#love how dan brought one pair of shoes and phil brought two

[manchesterau]

this is everything (x)

[phantasticworks]

If You Don’t Love Me, Pretend - Chapter Sixteen

hello everyone!!! Sorry for the late update, I’ve been working all week and didn’t get home until late today. If anyone is interested I might do a q&a about the story or a sneak peek or something later tonight as an apology for the late chapter! I hope you enjoy reading! ;)

read on ao3

Words: 10k

Summary: Phil has a sick day and Dan takes care of him. 

Plus.... the moment you've all been waiting for

Warnings for this chapter: swearing, sickness

There’s a baby crying. Dan doesn’t know where, but he’s positive he can hear it. He’s trying to find it, walking in the direction of the noise, but it seems like the louder the cries, the slower he moves. It’s like he’s moving in quicksand, but when he looks at his feet, there’s nothing. No ground, no legs. Just the sound of the baby crying. He’s panicked, looking around for someone, anyone, to help. He’s about to call out for help, when his world is jostled. It ruins the atmosphere, everything fading in and out shakily.

The cries are still there, but now he’s not sure it’s a baby. It sounds like-

Dan hears an annoying trill in the background of his subconsciousness, drawing him from his dream. He can sort of piece together that the noise is probably his phone, but he’s still not entirely sure he’s awake. He snuggles down into the warmth of the bed, content to let the noise continue and drift back into his dream.

That is, until he feels a sharp prod to his side, followed by a voice. “Dan. Turn your alarm off.”

“Hm?” Dan murmurs into his pillow.

“Dan.” There’s a pause, and Dan’s finally beginning to think he might be able to go back to sleep, but then he feels a sharp pain in his side.

He jolts at the feeling, rolling over to blink at his apparent assailant. “That fucking hurt!” he hisses.

“Turn the alarm off, Daniel.” Comes Phil’s sharp reply.

Dan blinks sleepily, rubbing at his eyes as he flails about for his phone. “Fine, god.” He stops the alarm before yawning, taking a moment to wake up a little as he sits up. He glances over at Phil, frowning when he sees the blanket pulled over his head.

“What’s wrong with you?” He mutters, still a little annoyed that his wake-up call was a rather pointy elbow to his ribs.

“Nothing,” Phil grits out.

Dan rolls his eyes at the obvious lie. He was too exhausted right now to be seriously concerned. Phil wasn’t a morning person all the time, and maybe the whole parenting thing was getting to him.

“Whatever,” Dan mumbles before going to shower.

When he comes out of the bathroom a little later, Phil is still wrapped entirely in blankets. Dan hums to himself as he grabs a shirt from his side of the closet, sliding his arms in and working on buttoning it up. He scrounges around in one of his drawers, wearing nothing but a pair of pants and the shirt as he looks for some trousers or jeans. He sorts through two drawers before he finds a pair he likes, going to his top drawer to grab some socks, still humming.

“Can you please hurry up?” Phil’s voice is weak and strained, and Dan startles at hearing it in the otherwise silent room.

Frowning, Dan glances over at where Phil’s face is barely peeking out of the blankets. “What is your problem, mate? Why’re you being so tetchy?”

Phil closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. Something about that doesn’t sit well with Dan, but it’s teetering between guilt and annoyance, and he’s not sure which to give into. “I don’t feel well,” Phil says finally. “Just… Can you be a little quieter?”

Dan shrugs. “Yeah, whatever.” He heads into the bathroom to brush his teeth and do something with his hair to the soundtrack of Phil letting out a shaky breath.

After finishing up in the bathroom, Dan heads back into the bedroom. His eyes are immediately drawn to the bed, where he can just barely see Phil’s shoulders shaking, just slightly.

Slowly, quietly, Dan makes his way over to Phil’s side of the bed. He sits carefully on the edge, trying not to jostle him too much. “Phil? Are you okay, bub?” His hand hovers near Phil, a little unsure if he wants the physical comfort right now.

Phil draws in a shuddering breath but makes no attempt to hide the fact that he’d been crying. “I’m fine,” he says, strained.

Dan gently lays a hand in Phil’s hair, stroking gently. Phil doesn’t flinch away, so Dan continues the movements. “Hey… what’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

Dan has to bite his tongue on a sharp rebuttal. “Is it a migraine?” He asks, his chest sinking at the thought.

Phil’s hesitation is answer enough, but he finally says a soft, “Yeah.”

Leaning down, Dan presses his lips to Phil’s temple. “I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault,” Phil whispers, his tone bitter.

“Not what I meant,” Dan mumbles. He kisses again. “Need anything?”

“No. I just… I wanna be alone.”

And that hurts, just a little. But Dan knows he can only make it better if Phil wants him to, so with another kiss and a soft murmur of, “Okay,” he leaves the room.

The twins are already awake, and he tells them that whoever can be the quietest will get a treat later. He knows it is bribery, but he already feels guilty enough about being loud earlier, so maybe this will atone for that guilt. Levi is practically dead to the world, so it takes a moment to get him up.

“I’m up,” Levi groans.

“Breakfast is gonna be on the road today, buddy. And Phil’s feeling a little under the weather, so try to be as quiet as you can until we leave, yeah?”

Levi nods, waving him off. “Yeah, yeah. Got it.”

Dan heads back downstairs, stopping in the kitchen for a glass of water and a few paracetamol tablets. Phil’s no longer got his head covered up, but his eyes are clenched shut too tightly for him to be asleep. Dan sets down the water and medicine gently before settling on the bed in front of Phil again. He runs a hand down Phil’s arm, rubbing his skin gently. “I brought you some medicine and water, babe.”

“Thanks,” Phil breathes.

Dan feels his gut twist. He hates seeing Phil like this and knowing that he didn’t make it any easier on him earlier makes him feel even worse. “I’m sorry you’re ill,” he whispers, leaning down to kiss Phil’s shoulder.

Phil’s hand finds Dan’s and he squeezes his fingers. He doesn’t speak, and Dan knows he’s probably not making him feel better by sitting here talking. Still, he closes his eyes and just sits there for a moment, stealing that little moment for the two of them before he has to leave. After a moment, he sighs, leaning to kiss Phil’s cheek.

“I’ll call in for you. We’ll be home later, but call me if you need anything, yeah?” Dan rubs Phil’s knuckles with his thumb.

“Yeah,” Phil agrees softly.

Dan nods, mostly to himself, since Phil isn’t looking at him. He moves to leave the room when he hears Phil’s quiet voice behind him. “Hm?”

“The notes,” Phil says, voice wobbly. “I have some notes for the kids in my drawer.” He gestures vaguely to his nightstand.

It takes Dan a moment to process what he means, but when he does he can’t help the fond smile on his face. He quietly pulls the drawer open and finds four stacks of sticky notes. There’s about three or four notes in each stack, but each stack is labelled with a different name. He grabs one note for each of them, making sure his eyes don’t stay too focused on the one with his name for now.

“Alright,” Dan says to indicate he got them. “Get some sleep, baby.”

“Drive safe,” Phil murmurs, his arm covering his eyes. His lips twitch, and Dan hesitates. It was barely a pucker, but when he sees Phil do it again, he steps closer impulsively. Quickly, so that he won’t feel too guilty or awkward about it, Dan leans down and briefly presses his lips to Phil’s in a kiss so fleeting it’s barely a brush.

“Bye, love,” Dan whispers.

He ducks out of the room quickly then, but not before he sees Phil’s lips quirk up, just slightly. The memory warms his chest the entire rest of the morning- through calling in sick for him, to stopping at a café to get the children some breakfast, to dropping them off and strolling into work, a stupid grin on his face.

Louise stares at him suspiciously when he walks in. “What’s got you so smiley?” She demands.

Dan grins at her, shrugging. “I’m just happy, I guess.”

~~~

Happy apparently doesn’t last, as it turns out.

The kids are bubbly and full of life after school, and even Levi is more of a chatterbox than usual. Dan is enjoying it thoroughly, the sounds of them laughing and talking together filling a void in his chest he never realized was empty. They’re still loud and rambunctious as they walk into the flat, although Dan reminds them to use their inside voices in the same breath he uses to chastise the twins for throwing their backpacks down rather than hanging them on their hooks.

He’s humming to himself as he kicks off his own shoes and hangs his bag up, thinking back to the very few messages he’d exchanged with Phil throughout the day.

9:37 AM

Dan: hey bub just checking to see how you’re doing

Phil: I’m okay I guess. Tired :/

Dan: do you need me to come home?

Phil: No

Dan: oh

Dan: okay well ily and I hope you feel better soon x

12:04 AM

Dan: try to eat something for lunch please

Phil: k

1:26 PM

Dan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbDV7uxjqlI

Dan: v important content

Phil: read at 1:27 PM

Dan was nervous walking through the flat to their room, already fearing the worst, as if Phil’s texting behavior today was just a signal that today was about to prove to be a bad one. He nudges the door to their bedroom open gently, noting that the lights are off, and the curtains are drawn. He tiptoes to the bed, eyeing the outline of Phil’s body beneath the duvet.

His chest is rising and falling slowly, a sure sign of slumber. One of his arms is curled around Dan’s pillow, tucked into his side, and the other is splayed above his head. As Dan gets closer he notices how shiny Phil’s skin looks, making him pause. Dan’s careful as he creeps forward and cautiously lowers himself to the bed, laying a gentle hand on Phil’s forehead to check for a temperature.

He nearly swears when he feels how uncomfortably hot Phil’s face is, and his anxiety spikes as he notices the shivers that wrack his body sporadically. Dan has no idea how long he’s been asleep or if he’s already aware that he has a fever, but with a renewed sense of anxiety, he reaches for Phil’s shoulder and gently shakes him awake.

“Phil. Phil, bub, c’mon, wake up.” Dan watches as his eyelids flutter open.

“Huh?” His voice is thick with sleep, and his eyes hold a mixture of panic and confusion as they flit around, finally focusing on Dan’s face. “Dan?”

“Yeah, buddy. C’mon, you need to get in the bath, you’re burning up.”

Phil nods vaguely, his eyes fluttering shut again. “Mm,” he mumbles.

“Phil. Hey, wake up. Come on, you have to get up,” Dan reiterates, tugging Phil’s arm. Phil makes a noise of protest, but Dan just tuts at him. “Let’s go, bath.”

“Don’t wanna,” Phil slurs.

Dan sighs, pulling him up and dragging him off the bed, doing his best to hoist him up and guide him into the bathroom. “I know you don’t, but your fever is really high, and I don’t know what to do and I’m freaking out.” The word vomit erupts from his mouth, and he’s selfishly a little glad that Phil seems too out of it to process what he just said.

He lets Phil lean against the sink, quickly moving to fill the bathtub up with water and throwing in some of the peppermint salts that Phil likes. He spins back around when he hears Phil gag, covering his mouth as his panicked eyes find Dan’s. Dan is quick to guide him to the toilet, brushing Phil’s hair back and cringing against the sound of him emptying the contents of his stomach. He’s always hated listening to other people get sick, and to relieve the nausea he feels swirling in his own stomach, he presses his face against Phil’s shoulder blade, trying to minimize his breathing and focus on the sound of running water.

“Shh, shh, you’re okay,” He mumbles, pressing kisses against the damp t-shirt below his mouth as Phil dry heaves. Dan waits for a moment, until he’s almost certain Phil’s done, then quickly pulls away to flush the evidence away. Phil’s face is nearly translucent and haggard as he stares up at Dan, his eyes swimming in tears. “Hey, it’s okay, baby. C’mon, let’s get you in the bath, see if we can get the fever to break.”

Phil nods slowly, standing on baby deer legs and allowing Dan to tug at his shirt. When he hesitates at the waistband of Phil’s pajama bottoms, the older man shrugs. He closes his eyes, looking defeated and exhausted. “It’s not something you haven’t seen before.” Dan chooses not to respond, nodding tersely and making quick work of Phil’s pajama bottoms and pants, keeping his eyes focused solely on his hands. Phil stumbles a little trying to pull his feet out, his hand flying to Dan’s shoulder to hold himself steady. “Er- sorry,” Phil mumbles.

“It’s fine,” Dan replies quietly. He tosses Phil’s clothes into the corner, guiding him over to the tub and helping him lower himself in. The water level has risen almost too much since Dan turned it on, so he’s quick to twist the knob to make it stop.

“Dan,” Phil whines softly as he settles in the water. When Dan looks at him, he’s shivering, his cheeks decorated with streams of tears. “It’s cold.”

Dan feels his heart ache. He hated, more than anything, to see Phil in pain. He brings his hands up to cup Phil’s cheeks, wiping away the moisture there and leaning in to kiss his forehead. “I know, love. But your skin is burning up, I don’t know what else to do.”

Phil’s teeth chatter as he draws his legs up to his chest, hugging his knees. Dan feels this is partly to maintain warmth, but likely because with the cold bath waking him up completely, Phil is aware of his own nakedness. “O-o-kay.”

“You don’t have to stay in here very long,” Dan assures him, brushing a hand through Phil’s hair. “Just about ten minutes, and then we’ll get you back in bed, okay?” Phil only nods, dropping his head to his knees miserably. Dan swallows back the emotion in his throat, petting the back of his head. “I’m going to go check on the kids, I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” Phil whispers.

Dan’s quick about heading upstairs, where he can hear the kids playing and arguing over something, probably a game. He’s not very surprised to see a Super Smash Brothers game going on, Levi and Jaiden shoving at each other on the sofa, trying to knock each other’s remotes out of their hands. Amelia is cheering them on from the arm chair, but she’s not very loyal to either side. They don’t notice him there at first, but when Amelia sees him she yelps and jumps up, skipping over to him and holding her arms out.

He scoops her up and gestures to the TV with his vacant hand. “Hey, pause that for a minute, guys.”

Levi presses the button and turns to look at him, while Jaiden protests beside him. “What’s up?” Levi asks, glancing towards the stairs. “Where’s Phil?”

Dan tries not to show how worried he is as he nods to the stairs. “He’s in our room. He’s pretty ill, so I’ve gotta go back down there in a minute and take care of him. I think we’re going to have a takeout kinda night, so you guys think about what you want for dinner, okay? And try not to be too loud up here, if you don’t mind.”

They nod, and Amelia presses her cheek to Dan’s shoulder. “Is Dad gonna be okay?”

With a smile, Dan presses a kiss to her cheek. “Sure, lovebug. He just needs to get some rest.”

“Were we being too loud?” Levi asks, looking guilty.

Dan shakes his head. “No, not at all. So, just keep the volume where it’s at, okay? And when you guys decide what you want, text me and I’ll order it.” He directs the last part to Levi, who nods. “Alright, I’ve gotta go back downstairs, but I’ll be back in a bit.”

The children respond with vague acknowledgements that they’ve heard him, the boys already going back to their game. Dan presses another kiss to Amelia’s head before setting her down and heading back down to his room.

Phil’s still in the bathtub, but he’s not shivering quite as violently as he was before. “Alright, let’s get you out of here,” Dan says quietly when he walks in, trying not to startle him.

Phil still jumps, just a little, but he looks grateful when he looks up at Dan. “Okay.”

Dan grabs a towel and helps Phil stand up, drying him off quickly and reaching out to flick the tab so the tub will drain out. He brings one end of the towel up to Phil’s damp hair, rubbing it against his head gently. Phil giggles a little as Dan does this, and Dan offers him a fond smile. They’re stood so close together, and Dan’s eyes flick down to his lips for a half second. Suddenly, Phil’s not laughing anymore, just staring at Dan with something like expectancy in his eyes.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Dan steps away. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to grab you some pajamas.” Dan’s almost out the door when he hears Phil’s soft voice calling him back. “Hm?”

“Something of yours?” Phil asks, his eyes big and round and hopeful.

Dan bites his lip to hide a smile. “Sure. Be right back.”

~~~

After Phil has gotten dressed in a pair of Dan’s sweatpants and a striped t-shirt, Dan tucks him back into bed before going on a search for a thermometer. He comes back into their room waving it triumphantly, sitting on the edge of the bed and facing Phil, who’s sat against the headboard with his knees pulled up close to his chest. Phil crinkles his nose distastefully but obediently tucks the stick under his tongue and allows it to process. When it beeps, Dan narrows his eyes at it before letting out a sigh of relief.

“36,” He informs Phil, tossing the device onto his bedside table in case they need it again later.

Phil frowns. “That’s still kinda high, isn’t it?”

Dan shrugs. “It’s less than it probably was before.” He leans in then, pressing his lips to Phil’s forehead. He lingers there for longer than is probably necessary, but his hand is itching to run through the hair above Phil’s ear, and Dan can’t help himself. “You’re not as warm as you were before, so I think it probably broke,” he says when he leans away, his hand still stroking Phil’s hair gently.

There’s a strange look on Phil’s face but he nods. “I feel a little better, I guess.” He sounds like he resents this fact, and Dan has to laugh. Phil always was such a baby about cold baths.

“Well, good. I was freaking the fuck out, honestly.”

Phil’s eyebrows draw together. “Why?”

Dan tilts his head and quirks an eyebrow in disbelief. “Come on. You know why.” When Phil gives him a vacant look, Dan makes a noise that’s something between a snort and a cough. “I just… I worry when you don’t feel well. And it makes me sad to see you hurting.”

Apparently, this is the right thing to say, because a grin slowly stretches across Phil’s lips. Dan’s already cringing, prepared for Phil to come up with something ridiculous to say to that, probably something mildly insulting. Instead, he leans forward, resting his head on Dan’s shoulder and pressing a kiss to Dan’s collarbone. “Thank you for taking care of me, bear.”

Dan’s heart clenches at the nickname. He raises a hand, carding his fingers through Phil’s hair and kissing his head. “Of course,” he says, his voice softer than he’d intended. He’s just about to ask if Phil wants to lay down for a nap when the sound of a ringtone interrupts him.

Phil’s nose crinkles as he looks to the side, where the sound is coming from his phone. He leans away from Dan, sighing deeply. “It’s my mum.” He sounds exhausted, even more so than before, staring at the phone like he wishes it would erupt into flames.

“Want me to answer for you?” Dan asks, eyeing the mobile.

Without a word, Phil hands it to him.

“Hello, child. I was starting to think you weren’t going to answer an old woman’s call.” Kathryn’s playfully reprimanding voice greets him when he swipes to answer.

Dan can’t help but grin, moving on the bed to settle himself beside Phil as he chats with the other man’s mother. He loves Kathryn dearly, always has. “Hi, Kath,” Dan laughs. “This is Dan, actually.”

“Dan!” She sounds genuinely pleased to hear it’s him. It makes Dan’s heart warm. He glances at Phil and finds him staring at him with a soft look. “How are you, love? It’s been too long since you’ve called, you know.”

Even as playful as the reprimand is, it makes Dan hang his head in real embarrassment. He actually does try to call her from time to time; there’s just some maternal comfort there that he doesn’t quite find with his own mum. “I know, sorry about that. It’s been rather hectic around here lately.” He glances up at Phil again, his lips twisted in silent question. He didn’t really know what all Phil told his mum about their situation, so he wasn’t really sure what he needed to say.

Phil just shrugs, then nods. His mother is already chattering away in Dan’s ear, giving away what she knows without hesitation. “-and he said you had the older one now, as well. Luke, was it?”

“Levi,” Dan corrects gently. “They’re all lovely kids, really sweet.”

Kathryn coos at this. “I’m so glad Phil and you finally sorted yourselves out. Can’t believe you managed to keep it from us for so long, though.” She laughs then, and Dan awkwardly follows. He very carefully does not meet Phil’s gaze. “I suppose I should ask about my son, while I’ve got you,” she says, her voice teasing.

Dan actually laughs at this, giving Phil a cheeky smile when he furrows his eyebrows. Reaching up unthinkingly, Dan brushes his thumb across Phil’s eyebrows, smoothing them out with gentle strokes. Phil smiles at him, tilting his head and nosing against Dan’s palm, prompting him to stroke his cheek instead. It’s weirdly intimate, but Dan doesn’t drop his hand. Instead, he answers Kathryn, his eyes focused on Phil’s face. “Well, he’s ill today, actually.”

“What’s wrong?” Kathryn’s voice has lost all humor and is coated with that distinct Mum Concern that she’s patented. “Is he alright?”

Phil must hear this, because he rolls his eyes, shifting back. Dan’s hand falls out of reach, and he laments the loss for a second. Only a second, because when Phil’s comfortable he drops his head to Dan’s shoulder, and yeah, that’s better. “He’s fine, I think. Had a migraine this morning and when I came home he had a fever.”

“Poor lamb,” Kathryn coos. Dan can’t tell how serious she is. Phil is a grown man, after all. “Did you get the temperature down?”

Dan nods before remembering she can’t see him. “I did, yeah. He hates me for it, but I reckon a cool bath won’t kill him.”

“It wasn’t cool, it was freezing,” Phil complains loudly.

Rolling his eyes, Dan’s about to respond when he hears Kathryn laugh. “Well, if he can complain about it, he must be feeling better.”

“He is, he’s just a baby,” Dan teases, mainly to see the adorable way it makes Phil glare at him. “Did you want to speak to him? I think he’s feeling well enough for me to hand the phone off.”

Phil gives him a pained look, but Dan grins, knowing already that Kathryn will say no.

“Oh, that’s alright. Let him rest, I can talk to him tomorrow. But love, do call me every now and again, yeah? And maybe visit soon?” She sounds so hopeful, and Dan knows already that he can’t say no to her.

He also can’t blindly promise he’ll do something like that, though, so instead he just makes a noncommittal noise. “Of course, Kath.”

“Tell Phil to get well soon, that’s an order. I love you both, Dan. Don’t forget about that visit.”

Dan laughs. “Sure thing. Love you too. Bye.”

After he’s hung up the phone, he sighs, leaning over to drop it on the nightstand before looking at Phil. He’s got a thoughtful look on his face, but his eyes aren’t meeting Dan’s. He decides to let that go for now. “You alright?”

Phil nods, his gaze refocusing and shifting to Dan’s. A small smile tugs at his lips as he drops his head back to Dan’s shoulder. “Thanks for talking to her for me. I don’t feel like talking to anyone right now.”

This makes Dan freeze a little. Of course, Phil needs to rest. Dan doesn’t need to sit in here keeping him from taking a nap. He slowly shifts, moving to climb off the bed, but then Phil’s arm is around his waist, holding him there tightly. “Not you, you don’t count,” he protests, rolling his eyes.

His heart and face warming, Dan settles back down, gingerly moving his arm to rest around Phil’s shoulder. Maybe he does this to play with Phil’s hair, but that’s his business.

They sit like that in silence for several long minutes. Phil eventually sighs contently and slowly pulls away, causing Dan’s hand to slip away from his hair. “How’re the kids?”

Dan then remembers that he promised to order them some takeout of their choice. “Hungry, probably,” he laughs, reaching for his phone to check for a message from Levi. “I told them to let me know what they wanted for dinner and I’d just order in tonight.”

Levi: twins said they want pizza

Dan: are you good w that

Levi: yep

“Do you think you could eat some pizza?” Dan asks, glancing up at Phil after reading Levi’s message.

Phil’s nose scrunches up in distaste. “I’m not really hungry,” he admits.

Dan narrows his eyes. “What did you have for lunch?” Phil’s silence is all he needs to know that he hasn’t eaten at all today. “You have to eat something. I can order you some soup?”

“If I have to,” Phil pouts.

“You’re so whiny,” Dan teases, pulling up the website for their favorite pizza place on his phone.

Phil knocks his knee against Dan’s side gently. “Don’t bully me, I’m ill,” he protests weakly.

Dan smiles fondly. “Oh, you poor baby,” he simpers.

“Shut up,” Phil giggles, sticking his tongue out at Dan.

After getting some pizza and soup ordered, Dan texts Levi to let him know that the pizza was being delivered soon. “Do you think you’ll want to eat in here?”

Phil shakes his head. “I want to eat with you guys,” he says. He leans his head back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. “I already feel like an invalid, I’d really like to eat dinner with my family.”

Dan frowns at the bitter tone in his voice. Leaning forward, he rests his cheek against Phil’s knee, his hand coming up to stroke his thigh gently, staring at the Game of Thrones logo there. “You’re not an invalid,” He murmurs. “You’re not well today, but that isn’t your fault.”

There’s a long pause, and Dan thinks Phil probably won’t respond. Then, there’s a hand in his hair, scratching at his scalp perfectly. “Thank you,” Phil breathes. “I… Yeah. Thanks, bear.”

With a smile, Dan tilts his head, pressing a kiss to Phil’s knee through the fabric of the sweatpants. “Anytime.”

~~~

After a sort of subdued dinner with the kids, Phil announces that he wants to watch a movie. Dan, quick to comply to any of Phil’s demands today, agrees easily. He’d watched Phil grow steadily frustrated as the kids constantly shot him worried looks, staying quieter than usual, per Dan’s request. He feels a little guilty for telling them that Phil was sick, but he knew they were just trying to do what they thought was right, and he appreciated that deeply.

Still, he could tell it was wearing on Phil.

“What movie do you wanna watch?” Dan asks him, standing to clear the table.

Phil shrugs. “Can we use that little mini projector we bought a few months ago?” He asks, sounding hopeful.

Dan thinks back to earlier this summer, when Phil surprised him with a mini projector for his birthday. Dan had a sneaking suspicion Phil just wanted it for himself but didn’t want to buy it for himself, so buying it for Dan was the compromise. They’d used it a few times, since it allowed them to be lazy and lay in bed while they shot it across the room to the wall opposite the bed, or even onto the ceiling. It was really a good investment, if he was being honest.

“Sure, bub. Do you guys wanna watch a movie with us in our room?” Dan asks the kids, glancing over at the table from where he’s begun stacking the dishes in the dishwasher.

Levi looks up from where he’d been gathering trash, a sort of deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. Before he has a chance to respond, though, Amelia beats him to it.

“Yes!” She cheers excitedly.

“What’re we watching?” Jaiden asks, tapping the table as he waits for the answer.

“That’s up to Dad, he’s the sick one,” Dan says with a shrug.

Phil snorts, whether at the casual way Dan calls him that or the fact that he’s being elected the decision maker based on his health status, Dan’s not sure. “We can watch Wall-E?” It’s a suggestion, but his voice lilts up nervously at the end like a question.

Dan pauses unintentionally, glancing over at him with a raised brow. He hadn’t seen the movie in a while, but back when they first met, when Dan first visited Phil at his parents’ house in Rawtenstall, they’d watched that movie and cried together. It’s still one of Dan’s fondest, unblemished memories of them.

“Sure, baby. We can watch Wall-E,” Dan murmurs softly, closing the dishwasher and setting it to run for a cycle. He moves over to the table, stopping behind Phil’s chair and wrapping his arms around his neck, leaning down and kissing his temple. It’s more affectionate than he’d usually allow himself to be with their current audience, but he’s feeling particularly fond today, especially with Phil being sick and letting Dan actually take care of him for once.

Phil’s hand comes up to stroke at Dan’s forearm, so Dan stays there for a moment, reveling in this rare moment of intimacy. It’s nice, he thinks to himself. “Levi?” Phil calls softly. “Would you like to come watch the movie with us?”

Levi glances over at them, looking away quickly. Dan gets a bitter feeling in his gut, something akin to guilt for making him uncomfortable with the PDA. When he goes to pull away, though, Phil tightens his grip. Dan stays.

“Er, I think I’ve got some homework I should probably do,” Levi excuses himself.

“Oh. Well, alright,” Phil says. He sounds disappointed. “Well, if you change your mind, you can always come join us, yeah?”

Levi nods vaguely before rising from his seat and gesturing to the stairs. “Yeah, sure. Can I go to my room?”

“Sure,” Dan answers, nodding. “If you need any help on your homework, let me know.”

The teen just nods before exiting to his room. Dan feels his stomach sink, disappointed that Levi still doesn’t feel like he’s part of their family. He tries to push that feeling away for now, turning to grin at the kids.

“Who’s ready for a movie night?”

~~~

The projector is fantastic, Dan thinks. They can settle it on one of their nightstands and point it to the wall and it’s just the perfect size. It connects to a phone, so Dan has it connected to his, keeping it on the charger while the movie plays. The twins were so excited when they realized it was a projector, and Dan honestly wished they could really make a movie night out of it and have popcorn. However, he was unwilling to make the bed after eating popcorn in it, and as much as he loved the kids, he didn’t trust them to not get popcorn crumbs and kernels in his clean sheets.

Still, he thinks they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Amelia had wanted to be sat beside Phil, and Jaiden had pretty much crawled onto Dan’s lap the moment they got on the bed. It was comfortable and domestic, being squished together with his family on his bed. And the choice of movie had his eyes going a little misty every time he looked at Phil or thought back to that first weekend they spent together, when things were so unsure, and when he thought there was a chance that they might go in a different direction.

They never had, obviously. But Dan can’t say he regrets becoming Phil’s best friend, because that’s been one of the best things that’s ever happened to him. He has to say that fostering these kids is definitely competing with the top spot these days.

They’re probably less than half an hour into the movie when Dan catches movement out of the corner of his eye. Levi is hovering awkwardly at the door, like he’s unsure if he should come inside or not. Dan smiles at him, motioning for him to join them. “C’mon, there’s room for you too, bub.”

Levi offers him an embarrassed smile, glancing at the wall where the movie is being projected. “Sorry,” he whispers, coming closer. Phil glances over at him and smiles brightly. “I just… got kinda bored. Didn’t wanna be alone.”

“You don’t have to be alone, Levi. C’mere, we’ll move over so you can sit with us.” Dan turns to Amelia and pats her knee. “Mia, love, scooch over to sit in Dad’s lap, so Levi can come sit down.”

