a whole free period in the bathroom so you could do your hair for a date,” he countered, bumping PJ’s arm with his own when he caught the responding grumble from his friend.

They stood around for a while, leaning against the stadium walls and watching the crowd below. Phil was certain less people had showed up today, that it would be harder to blend in with the leather jacket drawn over his shoulders and tattoos staining his skin, with the smell of smoke lingering since his last cigarette.

And yet he dragged PJ forward anyway, found himself returning to the bake sale, where cupcakes were tempting but he bought a brownie instead because it seemed safer with PJ laughing at his every move. The chocolate was sweet on his tongue as he watched PJ play a game of ring toss, disinterested but smiling politely when the teacher manning the booth handed him a box of pencils decorated with the school logo.

“Are you going to make me play more games or are you going to go kiss flower boy so we can leave?”

Phil swallowed, turning towards the kissing booth at last. Dan was wearing his uniform again today, the sleeves drawn up over his forearms and showing off the bracelets looped at his wrists. They matched the crown of pale blue flowers sitting atop his head, and the bloom of pink over his cheeks.

PJ shoved him forward, palm flat against the center of his spine, letting out an annoyed huff that had Phil turning back to glare, even as he stumbled forward, towards the kissing booth.

Dan noticed him before he reached the booth, jumping from his chair, dimple deepening as his smile widened. He twirled the curl that fell over his forehead, fidgeted with his bracelets, plucked at the pompoms sitting on the table before him as he waited.

And then he called out. “Back for more, Phil?” His smile was cocky, chocolate eyes shimmering.

Phil’s hand tightened around one of the coins in his pocket, jaw clenching because it sounded so stupid. That he, who went around school rolling his eyes at authority and skipping classes, who showed up on a motorcycle and wore a leather jacket, would come to a fundraising festival two days in a row just to kiss his crush.

Yet here he was, standing in front of Dan, smirking and handing over a coin. “What can I say? You offer good services, Howell.”

Dan smiled, dropping the coin into the jar for the booth. Phil expected another quick peck, a split second he could spend the night thinking about because Dan made him that stupid. Instead, Dan was leaning down, swiping something from his backpack and holding it up between them.

It was a tube of cherry chapstick.

“I want you to know we take customer suggestions very seriously here,” he said, and made Phil watch as he smeared it across his lips, tasted it with the tip of his tongue.

A breath was caught in Phil’s chest, a heartbeat skipped as he watched Dan grin.

“You good?” he asked, and he got a nod in response because Phil was sure any words he could try to speak would escape as a stutter.

And then Dan was leaning forward, and Phil was sure this was the most ready he could be, was sure he’d get a quick peck and then Dan would rock back on his heels with a giggle and a teasing remark. But then there was a hand on his shoulder, swiping over the collar of his leather jacket, and fingers tripping over his neck to curl at his nape.

The kiss was softer this time, slower. Dan’s lips were warm and his hand was soft, and Phil could smell the flowers that followed Dan the way smoke followed him. Dan’s thumb swiped across one of the ridges of his vertebrae as he pulled away, touch fading but Phil was sure the warmth lingered, burning in his cheeks, in his chest.

“Has the service improved?” he asked, rocking back, reaching up with his now-free hand to adjust the flowers on his head.

Phil forced himself to look thoughtful just for a moment, to not blurt out a yes, or, worse, a it was always great. He shoved his hands into his pockets, made a show of licking his lips as Dan had earlier, just to watch brown eyes trace the swipe of his tongue, and let out a hum.

“I suppose so,” he said, offering a smile when Dan rolled his eyes.

“Well, I’ll be here all week,” he said. “In case you want to come back so I can prove to you that we offer the best service.”

He responded with a shrug, turning on his heel so the last thing he saw was the dimple he wanted so badly to kiss. It only took him a moment to find PJ, watching from behind one the information booth, arms crossed over his chest and annoyance evident in his frown.

“Satisfied with your kiss?” he asked.

