Work Text:
Early morning sunlight streamed through the window, but Dan didn’t notice. He was submerged in editing his next video, headphones blocking out the entire world around him. With Interactive Introverts coming up, he was rushing to put enough videos together to last the few months. Sure, that would only be three videos, but it was still rough. He’d been working since around midnight, and he had no clue how early it had gotten; even worse, he hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep all night.
It was a few minutes after sunset when Dan finally gasped, noticing the light illuminating his dark bedsheets. “Damnit, not again,” he muttered, fully aware that it wasn’t the last time he accidentally saw sunrise, editing or otherwise. Even worse, he knew he needed to be up in a few minutes anyway to leave for the tour. The tour. Today was the tour. Dan groaned, throwing his head back against his bed. He would never make it.
An hour later, Dan was situated beside Phil in the van they were touring the UK in. The exhaustion was beginning to hit him, but he ignored it and attempted to pass time by talking to Phil. He was going to need to make it through the day and into the night; they had both a matinee and a night show on that first day.
They arrived in Brighton around noon and climbed out of the van, stretching their exceptionally long legs and making their way into the theatre. It was luckily abandoned at that hour, but fans would be showing up soon for the VIP meet and greets. That would, without a doubt, be the worst part for Dan; he loved meeting fans, but there was nothing he hated more than having to put on a fake smile for them.
They were shown to their dressing room and told the meet and greets would begin in half an hour. “I’m gonna go check out the set,” Phil said. Dan nodded and the older man disappeared, leaving Dan alone in the room. The first thing his eyes settled on was a couch, left sitting against the back wall of the room. It looked so inviting to his tired eyes... Even the famous night owl Daniel Howell couldn’t evade sleep for that long...
“I’ll just rest my eyes for a few minutes,” he said quietly to himself. “I won’t fall asleep; I’ll just take a moment to refresh my energy. Yeah. We’ll go with that.” Dan gave up debating with himself and lowered himself onto the couch, going out like a light the moment his head hit the fluff of the fancy, red pillow.
“Dan? Dan!” Dan came into consciousness, unwilling to open his eyes, but able to hear Phil speaking over him. “Come on! The VIPs are waiting!”
Dan’s eyes snapped open as he suddenly remembered where he was. They had another show to do. “Oh God, Phil, I’m sorry.” He rubbed his eyes, slowly sitting up. “I was up all night editing and I’m exhausted.”
Phil’s previously tense shoulders relaxed as he smiled at Dan, seeming mildly disappointed. “I told you not to do that anymore! I know you wanted to get content ready for the tour, but you don’t need to stress yourself. We need to be in our best shape to put on the shows. I’d rather have a happy Dan with no videos than a tired Dan with three videos who can’t stand up long enough to perform.”
Dan sighed. “You’re right. Besides, I just needed a little naptime.”
“Naptime,” Phil chuckled. “You sound like a child.”
“When don’t I?” Dan laughed.
Phil shook his head, pulling his phone out of his pocket and checking the time. “Come on,” he said, reaching a hand out to Dan and pulling him off the couch. “We’re already five minutes late.”
Dan took a deep breath, smirking at Phil. “Do not worry, my dear,” he said, a posh voice taking over as he held the door open for Phil. “The show must go on.”