Amelia does as she’s told, scooting over and sitting atop Phil’s thighs. He moves to the edge of the bed, allowing Dan to scoot in beside him. Dan gets a little closer than is probably necessary, trying to give Levi as much room as possible, and also just to feel closer to Phil. As soon as they’re situated, Dan pats the bed.

Levi looks a little apologetic as he walks around to Dan’s side, settling himself on the bed and sitting a little stiffly beside him. Jaiden barely gives him a chance to get settled, crawling over to sit in Levi’s lap.

“Traitor,” Dan teases.

Jaiden giggles, sticking his tongue out at Dan. “Sorry, Daddy,” he chirps.

Dan scrunches his nose up with a smile. He watches as Levi settles a little more calmly, probably due to Jaiden’s presence in his lap giving him something to focus on other than feeling awkward about being in there in the first place.

Turning back to the movie, Dan spares a glance over at Phil. He’s already looking at Dan, but a soft smile melts onto his lips when their eyes meet. Dan feels that new familiar warmth blossom in his chest, and this time he lets it consume him, warming the tips of his ears and tingling in the pads of his fingers. To settle himself and ground that feeling, he lays his head on Phil’s shoulder. Phil’s head falls to rest against Dan’s, and it’s so, so nice.

“Still love this movie,” Phil whispers to Dan.

“Mhm. Me too.”

“Sleepy?”

“Mm. No. Just happy.”

Phil raises his head, tilting his face to look at Dan’s. Dan nearly laughs at the surprised smile there. “Good,” Phil says softly. He kisses the tip of Dan’s nose gently before settling his cheek back against the top of Dan’s head. “I’m glad you’re happy, bear.”

“Me too.”

It’s no surprise, really, that Amelia shushes them, but it is funny. They apologize profusely, which she reminds them is also distracting. Pretending to zip his lips, Dan settles back against Phil with a contented sigh and a warm chest.

~~~

When the movie ends, Dan accepts the snuggles that Jaiden and Amelia seem keen on giving him. Amelia wedges herself between he and Phil, wrapping an arm around Dan’s torso and shoving at Jaiden when he tries to join in. Dan tuts at her and she withdraws, although she doesn’t look particularly happy about it. Levi looks over at them, his mouth twisted like he wants to be mad about it but isn’t sure how.

“Can you tell us a story, Daddy?” Amelia asks, looking up at Dan with wide eyes.

He starts to protest, intending on telling her that it’s time for bed, but he catches the expectant look on Phil’s face and immediately caves. “Sure. What kind of story would you like to hear?”

Amelia shrugs, closing her eyes and settling in. “Dunno. Just make something up.”

Dan rolls his eyes fondly, his gaze falling to Jaiden. “Jai-bird? Any requests?”

He seems to consider it but shakes his head. “Just animals,” he says simply.

“Alright, I can work with animals.” He leans his head back, trying to think of a story idea. He liked to think he was alright at this part of the whole parenting thing, but he wasn’t actually positive about that, honestly. His gaze falls to Phil, who’s watching him with soft, half-lidded eyes. Suddenly, he’s got just the story. “So, once upon a time, there was a little bear. We’ll call him Bear, for now.”

Levi shifts on the bed then, distracting Dan a little. When he looks at him, though, Levi gestures for him to continue. Something about that, about Levi willingly spending time with them under objectively childish circumstances, really warms Dan’s heart.

“So, Bear was really lonely, and he lived in a cave all by himself. He had a family, but they lived in a different cave on a different mountain. One day, Bear decided to go out in the woods, and he found a stream. Beside the stream was a lion.” Dan purposefully avoids Phil’s attempt at making eye contact. He swallows hard. “We’ll call him Lion.”

“Lions don’t live in the woods,” Jaiden observes quietly.

Dan has to laugh at that, and even Phil lets out a chuckle. Leaning down, Dan kisses Jaiden’s hair. “Well, that’s why it was such a big deal for Bear to find Lion. Bear felt like he was all alone in the forest, but here was this other person- er, animal,” he corrects himself. “Who liked the same things. They liked the same berries, and games, and they even had a favorite star-leaf tree they would meet at to hang out.”

“Lions don’t eat berries,” Jaiden says solemnly.

“Jai, shut up,” Levi says good-naturedly, poking his brother in the back. “Dan’s trying to tell a story.” He grins at Dan, and Dan’s heart swells.

Jaiden lets out a long-suffering sigh, but gestures for Dan to continue.

“Well, don’t worry, Bear and Lion hunted together. They did everything together, actually. And so, there Bear was, thinking he was all alone in this big forest, but he realized that really, Lion was just like him.” Dan feels Phil’s head resting against his shoulder then, and he pauses, closing his eyes for a second and leaning his head against Phil’s. “One day, Bear decided he wanted to leave the forest, so he told Lion he wanted to move to the city.”

“The jungle, you mean,” Phil says quickly, saving the story when Dan is clearly slipping.

“Right, the jungle,” Dan nods. “So, Lion tells Bear that he doesn’t want him to leave, so Bear asks him to join. Lion agrees. They have lots of adventures on the trip, of course.” Dan rambles for a moment about the adventures, making it up as he goes. It doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense, if Dan is being honest with himself, but if the kids have any sort of problem with it, they don’t say.

“So, Lion and Bear finally made it to the jungle, and after all that time, they decided they’d find themselves a little cave all by themselves, away from everyone else.” Dan is finally at the conclusion, and he can feel Amelia’s deep, even breaths against his chest. Jaiden doesn’t look to be that far from sleep himself. “They built their little home together in the jungle and lived happily ever after. The end.”

Jaiden blinks sleepily. “They love each other?” he asks, his words sort of slurred together at this point.

“Hm?” Dan asks.

“Lion and Bear,” Jaiden says, gesturing vaguely. “You said, “Happy ever after” and that’s a love story thing.”

“Not always,” Dan says, laughing awkwardly, hyper-aware of Phil pressed against his side.

Jaiden shrugs, closing his eyes. “’S okay. If they do.”

“Yeah,” Dan hums. “Yeah, that’s okay.” Before Jaiden can fully drift to sleep, Dan nudges him. “C’mon, bubby, time for bed.”

“I’ve got him,” Levi says, standing up and leaning back down to scoop his brother up.

“Thanks, Levi,” Dan says gratefully. He carefully scoots to the edge of the bed before leaning back in and cradling Amelia to his chest. His eyes catch Phil’s and the older man offers him a sweet smile. “I’ll be right back,” Dan whispers.

Phil nods, waving him off. “Take your time.”

Dan follows Levi down the hall, going to deposit Amelia on her bed when they’ve walked in the room. She makes a noise in her sleep, but Dan shushes her, and she quiets right back up, curling up in the bed immediately after he lays her down. He carefully lifts one of her little arms and tucks her favorite plushy, currently this is a stuffed elephant, under it, pulling the duvet up and tucking her in. “Night, love,” he breathes, kissing her hair.

He turns to do the same with Jaiden, only to find Levi sat on the edge of his bed, watching Dan carefully. Dan offers him a smile, unsure if Levi is upset by his displays of affection or just confused. “Do you always do that?” Levi asks, his voice quiet.

Bringing a hand up to rub at the back of his neck, Dan shrugs. “I mean, most nights. Sometimes we swap, and Phil does that, but usually he wakes them up and I put them to bed.”

Levi nods, looking past Dan to his sister. “Our parents didn’t do that,” he whispers.

Dan’s heart stops. He’s sure of it. This is the first time Levi has been particularly open about their parents, and the twins had said next to nothing about their previous home life. Hazel had told him this sometimes happened when the children wished to repress memories. Levi being fifteen and therefore not in that repressive stage, Dan was surprised it had taken him this long to mention them.

“Yeah?” Dan says gently, trying to leave space for Levi to say anything if he wanted to.

“They didn’t tuck them in. I don’t even remember them ever tucking me into bed, either.” He swallows hard, his eyes slowly drifting over to Dan’s. “They definitely didn’t tell us stories and carry us to bed after a night of family bonding and watching movies.” His voice is bitter, and Dan tries not to take that personally.

“I’m sorry,” Dan murmurs. He steps over to sit carefully on the opposite end of the bed, giving Levi some space. “I hate that you and your brother and sister had that experience. I wish… I wish it didn’t happen.”

Levi shrugs, looking down at the floor and kicking a stuffed rabbit idly. “’S whatever. We’re here now, so I guess it doesn’t matter.”

Dan tries to phrase his next words carefully. “Well, something can hurt you more after it’s over than when it really happens. It’s kind of like being put to sleep for surgery. You may not be totally aware of what’s happening as it happens, but it hurts like a bitch when you wake up, right?”

There’s a surprised look on Levi’s face, probably at the swear, but he nods slowly. “Yeah. I guess.”

They sit there in silence for a moment, as Dan’s run out of wise things to say and is honestly a little afraid of waking up the twins with all the talking. “Well, it’s late, buddy. I think we should both head to bed.”

Levi nods, sparing a last look at his brother and sister before standing. “Okay,” he mumbles. He moves to hover by the door, and he waits there as Dan tucks in Jaiden and kisses his forehead, leaning down to pick up his bunny plushie and lay it next to him. When he steps out into the hall behind Levi, he finds him standing there with a thoughtful expression. “You’re not so bad, you know.”

Dan smiles at him. “I’m glad to hear that, actually. Sometimes I wonder.”

The teenager smiles and laughs quietly. “Night, Dan.”

“Goodnight. Sweet dreams, kiddo.”

~~~

Halloween comes in a flurry of decorating, pumpkin carving, and costume buying. Of course, with two small children whose minds changed every other day, it took longer than Dan thought it seriously needed to for them to decide on a costume. Finally, after much debate (mostly between the twins and Phil, who was much more invested in the decision making than Dan was) a decision was finally made.

“Daddy!” Amelia squeals from the bottom of the stairs.

“Yeah, love?” Dan is sat on his bed, folding clothes. He knew Phil had been upstairs with the kids after dinner watching a movie, but Dan had just wanted some quiet alone time. Doing laundry was the only excuse he could think of in the face of Phil’s pout when he asked Dan why he didn’t want to stay and cuddle.

Amelia comes bounding in his room, a grin on her face. “We picked our outfits!”

It takes him a second to remember what she’s talking about. “Oh! You decided on what you want to be for Halloween?”

She nods, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Guess what we’re gonna be!”

Phil walks in then, toting a sleepy looking Jaiden.

“We?” Dan asks, quirking his eyebrows at the older man and trying to keep the apprehensive look off his face.

Phil sees right through him, leaning against the wall and stroking Jaiden’s back gently. “They decided we should do a family costume.” He’s got a mischievous glint in his eye, and Dan’s already nervous as to why.

“Okay…” Dan says slowly, dropping the socks he’s just matched onto the bed and straightening his back, cringing when it pops. “What’re we gonna be?”

Phil grins. “You’re gonna love this, babe. Mia, tell him what you’re gonna be.”

She smiles so wide Dan’s surprised her little face doesn’t split. “Bulbasaur!”

Immediately, Dan bursts into fond giggles. “What? Really?” He glances up at Phil, who wears a mirrored expression.

“They’ve been playing Pokémon with Levi apparently.” He shrugs, but Dan can almost feel the excitement coming off him in waves.

“’m gonna be Squirtle,” Jaiden mumbles from where he’s nestled in Phil’s arms.

Dan nearly coos. “Aww.”

Amelia hops up on the bed then, climbing into Dan’s lap. “Are you excited?” She asks with wide eyes.

He nods with a bright smile. “I sure am! What are Phil and I going to be?”

She grins then, but the expression is so similar to the one Phil had made that it nearly knocks the breath out of Dan’s chest. “Well… Dad said he wanted to be Ash.”

Dan rolls his eyes good-naturedly. “Of course he did.”

Phil sticks his tongue out. “Wait till you hear what they’ve decided you’ll go as.” He sounds almost giddy.

“Well?” Dan asks, looking down at Amelia, who looks ready to burst with her little secret. “What am I going as?”

“Pikachu!” She shouts, bursting into giggles immediately.

Dan stares at her, blinking slowly, before slowly swinging his gaze to Phil’s. “I’m… your sidekick?”

At this, Phil gasps. “A…sorry, a sidekick? Daniel! How could you? Pikachu is Ash’s best friend! His companion through life! Like… like…”

Rolling his eyes, Dan stands from the bed, hoisting Amelia up on his hip. “Like his actual soulmate?” Dan quirks an eyebrow.

Phil huffs. “Shut up.”

Dan walks past him, stopping to drop a kiss to his temple. “Yeah, alright. I’ll be your Pikachu. But don’t expect me to forget about this, Lester.”

There’s the sound of Phil breathing a laugh as they carry the twins to their room.

“I think you’ll be a good Pikachu, Daddy,” Amelia says sweetly when he lays her down in bed.

“Mhm. I’m sure.” He scrunches his nose up at her and she giggles. She holds her arms out for a hug, which he gladly obliges to. “I love you, sweetheart. Have sweet dreams.”

“Love you too, Pikachu.” She giggles hysterically when he shoots her a mock glare.

“Goodnight, Mia.”

“Night, Daddy.”

Phil is waiting to switch places as he’s already tucked Jaiden in, and as Dan moves past him, he reaches out and squeezes Phil’s hip. He receives a smile and a relaxed roll of the eyes, and it warms Dan’s heart.

“Hi, bubby,” Dan says softly when he sits on the edge of Jaiden’s bed.

“Hi,” Jaiden replies with a sleepy smile. “Are you excited to be Pikachu?”

Dan smiles and nods. “Wanna know a secret?” he whispers conspiratorially. Jaiden nods in excitement, so Dan leans in. “Pikachu’s my favorite. I’m pretty sure I already have a Pikachu costume somewhere.” In truth, the costume he’s speaking of is actually a onesie, and actually Phil’s, but Jaiden doesn’t have to know that.

“Really?” Jaiden says gleefully.

“Mhm. So, I’m well excited about Halloween. How about you?”

Jaiden nods. “I love Halloween. Dad said we’d go trick-or-treating!”

Dan smiles fondly, brushing Jaiden’s hair back with a nod. “That’s right, bud. We’re going trick-or-treating on Saturday night.”

The six-year-old smiles, looking down at his hands. “I’ve never been trick-or-treating before,” he admits quietly.

A lump grows in Dan’s throat, cutting his breath a little short. “Well,” he starts, stopping to clear his throat. “We’re going to have a lovely time trick-or-treating. Promise.”

Jaiden smiles, his eyelids already fluttering close. “Good,” he says quietly.

Dan leans down, pressing a kiss to Jaiden’s forehead. “I love you, Jai-bird.”

The boy doesn’t answer, probably already drifting into sleep. Dan makes sure his plushie is on his bed before standing, going to join Phil where he’s stood at the door, watching Dan with an affectionate smile.

“Levi in bed already?” Dan asks quietly as he pulls the door closed behind him.

Phil nods. “He went to bed when we came downstairs.”

“He okay?”

“Mm. Yeah, I think so. We asked if he wanted to dress up as Charmander and he said he’d think about it. I don’t think he wants to go trick-or-treating with us, to be honest with you.”

Sighing, Dan shrugs. “That’s fine. We can’t make him go.”

Phil makes a noncommittal noise. “We’ll talk to him about it, see what he wants to do.”

Dan nods, leading the way into their room. He starts clearing the laundry off the bed, rolling his eyes as Phil spreads himself on his side, moving the piles of clothes to Dan’s side rather than putting them away. “You could help me put those away, you know.”

“I could, but you’re doing such a great job, I think I’ll just leave you to it.” Phil smiles cheekily.

Propping his hand on his hip, Dan quirks an eyebrow at him. “You know most of this is yours, right?”

Phil glances around at the clothes spread around him. He can’t even deny it, since all of it is far too brightly colored to be Dan’s. “Well, I dunno…” He trails off, plucking a familiar green piece from the neatly folded pile near Dan’s pillow. Phil unfolds it, much to Dan’s chagrin. “I think you wear this one more than me, don’t you reckon?”

Dan glares. “No,” he mumbles. A lie.

Phil smiles at him, a soft, fond thing. “C’mere.”

Against his will, but not really, Dan shuffles forward, allowing Phil to pull him in closer with a hand gripped on the front of his shirt. Phil pulls him until he’s got no choice but to sit on the bed, pressed flush against Phil’s thighs. Dan watches as Phil spreads the bottom of the hoodie open, bunching the fabric up in his hands.

“Arms up,” he says softly, blue eyes prompting Dan to obey.

Phil tugs the hoodie over Dan’s head, helping him push his arms through before tugging the fabric down on his torso. With the offensively bright fabric wrapping Dan up in that nostalgic embrace, he feels a little careless, a little happy, and a lot emotional. “Thanks,” he whispers, his eyes still locking with Phil’s.

A hand comes up to brush his curls back into something a little neater, and Dan can’t help but reach up and catch that hand when it falls away. Phil watches him as Dan carefully guides Phil’s hand up to his jaw, leaning into the feeling when Phil gently begins stroking his cheek with his thumb. The air is static around them, and Dan’s certain his heart is about to burst completely out of his chest with the way the tension in the air is squeezing his ribcage.

He doesn’t mean to do it. At least, he doesn’t plan on it, exactly.

One moment he’s sitting there, staring at his best friend, and the next thing he knows, he’s leaned in, brushing his lips tentatively against Phil’s. There’s a shaky exhale released against his mouth, but then there’s fleeting pressure. It’s gone and it’s back and Dan’s eyes flutter as Phil hesitates.

Dan’s veins are thrumming. He feels like his whole body is set on vibrate with all the tension there, bubbling under the surface as he waits for the other shoe to drop. Will he or won’t he, will he or won’t he, will he-

And Dan doesn’t actually think that he will, of course. They’re best friends, and Dan is starting to feel things he’d long ago buried, but he doesn’t seriously think that Phil will kiss him.

He’s wrong.

For all his delaying, Phil finally just commits, his other hand coming up to cup Dan’s neck as he fully frames Dan’s lips with his own. Dan is shattering into a million pieces and being put back together all at once, and his hands can’t help but reach out and touch. They fall to Phil’s arms, but it’s enough contact for Dan to feel warmth spread through his chest. His head swims for some sort of explanation or some sort of way out, and he’s shushing that part as he tries to take this moment just to feel something.

And what he feels are Phil’s lips, softer than his own (“because you bite yours constantly,” says a voice in his head that sounds suspiciously like Phil’s), pressing and pulling all at once. Dan can’t do much more than make a feeble attempt at copying that pressure, but he feels more pliant than anything. He thinks maybe he’s still a little in shock, his mind both racing and taking a slow-motion film of this moment, of Phil gently, gently pressing their lips together once more before letting out a short breath against Dan’s mouth.

“Dan.” He sounds choked.

“What?” Dan whispers. If he tilted his head just a little, he could kiss Phil again. God, again… the word sounds so bizarre in his head now.

“I… I can’t do this, I’m sorry.”

Phil’s off the bed before Dan can even respond, headed for the bathroom and shutting the door. The lock slides into place in the deafening silence of the room, and all Dan can do is stare.