Phil found himself licking his lips again, tasting the final remnants of cherry there. “I’m coming back tomorrow,” was the only answer he gave.

PJ responded with a groan.

—

He didn’t drag any of his friends with him on the third day. In fact, he spent a long time standing outside the entrance trying to convince himself that going in again would be too sappy and desperate. But the coin was heavy in his pocket and the memory of Dan’s lips against his was burned in his mind and he found himself stepping into the stadium, teeth digging into his lip and heart stuttering in his chest.

Without PJ looking over his shoulder, he bought another cupcake that day, sneaking a glance at Dan and the flower crown he was wearing to choose the color of icing he wanted. He ended up leaning against the stadium wall, dragging his finger through a swirl of pale yellow icing, rolling his eyes at himself even as the corners of his mouth turned upwards.

He could see Dan from where he’d situated himself, sitting on one of the stadium benches with his feet propped up on the seat in front of him, eyes locked on the kissing booth below. There was a twist in his gut when a girl walked up to the booth, got a peck on the lips for her coin. A flash of green before his eyes and a possessive clench of his heart betraying his brain’s reminders that Dan wasn’t his.

And yet he pushed himself from his seat, swallowing the last bite of his cupcake as his fingers found the pound in his coat pocket.

Dan was smirking when he reached the booth. “Finally decided to come down?”

Phil swallowed back a sputter, eyes narrowing when Dan just let out a high-pitched laugh that sounded too much like a giggle and made love swell in his chest and the words he forced out sound choked. “How did you know I was here?”

“You wear all black, and you’re at a school event. You stand out like a sore thumb, Phil,” he explained, voice deadpan though his smirk remained, teasing and happy and Phil wanted to kiss it away. “Good choice with the cupcake, by the way. I like the yellow.” He reached up, swept a thumb over the petals on his flower crown, let his hand linger to he could twirl a curl with his fingers. “But you have some crumbs.”

Phil expected Dan to motion on his own cheek, allow him to swipe the apparent crumbs from his own face with a blush climbing the pale skin of his cheeks. But Dan leaned forward, lifted a hand to brush his fingertips to the very corner of Phil’s mouth, a soft touch to the warmth of his lips.

He was close. So close. And it shouldn’t be jarring, but Phil felt his heart flip in his chest, felt the heat of Dan’s breath when he spoke.

“Did you bring a pound or?”

It was embarrassing how he rushed to shove his hand into his pocket, fumbling with the coin and dropping it onto the table between them. The clatter rang in his ears.

And went silent the moment Dan leaned forward to press their mouths together.

His palm drifted along Phil’s cheek until it was cradling his jaw, holding him close as though he would consider pulling away. It was hard, though Dan’s lips were still soft and the smell of tulips swam in the air around them. It was hard and it lingered until Phil was reaching up, too, feeling the softness of Dan’s skin under his palm, the hot slick of Dan’s tongue across his lips.

He tasted of cherries and smelled like flowers and Phil could get lost in the touch of Dan’s lips, the enchantment of his proximity.

They parted after a second, Phil stuttering on an inhale as his eyes fluttered open to catch the blush spreading across Dan’s cheeks, the small smile gracing his lips, the shimmer of affection in his eyes.

His heart flipped.

It had happened before, this feeling in his chest. The first time he’d found himself stuck in a pep rally and watching the school’s only male cheerleader. The first time he’d passed Dan in the hall and smelled the flowers in the air. The first time that smile of pearly white teeth and the most adorable dimple was flashed in his direction.

But this time was different. It was warm and Dan was still so close and Phil knew exactly what it felt like to kiss the rosebud lips that had haunted him. And he wanted nothing more than to not have a table separating them, than to pull Dan into his arms and kiss the curls atop his head, feel the petals of Dan’s flower crown tickle his cheek.

He pulled away slowly, took a stumbling step back as he watched Dan, still blushing, fumble with the coin Phil had left, and drop it into the booth’s jar.

“You better be careful, Phil,” he said, “or I might start to believe you actually do want to support the school.”

Phil responded with a shrug, a smile more genuine than the smirk he usually sported. “Or maybe I’m finally realizing you do offer the best services.”

Dan’s blush deepened, and he dipped his head to hide it, and Phil felt his heart do that flippy thing again as he turned around and walked away.

—

It was with a regretful sinking in his gut and a swallow of his latest cupcake that Phil realized, the next day, that the festival was more than halfway done. That he had two days left where he could slip a coin to Dan and get a kiss in return, under the guise of supporting his school that would be betrayed only by the burning of his cheeks when they parted.

There was another coin in his pocket today, a new crowd on the stadium grounds below. He watched them mill around, children playing games and parents purchasing things from the various booths, before turning his gaze to Dan.

To find Dan staring back at him.

He was sitting behind the kissing booth with his feet propped up on the table in front of him, tennis-shoe clad toes pointed. There was a smile on his face, the corner of his lip caught between his teeth. Sunshine fell over the stadium and even though he was so far away, Phil could have sworn it shimmered in chocolate eyes.

His hand stayed in his pocket, twirling in the coin in his fingers, until he saw Dan offer a wave, slight and shy and so unlike Dan but matching the softness of his smile.

And he found himself returning the wave, the slight movement of his hand almost foreign, odd given the black leather pulled over his shoulder and the tattoos littering his skin, the cigarettes in his pocket and the smoke on his breath. But so was showing up to a school festival every day just to get a kiss from a boy who wore flower crowns and a cheerleading uniform, so Phil let himself wave, let his heart flip in his chest when he saw Dan’s smile widen.

It took him a moment, until Dan’s gaze flitted to the ground with a shy flutter of his lashes over his cheeks, before Phil stood, making his way towards the ground below. Cold metal had warmed in his hand, and he flipped the coin in his pocket as he approached the booth.

Dan was standing when he got there, plucking at the strands of his pom pom with one hand, resting his cheek in the other. “Back for our fantastic service?” he said, though the words were soft and there was something thoughtful behind his eyes that was unfamiliar, strange for Dan.

He could have sworn Dan was staring at his lips when he smiled in response. “I’m a loyal customer,” he offered.

Dan’s smile widened, eyes lifting to meet Phil’s, the sun definitely shimmering in them now. “The most loyal,” he said, though his voice was laced with contemplation, and his gaze fell to land on Phil’s lips again. “Do you, uh, have a pound again today?”

There was a smile on his face and a waver to his voice and Phil’s chest tightened with it, with the realization, as he stared at Dan from across the table, that he seemed to want this. Not in the teasing way Dan usually indicated that he did, but in the way Phil did, with a blush on his cheeks and a smile on his face and eyes drifting to smiles and lips he wanted to kiss.

He dropped the pound on the table between them, and Dan looked up at him again, dimple popping in his cheek.

Then a hand was cradling Phil’s jaw and a palm was warm on his chest, fingers sliding beneath the leather of his jacket to curl at the t-shirt he was wearing beneath it. And Dan was pulling him closer, pressing their mouths together so feather-light Phil could barely feel the softness of his lips.

So he reached up, curled his hand at Dan’s nape so he could feel curls brushing his fingertips, so he could draw Dan closer, kiss him harder. So he could taste the chapstick on his lips and the sweetness on his tongue and twirl a curl around his finger because Dan’s hair was as soft as the rest of him.

He pulled away after a moment, sucking a breath as they parted. But his hand lingered at Dan’s nape, and Dan’s stayed twisted in the fabric of his shirt. Dan’s eyes fluttered open slowly, and Phil’s breath caught because they were still shining, but no longer with sunlight.

A smile spread across Dan’s face again, soft and sweet, and before Phil could remind himself that they were at a kissing booth, he was leaning in again.

But Dan used the hand still at Phil’s chest to push him away, laughter falling from his lips though soft joy stayed in his eyes. His giggles were high and happy, his amusement contagious despite the rejection, and Phil watched as he motioned to the table between them.

To where the coin he’d paid with still sat.