What the fuck just happened?

~~~

“Phil? C’mon, please come to bed.” Dan’s been sat outside the bathroom door for no less than an hour, quietly imploring that Phil come out and at least sleep in their bed. He’d like to also discuss what just happened, considering the fact that about five minutes after Phil locked himself in the bathroom Dan burst into tears, but he knows that for right now, that can probably wait.

For the first time since he sat down here, he hears a noise on the other side of the door. He scrambles to his feet when he hears the sound of the lock sliding out of place. When the door opens, he comes face-to-face with Phil, stood there with red-rimmed eyes and his contacts replaced with his glasses. He’s staring at the ground, avoiding Dan’s gaze entirely.

“Excuse me,” he whispers, inching past Dan like if they touch it might burn his skin.

Dan shifts out of the way, staring at Phil in complete surprise. This is not what he expected. At all. That being said, Dan has no clue how to react. “Er… Phil?” He decides on a whim to just go for it, straight for the elephant in the room.

Phil is climbing into bed on his side, rolling over to face the door, his back to Dan. “What?”

Slowly, so he doesn’t startle him, Dan gently settles himself on his own side of the bed. “Do… Could we maybe… Talk about what happened?”

Dan’s watching him so closely that when Phil takes in a shuddering breath, he nearly jumps. His chest tightens, and his breathing comes a little harder as the guilt starts to settle in. He’s messed up this time. Like, really.

“I… Soon? Just… not tonight.” Phil’s voice cracks.

Dan swallows hard. “Right. Okay.” He stares at Phil’s shoulder. “Do you want me to sleep somewhere else?”

“No!” Phil sounds positively wounded by the very idea. ���I just… I need some time to process what just happened.”

Trying to guard the floodgates in his eyes, Dan nods. “Okay.” He lays down, a little stiffly, staring up at the ceiling. He’s well aware of the valley of space between them, but even breathing too heavily that his chest expands just a little closer to Phil makes Dan’s skin crawl with guilt. He stays as perfectly still as he can, trying to focus on anything other than the fact that the person next to him was his best friend an hour ago and is now his best friend who he’s kissed. It makes his head spin.

So instead, he thinks about the laundry he’d shoved on the floor to climb into bed. He thinks about the lamp that he needs to turn off to cast the room into the darkness it takes for both of them to really properly go to sleep. He tries not to think about the fact that he just kissed his best friend. He thinks about ordering the twins their Halloween costumes. He thinks about the ring on his finger, heavy where his hand rests against his chest. He doesn’t think about the feeling of Phil’s lips against his own.

He’s not thinking about it. He’s not.

His ring feels like it’s suffocating him. He leans to the side, flicks the lamp off. After a moment of thought, he gently tugs the silver band off his finger for the first time in months, dropping it onto the nightstand with a little clink.

Funnily enough, it does nothing to ease burning in his throat.

He almost thinks he hears, or rather feels, Phil’s breath hitch, but then the room goes quiet and still again and he’s no longer sure.

[quercussp]

The Royal Mr. Whiskers

Rating: T

Word count: 2.3k

Summary:

Mr. Whiskers just could not understand why they had to move to a new apartment. This apartment was perfect! It had the couch Mr. Whiskers liked, the little nook above the fridge from where Mr. Whiskers could keep watch, a nice warm bed for him. All the smells were accounted for, all the walls sufficiently improved by Mr. Whisker’s claws. But no, apparently with Phil moving in, his humans didn’t have enough space anymore.

Authors note:

Happy Birthday Zan! This fic is about moving in, roommates and cats, so I hope you like it <3 Have the most lovely day today!

Special thanks to @alittledizzy and @bisexualshoemarriage for the beta work <3

Warnings: light swearing

[read on ao3]

Humans truly are ridiculous. Also very needy. Mr. Whiskers just could not understand why they had to move to a new apartment. This apartment was perfect! It had the couch Mr. Whiskers liked, the little nook above the fridge from where Mr. Whiskers could keep watch, a nice warm bed for him. All the smells were accounted for, all the walls sufficiently improved by Mr. Whisker’s claws. But no, apparently with Phil moving in, his humans didn’t have enough space anymore.

“Listen, it’ll be great! We’ll take the couch with us, you’ll have more space to roam. I promise you, you’re gonna love it!” Phil was explaining to Mr. Whiskers once again, while sorting laundry. Dan was out at work, and Phil was using that time to once again try to persuade Mr. Whiskers that moving would be a good idea. “See? Nothing fits! We just don’t have the space, I keep having to keep my socks in a pile on the floor! ... No, that is not acceptable. … Because clothing needs to be put away or it’ll get dirty again! Look at this, there’s more cat hair in here than there is fabric!” Phil waived a pair of socks in front of Mr. Whiskers face.

Mr. Whiskers has had this argument with Phil at least 20 times by now. When the topic first came up, both of his humans were incredibly excited. They would spend hours looking at their little lit up book, discussing potential new apartments, choosing what furniture would come with them and what they would buy. And they had the audacity to not even ask Mr. Whisker’s permission before making that decision.

Of course, Mr. Whiskers could not let that lie. Phil’s favorite mug had to go (it was thrown off the counter in the middle of the night, just for additional impact), along with Dan’s new shoes (if his human didn’t want him to pee in his shoes, he should have put them away into the closet. Or he could have stopped this silly moving nonsense). But even those desperate measures didn’t seem to help.

Dan, of course, being the thick headed individual that he was, could not put two and two together and insisted that Mr. Whiskers was having a “mid life crisis” and that they should just ignore his antics (and put away all their shoes at night).

Phil, on the other hand, definitely knew what prompted the destruction of his mug (along with the ruined sweater and of course the ‘cactus incident’. Poor Billy did not deserve to die that young, but he ended up collateral damage). So he started a campaign to persuade Mr. Whiskers that it would be a good idea. Well, maybe persuade isn’t the right word, more like bribe him.

The first thing Phil had to do was persuade Dan that they absolutely could not live in a flat on the ground floor. It was a two week argument in which Phil was forced to be very creative, explaining that he needs the exercise of going up the stairs and that he’s scared of a piano falling through the ceiling on top of him (it’s not like he could tell Dan that Mr. Whiskers insisted that he needs a good view of the pigeons outside and that he refuses to stare at people’s feet all day. He was Mr. Whiskers, not some lowlife dog.) Eventually, after multiple arguments, a lot of whining and several “persuading sessions” that Phil carried out in their bedroom, throwing Mr. Whiskers out of the room with whisper “Do you want the view or not?”, Dan gave in.

Next was the room issue. Phil was absolutely adamant that he and Dan need a separate room from Mr. Whiskers, and it was not easy to satisfy either Dan or Mr. Whiskers. Dan kept throwing his hands up in disbelief and shrieking “Why do we need TWO extra rooms?! I get one is a guest room, but what the hell are we going to do with the second bedroom?! Phil, no we do not need a separate room for the cat!.. Ouch! Fuck off, you animal, that hurt!” Sometimes humans just needed to be reminded that stupidity has consequences.

Mr. Whiskers on the other hand demanded that he would get the Master Suite. He might not exactly know what that meant, but if anyone would have the room that’s called the “Master” room, surely it should be Mr. Whiskers.

So that is why Phil was currently on his knees in the bedroom, folding Dan’s underwear and trying to reason with Mr. Whiskers, who was in the middle of his bathing session.

“It’s just called that because it has an en suite bathroom. You don’t even use the bathroom, why would you want that room?”

Mr. Whiskers gave Phil an unimpressed glance and continued licking his tail.

“It’s already hard enough to get Dan to agree to that place with the extra bedroom. If we tell him that he doesn’t even get the big room, there’s no way he’s gonna go for it and we’ll have to start the search all over again!”

Mr. Whiskers went on to carefully licking his toes.

“I know you don’t care if we stay here for another couple months, but we’re going crazy here! And do you remember that there was an actual gas leak last week, right? Please, be reasonable!”

“Hey Phil! Are you having a debate with the cat again?” They both turned their heads to see Dan glancing into the room, cheeks red from walking home. Dan came up to Phil and gave him a peck on the lips and ruffled his hair. “You’re a weird one, Lester.”

He tried to give Mr. Whiskers a scratch behind the ears, but Mr. Whiskers had no time for that nonsense and jumped up on the dresser with a huff.

“Fine, be that way, see if I care,” Dan hissed at him and went to the kitchen to start dinner.

Phil shot Mr. Whiskers a pleading look.

“Mr. Whiskers, please, you have to be the bigger person here. Or the bigger cat I guess,” he murmured quietly before following Dan into the kitchen. Mr. Whiskers could hear wet smooching noises and laughter and assumed that the humans were doing their licking thing again. Gross.

***

In the end, a compromise had been reached. After some lengthy debates, Dan agreed that having a separate room could be useful in the future (“In case we want to expand the family some day” Dan said and both of the humans suddenly got very red and giggly, much to Mr. Whisker’s confusion), and Mr. Whiskers finally agreed to take the smaller room for himself, as long as Phil promised that he would get a proper sized bed to sleep on. And not one of those kitty beds, a proper bed. One that he would approve of himself.

And that’s how they end up sitting at the kitchen table, all three of them, shopping for beds on Dan’s computer thing (it didn’t really make sense no matter how many times Phil tried to explain it to Mr. Whiskers, but the humans didn’t need to know that, or they might think that they’re smarter than him). Dan was showing them different pictures, and Mr. Whiskers was gracefully situated in Phil’s lap, who was gently scratching his stomach in an attempt to make the whole process more pleasurable for everybody (himself mostly, of course, as there is no greater pleasure than petting Mr. Whiskers, and Mr. Whiskers was kind enough to allow it.)

“How about this one?” Dan showed a picture of a small wooden bed with drawers at the base. “We can use it as a daybed and store things in there? Maybe fit a table in the room as well, have a little home office?”

“That could work, what do you think Mr. Whiskers?” Phil replied.

“Yes, of course, what does Mr. Whiskers think,” said Dan in a slightly teasing voice.

Mr. Whiskers let his claws out a bit and kneaded at Phil’s lap.

“Ouch ouch ouch, ok, ok! No, Mr. Whiskers doesn’t like it. He wants something bigger.”

“My god, this cat is such a diva!” Dan rolled his eyes but continued looking. He showed them a couple other options but Mr. Whiskers remained unimpressed (“You don’t have to claw me every time, man!” Phil would tell him, “I get it, you don’t like it!”).

Dan continued scrolling until a picture caught Mr. Whiskers’s attention. He stood up from Phil’s lap and let out a loud meow.

“I think Mr. Whiskers likes this one!” Phil exclaimed, pointing to a picture of a gigantic white fluffy bed, with a gold headboard.

“You’re kidding, right? You have to be kidding, Phil! Do you see how much it costs? It’s a king size! It won’t even fit in the room!” Dan was starting to get a little hysterical in Mr. Whiskers opinion. And the “king” part sounded pretty good, whatever it meant.

“No, Phil, no this is absolutely not happening!”

***

But of course it did happen. Many weeks and boxes later (who knew that all Phil had to tell Mr. Whiskers to convince him to move was that there would be endless boxes. Of all sizes. All for Mr. Whiskers to enjoy, despite his humans trying to use them for other purposes), they were getting settled in their new place, and Mr. Whiskers had to admit it was pretty nice. There were large windows with a nice wide windowsill for Mr. Whiskers to lounge on while looking outside. The pigeons on the balcony were an endless source of entertainment. They got a lovely new dining table and chairs, one of which Mr. Whiskers of course promptly claimed for himself. Even the couch that they brought with them seemed to be more comfortable, now that it wasn’t totally overflowing with random things.

As for the bed, Mr. Whiskers immediately knew that it was going to be quite acceptable, as soon as Dan and Phil tugged it into the apartment, red and panting from the effort.

“Phil, I hate you for making us get a place on the 4th floor. We are never moving again, you hear me?” Dan whined, plopping himself on the sofa dramatically.

“Yes, dear,” answered Phil breathlessly and went into the kitchen to get some water.

Mr. Whiskers jumped down from his lounging space on top of one of the bookshelves and went to investigate. The bed they brought in was packed in just an absolutely magnificent specimen of a box. It was giant, just the size Mr. Whiskers deserved. He sniffed the box while walking around it. The smell wasn’t great, but that was fixable. He clawed a bit at the cardboard.

“Impatient, are you, you fucker?” Dan asked, still panting.

Mr. Whiskers shot him a dirty look. His human really needed to learn to hold his tongue sometimes.

***

Under Mr. Whiskers’s careful instruction, the bed was assembled in his room and the box from it was left in the corner for him to enjoy later (that did require some scratching to achieve, as Dan was adamant on throwing it out. Once again, the stupidity of humans continued to baffle Mr. Whiskers). Phil put down nice purple sheets and some pillows on it, and Dan moved all the cat toys and Mr. Whiskers’ scratch tower into the room with him.

“I cannot believe we have a seperate room for our cat. We must be crazy,” he said, wiping off his forehead and pulling Phil to his side gently.

Phil wrapped his arms around Dan’s waist and leaned his head on his shoulder. “I can’t believe we’re finally done moving. I can’t wait to live here with you.”

They were looking at each other with that disgusting look in their eyes, and Mr. Whiskers felt the need to remind them of who the real mastermind behind this whole moving thing was by jumping onto the new bed and meowing.

“And with you of course, Mr. Whiskers!” Phil corrected himself.

***

That night Dan and Phil closed themselves in their room pretty early and left Mr. Whiskers to wander the apartment on his own. By now Mr. Whiskers knew that they would keep the door closed for a bit, but then probably Phil would go to get himself some water and Mr. Whiskers could sneak in at that moment. More often than not, Dan was already too tired to kick him out again, and Mr. Whiskers could get some sleep in peace.

His plan worked perfectly of course, and just a couple of hours later Mr. Whiskers quietly tiptoed into the room, just as Phil was closing the door. He waited until they both settled back into bed, softly jumped up and made his way across the covers to the nice warm spot between the two humans.

“You stupid cat, you have to be kidding me!” Dan grumbled half asleep. “Get out! Get out! You have a separate room! With a separate bed! It’s bigger than ours! Go away!”

Mr. Whiskers ignored his rambling and curled up comfortably.

“Phil, tell him to go away,” Dan mumbled, but Mr. Whiskers could hear that he had given up. “Tell him he has his own bed.”

Phil just sighed and pulled Dan closer to him. Just a couple minutes later the two humans were peacefully asleep. Mr. Whiskers curled up a bit tighter and closed his eyes. He swished his tail, gently bumping it into the two bodies around him. He would let Dan sleep a little bit before moving to his preferred sleeping location - Dan’s pillow. It’s not like Dan needed it. No matter how much he liked to pretend to be annoyed at Mr. Whiskers for pushing him off of the pillow, he seemed to prefer Phil’s chest anyway. And Mr. Whiskers was not cruel enough to deny Dan the opportunity to do that. He was generous like that.

[dvp95]

quiet on widow’s peak (4)

pairing: dan howell/phil lester, pj liguori/sophie newton/chris kendall rating: teen & up tags: paranormal investigator, mystery, online friendship, slow burn, strangers to lovers, nonbinary character, trans character, background poly, phil does some buzzfeed unsolved shit and dan is a fan word count: 3.9k (this chapter), 13.5k (total) summary: Phil’s got a list of paranormal experiences a mile long that he likes to share with the world. Abandoned buildings, cemeteries, and ghost stories have always called his name, and a particular fan of his has a really, really good ghost story.

read this chapter on ao3 or here!

Phil did not invite Chris and Sophie to come to Rossendale with him. Not because he doesn't like spending time with them, but because he wouldn't know how to explain a situation to his parents that he doesn't even understand himself. To his knowledge, PJ also did not invite them.

"Change it," Chris whines from the backseat. He'd lost the scuffle against Phil to claim the front, and he's been complaining about Phil's music choices for half the trip so far in retaliation.

"You like McFly," Phil huffs, continuing his search for an album that won't elicit a loud sigh from behind him.

"That's fucking slander, is what that is. You hear that, PJ?"

"Oh, I hear you both," PJ says, flat. "Loud and clear."

They've only been driving for probably forty minutes and PJ already looks like he wants to kick them all out of his car. Phil doesn't exactly blame him, although he resents being lumped in with Chris in the 'annoying background noise' category.

He has no idea how they've managed to invite themselves along, but Phil was too polite and PJ was too smitten to tell them off when they came out to the car with their bags.

So, this is a group activity now. Phil's parents had been thrilled to hear it when he texted them the updated situation - they're taking it as a sign that Phil has a motley crew of good friends again, like he'd had as a kid and again in uni. He supposes that they're not wrong, exactly, but he's definitely anxious about introducing them to Chris.

"I like this song," Sophie says, mild, and Chris closes his mouth.

"Fine, this one is alright," he says begrudgingly. Phil glances at them in the rearview - Sophie is patting Chris' knee and giving him the sort of smile that always makes Phil feel like he shouldn't be present. He looks back down at his phone so he doesn't have to sit with that feeling too long.

PJ turns up the volume, probably to curb any more bickering before he has to toss them all out of his car, and Phil tries to just lose himself in the music for a little bit.

His friends sing along at varying levels of obnoxiousness and Phil tries not to keep opening the Tumblr app to see if someone has messaged him. Well, someone specific. I'm going north today!, is the last message sent between them, and Phil is still waiting for Winnie to offer to meet up or something.

After their non-starter interview, Phil and Winnie kept missing each other's free time to finish it over Skype. Phil kind of wants to hear more from them before he checks it out himself, but that's not looking likely at this point, especially if he's lugging his housemates along with him all weekend.

Phil opens a puzzle game on his phone and lets the mostly-mindless swiping distract him. It's a long drive up to Rossendale, and the last thing Phil wants is to be left alone with his thoughts.

--

Phil's parents love having guests round almost as much as they love to have him home, so Phil isn't at all surprised to walk in and smell a roast cooking. He expects that treats will be made as soon as the oven is free, because that's what his mum is like.

"Hello," Phil calls into the house, kicking off his shoes. His friends follow his lead - PJ puts his boots carefully on the mat that Phil didn't bother aiming for, and Sophie struggles with a particularly stubborn knot in her laces - as he hangs up his jacket. "Mum? Dad?"

"Child," his mum greets him happily, appearing in the entry to the kitchen and making grabby hands at him until he envelops her in a hug.

"Missed you," Phil tells her, quiet enough that his friends won't hear to make fun of him.

"Oh, I missed you," she says, giving him a kiss on the side of his face. She turns her beaming smile onto his housemates, who all pause in what they're doing like a frozen tableau. It's a little funny. "More children! Hello! I'm Kathryn, it's so nice to meet you. And so nice to see you again, PJ," she adds in that somewhat pointed voice that Phil hates so very much.

"Hello, Kath," PJ says, grinning wide. He gives her a hug, too. Chris holds out his hand for her to shake when she's done squeezing the life out of PJ, but Kath will have none of it.

"Don't be silly," she says, wrapping her arms tight around Chris' waist with a laugh. "We hug in this family."

"Really?" Chris asks, and the look he gives Phil is almost more embarrassing than if he'd asked 'so why isn't your son a hugger?' out loud. "Something smells absolutely delicious, Kathryn. Is that you, or is supper cooking?"

Phil stops himself from groaning out loud, but barely. He probably shouldn't be surprised at all that Chris' cheeky, flirtatious charm extends to mothers as well. Kath laughs and smacks lightly at Chris' chest before she turns to Sophie.

Skilled at making people feel comfortable in four seconds flat, Kath chatters away about supper and how lovely Sophie's curls are and how long it's been since she's seen Phil, did they know how long it's been? She herds them all into the kitchen like they're cattle and insists that Phil take their things upstairs while she puts the kettle on.

"Er, alright," Phil says, looking at the small collection of bags that they'd brought with them. Their clothes and toiletries are all there, of course, but so is all the filming and hunting equipment. He'll have to make at least two trips.

"Your father got the guest room and Martyn's room all set up before he went out," she tells him, either not noticing or ignoring his internal struggle.

Oh, wonderful. Phil had somehow forgotten about the part where they had three beds for four of them. He's positive that his housemates won't mind sharing with each other, but now he's been tasked with the anxiety-inducing puzzle of whose bags to put where.

"Okay," Phil says again, even though they've moved on to talking about their favourite kinds of cakes so that Kath can wow them all with her skills. He tries to catch PJ's eye, but PJ is too wrapped up in a conversation about strawberries to notice.

Alright, well. Phil grabs as many bags as he can carry and brings them upstairs, feeling some tension deep inside him get a little tighter as he notices that most of their personal effects are packed away, either in storage or already on the island, and his childhood home looks more like a show home than he's comfortable with. The stairs only creak a little under his weight, nothing like the old house in Brighton, but Phil still feels unsettled.

In the end, he throws PJ and Sophie in the guest room. It's a selfish move more than anything, because he's brought PJ for enough visits to be familiar with the way his parents look at each other every time PJ teases him.

They don't ask. They're not the type of people to pry, and Phil isn't the type of people to offer information unprompted. They've all been in this limbo for years where Phil doesn't tell them that he likes boys and they don't outright question if PJ is just a friend and, frankly, Phil is tired of it. So, Chris can sleep alone.

He takes his own bags up last, because he knows that stepping into his bedroom and seeing all the personality stripped from it is going to make him feel things he isn’t prepared to feel. Phil takes a deep breath before he goes inside, and releases it shakily as he drops his things on the floor.

The beige carpet is almost mocking him, telling him that it's time to grow up, and Phil leaves the room as fast as he can.

--

God it is so hard to get anything done here. Sorry to complain at you randomly but like... I forgot how hard it is to work when my parents are hovering and asking a million questions lmao

Winnie still hasn't responded to Phil's early morning message, but the frustration of his parents distracting him and his friends from their work is starting to get to him. Chris has completely charmed them, somehow, and both Sophie and PJ are too polite to put headphones on and ignore them the way Phil has decided to.

Surprisingly, he gets a reply right away: omg how have i never considered the fact that you had to tell your parents you wanted to hunt ghosts for a living thats so fucking funny also that sucks i live in a house full of students and i always have to go to the coffee shop to work on essays and shit

There's nothing good like that where my parents live. Your coffee place is in the city, right?

“No! He didn’t!” Chris is laughing, somewhere in the living room, and Phil has to turn up the white noise on his headphones. The idea of his parents and housemates trading embarrassing stories about him while he's holed up at the table with audio files he hates makes him itch.

yeah, Winnie says. Phil is so thrown off by the short message that his fingers pause on the keyboard.

Is he annoying them? He doesn't mean to. Phil thinks over the messages they've exchanged since talking on Skype, the wheel of worst case scenarios spinning quickly.

Before Phil can apologise or even really get his anxious mind to settle down, his laptop bloops again, once, twice, three times. Relief from the worry that Winnie doesn't like talking to him curls around Phil's shoulders, relaxing them.

It's a screenshot of Google Maps with an address pulled up, a different building circled in a bright blue. yeah i hella recommend and it's really close to wilkins as well, is the message accompanying the screenshot. Then, right afterwards, 10/10 hot chocolate if i do say so myself.

Phil isn't very big on hot chocolate on its own, but he is very big on quiet coffee shops.

It takes a lot of cajoling and promises that he won't be out too late for Phil to convince his parents that they'll be fine to drive to the city by themselves. His dad gets the same look on his face that he always does when Phil talks about work, but his mum merely pats his cheek and says, "Oh, love, be careful. I'll be cross if I have to get you from the police again."

"That was one time," Phil says, feeling his face flush as Chris looks at him with glee.

"One time too many," Nigel says, a bit too sternly to be a joke. Phil wonders if his friends pick up on it or if they just think he's banting like he's been all through supper, that same dry humour that Phil can see in Martyn making him funnier than his housemates had expected.

PJ and Sophie both laugh a bit, so... probably just Phil's knowledge of his dad making it more pointed than it really needs to be.

The coffee shop is open late, so Phil and his housemates decide to do some recon at the Wilkins place. The sun hasn't quite set yet, and the street isn't completely deserted or anything, so they have to wait for a good moment to leave the car.

They're careful. They've done this before.

The Wilkins place is an older townhouse in Rusholme with windows that have been boarded up since the early noughties because they kept getting broken. Technically, someone still owns the property, but the Wilkins family either didn't care about it or had forgotten it existed, because it's been abandoned as long as Phil can remember.

It also isn't very scary in his memory. It's draughty and has rats scurrying about, but the electricity and heating still worked, somehow, and the social situations he'd gotten thrown into at Martyn's shoulder were definitely more nerve-wracking than the house itself.

All of these things are still more or less true, according to everything Phil has been told, but when Phil climbs in through the loose boards of the kitchen window, the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up. He hesitates for so long on the sill that Chris pushes a bit at him, reminding him to move before some annoyed neighbour calls the police.

It's dim inside but not so dark that Phil's eyes strain; the streetlights and setting sun filter in through the boards and showcase the dust covering every surface.

Phil helps Sophie and then Chris through the window, PJ giving them boosts from the outside. They take the various bags from PJ and Sophie immediately pulls out the camera, ignoring the thuds that PJ's feet make as he launches himself up and clambers in like a monkey.

"Sexy," Chris drawls as PJ nearly tumbles onto his face. He's grabbing out equipment of his own, and so Phil is tasked with getting PJ through the window safely.

"At least I've got a modicum of upper body strength," PJ says. Neither of them are bothering to whisper, and that's making Phil anxious.

He can't put his finger on it, but... it doesn't feel like they're alone in here. There's probably someone hiding out from the chill of late October in one of the various empty rooms, and Phil's worst case scenario wheel is spinning so fast it's making him dizzy.

"Do you hear that?" Sophie asks, hushed. That stops PJ and Chris from continuing their bickering, and all three men freeze as they strain for whatever it is that Sophie's hearing. After a moment of complete silence, Sophie shakes her head. "It stopped. Hopefully the mic caught it over you lot."

PJ looks appropriately abashed, but Chris just shrugs. He's got a flashlight and an EMF meter, and he slings one of the bags over his shoulder before disappearing.

This is technically for Phil's channel - they're checking the place out, and Sophie is filming just in case something happens - but Phil still feels weird when PJ ducks off in another direction and Sophie stays at his side instead of following one of her boys, camera steady in her hands and the tip of her nose pink from the cool air.

"What did you hear?" Phil murmurs, beckoning her further into the house. The sound of creaking wood is so loud, like it's right above their heads, and Phil can only hope that it's one of his friends going upstairs.

"It could have been the wind," Sophie says mildly. "Or rats."

"Is that what it sounded like?"

Sophie blinks up at him and her mouth twists in an emotion that Phil can't place. "No. No, it sounded like a person talking."

Yeah, that's what Phil was afraid of. "Someone might be living here," he whispers, focusing on the dark hallway and trusting that Sophie is following.

The creaking again, this time from beside them, and Phil peeks his head around the corner to confirm that the staircase is what he's hearing. Chris is halfway up it, flashlight off between his teeth as he grips the railing like he's afraid the stairs are going to give out under him.

Phil hates this part. He'd rather do this completely alone than have to herd his friends like sheep. He leaves Chris to his own devices and moves into the lounge. This is where the majority of the litter is, empty bottles and cans and crisp bags everywhere. Phil takes a couple photos of it all and sends them to Martyn.

Remember your friend who used to bring a garbage bag to every party? Looks like he was the only one lol

He pauses. All too aware of Sophie's eyes and possibly the camera lens on him, Phil sends the photo to Winnie as well with a different caption: Does it always look like this?

Neither of them respond by the time Phil has picked his way through the first floor, which is at least good for his focus, but it doesn't explain why the house feels so much different than it had seven or eight years ago. Phil feels unsettled here in a way that he doesn't usually get anymore, goosebumps down his arms that aren't from the cold and the constant, unnerving feeling that someone is looking at him from the shadows.

Phil's phone buzzes as he and Sophie debate in whispers if they should go upstairs. Phil hates leaving anything to someone else, even if it's just a few rooms that surely PJ and Chris are capable of exploring on their own. He's in the middle of trying to explain that to Sophie when his voice catches in his throat.

"Peej says we should go," Phil says, interrupting himself. "He found something weird in the attic."

"What's he doing in the attic?" Sophie hisses.

"Dunno. I didn't even know there was an attic."

"We should go, then," says Sophie, like that decides it. Although it does rankle a bit to be lower on the totem pole of his own project, Phil has to admit that Sophie is right. If PJ is saying that it's time to go, then it's time to go.

Phil climbs out of the window first, taking the equipment with him, and then helps hoist Sophie safely down. She's so small that it's not even a strain, really, even with how little exercise Phil gets. They wait, huddled together, and Phil feels some of the knot in his chest start to loosen when he hears Chris and PJ arguing in whispers before the window boards get slid out of the way again.

"What did you find?" Phil asks immediately, and PJ hushes him on his way down.

"Let's go, I'll tell you at the café," he whispers, leading the way down the pavement with strides so purposeful that Phil wonders if he's been in this area before. It's all the rest of them can do to keep up with him, and Phil spares a moment to feel sorry for Sophie and her short legs.

He hangs back with her and lets Chris keep pace with PJ. Chris is still talking at a silent PJ in a hushed, passionate tone, like he's fighting with a brick wall, and Phil doesn't need to be involved in that.

The coffee shop is only a couple of streets away, but the tension that the Wilkins place and PJ's subsequent discovery has brought to the group makes it feel much further. PJ stops in front of a purple door, and Phil has a begrudging respect for his ability to remember where something is after simply being told the address. The shop is small and a little dingy, but the lighting inside is soft through the narrow windows and there's a fireplace that Phil longs to curl up in front of like a cat.

Chris scowls at PJ and holds the door open for him in the same breath. Phil doesn't understand their relationship and at this point he's too afraid to ask, but he ducks into the inviting warmth anyway to try to get the goosebumps off his skin.

The two employees behind the counter look at the door like they've been caught with their hands in a cookie jar. A girl with brightly-coloured hair is holding a bunch of marshmallows, a hand poised mid-throw, and an unreasonably tall guy with an unreasonably large mouth is gawping as one of the marshmallows hits him in the chin.

"You missed," Phil informs them, grinning a bit as he unwinds his scarf.

"Oops," the girl laughs, setting the marshmallows down and pulling up a customer service smile. "What can I get for you guys?"

While PJ and Sophie pore over the menu and Chris starts asking if she'll throw marshmallows into his mouth if he asks very nicely, Phil's eyes drift to the other worker.

His mouth is still open, a bit, and his face flushes when their eyes meet. "Er," he says, glancing behind him as if Phil is looking at someone else, and that's so endearing that Phil is sufficiently distracted from the mystery down the street.

Phil isn't extremely self-conscious or anything, but he also knows he's not going to be the hottest guy in a room, so he's a bit flattered and a lot confused about this guy's reaction to him.

The thing is, the guy is very attractive. A couple of perfect curls poke out from under his cap, and there's some type of shimmer on his face that Phil could not put a name to if you paid him. He knows literally nothing about makeup, but he knows that it makes this giant of a man look softer and his blush even more obvious when it deepens.

"Hi," Phil says, giving him a little wave. He can still hear Chris chattering on and Sophie debating the merits of a hot chocolate versus a cappuccino, so he's pretty sure nobody is paying them any attention. The guy twitches like he wants to look over his shoulder again, but he stops himself.

"Uh, hi? Sorry to be, like, weird, I just - I didn't expect -"

The voice is familiar, the rambling is familiar, and then it clicks. "Oh, hi," Phil says again, warmer this time. He steps closer to the counter and grins up at them - an unusual thing in itself, since Phil doesn't meet many people taller than him. "You didn't mention that you work here."