“You only paid for one kiss, Philly,” said Dan, laughter growing louder when Phil shot him a glare at the nickname. “But tomorrow’s our last day, so maybe you could come back and I’ll give you a discount?”

Phil responded with an eye roll, though warmth welled in his chest at the lilt of hope in Dan’s voice. And he offered a smile before turning away, hoping Dan knew that there was no way Phil was missing what might be his last chance at kissing him.

—

It was dumb, that there was a moment, coin in hand and breath caught in his chest, that Phil considered not going. Considered that maybe it would be better to have one less kiss with Dan than to go to the kissing booth knowing that would be the last.

It might have been dumber that he shoved the coin back into his pocket and stepped into the stadium, a smile on his face and acceptance that he would have one last kiss with Dan welling in his chest.

He avoided it, though. Found himself turning away from the kissing booth and following his usual path to the bake sale first. One final cupcake to go with one final kiss, so that his lips hopefully wouldn’t taste of the cigarette he’d smoked that morning and Dan would be left with a smile that makes his dimple pop and eyes bright as the sun.

Cupcake in hand, finger having already drawn a line through the pale yellow frosting so he could taste the vanilla on his tongue, he made his way to the bench where he usually sat. Where he had a view of Dan at the kissing booth and the shadow protected him from the sun and he could smile and think of how beautiful Dan looked in his uniform and flower crown from afar.

But when he sat down, Dan wasn’t sitting at the kissing booth. Chloe was there alone, waving her pompoms at people as they walked by and getting kisses from a few random people, and Phil felt a sinking in his chest at the sight.

Dan wouldn’t have made a point of asking him to come if he wasn’t going to be there, right? But maybe he was sick and had to cancel at the last minute? Or–

“Hi.”

Phil jumped, coin slipping from his hand and cupcake getting mashed into his face. He could feel the icing sticking to his chin, to his nose, could hear the giggles coming from behind him.

“You shouldn’t just sneak up on people like that,” he hissed, but Dan kept laughing, walking towards him until they were sharing the bench, only a few inches between them.

“Totally worth it,” he said, and in a moment his hand was curled at Phil’s jaw, thumb swiping through the icing on his chin. “You look cute with icing on your face.”

Phil felt his heart flip in his chest at the words, though he forced a huff. “I’m not really going for cute.”

“Well, too late,” said Dan, and he brought his hand to his mouth, licked the icing off his thumb. “You’re cute without the icing too.”

He heaved a sigh again, but his heart was still stuttering and he could feel the burn of a blush on his cheeks, and hoped the icing was hiding it. “I’m not cute,” he managed, though a smile curled at the corner of his lips. “You’re way cuter.”

Dan’s smile widened, his cheeks turning a soft shade of pink that matched him perfectly. “Thank you,” he said. “But my being cute doesn’t make you any less cute.” And Phil rolled his eyes in response but Dan was holding out the hand he hadn’t gotten full of icing in an instant. “Anyway, I wanted to give you this.”

Phil held out his hand that wasn’t covered in cupcake crumbs, and felt cool metal land in his hand, heard the clink of the coins against each other. He knew before he checked, before he saw the four pounds sitting in his palm.

“Huh?”

He felt Dan’s shrug rather than saw it, they were sitting so close together. “I, uh, figured you shouldn’t have had to pay when I wanted to kiss you so much anyway,” Dan explained, his head dipped when Phil turned, eyes wide, to face him.

“You wanted to kiss me?” he asked, forgetting about the air of indifference he was meant to have, the eye rolls and sighs he expected of himself. About everything but the racing of his heart and the warmth in his chest and the fact that Dan just said he wanted to kiss him.

When Dan looked up at him, their faces were only inches apart, and his smile was small and nervous, his fingers fidgeting with his crown of flowers. “I told you,” he said. “You’re cute.”