Winnie's shoulders slump forward in a kind of relief, and they scratch the back of their neck, looking awkward and out of place even in an outfit that coordinates with the colour scheme of the whole shop. Phil looks the uniform over and immediately regrets it, because he didn't mean to see Winnie's name tag and now he feels weird about knowing something he wasn't actually told. He doesn't feel too weird about being here, though, because - well. Winnie had technically invited him.

"Honestly, I didn't know you'd be 'investigating' so soon," says Winnie. They're still blushing and the finger quotes are somehow cute, even though they're being used to poke at Phil's career. Their nails are dark and sparkly, and Phil desperately needs to stop noticing things about their hands. "I would have told you, probably, or I'd just - I dunno, try to make a better first impression."

"You're making a fine first impression," Phil assures them.

Winnie snorts. "Oh, bullshit."

"Phil," PJ says, nudging him. Phil suddenly remembers that there are, in fact, other people around him, and he can't just keep looking at Winnie's long, dark eyelashes. "What are you having?"

Honestly, Phil hasn't even looked at the menu. He's so easily distracted by pretty boys with big hands and - oh, right, he's got to be careful about that, even in his own head. Especially in his own head. Winnie isn't a pretty boy, he really shouldn't be thinking about them like that at all.

"Uh," Phil says eloquently. He's very particular with his hot drinks, usually, but he's got a lot going on in his mind right now and it's easier just to shrug at Winnie than to look away and think. "Dunno, actually. Surprise me?"

Winnie smiles, and Phil's stomach twists. "I can do that."

[antiadvil]

Sand Dollars and a Shiny Rock

summary: Dan and Phil go on vacation, Phil tries to propose, things go terribly wrong, but also kind of right.

rating: PG13 bc I’m paranoid

wc: 2k

notes: written for the @phanfictionevents telephone thing. @bucketofphan wrote the first part, @allbymyshelf wrote the second, and I wrote the last one! I would just like to say that this was actually really hard so please be gentle with me. but it is kind of cool. the prompt definitely had something to do with proposal and maybe something to do with vacation

ao3

“Dan, it's time to wake up!” 

Dan groaned and rolled over onto the empty side of the bed, making Phil laugh. It was obvious that he was awake but he just didn't want to get up out of their bed, which Phil could totally understand. They had just spent what seemed like forever on a plane only to land in California and immediately get lost trying to find their rental home. By the time both of them finally got in the house and in the master bedroom they were exhausted so Dan decided to just call it a night.

It was no longer night though and Phil had a whole beach day for them planned. They were only on the beach for one day though before heading back off to spend time with friends and film some collabs that their fans had been asking for for a while so getting up and ready was Phil's number one priority. 

Phil moved over to his side of the bed where Dan had rolled himself to. He couldn't help but smile at how his boyfriend had gotten himself tangled in the blankets just so he wouldn't have to leave the bed. But Phil wasn't having any of it that morning, grabbing Dan's ankles and pulling him closer to the end of the bed. 

“Baby please get up. I have a whole day planned for us and it's already past 10.” 

Dan grunted what Phil thought sounded like a no and wiggled his way back up onto the bed. Phil rolled his eyes at his boyfriend’s antics, backing away. 

“That's fine then, don't get up. I'm sure I'll run into Sam the Surfer somewhere and me and him can just hang out.” 

He smirked and turned away, heading over to where they had put their suitcases last night. He opened Dan's and pulled out the new swimsuit that Dan had got before their trip. It was quite plain, just a nice dark blue, but if Dan liked it then Phil liked it.

Phil made sure to grab the shirt that was paired with it as well along with the pair of shoes Dan had brought along to go on the beach. He placed the outfit on the end of the bed and smiled to himself when he noticed his favorite brown curls peeking out from under the covers. 

“I'm gonna go make some coffee. Come say hi when you're dressed.” 

And with that Phil disappeared through the doorway. He could hear Dan get out of the bed as he entered the kitchen and a sudden wave of nerves crashed over him. Sam the Surfer was a bit of a sore topic between the two, meaning that he was only ever brought up as leverage or because the fans wanted to know something. He hoped Dan wasn't too mad at him. 

Phil had just found the coffee they had brought with them when Dan stepped into the room. He cleared his throat, grabbing Phil's attention. Phil stood up and looked at his boyfriend, a smile spreading across his face. 

“You look great babe.” He took a few steps to Dan and grabbed Dan's hand. Dan smiled back at him and lent down slightly to kiss Phil's forehead. 

“Why don't we go out for breakfast and then head to the beach?” Dan suggested, sleep still clouding his eyes. 

“Yeah, okay, that sounds great.” 

Phil let Dan lead him towards the door, breaking away from his love long enough to slip Dan's present into his pocket. All he could hope for now is that the waves didn't knock the ring out. 

-----

Phil stepped out the door and locked it behind them, before interlacing his fingers with Dan’s and walking towards a small cafe for breakfast. Their rental house was near the beach and a pleasantly salty breeze kept the air cool. Well, cool for June in California.

Phil resisted the urge to hurry Dan along too much, they were on vacation after all. But given how Dan still hadn’t really woken up, they spent their sweet time meandering towards the cafe. Phil didn’t mind too much, the view was beautiful and the air was clean and fresh. Plus, they had time to get acquainted with the area near their rental house while not being incredibly lost.

The cafe was a cute little place that felt very homey, probably due to the slightly bossy grandmother who seated them. By the way she ordered the employees around it appeared as though she owned the place. 

Once seated, and when he was absolutely sure she was out of range, Phil whispered, “I swear she smacked my ass with that hand towel because I was moving too slowly.”

Dan sofly snorted,”Of course she did Phil, the weird ones always pick you don’t they?”

“What? I can’t help it!” Phil protested, searching for at least a decent defense. “At least I have plenty of fun stories to tell at parties, Mr. I-Have-No-Friends-

And-I-Never-Leave-The-House.”

“Phil.” Dan said flatly, “When was the last time you even went to a party? Let alone one that needed weird person magnet stories” 

Phil sighed, ”Touchè. But for the record, you only get this one because it’s your birthday and I love you. So savor this moment because it won’t happen again for quite a while.”

Dan smiled and picked up his menu, playfully throwing a, “Sure, Lester. You believe that.” across the table.

“Hey!” Phil said halfheartedly, while also grabbing his menu and flipping through it. After a considerable amount of time waffling (ha!) between waffles and pancakes, he finally convinced Dan to get the waffles while he got the pancakes so that they could split.

The food smelled delicious, and once served Phil was eager to dig in, though not before making sure that he and Dan got half each of the waffles and pancakes. They were heavenly when drenched in syrup, and Phil could swear he was having an out of body experience.

Phil had such an out of body experience in fact, that apparently he forgot how to drink coffee, and the next time he went to take a sip he spilled half the cup on his shirt and pants. That brought him back to his body so fast he probably got mental whiplash.

“Crap!” He quietly hissed while pulling napkins out of the dispenser and furiously dabbing at his clothes. Dan took a moment to snicker at Phil’s classic display of clumsiness before deigning to help out. Of course he went straight for the pants, this was Dan we were talking about after all.

Phil, terrified Dan would feel the lump in his pocket, swatted his hand out of the way and joked quietly enough only Dan could hear, “Trying to feel me up, eh? Next time maybe not in public, please.” 

Dan slid back to a comfortable position in his seat and his half smile was accompanied by a quirked eyebrow, “Worth a shot though, it is my birthday after all.” 

Phil chuckled, “I’m starting to wonder if knowing your birthdate is privileged knowledge, reserved only for people who won’t abuse the power.”

“Maybe,” Dan shrugged, “But birthdays wouldn’t be as fun then.”

“Depends,” Phil mused. 

Before he could continue that train of thought, Dan interrupted him, “Do you want to go back to the house to change before we head to the beach?”

“No thanks, the ocean’ll clean me just fine”

“You sure? I don’t think caffeine is good for fish.”

“Um, how do you know that caffeine is bad for fish. For all you know, they could love it, who doesn’t like extra energy?”

What ensued was a debate on whether or not caffeine was good for animals that lasted them through the rest of breakfast and partway down to the beach. In the midst of their lively discussion Phil smiled to himself, today was perfect. He couldn’t ask for a better day to propose.

-----

The beach was surprisingly empty for such a nice day. Phil decided not to question it. He set up their towels a careful distance away from the sea- not so close that he’d have to move them when the tide came in, but not so far that they’d have to walk a foot more than necessary to reach the ocean. He rummaged through their bag, but came up empty handed.

“Hey, Dan?” he asked.

“Hmm?” Dan was already halfway to the waves.

“Did you remember to pack the sunscreen?”

Dan froze. “We can go back.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“Are you sure? I really don’t want a replay of the skin fic.”

Phil cringed. “Dan!”

“Sorry. But really, Phil, we should go back. You know how we both burn. I don’t want to have a sunburn for the rest of vacation.”

“What time is it?” Phil asked, then immediately regretted it. 

Dan frowned. “Just past noon, why? Does it matter what time it is?”

“No, no!” Phil rushed to protest. “It’s just, let’s just stay here for a while. We won’t get sunburned in just half an hour and afterwards we can get lunch and stop by the house.”

Dan raised his eyebrows. “You’re being weird, but okay.”

“I’m not being weird,” Phil insisted. “You’re being weird.”

“Babe, seriously, it’s your skin cancer. It’s fine. You’re making this weirder. Just stop.”

Phil stopped. Then realized his dilemma.

He couldn’t go in the water. The risk that the ring would be dislodged from his disturbingly shallow pocket was too high. He had been hoping Dan would be content with a short walk on the beach, or wandering through ankle deep water, but Dan was already waist deep and still swimming out.

Phil glanced at Dan, checking that he wasn’t looking, before slipping the ring out of his pocket and into their bag.

He quickly caught up with Dan, who had swam out just past where his feet could touch and was treading water. From there, they spent more time than they probably should splashing each other, dunking each other, and just floating, letting the waves carry their bodies.

After what felt like hours (but was hopefully actually only one or two), they decided to head back to shore.

Dan smirked. “Race you?” Before Phil could complain that he was farther out than Dan, Dan was off. Phil panicked, remembering the ring in the bag. He swam as quickly as he could, but Dan still beat him.

Dan ran back to their towels, laughing. “That’s what you get for all those All or Nothings.”

“Hey,” Phil panted.

Dan reached for the bag. “Please tell me we remembered the water. I’m actually going to die of thirst.”

For the second time in half a minute, Phil panicked. He rushed for Dan and jumped, tackling him. They landed in the sand. “What the hell?” Dan asked, but he was laughing.

Phil took the opportunity to lean down and kiss him. Dan leaned into him, and Phil savored the taste of his mouth, the slight curl of his lips, before pulling away.

“What was that for, Mr. But-We’re-In-Public?” Dan laughed.

“You’re just really cute,” Phil mumbled.

“You’re really cute too, but I’m still going to die of thirst.” Dan reached for the bag again, and this time Phil could do nothing but watch helplessly as Dan opened the bag and the ring spilled out.

There was an awful moment of silence before Dan said, so quietly Phil could barely hear, “Oh.”

Phil froze.

“I-” Dan’s voice was so soft. “I didn’t know.” Dan’s face suddenly morphed to concern. “Are you okay?”

Phil touched his face and realized he was crying. “I…”

Dan picked up the ring, staring at it. “Wait- sorry, is that why you wanted to know what time it was?”

Phil sniffled. “I had a surprise planned and everything. Martyn was helping me set it up.”

Dan patted Phil’s back, looking horrified. “I had no idea.”

“It’s okay,” Phil reassured Dan through his tears.

“The answer is yes,” Dan said, still patting Phil’s back.

Phil started crying harder.

“I am so sorry,” Dan said.

“No,” Phil managed, “Happy tears.”

Dan gave up on patting Phil’s back and gathered him into a hug. “It wouldn’t be very us if something didn’t go terribly wrong, would it?”

“I guess not,” Phil said, muffled by Dan’s shoulder.

Dan pulled back and slipped the ring on his finger. “Now how about we head back and you can show me your surprise?”

“It’s not really a surprise anymore.”

Dan stood and offered Phil a hand up. “I’ll pretend it is.”

As they walked back towards their rental house and Phil’s surprise, they left their hands interlaced.

[sunshinedjh]

Summoning Love Part Thirteen: Date

Summoning Love: Phil Lester has the ability to make anything he desires appear at will. However, with great power comes great responsibility. And along with his parents wanting to disown him, his entire school thinking he’s a freak, and being the only person in this world he knows of with a hidden power, things can get rather lonely…   Phan |Superpowers |High School Au |

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Part Twelve

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Word Count: 1677

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Wattpad<<<

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Warnings: N/A

'Phil' Dan exclaimed breathlessly as he answered the door. There in front of him stood Phil, all dressed up in a white shirt and skinny jeans. He had his hair pushed back and glasses on too. Since when has he worn glasses? Dan wondered.

'Dan' Phil beamed 'can I come in?' 'Yeah, yeah of course' Dan beckoned him inside and closed the door 'I just gotta put my shoes on'

Grabbing his shoes from the cupboard under the stairs, Dan sat down and began to put them on. Trying to concentrate on tying laces and looking up at Phil at the same time didn't seem to be very effective however.

He'd just never seen the man in glasses before. They looked good, made him look intelligent and somehow more attractive.

It was at this point Dan realised that tying his shoes was a lost cause.

'It must be hard to tie your laces without looking at them' Phil smirked. 'I... oh yeah, sorry' Dan spluttered as he was called out for staring at Phil. 'You want me to tie them for you?' 'Please'

Phil kneeled down in front of Dan and began working on his laces. From this point of view Dan could look at Phil even closer, even smell the faint scent of aftershave he was wearing.

'I didn't know you had glasses' Dan decided to finally point out as he gazed into the other man's eyes. 'These? Oh yeah' Phil got back to his feet after tying the second lace and helped Dan up too 'I usually wear contacts but I thought I'd mix things up a little'

'They suit you' 'Thanks' Dan couldn't help but pick up on the slight reddening of Phil's cheeks.

'You wanna go then?' Phil asked 'there's a cab outside for us' 'Okay' Dan replied with a shy smile before Phil took his hand and led him outside.

'I'll be back later Mrs Evans!' Dan called just before closing the door.

-

'What's this restaurant like then?' Dan leaned into Phil in the back of the taxi. They were almost at their destination now. 'Well I haven't actually been there before, but I've heard good things from Pj' 'Pj?'

'Oh, he's my friend. He goes to a different school than us but I've known him for a while'

'Here we go then' the taxi driver announced, drawing Dan and Phil's attention to the fact that they had arrived.

Climbing out of the taxi, making sure to hold the door open for Dan, Phil paid the driver and pulled Dan inside the restaurant.

'Phil!' A voice called as the two boys entered the building. 'Peej!' Pj was stood next to the entrance, dressed in a suit and tie, the smartness of which severely contrasted his messy hair that was almost as bad as Dan's.

It had been a while since Phil had seen him. Speaking on text all the time wasn't quite the same as being with him in person. He grinned. 'So can we have a table for two?' 'Yes of course'

Pj took a moment to look over at Dan, a welcoming smile on his face. 'And you're Dan I'm assuming?' 'Yes, hi nice to meet you' Dan brought his hand forward to meet and shake Pj's.

'Right this way then, let's get you two sat down' Weaving through various tables of families and couples, Pj lead them to a corner of the restaurant that was quite secluded. It was an alcove with comfy seats and hanging lights.

'Do you want to order your drinks?' Pj asked once Dan and Phil had sat down beside each other. 'Yeah, Dan what do you want?' 'I'd recommend our champagne by the way' Pj commented.

Phil laughed at how his friend was acting in this situation. He'd never seen Pj during his work hours before. 'Hey what? What are you laughing at?' 'Nothing. It's just funny seeing you in serious work mode that's all'

Pj looked over at Dan and pointed at Phil and shook his head. Dan laughed. 'Yeah I think we'll have that then' he decided. Pj nodded and walked away.

'So' Phil began, scooting closer to Dan in a way that seemed smooth in his head but was perhaps a little clingy 'you like the place?' 'Yeah it's pretty, though I don't think I'll make a full judgment until I've sampled the food' Dan decided. 'Of course' Phil replied with a chuckle.

'You ever made a napkin animal?' 'A what?' Phil had a strange habit of coming up with the most random conversation starters and Dan knew that all too well but this was a new one.

'A napkin animal, like where you grab a napkin and' Phil took a napkin from the table and turned his back from Dan 'you fold it and...' Phil turned back around seconds later to reveal a dog made from what had previously been a plain old napkin.

'Ta dah!' Phil presented it to Dan. 'Wow for me?' Dan giggled, going along with Phil's quirkiness. 'Wait!' Phil said suddenly, taking back the dog and closing his eyes.

'What're you...' 'Shh!' Holding out his hands, Phil focused momentarily until a pen formed in his hands. Watching curiously, Dan saw Phil scribble on the dog with the pen, giving it a face.

'Here, I made it better' Phil exclaimed proudly, handing Dan the paper dog. 'I love it' Dan responded fondly as he fiddled with the little creation before placing it on the table.

He decided then to reach for Phil's hand and squeeze it gently. Looking at Phil distractedly, he was pretty sure the love he felt was strongly shown even just by his facial expression.

'Your drinks, ladies' a voice said, approaching the table. Pj had returned and brought them their champagne. At this, Dan frantically let go of Phil's hand and turned to Pj innocently.

'Smooth' Dan was pretty sure he heard Pj mutter before he asked them what they wanted to order.

The two of them settled on ordering pasta and a desert (ice cream obviously).

-

The pasta had been amazing and Dan had instantly decided that he loved this restaurant from the first mouthful. Although there had been an awkward moment where Phil spilled sauce on his chin and got extremely embarrassed while Dan wiped it off for him.

As for the ice cream, it tasted just as good. The two of them had excitedly decided to try each other's, resulting in them feeding one another.

At some point in the date, their hands had found their way together again and they'd remained intertwined for the majority of the meal.

They were just getting up to leave now, Phil leaving a tip behind for Pj and helping Dan with his coat. 'Peej!' He called over to Pj on the other side of the room just before the two of them went outside 'thanks for the food'

'You're welcome!' Pj called back. Dan almost thought he saw Pj wink too but he could've imagined it.

'I suppose we better get you back home' Phil began, gripping Dan's hand tight due to the sudden cold that had consumed them both now that they were outside. 'You wanna walk?'

'Sure' Dan complied. The pair of them began to traipse down the road. 'So Phil, was vanilla your favourite flavour of ice cream or were you just trying to be sophisticated?' 'Stealing my brand are we with the spontaneous questions?' Phil teased.

'Perhaps' Dan nudged the man beside him playfully. 'Well now that you mention it, I am quite partial to cookies and cream' 'Is that so?' 'Mhm' Phil turned to look at Dan.

It was the first time he'd properly looked at him since they'd come outside. It was dark now, the moon shining prominently in the sky. The light from it seemed to highlight Dan's features in a very particular way. Phil liked it, he decided.

It looked almost as if he was radiating a glow himself.

'It's so cold oh my god' Dan said through chattering teeth. 'We'll get you home soon don't worry'

The two of them were alone, the street they were on being rather empty. Phil couldn't help the way he was looking at Dan as the two of them walked, he just wanted to take all of him in and that was exactly what he was doing. It was overwhelming.

'Dan' Phil found himself saying. As he did so he stopped walking, causing Dan to do the same. Intoxicating urges were overcoming Phil. His heart was telling him to act on them. But his brain was telling him that now wasn't the time. Dan was freezing and probably just wanted to get home.

Phil decided to act on his heart however. And before Dan could even do anything to protest, he was being pinned against a lamppost.

'Phil' Dan said, looking Phil in the eyes. 'You erm... look good tonight' 'Yeah?' Dan questioned, ignoring the pesky blush that was forming. 'Extremely so' Phil edged closer.

It was Dan now who felt overwhelmed. He tried to keep whatever was left of his cool though, as Phil gazed into his eyes, only inches away from him.

'You know, I think this is supposed to be when we kiss' he stated.

Dan pressed his lips against Phil's and wrapped around him. The touch of lips seemed to ignite something within Phil and he pulled himself together and began to take dominance of the kiss. His tongue drifted across Dan's bottom lip before entering Dan's mouth and colliding with Dan's own tongue.

Phil's hands ran through Dan's hair. It was so soft. Dan let out a whimper in pleasure that he was sure he'd regret later. He felt Phil place his hand on his cheek as the deep kiss began to become too much.

As much as the two of them wished they could live forever in that moment, they had to take a second to catch their breath.

Phil's eyes were drawn straight back to Dan's appearance as soon as he opened his eyes. He'd become slightly more dishevelled now, his hair somehow even more of a mess.

He still looked effortlessly perfect to Phil though, as he panted for breath and his eyes shone under the moonlight.

Next Chapter

[philanddanxreader]

A Glass of Dinner With My Wine

Hello, Love bugs!

Phil X Fem Reader

Warnings- Swears, Alcohol

Can you do one where D/P comes and picks you up from a night of drinking with your friends and needs to take care of them?-Anon

You don’t honestly remember calling him to come and get you. It was three in the morning and you were standing outside of a club with a drink and a broken shoe in hand. You had gone out with some friends for a birthday party. What started innocently enough had turned into a blackout kind of night. You had just gotten out of the bar to get a breath of fresh air and to recollect yourself when Phil had pulled up in a taxi with a bottle of water and a pair of flip-flops in hand. The two of you spotted each other pretty quickly within the crowd of other drunk people. Phil walked up to you with a smirk on his face to let you know that not only were you in trouble but that you were going to be owing him big time for this one.

“Hi, Baby! How did you? Hold on, I’m not feeling the greatest.” Phil smiled as he reached to link his arm along with yours to help take some of your weight off your not broken shoe. “Thank you. Are we goin home?” Phil nodded as he pulled you lightly through the crowd. You tried to focus on keeping up with Phil but the guy who was pissing on the statue beside the bar had caught your attention. For whatever reason, you had felt like it was your duty in that moment to be the pissing police. “Hey, shit head. How about you go piss in the bathroom like a normal guy so the whole world doesn’t have to see your micro penis?” Phil pulled you closer to him as he ducked the two of you back into the crowd so you wouldn’t get mauled by the guy who had enough muscles to fight in the MMA. Phil was relieved once he could pull the two of you were back in the taxi he came in. Once inside Phil told the drive to take the two of you back to his apartment.

“Lift your leg with the shoe,” Phil said tapping his lap to signal to put your leg on it. You did as he said. Not without a few struggles of getting your leg up that high and not flash the driver. Once up Phil started at the strap on your ankle. Pulling at the little clip before removing the shoe and letting it hit the floor beside its broken match. “How did you manage to make your leg so sticky? No first answer how you broke your shoe.” You gave a quick hiccup before trying to think back as to how you did manage to break your good dancing shoes.

“I think, I fell when I was trying to tell the DJ he should play better music.” Phil laughed as he put one of your flip flops on before dropping the one leg and signalling for the other.

“DJ’s don’t exactly love when you insult their work.” You thought about what Phil said before lifting your other leg up to his lap.

“Maybe he should do his job right. No one likes hopelessly devoted to you from Grease. Especially in a weird remix with club music over it.”  You ran a hand over your face to push your hair out of your face to find a phone number smudged along your palm. “Look, I got a number. It was from a girl who was like ten feet tall. I told her the two of you should wrestle for my heart.” Phil rolled his eyes and bit the tip of his tongue before handing you over the water. “I am not thirstly. I think I have had anough.”

“Too bad. Drink it. You will thank me in the morning. Just like you better thank me for getting out of bed at three in the morning to come and get you from the bar.” You took a small sip from the bottle before handing it back to him so you could rest your head against the window. The cool glass felt nice on your hot cheeks.

“How did you know I needed saving? Did I call you? Are we home soon?” Phil pulled you over in your seat so you could cuddle into him to try and balance you out to help with the spinning feeling.

“We will be home in five minutes Just focus on your breathing. No, you didn’t call me. You called Dan telling him not to let me know but that you didn’t know how to get home and that the girls at the bar were making you go home. I assumed you broke your shoe like you did at VidCon so I brought the flip flops. You owe Dan a big apology and maybe even a coffee for waking him up so early to listen to you try and explain what bar you were at. He tried to convince you to talk to me but you were adamite about not having me find out.” You let out a groan as you pushed your face further into Phil’s arm trying to focus on your breathing and Phil’s scent instead of the seemingly never-ending car ride. Once the car came to a stop Phil paid the most likely crazy expensive fee before coming around to your side of the taxi to help you out of the door. As you took your first step out you were beyond grateful that you were no longer in your broken heels. Phil grabbed your purse and old shoes before helping you up to the front door of his and Dan’s apartment. Phil opened the door and lead you to the elevator before you became distracted by crying girl in the lobby area. You pushed away from Phil to try and go talk to her but Phil had a death grip on your arm.

“Philip! That girl is crying. She needs a tissue. My purse. Please.”

“Y/N. Just leave her alone. No one like to be crying and then be interrupted by an intoxicated girl.” You gave Phil a look before taking your bag from him and marching towards said girl. Once in front of her, you kneeled down the set to look inside your purse for the little pack you always kept for emergencies. You found them after the third shake to your bag. You handed the girl the pack looking at her cute tear stained face. “Hi. Are you ok? I’m Y/N I might be a bit drunk but I am a good listener.” The girl looked down at you. If you weren’t intoxicated you would have probably seen how weird it is that this drunk girl is asking if she can help console a girl in the lobby of her boyfriend’s apartment. Phil stood close in case the girl took your kindness and concern as an insult and decided to start swinging.

“I am ok. My stupid boyfriend decided he didn’t want to see each other anymore. I should have seen it coming.” You gave the girl a look of pity as you pulled her into an unexpected hug. At first, she was ridged and uncomfortable but then she decided that she either needed the hug or that you wouldn’t let go until she hugged back. Once the two of you let go you looked at her with a bit of tears in your own eyes. Call it pity or the buzz you were still dealing with but you felt for the poor thing.

“Boys are the worst! He was probably a meanie and a bad lover! I think we girls should just say fuck the men and start our own civilisations. Except for Phil. I love Phil. Oh my God my manners.” You quickly stood up and pulled at Phil to come closer to the girl in the chair. “This is my boyfriend Phil. He is the best boyfriend ever. You need your own Phil. Once time we umm. Well, my brain is a little fuzzy but he is the greatest. I love him. I love you, Phil.” You said turning to him before wrapping an arm around his waist. “I’m sorry you got dumped. Maybe next time you will do good.” Phil decided to end it there and pulled you lightly on your arm to get you to follow him towards the elevator. You waved goodbye to the girl as you rubbed at your face. You were sure all of this face rubbing was causing you to look like a racoon between the makeup and the sharpie that was coming off of your palm.  

Once inside of the elevator Phil hit the fifteenth-floor button as you sat on the ground. Phil looked down to find you resting your heavy head on the wall as you closed your eyes. “Are you meditating?” You put a finger up to your lips and gave a quiet shhhh before going back to letting your head rest on the wall. Sober you knew that the floor in the elevator wasn’t all that clean. But drunk you could be sitting in mud and you still wouldn’t care. It was the best place to be in the elevator at this moment. The elevator slowed and the doors opened. You cracked an eye to only be disappointed that you weren’t on the right floor. But rather still six floors away from where you wanted to be. The couple who had walked into the elevator looked from yourself to Phil. You had already closed your eyes again so Phil gave a simple but effective answer. “Super drunk.” The couple nodded as they faced the door to continue the ride up with Phil and yourself. The elevator gave a ding signalling that you were almost home free for the evening. Phil helped you up off the floor before giving a little-embarrassed nod to the couple before helping you down the hall to his and Dan’s place. Before entering Phil turned to you and gave you back the shhhh you had given him earlier.

“Rude. I am as quiet as a mouse church.” Phil blinked a few times before pushing open the door to the apartment. It was weird to see it this early in the morning as you were usually in Phil’s bed at this time in the evening. The only light that was available was from the lamp in Phil’s room that he left on before leaving. You lead the way to Phil’s room before getting distracted by the kitchen. You had never felt as hungry as you did at this exact moment.

“Oh no, no, no, no. We are not going into the kitchen to make a bunch of noise and a mess leading to Dan waking up and reprehending the both of us.” You tried to give Phil the puppy dog eyes but it didn’t seem to be working in the pitch black of the kitchen.

“But I need food Phillllly. What if I’d thrown up?” Phil let out a breath before turning on the little light above the stove.

“When did you get sick?” You looked at Phil confused as you squinted in the small light.

“No, I haven’t. But if I do it would be because you didn’t feed me.” Phil kissed your forehead then turned around to put a piece of bread in the toaster. “That’s not exactly what I had in mine. I mean my mind.” Talking was becoming increasingly harder as it got later and later which made you frustrated.

“Mum always made me toast with butter when I would come home drunk. It seemed to help so that’s what you get. Do you want to go and change or stay here and wait with me?” You thought for a moment before wrapping both of your arms around Phil’s torso. You didn’t really want to be without him. Nor did you honestly think you could find his room alone.

Once you ate your toast and had a drink of juice you let Phil drag your sleepy ass to his room. You sat down on his bed as he went to the closet to find something for you to wear. “I just want one of your shirts. I’m hot and I don’t want to sleep in any pants.” Phil smiled as he pulled his NASA shirt out of the closet to bring to you. Phil had sat on the bed beside you helping you to unzip the dress you were wearing. You were thankful to shed not only the dress but also your bra. Phil handed you his shirt letting you pull it over your head before pulling the covers back so you could crawl into your side of the bed. Resting your head on the pillow you thought for a second before sitting up and looking at Phil who was across the room putting your dress in his laundry basket. “My legs are sticky from all the beer that got spilt on me. “Phil went over to your side of the bed to lean down and brush a strand of your hair out of your face.

“Don’t worry about it. We can do laundry tomorrow after we have a shower.” Phil kissed your cheek before walking over to his side of the bed to turn off the lamp and cuddle into your back. “Good night my drunk little girlfriend.

“Good night. Thanks for saving me.” Phil leant down to kiss your shoulder before pulling you closer as the two of you closed your eyes for the evening. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

[dangoghz]

Make a phan fic involving dan and Phil and fidget spinners

anush u do not want to know where my mind went when i saw this.., here’s something a little uhgg more jesus than that