And Phil kissed him, dropping his cupcake so the he could curl a hand at Dan’s cheek and feel his smile under his palm, so that the other could wrap around his waist and hold him close. He could feel Dan’s smile against his lips, his fingers slipping under his leather jacket again and wrapping around the fabric at the base of his spine. It was soft and warm and Dan still tasted of cherries when his tongue slicked against Phil’s and a quiet moan rumbled from his chest.

Dan was giggling when they parted, leaning down to rest his forehead against Phil’s and the smile on his face, the light in his eyes, was the most beautiful thing Phil had ever seen.

“You got icing all over me,” he whined, though he was leaning forward, smudging a kiss to Phil’s cheek, poking his tongue out to lick some of the icing from the spot. “But it’s okay. You’re cute.”

Phil had his crush in his arms, giggling into his shoulder, and peppering kisses to his cheek and a warmth in his chest far better than that any smoke could provide and a smile on his face. But he still forced a sigh, even as he pressed a kiss to Dan’s curly hair.

“I’m not cute,” he argued.

Dan giggled again. “You came to a kissing booth every day for a week just to kiss me,” he said. “You are definitely cute.”

And he couldn’t formulate an argument against that, so he just kissed Dan again.

[seashelbytravel]

Khao Sok National Park & Father’s Day

Date of post: June 19, 2019

Location of post: Chiang Mai, Thailand

Date of venture: June 14-16, 2019

Location of venture: Khao Sok National Park, Surat Thani, Thailand

From Krabi, we took a bus to the village right outside of the enterance the Khao Sok National Park.

One of the oldest remaining parts of the natural rainforest, dating back hundreds of millions of years. Preserved by a terrible small pox outbreak that killed 80% of the village population in the 1940’s, and then protected by a rouge group of communists during the 70’s who practiced geurilla warfare tactics warding off colonialism.

We didn’t know where we were going to stay so we hopped in that back bed of a locals truck and headed into town center.

We were dropped at the Green Mountain guest house, where we ate the best food we’ve experienced in Thailand yet. We’ve hit close to 8 towns before arriving here.

John asked to meet the chef and, our waitress got a look on her face, I think she assumed we were going to complain. We told her that her cooking was the best we’ve had yet. We told her about all of the towns we’d dined in before hers. She was so happy, but more surprised that we wanted so badly to tell her how wonderful her crafted cooking was. And it was artiful.

I love Tom Yum Goong. It’s my favorite dish I’ve had here, but I’m making it a point to eat something different as much as I can. And that’s been a pretty easy feat. So. Much. Delicious. Food. And I LOVE the Thai spice. It’s not debilitating and all encompassing like in Texas. Although, don’t get me wrong, I love our TexMex. Thai spice has so many other flavors that compliment the fire you’re eating.

We ended up staying at the guesthouse where the restraraunt resided. Our room was very nice and tucked away. When we first arrived, I walked up to the super sweet pupper of the guesthouse. I said “Hi baby” and without looking, his tail started thumping.

His name was “Coffee” and he looked like a little adorable hybrid dog bear. So sweet. When we left, John threw him some chicken. He slept outside of our room the two nights we stayed.

We scheduled our “jungle trek”. Two days, one night on Cheow Lan Lake. Sleeping on floating bungalo’s in the middle of the lake.

The next morning the van picked us up, and we immediately met a couple from Colorado. They were my age, and traveling for two weeks. Julie and Joe. Easy to remember all the “J’s”. I thought we were going to be alone, and honestly I was glad to meet other people our age.

We picked up two 18-something British couples who were only a few days into their trip, and obviously processing that they weren’t in Kansas anymore.

We picked up one more French couple, and they became our travel buddies after we emerged from the jungle. Emma and Jordan. Not “Jor-Dan”. Say it with the French accent and the name sounds so much more beautiful beacause, duh. French vs. English in terms of diction, French will always be the more beautiful of the languages, in my opioln.

Okay. We took an hour long, long boat ride to our bungalows. John and I sat in the front. About halfway through the boat ride, we noticed a heavy mist setting in, blurring our sight. Not mist. Rain. You like pina coladas? I do. And getting caught in the rain? I definitely do. We were soaked in 30 seconds. I loved it.

We got to our bungalow and had lunch prepared by the family who lived and hosted these tours with our companions. Then, jungle hike time.

Okay. I wore leggings, a white t, and my trail shoes. We pulled up the the trail on longboat and the first thing we see is a sign that read “DANGER Trail Closed”.

Okiiiiiiii... trusting. Trust is paramount here.

We started anyway. So beautiful. The air smelled healthy. Like it was hosting millions of happy flora. And it was. We hiked for 30 min before our guide stopped us for a “leech check”. Now, I imagine leeches as the big fat black buggies we see in the movies. Nope. The suckers (haha) looks like desperate little earth worms, sprouting out of the ground, clinging to the first bit of your they could. I didn’t have any! Yay! Neither did John. We kept going.

We got to a part in our hike where I guided turned to us and said “Okay, very steep. We climb like monkeys”. Cool. We both (Johnny and I) have our own natural rock climbing experiences (it’s been a while for me, but it really is like riding a bike and my confidence came back quickly) but I was worried about our fellow hikers. Especially the young British ones. Said a quick lil prayer that no one would be harmed. Glad I did because we were literally climbing what John and I think to be a 5.4 on the climbing scale. A legitimate climb. But no one was hurt, not even a scrape (I think). John and I headed the group right behind our guide. Mind you, this man was climbing in FLIP FLOPS. His confidence gave my own a boost. John watched where the guide placed his feet, and I John, and so on. We would call down the line when something was extra slippery or more tough than normal. We were all responsible for each other’s. That’s a uniting feeling.

We finally reached the top. It’s the 6th picture in this post. John was on a perch and looked down to a 200 ft drop. Straight down. He is terrified of free heights and there he was. I was very proud of him. But, his face changed when he realized where he was sitting. We look to our right, and the biggest rainbow took form. Y’all. If you don’t believe in God, spend some time in nature. I’m a very faithful person. I love God more than anything. God has shown itself to me in the most divine ways. This rainbow being one instance, amoung a plethora of divinity. It wasn’t there when we reached the top. But felt like a “You made it!” gift.

Ok, LEECH CHECK. Guess what. I had those sons of beaches all under the tounge of my shoe. Just, enjoying my blood. I was so skeeved out. I don’t have many specific fears. Grasshoppers and crickets gross me out, but I’m no baby when it comes to bugs. These really freaked me out. We all had them. They are sneaky. And pulling them off actually hurts, and you bleed a lot more than if you let them do their business and fall off. Our guides called them “vampires”.

From the mountain, we went to a smaller waterfall (not pictured) and our guide went first to make sure it was safe. He gave the thumbs up and all the guys got up to explore. I thought “uh, I didn’t come to Thailand to sit in a boat” so Julie (our American friend) and I both followed. I stood under that waterfall and it washed away all of the sweat from the jungle. Julie and I both. The guys returned to the boat and Julie and I finally headed back. You ever hear of quick sand? Ha. I was wading in the water back to the boat when all of a sudden, my left leg sank down so fast, all the way up to my hip. But, my right was on firm ground. For real, thank God because I feel like that could’ve been a very bad situation. I’m so proud of my body and its ability. Thankful for it. Grateful to it.

We went back and swam in the lake. We drank rum with our new friends and ate dinner that was caught in the lake. We stayed up late playing “Rummi”. Mom and I used to play it all the time, and it felt like another sign that we were right where we were supposed to be.

Back to the mainland. Our new friends Emma and Jordan, from France, hadn’t decided on a place to stay, so we suggested ours. They booked a room, and it was right next to ours. Yay! We decided to hike more of the park together. I love Emma and Jordan.

You know, with all the bad politics happening everywhere, we are all the same. Emma and I spoke openly about the political turmoil in France and America. We are the same. Emma and me, and France and America. Don’t judge. Just read and absorb.