Harder by dangoghsword count: 950A/N: basically j dnp as fourteen yr old fbois except my word choice makes it sound kinda ;) dirty,, also sorry for the Lot of stereotyping but ive met plenty of ppl just like this and it doesn’t have any actual harm so ——–Dan and Phil were sweating viciously in concentration. Their fingers were entwined around two identical fidget spinners. One red and one blue. Fire and water. Life and death. All was silent.A crowd of friends were surrounding them, but they didn’t matter. It was only dan and phil and the spinners and the moment. Oh my god, it was glorious. They stared at each other from across the table passionately, two tigers in a duel of fatality. This was it. The two top spinner masters in the whole eighth grade. Finally brought together for a face off. A battle to end all battles. Spinners of godly descent. God knows what was about to happen.The rules were very clear. Their mutual bro, Bro McBro, gripping his snap-back in one hand which he had taken off in respect of the masters, recited they a last time. “Attention, spinner amateaurs and warriors from all across this realm. It is time for the duel we have been looking forward to for the past two hours because our attention span is very short and I forgot what I was looking forward to before that. I will now state the laws of fidget spinner warfare, although I am sure all of you know them by heart. But first, give it up for the MIGHTY LADY PLAYER AND BALLER, MASTER OF KIK, CALL OF DUTY WARFARE VETERAN, HOMEROOM 8F, DAAAAN HOWELLLL!!!!”Dan stood up and displayed his masculinity by punching everyone in the chest while screeching “YAAAAAS!!!” His bros passed around the spinner, blessing it with kisses. He was pumped!“And up against him, the WALKING ADIDAS MAGAZINE, ULTIMATE STREAK KEEPER AND HEART BREAKER, OWNING FIVE PAIRS OF THE SAME SHOES, PHIIIIILLLLL LEESSTERRERR!!!!” Phil too punched all his bros in the stomach, a ritual of the bro code. He screamed, rivaling Dan’s ‘yas’ in annoyingness, “YEEEEEEEEEET!” while his loyal bros chanted “YA! YA! YA!”McBro continued, quieting everyone down. “Okay. Firstly, no playin, because you get dishonor and all your streaks broken if you break these rules.” The spinner masters nodded in understanding. “You get thirty seconds to spin your weapons on this fine cafeteria table. Then, we wait. The wielder with the longest spin wins eternal respect and likes on his instagram photos.” The small bro-crowd reveled in the glory of the reward. “Understood?” Dan and phil, consumed with energy, simply nodded again. They placed their snapbacks together on the side of the table, a sign of friendship. Their bond would not be broken by this duel. They stopped absentmindedly twisting the spinners in their palms and placed them on the table. Dan, red. Phil, blue. “Ready,” cried McBro. “Set!” “Go!”Dan and phil spun their spinners so fast that the chants of their bros faded into the distance. Spin, spin, spin. “HARDER!” McBro shouted. “HAAAARDER!” They kept spinning until the thirty seconds were up. It was time to wait. Dan clenched his teeth and phil used his hand to remove a lock of his hair that was straying onto his sweaty forehead. SPIN! SPIN! SPIN! “YEEEEZ!” Dan squealed. He loved his spinner so much, he trusted it, he was infatuated with it, and it was not disappointing him. He was going to win! But phil, he was thinking the same thing!! His blue spinner looked like a blue eye. It was spinning so fast that all the nuts and bolts of the trinket blurred together! “UNNHHHHHH!” Phil grunted. He was elated with pleasure. The boys moaned in satisfaction, both delighted by how their respective spinners were going like lightning. “YES! YES! DONT STOP!” The bros cheered. This was something absolutely amazing!Over a minute had passed and the spinners were still going strong. They were both groaning ferociously over the intensity of the competition. “FUCK!” Dan yelped, and parted his legs because fuckboys sit like that sometimes for no reason. His red spinner was fire, a volcanic bundle of everything dan lived for, he cheered for it so hard in those moments.The bros were shouting, “UAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHHH!” They were overcome with how fast the spinners were going. But then finally, they were starting to slow down! The “UHGGAH” turned into an “OOOOAHAHAHHH!!!” Suspense built up urgently. Phil lusted for victory. His only lecheries, desires, libidos were about this duel. Dan wailed when his spinner began failing him. The agony! The pain! He parted his legs even more! He grinded his nails into the table, in hope Phil’s spinner would slow as well, but no such thing. And then it was almost over… both spinners were at the pace of a waddle, but Phil’s was still faster. Sabotage was not an option, so dan just sat still and inwardly sighed. His heart was torn in half as his spinner finally came to a halt, after three minutes of overwhelming feelings. He had cried, he had laughed. But now, it was the end.Phil was maniacally screaming. He had won! He was so joyful that tears were grinding into his cheekbones. He was the master of the eighth grade. The tiger, the dragon, the honor. He licked his fidget spinner, sending his bros into another wave of whoops. Then he climbed onto the lunch table with no mercy for dans misery, and beat his chest like a gorilla. Dans heart was also being hit by these blows, but it was okay. They were bros. No, they were more than bros. But that’s a tale for another day.

[flippyphil]

The Boy With The Beautiful Blue Eyes {Phan}

read it on ao3: [x]

Relationship: Dan Howell/Phil Lester Word Count: 2200+ Summary: “Dan never saw eyes so blue or so beautiful. They were more captivating than anyone else’s and Dan felt like he was both drowning and floating in them.”

in which Dan falls head over heels for an artist with amazing eyes

Dan Howell had it all. He was the king of his high school, captain of the rugby team and dating the head cheerleader. He was a cardboard cutout of every perfect jock in a cheesy teen movie. He was the one that the nerdy girl-turned hot would fall head over heels for.

He had everything he could want and he knew it. He and his two best friends, PJ and Chris, had the perfect high school careers. No one could take them down.

That’s what Dan believed, anyways.

“Danny,” purred Clara, her slim fingers were twirling around in his dark brown hair, “you are coming over tonight, aren’t you?”

Dan’s lips found their way to his girlfriend’s neck, sucking it softly, not hard enough to leave a mark but enough to make her squeal.

“I wish I could, baby,” he replied, his hand around her waist, holding her tightly to him, “but you know my dad’s coming home today. Me, him and my brother are gonna have dinner with him.”

Clara pouted, her lower lip jutting far out for effect, “that’s not fair, Dannybear, you never come over anymore.”

Dan chuckled, sheepishly, “I know, lovely, I’ve been busy lately. But we will…get together…soon.”

Clara opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by the shrill of the bell. Dan smiled at her and winked before bounding off to his fourth-period class.

Art was his fourth-period class and, coincidentally, his favorite. He loved drawing people, especially eyes. Dan always believed eyes were so captivating, the different colors, the way the pupils dart around when they’re looking.

Dan didn’t love Clara, but he did love her eyes. They were dark green, hypnotizing. He could stare at them all day, which she usually mistook for a loving gaze.

The sad truth was, Dan was a lonely king. He pretended to be the best of the best, the best rugby player, the most handsome. Inside, though, Dan was longing to escape high school and leave the dump behind.

He liked to believe he was made for more than to be a high-school has-been. He imagined a future for himself that was no longer fake, suave smiles or fist bumps. To marry someone with substance (and beautiful eyes) instead of someone he was expected to.

As Dan was opening his art portfolio, someone sat down in the seat next to him. Someone Dan had never seen before. He looked over and the boy was staring down the tables, a pack of oil pastels in his hands. His hands were dirty, paint and charcoal covering his pale skin. The hands of an artist.

He had dark black hair that covered his ears.

The boy shifted in his chair and a few colored pencils rolled out of his backpack. Dan leaned down and picked them up. He tapped the new boy on his shoulder.

When the boy turned around, Dan’s heart stopped beating. His face was well drawn, a sharp nose framed it together. A pair of big, round glasses sat on the bridge of it, slightly crooked in an endearing way.

But his eye. His fucking eyes.

They were blue, a deep, icy blue. Like a cold pool in the middle of summer or a melting pond in the arctic.

Dan never saw eyes so blue or so beautiful. They were more captivating than anyone else’s and Dan felt like he was both drowning and floating in them.

“Can I help you?” the boy asked, pleasantly.

With a shaky hand, Dan held out the colored pencils.

“These…these rolled out of your backpack.”

Beautiful-eyed boy took them from Dan’s hand and inspected them, using one finger to push his glasses further up his nose. He looked up, mystic blue eyes locking in Dan’s and gave a wide open-mouthed smile.

“Thank you! I’m Phil Lester, by the way.”

“Dan Howell,” Dan replied. Phil shook his hand and looked away. Dan glanced down at his palm to see it was covered in all the colors Phil had on his. He felt his cheeks growing hotter and hotter.

As Dan buttoned up his nice black shirt in front of his full-length mirror, all his thoughts were filled with Phil Lester. More specifically, his eyes. His eyes would be the death of Dan Howell.

Rest in Peace Dan Howell, he thought, he lived a good life. Loved brother, son and rugby player. Death via a beautiful boy and his goddamn eyes.

“Dan!” his mother called, just as Dan was tugging on his socks and slipping his sneakers on, “your father’s car is outside! You better come quick, he’s double parked.”

Dan heaved a sigh as he walked down the stairs. Adrian was already at the bottom of the stairs and tapping his foot, impatiently, waiting for Dan.

“Have fun you too,” his mom smiled, kissing Dan’s forehead and Adrian’s cheek.

It was a messy divorce, his mom and his dad fought too much. They were both good people, but their personalities clashed far too often. It was mutual too, but that didn’t ease any of the pain that Dan felt when his parents told them they were splitting.

It made no sense to Dan, how two people could declare their undying love for each other and vow their lives to one another and just…take it back. Love is love, Dan thinks, and it should be unbroken. Too bad Mom and Dad don’t think that way.

He and Adrian made their way to their Dad’s maroon car. Dan got in the passenger’s seat and Adrian in the back. His father smiled at the two, fist-bumped Dan and high-fives Adrian and they headed out to the diner.

Adrian was babbling about some middle school affair that Dan couldn’t care less about. His elbow was on the car window and his face was pressed into the palm of his hand. As he stared out, watching cars and buildings zoom by, his and began to wander to Phil Lester, as it had the entirety of the day.

He wondered if anyone ever had a heart attack from seeing Phil’s eyes, dying instantly. Dan bitterly wished that had happened to him because now he was suffering. All he wanted to do was kiss those rosy lips that bent into a perfect smile and god, just get lost in those eyes for hours.

When Dan walked into art class the next day, he gave a half smile when Phil was already sitting next to his seat.

“Hi,” Phil said, opening his portfolio and pulling out a picture of a flower vase. Dan peered over at it and laughed.

“Why just the vase?”

Phil shrugged, “I couldn’t find flowers pretty enough to put in the vase.”

Dan was silent. Phil wasn’t a normal new kid, not desperate to get in with a good crowd. His art spoke numbers though, the coloring especially.

“Alright class, today we’re going to start a new project. And it’s a partner project!”

Dan’s breath hitched and he looked over at Phil, “do you…wanna be partners?”

Phil gave him that smile again, the million dollar one which made Dan want to jump out the window, right then and there.

“Sure!”

“The project is a joint painting. You have to work together, really make your art style flow together to look like one, cohesive painting. You may take it home if you don’t finish it by the end of class…BEGIN!”

Phi stands up and comes back with a paint palate. It’s filled with light yellow and pink pastels. Mint green and dark green. And blue, an icy blue. Just like his eyes, Dan thinks, his breath softening.

“I thought,” Phil brushes at his bangs, shyly, “we could paint some flowers. Y’know…for my empty vase.”

Dan looks at him and beams as well (god, this boy makes me a weak sap), “good idea. Start sketching it?”

Dan finds their art styles blend together perfectly, they compliment each other to the point where it seems like one, talented artists had done it instead of two teenagers who barely know each other.

It makes Dan happy, to see Phil’s gorgeous eyes with a determined set to them. The way he sticks his tongue out slightly in concentration, his west flicking back and forth as he paints.

Dan feels a blush creeping up his neck and coloring his eyes a light pink as his hand nudges Phil’s accidentally, and their paintbrushes hit.

Phil looks up, a red blush dusting his cheeks as well. Then, he giggled (this really is the day I die, Dan swoons to himself) and continued to work.

They didn’t end up finishing in class, to Phil invites Dan to his house. Dan drives him.

They sit in Dan’s fancy silver sports car, Phil’s hands are held together in his lap and he stares straight ahead.

“It’s a nice car,” Phil comments, fiddling with the lock on the door. Dan chuckles, backing out of his parking spot.

“I suppose it is. My parents got it for me, sort of a ‘sorry we’re splitting up, take a car’ present.”

“You’re parents are separated?” Phil asks, peering at Dan with wide, curious eyes. Dan notes in his mental filing cabinet that when he wants to know something, Phil’s eyes almost glow. Like an aquamarine gem in direct sunlight.

“Yeah, but it’s okay. I guess. I don’t understand it, but I live with it.”

“Ah,” Phil says and the two head out on the road, Phil directing Dan where to go.

“Phil? Is that you?” a woman’s voice rings out from what seems to be the kitchen. Dan and Phil slip their shoes off and Phil’s mother comes out. She spots Dan and her happy expression turns into a suggestive one, as she winks at Phil, “oh! I see you brought a friend…”

Phil’s eyes widen and he shakes his head, groaning, “oh god, MOM! He’s my art partner!”

Dan chuckles and extends his hand, “I’m Dan Howell,”

“Ooh, good manners too,” she says, her handshake was firm. Then, she nudged Phil, “he’s a keeper.”

“I’m sorry about my mom,” Phil said, once they got to his room. His walls were lined with posters and drawings, along with strings of fairy lights, “she thinks that because I’m gay, she should set me up with every good-looking boy in existence.”

Dan laughed, “it’s nice your mom cares…also, thank you, I have been told my looks are second to none.”

Phil blushed at the comment, but then began to set up their supplies on the floor. Dan was staring at him all the while.

He liked to pick up on small details. Like the tiny, hardly noticeable freckles that dotted the tip of his nose. Or how his hair would fall, shadowing his eyes when he leaned down.

But when he looked up, Dan’s heart would always pound a million times a second. Dan noticed there were specks of green floating around in the blue ocean. They were like two perfectly set sapphires, adorning an already perfect face.

“You’re staring at me,” Phil’s voice was hushed and his fingers come to Dan’s cheeks, “again. Do I have something on your face?”

“W-what?” Dan was flustered as he struggled to find a reason to give, though there really was no explanation there, “no, no! I was just…um…”

“Dan,” Phil looked up, he was holding a long paintbrush and you could almost see the shyness radiating from his lovely pupils, “I’ve seen you staring at me, ever since you met. Why?”

Dan let out a shaky breath, “your eyes. They’re, um, they’re almost hypnotizing…it’s a little crazy actually and I-“

“Everyone in the school says to watch out for Dan Howell,” Phil cut him off, fiddling with the paintbrush, “that he rules the school. You’re the king, don’t give two shits to anyone. But then I meet you, and you stare at me. And it’s so tender…and I start to wonder. I wonder if you’re really the Dan Howell everyone says you are.”

“Phil,” Dan begins, then he realizes he has no explanation. None, except for one. He was in love with Phil, he wanted to stare at his eyes forever. So he doesn’t the most rational thing possible, he kisses Phil Lester.

Phil’s eyes fly open in shock when their lips meet. Then, he closes then and his warm lips begin to kiss back.

Dan’s fingers inch their way towards Phil’s hair, running through the soft tufts on the nape of Phil’s neck. His kiss is deep, passionate and Dan focuses on channeling every ounce of emotion he feels towards Phil in the kiss.

He knows Phil can feel it because Phil its out a soft moan and then a giggle. That same giggle that has the power to paralyze Dan. Phil’s still holding the paintbrush and it tapes against Dan’s back, Phil’s arm was slung over Dan’s shoulder.

They kissed and they kissed and it seemed like time stopped. It wasn’t like when Dan kissed Clara or any other girl at the school. It was special, because what Dan felt for Phil was real.

He was the mysterious new boy, who drew vases that were empty and was kind. The one that read people like a magazine and wasn’t afraid to confront the most popular boy in school. He and his beautiful eyes had drawn Dan in and it was fucking real.

When they pulled apart, they were breathless. Their foreheads pressed together and Dan rubbed his thumb underneath Phil’s right eye.

“So are we gonna draw some flowers for your vase now, or what?” Dan asks, and Phil laughs.

Dan’s flower is blue. The same blue of the boy he fell in love with.

[auroraphilealis]

The Summer (30/33)

The Summer (30/33) | Dan Howell has spent the last three summers at Camp Bergamot, but it’s never been quite like this before. This year, he faces a summer full of new friends, a new relationship, and an entirely new view on his own sexuality. Perhaps Camp Bergamot should be renamed camp self discovery for all the changes Dan has gone through, but one thing’s for sure - despite all the hiccups and the drama, he just might have found the love of his life. | Phan | Mature | Smut, Misunderstandings, Insecurity, Panic Attacks, Bullying, Minor Violence, Physical Fight | 300,000+ Words

Disclaimer: In no way do I claim that this is real or cast aspersions on Dan or Phil.

This Part: 17,670 Words

For reference, @botanistlester is Dan, @snowbunnylester is Phil.

(Previous) (AO3) (Masterlist)

Warnings: shmoop, fluff, coming out, teasing, dirty talk, humor

Chapter Thirty

Three Weeks Later

"Straighten your collar, come on Philip! This is your first date! Why couldn't Dan meet you here? I wanted to take pictures of the two of you together!" Phil's mum was complaining, bustling about Phil and trying to fix his fringe for him, adjusting his clothes despite the fact that he wasn't even that dressed up. Dan had told him it was casual dressy, and that he didn't need to wear a suit or anything. This was just them. So Phil was dressed in a nice blue button up with little heart patterns on the fabric, and his cleanest pair of skinny jeans so dark that they could have passed for black dress pants. Still, his mum would not stop fussing over him.

"He said the place was closer to his house, and you know how he is. Lazy," Phil teased. Phil's mum gasped, and smacked Phil on the arm, but she quickly found herself laughing as well because it was true. Dan was rather lazy, and he'd not even tried to hide that fact from Phil's mum, who he'd charmed quite quickly the moment they first met.

Coming out to his mum hadn't been a difficult thing at all for Phil, and she knew more about Phil's relationship with Dan than Dan's parents did. While Dan had stayed true to his word and had agreed to let Phil tell his mum almost immediately about Dan, Phil had always allowed Dan to have the time he needed to come out to his own. Phil's mum was well aware of this, and tip toed around the subject because she knew how hard these kinds of things were, but Phil also knew that she was excited for the moment when the two of them could feel more free in their relationship. Phil didn't care either way, and when he was at Dan's house, they got away with quite a bit.

They got away with a lot at home, as well, but only because Phil was nearly seventeen and his mum knew that she couldn't' stop them from doing stuff, but it was... almost like being back at camp when they had sex at Dan's house. There was the whole idea of being caught weighing on their minds that made everything seem so much hotter, in a way. He liked doing those things at Dan's house; needing to stay quiet, and muffling Dan by shoving his face into the pillows.

Phil shook his head, focusing back on his mum. With a heavy sigh, she stood in front of him with crossed arms and said, "Alright, fine. You're ready to go. Have a good time, honey, and don't be back too late. I just. I'm so happy for you," she said, and leaned in to kiss Phil's cheek with tears in her eyes. A lump formed in Phil's throat, and he almost wanted to cry as well. He and Dan had been dating for two months now, school was about to start, and they were just barely going on their first date. But he was happy. He was so, so happy that he thought he could burst.

"Me too, mum. Me too."

After another few wet kisses from his mum, and a tearful goodbye filled promise to please take a photo of him and Dan before they messed up their looks for his mum's benefit, Phil was finally able to head out and over to Dan's. He was walking because he couldn't drive yet, and he'd been too embarrassed to ask him mum to drive him fifteen minutes away to Dan's house. Besides, Phil had made this walk on more than one occasion, and it wasn't like it was very far or hard at all. The sun was just beginning to set on the horizon, painting the sky a beautiful pink and purple as the last rays started to disappear, and it was kind of chilly out, but Phil didn't mind.

Walking to Dan's was always a good time as it allowed Phil to psych himself up for seeing Dan's parents. They seemed to like him well enough, but he tended to be stiff in an attempt to hide his relationship with Dan, which he found difficult to do when all he could ever think about was how many times he'd fucked Dan right under their noses. He was always blushing, and while he'd made Dan's parents laugh on more than one occasion, he was fairly certain they saw him as that weird kid who was Dan's friend. It was okay, though. Phil didn't mind so much. So long as they were okay with it when Dan did eventually decide to come out to them.

As Phil had thought, it didn't take all that long for him to reach the Howell household, and he was growing more and more nervous with each step. He didn't know why he was so nervous, though - he and Dan had been together for just about two months, now, and it wasn't as if this was them trying to decide if they wanted to be together or not. They were dating sure, and this was their first real date, fine, but... but Phil knew Dan loved him. That was a lot more than most people had on their first dates.

Still, he was terrified somehow he was going to mess this all up just by being himself. Phil didn't even know how to go on a date, and he'd been both excited and terrified for tonight for the last month. He'd known it was coming, but when Dan had brought it up last Monday, Phil had started to sweat. It was Friday night now, a few days out from school starting, and he was nervous as all hell. At least there was less terror than if he’d thought he actually needed to impress Dan's parents any more than normal. He was just that awkward friend of Dan's.

Once Phil had rounded the corner onto Dan's doorstep, he rang their doorbell and waited patiently for Dan to answer.

**

Dan took a deep breath. He was practically quivering in his shoes, his hands shaking as he straightened out his shirt. He was nervous, his heart pounding in his chest and his entire body feeling as if it was vibrating at high velocity. He was going on a date with Phil tonight, one of their very firsts, and he was dressed in his moth button up and dark skinny jeans in attempt to look nice. His hair was straightened to perfection, and he even made sure to iron out his shirt. In all honesty, there was nothing that could make this day go bad. He'd been dating Phil for two months now, knew him like the back of his hand, so there should literally be nothing to scare him. Except that wasn't true. Not right now, at least. Because today was the day that he's decided to come out to his parents.

It'd taken the entire rest of the summer for him to get up the guts to finally do this. He knew that they wouldn't necessarily mind because they were pretty open-minded, but coming out was fucking scary, especially if you grew up your entire life thinking you were a heterosexual male. His hesitation had only increased as he realized how amazing it was that his parents didn't know who he was dating. They loved Phil, often asked Dan when Phil was going to come over again, and didn't ask him to leave his bedroom door open or tell them to sleep in different beds. Obviously, this was only fueling Dan on to keep it hidden for longer. He wanted to relish in his hidden relationship for a while, wanted some time to let his parents live in peaceful oblivion while Phil fucked their son senseless behind a closed door. To his parents, a closed door just meant they were playing video games. But to Dan and Phil, that was an opportunity for Dan to get his hands all over Phil in every way that he possibly could. So of course he didn't want to rush the news. However, he figured that he'd waited long enough.

Phil was more than he could have asked for, never pressuring Dan to come out to his family and just allowing him to do it on his own terms. For this, Dan thought he owed it to Phil. So in commemoration of their first date, Dan was going to do it. He was going to tell his parents he was dating Phil before Phil showed up to his house. He loved Phil and he wanted to be able to show that. With thirty minutes remaining until Phil arrived, Dan made his way to the lounge where his parents were watching television. They eyed him curiously as Dan came to stand in front of the telly, nerves making him thread his fingers together.

"Son? You okay?" Dan's father asked, and Dan took a deep breath and nodded.

"I need to talk to you both about something."

Dan gulped as his parents continued to stare curiously at him. He followed his mum with his eyes as she reached for the remote and turned off the television, somehow knowing that he wanted to talk about something rather serious.

"You know you can always talk to us about anything," Dan's mum told him with earnest. He was grateful that she'd brought that up, but he still was unsure how they would react if they knew that their son was in a relationship with another man. That their son was banging another man. His hands shook and he stuffed them in the pocket of his jeans, taking a deep breath. His eyes flitted around the room, trying to look anywhere but at them. The best thing to do in a situation like this was to just spit it out. Beating around the bush would only make it worse.

"I'm dating someone," he blurted out. Dan's face immediately turned red and he couldn't help but be embarrassed by it. Of course he couldn't just blurt out that the person he was dating was Phil, no matter how much he had prepared for it.

His mom's voice was soft when she spoke up, "I'm happy for you, Dan. Who is it?"

Dan gulped and fidgeted a bit. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest and his blood roaring through his veins. They wouldn't be disappointed, he knew that, but it might come off as a shock. He just didn't want to disappoint anybody.

"It- Phil?" Dan squeaked.

Everything stopped. He could hear his mother let out a breath at the same time as his father inhaled. Not being able to help himself, Dan finally stopped to gauge their expressions, wondering if they were disappointed. His father had wide eyes and his mother just seemed as if she was thinking long and hard. It was his father who let out a laugh first, one that was surprised and breathy, and then he was standing up and bringing Dan into a hug. Dan froze, eyes wide. This... this was good, right?

"I should have known there was something weird about you boys locking yourselves in your room whenever he came over," Dan's father chuckled.

"Stephen!" Dan's mum gasped, but then she was crowding into the hug as well, making Dan into a sandwich between his two parents. "Thank you for telling us," his mum murmured finally. "I'm proud of you."

Dan sniffled, so overcome with the emotion that his parents were accepting, and he had to press his fingers to his cheeks to cool himself down. "We're going on our first actual date today," Dan whispered. "He'll be here soon I think."

With one last squeeze, his parents finally released him and backed away with identical smiles. Dan was so grateful that they were so accepting of him, even though he knew he had nothing to worry about in the first place.

"You don't have any money!" Dan's father berated him, and then pulled out his wallet, handing Dan a couple of bills. "Here. It's not much but you can at least buy the boy a nice milkshake or something."

With his parents blessings, Dan felt a lot more at ease about his date now. His mum was fussing over his hair, asking him why he didn't wear a nicer shirt, and claiming that she had to get a picture of him and Phil on their first date together. Dan just went with it, his entire body warm from the acceptance. He didn't think there would be anything that could possibly ruin his high right then. He had a wonderful boyfriend who he was about to take on his first date, and he had accepting parents who allowed him to be exactly who he wanted to be without telling him that he should be feeling differently.

Then the doorbell rang and Dan couldn't help his hands from doing that dumb fidgety thing again.

"Go answer it!" Dan's mum hissed excitedly, nudging Dan towards the door.

Dan took a deep breath. How was he going to act around Phil now that his parents knew they were a thing? Should he kiss him? Hold his hand? Dan didn't know, but he did know that he liked being dramatic.

With that thought in mind, Dan walked over to the door and flung it open with a smile on his face. "Phil," he breathed, eyes raking over his boyfriend's appearance. Immediately, those blue eyes were calming Dan down. He knew that he wanted nothing more in the world than to be with Phil like this. "You look stunning, as always." With that, he leaned forward and kissed Phil's cheek, smiling as he felt the skin heat up under his touch and a confused noise tear from Phil's mouth.

Dan's front door opened up directly into the living room, and Phil was used to seeing either his mum or his dad or both of them sitting on the couch and waving hello whether Phil was going to come inside or not. That meant that usually, when Dan answered the door to come and get him, the usual greeting was a quick hey and either a bye to his parents, or a welcome into Dan's home where Dan then took off with him upstairs. Tonight, Dan not only gave him a very obvious once over and complimented him, but he leaned in and kissed Phil on the cheek rather deliberately and sweetly. Phil blurted out a surprised sounding noise, and turned startled, terrified eyes onto Dan's parents, both of whom were indeed standing in the middle of the living room, both with wide grins on their faces. Phil's cheeks turned a darker red as he noticed the camera in Dan's mum's hands, and he felt his palms start to sweat with even more nerves as he realized they knew. They knew. Phil's heart was racing fast in his chest, and he darted his gaze from his overly excited boyfriend and back to his parents a few times over before he kind of slumped into himself and tried for a shy smile. "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Howell," he greeted with a short wave. "Uhm. So. I take it Dan told you, then?" he asked, awkward as ever and already wanting to shove his face into his hands in humiliation. Why was he so terrible at talking to other people?

It took Phil a maximum of two seconds to realize what was going on. Dan saw the confusion flit over his face, followed by realization and then embarrassment. Embarrassment for what? Dan didn't know. He was afraid that he'd done something wrong, that he wasn't supposed to tell his parents, but that quickly diminished when Phil greeted his parents. Of course Phil would feel a bit awkward about something like that. Dan had just gone up and surprised him with a kiss on the cheek with no warning whatsoever. He was bound to be feeling rather confused right then. Dan's parents just laughed at Phil's awkward tone though, and Dan took this as his chance to weave an arm around Phil's waist, holding him as close as he could without being weird in front of his parents. "Dan's told us!" Dan's mum chirped, and she quickly walked over to Phil and dragged him away from Dan's arms and into an embrace of her own. "We're glad that Dan's found someone that can make him as happy as you can. You know you're always welcome here, Phil." Dan giggled and grabbed ahold of Phil's arm, trying to pull his boyfriend away from her tight grip. "Mum, stop trying to steal my boyfriend from me!" And boy, was that a weird sentence. Never in a million years did Dan think he was going to say the words 'mum' and 'boyfriend' in the same sentence, but here he was. He didn't have a damn thing to complain about, though.

Phil hadn't exactly been expecting a bad reaction from Dan's parents when they found out that he and Dan were dating, but he hadn't been expecting this either, especially assuming that Dan had told them just how long they'd been dating right under their noses. In a lot of ways. Phil had been expecting Dan's parents to be a lot harsher on their... activities upstairs than Phil's mum was, potentially angry that they'd been keeping their relationship hidden so long and taking advantage of that to have sex upstairs, but that isn't what happened at all. Instead, Dan was pushing his arm around Phil's waist, and then Dan's mum was dragging him into her arms, and then Dan was yanking on his arm and complaining about his mum stealing Dan's boyfriend. Boyfriend. Boyfriend. It wasn't the first time they'd used the word, but it was the first time it had been said around Dan's parents. Phil's cheeks were bright red and he was kind of dizzy with everything that was happening right now. It was hard to digest the fact that Dan's parents were happy, that they didn't have to hide anymore, and Phil had no idea how to hug Mrs. Howell back. It was silly, but he was nervous as hell when his arms finally came up to embrace her lightly. "Ah - uhm. Thank you?" he tried. "I uhm. I really uh. Well, love your son," he admitted shyly when Mrs. Howell finally let him go, allowing Dan to draw Phil back to his side and hold him close. Phil's skin buzzed all over, and he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. He'd never been introduced to someone's parents as a love interest before, and it was more terrifying than he'd ever anticipated it would be. That didn't change just how freaking happy he was that it was happening, and a smile finally found itself twisting at the corners of his mouth.

Dan could tell that Phil was nervous by the stuttered words that came out of his mouth when he tried to speak to Dan's mum. Dan couldn't lie. He was beaming, absolutely shining with the happiness that he was able to finally tell the entire world about his relationship with Phil. They could finally go on a date like they'd been talking about since they'd first started dating, and they no longer had to worry about sneaking around without his parent's knowledge. He did suspect that his parents would want to have a sex talk with them, but they'd never been too strict about that sort of thing, so Dan was comfortable and confident about his sex life. Hopefully they would still allow them to have their sleepovers, though. Dan's mum laughed as Dan drew his boyfriend back into his side, trying to make Phil a little less nervous. "You two have fun now, alright?" His mum said, grinning happily at the two of them. Then she threw her hands up, seemingly remembering something. "Oh! Let me get a picture of you on your first date!" Dan groaned, but really he was happy about it. He liked thinking about what Phil looked like next to him, how they would suit each other and how they were happy in the other's presence. So they shuffled around until Dan's mum was happy with their placement. Dan put his arm around Phil's waist and Phil put his arm around his shoulder, drawing Dan into his side. Pictures were taken and Dan's cheeks hurt from smiling so widely. And then they were out the door, a bounce in Dan's step as he led them away from his house and towards the burger joint just a few blocks away.

The next few moments seemed to happen so fast that Phil was merely unable to keep up. His head was spinning and he knew he was smiling, and the flash of a camera kept going off as Dan shifted and maneuvered Phil the way he wanted him, but mostly, Phil was just staring at Dan. Dan. His Dan, so strong that he'd told his parents about Phil just before their first date in a way that reassured Phil that it didn't matter what anyone thought of their relationship - Dan was never going to let him go. Dan really, really wasn't ever going to let him go, regardless of anyone else opinions. If tonight had not gone well, Phil was confident Dan still would have taken him on this date, and that was everything. The second that Phil was released from Dan's mum's hold, and Dan was dragging him outside and down the street, Phil seemed to come back to himself. Dan's hand was in Phil's, fingers wrapped up tight, and there was a brick wall up at the corner up ahead that Phil was definitely about to take advantage of. They were both smiling so widely that neither boy even questioned the sudden lack of conversation, and then they were rounding the corner and Phil was shoving Dan up against the wall, crowding into his personal space and sliding between his legs. Their faces were close enough together that Phil could feel Dan's breath against his lips. "I can't believe you did that," he whispered, his hands coming up to brace himself on the wall either side of Dan's head. He laughed, bright and happy, and then nuzzled in close. "I can't believe you did that for me." And then they were kissing, hot and wet and good.