My fearless sweet heart. We found the waterfall! The big one. We all waded and swam past currents. I probably wouldn’t have been so adventurous in getting to them (and I’m not sure Jordan or Emma wolves been, but they were adventurous in those own lovely way) if my monkey man wasn’t jumping into random pools, jumping from rock to rock. I was a good jumper too, and so were Emma and Jordan! I felt confident. Our waterfall is pictured below.

I love Emma and Jordan. And I cherish our time together. Too short. That’s the crux of traveling. You meet wonderful (again, that word doesn’t even come close to fully encompassing how I feel about the people we meet) people who become in stand “best friends”. And then you have to say “goodbye”. That’s the hardest part.

Walking back from the national park, Emma and I walked together and John and Jordan ahead.

After our honest conversation about politics in the place we love and call home, the conversation turned to family. Emma’s parents run a farm in France, and she helps them. She’s also an occupational therapist for the mantally ill. At a psychiatric hospital. Amazing. She’s 24. I told her about how my mom lived across the country, and when I told her it would take me 3 days to drive (if I sped) or $300 round trip to fly, and that I got to see her once a year, if I was lucky, she was shocked.

I told her I had no brothers or sisters, and inevitably the dad question was answered. She lovingly (without my saying) validated how lonley I must feel. That loneliness. Errrgg. I keep packed down. For lots of reasons. I’ve been shamed for it, inadvertently, and truthfully, sometimes people don’t know how to precieve it. And sometimes, I have such a bleeding heart about it that the last thing I want to do is make someone uncomfortable. And I definitely never want to be a “Debby Downer”. But we were speaking truthfully about our home situations. She was empathetic, kind, and so loving. I told her about my own trip and my father’s own travels. She said “it sounds like a sign to me”. And we exchanged French and English meanings for “goosebumps”. I love her for that conversation. And for many other connections we shared.

We walked the rest of the way home together. Then we had dinner and drinks on our shared porch.

She wrote in my journal and I’ll remember her forever. Hopefully, I’ll get out to northern France for a visit one day.

I didn’t mention I pulled 5 more microscopic leeches off of myself over the next 12 hours. 4, I found in the shower AFTER John, Emma, Jordan and I finished our own trek and... the nasty one. It had lodged itself in my leg. And I found it while still on the bungalows. Our guide poured alcohol on it and popped it out like a pimple. Gross. You’re welcome for that visual.

Not poisoness and I’m not dead so, yay.

Father’s Day was the best I’ve had since my dad died. He is my greatest guide, and will continue to be until I meet him again in heaven.

He was the greatest. Ever. I’m so lucky he created 50% of me. And I’m so much more like him than I ever thought I’d be. I posted about the significance of my trip and him on Facebook and Instagram. I never felt like crying. That’s new to me and I’m totally into it. Grieving, in the sorrowful way, is draining and I never let myself experience otherwise. But this felt like a gift.

This was long. Thank you for reading.

[updatedphan]

🎁 phil’s younow february 2, 2017 🎁

GUMMY CANDY SUSHI TASTE TEST!