As they made their way down the street, the aura around the two boys was giddy with excitement. Dan could hardly help the gigantic smile from taking over his face, and he didn't try to stifle it at all, unbelievably happy that this entire night was going so well so far. Honestly, even if the date went badly (which honestly wasn't possible if he was with Phil), then Dan still counted this night as a success, if only because he got to show his parents the love of his life and finally got to show Phil how much he meant to him. He was so wrapped up in his happiness that it came as a complete shock to him when Phil was suddenly pushing him up against the brick wall, so close that Dan could feel Phil's breath against his lips. His eyes were wide, but as Phil spoke, Dan's face split into another large grin. "I did it for you!" Dan giggled, and then a bit quieter, "I did it for us." When Phil smashed their lips together, right in the middle of the pavement where anyone could see, Dan wasn't surprised in the least. He even welcomed it. No longer did they have to hide in fear of Dan's parents finding out. No longer did they have to keep their relationship confined to the bedroom. They were free, and Dan showed it in the way he opened himself to Phil completely, let him explore his mouth with his hot tongue despite it being a tad messy. Dan gripped onto Phil's shirt hard and pulled him closer, pressing their bodies together as tight as he could possibly manage. "God, I love you so much," Dan gasped, breaking away briefly to catch his breath only to surge back in for another kiss.

It was the first time they were free to do this in public, the first time Phil had been offered the chance to kiss Dan, really kiss Dan, where anyone could see them since they'd left camp, and it was wonderful. Phil felt free in the best way, and while the thrill of being caught had always been good to Phil, the thrill of being open now was even better. Dan opened up to him completely as well, allowing Phil to show him just how happy he was, and while the kiss was a bit messy and wet, neither boy seemed to mind. Phil let out a gasp when Dan pulled away, heart swelling in his chest to hear those words said so openly, and then they were kissing again. This time, Phil crowded in even further against him, pressing his body fully to Dan's, uncaring who might pass by. He just needed to be close, to show Dan just how happy he was. It was like something had come full circle and Phil's unavoidable final fears had been erased. The feeling was... liberating.

Phil didn't stop kissing him, no matter how many people walked past them. Dan liked that. He liked it so much that he nearly didn't want it to end. He just kept kissing Phil until his lips were hurting and he was sure that there was gross saliva trailing down his chin. Neither boys really cared in the slightest about that. The happiness of coming out to Dan's parents was taking over every other emotion, taking over every other thought, and Dan couldn't bring himself to care about anything else. Phil felt good against him. Good and right and real. Not like it wasn't real before, of course, but now they were able to kiss whenever they wanted, to touch whenever they pleased, and Dan was going to take full advantage of that. He only pulled away once he began to grow a little bit aroused, not wanting to do anything of that sort in front of the entire world. He was panting when he leaned his forehead on Phil's shoulder, his hands bunched tightly in Phil's shirt. "If we don't stop now, I won't be able to hold myself back from pouncing on you later," Dan whined. He felt Phil laugh lightly and smiled as well, lifting his head to give Phil one last chaste kiss. "Ready for the best date you'll ever go on?"

They kissed for what felt like ages, Dan making small, wonderful mewling noises against Phil while Phil held himself back from making much noise himself. Instead, he just kind of hummed, hands moving from caging Dan in, to pressing against his hips, holding him in place when Phil started to realize they were both getting a bit excited. Phil didn't want to stop though - he just felt so happy. That horrible insecure part of him felt sated, at least for now, that there was no way Dan was going to change his mind about being attracted to Phil or whatever, and that no one was going to change his mind. It made Phil feel relaxed in a way he hadn't realized he wasn't, and he felt badly about the whole thing, but he and Dan had been carefully chipping away at his insecurities for ages now. It only made sense that the more time went one, the better Phil would feel. Eventually, though, after they'd been making out for however long, Dan pulled away with a whine, dropping his forehead onto Phil's shoulders and making it more than apparent that he needed to stop. Phil giggled at him, and nuzzled at the top of his head, feeling a little dizzy with desire himself right then. "Maybe I want you to pounce on me later," Phil murmured in response, and then pulled away to give them both some space, wiping at his mouth and blushing a bit as he realized that things had most definitely gotten very intense. He cleared his throat, and then offered Dan his hand, grinning at the way Dan looked unsteady on his feet. "Boy am I ever. You gonna show me a good time tonight, Howell?" he teased.

Dan laughed, throwing his head back and letting his head hit the brick wall behind him. In reality, what Phil said wasn't even that funny, but Dan was just in a giddy mood and wanted to let out all of his energy, to show the world just how happy he was. "I may have to take you up on that offer then," Dan replied, smiling as he allowed Phil to tangle their fingers together. In all of the time that they'd been together, Dan was still not used to holding Phil's hand, and he wondered if he ever would be. Phil's hands were just so delicate, so smooth in his own that they just fit together perfectly. As dumb or as cliche as it may sound, they felt like two puzzle pieces clicking together. "I'm gonna show you such a good time tonight," Dan giggled, taking the shit with how sexual in nature the sentence sounded. He started to tug them away, back towards their destination where they would be able to have their very first date. Their first date. Dan couldn't believe that he was finally able to have this with Phil. He'd been waiting for this for what seemed like ages. After only a few moments of walking and swinging their arms between them, Dan stopped them in front of the restaurant, holding his arms out wide as if revealing a huge secret. "Viola! We have arrived!" It wasn't even a very expensive place, just a burger restaurant that wouldn't hurt Dan's wallet too much, but it was homey and comfortable and perfect for them. Dan just hoped Phil would think so too.

Phil rolled his eyes at how ridiculous and giddy his boyfriend was acting, but he didn't really hate it. In fact, he felt just as shamelessly giddy, laughing softly and staring at Dan with the sweetest gaze he could muster, like Dan hung the moon - which Phil honestly thought that he did. Soon enough, they were walking on, with Phil marveling at how big and warm Dan's hand was in his. The other male tended to feel so much smaller than Phil - in stature more than anything else - but his hands had always been all encompassing. It was a good feeling, a warm, strengthening one that reminded Phil just how yin and yang they were, as if they were soulmates. He'd thought that on more than one occasion, about how they fit each other so perfectly, balanced each other out, held just as much sway in their relationship as the other person. It never felt like Phil was giving more than Dan, because Dan always gave just as much, and it was good. When they finally arrived to their mystery date location, Phil couldn't help laughing, staring up at the sign he knew fairly well. It was a good, well-priced burger joint that Phil had gone to with his family before, and it made Phil feel all warm inside to be going with Dan now. "How'd you know burgers are my favorite thing ever?" Phil teased, secretly jumping for joy but embarrassed to act like an idiot on his first date. First date.

Dan chuckled and winked at Phil, squeezing his hand in his own. "I know many things about you," Dan replied vaguely. He honestly hadn't known that Phil liked burgers this much, but he was glad that he'd at least gotten something right as Phil seemed very pleased to be there. The first phase of their date had gone smoothly enough and Dan couldn't be happier. He opened the door for Phil, bowing and gesturing for Phil to go in with his arm. "After you, m'lady," Dan teased, and watched fondly as Phil laughed, shaking his head, but went inside anyways. He followed close afterwards, immediately reattaching himself to Phil's side and winding his arm around his boyfriend's waist. Soon enough, they were seated in a booth. Dan had opted out of sitting across from Phil and had instead shoved his boyfriend over so that he could sit beside him as close as humanly possible without sitting on his lap.

It was such a new and refreshing thing for Dan to wrap his arm around Phil's waist so publically in a place where it couldn't be misunderstood whether or not they were on a date, and it was so nice that it literally shocked Phil's laughter out of him at Dan being such a fuckboy all the time. His laughter was short lived, however, as he was flushing darkly, grin impossibly wide, as they were seated. Dan did not quit with the couply stuff there, choosing instead to sit right next to Phil on the same side of the booth, thighs so closely pressed together that Dan might as well have been sitting on top of Phil. Phil couldn't find it in himself to complain, and before Dan could do it first, Phil slung his arm around Dan's shoulder, and pulled him in impossibly closer. "Hey," he greeted quietly, turning to look at Dan and finding their faces impossibly close. He giggled and reached up with his free hand to flick Dan on the nose, laughing as Dan went cross eyed and stuck his tongue out at Phil in a clear attempt to make him laugh. "Stop," he complained, rolling his eyes and pulling Dan ever closer, shaking his head at him before pressing a quick kiss to his forehead, amazed he could do that so openly now. Their menu's sat untouched before them, but it was okay, because soon after they were being asked for what they'd like to drink, and Phil was instantly replying with "just water please," because Dan had mentioned paying and Phil didn't want to put him out.

Much to Dan's delight, Phil was slinging an arm around his shoulder, pulling them in close. Dan grinned. "Hi," he replied and then made a funny face as Phil flicked him on the nose. It was lighthearted and easy. Dan didn't have to pretend to be someone he wasn't, didn't have to worry about acting too childish. Phil knew exactly what he was getting into and Dan knew exactly how Phil's mind worked. This date literally couldn't go wrong, not when they both knew so much about each other already. When the waitress interrupted them for their drink orders, Dan shook his head stubbornly as Phil ordered himself a water. He wasn't going to allow that. "He'll have a chocolate shake and I'll have a vanilla," he said, giving Phil a challenging stare. Maybe he would have accepted the water offer before, but now he had a few extra quid in his pocket that his father had told him to use for buying Phil a milkshake, and he was taking full advantage of that. The waitress laughed a little at Dan's demand and agreed, walking away to get the two milkshakes.

Phil pouted immediately upon Dan interrupting his drink choice, and wanted to argue, but there was something about the expression on Dan's face that stopped him. Instead, he squeezed his arm around Dan's shoulder until the waitress left, kind of low-key proud that Dan had remembered just how much Phil loved chocolate. "Dan, you didn't have too," he insisted, once the lady was gone. He bit his lip. "It's not like either of us have jobs. You don't have to go all out for this. I'm just - I'm just happy to be here with you," he insisted, worried that Dan was going to put himself completely out over this. Yeah, they'd both expressed they wanted tonight to be special, but that didn't mean it had to be expensive as well. Just being out and proud about their relationship was enough for Phil, who'd never been treated like he was something special before in his entire life.

Dan couldn't help himself but to smile when Phil expressed his worry over the cost of this date. If it were up to Dan, he would have taken them to a fancier restaurant rather than just a burger place, so he had to just be happy with getting Phil a milkshake. He expressed this much to Phil, tucking himself into his boyfriend's side and kissing his cheek. "If I had more money, I'd be spoiling you so much," Dan told Phil. "Just let me do this for you. You're definitely plenty worth it in my book, and I think I can risk a few extra notes to get you a nice drink." He didn't mention how Dan's father had actually given Dan a few extra quid to buy them milkshakes, but he didn't really think it was that important. "Once I get a job, I swear I'm going to spoil the fuck out of you. And you can't stop me," Dan teased, tickling Phil's side.

Tonight seemed like it was going to be a night of nervous excitement and heart flips, because every time Dan did something couply like kiss him in public, Phil found himself glancing proudly around the room, wanting to show off, and so, so happy that he finally could. He squeezed his arm more firmly around Dan's shoulders, and then squealed as Dan started to tickle his side, squirming against him and trying to get away while simultaneously dragging Dan with him. "Stop it!" he gasped, shaking his head at Dan and laughing uncontrollably. "I give, I give! If you want to spoil me, who am I to stop you?" he begged off, unwilling to let Dan go even to make him stop tickling him. "You're a dork," he complained when Dan finally stopped, gasping a little for air and staring at Dan with shining eyes. One of these days, Phil was going to get a job and spoil the fuck out of Dan, but Dan didn't need to know that now. He could go ahead and think he was the only one with plans. "Fuck, I love you," Phil murmured.

Dan grinned with joy at Phil's words. He was unbelievably happy to be able to spoil Phil, even if 'spoiling him' was just buying him a milkshake. He just wanted Phil to have the best of the best. "I love you more than you could ever know," Dan hummed back, kissing Phil lightly on the lips. Just because he could and because he could never get enough of the feeling. He only broke away when the waitress came back, this time with two delicious looking milkshakes. She set them in front of the boys and her face was overly happy as she asked them if they were ready to order. Dan ended up ordering a burger with bacon on it, which sounded interesting enough, and he couldn't help but to lean further into his boyfriend as she finished taking their orders and walked away to put it into the computer. Dan liked fitting into Phil's side more than anything, even if he was slightly taller than him. He liked to make himself feel smaller just because Phil made him feel protected and warm. It was the best thing in the entire world.

It was automatic to lean into Dan's kiss, to close his eyes and just let Dan have that as he murmured words of endearment and love to Phil, mouth soft and self-assured in it's movements. Phil loved that familiarity, and sighed softly when Dan pulled away, realizing with a blush that he'd only pulled back because he'd heard their waitress re-approaching. Glancing up at her, Phil noticed with relief that she was smiling, and at the very least seemed to find them both cute, her expression one of endearment as she took their orders. Phil picked something familiar, a barbeque monstrosity with bacon and swiss cheese, and grinned as Dan flashed him a wrinkle nosed look from where he'd moved to snuggling into Phil's side. Phil wrapped his arm more securely around Dan again, and leaned down to kiss him lightly on the nose. "So. Is this just a dinner date, then? Or were you planning something more?" he asked, curious but not in the least bit expecting anything. He knew Dan only had so much money, and Phil didn't want to make him go completely broke.

At Phil's question, Dan nodded frantically. He'd been saving up enough money the past month to bring them on a full, proper date, including a dinner date and a movie, doing chores around the house for his parents to work up the price. This way they could both understand a little better what all of those mainstream first dates were like. Plus, he really liked the idea of making out in a movie theatre, but Phil didn't need to know that right now. "I was thinking we could go see a movie after this." Dan turned his head and kissed the part of Phil that was in reach, which just happened to be right below his ear. He felt Phil shiver a bit under his touch and he smirked. "Like one of those corny first dates we always see on television."

Phil couldn't help it. Dan kissing him under his ear made him shiver in the most pleasant of ways, and he wanted nothing more than to turn his head and kiss Dan properly again, only they really shouldn't be getting worked up right now. So instead, he tried to focus on what Dan had said, and found himself smiling. "Yeah?" he asked, "I like the idea of doing something mainstream with you for once," he teased. "Even if it is corny as hell," Phil nudged at Dan playfully again, and then kissed him on the cheek purely because he could, and he was living for how open their relationship could once again be. The secrecy was always fun for a while, but being able to hold Dan in public was so, so much better

"What can I say?" Dan replied smugly, pulling away just so he could wink obnoxiously at his boyfriend. He laughed and dodged it as Phil swiped a playful hand towards his face. "I think I'm allowed to be as corny as I want after having hiding you the entire summer." Dan leaned back into Phil, crowding into his personal space and kissing his cheekbone gently. "Not that I minded having you all to myself as my dirty little secret for a while," Dan whispered huskily, trailing kisses to his ear. "Made everything really exhilarating." Then he pulled away, grinning widely and grabbing Phil's hand to entwine their fingers together and took a large sip of his milkshake. "But this is better than I could have ever asked for! I can finally show the entire world how lucky I am to have such a gorgeous and wonderful boyfriend."

It wasn't fair. Dan knew what kind of an effect he had on Phil, especially when he was trailing kisses across his face to his ear, words hot against the shell of Phil's ear. Instantly, at the sound of Dan's voice gone all husky like that, Phil was closing his eyes and biting his bottom lip to avoid groaning, dick growing instantly harder in his pants until he was a little bit uncomfortable. Dan didn't give Phil any chance to react, however, before he was grasping Phil's hand in his and pulling him along another emotional roller coaster, straight from arousal to surprise and then to happiness as he practically melted against Dan, dropping his forehead to Dan's shoulder and actually groaning this time. "You don't play fair," he complained, heart beating harder in his chest for more than one reason now. Phil swallowed thickly - Dan wanted to show Phil off, and that was.. that was something Phil had been terrified would never happen.

Dan could tell exactly how his words had been affecting Phil as soon as Phil tensed up just that tiny bit. He smirked around the straw in his mouth, glancing down at Phil's crotch to see that - yup - his jeans were definitely a bit tighter than they had been. Not that Dan minded at all. In fact, he was proud of himself for getting Phil to that point just by his words and a few well-placed kisses. It just went to show how well Dan knew his boyfriend, how he could tell exactly what worked Phil up. Dan was about to comment on the problem in Phil's jeans when his boyfriend's head flopped on his shoulder, and Dan giggled a bit at his words. "I think I play perfectly fair," Dan purred. He then turned his head just a little bit and pressed a kiss to Phil's temple, nuzzling his face into Phil's hair. "Love you lots."

Phil felt warm all over, his heart beating hard in his chest just at the way Dan nuzzled him so publically, spoke soft, sweet words to him, reminding Phil just how much Dan loved him. Over the course of the last month, it had sometimes been a struggle to believe that Dan could love him, could keep loving him, but Phil's self esteem was growing, and it was all thanks to Dan. Wanting to get Dan back for the issue currently in his pants, however, Phil nuzzled Dan back and murmured to him, "Mmm, right. You play fair?" he asked, humming a little as he snuck a kiss to Dan's neck. "I'm so sure," he added, breath hot and fanning against Dan's skin. He mouthed at him softly before pulling away with a confident grin.

Dan tensed and shivered as Phil pressed a kiss to Dan's neck. Obviously by now, Phil would know that the action just made Dan a complete mess, and Dan cursed him for using that to his advantage. Of course they couldn't have a single innocent date without one of them getting unnecessarily turned on. He didn't know what he was hoping for in the first place, but Dan couldn't find it in him to complain. In all honesty, Dan would probably let Phil fuck him in the middle of the restaurant if Phil had asked him to, but he wouldn't let him know that now. "I was playing fair, but now you're not," Dan whined, letting his head fall to Phil's shoulder as he pulled away from his neck. His skin was still buzzing where Phil's lips were pressing to it, and he shivered, adjusting in his seat just a little bit. "You're evil, Phil. How dare you torture your boyfriend like this?" So what if Phil was just giving Dan a taste of his own medicine? He was a brat, and Phil had to put up with that now.

Phil chuckled, the sound husky and dark from his own desire, but he could hardly blame Dan for complaining. Still, it was his own damn fault for using that voice on Phil. All he had to do was plead like that and Phil would be a goner in seconds. "This is nothing, Dan. Wait till we get to the theater," he threatened, and then sat up straighter as he could see their waitress coming back. "Remember the last time we had a movie with our friends? What you made me do on that couch? That's going to seem like a cakewalk compared to what I'm going to do now," he murmured, smiling and thanking the girl as she set down their food with a cheery smile. Phil didn't look at Dan for a moment, and then he was picking up a fry and offering it to his now flustered boyfriend. "Eat up. I have a feeling you'll need your strength," he said, and then winked.

Holy. Holy fuck. Dan could hardly believe what was coming from Phil's mouth. He was so nonchalant, seemingly almost uncaring about what he was insinuating, but there was a dark edge to his tone that showed dominance over Dan that nearly made Dan want to submit to him right then and there. He bit back a low whine in his throat as he saw the waitress walking over with their food, food that Dan hardly wanted anymore. Phil was still speaking lowly until the waitress was in hearing distance, and then he thanked her while Dan kept his eyes on the sweat dripping down the side of his milkshake like it was the most interesting thing in the entire world. All he could think about, though, was what Phil had been saying, how they'd gotten off in front of their friends and how this was going to be considerably worse than that. Dan was a lucky man. He couldn't get out a response before Phil was holding up a fry, an offering, and Dan's cheeks grew a bit red at Phil's wink. Leaning forward, Dan took the fry between his lips, making eye contact with his boyfriend all the while. He took a bite and chewed slowly, swallowing before licking his lips. "What are you going to do with me?" Dan sighed, eyes wide and innocent. Struck with a sudden idea, Dan plucked the cherry from his milkshake and put it in his mouth, trying to mimic what he saw those porn stars doing. "I've been a bad boy, Phil. Are you going to take care of me?"

Phil had half been joking. He'd fully intended to tease Dan worse than Dan has teased him that day, but he'd never even consider doing anything to Dan without asking for his permission first. Dan's reaction, though, the way his voice went all soft and pliant, submissive even as he called himself a bad boy and stared at Phil with a cherry between his lips, made Phil want to try so much more than they'd ever tried before. Maybe... he could test the waters. He knew Dan well enough to know Dan would stop Phil if he took it too far, or so he hoped, and if he got worried he knew he could always stop. The last thing he wanted was to do something against Dan's will, but on that same token, he could feel a thrill go through him at the idea of....trying new things with his boyfriend. Slowly, Phil reached under the table to press his hand on top of Dan's thigh. "You're a naughty boy, indeed, Dan," Phil agreed, voice low. He licked his lips, stared at Dan like he wanted to eat him, and reached out to draw the stem of the cherry from Dan's lips. The way it slid out was obscene. Phil smirked. "You wanna know, baby?" He asked quietly, raising an eyebrow before nonchalantly turning back to his meal and popping a fry into his mouth. "Ever heard of orgasm denial? I've never put you through that, have i?" He Asked, humming thoughtfully. "Never brought you to the brink, and let go just before you could come. I think that's what you deserve though, isn't it? I'll tease you until you're breathless, drag you to the edge over and over again relentlessly. And then I’ll make you walk us home, aroused, before I finally fuck you. How’s that sound, love?" All the while, Phil's voice was carefully dangerous.

The way Phil was talking was sinful. Dan had to close his eyes to be able to clear his head, a low noise coming out of his throat that was somewhat a growl and somewhat a whimper. Dan was practically thrumming with excitement, arousal pooling in his belly as Phil called him a naughty boy. He hadn’t know that he'd like to hear that so much until then, how Phil was suddenly suggesting something they'd never tried before - orgasm denial - and went into detail about what exactly that entailed, telling Dan how he thought he deserved the treatment. Dan licked his lips now that the cherry was out of his mouth, licking away the red cherry juice that had collected on his lips. He copied Phil and tried to be nonchalant as he started to eat a few of his fries, but it was extremely hard when Dan just wanted Phil to start his treatment right then and there, his hand burning on Dan's thigh. "That- that sounds..." Dan couldn't even get the words out, swallowing and trying to cool himself down a little. How could Phil reduce him into such a mess with just a few words? It wasn't fair. "Sounds like you need to punish me like that," Dan finally finished, his cheeks red like the cherry. He was imagining it already, the way his body would be screaming for release but never granted it. When he finally did cum, Dan was sure he'd be seeing stars. "I'm sure it'll be amazing, how I'll be a mess underneath you. Will you make me beg for it?" Dan smirked, straightening up. "You'll have to try really hard to make me beg, if that's the case."

Phil was watching Dan again, watching the way his cheeks went a deep, obvious red and he flushed all the way down his neck, licking his lips with pupils blown so wide Phil thought he was certain that Dan did want this. Phil wouldn't be forcing anything out of Dan. The sound of his voice when he spoke again was breathless, desperate as he stuttered over how to agree that he deserved to be punished. Dan and Phil had never really roleplayed, despite all their dirty talk, and it didn't surprise Phil that Dan didn't know how to play a part. That was fine, though. Phil had no desire to be called master or daddy or anything like that. First and foremost, he just wanted to be Phil and Dan, even if they did say things like they were right now. Phil smirked as Dan insinuated that Phil would have a rough time making Dan beg, though, and thought back on the porn he'd zeen. He wasn't certain he could manage this correctly, but if he did... slowly, Phil leaned into Dan, and nipped at his ear. "Babe, by the time I'm done with you, I won't have to ask."

"Christ," Dan hissed. Right about now, Dan was cursing his sensitive teenage hormones, wishing more than anything else that he wouldn't get so worked up over simple words. It was just so hard, especially when Phil was literally the most gorgeous person Dan had ever seen and he knew exactly what to say to make Dan weak at the knees. They'd never done this sort of thing before, Phil had never been so dominant, leaving Dan unable to really know what to do in this situation. Especially when they were in public, where everyone else could hear. Dan was trying to stay quiet when all he really wanted to do was let Phil have his way with him, but he fucking couldn't and it sucked. He supposed this was the whole point, though, so he couldn't complain. At that moment was when the waitress decided to make another appearance, giving them both a strange look as Phil sat back and Dan's face went even more red than before. They hadn't touched much of their food yet, and Dan took it upon himself to take a huge bite of his burger, just to hide the fact that anything was wrong. "Everything tasting okay?" The waitress asked. Dan nodded a bit too enthusiastically into his burger. "It's great! Just fine!" he squeaked, feeling Phil shake as he tried to hide his laughter at Dan's obvious discomfort. The waitress didn't question them any longer, taking that as an alright answer, and walked away. As soon as she was gone, Dan turned a flustered glare onto Phil. "You ass," Dan whined. "How am I going to last long at all when you make remarks like that? It makes me want to get on my hands and knees right on the table for you."

The sound of Dan's voice in reaction to Phil made a chill go down his spine, and he shuddered a little as he pulled away, fully intending to smirk at Dan and maybe even let his arm creep up his thigh to start the teasing now, when the waitress made her way back over, checking to see if their food was alright. Dan, at that exact moment, shoved his burger into his mouth to start chewing, and nodded enthusiastically as he spoke around the food in answer to her question. Phil, meanwhile, was shaking with laughter now, smiling at the waitress and turning a fond look onto Dan. She giggled, seemed quite taken with the two of them, and said, "Alright, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone," before taking off again. Slowly, Phil's expression changed again, and he turned to Dan just as Dan turned to glare at him. Phil's mouth nearly fell open at Dan's words, and he felt his breathing hitch as arousal stirred in his belly, stronger even than before. "You'd like that, wouldn't you," Phil replied breathlessly, eyes wide even as he managed to hold the dominant voice. "Letting everyone see me take you, knowing people are watching," he said, but there was a hint of question in his voice, and he tilted his head so Dan would know Phil was checking to see if he'd crossed a line. He knew neither of them actually wanted that, had talked about their refusal to share and had even expressed embarrassment over how many times sthey'd nearly been caught, but the thought of it, talking about it, teasing, that had been good in the past

Just as soon as Dan had spoken, Phil was back at it again, teasing him in the same domineering voice that made Dan shift in his seat. How could Phil talk to him like that right in the middle of the restaurant? Dan should have known that their first date would turn out sexual, especially since their sex life was so healthy at this point in their relationship. The words Phil uttered made Dan's head spin. There was a careful edge to Phil's tone, one that said he didn't want to push Dan past his comfort limit, but that was the last thing Dan was worried about. He zoned out for a moment, imagining Phil fucking him right here, right where anyone could see them. Admittedly, Dan did have a thing for adrenaline and the thrill of doing things where they could get caught at any moment, but he had a hard time imagining doing anything while others were watching. Despite that, he still shivered. "Fuck, I'd love to have your cock in me right now," Dan murmured, closing his eyes a bit as his words made Phil put a hand on his thigh. It was so close yet so far from where he wanted that hand. "Right here where everyone is watching. Then everyone would know who I belong to and how good you make me feel."

That was... that was good. That was amazing, and Phil had to close his eyes at the mental image of everyone knowing that Dan was his. Publically his, for the first time since they'd left camp. Phil's mum had known they were together, but no one else in their community, and now they were out at a restaurant on their first day, and Dan was expressing the desire for everyone to know that Dan belonged to Phil. Phil had the sudden fierce desire to grab Dan and force him into a passionate kiss, desperate to have his mouth all over his boyfriend's body. He wanted to worship him, if for no other reason than to show Dan just how lucky Phil felt, just how grateful he was. Instead, he let out a quiet little groan, and then shook his head. When he opened his eyes again, he was sure his pupils were blown. "God, Dan," he whispered, fingers inching up his thigh. Finally, finally, Phil snatched his hand away from Dan's body entirely, and turned back to his food. He cleared his throat gruffly. "Later," he insisted. "This is our first real date, we can't make it all about... that," he insisted.

Phil went quiet for a moment and Dan turned to look at him, watching with a small smile as he saw that Phil's eyes were closed and he seemed to be trying to catch his breath. He was beyond glad that he could still get reactions like that out of Phil and that Phil had the same reactions to Dan as Dan had to Phil. It was the best feeling in the world. When those blue eyes opened, Phil's pupils were blown, large and black, and it made Dan's stomach drop to the floorboards. Phil was so unbelievably attractive like that, when he was turned on by Dan and Dan alone. Dan licked his lips and willed himself not to start making out with Phil right then and there. There was a place for everything and here was not one of them. He had to stifle a groan behind a sip of his milkshake when Phil began to trail his fingers over his thigh, the skin burning where he touched. He was aching with the need to touch Phil, hoping by some miracle that he would close his eyes and they would suddenly be back in his room again, where he could act upon his fantasies. Then Phil was withdrawing from him, a sigh leaking out from his lips, and Dan's eyebrow raised with amusement. "Yeah," Dan mumbled back, his voice wrecked. He cleared his throat to try and speak normally. "Sorry. You're just- you're so great, Phil." Dan covered his burning face with two hands, cold from where he'd been gripping his milkshake, and tried to cool himself down. He needed his awkward boner to go away so he could enjoy the rest of his date with Phil without wanting to jump his bones. "Just give me a minute, sorry. I'm all worked up now," Dan whined, embarrassed that Phil could still make his body react like this even though they'd been together for a decent amount of time now.

Phil's heart did a little stutter at Dan's words, and he found himself grinning all over again, warm to the stomach to be told that. He still couldn't get over how much Dan seemed to love him, couldn't get over the fact that Dan thought he was amazing at all, and he was all tongue tied as he pressed his shoulder into Dan's and moved to wrap his arm around his shoulders again to drag him in close. He laughed as Dan dropped his face into his hands, clearly embarrassed and clearly trying to get himself under control, but Phil did feel a little bad for making Dan feel about sorry the situation at all. Leaning over again, Phil pressed his lips to Dan's ear once more. "Don't be sorry. I like you all worked up," he insisted, pursing his lips before kissing Dan's ear lightly. "I just... want to talk about embarrassing things like a real couple and feed you food too. I want to make you happy, and not just... tease you. Was that alright?" he asked, because he had to, and he was embarrassed that he'd said any of what he'd said. When he got like this, he never knew what he was going to say until it was too late.

Even through his embarrassment, Dan allowed himself to relax into Phil's touch, completely melting into his arms. He giggled and shoved at Phil's shoulder a bit when he made a comment about liking Dan being all worked up. "Oh hush, we're both just raging with teenage boy hormones. It's hard not to get worked up when your boyfriend's breathing dirty words into your ear." Phil kissed Dan's ear lightly and he grinned, allowing the expression to completely take over his face. He was just extremely happy to have Phil, and he liked that Phil could switch from sexual to just Phil within the course of a few seconds. It was refreshing, and Dan found that he fell in love with Phil a little bit more. "No, that's not okay at all Phil! How dare you ask me such an insensitive question!" Dan gasped dramatically, putting a hand over his heart for added emphasis. He was smiling so large, it felt as if his face was going to melt off. "I need to be teased 100% of the time and approximately every two seconds I need you to tell me that you want to fuck me. And don't forget about kisses! I need kisses every ten seconds or I'll pass out and die." To prove his point, Dan turned his head and planted a kiss right on Phil's lips. "See? I can live now, thanks to you and your kisses." He did it again just to be annoying. "Sorry, it's been ten seconds. It's the rule."

Dan had misunderstood Phil's question, but it didn't even matter, because the outcome was about three times better than he'd been expecting. Suddenly, Dan was going on a rant about how he needed a kiss every ten seconds or else he'd die, and how he wanted Phil to tease him all the time while promising to fuck him, and it made Phil giggle as Dan leaned in and kissed him, sighing and acting as if he were safe now before kissing Phil again. It made him warm all over, made him reach over and drag Dan into a hug with both his arms around Dan's neck as he pressed his face there and just laughed. "You dork," he insisted, giggling as he pressed kisses all over Dans' skin. "That's not what I meant, but if you insist," he said, and pulled back to lean up and peck Dan on the lips too. "It's been ten seconds, do you need another kiss?" he asked again, and kissed Dan again.

Only with Phil's comment did Dan realize that he had misunderstood Phil's question and he snorted at himself and his own silliness. Phil didn't seem to have any complaints though, and just allowed Dan to kiss him, to be dramatic with him, and it made Dan's heart soar as Phil just went with it with hardly any questions. "I definitely need another kiss," Dan demanded, grinning. His sighed again as Phil kissed him lightly on the lips, tasting slightly of salt and chocolate. Once they separated, Dan stayed close enough that he could nudge Phil's nose with his own, giving him an eskimo kiss. "It seems I got ahead of myself," Dan murmured, chuckling as he understood what Phil had been asking. "I was totally fine with all of that, I promise. No need to be embarrassed, love. Although doing cute date stuff with you is always something I'm interested in too." He pulled away and reached for his burger, raising his eyebrows as he tried to think about how he could feed Phil like those cheesy movies had done. Obviously he could just grab a fry but where was the fun in that? He smirked as he turned back to Phil, holding his burger up to Phil. "Let me feed you, oh love of my life. Open up!" Dan teased, trying and failing to hold his giggles in at his sheer ridiculousness.

It was always particularly nice to have Dan press his nose alongside Phil's, a different, softer kind of kiss that wasn't really a kiss at all, and that Phil probably shouldn't like as much as he did. It was nice, though, affectionate, and Phil was tempted to go for more but he had to remember where they were. Instead, he smiled softly at Dan, and turned back to his food. He hadn't had much of it, but that was Dan's fault for distracting him. He was drinking from his shake when Dan assured him that Phil hadn't said anything wrong, and as Phil's ears went red, he was able to hide himself in his drink instead. He didn't bother to reply to Dan, though he was glad to know that he hadn't crossed any lines with his boyfriend tonight. He'd just put down his shake and turned back to Dan when Dan lifted his burger and insisted that Phil open up, all while he giggled and Phil stared at the food dubiously. This was not going to turn out well - nevertheless, Phil sighed, and turned to accept the food, opening his mouth obediently and biting down as soon as he could. He could feel the sides of his mouth getting wet, but he didn't mind so much when Dan's expression softened, like this actually was something cute and he actually did enjoy doing it, watching Phil eat from his hands, even something as uncoordinated and messy as a fast food restaurant burger. As the food was taken away from him, Phil chewed and grabbed for a napkin, quickly wiping his mouth but humming in enjoyment nonetheless. Dan had good taste. "'S good," he reassured his boyfriend, picking up his own untried burger and offering it to Dan. "You're turn," he teased lightly.

To Dan's surprise and sheer delight, Phil actually ate the food that Dan was holding out to him. He hadn't actually thought he would do it, just because the burger was a bit awkward to eat and forced Phil's mouth to open wide just to take a bite, but Phil always continued to surprise Dan with everything he did. Dan watched in amusement as Phil ate a bite, getting grease and general burger-y stuff on the sides of his mouth. It was endearing, something that Dan didn't know he needed to see until then, and he grinned happily at his boyfriend's obedience. But then Phil was holding his own burger to Dan's lips and Dan suddenly didn't feel so lucky anymore. But since Phil had done it, Dan supposed he could do it as well. Phil hadn't even tried his own burger yet, but he offered it to Dan nonetheless, who took a bite and chewed slowly, sighing because it was that good. He didn't think he would ever enjoy sharing food like this, but here he was, and there was a little fuzzy feeling in his stomach that wouldn't go away. "Yours is good too," Dan murmured, his cheeks pink and his grin so big that it split his entire face. "I'm glad I got to try it before you were able to. Makes it even more delicious."

Amused when Dan obediently ate Phil's offered food as well, Phil found himself laughing as general burger bits got all over his face, a bit of tomato having smashed against his chin. The sight was adorable, and the sound Dan made a turn on that Phil tried to ignore. Rolling his eyes fondly at Dan's teasing, Phil shook his head at him. "Is that how this relationship is going to go?" He asked, "you always having to have my things first?" He teased. If that's what Dan wanted, Phil would never complain. He adored spoiling Phil more than he adored anything in the world, and he even reached out with a napkin to clean his face up after he'd cleaned his own. Dan smirked at him, waggling his eyebrows, so Phil leaned in close again and pressed his lips to Dan's ear, unoccupied hand going for Dan's thigh and curling around the more sensitive, inner bit. "Cheeky, are we? I can take care of that," he whispered, and slid his hand all the way up against the bulge in Dan's pants. Dan made a small, surprised noise, and Phil felt his dick jump. He smirked, before pulling away. "So what movie are we seeing again?" He asked as he casually pulled away.

Phil was looking at Dan with so much fondness that it made Dan's entire heart ache. He didn't know how he'd gotten so lucky as to get a man like Phil to take care of him, but he was forever grateful that he had. He didn't think he could ever imagine a life without Phil now, a life without feeding each other grotesque burgers and pushing each other around like best friends while kissing like boyfriends. It was the best thing in Dan's entire life. He didn't speak as Phil wiped the remaining burger off of his mouth, taking care of Dan like it was expected of him. Dan felt a rush of warmth go through his entire body at that. "What can I say? I'm a needy boyfriend," Dan teased, waggling his eyebrows. His breath hitched as Phil suddenly put his hand on his thigh, rubbing over his clothed skin. His breath brushed against Dan's ear and he shivered, his entire face red. He jumped a mile out of his seat when Phil's slender fingers brushed over the obvious bulge in Dan's jeans, and he glared at his smug boyfriend. "I'm dating a jerk," Dan hissed, sipping his milkshake angrily. "Just because of that, I'm forcing you to see Twilight with me. And you can't stop it. Jerk."

Phil jerked back from Dan's comment with a horrified frown, terrified that he'd upset his boyfriend for a moment, only to catch sight of Dan's expression and burst into laughter. Immediately, he was reaching up to cover his mouth in embarrassment, shaking in his seat and staring at Dan with eyes that were wet with tears. It took him a long while to stop laughing, all while Dan grinned at him, but when he did, he shook his head at his boyfriend. "You're a nerd," he complained. "But twilight's as good as anything I if get to make fun of it and make out with you in the back during it." With that, Phil winked before turning away and presing his hand to Dan's thigh. He muttered a quick, "and other things," before turning back to his burger.

Seemingly actually thinking he was pissed, Phil jerked away with such nervousness that Dan couldn't help but to grin, giggling slightly. He liked that Phil didn't want to upset him, didn't want to cross any boundaries that Dan may have. It was sweet and Dan wanted to just snog the hell out of him. They both laughed then, realizing that Dan wasn't serious, and Dan rolled his eyes at Phil's comment, even despite the furious blush on his cheeks. "Is this a fucking challenge?" Dan snickered, eating more of his food with a twinged eyebrow. "Who says I wanna do anything with you during the movie? Maybe I'm actually interested in how an old ass vampire stalks a young girl until he manipulates her to fall in love with him. I'm sure my eyes will be glued to the screen," Dan teased, winking back at Phil.

Phil had just shoved another mouthful of food into his mouth when Dan started to tease him back, absolutely dissing the twilight franchise all while pretending that he actually wanted to see it, just so he could act like he didn't want to get up to any funny business in the movie theaters with Phil. Rolling his eyes, Phil shoved him with shoulder, chewing and swallowing thickly so he could talk sooner rather than later. "Coming from you, that's difficult to believe," Phil teased back, leaning in and kissing Dan softly on the lips. He rubbed at his thigh a little longer before pulling away and deciding they most definitely needed to save the flirting for when they got to the theater, or Dan was going to find himself being edged far longer than he wanted. Phil grinned to himself at the thought of trying something new, and then cleared his throat. "Besides, I'd much rather be sappy with you anyway. Do you remember the first time we kissed?" he asked softly, eyes sparkling as he smiled up at his boyfriend.

"I don't think it's that difficult to believe," Dan mumbled, but he accepted Phil's kiss anyways, not able to turn Phil's advances down even when he was trying to be difficult. He let out a half-hearted whine when Phil pulled his hand off of Dan's thigh but otherwise didn't complain, instead leaning into Phil's side while he tried to eat his food a little quicker. They'd been teasing each other for so long that Dan's fries had started to go cold. He grinned and nuzzled his face into Phil's shoulder when Phil brought up their first kiss, his cheeks hurting from smiling so hard. "Yeah, how could I not?" Dan murmured just as soft, kissing Phil's cheek. "You were so pretty under the moonlight and so passionate about the stars that I just couldn't hold myself back." Dan smiled at the memory, his face feeling hot with happiness. "I think that's when I started to properly fall in love with you."

Phil's heart was maybe freaking out a little bit. He'd remembered their first kiss from a different perspective, obviously, and it was kind of wonderful to hear Dan's view of it. Feeling a bit flustered, Phil turned to Dan slowly. "I mean, it was my first ever kiss. It was pretty magical for me," he murmured, grabbing his milkshake to cool himself down a bit. "But I don't think that's when I started to fall in love. I think I started to fall for you when you got punched by Brad in the face for me, even if I was angry at you for letting it happen," he murmured with a soft smile.

Dan couldn't seem to wipe the happy look from his face, absolutely beaming at Phil as he sipped at his milkshake. He wanted to hold Phil and to never let him go again, to kiss him until they were both blue in the face. He couldn't wait until they were alone again, just so that he could have his boyfriend all to himself. "Well, you're the first boy I've ever kissed, so it was pretty special for me as well," Dan told him. He hummed, wiping his salty fingers on a napkin. "Let's be honest, Phil. I think I was head over heels as soon as I first laid eyes on you. I couldn't seem to look away. Remember that? How I would watch you all the time?" Dan snorted and shook his head, remembering all the times he was literally pining after Phil. "Even during that, it's funny that I thought I was straight."

Warmth spread through Phil so fast that he wasn't even surprised when he started to beam, face lighting up. His heart lurched, and he nudged at Dan's shoulder again. "Dan. I'm pretty sure everyone knew I was in love with you before either of us did. You were like... my world," he admitted, not so shyly. He could still remember how much time he'd spent staring at Dan, and how he’d already know... "I change my mind. I knew I was in love with you when you threw the monopoly game and I still wanted to kiss you." Phil grinned at that, and nudged Dan one final time before leaning in close. "You want to know a secret?" He asked.

Dan could hardly believe that he was here, having a date with the most perfect person in the world, talking about sappy things that made Dan want to shout from the rooftops. "We were so daft back then," Dan murmured quietly. "Everybody seemed to know how we felt before we did." He then laughed at the memory of throwing the monopoly game, at how mad he'd gotten over the stupid game and how often he got so heated up over a board game. He cocked his head. "A secret? Of course I want to know."

Phil was pretty certain that Dan did not want to know, and he found himself smirking as he leaned back in, closer than before. "Even I knew you liked me before you did," he whispered, pulling back with a cheeky grin only to find Dan gaping at him with wide eyes. The confusion there was clear, and Phil could hardly blame him. Likcing his lips, Phil cocked his head. "Or, at least," he added conspiratorially, "I knew you were attracted to me."

Dan felt his entire face turn red and his jaw fell slack as he regarded his boyfriend in disbelief. Phil knew? How the fuck could he know something like that? Dan wasn't obvious, at least he didn't think he had been. So had Phil read his mind or something? That was hardly fair. "You're fucking kidding me," Dan said flatly. "There's no way you could have known! Hell, I didn't even know until that time we talked on the horses and I got off to the thought of you. So how did you know?!" He wasn't mad, not actually, but he was horribly embarrassed at how cringey he apparently was.

Phil's face went horribly red at Dan's sudden outburst, staring madly around the restaurant to find that no one had actually heard - or, at the very least, were pretending not to have. What Dan had done after their time on the horse was not a surprise to Phil, as they'd talked about it sometime afterwards, before they'd even kissed for the first time, and Dan had admitted to masturbating to thoughts of Phil in the past, but it was still something Phil thought Dan would have known better to be quiet about. Turning his red face back to face Dan, Phil reached over and shoved him, and then pushed in close to whisper in his ear with one hand braced on Dan's thigh again. "I can't believe you said that aloud, shut up, Dan," he moaned, shaking his head. "No. Remember after you told me Mariah wasn't your girlfriend? Well, you fed me a s'more, and it was so obvious you were flirting with me I'm surprised you didn't realize. Of course, horseback riding together surely helped - that's the first time you popped a boner for me, wasn't it?" Phil asked, voice going lower, and lower, and lower still as he finally let Dan in on the secret that Phil knew.

It was obvious that Dan had embarrassed Phil with his words, probably speaking a bit too loudly about his actions while he was trying to figure out his own feelings for Phil. He hadn't meant to be so loud, but it just happened sometimes where he couldn't seem to shut himself up. Phil's face was red, a beautiful blush spread over his cheeks, and Dan wanted to reach out and kiss him again. He didn't, though, only because Phil shoved him, making Dan cackle obnoxiously. "Sorry, babe," Dan teased. He frowned then, thinking back to when he subconsciously flirted with Phil, feeding him s'mores and doing generally touchy things. "I guess I just blamed it on the fact that I was a touchy person in general. I knew that you made me feel good and I knew that I liked to touch you, but I didn't really want to admit to myself that I liked a boy, you know? So I just told myself that I was a clingy friend." Then his mouth fell open, his cheeks flushing and his eyebrows shooting up into his hair. Dan dropped the burger from his hands and drew away from Phil to gape at him, his face filled with horror. "You- what?" Dan whispered, voice cracking. "You knew?"

Really, the bit Phil had been waiting for was Dan's reaction to Phil's admittance, and so when Dan drew back from him startled and horrified enough to drop his meal, Phil started cackling. Dan's nervous fear about liking a boy wasn't new to Phil, but this was comedy gold, and all he could do was snort and laugh, tongue sticking out from between his teeth, and hand flying up to hide it. His entire body shuddered with his laughter, tears gathering in his eyes, and he nodded kind of cruelly at Dan, whose face was beyond red with embarrassment. Phil's hand on Dan's thigh pushed up further, until he was pressing against his suddenly flaccid bulge, and shook his head. "It's okay, Dan. It happens to the best of us," he managed to wheeze as he calmed down some. "If it makes you feel any better, it made me happy."

Dan twitched as Phil palmed him through his jeans again, except this time he didn't feel the slightest bit turned on. He was way too embarrassed, completely mortified, and his dick seemed to understand exactly what he was going through as well. He whined and dropped his head into his hands, pressing his fingertips to his hot cheeks. Phil always made him feel like a blushing teenage girl, but this was ten thousand times worse because Phil knew he'd gotten an erection before Dan had admitted to even liking him. How fucking embarrassing could he be? "It doesn't happen to most people," Dan whined, his voice muffled through his palms. "And it doesn't make me feel better that much, I'm so awful. Who the hell gets turned on by a boy sitting behind him on a horse? I'm too horny for my own good," Dan sniffed.

Phil's expression of glee dropped the second that Dan started talking, and his eyes went wide as he realized he maybe should have kept that one to himself. Instantly, Phil was leaning forward and pulling Dan into his arms, one arm wrapped around Dan's shoulder. It was the best he could do with the way they were currently sat. "I"m so sorry, Dan, I didn't mean to like... actually upset you. Hey," he said, nudging at him, and then reached under his chin to force Dan to look at him. "Hey, hey. It's really not that bad. I was getting pretty turned on, too. It was literally the most erotic thing I'd ever done in my life," Phil whispered to him, wanting to reassure his boyfriend as best as he could. "My dick was literally nudged in your ass crack, Dan. I mean - I was practically fucking you," he whispered quite softly. "Who could blame either of us? I was so terrified I was going to have a physical reaction, and then you'd never want to speak to me again. I just got more lucky than you, that's all. It's okay, baby. I was never upset about it, and you're not awful - you're just human."

Dan leaned into Phil and buried his face into Phil's neck, trying to hide how red his face was and the mortification that was surely showing on his features. Truthfully, he wasn't mad at Phil in the slightest, but more angry at himself for being so easy to turn on. Phil knew more about Dan than anyone else, so Dan really shouldn't be embarrassed, but there was still shock coursing through his entire body from finding out that Phil knew far more than he’d originally let on. Dan was so daft. "You didn't upset me," Dan murmured, kissing Phil's neck in assurance. "I'm just shocked, I guess. I didn't know I was that obvious. But god, Phil. You're just so attractive to me, how could I not get turned on by every little thing you do?" He chuckled as Phil continued on, explained how it was erotic to him as well, how he was practically fucking Dan. The words made Dan close his eyes and breathe heavily through his nose to try and get the image out of his mind. He had to last through the rest of dinner and a movie with Phil before he would be able to get off. He had to at least try to contain himself a little bit. "That's reassuring," Dan eventually got out, nuzzling his nose into Phil's collarbone. "It makes me wonder what would have happened if you did have a reaction like I did. Would I have made a move on you sooner? Or would we just be sitting in awkward silence with the knowledge that we both were very much turned on by the other person?" Dan snickered and pulled away, giving Phil a smug look. "I bet it'd be the second one. Then once I was by myself, I'd probably think back to how it felt to have your hard cock against my ass and get myself off on it." Dan sighed, looking around and feigning innocence. "But I suppose we can think about that another time, yeah? Let's finish our perfectly innocent meal and go to the perfectly innocent movie."

Dan was a dirty, lying, sneak, and Phil was so going to get him for this. Here he was playing up how upset he'd been - and Phil was certain that he had been upset, no matter how Dan had chosen to use Phil's concern against him - before turning around and being just as suggestive as Phil had been in order to get him all riled up. Phil inhaled sharply at the thought of Dan pleasuring himself, dizzy with it. He was quite intimate with the sight by now - it wasn't as if they hadn't had skype sex from time to time, wasn't as if they didn't like to experiment. Still, right now, being turned on was the last thing that Phil needed, and he moved his hand back between Dan's legs to fondle him quite properly before leaning in close to whisper in his ear again. "Daniel, have your fun now, because you're going to be a mess when I get hold of you later." Then, Phil innocently turned back to his meal, and smirked to himself at the way Dan's face had gone red again. He still felt kinda bad for embarrassing Dan, but Dan was also a little shit and he wasn't going to be allowed to get away with things like that.

Dan couldn't help being smug for what he'd so obviously done to Phil. He was absolutely sure that he'd pay for this later, that Phil wouldn't try to hold himself back when he fucked him senseless, and he was thrumming with excitement. He couldn't fucking wait. Dan let out a choked moan as Phil palmed him once more, making his dick twitch in tired interest. He was already getting rather exhausted from being turned on and then neglected, and they'd only just begun. He didn't know what to expect but he was excited nonetheless. "I don't think I know what you're talking about?" Dan replied instantly, innocently smiling. "I'm just talking to you normally. Why, are you getting flustered by my words? Are you thinking about it?" Dan giggled and started to eat again, albeit a bit faster this time. He was excited to get to the theatre to see exactly what Phil would do to him. Dan's own face was red though, thinking about all that Phil was going to do to him. He really was fucked wasn't he?

Phil sent Dan the darkest look he could manage, staring from under his lashes as he pressed a french fry past his lips and chewed slowly, thinking how to respond. He decided on not saying anything all. Dan knew exactly what he was doing, and Phil was not going to humor him. Turning back to his meal, Phil ate rather quickly after that. Dan's leg was shaking next to his in clear anxious excitement, and there was no room to speak when they both had their mouth's full. From time to time, Phil would reach over and stroke his hand up Dan's thigh, or rub circles into it, teasing and ever close to his dick, but never quite there. Dan sometimes squeaked, sometimes jumped, but mostly, he continued to stuff his face, cheeks red and eyes a little glazed. Yes, Phil was definitely going to enjoy himself tonight, and when he finally got to fuck Dan... well.

Dan could hardly believe this was happening. Phil was actually being a tease, doing his best to make sure Dan always had one thing on his mind: how fucking bad he wanted Phil. It was unfair, but it was exciting, new, and Dan couldn't decide whether he should eat quicker to get to the next stage of this little rendez-vous, or if he should eat slower to draw this out. He ended up downing his food as fast as possible, trying to hide how excited he was and how fucking turned on he was whenever the waitress came to check on them. If she noticed the glazed look in Dan's eyes, then she certainly didn't mention anything. All too soon, Dan's food was completely gone and he couldn't help but wonder if it really was a good thing that he'd finished so quickly. He could feel Phil's dark stare on the side of his head, and his stomach did flips at that. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly Phil had in store for him tonight.

By the time Phil finished his meal, Dan was long done as well, twitching in his seat and doing his best to avoid Phil's dark gaze. Phil could hardly blame him, though he did feel a little bad he'd turned their first date into this. It seemed on par with everything else they seemed to do, though, the perfect full circle of their relationship, and besides. School was starting soon. Neither of their parents were going to be letting them spend the night at each other's houses nearly as often as they had this summer. Phil just wanted to take advantage of the time they had left. Dan had already made tonight the best night of Phil's life - Phil wanted to give Dan something back. "I think we should get the check," Phil murmured to Dan with one final squeeze to his thigh before he removed his hand, reaching for his wallet and hoping to sneak a few bills into the bill book.

The rest of dinner went in a daze for Dan. While he was waiting for Phil to finish eating, Dan was trying his hardest to calm himself down by taking deep and even breaths. Despite that though, he could never fully seem to calm himself, excitement thrumming underneath his skin like an itch that couldn't be scratched. Dan fidgeted. Whenever he came to restaurants, he was the worst person about fidgeting, and it seemed even worse with Phil sitting next to him. He ripped up the draw wrapper, ended up dumping salt on his empty plate, and then pushed the salt around with his fork before moving to rip up a sugar packet. He felt bad that the server would have to deal with his mess, but he needed something to do to distract himself from the unbelievably attractive man at his side. Dan nodded when Phil suggested they get the bill, but he glared as Phil reached for his own wallet. "Phil, no," Dan whined, stopping him by putting a hand on his arm. "I'm paying, not you." Without another word, he flagged down the waitress and got their bill, passing it back with a few extra dollars and telling her to keep the change before Phil could butt in with his own money. Dan smiled triumphantly at him. "How's that for a first date?" Dan asked smugly.

Phil frowned as Dan caught him before he could pull out his wallet, let alone any money, sighing but secretly pleased as all hell that anyone would want to pay for his meal for him. His heart fluttered a bit at Dan's insistence and the way it made his eyes light up again, like he'd just come back to himself and he was less distracted by the urge to get off than he had been before. That was good. Phil didn't want his attention all on sex, despite wanting it himself, and it would make it more erotic for Dan when Phil did get him going again at the movie theater. Phil was more excited for that than he could say, and he watched Dan pay and tip the server before Phil could get a word in edgewise. As they both stood, Phil quietly took Dan's hand, still thrilled he could do that in public now, and half afraid that any second Dan was going to yell at him for it or something. Of course he didn't, tossing Phil a happy smile, before they started to head out. "Absolutely perfect, but I think that's because it was with you," Phil replied easily.

Holding hands in front of everybody felt right. Dan didn't think he'd ever get used to it. He was able to show Phil off, to show everybody that hey, this human is mine! He liked the way Phil's hand was so soft in his own, just that little bit smaller so Dan's hand could completely envelope it. He ran his thumb over Phil's hand and grinned, squeezing lightly as they walked. He swung their arms between them a little, giddy on happiness. "I'm happiest when I'm with you," Dan informed Phil, leading them towards the nearest movie theatre. "In all honesty, we could be doing absolutely nothing and I think I'd still be entertained. Just because you're by my side." So maybe it was a little cheesy, but it was the truth and Dan wanted Phil to always understand his feelings.

Phil's cheeks were red again, embarrassed as he was by Dan's words, but they made him feel warm at the same time. He shook his head a little and squeezed his fingers around Dan's as Dan led them towards the movie theater. Phil didn't usually visit this part of town, but it had become more frequent with Dan in his life now, and he was starting to get vaguely used to where things were. "You're a nerd," Phil complained, chuckling a bit. "But yeah. As long as you're around, I think I'll always be happy," he agreed.

"I may be a nerd, but at least I'm your nerd," Dan murmured, squeezing Phil's hand. They walked for a bit longer before finally reaching the theater, where Dan then tugged the both of them to the ticket booth. The man working seemed rather bored but he had muscles bigger than Dan's face and a jawline that could probably cut into Dan's skin. He didn't look like the kind of guy to be working at a movie theater, but Dan didn't mention that. "How can I help you?" The worker, whose name tag read 'Quinn' asked. Dan cleared his throat and moved so he could wind his arm around Phil's waist instead. "Two for Twilight, please," Dan said brightly. The man printed off the tickets and told them where the room was before ushering them off to the side. Dan turned to Phil, smiling warmly. "Did you want some popcorn or something?"

Phil was the teeniest bit intimidated when they came up to the window to buy their tickets and a man whose nametag read "Quinn," started to serve them. His muscles were huge and bulging at the arm, threatening the fabric of his shirt, and it was - not what Phil had been expecting to see. He hardly paid any attention to Dan or Phil, but the image of him was not going to leave Phil's mind for a long while. Soon enough, though, the two were heading inside of the theater proper and towards their theater number when Dan stopped and turned to Phil with a small smile. At the mention of popcorn, a slow smile started to grow over Phil's cheeks because, if you were to ask him, he'd definitely say it was his favorite food. He could eat popcorn for ages and be perfectly happy with it. "Yeah, alright," he agreed, and didn't even fight Dan on who was going to pay, because,well, if Phil was being honest, he was enjoying being the spoiled one for once.

Judging by the look on Phil's face when popcorn was mentioned, it was more than alright for Dan to buy Phil popcorn. His lips slowly turned up into a smile until his teeth were completely showing and his entire face was shining with happiness. Dan beamed at him, cooing, and leaned over to kiss his beloved boyfriend on the cheek. "You're so precious," Dan murmured, watching in amusement as a pink glow erupted over Phil's pale cheeks. He didn't say anything else on the topic, instead ushering Phil over to the food booths where a girl had the biggest smile on her face for no apparent reason. "Hi!" she exclaimed as they came into earshot. Dan grinned back and repeated her greeting, regarding all of the food options. He knew they were definitely going to get a large popcorn, but he didn't know if he wanted to get a drink and some candy as well. "Do you want a drink and candy too?" Dan asked Phil quietly, putting his arm around his waist and pulling him close to his body. He couldn't seem to stop himself; he just wanted to be touching Phil at all times.

Phil's cheeks went bright red the second that Dan leaned over to kiss him the cheek, calling him precious and staring at Phil with such a fond expression that Phil's heart fluttered in his chest. He swallowed thickly with a new found inability to speak, and followed after Dan almost mindlessly to the food booths. They weren't holding hands at the moment, but it hardly seemed to matter, as as soon as they stopped moving, Dan wrapped his arm around Phil's waist and dragged him in close, making Phil's cheeks flush darker still. He wanted to protest, to ask Dan to stop, but the truth was, he didn't want that at all. He wanted Dan to hold him like this forever, and the fact that it was happening in public made it all the better. "Uhm. A drink, sure," he said, clearing his throat when it came out weaker than he'd expected it too. "Maltesers, as well, because you love them."

Dan smiled gently at Phil, a fond look on his face. It seemed sort of like Phil was at a loss for words, all of his thoughts dying as soon as Dan's arm wrapped around his waist. Apparently Phil couldn't even formulate thoughts enough to tell Dan what kind of drink he wanted. Or at least, that's what it seemed like to Dan. He chuckled and turned back to the smiling girl. "I'll have a large Fanta and a packet of Maltesers, please." He turned back to Phil, a twinkle in his eyes. "Do you wanna be gross and share our drinks like in those cliche movies or did you want your own drink?" Dan teased.

Phil laughed immediately, trying to play it cool now he'd made a fool of himself, and rolling his eyes at Dan. Secretly, he wanted to do all the cliche things, and he loved sharing things with Dan. They'd gotten pretty used to being essentially attached at the hip the last two months, and Phil had no plans of changing that anytime soon. "Obviously," he replied, like that was common sense. The overly cheery front counter girl smile brightly at him, nodding and glancing between them like she thought they were cute. "That'll be 11.50. Cash, or debit?" she asked, Phil watching as Dan handed over some cash. It warmed him, knowing Dan was taking care of him tonight, and he promised himself to take care of Dan, as well.

Hearing Phil say that he wanted to do all of the cliche things with Dan was more than he ever really needed. He didn't realize how much he needed to hear that until then, his heart swelling in his chest and his head going all fuzzy. He barely heard the girl tell him his total, handing over a wad of cash as if he was a robot. Once she handed him back his change, she left to go get those two items prepared, and Dan couldn't stop himself from gazing at Phil like the lovesick bastard he truly was. Phil caught his eye, a small smile on his lips, asking Dan what he was staring at. Dan chuckled and flicked Phil on the nose with his free hand. "Your pretty face," Dan said bluntly. "I could stare at it all day. I'm such a lucky guy." He wanted to say more, but he was interrupted by the worker interrupting them, handing him their items. Dan took them, happy to be able to have some food, but also really wanting to spend some quality time with Phil with no interruptions. He truly was whipped, just for Phil.