read on google drive with links

-he is very thankful for the birthday stuff -he went jogging today wow -did a lot of walking while not at home -birthday haul -*bday haul music* -it's official now -his brother got him new trainers (sneakers) -turquoise laces -how do u shoelace -has he been tying shoelaces wrong his whole life -he doesn't wanna double lace -he's not a shoes-in-the-house typa guy -he got a candle called 'rewine' -the outside is made out of a wine bottle -it smells like burnt vanilla -like toast on the cusp of burning but not burnt -his parents got him a jumper with a glittery beetle on it -dan got him a gummy sushi set -phil had it once on tour and it made him really hyper onstage -taste test -he got out those chopsticks -his grandma used to call licorice "spanish" -he's improved a bit on his chopsticking since japan -he got a book about socks -it's actually really interesting -he got firefly on blu ray -he's never seen it -he's a terrible joss whedon fan -he got a terrarium with a cactus inside -he just needs something to hang it from -dan also got him a lava lamp -phil had one that broke a few years ago -dan thought it'd fit his room -it's mesmerizing -he's not gonna drink the lava lamp on camera -~end of bday haul~ -it was very windy up north -it was supposed to not be nice weather but it ended up clearing up -it was quite chill -he went to afternoon tea -he loves afternoon tea -he has never been so full on his birthday -his cake was intense -the icing was really intense so the cake was vanilla -he had weird sugar dreams that night -then he was very Savory Food the next day -he went for italian and he got spaghetti bolognese -and a lot of garlic bread -hunt for the wilderpeople is a good movie -it made him want to go to new zealand -EMU EGG UPDATE -brace urselves -get into Full Braced Position -ur not even ready -ITS' FACE IS POKING OUT OF THE FREAKIN GLASS -it's huge -he picked it up and it feels gross -like wet food left behind on a plate -it has little tendrils wtf -he's impressed by the emu -he's naming it after someone in the chat -it's named addywoo -don't emushame addywoo :/ -he's kind of hyped for the nintendo switch -he feels like the controller might be small for his big hands though -he's conflicted about the beauty and the beast remake -was it necessary to remake it? -he'll wait and see how it is though -he wished for more wishes when he blew out his candles -oh wait now it won't work because he told us about it :/ -there was So Much Cake -he witnessed dan falling down the hill -it was a mix of hilarious and legitimate concern -he's Quite A Tall Guy -they're actually doing the right thing by making sharknado 5 because it's meant to be a parody series -it's like it's making fun of movies with too many sequels -he might be pregnant -he felt a few kicks -but that might have been the italian -maybe all of his fortune telling was about beyoncé -maybe he was channeling beyoncé -he is asking the magic 8 ball if he's beyoncé's psychic link to the future and it's being ambiguous -he is the psychic link to beyoncé' future -oh no the magic 8 ball just said phil isn't pregnant -someone asked if they'd pass chemistry and the magic 8 ball said no -he's convinced the quickening is happening -he could do a whole liveshow about that -don't get him started -he smacked the magic 8 ball for being rude on stream because it kept answering "better not tell you now" -he's not answering if someone's cat will die No -he asked the magic 8 ball if he'd ever get a dog and it answered "yes" -once he watched a video of a guy drinking the liquid inside a magic 8 ball -that's probably not healthy -he's gonna kill the 8 ball because it keeps giving stuff like "ask again later" -absorb the vibes -he's excited to watch firefly -the description reminds him of cowboy bebop -on his bday he went to this place that was on the edge of a cliff face with a bunch of big drops -the path was muddy and slippery and had no guardrails -it was supposed to be excited but it was scary -he stood behind a wall and just watched because Nope -mr clumsypants -he probably would have died if he fell -it was like a crash bandicoot level in real life -didn't know he'd be that afraid of heights -28 is a good round number -he likes even number ages better -it's not wise to cross roads with headphones in -The Preems -dan's legs and eyebrows were not found in the isle of man they're lost in the void -philthulu -he's all about the vinegar when it comes to fish & chips -he Drowns it in vinegar -happy groundhog day -he saw his shadow more winter is coming -his mom got him red velvet cookies -he meant to show us but left them in the kitchen -he went for sushi and it was very fancy and good -his friends were nice and didn't tell the people it was phil's bday -he fears bday restaurant songs and all the attention from them -although... free cake........ -his parents cried at arrival -it was so much more emotional the second time -who's your daddy -there is a battery on the floor right now -there are like 10 things that would injure a child all around him -another game vid comin this weekend -it's a funny one -he played mario kart this morning and beat 8 people online -final bday story -long bday walk -a dead pigeon fell down on the ground right infront of them -then a hawk started eating it right infront of them -then a stupid guy tried to scare the hawk away :/ -pretzel bum -he's still in the steven universe zone -on episode 31 -melons -it is almost time for him to jet off into the wilderness -he prefers christmas to birthdays -because everyone gets something -his challenge is to make his candy sushi last all week -horse bureau -emu update: it's still wet and disgusting -he's heading off -have a Lovely weekend -goooooodbyeeeeeeeee