Phil's eyes went wide and his cheeks turned crimson at Dan's comment, not even getting a chance to reply before the girl from before returned. It wasn't as if Dan hadn't said similar things in the past, but every time, it got to Phil. He couldn't seem to help himself, surprised each and every time that Dan said anything nice to him, anything like that at least, like he really did love just looking at Phil. "Shut up," he muttered after a moment, accepting the large popcorn Dan shoved into his hands, and smiling when Dan bumped their shoulders now that his hands were full. "Ready, then?" Phil asked, waggling his eyebrows at his boyfriend suggestively, sticking out his tongue as he did so. At Dan's quick promise of a "yes," Phil led them both to the theater their tickets read, and got ready for a hell of a night.

(Next)

[georgiabread]

stay close to me

summary: the sequel to let’s cause a little trouble, in which dan attempts and succeeds to teach phil how to ice skate.

word count: 2344

trigger warnings: hints to smut at the end but it’s all really just fluffy

a/n: based on the prompt by @Emany101studios on twitter:

“you should do a sequel to smut on ice™ where Dan teaches Phil to skate and they do a duet.”

"Are you sure we're supposed to be here?"

"Yes, I live in this area. This is where I practice. I pretty much own the place."

Phil pressed his lips into a thin, skeptical line, not quite believing Dan's words. He was quite certain sneaking into an empty ice rink after hours wasn't allowed, even for someone with an above-premium membership. Clouds formed around his breath when he huffed, shoving one icy hand under his armpit while the other clung to Dan's hand. He reluctantly let the boy to lead him through the centre's entrance, after he'd unlocked it with a small key. Phil was still convinced Dan had forged it himself.

Seeming to sense Phil's lingering nerves, Dan shot him a reassuring smile and squeezed his fingers. "We're gonna be fine, alright?"

Hesitantly, Phil met his eyes and tried glaring at him. "If we get arrested, I'm blaming it on you."

"Fine by me. But I think they'll be more likely to target a useless cameraman than a world-renown figure skater."

"Oi!" Phil nudged Dan's shoulder maybe a little too roughly than he intended. "Don't call me useless. I give you flattering shots for all your fans. Without me you'd be useless."

"I have at least 20 other cameramen to do that for me," Dan scoffed a little too harshly.

Phil frowned. "You know, I think I'm starting to regret coming here with you." He untangled their fingers and folded his arms against his coat instead. Although it was just meaningless banter at its heart, the words still hurt. Dan hadn't lost his offensive sting just yet.

"Aw, no, don't regret it, Phil," Dan cooed once Phil had moved away. He dropped the duffel bag that was hanging from his shoulder, stepped forward and wrapped his thin arms around Phil's torso. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "You know I didn't mean it."

"Yeah..." Phil returned the hug and plonked his chin in Dan's hair. "I know. It still wasn't very nice."

"I didn't think you were the type to let that stuff affect you, though."

Phil sighed and pulled away, giving Dan a look. "It doesn't affect me when it comes from people who mean nothing to me."

It took a moment, but soon Dan realized what he meant and a rosy blush settled on his cheeks. A guilty expression filled his face and he cast his eyes to the ground. "I'm really sorry," he mumbled sadly, fingers lowering to grab Phil's again. "I won't say anything like it again."

"Hmm, you better," Phil replied, but he dropped a kiss in Dan's hair nonetheless.

Stepping away, Dan smirked and tugged Phil forward before scooping up his bag. "I won't. Now come on, I want to teach you to ice skate."

The cool air of the ice rink grew more noticeable as they walked closer; Phil shot a quick glance at the bathrooms where it had all began, smiling softly to himself. Okay, so their hook-up had been a little ridiculous, but Phil didn't regret it as after one or two secluded coffee dates he discovered he and Dan had similar interests other than their careers. Dan was just lovely to be around as well, sometimes, once you got to know him. He felt pretty lucky holding the figure skater's hand right now.

So far they'd decided to keep their relationship or whatever it was out of the public eye, as Dan was at the height of his career and coming out as something other than straight may or may not ruin things for him. Completely. Not to mention having a lover. This was why they were invading an unoccupied ice rink at 10pm.

They reached the second entrance, and Dan had to unlock this set of double doors as well. Instantly they were hit by a chilly blast that managed to spear Phil's skin through all his warm layers. Before getting to the actual ice rink, Dan guided him over to a few rows of bench seats, dumping his duffel bag beside them when they sat down.

"Okie dokie. I brought two pairs of skates cause we have the same shoe size, right?" Dan muttered, digging into his bag.

"Uh...I think so," Phil replied dumbly.

"Okay, here." Dan sat back up, clutching two pairs of ice skates in both hands. They were like the yin and yang, one black with white laces and the other white with black laces. Dan passed the white pair to Phil.

Phil took the skates in his hands and stared them, growing a little apprehensive. He hadn't skated since he was a teenager, and had always been hopeless in the first place. What if he stumbled on the ice and fell, and broke a bone? Knowing him, there was at least a 68% chance of that actually happening. Would Dan, a more-than-expert ice skater, be pissed off at how much he sucked at the sport?

"Phil, what are you doing? I've already got mine on and you're just staring at yours."

Dan's voice snapped him from his thoughts, and Phil blinked up at him a few times. "I...yeah, sorry, I'm just a bit nervous about skating." He started to remove his shoes.

"You don't need to be, you can hold onto the rail for as long as you like and I'll be there to support you," Dan replied sincerely. "I know you'll have fun. I always do."

"Yeah, but that's cause you're a professional figure skater!" Phil cried, but he couldn't hide his pink cheeks.

"Don't be daft," Dan sighed, a bit of fondness in his tone. "That's got nothing to do with it."

Once Phil had kind of successfully pulled his skates on, he used Dan's arm to stand and wobbled a bit on the blades. Then they made their way over to the final set of doors, beyond which the ice rink lay in wait. Dan shoved the doors open, blasting a far chillier wave of air into their faces. Phil cringed a bit at the arctic atmosphere.

With no one in sight, the ice rink was almost a different land. Hundreds of bleachers sat cold and empty, encircling the main feature of the centre. It was odd to see no cameras surrounding the rink, or coaches standing to the sides. The sound of the doors opening sent clangs reverberating to the roof, giving the immense space an eerie vibe as pale, artificial lighting splayed down from above. Phil was yet again unsure if they should be there.

Dan seemed unfazed, however, clunking over to the rink's railing on his own skates. He pushed open one door and didn't hesitate in stepping up onto the smooth ice. "You ready?" he asked, turning and sliding backwards a little on his blades.

Phil drew a deep breath and nodded, trying not to get jealous already of the brown-haired boy's experience. He gripped the thick, wooden rail before placing one skate onto the ice, and eventually the other. And he just stood there, too fearful to even move. "I think I'm good here," he murmured.

An obnoxious laugh split the silence and Dan skated over to him. "Nonsense, I'm gonna make you do a whole lap of the rink," he said. "Take one hand off the side and try out the skating technique. Do you remember how to do it?"

"Kinda." Phil tentatively let go of the rail with one hand and stood up straighter. "You've just gotta...swerve your feet a bit, right? In and out slowly. Woops, didn't mean for that to be an innuendo," he added as Dan burst into sniggers.

"Yeah, yeah, in and out," Dan laughed. "Oh god. Um. Yeah, so, skate with kind of wide leg movements – not to quick."

Phil pushed one leg forward and around in the shape of a crescent moon, followed by the other. He swayed a bit, clinging to the side with one hand, and his steps were a bit too hurried despite Dan's words. He was too busy panicking about the idea of falling over, and soon his skates started to slide forward a bit too fast for his liking until he was almost running horizontally, desperate to stay upright. And suddenly he was on his bum, the ice melting into his jeans.

Dan erupted into more laughter beside him, gliding over and offering a hand to haul him up. "That was so graceful, Phil," he grinned as Phil grabbed his arm.

"I told you, I can't skate!" Phil whined.

"Look, you need to stop thinking too hard. Stare ahead instead of at your feet. Clear your mind and just will yourself forward. If you think too hard you'll fall over, just like now."

Phil huffed. "Okay then, Mr I'm So Great At Everything."

"Oh my god." Dan reached out and threaded their fingers together, allowing Phil to put a little weight on his hand. "Just believe in yourself, Phil."

Phil just gave him a glare and shuffled forward on the ice, gripping Dan's hand like a vice now. He was doing below average, dragging his blades on the ice instead of actually skating, but it was progress. Eventually, after a good ten minutes of encouragements from Dan and snide remarks from Phil, he managed to drift comfortably away from the side. He even took his hand away, but stayed close nonetheless. His blades somewhat slid across the ice in the correct maneuvers, however Phil still feared he could fall at any time.

"See, you're doing great," Dan smiled. Phil's grasp on his hand was too tight to squeeze comfortingly. In fact their palms were growing quite sweaty, but Phil couldn't let go just yet.

"Thanks," he mumbled, watching his skates closely.

Dan stared at him. "Keep your head up, don't worry about your feet."

"But I can't not..."

"It's easier looking up. Now talk to me."

"What?"

"Talk to me. You skate naturally once you're distracted, especially by conversation."

"How do you know all this..." Phil mumbled.

"Cause, like you said, I'm a professional figure skater." Dan raised his eyebrows, smiling cheekily.

Phil glanced at him and stuck out his tongue. "Shut up. Just wait till I make you use a camera. Then we'll see who the professional is."

"You know, you're a very different person to how you were in the men's bathroom two weeks ago."

Whipping his head round to stare at Dan's smug little grin, Phil groaned and used one hand to hide one blushing cheek. "Are you kidding me?" he whimpered. "Do you have to bring that up?"

"Mmm, nah, I just wanted to," Dan shrugged.

"I hate you. And by the way, my...uh...dominant side isn't my only side." Phil trailed off to a murmur. When Dan didn't reply straight away, he glanced up only to find a fond smile carving out his dimples and making his face turn pink.

Dan slid forward and planted a light kiss on Phil's cheek. "You're amazing."

"Oi. Come back here."

Without realizing what he was doing, Phil skated away from the rail towards Dan, taking his other hand. He placed a firm kiss on Dan's cheek as well, before pulling away. And then he frowned. Dan had a very suspicious-looking grin on his face. "What?"

"You just skated three metres away from the side," Dan informed him.

Phil's eyes widened suddenly and he glanced quickly over his shoulder. "Shit." He looked back at Dan. "Fudge. Um. What do I...? What if..."

"Phil, it's fine, honestly. I've got you. You're not gonna fall over." The corner of Dan's mouth quirked up as he stared at him. "Just trust me."

All that could be heard were their blades carving out the ice as Dan let go of one of Phil's hands and slowly guided him across the rink. Phil sucked in a deep breath and tried not to focus on how far away he was from safety. He could rely on Dan. He would be fine. Pretty soon he fell into a rhythm, winding his skates out and in, holding himself upright whenever he wobbled off balance. Soon enough they made it to the curve, and Phil clung to Dan's hand, throwing out his other arm to keep him steady.

"That's it, you've got it," Dan encouraged quietly. When they completed the curve, he grinned at him. "Well done, Phil!"

Phil simply rolled his eyes fondly. He wouldn't admit to greatly appreciating Dan's support.

After what felt like an hour of a few wobbles and a lot of hand-holding, Phil completed one lap of the rink. He beamed brightly once he made it back to where they started, and when Dan let go of his hand to clap ironically, he didn't feel unsafe.

"I can't believe I actually did that," Phil laughed.

"Me either. I'm proud of you, babe." Dan paused. "Is babe okay? Can I call you that?"

Phil bit back a smile and nodded before skating over to Dan. "I love it," he murmured, and connected their lips.

Kissing someone on an ice rink was something Phil never thought he would do. But there he was, winding his arms around the waist of a gorgeous boy and pressing their lips together. He let out a soft whimper when Dan ran his fingers through his hair and tugged a bit. In response, Phil pulled Dan closer until their chests were flushed and their crotches brushed against each other, causing Dan to moan softly and slide his tongue into Phil's mouth.

Reluctantly, Phil pulled away. "We're not doing this on the bloody ice," he murmured, gently brushing Dan's fringe off his forehead as he stared into his amber eyes. "Either I'll fall over or we'll end up reenacting Chris's program from Yuri On Ice."

Dan snorted at that, face falling into Phil's chest for the moment as he laughed before looking back up. "I cannot believe you," he replied, kissing him softly. "Fine, let's get off the ice then, loser."

Phil chuckled. "There's nothing I'd like more."

[danandphilsecretsanta]

Where The Heart Is

To: @our-dark-dreams From: Your Secret Santa

The first time Martha sees them, she’s in her front yard. She’s just been out to collect the mail – bills, only ever bills these days – and stopped to pull some weeds peeping out of the soil between the rhododendrons, when the taxi pulls up in front of the house across the street. The house has been on the market for a few weeks now, and Martha has seen a number of people come and go from it – ambitious singles, loved-up young couples, weary parents with children trailing them like ducklings. There were even a few retirees once. These two, though – they’re different.

They unfold themselves out of the taxi, so tall they make it look like a clown car. They’re both dark-haired and pale-skinned. The one on the right stuffs his hands in the pockets of his jeans, a pair tighter than Martha has ever seen in her life. They’re black, like his jacket, t-shirt and shoes. The other one is also wearing black jeans, but they’re looser, and his shirt is a checked blue. He’s got a backpack slung over one shoulder and a set of brightly-coloured folders clutched in his hands.

The real estate agent appears in the doorway and hurries down the front path to meet them. She ushers them forward and Blue Shirt looks down at something in his folders as he follows her into the house. The black-clothed one pauses on the front step, shading his eyes to look up towards the second storey, and then turns to look around the street. He catches Martha’s eye for a moment but he shuffles into the house before she has a chance to even think about a warm, welcoming wave.

* * *

Martha honestly doesn’t ever expect to see them again. She notices when the SOLD sign goes up but it’s been a few weeks since the young men were there, and a few other people have looked at the house since then. But then the moving van arrives, and the black-clothed one maneuvers a car into the driveway, and there’s a swarm of people in and out of the house all day and, just like that, Martha has new neighbours.

No one really sees them the first few days but that’s hardly surprising. Judging by the number of boxes they brought with them when they moved in, they’re likely still unpacking and looking for all the things they probably misplaced during the move. Everyone is curious about them, though – they’re the talk of the street. They live on a cul-de-sac, where everyone knows everyone and no one ever really leaves. When Martha moved in five years ago, the family across the street had already been there fifteen years, and the parents only moved away when their youngest went off to university at the other end of the country.

The young men have been there a week and a half when Martha decides that it’s time to be neighbourly and introduce herself. She digs a nice pair of shoes out of the closet, layers a plate with her signature jammie dodgers and crosses the road. There’s a doorbell that chimes a charming little melody inside the house, then heavy footsteps and the door is pulled open by Blue Shirt. He’s wearing a t-shirt today, with an ice-cream on it, and a pair of black-framed glasses.

“Hi!” he says and smiles a smile that crinkles the corners of his eyes. “Can I help you?”

“Hello. I’m Martha. I live at number four.” She points over her shoulder. “I just thought I’d come over and introduce myself. Welcome you to the neighbourhood and all that. These are for you.” She holds out the plate of biscuits.

“Oh! Thank you!” He takes the plate and steps aside. “Would you like to come in? I was just about to make some coffee.”

Her mother always said it was rude to reject a cup of tea or coffee so she says, “Thank you. That would be lovely,” and follows him into the house.

She has to step around the half-unpacked boxes, labelled “Kitchen” and “Office”, lining the hallway. When she peeks into the lounge room, she sees that they’ve got the TV and various consoles hooked up, and the shelves are already mostly filled with DVDs and books and knick knacks. The priorities in this house are fairly clear.

“I’m Phil, by the way,” he says, leading her into the kitchen. He waves her into one of the brightly coloured chairs at the dining table and sets the plate in the centre. “It’s nice to meet you. We were just saying this morning that there’s only a limited window in which we can meet our neighbours before it’s too late and we have to spend the rest of our time here awkwardly avoiding people.”

Martha assumes that “we” includes the black-clothed one. There’s something in the casual way he doesn’t explain who he’s talking about, as if he hasn’t even thought about it, as if he’s forgotten how.

“Excuse me,” he says and stops to flick the kettle on, on his way to the door. He pokes his head into the hallway and calls, “Dan! Come down here! We have a guest!” There’s a muffled response from somewhere upstairs but that must be good enough for Phil because he strolls over to the cupboards and pulls one open to reveal what looks like a hundred mugs.

“Sorry about the mess,” he says and shifts three mugs onto the counter. “Tea? Coffee? Or hot chocolate? We have powder here somewhere…” He opens the pantry and starts pushing things aside.

“Tea, thank you. Milk, no sugar.”

He nods and drops a tea bag into one of the mugs, then fills the other two with instant coffee and sugar. He measures everything out thoughtlessly.

There’s a thumping on the stairs and the black-clothed one – Dan, she reminds herself, though he’s dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans again – appears in the doorway. He pulls back slightly, as if he’s startled to see her sitting there, and then smiles awkwardly.

“Hello,” he says.

“This is Martha,” Phil explains, pouring the boiled water into the mugs. “She lives across the street. She brought us welcome-to-the-neighbourhood biscuits!”

Dan’s eyes drop to the biscuits on the table and then he rolls them at Phil. “You would befriend the dodgiest person in the world if they offered you a plate of sugar.” Then his eyes widen and he hurriedly holds out his palms towards her. “Not that you’re dodgy! I’m sure you’re perfectly nice. But seriously, Phil would actually follow a masked man down a dark alley if he was promised sweets at the end of it. He missed the lesson on stranger danger in school.”

Phil shakes his head. “Don’t listen to him, Martha. He’s just jealous because he knows I’ll eat more of the biscuits than him.”

He brings over a mug that’s almost too full and lowers it gently to the table in front of her, so as not to spill any. The mug is completely white, except for a black nose and whiskers near the rim. Dan grabs the other two mugs – one is black, with “Game of Thrones” written on the side, and the other has Mickey Mouse on it – and brings them to the table. Martha isn’t sure if they both just happen to take their coffee the same way, but he doesn’t seem to give any thought to handing the Mickey Mouse mug to Phil.

“This is Dan,” Phil says, when they’re all seated. “We live together.”

Obviously. But she doesn’t say that, even though there’s no further explanation. She can’t quite put her finger on the nature of their relationship, but they move around each other like they’ve been doing it a long time, like they’re used to filling each other’s gaps.

She nods and nudges the plate towards them. “Please, have a biscuit.”

Dan doesn’t need telling twice. His hand shoots out and grabs one off the top. He gives it a generous dunk in his coffee and then bites it in half.

“Mmmm,” he says and she hides a smile in her mug. “These are delicious. Better than anything we’ve ever baked, hey Phil?” He nudges Phil with his elbow.

“So what brings you here?” Martha asks. “Are you new to London?”

Dan shakes his head, because Phil currently has a mouth full of jammie dodger. “No. Well, we’re new to this part of London. We lived in an apartment in the city for years but we outgrew it. Dan needs storage!” Then he laughs a self-conscious laugh that trails off and grabs another biscuit.

“You’ll find the pace of life a bit slower here than it is in the centre,” Martha says.

“That’s part of why we like it,” says Phil, brushing the crumbs off his fingers. “We’ve had a busy couple of years and we’re ready to slow down a little bit. Live a quieter life. Try new things. And we really want a dog. But we still want to be close enough to go in when we need to.”

“What do you two do?”

They exchange a glance that speaks volumes.

“We’re editors,” Dan eventually says.

“Of books?”

“Of…films and visual stuff like that.”

“Oh! Anything I would’ve seen?”

Dan chuckles and shrugs, shaking his head. “I doubt it. How about you?”

“I’m a writer. Freelance, mostly. I like it because I get to work from home in my pyjamas, at whatever time of day or night I choose.”

Dan’s face relaxes into a smile and he nods easily. “Yeah, I can relate to that.”

They make a bit more small talk until Martha has finished her tea. It’s not awkward exactly, they’re very welcoming and don’t make any subtle indications that they’re trying to rush her out the door. But they’re edgy in a way she can’t describe, as if they’re not really used to interacting with anyone but each other. Maybe they’re not. They’ve implied that they work from home, and she knows how hard it is to meet people in that situation. It’s part of the reason her poor mother despairs that she’ll never find a husband.

So she does them a favour and swallows down the last of her tea quickly. “Well, thank you for the tea,” she says, rising from her chair. “It was so nice to meet you both but I’d better get going. I do actually have to do some work today, and I’m sure you’ve got things you want to do as well.”

She waves a hand when Dan offers her the plate, still half-filled with biscuits. “No, no. You keep them. I can’t possibly eat all those on my own.” She waits while Dan digs a clean plate out of a cupboard to transfer the leftovers onto. Then, they both walk her to the door.

“Thanks for coming over, Martha,” Phil says.

“And thanks for the biscuits,” says Dan.

“You’re welcome. Please, just come over anytime if you need anything. I’m almost always home.”

But she understands, as she crosses back over the street, that they’re not going to have that kind of relationship. Even from just the small amount she’s seen of them, she knows that Dan and Phil have learnt to meet life’s challenges together, without involving other people. Sure, she’ll see them out and about. They’ll wave at each other when they collect the mail, or mow the lawn, or tend to the garden. They’ll say hello and have a brief but polite conversation when they pass each other on the street. But it won’t go deeper than that.

It’s not like her relationship with her other neighbours but, after meeting them, Martha finds she’s okay with that. Dan and Phil exist in their own little bubble. She would hate to be the one to pop it.

[fandom-games]

by: @dan_howells_tongue

It was raining, and had been for a while now.

The droplets rolled down the window, colliding together into bigger and bigger drops and leaving watery pathways for the rest to follow. Every so often, lightning would flash, and a clap of thunder that faded into angry grumbling would sound.

Dan knew this because he was currently staring out of the aforementioned window, completely and utterly bored out of his mind.

The power had gone out for their entire street, and there was little more to do than sit around and think about rain.

Which was all fine and dandy, but not at all preferable compared to all the things Dan could be doing, like playing Mario Kart or starting that one anime that looked mildly interesting or literally anything else.

It was quite late at night, and the darkened street looked so foreign to Dan that he finally abandoned trying to sleep. Trying not to wake Phil, he had rolled out of bed and put on his slippers. His fucking slippers. Phil thought they looked ridiculous, but Dan quite loved them. They were comfy, no matter how odd they looked on the foot of a six-foot-three twenty-seven-year-old rather than an old grandmother.

Dan had dug some of his favorite candles out from the drawers they were kept in, and in attempt to make the stormy night peaceful, had lit some of them and distributed them all around the house. They hadn’t really done much except create a fire hazard, he supposed.

Dan was interrupted from his musings by the sound of someone shuffling along in the hallway. He turned his head in time to see Phil round the corner, scratching his neck and squinting at Dan--a piece of his hair was sticking straight up. Dan smiled fondly.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Phil inquired, yawning. “Neither can I, really.”

Dan sighed. “Do you ever get the feeling that everything is pointless and we’re all here for no reason? Do morals exist? Or is it pointless to try to remain a good person if a higher power doesn’t exist? I could walk down the street and murder someone, and the only punishment I would get would be physical. I would get locked in prison, obviously, but if there’s no hell does that just mean that death is a gaping void? Sometimes I think that desperate people just made up the idea of heaven and hell just so they didn’t have to fear the inescapable vacuum of emptiness that is death.”

Phil looked unfazed. “Oh, so it’s that kind of “can’t sleep.’”

“It wasn’t that kind of “can’t sleep” until about five minutes ago. Before that I was just bored.”

Phil said nothing, just opened his arms. Dan got to his feet and tucked his face into Phil’s shoulder, wrapping his arms loosely around Phil’s waist. Phil buried his nose in Dan’s hair, breathing in the scent of soap and shampoo and Dan.

They stood like that for quite a while, until a police siren went off in the distance and Dan jumped.

“Well, there goes the person who’s not afraid to murder someone, like I am,” Dan joked, squeezing Phil’s bum. Phil grinned down at him, brushing their noses together.

“What do you say I take you out to dinner tomorrow? There’s this new place that just opened up that I think you’d like,” Phil suggested, his voice barely more than a whisper.

“I’d like that very much,” Dan said, kissing Phil’s chin.

Phil brushed his lips against Dan’s forehead. “Then I reckon we should go back to bed, yeah?”

Dan nodded, and they walked together back down the hall and into their bed.

--

“Phil, you dumbass, leave room for me!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! If you knew how to move over properly, we wouldn’t have this problem!”

Dan and Phil were walking home, sharing an umbrella in the pouring rain. Or, well- trying to share an umbrella.

They were arguing quite a bit, too.

Dan’s hair and clothes were drenched, and Phil didn’t look any better off.

“Here, come with me,” Dan said, dragging Phil under a concrete overhang.

Phil closed the umbrella, shaking the water droplets off it.

“See, I told you we should have brought two umbrellas! You thought they would be too bulky in the restaurant, but now we’re both soaking wet and I’m freezing!”

Phil sighed. “Listen, Dan--I really am sorry, but can’t you just calm down?” It’s just a bit of water, isn’t it?”

Dan had just opened his mouth to retaliate when a high-pitched whimper cut through the air.

Phil looked very confused, and slightly worried. “Th- that wasn’t you was it?”

Dan snorted, all malice forgotten. “Did that sound like me?”

Phil shook his head. “No, but then… was it some sort of animal?”

Both seeming to realize something at the same time, they turned their heads as one to stare into the dark alley behind them.

There was a puppy.

There was a puppy in a cardboard box that was so wet it was almost disintegrated, with a faded pink collar around its neck and a soaking wet blanket underneath its paws.

Phil turned his head and stared at Dan, his mouth open.

Dan glanced at Phil, and then sprinted towards the box.

Phil followed, close on his heels, and almost tripped over Dan’s crouched form. It really was quite dark in that alley.

As Dan fumbled to read the dog’s tag, Phil interrogated him with helpful questions that were completely necessary and essential to .

“What’s her name? How old do you think she is? Is she okay?”

“I don’t bloody know! How do you know it’s a girl anyway?”

Phil reached out, touching the collar. “It’s pink, isn’t it?”

Dan frowned, disapproving. “God, Phil, just because something is a certain color isn’t a guarantee of someone’s gender! Can’t you be respectful?” He scratched under the dog’s chin. Phil rolled his eyes.

“Hello,” Dan cooed softly, stretching out the “o”. “Hello!”

Reaching out and grabbing the tag, Phil read out the only word that was on the collar.

“Erm… Chicken,” he said, frowning at the dog.

Dan looked up at Phil disbelievingly. “Chicken?” He repeated. Phil nodded.

“What kind of insane bloody psychopath would name a dog Chicken?”

“I dunno,” Phil shrugged, “but she’s already the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen in my life ever.”

Dan looked up at him, hopeful. “We are keeping her, right? We can talk to our landlord, can’t we?”

Phil nodded, stroking the puppy’s ears. “She can’t be more than a few months old, I think,” He commented, pushing back her mouth to look at her teeth. “She’s really docile for a stray puppy, isn’t she? That’s so awful of her owners to just abandon her like that.”

“Maybe we can change her name?” Dan suggested, still frowning at the tag as if it had magically changed in the last thirty seconds or so since he’d last looked at it.

“Yeah, probably,” Phil said, lifting Chicken out of its box and checking below its belly. “By the way, she is a girl,” he said, looking sideways at Dan, who rolled his eyes.

Chicken’s tail was still as she surveyed Dan and Phil with wide eyes. Phil tucked her under his arm, and attempted to pick to the soggy blanket. It was dripping with various liquids, and he quickly dropped it again.

Dan stared at her for a few seconds, then looked at Phil with an ernest expression on his face. “If anything happened to her I would kill everyone in the room and then myself,” he said, perhaps a bit too seriously. Phil laughed quietly, trying not to jolt the puppy.

“C’mon, do you wanna take her back to the flat, and then we can go out shopping for supplies later on?”

Dan nodded, unable to keep a smile off his face. Grabbing the umbrella where it had laid on the ground, forgotten, Dan and Phil walked back up towards their flat, not caring about the rain at all.

--

“Fuck, Dan, she’s got your slippers! Catch her- shit, she’s in the bedroom now! NO! NOT ON THE BED, CHICKEN, NO! NOT ON THE BED!”

As it turned out, teething puppies liked to chew. A lot.

Shoes, clothing items, books, belts, socks, even the legs of chairs.

Anything that even touched the floor for a second had the chance to be chewed to bits, which resulted in Dan and Phil doggie-proofing their flat completely within a few days of bringing her home.

“I didn’t know dogs could chew walls,” Dan had said at one point, exhausted.

It didn’t help that Chicken completely disregarded all the toys and expensive rawhide bones bought for her in favor for a pair of Dan’s favorite slippers. He would laugh at the total chiche-ness if he hadn’t already lost two pairs to her merciless chewing.

And, as it sounded, she was about to get the third (and last) pair of slippers. God, the people at Walmart were going to think he was crazy if he went back there for shoes again.

Tearing out of the office where he had been sitting, Dan raced down the hallway to the bedroom, where Phil was currently having a brutal tug-of-war with Chicken.

Dan grabbed her jaw and pushed her mouth open, forcing her to drop the soggy slipper.

Chicken growled playfully at him, and Dan growled back, grabbing both slippers and chucking them in the closet.

Phil left the room quickly and returned with her leash. “Maybe she just needs to get her energy out?” He asked, holding it out to Dan.

“Walkies?” Dan suggested to Chicken, who dropped her fierce facade and started tearing around the flat in her excitement.

“Guess that’s a yes,” Phil said, stepping into the hall in an effort to get the dog under control.

“Chick-chick, c’mere! You wanna go on walkies? C’mere, Chickie!”

As it turned out, Chicken was the only name the puppy would respond to, and so Dan had taken it upon himself to get as creative with the name as possible.

Chicken tore past Dan and into the living room, bounding onto the couch and leaping off of it immediately and racing into the kitchen.

Phil laughed, and called after her. “Chicken-dog, licken’dog, dic- I’m not gonna say that,” He muttered, flushing. Dan giggled.

Chicken proceeded to run laps around them, first onto the couch and then the armchair and then the kitchen and then down the hallway into the bedroom and back onto the couch. It really was quite exhausting to keep up with.

Dan crouched next to the couch, out of sight from the exuberant dog.

When she came tearing back into the living room, Dan tackled her, pinning her to the ground.

“I GOT HER,” he announced, clipping the leash onto her collar. Chicken seemed just as excited about this as he did, for she then proceeded to drag him around the flat mercilessly.

“Jesus Christ,” Phil muttered, “Imagine what she’ll be like when she’s fully-grown!”

“Don’t remind me,” Dan managed, planting his feet into the carpet and grabbing onto both Phil and the back of the couch for support. “If this is what she’s like now, I really don’t want to imagine what she’ll be like when she’s even stronger and heavier.”

Chicken seemed to calm down at last when she realized she wasn’t going anywhere for the time being. Panting heavily, she looked up at Dan expectantly.

“I think she’s ready for her “walkies,” now,” Phil said, a glimmer in his eye.

Dan screeched as Chicken started tearing around the flat again, dragging him behind her as if he was little more than a ragdoll.

Phil burst out laughing, doubling over and clutching the back of the couch.

Dan, struggling to get to his feet, glared at Phil menacingly. “You’re holding the leash for that,” he managed, gasping for breath.

“Who said I was even coming?”

Dan finally straightened up, staring directly into Phil’s eyes. “It was your idea, Philly,” he said, his voice soft but filled with malice. “You get to hold the leash.”

Phil shrugged. “Alright,” he said easily, transferring the leash into his own hands.

Chicken immediately stopped struggling and sat back on her haunches, staring up at Phil.

“Why the hell does she listen to you and not me?!” Dan shouted, as Phil grinned triumphantly.

“Guess she just likes me better,” Phil gloated, turning towards the door.

(part 1 because Tumblr won’t let me submit all of it)